Femfilmrogue Tenth Anniversary

 

A milestone day! 

Ten years ago today, femfilmrogue was born, launched by me— a lifelong soap opera lover, cinephile, and avid TV/web series aficionado. This space bridges together individual components, making this blog filled with unexpected moments— a random film review, an essay regarding Black and brown representation, a Saturday soap opera flashback, a Happy Birthday Spotlight iconic actress or filmmaker, or a list article. The most viewed post to date happens to be from the Best TV Couples series of 2018— Maxine Shaw and Kyle Barker. 

My journey to writing about this content began as a staff writer on the iconic feminist site B*tch Fl*cks thanks to my Artist As Writer undergraduate professor, Amber Leab, BF cofounder (alongside Stephanie Rogers). During my time in Philadelphia,  I volunteered at film festivals— Athena Film Festival at Barnard College in New York, Philadelphia Film Festival, and Blackstar Film Festival before becoming part of the screening committees for Dayton Out Here Film Festival (formerly the Dayton LGBT Film Festival) and the inaugural Dayton Black Women’s Film Festival. During these impressionable events, I saw astounding representation onscreen and behind-the-scenes— eye opening experiences encouraging my commitment to valuing the rich complexities of films made by underrepresented voices, mainly Black and women filmmakers. 

A film poster quote was a dream come true. 

Naturally, my first post— a review of Michael Medeiros’s eccentric comedy, Tiger Lily Road— came from being a fan of three-time Daytime Emmys winner Tom Pelphrey off the deceased soap opera Guiding Light. Other soap opera related posts brought this little blog exceptional reception, especially essays regarding the severe lack of investment in stories centering Black and brown characters. There must be around five or so highlighting Bryton James and Mishael Morgan’s characters on Young and the Restless alone— a soap opera that I cannot quit completely. It’s not the same since Morgan’s departure. Furthermore, I look forward to covering the new series The Gates coming to daytime next year. 

The late Barbara O (a fellow Daytonian) in Julie Dash’s Diary of an African Nun, a short film adaptation of Alice Walker’s short story. Dash’s work is highlighted here in this essay Black Women Fimmakers of the 1970s and Where Are They Now.

Some Top All Time Read Post Highlights:

Understanding An Obsession With Kate And Anthony Part Two (Bridgerton) 

An Everlasting Appreciation For Daniel King (from “Insecure”) 

Giving Black Love A Chance & The Best Black Soap Opera Couples (In No Particular Order) 

‘Brown Girl Begins’ Gives Us the Afrofuturist Heroine  We’ve Been Waiting For

Inamorata Brilliantly Defines ‘The Other Woman’

My favorite posts— the “get to know me” posts— happens to be an ode to Melvonna Ballenger and the review of Miryam Charles’s poignant film Cette Maison. 

Femfilmrogue is an independent part in the virtual sphere that will remain a reading space. Writing is one of my great loves, a way of passionately expressing how moving televised or cinematic stories can be. Although no plans are set for a Tik Tok or YouTube channel (must retain a bit of anonymity), my prosy words entail whether you should watch this incredible series or this film regardless of when it was released. Short films are so meaningful and full of depth sometimes more so than a feature length. Also, there’s specialness in viewing content older than the time you’ve lived in or a particular moment that you remembered and feel inclined to spread appreciation about. For example, I recall Sunday mornings devouring Emily of New Moon reruns and eventually forming an essay that has since become popular. I thought I was the only person who liked that Canadian show (particularly the first season). There’s a profound respect for L. A. Rebellion filmmakers— recently heard about an east coast version that I will be sharing once information is gathered. While coupled pairings are featured stories here (perhaps due to my soap opera upbringing), I long to find authentic asexual characters, the solitary aromantic people represented in media like Selah in Selah and the Spades. 

