AOF ’16: Gaijin: Fish Out of Water (short)

According to the Japanese urban legend, the homicidal Kuchisake-onna “Slit-Mouthed Woman” was disfigured and driven mad by her abusive husband. When a ne’er do well Western drifter takes on her morbid appearance, it is due to the bad karma she herself generates. Kuchisake-onna’s surgical mask accessorizing will come in handy as the now ugly Anglo stalks her prospective victims in Anabelle & Huntly Munro’s sinister short film Gaijin: Fish Out of Water (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Action on Film Festival.

She may indeed be scuffling, but the Westerner seems to take perverse pleasure in feasting on offerings left at Buddhist shrines. However, she probably should have been more suspicious of the unrefrigerated fish. After suffering indigestion and fever chills, the woman will wake up in an otherworldly bamboo forest, bearing the ear-to-ear carving of a Slit-Mouth Woman.

The woman quickly learns she has been on the receiving end of a Karma beatdown (although we should note at this point Buddha is also infinite in his compassion, just don’t go out of your way to antagonize him). She will try to cheat fate through a Faustian bargain, but it will be a tall order, given the fact she just isn’t as alluring as she was a few hours ago.

Gaijin is a cool film that mixes archetypal myths (both ancient and contemporary) with a noir-ish visual sensibility and a very-of-the-moment dubstep soundtrack. It has an icily severe aesthetic that is quite compelling, especially since it completely eschews spoken dialogue in favor of occasional comic book-inspired intertitles. Although their narratives are drastically dissimilar, Gaijin would make a stylistically fitting pairing with Sol Friedman’s short Junko’s Shamisen, which puts it in good company.

To its credit, Gaijin feels like it was produced by longtime expats who were comfortable working in Tokyo subways and back alley Shinjuku bars. Frankly, its ironic twist ending would probably be easier to anticipate if the entire film were not so disorienting. Altogether, it is a distinctive short film that will get under viewers’ skin, in a good way. Highly recommended for fans of J-horror and urban legends, Gaijin: Fish Out of Water screens tomorrow (9/9) as part of the 2016 Action on Film Festival, in Monrovia, CA.

AOF ’16: Fist of the Dragon

For former MMA champion Damon Chamberlin, internet dating will be more dangerous than steel cage smack-downs. He has come to China to meet his match, Meili. She is lovely, but the restaurant they pick is totally bad news. Thanks to the villainous management, they are in for one heck of a first date. The bad guys are ruthless, the cops are stupid, but fortunately one look at Meili gives Chamberlin a heck of a lot of motivation in Antony Szeto’s Fist of the Dragon (trailer here), produced by the legendary Roger Corman, which screens during the 2016 Action on Film Festival.

Chamberlin wants to retire from fighting, so naturally he comes to China. Right, good luck with that. Shy Meili is exactly the kind of woman he could settle down with. Unfortunately, it is hard for her to break away from the compulsively workaholic tech start-up, where she runs the marketing. Cutting their first face-to-face short, she tells Chamberlin to come by her office with a box of moon cakes. As fate would dictate, the syndicate owning the restaurant plans to smuggle a set of nuclear detonators to the Russia mob in a box of said pastries—and there’s your Macguffin right there.

Before long, the evil mastermind Thorn kidnaps Meili demanding his moon cakes as her ransom. Chamberlin can fight, but he is not the sharpest samurai sword in the armory, but fortunately Meili’s expat friend Cassie can guide him around town. Naturally, the dumb cops assume he is a serial killer leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, including some of Thorn’s trusted lieutenants.

Fist is so gritty and down-market it will hold sentimental appeal for old school, unreconstructed martial arts fans, who still remember getting their fixes from dodgy Chinatown VHS tapes. It is safe to say Prof. Corman has not turned over an extravagant new leaf with his Chinese productions. Still, there is no denying the action is completely legit, even though high profile martial artist and fitness expert Juju Chan has a non-fighting role as Meili. Presumably, she is okay with this, since she co-produced. Regardless, she and lunk-headed Joshua J. (The Punk) Thompson forge some strangely sweet and chaste romantic chemistry together.

Thompson has the moves and he is paired up against some terrific foes, including Vietnamese-Australian superstar-in-the-making Maria Tran, crafty veteran Kong Kwong-keung (as the cleaver-hurling chef), and the massively skilled and intense Xin Sarith Wuku. As Thorn, Daniel Whyte holds up the tradition of the white devil villain, chewing through scenery like Pacman. However, Ellary Porterfield also upholds the tradition of the awkward Westerner best pal.

Fist is just old school all the way. Happily, that includes Trung Ly’s stylistically eclectic, down-and-dirty fight choreography. Fortunes were made from films like this, as Roger Corman well knows. Recommended for nostalgic martial arts fans, Fist of the Dragon screens this Friday (9/9) as part of this year’s Action on Film Festival in Monrovia, CA.

AOF ’16: The Destined King (short)

It is always a bad sign when a nation’s best warrior is pulled out of battle to perform bodyguard duties. However, there is nobody better capable of protecting the rightful heir than Yushin. The battle is effectively over, but there is a pivotal skirmish yet to be fought in director-editor-cinematographer-screenwriter Kiyun Sung’s The Destined King (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Action on Film Festival.

Yushin’s story is the stuff of legend, which Yong-mi’s master will duly pass down in the framing device. The king had been betrayed by Yushin’s former apprentice Sanggun, but no usurper will rest easy on the throne while the rightful successor foretold in legend still lives. Princess Ji-won charges Yushin with protecting the newborn infant, but she also has a surprising additional request. Inevitably, Yushin will face Sanggun sword-to-sword, but the faithful retainer will have to fight the traitor with one hand tied down with its precious cargo.

