The Kinggab Review

J-Horror at its finest: Exte Hair Extensions

2008-05-31T09:35:00.002-04:00

C'mon, a horror movie about hair extensions? I've seen some dreadful J-horror in the years following the massive successes of Ringu and Ju-On, most notably The Locker, an abysmal horror flick about evil ghosts that haunt a particular high school locker, and the kids who die if they are assigned it. It even had a sequel. But Exte: Hair Extensions has one thing in its favor, the main reason that drew me to this film: it is directed by Sion Son, the man responsible for two of the most uncompromisingly disturbing and beautifully shot films of this decade, Suicide Circle and Strange Circus. So I took a chance on it, and I am glad I did. This is one of the best horror films I've seen in a long while. Chiaki Kuriyama (actress known best for the vicious schoolgirl roles in Battle Royale and Kill Bill) stars as Yuko Mizushima, an aspiring young hair stylist who is working at a local salon. She has an older sister, Tsugumi, a terrible and abusive mother to her daughter Miku, and spends her time drinking and making love to a local pimp. Tsugumi arrives unexpectedly one day to drop her daughter off while she goes out for a night of binging and trysts. Yuko doesn't know what to do with Miku, especially since she has to go to work. She is disturbed to find bruises covering Miku's body, and the young girl's subservience and manner are hallmarks of an abused child. Yuko tries to connect to her and break through that barrier, but it is slow going -- Miku accidentally breaks one of Yuko's mannequins, and spends the rest of the day cowering in the corner, afraid of what her aunt might do to her. In the meantime, a female body is discovered in a freight crate, covered in hair. An autopsy is done, and she is listed as a Jane Doe. The coroner, however, has a hair fetish, and develops a disturbingly close relationship with the corpse, eventually stealing her from the morgue and taking her home. The corpse continues to grow hair at a super fast pace. The coroner decides that he can make some money by selling the hair as extensions, and he goes off to sell them at the local salons. At one place, the owner purchases some and goes to apply them on a customer. Touching the hair causes a telepathic flashback to the corpse, and how the woman dies. She was kidnapped, raped, and stripped of her hair, eventually left to die. This connection causes the barber to go psychotic, and she kills her customer and herself. The police find a connection between this and the corpse because of the hair. The coroner sells the hair to the salon where Yuko is working. One of her coworkers likes the hair so much she tries it on herself at home, and is killed. Yuko brings some home to practice on. She has also bonded with Miku, despite the girl's accident, by getting her interested in hair cutting. Tsugumi barges into her place one day and over Miku's objections, steals some of her younger sister's clothes and the hair extensions. Tsugumi and her lover are killed by the extensions. The police interview everyone at Yuko's place, and Yuko herself is a person of interest, especially since her sister's death. But it is the coroner they are after, and the police begin a manhunt for him. Yuko realizes that she has left Miku alone with the extensions, and rushes home. Opening the door, she is confronted with a pile of hair which has filled up every square inch of the apartment. Diving in, she rescues Miku, but both are overwhelmed by the hair, and she fall unconscious. Waking up, they find themselves at the coroner's place, but before they are killed, the police come storming in, and in the ensuing chaos the coroner is killed, and the corpse's vengeful spirit laid to rest.

Like I said, this film is nuts! But the inventiveness and direction by Sion Son makes this a classic horror film, taking all the cliche elements of J-horror and putting such a spin on it that it becomes something original. Highly recommended!

Heavenly Forest

2008-05-31T09:06:00.002-04:00

Heavenly Forest is another in a long line of Love Story derivatives -- the pure love of a couple undermined by the terminal illness of one of the partners. Makoto (Hiroshi Tamaki) is a loner teen freshman who meets Shizuru (Aoi Miyazaki) on a street corner on the way to class. Shizuru comes across as very young and immature for a freshman, but the two of them strike up a friendship. Shizuru develops a crush on Makoto who is content to find a pal whom they can explore the park beyond a no trespassing sign and take pictures. This friendship is disrupted by a third person, a gorgeous young woman named Miyuki. Makoto falls for her, and Shizuru is heartbroken, but all three form a little clique, friends one and all. Shizuru makes things more interesting when Makoto finds out that she is no longer living at home, and offers her a place to stay at his house. Overwhelmed with joy, she accepts, but when she offers herself to him, he is embarrassed, and nothing happens. She begins to drop hints about the fleetness of life, and how people should embrace the here and now. She manages to get a picture of her and Makoto kissing, and soon after, she vanishes. Makoto grieves for her disappearance, but it is several years before he hears from her again. He has become a freelance photographer, and one day he receives a letter from Shizuru. She is living in New York, and they make arrangements to meet there. Flying over, he reminisces about their past, and concludes that he is truly in love with her. But she does not meet at the arranged meeting spot. Miyuki does, and a puzzled Makoto goes to her place, where apparently the two women were roommates. Makoto discovers that Shizuru had died of an incurable genetic disease. Makoto goes to a group photo exhibition where Shizuru has her works shown, and finds that she had matured into a beautiful woman, and sees all the pictures of their past. Before returning home to Japan, he makes Miyuki promise to send the rest of her letters (she wrote a whole bunch) to him.

I was all prepared to hate this film, but what saves it is the acting of Aoi Miyazaki and some beautiful cinematography and tight direction by Takehiko Shinjo. Aoi carries this film with her disarming charm and vivaciousness. Watching the relationship grow was what kept my interest, until the usual 2/3 mark where that twist kicks in that undermines the film. I knew that she was going to die, but to have that expectation fulfilled was disappointing -- I wanted something different to happen. I would have preferred that he came to New York and not met her or Miyuki, and have some sort of existential conclusion, with a scene revealing to the viewer that only Miyuki knows what happened to their friend. Ah well. Otherwise, an above average romance film, which is saying a lot from me.

Romance, Johnny To Style: Linger

2008-05-31T08:29:00.002-04:00

After a string of high quality crime films (Election, Exiled), director Johnny To has moved in a different direction with the film Linger. Vic Zhou stars as Dong, an athletic student who at he beginning of the film is seen making love to his girlfriend. Later he arrives at class with another young woman Yan (Li Bing Bing), who teases the girlfriend with their secret relationship, to Dong's annoyance. Dong and Yan have an argument -- where is this all leading to? , with Yan storming off. Dong pursues her on his motorcycle, and in one of the most reckless acts of romance ever, tries to get her to declare her love for him - her in a bus, both moving side by side down the road. Of course, Dong is killed. Move forward several years, and Yan has graduated, and is working as a clerk in a law firm. Dong's death haunts her, to the point where she can no longer sleep without taking drugs. She regularly sees a shrink, who tries to help her move on. The moment she feels strong enough to not take the pills, she has visions of Dong and the accident. Until one day, Dong appears to her, his spirit still lingering on the earth, waiting for her to confront and resolve her past. Their "relationship" becomes a journey of self discovery for Yan, as she meets a client who shows interest in her. He's an ex gang member who is on trial for withholding evidence regarding his boss; a young man who is also at odds with his past, especially when he falls for Yan. The rest of the film finds Yan accepting that she loved Dong, helping Dong's father reconcile with his son, and starting a new path with the young man. Dong is thus able to move to the spirital world, as seen by Yan, drifting off into the ocean on a small sailboat.

I admire Johnnie To for a change of pace. However, this is one weak story, with very unmemorable characters. Even Li Bing bing, one of the major actresses from Asia, struggles to make her character convincing, and it shows. A lesser effort by To.

The Mastery of Miike - Scars of the Sun

2008-05-27T20:08:00.003-04:00

Takashi Miike continues to produce astonishing films. His latest, Scars of the Sun, is part crime drama, part social commentary, with moments of brutal violence that hits the viewer in the gut by being frankly realistic. Katayama is an architect, who, coming home from work one day, stumbles across a mugging of a street person by three teenage kids. Actually, they are beating him to death, and Katayama decides to take things into his own hands and beats up the three teens. This seemingly random act of kindness leads to trouble for Katayama, as his daughter is kidnapped by one of the teenagers (the leader, Kamiki) and murdered. His attempts to seek justice are thwarted by a police force and legal system that protects the youth, and Katayama, by taking the initiative, is seen as a troublemaker, and is blamed for causing his daughter's death. His wife later commits suicide. Kamiki is found, sentenced, and serves three years at a juvenile detention center. He is released on good behavior, and works at a surfboard manufacturing place, taken in by the owner who looks after troubled youth. Katayama learns of Kamiki's release through a probation officer, who asks him to let things be. But Katayama wants justice. His previous attempts, plus his being vocal about killing Kamiki has placed the local cops on alert. He misleads the probation officer by stating that he only wants to see Kamiki, if only to confirm that he is a reformed man. He had been looking for him, but Kamiki, is now under another name. The probation officer takes him to the surfboard place. Katayama sees, him, and runs out from the car and confronts him. The cops have to break it up, and deliver Katayama a stern waning. Kamiki, however, seems to revert to old form, calling on his old chums to monitor Katayama. One of his friends, however, now has a wife and child, and is reluctant to do his bidding. He also had ran into Katayama earlier in his search for Kamiki. But Kamiki threatens his daughter's life, and makes arrangements for a meeting between him, Kamiki, and Katayama. Kamiki in the meantime, purchases guns and ammo online, delivering them to some kids from the old neighborhood, who are enthralled with the weapons. They beat up and shoot the convenience store owner, where at the beginning of the film the initial incident took place. The probation officer is kidnapped by Kamiki, and is used to draw Katayama to the meeting place. He finds Kamiki's friend, dead, and is ambushed by Kamiki's gang. Katayama dispatches the kids one by one, and has it out with Kamiki, and kills the teen. The film ends with Katayama, dying, on top of the building, as the sun rises above.

Scars of the Sun is similar to the excellent The Negotiator in tone, look and subject matter -- that there are systemic problems with Japanese law that allows for people to act criminally, and get away with it. Here it is the troubled teen, those kids who have grown up in an age without rules or mores. According to the film a thirteen year old cannot be sentenced to death nor life in prison for murdering someone -- because of their age, they "don't know what they're doing," and it is more important to rehabilitate them so they can return to society. To Kamiki, this gives them a free pass, a license to kill. Katayma is an interesting character: although he seems like a meek architect, he can more than handle his own against the young thugs, in fisticuffs and with a gun. How is that? It's one of the few things I find questionable in a very good film. To me it is part classic Kurosawa and part Battle Royale, without the over the top violence of the latter. While the average Miike fan might be disappointed that this isn't like DOA or Iichi, this is a thoughtful and well made film that shows Miike's diverseness as a director, and the social commentary of the film ought to keep him as one of the top (if not THE man) directors of Japan. Recommended.

Mad Detective

2008-03-17T21:22:00.003-04:00

Mad Detective is yet another terrific crime drama from the production house of Johnny To, this time directed by Wai-Ka Fai, who also teamed with him on Running on Karma, which starred Andy Lau in a muscle outfit, which was mildly disturbing. This is also an odd film, but the madness lies in its main character, Bun, played by Lau Ching-Wan, a police inspector who has the unusual ability to see the inner self or spirit of people. This paranormal power has made him a famed detective on the level of Sherlock Holmes, but his deductive ability comes not from logic but from raw emotion. He has to reenact a crime to feel it in the first person, and from there he can put together the pieces of the puzzle to solve a case. It also makes him crazy. He loses his wife -- also an investigator, but recreates her in his mind as a companion. He also loses his job when, during the departure of his long time boss, he offers his ear to him as a retirement present.

A year later, a cop comes to Bun in need of help. Ho Ka-On (Andy On), is involved in a case where a fellow cop has gone missing for many months. However, in a couple of recent crimes, a gun was used and analyzing the bullets, it was found that it belonged to the missing cop. Ho has been on this case for a long time, and is running out of leads. Bun, after arguing with his imaginary spouse, agrees to help. He finds that there were two different people who used the same gun, one being the cop's ex partner and an Indian criminal who was still at large. Bun intuits that the ex partner is the murderer, and after meeting him finds that he is a sick yet complex character, having seven different inner selves. But Bun's involvement in the case makes him more and more unstable -- while working with Ho, who is simulating the burying of the cop's body in a park, Bun steals Ho's badge and gun. He bursts into the local police office where the ex partner works, and rifles through his desk and locker. Bun believes that the ex partner had murdered the cop and had his gun stolen by the Indian crook, and has been after him ever since, to get his gun back. The gun he is currently using is the murdered cop's, and he switched the serial numbers on the computer. Ho doesn't learn any of this until very late in the game. He starts to lose faith in Bun, believing that Bun is stark raving mad, and is scared that this could end up badly for him and his career. After talking to Bun, Ho tries one last time to believe him, and arrests the ex partner, but since his gun's serial number matches the owner, now the ex partner, Ho comes to the conclusion that he made a terrible mistake. The ex partner is let go, and instead of filing charges, tells Ho that they are both after the same thing, to solve the crime and put the Indian behind bars. They head off together in search for the Indian, and on a tip, they find him in a building. Bun has followed them, still trying to convince Ho through the cell phone that the ex partner is the killer. There is a four way standoff in the warehouse, and the ex partner kills the Indian, who stated before he died that it has the ex partner who had killed the cop. Ho shoots Bun, thinking that Bun has lost it completely, and Bun kills the ex partner. But Ho realizes that Bun was right all along, and as Bun dies concocts a scheme to prove his story true and end the case.

Blind Mountain

2008-03-01T09:13:00.002-05:00

A selected film for the 2007 Cannes Film festival, Blind Mountain is a disturbing look at a form of marriage in China. A young college graduate is looking for a job, and after several months with no results, is desperate to find work to help support her parents. She befriends a young woman who has a lead on work that would take them to the countryside for several months. But upon arriving at a remote farming village in the mountains, she is drugged and her ID papers and wallet are stolen. She wakes up, alone and in a house where the people there claim that they bought her to be the wife of their son. Horrified, she tries to escape, but everyone -- the family and the villagers, conspire to keep her there, and there is only one way in or out of the town. After a mini hunger strike, refusing to participate with her new family, she is raped by the son, who needs help from his friends to consumate the marriage. She accepts her situation only to be able to move about the town, and meets other young women who have also been abducted. Some have accepted their fate, having born several children; in one case, a woman was crippled to prevent from escaping. She befriends the village teacher, who benefited from only having a high school education, and also wants to leave the village. They have an affair, and plan an escape, but it becomes clear that he was using her sexually, making promises to leave but never doing so. Their affair is discovered, and he is exiled from the village. The young woman sends letters to her family, but they are intercepted and destroyed. She escapes twice, but is captured both times -- once on the mountain road, and the second right out of a bus in a large town many miles away. At no time anyone comes to help her from being abducted. Finally, she becomes pregnant and has the child, a son. If it was to be a daughter, the baby would have been drowned, like another child whose body was discovered in the nearby river. She makes friends with one of the children, who arranges to mail one of her letters. This time it goes through, and her father appears several moths later, with a police escort. But they meet such resistance from the villagers that the officials have to go back to the town to get reinforcements, and the father stays with his daughter. The family tries to steal her away again before the police come back, but while beating up the father, the young woman has had enough, and kills the husband with a knife.

Into the Abyss - Kudo Eiichi's Eleven Samurai

2008-02-20T21:05:00.005-05:00

The Eleven Samurai is one of the great samurai films. No question about it. Having watched it, I am amazed that I have never seen this appear on video tape in the U.S., much less on dvd until now. Other than a mention in the year by year film listings in Alain Silver's excellent book The Samurai Film, he does not include this of any other Kudo Eiichi film in his discussions. What gives? This is right up there with Gosha Hideo's Goyokin and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

It is the early 19th century in Japan. Nariatsu, a high ranking official and son of the former Shogun, is engaged in an animal hunt. In his reckless pursuit of the game, he crosses borders to a neighboring fief and kills a peasant who happens to be in his way. The lord of that fief also happens to be nearby, and witnessing the incident, calls him out on his ruthlessness. Nariastu kills him as well. This murder is covered up by the government, and blame is placed on the dead lord and his fief is slated for disbandment, to be incorporated by the shogun. The dead lord's samurai will not accept this fate. Reckless attempts are made against Nariastu, who frequents a local brothel. A semi organized attempt by a group of samurai is thwarted by the dead lord's chamberlain, who through a contrived sentencing of his own men to commit seppoku, is looking for recruits himself. Ten men and one woman are brought together, later, a ronin joins them, and they bide their time until the time to strike is ripe. Plots and counterplots are hatched by both sides, as all are trying to gain the upper hand of the situation. Nariatsu's chamberlain conceives a devious plan to transport Nariatsu back to his own fief using horses instead of the slower moving entourage; also, he works with the shogun's official to convince the dead lord's chamberlain that the shogun is favoring their side in the matter, and that Nariatsu is punished. All this does is halts a well planned ambush in the forest by the samurai. Once the chamberlain discovers that he was deceived, he mortally wounds himself, then rushes back to his men to tell them of the deception. Furious, they rush after Nariatsu in the pouring rain, attempting to cut them off at the river, which if they cross, Nariatsu would be safe. Nariatsu, in his final act of arrogance, refuses to cross in the downpour, electing to stay at a house nearby an let the storm pass. This gives the samurai enough time to reach them, cut the boats free from the shore, and attack the group. A furious battle ensues, and all are killed. Nariatsu is slain fleeing from a riverside shack, crying out to his men for help. The lone survivor is the ronin, who cuts Nariastu's head off and walks away.

This is a gritty, no nonsense film that is filled with tension and intrigue, climaxing in one of the great battle scenes in cinema, lasting almost 30 minutes. The actors are superb -- Natsuyagi Isao, Otomo Ryutaro, Satomi Kotaro, Nishimura Ko, Okawa Keiko, Sato Kei, Miyazono Junko, Nambara Koji are all familiar faces in 60's samurai cinema. Again, the black and white film adds greatly to the dreaded atmosphere of a corrupt world that is in its last dying days. Like in his other film, The Great Killing, Eiichi keeps a quick pace, a documentary like camera style, but Eleven Samurai goes further in the planning and build up of scenes -- first the botched assassination attempt in the brothel, and again in the forest. Not even Kurosawa could have bettered the handling of these very suspenseful moments. Eiichi is also clearly a master of the fight scene. The climactic fight near the river is well staged; the pouring rain, the men fighting in the mud, the amazingly graphic suicide of several of the avenging samurai stage by loading themselves with explosive powder, and throwing themselves into the fire, killing them and several other men. Again, Eiichi's films are a revelation, and hopefully these films will gain greater attention in the States. Go to your trusted internet store for Japanese films and buy this. It's a classic!

Rediscovered Classic - Kudo Eiichi's The Great Killing

2008-02-19T22:37:00.005-05:00

A belated happy New Year! It's been a while, I know. It's not like I have stopped watching films, it's just that there haven't been ones that have compelled me to write about it in my blog. And, with very few exceptions, the current crop of Asian films (from my narrow point of view, renting and buying what has come out on dvd) hasn't been that great. I am annoyed by the current trend that certain Korean companies have done to the translations on the dvds. For instance, Secret Sunshine, a South Korean award winning film, has the worst English translations of all time -- instead of having someone translate, they used Babelfish instead. For those who don't know, click on the link. Japan hasn't put anything out lately that isn't anime or fantasy/sci fi/horror related, and even then it's not up to their usual standards. Hong Kong is still cranking out comedies and gangster dramas, and an action film once in a while, but with few exceptions (Fruit Chan, Johnny To, and Wong Kar Wai in particular) it isn't like it was before the Handover. Which leads me to this film, an oldie from the 1960's that had me riveted to the tube the moment I popped it into my dvd player.

The Great Killing is a story about a revolt against the Edo government for the increase of taxes on the farmers, which only favors the wealthy and powerful. Rumors of the imminent uprising reach the government, and orders go out to arrest all those suspected of being involved. Samurai, merchants, and even an official are arrested. One newlywed samurai, not involved in the plot, becomes involved when a friend staggers into his home and begs him for asylum. Unfortunately, he was followed, and chaos ensues as the soldiers chase and arrest the samurai, and the friend and the samurai's wife are killed. While under arrest, the samurai meets with the suspected official, who is being pressured to confess. But neither he nor any of the other suspects reveal anything, some going so far as to commit suicide. This puts pressure on the government, because of the lack of any evidence of a plot. Also, religious festivals are upcoming, and the arrested official also happens to be head of coordinating the ceremonies. It would be bad if these important traditions were canceled, so the man in charge of the government investigation has only five days to find the truth. The samurai and the official are released. The samurai meets up with a mysterious young woman who steers him away from instant vengeance to a house where her uncle is helping those to overthrow the government. Among the motley crew are a drunken gambler, and a man who is posing as a monk and hiding at the local monastery to avoid being arrested. The samurai and the young woman sleep together, as more of a promise to fight for a righteous cause rather than lovemaking. The monk, however is nuts. The desire for vengeance burns right through him, and he rapes the young woman when she comes to find him. This incident causes her to question her reasons and methods for fighting, and she tells the samurai that while she will no longer sacrifice or demean herself for her cause, she wants to do right in the world, and he understands. The group concocts a plan where in order for the revolt to be successful, the chancellor must die. To get him, they find that on the day he is to leave the castle, they set up natural roadblocks which direct his entourage through the local red light district, and there they will ambush the chancellor. The big day arrives, and the group heads out, but the monk strays behind, and tries to rape the woman again, but she fights him off this time, and infuriated, he strangles her and runs after the group. They buy horses from the local farmers, and the samurai rides them towards the entourage, blocking their exit, so they are forced into the district. A great battle ensues, and all of the rebels are killed. The chancellor thinks his side has won, but an official who sees the samurai's dead body and the broken sword in his hand decides to take up where he had left off, and kills the chancellor. The head official, realizing that his personal quest for more power is over, and that their current government is now on the verge of collapse, goes insane.

A samurai film of the highest order, The Great Killing combines sensibilities of many of the contemporary Japanese directors, Misumi, Gosha, Kurosawa, and Kobayashi, without emualting any of them. A few things stand out in this film: one is the documentary like camera work, as in the scene where the arrested men are awaiting their fate, and in the fantastic battle scene at the end, where the camera is so close to the action it actually bumps against some of the protagonists, and is spayed with blood and water. Another is the low point of view, which is similar to what one sees in Ozu's films, but the purpose here is more menacing and claustrophobic. Kudo Eiichi was a journeyman director who in the 50's did a few Hibari Misora films, and established connections as he started to rise through the ranks and got better material to work with. This film, 13 Assassins and the 11 Samurai are considered his masterworks, and went into television in the 70's. He is best known for directing the popular Sonny Chiba tv series Shadow Warriors. The Great Killing is an excellent genre film that does not fall into stereotypes, but depicts a world of unrest, populated by people who, good or bad, are facing the abyss. Highest recommendation!

