Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Samurai I Loved

A-

Directed by Mitsuo Kurotsuchi

Mitsuo Kurotsuchi "The Samurai I Loved", an adaptation of one of the great Shuhei Fujisawa's stories, somehow escapes the shackles of its wild inconsistencies and readily apparent flaws and morphs into a beautiful and tremendously deep meditation on duty, love and regret.

After his father is forced to commit ritual suicide due to his involvement in a regional power struggle, young Bunshiro Maki must work to rebuild the fortunes of his disgraced household. Meanwhile, his childhood friend Fuko is made to join the court of the fief's Lord in Edo where she eventually becomes the Lord's concubine. Years later they meet again when Bunshiro must help save Fuko and her newborn child from another power struggle ripping through the fief.

Although it's sometimes awkward, often tries a little too hard to pull at the heartstrings, and is also cursed with terrible title, "The Samurai I Loved" somehow pulls through and delivers not just a satisfying overall experience but one with a truly unexpected emotional impact. The film's final act delivers a devastating wallop that, frankly, caught me completely by surprise, which did nothing but heighten the film's emotional punch. Indeed, Kurotsuchi's film lumbers along somewhat awkwardly throughout its running time, tallying up as many hits as misses and then provides us, seemingly out of nowhere, with an incredibly frank, beautiful scene where Bunshiro and Fuko come to grips with lives that hadn't turned out as they had hoped.

I’ve often said (likely to myself…) that one of the most interesting and powerful emotions that can be explored through film is regret or disappointment. Indeed, some of the most powerful scenes in film history deal not with love or death or joy but rather with disappointment. Just think of Setsuko Hara’s Noriko in “Tokyo Story” admitting that life is indeed “disappointing” or Benjamin Braddock’s smile fading away in the bus at the end of “The Graduate”. I think the poignancy of these scenes, much like the final moments of “The Samurai I Loved” is due to the fact that feelings of regret and disappointment are absolutely universal in a way that a traumatic death, rapturous joy or even unrequited love simply are not. There’s therefore a far better chance that viewers will connect specifically with the disappointments of a character than they will with a scenes of heartbreaking death, incredible joy, or boundless romance.

Beyond its denouement, “The Samurai I Loved” is also notable for its gorgeous cinematography and the work of Shomegero Ichikawa andYoshino Kimura as the adult versions of Bunshiro and Fuko (though the actors playing the teenaged roles aren’t bad either) whose restrained performances do much to add to the emotional impact of Mitsuo Kurotsuchi’s film.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Shall we Dance?

B-

Directed by Mayasaki Suo

Masayuki Suo's “Shalle we Dance” is a respectable though underwhelming rom com that benefits greatly from the work of its stellar cast.


On his way home on the train from work, salaryman Shohei Sugiyama spies a beautiful ballroom dance instructor looking out from the window of her dance school. Spontaneously, Sugiyama decides to sign up for a class, only to find out that his classes will be given by a different instructor. Afraid to admit his real reasons for joining, Sugiyama ploughs ahead and begins to actually enjoy the experience. His newfound passion, however, is highly shameful for a conservative man like himself, forcing him to go to great lengths to hide his hobby from his coworkers and family.


The idea of a Japanese rom com can seem puzzling seeing as how the Japanese aren’t exactly known for displays of affection, emotion, and passion. Director Suo acknowledges as much in the opening frames of “Shall we Dance” as the narrator conveys the stigma surrounding dancing in a buttoned up society like Japan. In "Shall we Dance", ballroom dancing works both as a means of escape for Sugiyama from his restrictive lifestyle as well as a metaphor for the rigidity of modern Japan which, even as it blows away the rest of the world with some of its weirdness, remains a fairly restrictive society. Despite its social commentary, however, “Shall we Dance” stays light and breezy, relying mostly on its underlying premise to provide the laughs and introducing a variety of absurd supporting characters to provide some comic relief when the novelty of watching Sugiyama awkwardly stumble around the dance floor wears off.

