On the opposite end of the spectrum from Bare Essence of Life is Villon’s Wife (and hey, it rhymes).  Villon’s Wife is going to be the complete opposite feel of Bare Essence, with traditional characters, a classic setting, and a serious, realistic, adn dramatic story.

Villon’s Wife lives up to it’s name.  It is a period piece set in late-WWII of Japan, and focuses on the wife of an often drunk and even suicidal writer who gets caught stealing a large sum of money from a local food & spirits joint.  The rest of the story follows her as she sways between being a loyal wife and leaving him for a better life.  The story is somewhat sad because of the traditional values in the wife’s character.  Like the ‘good’, loyal wife that she is, she is very forgiving of just about everything her husband does, including cheating on her and stealing her money.  Without giving in to cultural relativism or feminism, the movie is better watched knowing that this is the “traditional role” for the wife at this time and place, at least before the war.

The acting, storytelling, development, pacing all are quite good until the very end of the movie.  It’s easy to fall in love with Sachi, the wife, as several men in the film do.  Tadanobu Asano delivers another great performance as the meandering, drunk villon.  The characters, besides the villon, feel a lot like some of Ozu’s, albeit more modern and less subtle.  Much of the story is very lively, with Sachi either working at the bar to pay off her husband’s debts.  It slows down considerably, as you might expect in a melodrama.  The story even falls apart a little bit at the end when it tries to pull everything together.  Some of it feels out-of-place or unexplained, and I was left wondering what happened to one character all-together.

There definitely seems to be some underlying message in Villon’s Wife.  I read somewhere that it is supposed to be about Japan changing after the war.  This can definitely be felt near the end of the movie where we see girls with lipstick running away with GI’s.  If anything, it shows the faults and benefits of Japan’s traditional double standard roles of husband & wife in the transition to an industrial society.

Villon’s Wife is a great movie for anyone interested in ‘old life’ in Japan, though I think you have to also be on board for the drama.  It is beautifully shot and one of the most believable WWII-era settings I’ve seen in a while.  It’s not really a romance picture, but it is decent as a slow, relationship drama.  Without ruining the ending, it can keep you guessing.  There are several different ways it could have gone, and if the director had taken a more Ozu-esque open ending, it probably would have been a perfect fit.  But the story clearly is leading to the definitive ending given.

Rating – 4 /5

Ultra Miracle Love Story is a crazy movie.  Note the actual Japanese title of the movie is the katakana translation of this ‘English’ title, so I will call it this name throughout the review.  This title is also much more reflective of the actual plot and feel of the movie.  It really is a follow-the-character story plot that has some love elements, irrational and imaginative plot changes, and is borderline insane.

It was interesting to see a lot of actors and actresses from some other major films appear in Ultra Miracle.  The protagonist is L from Death Note, teacher Machiko is from Kairo (Pulse), as well as an appearance from an actress of the classic Kaidan (Kwaidan)!  At first, it seems that Kenichi Matsuyama plays a very different role from L (and different his role in Akarui Mirai) in Ultra Miracle since he is go outgoing and rambunctious.  Honestly, the first third of the film is tough to watch him run around and cause havok.  Some of it is funny, but most of it equally annoying.  It’s really going to depend on your tolerance for silly and ridiculous things whether it’s enjoyable or not.  Later in the film when he calms down, he seems to turn back into a low-key rational guy like L (but without the ultra logical thinking).  Kumiko Aso is somewhat the same character she was in Kairo: quiet and a ‘typical’ Japanese female role.  As a teacher, this fits her role, though.  The acting and development of the characters are great throughout, which is really a saving point of most of the movie.

The plot of Ultra Miracle is very strange.  About half of it is somewhat logical and placed in reality.  But as we progress toward the end, several ‘miracles’ happen and things get crazy.  Clearly the purpose of Ultra Miracle is not to tell a story at all.  There seems to be a desire to show human emotions and exploration of life through freedom, spirituality, and irony.  I felt that there were some messages underneath the strange events of the last third of the film, but it’s so crazy and seemingly dumb that it’s difficult to understand what’s trying to be said.  This is really the most disappointing aspect of Ultra Miracle.  Had this been really fleshed out or given more time (especially with cutting a bit from the beginning of the film), it would have been a much greater and meaningful film.

Ultra Miracle is not a movie for everyone.  It will definitely not be liked by a good majority of Western audiences.  If you’ve seen other bizarre Japanese family-driven comedies, you know what kind of silliness and bad visual effects can be in these types of films.  Luckily there is very little of the latter, mostly because the film doesn’t try for too much, visually.  A few notable things were some extremely long camera shot (long in time, not field of view).  There were several parts that were at least three or four minutes without cut.  This said, there are a lot of interesting elements of comedy, camera work, and a sort-of ‘flight of spirit.’  It was also quite interesting to hear some thick Aoyama dialect.  Someone who can sit through similar Japanese movies should be fine, but a ‘normal viewer’ should be warned before seeing Ultra Miracle.  It is definitely a “WTF” movie.

Rating – 3 /5

Here are a bunch of mini reviews of things I watched from the festival and since then:

All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) -4/5 (CIFF09)
Great, though quite slow.  A family-drama that leaves many messages about living life and the connections between loved ones, especially a spouse.  Some characters were a bit annoying, though it can’t be helped if art imitates reality.

Surveillance -3/5 (CIFF09)
Not horrible, but could have been much better, in my opinion.  Some twists in the plot, some of which are predictable.  But this is no action movie.  It’s almost all dialogue, and awkward dialogue at that, for the first three-quarters of the film.  Probably would have been better as a short.