Madcap Action Adventure - High Risk

2007-11-18T20:13:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you can stumble across a good film in the cheap pile at the store or online. For a dollar I picked up High Risk, not just because of the price, and the stars (James Coburn, James Brolin, Clevon Little, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Quinn, Lindsay Wagner!), but the high recommendations that I got from friends who share my eccentric tastes in films. The opening credits immediately establishes the plot -- four guys get together for a seemingly innocent weekend of fishing and hunting, when in fact they are heading down to Columbia for an improbable heist of five million dollars from a local drug lord. James Brolin is the leader of the bunch, tired of the years of hard work for little pay, and dreams of a big pay off. His partners in crime - Clevon Little (yes, from Blazing Saddles), Bruce Davison and Chick Venerra. Ernest Borgnine is the arms dealer who provides them with a small arsenel to defend themselves, and they hook up with a charter plane run by two ex hippy vets who fly them down to Columbia. They parachute down, and gathering their things, they proceed to the drug lord's headquarters. They break in, steal the money right from drug lord James Coburn, and take off. The resulting gunfight and chase splits the group into two - Little and Venerra are captured by the local police, and tossed in a filthy local town jail, where they make friends with another American, Lindsay Wagner. Little and Venerra convince a couple of locals to bust them out of jail, and they take off in their underwear - their clothes were used as the rope to pull off the bars. Wagner follows. They escape on a bus, and head off towards their arranged meeting place, with their share of the money. Brolin and Davison have a harder time. They run into local bandits, headed by Anthony Quinn, who take their money, beat them up and threaten to kill them. They escape, taking some weapons, and Brolin convinces his partner to go after them to get the money. In the middle of the night they attack, killing a couple of the bandits and making off with the money. They all reunite at a waterfall, near the place where the airplane will come to pick them up. Quinn and the bandits are not to be deterred, for they are in hot pursuit, and wound two of the Americans, but Brolin fends them off long enough for them to get a head start. They reach the plane, but it is an old rusty hulk. The bandits seemingly have them cornered, but Coburn and his cartel manage to disrupt things when they show up, and the resulting shootout thins both enemy parties. During this time, the cavalry finally shows up, in the form of the American plane and the two ex vets launching into Vietnam mode, as they lay waste to the cartel and the bandits with bombs and heavy machine gun fire. The Americans jump on board, injured, scared, with one extra passenger (Wagner), and five million richer. The end.

The plot ain't Shakespeare, nor is it Alister MacLean. It's a no nonsense, non stop action film that doesn't pause for believable story, it just runs with what it has and asks the viewer to enjoy the ride. I found it to be a fun, ninety minute diversion that satisfied my need for a little humor, a lot of action, and nothing to try my grey matter. There should be more films made like this today, but everybody is too busy attempting to make masterpieces or epic films. This was an independently made film made around 1980, with name actors and a decent budget. Recommended!

More Kurosawa!

2007-10-17T11:09:00.001-04:00

An early Christmas special from Criterion, through their Eclipse line. A collection of five films by Akira Kurosawa from 1946 to 56, appearing briefly on video in the 90's, but making their first US dvd appearances here. They are: I Live in Fear, The Idiot, No Regrets for Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday, and Scandal. I have seen all of these films, and all are highly recommended, especially I Live in Fear and The Idiot, one of my favorite Kurosawa films (also his most atypical film, a bit swarmy for some but it pushed all the right buttons for me). No word on a release date, but with the Saura box set already released this week, I bet they will try to get this out before Christmas. Regardless, a mandatory purchase.

Korean Period Horror - The Evil Twin

2007-10-12T07:36:00.000-04:00

A young woman awakes from a ten year long coma. Her last memory was of drowning with her sister in the nearby river. Her reawakening provokes rumor and fear among her friends and the villagers, as strange things begin to occur. Finally, one by one, people once close to her start to die.....

The Evil Twin is an anomaly in the contemporary horror scene -- a historical period piece that relies on suspense and the terror that is imagined, not necessarily seen. Thanks to a stronger than average storyline, which falls under a classic film noir suspense tale of lost identity, Evil Twin fuses that with the doppleganger twin that is so common in asian horror, to create something different. Park Shin-Hye plays So-Yeon, the heroine who reawakens to a world much older and different than she last remembered. Her displacement becomes an effective way to show the unfolding of events that follow, as layers for truth are revealed, about her friends, her family, and finally, herself. Hyo-Jin is her twin sister in the tale, and while at first she seems like another long haired demon girl a la the Ring, she is mostly in the background until the end, and when she does appear, she is genuinely creepy. No shock music or backward motion special effects, just atmosphere and silence, which deliver a real onimous feel to her presence. Yang Geum-Seok plays So-Yeon's mother, a woman with a guilt in her heart about a choice she had to make in the past. So-Yeon and Hyo-Jin were the classic good girl/bad girl, not necessarily good/evil, but one gaining more favor than the other - So-Yeon is promised to be married, a favor not gained by Hyo-Jin (this being at a very young age, as was the custom). That conflict affects how her friends treat her, because, and this is a key point, everyone thinks So-Yeon is her sister, because of the bracelet belonging to her sister was found on her wrist when she was rescued. The visuals are excellent, although the dvd transfer I saw the blacks came out as deep blues in certain key moments, and I don't know if that was when they added some special effects or if it was just a bad transfer. The entire film has an old-school feel, and reading other reviews of this film, I see that it is indeed a throwback to the ghost story films of the 60's in South Korea. It also reminds be of the Val Lewton films of the 40's, though there are a couple of brief grisly moments. The ending too reminds me of another film, the Japanese version of Dark Water, with the mother having to make the decision that she thought she should have made years ago, a choice as to which daughter she should save from drowning. The moment is touching and powerful, as is this above average horror film, which once again proves that a good story is more effective than cheap shocks to thrill the viewer. Recommended.

Shim's Family or Skeletons in the Closet

2007-10-08T09:07:00.001-04:00

Skeletons in the Closet is a surprisingly good comedy about a middle class South Korean family who are all in a rut in their lives. Chun Ho-Jin is the father, an english teacher at a local high school who no longer makes love to his wife (Moon He-Kyung), and takes her for granted. He also has an unemployed sister in law (Kim Hye-Soo) comic book author who leeches off of them, and a son (Yu A-In) and daughter who both are just getting by in the same school that he teaches. The son is madly in love with another student (Jeung Yo-Mi), a girl who practices ballet and is a prostitute. One evening Mr. Shim sees a prostate body of a young woman in the subway. It is Jeung Yo-Mi, and there is a lot of blood between her legs. He picks her up and is going to take her to the hospital, but she begs him to take her to a motel and get some hygenic stuff so treat her wound, and he does. Together they stay overnight, Mr. Shim feeling uneasy as he knows the implications of an older man with a young girl in a motel. But nothing happens between the two of them -- until the cell phone, which Mr. Shim has confiscated from a student who was text messaging in class, is returned, and a video is discovered on the phone, of him and the student in bed. It is placed on the internet, on a Youtube like site, and a scandal erupts. The Shim family falls prey to the social pressures of the scandal. Mrs. Shim, in the meantime, is looking for some value after being treated as a slave by her family. She develops a crush on a young man who runs a karaoke bar, and is a promoter for a local coffee firm. He talks her into going to a retreat at a coffee company, which is essentially a recruiting camp. At first she is crushed that she wasn't going on a date with the young man; however, she finds some value in the process and impresses her family with her new coffeemaker (which works during a power outage and plays music), and a revived spiritual confidence in herself -- through coffee. The daughter lives in a dream world where she hates her family, is not particularly good looking, and writes a journal of her fantasies on her computer. The sister in law does nothing of importance except maintain a large comic book collection, writing stories and doing nothing for herself. She was coming out of a lousy relationship with a man who just plays around. All of them are shocked out of their hum drum existence with Mr. Shim's scandal. During a hot evening there is a blackout, and the family goes to the riverside, where the community has rigged a camp where they will watch a soccer game on power generators. People eat and generally have a good time, until the Shims are confronted by a neighboring family, who are outraged that their poodle was violated by the Shim's family dog. A fight breaks out, and the Shims unite to fight the neighbors and all the scandal and bad vibes that have been hanging over them. They run back home in separate paths, the daughter commenting through a voice over that this was the first time ever that she had so wanted to be back home. The scandal blows over, and Mr. Shim continues to be a teacher. The sister in law resumes a career as a writer, Mrs Shim is given more respect and the two children clean up their act.

There has been a run of really bland or awful Korean comedies lately. This is an exception. Director Chung Yoon-chul (Marathon) has put together a tight and atypical comedy of a South Korean family with problems. There are no heart tugging moments or overwrought sappy drama. It is filmed in a style similar to a film like the Royal Tennabaums, a no nonsense approach to the subject matter that places emphasis on the characters and not style. The outdoor fight scene is the funniest and best part of the film, as it is where the Shims' finally deal with all their problems by asserting themselves for the first time. Shim's Family is a clever look at one modern family, warts and all, and finds the heart and pulse that keeps them united. Recommended.

Life

2007-10-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

Y'know, things just get in the way. Important things, like family, work, and health, all of which were in flux these past few months. So, after a long delay, let's resume with the reviews, shall we?

A Korean TV Jewel - Dae Jang Geum

2007-08-06T13:25:00.000-04:00

I've spent the better part of the past couple of months being entranced by this wildly popular television series from South Korea, which has led to not as many reviews as I normally do. But it has been a well worthwhile diversion; one of a handful of series that I am sorry to see end. Dae Jang Geum, the title character played by Lee Yeong-ae (seen in Lady Vengeance, a much different character), who we follow from birth to her 30's. A kitchen court lady, Lady Yun, of the Chosun king was sentenced to death by her peers, a victim of court politics as she was a witness to a doctoring of food served to the Queen Mother, who fell ill. Jang Geum is her daughter, who endures and survives incredible challenges to enter the palace as a young girl, work in the court kitchen, is exiled, returns as a physician lady, and becomes the highest ranking woman in Chosun history, being the king's physician, scandalous at that time. Running at 54 episodes, I would suffer hand cramps from detailing a full synopsis, but there is a decent one on Wikipedia, which is fairly detailed. This historical drama came out in 2002-2003, and commanded one of the largest viewing audiences of all time in several countries. Apparently the sets formed the basis for a Jang Geum theme park, which I find odd, as you see a lot of the palace and not too much else. What elevates this above the standard drama or soap opera is partly the movie serial qualities -- how Jang Geum gets in and out of trouble is almost laughable, like a political Perils of Pauline -- and the heroine being an idealized person infused with both traditional and modern ideas. She is the one person in the court who is devoted to family and work without using it for personal gain or power, and it is this naivety that gets her into trouble, especially from the evil Lady Choi, once her mother's friend and now a main threat to the harmony of the palace. Towards the end of the series, Jang Geum has accomplished so much, defeating the Lady Choi and other elements in the castle, that she ends up being the physician to the king -- the motivations for which are explained by several of her friends in oddly modern talk for women's rights. She eventually leaves the castle, forced out by the court officials who saw her as an affront to tradition and authority, and marries her sweetheart. At the show's worst it can get repetitive and weepy (gallons of fake tears must have been used), but it never steeps down to the level of tawdry soap opera gunk. Courtly politics has always been a good plot device, from shows as diverse as I Claudius, Dune, Shogun, to Upstairs Downstairs. The pacing is mostly well done, with lots of cliffhangers, but also smartly the resolutions and directional changes are made in the middle of the hour long episode, so things are given a chance to unfold. There are a huge world of characters, most of whom are well developed. High points are the kitchen court lady battles for Head Lady supremacy, with its Iron Chef camera angles and savory food shots; the death of Lady Han, Jang Geum's mentor and friend, the "revenge" on Lady Choi and her family, after which everything becomes an extended epilogue, as Lady Choi was an incredible foil to her. The music got to be annoying, even though they did try to change it several times during the series, and they only served as emotional or dramatic accents. Having done a little bit of research, it is clear that 99% of this historical fiction is just that, fiction, it nevertheless is very entertaining and worth the enormous viewing time. Highest recommendation!

Corporate warfare - Black Test Car

2007-08-02T09:35:00.000-04:00

Fantoma continues to reissue the films of Yasuzo Masumura, this time with the splendid film Black Test Car, released in 1962. Hideo Takamatsu stars as Onoda, a corporate official who works for the Tiger automobile company. He is asked to create an espionage division, to find out what car the rival company Yamato is creating, as well as protecting Tiger's assets. Both companies are competing to develop a sports car, Tiger's the Pioneer, and Yamato's Mypet. The opening scene of the movie shows a car wrapped in black fabric performing a test drive, which ends badly with a crash on the test road. It is the Pioneer, and its development has been uneven, as there has been great pressure on every department to make this car work. Yamato has sent agents to find out about the rival car, bribing engineers and threatening contractors into revealing Tiger's secret information of the car. Onoda has two of his best men, Ashahina and Hiraki, set up a task force to find out about what car Yamato is making. They employ tactics that are no better than Yamato's -- kidnapping contractors and bribing company men involved with the car's production. Even worse, Ashahina coerces his girlfriend into being a bar hostess where Yamato's executives hang out, and date the head executive. She and Ashahina are engaged, but his obsessive drive to help out his company, and his increasing immoral acts begin to drive them apart, her being his moral conscience which drives doubt into his soul. The schemes and action on both companies escalate, rivaling yakuza tactics. Yamato's new car looks exactly like the Pioneer, to the Tiger company's dismay. Ashahima learns that the corporate executives on both sides -- including Onoda -- were soldiers in Tojo's army during the war, many of them committing many war crimes, which explains their callousness. Finally, the Pioneer is put into production, trying to come out before the Mypet, and there immediately ensues a price war. Tiger makes the mistake of settling on a price, which Yamato matches, minus an x amount to be determined on the day of its release. Ashahina, in a desperate final attempt to find out the price, bullies his girlfriend into sleeping with the executive to find out what the amount is. She does, at the cost of ending their relationship. The Pioneer sells well early on, but a rigged car crash of one model owned by a corrupt official causes controversy. Yamato conducts a secret campaign against the Pioneer, only to have it backfire as their attempts are exposed, and the company disgraced. Ashahina, finally seeing the amoral ways of his boss and coworkers, leaves the company, and in doing so regains his girlfriend.

This is an excellent film by Masamura, whose place in cinema has increased with each dvd reissue. Voicing the moral conscience against an increasingly corrupt world, Masamura's films explore the mindsets, strategies and relations of people in modern Japanese society. Directors like Juzo Itami must have been influenced by his work. It was filmed in black and white, which lends a kind of noir aspect, as a lot of action was done at night or in claustrophobic interiors. Cinematographers have to take a look at this film; every scene is composed masterfully. If you like films like Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, or Itami's Taxing Woman, this is a must see.

A Tale from the Floating World - Ooku

2007-07-31T11:41:00.000-04:00

Released in 2006, Ooku is a period film that examines courtly intrigue and one woman's fleeting moment of happiness in a life of service to her Emperor. It is based on a hit television series of the same name. Ooku is a section of the Edo Castle where the Emperor's women reside - concubines, family, servants. During the Tokugawa era, it was believed to be a source of political intrigue. Nakama Yukie (Shinobi) stars as Lady Eijima, a court lady who is best friends with Lady Gekoin, the mother of the current Shogun Tokugawa, who is only 7 years old and of frail health. Lady Gekoin is romantically involved with Lord Echizen, a court advisor, and rumors of this relationship threatens to cause chaos in the inner court. Lady Tenelin, the widow of the former Shogun, is scheming against Lady Gekoin. Aware of a possible affair, Tenelin sets a trap by planning to use a Kabuki actor to seduce Lady Eijima, and using that affair as leverage to force her into exposing her friend's affair. But Lady Eijima is savvy to her schemes, and proves to be a loyal and honest court lady. Until the Kabuki actor, through circumstances (a fire in the theater) and some well planned events, manages to finally seduce her in an evening of bliss. What the actor didn't count on was actually falling in love with her. He refuses to carry through with the plot, even though Tenelin exposes their affair, and he his crucified. Eijima is expelled from the castle, saved from being executed by Gekoin's intervention, but Gekoin's affair is never revealed, even when the young Tokugawa dies. Eijima lives holding on to the short but beautiful memory of the love and happiness she felt that one evening.

This is a gorgeous film to look at. Not since Kurosawa's Ran have I been mesmorized by the colors and textures in a film. They went all out to portray a living breathing "floating world," and it works. The acting is above average, and the plot is decent enough. The only thing that prevents me from deliriously raving about this film is the directing, who I understand was the television director for the series. Not that he did a bad job; it just needed a firmer grip on the pacing and direction of the story, which does slow down when it pays too much attention to itself. I'm being very picky, of course, and it is nice to see a top quality Japanese film tackling period history with care and detail. Recommended.

Tazza: The High Rollers

2007-06-01T08:51:00.000-04:00

A hit film in 2006, Tazza: The High Rollers is a quality drama from South Korea. "Tazza" is Korean slang for a gambler, dealing with the card game hwatu - palm sized cards with black backs. It looks like a combination of poker and blackjack -- each player gets a pair of cards, and the highest combination wins. Based on a Korean comic book, director Choi Dong-Hoon (The Big Swindle, yet another clever crime film) delivers a complex, well-paced 2/1/2 hour epic story of Go-Ni (Cho-Seung-Woo), from wannabe player to master hustler, told in flashback by ex-girlfriend and vindictive rival Madame Jung (played by the stunning Kim Hye-Soo, who won an award for her role). Go-Ni starts off as a small time gambler who loses everything to a better player. Realizing that he was swindled out of his family's savings (stolen from his sister), Go-Ni seeks revenge, but knows he has to become a beter player. He meets Pyeong (Baek Yoon-Sik, from Save the Green Planet), a master player, who becomes his teacher. Pyeong shows him the psychology of the game as well as playing the cards. He introduces him to Madame Jeung, who organizes the games, and assists him in hustling the opponents. They also become lovers. Soon, Go-Ni becomes an excellent player, and is seduced by the thrill of play and deceiving the opponents, as well as the financial rewards. That worries Pyeong, who has been there, and tells him not to get addicted. But Madame Jeung's influence over Go-Ni is to strong, and he leaves Pyeong. Pyeong is later killed on a train leaving the city, the murderer unknown. Go-Ni and Madame Jeung become a formidable pair, becoming successful wherever they go, only to be busted by the cops during one session. Madame Jeung is arrested, but Go-Ni, along with another player, One Ear, who actually beats him in a game. One Ear turns out to be, along with Go-Ni, one of the three best players in South Korea, the other being a man called Agwee. Madame Jeung serves time, and becomes bitter at being abandoned by Go-Ni. Time passes, and she is released from prison, and starts anew by seducing a wealthy businessman and setting him up for a big hustle, as he is an enthusiastic card player. She reforms a network of people who enforce her will, all the while pretending to be a demure and sweet girlfriend. Go-Ni, in the meantime, has fallen in love with a woman who runs a local bar/cafe. She is the polar opposite of Madame Jeung, and some one who hates gambling. Go-Ni wins a match against a businessman, who turns out to be a local mob boss, and knows that he had been swindled. He sends his men out for payback, and they find the girlfriend's business and disrupt it, holding her and her friend hostage. Go-Ni, in hiding, strikes a deal with the boss and agrees to work for him if he lets them go. Amid all this, Madame Jeung finds Go-Ni, and with Agwee, sets up a card match which becomes a final showdown for all involved on a ship. Her boyfriend finally becomes aware of what is happening, but loses his shirt, and can only watch as the others battle it out in the ultimate high-stakes game. Agwee stops Go-Ni from winning the match by insisting that he was dealing from the bottom of the deck, and that the card drawn was to favor Madame Jeung's hand with a matching pair. They each bet their hands -- Go-Ni insists that he did not cheat. Madame Jeung has her enforcer, the assassin who murdered Pyeong on orders from her, to tie their right hands up and to chop off the hand of the loser. Agwee is stunned to find out that Go-Ni was telling the truth, and loses his hand. Go-Ni beats up the assassin, and sets fire to the huge pile of money, to Madame Jeung's astonishment. He leaves as the cops arrive, the ship in flames.

One of the best Korean dramas in a long time, Tazza is a well told, beautifully photographed noir-like tale that grabs the viewer from start to finish. The acting is excellent and the direction tight and well paced. Kim Hye-Soo is outstanding as the seductive and cold blooded Madame Jeung; a femme fatale for the ages, slinking across the screen in form fitting and low cut outfits, oozing sexuality and yet the deadliest woman one could come across. Cho-Seung-Woo as Go-Ni does a fine job as well. Highly recommended!

My Wife is a Gangster 3

2007-05-31T23:07:00.000-04:00

My Wife is a Gangster 3 is the latest in the financially blockbuster comedy action series from South Korea. This installment has nothing to do with the other two -- Eun-kyung Shin is not even in this, instead Shu Qi does the honors. She stars as Aryoung, the daughter of a Korean woman and a Hong Kong gangster, who at the beginning of the film causes an incident when while performing a sword dance in front of a gathering of triads. There was already tension between the international gangs, and Aryoung stabbing one of the other henchmen didn't help matters. So for protection, she is sent off to Korea under the custody of a major gang there. The Korean boss entrusts her to Ki-Chul (Beom-Su Lee), a loyal yet simple minded henchman with his two bumbling sidekicks. They hire a translator, Yeon-Hee, who is stunned to learn that she has to work for a bunch of mullet headed lowlife thugs. But she does do her job, mastering the fine art of translation by not exactly saying things word for word, but to make nice between the two parties. Aryoung is a guest; however disinterested and pushy she seems to be. Ki-Chul and his men can't figure her out, though after a drinking binge, Aryoung demonstrates her martial arts mastery by dispatching a couple of men from a rival gang. Word gets around. Her "secret" is revealed, and in Hong Kong, a group of assassins are sent to dispose of the woman. Ki-Chul and Aryoung have a series of comedic misunderstandings, with most of the jokes on Ki-Chul, until they are all brought in before a gang that wanted payback for Aryoung's beatings. Ki-Chul gamely tries to defend her, but he's simply all bark and no bite -- he gets his ass kicked. Aryoung again saves them by defeating the rival gang. This beating of the gang gets Ki-Chul promoted in rank within his own group, much to everyone's surprise, probably due to his taking care of Aryoung. Eventually they find that the other groups know where Aryoung is, and they go into hiding, Ki-Chul and Aryoung separating from the others to hide in Ki-Chul's family house with his parents. The father, knowing how to write Chinese, talks with Aryoung, and finds that she has a passing interest in his son. The assassins find them and try to kill Aryoung, but are easily dispatched. Aryoung's father is mortally injured in an explosion at a Hong Kong restaurant, after meeting with the rival triad boss. She leaves for home, taking a pendant from Ki-Chul, a gift from his mother, and he confesses his love for her. In Hong Kong, Aryoung and the remaining members of her father's group are hiding in the slums. She resolves to kill the rival boss. During the boss' son's wedding ceremony, Aryoung poses as the bride to be, and tries to assassinate the boss. Carnage ensues, with her father's gang backing her up, along with Ki-Chul, who arrived to see her, under the pretense of returning her mom's photo, whom she had finally met in Korea, but only from a distance. Ki-Chul distracts the boss long enough for Aryoung to kill him, but Ki-Chul falls over the top of the building and manages to land in a dump truck, much to her relief. Ki-Chul heads back to Korea, but is stopped by Aryoung, who wants to marry him, and he accepts.

