BAM Tribute to Tony Leung Written by Brian Shirey (Opposite photo from Happy Together)

From December 1-18, another New York expression of the film cognoscenti’s on-going love affair with Asian cinema – A BAM tribute to Chinese actor Tony Leung. No, he’s not very old (43), but his film output over the last 20 years has been breathtaking and prodigious. More importantly, he’s practically the only Asian actor flirting with mainstream popularity who is not exclusively associated with martial arts films, or indeed, with action cinema at all. BAM’s play list offers his whole eclectic range.

Jackie Chan, Jet Li… these guys don’t exactly like to sit still. Tony Leung, on the other hand, is naturally introspective, which is one of the reasons he is fascinating to watch. Born in 1962, Tony was seven years old when his father left home and never returned, causing emotional trauma that drew the burgeoning actor into himself. After successfully auditioning for a Hong Kong TV station, Leung became popular doing comedy – the perfect way for him to come out of his shell – in a variety of Chinese sitcoms. The yin and yang of those formative years certainly reflected his later film choices, which were nothing if not varied.

City of Sadness (1989) was the break out film, in which Leung likely re-connected with some of his childhood shyness in the powerful portrayal of a deaf man who witnesses the turbulence of Japan‘s 1945 withdrawal from Taiwan. Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film not only established Leung’s commitment to serious acting, but also testified to his interest in working with the best contemporary filmmakers in Asia. A further example came a year later, when Leung took a small part in Wong Kar-Wai’s meditatively beautiful Days of Being Wild.

In The Mood for Love

In 1992, Leung found international success, co-starring with Chow Yun-fat in Hard Boiled, another electrifying gun opera from John Woo. Yes, the movie is full of brawny shoot-outs, but Leung – who at a physically slight 5’7” is not obvious action hero material – gave it a sensitivity that added depth to the story. The Magic Crane (1993), directed by another rising director-star, Tsui Hark, twisted tropes again by adding broad humor to martial arts. Leung had a very busy early 90’s (there were 8 releases in 1993 alone), but he never stuck to a pattern. By 1994, he was back with Kar-Wai in the dreamy Chungking Express, a film with an aesthetic far removed from the style of Hark.

Ultimately, Leung became a muse for Kar-Wai, and it’s his work with this meticulous filmmaker for which he will likely be remembered… so far. In Happy Together, he played opposite the late Leslie Cheung in one of the most powerful dissections of a love relationship ever put on film. With Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love coming a few years later, Leung virtually patented for movie actors the quiet glances, hesitations, and longings upon which romantic dramas have been built since the days of silent film. The collaboration culminated just this year with 2046, a dense movie that played rather like Kar-Wai’s Greatest Hits. Leung was in the middle of it, the one man in a time-bending roundelay of amour, surrounded by an astonishing cast of Asian actresses. Along with Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love, the three films are a trilogy that shows Leung developing into the quintessential leading man. No wonder they call him – with a touch of romanticism that seems somehow suitable – the Clark Gable of Asian cinema.

BAM will show the aforementioned films plus Tokyo Raiders (2000), Chinese Odyssey (2002), Flowers of Shanghai (1998) and Cyclo (1995), where Leung alternately plays a spy, a restaurant owner, a brothel patron, and, of course, a mob boss / poet. It’s a twelve movie survey (which the Museum has appropriately called “Hard Boiled and In the Mood”) that really only samples his diversity. And by the way, he shows no sign of stopping. With sixty-five films and counting to his credit, and the Asian film market seemingly growing by the hour, we’ll probably see another of these Tony Leung retros in New York, oh, maybe by the time he’s reached the ripe old age of fifty?

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp Building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafé is available Thu-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafé is open Thursday-Saturday from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue;
D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue
Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue
Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM
Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.bam.org.