When I started my blindfold series Amnesiascope I knew there’d come time to show a Maggie Cheung film. Probably this doesn’t require much explanation: movie star, master thespian, action heroine, and melodrama titan, Cheung is perhaps the world’s greatest actor (working or otherwise) who’s nevertheless known for a relatively small collection––nine or ten titles, largely by one director, from a career spanning dozens and dozens of films in just about every known genre. Thus on September 17, in slight advance of her birthday, I’ll be presenting one of Cheung’s lesser-screened works at the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research––its first New York appearance since 2016.
There’s temptation to also note it’s a crowdpleaser, though likely I’m more accurate (and hopefully not spoiling the surprise) deeming it a crowdpummeler: some of the most impactful, kinetic, plainly overwhelming filmmaking the action genre has ever seen, and a verdant showcase of Cheung’s chameleon-like skills. Seeing this film eight years ago while recovering from a flu, I wondered if it could be paused for five minutes lest I slip into a coma––this, I promise, being a compliment.
Tickets are here and official description is below:
The Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research is proud to present AMNESIASCOPE, a series of rare and remarkable films curated by Nick Newman. Our next screening celebrates the birthday of Maggie Cheung—thespian, star, icon, perhaps the greatest living actor (working or otherwise)—with an action-laden feature that offers a verdant example of her chameleon-like skills. Marked by some of the most impactful, kinetic, plainly overwhelming filmmaking the genre has ever seen, it’s also a strangely underserved object—our showing will mark its first New York appearance since 2016, and last for the forseeable future.
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