AAIFF ’13: The Trail from Xinjiang (short)

The combination of an authoritarian government and a strict religion ought to make Musa a scrupulously law-abiding citizen. Unfortunately, he is one of many disenfranchised Uyghurs impressed into pickpocket gangs.  Filmmaker Chen Dongnan captures the tragic human stories of those derisively referred to as “Xinjiang thieves” in the documentary short The Trail from Xinjiang (trailer here), which screens during the Enduring Encounters programming block at this year’s Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

Like many youths from Xinjiang, Musa was lured to the big city with false promises.  Instead, he quickly found himself involuntarily immersed in a world of petty thievery and drug dealing (by fellow Xinjiangnese).  His friends Ali and Little Musa seem to have a more natural aptitude for crime, but that is not exactly a blessing.  Between the three of them, they will experience the worst of nearly every imaginable urban pathology, including drug addiction, AIDS, and violent crime—everything that does not exist in China according to government propaganda.

Chen set out to humanize the marginalized Uyghurs, so she largely maintains her focus on Musa and his friends.  Yet, Jiaquan, the founder of the Anyang Anti-Pickpocket League, emerges as the film’s most intriguing figure.  Viewers might initially see him as Anyang’s answer to George Zimmerman, patrolling the streets with his twenty League volunteers.  However, as Jiaquan came to recognize Musa and his accomplices, he started to sympathize with their exploitative circumstances.  It is obviously a heavy commentary on Chinese social services when the Xinjiang thieves’ vigilante-nemesis becomes the closest thing they have to a social worker-advocate, but such is the state of things.  Frankly, his story seems ripe for a full documentary follow-up, particularly in light of the film’s concluding “where are they now” recap.

At thirty-six minutes, Trail has more tragedy and raw, cautionary depictions of vice than scores of full length exposes.  It is a decidedly humane exercise in muckraking, but it is still not for the squeamish.  An unflinching film that puts viewers squarely in Musa’s shoes, The Trail from Xinjiang is highly recommended for China watchers when it screens this coming Thursday (8/1) at the Anthology Film Archives, as part of the 2013 AAIFF’s Enduring Encounters short film program.

Fantasia ’13: Bushido Man

Toramaru is like the Anthony Bourdain of martial arts.  Before challenging a rival, he first eats what they eat.  There is some wisdom to that approach, but there is considerably more mayhem to be found in Takanori Tsujimoto’s Bushido Man (trailer here), which screens tomorrow during the 2013 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Gensai, the sensei of the Cosmic Way school of holistic martial arts, has sent his number one student forth into the world to challenge seven specialized masters and hopefully claim their ancient scrolls of secret wisdom.  Things must have gone relatively well, since Toramaru has returned to tell his tales to his appreciative teacher.  Based on the details of his prep meal, Gensai is able to guess the identity of the master to be challenged.

While Bushido probably cost less to produce than dinner for one at Nobu, action director Kensuke Sonomura stages some epic mano-a-mano showdowns.  Sonomura himself starts things off briskly as Yuan Jian, the Chinese kung fu master and Kazuki Tsujimoto makes quite a memorable Zatōichi surrogate as the blind swordsman Muso.  Yet, the honor-stoked adrenaline reaches its purest, highest point when Masanori Mimoto appears as Eiji Mimoto, the Yakuza dagger master.  To his credit, Tsujimoto also has a good sense of fair play, allowing Miki Mizuno to rack up an impressive body count as the pragmatic arms-dealing femme fatale, M.

Bushido is all about fighting, periodically taking timeout for some goofball humor.  If you’re looking for narrative logic here, just don’t.  In one scene, Toramaru strolls through the sunny streets of contemporary Tokyo, yet the next moment he is trudging through the scarred wasteland of a post-apocalyptic Yokohama.  It does really matter though.  Everything in Bushido is there to facilitate the food and fighting.

Held together by Mitsuki Koga’s action cred and straight man persona, Bushido Man delivers the goods for martial arts-samurai-yakuza movie fans.  It nicely demonstrates how a scrappy low budget action production can overcome its budget constraints with energy and a clever concept.  Recommended for established genre fans, it screens tomorrow (7/27) at the Imperial Theatre as part of this year’s Fantasia Festival in Montreal.

Fantasia ’13: After School Midnighters

The Scooby gang has nothing on these three little girls.  They will absolutely terrorize the supernatural beings haunting St. Claire’s Academy.  Sugar & Spice massively trumps the things that go bump in the night throughout Hitoshi Takekiyo’s animated feature After School Midnighters (trailer here), which screens tomorrow as part of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

While touring their prospective new elementary school, Mako, Miko, and Mitsuko take a detour into the soon to be dismantled science room, where they basically have at the poor visible anatomy dummy.  However, after night falls, the uncanny dummy stalks the halls of St. Claire’s as the fearsome Louis Thomas Jerome Kunstlijk. Rather put out by the treatment he received from the terrible trio, Kunstlijk sends out a pack of gun-toting Mafioso rabbits to lure the girls back to St. Claire’s.  Of course, both he and the bunnies will get more than they bargained for.

Despite Kunstlijk’s efforts to scare the willies out of them, the innocent motor-mouthed Mako and the entitled elitist Miko are too absorbed in their own little worlds to fully appreciate the situation, whereas Mitsuko, the goth girl, is basically down with it all.  The girls are so unfazed, Kunstlijk’s skeleton crony, “Goth,” tries to recruit them for a supernatural scheme to save the science lab, sending them careening about St. Claire’s like pinballs.  Nevertheless, Kunstlijk still has a hard time letting things go.

