New realms of weird comedy - Dasepo Naughty Girls

Picture this: a man comes into a board meeting, pitching his idea for a movie. "Hey," he says, "I have a good one for you. How about we do a high school film, but not anything like what has come out before. How about we mix Porky's with The Story of O, and The Faculty?" "Genius!!!" They cry, instantly giving the man a promotion, a key to the executive washroom and employee of the month parking privileges. Unfortunately, the ivory tower that serves as the creative launching pad for today's films is bankrupt of ideas and any sort of originality. Dasepo Naughty Girls is a film that can only be made in Korea, a hodge podge mixture of teen melodrama, erotic comedy, a couple of musical numbers, and weird sci fi. Quentin Tarantino couldn't possibly come up with something this insane, though the gimp scene in Pulp Fiction comes remotely close. Imagine if you will a school filled with dysfunctional high school students -- and teachers! The opening scene, a teacher announcing that one of his fellow teachers has been tested positive for a STD, causes a near panic among the students, as they all apparently have been sleeping with one another, a domino effect that clears out the class as they all go to the doctor's to get checked. Yikes! We follow a cast of students -- a girl who likes with her invalid mom, near broke and having to sell herself to make money; her classmate, a sexually aware hottie who is foul mouthed and has undiscovered talent for acting; a male classmate who happens to be a cyclops; his sister, who happens to be a boy or a hermaphrodite (we never really know for sure); a gangster who loves to dress in drag; a teacher who gets off by being punished in front of his students (with many of the students all too willing to apply punishment); a headmaster who is not what he seems to be (human that is); and a pair of Hardy Boy like students who set out to discover why some of the more notorious classmates are suddenly studying all the time. This almost two hour film tests the limits of one's patience by throwing you so many curve balls with its outrageousness. Suffice it to say that while the teen actors and actresses really give it their all, and the high production values, this film is a train wreck. Sure, there is a big finale, as the students band together to defeat the evil headmaster in a crazier version than the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer season finale -- yin yang anyone? But the bonding is superficial and let's face it, this has been done much better. Sex is Zero, for instance, which was more outrageous, but it had a plot. Apparently this fim was targeted for an adult audience in Korea; however, and this may be a cultural thing, I fail to see how a movie like this would succeed in its target audience. The satirical punches misses its marks.

Gate of Youth - obscure Fukasaku Kinji 80's film

Gate of Youth is an 1982 film about a coal mining family whose lives are turned upside down when the father, played by Sugawara Bunta, dies while attempting to rescue a group of fellow Korean miners in the caves. It is also about Shisuke Ibuki (played by Koichi Sato), the son who grows up in the mining town, and moves to the city with his ill mother to work and go to school. His coming of age takes up the second half of the film. Fukasaku shares directing credits with his assistant, Koreyoshi Kurahara, which explains the split in mood and story. The first hour is typical Fukasaku - violent, kinetic, with Sugawara prominent as the man who wins his wife over the mining boss, has a son, and fights to have better working conditions for every one living in the town, which is a shanty town. The boss is played by Tomasiburo Wakayama (best known for his Lone Wolf and Cub movies), who is a stern but not an evil man, who later aids Shishuke and his mom after the father dies. His mom eventually falls ill, and they move out of town and to the city, where she is treated and he goes to school, He falls in love with baseball and a young woman who is a music teacher, but goes back to the mining town to visit his childhood friend, Orie (Karou Sugita), a girl who always had feelings for him. Orie goes to the city as well, after her mother's death, to become a hostess at a club. His mother eventually succumbs to consumption, the boss goes into hiding after a yakuza attack, and Shishuke rides off into the sunset on the boss' Harley Davidson.

The time frame takes place from the 30s through the 50s, and while events like WWII have an impact on the story, it is not so much about life during that time as it is about people surviving extremely harsh conditions, working like dogs in the mines and living like paupers. Shishuke and his mom rise above this because of the father's actions; they gain respect from the other villagers, and from the Koreans, who were treated even worse than the others, and when the war ended they all fled the mining town. Orie is Shishuke's link to home, but when she moves, she has to sell herself to make money, and she knows that he can not go back, to her or home. She can only allow him to couple with her, a final gesture to their past. Overall, this is an unusually long and drawn out tale that will demand the attention of the viewer, and I'm not sure if the viewer will be willing to put forth the effort. The scenes in the minng town are fine, the story well told and loaded with tension, but when it shifts to the city, the wheels come off the story, and we plod along from one scene to another, with minimal development, although the years fly by. It's interesting to note that Fukaskau directed shortly after The Fall Guy, a magnificent look at the film industry at that time. This is a lesser effort. I'm wondering if the suits in charge meddled with it. Recommended to Fukasaku completists only.

Pandora's Box

A recent December release by Criterion, Pandora's Box gets my vote as one of the best reissues of 2006. I have loved this movie since I first saw it in a German Expressionist film class I took back in college in the early 90's. I owned the Kino VHS release, which was considered definitive at the time, then sold it when I converted most of my collection to dvd, expecting it to be released any time. Well, it took 10 years, but it's here, looking better than ever, with a wealth of extras. A late masterpiece of silent cinema, this film, released in 1929, was directed by G.W. Pabst, considered the greatest German director of his time (other notable films: The Threepenny Opera, and Joyless Street, starring the then unknown Greta Garbo). It stars Louise Brooks, an unknown American actress who plays Lulu, a showgirl whose sexual magnetism draws men to their destruction, while maintaining a naive innocence about herself that is sympathetic and tragic. Lulu is having an affair with Dr. Schoen, who is engaged to a woman of his own class. Her father, a vagabond who syphons money from her to continue his gambling addict, comes unexpectedly to visit, and he brings a man (who is waiting outside) to her attention. He works in show business, and he offers her a position as a glamorous showgirl, and she accepts. Dr. Schoen is not pleased, and decides he must marry her to keep her. She accepts, but the wedding is a sham, as her conduct with other men drives him insanely jealous. Confronting one of her rivals with a gun, Lulu intercedes, and in despair, Dr. Schoen forces Lulu to shoot him. Dying, Lulu runs away with the rival. There is a warrent for her arrest, and the two, along with her father, live as fugitives. Meanwhile, Jack the Ripper is terrorizing the city with his murders. He meets Lulu on the street -- Lulu offers herself to him, her body the only means to make some money for them to survive. Her lover has degenerated to a shell of a man, her father not good for anything other than gambling. Even though Jack has no money, she takes to him, and leads him to her bed. After being torn between salvation and damnnation, Jack opts for the latter as his insane need to kill takes over, and he slays Lulu. The lover and the father are left out in the rain, only to discover the crime later and manage to pursue and capture the killer.

The plot was unlike anything during the 1920's -- the sexuality and violence brought forth to the forefront, even though there was no nudity nor gore shown. Louise Brooks has a career defining role as Lulu, one of the immortal roles of film actually. Her look and haircut define the times, and her look is still copied today. The film has never looked better - Criterion has doen another top notch job of restoration. They make the unusual offering of four different soundtracks -- I watched it with the most recent orchestration, and it works perfectly with the film. There is also a thick booklet with interviews and an article written by Louise Brooks, as well as a bonus disc featuring interviews and several documentaries about the film and its influence, and about Brooks. One of the classics of cinema and a mandatory purchase for film enthusiasts. Highly recommended!

