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.

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.

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.

We are what we are

C+

Jorge Michel Grau

The latest entry in the horror-realist genre, Mexican Jorge Michel Grau's "We are what we are" is an uneven and ultimately disappointing film that wastes a pretty decent (if not entirely original) premise.

A family of cannibals living in the slums of Mexico City is faced with dire straights when the family's patriarch, the main bread (or should I say flesh?) winner of the family dies unexpectedly. The family's eldest son reluctantly takes over the grim task of providing for the family but with very messy results.

"We are what we are" covers surprisingly little ground during its 99 minute running time and the film feels incredibly thin as a consequences. Grau's choice to focus on a wide number of characters and spend excessive amounts of time on peripheral events (for instance the banter between two workers at the morgue who never show up in the film again afterward) cripples his film by leaving precious little time for the story at the core of "We are what we are" to develop. Grau also casts his net too wide in trying to deal with several different topics and he manages the pace of the film rather poorly.

This isn't to say that "We are what we are" is a total bust. Grau succeeds in building some real suspense in places and the film also offers some sly moments of black humor that fits well with the overall mood of the film. The film looks authentic despite its less than credible premise and the production values are quite high for a film with such a low budget. In the sub genre of horror-realism, however, "We are what we are" doesn't stand up to the competition.

A Tale of Two Sisters

A

Directed by Kim ji woon

Kim ji-woon's critically lauded "Tale of Two Sisters" is, to be brief, a superior horror film. Frightening, intelligent, and visually stunning, Kim's film has been considered by many to be the gold standard of asian horror films since its release.

Su-mi and her sister Su-yeon return to their father's country home after a brief absence. They are greeted by their screechy, domineering stepmother who Su-mi quickly locks horns with. Although it's Su-mi, the louder, more confrontational of the two sisters, that mostly does battle with the stepmother, it's Su-yeon who seems to suffer the most at her hands. Meanwhile, the girl's father seems uninterested in brokering a ceasefire between the two sides. When strange things begin to hapopen around the house, events quickly boil over and the situation comes to a head.

"A Tale of Two Sisters" is everything you could possibly want in psyhological thriller/horror movie. It's smart, surprising, scary at times, exceptionally well crafted and technically sound as well. The denouement may be far fetched and the twists, while jaw dropping, are pretty extreme but what's important is that the whole thing works. There are no gaping plot holes or far fetched explanations needed to explain the film's twists and it's the type of movie that, with a few repeat viewings, you can figure out fully on your own. I always appreciate a film that is complex enough to keep you on your toes and make you think but doesn't need to be disected for years on end on IMDB's message boards before anyone has a clue what it was about.
"A Tale of Two Sister's" strikes a perfect balance between accesibility and artistic daring which was demonstrated quite emphatically by the film's huge success both at the domestic box office in Korea and the almost universal praise it garnered from critics. Kim ji woon has since established himself as one of the foremost director's in the world at crafting critically acclaimed blockbusters. He's sort of the Christopher Nolan of the East, in a way. Maybe we can get him to direct a chapter of the "Batman" series when Nolan decides to retire.

Frozen Flower

B-

Directed by Yu Ha

Director Yu Ha (great name!) tries his hand at the costume drama with "A Frozen Flower" an entertaining if not groundbreaking tale of illicit love during the Goryeo dynasty.

Hong-rim, a valiant, dashing warrior, leads the king of Goryeo Korea's personal guard. He is also involved in an illicit affair with the royal highness, a fact that seems to be common knowledge to the king's inner circle, Hong-rim's fellow guards and even the queen. When the queen begins to pressure the king to provide them a heir, something he says is impossoble for him to do, he dispatches Hong-rim to bed the Queen and conceive a child. Hong-rim quickly begins to develop feelings for the Queen, however, and a love triangle soon develops.

Overall, Yu Ha's film is a satisfying and oftentimes quite riveting period piece that is heavy on the melodrama, just the way it should be. It doesn't do anything groundbreaking (aside from its rather overt eroticism which went quite a bit further than most viewers were probably expecting) and it mostly foillows the "drama in the castle" playbook of costume dramas. The acting tends to be a bit over the top at times, especially in the case of the male leads, but their excesses are somewhat blunted by the restrained and arresting performance of Song ji hyo who is mostly known for her work in television.
One of the biggest probelms with "A Frozen Flower" is that it's competing in an already saturated market, (the "Korean Goryeo/Joseun period piece" market to be precise) so several similar yet far better films are readily available for comparison. This also extends to the film's artistic direction which, although quite good, pales in comparison to films like "Chihwaseon", "Shadows in the Palace", or "Portrait of a Beauty". The point here is that if you're going to makee a Korean costume drama, you better pull out all the stops because the bar is already quite high.The varaible nature of Hong Lim's sexuality is also an area of concern to me and likely many others who viewed "A Frozen Flower" insofar as his attraction to the king is easily broken after a few forced encounters with the Queens who he quickly becomes infatuated with. There's always the possibility that Hong Lim was simply using his charms to move into the king's inner circle but the tone of the film doesn't really suggest that as a possible motive for Hong Lim's actions. As such, were left with the rather confusing suggestion that Hong Lim's love for the king was broken rather effortlessly by the charms of the queen. I'm not sure how gay viewers will react to the message but I doubt the reaction will be overly positive...