Midnighters is so off the charts frenetic, it must be the product of a creative team consuming nothing but Red Bulls and Pixie Stix.  Sure, there is plenty of “girl power” in Midnighters, like the Power Puff Girls hopped up on amphetamines.  Frankly, by computer animation standards, Takekiyo’s characters have quite a bit of personality.  Yet, it is hard to judge how appropriate the film is for younger viewers.  Many of the supernatural elements are surprisingly sinister looking, but they only make the three girls giggle with glee.

Chocked full of goofy humor and strange little macabre details, there is never a quiet moment in Midnighters.  You really have to admire the sheer manic inspiration of Takekiyo and screenwriter Yōichi Komori.  Beyond breakneck, their hyper pacing allows no time for logic to ever kick in. Recommended for anyone up for a cheerful descent into bedlam, After School Midnighters screens this Saturday (7/27) at the Imperial Theatre as the 2013 Fantasia Festival continues in Montreal.

AAIFF ’13: Together

The teenaged Xiao Yang is not exactly Cyrano de Bergerac.  Nevertheless, he will do his best to recycle both love letters and lovers.  The course of true love never runs smooth, but he will sometimes help it along in Hsu Chao-jen’s multi-character rom-com, Together (trailer here), which screens this Saturday during the 2013 Asian American International Film Festival.

Scooping up his classmate’s discarded love letter, Xiao Yang is determined to put it to good use.  Perhaps his buddy Ma Chih-hao can re-purpose it.  Having just dumped his girlfriend, Ma pines for the cute cashier working at their favorite bakery, whose manager in turn nurses a crush on Xiao Yang’s older sister.  Of course, she is already involved with a rich jerk, who does not think much of Xiao Yang.

Yes, this is the sort of film where viewers could use a flowchart to keep track of who like whom.  However, his parents’ relationship is easy to pick-up on. The magic has left the easy going Bin’s marriage to more assertive Min-min.  Ironically, the print shop proprietor soon finds himself producing wedding invitations as his own marriage takes a chilly turn.  The free-spirited Lily has recently returned to their Taipei neighborhood to marry Haru, the staid owner of the local Japanese bookstore.  Yet, the strangely ambiguous chemistry between her and Bin is still there.

Despite all the romantic confusion, the tone of Together is much more bittersweet than cutesy.  In fact, for domestic audiences, it is downright nostalgic, given the casting of Kenny Bee and Lee Lieh as Xiao Yang’s parents, who were amongst the break-out co-stars of the classic melodrama The Story of a Small Town. Of course, it is all headed towards a happy place, but there are more surprises and less sentimentality in the third act than one might expect.

Happily, Huang Shao-yang’s Xiao Yang grows on viewers over time, as his character starts using his brattiness for good rather than ill.  His presence somewhat suggests a young Taiwanese Leonardo DiCaprio, except he is already considerably more manly (as is everyone else in the cast).  Bee remains charismatic in middle age, nicely crooning the film’s signature love song. Supermodel-actress Sonia Sui lights up the screen as Lily, while developing some reasonably believable chemistry with the significantly older Bee.  Lee Lieh also does her best to punch-up Min-min, despite her somewhat problematic scoldiness.

Indeed, Hsu definitely favors Bee’s Bin over the rest of the large ensemble. Still, he invests the film with a forgiving vibe that is rather endearing.  His unhurried pace might be a bit too languid for slavishly conventional viewers, but Hsu has a good eye for composition and Blaire Ko’s slightly latin-ish score helps it all go down quite smoothly.  Recommended with a fair degree of affection for those who enjoy slightly offbeat love stories and family dramas, Together screens this Saturday (7/27) at the New York Institute of Technology, as part of this year’s AAIFF.

The Time Being: A Portrait of the Artist Struggling

It is quite a coup for the de Young Museum to lend its walls to a film production, but it was not to display the work of our POV struggling artist.  Instead, the put-upon Daniel is merely running another strange errand there for his potential benefactor in Nenad Cicin-Sain’s The Time Being (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in New York.

For Daniel, the bad news is he only sold one piece during his last show.  The good news is it was bought by wealthy collector Warner Dax, who could become the source of many lucrative commissions.  At least, that is how his gallerist spins it.  Unfortunately, meeting Dax proves to be a deflating experience.

Instead of his patronage, Dax only offers a series of odd jobs requiring minimal artistic talent, such as video-taping sunsets.  Daniel proceeds to upend his life catering to the strange collector, severely fraying his relationship with his wife Olivia.  Yet, he perseveres in the hope it will lead to something on the back-end.

Frankly, Time Being is the sort of film that might have been better realized as a short rather than a feature. Cicin-Sain clearly has a good feel for the rarified gallery world and he stages some nifty sequences of his artists at work on large scale canvases.  In contrast, the scenes of domestic strife quickly grow tiresome.  Time and again, Daniel seems to reassure his wife: “I promise things will get better—um, it was Olivia, right?”  The film’s big pivot also feels like it comes prematurely, giving most of the third act an extended endgame vibe.

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Time Being is the manner in which Cicin-Sain prominently incorporates the work of contemporary artists into the film.  Eric Zener provides Daniel’s work and the exhibit he reluctantly visits at the de Young, while Stephen Wright provides the dramatic paintings in Dax’s mansion, whose significance will be revealed down the stretch.

Frank Langella has the right imposing presence for Dax and he duly delivers in his big climatic scene (of a spoilery nature).  Arguably, Wes Bentley keeps up with him relatively well as Daniel, considering the flatness of his character.  Essentially a two-hander, Sarah Paulson makes the most of her small but consequential supporting role.

