FadedBlue_net

Title: Chungking Express
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Year: 1994
Genre: Romance
Format Reviewed: Bluray (Criterion release)

I suppose that when I decided that Wong Kar-Wai (WKW) was one of the best Chinese directors, it was a little naive since I’ve only seen 2046, and I’ve not seen a ton of Chinese movies released before the 90s.  But 2046 was deep enough and had such a good ending, that I saw something great in the director.  Chunking Express just confirms my view of WKW as not only a great director, but a great person.  Chunking Express is a very human story, though admittedly somewhat romanticized, and has all the subtlety and quirkiness of an asian romantic movie without forcing superficiality common to the genre.

The first part of the movie can be a kind of ‘anti-romance’.   There is an honest male protagonist trying to get over his ex, getting no luck or really any satisfaction.  Or is he?  His character is a bit delusional, but if we didn’t know about his past, one might have thought he is doing just fine.  At the end of his story, we have felt most of the emotions in a romantic movie, except the most important, and most superficial one: the ending.  Indeed, WKW gives us a story of what happens if it doesn’t go either way: no one dies, and no one finds their true love.  Although this is an interesting point, it isn’t exactly moving.  Though it does give a good feeling of emptiness left for the second half to fill.

The second part of Chungking Express is where the real meat is.  Faye Wong plays an amazing character (though I have to say I fall for girls with short hair easily!).  She plays the role of a girl who plays a very elaborate game of hard-to-get with a local police officer.  In reality, they both want to be together.  Or do they?  The officer is definitely interested, and probably the movie is over if Faye was up front with him.  But she resorts to almost everything besides direct confrontation.  It is sort of a romance where two people don’t even meet for the majority of the time.  Again WKW gives us the emotions of love without really showing it between the characters.

Chungking Express is the perfect romance for those who don’t actually want romance.  It sounds a bit strange, but actually it’s a very refreshing type of movie that really plays with the genre on a meta- level.  The film itself gives you a need for more, then delivers it with a much more satisfying ending.  The characters are relateable and likeable, Faye is easy to fall in love with, and the city in which they live is perfectly sized.  The action sequences were a bit jarring in the time effects, but this actually keeps the tone of the film from turning too dark or action-oriented.  In the end I was left wanting more (in a good way), and I can’t wait to see my next WKW film.

Bluray notes: the video and audio transfer are superb.  Film grain is left in many scenes, as well as noticeable green lines in the film in a couple shots.  Maybe this was in the original print?

Rating – 5 /5

Title: Equinox Flower
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1958
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Equinox Flower doesn’t seem like an Ozu film in plot.  Although the first half of the film sets up the family drama like the two previously reviewed movies (Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight), the tone of Equinox Flower is a large shift from those.  Ozu is showing a similar world to the ones he’s shown before, but with different actions by the protagonists and a very different result.

The father figure is once again the most important character, but this one is more mean than many others by Ozu.  He is more strict and stubborn.  The mother is a very forgiving and diplomatic figure between him and the daughters.  But rather than the daughters making the wrong moves, the father is the one who causes most of the household trouble.

The big tone shift is near the end of the film, where the father gives in to those around him and accept the decisions of his daughter.  Rather than ending in a sad result and having to accept the tragedies of life, Equinox Flower does the opposite.  The unfortunate result, which you may expect from an Ozu film, never happens.  It ends with kind of a “everything will work out” ending.  That isn’t to say Ozu isn’t giving a message to his audience.  Equinox Flower gives its message by telling the viewer how their decisions could work out for the better, rather than how they could turn out for the worst.

Overall, it was a little strange for a drama to be dramatic without a major death or abandonment.  Almost a polar opposite of Tokyo Twilight in this point (though there are several references to the events of Tokyo Twilight in Equinox Flower).  But the “good result” is not always a very cheerful one.  There still seems to linger a kind of stubborn reluctance to appreciate the fortunate turn of events.  The father does not really gain any happiness in life.  He just doesn’t lose it.  Similarly, the film doesn’t move one in a way to act differently, but allows one to more passively see the other side of the balance.  Because of this, one’s appreciation of life are more a result of one’s inner feelings than the events themselves.

Rating: 5 /5

Title: I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Year: 2006
Genre: Comedy
Format Reviewed: Blu-ray

Ahh, Park Chan-wook.  One of my three favorite directors from Korea.  The other two being Kim Ki-duk and the upcoming Joon-ho Bong.  You probably already know the stuff he’s done, so I’ll skip over his history.  He’s never let me down; every film has been superb, as far back as J.S.A.  But how does he hold up in comedy, a very different direction from his past?  Very well.