Although “Shall we Dance” has its moments, its character development (the cornerstone of any rom com) feels surprisingly shallow for a film that lasts close over two hours. The tense relationship between Sugiyama and his wife gets far too little screen time and too much time is spent developing peripheral characters or watching said characters participate in various dance routines. As a result, the conclusion feels rushed as do the denouements of the various romantic intrigues that unfold throughout the film. Despite its faults the film is saved in large part due to fantastic casting, most notably the starring role of the always excellent Koji Yakusho as Sugiyama.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Ripley's Game

C


Directed by Liliani Cavani


Liliani Cavani's take on Patricia Highsmith's popular sociopath Tom Ripley is way less fun than it should be, a tame and rarely interesting film that wastes the potential of Highsmith's character.


Ripley (John Malkovich) is back, this time in Italy where he is playing his trade as an art dealer/criminal and living in a vast but incredibly tacky villa with his wife Luisa. After being insulted by his neighbour Jonathan Trevanny (Dougray Scott), Malkovich decides to recruit the poor chap to perform a hit for gangster Reeves (Ray Winstone). After performing the hit, Trevanny falls deeper and deeper in with Reeves and Ripley, even as Ripley tries to keep the coming fallout from the gang war out of his (villa’s) backyard.

Ripley’s Game” reminded me a lot of “The Tailor of Panama”. Not that the two stories are similar—they aren’t in the least bit—but rather in that the film adaptations of both are rather boring. I’m not sure what it is about the adaptation of thrillers but many of them seem to translate poorly to the big screen. It may be that building the type of suspense that novelists like Highsmith are famous for is easier over 200-300 page novel than it is in a 90-100 minute film. Regardless, “Ripley’s Game” left me feeling fairly cold, much like Ripley himself, just without the murderous tendencies.

Malkovich’s Ripley is probably truer to Highsmith’s original character than say, Dennis Hopper’s was in “The American Friend”, but it isn’t any more interesting, that’s for sure. The rest of the cast didn’t do it for me either. Dougray Scott’s dramatic turn as the cancer stricken family man Jonathan Trevanny clashed harshly with Malkovich’s low key, effeminate Ripley. The best casting move in “Ripley’s Game” was picking Ray Winstone for the role of Reeves, Ripley’s hapless partner in crime. If there had been more of Winstone and less of Malkovich, Scott, and basically everyone else it might have been a better film. Or maybe it would have just been more like “Sexy Beast”, which would have been fine with me.

My Summer of Love

A


Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski


Pawel Pawlikowski's makes magic on a small budget in "My Summer of Love", a riveting, tense and exceptionally well acted story of friendship and deception, both of others and oneself.


Working class Mona meets Tamsin, a spoiled daughter from a wealthy family, by chance over summer vacation. The two girls, neither of whom is particularly stable, embark on a passionate relationship that threatens to swallow them both. Meanwhile, Mona’s brother Phil, recently released from prison, claims to have found Good appears to have turned his life around, leading a worship group from inside his old pub.


When a movie is referred to as “hypnotic” (as “My Summer of Love” boasts on the DVD cover) I rarely expect to actually be riveted to such an extent. Much to my surprise, however, I found myself quite literally hypnotized by Pawlikowski’sfilm. Indeed, I made the poor decision of starting the film right before I should have headed to bed and was immediately riveted, so much so that I literally had to force myself to quit watching an hour past my usual bed time. “My Summer of Love’s” Svengali like grip is due to a number of factors, but cief among them is the tight direction of Pawlikowski who masterfully builds up tension between Mona and Tamsin, as well as the acting of Emily Blunt and Nathalie Press which is fantastic throughout.

Although at its core “My Summer of Love” is about the twisted relationship between Mona and Tamsin, the religious “rebirth” of Mona’s brother Phil is also an important underlying theme. In this regard, “My Summer of Love” seems to take a rather cynical view of religion (in this case a sort of revivalist Christianity). I can understand where Helen Cross, the author of "My Summer of Love" was coming from in her vision of Christianity as a religion riddled with hypocrisy and her portrayal of Phil’s “followers” is not entirely inaccurate, unfortunately. But Cross is no doubt attacking the fringe here, painting a picture of insincere and immature believers whose “faith” is little more than an attempt to escape the difficulties of their past lives. I thought it was a bit of an ugly and unfair portrayal of Christianity but discerning viewers should be able to come to their own conclusions about Cross's treatment of this subject.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Adrift in Tokyo

B+

Directed by Satoshi Miki

Satoshi Miki’s “Adrift in Tokyo” takes an odd premise and makes it work thanks to breezy humor and the charisma of its two male leads.

