When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

A

Directed by Mikio Naruse

"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," arguably the masterwork of Mikio Naruse, the "Fourth Master" of Japanese cinema, displays the work of a director who, like his co-masters, Kurosawa, Ozu, and Mizoguchi, operated on a 'cinematic plane," so to speak, that few directors can even aspire to, let alone reach. Although it may sound hyperbolic, when you sit down and watch the best work of these four directors (and "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" definitely stands up to the best of Kurosawa, Ozu, or Mizoguchi) you can't help but be humbled by their work. There's a timelessness and understanding of the human condition that infuses much of the best work of these four directors and explains why all four are so revered amongst both filmmakers and film watchers.

"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is, in many ways, one of Naruse's most biting social critiques. It follows the efforts of "Mama" (played by Hideko Takamine), a bar girl in Tokyo's Ginza district who wants, like most of the girls around her, to find a way out of the crummy confines of the bar that employs her and begin enjoying a measure of personal freedom. As Naruse is careful to point out, however, post-war Japan was no place for a woman's dreams to find flight and indeed Mama, although headstrong and intelligent, finds her efforts at securing a better future for herself and her extended family thwarted at every turn. Naruse's empathy for the plight of women gives "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" an almost feminist perspective, as Mama's inability to find happiness is shown as a direct by product of a strictly male dominated, patriarchal society.

Since "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is widely considered the penultimate achievement of one of Japan's greatest directors, it should be unsurprising to hear that there isn't much to criticize here. Indeed, Naruse's film is anchored by wonderful dialogue, a cool aesthetic, and great performances from its leads, particularly the wonderful Hideko Takamine as Mama. Naruse is often compared to Ozu, not so much for his material (Naruse was interested mostly with members of lower social strata than Ozu who studied mostly middle and upper middle classes families), but due to their similar ability to tell rather minimalist stories that nonetheless have a profound emotional resonance and are both very "Japanese" and timelessly universal as well. Nevertheless, I have always found that even though both directors' best work is indeed perceptive about human interactions and emotions, to a degree almost unmatched by any of their peers, Naruse never really hit the level of universal "transcendence" (for lack of any better word) that Ozu did. Indeed, in "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," I felt that Naruse's point was perfectly summed up in the brief paragraph on the back of the Criterion Collections edition of the film, which noted how in the film "Keiko (Mama) comes to embody the struggles of a woman trapped in a male dominated world." Indeed, this is mostly the crux of the story in "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs." Mama tries to make a place for herself in a patriarchal society but finds herself increasingly frustrated by the very fact that she lives in a male dominated society. As such, Naruse's point seems to be that it was tough to be a woman in Japan in the 1950's. So I've heard.
Beyond that, however, and despite the fact that this point is well illustrated throughout the film, this seems to be the extent of the work. I'm sure Naruse scholars would scream bloody murder if they read this, but I can't help feeling that there just isn't as much simmering beneath the surface of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" as many believe there is. This "criticism," however, is actually anything but and is rather a question of a personal taste moreso than any shortcoming in Naruse's film. Indeed, "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," is a deep, moving, and flawlessly executed film and the only real elements to nitpick or argue over come down largely to questions of preference.

Shaolin Soccer

B+

Directed by Stephen Chow

Although "Kung Fu Hustle" remains my favorite Stephen Chow film, the similar "Shaolin Soccer" is often equally hilarious and visually engaging, showing of Chow's aesthetic panache and flair for a physical, slapstick brand of humour that is mixes well with his subject matter.

Stephen Chow pulls double duty in "Shaolin Soccer," both serving as the director and the star of his film, in this case playing a downtrodden, jobless Kung Fu master named "Mighty Steel Leg" Sing whose skills have been rendered useless by the population's waning interest in his art. As a way to stave of bankruptcy he plots to enter a local soccer tournament and vie for the million dollar prize. To do so, he attempts to enlist the help of his brothers, all of whom are also former martial arts masters now struggling just to get by. After some initial reticence, the brothers finally agree to join Mighty Steel Leg and participate in the tournament. Hilarity obviously ensues.

Chow did well to cast himself as the lead in "Shaolin Soccer." His comedic timing is second to none and he infuses the whole film with a sense of non stop raucousness that is a pleasure to watch. Much like "Kung Fu Hustle," "Shaolin Soccer" is notable for its CG powered stunts, Chow and his buddies flying through the air, sending soccer balls to the moon, and succeeding in pulling off a variety of other totally implausible kung fu/soccer moves. Chow's heavy reliance on CG gives the film a complete lack of believability but anyone who expected something authentic in a film titled "Shaolin Soccer" deserves to be disappointed. As comedy, "Shaolin Soccer" works susprisingly well and is consistently funny despite the fact that many jokes probably didn't translate well from Mandarin to English.

A great little movie. I recommend it to everyone.

Late Spring

A+

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu's, throughout his distinguished career, pumped out masterpieces at an almost assembly line like pace, making 33 films, many of which are towering achievements in their own right. Amongst his career's work, however, three particular films stand out as arguably his best, namely "A Story of Floating Weeds," Tokyo Story" and "Late Spring." Although "Tokyo Story" often gets the nod as Ozu's best film, "Late Spring" is my favorite, mostly because it deals with a much more nuanced and rarely dealt with issue, namely the relationship between a father and daughter, than "Tokyo Story" which examines (albeit masterfully) the generational conflicts experienced by Japanese families in the aftermath of World War II.

"Late Spring" focuses on Noriko (played by longtime Ozu cast member Setsuko Hara), a 27 year old women who still lives with her widowed father, Shukichi (played here by another recurrent Ozu player, Chisu Ryu). Sukichi worries that his daughter should seek a husband, a concern shared by Sukichi's sister who wants desperately for Noriko to wed, fearing she will become something of an old maid if she does not. Noriko, however, appears to be altogether unimpressed with the prospect of marriage and would prefer to continue living the quiet life she enjoys with her father.

Like most of Ozu's great works, "Late Spring" has more to say about big issues such as the relationships between parents and children and the constraints of societal expectations and pressures in a few frames than most films can cover in their entire length. Ozu is praised in almost religious terms by most film critics and scholars and the praise can seem overblown until you watch some of his masterworks and realize that his films more than deserve the semi-religious reverence that is attributed to them. Ozu's ability to tackle major existential issues through anecdotal situations is perfectly illustrated in "Late Spring" where the focus revolves primarily around the day to day life of Noriko and her father and the details of the tension between them, as well as their own hopes and aspirations both for themselves and each other, most of which is communicated non verbally until the end of the film when Noriko finally and bluntly lets her father know her wishes, resulting in a rather unvarnished show of emotion that stands in stark contrast to the restrained exchanges between father and daughter that proceeded it. The final impact is, in many ways, devastating, as Noriko attempts to keep her perma-smile plastered to her face even as she fights back tears, asking her father why things can't simply remain the way they are. It remains one of the better scenes in movie history (I know this appears to be a hyperbolic statement, but I don't consider it very controversial) and showcases Ozu's ability to deliver emotional power to his stories without having to resort to stirring strings, slow motion scenes, or other similar devices. No, like most of Ozu's films, "Late Spring" is delivered unfettered and bare, it's emotional impact stemming entirely from the fact that as viewers we can relate, in an almost universal manner, to what we are seeing on the screen.
It doesn't hurt, however, that "Late Spring" is anchored by the acting of Setsuko Hara and Chisu Ryu whose performances here are wonderful. I recently watched "Black Narcissus" by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, a film released in 1947 which, although very good in its own right, features mostly the type of acting that I've come to expect from English actors of that era, namely a range of emotions that is strikingly limited, appearing to have two settings; either "utter rapture" or "overwhelming fear." The acting in "Late Spring,'" which was released around the same time, is infinitely more complex, and Hara especially succeeds in conveying Noriko's emotions, both those repressed and those released, with unbelievable authenticity. The rather apparent disconnect between the type of almost caricaturistic acting in a film like "Black Narcissus" and the restrained, and truly lifelike acting in "Late Spring" leaves me puzzled as to where, exactly, Ozu's actors acquired their acting chops and why Western actors have, in many ways, never caught on to the "less is more" realities of conveying human emotions.

Black Narcissus

B+

Directed by Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell

Pressburger and Powell's tale of nuns gone wild in the Himalayas is noted more for its gorgeous cinematography than its plot line, but "Black Narcissus" rendering of the age old battle between the spirit and the flesh contains a number of insightful nuggets into not only the nagging desires of men and the relentless temptations of pleasure but also the importance and place and space in shaping individuals.