Award winning weepie - Kura

Released in 1995, Kura is a powerful story of a woman who, while slowly losing her sight, fights to continue to run the family business, a sake brewery. Sae Isshiki, in an award winning performance, plays Retsu, the daughter of a hard headed but well meaning man who has managed a successful business of brewing sake. The proceess is shown in some detail, from the sterilizing of the wooden tubs to the fermenting of the rice, to the chilling of the tubs snow to maintain temperature control. It is run by several dozen men who are all experts in sake manufacturing. Retsu's mother dies while she was young, leaving her aunt to take care of her, while her father kept things going. Retsu's failing vision prevents her from going to school, mostly because of her own fears of inadequacy, and so she is home schooled. Retsu would like to learn the business, but her father refuses, giving the excuse that women are "impure" -- sake being a spiritually pure substance. Her father remarries, a young inexperienced geisha with a silly laugh. They have a son, which pleases him to no end, as his family line can now continue. But Retsu and her aunt feel like they are being pushed aside. The son dies in a terrible accident at home, devestating the father. And on top of everything else, the business is not doing so well -- it is the 1930's, and the war has its effect on business. Retsu is determined to make something of herself, having spent much of her lifetime being told that she can't do this or that, because of her condition and her sex. She rounds up the best saki making people she can find, some former workers who had moved on and some who were considered the best in the business. One of the men was a childhood friend of Retsu, who has now grown to be a handsome young man. As production begins Retsu moves closer and closer to total blindness. They make some of the best sake that any of them has ever tasted. Retsu goes blind as the business shuts down for the season, and in a dramatic finale, she stumbles across the forest to a sea town where the young man lives. She almost dies in the blizzard on the way, but is saved by her mother's spirit. She is brought to his place and she declares her love to him, but he is afraid to reciprocate -- they are from different classes, and he did not want to incur her father's wrath. But Retsu's father has come around to seeing things -- after his second wife's separation, he has become humbled by life's agonies, and wants only for his daughter to be happy, and gives his consent. The film abruptly ends with the father and the aunt declaring to live the rest of their lives together at a small farm.

Kura was nominated for eleven Japanese Academy Awards, winning three - best actress, best newcomer, and best producer. I think the slight wishy washy resolution of the film -- which becomes focused on Retsu's struggle to survive in the forest, to win her man's love (even though he barely appears in most of the film) might have prevented from it winning more awards. The acting is superb, and you feel for her and her family as they encounter one setback after another. And at its best, Kura has qualities not unlike a film made by Ozu -- a story about family, and the dynamics that propel the story. A very good film and recommended!

Two films starring Okawa Hashizo

Okay, after a holiday pause, let's get down to some reviews. I was looking for background information regarding the actor Okawa Hashizo -- I was surprised not to find a thing! Despite being a huge film star in Japan from the 50's on up, and being a cult favorite among the samurai fans here in the States, there is little if anything online that would be revealing. He starred in the longest running tv series, Zenigata Heiji, and starring in the popular Shingo's Challenge movies. Hashizo was a rising star in the 50's, for Toei, and became a popular actor. In the 60's he became the featured actor, and in two early 60's films, The Paper Crane and Pirates, we see examples of his role as an action star, as well as the period films typical of that time. Neither are cinematic classics, but are entertaining and watchable. The Paper Crane has Hashizo starring as Hantaro, a wandering yakuza who comes to the aid of a blind woman and her father, who were being accosted by bandits. They in turn pay for his ride across the river, as he has no money, and the blind woman , impressed by his manners, thinks him to be a nobleman. She is going to the city to get an operation which may restore her vision. She gets the operation, and the family runs into trouble with some con artists. Hashizo, staying in the same town, finds out about their situation and comes in to save the day, rescuing the woman from abduction. She recovers her sight, and discovers that her assumptions were all wrong. Hashizo leaves without her seeing him, because he realizes that romance could never happen between them -- she is of a noble family, he a vagrant. The movie ends with him walking out of town, to begin another adventure. It is a typical paint-by-numbers plot that is done dutifully by all involved. Nothing special.

Pirates is a rip roaring sea adventure. This time Hashizo plays a shipwreck survivor who is rescued by a group of sailors on a bahansen (pirate) ship. Not all pirate ships were evil; this was during a period in Japan's history where the mainland was being torn apart by wars. There were those who lived on the coast or islands who chose to separate themselves from all that, and did trade or other activities under a different banner, the Hachiman. The men who saved him were from Sakai, and one of the men knew Hashizo's father, who was a great sea captain. Hashizo is not overwhelmed by their warm reception or hospitality that they receive when they return to Sakai -- his concern is for his sister, who was kidnapped by the pirates who wrecked their ship. They agree to help him, as well as train him to follow in his father's footsteps. Intrigue is supplied by a female shipmate who at first hates then falls in love with Hashizo; she is a tomboy who has skills equal to any of the men, and the exception to the rule that no women can be on the ships. They set out to sea, and during their travels they come across remnants of the renegade pirates' actions -- a pillage seaport, an island of inhabitants who were decimated by them, and even being attacked by them in the high seas. Revenge is served as Hashizo and his fellow Sakai men confront them in a terrific sea battle, with lots of swordplay and cannon fire. His sister is rescued, and he wins the hand of the tomboy. A fine pulp fiction swashbuckler that while thin on plot, makes up for it with a fast pace and lots of action. Recommended!

Stranger than Fiction

Stranger than Fiction is a real sleeper; a Hollywood film that shows a bit of imagination, wit and intelligence. Will Farrell stars as Harold Crick, an IRS employee who lives a rigid, spartan bachelor life with no prospects of moving up or down, he is just a reliable, hardworking man with no outside activities. His world is turned upside down when one day he hears a female voice (Emma Thompson) who accurately describes what he is doing as he is doing it. She knows how he feels and what he is thinking, and he hears it all. Realizing that only he can hear her, he goes to see the company shrink, who tells him to take a vacation. But work is still his life, and Crick has been auditing Ana Pascal (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) who runs a bakery. Ana takes an immediate dislike to Crick, him being a tax man -- she deliberately withheld payment because of her objection to government funded projects -- military or otherwise. Crick is attracted to her but plods along with his work. The voice is still present -- driving him to start doing things that are out of his routine. In another part of the city, Kay Eiffel, a renowned British fictional author, is having writer's block. In all her books, her main characters die at the end, and she is having trouble figuring out how to off her newest character -- a man named Harold Crick. Her publisher sends an assistant to help her finish the book on time, named Penny Escher (Queen Latifah). Penny is a no nonsense woman with a successful record of helping complete a number of author's works. Kay dislikes her, because she sees Penny as an intrusion on her creative process. She tries to imagine all sorts of horrible accidents. Kay can only go so far as to type "little did he know that his demise was near". Crick hears this and panics. He goes to another psychologist, only to be diagnosed as a schizophrenic. However, because of his description of the kind of voice that he is hearing -- literate, British accent -- the doctor offhandedly suggests that he consult a literary professor. Enter Jules Hilbert (played by Dustin Hoffman), a professor at a local university who listens to Crick in bemusement. He dismisses him as a nut, until Crick tells him the "little did he know" statement. That intrigues him -- Hilbert has done a course and a lecture on just those very words as a subject. So he agrees to help him. A funny sequence of deduction and detection follow, with Hilbert running through the entire literary gamut of subject matter, to try to determine who the person - the living author might be. He also tells Crick to start living his life the way he wants to -- follow his dreams. Crick buys a guitar, and woos Ana. And, he succeeds. While Hilbert is deducing, Crick sees on the television an old Book Talk cable show featuring Kay, and he is stunned to find out that she is the one. Crick finds her -- not an easy task, since she is a recluse -- by going through the tax records, and Kay is shocked to see that her fictional character is a real life man. To his dismay he finds out that Kay has broken through her block and came up with a brilliant ending to the book -- where he has to die. Hilbert reads the manuscript, and later Crick himself, and they both agree. The following morning, Kay types the ending and Crick goes to work, where he is involved in an accident at the bus stop. But instead of being pronounced dead, he is still alive, and taken to the hospital. Kay goes to Hilbert (presumably referred by Crick), and show him her revised ending. Hilbert finds it okay, but not as good as the original. She knows, and realizes that some stories need to have a happy ending. Ana finds Crick in the hospital, and the movie ends with them in each other's arms.