This movie is all parts and no whole. It feels overmanaged; that they had to include so many things to hide the fact that there is no plot, no strong character interaction, nothing. Shu Qi and the always good Beom-Su Lee have nothing to work with, and they seem lost at times with their characters. Their relationship never really develops, in spite of the screen time they have together. The bonding moment -- when Aryoung is sitting on top of Ki-Chul while driving down a hill, both gasping in erotic delight because he's sporting a hard on, is just silly. What she sees in him we never truly understand. Really, the best person in the film is the woman who plays the translator, Yeon-Hee, who is a riot, starting off as a timid translator to a loud mouthed, gorgeous fireball who rightfully puts down the men for their antics and attitudes. The assassin fight scene was a waste. The ending was by the numbers. Having said that, this film is a lot better than #2 in the series, which was atrocious, but still pales to the classic first movie. Shu Qi fans will be entertained by her presence, and she is great eye candy, but she has proven that she can act, though not here. She was much better in So Close. Rent on a rainy night.

Classic Kobayashi - Inn of Evil

2007-05-31T10:32:00.001-04:00

Coming on the heels of the classics Kwaidan and Samurai Rebellion, Kobayashi's Inn of Evil was released in 1970, centering on a small group of rogues who live in an inn on a small island near a port city. The inn provides harbor for the transport of goods from foreign ships and local officials, who provide them cover in return for a cut of money. Nadakai Tetsuya stars as a ronin who has fallen on hard times, and spends his time running errands for the innkeeper and drinking. A young man finds refuge there. He is mourning for the loss of his fiancee, who was sold into prostitution by her father to pay off debts. He ends up helping around the inn, but his yearning for his love, and the attempts to try to get her back against all odds touches Nadakai. He takes up the cause even though the attempt would be suicide -- the brothel has high class connections. The innkeeper sees that the time is coming to a close for the inn -- new officials have taken over the city, and the inn is no longer under any protection. Calls to wipe out the island of its bad elements are strong, and plans are made by the officials. Nadakai convinces the others to take up the young man's cause; to do something noble even though there is nothing in it for them. The initial attempt to free the woman is a disaster; out of the three sent, only Nadakai survives. The innkeeper kicks everyone out of the inn, to save their lives. But they all return, one by one, to fight on their home ground, as the military forces surround them. The rogues pitch one terrific battle, protecting the young man, so he can be reunited with his love. All are killed, but the young man gets away. The following day, the reunited couple returns to the inn and sees the devestation.

This is a good film that has yet to see the light of day on dvd in the States - check out the usual ebay or internet dealers who have an amazing ability to find and subtitle obscure films. Kobayashi again delivers with a tightly plotted film that takes time to develop, as most of the first hour takes place at the inn. It has a Lower Depths feel to it; a one set drama piece with people coming in and out, dealing with people who live under poor circumstances. The murder of the official by Nadakai is startling for its frankness. When the young man appears, things pick up, leading up to the visually stunning battle scene at the end of the film. The use of black and white photography, quite late at this point in time, really creates an atmosphere of isolation and foreboding, especially when right before the battle, the lanterns appear around the inn, as the officials close in to subdue the rogues. Thematically it is similar to Hara Kiri and Samurai Rebellion, as the rogues try to fight against the established corrupt system, to assert their individuality, but as in the other films, they are suppressed, though not without taking a whole bunch with them. Recommended!

Destiny or Foretold? - Death Note

2007-05-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

Based on an enormously popular manga, Death Note was made into a motion picture in 2006, directed by Shusuke Kaneko (known for his 90's Gammera films, Pyrokenisis and Azumi 2). A series of murders are occuring all over the world, especially in Japan, where criminals are mysteriously dying. A name is linked to the deaths -- Kira (a derivative of the English word Killer). The authorities are on a massive manhunt for Kira, but all attempts to find him fail. In reality, Kira is a young college student named Light Yagami, who has recently passed a bar exam. He wants to join the forces like his father (played by Iron Chef emcee Takeshi Kaga), who is assigned to the case. Light stumbled across a mysterious book one day that had the words "Death Note" written on the cover, and opening it, he discovers that it is a blank notebook, except for the endpages, where the rules for using the book are written. The possessor of the book can kill anyone, just by writing the name in the book. But he or she must have a vivid picture of the person in their head when writing it, unless someone with a similar name will meet an untimely end. The means, the manner, the time of their deaths can all be predetermined, just by writing it down. Light, once discovering that he has this power, decides to use it for the good of mankind by getting rid of as many of the criminals that he can, by watching the television or meeting the people in person. His girlfriend, Shiori, is also a student, who is disturbed by Kira's actions and her boyfriend's sympathy towards Kira's cause. There is a side effect to using the book - Light can now see a demon called Ryuk, the god of death. Ryuk had lost the book, but seeing that it had a new owner, let Light keep it, and became an observer to how he would bear this tremendous responisbility. As the deaths keep piling up, the police are still baffled, until a senior official presents to the task force assigned to the case L, a mysterious figure who talks to them through a laptop computer. L is a mastermind who accurately narrows down the location of Kira by setting up a situation where Kira kills the head of the International Police, only to discover that the man was a criminal acting out the role. It was broadcasted only in Japan; therefore, Kira must be in Japan. Also, through some amazing leaps of deduction, L discovers that Kira must be a college student, based on the times of the murders, which take place during the evening and early morning, times when a student would be at home, and not at school. Light discovers that he is being tailed by a man, the reasons are unclear, but later it turns out that L had reasons to suspect him, as Kira knew things that were only known to the Task Force. Being the son of the chief, as well as having the skills to access the police server, raised L's suspicions. He asked for and got FBI support. The agent follows Light and Shiori onto a bus, where it is promptly hijacked by a criminal on the loose for bank robbery and murder. Light calls the agent's bluff of pretending not to know him by attempting to subdue the robber, but the agent -- revealing his name as Ray -- stops him. The hijacker threatens to shoot them, but is terrified by the sight of the demon, whom he sees after touching a piece a paper torn from the book. He is killed while fleeing the bus. Ray is later lured by Light/Kira onto a subway, where Kira manipulates him into revealing the names of all the FBI agents involved in the secret investigation. Ray is killed once he leaves the subway, only to be found by his fiancee, Naomi (Asaka Seto, from Bullets of Love and One Missed Call 2). A former agent herself, and having worked under L, she is determined to find her lover's killer. Meanwhile, the consequences of the FBI killings forces the Japanese task force to thin down to only those who are willing to give their lives to catching the killer. Those remaining, including Light's father, are introduced to L, who turns out to be a young man Light's age, who does not give his real name, and requests that the others do the same. L is convinced that the killer is related to one of the members of the task force, and has bugs and cameras implanted in all their homes. They spend a week studying, L especially concentrating on Light. It becomes clear to the others that L suspects Light, but there is no proof. Naomi is convinced, after doing an investigation of the bus incident where Ray was involved. She finds out about Light and Shiori, and tries to confront them about it, but Light refuses to acknowledge it. Naomi survives only by giving a false name to him. At the end of the 7 days a murder does finally happen, but closely watching Light, who was studying at the time, with the tv off, L fails to prove his guilt. But Light did kill a man, by secretly having a mini tv in a bag of chips that he was eating, and writing the name on a scrap of paper torn from the book. Naomi brings things to a head when she forces Shiori at gunpoint to ask Light to come meet her at the art museum. Light suspects something, but arriving at the museum (also being closely monitored by L), refuses to acknowledge that he is Kira, even when Naomi threatens to shoot Shiori. The police arrive, and Shiori escapes, but is shot by Naomi. Light is distraught, and Naomi suddenly realizes that she could have been wrong all the time, and confronted by the police, kills herself. All of it was planned by Light, who had written not only Naomi's death but Shiori's as well, a fact that amazed even the demon Ryuk. The film ends with Light asking his father to join the task force, and he reluctantly agrees, and Light and L finally meet, L eating a bag of chips -- the same kind that Light had been eating when he made his kill during their observation period.

Death Note and its sequel (released later in the year -- I'll do a review soon) came out within several months of each other, generating a lot of notice and were box office successes. I'll have to admit I was very surprised by this film, expecting yet another Ringu or Ju-On ripoff. What I got was a clever and original story, with one foot based on Japanese mythology, and the other in modern drama. Part ghost tale and mostly police procedural, Death Note plays on the notion of fate and control over one's life. The subplot dealing with Naomi's vengeance reveals that power can corrupt even the noble and idealistic Light, as well as demonstrating that even when he plots her demise, he has no idea how it would be carried out. There is still the element of chance and choice in how one lives one's life, no matter how predetermined. It was a kick to see the Iron Chef in a serious role, and Tatsuya Fujiwara in another prominent role after starring in Battle Royale. Kudos for the director Kanedo, who keeps a steady and even tone throughout the entire film, without resorting to hysterics or cliché, as well as putting Asaka Seto in a leather cat suit, bringing back fond memories of Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in the tv Avengers series. It's nice to see a straightforward big budget Japanese film that does not resort to monsters in big rubber suits, immature comedies, or demon girls with long black hair spilled over their faces. Recommended!

A Great Wall - An American Comedy Made in China

2007-05-27T08:52:00.000-04:00

Peter Wang's A Great Wall, released in 1986, is a wonderful drama dealing with the cultural differences within one Chinese family -- a brother and sister whose families live in two separate parts of the globe. Peter Wang, the director, also plays the lead, Leo Fang, who is the brother who left for America (presumably before the Cultural Revolution?), settled in San Francisco, and became a successful computer engineer. He married a Chinese American woman, Grace (Sharon Iwai), and they have a son, Paul (Kelvin Han Yee), who portrays a typical all American son who loves sports. They live in an exclusive neighborhood in San Francisco, so they are well to do. Peter is passed over for promotion to chief of the department, a move that angers him because he was clearly next in line for the position. He feels that it is because of his race that he was passed over, and quits after an argument with his boss. His sister, Mrs. Chao (Guanglan Shen), writes to Peter and invites him and his family to visit them during the summer. They take her up on the offer, and spend a month in Beijing; Peter to get back in touch with his roots, and Grace and Paul to be exposed to a new world. Grace has only a basic knowledge of Chinese; Paul, despite taking language class year in and out, still doesn't know it well. There they meet Mrs. Chao and her husband, Mr. Chao (Xiaoguang Hu), a former communist high ranking official who lives in a sizable home at the edge of the city. They have a daughter, Lili (Qinqin Li), who is a pretty young woman studying for the national exams. She has a friend, Wang Xiao (Kelvin Wong), who has a crush on her, and is the local ping pong champion. He is studying for the exams as well -- for the third time, having failed exams twice before. He lives with his father in a tiny house, and they struggle to make a living. The Wangs initially stay at a hotel, but their reunion with the Chaos goes so well that they are invited to stay at their house. There each family note the differences between them -- Peter is annoyed at the bathroom, where there is barely a shower, and he has to squat when using the toilet. Mrs. Chao and Grace find some common ground in talking about their husbands, and Mrs. Chao makes Grace a Chinese dress -- Grace shares makeup with her. Mr. Chao accepts the Wangs, but is somewhat bothered by the wife and son's inability to speak the native tongue, plus, he has some preconceived notions of Americans -- promiscuity and violence. Lili, by spending time with the Wangs, comes to assert her own independence, to the point where she argues with her mom for opening the letters she receives from Wang Xiao. Wang is bothered by this intrusion by the American family; Lili never spends as much time with her. His friend thinks that he should follow a different path; not only because of the cultural differences, but the class difference between him and Lili might be too much to overcome. Peter takes up Ping Pong at the local center (having been a city champion player back home), where the coach see promise and includes him in the club to train. Wang, the current champion, ends up training with him. While the differences don't cause conflict between the two families, as the exams draw closer, Lili becomes moody, and ends up locking herself in her room, to cram. The Wangs leave the house and move back into a hotel, so as not to be a distraction. But Lili, going without food for several days, has a breakdown, and ends up going to the hospital, and misses the exam. Wang takes the exam, though it is not certain whether he passes. He beats Peter in the tournament, where both play very well, though Peter is despondent afterwards -- he hates to lose. The Wangs go back home, culturally enriched, while Lili and Wang, both jobless and passing time until the next exams, share a moment that may lead to them being reunited.

The movie is a mixture of drama and documentary. While the story is driven by the meeting of the families, and the differences they find between them, it is also about Chinese culture, both traditional and modern, specifically mid 80's Beijing. It's interesting to look at this film now, in light of the changes that have happened in the past decade. The Beijing of the mid 80's no longer exists, having been replaced by skyscrapers, computers and a new generation that has money, power, and cosmopolitan. There are many scenes of local life, of traditional music and dance, to playing football on the Great Wall. Thankfully there is none of the typical dramatic instances of cultural clashes. They are subtle yet clear to both sides the differences, yet they make the most of being together at this one moment in their lives. A Great Wall is a loving look at a time once lost, for both Peter Wang and Chao's Beijing.

Coming Soon to dvd - Black Test Car

2007-05-11T15:01:00.000-04:00

Fantoma dvd continues to release films by the Japanese director, Yasuzo Masumura. Coming out in a couple of weeks, Black Test Car is another biting satire by Masumura, this time focusing on the Japanese auto industry. The film details the lengths that competitors will go to gain an advantage over their rivals, from behind closed door board room intrigue, to the bedroom, to even hilarious James Bond like escapades. Masumura's films are great to watch, as they are not only entertaining, but provide criticism of his own country, in the social and political realms. Other films to watch are Red Angel, Giants & Toys, Afraid to Die (starring the novelist Yukio Mishima in a detective film), Manji, and his wild masterpiece, Blind Beast. I'm looking forward to this one!

Curse of the Golden Flower

2007-05-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

The Curse of the Golden Flower is Zhang Yimou's latest, an epic that takes place in 10th century China. Ping (Chow Yun-Fat), has risen from being captain to Emperor, and married the princess Liang (Gong Li), now the Empress Phoenix. Her beauty has now been overtaken by her erratic moods; Emperor Ping had ordered her to take medication. Little does she know that an ingredient has been added to the formula, a poisonous herbal extract, and now it is slowly killing her. Phoenix has suspicions, but there is no proof. She is busy having an affair with Ping's son, the Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye) from a previous marriage. Wan in turn is in love with the royal physician's daughter, Jiang Chan, and spurns the Empress' advances. Prince Jai is the second son, behind Wan in succession, who leads the troops at the nation's borders, is called back by the Emperor for the Chrysanthemum Festival. But not before a bit of manly one upsmanship by the Emperor, who with his skilled swordplay reminds his son who is boss. Back at the palace, Phoenix is preparing for the festival, making lots and lots of embroidered scarves with the chrysanthemum sewn into it. Wan discovers that she is plotting an attack against her husband, as she knows that she is being driven insane by the medicine. A lady ninja had informed her, and she had a double mission: she was also the Emperor's first wife, who managed to escape execution, and disappeared 25 years ago. She later married the Court Physician, and bore a daughter, Chan. The incestuous implications of their relationship drives them apart, and Chan and her mother are later killed in a hail of arrows. Wan, caught between both the domineering father and the scheming mother, is eventually killed by Jai, who decides to take matters into his own hands. Soldiers loyal to each side fight in a brutal battle at the castle, where thousands are killed. Jai, ordered by his father to kill Phoenix, ends up killing himself instead. Phoenix finally goes insane, and the banquet table is covered in the family's blood.

Visually stunning, the yellows, greens and reds overwhelm the film. Like a baroque painting, the great attention paid to detail deflects attention paid to the characters and the story. Like House of the Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower has moments of brilliance, but lack any sense of coherence. There is no real depth to the characters, and the court intrigue lacks tension as the dominoes start to fall. The soap opera plot twists only annoy, rather than add to the story. Too many ideas, not enough focus. Gong Li is outstanding; she really is at her best when working with her old director, this being her first in over a decade. But her efforts are lost on a fellow cast that fumbles, including Chow Yun-Fat, which is sad to see. He still has a charismatic presence, but little to work with except being regal. Everyone else seems out of place as soap opera characters in a epic film. Surprisingly, the CGI is horrible -- this being one of the most expensive films made in China. The battle scenes at the end are laughable, and the superimposition of the characters over a color background feels cheap. The ending is as much a question mark as it is a sigh of relief. I no longer knew what was happening, nor did I care. A time waster.

The Incredible Memories of Matsuko

2007-04-23T07:09:00.000-04:00

Memories of Matsuko tells the story of Matsuko, the eldest daughter of three born after World War II. Her life spans the rest of the 20th century, coming to a tragic close as her body is found near a river, outside her decrepit apartment. A young man, a slacker musician who has just lost his job and his girlfriend, is rotting his life away in his flat, when his father unexpectedly show up, carrying the cremated remains of the father's sister. It turns out Matsuko was the young man's aunt, and curious, he goes to her place to see what he can find about her. He acquaints himself with the punk rocker who lives next door, and they both find her apartment a shambles. Bags of garbage are piled high, graffiti etched into the walls -- the place is a disaster area. A pair of detectives arrive; they are investigating her death - she had been murdered. From them, and former friends, the young man is able to piece together her past and how she came to be here. Matsuko was a schoolteacher, a beautiful young woman with an angelic voice, and she taught her students singing. One day, a complaint is made against the school -- one of the students has stolen money from a local vendor. Matsuko is dismayed to learn that it is one of her students. She talks to him, but he refuses to admit his crime. A momentous decision is made. She takes money from a fellow teacher and "returns" it to the man, who accepts it, but wants the student to apologize in person. Matsuko apologizes, saying that she was the one who stole the money - she just wants to put this incident behind her. But it starts a long downward spiral for her. The student, after admitting to her that he took the money, in public accuses her of forcing him to admit blame. The teacher whom she "borrowed" the money claims that she took his cash, and finally she is fired by the school. She leaves home, which has become a stranglehold on her life, as everyone is investing their attentions to her younger sister, who is chronically ill. A series of men come in and out of her life -- a fellow teacher, a writer, the writer's rival, a barber, a gangster who turns out to be one of her ex students. Each and every time Matsuko tries to reassert her identity through the man she is with; she supports the writer; is a mistress to his rival; begins a career as a hair stylist, learning the trade from her lover; becomes a yakuza girl and whore; in the end she is left mistreated and terribly alone. Her relationship with her yakuza student was the most devestating, and after waiting for his release from prison, only to have him run away from her, she breaks down and decides not to trust any one and lives alone. No longer caring about herself, she gains weight, watches television, and only goes outside to get food and watch the sunset on the river. She forms one final attachment to a boy in a budding pop music band; it is her nephew, whom she recognizes. She develops an obsession for him, and writes her life story to him, in one final attempt to contact someone. But she never received a response, which eats away at her. Finally, she runs into an old friend, who is now a rich porn star. She remembers Matsuko from her salon days and wants to help her by offering her a job as her personal stylist. Matsuko, ashamed at her appearance, leaves, but not before the woman shoves her business card in her hand. That evening, while contemplating her future, she decides to start anew, but is killed by a bored group of kids playing baseball.

This is a stunning film. The visuals are over the top, from the rich colors to the drab corroded interiors of Matsuko's apartment, to the musical numbers of Matsuko's fantasies, everything is gorgeous visually. The story, a terrifying and sad portrait of a modern Japanese woman, seems to encapsulate how difficult it is for a woman to assert her own identity in a world where conformity is mandatory, from family to work. Her career is sabatouged because of her willingness to take a fall for the school's reputation. Her sense of worth can only be made valid by the man whom she is with, only to be constantly disappointed. While a hard and sad tale, it retains a sense of humor and sense of liveliness that transcends her hardships. From the director of Kamikzee Girls, this is a tour de force that can be considered one of the best Japanese films of this decade. While watching it I am reminded of another film dealing with the hardships of a singular woman - Sada, made in the 80's, reissued in the States on HVe. It too is a portrait of a woman - this time in the early 20th century - who after being sold, becomes a woman of pleasure and struggles to find her own happiness in a cruel man's world. The visuals in that film are remarkable as well, and I see Memories of Matsuko as a sequel to her tale. Highly recommended!

Ozu box set on Eclipse

2007-04-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

Another Summer treat! Criterion's offshoot, Eclipse, specializes in compiling a series of films by prominent directors in one low priced box set. They began with the early films of Ingmar Bergman, and will follow up with a Louis Malle set. But what caught my eye is the third set slated, which is the late films of Yasujiro Ozu. It contains five movies - Early Spring, Tokyo Twilight, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn, The End of Summer. No bonus features, but all are remastered from the best prints. Definitely a must have.

Criterion does it again - Hiroshi Teshigahara box set this summer

2007-04-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

Criterion, the leader in dvd reissues, has struck gold. A four dvd set of Japanese director's Hiroshi Teshigahara film's will be released this summer, and I am eagerly looking forward to it. Yes, I already have the Masters of Cinema editions of Pitfall and the Face of Another, as well as the BFI dvd of Woman in the Dunes, which is an extended cut. But what makes this four dvd box set so appealing (other than it being in region 1), is that it includes four short films by the director Teshigahara, interviews and a documentary. The films are all remastered from new prints, although how different they are from the British dvd are to be determined. These three films established Teshigahara as an important director, a leader of the Japanese "new wave" of the 60's, who dealt with issues of identity, and the anxieties of the self in relation to the world. By the way, Anyone having the out of print Image dvd of Woman in the Dunes should sell it - this will also be the extended cut version by almost 20 minutes.

Man in the Red Flannel Suit - The Chairman

2007-04-19T16:24:00.000-04:00

The Chairman is a real oddity. Released in 1970, this cold war artifact stars Gregory Peck as a Dr. John Hathaway, a scientist who is sent to China to steal a formula that has been recently developed that can increase agricultural crops. The brass at the Pentagon are able to maintain contact by inserting a microphone in his brain, so everything that he hears, they hear. But they added something more -- a bomb that can detonate at any moment, in case something wrong happens. Hathaway doesn't know this. The plot is very run of the mill -- lots of footage is spent on exotic China (or Hong Kong, Taiwan, or wherever the filmmakers could shoot) and showing how drab and different it all is. Mind you, this is during the Cultural Revolution, so there is a lot of exposition on the group social activities of the local Communists, such as public humiliation, protests, etc. Hathaway, like us, is an observer to the events, guided by pretty Asian women -- first, a prostitute who tries to seduce him, them knocks him out with his own shoe as he realizes that he is being spied upon, and then Dr. Soong's daughter, Chu, who helps him flee the country as the military finds out his true intentions (Hathaway was not sent here to socialize) and send troops to kill him. During a tense finale, Hathaway drives, then runs for the northern border where Russia awaits, and the brass back home negotiate for his safety with the Russians, while at the same time are about to trigger the bomb in his head. He makes it. Apparently this was produced by the team that had done Planet of the Apes a year before. Look for Number One Son Keye Luke as Dr. Soong. Gregory Peck does a workmanlike job in this film, which is probably far and above the call of duty. The conceit of having a microphone in his head falls apart when you realize that for him to talk to the Pentagon, he has to stick his head out of a window and talk to himself to ensure privacy! A few monologues later and this plot device becomes very silly, and makes Peck look like a nutcase (this is pre-cell phone Bluetooth era, remember!). The ending is a bit exciting, but color by numbers suspense. Plus, for a film that came out in 1970, it looks oddly out of place for it's time; it looks and feels like a late 50's or early 60's Cold War drama. The times had changed.