Sister Clodagh and four other of her fellow sisters are sent to establish a convent/hostpital/girls school for the inhabitants of a remote village in the Himilayan mountains. When they arrive, they are met by hunky, misbehaved Mr. Dean whose sex appeal is undeniable though I'm not sure how and why he ended up living in such a remote area of the world in the middle of the twentieth century. I guess the Brits have always been an adventurous lot...
Regardless, the sisters are soon faced with a number of difficulties as they all try to keep busy in the windswept, secluded convent while not giving way to their own desires which, isolated from the rest of the civilized world, have slowly crept up on them.

During their time, Powell and Pressburger rolled out masterpieces at an almost predictable clip. Although much of their success can be attributed both to their concern for detail and aesthetic value of their films ("Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes" often being the director's two most cited movies mostly for their visual flair) Powell and Pressburger's films also manage to deal with subject matter that is timeless and familiar to most viewers. Indeed, "Black Narcissus" examines perhaps one of the oldest dualities in human history, that between duty and desire and between our basest carnal instincts and what we believe is morally right. The honesty of Powell and Pressburger's investigation of this particular dilemma in "Black Narcissus" is particularly moving since Sister Clodagh and her fellow sisters are never painted as being simple dupes of the faith but rather as true believers whose fervent belief in the righteousness of their religious faith nonetheless belies aching desires for the "things of this world." Likewise, raucous and rude Mr. Dean is never judged for his refusal to believe but rather allowed to explain it. As such, the disconnect between sister Clodagh and Mr.Dean is never as large as it seems, their differences explained only by the energy they are both willing to expend in believing in God's providence and power.

Blow Up

B-

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Did I just give "Blow Up" a "B-"? I sure did. Michelangelo (his ghost, that is) will be PISSED when my reviews hit the big time and he finds out that I refused to fawn over one his most beloved and revered works. Sure...
"Blow Up" is not a bad movie but after hearing only good things about it, especially from critics I hold in great esteem such as Peter Brunette, I though this film was going to be a barnburner, which it unfortunately wasn't. Despite this, however, there is still alot to recommend in "Blow Up" and I can certainly understand why so much ink has been spilled writing about it.

David Hemmings plays a yeah-baby photographer in London in the swingin sixties, racing around town in his Bentley, taking photographs of mostly nude female models, getting laid, and generally fulfilling every stereotype anyone ever had about life in the hip and sexy sixties. His philandering is put on hold midway through "Blow Up" (and let me stress that "midway" is probably generous--the action only gets underway very late in the film) when he helps himself to some photos of Venessa Redgrave and her lover in a park and has them developed only to discover what he believes was a murder taking place at the time he took the photos. But was it really murder, or iws David Hemmings just crazy?

The subjective nature of reality is an issue that has been an alluring topic for directors to tackle since the very dawn of the cinema. It really has blossomed into a genre unto itself and a number of classic films fall into this particular category, films such as Kurosawa's "Rashoman" or Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock." Just today I picked up a Korean film titled "A Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors' which promises me a similar essay on the elusive nature of reality. The appeal of such films is not hard to see, and I would argue that many directors are drawn towards such stories because they offer an opportunity to construct movies that are suspenseful, complex, and, above all else, open ended. Indeed, films like "Blow Up" are maddeningly open ended and it almost seems that directors like Antonioni like it that way because they can simply toss the film out there and let academics and laypeople interpret every which way, eventually giving the film a meaning of its own that may or may not have been intended by the director. Burnett in his commentary even admits that "not everything" adds up in "Blow Up," which is okay, I suppose, but there are obviously limits to how open ended you can make your story. All we ever learn in "Blow Up" is that a murder may or may not have happened and David Hemmings may or may not be imgaining things. The climx of the film, the infamous "mimes playing tennis" scene, simply confirms what we've suspected all along, namely that in "Blow Up," reality consists of what we choose to buy into as opposed to what is really there.
Having to sit through a two hour film to be given such a wishy washy message is a bit annoying, frankly. Nevertheless, the film is suspenseful and stylish enough that you don't just feel ripped off at the end by the rather lackluster payoff. Like most of Antonioni's films, "Blow Up" might not be perfect but from an aesthetic point of view there is enough of interest going on that is is worth a watch regardless of how you feel about the underlying "message" of the film.

Quantum of Solace

B

Directed by Marc Foster

"Quantum of Solace" was in many ways undone by the success of "Casino Royale" insofar as the latter film, a literal bucket of ice water to the face of critics who had grown tired of Pierce Brosnan's limp wristed 007, was both excellent and very well received which set a rather unrealistic standard for "Quantum of Solace" to strive for. Indeed, "Quantum of Solace", although not nearly as good as "Casino Royale" is still a very satisfying action film that is similar in many ways to its predecessor and didn't deserve the lukewarm reception it was given by film critics upon its release.

After Vesper Lynd's betrayal and death, Bond sets out to find her would be assassins and administer some serious street justice. Things go awry when Mr.White lets Bond and M know that he's part of something much bigger than himself, a fact he punctuates by ordering M's longtime body guard, who was obviously and Mr.White's payroll, to break rank and start shooting everyone. TREACHERY!!! The rest of the film follows Bond as he attempts to track down the leaders this global conspiracy and uncover their dastardly designs which, in the case, have an evil eco-twist.

"Casino Royale" rejuvenated the Bond series in the same way as "Batman: The Beginning" brought the Batman series back to life. However, whereas "Batman: The Beginning" was basically just a way to warm up audiences for the jaw dropping spectacle that was "The Dark Night," "Casino Royale" appears to have not only been the jolt that shocked Bond back to life but also the gold standard for the series which "Quantum" simply failed to match. Despite this, "Quantum of Solace" is an immensely enjoable film that delivers actions and international intriguer in spades and in th best spirit of the most memorable Bond films but also highlights Daniel Craig's appeal as a brutal, hard-assed Bond who can not only dish out the pain but take a fair bit of it himself. Indeed, I had long argued (as other had) that the casting of Brosnan had killed the Bond franchise, essentially wussifying 007 and making him into a debonair ladies man that looked like he could barely shoot a gun, let alone win a close quaters knife fight. Craig simply looks like he belongs in these films and his casting as Bond has been a major asset to the film and one of the main catalysts to the series' revival.
Despite all that is good about "Quantum," I will say that the whole thing seemed a bit thin and was noticably less layered than "Casino Royale." I personally blame the script since everything else in this film appeared to be clicking on all cylinders but there just didn't seem to be anywhere for the story to go. In the end, though, this film is far better than it has been given credit for and is a wild and enjoyable ride that is worth watching.

Throwdown

B-

Directed by Johnnie To

Although many jaded moviegoers would contend that martial arts is a genre that has been played out, I would respond that only films about kung fu, karate, ju jitsu, mixed martial arts, tae kwando and Muay Thai are played out, meaning that JUDO, the kinder, gentler martial art, is still an unmined treasure trove of movie possibilities! Johnnie To obviously decided to strike the iron before it had ever been struck at all and thus produced "Throwdown," possibily the greatest (and only) judo film ever made.

"Throwdown" stars Hong Kong dreamboats Aaron Kwok as Tony and Louis Koo Sze To Bo as former judo stars who are now trying to get by on the tough streets of HK, the latter managing a night club and the former a travelling musician. Although the presence of Kwow and Koo make "Throwdown" one for the LADIES, To decided to throw a bone to his male viewers by tossing in Cherrie Ying as Mona, a night club singer who wanders into Tony's bar looking for work. The first part of the film features some truly random fight scenes that eventually culminate in Tony, who has given up judo, taking the sport up again while Sze To Bo ends up challenging Tony Leung to a juduel! I'd be lying if I said the storyline was very coherent, but that's what I gathered.

"Throwdown" is a deeply flawed film, its narrative structure buckling under the weight of a weak script. Johnnie To is a fantastic director but many of his films suffer from the same issue, namely giving off a vibe that they were filmed with nothing scripted besides the action sequences. "Throwdown" is certainly guilty of this, as the judo sequences are tightly and expertly choreographed but the non-judo stretches of the film are at times confusing and almost always lacking in any clear direction. Nevertheless, there are some great moments in "Throwdown" and watching the friendship evolve between Mona, Sze To Bo and Tony is enjoyable although hardly believable. "Throwdown" is also one of the most melancholy action films I've ever watched, the whole thing infused with a moodiness whose origin is difficult to pin down. It's definitely a unique film, if nothing else, and To deserves credit for continuing to push the boundaries and try different things with his films.

Strange Circus

D+

Directed by Sion Sono

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Fantasia two years ago, I was frankly expecting alot more from Sion Sono's "Strange Circus." Although the jury at Fantasia often praises films I dont particularly enjoy, they also more often than not get it right which is why I was surprised that they warded this rather unpleasant and dark offering with thier highest degree of praise.

"Strange Circus" follows young Mitsuko who is abused by her father, than by her jealous mother, ends up in a wheelchair, and generally leads a fairly hellish life. We learn, however, that Mitsuko's agony and hardships may only be the fruit of novelist Takeo's fertile imagination. As the film progresses, however, we are led to believe that Takeo may have a closer relationship to her novel's protagonist than we may have originally believed.