The Message

B

Directed by Gao Qunshu

Director Gao Qunshu's political thriller "The Message" is a taut, suspenseful film that boasts a strong premise that it nevertheless fails to live up to over the course of its rather drawn out running time.

Following a series of political assasinations aimed at the occupying Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese war, a group of Chinese intelligence officers working for the puppet regime are brought to a secluded mansion by the Japanese spy chief who suspects one of them of being a turncoat. A ruthless series of interogations follows as the Japanese try to smoke out the mole.

Despite its lengthy running time, "The Message" succeeded in holding my attention for its duration mand the film is inbfused with a suspense that makes it difficult to pull yourself away for the occasional bathroom break for fear of missing something. That said, Gao's film suffers from the same curse as many film's that boast seemingly ingenious plot devices, namely that it doesn't satisfactorily fulfill its own potential. With a premise like the one offered up by "The Message" there's an endless amount of possibilities for betrayal, surprise alliances, twists, and oif course massive amounts of suspense and tension that when something awesome doesn't materialize at ever juncture of the film, you can't help but feel like the director missed an opportunity. It's an impossibly high standard to hold a film to but as I said, a strong premise can often raise viewers expectations to unrealistically elevated heights.
From a visual standpoint, Gao's film is gorgeous, marrying an obvious attention to faitfully reproducing period detail with a dark and shadowy cinematography that perfectly captures the film's foreboding mood. The film's art direction reminded me a great deal of Ang Lee's "Lust Caution" and like the later film "The Message" is notable (in my opinion at least) more for its striking images than its content.

Secret Reunion

B-

Directed by Hun Jang

The talented Song Kang Ho stars alongside Kang Dong Won in Hun Jang's "Secret Reunion", an unlikely buddy movie between a North Korean spy and a South Korean intelligence agent.

Song plays Lee Han-gyu, an intense intelligence officer who is fired after his attempt at bringing in Song Ji Won and his fellow North Korean assassin turns into a bloodbath. The story picks up six years later with Lee still out of the police force, running a business that tracks down runaway mailorder brides and brings them back to the Korean husbands. While on the job, Lee fortuitously runs into Song Ji Won who, unable to return home, is working at a mine. Lee, believing Song does not recognize him, recruits him to his agency and begins his own investigation of Song.

"Secret Reunion's" premise isn't exactly groundbreaking but where Jang goes with it after the basics of the plot have been set up is quite interesting. What at first appears to be a spy vs. spy poitboiler turns into a buddy movie that plays up the chemistry (platonic, of course) of leads Song and Kang. I thought Jang's decision to depart from the heaviness of the politically charged subject matter and go a different route altogether was a welcome change and it certainly played well to the audience at the showing we attended.
As fun as it is in places, howeber, "Secret Reunion" never really succeeds in getting off the ground and oftentimes feels disjointed. Jang has difficulty keeping all of his narrative balls in the air at once and the various major plotlines don't always entertwine as they should. The film is also a bit lenghty and could have used a fair bit of editing.
I'd like to take a minute here to talk about the Round Faced One, Song Kang Ho himself. I truly think that Song is one of the most exciting actors working in Asia at the moment and he's one of only a handful of actors who I will pay to watch in any movie, no matter how potentially crappy. Song is better than anyone at playing roles that demand both comic timing and serious acting chops at the same time, as evidenced by his star turns in "The Host" and "Memories of Murder". Song's particular brand of physical acting is also noteworthy and, I would argue, underappreciated. A fight scene featuring Song is always an event in and of itself. It never features clean punches or kicks and often ends up with Song receiving as much abuse as he dishes out. It's always a lot of fun to watch but it takes a certain amount of skill to make what are eseentially scripted battles look so madcap. I should probably stop fawning over the guy but he's a joy to watch and he has the ability to turn even mediocre films like "Secret Reunion" into entertaining fare.

Ip Man 2

B-

Directed by Wilson Yip

Donnie Yen is back as legendary wing chun master Ip Man in "Ip Man 2: Ip Man is Broke". OK, that's not the real title of the movie but I still think it's better than simply "Ip Man 2". Wilson Yip's latest intallment of the "Ip Man" franchise is, like its predecessor, an exciting ride that nonetheless suffers from a thin script and nonexistent character development.

Having escaped mainland China, Ip Man settles in Hong Kong with his son and wife who is expecting a second child. Ip Man tries to open a martial arts school but has little success in recruiting new students, leading to dire financial straits for the family. On top of that, the local masters won't let him open a school without first proving his worth and then paying onerous membership dues. Menwhile, the local British police chief is setting up a East meets West boxing gala where, you guessed it, Ip Man will be forced, despite his inate pacifism, to step into the ring.