Fumiya (Jo Odagiri) is a university student woefully behind on some debts owed to local loan shark Fukuhara (Tomokazu Miura). Seemingly without reason, however, Fukuhara promises to forgive Fumiya’s debts if he’ll take a walk with him through Tokyo to the city’s main police station where he plans to turn himself in.

I'd heard plenty of good things about "Adrift in Tokyo" while it was doing the tour of the festival circuit a few years ago and came away quite satisfied with Miki's offering. "Adrift in Tokyo" hits viewers with a rapid fire of absurd situational humor, some of which works, some of which doesn’t but I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of Miki’s sly gags enough that I gladly overlooked the set pieces that didn't work so well. Any film that tries to throw so much comedic material at its audience is bound to be hit or miss anyways and “Adrift in Tokyo” hits more often that it misses overall and for that, I salute it.

“Adrift in Tokyo ” tries to work at a deeper level as well, reflecting on loss, loneliness, and the importance of family and it does so quite well, mostly because it doesn’t try to go too deep or detract from its comedic raison d'ĂȘtre. There are nevertheless still some poignant moments and Miki’s choice to take a ponderous approach to exploring some weightier themes goes over very well, keeping the proceedings light but still tinged with a wee bit of melancholy. The rapport built between Odagiri and Miura is also surprisingly believable, giving the absurd opening premise some much needed credibility as the film moves forward, even though the father/son motif of their relationship is pushed a bit too far by Miki.

The Tokyo Fumiya and Fukuhara drift around in is, of course, a defining aspect of Miki’s film. Rather than showing the bright lights and big skyscrapers of Shinjuku or Ginza Miki sends his characters walking through the back alleys and tree lined side streets of Japan ’s mega-city. The uniqueness and charm of Tokyo comes through quite well but for audiences who only know the city through movies, it’s a welcome change and an introduction to another side of the city that isn’t seen as often.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Tell No One

A


Directed by Guillaume Canet


Gauillaume Canet’s “Tell No One” is a complex, suspenseful and deservedly acclaimed work which serves as an A to Z exposĂ© on what a great thriller should look like.

Alexandre Beck, a paediatrician vacationing with his wife and sister, is brutally assaulted, seemingly without reason, near his lake house by an unknown assailant. He awakes several days later to find out that his beloved wife was killed in the attack. Eight years after her death he is sent an anonymous e-mail containing a link to a live webcam that, inexplicably, shows his wife in real time. Alexandre begins a deadly chase to uncover the mystery, hampered at every turn by the police, a group of hired assassins, and his own family’s doubts about what he claims to have seen.

« Tell No One » does absolutely everything a good thriller should. It’s gripping, intelligent, paced extremely well, and it delivers a truly brilliant payoff to its seemingly far fetched premise. Many very good thrillers go down the drain in their final act when they can’t develop an adequate explanation for the film’s suspense but “Tell No One” takes a seemingly impossible premise and slowly answers the viewers questions as the film progresses, leading to a totally plausible yet nonetheless astounding denouement. In between, however, I wasn’t just twiddling my thumbs waiting to find out the how and the why of the film’s plot. Canet does a fantastic job of keeping the film fresh and exciting throughout its lengthy running time and keeps the proceedings immensely entertaining without resorting to any over the top plot devices. Indeed, Alexandre remains a believable victim throughout, never going on a vengeful killing spree or teaming up with a buddy to dish out some street justice, but doggedly chasing the truth like most people in his situation likely would. Canet wisely introduces enough peripheral characters that we are too busy following the action to wonder who did what to whom which makes the film’s final revelation even more surprising and, ultimately, believable.


It's a great experience for lovers of a good suspense. I recommend it highly.

Fallen Angels

A-

Directed by Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai’s “Fallen Angels” is one of the director’s best known works and unquestionably part of his core oeuvre. Although I don’t feel that it measures up to his best films, it’s still a solid effort from a narrative standpoint and an absolute tour de force visually.

Leon Lei plays Wong Chi-Ming, a contract killer working in the seedy underbelly of Hong Kong, whose hits are arranged by a female handler that he never sees (Michelle Reis). Unbeknownst to him, his handler, whos is also responsible for cleaning up his squalid living space while he is out, has become interested in him after hours spent rifling through his stuff. At the same time, in a mostly unrelated parallel storyline (A recurring motif in WKW’s films) Takeshi Kaneshiro plays an excentric mute who begins an unconventional (and unilateral) romance with a jilted woman still obsessed with her former lover.