On the horizon, I have a new series in the works— Best Female Friendships Depicted in TV/ Streaming Series, the outcome of the first Dayton Black Women’s Film Festival (look for my Q&A with a few featured filmmakers on Sixty Inches From Center), a Bridgerton season three part one snippet, a review of Lisa Prince’s 1995 feature-length film Love & Suicide starring the late Kamar de los Reyes (wrote about his One Life to Live pairing with real-life wife Sherri Saum), Diarra Kilpatrick’s (American Koko) new series Diarra From Detroit, an Abbott Elementary season three wrap up, and other posts. 

I thank visitors— old and new— those who stayed on, championing this small, timid corner of the internet— fellow cinephiles, avid TV/ web series watchers, filmmakers, showrunners, writers, readers, artists, etc. Thank you for coming and spreading the word about femfilmrogue. 

Maggie Cheung Films Streaming

Maggie Cheung’s impressive filmography is available to stream across several platforms. DP: Jingle Ma.

Maggie Cheung came out of retirement seclusion to do an Olay beauty ad and her IMDb has recently added a new project entitled Shi lian zhuan jia with no other information beyond her attachment to star. 

Yet, beloved audiences have enjoyed Cheung’s multifaceted presence, some falling in love with her since playing Jackie Chan’s devoted girlfriend May in the Police Story trilogy. Others were introduced to her through the brilliant Wong Kar-wai’s sumptuous melodramas, mainly the forever praised In The Mood For Love, the ultimate forbidden romance between two married people whose spouses are having an affair. In it, Cheung is a beautiful, observant secretary— wearing twenty different cheongsams throughout the film— balancing her boss’s adultery, her husband’s dalliance, and her own taste of temptation. 

Cheung— born in Hong Kong and raised in England— the first runner up Mrs. Hong Kong beauty pageant winner made her debut in Jing Wong’s 1984 film Prince Charming. Her dynamic performances define incredible range— wise cracking humor, compelling grace, and profound vulnerability, affecting viewers often without verbiage. Her wide expressive eyes tell infinite stories, showcasing phenomenal depth to her many iconic characters. 

A respected award-winning actress breaking barriers, Cheung was the first Chinese actress to win Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival in addition to being nominated for a Best Actress Cesar. She has starred in seven films with Tony Leung and six with Brigette Lin, and speaks fluent Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), French, and English, and has worked with several renowned women directors: Sylvia Chang, Ann Hui, and Clara Law. 

Thus, here are places to find Maggie Cheung films online as of now. 

Maggie reenacts the roles of silent film actress Ruan Lingyu (1910-1935) in Center Stage. DP: Hang-Sang Poon.

Stanley Kwan’s “Center Stage” (1991) and Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” (2002) are on kanopy, the free streaming service offering eclectic film buffs cinema from all over the world with the aid of your library card. Yimou also directed my latest obsession “House of the Flying Daggers” (2004).

May in the original Police Story. DP: Yiu-Tsou Cheung.

May in Police Story 2. DP: Yiu-Tsou Cheung and Yu-Tang Li.

May in Police Story 3: Super Cop. DP: Ardy Lam.

“Police Story” (1985), “As Tears Go By” (1988), “Police Story 2” (1988), “Full Moon in New York” (1989), “Days of Being Wild”(1990), “Farewell China” (1990), “Executioners” (1993), “The Heroic Trio” (1993), “Comrades: An Almost Love Story” (1996), “Irma Vep” (1996), and “In The Mood for Love” (2000) are all streaming on the Criterion Channel.

Li Hung in Farewell China alongside Tony Ka Fai Leung as Zhao Nansan. DP: Jingle Ma.

Lee Fung-Jiau in Full Moon in New York with Sylvia Chang as Wang Hsiung-Ping and Siqin Gaowa as Zhaohong. DP: Bill Wong. 

“The Seventh Curse” (1986), “Twin Dragons” (1992), “Moon Warriors” (1992), and “The Bare-Footed Kid” (1993) are on Tubi— a free streaming service that has been bringing tons of good stuff.

Su Li-zhen In The Mood For Love with Tony Leung as Chow Mo-Wan. DP: Christopher Doyle. 