The Namesake

2007-04-16T15:40:00.000-04:00

The Namesake is a wonderful film that focuses on an Indian family and their life in America from the 70's to the present. Irfan Khan is Ashoke Ganguli, a young man who is travelling on a train reading a Nikolai Gogol collection of short stories. He talks to a fellow passenger who remarks that now he is out of school he should see the world. Ashoke responds that by reading he can travel without leaving the chair. Then, a terrible train accident occurs in which many of the passengers are killed, but Ashoke survives. He takes the passenger's words to heart and goes to America, where he eventually settles. He visits his family back in India, where his parents are making plans to marry him to a beautiful female singer named Ashima (Tabu), who is intrigued by his white shoes. The marriage is arranged, and she goes with him to New York City, where it is winter, and she sees his spare apartment and the wintery landscape. At first she is miserable, but Ashoke proves to be a kind and loving husband, and they eventually have two children, Sonia and Nikhil "Gogol" - obviously named after the author that Ashoke loved. They had to come up with the name, not according to their customs, but in order to get the baby out of the hospital -- U.S. law states that a child must be named before he or she could leave (Ashoke's parents were to come up with a name, which would have taken a while). Gogol, as he grows older, comes to hate his name. He endures the constant teasing, in school and out. The years pass by and Gogol is now called Nik, and is a young promising architect, dating a blonde named Maxine, who is from a well to do family in Manhattan, and they are very much in love. She has not been introduced to his parents, because Gogol is aware of the culture differences. The one time they are all together for dinner, Maxine inadvertently touches Gogol, showing affection, and this raises eyebrows - public displays like that are not allowed in Indian culture. Ashoke, under the pretext of going to get some dessert for the dinner, has Gogol come with him. He stops the car near a park and explains to him the importance of his name, telling him of the train accident, and how that brought him here to the States. It leaves an impression on Gogol. Some time later, Gogol and Maxine are in bed, and he mentions about his dual name, and was thinking about reverting to Gogol. She thinks that is a silly name. Ashoke lands a university job in Cleveland, and has to leave Ashima in New York, to both their reluctance. This will be the first time that she will be alone -- the children are out in the world. Ashima wants Gogol to be in constant contact, especially during the upcoming Christmas holidays, but he is off with Maxine and her family, having a great time near a lake, and he forgets to call. Ashoke unexpectedly calls Ashima from the hospital, having difficulty breathing, but tells her not to worry. But she is worried, and later gets a nasty shock -- Ashoke dies from a heart attack. She tries to call Gogol, but he is unavailable, and he has to hear the news from his sister. Gogol goes to Cleveland to identify the body, and filled with regret for not being in contact. There is a large funeral ceremony when he gets home, and Gogol immerses himself in the customs and rites -- even shaving his head to show grief. It is during this time that he embraces the Gogol name, and when Maxine arrives during the wake, the cultural differences seem glaring, and Gogol sends her away, ending the relationship. Some time passes, and Ashima mentions that Moushumi, a woman whom she and Ashoke had tried to pair off earlier, has returned from England to live in New York. Moushumi at the time was plain, studious and not interested in even talking to Gogol, and he is not looking forward to meeting her. But the duckling became a swan, and Gogol is entranced. They hit it off well enough to start dating, and they eventually marry. All seems well until she keeps her maiden name, and Gogol finds that despite the common background in family and culture, there are differences that threaten the relationship, in outlook and expectations. She declines a job that was in Europe, a bitter pill for her to take. She lets slip a man's name, in such a way that clearly to Gogol this person was more than a friend. It turns out she had been seeing an old lover, and was resuming the relationship. Gogol leaves her. For the first time he takes comfort in his own life and family, seeing his mom leave to go back to India, who is also asserting herself for the first time, to be a singer. He embraces his name and identity, remembering his father.

The Namesake is beautifully shot, showing the colorful, warm homeland of India to the cool, blue and grey tones of New York City. It is well paced, and the characters are fully realized. I like how certain elements of the cultural integration are twisted - Gogol's rejection of the blonde all American gal for the Indian-American woman works against him, since Moushumi proves to be more independent, so unlike a traditional Indian woman than he expected. Perhaps he would have been better off with Maxine? The developing relationship of his parents provide a nice background as well -- theirs is a slow but long burning love that only grows as the years go on. This is a fine effort by Mira Nair, who also is notable for the films Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding. Worth seeing!

Slave to your influences - Grindhouse

2007-04-16T13:03:00.000-04:00

Just saw this yesterday. I wanted to like it. Reeeaally wanted to, but couldn't. Grindhouse is a 3 hour plus double feature containing Planet Terror, directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and Death Proof by Quentin Tarrantino (Kill Bill). This is a loving tribute to the drive in films of the 60's and 70's, where z-grade, cheaply made independent films were paired with slightly better B films for an evening's entertainment. The genres ran from sci fi to horror to exploitation, sometimes combining all three. Tarrantino is a noted fan of this era, and has made an effort to collect the original reels of many of the pictures, exhibiting at his home his own curated versions of movie night. Rodriguez has also been a fan, and together they came up with the idea of each making a 90 minute film. Planet Terror stars Rose McGowan as Cherry, an exotic dancer who quits her job, having enough of this lifestyle, and prepares to leave the dingy Texan small town in search for a better life. Unfortunately, fate intervenes. At a nearby military base, a deal for an illegal shipment of chemicals falls apart as the dealer, a rogue scientist, gets double crossed and Lt. Mouldoon (Bruce Willis) takes the shipment. But the scientist shoots one of the canisters, and the green mist escapes, infecting most of the soldiers. It turns them into disfigured zombies, although continued small exposure doses keeps Mouldoon and some of his men from changing. At a local BBQ restaurant, the Bone Shack, Cherry unexpectedly reunites with an old boy friend, El Rey (Freddie Rodriguez), and is not happy to see him. He isn't pleased either -- she ran off with his favorite jacket, and in it an engagement ring that he had planned to give her. Cherry asks Ray if he could drive her out out town, as he was just passing through. As they leave, they are attacked by the first wave of zombies that leave the base. Cherry is assaulted and her leg ripped off. Meanwhile, in the town, people are getting infected. The victims are brought to the hospital, where Dr. William Block (Josh Brolin) and his wife Dakota (Marley Shelton) are tending to the wounded. Their marriage is an unhappy one, rapidly disintegrating, as Dakota is making plans for a tryst with another woman, Tammy. El Ray brings Cherry to the hospital, but not before he is arrested by Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), who treats Ray as a threat to the general public, and throws him into jail. The zombies rapidly take over the town. After Tammy's body is brought to the hospital, Dr Block confronts his wife. Is she going back to her cheating ways? He attacks her, injecting her hands with the anesthetics that she uses to treat patients. She escapes and manages to drive using her wrists and a watchband to go home. There she gets her son and goes over to her father's house for refuge. But her dad (Michael Parks) is busy killing his wife, an invalid who has turned into a zombie. Her son kills himself accidentally with the handgun that she gave him to protect them both. Dr. Block, now a zombie himself, tracks her down and attempts to kill her but is offed by her dad. Zombies are everywhere, and they attack the police station, where Sheriff Hague and his men fight a desperate battle against them. In the chaos El Rey escapes, and heads for the hospital where he cuts down a number of zombies to find Cherry. She is safe, hiding under a blanket, wallowing in self pity and fear. El Rey jams a 2 x 4 into the leg stub and forces her to walk, helping her out of the building. They, along with the remaining town survivors, flee to The Bone Shack, where they arm themselves and plan to escape. El Rey is a gun slinger, a fact that Sheriff Hague knew, and they become uneasy allies. Cherry manages to get the truck (with the help of El Rey's shooting) and crashes it into the restaurant. The survivors climb aboard it and a couple other vehicles and escape, heading toward the base. They attack the soldiers -- Cherry gets an upgrade by having her amputated leg augmented with an AK-47 -- and she becomes a one woman killing machine, using her go go talents in the process. El Rey confronts Lt. Muldoon, who has gone completely insane, turning into a zombie, and he and the chemicals are destroyed in a huge explosion. El Rey is killed in the end, but Cherry lives on to deliver the survivors to a coastal area in Mexico, near an ancient Mayan ruin, as they build a new future as idyllic beach bums.

Death Proof stars Kurt Russell as Stunt Man Mike, a stunt double actor for television. His only pleasure in life is pursuing the young ladies - preferably in his muscle car Chevy Nova, which he uses to hunt down then plow though his victims. We are introduced to three young ladies, out of college and working and living the life. Sidney Potier is Jungle Julia, a dee jay for a local station, who has created a bit of trouble for her friend, Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) by announcing on her program that whoever calls Arlene "Butterfly," buys her a drink and recites a segment of a Robert Frost poem to her, that she will give him a lap dance. Arlene is horrified. It is Jungle Julia's brithday, and the girls go to the local watering hole and get plastered. A couple of guys try to make a move on them by hitting them up with liquor, but nothing ever comes of it. Arlene notices a black Chevy Nova cruising around town, and that the driver is checking her out. Stunt Man Mike appears at the bar, and talks to a blond woman (Rose McGowan), and offers to drive her home. He asks if she knows the girls over int he corner, and she laughs, saying that she knew Julia from school. He introduces himself to them and looking at Arlene, does the quote. Jungle Julia intervenes, saying that Arlene has already done it, but Stunt Man Mike looks at Arlene and can tell that she is lying. He talks her into doing it (which is never shown, being a "lost reel"). We cut to the girls driving off, driving off to a cabin near a lake. But they never get there. Stunt Man Mike has been following them, and blows by them on the road. He turns around, waiting for them, and then jams on the accelerator, coming at them head on with the headlights off. The collision is textbook car crash, and we see in disturbing detail what happens to the girls in the car, who are all killed. Stunt Man Mike survives -- his car is made for tv and movie stunts, so it is extra armed. We are introduced to another group of ladies, all of whom work for a film crew which is in production in Tennessee. After an excruciatingly long girl talk at a diner, Zoe states that she wants to drive an old classic American muscle car, the one used in Zabriskie Point. And as luck would have it, she has found that car advertised for sale in the local paper. She talks her friends into taking her to the seller and seeing if they could con the person into letting them do a test drive without him present. They do, using an unsuspecting Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as man bait, while Zoe and her friends Abernathy and Kim drive off. Kim is just tagging along; Abernathy and Zoe are both car junkies, and they are out to do a stunt: the Ship's Mast, where Zoe climbs on the hood of the har while Abernathy drives at full speed, and holds onto two belts that are tied to the doors. They are all having a great time, until Stunt Man Mike comes out of nowhere to mess with them, crashing his Nova into their car, trying to jar Zoe loose. Somehow, Abernathy shakes him off by shooting at Stunt Man Mike, and he flees. After collecting themselves, their thoughts turn to revenge, and armed with a pipe, Zoe climbs back into the car and Abernathy turns the car around to pursue the Nova. Stunt Man Mike is taken by surprise; the cars crash against one another in a long chase sequence. The Nova is knocked out of action, and the girls drag Stunt Man Mike out of the car and beat him to death. The end.

It's a study in contrasts. Planet Terror is an enjoyable romp that, while true to the spirit of the Grindhouse film, betters it in every aspect - story, acting, action. The characters are well realized, notably Rose MacGowan's Cherry, who is in a life crisis and though these wild series of events, becomes a self assured woman with a purpose. Josh Grolin is great as the thermometer chewing Dr. William Block with a chip on his shoulder -- his wife! On the other hand, Death Proof comes across as a conversation piece with moments of action. Sure, the dialogue is very well done -- it has to -- but the build up takes up so much time that it kills the payoff. In other words, it is just like a lot of the other Grindhouse films from the 60's and 70's, and it's a problem for Tarrantino. He loves his influences, but when making his films he never transcends them. Only in Jackie Brown did he do so, and I consider it his best picture, which I am sure will raise eyebrows. A key to his influence here is the t-shirt on one of the ladies, which has a poster of Faster Pussycat! Kill!! Kill!! on it. The nod is not to the film but to the director, Russ Meyer, and Death Proof echoes another film of his from the same time period, Motor Psycho. The innuendos, the visual gags are all from that movie, even if the story is different. The incessant girl talk was painful to sit though; like sitting in on another group's conversation and being forced to listen to it. Which is the point, but Tarrantino has to know that he is giving the finger to his mostly male audience who are expecting another Pulp Fiction exercise. Also, Kurt Russell is woefully used. In the first half of the movie, the interaction between him and his prey is suspenseful and creepy, but it completely vanishes in the second half, where he just shows up, and becomes a cartoon character. Silly. At least for a price of a ticket you can watch one decent shlock movie and then slip out.

Funny and Provocative - I Am an S+M Writer

2007-04-11T18:31:00.000-04:00

Again, another long delay. Well, let's get right to it, shall we? I have been seeing a lot of films, especially because of the cold weather on the East Coast. Here we have an excellent film, Ryuichi Hikori's I Am an S+M Writer, a scathing and hilarious look at a battle between the sexes, a husband who writes lurid fiction and his wife, who will not tolerate the means that he goes to get his creative stimulation. The husband, Kurosaki (played by Ren Osugi), is a fiction writer who has only found success by writing sado-masochist fiction. He has an assistant, Kawada (Jun Murakami) who provides creative stimulation by hiring models who are tied up and seduced in front of Kurosaki. They describe in crude detail what is happening, and Kurosaki, in a fire of creativity, writes down the graphic sex. On one particular occasion, Kurosaki's wife (Yoko Hoshi) comes home to find them engaged in the "creative process" -- she wordlessly draws close the sliding doors to the outside around them, and leaves. Later at dinner, she calls him a pervert, and denies him access to sleep together, moving into a different room. One day she brings home a man, an English language professor from the west, and shamelessly flirts with him in front of Kurosaki. He is not amused, but does not show any real anger or jealously. His wife eventually turns to Kawada, seducing him and having sex at a hotel. Kurosaki observes the change in her behavior and sees a glow in her that can only come from making love, and correctly concludes that she is having an affair. Kawada confesses to Kurosaki that it is with him that she is seeing. Kurosaki, after showing a brief display of anger, decides to turn it around and use their affair as material for a novel, and asks Kawada to describe the intercourse in intimate detail. Kurosaki becomes absorbed, writing page after page, until he completes what he feels is his masterwork. He invites his neglected wife, Kawada, and the English professor to a bar where he boasts about his accomplishment. But his wife is no longer interested, and has made plans to leave him. Kawada and the professor fight, leaving Kawada with a bloody nose. In a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, Kurosaki attempts to make love to his wife, but he can not sustain the fervor. His wife eventually leaves him, but not before revealing that she has been an avid reader of erotic fiction, and had hoped that she could have been the one tied up as the model for her husband's musings. She meets Kawada one last time at a hotel for one last, intense tryst. Kurosaki dedicated the novel to her but fails to get it published, having second thoughts.

While it is a portrait of a crumbling marriage, I Am an S+M Writer is a very funny film, being outrageous and yet showing great humor and discretion, without going overboard. Let's face it, there are things that inhabit Japanese culture that are considered decadent or indecent here in the States. Bondage exists, but in Japanese culture and the arts one can find images dealing with women being tied up in various states as a sign of subordination and/or sexual liberation. In the 70's the Japanese film industry was making a lot of money from the Roman Porno genre, softcore sex films that was exploitative and arousing. I have not seen any of those films, but it is clear while watching this film that it is playing around with the master/slave relationship of bondage, feminist reaction and independence, and a basic notion of a creative person losing his sexual potency, finding his only arousal in his work. It is part of why the marriage fell apart -- that Kurosaki and his wife could no longer be a loving couple, and that his work superceded her in his world. Yoko Hoshi does a great job as the author's wife; being a sensible classy woman, while being exquisite and sexually provocative. Hiroki does an excellent job at keeping things on an even keel, a fine directing effort. Recommended!

To Live is Hell - Bohachi, Clan of the Forgotten Eight

2007-03-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

This is a twisted jidaigeki film from 1973, directed by Ishii Teruo. A ronin (well played by Tanba Tetsuro) has been terrorizing the countryside with his cruel acts of violence. The local government has sent men out to kill him, but the ronin defeats every man who tries to stop him. After a furiously bloody opening sequence, where blood sprays like geysers and limbs fly free, Tetsuro mentally grows weary of all the violence, and tries to kill himself by drowning, throwing himself off of a bridge and into the cold waters below. But he is rescued, by two lovely prostitutes who are members of a local gang, the Bohachi. The second in command shows the ronin around the premises, explaining their philosophy, which amounts to an anti-code of honor, denying God and spiritualism, showing no loyalty or friendship, embracing our animal instincts. Women are shown being publicly humiliated, tortured and debased as they are inducted into the clan. The ronin is asked if he would consider joining the group, and Tetsuro agrees. Part of his initiation is to help a member collect debts, and they go into town, finding a young woman who has not paid. She is captured and run through the wringer. After being defiled, she is to be sold off at auction to her first customer as a prostitute. The ronin is given 50 ryo for his initial services, which he uses to buy the girl after a frantic auction. But he does nothing to her. Morning comes and finding that he has not taken her, the Bohachi fails him in his initiation test -- apparently, the whole abduction was a set up, a test to see if he could be like them. Even the woman was in on it, herself a prostitute of the clan. He is sent out into the town, where soldiers are waiting. After a brief skirmish, an elderly man interrupts the action -- he is the Chief of the Bohachi clan, and to prevent further violence, he states to the official that the ronin is not only protected by the clan, he has been made a member. The Chief wields considerable political power, so the official has no choice but to leave, taking the soldier with him. Back inside, the Chief explains the local situation: During the construction of the city, there was great outbreaks of violence among the men. An official, reviewing the situation, came up with the idea of bringing thousands of women to the area, so the men could work their aggressions elsewhere. And so prostitution flourished in the city, with hundreds of groups and thousands of freelancers vying for business. The Bohachi, having one of the more successful groups, are seeking total control of the business. The Chief asks the ronin to be their hatchet man, going out to kill every man who engages with a woman of a certain group. The ronin consents, and in short order businesses are closed, men fearing for their lives, and women being assimilated into the Bohachi. Soon the red light district is deserted. They retaliate by attempting to assassinate the ronin; they fail. A government official later breaks up a fight between the two groups, stating that the chancellor will hear both sides and determine the outcome. There is a compromise, and the red light district is reopened, but to conditions that clearly favor the Bohachi. The Chief in return is forced to sacrifice the ronin. The Bohachi prostitutes seduce him with opium and their bodies, but he is more resilient than they thought -- he kills the group of women, and forces the Chief at gunpoint to smoke the opium. It is more than his system can handle, and the Chief is destroyed, tossed into a cell in the lower chambers, where a woman diseased with syphillis awaits. The ronin leaves the compound, and is attacked by the soldiers. The film ends with the ronin still standing, prepared to meet his end, but not before taking as many of them down with him.

This is a wild, visually arresting movie that suffers from a meandering plot. The first half hour is pure exploitation, with plenty of naked flesh and rutting bodies. The final hour runs like a variation of a classic samurai film - the ronin as a catalyst for the bubbling local unrest, though in this case it is taken to nihilistic ends; the Bohachi seeking total power through the destruction of its citizens. There is a lot of shifting moods in the film, and visually, it runs through so many effects, all gorgeous, at times theatrical, with color shifts of spotlight, fade to black, slow motion. I don't know if it all works. It is meant to show that the ronin's life on earth was indeed a living hell, and in that sense it works. I have problems with the Bohachi clan, as they are too one dimensional in their cruelty. They end up acting like any other high powered clan in a samurai film. Ishii's films during this period were of wild creativity, at the expense of story, and this is no exception.

300, Asian style - Battle of Wits

2007-03-13T17:55:00.000-04:00

This movie is a pleasant surprise, given the mixed output of made in China epics of the past several years. Hero certainly stands out from the pack, while Seven Swords, the Promise, and others show plenty of gorgeous visuals but skimp on plot. Battle of Wits succeeds because its story is based on a classic scenario -- an oppressed group who, against all odds (and with the help of an outsider) defeat mightier invading forces. It is 4th century China, B.C. In one of the many attempts to unify a great country, the nation Zhao is on a campaign to conquer their neighbors, one of which is the city state of Liang. HK superstar actor Andy Lau stars as Ge Li, a member of the Mo-Tsu tribe, who are known for great military strategies, especially in defence. He is sent to Liang as a last ditch effort to save the city from the Zhao army. After proving his skills and worth as a leader, Ge Li is given temporary command of the Liang defences. To the Zhao army, Liang is a pit stop in the pursuit to a larger goal. However, they are rebuffed several times by the city, and many casualties are incurred. The Zhao army retreats, as they are called back to the main forces who are engaged against a much larger enemy. The city of Liang celebrates, and Ge Li is revered as their savior. However, not everyone is happy. The ruler of Liang and his court are jealous of Ge Li, and immediately plot to out him from the city. Ge Li also has developed a relationship with female cavalry captain Yi Yue (Fan Bing Bing), who is set to be bethrothed to the Liang ruler's son, also a fine soldier. Ge Li and the son had a disagreement early on, but after the battle the son grew to admire his rival. Yi Yue falls madly in love with Ge Li. Charges are trumped up against Ge Li, and he is exiled from the city. The soldiers attempt to assassinate him by flinging arrows at him and his supporters, but they fail. He is rescued by an African man who once served the Zhao army. Innocent people who supported Ge Li are killed, even Yi Yue is thrown into prison and sentenced to death for supporting him. On top of this, a thousand soldiers from the Zhao army are left behind to make one last surprise attack against the city. Their movements are detected by Ge Li and a band of men who remained loyal to him, including the ruler's son. The city is invaded,finally overrun by the army, and amid the chaos, Ge Li and his men manage to rally the troops and defeat the enemy. He searches for Yi Yue, who is trapped in her prison cell, which is being flooded by water that was seeping into the cells. But she is dead. He leaves the city, what is left of it, to continue to help others.

Yes, it is a pot boiler. An enjoyable one. A lot of comments have been made about the acting; while Andy Lau and Agn Sungki (the general) and others did well, there were a lot of thumbs down for the supporting cast, especially Fan Bing Bing and Nicky Wu. Perhaps so. But the whole movie felt like a blend of an epic and an old fashioned action adventure film, like the classic Hollywood films of the 30's and 40's. The story provides a lot of unique twists, and the battle scenes are well handled. I don't think they were aiming for the same lofty heights as House of Flying Daggers, yet this film provides more entertainment than that film. Recommended.

A question of love and identity - Time

2007-03-09T08:31:00.000-05:00

Time, directed by Kim Ki Duk, is a fascinating look at relationships, between our loved ones and ourselves, and the value of identity. Ji-woo (Jung-woo Ha) and Seh-hee (Ji-Yeon Park) are lovers who have been together for some time, to the point that their relationship hovers between bliss and stagnancy. Seh-hee notices that Ji-woo has started to eye other women, and becomes incredibly jealous -- his assisting a couple of women with a car situation across the street from where he and Seh-hee were having coffee causes Seh-hee to break out in a very public display of anger, embarrassing Ji-woo and forcing them to leave the coffee shop. Seh-hee, fighting low self esteem and wanting to keep her lover, comes across a local plastic surgery clinic and decides that she needs a change. The doctor, incredulous, tries to dissuade her, as she is a naturally pretty woman -- even going so far as to show her graphic films of an operation to scare her out of doing it. But she insists. And the surgery is done, and Seh-hee suddenly disappears from Ji-woo's life. Stunned at her sudden disappearance, he looks everywhere for her, but she is gone. He misses her, and tries in a series of awkward and unsuccessful dates to try to move on. Then one day, at the coffee shop, he notices the waitress who is serving him, and finds her oddly familiar. The woman is See-hee (Sung Hyun-ah), who takes notice of him as well, and soon they are dating. Eventually they become lovers, however, their relationship is not an easy one. They fight, again very public displays of anger, reconcile, and fight again. See-hee is Seh-hee, however, she is no longer happy with her new face and the identity she thought would reinvigorate her life and relationship. Ji-woo feels restless as well, and he one day disappears, to have his face changed. See-hee is distraught. She goes to their old haunting ground, a surreal public sculpture garden made of figures and couples and lovers that are sculpture, public benches, etc. One day while visiting she sees a familiar man, wearing a mask. She is certain it is Ji-woo, but he refuses to acknoledge his old self, hinting only to come here after the required six months for the face to heal and he will reveal himself. They end up meeting at the coffee shop, Ji-woo a different man. But this identity shapeshifting has made See-hee upset and uncomfortable, and at the end of the movie she goes back to the clinic to have herself changed to as unrecognizable as possible. Once again, they are separated.