“Fallen Angels” reprises many of Wong Kar Wai’s classic themes—loneliness, urban isolation, unrequited love and the search for connections in a disappointing and cold world. Although “Fallen Angels” is much less adept than other WKW films such as “Chungking Express” or “Days of Being Wild” at exploring these themes, it doesn’t completely miss the mark either. It’s much less structured than either of the latter two films (or most of his other work, for that matter) and there’s a fair amount of throwaway scenes (particularly those involving Karen Mok), but it’s still infused with the same loneliness and melancholy that are trademarks of WKW’s core works.

Visually, however, this is no doubt Wong Kar Wai’s seminal film, the fullest realization of he and Christopher Doyle’s unique aesthetic vision. The crisp editing, neon drenched color palate and radical camera angles that came to typify Wong and Doyle’s work dominate “Fallen Angels” and the resulting sensory overload makes the films a highly polarizing, love it or hate it (or at least dislike it) experience from an aesthetic standpoint. Although I preferred the visual and audio bravura of “In the Mood for Love” or even “Happy Together”, there is no doubt that “Fallen Angels” offers a unique opportunity to see Wong and Doyle throw caution to the wind and go for broke. It also highlights Doyle’s incredible versatility with the camera and his uncanny ability to excel in diverse genres while still retaining a very distinct visual style. I recall watching “Temptress Moon”, a rather standard nineties costume melodrama, without knowing that Doyle was in charge of the cinematography and realizing, probably five minutes in, that he was behind the camera based solely on how distinctive the visual experience was.

Doyle’s collaborations with WKW remain some of the most visually fruitful in film history mostly because his visual excesses are never (or rarely) restrained by the director. It’s a collaborative approach that’s difficult to pull off but, when done well, can yield wonderful results as evidenced by Doyle and WKW’s excellent body of work together.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Confessions

C

Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima

Tetsuya Nakashima’s tale of revenge swings for the fences with its ambitious, scandalous premise but comes up short on the delivery, offering an awkward, overly serious take on a pretty absurd subject matter.


A middle school teacher, following the death of her young daughter, informs her class that she is quitting. Before she does, however, she lets her class know that her daughter’s murderers are in her glass and that, due to the fact that they are both protected by Japan ’s juvenile criminal code, she has taken the law into her own hand and has spiked the milk they drank earlier that morning with a deadly virus. The rest of the film follows the fallout from the teacher’s actions and the two infected students as they struggle to regain control of their lives after the incident.


I don’t have any issue with films that go for the shock factor, but there’s certainly a way to do it that demands a certain amount of tact and skill. Oftentimes films which try to shock work best if they tinge their approach with a fair amount of humor, usually of the absurdist variety, not so much to take the edge off (though it helps) but more to keep a measure of context to the far fetched nature of the plot. While watching “Confessions” I repeatedly thought of another Japanese director, Sion Sono, and couldn’t help but feel that he could have taken the subject matter of “Confessions” gone way, way further with it and still made a film that was entertaining and watchable. Confessions takes itself much too seriously which doesn’t sit well in a film that has such an absurd plot. There are certainly elements here and there in Nakashima’s film that have some promise and a teacher taking revenge on her students is probably a cathartic subplot that a number of individuals in the teaching profession might perversely take pleasure from. But the execution is lacking and despite its considerable length, “Confessions” covers surprisingly little ground.

On the plus side, the technical aspects of the film are for the most part well done and there’s an interesting, if not altogether original, camerawork that runs through “Confessions”. This goes to show, once again, that even a lacklustre film can at least be partially redeemed by attention to more technical details.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Summer Hours

A

Directed by Olivier Assayas

Talented french director Olivier Assayas' "Summer Hours" is a wonderful and incredibly perceptive meditation on family, art, and the importance of objects and their relation to memory.

Following the sudden death of their mother, siblings Frederic, an economist living in Paris, Adrienne, an industrial designer living in New York, and Jeremie, a businessman living in China, come together in Paris to decide the fate of their family's summer house and its collection or objets d'art.