There are intriguing moments in The Time Being, but the actual on-screen drama is pretty middling stuff.  Aspiring artists and collectors will probably find a visit to the museum or gallery of their choice appreciably more rewarding.  For committed Langella admirers, it opens tomorrow (7/26) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

AAIFF ’13: Innocent Blood

James Park ought to know [in]famous undercover detectives never just retire, especially when their biggest case holds some decidedly ugly secrets.  The cop-turned-professor will have to revert to his old ways when his young son is kidnapped by a mystery man with revenge on his unhinged mind in DJ Holloway & Sun W. Kim’s Innocent Blood (trailer here), which screens this Saturday during the 2013 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

Park knows crime, but with his limited academic credentials he can only land a community college teaching gig.  He plans to go back for the right degrees, once his wife Susan finishes law school.  It has been hard on their son Cody, who does not see his mother nearly as much as they both would like.  As a result, when her husband’s nemesis abducts the young boy, she suffers from an acute attack of guilt.

Prohibited from contacting the authorities, Park will have to figure out just what the kidnapper wants on his own.  It all seems to revolve around Brad Lee, a human trafficker framed for a crime he technically did not exactly commit.  Park’s first clue will be the trail of dead bodies he cannot explain to Carl Grierr and Jim Collins, the odd couple detectives doggedly tailing him.

While the harsh realities of human trafficking remain off-camera throughout Blood, it is an issue the filmmakers feel strongly about.  Like the T.O.M. Film Festival co-founded by screenwriter-co-director Kim, Blood was envisioned as a vehicle to raise funds and awareness.  It is well intentioned, but the on-screen business does not always withstand the common sense test.  (Park really drops his son off on the very urban looking street around the corner from his school, without watching to see if he makes it inside okay?)

Still, Jun-seong Kim’s not quite retired James Kim is a genuinely compellingly angst-ridden everyman.  Alexandra Chun is also entirely believable and sympathetic as the distraught mother.  Although still a relatively young thesp, Lance Lim makes a strong return appearance at AAIFF, following up his solid turn in Il Cho’s accomplished short Jin with his engaging work as Cody Park. 

However, for most genre fans, the main attraction in Blood will be Doug Jones (the Silver Surfer, etc), somewhat playing against type as Grierr, the acerbic but honest copper. He earns a fair number of sarcastic chuckles, which are truly appreciated, considering the film’s grim and gritty tone.  In contrast, C.S. Lee’s villain is rather problematically bland.

Blood tackles some big themes, like sacrifice and redemption, while exhibiting a wider social conscience.  However, Sun W. Kim’s screenplay is not good about sharing information, while keeping its cast of characters severely blinkered.  Yet, it effectively taps into some very real emotions that will keep most viewers fully vested in the outcome. 

Recommended for fans of Jones and dark crime dramas, Innocent Blood screens Saturday afternoon (7/26) at the Anthology Film Archives, as part of this year’s AAIFF (The festival officially starts tonight with Linsanity, Evan Jackson Leong’s entertaining documentary record of Jeremy Lin’s dramatic rise to NBA stardom and concludes Saturday, August 3^rd, with Yang Yonghi’s Our Homeland, a deeply compassionate portrait of a Japanese-North Korean family divided by ideology.)

Stranded: Christian Slater Maintains Protocol

In space, no one can hear you getting chewed out. Frankly, this crew has it coming. You might think scientists would be careful about contagions, but evidently not. Perhaps the semi-competency of their military commander will keep some of them alive in Roger Christian’s Stranded (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

A small four-person moon-base is a terrible place to be surprised by a meteor shower.  That much we can buy.  Suffering damage to their power generators and life support systems, Col. Gerard Brauchman’s crew hastens to make repairs.  While outside the station, Eva Cameron notices strange glowing spores covering the meteors, so naturally she carries one back inside, in gross violation of station protocol and basic common sense.  While she and Dr. Lance Krause analyze it, one of the test tubes breaks in their centrifuge, so naturally she starts digging around in there with her finger.  Before you know it, she is spectacularly pregnant with the alien demon spawn—and then just as suddenly she is not.

Cameron and Bruce Johns, the station engineer and resident drunk, know her alien offspring is out there, wreaking havoc.  Yet, Brauchman and Krause dismiss their warnings, assuming they are just suffering from CO² induced hallucinations.  Indeed, Stranded repeatedly explains the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning with impressive thoroughness, so at least it fulfills its public service mandate.  Despite all the flak Brauchman takes for sticking by the book, the film also suggests breaking protocol is a really bad idea.

If Stranded sounds like an Alien wannabe, take into consideration the fact that Christian was nominated for an Academy Award for his art direction on Ridley Scott’s beloved sci-fi horror classic, so maybe he has the right to rip himself off.  Christian had previously won an Oscar as an art director on Star Wars (before it was known as A New Hope).  His short film The Dollar bottom also won an Oscar and his previous fantasy short Black Angel screened before The Empire Strikes Back during its initial run in the UK and Australia.  To temper your growing optimism, bear in mind Christian also directed the notorious Battlefield Earth.

That is some career, but with Stranded, he lights out into clear-cut b-movie territory.  Christian makes a virtue of necessity, emphasizing the claustrophobia of his limited set and the mounting tension within his small ensemble.  To an extent, the quartet’s constant bickering and back-biting gives the film a bit of character.  Still, there is no getting around the conspicuous carelessness of their actions and the cardboard dimensions of their characterizations.

