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<![endif]Today I had the chance to attend the very first (early) 35 mm screening of “ Red Nights” a.k.a. “ Les Nuits Rouges du Bourreau de Jade”, a fetish-mystery-thriller directed by Frenchies Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud (scripwriters of Johnnie To’s “ Running Out Of Time”) and starring Hong Kong goddess Carrie Ng吳家麗(“ Naked Killer”). Also appearing are: French celebrity Frédérique Bel (“ Vilaine”), French newcomer Carole Brana, French-Chinese-Vietnamese TVB actor Stephen Wong Cheung-Hing黃長興, Taiwanese veteran Jack Kao高捷( Hou Hsiao Hsien movies, “ Shinjuku Incident”) and two AnD artists: Tony Ho何華超,who plays a cop, and the lovely Maria Chen陳霽平, who has a very very very memorable scene with Carrie Ng.
Carrie Ng& Stephen Wong in " Red Nights" (2010)“ Red Nights” Cinematography by Ng Man-ching伍文拯(“ Infernal Affairs II & III”, “Initial D”); Editing by Sébastien Prangère (“ Silent Hill”, “ Martyrs”); Art direction by Horace Ma馬光榮(“ Rouge”, “ Fist of Legend”, “ One Nite in Mongkok”, “ Three Kingdoms: Ressurection of the Dragon”); and Music by Willie & Alex Cortés (“ Eden Log”, “ Martyrs”).
Carrie Ng and her Fingers of DoomI can’t give away anything about the movie since it was a private screening but I’ll share some “safe” information and some information that the directors gave me on the movie set last March inHong Kong. The main action takes place inHong Kong. The characters speak French, Cantonese and Mandarin (Generally each actor or actress speaks his/her native language, but Maria Chen speaks some French as well!).Maria Chen, on the set of " Red Nights"“ Red Nights” is a thriller in which women rule and are really bad-ass, especially Carrie Ng, who gives one of her best performances in a long long time (The movie was obviously written for her). There are some Cantonese Opera scenes (with Stephen Wong as an opera actor) and there are some very brutal murders and vicious S&M scenes (no detail, but they’re quite original). There are also many shots of women’s feet (with or without high heels). The movie’s visuals are awesomely beautiful (reminds me of some or Japanese 70’s movies like the Sasori/Scorpion series).
Carrie Ng, on the set of " Red Nights" (2009)The following summary from the Films Distribution website is not really a synopsis of “ Red Nights” (a contemporary movie, not a period piece), but is more a description of what happens in the Opera scenes. It also gives information about the jade skull everybody is looking for in the movie:
“...”
Carrie Ng, on the set of " Red Nights" (2009)“ Red Nights” will be initially released inFrance(probably between June and August 2010) by La Fabrique de Films, and Films Distribution will take care of the international sales. 2010 will be poisonous!
Frédéric Ambroisine (Dec. 21 st, 2009)Photos (Behind the - Opera - scenes): ON THE SET OF "RED NIGHTS" WITH CARRIE NGRelated entry: ON THE SET OF A HONG KONG/FRENCH FETISH MYSTERY THRILLER (WITH SOME CANTONESE OPERA IN IT!)