"Summer Hours" is a film that lacks big moments, fiery acting, or anything else that really grabs the attention at first glance but it leaves a deep impression nonetheless due to Assayas' deft skill at weaving together an intricate storyline that is filled with wonderful and witty observations. One of the main threads of the film is the erosive effects of globalization on middle and upper middle class families whose sons and daughters often leave the home to pursue their education or careers, never to return. Assayas' film doesn't necessarily pass judgement on these decisions but only observes that they are now the norm and will, inevitably, contribute to making some things, like passing on the family's cottage from one generation to the next, a thing of the past.
"Summer Hours" is also one of the better films about art that I've seen in awhile, insofar has it touches on the lost "art" (pun intended) of collecting objects without interest in financial gain but rather to pass them on, as objects of beauty, to your kin. In "Summer Hours" the children's refusal to hang on to some of their mother's prized collection of art and furniture, although financially shrewd, nonetheless demonstrates their lack of interest in continuing the family heritage or rather their lack of understanding of why these objects mattered to their mother.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

C-


Directed by Oliver Stone


Oliver Stone’s follow up the one of the most influential films of the eighties, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is unfortunately a rather unworthy follow up to Stone's groundbreaking essay on greed and the rot of capitalism gone crazy.


After eight long years in prison, disgraced financier Gordon Gekko returns to New York City in an attempt to reunite with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan). Unfortunately for Gekko, his daughter has decided to marry the risible Shia Lebeouf who plays Jake (yeah, I know it's just acting, but Mulligan actually started dating Lebeouf during shooting! Bad choice, Carey!) , an ambitious prop trader working for one of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks. Jake’s firm quickly goes south, however, when a rival financier named Bretton James (Josh Brolin) aggressively shorts its stock leading to the collapse of the firm and the suicide of its managing director who was also Jake's mentor. Jake seeks revenge with the help of Gekko, a onetime rival of James, much to the dismay of his fiancĂ©.


Despite Michael Douglas’s return as Gordon Gekko and a premise that seems ripe for some richly deserved skewering of the financial sector, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is a pretty big disappointment. My feelings were pretty much summed up by a guy who accosted me immediately after the end of the film and exclaimed “What a waste of eight bucks!” Indeed.

Probably the biggest disappointment for fans of the original Wall Street is the minor role Douglas plays in « Money Never Sleeps » as Gordon Gekko. Douglas ’ Gekko is one of the most well known villains of American cinema, a brash, arrogant, morally bankrupt power broker responsible for such awesome quotes as “Lunch is for wimps!” Douglas is back as Gekko in “Money Never Sleeps” but he’s given far too little screen time to light it up like he did in the first instalment and that’s a major bummer, especially since most of his screen time is stolen by the rather blah Shia Leboeuf. It’s a puzzling decision on the part of the screenwriters, especially since Douglas appears to be in vintage form in the few scenes he’s given.

“Money Never Sleeps” also misses the mark in its portrayal of post housing market collapse America and the decrepit financial services industry that brought the system to its knees. The late 2000’s recession is certainly fertile ground for a “Wall Street” sequel since its causes--avarice, greed, and wild speculation--are eerily reminiscent of the anything goes 80’s that the original “Wall Street” was based on. Nevertheless, whereas “Wall Street” came to define an economic chapter in American history, “Money Never Sleeps” doesn’t feel nearly as important. Sure, there’s some decent barbs taken at the architects of the financial collapse but there’s nothing as compelling as Gordon Gekko proclaiming that “Greed is good” before dismantling a decent company just to make a quick buck. Part of the problem is that that scathing social critique of “Wall Street” never comes close to being duplicated in “Money Never Sleeps”. Stone has certainly turned down his rhetoric somewhat over the past few years. Even “W” was pretty tame. Although I dislike a lot of Stone’s earlier work for being too overtly biased in its politics, a movie like “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” would have been well served by pulling no punches. The fact that it does is what ultimately sinks “Money Never Sleeps”, though not enough Gordon Gekko is an almost equally important factor.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Ride with the Devil

A-

Directed by Ang Lee

Ang Lee's unjustly obscure "Ride with the Devil" is a wonderful and unfortunately misunderstood film from one of the uncontested masters of world cinema.

Toby Maguire stars as Jake Rodell, a young Missouri boy who joins the Confederate "Buschwhackers" with his friend Jack Bull after his parents are killed in a raid by the Unionist "Jayhawkers". They boys participate in a number of skirmishes before retreating to the wilderness to wait out the winter where Jack Bull falls in love with the beautiful Sue Lee.