Frankly, Christian Slater is not bad as Col. Brauchman, largely avoiding his typical tics and shtick.  Brendan Fehr comes across reasonably credibly as Dr. Krause.  However, it is hard to believe a basket case like Michael Therriault’s Johns could ever pass muster for a mission like this. As Cameron, Amy Matysio is similarly stuck with a problematically character, solely distinguished by head-scratching acts of stupidity.

If Stranded were playing at an old school drive-in, it would be easy to recommend.  On some level, dumb mayhem is always diverting, but Manhattan movie ticket prices demand considerably more than that. Those who might be interested solely because of Christian’s past work should note his long presumably lost Black Angel has been found and some sort of online distribution is expected in the near future. That is probably the film to wait for. Basically a time killer for woozy weekend viewing, Stranded opens this Friday (7/26) in New York at the AMC Empire and will also be available on itunes.

Moon Man: An Animated Fable that Shines

This has to be the most endearing dystopia you will ever see. One can understand why the Man in the Moon came down for a visit, but he will need a little getting home in Stephan Schesch’s animated feature, Moon Man (trailer here), which launches today on Tribeca Film’s VOD platforms.

The President (presumably for life) has finally conquered the last little island on Earth free of his control. Yet, it hardly seems to matter to one little girl and her father.  They are following their regular routine—a drive-in movie, followed by burgers from a 1950’s style drive-through.  Then her father cruises home with the top down while she curls up in the back seat with a blanket and the loyal family pooch.

Tonight though, something is amiss.  The Moon Man is not looking down at her as he should be.  Like other children around the world, she is usually reassured by the sight of him up there.  (However, grown-ups somehow grow oblivious to him.)  Getting a bit bored, the Moon Man hitched a ride on a comet, but it was a one-way ticket.  To get back, he seeks the help of Bunsen van der Dunkel, a Rip Van Winkle scientist who has slept through the President’s rise to glory.  As it happens, the President also seeks the legendary inventor’s help developing a rocket to facilitate his conquest of the moon. You get the idea.

First of all, Moon Man is basically right in line with what would be my approach to parenting, if only there were more drive-in movie theaters.  Based on Tomi Ungerer’s children’s book, Schesch’s adaptation is unflaggingly sweet and gentle, but one can pick up on the author’s sly sensibilities.  Indeed, the constant lampooning of the pompous President definitely follows in the tradition of Chaplin’s Great Dictator and subsequent satires.

Happily, he has not really gotten down to oppressive business yet.  This is a bright, vibrant world, filled with flowers and vintage convertibles.  In fact, the hand-drawn animation is like a breath of fresh air compared to the computer-generated-focus-grouped tent-poles released by the studios.  It looks great and it perfectly suits the secondary theme of adults learning to see the world as kids again.

Frankly, the weakest link in Moon Man is the Moon Man.  The innocent Ziggy-looking fellow does not have much personality, but the world around him compensates for him. There are some clever bits involving the President and van der Dunkel and the soundtrack is inspired, including Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “Moon River.”

Moon Man has a healthy supply of idealism with the right subversive garnish. Schesch keeps the mood light and airy, even when the chips are down, maintaining a pleasant medium-up-tempo pace. Good fun recommended for eyes and ears of all ages, Moon Man is now available on VOD from Tribeca Films.

Wasteland: a Working Class Caper

These scruffy lads are nothing like Raffles the gentleman thief, but their intended target is the real knuckle-dragger.  A recently released ex-con and his mates put a working class spin on the movie caper in Rowan Athale’s crackerjack Wasteland (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Given the film starts in media res with our protagonist in a police interrogation room, it would seem the caper is not very successful.  However, there will be several twists to the tale the black-and-blue Harvey tells Detective Inspector West.  Six weeks ago, he was released on parole.  Framed on drug charges by Steve Roper, poor Harvey was a bone the local gang lord threw to the coppers to distract them from his own narcotics business.  None too happy about it, Harvey plans to use information he overheard in prison to get some payback and seed money for a new life abroad.

Ostensibly, Roper has no connections to neighborhood social club, making the basement office safe the ideal place to stash his illicit cash. Of course, Harvey cannot take it alone.  He will recruit three friends: Dempsey the fast talker, Dodd the hard drinking goon, and Charlie the momma’s boy welder.  He makes a point of not involving his ex-girl friend Nicola, but he still rekindles their relationship in spite of his better judgment.

Although Timothy Spall only appears as DI West in the wrap-around narrative device, his rumpled gravitas lends the film instant credibility right from the start.  In fact, Athale has assembled quite an accomplished cast of recognizable but not necessarily famous faces.  Despite his unprepossessing screen presence, Luke Treadaway is suitably world weary as Harvey, whereas Iwan Rheon’s Dempsey is a slyly roguish standout (even if some of his dialogue is hard for American viewers to catch without subtitles).  Again projecting a sense of banal menace, Kill List’s Neil Maskell makes another beefy but intense villain as Roper, looking quite at home in this gritty milieu.

As caper movies go, Wasteland is decidedly moody, but it is never slack.  For a first time helmer, Athale ushers in each reversal and revelation with an assured touch.  Frankly, it turns into an out-and-out crowd-pleaser, while staying true to its working class roots.  Thoroughly satisfying, Wasteland is highly recommended for caper fans and viewers of Ken Loach’s more accessible films (like Angels’ Share).  It opens this Friday (7/26) in New York at the Cinema Village.

