Some Film Reviews

Hey - the New York Asian Film Festival begins this Friday! That means panic is setting in with my festival friends. Will anybody come, will the prints arrive, will the guests be gigantic pains, will we lose our shirts and so on. Ah, not to have to worry any more. I won't be able to make it but I hope some of you can as it looks loaded with cool movies and cooler guests. All that you could want to know is at the Subway site.

Pandemic
Japan
2009
Director: Zeze Takahisa

I suppose saying that the timing of this film was fortuitous would be the same as congratulating a fellow on having his wife die while the funeral home was having a 50% off sale. But certainly watching this film in Bangkok a few days after a number of new cases of H1N1 were reported here and while much of the world treads softly in hopes that the flu breakout has been put on hold gave it a certain timely edge. And as in the real flu breakout, this film shows that in this high flying borderless global traffic jam, there is no place so remote that it can’t affect the entire world. Coming from Japan is particularly pungent with much of the population hiding under surgical face masks with the news of the flu striking many schools. The film was actually released in January in Japan before this latest scare but is now apparently being picked up around the world due perhaps to its prescient nature. Produced by TBS and distributed by Toho, it was a box office hit.

In the small city of Izumino, a man checks into a hospital where the young doctor Matsuoka (Tsumabuki Satoshi) diagnoses his illness as the common flu. A few days later the patient is back with blood gushing out of his nose and through his eyes and after some violent convulsions he quickly dies (though not before spitting blood on a few others). This contagious disease begins to spread around the town and the hospital is soon inundated with patients. Initially, the authorities suspect that it is a derivative of avian flu but the bodies are quickly piling up and the known treatments are ineffective. WHO sends an expert to combat the crisis, Eiko (Dan Rei), who coincidentally has a star crossed romantic history with Matsuoka. Her mission is to isolate the virus, find out where it came from and learn how to kill it. But it spreads at a terrifying speed and soon millions are affected and the fabric of Japanese society begins to collapse. Japan is quarantined by the rest of the world which is problematic of course since the whole point of the film is that diseases like this spread too quickly to be contained easily.

The film has many of the same characteristics as many of the movie soap dramas that Japan revels in – flat shooting style, a cutie actor who looks like he just got out of high school, loads of tiny mini dramas and tragedies interspersed throughout, way too many scenes shot in the rain and an acting style that shouted out “TV drama”. Kind of like Bayside Shakedown set in a hospital. But as with many in this film genre, it is fairly effective in hitting some emotional moments and it surprises the viewer with some unexpected demises that do indeed hurt. After watching the film I tried holding my breath all the way home on the Skytrain. I didn’t quite make it, but fortunately I was wearing some very loose boxer shorts and was able to reach down and pull them up over my face for the remainder of the ride.

Viewed at the Lido Theater in lovely downtown Bangkok.

Rating: 6.5/10

A few days before seeing this film I went to watch Blood: The Last Vampire fully expecting to see a Japanese movie based on the trailer and poster. What the hell, everyone spoke English, the director was American, the lead actress was Korean, the location was Japan, most of the supporting cast was Japanese and it certainly has a strong Japanese fantasy anime influence to it. Globalization. Not necessarily at its best perhaps. Did this get a US release? Felt kind of low budget and cheesy but it’s playing all over here. Not surprisingly I enjoyed watching a female demon killer dressed in a school girl uniform but after such fare as Machine Girl it felt rather tame and old fashioned.

Rating: 6/10

I only made it to two films at the World Comedy Film Festival. What really puzzles me as an ex-fest organizer is how a festival in its first year, with a four day run and not a lot of people attending could afford to fly in a jury (I ran into a Variety film critic who was part of the jury there) and could afford to fly a bunch of guests down to Phuket for a few days of sun and fun. Why does every fest have so much money to waste (I mean spend) when the NYAFF had to scrimp and save and fall back on our personal credit cards for years. Read much more about the festival on Wise Kwai’s Blog. Anyway – two films – one good, one just weird.

Friday 12 – Russia (2009) – an oddly unfunny black comedy that just never clicked for me. It just tried much too hard and fell so flat. A town is terrified by a serial killer who strikes every Friday night after midnight. The killer is a pimply faced reject who was tormented by a girl calling him names when he was a child and he wants to feel women convulse in his hands. A scowling demented cop is after him. A woman who calls herself the “Innocent Victim” goes out into the night to meet her fate. The characters all speak directly to the camera from time to time and though there is a speck of humor initially the film just ratchets up the absurdity as the film progresses leaving the viewer far behind.