Chaser (Chugyeoja) – 5/5 (CIFF09)
Excellent thriller.  Korean movies contain some of the best psycho-killer/ detective movies and this is one of them for sure.  Though not as epic as a Park Chan-wook film, it has great pacting, characters, tone, and is interesting to watch.  Some gory parts.  Worth tracking down.

Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – 2/5 (CIFF09)
Too slow, and too long.  The plot is not interesting enough to make a whole movie out of, though it did hold my attention.  What was there was executed well and had some nice imagery.

White on Rice – 4/5 (CIFF09)
Good feel-good comedy.  You kind of root for the main character, and definitely grow to like his quirks.  You can see a lot of miscommunications that a Japanese-American may come across, and this really hits home if you have some familiarity with a non-native English speaker.  Plot is a bit uninspired, but serviceable for fun.

Meatball Machine – 1/5
After seeing the excellent Machine Girl, and iffy Tokyo Gore Police… I knew that Meatball Machine could go either way.  And it was bad.  Bad in a bad way.  Even for a B-movie, there is nothing really interesting that goes on.  The characters are beyond boring… enough to make a user manual seem a worthwhile use of time.  Gross out moments are not realistic or that gross if you’ve seen either of the mentioned ultra-gore movies.  Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this movie to even gore fans.

Tale of Two Sisters (Korean) – My 2nd viewing – 4/5
Although it’s probably one of the best Korean horror films I’ve seen, the rewatch isn’t that great.  The characters are a little boring and the pacing slow, but the ending and mystery is pretty good.  Although it’s a must see for asian horror fans, you really probably only need to see it once.  Compare with Ju-On, which I can watch many times and still enjoy.

Remember the last time you just walked through the park without anything on your mind?  That’s about what I felt while watching Late Autumn.  There is a tenderness and light-heartedness to the plot and pacing.  Late Autumn doesn’t try to hit you with a huge build-up of anticipation and huge disappointment.  Following Equinox Flower’s ending of acceptance, Late Autumn continues Ozu’s tone of forgiveness in family conflicts.  This leads to a not-very-dramatic drama.  In fact, I enjoyed the comedy more than the actual drama of Late Autumn.

The characters are once again what makes this Ozu film so enjoyable.  Like Ozu’s other family dramas, Late Autumn has his usual cast of characters: middle-aged and youthful salarymen (and salarywomen), widowed wives, and the rest.  The salarymen are chummy and have their usual set of silly sayings, mocking their hostess at one point, and laughing at their own antics when their plots fail.  The men act like boys in many ways, and they especially remind me of the boys from I Was Born, But….

The main cause of their plot is Ayako, who refuses to marry until her widowed mother re-marries.  Not standing the thought of her lonely mother after marrying away, she continues to deny the thought of marriage even after finding her mate.  Ayako is a dynamic character.  She starts out very traditional and pleasing to all, but when she suspects her mother of hiding secrets of remarrying, she quickly becomes the spoiled brat that youth is portrayed as in Tokyo Twilight.  One can’t help but change your opinion of her as her emotions sway her to extremes.

Late Autumn combines several elements of Ozu’s other films together, and doesn’t try to really hit any emotion too hard.  One is free to enjoy the comedy, drama, or just simple daily-life of old Tokyo which Ozu does the best.  Because of this mish-mash of elements, I felt that the movie played quite smoothly from start to finish, and is an easy watch.  There are a few insights into life and deep thoughts, but nothing that will bog you down or really appreciate more than a subtle reference.  Until the last scene, there isn’t all that much reflection.  And it’s fine that way.

Rating: 4 /5

I don’t know how much you can really say about The Machine Girl to convince whether the movie is good or not.  It is a total exploitation movie.  Blood, guts, more guts, insane Japanese things, etc., etc.  There are many lists out there to tell you all the crazy stuff they threw into Machine Girl.  I think this is really the first exploitation movie outside of Grindhouse that I’ve seen where I knew going in that it was going to be bad.  And I mean bad in the good sense, like how sick is awesome.  The Machine Girl is hella sick.

First off, some of the actresses are apparently porn stars.  So if you want to watch for the looks, you’re set.  There is as much blood and guts as a Miike film, though much less realistic.  If you want an “asia extreme” flick, you’re set (just don’t expect anything near as powerful as say, Oldboy).  There are some very funny things that you can only do in a Japanese move, like have an arm tempura-fried.  So if you want some laughs and an inside joke, you’re set.  Lastly, if you like revenge and strong women characters… that’s the main plot element.  Check.  Everything is 120% superficial, on purpose.

So pretty much everything you could ask for in a moving picture, right?  Well.. if you’re into it.  I think for an “average” person, Machine Girl is going to be love it or hate it.  If you’re like me, and Yakuza, chainsaws, and skirts are your bag, then all you have to do is get past the “B-movie” aspect of Machine Girl.  Yes, the plot can be a little illogical at times, but honestly it’s not that bad, and nowhere near the level of stupidity in Hollywood horror movies.  The actions scenes are not too unrealistic, though it seems to be a bit under-budget for some special effects.

I wouldn’t say Machine Girl is better than the sum of its part, because I think that’s exactly what the movie is.  A bunched up package of awesome scenes meant for those who already like it.  If you are in that crowd, Machine Girl is a must-see.  There are a lot of things here that I’ve never seen before in a movie, including one of the grossest scenes ever (the mom getting stabbed).  Usually gross-out scenes stop at the first or second level.  This one goes one more (or 11 in Spinal Tap terms).

Note: The DVD extras are short, but fun to watch.

Rating – 4 /5