Blood Rain - Thrilling Revenge in 19th c Korea

Blood Rain is a crime movie, transposed to early 19th century Korea, that follows in the tradition of the modern thrillers, like Seven, in plot and execution. While there are moments of extreme violence, it is a well plotted mystery. It takes place in a village on a small island that has a paper mill -- its only source of production and income, and famed for its high quality paper. They make tributes twice a year, and because their product is in demand the village is a thriving community. The movie opens with what seems like a standard horror scene -- a woman is floating underwater, drowned, with a brief flashback to the moments before her death -- being chased through the woods by several men, before coming to a stop at the edge of a cliff, and falling into the water below.

The movie then begins proper with a loading of a ship with paper -- a man carrying one of the boxes slips and falls into the water, upsetting but not damaging a box. He is reprimanded. Later, a village ceremony that turns sour when the priestess is suddenly possessed by Kang, who, along with his family, was brutally executed seven years before for practicing Catholicism. He claims that the time for vengeance is near, and that those involved will suffer the same fate as his family, and that the village will rain in his blood as a result of his curse. The ship with the paper is set on fire, and it causes great stress because it contains the biannual tribute to the government. Shortly thereafter, people start dying, as per the curse. A man is impaled, and another is suffocated. Won-gyu (played by Cha Seung-won), a government official, is sent to investigate. He links the victims as informers who helped convict Kang, who was the original owner of the mill. Following the trail of who would benefit from his death, Won-gyu uncovers a seedy past amongst some of the villagers, and discovers that his own father had a role in the man's death. As the body count rises, the villagers become increasingly agitated, and Won-gyu is pressured into finding the killer. He discovers that the daughter of the mill owner had not been executed, someone else had taken her place. She received the attentions of a local official, who was distraught when the others discovered that she was still alive, and killed her on the edge of the cliff. Won-gyu realizes that the paper mill itself is a target, as well as the remaining informer. He saves them both in an exciting climatic scene at the paper mill, where he confronts the local official, and kill him. However, the villagers, wanting to end the curse, execute the informer as he is being lead to custody by Won-gyu. The clouds darken and it indeeds rain blood, causing many of the villagers to panic, kill themselves, or flee. The film ends with Won-gyu returning to the mainland, burying the last bit of evidence by dropping it into the ocean.

An intense thriller, Blood Rain's unique take lies in the historical setting. It is beautifully shot, and while the entire story takes place in a single village on an isolated island, you get the feel of a unique culture and community that is centered on paper production. We may have seen the investigation part done many times in other films, but it is still compelling, because of the strong cast and intelligent plot. Again, I do compare it to Seven because of the violence -- the flashback to Kang's public execution by drawn and quartering is brutal and hard to watch. One curious note -- in the Korean film review site, the reviewer notes of the chickens that are killed towards the end of the film, as a means to ward off the vengeful demon, and it is indeed unexpected and unnecessarily graphic. But it is an odd moment in a very good movie. Recommended.

Who's Got the Tape?

Who's Got the Tape? is a silly, funny and entertaining film about three low level gangsters who in trying to make easy money get in way over their heads. Yoo Dong-geun plays Tae-sik, who comes across a video tape with his two buddies, Bonehead (Lee Moon-sik) and Fencer (Choi Ryung), that shows an illegal transaction between a corporate president and a crooked politician. He knows that this with lead to a rich payoff if given to the right people. They blackmail the official for its return. But while visiting his girlfriend, who runs a video rental store, he accidentally leaves it behind, and it is stolen by Dong-moo (Lee Sung-jin), thinking it was a dirty movie. But he loses it when his brother, who happens to be a district attourney, takes it along with a pile of other tapes to his office. Tae-sik and and the others find Dong-moo and try to intimidate him to give them the tape by pretending to be undercover cops. When Tae-sik realizes that Dong-moo does not know where the tape is, he and the others take the boy and roam throughout the city, falling into one situation after another, in search for the tape. During the search Tae-sik and Dong-moo form a bond -- Tae-sik being the kind of man of action that Dong-moo has always dreamed about, especially when it comes to women. Dong-moo has a crush on a girl who works at a convenience store, but she has a boyfriend, who intimidates him. Tae-sik's girlfriend, an ex-stripper before going into the video rental business, wants to marry him, but he is not willing to commit. Plus, he is a low life gangster with no future. During their search, Tae-sik actually has to pretend to be a police detective, first coming across a murder scene, then helping out another detective. Because of his crooked background, his insights on the crime scenes cause the other policemen to admire him. Finally, he helps Dong-moo, who becomes involved in a hostage situation, originally meant to be a staged robbery where Dong-moo would win the convenience girl's heart by acting manly and saving her. Instead, a real crook comes to rob the store. Tae-sik apprehends the man in front of a huge crowd of police and civilians, and is seen as a hero. But the video tape is still missing! Dong-moo finds the video tape at his brother's office, and brings it to the others. They all celebrate, and dream of the riches that will come their way. They meet the official in a warehouse, and give them the tape. Instead of giving them money, the official unleashes a gang of thugs against them, resulting in a huge battle royale where Bonehead and Fencer are almost left for dead. But Tae-sik manages to escape, and stumbles across a group of officers. He organizes a cavalry, and a huge battle ensues in the warehouse, and all the criminals are captured. The movie ends with Tae-sik marrying his girlfriend and Dong-moo finally getting the girl.

The film blends action, pseudo machismo, and slapstick perfectly, into an enjoyable two hour mismash. Sure, like most Korean films, it could have been trimmed down by fifteen minutes -- there are a few scenes that could have been left on the cutting room floor, like Tae-sik going out to the countryside to bring his girlfriend back to the city. It explains little, and slows the movie down, but the chemistry between the four main leads are what sells this film. Yoo Dong-geun is just great, and Lee Moon-sik and Choi Ryung are a great pair, providing most of the laughs. Mi-ryeung Cho makes the most of her role as the girlfriend -- really, except for her and Dong-moo's love interest, there are no other women in the film. The action scenes are well done -- they remind me of the insane fights from the classic Nowhere to Run. Who's Got the Tape? is a watchable delight, a fun comedy from 2004. Rent it!