Despite its economical twelve-minute running time, Destined King is a ripping good martial arts fable that distills quite a bit of narrative into its short form. Joey Min’s fight choreography is impressively distinctive, incorporating moves that are grittily realistic but also aesthetically cinematic. As Yushin and Sanggun, Hugh Cha and Christopher Kim clearly have the action chops, but they also have the right serious-as-a-heart attack presence. Mihee Choe adds a poignant human touch as the sacrificing mother, Ji-won.

It is pretty gutsy to use the as-told-to flashback technique in a short film, but Sung pulls it off. Destined King has the sweep of an epic historical and the action of a climatic grudge match. It is quite a calling card for Sung and company, but it is also completely satisfying as a film in its own right. Very highly recommended, The Destined King screens this Friday (9/9) as part of the 2016 Action on Film Festival, in Monrovia, CA.

AOF ’16: Killer Robots! Crash and Burn

The post-human future is here, but these androids are so dim-witted, foul-mouthed, and unruly, you have to wonder why they even bothered with the singularity. The four quarrelsome robots are on a mission to save the universe, but fortunately they do not have to understand the details. Nor do we when watching Sam Gaffin’s Killer Robots! Crash and Burn (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Action on Film Festival.

The Killer Robots are actually a band with their own extensive science fiction backstory, in the tradition of GWAR, Sun Ra, and Peelander-Z. Band member Gaffin has been hand-crafting their latest cinematic adventure since the release of The Killer Robots and the Battle for the Cosmic Potato in 2009. It is an almost indescribable viewing experience that might be likened to a Gerry Anderson sci-fi show, in which all the marionettes are on a nasty PCP bender. Bandmates Gaffin, Charles Harris, Samuel Williams, and Mike McGowan duly reprise their roles as Auto, Trog, Strobo, and Max, respectively, but they are basically only distinguishable by their varying levels of snarkiness and anti-social hostility.

Essentially, the Fab Robotic Four will mug their way through a darkly dystopian world of CG animation. Having been rebuilt after an ill-advised appearance in the robo-gladiators’ arena, the ‘bots reluctantly accept a mission to save the universe from its death’s head overlord by launching an anti-virus program in the infected mother mainframe (via punch-card no less). Or something like that.

Crash and Burn is either the work of a mad genius auteur or an outsider artist crying out for help (or possibly both). It has a truly distinctive look and some admittedly hilarious dialogue—yet, it is not always clear whether Gaffin’s best lines are intentionally funny or accidentally so. The same is true of its awkward pauses.

Most cult film connoisseurs will appreciate sampling the visual style and lethal attitude of Crash and Burn, but the one-hundred-minute running time is really pushing it. Nevertheless, it would not be surprising if the French inducted Gaffin into the Legion of Honor once they get a good gander at his Killer Robot oeuvre. Strange and potentially seizure-inducing, Killer Robots! Crash and Burn is recommended for fans of the band and genre cinema fans looking for a micro-indie from the wild side when it screens tomorrow (9/6) at the 2016 Action on Film Festival in Monrovia, CA (and is also available on VOD platforms, including iTunes).

AOF ’16: Sole Proprietor

New York is truly a melting pot. You can meet a Russian gangster, a Honduran cartel courier, and a Francophone prostitute without traveling far from your Chinatown safe house. Their businesses might be related, but they are all on their own. Nobody should understand that better than Crowley, a former CIA contractor trying to safely negotiate his golden parachute. Yet, he will be the one who lets himself get fatefully involved in someone else’s drama during the course of Dan Eberle’s Sole Proprietor (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Action on Film Festival.

Crowley thought he would simply cool his heels in the company’s flat until his handler came through with his new papers, but the agency pulls a Columbo. They want him to work one last job before turning him loose. Evidently, a Honduran drug courier died during some hardy partying, but his hosts made it look like a mugging in order to make off with his briefcase full of cash. That’s the theory at least. They will get back to him with the details. Being government bureaucrats, they will work at their own pace, leaving Crowley free to kill time with the lovely Sophie, who knows how to dominate him just the way he likes it, for a price.

Despite his better judgment, Crowley starts to form an attachment to Sophie. He more or less knows she is playing him when she tries to rile him up against the pimp sniffing at her doorstep, but Crowley takes the bait anyone. It turns out he is Misha, the prime suspect in the case of the missing Cartel cash. Unbeknownst to Crowley, Greer the massively crooked cop is also keeping tabs on Misha, but not as part of an official investigation. He needs that cash to pay off his compounding gambling debts.

Eberle (who studied jazz guitar at North Texas, one of the best jazz programs in the country) has a very particular noir aesthetic. Viewers can certainly debate whether it really belongs at AOF, but it works better in this case than in his previous film, Cut to Black. Eberle’s films are moody to a fault and Eberle, who usually does quadruple duty as director, screenwriter, co-producer, and lead actor is a master brooder. He looks like a credible cowboy-contractor and forges some hot kiss-me-kill-me chemistry with femme fatale Alexandra Hellquist. Seductive and sophisticated, she is a real find, who elevates the film with her lethally electric presence.

There is no question, Sole is a slow burner, with the emphasis on slow. However, Eberle also gets lifts from several colorful supporting players, including Rob Richardson as the snarky handler and Jeff Paul as Greer’s mob contact. There is no denying the provocative, slightly icky nature of Crowley and Sophie’s relationship, but it weirdly works in the context of the film. Recommended for patient and mature noir fans, Sole Proprietor screens this Tuesday (9/6) as part of this year’s Action on Film Festival in Monrovia, CA (and also just recently released on iTunes).