Kim Ki Duk is a creative and inventive storyteller who is unafraid to tackle hard questions about modern human condition, and as such, he is not a popular director in South Korea, but he has certainly gained attention here in the States. Familiar films to American indie movie buffs would be 3-Iron, Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, or Samaria. Here he takes on plastic surgery and people's disatisfaction with themselves, but he takes it to an extreme level. Watching this film, I thought of Kobo Abe's The Face of Another, the book and the classic 60's Japanese film that detailed the life of a husband who had facial surgery, and given a new face, becomes deluded into thinking he has a new identity, and tried to live outside the norm of society, even trying to seduce his own wife. Here we have a couple who try to reinvent themselves as a means to reinvigorate their relationship and themselves. It is frightening logic. Recommended!

Subdued yet intelligent horror - Diary

2007-03-05T06:51:00.000-05:00

Diary is the Pang Brothers' latest feature, and it is good one. Starring Charlene Choi as Winnie, who lives alone and is apparently suffering from a sudden breakup with her boyfriend, Seth (Shawn Yue). She records her thoughts and events in her diary, but it only serves as a painful reminder of their relationship. A friend, Yvonne (played by Isabella Leong), tries to help her, but Winnie is wallowing in self pity and misery. One day, Winnie sees Seth on the street and calls out to him. It is not Seth -- the man introduces himself as Ray, who looks remarkably like Seth. They have a dinner date, and Winnie reveals that her former boyfriend had died from cancer several years before. Showing pity for her, Ray grows closer to her, and they eventually spend the night together. But Winnie is showing signs of self delusion -- calling her new boyfriend Seth, talking about things that Ray and her never shared. Most disturbing of all, she goes to the market to buying fish, and gives the vendor grief about the change, only to return several minutes later to buy the same fish again. Yvonne is an uncertain influence on her, neither encouraging or dissuading her from dealing with the situation. One evening, as Ray and Winnie are having dinner, it becomes clear to Ray that Winnie is an unstable person, and is cold and distant to her. She becomes upset and has a screaming fit. Suddenly, unexpectedly, veils of her reality are lifted. Ray is tied to the chair, while Winnie recalls all the events that led to this point -- their nights spent together were of her living a fantasy relationship while Ray was bound and gagged. Then she snaps, and kills Ray. A neighbor, complaining of the smell, calls the police, and Winnie is found and taken to headquarters. Finding her diary, the detectives find that it is written in the future, telling of events that never happened. They break open a false brick wall to find another dining room table with a doll tied to the chair. In the diary Winnie reveals that Yvonne had planted the idea of murder in her head, and they bring Yvonne in, along with her boyfriend. Another veil is lifted -- Yvonne is actually Winnie, and Winnie is Yvonne, and the boyfriend is indeed Seth. Seth admitted to being Winnie's ex boyfriend, but now he was married to Yvonne. Winnie, completely delusional, recalls the past events which reveal her nutty state.

This is an effective, low key shocker. On the surface, Diary is filmed like another classic Pang Brothers film, the Eye, with dimly lit and greyish green colors, reflecting Winnie's state of mind. Charlene Choi, one half of the Hong Kong singing duo Twins, does a good job of portraying a unstable woman who becomes insane. Isabella Leung provides a small but important supporting role. But this film is all about the directing, of what they want you to see, then lifting the veils of delusion to reveal a more disturbing reality. The pacing starts slow, but by the 55 minute mark the viewer's patience is rewarded by the chain of events that follow. Clocking under 90 minutes, this is one of the better HK horrors to come by in a long time. A well done film. Recommended!

Family planning - Mission Sex Control

2007-03-04T17:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay. Let's start off with one of the funnier Korean comedies that has been released in a while, Mission Sex Control. Awful title, but it explains the plot of the film: in 1961, the South Korean government became concerned about the population explosion that was occurring (their version of the Baby Boom). They felt that they needed to take measures to curb the growth, so they initiated a family planning program that would make the citizens aware of birth control methods. The other point was to show that people could lead healthier and wealthier lives if they were not so busy having children, which kept them in debt. Hyeon-joo (played by Kim Jeong-eun) is an enthusiastic young woman
who is sent to a local village where it harks back to pre modern times - there is a village chief, but the real power lies with the land owner, who everyone in the town works for by tending to the land. All of them have large families, with no stopping in sight. Helping her to the village is a townsman named Suk-gu (Lee Beom-soo), who is having difficulties making payments to the land owner for rent on his house. There is also a matter of paying for tuition for the kids, and keeping her wife happy. Hyeon-joo introduces herself to the village, and gives a lecture on what the government want to do to help them. But they are horrified at the very idea of birth control - not only is it government interference on personal matters, it goes against the Korean notion of family. Undeterred, she returns, again and again, to the women of the village, to the men, the the village chief, and finally the landlord, all of whom refuse her offer. The only one who becomes receptive to her ideas is Suk-gu, who is now close to defaulting on paying his loans. He wants to end this cycle of debt, and agrees to listen, and manages to convince a few of his friends as well. She teaches them to use condoms, and gives the wives birth control pills. Slowly but surely, she makes progress, but runs into interference from the landowner's son, who sees her as a trouble maker. She gets around this by recommending that Suk-gu be appointed village head, and he does. He is a good leader, and manages to convince the others to fall in line with the family planning, convincing them that they will attain wealth this way. The sudden drop in births in the town catches the goverment's notice, especially the South Korean president. They are made the model town and citizens for conforming to the plan. It has a price though -- Suk-gu, in order to maintain their credibility, kicks out a couple for conceiving. The stress and the intense need to conform to this law drives everyone nuts, and then Suk-gu's wife is pregnant. Convinced that he isn't the father, he beats her and chases her out of the house. Later someone finds a shoe at a cliff known for suicide leaps, and Suk-gu is distraught. Actually, she is hiding at the landowner's house. They are reunited, and they leave the town as they have broken their own rule. Hyeon-joo goes back to the city, quits her job, realizing that there is a happy medium, of carefully planning for children with a loved one, but a couple at best.

Light hearted, silly and fun, this comedy entertains while poking fun at a well intentioned government plan to keep the population under control. The clash between country and city is well defined and delivered. Recommended!

Old School HK gangster action - The Exiled

2007-02-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

Johnny To continues to deliver, on a high level. The Exiled takes place in Macau, in 1998 before the handover to China (a topic similarly used as a backdrop in Isabella) where a triad leader, Boss Fay (Simon Yam), wants a hit on a hitman Wo (Nick Cheung). To his house comes two paris of hitmen -- one, led by Blaze (Anthony Wong), and the other led by Tai (Francis Ng). Observing this is a policeman who is hours away from retirement, and Wo's wife, Jin (Josie Ho). Tai wants to let Wo live, as he did him a favor some time ago, and there is a job that Wo has to finish. Blaze though has his orders, and there is a terrific gunfight in the apartment, though amazingly, no one is hurt. Even more amazingly, all of them proceed to clean up the place, repair the damaged doors and furniture, cook a meal and sit down together! As hitmen they all have a common background, and we see a sense of comraderie that separate themselves from the triad. They head on over to a contact man, in a hotel/brothel where he gives them possible work for assassinating various figures. But they want something local, quick and big. He has a job for them: stealing a gold shipment from the government. Meanwhile, Boss Fay is angry that Blaze has not yet killed Wo, and goes to confront them. A shootout ensues, and both Fay and Wo are injured. The others manage to escape and take Wo to a private doctor, who attends to his wound. But Boss Fay and his men come, seeking the same medical treatment! The others hide while the gang is in the same room, although it is not long before Wo is discovered. Another shootout ensues, and Wo is killed. They escape and tell Jin, who is distraught. As they leave she takes one of the guns and straps her child to her back, seeking vengeance. The others go out into the countryside to do the ambush on the armored truck; however, their car beaks down. They fall upon a bit of luck when after a long hike they come across a main road where the truck is driving down. They ambush the truck, and not wanting to hurt any one, split the money among everyone present. Returning back to the hotel, they produce the money. Boss Fay is there with his men, as is Jin. Realizing that they are trapped, they engage in one final shootout in which all are killed, except Jin and her child.

Exiled is another standout film by Johnny To. It recalls the glory years of the late 80's and early 90's gangster films, but with a much more mature and highly skilled sensibility, that all those years of directing have provided. The fight scenes recall John Woo with the slow motion balladry. The acting is cool and reserved, except for the Jin character. For those seeking HK action, this is a well worth pick up.

Mitchum and Takakura - The Yakuza

2007-02-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

The Yakuza is a 70's classic. A hybrid of Eastern and Western genres, the hard boiled mystery and the yakuza film, director Sydney Pollock created a film that shows the similarities and differences between the cultures. Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura star in the best roles of either man's careers as surviving ex-World War II soldiers from opposite side. Harry once saved the life of Ken's sister Eiko, for that he owes the American an obligation, one that tears him apart for twenty years, for he served on the losing side. Harry receives a call from an old war buddy, Tanner, who runs an import/export shipping business. Apparently he had been dealing with Japanese yakuza for gun running, and they thought he welched on their deal, as he had not supplied them with arms. So they went and kidnapped his daughter. Not wanting to deal with the police, Tanner wants Harry to go to Japan and recover his daughter, using some of his old connections. Harry goes, along with his Tanner's son who will provide backup, and they stay at a mutual friend's house. Before anything can start, Harry pays a call to Eiko, his old flame from when he was stationed in Japan. She was still running the bar that Harry had raised the money to start for her. In spite of the years, there is still a love for each other. Her daughter, now grown to a beautiful young woman, is reunited with him as well. Harry asks Eiko where her brother is, and she tells him that he is no longer in the gangster world, having withdrawn from it and is now a martial arts teacher in Kyoto. He goes there and meets Ken at his school. Harry calls in on the old obligation, and along with Tanner's son, they find out where the daughter is and rescue her. Unfortunately, they kill two men in the process, and the boss of that gang wants retribution. Ken goes into hiding. Harry, having done his job, says goodbye to Eiko and is about to leave the country, but realizes that he has left Ken in a tough position. He feels that he has an obligation to Ken to help him out. Meanwhile, the yakuza boss and Tanner have a meeting. The boss wants to know what happened to the money, and Tanner admits to stealing it and using it for his own personal interests. The funds were invested and wasted. As both sides still need each other to do business, the yakuza boss decides that he is willing to overlook the matter if only Tanner can do one thing: eliminate his friend Harry. Gangsters storm the house where Harry is staying, and Tanner's son and Eiko's daughter are killed. Ken and Harry flee. They find out that Tanner and the yakuza have made an arrangement, and they decide to take action. Harry finds Tanner at his foreign office branch and kills him and a bunch of his men. Ken, armed with a sword, along with Harry, invade the yakuza boss' den and proceed to wipe out the whole gang, in a long fierce fight scene. The men survive, debts paid, grudges dissolved, and they part with a new found friendship and respect for one another.

Mitchum enjoyed a resurgence in his career in the 70's. Films like The Long Goodbye and this one brought Mitchum back to the screen as an older, wiser, and more explosive hard boiled actor than in the 40's and 50's. Good scripts helped, and Paul Schraeder (who did the screenplay for Taxi Driver) wrote a fine tale of an older generation still struggling to survive their past. Pollock used a Japanese cast and crew to do the movie, with only a few American actors, and the result was a finely crafted, meditative work that delivered punches at all the right moments. The two major fight scenes -- one at the guest house, where the children of the main characters are killed, and the final battle at the yakuza house -- are excellent, with fast cuts and lots of movement. Ken Takakura was a major star in Japan, a la Clint Eastwood, and here you can see why -- he is Mitchum's equal in screen presence and acting, a tough, brooding, silent man who as the character Ken is still after 20 year past the war tormented by obligations that conflict with his values. Apparently there is a longer version that came out (though not on dvd), but really, this 114 minute edition is tight. I don't see how the 123 minute version could be better, but of course, in this day of restoration and completeness, there are a few who are disappointed in the release. I believe Pollock must have had some say in this version -- he gave the audio commentary. This may be one of those times where less is more -- there are a few films where I wish they left well enough alone. A great 70's film, one that finally is released on dvd. Highly recommended!

Remastered Kurosawa samurai dvds

2007-01-30T17:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to do a full review of these two Japanese classics; a lot has been written about them and more in depth than I could ever do. But I will say that having owned the original Criterion dvds, these are superior quality prints. I could never figure out what happened on the original dvds -- for instance, on the original Sanjuro dvd, there were artifacts, pinholes and damage to the print, making it even worse than the VHS release. The sound was murky as well. Here, we get the original 3 channel stereo that was used for both films, and the image quality is far superior. And the extras include the episodes of It's Wonderful to Create, a good documentary about Akira Kurosawa and the making of his films -- of course the episodes here deal with the mentioned films. Copious notes abound in the booklets. If you have been on the fence about upgrading, jump off and buy these. You won't be disappointed.

For Horowitz

2007-01-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

For Horowitz is about a woman (Ji-Su, played by Uhm Jung-Hwa) whose family sacrificed everything to put her into music school. However talented she was, she could not attain the next essential step to developing her career: studying abroad. Ji-Su ended up becoming a woman in her thirties, still single, and her career on hold. To regain some control and direction, she moves to a small city and takes over an old studio where she plans to give lessons to those who are serious about music. But she finds out that teaching in a less populated area means less talent. Mothers bring in their sons or daughters who are mediocre at best. There is a boy (Gyung-Min, played by Shin Eui-Jae) that she has run in with, a troublemaker who causes havoc around him, especially the pizza place below her studio. He steals her posters advertising her studio, breaks windows, just causes a general mess. Ji-Su finds the boy's grandmother -- his only family member and guardian -- and finds that she is no better at controlling her grandson. On top of everything else, while attending a piano recital by an old mentor, she encounters her fellow classmates, all of whom are having various degrees of success, and who are still trying to compete against each other to succeed. She finds it demeaning and distasteful. One day, she is trying to deal with Gyung-Min -- in an arguement with the grandmother she boasted that she could do a better job feeding him, and the grandmother took her up on it -- and discovers that he has a talent for playing the piano, having the ear to reproduce notes perfectly. She decides to teach him, and he becomes a willing pupil. Gyung-Min's talent is such that she begins to dream fame and fortune for the both of them -- in reality, she is happy to take him to a department store, where they find a piano, and he in effect becomes an advertisement for her studio. Soon she is swamped with children, including the pizza man downstairs, who has become smitten with her beauty and her playing, and has decided to take lessons to be near her. But Gyung-Min becomes jealous at the lack of attention that she now gives him, and starts trouble by picking fights with the kids. Horrified mothers take their children out of class, and soon she is down a handful of students. The relationship between Ji-Su and Gyung-Min become closer to mother and son, yet there are still some barriers -- he has flashbacks to a car accident that killed his parents, and is afraid of bright light. And she is living though him in music success. At his first competition, he is nervous but prepared, yet becomes paralyzed by the spotlights that turn on in his face. Gyung-Min never competes, and embarrassed, Ji-Su refuses to teach him anymore. Their separation causes anxiety for both, and she eventually finds him and reconcile. One evening they meet the teacher's old classmate, who invites them to a house where a visiting music teacher and his wife are staying. After Gyung-Min does an impromptu recital, he gains their favor, and afterwords is invited to study under the professor overseas. This is the opportunity that Ji-Su never had, and she has mixed feelings about it, thinking that she can do just as good a job. After the boy's grandmother dies in the hospital, she plans on adopting the boy. Her family though does not think she is up to the task, especially as a single woman. Her brother thinks that he is better off overseas, under the professor's tutelage. Confronted with the fact that she was never given this opportunity, and that she still hasn't progressed much in her social life, she concedes. They have a tearful departure. Years later, she and the pizza man are a couple, and attend a piano recital by a new prominent pianist. It is Gyung-Min, now grown to be a masterful musician. He dedicates a piece to her, and it is a tune that he made up one day in class.

This is an enjoyable film, even though it has a by the book plot. Uhm Jung-Hwa and Shin Eui-Jae give solid performances that show depth and complexity that makes their on screen relationship so moving. The music, so often annoying or generic background noise in many Korean melodramas, is excellent in this film, as it should be. The direction is excellent, conveying emotion without hysterics, effectively telling the story, giving flashbacks and revealing dreams that add to the story and not be a distraction. Recommended.

Mikio Naruse's Sound of the Mountain

2007-01-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

Eureka's Masters of Cinema series is a great source for the dvd foreign film junkie. Based in England, this label has quietly built a fine catalogue of old movies, most of which have never been available for home release, let alone dvd. Over the holidays I ordered the anticipated 3 dvd set of Mikio Naruse's films, and received it around the New Year. The quality, annotation and commendary rival Criterion -- the only caveat is that their releases are PAL, so you need a universal dvd player with a good built in PAL converter to see these. Sound of the Mountain is one of the three films offered in the box set, based on the novel by Yasunari Kawabata. It is a story of a loveless marriage, the husband (played by Ken Uehara, a major male lead) not caring for his wife (played by legendary actress Setsuko Hara), and her growing relationship between her and her father in law (played by Yamamura). The marriage is in name only; and both have learned to hide their disgust towards each other. When her husband's sister suddenly moves into the family home, child in tow, the wife's self made world slowly crumbles as she sees in her sister in law the possible outcome of her own marriage. On top of that, she is also pregnant, and struggles with the concept of bearing her husband's child. The only meaningful person in her life is her father in law, who tries to rectify his son's bad behavior by investigating the son's adulterous relationship with a mistress, and trying to reform his bad ways, but it is too late. The wife decides to have an abortion. The final scene of the film, a famous walk in the park sequence, shows the wife (who has now left the house) and the father in law in a state of resignation as to their lot in life, a note of fondness between the two and a goodbye. It is one of the most lyrical and moving scenes in cinema.

Silent film obsession - Piccadilly

2007-01-26T11:49:00.000-05:00

One of the pinnacles of British silent cinema, Piccadilly is a sumptuous showbiz melodrama seething with sexual and racial tension. The Chinese-American screen goddess Anna May Wong stars as Shosho, a scullery maid in a fashionable London nightclub whose sensuous tabletop dance catches the eye of suave club owner Valentine Wilmot. She rises to become the toast of London and the object of his erotic obsession - to the bitter jealousy of Mabel, his former lover and star dancer (played by Ziegfeld Follies star Gilda Gray).
-BFI review

Piccadilly is a remarkable silent film that is more memorable for the charismatic screen presence of Anna May Wong, than its melodramatic plot. Pandora's Box, which came out the same year, has a more powerful story, but Piccadilly touches upon the then taboo relationship between races. Forbidden desire toward those not like ourselves seemed daring, romantic and exotic, but they could never be consummated on film. The lover, whether male or female, always returned to white society, while the other fell victim to self sacrifice. Anna May Wong complained that for most of her career her characters always died at the end. Here is no exception. But Piccadilly offers her the best screen role of her career. As a dishwash girl in a fancy nightclub, she as Shosho is discovered as a hidden talent to the club owner, who is not happy with the draw of his current star, Mabel, who was a former lover. She is discovered because he goes down to the washroom to fire someone for not properly cleaning a dish, which was served to a customer. Shosho was dancing on the countertop, and was reprimanded. But Wilmot, the club owner, saw potential, and later takes her under his wing and grooms her to be the next star of the club. Shosho is no starry eyed neophyte; she is smart enough to demand control over her look and to hire a family member to play the music. Her performance is a hit. Mabel is jealous of her success, and of Wilmot's increasing ardor for her. An argument follows, and Shosho is killed. A twisting courtroom trial follows, and the killer is sentanced.

While having notable parts in the silent Thief of Bagdad and Peter Pan, Anna May Wong captured worldwide notice with her role in Piccadilly. She was perfect for silent film -- her eyes and body language oozed sensuality and expression. This is one of the only films where she is allowed to kiss a white man. The director, E.A. DuPont captures the feel of 1920's jazz age London as well as the grimy underworld that barely separated the two. The overall acting of the cast is good, probably above average for it's day, but for modern viewers it will seem a little stiff. Recommended to silent film lovers and those with an interest in the screen legend of Ann May Wong.

Creature Feature or Social Commentary? The Host

2007-01-25T23:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay. I was in a car accident the first weekend of the New Year, where my vehicle was totalled. Fortunately, everyone was all right. Dealing with paperwork and getting a new car has preoccupied my time, but don't think I haven't been watching movies. No siree!

We'll start off with what was the top box office draw in South Korea in 2006, a film called The Host. It's a difficult movie to label -- it isn't a horror film, nor, in spite the cover shot, is it a monster movie. It does share many traits of a classic film, Godzilla, in that the focus is not on the beast but what created it, the victims, and the society it affects. The Host is without a doubt one of the more unique cinema offerings that South Korea has produced in a few years. The story begins with a look inside a US military lab in Seoul, where an assistant is ordered to dump vast amounts of formadelyde into the sink, which is eventually emptied into the Han River. A couple of years later some fishermen come across a weird species of reptile, and disgusted, toss it back into the sea. Later, a man commits suicide by diving into the river from a bridge. We then focus on a man and his father who work a vending house along the Han River, selling food to people who come to picnic or for lunches. Song Kang Ho plays Gang-du, the vender's son who seems to be a good for nothing slacker who sleeps all the time. He is divorced, and has a thirteen year old daughter who returns from school, disgusted that for parent's day her drunken uncle was the only family member who could attend. The daughter has an aunt who is a professional sportsman, an archer who wins bronze in a televised championship. While correcting a botched order, Gang-du goes to the riverside, where he finds the people staring at something underneath the bridge. To his astonishment, it is a huge mammal hanging upside down like a bat, which then dives into the river. It takes some food tossed to it in the river, then comes out of the water and begins to devour the people. Chaos ensues, and Gang-du rushes back to the vending house, and grabs his daughter as she comes out to see what is going on. In the frenzy, they fall and lose contact. She is taken by the monster and dragged into the sea. The survivors of the incident are later gathered at city hall, in disbelief and grieving for their lost loved ones. There Gang-du's family come together and grieve over his daughter's death. A man in a yellow protective suit comes in, and warns that they are all going to be decontaminated and placed under examination, as the creature apparently infected a US soldier who was at the scene. While at the hospital, Gang-du receives a garbled cell phone call from his daughter -- somehow she survived, and was at the bottom of a huge sewer. The family, while each having personal difficulties in the past, band together and escape from the hospital, and head for the Han River. With the help of some local gangsters they get some weapons and a sewer map, and they head into the vast sewer system, looking for the daughter. They find the creature and attack it, but they only manage to annoy it, and in the fight the father is killed. Gang-du is captured again by the military, but his brother and sister escape. The brother finds out the location of the phone call, with the aid of a friend who turns around and betrays him by informing the officials, but he escapes. The sister, armed with her crossbow, is given the daughter's coordinates and goes into the tunnel to find her. She immediately runs into the creature, and is knocked unconscious. Gang-du, after a terrifying series of examinations, takes a nurse hostage and flees the holding area, which happens to be near the river. He steals a car and heads off to the sewers, where he runs into his family again. The daughter, realizing that she is in a repository for the creature's victims, is searching for a way out. A boy who was part of a recent deposit, survives. She takes care of him, and makes a rope out of the victims' clothes to try to escape. But the creature appears, and they hide in a little hole that the creature can't get into. Later it sleeps, and the daughter is determined to get out, but climbng on the creature to the rope and to safety. She almost makes it, but the creature awakes, and devours the children. It confronts the family later on, but Gang-du and his siblings are ready: the sister fires a Molotov cocktail arrow and sears the creature, Gang-du himself delivers the death blow with a metal pole. The children are coughed up; however, only the boy survives. The virus is later admitted to be a hoax, and political apologies are made. The boy ends up living with Gang-du at the vending house.