"Strange Circus" is a pretty unpleasant trip, but being unpleasant is not in and of itself always a bad thing for a film to be. Indeed, a number of really good films are very unpleasant (All About Lily Chou Chou comes immediately to mind). The problem with "Strange Circus" is that is it unpleasant and shocking solely for the sake of being so with no real motive behind it. Unlike films such as the the aforementioned Lily Chou Chou or Miike's "Audition" where extreme and brutal violence of general misanthropy were used to both move the story along and make some type of social commentary, "Strange Circus" simply shocks because it can. It's almost as if Sono tried to cram every single taboo or unpleasant subject into a single film, throw it out there to the masses, and see what came back. Judging by "Strange Circus'" Grand Jury Prize at Fantasia, it obviously struck a chord with a number of viewers but I can't honestly say I understand what they see in this film. Although Sono has loads of talent and produces some beautiful (if fleeting) images that almost come as a relief after being subjected to so much ugliness, the point of this film appears simply to shock are rather titilate. Furthermore, whereas "Suicide Club," Sono's best knwon work, employs violence rather liberally, it also features a tight, layered, and surprisingly cerebral plot that requires a great deal of mulling over before the viewer finally "gets it." Not so with "Strange Circus," where the plot is neither intellecutally rewarding nor very well put together. Indeed, Sono lazily tosses in some flashbacks here and there to infuse some faux-suspense in his film but by the end of it, the whole exercise comes off as incoherent, poorly edited, and generally lacking any type of cohesiveness.
I will say that lead actress Masumi Miyazaki deserves some credit for her performance as Mitsuko/Sayuri/Takeo. Her work is excellent and eschews the often charicaturistic acting of many Japanese leading ladies.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

B

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

Michael Winterbottom's film adaptation of the "unadaptable" novel by Laurence Sterne, although self-referential to the point of being annoying is nonetheless a fairly droll film which tackles both the complex process of film making as well as the complexities of contemporary relationships.

Steve Coogan plays himself who is playing Tristram Shandy in a film adapatation of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy." The whole thing is a pretty big fiasco, as the film goes through a number of rewrites, scenes are cut and added on a whim and the whole thing just appeard to be a mess in the best style of "Day for Night." Throughout it all, Coogan is attempting to deal with his girlfriend and baby while at the same time recklessly flirting with his assistant. There are far too many side stories and tangeants to even start discussing here, but suffice it to say that if you pick up this film midway through, you're going to be confused as hell.

"Tristram Shandy" doesn't take itself too seriously, which is good because this film succeeds best when it lets itself turn into the truly rollicking, mad cap gem it is supposed to be. There are some hilarious sceneces such as Coogan/Tristram recreating the moment of his birth in a gigantic model of a womb which appears woefully unauthentic. The film is infused with a healthy dose of dry, Brit humour that requires some rewinding to fully catch all the jokes but overall the humour is accessible enough, and truly funny enough as well, that most audiences will find it enjoyable. The major drawback of a film like "Tristram Shandy" is since it is adapting a book that is notorious for have almost no structure whatsoever, there is no real flow to the film beyond watching the trials and tribulations of those involved with its making. The film jumps to and fro from the actual film to "real" life and eventually to real-real life and it isn't so much confusing as borderline exasperating in the end. Nevertheless, Winterbottom and Co. aren't trying to make an artistic statement with this piece and aim solely to entertain and they are mostly succesful in this regard.

2LDK

D-

Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi

An incredibly stupid film. Sure, movies don't all have to be groundbreaking, perceptive, and life changing but I don't think a modicum of sense and taste is too much to ask. This film will please those who enjoy watching two girls beat each other senseless for 70 minutes over some conflict that I have since forgotten. I laughed twice so I can't in good conscience give it an "F," but consider yourselves warned.

Election, Election 2

Election

A+

Election 2 (Triad Election)

A+

Directed by Johnnie To

Although Johnnie To is far from an underappreciated director, I would still argue that the true value and importance of some of his work has yet to be fully realized. "Election" and "Election 2," in particular, will hopefully someday be refered to in the same way Jon Woo's "Hardboiled" and "The Killer" are today, namely as films that completely changed the tenor of Hong Kong cinema. All though this may seem like a hyperbolic wish on my part, I remain convinced that To's Election and Triad Election are two oft he finest filsm to come out of Hong Kong in a decade.

"Election" follows the power struggle between Lok (the always solid Simon Yam) and Big D (the always crazy looking Tony Leanug Ka Fai) who are competing to become the next Chairman of the Wo Sing society, Hong Kong's oldest triad. When the triad's elder members vote for Lok rather than Big D, all hell breaks lose, resulting in Lok and Big D factionalism testing the strength of Wo Sing as both attempt to wrestle away the Chairmanship from the other. "Election 2," the aptly named sequel to the first "Election" takes place two years later, as Lok's tenure as Chairman is winding down (Yeah, he wins. Hate to ruin it...) and his power is being tested by upstart Jimmy who, in "Election," helped him defeat Big D.

Although it may seem odd, most people who will see "Election" will likely see it after "Triad Election" since the latter is, in my experience at least, much easier to get your hands on than the first installment of the series. As such, I watched the two films in the wrong order, going from "Triad Election" to "Election." Although some would say this kills the suspense of the first film (admittedly it sort of does), there is nonetheless a whole different dynamic when watching a film where the denouement is largely known to you already, in the sense that I was filled more with a feeling of forebodding and anticipation than I was with a feeling of suspense when watching. Regardless of how it's viewed, this film is fantastic, showcasing To as the height of his game, mixing sound and images with a tight, complex, and nuanced storyline that results in an excilerating though still cerebral and hyper realistic film. To largely turns his back on elaborate gun play or complex fight scenes, choosing rather to portray violence in a largely realisitc way; short, brutal, messy, and for the most part unplanned. To's use of an esemble cast adds a wealth of depth to the film as the perpective and motivations of a number of characters, many of whom reappear in "Triad Election" are fleshed out and considered, adding layers of depth and suspense to the film.

Both films are in my opinion equally superb and for similar reasons. In both cases, To creates a densely layered story butressed by fantastic acting which is hyper realistic in its intrique and its violence and, at all times, completely riveting. Add to this the presence of a number of fantastically talented actors who, thanks to To's skill as a storyteller, are all made to seem three dimensional in a way that almost defies belief when you take into account the relative brevity of both films, an indication of how little time is wasted in both films.
One of the major reasons for the success of To's crime saga, however, is his attention to detail. To teams up with long term cinematographer Cheng Siu-Keung in both films to capture a rendering of Hong Kong as To seems to know and love it--cramped and steamy and always on the move--adding a significant measure of authenticity to the story. To's use of music in both films is also fantastic, with a mix of traditional Chinese music and forebodding percussions punctuating the action.

To has been rather hit or miss throughout his career and has the ability to produce both magnificent work and relativelly uninspired crap as well. "Election" and "Election 2" fall squarely into the former category (and then some) and are mandatory watching for anyone who believes that Hong Kong cinema has gone the way of the dodo.

Waiting for Guffman

B-

Directed by Christopher Guest

Whenever anyone asks me if I've seen a Christopher Guest film, I always tell them that I've seen "Best in Show" and "Spinal Tap" to which they invariably respond "Wait until you see 'Waiting for Guffman!'" Well I just saw "Waiting for Guffman" and must say that I was pretty disappointed. Maybe the weight of expectations choked out any possible enjoyment I could have derived from this film but I found it only marginally funny which, from the guy who brought us Fred Willard as an inept and hilarious dog show host, is pretty much unexceptable.

Corky St. Clair is a former off-off-off-off-off broadway playright who has somehow landed in tiny Blaine Missouri where he is now in charge of putting together a patriotically infused play for Blaine's anniversary. To do so, he recruits the talented townsfolk, played here by regular Guest colloborators such as Eugene Levey, Fred Willard, and Parker Posey, and sets off to make an epic play the likes of which the Midwest has never seen before. In the midst of rehearsals, Corky finds out that major talent scout Mort Guffman may be in the audience, a fact he shares with his impressionable cast who immediately hear the call of Hollywood.

"Waiting for Guffman" isn't unfunny but I will say that it goes through large stretches of fairly uninspiring humour before unleashing a flury of hilarious Christopher Guest style moments. The issue really is that "Waiting for Guffman" lacks the constant, underlying humour of a film like ÈBest in Show" where, even if something hilarious wasn't happening, you still couldn't help from laughing just because of the ridiculousness of the situation. Ièm sure "Waiting for Guffmann succeeds on this level for many people, and there is no denying that it has it's fair share of funny moments, but overall I simply didn't find this film that funny and since the only point of a Chistopher Guest mocumentary is to draw laughs, I can't say I was overly impressed.