Singh is Kinng – Indian (2008) – this zesty extremely good natured Bollywood outing managed to keep a silly smile on my face for nearly all of its two hour plus running time. From India to Egypt to Australia it is full of energy and good spirits and is just plain goofy fun. It is a basic Masala stew with everything in there that the director could fit into his budget – lots of action, music, corn ball comedy, pathos and of course romance. It wasn’t until about the one third mark that I realized that it was basically a remake of one of my favorite Jackie Chan films, Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (a.k.a. Miracles) with a few slight deviations. The star of Singh is Kinng, Akshay Kumar, has made no secret of his admiration of the Hong Kong star over the years and though he is no Jackie Chan when it comes to physical ability, Kumar gives it his best and is considered one of India’s top action stars.

Here he plays Happy Singh, a small town boy in the Punjab with no desire to go anywhere else. But though loved by all of the town he is also the bane of their existence as he has a habit of leaving behind a trail of accidental destruction wherever he goes. After one such outing in which he tries to catch a chicken and inadvertently destroys everything in his path, they come up with a plan to get rid of him. Down under one of the town’s long departed sons Lucky Singh has become a notorious gangster and the shame to this Sikh community is enormous. So they convince Happy along with his friend (Om Puri) to travel to Australia and bring Lucky back to the bosom of his family and away from his life of crime. No one really thinks Happy will be able to do this and as soon as he is out of sight the town breaks into a dancing celebration.

Through an odd mishap at the airport, the two board a plane for Egypt which of course gives them an opportunity to frolic among the pyramids along with scantily clothed women – all which must have made the Muslim Brotherhood delirious with joy. Here he meets a lovely Indian maiden Sonia (Katrina Kaif) who reminds me slightly of what an Indian Kennedy would look like with her load of teeth and a lean facial bone structure. Happy is smitten but has to move on to Australia where he is taken in by an older Indian woman who sells flowers. She gives him a rose for luck. She has a daughter coming to visit who thinks mom is still rich and the woman is distraught at the thought of her daughter finding out she is poor and her marriage prospects going down the drain. The rose brings Happy luck. Starting to sound a wee bit familiar now doesn’t it? He locates Lucky but during a shootout by a rival gang Lucky loses his ability to move or talk but the gang thinks he has appointed Happy as his successor. And if you have seen the Chan film you know the rest – with the deviation being that the daughter is none other than Sonia. I missed Anita Mui. Very funny on an idiot level and a big hit in India.

Rating: 7.5/10

2022 Tsunami

2022 Tsunami
2009
Thailand
Director: Toranong Sricher

It has been three months since I came to Bangkok and yesterday I finally saw my first Thai film of 2009. It has been that kind of year – just a dire and deadly debris of broad comedy, teen romances, annoying children and grubby horror that you would have to pay me to go and watch. And sadly no one has made me that offer. 2022 Tsunami at least made my ears prick up when I saw the trailer – Bangkok being wiped out by a gigantic wave. Totally cool. I looked for my apartment in hopes that it survives or that at least I do up on the twenty-second floor. I didn’t see it. In the end though, it wasn’t a cinematic reason that made me go see this film but instead a humanitarian one. This was a mission of mercy.

Last week the Bangkok Post reported that the director locked himself in his room and put a gun to his head because no one was going to his film and the critics were bashing it. Why he wondered is everyone going to see American crap like Terminator Salvation and Angels and Demons and no one is supporting Thai crap. It is a valid question. Apparently matters were not helped much by the fact that he initially used images of real people who died in the 2004 Tsunami to help market the film. Fortunately for the movie world, the director was persuaded not to end his life as it was a bad week to do so with David Carradine taking up all the Thai newspaper headlines (pictures of his hanging body included) and who would even notice his demise. It would be back page news. So I did the right thing and with at least four other people in attendance we paid our 100 baht ($3). But if through some chance of fate the director should come across this review I would advise him to stop reading right now. I don’t want to be held responsible for any rash action and at this point believe me no one is going to see your movie no matter what.