In what is no doubt the biggest irony of Ang Lee's venerable career, the very american "Ride with the Devil" was made before Lee came to the attention of American audiences with the very chinese "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". Indeed, despite its all star cast, wonderful direction, and the fact that it was inspired by american history, "Ride with the Devil" was an epic flop at american box offices. Interestingly, "Brokeback Mountain", a commercial and critical success without precedent for Lee in the US is similar in many ways to "Ride with the Devil" except that the latter film benefited from better marketing and, most importantly, a far more controversial subject matter that succeeded in getting moviegoers into theatres. It's a shame though, because "Ride with the Devil" is a very good movie. The acting is truly fantastic, the visuals are sumptuous, and the subject matter, although given a predictable and somewhat disappointing cut-down-the-middle treatment, is still relatively well handled.
One of the reasons The Criterion Collection is so widely respected is that it takes an independent minded view of what films deserve to be seen by a wider audience. Sure, they've refurbished several classics that are touchstones of cinema and beloved by all, but "Ride with the Devil" is a movie that received mixed reviews from critics and didn't even register on the radar of moviegoers when it was released. Nevertheless, the good people at Criterion decided, rightfully so I might add, that more people needed to watch this movie and it therefore got the Criterion treatment. A wonderful decision and a credit to Criterion's continuing importance to cinema.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Whisper of the Heart

A

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Whisper of the Heart” my not be known to wider audiences as well as Miyazaki’s greatest hits like “Totoro” or “Spirited Away” but it remains one of his finest works and one of the best examples of his exceptional storytelling.

Miyazaki’s protagonist in “Whisper of the Heart” is Shizuke, a carefree junior high student who loves books but takes a bit of a cavalier attitude towards school, resulting in a poor performance on her high school entrance exams. One fine day, rather than studying for her entrance exams, she follows a cat through the streets of Tokyo and into a secluded and leafy neighbourhood where she discovers an antique shop owned my Mr. Nishi, the grandfather of a mysterious boy who by turns fascinates and repels Shizuke.

In my opinion one of Miyazaki ’s most outstanding achievements throughout his career has been his ability to make films that are both enjoyable and topical to an incredible range of viewers. A film like “Whisper of the Heart” can be watched and enjoyed by viewers of any age which, when you really think about it, is something incredibly rare for a film. Even animated classics like “Pinocchio” or “Alice in Wonderland” which can be enjoyed by young and old alike are still more obviously aimed towards younger audiences. Miyazaki ’s films always seem to be made for everyone and the intended audience is for the most part purposefully unclear. “Whisper of the Heart” is perhaps one of the best examples of Miyazaki ’s generalist appeal. Like most of his work, the story features a young girl as its main protagonist and many of the characters are children. Despite this the adults in the story are given plenty of attention in the story and their own issues are explored at the same time as those of (Shizuku and her friends). The core of the story does, however, remain centered around familiar topics revisited by Miyazaki throughout his career—children on the cusp of adolescence trying to find their way in a colder grown up world without losing their sense of wonder or losing touch with all the freedoms that make childhood great.

It will come as no surprise to those familiar with Studio Ghibli that the art work is gorgeous, rendered in a light and airy palate that reminded me a great deal of the recently viewed “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”. Miyazaki and his team fill the screen with interesting little details that make a repeat viewing solely due to the artwork worthwhile if not obligatory.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Written By

D

Directed by Wai Ka Fai


Wai Ka Fai, longtime scriptwriter for Johnnie To, decides to strike out on his own with "Written By", a messy, confusing, and ultimately forgetable effort that leads me to believe that he should just stick with To in the future.

Ching Wan Lau (who is excellent, as usual) plays a lawyer who dies following a car crash that leaves his youngest daughter blind. His family struggles to deal with his absence and, in an effort to deal with their loss, the daughter begins to write a novel where the family dies and the father survives. This sets in motion a series of "rewrites" of the original tragedfy by both the father and the daughter that leave the viewer in doubt as to what exactly is happening and who is really there.