Good Morning

A-

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Although thos who are expecting another "Tokyo Story" will be deeply disappointed, Yasujiro Ozu's whimsical and breezy comedy about two boys who try to pressure their parent into purchasing a television set is one of the directors most intimate and touching films.

"Good Morning" follows the intrigue of a handful of suburban families in post-War Japan as they go through everyday life trying to keep their spouses and children happy while not pissing off the neighbors. In the midst of the low key drama, Minoru and Isamu, two young boys who desperately want a TV after watching sumo at the home of their deadbeat, youthful neighbors. When their plea is rejected by their parents the two boys take a vow of silence, agreeing to speak only when their demands are met.

Like most of Ozu's films, the premise of "Good Morning" is simple and revolves primarily around the examination of intergenerational dynamics of Japanese familes. Ozu's real genius, in my opinion, is his ability to deal with these same dynamics in most of his films with varying degrees of seriousness. Indeed, "Tokyo Story" is a far different film thant "Early Summer," even though both deal with roughly the same subject matter, and "Good Morning" has a completely different tenor than either of the latter two films, complete with some hilarious set pieces and relentless fart jokes. As such, "Good Morning" completely lacks the seriousness and biting social critique of a film like "Tokyo Story," despite the fact that some critics have attempted to convince us that "Good Morning" is in fact a deep and textured commentary and post-war suburbia in Japan. It isn't, and those who are hoping to get a slice of "serious" Ozu in "Good Morning" will be sorely disappointed. This does not, however, change the fact that it is a wonderfull little movie that is funny and even immature at times but is also deeply compassionate and humanistic in the style of Ozu's best work.

Art School Confidential

C+

Directed by Terry Zwigoff

Based on the graphic novel by Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff's "Art School Confidential" is, to be brief, an at times amusing but essentially quite a bad effort.

Young, idealistic Max enrolls at Strathmore Art Institute, wanting to become the "greatest artist of the 20th Century," only to discover that art school may not really be about making good art, but rather more about marketing one's art to the impressionable and fickle teachers and students that populate the school (You mean art is about image rather than product? What?) Max is re-energized, however, when he meets beautiful, elusive Audrey who he immediately falls in love with, only to be crushed when she goes for hunky, talentless (but wildly popular in the local art circle) Jonah. As Max attempts to regain Adurey's effections (did he ever have them to begin with?) the ugly underbelly of art school reveals itself more fully, leading to a shocking climax...of art.

Poking fun at the pretentiousness of the art world, regardless of what some may say, never gets old. In this respect, "Art School Confidential" has some brilliant moments where it openly mocks the ridiculousness of most "serious" art and take jobs at the pompous phonies who produce them. had "Art School Confidential" stayed the course and simply spent 90 minutes skewering self important, conceited, and marginally talented "artists," I probably would have loved this movie. Unfortunately, however, "Art School Confidential" spends too much time trying to build intrigue around Max's various tortured relationships and his obsession witn Audrey as well as mapping his attempt at winning her hand through his artistic brio. The film, in many ways, suffers from an identity crisis, not knowing if it wants to be a straight up comedy, a satire, or rather a semi serious dramady. The presence of a host of reputable actors in this production, including Steve Buschemi, John Malkovich, Jim Braodbent and Agelica Huston, might have caused thd director to shy away from the laughs and bring on the high brow seriousness which is tragic because there was so much promise to begin with. Indeed, when one of Max's classmates applies a pair of car jumpers to his nipples and tell his friend to "give him the juice," only to find himself blown page into the stone age, I too was ready to be blown away (albeit not via the same method...) It's pretty disappointing "Art School Confidential" couldn't build on some of these ideas and jsut deliver a hilarious satire, something it was more than capable of doing had it wanted to.

Shake Hands with the Devil

A-

Directed by Peter Raymont

Although the fictionalized version of General Romeo Dallaire's Governor General's Prize winning account of the Rwandan genocide was uneven and rather poorly put together, the documentary version of the the book, if you can call it that, succeeds brilliantly as both an account of the UN's failures to stop one of the 20th century's biggest bloodbaths as well as the unbelievable emotional torment experienced by Dallaire during and after the genocide.

Raymont's "Shake Hands with the Devil" follows Dallaire as he travels back to Rwanda to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide in 2004. As the camera follows Dallaire and his wife, Dallaire and others who were involved in either attempting to prevent the genocide or in document it, from President Paul Kagame to BBC foreign correspondent Mark Doyle, recount their version of the events leading up to the genocide and how it unfolded over 100 bloody days. The film generally takes a sympathetic views towards Dallaire's plight and paints him as a sort of tragic figure who did all he could to save Rwanda but was prevented from doing so by the UN's legendary incompetency and limp wristedness. This is a fairly accurate picture of the situation, and it is good to see that Dallaire is finally being recognized as what he was--a man putting his life in danger and fighting ridiculous odds in an attempt to help out his common man.

"Shake Hands with the Devil" generally does a good job at allowing Dallaire to tell his own story and does not really infuse any overt policking in the film, aside from implying that the West should be ashamed at themselves and that the genocide could have been stopped if wealthy nations such as the United States and Canada had of given a damn. That, however, is not politicizing the situation, only revealing the truth which was that fo a horrible failure by western countries and the international community as a whole to protect innocent civilians. Some of the most poignat moments in the documentary come not from Dallaire's recollections, which are touching in their own way, but in some of the old news footage of the genocide. In one rather chilling scene, Belgian soldiers are busy evacuating their own civilians while a number of Tutsis plead for help, attempting to explain that they are about to be killed by the Interahamwe. The Beglian soldiers wanton disregard for their plight perfectly illustrates the rather deplorable actions commited by Western nations while Rwanda was spiralling into chaos.
The documentary unforunatelyu tails off towards the end and Raymont seems to have been unable to properly edit the film, but I certainly understand his reticence to cut certain moments from the film since "Shake Hands with the Devil" stands primarily as a documentation of the atrocity and there really isn't much impetus to tidy up a film dealing with such a horrific act into a manageable, watchable package. Despite this, "Shake Hands with the Devil" is an important film and serves to highlight the continued plight of the Rwandan people as well as General Dallaire's continued search for peace in the wake of such atrocities.

Takeshis

C

Directed by Beat Takeshi

Takeshi Kitano is one of my favorite directors and some of his films are brilliant, but "Takeshis" just mystified me. The pointlessness of this movie seems almost beyond debate and the only thing making it even halfway likeable is Kitano's immense talent at delivering playful, quirky images and dead pan humour, so completely wasted on this effort that I almost feel like giving it an "F" just because I know Kitano can do so much better.

The plot of "Takeshis" sounds like it was thought up in a pinch and delivered to a studio head off the cuff. Takeshi plays himself, as a succesfull, rich director and leading man (which he is) but also plays his doppelganger, named Kitano, who is basically a chump version of "Takeshi." Kitano, who works in a convenience store and tries out for films Takeshi stars in, only to be rejected again and again, suddenly finds his life resembling Takeshi's films, from the violence to the multitude of yakuza to the appearance of fast women who seem suddenly infatuated with him. Why this is happening, I can only guess, but that's pretty much the gist of the film.

"Takeshis" appears to be Kitano's "Day for Night" or "8 1/2," his film about film. Unfortunately, however, unlike the latter two films,. which were both by filmmakers about the process of making films and both happened to also be brilliant, "Takeshis" is a convoluted, senseless mess. The plot is thrown out the window early in the game and Kitano seem content to string together a number of "Kitano-esque" moments of wimsy and deadpan humour and expects the audience to buy into it. Sure, there are some hilarious and very authentic moments of Kitano brilliance, such as a scene in a film Takeshi is filming in which he is playing mah jong with a floosy and gets annoyed by the sounds of chicadas outside his window and opens fire on them, then turns around and inexplicably murders the girl, but these scenes are simply kernels of greatness in an otherwise lackluster whole. It's too bad, really, but there appears to be a good reason why "Takeshis" has never been mentioned in the same breath as "Sonatine" "Hana Bi" or any of Kitano's best works.

Maborosi

B+

Directed by Kore Eda Hirokazu

I firmly believe that Kore Eda Hirokazu, along with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, is the best Japanese director working today. Director of such gems as "Nobody Knows" and "Afterlife," Hirokazu has a unique ability to deal with huge issues, such as death, abandonment, or betrayal, in a way that is both simple but essentially very profound and wise. "Moborosi," although a maybe not as good as his other major works, is another good example of the depth and breadth of Hirokazu's abilities as a filmmaker.

After the untimely death of her husband, (played by none other than Tadanobu Asano!) Yumiko agrees to an arranged marriage and relocates to the coast of the Sea of Japan to start her new life. When she arrives, she is thrown into a life that moves at a significantly slower pace than what she was used to back in Osaka, but with time Yumiko comes to enjoy her surroundings and love her new husband.

