Tony Rayns
Encyclopedia
Antony Rayns is a British writer
, commentator, film festival
programmer and screenwriter
. Much inspired in his youth by the films of Kenneth Anger
, he wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising (its name inspired by Anger's Scorpio Rising
) before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin
from the December 1970 issue until its demise in 1991. He has written for the British Film Institute
's magazine Sight & Sound
since the 1970s, and has also contributed extensively to Time Out and to Melody Maker
in the late 1970s.
Known for his expertise in East Asian cinema
, he provides commentary tracks for DVD releases of Asian films. He coordinated the Dragons and Tigers
competition for Asian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival
from 1988 to 2006. He has also worked as a translator for English subtitles on films from Hong Kong
, Japan
, Korea
and Thailand
. In the 1980s, he presented a series called New Chinese Cinema on British television, showing (sometimes rare) films and biographies of eminent Chinese directors.
He wrote the screenplay for Away with Words
, a feature film directed by cinematographer Christopher Doyle
, starring Asano Tadanobu. He has written books about Seijun Suzuki
, Wong Kar-wai
and Rainer Werner Fassbinder
.
entertainments for over 25 years. He also has a niece, Rachel Rayns, who is a young artist filmmaker.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, commentator, film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
programmer and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. Much inspired in his youth by the films of Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
, he wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising (its name inspired by Anger's Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising may refer to:*Scorpio Rising , a 1964 short film by Kenneth Anger*"Scorpio Rising", a song by 10,000 Maniacs from their 1985 album The Wishing Chair*Scorpio Rising , plus the title song...
) before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin
Monthly Film Bulletin
The Monthly Film Bulletin was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. The MFB was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late...
from the December 1970 issue until its demise in 1991. He has written for the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's magazine Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
since the 1970s, and has also contributed extensively to Time Out and to Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
in the late 1970s.
Known for his expertise in East Asian cinema
East Asian cinema
East Asian cinema is a term used to refer to the film industry and films produced in and/or by natives of East Asia. It can be seen as a sub-section of Asian cinema, which in turn is a sub-section of world cinema, a catchall term used in the English-speaking world to refer to all foreign language...
, he provides commentary tracks for DVD releases of Asian films. He coordinated the Dragons and Tigers
Dragons and Tigers Award
VIFF Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema is an award from the Vancouver International Film Festival for a film director from Asia-Pacific region. It awards a creative and innovative film, made early in the director's career, which has not yet won significant international recognition...
competition for Asian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
from 1988 to 2006. He has also worked as a translator for English subtitles on films from Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
, Japan
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
, Korea
Cinema of Korea
Korean cinema encompasses the motion picture industries of North and South Korea. As with all aspects of Korean life during the past century, the film industry has often been at the mercy of political events, from the late Joseon dynasty to the Korean War to domestic governmental interference...
and Thailand
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
. In the 1980s, he presented a series called New Chinese Cinema on British television, showing (sometimes rare) films and biographies of eminent Chinese directors.
He wrote the screenplay for Away with Words
Away with words
Away with Words is a 1999 auteur trilingual film by Christopher Doyle co-scripted by Doyle and Tony Rayns and starring Tadanobu Asano and Mavis Xu...
, a feature film directed by cinematographer Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...
, starring Asano Tadanobu. He has written books about Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki
, born Seitaro Suzuki on May 24, 1923, is a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility...
, Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
and Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
.
Personal
Rayns has a brother, Nick Rayns, who has run the successful University of East AngliaUniversity of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
entertainments for over 25 years. He also has a niece, Rachel Rayns, who is a young artist filmmaker.
DVD commentary tracks
- Akasen ChitaiStreet of Shameis a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, his last film.The film is based on the novel Susaki no Onna by Yoshiko Shibaki.-Cast:* Machiko Kyō as Mickey* Ayako Wakao as Yumeko* Aiko Mimasu as Yasumi* Michiyo Kogure as Hanae...
- Masters of CinemaMasters of CinemaThe Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
. - Chungking ExpressChungking ExpressChungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman...
- Criterion Collection. - The Face of Another - Masters of CinemaMasters of CinemaThe Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
. - The HostThe Host (film)The Host is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun....
- Magnolia Home Entertainment, with director Bong Joon-hoBong Joon-hoBong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.-Biography:He was born in Daegu in 1969 and decided to become a filmmaker while in middle school, perhaps influenced by an artistic family He majored in sociology in Yonsei University in the late 1980s and was a member of the film club...
. - In the Realm of the SensesIn the Realm of the Sensesis a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
- Criterion Collection. - MouchetteMouchetteMouchette is a 1967 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Nadine Nortier, and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel by Georges Bernanos. "Mouchette" means "little fly" in French...
- Criterion Collection. - Pitfall - Masters of CinemaMasters of CinemaThe Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
. - Seven Samurai - Criterion Collection, with film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince and Donald RichieDonald RichieDonald Richie is an American-born author who has written about the Japanese people and Japanese cinema. Although he considers himself only a writer, Richie has directed many experimental films, the first when he was 17...
. - Still Life - BFIBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
. - UgetsuUgetsuUgetsu is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari and Guy de Maupassant...
- Criterion Collection. - VampyrVampyrVampyr is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's collection of supernatural stories In a Glass Darkly. Vampyr was funded by Nicolas de Gunzburg who starred in the film under...
- Masters of CinemaMasters of CinemaThe Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
2008 release, which was subsequently licenced to the Criterion Collection for their edition. - Vengeance Is MineVengeance is Mine (1979 film)Vengeance Is Mine is a 1979 film directed by Shohei Imamura, based on the book of the same name by Ryuzo Saki. It depicts the true story of serial killer Akira Nishiguchi .It stars Ken Ogata as Enokizu, with Mayumi Ogawa, Rentaro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho, Nijiko Kiyokawa and Chocho Miyako...
- Masters of CinemaMasters of CinemaThe Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
. - Veronika Voss - Criterion Collection.
- Yi YiYi Yi: A One and a TwoYi Yi: A One and a Two is a Taiwanese film written and directed by Edward Yang, about the emotional struggles of a businessman and the lives of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei seen through three generations...
- Criterion Collection, with director Edward YangEdward YangEdward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...
.
External links
- Tony Rayns at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...