AAIFF ’13: Keye Luke & More Than Face in the Crowd (shorts)

Joe Dante’s Gremlins has a strange significance at this year’s Asian American International Film Festival.  Two docu-shorts profile actors who worked on the film.  In a way, Keye Luke and Jane Chung represent opposite sides of the same coin.  Both did their best to navigate the studio system at a time when Hollywood was not particularly hospitable to Asian American talent.  While Chung worked steadily but anonymously in small roles, Luke became famous as Kato and Charlie Chan’s Number One Son.  Timothy Tau allows Luke to speak for himself in his short docudrama, Keye Luke (trailer here), which screens as part of the Into the Penumbra short film program at the 2013 AAIFF.

Reflecting on his life, Luke addresses the audience in a manner akin to a stage play.  As he reminisces, we see episodes of his life, starting with his early home life, progressing through the double-edged Charlie Chan films, his continuing sidekick gigging as Kato to the Green Hornet, finally reaching his first starring role in the final Mr. Wong film.  Mixing irony and realism, distinctly Anglo actors portray Warner Oland and Sidney Toler, the Swede and the Scot who portrayed Charlie Chan.  However, Tau does not hate on the Honolulu detective, acknowledging the franchise represented an opportunity for Asian actors like Luke and his older brother Edwin, albeit a flawed one.

Essentially, Tau argues Luke did what he could with what the system would give him, eventually becoming a widely respected and recognized character actor, whose credits include quality films like Woody Allen’s Alice.  It is quite a reasonable, pragmatic perspective, under-pinning a film that revels in the goofy idiosyncrasies of 1940’s b-movies and serials (the Secret Agent X-9 scene is particularly inspired).  Keye Luke also boasts a surprisingly big name cast by short film standards, including ER’s Archie Kao and Bang Bang’s Jessika Van, who all clearly enjoy the retro tribute to the late great Luke.

Fame always eluded filmmaker Sami Chan’s great aunt Jane Chung, but she still enjoyed the business according to those who speak fondly of her in More Than a Face in the Crowd, also screening as part of the Penumbra block.  Chung had walk-on or small speaking parts on probably more films and television shows than Michael Caine, but finding her in the frame is usually a challenge.  Supposedly, she had a shouting match with Ricky Ricardo, but her family can never find it during their I Love Lucy marathons.

Again, Chan describes how Chung made lemonade out of lemons, finding extra work much more entertaining and rewarding than the sort of part time jobs available to most homemakers in the 1960’s.  With credits that include Chinatown, Funny Girl, Flower Drum Song, and When Harry Met Sally, she was a small part of many cinematic milestones.

Although still alive during the production of Crowd, the circumstances of old age prevented her from participating.  It is too bad she could not enjoy a taste of wider recognition during her lifetime, but Chan’s short doc is a fitting tribute that also covers some under-examined cinema history with economy and authority.  Clocking in just under half an hour, Crowd would be an appropriate programming choice for PBS sometime down the road.  For now, it is quite a shrewd selection for AAIFF, especially considering the way it speaks in dialogue with Tau’s Keye Luke.  Recommended for movie lovers, More Than a Face in the Crowd and Keye Luke screen this Thursday (7/25) at the Anthology Film Archives during the 2013 AAIFF.

Fantasia ’13: The Burning Buddha Man

Where was the Seaddattha when the Bamiyan valley Buddhas were destroyed Afghanistan? Instead, the secret society is plundering Kyoto’s Buddha statues, supposedly for their own protection.  However, a young girl quickly learns things are not as they seem in Ujicha’s mind-bending animated feature, The Burning Buddha Man (trailer here), which screens tomorrow as an official selection of the 2013 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Young Beniko is suddenly alone in the world.  Her parents, or at least their torsos, disappeared while protecting their temple’s Buddha statue from an uncanny intruder, while the grandmother she never really knew remains in a mystical catatonic state.  Enju, a monk who claims to be a friend of the family, welcomes her into his retreat.  He explains to the baffled girl how the Seaddattha have perfected matter transference to enable their crime spree.  He also introduces her to his son Enji, a carver of Buddha statues, whose techniques might just prevent the sort of fusion tragedies that befell her parents.  Then things get really, really weird.

Rendered through a mix of the “gekimation” style of paper cut-out animation and live action (largely reserved for spurting vomit and blood), Burning has an absolutely bizarre look and vibe.  Think of it as equal parts H.R. Giger, René Laloux, and South Park.  You have never seen a film like this, particularly considering how seriously it treats its Buddhist subject matter, notwithstanding the scatological bits.  As Beniko raises her consciousness to battle her powerful nemesis, she seeks not to kill but to reform his corrupted soul.  That is a noble sentiment, so good luck with that.

In Burning, the themes and visuals trump bourgeoisie characterization and narrative cohesion.  It is a massively archetypal head-trip.  You would not consider it traditional anime by any stretch, yet one can see the hints of shared old school elements when the forces of good and evil fuse themselves into Golem like creatures for the final cosmic battle.

Even though Burning features a resilient young heroine and a respect for both religion and the sanctity of life, it is not exactly appropriate for family viewing.  Sure, an occasional head explodes, but the film’s motifs and implications would just be too challenging for mortal parents to explain. Recommended for fans of animation and cult cinema with a taste for the profound and the eccentric, The Burning Buddha Man screens this Monday (7/22) at the J.A. De Seve Theatre as part of this year’s Fantasia Festival.  Anyone remotely near Montreal who is in anyway intrigued should see it when they can.  Those attending the fest should definitely also check out Big Bad Wolves, Black Out, Confession of Murder, Drug War, Ip Man: the Final Fight, It’s Me It’s Me, The Last Tycoon, The Rooftop, Thermae Romae, and When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep.  More to come.

