The Asian Masters The directors to whom the title of this course refers are largely responsible for introducing non-Western film to American audiences. They are among the defining artists of Asian Cinema, a term denoting a body of filmic texts as expansive and diverse as the continent from which it springs. Such pictures run the gamut from the Hollywood-influencing epics of Japan’s Akira Kurosawa, to the lushly desirous films of Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, to John Woo’s slick and Hollywood-influenced Hong Kong productions and beyond. But among their contributions to and re-appropriations of western filmmaking, these directors and their cinematic progeny have carved out new paths in film language, characterization, and narrative approach. As a result, viewers are treated to sometimes mythic, sometimes mundane—and often familiar—stories that are formally, thematically, and narratively infused with a fresh sensibility. |
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