This stinker is a total mess from start to finish. Wai starts with an interesting (if probably unsustainable) premise but he he quickly throws caution to the wind and lets his narrative runs its nonsensical course without worrying about its credibility. Plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon begin to appear and the film is pretty much a lost cause even before the crappy special effects come into play in the second part of the film.
Fantasia described Wai as the "Charlie Kaufman of Hong Kong" and indeed the similarities are striking. Like Kaufman, Wai is at his best when he sticks to writing and his creativity is reigned in by a more talented director. Without this his work becomes bloated, pretentious, and messy. It's disappointing because Wai is behind some of the absolute best and most intelligent Hong Kong films of the past several decades so there's ample evidence to show that he knows what he's doing. As a director though he just doesn't have it, as "Written By" so clumsily shows.

Castaway on the Moon

A

Directed by Hae Jun Lee

Hae Jun Lee's little gem of a movie, his first as a director, mind you, announces the arrival of an exciting and very talented new voice in Korean cinema.

After a failed suicide attempt, Mr. Kim, a heavily indebted salary man washes up on an island in the middle of the Han River. Even though he is within swimming distance of Seoul, he can't get oiff the island because he can't swim. He also can't contact anyone in the outside world because they either don't see him or can't understand his please for help. Confined to this unforgiving world, Mr. Kim goes about surviving the elements and reinventing himself in the "wild". At the same time, a reclusive girl suffering from a social anxiety disorder begins to watch Mr. Kim from afar and seeks deperately to contact him.

Ahh….what a wonderful movie. "Castaway on the Moon" strikes a pitch perfect balance between raucous comedy, survival mini-epic, and romance that is really astounding for a first time director. Lee starts off with a pretty ambitious premise and then has to keep several balls in the air throughout the duration of the film but he succeeds admirably. Watching Kim's transition from despondent castaway to savvy survivalist is always hilarious but it's also deeply moving at times and not always in expected ways. Lee's film also serves as a cautionary tale on the weight of worldly posessions and the emptiness of material things, but it never goes overboard or becomes preachy. The parralel storyline involving the reclusive girl fits in wonderfully with the story arc and the two characters build palpable chemistry throughout the film even if they never see each other. The extremely flat faced Jeo-yeoung Jeong proves yet again that he has a particular gift for comedy, giving an emotional, over the top performance that is totally hilarious without being too much.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Air Doll

B


Directed by Koreeda Hirakazu
Koreeda Hirokazu's "Air Doll" turns a potentially raunchy premise into an interesting rumination on loneliness that nonetheless lacks the depth of his previous work. The presence of the wonderful Bae Doona makes the film a more than worthwhile time investment, however.


Bae plays an air doll named Nozomi who is owned by a lonely fast food employee who used her as a substitute for a proper girlfriend. He bathes her, easts with her, takes her out to the park, and of course sleep siwht her as well, as shown to us in amusing and, at times, uncomfortable detail. Unbeknownst to her owner, however, Nozomi has developed a heart, as well as an ability to turn human, and has set about discovering the city in his absence.


I had very, very high hopes for "Air Doll" but to be frank, I left disappointed. Being disappointed by a film is not always a bad thing, however, because it's evidence that we at least expected something good in the first place. I don't think too many people are "disappointed" by Uwe Boll's films, for instance. In the case of "Air Doll", however, plenty pointed to this movie being great, not least he fact that director Koreeda Hirokazu is responsible for some of the best Japanese films of the best several decades including "Maborosi", "Nobody Knows", and "After life". Any fan of Japanese cinema should properly revere those three films as msterpieces and I'm sure I wasn't the only one to expect "Air Doll" to measure up to his past work. The presence of Bae Doona as the lead actress was also a tantilizing prospect since Bae has slowly carved out a niche for herself as a darling of the festival masses due to her performances in such sleeper hits as "Take Care of my Cat" and "Linda, Linda, Linda", not to mention mega-hit "The Host". The combination of Hirokazu and Bae doesn't exactly fall flat but the result isn't as amazing as I had hoped either. My expectations were probably unreasanly high but as I said, there was nothing to prevent me from having sky high hopes for "Air Doll" so I threw caution to the wind and expected to be blown away. I wasn't, unfortunately, and I think the main problem for me was Hirokazu's frustratingly languid script which took ample detours but never really seem focused ons torytelling. Hirokazu's previous work, though slow of pace and sparing in dialogue, has always been extremely focused on telling its central story and not only on exploring larger ideas, even if the larger issues of memory and loss are always present in his work. In "Air Doll" the story seems to take a back seat to ruminations on loneliness that, although not without some profundity, tend to drag along without much direction. As such, Bae's presence in this movie is a godsend since her performance elevates "Air Doll" from ho-hum to at the very least engaging even though it falls well short of Hirokazu's earlier efforts.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Mai Mai Miracle

B

Directed by
Sunao Katabuchi

Hayao Miyazaki's longtime contributor Sunao Katabuchi's "Mai Mai Miracle" is a modest but pleasant animated tale that pays homage to the tutelage of Miyazaki while nevertheless showing glimpses of Katabuchi's particular and exciting talents.