Japan Cuts ’13: The Samurai that Night

Japan gave the world one of the greatest revenge stories of all time.  Sadly, Hollywood is reportedly returning the favor by butchering Keanu’s 47 Ronin into some kind of cheesy Frankenstein’s Monster.  It turns out vengeance-taking is trickier proposition than people realize.  A grieving husband understands this only too well in Masaaki Akahori’s The Samurai that Night (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Kenichi Nakamura was always socially awkward, but the hit-and-run death of his wife Hisako reduces him to a scant shell of a man.  Nearly five years later, Hiroshi Kijima, the violent petty thug responsible for her death, has been released from jail.  He is neither reformed nor remorseful, but he is a little unnerved by the daily death threats he receives from Nakamura promising to kill him on the fast approaching anniversary of Hisako’s death.  Yet, he still has the presence of mind to use the poison pen letters to extort money from Nakamura’s earnest brother-in-law.

A moodier, slower burner than even the original misunderstood Death Wish, Samurai hardly gives viewers any consolation whatsoever.  Nakamura is a profoundly damaged soul, Kijima is absolutely rotten to the core, and neither is likely to change.  Still, agonizingly touching moments spring up in the most surprising places, such as when the rough hewn employees of Nakamura’s metal works express affection for their disintegrating boss.

Far from a genre crowd-pleaser, Samurai vividly depicts the ugly, awkward, and messy realities of violence.  Viewers are not likely to forget the climatic showdown, precisely because of the ways it undercuts expectations and payback genre conventions.

As the sweat-drenched tighty-whitey wearing Nakamura, Masato Sakai fearlessly put himself out there.  At times, he is absolutely painful to watch, like a huge open sore picking itself apart on-screen.  In contrast, Takayuki Yamada’s Kijima is a study in fiercely controlled aggression. Mercifully, Kinuwo Yamada and Tsutomu Takahashi add a deeply humane dimension to the film as bystanders sympathetic to Nakamura.

You have to admire the integrity of writer-director Akahori’s vision.  His unforgiving depiction of human nature never gives his characters anyplace to hide.  It is a world of drab colors and humdrum homes that looses nothing in the translation.  This is a writer’s film much more than a director’s film, matter-of-factly presenting the angst and cruelty of his characters.  Powerfully brought to life by an accomplished cast, The Samurai that Night is highly recommended for those not intimidated by everyday tragedy when it screens tomorrow night (7/21), as this year’s Japan Cuts concludes at the Japan Society.

Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives

Evidently, expat Julian Thompson had a spot of legal trouble back home.  He and his drug-running brother Billy now assume Bangkok is their oyster and act accordingly.  However, Thompson might just miss those coppers with their due process.  The family business will get decidedly ugly in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

Julian is the sensitive Thompson brother.  He runs the legit side of their Muay Thai boxing club front and keeps his regular prostitute Mai on-call, even though he never fully avails himself of her services, if you get the drift.  Billy Thompson was always their mother’s favorite.  Unfortunately, he is now dead, but he sure had it coming.

After raping and killing an under-aged prostitute, the elder Thompson brother was locked in a room with her guilt ridden father, who knew what to do.  Chang was the one who told him to.  The mysterious retired police officer still seems to call all the shots on the Bangkok force.  Although he sometimes appears eerily bad-assed, Chang is probably just a metaphorical “Angel of Death.”  Of course, Thompson is just as dead either way.

Given the circumstances of his brother’s death, little Julian has trouble ginning-up sufficient outrage to seek vengeance.  This is not the case for their Oedipus Complex-on-wheels mother, Crystal.  She blows into town like a hurricane, determined to avenge her preferred son.  Crystal will also take every opportunity to mess with Julian’s head, while re-asserting control of her far-flung illicit businesses.  Killing a cop is no big deal to her, but Chang is no ordinary flatfoot.

For what it’s worth, Only is nowhere near the train wreck Cannes reviewers made it out to be.  The film has its memorable moments and performances.  Yet, there is no denying Winding Refn’s approach is rather self-indulgent.  There are so many long slow David Lynchian shots of empty hallways, viewers will half expect the giant and the dwarf to eventually pop out of a door.  There is also an oppressively misogynistic vibe to the film.  Thai actress Ratha Phongam is a lovely woman, who does what she can with Mai’s pencil thin character, but the way the Thompsons treat her is rather appalling—and she gets off easy compared to others.

Of course, some might call Crystal Thompson a strong female character.  That is certainly true, but a foul mouthed, sexually manipulative, woman-hating, sociopathic mommy-monster should not exactly constitute a feminist role model.  Kristin Scott Thomas is rather awe-inspiring in the role, hardening her tart-tongued imperious image in a forge of Hellfire.

To the film’s credit, it finally finds Ryan Gosling’s comfort range: sullen and emasculated. The film also delivers vicarious payback during Julian’s massive beatdown scene.  Audiences will start to cheer in their heads “that was for the interminable Blue Valentine and that was for the pretentious The Place Beyond the Pines, and that was for its ridiculously awkward title.”

Frankly though, Vithaya Pansringarm is the star of the film, following-up his breakout performance as the murder-solving Buddhist monk in Tom Waller’s Mindfulness and Murder.  An intensely righteous screen presence, his Chang is like a Dirty Harry with a divine mandate.  As the president of the Thailand Kendo Club, he also swings a sword with authority.

