AAIFF ’16: Daze of Justice

The stakes are high, but the proceedings of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal are often tediously dry. To some extent, the legalistic tone is necessary, but it often plays into the hands of the Communist Khmer Rouge defendants, who wish to keep the truth bottled up. Remarkably, Hong Siu Pheng came back for more. He watched the prosecution of his father, Kaing Guek Eav, a.k.a. “Comrade Duch,” from the protected chambers provided for family members, but he will return to witness the trial of Nuon Chea and three other high ranking war criminals with survivors of the genocide. It will be a difficult experience, but it precipitates small, highly personal steps towards reconciliation in Michael Siv’s Daze of Justice (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

In hopes that the truth will finally come out, Cal State Long Beach Professor Leakhena Nou recruited several aging survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide to confront the accused in court. Siv, the son of a survivor, will document their journey as an observer. However, the story takes an unexpected turn when Hong Siu Pheng agrees the accompany them during the trial. 

He clearly lives a hardscrabble life with his family in the provinces, so the survivors cannot accuse him of benefiting from his father’s connections. Frustratingly, he apparently learned little from his father’s tribunal, judging from the bland, relativistic platitudes he repeats. However, he quickly changes his tune when he finally visits the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where his father oversaw the constant torture and executions, as well as the Choeng Ek Killing Fields memorial. It is like he literally deflates on screen.

Although they are obviously wary around each other, the survivors direct little overt hostility towards the mass murderer’s son and vice versa. Belatedly, Hong Siu Pheng seems to finally face up to his uncomfortable family history, which also happens to be deeply troubling national history. For the good Professor, he clearly represents the nation in microcosm. Unfortunately, it just isn’t practical to take every deliberately misinformed citizen on a similar excursion, but that is presumably why Siv and his cameras were welcomed into such private moments.

Hong Siu Pheng is indeed a deeply compelling figure, who carries the stigma of his father’s crimes, but holds none of the culpability. The doc obliquely questions just how much the Tribunal’s heart is in these prosecutions, without sounding paranoid and conspiratorial. Daze is sympathetic towards all innocent parties (broadly defined), while capturing the hushed eeriness that now hangs over Tuol Sleng and Choeng Ek. It is a highly personal film, but it also holds wider national significance for Cambodia. Respectfully recommended, the sixty-nine-minute Daze of Justice screens this Sunday (7/24) at the Village East, as part of this year’s AAIFF.

AAIFF ’16: Crush the Skull

Aspiring young burglars should remember you should case the joint for at least two months before pulling a job and always try to get an inside look first. That might sound like misguided advice, but nobody should end up like the clueless thieves who blindly stumble into a serial killer’s tricked out house in Viet Nguyen’s Crush the Skull (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

Blair and Ollie’s last job was supposed to be their very last job, but it went spectacularly wrong. To get her lover out of prison, Blair goes deeply into debt with a ferocious loan shark. Like it or not, she and Ollie will have to sign onto her brother Connor’s dodgy home robbery plan. The secluded house looks like primo real estate, but Connor has no idea what awaits them inside. Someone hasn’t done his homework.

Of course, they find precious little furniture or valuables of any kind, but there are piles of grisly home movies lying about. They also find an apparent torture chamber and plenty of restraining devices. The doors are looked from the outside, the windows are shatter proof, and a cell phone jammer blocks all signals. Unable to reach the skylight they entered through, the dysfunctional band of thieves finds themselves in deep, dark danger.

Even though the implications of Skull are often profoundly disturbing, the film is tremendous fun, in the evilest way possible. The strong characters give Nguyen a solid foundation to build on. Katie Savoy and Chris Dinh have terrific chemistry as the bickering but devoted Blair and Ollie. We can really believe they are a couple with some intense history together that are still into each other. Chris Riedell unleashes industrial strength attitude as Connor, while Tim Chiou frequently upstages everyone as Riley, Connor’s dimwitted “crew,” who always manages to stay on the right side of shtick and ridiculousness.

Although the opening prologue is a bit grim, Nguyen follows up with a wonderfully outrageous, blackly comic sequence of misadventures. The house is also a minor triumph of production and art design that just spews out atmosphere and foreboding (even though it bears some surface similarities with the Rube Goldberg house in Adam Schindler’s Intruders, a.k.a. Shut-In). It is a creepy film, but it earns laughs more regularly than the Scream franchise. Highly recommended for horror movie fans (who will especially dig the final scene), Crush the Skull screens tomorrow (7/22) at the Village East, as part of this year’s AAIFF.