Three Yakuza

Three Yakuza is a surprisingly good anthology, a film with three unique and genre bending tales of men who live a drifter's life. The first tale stars Nakadai Tatsuya as a yakuza on the run, having killed two officials to avenge the death of his gang's boss. While on the run he encounters a man who appears to be a one eyed bandit on the road. Instead of starting a fight, Nakadai introduces himself, and gives him some money. While walking in the forest, amid the wind and darkness, he hears footsteps behind him. It is the bandit, and he attacks him, but is quickly killed by Nakadai's swift swordplay. He finds a village, and introduces himself to a man who works for the local gang. His reputation proceeds himself, and despite Nakadai's situation, the gang boss takes him in. A gang member staggers back into town, and dies from his wounds. Before he dies he brings word of an impending attack. Nakadai is asked to help out in return for their hospitality. There is a disturbance in the brothel as well, as a prostitute is wielding a knife and warding off the others from coming hear her. She is grieving for her love, who was a one night stand and had promised to buy her freedom. Nakadai subdues her and she is tossed into the basement, with Nakadai as her guard. He finds out that her love was the one eyed bandit whom he killed, and taken by her beauty and goodness, tells her so. She grieves, but has fallen in love with Nakadai. Meanwhile, the boss, in a conversation with a local official, sells Nakadai out in order to gain protection. The one eyed bandit's brother steals into the basement, intent on revenge, but Nakadai subdues him. He drags him outside, into a closet, and tells him he wants to make amends, and when the gang is away, to take her away to safety. Nakadai goes with the gang, into the forest, to battle, but a trap is set: Nakadai has double crossed them, surrendering to the officials, who are there to arrest everyone. However, Nakadai is himself killed during the scuffle.

The second tale is about two gamblers on the run: Matsukata Hiroki and Shimura Takashi, who flee in a snowstorm, and take refuge in a house in the woods. There is no one home, so they start a fire and cook some food. Later, a woman (Fuji Junko) arrives -- it is her place, and she is terrified by the two strangers. Shimura recognizes her name, and tells her a story of a man who would come by this house to see her and her mother, pointing out the wooden doll he made her. She remembers and welcomes them as guests. Her mother had died some time ago, and blamed her demise on her no good father, who had abandoned them. Shimura reveals himself to be her father; a tatoo on his arm reveals his past. Upset, she tossers them both out into the cold. Matsukata tell him not to run away from his past but to go to her, as she needs a father, even a no good gambler like himself. Shimura does, and Matsukata goes away, to face the pursuers who arrive and fight.....

The final tale stars superstar Nakamura Kinnosuke as a wandering yakuza who stumbles into a town, where, upon finding that he is a swordsman, treat him lavishly, offering shelter, food, and a beautiful woman. In fact, he is a yakuza in name only, as he holds dear to the code of a yakuza rather than living the life. Despite having a sword, he has never used it. To his dismay, he learns that the villagers' hospitality comes at a price: they want him to kill the official who comes to town every month to collect taxes. A dangerous swordsman and a cruel official, he taxes them ruthlessly to the point where they can no longer live. Nakamura has no choice but to accept. Despite his deception he is an honorable man - he refuses to touch the woman who stays with him that evening. She is attracted to his honesty and good soul. He steals away during the night, but is thwarted by a boy whom he had promised to go trapping with. The boy shows him his animal trap that he made in the woods. Nakamura decides to stay despite better judgement. In the morning, the official comes into town, and Nakamura meets him on the road. But watching the official's swordplay scares Nakamura, and he abandons any attempt to kill him. The villagers pounce on him, berating him, and they would have done more except another swordsman comes into town, and they pounce on him, lavishing the same attention and treatment as they did to Nakamura. Only the woman shows any compassion for him. The new swordsman agrees to the task, and with Nakamura following, confronts the official in the woods. To Nakamura's astonishment, the official buys him out, and the swordsman reveals that it was the village head that conspired this. The official runs back to town and arrests the leader. The boy happens to be the leader's son, and it is his grief that spurs Nakamura into action. In the forest he frees the villager by cutting the rope, and tries desperately to flee from the official's sword. They come near the boy's animal trap, and Nakamura manages to ensnare the official in it, killing him. Nakamura flees, leaving the villagers grateful and humbled by the appearance of this "goblin" who had been sent to test their faith. The woman searches for him in vain, but the ending is left open ended, as he tosses aside his yakuza gear and runs after her.

This is a gem of a movie. The stories are well told and smart, taking the conventions of the period tale and adding something new to it -- the final tale especially, as Nakamura was a well known star, playing roles of strong, daring warriors. Here he is a coward and a poor swordsman as well. The dvd I watched this on had decent quality, widescreen, however this deserves a Criterion treatment. How I miss Home Vision Cinema, a sister reissue program that disappeared last year! They would certainly reissue it. Fuji Junko shines as the daughter, looking quite different than the later Red Peony series that she became famous for. Shimura, the great actor from many Kurosawa films, is a welcome presence as well. I highly recommend this!

South of the Border

Over South of the Border is a 2006 release, about a North Korean man and his family fleeing to South Korea, the upheaval it causes in their lives, and their eventual integration to the new modern society. Kim Seon-ho (played by Cha Seung-won) was a horn player in the orchestra, and he was happily engaged to Young-hwa (Jo Yi-jin). But little did anyone know that his grandfather, a once honored hero, had fled to the south, and this threatened the remaining family, as this made them look like sympathisers in the eyes of the Communist party. Kim Seon-ho asks Young-hwa to come with him, but she has to stay behind, as she could not leave her ailing parents. So he promises to make arrangements for her and her parents when he establishes himself in Seoul. The trip across is long and dangerous, but they make it across. In Seoul they discover that life is very different; a city of lights and movement; of women dressed provocatively in ads, and televsion showing all different kinds of things. Seon-ho tries out many different jobs, all menial, scraping together enough money for his fiancee. He meets a man who promises to grease the right palms, but after giving him the money, he later finds out that he is a con man out to take advantage of people like him. Furious, he confronts him in a restaurant, and starts a fight. He is beaten soundly. He staggers back to a restaurant where he had been working, and the woman owner takes care of him, and a relationship between the two develops. They end up living together, and start up a new restaurant, which emphasizes a more North Korean cuisine. One day he is watching the tv and sees that a huge number of refugees have crossed into South Korea, and through a connection, finds out that one of them is his fiancee. He secretly goes to see her, and they are reunited, however, he fails to tell her of his new situation. They have a brief but blissful fling, but Young-hwa realizes that things have changed, and while claiming to go out to get groceries, leaves him for good. Seon-ho ends up back with the other woman, marries and has a child. At the end of the film while taking the family to a photo shoot, he discovers that Young-hwa has indeed moved on and started to build a new life for herself.

What is interesting about this film is at times it feels like a documentary, that you are watching a unique ascpect of Korean culture -- that of the immigrants from the north. From the living quarters to the jobs, the film does a good job of capturing the hard life that they endure, but also the benefits of being in an affluent society. Cha Seung-won does a good job of portaying a man deeply in love and also feeling somewhat overwhelmed by his new environment. Jo Yi-jin provides a much needed visual and character relief; however, the soap opera aspect of the latter half of the film, where she joins him in South Korea, is trite and not very well resolved. A worthy rental, check it out!

More reviews coming......

With the Thanksgiving holidays, an incredible amount of office work, and having a wonderful woman come into my life, it has been very hard to post reviews as of late, much less watch. But there are some coming -- I just placed an order for this incredible Mikio Naruse box set, from the Masters of Cinema series from the UK (PAL only, of course!). Criterion will reissue another Naruse film, A Woman Ascends the Stairs, practically impossible to find on VHS nowadays. Also, Criterion is reissuing Yojimbo and Sanjuro - again, yes, but the original sources used were worse than the VHS copies, and now they have gone back and have upgraded from fine source prints. More to come!