It is 2022 – where will you be you might be wondering in 13 years – living the good life perhaps - not likely - if you are in the United States you are probably dead because much of the country has been destroyed by hurricanes, most of Europe in under a mountain of snow and Asia is sinking under water. All of this is due to drastic climate changes that the human race has neglected to do much about. Director Toranong Sricher has a lot of social issues that he crams into this 90-minute slog – climate change, wealth distribution, corrupt politicians, over development of their beautiful islands and the spoiled spawn of the rich. All of these are pertinent issues in Thailand – especially painful to observe is the rape and pillage of one lovely island after another by greedy developers and sunburned tourists – but I tend to doubt if most people come to see a disaster film to be lectured to and much of this film feels like a class lecture by a horn rimmed professor. There is zero fun here. And worse, there is zero suspense and drama.

A group of hard bodied men and women headed by the elderly Doctor Siam track volcano/earthquake activity in the Gulf of Thailand and are on the lookout for signs that the next big one is coming. All of them were emotionally damaged by the 2004 Tsunami and they are dedicated to saving lives the next time. A dynamic Prime Minister keeps close tabs on their work and on three occasions has ordered evacuations of civilian populations due to their predictions but in none of the cases did anything happen. He is being hindered by a sleazy politician who seems to have crawled out of the gutter last week and to make sure we realize how corrupt he is the director shows him having sex with a young male prostitute two times. But his son is even worse – he is developing an island with a casino and lots of hot women that he rolls on the beach with while the poor locals just cluck their tongues when they aren’t getting beaten up.

None of this adds up to zilch because there isn’t even one character that feels much more than a stock hero or bad guy. When the PM lowers himself from a helicopter to save a busload of children caught by the tsunami it is all you can do not to laugh at how silly this is. But when he is later saved by a giant Buddha statue in the harbor it gets even cornier. The truly bad over-acting of most of the cast doesn’t help. One precious scene has one of the hard bodied cleavage showing science babes rush out on her boat to save Mai Tai. "Mai Tai, Mai Tai where are you". Who the hell is Mai Tai I wondered. Oh, the dolphin of course. She tells the dolphin to head for the hills before the tsunami came and sure enough it completely understands her (or is terrified by her acting) and so takes off like a dolphin out of hell. Now once the wave comes it gets mildly entertaining – oops there goes the Skytrain – but it is over much too quickly and is all shot from a distance so you never actually see anyone getting killed up close and personal (not even the bad guys). Weird, I wanted to see Shelly Winters drowning in an elevator or something similar. I wanted to see the fear in people’s eyes that would be in mine (because I have no doubt that when the warning comes I will say ya ya ya and go eat a green chicken curry).

My rating for this film: 3/10

The Sidewalks of Bangkok and Other Stuff

So much for watching loads of Shaw films during the month of May. I watched one and that took me three days to finish. The Bangkok heat along with the afternoon and evening bomb blast rainstorms have a way of sucking time and ambition right out of you. Yesterday I was having lunch in a small restaurant on a dusty side street when it began to fancifully rain while the sun was shining brightly, but suddenly the sky darkened like a Darth Vader scowl and a deluge hit that was frightening and delightful at the same time. Literally within a minute the street was flooded with waters over a foot high and I was stuck there for a couple hours sipping cokes and pondering life before it subsided. So without much of an Asian film focus, this will be another Blog hodgepodge of nothing much. Just filling more Internet space with stuff no one needs to read.

Talking of reading . . . such a great segue! I read the second novel in the Inspector Chen series by Qiu Xiaolong but I wasn’t as keen about A Loyal Character Dancer as I was with the first one. The author introduces a female US Marshall into the story, but she never felt like more than an awkward literary device to enable Chen to talk about Chinese culture and politics. Hopefully, the third novel will get back strictly to Chen and his main man Detective Yu. I am now reading Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson and wow. Not really sure what it is about yet – something to do with the CIA, Kennedy, Vietnam, loss of innocence and so on – but it is wonderful so far. In between I knocked off two Maigret crime novels – A Man’s Head and The Yellow Dog from writer Georges Simenon. For reasons unknown to me I have decided to read all of the Maigret books – some 76 of them I believe and with only 14 in the bag I have a long ways to go!