What makes The Host a unique and refreshing film for me is that there are no clichés, no familiar elements that one would expect. It is a well thought out film. Perhaps we are to infer that formaldehyde, when dumped in large quantities, will make monsters, or maybe not. But the idea is that of careless waste (in particular by a foreign element, the US military) of toxic substances could affect out natural resources. There is a lot of political stuff going on, but it is all in the background. What is more unnerving is the handling of a major disaster by the authorities, in managing and containing exposure to prevent outbreak. The military is shown but not as integral to the plot as the doctors and disease control agents who create chaos of their own. I think more than any other film from South Korea do I get some sense of the American presence in their culture, and how they can be perceived as both ally and a friend who has long outstayed his welcome. Gang-du and his dysfunctional family make for unique heroes in a movie -- they all have their problems, and at times don't get a long with each other, but in the end they work together to avenge the daughter's death. The direction is terrific -- direct, even paced and providing unusual twists. It clocks in at just under two hours. The Host lives up to its hype -- there has been tremendous interest in the film festivals and on the internet -- a well done film. Check it out!

Babel

2007-01-01T19:10:00.000-05:00

Like Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Babel is a multiple narrative movie by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, threading together three seemingly different tales to form one overarching narrative. Unlike the other films, Babel, while powerful and compelling, lives up to its title not by subject matter but by being confusing and a little uninteresting. The movie begins in Morocco, as a villager sells to his neighbor a rifle which would help him and his sons fend off the jackals from killing their flock. But his two sons are young, and although the youngest is clearly a natural and accurate marksman, neither have the maturity to handle the gun. Sure enough, while trying to see if the rifle can really shoot long distances, the youngest aims at a passing bus and fires. The bus stops, and the kids run away scared. A woman (Cate Blanchett) was hit in the bus, and her husband (Brad Pitt) becomes frantic, as they are stuck in the middle of nowhere and the closest hospital is hours away. A man on the bus says that they are close to his town, and they drive there, as a doctor lives in the town. It is a strange and scary town to the tourists, and many want to leave the couple behind. But the doctor comes and can only stop the bleeding, which is profuse. He sews her up without anasthetics. There is a phone in the town, and the husband contacts the American embassy for help. There is a delay, because of some diplomatic complications. The police are sent out as well to investigate, and they find the bullet casings. Up to this point, everyone thinks that it is a terrorist act, but the police, after interrogating the villager who sold the rifle, come to the buyer's house where the children confess their doings to their father. They flee as the police arrive, and confront them in a shootout, where the older brother is shot. The youngest brother smashes the gun, and surrenders. Meanwhile, the tour bus leaves, and eventually the husband and wife are rescued. Another story deals with a Mexican nanny taking care of two children in San Diego. She is stressed because she has to go down into Mexico for her son's wedding; the parents are out of town, and she can't get anyone to cover for her. So she decides to take the children with her; her nephew comes in to pick them up, and they cross the border to attend the wedding, which is large, loud and a little scary to the children, but festive and clean. Everything is fine, and they go back to the US in the middle of the night. They meet trouble at the border. The passports are fine, but the children are clearly not related to the nanny or the nephew, and she failed to provide a letter of permission. In a panic, the nephew crashes through the gate, and they drive off into the desert, police in pursuit. The nephew drops them off in the desert, and drives off to let the police chase him. But they are in the middle of nowhere, and when day comes, they have to seek the shade for comfort from the sun. The heat is intense, and the daughter faints. The nanny leaves them to find help, but runs into the police, who arrest her. They find the children, and bring them back to the city. The nanny will be deported, however, and she is brought back to the border, to the arms of her son who is waiting for her. The final story takes place in Japan, about a father and his deaf mute daughter, a teenager, who is leading a normal life, hanging out with friends and flirting with the boys. But there is something wrong -- she is too sexually provocative, flashing anonymous men by exposing herself in a club and trying to tongue her dentist while he is inspecting her teeth. There are also a couple of police inspectors who want to talk to her father, and she is worried, remembering when the police came to talk to her dad after her mom killed herself. After losing a potential boyfriend in a club to one of her girlfriends, she goes home, depressed, and calls the younger inspector, claiming to have information about her father that he would be interested in. He comes, and after an awkward interview, she takes off her clothes and offers herself to him. Shocked, he refuses, and she breaks down, sobbing. He leaves, but runs into the father, and asks him about a rifle that he had owned, and was discovered in the hands of a Moroccan man in a mystery shooting. As it turns out, he was in Morocco, on a hunting tour, and he gave the man his gun as thanks. This ties to the first story, and as for the second, the children were the offspring of the husband and wife involved in the shooting.

THE great spy movie - The Good Shepherd

2007-01-01T16:40:00.000-05:00

This is a New Year's treat. A three hour epic, The Good Shepherd is to the cold war spy films as Unforgiven was to the westerns, a complex and multilayered meditation of the history of modern American intelligence, from the 30's to the 60's, as seen through Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon). The films begins with a couple making love in a seedy room, filmed in grainy black and white. It is 1961, and the U.S. is in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wilson is a senior CIA official who is in charge of special operations, and is given the assignment of handling the situation. The mission is a disaster, and everyone is looking for explanations. Wilson and his men believe there is a leak, and an investigation begins. From an anonymous source, Wilson is given a grainy black and white photograph of a couple having sex, along with an audio reel of their conversation. If they find out who the people are, they may have their man. Edmund Wilson is a stone faced, unemotional, man in the grey flannel suit character who is good at what he does. The film flashes back to his college years, in the late 30's, at Cambridge, where he studies poetry and is involved in drama. Wilson undergoes initiation at an exclusive club, the Skull and Crossbones, a combination of a fraternity, free masons, and old boys club. This establishes the network that would be around for the next thirty years for Wilson. He is approached by a government agent who wants him to investigate his poetry professor, an Englishman who is reported to be sympathetic to German interests. Wilson undertakes it partly out of patriotism, partly out of realizing that his professor had been deceiving him as a professor -- he plagarizes another poet's work. After successfully exposing his professor and his network, he is asked to join a newly formed intelligence agency. Training has to be done in England -- they have an established intelligence (the best in the world), and it was part of an agreement as the U.S. came to England's aid at the beginning of the war. Before this, Wilson is happily dating a schoolmate, until a fateful night, while out at a Skull and Crossbones retreat, meets a sister of one of the brothers, Margaret Russell (Angelina Jolie). They have a brief but intense one night stand, which results in her pregnancy. Out of duty, he marries her, but it is a loveless marriage. For this reason Wilson accepts the offer to be in the intelligence, and he goes alone to England for training. There he meets his old professor, who in fact turned out to be a British agent. His advice to his former student -- not to trust anyone, that the entire intelligence business is a conviluted world of moles, double agents, and people who lust for power. Over the next twenty years, we witness Wilson's rise through the ranks. It is not clean nor simple, as Wilson learns exactly what it means to not trust. An affair with his German secretary in post war Berlin leads to him finding out she is a double agent; she is executed. A Russian seeking asylum is discovered to be not what he seems, though it took many years to discover this, and at the expense of the man whose identity he stole. His marriage is rocky at best, and his son turns his life into an exercise in seeking his father's approval. He even decides to join the CIA, much to Wilson's dismay. His son becomes involved with a woman in Africa; their relationship becomes a security threat as the photograph is deciphered, and based on that information, Wilson goes to an African city and finds the building and the room. To his shock, he finds a talisman that he had made his son years ago -- Wilson's hobby was making bottled ships. His son turned out to be the leak. Wilson's dealings with his Russian counterpart had favored Wilson up to this point, but he refuses to give in to leverage. He does appeal to his rival, as they both recognize the value of family, but the African woman is killed, on her way to marry Wilson's son. The movie ends with a reorganization of the CIA, a move to a more modern headquarters, and Wilson finally reading his father's suicide note, written forty years prior, and discovering that he had followed his father's path, mistakes and all.

This is heavy stuff. My synopsis still barely covers all the things going on in this film. There are lots of subcontexts - father/son relationships, the role of the men's club and how that networking and mentality developed into government organizations, the symbolism of shoes, and who is filling them, and not the least, the attitudes of WASPs in an evolving and changing world. Matt Damon is excellent in the lead role -- his face is a stone mask, a mystery to his family and the spy world who called him "Mother," for his care taking and lead role as head of Special Operations. Angelina Jolie is great as well, in a very understated role as his long suffering wife, living in fear of her husband. Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton, Joe Pesci, and the director Robert De Niro all make significant contributions. De Niro's direction is even handed and the pace steady, essential to such a complicated narrative. One of the best U.S. films of 2006, if not this decade. Remember Smiley's People and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Both were classics of the Cold War spy genre, if not the best, but The Good Shepherd beats them both, in narrative, execution, and having the vantage point of being a post Cold War work. A landmark film, and highly recommended!

New realms of weird comedy - Dasepo Naughty Girls

2006-12-27T17:53:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-27T07:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-26T16:11:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-26T14:18:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-18T11:42:00.001-05:00

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

2006-12-14T15:27:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-12-14T14:09:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

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......

2006-11-29T12:28:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-10T06:39:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-07T12:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-03T14:01:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-23T14:47:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

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.

Pretty but Stupid - Martial Angels

2006-10-18T07:32:00.000-04:00

Really, what was I expecting? I must have been suckered in by the fact that two award winning actresses (Shu Qi and Sandra Ng) are featured, never mind the fact that the title itself is an indication that it is a rip off of Charlie's Angels. The only thing in common are the pretty faces and some decent over the top action. But the plot is mean and stupid all the way. Shu Qi plays Cat, a burglar who along with 6 female teammates devise a plan to rob a safe in a millionaire's home. What they don't know is that Zi-Yang (Julien Cheung) has come to do some thieving as well. A commotion is caused as distraction while the two fight, then work together to find the safe, which turns out to be in the swimming pool. Underwater, they open the safe, and Julien makes a move on Cat, who instantly falls for him, and they have a relationship that is thankfully off camera. Several years later, Cat is alone and working for a corporate company, having split from him and her past -- she has now gone straight. But a group of Russians have captured Julien, and discovering their relationship, force Cat to do their bidding or Julien will be eliminated. Cat calls back the old gang -- led by Monkey (Sandra Ng), and Octopus (Kelly Lin). Their mission is to infiltrate a client of Cat's company where there are valuable documents stored on disc in a highly secure room. Two of the gang, Goldfish and Spider, go to a prison where Bone (Terence Yin), a highly disturbed and oversexed criminal, is an expert on explosives, and the ladies seek his advice. Bone is turned on by Spider, and masturbates while they are interviewing him. Disgusted, they leave. Meanwhile, Fred (Wong Jing), who holds the key to opening the room, becomes their other target, and their attempts to get his fingerprints fail. They resort to very sleazy tactics -- having him rub oil on Peacock (Rosemary Vandebrouck), which he refuses, and finally Monkey resorts to drastic action. She dresses provocatively and meets him at a bar, where she tries to seduce him. He resists all attempts, and finally Monkey grabs his hand and rubs it all over her to get the marks. Cat and the others bust Bone out of jail, and take him with them to open the safe. They succeed, but a key feature is that one of them has to keep their hands on the light pole that serves as the door opener, or it will shut and they will be trapped. Cat and Peacock go inside, leaving Spider with Bone, who proceeds to rape her as Spider is keeping the door open. They get the goods, and leave. Bone is abused but somehow gets away with his deed, but Spider tries to kill him and herself by attempting to drive off a cliff. She is stopped by her friends, who were tailing her. Cat brings the goods to the Russians, and gets Julien back in exchange, but it turns out that Octopus and Julien have a relationship going on, and double cross Cat. Lots of explostions, the Russians die, Bone dies, and Julien is shot in the back by Octopus, as he declares his love to Cat again.

This atrocity is a waste of everyone's time, and really, the one to blame is Wong Jing for producing this. The man is responsible for producing some of the better known Hong Kong films from the 80's on up; he knows the business and how to keep the cash flow going. Unfortunately, it means he will also produce softcore erotica and mainstream dreck like this. Shu Qi and Sandra Ng have done much better performances elsewhere, and at least they try to stay away from the fracas that is going on around them. Theresa Mak, another noted star from the Infernal Affairs series, has been in and out of mainstream, having done a few of Wong Jing produced softcore as punishment for something. The others are not recognizable from other films, and that is a good thing. The story is stupid and the scene with Spider getting raped is irresponsible. There is no point to it. Avoid this at all costs, even if you are a Shu Qi junkie.

Sure Death!

2006-10-16T15:58:00.000-04:00

Sure Death! is a gem of a film. Released in 1984, this was a refreshingly funny and entertaining take on the Jidi Geki genre, especially those that flourished in the 60's and 70's. It is about a group of assassins who uses unusual techniques to eliminate their targets. The members include: a married couple who does roofing by day and uses ultra sharp shingles as killing tools by night; an elder woman who uses her kyoto to disguise the death sounds of a victim, while her son uses the strings as a killing device; a man who uses ultra sharp tools; a woman who finds the clients; and their leader, a man who is an officer who bumbles his official assignments, but is actually a lethal assassin. It is mid 19th century Japan, in Edo, where a young woman is searching for the assassins in order to avenge the death of her cat. She is a prostitute at a local brothel, and while she is able to make contact with our heroes, once they find out about why they are doing this assignment, they return the money. Meanwhile, bodies are mysteriously piling up throughout the city, and the leader discerns that they must also be assassins, as their families are not claiming injustice. The victims all have 6 ryu coins in their mouths, which leads him to belive that this is the work by one man or a group. And he's right -- there is a rival assassin group in town, aiming to eliminate the competition. The prostitute is killed. A woman in a colorful spinning parasol confronts the leader and tells him that he and his group are marked for death as well. The others spend a lot of time in hiding, until an annual festival occurs, and the husband of the roofing couple goes outside to participate in the festivities. He is almost killed, and the recruiting woman is killed. The parasol woman pits both sides against each other until they do fight, in a stylized and intense fight scene near the docks. The rival group is eliminated, and the others resume their "secret identity" duties.

Stylish in sight and in sound, Sure Death! makes for enjoyable viewing. It was originally a television series that lasted for 30 years and several movies, and this along with one the immediately followed were picked by the US company Animeigo for distribution, with hopes for releasing the entire series. That did not happen, with the change from vhs to dvd, requiring new licensing agreements. However, if you can find this at your local video store, or on ebay, it is well worth viewing.

Not as It Seems - The Illusionist

2006-10-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

Taking a break from foreign films for a moment, I saw The Illusionist this past weekend. It boasts a stellar cast - Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, and Rufus Sewell. Based on the short story by Steven Millhauser, it is a story of Eisenheim (Ed Norton) and Sophie (Jessica Biel), once childhood sweethearts, who were separated by the late 19th/early 20th century class differences -- he was the son of a furniture maker, and she of aristocracy. Fifteen years later, they meet by chance, as he becomes a magician, and she ends up being a volunteer for one of his stage tricks. Sophie is currently engaged to the Crown Prince Leopold (rufus Sewell), who is plotting to ascend to Emperor of Austria. Leopold is not a good man, as he is known for his short temper and his backhand swing. Paul Giamatti plays Chief Inspector Uhl, who is at first intrigued by Eisenheim's trickery, then later has to investigate him for suspician of having an affair with the Duchess Sophie. And he is. There is a tense scene as the Prince invites Eisenheim for a private show with members of the aristocracy, and then tries to undermine him by pointing out his tricks, which he fails. Uhl, under Prince Leopold's command, shuts down the magic show. Sophie, no longer wanting to marry the Prince, tells him that she is leaving, and is apparently killed while trying to leave the palace. Her body is found floating in the river by Eisenheim. Uhl leads an investigation where he is forced by the Prince to come up with a suspect, and a random man is found, tried and convicted. Uhl had growing inease about his position in relation to the Prince, as he suspects him of murder. Eisenheim buys an abandoned building and starts another show, a seance where he conjures images of ghosts and dead people, leaving the audience to fill in the details. This brings about a wave of religious fervor in the country, a confirmation of the afterlife. The Prince sees this as a political threat, and Uhl is ordered to shut him down once and for all. But Uhl is outwitted at every turn. Even when Eisenheim is arrested for his actions, he goes to the screaming mob outside the police station and explains that it was all a hoax, and that he was just an entertainer, not a conjurer. He is released. But when he conjured Sophie from the dead, the Prince takes action, and has Uhl and everyone in the theater arrested. But upon apprehension, Eisenheim proves to be a ghost as well, and vanished. Uhl on the side has been investigating Sophie's murder further, and finds more evidence that points to the Prince. He confronts him, and has told him that he has sent his findings to the Emperor, and that his bid for rule is over. As the Emperor's troops descend on the palace, Leopold kills himself. Uhl puts all the pieces together as he finds Eisenheim in disguise leaving by train. Sophie is alive and waiting for him in the country, and then they live happily ever after. Until WOrld War One begins......

This was a decent movie until the end. The visuals referred to the old European camerawork of the German Expressionist filmmakers of the 1920's; there were a lot of old style sweeps and fade outs throughout. The colors were deliberately washed out -- a Photoshop effect? -- giving a real Old World feel. The acting by everyone was good, however, the Viennese accents by Norton and Giamatti seemed forced. Doesn't really matter. Biel is lovely to look at, and has several fine moments, especially when confronting the Crown Prince, but literally disappears and is not seen till the final moments of the film. The effects for the magic tricks - none of which are explained -- are eerie and well done. You do get a feeling that Eisenheim at some point in his life made a pact with someone who gave him supernatural powers. His role as the outsider in relationship to the Austrian aristocracy provide much of the tension of the film. But Eisenheim's plot for revenge against the Crown Prince is too obvious, and spoils the movie. Giamatti's realization of what went on at the end of the film is contrived and convenient, especially since he spends most of the movie in the dark or trying to do his job. And it undermines the film by revealing the one magic trick of what Eisenheim did to fool everyone. Silly.

The Wooden Man's Bride

2006-10-12T12:38:00.000-04:00

The Wooden Man's Bride is a surprisingly good film about the tyrrany of family honor and traditional values, and one man's adventure to save and win the woman he loves. It takes place in a cold, desert land (Northern China?), and a group of travellers are bringing a bride to a village for marriage. A group of bandits surprise them and capture the bride. She offers herself to the gang leader to spare the life of a man who had tried to hide her, a fellow villager who makes tofu. The travellers go to the village, to tell the family of the incident. The husband-to-be goes to get his gun, and is killed when the gunpowder is set off as he stumbles from a stool, holding a lantern. The tofu man, still out in the desert, resolves to find the bride and bring her to the town. He comes across the bandits' hideout, and asks for them to return her. While the others scoff at him, the leader notes this man's courage, and puts him to a test - if he drinks a bowl of poisoned water (causing deafness but not death), he will let her go. He does, and the bride is set free. Apparently the bandit leader had recently lost his wife, and so the tofu man's actions made him realize his own folly. The others admire his guts, and invite him to be one of the gang. He refuses, and brings the bride to the village. Even though the future husband is dead, his mother insists on the marriage, to keep order and to save family honor. The bride is wedded to a wooden effigy. She has to sleep with it, carry it around, etc. She becomes trapped by it and the family. The tofu man beomes part of the household for his good deeds. The bride tries to escape several times, but is prevented by other family members, and eventually is forced to stay, otherwise other people will be put to death for not watching over her. The bride and the tofu man become close, and eventually make love. This is eventually discovered, and the man is cast out of the village, and the bride's ankles are broken as punishment. The tofu man goes back to the bandits' hideout, where a fight had recently taken place, and many of the bandits were killed. He returns with the surviving members to rescue the bride from the family. The matriarch is forced to hang herself, and the movie ends the way it began: with the tofu man carrying the bride dressed in red on his back, this time escorted by the bandits.

This is a simple yet powerful story, low key yet had a lot of intrigue. No music, adding to the minimal feel. The characters are well realized, and you get the feel for a world where people live to survive; every day is composed of activities that they must to do keep on working and living. The lack of the bride's rights in the family is ironic when the one who is maintaining a stranglehold over her is the matriarch, who also has lost her husband. It is a jab at family honor and the lengths that the community will go to enforce it. Highly recommended!

Prokofiev - The Complete Symphonies

2006-10-12T10:31:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since my last post -- I have been taking a minor break from watching movies, and have been enjoying life as of late. Here's something I received recently, and it will fulfill my "occassional" music review requirement, in case anyone was wondering.

Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) is considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He was well known for his orchestral works, operas and film scores. Notable works are the Love of Three Oranges, Chout ballet, Scythian Suite, and the film scores to Lieutenant Kije, Ivan the Terrible, and Alexander Nevsky, and his most famous, Peter and the Wolf. His symphonies spanned his entire career, and reflected the various stages of his life - from the Haydn influenced 1st Symphony, to his triumphant 5th Symphony, to his final 7th Symphony, written in the Cold War Stalin era. Philips has issued this year a 4 cd set of the complete symphonies, conducted by the Russian composer Valery Gergiev, who is known for a powerful, sometimes heavy handed approach, but always exciting interpretations. Many of the operas he has conducted with the Kirov Orchestra has drawn rave reviews - his version of The Love of Three Oranges is considered to be the best available. Working with the London Symphony Orchestra, Gergiev produces one of the best sets of Prokofiev's symphonies around. While some consider the 1st Symphony to suffer from Gergiev's heavy handedness, I found it to be brisk and lively. All the others I found to be equally well done. The 2nd and 3rd Symphonies are raw and exciting. There are two versions of the 4th Symphony, original and revised. The 5th Symphony is one of the best versions around, conveying deep emotion. The 6th is also as powerful, and the 7th reflects the somber mood as Prokofiev was under pressure from the Stalin government to fall under the party line. The sound is excellent. There is a booklet with notes on Prokofiev's life and the symphonies. Recommended!

