Mainland director Ning Hao has gone on record to say his films are a reflection of the absurdities of modern Chinese life. It worked well for the Shanxi native's earlier films, such as 2006's Crazy Stone. But his most recent effort, No Man's Land, a neo-Western thriller about a corrupt lawyer's run-in with some bloodthirsty baddies, was so cynical and bleak that censors shelved the film for four years before release this year. Ning has perhaps learned his lesson. His latest, Breakup Buddies, stars the same two leads from No Man's Land (Xu Zheng and Huang Bo), and again tackles societal absurdity, only this time, it's far lighter in tone — and was okayed by censors.
It's billed as a "road trip movie" and follows a recently divorced man who joins his best friend in a series of misadventures. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month and was snapped up by distributors for a North American release on October 2 — just two days after its mainland release. Hong Kong will have to wait, as no release date has been set. But distributors tell Outtakes it will come.
Visual DJ Sampology (real name Sam Poggioli) plays one of his live visual/audio sets at Woo Bar on September 19. If you're wondering what the young Australian will be doing in the daytime, chances are you'll find him in Sham Shui Po or Mong Kok. That's because Sampology has been raving about local vinyl collector Paul "Vinyl Hero" Au's record shop and his pair of Star Wars-themed Adidas Sampa shoes for the past year on Twitter.