SATURDAY FICTION: Don’t Miss The First Teaser For Lou Ye’s Explosive New WWII Noir Thriller
An action-packed, compelling and explosive new noir thriller in director/producer Lou Ye’s latest, Saturday Fiction, just had its premiere at Venezia76, and the first official teaser is seeping out onto the interwebs for all to sample. The footage looks and feels fantastic and actress Gong Li is as fine as ever on screen in the role she appears in this time around.
1941. Since the Japanese occupation, China has become a wartime intelligence battlefield for the Allies and the Axis Powers. Iconic actress Jean Yu returns to Shanghai, ostensibly to appear in the play “Saturday Fiction” directed by her former lover. But what is her true aim? To free her ex-husband? To gather intelligence for the Allied Forces? To work for her adoptive father? Or to escape from war with her lover? As she embarks on her mission, with friends ever more difficult to distinguish from undercover agents, as everything spirals out of control, Jean Yu starts to question whether to reveal what she has learned about the imminent Pearl Harbor attack… Internationally-acclaimed director Lou Ye returns with SATURDAY FICTION, an elegant, cryptic black and white thriller graced by a stunning performance from Gong Li.
Also starring are Mark Chao, Joe Odagiri and Tom Wlaschiha from a script by producer Ma Yingli and by Hong Ying and Yokomitsu Riichi. CAA has U.S. sales rights next to international for Wild Bunch as the brands launch sales at the Toronto International Film Festival whose Giovanna Fulvi lays the groundwork for its programming:
Written by Ma Yingli, who also penned Lou’s TIFF ’06 selection Summer Palace, Saturday Fiction sweeps us up in its intricate plot, fascinating period detail, and simmering romance. Zeng Jian’s beguiling black-and-white camerawork floats across rooms and through corridors as though pursuing its characters with the hope of catching some accidental revelation. The attack on Pearl Harbor looming, we watch Saturday Fiction with the knowledge that everything is on the cusp of change, yet, through Lou’s captivating, suspenseful storytelling, each moment seems pierced with possibility.
Saturday Fiction opens in China this December. Peep the trailer above and poster below.
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