Sad Movie

2006-10-07T08:14:00.000-04:00

Sad Movie depicts the lives of several people -- a mother/son relationship, a check-out lady and her unemployed boyfriend, two sisters and their relationships -- one with a fireman who is having difficulty proposing, and the other (who can't speak) who dresses in a Raggedy Ann outfit (but is described as Snow White?) at an amusement park, who falls in love with an artist. The story lines occassionally intertwine, but overall they are separate tales of everyday lives. And of course, true to the title, there are no happy endings.
Ju-Yung (played by Yeom Jung-Ah), is a working mother whose job has taken presedence over her role as mother. After a car accident which puts her in the hospital does she find out about her abdominal cancer. Her relationship with her son was never strong up until this point -- he is not a good student, lies often and makes drawings of sad people, especially an angry mom. But this change of events forces them to become close. The son stumbles across her diaries which describe an uneven courtship with her and his father, which resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. But she made the decision to raise the child and make him better than the parents. Their story ends with reconciliation, Ju-Yung becoming the mother she never was, and then succumbing to her disease.
Su-Jung (played by Im Su-Jung) is the sister in a relationship with a fireman, Jin-Woo (Jung Woo-Sung), whose commitment to his job prevents them from taking the next step -- proposing marriage. He rescued her sister Su-Eun (Shin Min-Ah) in a fire, who is a mute and has a facial scar from the blaze that makes her a recluse. She has a job working as a character in an amusement park, and in that guise she can express her true self, especially when it comes to winning the affections of an artist Sang-Gyu (Lee Ki-Woo). Their relationship is the simplist and the most heartfelt of the lot, as they do eventually get together, only to separate when Sang-Gyu leaves to go study abroad. Su-Jung and Jin-Woo have the most tragic - after finally overcoming their personal barriers, declare love for each other and Jin-Woo has a ring to propose marriage, but is called away to deal with a blaze and dies.
Finally, there is Ha-Seok (Cha Tae-Hyun), who is unemployed and accepts demeaning jobs like being a punching bag for a local boxer. He is deeply in love with a check-out woman, Suk-Hyun (Son Tae-Yung), who hates her dead end job and feels that their relationship will never change. She wants to break up. Ha-Seok wants to improve his position, and he takes a job which is a message service specializing in break ups. When he tells her of his new work, she is sad because there is another reason for breaking up: she has fallen in love with someone else. Ha-Seok is left in tears, and ends his job, but not after delivering a message to Ju-Yung, the mother in the hospital, from her son, stating that he does not want to break up.
This is a good melodrama that bounces from story to story effectively. The star studded cast delivers a good performance, and the direction is matter of fact. The only thing that I found wrong was the music -- there were moments where it should just be silence, but an intrusive piano would butt in and drone on and on with the movie's theme song. It is a dramatic punch that is ineffective and actually detracts from the film. With the exception of the fireman's death, which I found rather silly, the stories were all believable and well told. Really, what fireman would take off his protective equipment in the middle of an inferno to acknowledge his girlfriend? I know it is meant to show that he finally demonstrates her importance in his life, but it is very unrealistic and silly. No fireman would do that. Do your job and stay alive. Other than that, a nice movie. Recommended.

Weepies, part 3 - Almost Love

2006-10-06T22:50:00.000-04:00

I'll be blunt: Almost Love is a very, very silly movie. It stars Kwon Sang-Woo and Kim Ha-Neul, from a very popular comedy called My Tutor Friend. That film, while no masterpiece, was charming in its own way, and it had a plot. Here there is none. Almost two hours long, this rambling work strains to keep your attention by focusing on our stars, and their inevitable coming together as a couple. Kwon plays Lee Ji-Hwan, who since he was a boy was in love with action movies, and dreamed of following in Jackie Chan's footsteps. Other children stayed away from him, partly because of his interests, and partly because of his emulation of Jackie, right down to the ugly long bowl hairdo. Yikes! Kim plays Jin Dal-Rae, the one person who finds him interesting, and they become life long friends. Fast forward 15 years, and they are young adults, Lee Ji-Hwan a student of Tae Kwan Do, and Jin Dal-Rae an aspiring actress. She blows her auditions by being too nervous and self conscious, and Ji-Hwan does not help with his teasing, and it leads to some fighting. But their friendship is so deep that they make up afterwards. Dal-Rae has a boyfriend, Young-Hoon (played by Lee Sang-Woo), who is supportive but is well aware of the two's long history together. He is also Ji-Hwan's teammate, considered the best in the class. They have friendly competitions with one another, but Ji-Hwan always lets him win. They are all good friends and spend lots of time hanging out. Of course, time does test relationships, and Young-Hoon wants more attention from his girlfriend. Dal-Rae is clearly in love with Ji-Hwan, but is too proud to admit it, less to him than to herself. And Young-Hoon knows this.
There is some success -- Dal-Rae works herself into an audition, fails, then later succeeds by doing an impromptu performance on a bus, then in front of the director, and lands a part. Ji-Hwan becomes a stunt man, very successful, until one day after a successful shoot he calls Dal-Rae to talk about his success when he is hit by a car. Dal-Rae calls him to tell of her success, and the next thing we know she is in the hospital visiting Ji-Hwan. His right leg had to be amputated below the knee, his stunt career over. Devastated, Ji-Hwan abandons his father and his friends and drowns himself in misery. Dal-Rae manages to give him a video tape that she recently made before he left. In a dreary hotel room, Ji-Hwan plays it and it shows her attempt to make him happy, a rally to keep on living, as well as a payback for all the times that he helped her in her times of need.
A year passes. Young-Hoon takes his girlfriend out for a birthday dinner, and she is surprised to see Ji-Hwan there. She slaps him and runs away. Young-Hoon and Ji-Hwan talk things over, and while Ji-Hwan is in the men's room, Youn-Hoon reads a manuscript that Ji-Hwan had written (in order to stay in the movie business), and realizes how deeply he feels for Dal-Rae. He gives the manuscript to Dal-Rae, and after reading it she admits to herself her feelings for him. They reunite, and they live happily ever after, her as an actress, and he as a production worker. The end!
I read some other reviews of this film, and given their responses, I think they are being much too generous. Kwon Sang-Woo and Kim Ha-Neul are okay, but they have done better roles elsewhere (even in My Tutor Friend). I think the focus too much on them, and no one was paying attention to having a story in this film. The supporting cast is utterly wasted -- from Ji-Hwan's father, who manages to have a few moments where you can see the close relationship between father and son, but he disappears after his son's hospitalization. The Young-Hoon character and the girl that was briefly Ji-Hwan's girlfriend were not present enough in the film to make an impact. They are very two dimensional, which is a shame, because that is where some drama could have arisen and helped flesh out the story. And what is it with using cars crashing into pedestrians in Korean films? It's not because it fulfills the stereotype of an Asian driver. I blame the pedestrians for not looking when they cross the road! Seriously, it is an indication of very lazy script handling. It has become such a cliche. By the 2/3 mark of Korean melodramas there has to be that twist, that kick in the shins that changes the tone of the movie and become something else. Sometimes, it works. Not here. You have your drinking scenes, your karaoke scene, and a brief competition moment that should have been played up more, to keep the guys interested, if only briefly. Poor guys! Poor me for watching this! I can only recommend this to those who love this kind of weepie. Actually, guys should have a barf bag for him and a bunch of tissues for her. And think about baseball, than concentrate on this film.

Miike's made for cable masterpiece - Imprint

2006-09-30T14:49:00.000-04:00

Masters of Horror is a made for cable series featuring individual one hour short films by various notable genre directors. Takashi Miike was included, but apparently when it was reviewed it was determined that it could not be aired because of the content. This is a hypocritical move for a show that is about horror. It shows that there is a divide between the popular concept of horror films and what Miike's film is, which is influenced and builds on the rich and deep history of unnatural tales and culture of Japan. We can show murder, dismemberment, rape, and other gruesome forms of violence on tv, but there is always some sort of catholic distinction of good and evil. Miike shows us that horror can derive from common, ordinary things like love and friendships can turn to despicable acts of violence. They are flip sides to the same coin. Imprint is a ghost story made manifest, taking place in 18th century Japan. Billy Drago stars as an American journalist named Christopher, who returns to Japan in search for Komomo, a prostitute he had loved and promised to come back to bring her to the US. He has searched long and hard for her, but her whereabouts are unknown. He is taken to an island that is surrounded by a misty fog, and bodies litter the water. Prostitutes inhabit the island, and demons are rumored to roam about in the night. Christopher, not finding his woman, takes shelter for the evening, staying at one of the brothels, where he spends the night with a prostitute whose face is half contorted. He tells her of his search, and she mentions that she knew Komomo, who was part of the brothel several months ago, but had committed suicide. Christopher is in a rage, upset that his love could not wait for his return, and demands to know what happened to her. She tells him that Komomo was an innocent, childlike woman who was the most popular of the prostitutes in terms of receiving clients, and this brought about jealousy amongst her peers. Her heritage (she claimed to be from a wealthy family) was derided by the others. Komomo and the prostitute became friends as both were picked on by the group. One day the madam's ring was stolen, and the only evidence was a hair pin left behind. Madam storms the ladies' quarters, demanding to know who took it. One of the women blamed Komomo, and the rest are quick to agree. Komomo pleads that she didn't do it, and her friend realizes that she has been framed. Komomo is tortured in one of the most breath taking and awful spectacles on screen -- she is burned with incense sticks, her nails pierced with pins, her gums pierced as well. The violence has a point - to show the depths of cruelty that the others had for her, and her subsequent drive to suicide. Her friend finds her hanging from the rafters the following morning. Christopher is aghast, and attempts to leave, but the prostitute convinces him to stay the rest of the night -- it is too dangerous to go outside. Sleepy, he asks the prostitute to tell him her story. She is the daughter of poor parents, the mother a midwife and the father suffering from lung disease. She was born with the deformity, and teased by others. Under the guidance of a local priest, she learns about good and evil, heaven and hell. She was sold into a brothel, and eventually came to the island. She says that she was the one who killed Komomo, to end her misery and suffering, he one true act as a friend which would sent Komono to heaven, but the prostitute to hell. Christopher is unconvinced; a whore never speaks the complete truth, and in fact, there were gaps in her story. She finally admits she stole the ring and planted the evidence. And casually slips a mention about her sister. Sister? She starts to act strange, spamsing and screaming. A hand with a face in it appears from the side of her head -- it turns out it is her twin sister, the demon who drove her to do these things. Her parents were brother and sister, cast out of society by their sins, and her mother performed abortions to make money. When she gave birth, she dumped the baby in the river. But the baby was alive days later, and the mother finds her and decides to raise her. She reveals that she was sexually assaulted by her father and the priest, and sold into the brothel. Christopher is revealed to have had a relationship with his own sister, who died young, and that his relationship to Komomo was similar. Confronted with this, and the twin manifesting itself from her head, he shoots her. The prostitute turns into Komomo, then dies. Christopher is imprisoned and left to his insane visions and rants.

Written by the same screenwriter who did Audition, Imprint is an outstanding tale of deception, cruelty and violence, a nightmare world where poverty and suffering make life impossible and women to lead lives that lead to self destruction. The unflinching and graphic nature of Komomo's torture scene will send many to eject their dvds, but it is less horrifying than something from other contemporary horror films, like Haute Tension, which I find to be a movie of bad taste in content and execution. It is hard to watch, but the point is that cruelty amongst people for the lightest of reasons can be more horrific than any type of genre horror we have been accustomed to seeing. However, the sexual scenes are treated with great care and discretion - filmed behind thinly veiled screens or done off camera. Incest and abortion are probably two of the items that lead to the banning of the film, and that is a result of our cultural taboos, not Japan's. Billy Drago is fine in his role, effectively coming across as a drained, half insane man in search for the one light in his life. The prostitute is played by Youki Kudoh, who is better known for starring in Mystery Train, was in Memoirs of a Geisha, and shows that she is a fine actress who deserves more featured roles. The cinematography, like all of Miike's film works, is outstanding, one of the finest and most elegant in the business. A great bonus feature on the dvd is a 45 minute interview with Miike, who talks about his creative process, and in so doing reveals how much film buffs and critics miss the point to much of his works. It is also interesting to note that the author of the story the movie is based on appears in the film as the primary torturer of Komomo. Now of course this film is not for everyone, whose who hate the squeamish should not even come near this. But as a fan of good storytelling and good filmmaking this gets my highest recommendation. I consider this to be a summation of Miike's works to date, and at the peak of his abilities. For those who think he is just a gore hound, check out Bird People of China, the Negotiator, or Zebra Man, all outstanding films, and without the graphic violence or horror - just good stories. Outstanding!!!

Forbidden Quest

2006-09-29T07:41:00.000-04:00

Forbidden Quest is a rich and beautiful period film that is subversive in subject matter yet quirky in mood and execution. It takes place during the late Choson period, in the 18th century. The Choson (or Joseon) period was a long running dynasty of Korean origin that ran from 1312 to 1910, before being taken over by Japan. The monarchy had established absolute control over Korea, and implemented Confucianism ideals and doctrines into society and culture (reflecting its Chinese influence). It was also a great cultural period where the arts flourished. The movie centers on a court inspector, Kim Yoon-suh (played to perfection by Han Suk-kyu) who during an investigation of a family crisis comes across a store that stocks houseware and pornographic books. He writes stories as well, and is intrigued by one book, a popular dirty novel and reads it. He decides that its outrageous descriptions and fantasies are what he needs to stimulate his work, but is too embarrassed to put it to paper. His encounter with the royal concubine Jung-bin (Kim Min-jung), brought about from hearing about his "heroic" deeds in a prior investigation, spurs him to write his own fantasies, using her as a character in the book. He establishes a relationship with the owner of the store that distributes the books, and the first chapter is a sensation. But it second only to another author, and Kim Yoon-suh's desire to succeed leads him to be more innovative. He recruits Lee Gwang-hun (Lee Beom-su), a court administrator known as "The Angel of Death," who paints on the side. They are assisted by two men who help produce the pictures and writing, but also pose for the various sexual positions. The creative process that this involves is outrageously funny. Kim Yoon-suh and Jung-bin meet and make love in secret -- she risks her life in leaving the palace. This encounter is used in the content of the book, and the pictures of the people in the chapter are too similar to the real people -- Lee Gwang-hun watched them make love and drew them. The second chapter becomes wildly popular. The ladies of the court see the similarities, and Jung-bin finds out and is horrified by the betrayal. She informs the emperor, and Kim-Yoon-suh is imprisoned and tortured -- they want to know who did the drawings as well. He refuses to tell them, and Lee Gwang-hun, who is present during the torture, tries to take his friend away to hide, but is confronted by the eunuch guards. A brutal confrontation ensues, where most of the guards are killed, but The Angel of Death is wounded, and is carried away, and Kim Yoon-suh is brought back to the palace. He is to be condemned to death, but Jung-bin surprisingly intervenes, and the two confess their love for each other. The emperor releases Kim Yoon-suh, but the two are never to see each other again -- they will be reunited in the afterlife. Lee Gwang-hun finds Kim Yoon-suh living on the seashore, and Yoon-suh concocts a new idea for an even more outrageous dirty book, one about homosexual love.

The movie is beautifully shot, with well composed scenes and gorgeous color. You get a feel of the historic period, and the subversive role that the dirty books have on a conservative culture. However, I found the shift in moods a bit odd, from the gritty police procedural that takes place in the first 15 minutes of the movie, to the comedic sequences of the creative process that goes on in making the book, to the torture and love story that crops up at the end. I'm not really sold on the love story -- while it is clear that Jung-bin and Kim Yoon-suh are attracted to each other, I don't feel that it was a strong love that could lead to her pleas to have his life spared, or for him to declare his love for her. He was using her from the start, and she was looking for a fling, for something exciting and dangerous, to get away from the stale and confining palace. And there was a funny sequence between Kim Yoon-suh and Lee Gwang-hun, as they are discussing new sexual positions, where you have a miniature couple in black stage uniforms act out the various positions. It is funny but it doesn't fit with the rest of the movie -- in tone, perhaps, but visually it is very different. You don't see that fantasy stuff played out at any other time. I like that the titillation is described but not shown, demonstrating the power that words have on the imagination. A good movie, though inconsistent in parts. Recommended.

Weepies, part 2 - Love Phobia

2006-09-27T07:22:00.000-04:00

Love Phobia is a recent 2006 romance film that stars Cho Seung-woo (Jo-kang) and Kang Hae-jung (Ari), as lovers whose relationship spans the years as Ari appears and disappears from Jo-kang's life. It starts when they are children, and they meet on Ari's first day at school, dressed in a raincoat, which attracts attention since it is a sunny day. She relates to her classmates that the raincoat is necessary because she is cursed -- anyone who touches her has an accident, or gets sick, or some misfortune. This scares all but one classmate, Jo-kang, mainly because she is his seatmate, and this begins their friendship. She has a pet lizard which scares the bejeezus out of the teacher, and during one of their walks, loses it and it goes into the marsh. Jo-kang dives in to find it, and it begins to rain. It is never found. The two sit under shelter, and huddle under the raincoat. Ari falls for him, but when the next day Jo-kang comes down with the measles, Ari never comes back to school. Ten years later, Jo-kang is studying for exams, and unexpectedly receives a message from Ari, telling him to come and meet him at the temple, where she has been living all this time, with her uncle, who is a priest. After some comedic miscommunication, they meet, and live together in the temple, studying and playing with one another. During this time they fall in love, but when after they kiss, Jo-kang becomes ill with the flu, and Ari disappears once again. Eight years later, Jo-kang is working at a bank (fulfilling a dream they both shared, where he would work at a bank, they would rob it and use the money to fly off in a Russian spacecraft). His coworker thinks that he needs to move on and date some women, but Ari shows up one day. They have a long, wonderful time together, but Ari breaks the news that she is off to the United States the following day, which devestates Jo-kang. Also she has this belief that she will be picked up by a UFO, and be relieved of her curse -- that bring outs a big huh? from Jo-kang. They separate, but while visiting his injured coworker in the hospital, spots Ari as a patient. It turns out that her parents were killed in a car accident, and while being treated for injuries, received an infected blood transfusion -- AIDS. Her uncle broke the news to her in a way a child could understand, which was the reason for the raincoat, and the aliens, as that became symbolic for hope for a cure, however fantastic. Ari is a photographer who is having a show in a gallery, filled with pictures of her past and the temple where she lived. Jo-kang and Ari meet up again, to spend final times together while she is slowly dying. He even makes a crop circle to call on the UFOs as she is seemingly about to pass away, but given photographs of him, she recovers enough to go with him to see the circles. They confess their love for each other, she apologizes to him for everything, then a bright light comes and carries her away. He spends his life working at a sushi bar (Ari loved sushi), never to forget her.

The conceit of the movie is that Cho Seung-woo and Kang Hae-jung are romantically linked in real life. Their chemistry is carries the movie, which storywise is a cliche of a romance of a man in love with a dying woman. The reasons for her strange behavior are clever. I just wish the disease wasn't AIDS -- too extreme or too dramatic. I also think they could have played up the fantasy vs reality even more -- Ari's lies were developed from her uncle's white lies, to protect her. As she matured she understood the seriousness of her condition. Yet in dealing with her feelings for J0-kang, she reverted to using those lies. Jo-kang initially scoffed at her excuses, but grew to believe in them as his love for her grew, because of his desire for them to be together once and for all. The ending, where the lovers are in the field, saying their final goodbye, is heartwrenching. The ray of light is unexpected and I'm not sure necessary. I mean it could be symbolic of her passing away, or the end to their relationship, but to think that she was picked up by a UFO upsets the tone of the entire movie. Whatever. This is a notch above the standard Korean romance film, and it is a credit to the director and the main leads, though I'll take a police procedural or horror flic any day. But I did shed a tear. Recommended for those with lonely hearts, or Korean film buffs.

A Bloody Aria

2006-09-24T11:52:00.000-04:00

A Bloody Aria is the second film by director Won Shin Yeon, who was responsible for the atrocious horror flick The Wig. This is a much better effort, but with mixed feelings. A music professor, Park Young-sun takes his student, In Jeong, to the countryside, driving a new, white Mercades. In Jeong is a pretty female singer who confesses to haviong a crush on the professor, and it is clear the Park Young-sun's intentions are not noble. As they sit by a campfire, he attempts to force himself on her. In Jeong fights him off and flees, repulsed by his amorous attempt. Park Young-sun encounters a group of men who seem menacing and yet are initially friendly to him. His car is stuck in the sand. A man picks up the student on the road, and brings her back to the site. There they try to move the car, but the wheels have dug too deep into the ground. The men cook some pork. All this time, there is a large bag that clearly has someone inside it. The professor and the student realize that these men are not good people, and that their leader is a mentally unstable person. The bag is exposed and a young male student pours out, bloodied and beaten. He is humiliated in front of the woman, who tries to escape but is caught by the men and dragged into the car to be raped. The leader forces the professor and the student to fight it out, the result leading to the possible freedom of one of them and the woman. The boy snaps, defeating the professor and proceeds to knock out the gang, and rescues the woman. The professor flees, finding a phone and calling the police. A cop comes, and takes him back to the site, where they find it completely empty. After defeating the gang, the boy was prepared to kill them all but In Jeong stops him. The leader recovers, and captures them both, tossing them both in the trunk. But the boy has a gun and shoots in the trunk. The cop hears this and he and the professor go and confront the gang, where it becomes apparent that the leader and the cop knew each other a long time ago, and that the boy is the cop's brother. The movies ends with the gang captured and the professor and the woman being towed home in the car.

This has been described as a Korean Deliverance, but I don't see that. The central plot, of the gang vs the boy vs the cop, with the professor and the student as unlucky observers, is fine. But the men aren't exactly local yokels with an axe to grind against big city folk, they are just thugs whose leader has a specific goal in mind for dealing with the boy, as a retaliation for what happened between him and the big brother cop long ago. The one location film is a good idea, feeling like a play. The acting is solid, but with the exception of the woman and the boy I don't connect with any of the other characters, who are just unlikeable. Perhaps this disconnect leads me to have an unsatisfied feeling at the end of the movie. The story is interesting, and there are moments of nail biting tension, but the pay off feels so unsatisfying. I have no feeling towards this film one way or another.

Before Zatoichi - Shiranui Kengyo

2006-09-20T09:18:00.000-04:00

Shiranui Kengyo is an interesting movie, a character study of a young blind man who rises from poverty to become Secretary of Religious Affairs (hence the movie title). It was released in 1960, a couple of years before the first Zatoichi film, but this is notable because it starts the same actor, Katsu Shintaro, and that his acting here led to the Zatoichi role. He seems much younger here, and thinner, but he comes across as being very self assured. He plays Suginoichi, a blind man who since childhood has taken advantage of others because of his disability. He steals and connives to get what he wants -- in one sequence, he slips his nose pickings into a tub of fine sake in order to get free booze for his family. Years later, now a young man in his twenties, he aspires to be the Secretary, which is the highest position a blind man can be in Japan. He encounters a traveller on the road and seeing that he is carrying a large sum of money, kills him. He is spotted by another traveller, and Ichi gives him half. Ichi persuades him to give him a token so that he could prove to an inn that he is going to that he knows this man, but instead plants it on the body as evidence. Afterwards Ichi becomes more evil in pursuit of his goals. He steals more money. He rapes a young maid, then later a wife of a samurai. He fakes his own death to avoid accusation. Now studying under the Secretary, he plots his master's murder, using petty criminals to do his deed. He becomes Secretary, and marries a beautiful woman who was an artist's model and his lover. Knowing that he could never win her heart, he poisons the artist and kills his wife. Before long, his past sins catch up to him, and the mistaken murderer of the traveller comes forth to expose him. As Ichi is about to go to see the Emperor's daughter, the police arrest him.