Hirokazu is often compared to Ozu due to the aethetic similarities of the two director's works, but the comparison shoujld also strethc to the content of both their films. Like Ozu, whose films used small, almost anecdotal vignettes to tackle much bigger issues, Hirokazu's films also employ the same type pf slow, meditative pace in their examination of personal trials and tribulations which are used to illuminate the bigger picture. Also like Ozu, Hirokazu is a filmmaker who possesses a great deal of emphathy for humans and their struggles. Watching a Hirokazu film, like watching an Ozu film, is most notable for the amount of sympathy he can garner for characters whose struggles are not that out of the ordinary, in many ways. (well, maybe not for the kids in "Nobody Knows"...) In this way, "Maborosi" succeeds greatly insofar as the trials and tribulations of not only Yumiko but of her son, her new husband and his daughter all face in attempting to rebuild their lives. My main criticism of Maborosi is that the relationship between Yumiko and her new husband was barely fleshed out and we were not allowed to see the awkwardness and the loneliness that we are led to believe existed between the two before they finally came to love each other. This contrasts rather visibly with the portrayal of Yumiko and her ex-husband's relationship which is fleshed out in remarkably good detail for the length of time Hirokazu spends on it. Nevertheless, "Maborosi" is a strong effort by a wonderful director and is worth a look for anyone who wants to see one of the major works of one of Japan's foremost living directors.

Imitation

C

Directed by Federico Hidalgo

I wanted to like this movie for two very biased reasons, firstly because the director is a Concordia alum and secondly because the film was shot entirely in Montreal and its surrounding area. To my disappointment, however, "Imitation" is an extremely uneven work and suffers from unconvincing acting and a horribly clunky script, dooming it to the dustbin of mediocrity.

"Imitation" opens with a chance encounter between Fenton, a rather frail looking Montreal deadbeat youth, and Theresa, a Mexican woman in town to find her lost brother. Fenton, mesmerized by the Latin bombshell, offers his help in finding her lost sibling, even after she treats him rather badly and takes off with his car. The movie's plot revolves around Fenton and Theresa's continued search for Theresa's brother (who turns out to be her husband, but I'm hardly ruining the surprise, here...) as well as the romantic relationship that begins to grow between the two.

Although "Imitation" likely had good intentions, probably being originally designed as a sort of slow, meditative piece of urban cinema that touched on multiethnic relations in a multicultural city, the film is soo sloppily put together that any effort to enjoy the film is betean into submission by the shear clumsiness of the whole thing. The script, co-written by Hidalgo and Paulina Robles, is both thin and unbelievable and is delivered in a robotic, unnatural fashion by both Vanessa Bauche, who plays Theresa, and her counterpart Jesse Aaron Dwyre (who is the prime culprit here, to be fair to Bauche. When all is said and done, "Imitation" unfortunately comes off like a student film with a bigger than usual budget, which is too bad because the film does boast some stunning shots of Montreal which almost make the film worth watching for Montreal lovers such as myself. Ultimately, however, "Imitation" is much to flawed for me to even half heartedly recommend it to anyone.

Suicide Club

B+

Directed by Sion Sono

Sion Sono, a Fantasia regular and director of such weirdness as "Strange Circus" and "Hair Extensions" has built his career on producing odd and unsettling work while at the same time seeming to willfully court a reputation as a shock director. The controversial moves that Sono makes often benefit and suffer simultaneously from his efforts to shock and awe his audience, and "Suicide Club," his best known and most succesful work, is no exception.

"Suicide Club" opens with a gaggle of teenage schoolgirls happily filling towards a busy subway platform in Tokyo, clasping hands, and throwing themselves en masse in front of a moving train, sending bodies parts and blood spatter all over horrified onlookers. This grisly act of collective suicide, rather than an isolated act, appears to be part of a larger wave of suicides gripping Japan, and local detective Kuroda attempts to tackle the case. As the case unfolds, however, Kuroda realizes he may be up against something bigger than a simple fad and that anyone, even Kuroda himself, can become a victim. (GASP!)

The above summary does not at all do justice to Sono's complex plot, which actually completely shifts narrative point of view midway through the film, a feat I found completely brilliant and unsettling. Suffice it to say, Sono is a smart guy and he unleashes the full power of his intellect in creating a storyline that is multilayered and complex, acting as both a gross out horror film, critique of pop culture and a barb directed at Japan's apathetic youth. Surprisingly, Sono is able toconstruct a movie that does all of these things quite well and with style left to burn. My biggest gripe with "Suicide Club," however, is that it does eventually get partially lost in the murk of Sono's own intelligence and the film at times seems to suffer from the weight of its own ambitions. Sono, as already mentioned, is a smart guy and seems to know this full well, which is both beneficial and detrimental at the same time to "Suicide Club." Indeed, although Sono never drifts into the Charlie Kaufman zone of extreme navel gazing where the film becomes purely a vehicle to advertise the filmmakers superior intellect, he does still struggle with bouts of cinematic hubris. Despite this, "Suicide Club" is still a wildly entertaining and completely original work which well deserves the cult like status it currently enjoys.

Seance

A-

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Those of you who read my blog already know that I'm a big fan of Kiyoshi Kurosawa and think that his entire body of work up to the present stacks up to almost any other Asian director currently making movies. His ability to create suspenseful, eery films that are nevertheless beautifully shot and multi-layered to an extent almost unheard of in contemporary film is reason enough to get exited when I run accross any Kuroswa film, even a movie like "Seance" which is widely recognized as one of his lesser works.

Kurosawa regular Koji Yakusho plays the role of Sato, a sound engineering leading what appears to be a boringly normal life with his wife Junco, who happens to be a psychic. All appears to be well, albeit it extremely non-eventful, in Sato and Junco's life until they accidently get embroilled in a kidnapping of a local girl gone awry. Rather than reacting trhe way a normal couple would, however, an contacting the authorities with information on the whereabouts of the girl, Junco convinces Sato to devise a scheme which will allow her to showcase her psychic "powers" to the world.

"Seance" is far less complex and also far inferior to Kurosawa's masterwork of suspense, "The Cure" but that doesn't meant that it doesn't have plenty to offer in its own right. Like all of Kurosawa's films, "Seance" is imbued with a creepy mood that is anchored not by creepy music or black bait and switch set pieces but rather through a sophisticated mix of sound and image, giving "Seance" the same type of cold, supernatural aura of films such as "The Cure" and "Doppelganger." "Seance" also follows the Kurosawa mold of peering into the darker corners of the minds of "normal" people, not to reveal them as heartless agents of evil but rather to remind viewers that normality often masks the possibility, if not the willingess, of commiting acts of evil.

Shake Hands with the Devil

C+

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

Based on general Rome Dallaire's biography of the same name, Roger Spottiswoode's "Shake Hands with the Devil" gives a semi-fictional account of Dallaire's time in Rwanda during the 1994 Rwandan genocide which resulted in the deaths of between 800,000 and 1 million Rwandans, most of them ethnic Tutsis. The genocide was orchestrated by hardline Hutu political leaders who began putting into motion plans to exterminate the country's Tutsi population even as they signed the UN brokered Arusha Accords which were supposed to bring a stop to violence in the country.

"Shake Hands with the Devil" opens with Dallaire beginning his peace keeping mandate in Rwanda only to find out that tensions between the two ethnic groups are already at a breaking point even though the ink on the Arusha Accords is barely dry. Things begin to spiral out of hand when Rwanda's moderate president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane is shot down over Kigali, setting off a rash of violent clases in the capital city. Dallaire soon begings to receive reports of indiscriminate killing of civilians in the capital city and starts looking to the UN for a way to stop the violence. As nyone who has knows anything about the UN is aware, this is always a bad idea since the United Nations has, since it's foundation, done a whole lot of nothing to stop civil strife, ethnic cleansings, or genocide and has been content to sit on its hands in New York City and pass resolutions condemning violence as people die in faraway places. "Shake Hands with the Devil" documents Dallaire's increasing frustration as he tries to get the UN to authorize the use of force to protect his own men as well as Tutsi civilians who are being massacred throughout the country only to find UN officials unreceptive and most western nations only eager to evacuate their own citizens from the country. The film, like Dallaire's book, places the blame fully on the UN for failling to stop the carnage, something it very well could have done with only minimal effort.
The biggest problem with Spottiswoode's film, however, is that it is horribly uneven and seems to struggle to say anything interesting or new about the subject, almost buckling under the weight of all that has been written about it already. In the same way that many films about the Holocaust often seem oddly cold even though they are dealing with an issue that should raise the ire of the viewer simply because so much has been said about the subject already, "Shake Hands with the Devil" comes off simply as a fictionalized account of a very good book which was made into a very good documentary, which it is. Spottiswoode's intentuions are honorable, and Roy Dupuis practically kills himself trying to bring this picture to life, but overall there is a weird lack of passion in the film and it is almost instantly forgetable which, for a film about such a grave topic, it really shouldn't be.