"Ip Man 2" follows, almost to a tee, the plot of the first "Ip Man". Ip Man tries to set up a martials arts club, fights some other local masters, then gets embroilled in a staged fight featuring a "foreign devil" (this time English rather than Japanese). The paper thin plot is not that big of a deal since "Ip Man 2" is concerned solely with delivering the goods when it comes to fights scenes and in this regard, Yip's film is as solid as the first installment of "Ip Man". Once again, Donnie Yen's skills are on impressive display and many of the fight scenes are fantastic, in particular Ip Man's faceoff against Hong Kong's other masters in a fight that takes place entirely on a small round table at the center of a room. On the other hand, the "villain" in this installment of "Ip Man", the nefarious "Twister", while being a hilariously over the top character you might expect to find in WWE RAW, is not much of a fighter which robs the film's closing scenes of some "punch" so to speak. Furthermore, the character development in "Ip Man 2" is even less convincing then in "Ip Man" which means it's pretty much nonexistent. I fully realize that martial arts films aren't there to provide in depth, nuanced character sketches but the slipshod way Yip treats many of his characters, most notably Simon Yam's (who is totally wasted in this movie), was unimpressive.

Fantasia 2010 is here!

It's that time of year again! Fantasia is back with a full slate of movies from around the globe. I will be watching a number of the films presented as a part of the festival and will be reporting back as I see them (hopefully promptly but I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you...)
Tonight: "Ip Man 2"! Hopefully it will be as much fun as the first "Ip Man" but this time without the not so vague anti-Japanese undertones...

Monsoon Wedding

B+

Directed by Mira Nair

Mira Nair's much beloeved "Monsoon Wedding" is an intelligent and lovely meditation on family that is both understated and at times joyfully melodramatic, thankfully situating it closer to "After the Wedding" than "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" in the annals of films with "Wedding" in their title.

Aditi's wedding is only a few days away and her father is rushing to get everything ready. Family members are coming in from all over the world and her groom, who she barely knows, is arriving from Houston. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, Aditi is having an affair with a married television host and is only planning on marrying because she doesn't believe her boyfriend will ever leave his wife for her. This is only the tip of the drama iceberg as a number of other secrets are slowly revealed before the wedding.

At its best "Monsoon Wedding" reminded me a great deal of some of Almodovar's more melodramatic fare in its interwoven universe of characters hiding secrets, repressing simmering passions, and living drama filled lives. Like a good Almodovar movie, the intrigue in Nair's film unfolds slowly, adding elements of suspense to everyday situations that, although not always believable, are nevertheless intriguing and make for juicy plotlines. Nair should also be commended for mixing in some rather controversial issues into the expected mix of generational clashes and cultural misunderstandings that dominate "Monsoon Wedding".
From a visual standpoint "Monsoon Wedding" is truly sumptuous which, for a character driven family drama, is quite a feat. Nair's cinematographer (whose name I am of course to lazy to look up) does a truly wonderful job of framing shots and brings the sumptuous colors of Nair's film to life.
Despite all its strong points, "Monsoon Wedding" ultimately suffers the same fate as most others feature length films which try to incoroporate a large number of characters, namely that most characters remain semi-three dimensional and several plotlines are wrapped up quickly or not at all. The film's final scenes are particularly disappointing in this regard as several storylines which had until then developed at a leisurely pace are quickly tied up, not always in a believable manner. I have always believed that the time and the place to introduce more than 10 "main characters" in a movie is never since there is just no way you can properly develop so many characters in the span of 90-120 minutes. Such ambitions are usually best left for television, in my (admittedly amateur) opinion.

Linda, Linda, Linda

B+

Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita

Nobuhiro Yamashita's "Linda, Linda, Linda" is a wonderful movie, a tender and sympathetic essay on adolescent angst that exudes intelligence, wit, and charm in spades.

High school students Kei, Kyoko, and Nozumi are preparing to perform a trio of rock songs at their high school's cultural festival but are forced to look for a replacement when their vocalist unexpectedly quits. They quickly press gang an exchange student from Korea (Bae Doona!) into the band and frantically try to get ready for their gig which is in only a few days away.

Films focusing on teens tend too often to paint either an extreme vision of adolescence as either the zenith of an individual's existence or conversely a bleak and miserable hell that teens should feel lucky to escape. "Linda, Linda, Linda" doesn't exactly cut down the middle in this respect since the girl's high school seems to be full of genuinely kind students and teachers but it does offer a more realistic view of adolescence by showing that the highs and the lows experienced by the group are neither dizzyingly high (no one becomes prom queen or scores a winning touchdown in the state (prefecture?) finals) or agonizingly low (no bullying, assaults, or rape à la "All About Lily Choo Choo"). It's a refreshingly nuanced and authentic take on the high school experience and "Linda, Linda, Linda" succeeds in having a real emotional impact without being cloying, manipulative, or farfetched. Nobuhiro Yamashita'a films has been compared repeatedly with those of John Hughes for the comparable way both directors treat their young character's trials and tribulations and the similarity between the two directors is indeed striking. Like Hughes, Nobuhiro Yamashita treats his characters seriously and sympathetically by giving an appropriate significance to their victories and setbacks no matter how insignificant they may appear to be to jaded viewers like myself.

The young cast put together for "Linda, Linda, Linda" is truly top notch with the characters providing subdued, believable performances. Bae Doona is especially good as the school's spacy Korean exchange student.