Anthony Chan’s “A Fishy Story” (1989), Ann Hui’s “Song of the Exile” (1990), and Wong Kar-wai’s “Ashes of Time” (2008) are on rarefilmm, a rich, fascinating archive of treasures. My Letterboxd review of “Song of the Exile” is here.

Maggie Cheung plays a character named Maggie Cheung in Heartbeat 100. DP: Hau-Ming Chan.

Emily in Clean. DP: Eric Gautier.

Kin Lo and Kent Cheng’s horror “Heartbeat 100” (1987) can be found on Internet Archive here. Oliver Assayas’s “Clean” (2001) is on Tubi and YouTube. Stanley Tong’s Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992) is on Pluto TV. 

In A Fairer World, ‘Origin’ Would Be A Vital Best Picture Nominee

 

Origin film poster. 

For the past few years, Black women filmmakers are reaching this great postmodern renaissance. They’re crafting incredible stories that put Black women’s experiences at the center of the cinematic picture— A. V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, and etc. Now Ava DuVernay’s latest picture Origin adds more crucial fuel to this poignant hot fire— a biopic unlike any other. 

Isabel (Aunjanae Ellis-Taylor) spends hours going over her research as most writers do. DP: Matthew J. Lloyd.

Isabel Wilkinson is in a crisis. 

The Pulitzer Prize winning author struggles to write a new book in a country continuously steeped in racial turmoil. She’s often reading books, jotting notes, and traveling around the world for research purposes, trying to meet deadlines— the film candidly illustrating the stages of a writer’s lifestyle. She interviews individuals who either agree and/or engage with her philosophies or those who take offense to her bold comparisons. 

Either way, Isabel stops at nothing to form research that she believes wholeheartedly in. 

Isabel relays some of her thoughts to her cousin Marion (Niecy Nash-Betts). DP: Matthew J. Lloyd.

Isabel puts in the work, uncovering unsettling truths centered around a system older and greater than racism and sexism alone— the original separation tactic that keeps certain people at the bottom while those on top cannot be toppled—caste. The threaded connections are woven into many cultural tapestries, so complex and nuanced, that Isabel herself becomes stunned yet fascinated by the roots of her vital discoveries. It’s an intelligent Black woman’s intense emotional labor— performed in the most beautiful countries. Isabel does what needs to be done. She pursued her theories and hypotheses with stunning perseverance and clarity, asking the right questions and receiving the answers needed to form her book. 

Stylistically similar to I Will Follow, Middle of Nowhere, and Selma, Ava DuVernay’s Origin meshes poetic elements together, soft vulnerable moments spliced between harsh violence and heavy memories. Origin is also a refreshing change from the typical green-lit Hollywood biographies— often formulaic and filled with false exaggerations. They love placing special emphasis on Black women musicians as though that’s their main contribution to society— next to mammies and slaves of course. 

The actress bringing Isabel to cinematic life is Aunjunae Ellis-Taylor, whose compassionate rendering of a woman’s desire to find truth through writing in the face of strife and grief demonstrated remarkable skill to the acting craft— a phenomenal masterclass. The myriad of emotional range and could overwhelm any eye. Yet Ellis-Taylor proves that she was fit for this part. Other performing highlights include criminally under-praised Audrey McDonald’s Miss character— her words regarding the racist school principal stuck well past the credits ended. Niecy Nash-Betts as Isabel’s cousin Marion provides a gentle backbone, a necessary reprieve from the cruel histories revealed through Isabel’s documentary work. 

Isabel travels place to place, a collector of valid information. DP: Matthew J. Lloyd. 

Origin should have been given a real chance to thrive. The message delivers pivotal and necessary knowledge, especially imperative in a world shackled by the permanence of this global foundation. It goes beyond isms, divulging a deeply embedded injustice system that cannot be ignored much longer. 

Some folks believe art has no real ability to change the world.

Ava DuVernay’s film starts a dialogue that disproves it.