Sketches of Frank Gehry

The first documentary by Sydney Pollack, Sketches of Frank Gehry is a remarkable look at a controversial and innovative artist who uses architecture as a means for creative expression. Pollack, a good friend of Gehry's, effectively portrays Gehry as a man who is hard driven yet humble and honest about his work, willing to take enormous risks in a field where it is frowned upon. Gehry uses his drawings, loose line sketches that at first glance looks like a Jackson Pollock drip painting, to get a feel or an impression of a project, and then it is used to build models, which are his primary medium to create the structure. He creates several models of various sizes, in order to get a sense of scale as well as not becoming wedded to a design that only works on a particular scale. He is assisted by a couple of designers who are essentially his right hand men, executing design tasks and shaping the models, responding to Gehry's creative impulses. His architecture office is a creative workshop where people design, build and rework various projects. There are interviews with known people in architecture and art -- Philip Johnson, Ed Ruscha, Hal Foster (a major art critic providing the lone dissenting voice, showing his own limitations with regards to the arts), actor Dennis Hopper, Michael Ovtiz, Michael Eisner, Bob Geldolf, and others. What is he most known for? In the 70's and 80's he did a lot of work on private homes, especially his own, which was typecast as part of the Deconstructivist aesthetic of the time. Deconstruction, in the crudest of definitions, is a breaking down a structure, language, sign or object in order to create something new. Gehry's innovative use of materials and taking things like chain link fences and using them in a different way, pushing them up in the sky at angles, redefined the common acceptance of the role of materials and how a structure should be. His most famous work, a project done for the Guggenheim Museum, is the Bilbao museum in Spain, completed in the late 90's. The curved surfaces soar out of the industrial skyline, and reflect the sun light like a jewel. It was seen as a masterpiece of building when it was completed, and for the past decade there has been a trend where cities are looking to commission architectural centerpieces to revive or boost their local economies, like the museum has done for Bilbao. A more recent work has been the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Pollack does a good job of running down the list of Gehry's architectural highlights, but most importantly, he gives a clear view of one man's creative thinking process, and the high levels of craft, design and work that is put into each work. While not recommended for the casual viewer, this is a revealing look at one of the top creative minds of our time. I liked it a lot!

A Sumptuous yet Unsatisfying Banquet

The Banquet is this year's epic film release from China. Like Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and The Promise, it is filled with gorgeous visuals, slow motion action sequences, and a stellar cast, headed by Zhang Ziyi as the Empress Wan, and Daniel Wu as Crown Prince Wu Luan, whose father was assassinated by his uncle Li (Ge You) before the movie begins. The story has a Shakespearian feel, and that is because it is strongly influenced by but not an adaptation of Hamlet. The common thread in both is the revenge of the son on the new ruler, but the bloodlines have been made more complicated in The Banquet by making Wan a childhood friend and potential lover to Wu Luan, who was forced to marry his father, and is now the object of Emperor Li's desires. Li has established his rule, but Wan, in trying to reach Wu Luan (in seclusion, pursuing an artistic life as a performer), made his whereabouts known, and Li sends a band of assassins to kill him. They fail. Wu Luan does return to the palace, to see his uncle, but also to see his love, Quing Nu (Zhou Xun), who was to be betrothed to him, but because of the new regime, is being asked by her father to abandon her love, for the family's sake. Wan becomes Li's lover and Empress, bowing down to him in a tense court scene where one of Li's generals makes the fatal mistake of acknowledging Wan as Li's superior in the line of rule. The general is beaten to death in a public display. Wan, who still loves Wu Luan, meets with him privately, but Wu Luan is disgusted by the corruption and lust for power that has overcome her; she is no longer his little Wan, and she acknowledges that she has trouble remembering her real name. During the ceremony where Wan becomes Empress and Li's consort, Wu Luan is asked to do a performance showcasing his swordsmanship. The display becomes something more when one of the guards switches the wooden sword for a real one, and tries to kill Wu Luan. But Wan prevents this from happening, and the assassination attempt is thwarted. Wu Luan is sent to a neighboring country to be an ambassador, but it is a set up to have him killed in the snowy northern region. They are thwarted again, this time by Quing Nu's brother and his men. Li decides to hold a banquet, "inviting" the lords and ladies of the country to attend, or be killed as traitors. Wan has decided to plot against her lord by drugging his cup with poison, but before he drinks from it, a surprise request is made by Quing Nu, who publicly declares her love for Wu Luan in a song and dance. Li is moved by her performance, and gives her the cup to drink. She does, and dies. One of the dancers performing with her removes his mask, and reveals himself to be Wu Luan. Li is stunned by this betrayed by the woman he loves, and kills himself before Wu Luan could storm past the guards to slay him. Wan, triumphant, wants to declare Wu Luan the new Emperor, but he is horrified by the title, and resists. Quing Nu's brother attempts to kill Wan, but Wu Luan stops him by grabbing the sword by the blade, and Wan kills him. The blade is poisoned, and to Wan's horror Wu Luan dies. Wan is left both miserable and elated at being ruler of all China, yet she is killed herself by an unknown assassin.

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, having seen the previews and online press releases. However, having watched it, I see it as another big budget epic that falls short of its expectations. Of all the films I have mentioned earlier, I think Hero is the only one which has grown better upon repeated viewing . One problem is the choice of actors. I think Daniel Wu is miscast, because I don't think he can convey effectively the range of emotions needed in this role -- he's too much a "pretty face," like Tom Cruise. Zhang Ziyi, a very fine actress, seems a bit handicapped with her role, which was required to be a facade for her character's true intents for most of the film. She ends up being a visual object, a feast for the eyes like most everything in the film, and only in the last scene of the movie do you feel she can "breathe." And perhaps that is the object of the film, to be a highly mannered movie where everyone is confined by power politics and rituals of the Imperial court. But it is too restrained. The stunning and rich visuals overwhelm by their opulence. The color schemes and lighting are worked very hard to focus on the essentials, but it still distracts and at times competes with the actors. Most of all, I think the direction is mediocre. The action sequences are too composed, the courtroom drama feels very distant, the juxtaposition of several scenes are awkward - Wan's bedroom scene with Li while cutting back to Wu Luan's scene with his father's empty armor, for instance. The movie is very rigid, suffocating its actors, the scenes and preventing the viewer from being emotionally involved in the film. Asian film buffs will certainly want to see it, but better films have been made -- check out any of King Hu's films from the 60's and 70's, for example. For the casual viewer, this two hour epic will make you tired and restless.

School's Out for Everyone Involved - Mr Wacky

Mr Wacky is a cut and paste comedy that has no direction, poor acting, and a story that meanders from cheap laughs to mild melodrama. Park Geon-hyeong plays Ju-Ho, a young playboy who spends every living moment chasing women and driving fast cars. While on a visit to the hospital to see his grandfather (who has had an operation for hemorrhoids), Ju-Ho gets a piece of bad news -- his grandfather wants him to fulfill his mother's wish for him to be a teacher. The grandfather has cut all funds, even out of his will, so the only way Ju-Ho can get back into the lifestyle he is accustomed to is to teach for two years. Reluctantly, he does, but instead of being a teacher's assistant, he is handed responsibility for an entire class without any help. Ju-Ho has no idea how to go about this -- so he shirks his duties, phones in his assignments to the class president who then relays the message, or lets the class have it's way while he kills time until the time is up. He is content to coast along like this, but is thwarted by another teacher, So-Yu Un, who keeps everyone in line, and pushes Ju-Ho to actually do some teaching. So-Yu lives a lonely bachelorette existence, and it become clear that she will be the love interest, though the only thing they have in common is a bad attitude. They get together, fall for each other, then So-Yu disappears from the rest of the film. Ju-Ho deals with the various school cliques, helps out one young girl, and eventually leaves the school. The end of the film leaves him teaching a grade school class, with a more professional attitude.