Ashes of Time Redux

B+

Directed by Wong Kar Wai

The recent revelation that Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time" was going to be refurbished, re-scored, and re-released in theaters over the Fall was music to many film lovers ears, my own included, seeing as how "Ashes of Time" is one of the most difficult Wong Kar Wai films to actually get ahold of and when one does, in fact, get their mitts on a copy, it's usually a crappy DVD or a scrambled VHS. The possibility of watching one of Wong's films on the big screen was an added bonus and I looked forward to going and seeing this film in theaters and finally did this evening with my long suffering girlfriend.

"Ashes of Time" stands out as a completely unique film in Wong Kar Wai's ouevre in that it is the only one of his films that is a classic martial arts film and is also his only film set outside a specifically urban setting. Indeed, "Ashes of Time," which tells the story of a number of Wong-esque characters grappling with loneliness and love, is set in a sweeping Chinese desert (perhaps the Gobi!?!) which features vast, open spaces the likes of which will never be seen again in a WKW film until the rather unfortunate "My Blueberry Nights." The harsh, windswept desert serves as a backdrop for various characters (played by a veritable who's who of Wong Kar Wai players including both Tony Leungs, Bridget Lin, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung and the late Lieslie Cheung) who form a variety of complex love triangles, the type of which have since become associated with Wong through film's such as "Days of Being Wild" and "2046." In many ways, "Ashes" is in its plot very similar to Wong's earlier films in its concern with the concepts of loneliness, time, and memory. What has always perplexed me about "Ashes of Time," however, is that it was completed in 1994, the same year as "Chungking Express" and four years after "Days of Being Wild" yet doesn't contain nearly the emotional depth of either work. Indeed, when comparing the three films it seems as if "Ashes" was completed before the two other films since many of the subjects he deals with so well in "Chungking Express" and "Days of Being Wild," he appears to have diffulty communicating to the audience in "Ashes of Time." This may be due to the fact that Wong felt contrained while making a wuxia film and his characters couldn't develop in the same way as they do when Wong sets his stories in his beloved Hong Kong.
Even if "Ashes of Time" is one of Wong Kar Wai' weaker efforts, it is still a satisfying film and contains moments of epic beauty which proved long ago that Wong didn't need to make a film in Hong Kong for it to be visually stunning. I think that one of Wong's enduring legacies whenever he stops making films will be his ability to have made movies that were both cerebral and genuine but anabashedly romantic at the same time, something that Wong in "Ashes of Time" succeeds in doing, albeit to a far lesser degree than in his best work.

Isabella

A-

Directed by Ho Cheung Pang

I first saw "Isabella" at last year's Fantasia Film Festival and at the time didn't know it was directed by Ho Cheung Pang, director of the excellent "Men Suddenly in Black" and Beyond our Ken" which makes me even more grateful I happened on this film by chance. When I watched it at Fantasia I loved it which was why I was delighted to see it sitting in the DVD racks at the BANQ, albeit graced by one of the gaudiest cover designs I've ever seen.

Unlike "Beyond our Ken" and "Men Suddenly in Black," Ho Cheung Pang this time sets a film in Macau, a welcome changeup from the marvelous but admittedly familiar streets of Hong Kong. The fikm begins scandalously enough as detective Shing, a dirty cop embroiled in a drug smuggling scandal, ends up sleeping with a young lass he met at the bar who, after the deed, informs him that she is in fact his daughter and requires $3,000 to disappear from his life forever. Of course, this isn't a Todd Solondz movie (thank God for that...) so the uneasy incest plotline only stays alive for about five minutes before we find out that, although the young girl is in fact Shing's daughter, they never actually slept together. Phew!

The rest of the film unfolds at a rather leisurely pace, following Shing and his daugher's growing and at times uneasy relationship as the law begins to bear down on Shing for his past crimes, threatening to tear asunder the new bond between father and daughter.

The plotline of "Isabella" is simple enough and no conventions are broken in Ho Cheung Pang's film, which is frankly a good think because he the simplicity of the story allows the film to breathe, in a way. The DP, whoever he is (I was too lazy to check, Ill admit it) does a wonderful job, filling the film with wonderful images and an overall aesthetic that at once recalls Ho Cheung pang's earlier films while being quite unique in it's own right. Much like Ho Cheung Pang's previous work, "Isabella" doesn't seem to be geared towards teaching the audience a particular moral lesson aside from the fact that redemption is possible and humans can get past their problems easier together than alone.

Highly recommended.

What Time is it There?

C+

Directed by Tsai Ming Liang

Tsai Ming Liang is one of Taiwan's major cinematic exports, right along with Edward Yang and Hsou Hisao Hsien. The winner of several major film awards and critically acclaimed accross the globe, Tsai's films deal mostly with alienation and the breakdown of communication within society (or at least I think they do...). His films are also notorious for their languid pacing and sometimes frustrating vagueness, two characteristics that are fully on display in "What time is it there?"

"What time is it there?" opens with the death of the main characters Hsiao Kang's father. Hsiao Kang's mother goes into a rather intense period of mourning while Hsiao Kang copes by trudging through his day to day existence selling watches on the streets of Taipei. While working, he meets Shang-Chyi, a local girl about to leave on vacation to Paris who desperately wants to buy Hsiao Kang's watch since it displays two time zones. Shortly after Shang Chyi's departure, Hsiao Kang, trying to cope with his mother's increasingly eratic behavior, attempts to escape it all by setting every clock in Taipei to Paris time. Meanwhile, in the City of Lights, Shang Chyi is slowly slipping into urban ennui and begins to desperately seek some type of human contact.

Like most of Tsai's films, "What time is it there?" has some brilliant and beautiful moments. The winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival for cinematography, "What time is it there?" is worth watching simply for its beautiful imagery. Tsai also has some worthwhile insight on the value of human contact and on the importance of establishing connections with others, no matter what their relationship may be to us. Loneliness is a fascinating topic in film and Tsai certainly does an admirably job of sketching out a trio of characters who are all dealing with feelings of loneliness and emptiness in their owns ways.

The problem, as is the case with many other of Tsai's films is that the pace of "What time is it there?" more often than not slips from meditative and slow moving to simply mandering and lost. While watching "What time is it there?" I got the same feeling as when I watched Jia Zhangke, namely that I was watching a supreme talent behind the camera who just didn't seem capable of either shouting "Cut!" or working to tighten up his film in the editing room. Many scenes in "What time is it there?" were overlong and, rather than adding to the mood Tsai was obviously attempting to infuse the film with, seriously detracted from it. As stated beforehand, Tsai is a critically acclaimed talent and he certainly has talent to burn when it comes to making movies, but I must say that I unfortunately cannot count myself as one of his admirers.

The Eye

D-

Directed by Pang Brothers

Over the last few years I had been hearing from several sources that Thailand's vaunted sibling filmmaker duo the Pang Brothers had been, since the release of their breakthrough horror flick "The Eye," on a steady, unstoppable decline. After finally watching "The Eye," I must honestly say that it is the worst Pang Brothers film I've seen to date and I'm mystified how this film was considered the peak of their career.

"The Eye" opens with Angelica Lee's character (whose name I have since forgotten, unfortunately...) about to receive a cornea transplant to restore her eyesight which she lost as a child. Sounds like a pretty happy beginning but things go awry when Angelica (sorry, I'll have to call her that from now on...) begins to see dark, shadowy figures accompanying people right before their deaths. Could it be that Angelica can now FORESEE people's deaths before they happen? What is in these corneas anyways?
The film attempts to answer these questions and spook us out simultaneously, doing neither very well in the end. "The Eye" does succeed in keeping up a spooky-ish mood but it doesn't sustain it long enough to really give you the hibby-jibbies and the plausibility of the story is not strong enough to really convince the viewer that fear is in order. Most maddeningly of all, however, is that the Pang Brother's visual flair, which was often on display even in their weakest efforts, is nowhere to be seen in "The Eye" which has a strikingly generic presentation throughout.

The Hollywood ramake of this clunker is coming out sometime this year and for once there may be hope that the American remake of an Asian horror films rises above the film it is emulating. Wouldn't that be the day?

The Cure

A+

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

"The Cure" is a truly outstanding thriller/horror film from a truly outstanding director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose film credits include such gems as "Bright Future" and the recent "Tokyo Sonata." "The Cure" is, in my opinion, probably Kuroawa's most fully realized work, as it displays all of his strengths as a filmmaker in stunning display, resulting in a pitch perfect, deeply intelligent film that blurs the boundaries between thriller and psycho-horror.