Katsu Shintaro carries this film, which is good up until the contrived ending, which I think wrapped up matters too neatly and too quickly. It's interesting to compare this role with the Zatoichi character. They are similar except in demeanor. The evil Ichi is sly, misogynist, more gestural. Zatoichi is humble and restrained, except when forced into action. The direction is very good; nice composition of scenes, and the action sequences have a documentary feel to it. A good black and white widescreen transfer. Too bad about the ending. Worth seeing for the Zatoichi influence.

A Haunting, Chaotic Classic - Brutal Story at the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate

2006-09-18T20:03:00.000-04:00

This 1964 black and white samurai film bleeds blood red in violence and anger thoughout its 90+ minutes. It depicts the Shinsengumi clan (a group of samurai dedicated to the preservation of the Tokugawa government) and their closed and brutal world where recruits have to undertake a kill or be killed initiation swordfight. One young man, Enami, is starstruck by their prior accomplishments and decides to join them, though he shows his nativety in all aspects of becoming a warrior. He and the other recruits witness a beheading, and tries not to throw up. In training he is almost pummeled senseless by one of the ruthless superiors. When asked to perform a beheading he practically botches the job, hacking the man to pieces. He clearly is not of samurai stock, but manages to survive the training. Sato (played by Junko Fuji, who is known for her starring role in the Red Peony Gambler series), a maid who is part of a group of servants left behind by the original owners of the facility, takes to him because of his innocence. Over time though, he becomes more adept with the sword, especially with beheadings. While the Shinsengumi is preparing to head off to battle, they spend a lot of movie time rooting out spies, rule breakers and those with a conscience. It is not a pretty place. There is homosexuality among some members, and others frequent the brothels for some action. Enami and Sato couple in the warehouse the evening before the battle, while the others get inebriated. Sato wonders why he is in this place, and later we find out: he is actually the nephew of a man who was the original head of the Shinsengumi, assassinated by the current leader. The boarded house in the facility was where he was killed with his woman, shown in a great expressionist flashback sequence. Sato proposes to Enami before he is about to leave, and he is suddenly called away to see the leader. They expose his past, and he does not deny it. In a terrific fight sequence, Enami battles for survival as he rushes to escape, but is cut down by his one friend whom he thought shared the same feelings about the cruelty of the clan. Sato cries over Enami's corpse in the alley, while his friend angrily slashes the written code of the Shinsengumi, then prepares to join the others for war.

Directed by Tai Kato, this fast moving film hits you hard with its no nonsense, gritty depiction of a closed world of violence and trechery. Unlike any other samurai film of its day, the fight scenes are not carefully choreographed, but chaotic and brutal. Men stumble, slash away at empty air, bump into each other. The paranoia of the leaders in maintaining their position is enforced by the tightly packed rooms that they live and work in -- the screen is dense with people. Only with Sato is there privacy and space. This was apparently a low budget film that clearly rose above its limitations with solid acting and a good story. The camerawork is fantastic, deftly making the viewer feel the action rather than just watching it -- Enami's death scene is harrowing and unexpectedly graphic for its time, but it is shown only in a punctuated still rather than in motion. Highly recommended!

Jasmine Women

2006-09-17T23:05:00.000-04:00

Jasmine Women is a film adaptation of a novel by Su Tong called Women's Life. The story is split among three generations of women who live in Shanghai, from the 30's to the 80's. Zhang Ziyi and Joan Chen play daughter and mother (later grandmother) to the same family in all three generations, and the movie is really an acting showcase for both women. In the 30's, Zhang plays Mo, a silly young women who loves movies. She works for her mom (Joan Chen) who runs a photo shop, and one day a man comes in and introduces himself as a film director, and wants to do a screen test. She willingly does so, against her mother's wishes. She does a screen test and is horrible, but gets a role in a b-movie detective film. The director sets her up in a hotel, where he later seduces her. Mo later finds out she is pregnant, and the director, finding out, wants her to have an abortion, under the lie that she can only continue to have a film career if her aborts the fetus. She does not, terrified by the screams from inside the operaing room. Later, the Japanese invade Shanghai, and the director takes all his money and moves to Hong Kong at a moment's notice, shutting down the film production company and abandoning Mo. She returns home to her mother, and is heaped abuse for making a bad life decision. She has the baby, a daughter, and raises her in her mom's house. Her mom is having a relationship with a hair stylist, who is entralled by Mo, and attempts to seduce her, but they are caught. The mother, grief stricken, commits suicide, Mo alone to raise the baby.

The second part deals with Li (played by Zhang Ziyi), the daughter, eighteen years later. It is now Communist China, and we see Li falling for and later marrying a handsome young man who is a member of the Party. Mo (now played by Joan Chen) is resentful towards her daughter because she symbolizes her ruined life, but tries to keep her from making the wrong choices in life. Li's husband is a good man who is from a poor family, and when Li moves in with them, finds that their way of life is not acceptable to her. She moves back to her mom's and a few days later, her husband follows, willing to move out to be with her. All is well except she finds out that she cannot have a child. This makes her become mentally ill, though it is a gradual decline, and becomes worse only after they adopt a child and raise her for a couple of years. One night Li imagines that her husband is attempting to rape their daughter, and accuses him in front of the entire family. She drives him to suicide, and ridden with guilt, follows him. Mo is left to raise the grandchild, Hua.

Hua's (Zhang Ziyi) story takes place in the 80's, and she too marries a young man who is off to college, and hides this from Mo, who knows that the long distance relationship will fail. Sure enough, he makes excuses not to come home, but one day he does, and they sleep together. Hua is pregnant. Mo tries to set her up with a nice man from America, forcing Hua to tell her what she did. Mo is stunned, and sees her family as cursed because of her initial foolish decision to have a child. Hua agrees to get an abortion, but is also afraid, seeing the results of the operation. One day her husband shows up, and wants a divorce. Hua uses her pregnancy as leverage to keep him over for the night, to act as man and wife one last time. She tries to gas him in his sleep, but fails because she suddenly bleeding from the womb. They separate without divorcing. Mo dies, and Hua is disconsolate, not being able to tell her of the decision she made for herself. Hua gives birth to her daughter in the pouring rain in the street. It is a harrowing scene, and Zhang does a great job showing stress, fear, and determination to deal with the sitation all by herself. It is a scene of birth and rebirth. The movie ends with the two moving to a newly built housing complex, as she starts her new life on a clean slate.

Young Hou, the director, should be credited for a fine effort. He tells each story slightly different from the others, using different tones and moods to reflect the times. There are no wasted scenes in this movie. Zhang Ziyi proves that she is not just a pretty face; she gives a great performance in three roles where she does appear as a different woman, in looks and in demeanor. The only conceit is that she plays the granddaughter, who is adopted -- and therefore should bear no resemblance to the mother! Ah well. Joan Chen is terrific as well, deserving of more roles than she seems to be getting. This is not the only time she plays a mom -- remember Saving Face? Recommended!

Epic Mess - Seven Swordsmen, part 2

2006-09-17T09:45:00.000-04:00

I finished watching all 39 episodes, and the first thing I have to say is I can't get those 20+ hours back. The build up is decent, and certain character plotlines are very well formed, but the rest is a muddled mess, and the conclusion so unsatisfying that it ruins the entire viewing experience. And it is clear that there will be another season.

Picking up from the last blog, the story shifts to Yung Yanchong, number two brother, who becomes involved with Fei Hongjin, the warrior woman in red who leads the nomadic tribe of the Eagles of the Desert. She is an extremely stubborn and angry person who nevertheless falls in love with Yanchong, after a fighting with them and helping them get water. Chu Zhaonan, the big brother, returns from his disasterous experience with Green Pearl, and has the hots for Hongjin, but the love triangle is never truly formed. Yanchong and Hongjin do spend a night together, but he was drunk, and can not remember. The two constantly argue, especially about each other's feelings. Yanchong, in an attack on the military base, is wounded and meets Menghui, a beautiful princess who is the daughter of one of the generals. They fall in love, and he escapes. Menghui is later captured and held hostage, but Hongjin and Yanchong fight over what to do with her. Yanchong frees Menghui, who is sent back to the military base, where Duo Gedou, the general pursuing the martial artists, falls in love with her. Yanchong tries to free her again, but is repelled because she thought he lied to him. In a big battle all the Desert Tribe is killed, and Zhaonan, Yanchong and Hongjin are barely left alive. Zhaonan comes to and is left behind by the other, for he in his machinations to destroy the enemy backfired, and made him look like a traitor.

Switch over to the capitol city, where there is some political intrigue. The emperor is being plotted against by another general, who is seeking power. A woman scholar is held hostage and would be used as a pawn to force the emperor's hand. The emperor is seeking an annulment to a woman we never see in the show, and his survival as ruler depends on his actions and how his mother and the others see him. The scholar's husband and child are met by the white bearded leader of the Swordsmen, and two of the other swordsmen. Their attempt to rescue the woman ends in tragedy as she is killed leaving the castle, and the husband and child are also killed. The emperor is overthrown, but the general is himself killed by Duo Gedou, who is brought back to the capitol to see the emperor. A child is then put on the throne as puppet ruler.

We find Zhibang and company hiding out in a house with a fruit orchard, still protecting the children from the authorities. They meet the other three swordsmen and encounter another faction of the Red Spear Society, and they merge as one large group. They plot to kill Gedou as he is planning to wed Menghui in a few days. Unbeknownst to all, Menghui is hiding right next door to them, pregnant with Yanchong's child, and gives birth.

There is a good subplot that is a variation of the film Dragon Inn. Hongjin and Yanchong are hiding out in an inn, and they encounter a band of evil agents of Gedou, who are pursuing them. The relationship between Hongjin and Yanchong are still strained, but they manage to escape their situation and go to the capitol separately.

The gang gets back together, as Zhibang is made head of the tribe after the other leader is killed by the authorities. Yufang still has the hots for Zhaonan, but he only treats her as a little sister. Zhaonan plots to inflitrate the capitol by being Gedou's ally, but it all backfires as every move Zhaonan makes is turned against him, and he is seen by his comrades as a traitor. Yanchong and Menghui are reunited briefly, but she is ill, and is captured by Gedou and bought back to the palace, where they marry. Menghui, giving up her daughter, and abhorring all violence, goes slowly mad. Hongjin has the daughter, and develops maternal feelings and the tenderness that she never had. She uses the child to try to bring Yanchong back to her, but he is still too insane with love for Menghui, even though it is clear that his feelings are naive and undefined.

We get the Big Battle. The Seven Swordsmen unite and with the tribe, attack Gedou at the palace during the wedding. It is a disaster. Yufang's father is killed, apparently by Zhaonan, and she renounces her love for him, seeking revenge. Gedou escapes and Menghui, who is used as bait, finally goes insane. They later attack Gedou near the ocean, taking on the garrison, and Zhaonan confronts Gedou on the tower and sends Gedou to his fate by casting him into the ocean. Hongjin is apparently killed as she sacrifices herself by defeating one of the evil masters that were sent to destroy the swordsmen, and it is only then that Yanchong realizes his feelings for her. He apparently dies as well, leaving the child in the hands of one of his brother swordsmen. The children and most of the tribe are killed in an ambush on their hideout, and Yufang kills the man responsible for their deaths. Only one of the children survives, the oldest. It turns out brother Yuanyin was responsible for leading the man to their hideout, but that person was in disguise, and Yuanyin's naivety in not trusting his suspicions costs him. Yufang and Zhibang are together again, as Yufang has no one else to turn to, and Zhibang is placed in charge of rebuilding the tribe. The child stays with them, and the Gandalf leader and two swordsmen hunt for the others. Zhaonan, rebuffed by everyone and seen as a traitor, is in hiding, waiting for his time for revenge. Yanchong is brought to Mount Heaven. A crazy guy in the castle foretells an upcoming age of great chaos, and the series ends.

After all this, one hopefully can understand my frustration. 30+ episodes with no traces of any conclusion is a slap in the face, but there were so many loose ends. Characters not developed -- After having a prominent apperance in the beginning, the Gandalf character is barely seen until the end. Another swordsman, a bald man who relates to one of the children, as he too saw his parents killed, runs off and is not seen until the end as well. He barely has an impact in the story. I recognize the actor from other Hong Kong films, but clearly he was underused. Yufang becomes just a plot excuse, and the relationship that seemed so intriguing with the love triangles that developed around her all fall apart. She never does experience having relationships with other men, and ends up back to her true love. Zhibang has some character development, becoming the leader, but his leadership is never really proven or grows -- he is still the young brother of the swordsmen. And there is no great sacrifice that he has to make, which was something that the plotline hinted that he must do. The main characters are Zhaonan and Yanchong. I believe Zhaonan is played by Vincent Chao, a b-list action star and heart throb with a plastic smiley face that shows little character, though he has screen presence and does a decent job with his role. I don't know the actor for Yanchong, but he is the standout male lead. Ada Choi is fantastic as Hongjin, has great depth and emotion to her character, and is easily the best thing about the show. She's best known for her television work, and has appeard in movies, notably Fist of Legend. Hopefully she'll get better material in the future.

For 30+ episodes the storyline rambles and stumbles, has some high points and a lot of low ones. The use of flashbacks is understandable in a series like this, but it becomes padding, especially towards the end. This was a highly watched series in China in 2005, so I can assume that the ending was changed to accomadate a sequel, but it is a big disappointment. Widescreen, with a cast of thousands, some gorgeous landscape cinematography, CGI, and costumes, with was a big budget production all around. Too bad some of it couldn't have been invested in a better storyline.

The Cynical yet Entertaining Miike - The Great Yokai War

2006-09-16T23:49:00.000-04:00

Japanese director Takashi Miike has been making films for about 20 years, and has drawn worldwide attention for his outrageous and visually stunning movies. Many people think that his mid to late 90's work, like Fudoh, Ichi the Killer, and the Dead or Alive trilogy, are his best works; that he has strayed away from his violent outre style to become more a conventional filmmaker. I think those who say that are paying too much attention to his shock value and not the underlying theme that runs through most of his films -- a study of the modern condition of his country, and his criticism of it. In The Great Yokai War, a visual masterwork and highly entertaining movie, Miike attacks Japan's lack of respect for tradition and its material wastefulness. Tadishi is a boy who is going through a difficult time - his mom just got a divorce, and has moved with him into her father's house in a small town near a bay and at the foot of a mountain, which has been a source for a local legend. A Kirin Rider is appointed during a time of trouble, who would go to the mountain to claim a great sword, held by the Great Goblin, and defend the people from war and injustice. During the local festival Tadishi is selected to be the Kirin Rider. But he is too afraid to go up; he can't go past a certain point because he is frightened by the dark forest. He is also afraid of a lot of other things as well, and is picked on at school. He befriends one Yokai demon who looks like Stuart Little and a cat, who tells him that he must go to claim the sword. Tricked by another Yokai demon by pretending that his grandfather is in trouble, Tadashi goes up the mountain and encounters a small group of demons, from a tortoise man to a pretty young girl with pointy ears, oily skin and monstrous hands, a demon in red and a ball of fire. With them he claims the sword. What is the great problem then? A demon who is formed by the indifference, violence, waste and hatred that is cast off by the Japanese people, who with a renegade Yokai demon (Kuriyama Chiaki, the girl from Battle Royale and Kill Bill) begin to enslave Yokai demons and convert them into warriors to destroy the world. Tadashi and the Yokai demons are off to battle, though not after some trial and tribulations, and chasing the bad guys to Tokyo in one super nuclear explosion of a finale. Let me say this is one stunning movie to look at. The colors are super saturated, with lots of intense reds and soothing blues and greens. The editing is very unconventional, cutting between scenes to fill in story gaps or describing an event without any linear pattern, yet maintaining the thread of the story. There is a lot of humor in the film; for instance, the enemy cloud city flying toward Tokyo is described by some wry townfolk as Gammera being back in town! There are walking wall demons, umbrella demons, snow demons. The CGI is top notch, though there are moments when it seems the quality control has slipped. The director's underlying message is that the demons are created in part by the physical or emotional waste that is being produced, and that the boy's trial in defeating the demon is a cleansing that the new generation has to make for the previous one. And it is cyclical, judging from the ending which generates that usual huh? from Miike. While I don't think this reaches the upper eschalon of Miike's top works -- for that I would put Audition, Ichi, Happiness of the Katikuris, The Negotiator, City of Lost Angels and Izo -- I think this is a highly entertaining work. Recommended!

It's All About Manly Honor - Seduced and Abandoned

2006-09-13T22:51:00.000-04:00

Filmed in 1964, made right after the classic Divorce, Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned returns to the skewering of Sicilian life of the previous film, in a much more viscious way. This is a funny, outrageous, and crazy film that makes its almost two hour length roll right by. Peppino Califano is engaged to Matilde Ascalone, but is busy making eyes at her younger sister, Agnese. He pursues and seduces her while his fiancee is asleep, in the kitchen and then on the balcony! Agnese begins to act very strange afterwards, and her father Vincenzo (played to perfection by Saro Urzi), who keeps the entire family under his strict control, sends for a doctor, and discovers that she is no longer a virgin. Worse, tests later reveal she's pregnant. The lengths that Vincenzo goes to protect himself and his family honor are what drive the film. He astutely determines that it was Peppino who did the damage, and then directs the breakup of the engagement, putting the blame on Agnese. He connives to have the local sucidal Baron to date Mathilde, and locking Agnese in the basement, plots to have Peppino marry her. Things never work out as planned. Peppino decides that he can't marry someone who isn't a virgin (though he was the one who deflowered her!), and the two families engage in an all out battle to gain the upper hand in the matter; all while trying to keep matters as private as possible. To lose face amongst the locals means public humiliation and loss of social status. The film is filled with jabs at the family, the church, the townsfolk, marriage, and masculinity. While willingly participating in the act that leads to this mess, Agnese clearly becomes the victim and the critical focal point. Victimized by her father for maintaining social appearances, by Peppino for abandoning her, by society because they want to force marriage on her to absolve the sins of both parties. Apparently, even in the 1960's if a man seduces a minor, and they get married, he is absolved of the crime. The black and white film conveys the atmosphere of the still, hot weather and the crumbling buildings of the town, the severe blacks of the townsfolk and the women's hair and clothes. The editing is lightning quick, never dwelling too long on a particular cut or scene. The masterstoke is when all is revealed to the police and the townfolk, and the daughter, villified, is chased through the streets by the men, cutting back to her screaming in bed and forth to running in the town square, showing the insanity of the whole issue. The message is serious, but the execution is done with a precise, wicked scalpel, and you won't stop laughing. One of the best Italian movies I have ever seen; look for all of Pierto Gerni's films! Recommended!

Family Ties

2006-09-10T08:44:00.000-04:00

Family Ties is a movie divided into three stories, all dealing with various family relationships. The first story is about a woman who lives alone, who one day received an unexpected visitor: her brother, whom she has not seen in a long time. He brings his new wife with him, a woman clearly older than him, and as we later find out, both aren't exactly acting their age in terms of being mature adults. They make themselves at home, to the sister's dismay, because her brother is not working, and takes advantage of both women for money. One day a girl is at the door, and the sister is shocked to discover that it is her sister-in-law's daughter from a previous marriage. The wife is surprised as well, because she left her behind when she got married. The brother was responsible for bringing her. He becomes such a source of tension that the sister finally musters the courage to confront him, and offended, he leaves, abandoning his wife and the child. They too leave soon afterwards.

The second story deals with a young woman who is starting her life away from home, taking a new job as a tour guide. She has a mother whom she hates, because she is having an affair with a married man. She also has a much younger brother (from another father?). The mother is terminally ill. The daughter acts horribly to her mom and the child, but begins to turn around and develops some sisterly affection to the brother. In a devestating sequence though, she goes to the adulterer's home, and as they are preparing for dinner, confronts the man about the affair, to the horror of his wife and two children. Her mom dies, and the daughter is left alone and grieving for her loss.

The third story is about two young lovers who meet on a train, and have a relationship. The woman has issues: she can not give him her full attention, in conversation, or anything else. For instance, he talks to her and she is more worried about him stepping on a flower than listening to him. He invites her over for dinner at his sister's place, and she fails to show up. The man is very angry about this, and complains to her. But nothing seems to improve. The seesaw relationship becomes too much for him, and he wants to break up. They do, get back together again when she apologizes for her behavior. They end up outside her place, and in a nice twist, we are brought back full circle to the first story -- she is the daughter, now grown up. A nice reconciliation, with a very funny postscript involving the good for nothing brother, who does show up again.

A good film with fine acting performances all around. The stories are well conceived, and are a interesting examination of contemporary relationships, their quirks, angst, and love. None of the characters are stable emotionally, but they aren't crazy nor bad people. Moon So Ri plays the burdened sister, with a stand out performance by Eom Tae-Wong as the brother. Gong Hyo Jin, Bong Tae-gyu also give solid performances. Recommended!

The Life of Sister Thirteen - Portland Street Blues

2006-09-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

Portland Street Blues is a spinoff of the popular Young and Dangerous series, taking a very minor character and showcasing her in a separate movie. The entire series is about the triads, specifially the young men and women who work for the leaders. Sandra Ng plays Sister Thirteen, who was born and raised on Portland Street, an area filled with gambling, prostitution, and other vices. She rises above all this to become a triad leader of Portland Street, and in the flashback, it tells her story. Her father is in the local triad, working for a viscious and womanizing leader who constantly takes advantage of others. Thirteen has a best friend, played by Kristy Yeung, who helps her con men out of money by promising to sleep with them. This gets them into trouble, when they try to trick the local gang leader. Yeung escapes, and Thirteen is held hostage. Yeung calls Thirteen's dad for help, and in the attempt to rescue his daughter, he is killed. Thirteen is beaten up and she flees, and is aided by a mysterious woman played by Shu Qi. Qi is a spurned love from a corrupt officer. The gang lord is killed by a hit man who also happens to be a kickboxer that Thirteen has a crush on. Thirteen flees again, this time with the kickboxer, to another area to hide working at a car repair shop. She falls in love with him, but it isn't returned. Yeung finds her and stays with her, but things get ugly when Thirteen sees that Yeung and the kickboxer are getting along really well. They have an arguement, and split. The repair shop is attacked by a triad, and she goes back to Hong Kong and joins the major faction of the triads. The corrupt officer is killed by Qi and Thirteen, for revenge, and Thirteen becomes the Portland Street triad leader. Because of her failed relationship with the kickboxer, she becomes a lesbian. In the end, she reconciles with Yeung, who is a major Taiwanese actress on tv, and the kickboxer, who is killed. Cameo appearance by the Young and Dangerous crew at the end.

This is a mish mash of a movie, if you haven't guessed by now. The uneven plot sinks some fine performances, especially by Sandra Ng, who won best actress for her performance. She has gone on to do better movies, notably Golden Chicken, which is her finest moment on film. Kristy Yeung and Shu Qi (who won best supporting actress) have fine supporting roles as well. But the resolution is too quick and tidy, amost convenient. I think the "realism" of the film, the on-the-streets filmmaking, slows things down. In the end I don't get a real feel for who Thirteen is; it's like she starts off as a real person and ends up being a cariacture. It's a shame, because Sandra Ng wrestles as much out of her role as she can. A rental, but with reservations.