I can tolerate mediocre films, especially the hack comedies, but by any standards this is a piece of garbage, with nothing to recommend. Tedious and boring, devoid of imagination. Avoid at all costs.

Election 2

On the heels of Election (released in 2005), Johnny To has directed another terrific crime movie, Election 2. In fact, comparisons can be made to Coppola's Godfather films, or even Scorsese's recent film, the Departed (which was itself a remake of a Hong Kong crime trilogy, Infernal Affairs). The story, directing and acting are all top notch, and this has to be considered one of the top movies of the year, from any country. It's that good. Veteran actor Simon Yam plays Lok, the head of the Hong Kong triad syndicate, comprised of elderly board members who elect a new leader every two years. The first film dealt with Lok's rise to power, competing against rival factions to grab the top spot, which brings great power and prestige. But once elected, one can not be reelected. In Election 2, it is at the end of Lok's two year term, and Lok wants to do the unthinkable and run again. He has support from some of the board members, but others want to support a new comer, top businessman and illegal dvd copier and porn distributor Jimmy (played by Louis Koo). Jimmy wants no part in this ploy; however, after being busted in a deal at a restaurant, he discovers that in order to do business in China he must run for Chairman of the triads, and he reluctantly does so. During the course of the film we see Jimmy embrace the life he so much abhorrs, in the process becoming more brutal and violent than his rival, Lok. The scenes of Jimmy and his henchmen torturing one of Lok's supporters, then dispatching him is harrowing and disturbing. Even his own men are shocked by his callousness. But it does the job, he secures support of Lok's followers and his henchmen, and at the end of the film, Lok is killed, while Jimmy achieves his dreams of having business connections with the mainland, having a house on top of a hill, and marrying his sweetheart. Until at the end of the film, he discovers that it all has a price, and that is he must maintain leadership of the triad for many years to come; which means he has to break tradition and be reelected.

Apparently Election 2 was banned in China for its content, and I'm not talking about the bloody violence of this film. This is an indictment of China's assimilation of Hong Kong, by portraying Chinese officials as ruthless, coldblooded men who work with Jimmy to influence and control the long standing and venerable triad society in Hong Kong. Not that anyone is truly good in this film, but it is a unique and imaginative look at the inevitable assimilation of Hong Kong into China, using the factions as symbols for territory and the country. Simon Yam is good as always, but Louis Koo gives a command performance as Jimmy, a man who just wants to make a lot of money, but not get his hands dirty by being involved with the triads. His cold blooded anger at being forced to play the election game makes him into one of the most evil crime lords ever to grace the movie screen. And Johnny To, the one director remaining from the glory days of Hong Kong's film industry in the 80's and early 90's, is outstanding. Watch this film and compare it to Scorsese's the Departed -- they are eerily similar in visuals and cuts. But where Scorsese is revisiting the successes of his past films, To is building upon a remarkable filmography. Everything is shot just right, there are no wasted moments. The pacing, while slower than the first film, builds up to a satisfying climax, with a twist at the end that makes all involved pawns of a larger game. This gets my highest recommendation; one of the best films of 2006.

Red Angel update

Well finally, Masumura's Red Angel is available on dvd. I had mentioned the movie in a previous blog in September, and after some delay, it is here. This is a powerful war movie for the early to mid 60's, reminiscent of the American war films about Vietnam in the 80's. Ayako Wakao plays Nishi, a pretty nurse who is sent to China to work in the military hospitals. Japan had invaded Manchuria, and was looking to drive a deep wedge into the country, but had foolishly overestimated their power and underestimated the massive size of land and people. The Japanese attack was stretched thin and were being cut off from supply routes, and casualties were mounting. Behind the front lines, the injured and the dead were piling up in the maske shift hospitals. Nishi, during her first week at the hospital as a nurse, is raped by a patient. She reports him, and as punishment he is sent off to the front lines, where he is mortally wounded in combat. Nishi is sent to work with Dr. Akabe, who is literally knee deep with casualties, and for days straight they work tirelessly to tend to the wounded. They grow close, and Nishi falls in love with Akabe. She goes back to her first workplace, where she maintains her connection to Akabe by tending to an injured soldier who has lost both his arms. She revives him not only as a nurse, but also as a woman. However, giving him this treatment makes the soldier aware of his handicapped status, and he kills himself by jumping off of the roof. Nishi is devastated, but is told by the head nurse not to get so personal with the patients -- it's the only way the nurses can survive the war, by not thinking of them as men but soldiers. She goes back to work with Dr Akabe, and for three days straight they all tend to the hundreds of soldiers that come piling back from the front lines; massive casualties are incurred. In an unforgettable scene, nurses and doctors hack away at useless limbs, soldiers die before and during operation, and when things grow calm, they brush and mop up the pools of blood from the floor. It is a terrible situation. Dr. Akabe is assigned to the front lines, to help a doctor who is overwhelmed by the injured. Nishi volunteers to help, and they and a young recruited nurse join them. They never reach the front lines, but the rear guard, as they discover that they all have been cut off from the supply line, surrounded by the Chinese. They are planning a massive attack on the line, and everyone is planning for the worst. There is also an outbreak of cholera in the camp, first from the comfort women, then from the soldiers. Dr Akabe and Nishi declare their love for each other the night before the attack. At dawn, the Chinese attack, and everyone is wiped out, except for Nishi, who somehow survives by being buried under rubble. A group of Japanese soldiers arrive, having thwarted the attack, but Nishi is left disconsolate as he discovers Dr. Akabe's body in the field.

This is a well done film about the casualties of war, and a woman who because of her sex and her job is as much a victim of war as the soldiers who are being brutalized on the front. The black and white imagery is used to its fullest, taking advantage of the many night scenes, and the final battle which takes place at dawn. Ayako Wakao gives a fine performance. It is a Japanese film that looks at war the same way the US did about Vietnam much later. The documentary feel of the hospital scenes still shock, but are not as graphic as it could be, because of the lack of color. A well told story. Highly recommended.

Ken aka The Sword

Ken is a 60's film starring Ichikawa Raizo, and directed by Misumi Kenji, both known for their work in period samurai films. Here the setting is more contemporary; 60's Japan. Based on a novel by Mishima Yukio, Ichikawa plays the main character, Kokubu Jiro, a star pupil of a univerity Kendo club, who is known for his single-minded devotion to the sport. Neither games, drinking, girl chasing, or television interest him, as it does his friends and classmates. Kokubu has a rival in the club, Kagawa, the second best in the club, who is constantly trying to better him, but is never able to. The club is about to enter a major tournament, and Kokobu is given charge of training the group. They go to a seaside resort, described as a "rustic village," but scenic and a perfect place to train the young men. Kokubu puts them through a gruelling two week training, where they work so hard that they can't eat. The point is to bring them up to a high physical level, and mentally to that transcendent state that will enable them to win. However, Kagawa is harboring resentment towards his classmate, and has tried several ways to bring him down. For instance, he tries to seduce him with a university female student; it fails, and she falls in love with him, though it is not reciprocated. Finally, on the second to last day of training, while Kokubu and several others go to the docks to await the arrival of their master, Kagawa convinces the others to go for a swim, something that was forbidden for them to do. The master and the others come back as they are returning from the swim. The master is furious; Kokubu horrified. Kagawa is expelled from the training, but not from the group, and is allowed to return for the competition. But Kokubu has lost his control over the class, and this apparent lack of leadership causes him to commit suicide. The movie ends with the class mourning over the loss.