Actually the comedy in his other “violent” movies is a little more clever than I’m A Cyborg.  Maybe their punchlines are just more unexpected, but Cyborg is different in that is has a sense of humor more akin to other Korean comedies.  I would classify I’m A Cyborg’s humor as intelligent silliness.  It’s not quite slap-stick, though a lot of it is very oddball in a childish way.  This fits the setting, as the entire movie takes place in (or very nearby) an insane asylum.  Rolling around on the floor and hiding in a clock mantle provide up-front gags, but the real laughs are in word puns (at least in the English subs) and in small comments and imitations of the characters.

The cast mostly consists of your destined-to-be-paired two inmates.  One of which has come to the conclusion that she must be a cyborg.  The guy, who is acted by the apparently famous singer Rain, has a special power that he can transfer other inmates quirks and abilities to himself, in effect stealing their problems.  So, in order to relieve the cyborg of her human elements (like sympathy) which is holding her back from her goals, the thief will steal them away.  The supporting actors probably come out with the best gags, while the main characters move ahead the story, which is probably a good way to divide these elements up in a comedy.

Along the way, there are many silly or childish plot turns; ideas that you kind of just have to go along with.  This is no problem, though.  I mean, going into a Korean comedy you generally have to just forget about your age and laugh at everything shoved in your face.  There are several visual sequences which really elaborate on the inner thoughts or ambitions of our femme cyborg.  They keep the same tone of the rest of the film, though I felt that they bring you out of the movie a little too much.  Still… finger cannons are pretty sweet. The last scene where the thief has to teach the cyborg how to eat rice is absolutely hillarious.  The entire movie is worth watching for this one scene.

While I wouldn’t beg Park Chan-wook to make another comedy (more so because his serious stuff is so good), the movie is good and definitely worth watching.   Fans of his won’t necessarily like the movie just for good directing. Although it is done well, you should decide to watch this based on whether you like Korean humor in general.  If you don’t know, here’s a great place to start.

Rating – 4 /5

Title: Early Spring (aka Soshun)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1956
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Title: Tokyo Twilight (aka Tokyo Boshoku)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1957
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

I recently bought the Eclipse Series 3 box set, and have gotten through the first two movies.  Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight are the two B&W films of the set and are quite a bit different in plot.  Early Spring follows a salaryman who becomes involved with a co-worker, while his marriage is on the rocks for reasons related and unrelated.  It is a study of interaction between people who have known each other for a long time.  Tokyo Twilight’s main plot revolves around a much younger protagonist, who unknowingly meets her mother, who ran away with another man after giving birth, leaving the girl to be raised by a single father.  Tokyo Twilight actually feels much slower paced and has a good amount of angst.  I suppose some things in youth are universal.

Early Spring is the better feeling film, though enjoyment from an Ozu film has more to do with whether you can grow into the characters.  There is a bittersweet ending and it can be touching, as the characters are quite likable.  In contrast, Tokyo Twilight seems more distant and unrelatable, although purposefully.  It’s an interesting comparison to look into.  For Early Spring, one can understand that the love between a couple can go through hard times and yet still feel close.  As for the relation between the daughter in Tokyo Twilight and her mother, they have never met before, and although they share a mother-daughter bond, it seems that fate will always keep them separated because their love was never given time to mature.  Though there is also a meditation on the limits to what the bond the single father can have with his daughter.
Of course, if you’ve seen an Ozu film before, you know the style of film and deliberately paced family drama that you are getting into.  There are few times where you laugh, cry, get depressed, etc.  It’s the test given to a good drama.   Ozu is obviously a master of this genre, and neither of these two film disappoint fans of his.  Early Spring is interesting enough to be accessible to a newcomer to older Japanese cinema, and I would chose it over Tokyo Twilight.  It may even be a better choice to start here with Ozu rather than Tokyo Story, because it is a little less depressing and more relatable, though certainly not as moving.

The Eclipse transfer is pretty good, though I can’t compare to a film copy.  I didn’t notice any significant lack of details in dark spots.  Running through the mono-theater simulation on my receiver, they both sounded very good.

Ratings:
Early Spring – 5 /5
Tokyo Twilight – 4 /5

Title: The Mist
Director: Frank Darabont
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: Bluray

Since I’ve seen my last Stephen King-based movie (parts of Stephen King’s Nightmares series), I’ve actually read a Stephen King book: Cell.  It was pretty good once I got used to his writing style, but the biggest thing that I noticed was his use of stereotypical, annoying characters (not including the protagonist, thankfully).  The Mist suffers the same fate.  Though there is definitely a deeper message in the movie’s story, the ‘pure enjoyment’ portion of this movie, especially the horror aspect, suffers from predictability and a lack of power.