"Mai Mai Miracle" takes place in a small Japanese village where young Shinko lives on a farm with her parents, grandparents, and younger sister. Shinko is a vivacious young girl who believes that her cowlick gives her magical powers. When a girl named Kiiko arrives at Shinko's elementary school, the two quickly become firends and embark on a series of adventures along with a group of classmates. Katabuchi's film also features the parralel story of a young princess named Nagiko Kiyahara who lived in the same village 1,000 years before.
Inevitably, Katabuchi's work will draw comparisons to Miyazaki's due to their previous collaboration and indeed Miyazaki's influence is all over Katabuchi's work, from the rural setting to the lush watercolor art to the magical realism of the storyline involving a pair of young girls coming of age. The tone of the film, hopeful and whimsical but tinged with melancholy, is also very similar to some of Miyazaki's work like "Ponyo" and "My Neighbor Totoro" although Katabuchi's work doesn't delve so heavily into fantasy as either those. Katabuchi does, however, depart somewhat radically from Miyazaki in his choice to include more adult subject matter in "Mai Mai Miracle" and includes such heavy themes as death and suicide at its core.
"Mai Mai Miracle" does not achieve the emotional depth that Miyazaki's better work does but then again few films, animated or otherwise, do so and placing the bar that high for Katabuchi's first effort is both unfair and counterproductive but, as I said, comparisons are inevitable. I think "Mai Mai Miracle" also suffers to some extent by offering a free flowing, rather unstructured plot that meanders greatly until well past the halfway mark. I don't think "Mai Mai Miracle" requires a particularly tight plot since the film is, above all else, about two girls trying to keep hold of their sense of wonder in a cynical world, but a little bit more structure wouldn't have hurt. It isn't a poor effort though and I am excited to see what else Katabuchi comes up with in the future.

Down Terrace

B+

Directed by Ben Wheatley

Ben Wheatley's no-budget "Downt Terrace" is an enjoyable, though incredibly dark, look at a crime family's disintegration over the course of one week.
Thirty-four year old Karl has just beaten an undisclosed crime charge. He returns to his parent's home (where he still lives) where we are introduced to his overbearing father, unstable mother, and a host of their criminal cohorts. As Karl settles back in at home, his father informs him that he believes there is a rat amongst them and quickly sets out to "find" the rat. No one really tries to smoke out the snitch (if there even is one), however, but the members of the family rather use the excuse of finding the alleged traitor to slowly kill off their closest associates.
Some of the reviews I'd read before watching "Down Terrace" praised its witty dialogue and caustic tone which immediately fear that I'd be sitting through another pretentious piece of crap crime/comedy flick like "In Bruges". My fears were misguided, however, since "Down Terrace" is funny and absurd in all the right ways and takes itself surprisingly less seriously than it probably could considering its overall quality. The humor tends to be Monty Python-esque in the small observations, witty remarks, and ridiculous tangents characters run off on and the film ends up being a rollicking good ride if not an entirely flawless piece of film making. The comedy of errors that leads to such a high body count is often pretty funny to watch but also works well at creating suspense because you never know who is going to get waxed next and for what reason (if any!). As the bodies pile up, however, the circumstances leading to the deaths of several characters become more and more far fetched until murders seem to be happening for no reason whatsoever. The randomness of the hits is part of the point, however, since the director is trying to show how the context of finding the snitch gives everyone an excuse to whack a member of the entourage they have a problem with. Nevertheless, several peripheral characters get taken out for little reason and the events, although willfully absurd, are sometimes still too over the top.
The performances Wheatley gets from his cast of mostly amateur actors is top notch by any standards. Father and son combo of Robert and Robin Hill unsurprisingly have explosive onscreen chemistry which makes me wonder if the two weren't perhaps using the movie as a way to legitimately blow up at each other. The supporting actors are also excellent and the strength of the cast is really a credit to Wheatley who obviously knew how to get the most out of his actors.