Ok – a small cultural diatribe that will lead ever so neatly into a slight discussion on a few Japanese films I have seen here. The sidewalks of Bangkok are silent sadists just waiting for a doodling victim – someone to eat up, to cripple or to humiliate – spit them out like half chewed broccoli. Overall Bangkok is a friendly Farang town that caters to tourism like an over the hill mistress to her benefactor, but the sidewalks here are the bane of many an ex-pat – obstacle courses that take the starch out of you. If it’s not the multitudes of food carts that can spring up anywhere, anytime and take up the sidewalk so that you have to walk in the street, it’s the motorcycles going the wrong way down the sidewalk, the blind beggars chanting their way forward, the sitting beggars and their cute prop children grabbing at your ankles and calling you papa, puddles that could water the Sahara, unattended sink holes fitted just to the right size to break your leg or swallow you up, vendors selling cheap trinkets or pirated clothes to budget tourists who fill their suitcases with this stuff, high tech drainage systems that take the rain from the roof and pour it onto the sidewalks from above (I test my ninja skills by trying to avoid getting dripped on), cable wires laid on top of the sidewalks as opposed to underneath, loose tiles, broken tiles, missing tiles, pimps handing out glossy brochures promising you the time of your life, Sikhs stopping you with the words “You are a lucky man” (doubtful if he has seen my financial portfolio of late) “and let me tell you how lucky by reading your fortune” and let us not forget the gigantic elephants that toil back and forth on certain streets by handlers looking for contributions. Believe me when I say that when you see an elephant coming straight at you on the sidewalk, there is nothing that can make you move much faster – traffic be damned.

So my plan is to take up Parkour and simply climb over Bangkok. I got this idea while watching K-20: Legend of the Mask from Japan. My fear of heights and a rather creaky body may be an impediment but I figure that after a few weeks of training the next time I see an elephant headed my way I just run at it – hit his trunk, flip over his body and land ever so neatly on the sidewalk. Hopefully, not in a hole or on a Sikh. K-20 is great kiddie fun for adults. An old-fashioned super hero more in the mold of DC comics than Marvel and based as it seems all Japanese films are on a Manga. The still very cute Takashi Kaneshiro plays a circus acrobat who is framed for being the criminal genius K-20. So when he escapes from jail he is determined to catch the real criminal and trains going over buildings in a Tokyo where WWII never happened. Corny and great fun – the kind of movie that made me wish I still ate popcorn. Bangkok is not a bad place to catch Japanese movies in a cinema. There are a couple non-mall theaters that bring really good foreign films and I saw K-20 that way as well as the first two installments in the three part 20th Century Boys. These are also based on a really popular Manga it seems and over all are pretty fanboy cool. Basic plot line is – as young boys a group of friends made up a story about the earth being taken over by an evil menace and when they are adults they realize that their childhood book is being followed to the letter - and it is up to them to stop the destruction of the world. The first film seemed to confuse a lot of viewers but I had no issues like that – it is just so overstuffed with plot threads, images, characters and jolting tonal mood changes that it may throw some – but it is enormously brazen and imaginative. Loved it. The second film picks up years later and felt more like a tablesetter for the final film in the series. It is not nearly as dynamic or visually adventurous – but it certainly made me want to see the next one.

In my past life in a world far far away, I was part of the New York Asian Film Festival before I came to my senses. I had to escape to Bangkok in order to do so – if I was still in NYC there would be no way out. I mention this because all three of these films and about a zillion others will be showing at this year’s festival which I will sadly have to miss. In years past I think I can honestly say I never lied about my opinion on this Blog about the films we were showing – if I didn’t like it – I just avoided writing about it! But I don’t have much to say this year because I have only seen a handful of them, but just by reading Grady’s highly impartial blurbs it sounds like a fun time for all – especially the guests. Lau Ching-wan! Can I rejoin just for one day? But what is really exciting is that there looks like a lot of diversity this year and loads of Hong Kong films. Who would have thought it possible but they seem to have put on the best fest yet – without me! Cause or Coincidence?