The Mist is in a few ways similar to M. Night Shyamalan’s recent work (The Happening and Lady in the Water).  The characters contrast each other so much that it’s hard to believe any of them are real.  At least in Shyamalan’s movies, this doesn’t become a distraction.  And similar to The Happening,  the characters are often overacted or overly pronounced within the story.  Perhaps, this is due to using Stephen King’s literature as source material.  Stephen King also seems to use a lot of product placement to make his alternate reality relative to his audience, but it just comes off as cheap in the movie.

Unlike Shyamalan, who has become very good in building tension, The Mist isn’t able to build tension at all.  The horror aspect of The Mist is a failure before anything really interesting happens.  The plot element of the mist is a good idea and I feel like it could have made for a great movie, but something was either lost in translation or poorly executed.  Without giving away spoilers, the real force behind the mist is revealed at a good pace, but it just doesn’t grab you as terrifying the way it could have.  A whole movie based on the mystery of the mist may have made a great film, but the audience isn’t really given a time to reflect on the mystery or really feel the fear felt by the characters.  The special effects are actually quite good and help the movie believably unfold, but the characters’ reactions ruin the encounters with the mist.  There are too many times to get frustrated and think, “OMG get moving!!” or “why don’t they just…??”

In the end, the only good scenes are ones where people bite it and when no one is talking, which takes up less than 10% of the film time.  So in my view, this movie could cut an hour, turned into a short, and be worth watching.  As it stands, The Mist is a below average, popcorn movie for the masses.  It definitely tries to lay on deeper messages of how people deal with fear and the obvious relation to recent American politics.  In fact, this part is not done poorly, but for a horror movie, there are more enjoyable movies than The Mist.

Rating: 2 /5

Title: Exte (aka Hair Extensions)
Director: Sion Sono
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: DVD

Exte is a highly anticipated horror movie.  It has so much potential to be a really great movie: huge name actors and actresses, an excellent director, and a plot theme that can be as scary as any other.  Most of all, the combination of all these part can and do make the film a very fresh genre film to the dying genre of J-horror.

J-horror has suffered from stereotypes, poor spinoffs and sequels, and horrible Hollywood remakes.  It seems like there is little hope for true originals like Ju-on and Ringu to arise in this atmosphere.  Rather than focusing recycled products, Exte has become the gem in a crop of potatoes.  There are many things that are just done right in Exte, even if not genre-shattering, that make the film very watchable and enjoyable to fans of horror.

One may watch this movie to see Chiaki Kuriyama play a lead role (and try to figure out whether she will die by the end…. I won’t tell you).  It’s not a bad one to pick up for this reason as well.  She does a great job acting, as usual, and you can tell she’s having fun with the movie.  Her character is quite innocent and has a fairly typical personality.  It’s definitely fun to follow her through the movie and root for her.

Exte is a horror movie in the classic J-horror sense, but there really is no plot connection to other movies like The Wig.  Rest assured, you won’t feel like you’ve seen this movie already, even for veterans of asian horror.  Long, straight, black hair has been a major element in many asian horror movies, and has been done to death.  [pun]  I don’t know how, but Exte is not at all fatiguing in its use of hair.  Maybe it’s the volume..

Rating: 3 /5

Title: Imprint
Director: Takashi Miike
Year: 2006
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: Film and Bluray

Having seen Imprint twice, once in a small theater in Tokyo and once on bluray at my own place, I can honestly say the second viewing is just as powerful on the second viewing.  Imprint is probably a movie that will be overlooked by all but hardcore Miike fans and those who just happen to watch it in order to complete the whole Masters of Horror series.  This is unfortunate, but probably is the best audience for the film.

The Masters of Horror series was great for horror fans, although the films were hit and miss, which I’ve also heard said about Miike’s own filmography.  Don’t let the fact that Imprint was “made-for-TV” turn you off.  The movie is long enough at 63 minutes (in fact, any longer may feel too long) and has enough plot elements and twists to keep you interested all the way through.  Nor does the made-for-TV status limit it’s gore or horror.  In fact, that’s half of the reason it was never released on TV.  The other is the other weird part of the movie, which would be a spoiler.

All of the actors speak English in this movie, though only one of them is a native speaker.  This gives Imprint authenticity plot-wise, but often times pulls the viewer out of  the movie.  I would bet many people won’t even understand several spoken lines.  Nevertheless, some scenes do not need words.  And the horror, which is better classifies as torture, will not be forgotten.  You’ve been warned.  If you’ve seen Audition, I’d say this movie is the closest thing to that torture scene than anything else.  Although the motives are not as powerful this time (Audition’s strongest feat), the torture scene is done much more aesthetically.  The visuals of Imprint can be stunning, especially on a good media.  Stunning in a more ways than one.

Imprint delivers for those who are already interested in it.  And for fans of Audition, this and Strange Circus are two next two movies that you should see.  Each one takes one of the things that Audition is known for and does them separately: torture and reality.  If you only liked one of those themes, then here’s your chance to watch one without the other.  Even on Showtime, I’m not sure if you’d like to accidently turn this movie on while channel surfing… you should be ready for it before you start.