AAIFF ’16: Polis Evo

The cars are flashy, the bullets are plentiful, and the women are demurely veiled. Prepare yourself for some bickering buddy-cops, Malaysian style. At least those cars are fast. The same cannot be said for the wits of Inspector Sani, a conciliatory slacker on the Terengganu police force. His quiet life will be upended when he is partnered up with Inspector Khai, the notorious “Supercop” on assignment from K-L. When not bickering and bantering, they will work together to bring down a nasty meth ring in Ghaz Abu Bakar’s Polis Evo (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

First of all, we have to give Peninsular Terengganu credit for issuing some pretty slick wheels to their officers. Sani and Khai will put them to good use. Khai was dispatched to follow up a lead in Sani’s normally sleepy jurisdiction as a way to force him to slow down a little after his latest massive smackdown. Apparently, Sani’s old high school science teacher Adli Hashim went Walter White to pay off debts, but when he refused to cook up the lethally pure batch demanded by the gang leader, he turned up dead himself.

The stakes start to rise when the gang tries to knock off Adli Hashim’s daughter, for whom Sani long held a torch. However, things really start to get messy when the bad guys launch a full-scale attack on the hospital she is recuperating in. Even Sani will have to admit something is amiss given the level of destruction.

Fortunately, there are several spectacularly in-your-face action scenes that should be catnip for fans, because the corny dialogue is not going to get the job done on its own. Frankly, it rips off dozens of 1980s odd couple cop movies, successfully copying the energy, but not the wit. The opening gag in which Sani catches a beady-eyed peeper ogling his sisters without their headscarves is particularly clumsy, especially considering what the implications might be for all parties in real life. Conversely, when Khai and Sani’s oldest sister Anis start falling for each other, the film is rather sweetly chaste. Ain’t nobody jumping into bed together, that’s for sure.

Rugged and taciturn works quite well for Shaheizy Sam’s Inspector Khai. He is the sort of hard-charging cop we can always appreciate. As his requisite opposite, Zizan Razak spreads the shtick around pretty thick, but he serviceably gets down to action business in the third act. Nora Danish is also appealingly upbeat as the assertive Anis. We just wish she could be even more progressive.

Ghaz (as he is largely known in the biz) has a knack for livening up car chases. If he ever teams up with a screenwriter who has a better ear for one-liners, he could make quite an international name for himself. PE has its weaknesses, but it is still definitely worth seeing for the tightly executed action sequences and the Malaysian flavor. Recommended with the above caveats, Polis Evo screens this Saturday (7/23) at the Village East, as part of this year’s AAIFF.

AAIFF ’16: 1000 Hands of the Guru

Some royals crafted humanitarian images for themselves simply by attending a few charitable cocktail parties and looking good in Versace. Her Royal Highness Princess Ashi Kesang Choden T. Wangchuck of Bhutan is different. The scholar and devout Buddhist practitioner works directly with monks and art restoration experts preserving her nation’s heritage as the executive director of the Thangke Conservation Center. It is a real job she is well qualified for, but it does not leave her any time for preening PR campaigns. Fortunately, the efforts of the Princess and her colleague and teacher, Ephraim “Eddie” Jose are documented in Tobias Reeuwijk’s 1000 Hands of the Guru (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

In past centuries, thangkas were essentially portable altars. They are sacred, but they are intended to be used rather than filed away. Over time, they absorb wisdom and holiness as the focus of meditation and rituals. They can never be disposed of like common detritus, but they become faded and threadbare. With the support of Bhutan’s royal family, Jose developed a systematized restoration regimen. At first, the monks did not get it, but the results were a revelation.

Beyond her royal status, the Princess Ashi Kesang was also western educated and tutored in Buddhist teachings by some of Bhutan’s most revered monks, making her a perfect choice to lead the Center. Frankly, she and the charismatic Jose should be a publicist’s dream, but the Buddhist nation is apparently a bit outside People Magazine’s beat.

In fact, the thoughtful and camera-friendly duo directly elevate the straightforward documentary. Despite capturing some striking images, Reeuwijk’s approach is largely reportorial, with maybe a pinch of advocacy thrown in. However, Princess Ashi Kesang’s narration lucidly (and compellingly) explains the higher spiritual principles informing the Center’s work. She might even help viewers prepare for death.

It is just nice to know the Thangke Conservation Center exists in our world—albeit in a distant corner. Reeuwijk addresses the pressures of globalization and modernization that challenge Bhutan’s traditional way of life, but there still seems be a considerable place for contemplation and faith in the Himalayan nation. Smart and sensitive to its subjects and surroundings, the sixty-five minute 1000 Hands of the Guru is educational in a relaxed, easy-going way. Highly recommended for those who care about the preservation of art and culture, it screens this Friday (7/22) at the Village East, as part of this year’s AAIFF.