Throughout Only, Winding Refn’s directorial hand is so heavy it nearly crushes everyone on screen, except KST and Pansringarm—they never wilt.  Too laborious and too stylized, it still serves as a dramatic showcase for its fine supporting players.  Only recommended as a curiosity piece for cult film veterans, Only God Forgives opens today (7/19) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

Japan Cuts ’13: I Have to Buy New Shoes

A young photographer finds romance where he least expects it: Paris.  Sure, it is the City of Lights, but he assumed his short sight-seeing trip would only entail some brotherly chaperoning.  Instead, he spends some ambiguous quality time with an attractive older Japanese woman in Eriko Kitagawa’s I Have to Buy New Shoes (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Sen Yagami only came to Paris at the insistence of his younger sister, Suzume.  However, she contrives a way to ditch her indulgent brother along the bank of the Seine before they even reach their hotel.  She has plans of her own, involving her long-distance artist boyfriend.  This is rather inconvenient for Yagami, since he does not even have their hotel information.  Fortunately, a broken heel precipitates a meet-cute with expat magazine editor Aoi Teshigahara, at the expense of his ground-up passport.

Initially, Teshigahara helps him navigate Paris as a friendly fellow countryman abroad, but a mutual attraction slowly grows between them.  Surprised and confused by their feelings, Teshigahra and Yagami engage in a halting courtship dance that is refreshingly chaste compared to most films.  Nonetheless, Yagami will not see much of his hotel, wherever it might be.

Following in the tradition of Brief Encounter, Shoes has already been widely compared to Linklater’s Before trilogy as well as the 1990’s Japanese television work of Kitagawa and producer Shunji Iwai.  Yet, this is a much quieter film, saying more with a look than a page self-consciously clever dialogue.  The title may sound like chic lit, but Kitagawa maintains a vibe of mature sadness that is anything but.

It is impossible to overstate what Miho Nakayama brings to the film as Teshigahara.  A long time Paris resident herself, she is a smart, sophisticated, and beautiful presence throughout the film.  Yet, when she lowers the dramatic boom, it is simply devastating.  Poor Osamu Mukai’s Yagami is just no match for her, even though he has some nice moments expressing the younger man’s very real disappointments in life.  He is no boy toy, not by any stretch.  Mirei Kiritani also brings unexpected depth to seemingly coquettish Suzume late in the third act.

Just about every scene of Shoes has a subtle surprise, yet invariably rings true.  It is a classy package, capitalizing on the Parisian backdrops and sparingly incorporating Ryûichi Sakamoto’s evocative piano themes in just the right moments.  Above all else, it is a stunning showcase for Nakayama that would elevate her to the absolute top tier of international stardom in a more just world.  Very highly recommended for those who appreciate intelligent, grown-up relationship films, I Have To Buy New Shows screens tonight (7/18) as this year’s Japan Cuts continues at the Japan Society.

Broken: Parents Worry

Her name is Skunk, not Scout, but it is easy to understand how viewers might hear it that way.  This British coming-of-age tale might yearn for Mockingbird comparisons, but it is a pretty good film when considered on its own merits.  Skunk will indeed observe the best and worst of people in Rufus Norris’s Broken (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Archie is a conscientious single father, but there is only so much he can do to protect his tomboy daughter.  Life has not done her excessive favors, starting with the mother who abandoned the family shortly after her birth.  However, she gets along with her older brother relatively well and her solicitor father is a good provider (yes, he is a lawyer, just like Atticus Finch).  She seems to be maturing into a responsible young adult, caring for her Type 1 Diabetes and starting a new term at school.  However, a violent assault on Rick Buckley, an ambiguously developmentally challenged young man living across the street, will set off an escalating series of tragedies.

Skunk always liked Rick and his middle aged parents, but Bob Oswald’s trampy delinquent daughters next door are a different story.  It was their false accusation of rape that precipitated the attack poor Rick.  In the annals of bad movie neighbors, they are some of the worst.  Nonetheless, Skunk will also see examples of ennobling human behavior, including that of Mike Kiernan, her favorite English teacher and her nanny’s ex-boyfriend.

For good or for ill, just about every significant event in Broken is driven by parents’ concern for their children.  Even the knuckle-dragging Oswald is acting on flawed parental instincts and has his moments of fundamental decency here and there.  Indeed, Broken excels at showing human nature at its messiest and most complicated.  Strangely though, it ends with a rather overwrought excursion into symbolic expressionism at odds with the rest of the film’s grounded realism.

Tim Roth might be channeling his inner Gregory Peck, but he is still fantastic as Archie.  It is a smart, patiently understated, and wonderfully humane performance.  Avoiding most of the pitfalls young actors fall into, Eloise Laurence is neither too cloying nor too overly obnoxious as Skunk and her vocals on the film’s soundtrack nicely reinforce the sad pseudo-nostalgic mood.  She makes it clear this is a bright kid, but sometimes a bit of a handful.  Denis Lawson (Wedge from Star Wars) is quietly compelling as the anguished Mr. Buckley, while Rory Kinnear humanizes the mercurial Oswald to a remarkable extent.

While Broken may not break any new cinematic ground (and the late inning stylization is a mistake), the honest earthiness of its characters is dramatically compelling.  Likewise, Roth’s work will speak directly to most parents, representing a marked but welcome departure from the sort of rogues and fast talkers he often plays.  Recommended for viewers who appreciate family dramas with grit, Broken opens this Friday (7/19) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

Japan Cuts’ 13: A Woman and War

Convinced the anticipated American occupation will descend into an orgy of atrocities, a dissolute author and a jaded lover resolve to while away the final days of WWII in a state of abject hedonism.   They are right to be concerned about rape and murder, but it will be a returning Japanese veteran who will indulge his new found sadism in Junichi Inoue’s A Woman and War (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Sold into prostitution at an early age, the woman has always worked in close proximity to men and booze.  No longer able to obtain sake rations, she is forced to shutter her tavern.  On closing night, she pledges to shack-up with any customer man enough to step up.  Nomura accepts, more or less out of boredom.  Once talented writer-of-his-generation, he avoided military service by churning out propaganda tracts for the government.  He probably saved his life that way, but he now hates himself to the core of his being.