Rating: 3 /5

Title: Strange Circus
Director: Sion Sono
Year: 2005
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: DVD

Whether you’re coming to this film a newcomer to Sion Sono’s work or having seen Suicide Club or Noriko’s Dinner Table, you may have heard it classified a horror movie.  But if you know either of those movies, it’s hard to say they were horrifying in a typical horror sense.  There were no ghosts or demons in either of them.  In fact, if you watch all of Sion Sono’s work, you begin to wonder: just what is horror?

The most horrifying aspect of Sono’s movies are the characters.  What’s curious about them is their duality of being super realistic, yet so far from the norm.  Each one has a main character who is trying to find their place in the world.  This is certainly a huge theme Sono’s movies, but for most other directors “trying to find your place” is a premise for a happy or bittersweet ending.  Strange Circus is the ultimate and complete opposite.  What lies underneath the characters of Strange Circus is indeed horrifying.

The story has a lot of plot twists… think Audition.  Unless you were really paying attention, you might not know what is real and what is fake.  This all adds to Sono’s objective as a story-teller to make the audience question their perception.  The characters are unique and have genuine motives.  They could care less if their story was being told, as they are serious about accomplishing what they put out to do.  What’s the point of doing it if you don’t go all the way.  Clearly Sono has taken his own piece of advice in making horror film!

While it certainly can be accessible to a wider (emphasis on the “er“) audience, you have to be able to tolerate some taboo themes (to Americans – which isn’t saying much) and some slightly gross-out moments.  I’ve seen worse in a horror film.  But if you can do that and really pay attention, you will certainly be rewarded at the end of this film.  It is rich, deep, powerful, and at it’s best, horrifying.

Rating: 4 /5

Title: Uzumaki
Director: Higuchinsky
Year: 2000
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: DVD

Uzumaki is quite an old horror movie in the context of J-horror that has made it’s way to North America.  In fact, it was in theaters years before Ringu, Ju-on, or even Kairo came out.  So you can’t very easily say Uzumaki rips off other J-horror movies or their styles.  As a cult film, Uzumaki is quite unique among Japanese horror and is somewhat refreshing to watch for those sick of scary little kids.

Although it doesn’t necessarily follow J-horror conventions, Uzumaki has a style similar to Tetsuya Nakashima’s seen in Memories of Matsuko: off-the-wall close-ups and poor acting in some parts.  This was my biggest complaint of the movie.  Uzumaki certainly isn’t going for the straight horror, but rather a weird and almost quirky feeling.  Often times gruesome, but still not too heavy.

The horror aspect of Uzumaki is fine and it’s plot is interesting enough to hold your attention.  If not, then snail people will.  Let’s just say that some images in Uzumaki may very well be never duplicated again.  That’s probably the biggest reason to watch this movie.  It’s so strange that you’ll never forget it, although it’s probably best suited  for hardcore fans of asian horror.

Rating: 2 /5

Title: Onibaba
Director: Kaneto Shindo
Year: 1964
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: Film

The rich history of Japanese film can be overlooked these days, due to the prevalence of remade 90’s and 00’s J-horror movies which have over-saturated the American market.  It may seem that Japanese film has only had one type of horror: your long-haired little girl, or pale-paced boy that seems to teleport to the scariest location right behind you.  Although I believe a lot of this imagery stem from more ancient Japanese folk ghost stories, which can be seen on scrolls in some Japanese museum, there is a lot of original stuff out there, old and new.  Onibaba is a great example of a very unique horror movie with a straightforward plot, a deeper message, and haunting silent imagery.

To even start to talk about the plot in Onibaba would tell you most of the story.  Not too much happens in the movie overall, though this isn’t to be meant as a fault.  A mother and daughter live in a field of tall grass (seen in the poster) during wartime between samurai, and they live by trading dead samurai’s equipment for food.  Along comes a neighbor who is looking for company from the daughter, but the mother doesn’t want him to split up the mother-daughter living arrangement.  She has to find some way of keeping her daughter from running away to him.

Like most Japanese horror, the horror of Onibaba doesn’t come from thrills of killing, but rather from a chilling atmospheric presence of inhumanity.  This is really where the black & white color scheme actually is a complement to the film.  Silent, still shots of scenes by the river contrast with sloppy and frantic close up shots of running through the fields.  Slow-motion, flowing grass seems to characterize some sort of unknown life in the night.

The simple and slow-moving horror that builds through the night scenes climaxes with a horrific realization about the mother.  Themes of sin and punishment, as well as war and humanity run throughout the plot, and the audience is left with a situation where one ultimately decides their own fate.  Onibaba is a commentary on how little one often understands those consequences.

Rating: 4 /5