Director Kenichi Takabe, a detective in Tokyo, is investigating a string of seemingly related murders commited by unrelated perpetrators for no apparent reasons. The only common element linking the murders are brief conversations they had with a mysterious young man, a fact discovered by Takabe which puts him in dangerous proximity to forces he may not be ready to deal with...or even comprehend. (Sorry, I had to.)

Any more hashing out of the plot details would probably ruin all of part of the film so I'll just skip right ahead to praising it instead. Like most Kurosawa movies, "The Cure" is extremely obligue in the way it tells its story, requiring that the viewer figure out the ending on their own or, as I did, via the help of IMDB's message boards. When you finally do figure out what's going on in "The Cure," the revelation is satisfying and powerful all at once, the rarest of feelings when it comes to film endings. Kurosawa is an extremely talented filmmaker and script writer and his ability to weave together an intriguing story that still makes sense and delivers the goods in its third act is basically unparralled by his contemporaries, simply because he possesses the unique ability to construct stories which can only be resolved through not only actively paying attention to the film itself but also reflecting on it for hours, maybe even days, afterwards. In this respect, a film like "The Cure" is a puzzle that is far more enjoyable than films like "Memento," which presents a puzzle that, although enjoyable is a bit too easy to figure out, and "Mullhollnd Drive," which seems to be complicated just for the sake of it.

The Right Stuff

A

Directed by Philip Kaufmann

Philip Kaufmann's under appreciated box office bomb stands as one of the most entertaining and expansive American films of 1980's and is one of the very few examples of a film that is markedly better than the book that inspired it (Oh yeah, Tom Wolfe fans...I went there). I massive failure upon its release in theaters, "The Right Stuff" just goes to prove that American filmgoers have no idea what the hell a good movie actually is.

Based loosely off of Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, "The Right Stuff" opens with badass Chuck Yeager trying to break the sound barrier which, obviously he does, even though he is hounded by a broken risk and piloting an aircraft that looks like a giant dart. Following his feat, a number of high profile test pilots begin converging on Muroc Army Air Field, attempting to break the next big piloting barrier.

At the same time, in a far away land, the evil Soviets launch the first sattelite into space. American officials are rightfully pissed and decide to kick the Space Race into full gear, sending a couple of their men down to Muroc to recruit test pilots with "The Right Stuff" for the job. The rest of the film follows the training and eventual missions of such space luminaries as John Glenn, Virgil Grissom and Alan Shepard in their quest to show the Soviets who was boss.

The film makes a number of rather controversial claims, including that Virgil Grissom panicked in his capsule upon splashdown and blew open the capsule's hatch, effectively sinking it and almost drowning him when his spacesuit filled with water. This version of the facts is certainly debatable and makes Grissom appear fairly yellow in hindsight. On the flip side, the film makes Chuck Yeager look like the biggest badass to ever walk the face of the earth, basically implying that had Yeager not flatly refused NASA's offer to take part in their plans he would have been the first American in space. When considering Yeager's track record, it certainly does seem difficult to deny this, but again, it's all quite debatable. The point here isn't to attack the accuracy of "The Right Stuff" but simply to point out that along with being visually stunning and boasting an array of great performances, "The Right Stuff" is also enthralling and gripping in the way good historical epics are, and make no mistake, "The Right Stuff" certainly is an epic and still stands as probably the finest film on the Space Age ever made.

It is a shame that Kaufman's film wasn't more succesful at the box office because "The Right Stuff" is one of the rare films that is at once entertaining, intelligent, and perceptive, kind of like a Tom Wolfe book, really.

Chiefs

B-

Directed by Daniel Junge

The sport documentary/social commentary film is a well worn cinematic standard which often produces satisfactory results. The biggest problem with this type of documentary, however, is that any such film, regardless of the sport, will invariably be compared to "Hoop Dreams" which was not only one of the finest American documentaries ever produced but probably one of the best American films period of the last two decades (yet the Academy felt fit to bypass it in favor of some piece of crap no one remembers anymore. Way to go, Hollywood!) Indeed, "Hoop Dreams" looms large in the world of sports documentaries and even moreso Hoops documentaries which leaves many viewers, myself included, watching a rather good little film like Chiefs waiting for the heartbreaking moment when we see the main characters father play a few minutes of pickup ball with his son before heading off to buy a crack rock in plain sight. Call it a case of chronic unrealistic expectations.

"Chiefs" follows two seasons of ball on a small native reservation in Wyoming. The documentary follows a number of players, all of whom have different personalities, different playing styles, and different views about life on the reservation. The film is a fairly straightforward sports documentary and follows the well trodden path of sports documentaries which mix sports and social issues and their impact on one another. This almost always make for some interestingg viewing and this is certainly the case in "Chiefs" insofar as we can palpably see the importance of basketball in keeping alot of kids motivated, focused, and ultimately sane on a reservation which holds rather bleak prospects for many of these young men. The most gratifying aspect of "Chiefs," however, is the filmmakers ability to present life on the reservation simply as it is, in all its complexity and with all its problems, without overreaching and delving into preachiness on the plight of America's native population. Ultimately, "Chiefs" is very hopeful about the potential for Native youths to pull themselves out of poverty and succeed in life, something that is quite refreshing indeed.

Rescue Dawn

B-

Directed by Werner Herzog

One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Les Blank's "Burden of Dreams" which documents Werner Herzog attempting to film his epic "Fitzcarraldo" which tells the story of an opera enthusiat attempting to build an opera house in the middle of the Amazon. Throughout the documentary, it becomes hilariously obvious how much of a crazy artist Herzog actually was at the time, demanding that scenes be filmed in the most difficult conditions possible, at the risk of everyone's health and sanity. This Herzog is, by all accounts, largely dead and buried, having been replaced with a tamer, more gentle Werner who is now interested in making films that straddle the line between artsy and commerically viable. "Rescue Dawn" is probably the best example of this new Werner, a film that is fronted by Hollywood superstar Christian Bale and is surprisingly conventional in almost every respect.

"Rescue Dawn" tells the story of pilot Dieter, an American whose plane is shot down while flying a mission over Laos. After evading capture for a few days, he is finally nabbed by the local guerillas and brought to a jungle prison where he joins a number of other American prisoners who, Dieter finds out to his horror, have been held there for years. Being a man of action, Dieter almost immediately attempts to hatch an escape plan, an idea which is met with skepticism by his cellmate Duane and utter fear by Duane, a prisoner who is convinced that their release is imminent. The film then focuses on Dieter's attempts at hatching a viable escape plan and at the same time convincing his co-prisoners to go along with it.

Although conventional to a tee, "Rescue Dawn" benefits from strong directing by Herzog and great acting by Bale, Bill Zhan, and Jemery Davies, all of whom do their best to convey the hardships of living with basically no food in awful conditions as well as the psychological toll of being held against your will, unaware of when and if you will ever be released. The film is extremely succesful in establishing intrigue not just in regards to Dieter eventual escape but also in his rapport with his cellmates, many of whom are torn between following Dieter or ratting him out to the guards. "Rescue Dawn" does, however, suffer simply from being ultra-conventional, content with giving us the story we all expected without even a few surprises. In some ways it's a blessing that Herzog simply delivers a film that is enjoyable, intense, and exciting without delving into the politics of the time or trying to wax philosophical on the deeper meanings of armed conflict, but at the same time I expected something more from Herzog who, despite his reputation as a crazy director, is nonetheless immensely talented.

Vengeance is Mine

B+

Directed by Shohei Imamura

The great Shohei Imamura can never be accused of making half-assed films. All of Imamura's cinematic offerings are ambitious, complex, and painstakingly detailed, all qualities that have a distinctly double edged quality to them. In "Vengeance is Mine," Imamura strives so hard for perfection that an otherwardly brilliant character drama is reduced to a stil brilliant but just really, really, really overlong film.

"Veangeance is Mine" follows the crime spree of Iwao Enokizu (played brilliantly here by the great Ken Ogato) as he makes his way through the Japanese countryside, piling up the body count for seemingly no reason whatsoever. The story itself jumps around from his interogation to crucial moments in his life, from his wedding to a woman he eventually abandons to his numerous romantic conquests to his numerous kills and their ramifications on his day to day life. The film is told through a complex series of flashbacks and requires a fair amount of dediction to follow the course of the story since the action skips around from place to place and from one era to the next. Watching Iwao maneuver his way through life, manipulting individuals and killing without a conscience is, to say the least, creepy, but also fascinating in a morbid sort of way.

"Vengeance is Mine" like most of Immamura's films, deals with a marginalized, criminal individual living on the fringes of society, and simply sits back and watches how said individual lives. As opposed to some Immamura films, such as the wonderful "The Eel," where his protaganist, even though a criminal, is imbued with a sense or morality and decency, the hero of "Vengeance is Mine" is buoyed neither by any type of moral obligation to his family or to others and seems to opperate completely outside the bounds of "normal" human behavior. The chracter sketch that results is a fascinating one and is worth watching if nothing else than for the morbid pleasure of watching someone live life with no real moral qualms, interested only in his own survivial and satiating his most basic needs.