This is a simple story, beautifully shot, with excellent direction by Mitsumi, focusing on the school and the process of training, giving it a documentary feeling. The melodrama is provided by Kagawa and Kokubu's potential love interest, showing the conflict between dedication to one's craft versus indulging in the pleasures of everyday life. Ichikawa Raizo acts with restraint and nobility, and I think this is one of his finest roles. Recommended!

Strange Circus - An Incredible Nightmare

Strange Circus is a mind blower. Directed by Sion Sono, the man who is known for his US distributed film Suicide Circle, he has put forth another solid effort that will disturb and shock. It is a film filled with dreamlike imagery, dual roles, sex, violence, and decadent posturing, all centering around a Japanese family that has gone way beyond nuclear. Misumi Miyazaki puts in a stellar performance as the wife of a wealthy man who is, to put it mildly, oversexed. She shares his passions, but their exuberant lovemaking stirs Matsuko, their young daughter, to peek into the bedroom to see what is going on. She slips away, but the father sensed someone watching them, and figured it was her. He molests her after she brings a bad report card, thus beginning a downward spiral into abuse and madness for the child. He forces her into a cello, where she sees her parents making violent love through a hole in the case. He has sex with her in secret. Eventually the mother finds out, but instead of leaving her husband, becomes sexual rivals with her daughter as they both service his insatiable needs. Both mother and daughter lose their grip on reality; Matsuko can not distinguish herself from her mother, and sees them as one and the same, especially in bed; the mother begins to abuse the child as an outlet for her anger and helplessness. In a quarrel involving a lost pearl earring, Matsuko pushes her mother down the stairs and kills her. The movie then changes to Taeko, also played by Miyazaki, a novellist bound to a wheelchair, and having a taste for decadence, as shown by her workplace and the men that are around her. A newcomer to the circle arrives, a young effeminate man named Yuji, hired by Taeko to be her assistant. He takes her to various places for writing inspiration and just for company. Yuji finds out that Taeko is not who she seems to be -- she has no need for the wheelchair, that she can walk, and that the novel that she is writing -- which is the mother/daughter story shown earlier. Is Taeko actually Matsuko? Yuji is asked by Taeko's associates to investigate further for their own tabloid papers, and he agrees, but for a different reason. Yuji becomes part of a group of people who have done self mutilation, and the reason for his inclusion becomes known later. Taeko is clearly an unbalanced woman, finishing Matsuko's tale -- Matsuko tries to kill herself but fails, and ends up in a wheelchair. No longer a viable sexual outlet, her father takes up with a group of younger women, screwing them around the house, ignoring her daughter. Taeko has nightmares that refers to a more personal experience relating to her novel, dreaming of herself in the wheelchair, of having sex with her father, etc. And she has a cello case with her in a locked room that she talks to. Yuji puts the pieces together, and calls Taeko to inform her that he has the thing inside the cello and has brought it to the old house, which is the house referred to in the book. Taeko arrives, and Yuji confronts her, saying that he knows all, and asks if she is so demented that she can't recognize who he really is. Taeko is confused, until Yuji reveals his chest, which shows scars where there were once breasts. Yuji is Matsuko! And Taeko is the mom, surviving only by putting herself in a state of denial, and thinking that she was her daughter, killing herself in her mind. Matsuko was the one who was pushed down the stairs, and almost died. But she was brought to the hospital, and there officials detected child molestation, and had her removed from the parents and placed into a foster home. But Matsuko was never well mentally, and removed whatever obvious signs of femininity to remove herself from her past. Matsuko brings her mother up to the bedroom, where her husband, still alive, limbless, is twitching on the bed, a big bloody stump. Matsuko goes insane, and chains her mom to the bed, as her daughter brings out a chainsaw, ready to remove her own limbs, to bring about the conclusion of Taeko's novel, father and mother in bed limbless.

Not your average film. While the over-the-top conclusion is messy, and the incestuous storyline hard to watch, it is compensated by an excellent directorial effort by Sion Sono, who is also a poet and is well known in Japan for his performance pieces. He reminds me of Jodorowsky and his circle from the late 60's to early 70's -- the films like El Topo, Alucarda, Mansion of Madness, and the later film Santa Sangre all are excellent works that exemplify the "art" film, where reality gives way to the surreal, and the poetry of images takes precedence rather than logic or meaning. But even art films have their own story, their own logic, just as abstractions and conceptual pieces in the art world, and it is the viewer's job, should he or she take it, to experience the piece and come to a conclusion. Does this film succeed? Absolutely yes! The visuals, and the story are well done, intelligent and creative. I think the film does lose marks for the ending, where it seems Sono is trying to outdo Takashi Miike, with it's hysterics. Part of it may have to do with the uneven acting of Issei Ishida, who plays Yuji, where for most of the film he is quiet and laid back. At the end he is laughing maniacally and screaming, but overdoing it. And the story is tied up a bit too neatly by the violent ending, a purge for the daughter as well as the mother, which, compared to the rest of the film, seems conventional. This will be a hot film to watch for those who love the outre or psychotronic movies; all others should find something more pleasant to watch. I think this is an extremely well made and disturbing film, despite the subject matter.

To Sir With Love - Unusual Revenge Tale

To Sir With Love is a recent horror film from Korea, a summer hit that is either good or bad, depending on how you accept the "twist" at the end, which changes your concept of the entire movie. I see it as an uneven film that has many strong elements in it, but are not taken advantage of, and instead settles for what they think is a clever take on the slasher film. The "Sir" in the movie actually refers to a female teacher, the reasons for which I do not know. Perhaps it is because of the high esteem and value that teachers have in Korean society, as a leader, mentor, guide and instructor to the youth. I have seen in many films, comedy, drama, or otherwise where teachers regularly discipline their students -- by discipline I mean something a lot stronger than a nun whacking a child's hands for being naughty. Abuse is putting it mildly, but that is my own colored viewpoint. Or maybe not, as this film seems to assert. To Sir with Love is about a group of people who have a reunion with their old teacher, now an invalid and is being taken care of by an old classmate of theirs. In fact, she invited them out to the seashore where they are staying. There is a jock who is now pudgy, a glamorous woman who used to be fat in school, a silent young man (silent in school as well), an engaged couple who used to be class president and vice-president, and a handsome but dangerous James Dean type young man. All are there to see their old teacher, and all harbor a grudge against her. All except the woman who is caring for her. The teacher, as shown in quick cutting flashbacks, seems to have had a rough life -- she gave birth to a child (out of wedlock? from another man?) who was not loved by the father. In fact, he made every attempt to trash the poor boy, beating him until he became deformed, and his mother had to care for him in the basement, never to let him wander out. Her husband later kills himself. One can only assume that this behavior influenced the woman as a teacher, in administering punishment or her lack of care towards her students. Though never explicitly shown, one infers that the jock had his knee busted by her, for failing to run hard enough, the James Dean guy was sexually molested, the silent man made fun of constantly in class, the glamorous woman made fun of her weight, and mistreating the class president. They have a cookout and seem to have a pleasant time, until the class president, not containing his anger, bursts out that they are hypocrites to make bygones be bygones. He runs away, and later on is attacked by a man wearing a bunny mask, imprisoned in the basement, and killed. Hie fiancee meets the same fate, as the jock. The glamorous woman tries to kill the teacher, but is foiled by the care taker. The James Dean guy is attacked by the masked man, who turns out to be the silent man, and both kill each other. The glamorous woman is killed by the care taker as she tries to kill the teacher (again) by pushing her wheelchair off a cliff, but is instead killed herself in the struggle. The caretaker and the teacher survive, and the care taker tells the entire story to the police. Upon further investigation, the detective finds out that the killer was the care taker herself, and that her story was entirely made up -- she poisoned the whole group during the dinner -- there was no slasher! The teacher and the caretaker are on the pier, where she lashes out at the teacher. Her indifference towards her hand made gift to her caused the care taker's mom to go out and seek her, but is struck by a car (again with the hit and run!) and is made an invalid. This is the caretaker's revenge, to continue to make the teacher's life a living hell up till the end. She then kills herself, and the teacher, grief stricken, throws herself into the water as well.