Meanwhile, Ohira has been discharged from the army, but his homecoming is not exactly happy.  Most of the old-timers loudly suspect his amputated arm was the result of a self-inflected wound.  He has not been able to resume traditional marital relations either.  It seems Ohira has been so warped by the Nanjing-like war crimes he committed in China he can now only perform when engaging in forms of deadly sexual assault.

Make no mistake, this can be a very hard film to watch.  Inoue explicitly establishes a “war = sex = death = the Emperor” equation, leaving no question as to the cruel nature of Ohira’s crimes.  This is not for the squeamish.  There will be only survivor of Ohira’s attack’s: Nomura’s lover.  However, she will search out her assailant, in hopes of repeating their past encounter.

Although it was produced in a state of pitched outrage against the imperial, war-mongering mindset, defending Woman and War against charges of misogyny would be a tricky business.  Clearly, Inoue argues you cannot leave Nanjing in Nanjing, but his depiction of his female protagonist is decidedly problematic.  It is not just the nature of her arousal.  She is also attracted to the death spectacle of war, like fireworks that kill.  Still, you cannot say Inoue isn’t provocative.

Noriko Eguchi deserves all the credit in the world just for accepting the lead role.  It is a quiet, reserved performance, but over time she reveals the layers of scar tissue surrounding her soul.  As the writer, Nagase Masatoshi seems to be basing his portrayal on equal parts Charles Bukowski and post-Paris Rick Blaine.  It sort of works in the moment, but it is hard to fix him in your mind after the screening.  However, Jun Murakami is so cold, clammy, and banally evil as Ohira, he will leave viewers feeling profoundly uneasy about the nature of humanity.

Inoue set out to make a bold statement with A Woman and War and he succeeds on that level.  The film acts as a defiant corrective to Japan’s growing revisionist movement.  It is not academic in its approach, nor does it water anything down, bearing close to comparison to the equally sexually charged Caterpillar, from Inoue’s late mentor, Kōji Wakamatsu.  

If ever there was a serious film for mature audiences, this would be it.  Yet, despite its ragged edges and in-your-face indulgences, audiences will know they have seen something bold when it is over. Recommended for those who appreciate fervent and feverish filmmaking, A Woman and War screens tonight (7/17) at the Japan Society as part of this year’s Japan Cuts.

NYAFF '13: The Rooftop

That’s right, “Wax” is the word.  Named for his hair styler, Wax is a singing kung fu motorcycle gang member, who is out to win the heart of the innocent ingénue.  There will be dancing, fighting, and swooning in Jay Chou’s The Rooftop (trailer here), the closing night film of the 2013 New York Asian Film Festival (and also part of the Well Go USA spotlight), which opens theatrically in New York this Friday.

Wax and his bowling biker buds live in the Rooftop section of Galilee, under the shadow of the huge outdoor billboards.  They do not mind the scenery though.  In fact, they are rather fond of the one featuring Starling, a budding starlet and supermodel.  Wax’s three stooges, Tempura, Egg, and Broccoli refer to her as “Sister-in-Law” to needle the big smitten lug.  Everyone assumes nothing will ever come of his impossible crush until the day Wax picks up some part-time stuntman work getting the snot beat out of him on the set of her next picture.

Of course, she notices him.  As their chaste courtship heats up, William (the one-named), Starling’s mobbed-up movie star patron, contrives to sabotage their romance.  We know he is bad news because he is an associate of Red, one of Tempura’s unfriendly rent-collecting rivals working for the corrupt housing authority.  That’s right, some of the villains are Taiwanese HUD bureaucrats, albeit decidedly more flamboyant than our homegrown variety.

For his second outing in the director’s chair, pop idol and action super-star Chou channels his inner Baz Lurhmann, unleashing a kaleidoscope of colors and staging big flashy, razzle-dazzling musical numbers. Clearly, not afraid of a little sentiment, Chou indulges one big melodramatic set piece, after another.  One minute Wax and Starling are strolling through a carnival, next they are dancing in the rain, and shortly thereafter they stare into each other eyes in his quaint rooftop neighborhood as fireworks explode in the background.  It’s all good.

Chou and the radiant Li Xinai look like an attractive couple and develop some half decent romantic chemistry together.  She even does some legit acting in her own scenes. However, the crafty old HK vet Eric Tsang often steals the show as Dr. Bo, the lads’ martial arts mentor and local snake oil salesman.  Alan Ko also has his moments as Tempura, the enforcer trying to go straight.  Unfortunately, the shticky comic relief delivered by Egg and Broccoli becomes embarrassing over time.

Still, Rooftop has a few gags that will have viewers laughing in spite of themselves.  Truly, this is kitchen sink filmmaking.  Chou throws it all in, including a way over the top framing device.  Yet, Mark Lee Ping Bin, considered one of the world’s finest cinematographers for his work on films like Norwegian Wood, makes it all look bright and sparkly.  If you want spectacle, Chou has your spectacle right here.  Recommended for those who thought The Great Gatsby was too staid and did not have enough martial arts, The Rooftop officially closed this year’s NYAFF last night, but will open this Friday (7/19) in New York at the AMC Empire.