The genius behind "Vengeance is Mine" is undeniable and Immamura's legacy as a premier filmmaker is already well established both in Japan and abroad. Despite this, Immamura's tendency to piece together extremely disjointed films that lack any real moral core (this is a debatable stament, I know) has always left me feeling somewhat cold. My favorite Immamura film, the above mentioned "Eel," appealed to me because the main character, although attempting to remove himself from society following a vicious crime, nonetheless found himself compelled to assist those around him in their time of need, leading to a film which ended with an almost shockingly un-Immamura sense community and of the value of compassion between humans. This type of feeling was altogether lacking from "Veangeance is Mine" which made the film, for me at least, interesting without being emotionally resonent.

Love Ghost

F

Directed by Kaziyuki Shibuya

I scooped up this bad boy when browsing through the Fantasy/Horror section at the BANQ. The great thing about the BANQ, as I have already mentioned, is that their DVD library includes a number of films I have NEVER heard of which means that I can't bring a preconceived bias towards them and am thuis completely surprised by what I see when I pop them into the DVD player at home. Sometimes this results in a pleasant surprise, sometimes in a nasty one. "Love Ghost," unfortunately, falls squarely in the latter category.

Kazuko is a young girl who returns to her native village and enrolls in its local high school where she immediately reconnects with her childhood friend and possible lifetime crush, Ryusuke. Her arrival sparks the interest of local hunk (whose name I have since forgot but whose generic qualities really absolve me from any responsibility to remember it and pass on the information to the reader) whose affections in tujrn draw the ire of a number of Kazuko's classmates who, uninterested in hedging their romantic bets, all have crushes on the above mentioned stud. This messy move hexagon (or is it octagon) leads to a number of suicides which may have been spurred on by the mysterious shrine which sits in from of the school and whose appearance is always duly announced by spooky music. Meanwhile, a mysterious boy in black appears once in awhile, usually in conjunction with someone's death, and Kazuko's mom beging to go crazy.

Pretty much everything about this film is bad, from the acting of the lead, which is Bollywood-ish in its lack of range, to the gigantic holes in the plot to the fact that the mysterious boy in black's identity is revealed almost immediately due to poor camerawork (you will see what I mean if you ever experience "Love Ghost"). Despite this, the film inexplicably goes through moments where the DP's body was obviously was taken over by the soul of Christopher Doyle, resulting in moments of stunningly beautiful cinematography that vanish almost as soon as they appeared. This alone is no reason to actually sit down and take the time to watch "Love Ghost" though, so I emphatically counsel everyone to stay away from this effort unless you're in the mood for wasting a couple hours of your life.

Be With Me

A

Directed by Eric Khoo

Movies about the disabled have become unfortunately best known for their heavihandedness and tear-jerking proclivities moreso than anything else. True stinkers such as "I Am Sam" come to mind, movies that are more interested in making a play for Oscar gold than in communicating anything about the disabilities their characters are afflicted with. This is fortunately not the case with Singaporean director Eric Khoo's marvelous "Be With Me."

"Be With Me" is an elliptical film that loosely interweaves four stories of love together, all of which show the vastly different forms love takes, from unrequited love to broken love to the rarest of all loves, the type that lasts a lifetime. These stories are focused around characters as disparate as a lonely and overweight night watchman and a young girl who is jilted by her lover, but the film's main focus revolves around the story of a blind and deaf woman writing the story of her life. Although the storylines here may sound like Gabriel Inniratu meets Nicolas Sparks, "Be With Me" is a subdued, meditative film that treats its characters seriously and handles its subject matter, both the heavy and the light, with perfect care, letting the stories tell themselves in a way that allows for a more powerful impact than any sweeping score, overwrought performance or other emotional manipulation usually featured in films about the disabled. Theresa Chan, the woman on whose life the film is based, actually plays herself in the film so there is no need for over the top acting. Chan's story is both truly uplifting and life affirming in the best possible way in the sense that Chan, even though afflicted with the inability to hear or to see, nonetheless finds the will to not only go through life but enjoy living as well. At one point Chan poignantly remarks that her disability has kept her from seeing or hearing all the beautiful things in the world but it has also kept her from seeing or hearing all the ugly things as well.

It is very difficult to convey how succesful this film is in soliciting an emotional response without trying to wilfully ply one out of its audience but it must be said that this is the supreme achievement of Khoo's film. The only other film I have ever seen that dealt with the disabled with the same warm, respectful, and non-manipulative approach was "Oasis" by director Lee Chang Dong. Both films knew how to toe the line between soliciting an appropriate emotional reaction from their audience and showing respect towards their subject matter and in both cases the end result were films of devastating emotional impact.

Tokyo Eyes

C

Directed byJean Pierre Limousin

I had my beloved girlfriend download "Tokyo Eyes" (which appears to be harder to purchase on the open market than a nuclear warhead) mainly because the score was produced by Xavier Jamaux, the same guy who did a wonderful job as half of the team which produced the soundtrack for Johnnie To's "The Sparrow." Unfortunately for me, Jamaux's work in "Tokyo Eyes" is pretty unnoticeable and the film itself, despite some bright spots and overall solid acting by the films leads, would be forever relegated to the dustbin of my memory if I didn't take the time to document my watching it here.

"Tokyo Eyes" tells the story of Four Eyes, a local criminal who goes on a shooting spree around Tokyo which is noticeable not for its violence but for the perpetrators horrible aim, seeing as how how misses everyone of his targets, causing them nothing more than a scare. Hinano, a local hairdresser, becomes fascinated with Four Eyes' crimes and at the same time meets a mysterious, attractive youth on the subway. Wondering who he is, aren't you?
The story follows a predictable course as the two young ones court each other in a rather PG sort of way, culminating with Hinano's discovery that something is remarkably similar between Four Eyes and her new boyfriend.

"Tokyo Eyes" suffers greatly from the lack of a script the overall lethargy of its narrative. There is nothing wrong with a slow paced film, as I've always been quick to remind anyone who will listen, but the slowness has to bring something to the table, be it a meditative quality, or a particular mood that the filmmaker is going for. "Tokyo Eyes" just seems to be slow moving because it has nowhere to go, a small little picture drifting aimlessly towards its foregone conclusion. Another important flaw that "Tokyo Eyes" as well as many other Asian films in general and contemporary Japanese films in particular suffer from is in their seeming disinterest in adding any type of structure to the film's narrative. I have felt that Hollywood films, seemingly forever, have suffered from being too explicit, not allowing the picture to tell the story but relying rather on the script to tell it instead. Many asian films, such as "Tokyo Eyes" (even though it was directed by a frenchman) suffer from the completely opposite problem, namely that they seemingly don't feel the need to ever give their story some backbone or direction. The result is often maddeningly vague films that aim at establishing a meditative or melancholy mood but often end up simply being instantly forgettable.

The Bow

A

Directed by Kim Ki-Duk

Even though I have not always enjoyed Kim Ki-Duk's films I still hold all of them in great regard since they are all inbued with the same unbelievable attention to detail and a skill for observing human interaction that is second to none in contemporary film. Kim's films are almost always slow, meditative affairs that revolve around almost anecdotal plot lines and feature a noticeable absence of dialogue, all elements that mask the often multilayered interactions that go on between Kim' characters. In this respect, "The Bow" is probably Kim's most fully realized work, moreso than even "3-Iron," or "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring," as it boasts layers of fascinating interaction between the films main protoganists.

"The Bow" takes place entirely on a rickety fishing barge owned by an old man and his daughter, who he plans to marry away when she turns 17. The pair seem entirely content with their spartan existence on the boat which they rent out to mainlaind anglers wishing for a few days on the open sea, although the father's overprotectiveness of his daughter often borders on the insane as he discourages their advances towards the girl with warning arrow shots from his trusty bow. As the film wears on, we sense something may be amiss in the relationship between father and daughter, a suspicion thta is confirmed when a young mainlainder begins to take an interest in the old man's daughter.

Without ruining more of the film than I already have, let me say that Kim ki-Duk plays around with some rather explosive and lurid material here but succeeds in telling in a story that, despite its subject matter, never seems exploitative or cheap. Rather, "The Bow" is a understated and at times ravishingly beautiful film that succeeds in setting up an "isolated and marginal world" as koreanfilm.com's Darcy Paquet put it, and allowing the interactions between the film's character to provide the intrigue. Unlike Paquet and others who found the film to be lacking in the areas where "Samaritan Girl" and "3-Iron" succeeded, I found that Kim was much more honest in his depiction of the relationships in "The Bow" than he was in either of the above films, both of which, although enjoyable in their own right, were either too gimmicky (3-Iron) or too obvious in their emotional manipulation (Samaritan Girl).