I think this would have been a really powerful movie if it was about the reunion and the grudges for past grievances, instead of a slasher film. Sure, it was a red herring, but the final result is no more satisfying or clear. If it was about the teacher, how she conducted the class, her abusive relationship to the students, and make it about her comeuppance, bloody or not, it would have been a more interesting film to watch. But like in so many other recent films, too much effort is made in trying to do something different to a genre, and as a result becomes too clever for its own good, or ends up becoming the very thing it is trying to transcend. The quick cutting, which keeps things moving and the viewer interested, is subverted by the plot. While it is certainly different than the typical Asian horror, like the Ring or Ju-On, it doesn't do enough. In terms of revenge, the director of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Oldboy owns that genre. Perhaps they should have looked more closely at his works, as they provide a rich and detailed background for the characters which brings motive and drive to do the awful things they do. Here it is all a product of a deranged woman's mind, and one can't help but feel cheated out of a decent story.

Another Long Haired Ghost - Arang

First time director Ahn Sang-hoon helms this uneven thriller, Arang, which, despite some interesting takes on a done-to-death horror theme, fails to hold an interest. Veteran cop So-young (Song Yoon-ah), and her rookie partner transfer from the Forensic division, Hyun-gi (Lee Dong-wook) investigate a murder where a man is literally burned to death. But the autopsy reveals the man died an unnatural death; the burns were generated from inside, not outside. There is a connection to a tape that was found, where a girl is gang raped by several schoolmates -- the man was one of the boys in the group. One by one, the men involved start to die, and it becomes a race against time to find the killer. However, there are complications. Hyun-gi keeps messing up the investigation by distracting So-young, who has a checkered past of her own. She was raped by a man with a scar on his wrist, and part of the reason why she became a cop is to find and kill him. She also has disciplinary problems -- suspension for abusing a man held in custody. The killer is never caught, because it is the spirit of the dead girl, seeking vengeance against those who abused her. She was thought to have committed suicide after the rape, but it turns out that she was killed by another man who stumbled upon the scene. The detectives, though, find one of the remaining men at his home, half insane, his wife dead on the living room floor. The spirit had tried to kill him before the police came. She succeeds in the interrogation room at police headquarters, as he chokes himself to death. So-young is still troubled by the events of the case, and while reviewing the tape again, she discovers that there was another person at the scene of the crime. It turns out to be her partner, Hyun-gi! He had been in love with the girl when they were students, but she had fallen in love with someone else. As a budding photographer, he had taken many shots of her, so this qualified him to be the camera man for the rape scene, though he didn't know they were going to do that to her -- his friends had mentioned something else. Stunned, he tapes the whole thing, until the stranger arrives on the scene and he slips away. She confronts her partner, who has managed to find the stranger, and takes him to an abandoned salt mine, where the girl was buried. At gunpoint, the stranger digs out the girl. So-young then holds her partner at gunpoint, at which point he kills himself, satisfied that he at least made an attempt to atone for his part in the crime.

This is a confusing and extremely bleak and dreary film. Song Yoon-ah and Lee Dong-wook infuse it with a lot of life with their portrayals, but it doesn't compensate for the cheap effects and lame shock scenes with the dead girl. In fact, the main problem with the film is that a lot of elements have been so over done that it suffers in comparison. From quality horror like the Ringu trilogy to Ju-On, to inept works like APT and the amazingly bad Locker/Locker 2 films, Arang's only contribution is to work the detective investigation angle, which works up to a point. The plot suffers by moving from one death scene to another, with no real attempt at suspense. The intro to the film, involving two school girls who stumble upon the spirit at the old building, has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, and is handled very poorly. It would have been much better if the police procedural was the main focus, and the supernatural deaths only alluded to, until the very end. Recommended for K-horror die hards and masochists only.

Samurai Wolf

This is one of the classics of 60's samurai cinema. Clocking in at a sparse 85 minutes, this work by acclaimed director Gosha Hideo takes all the established conventions of the genre and distills it to its bare essentials, producing an intense and exciting action film. A ronin (masterless samurai) named Kiba Okaminosuke (played by Natsuyagi Isao), arrives at a resort town at the foot of the mountains, with no money but a lot of gumption, as he manages to secure a meal and the company of a prostitute. A horse carrying two bodies enters the town, and the villagers identify them as fellow men who had been on assignment as messengers. The town lies at a key transportation point to deliver messages or products to the capitol. A blind woman heads the town and the delivery operation, and there is a rival faction from outside who seeks to control the entire shipping business, eliminating the competition by disrupting transport or killing the messengers. A few members of that group are in town and confront them, but Kiba interferes. A royal official interrupts a potential confrontation, and after the outside gang leaves, offers the blind woman a job she can't refuse: a delivery of 30,000 ryo is coming, and that they would like her to provide transport. She accepts. She explains to Kiba their situation, and that they need his help to make the mission a success, and he accepts. Meanwhile, the rival gang hires their own samurai (played by Uchida Ryohei), to kill Kiba. We discover that everyone has a checkered past, or are related to each other in some way. Only Kiba is the true outsider, and he steadily eliminates the gang members one by one as they try to kill him. The shipment arrives, and the delivery commences, with plans to deceive the enemy, but they are attacked. In the battle the cargo is exposed and it is discovered that they were transporting rocks. It was all a diversion. Many on both sides are killed, and the rival gang destroyed. Kiba confronts Uchida, who makes a claim on the village head - she was Uchida's wife. They fight each other and Uchida is killed. The blind woman returns to town, and Kiba wanders off into the country.

What makes this stand out so much are the stylized action and the attitude, which was similar to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, which were made at the same time as this (1966). It's hard to say who influenced whom, but regardless, it reflected a new attitude towards standard genre films that were growing stale. Gosha Hideo, in his fourth film, had by this point made the successful transition from television to film, and had begun to produce works that redefined the genre, culminating in masterworks like Tenchu, Goyokin, Bandits vs Samurai Squad, and Hunter in the Dark. The camerawork is imaginative here. When at the beginning of the film, the two bodies are brought in by horse, they are brought in the village to be examined. The scene is shot with a body lying on the table, and the main focus is on his dirty feet, while in the background the men are discussing who did it. The blind woman talking to Kiba, and her reflection is seen from his blade is also memorable. The fight scenes are like Sam Peckinpah's -- slow motion, almost silent, and bloody, increasing in violence up to the final fight between the two samurai, where Uchida is bathed in his own blood as he dies. The black and white cinematography is excellent. Highly recommended! A classic.