There still isn’t much up on the website but if you read through the various posts on the Subway news Blog you can piece much of the line-up together – and the trailer is up! That can be found right here.

http://subwaycinemanews.com/

Thanks to Wise Kwai for the heads up regarding the World Comedy Film Festival happening right here in Bangkok beginning on June 10th. Thai’s could use some laughs these days with their economy taking a nose dive but my guess is that as is the norm with festivals here the majority of the attendees will be foreigners. Some potentially interesting films from all over the galaxy – I have jotted down a wish list of nine films ranging from Iran to Estonia to Korea (Dachiman Lee). Estonia. Cool. Has anyone seen a film from there? I will have to see if my ambitions get thwarted again by laziness and rain. There is also a mini-Italian fest this weekend with 12 films at the Emporium.

Not too long ago there were numerous write-ups denoting Obama’s first 100-days in office. I give him an A+ myself. Whether his plans to revive the economy, fix health care and bring about world peace ever pan out is to be seen – but good grief – at least the guy is trying. Honestly, isn’t the world a much better place with Bush gone and Obama in office? I did an unscientific poll yesterday on the streets of Bangkok to see what others thought of him – I just wore an Obama t-shirt and over the day had at least 40 people chant his name as I walked by or give me a smiling thumbs up. Many of these people were from the Middle East. Maybe there is a chance for peace. Someday I expect to see Obama's face on the fifty dollar bill. What the heck did Grant do to deserve it?

Before I get to the official review on the Shaw Brothers film, here are some opinions on some non-Asian fare I have seen.

Star Trek – wonderful – I am not a Trekkie but I may be after going out and buying the first two seasons of the original series after seeing this movie. They are great so far.

Angels and Demons – if I had a Stupid Meter I think this film may rank at the very top. What was the point of this film, what was the plot, what was the motive? Absolute nonsense. I can’t believe Ron Howard could make such a dim-witted film with enough plot holes for all the demons from Hell to casually walk through. My favorite idiocy – SPOILER ALERT – is when our two heroes come face to face with the hired killer and even after killing anyone else in the film who even blinked in his direction, basically tells the pair that even though they can recognize him he won’t kill them because they are the stars of the movie and without Tom Hanks there can’t be a sequel. Yikes, this was bad.

The Gene Generation - Bai Ling shows her breasts in this incoherent sci-fi film about genetic something or another – and they look marvelous. Even on her stick figure stuck into some tight fitting leather and carrying guns as large as she is. Oh and Faye Dunaway has what must be the most embarrassing cameo in her life as a digital image. I understand that if you are making a home movie she is available to appear in it for a bus ticket and a platter of fruits.

JCVD – Van Damme plays himself in this wonderfully playful film in which he becomes a hostage in a bank robbery back in his home town of Brussels. If only Van Damme could have shown this charming vulnerable side in some of his myriad of low budget macho flicks, maybe he could have had that "A" Hollywood film he wants so badly. Totally enjoyable for any Van Damme fan or detractor.

Skins – Brit TV series about a group of young middle class students in University who imbibe in a lot of drugs and sex. The characters are basically annoying as hell but the terrific writing and good acting makes this a real good watch. Interestingly, one of the actors who has the least screen time (until the episode in Russia when he beds a Russian wench) is now the most famous - played by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire. Cassie as the mixed up eating disorder pill popping blonde will steal your heart. Primarily comic in attitude but with some unexpectedly moving moments as well.

Ok.

Asia-Pol
Director: Akinori Matsuo
Year: 1967

The 1960’s was of course the time of the great espionage films – the Cold War was good for that if nothing else - not only the Bond flicks but also the Flint movies with James Coburn, the Harry Palmer series with Michael Caine, the Quiller films with George Segal, anything based on John LaCarre novels and of course the classic Modesty Blaise! But Asia-Pol seems most influenced by an American TV series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in which a secret police organization has been created by the United Nations to combat global crime. Their secret headquarters is through a back door in a New York City laundry. This film uses that particular device and others in an effort to jumpstart this film but it falls surprisingly short of being fun.

All the necessary elements seem to be in place – sleek cars and sleeker women, two big stars, jet setting travel, great location shooting, exploding golf balls and shoot outs – but it never really revels in any of this and is rather plodding in its way too talkie execution. Shoot me, but Lo Wei would have done a better job with this material. Instead the Shaw’s turned across the waters in a co-operative venture with Nikkatsu – using one of their directors (who was to do much better work in 1971 with The Lady Professional), a writer and one of Japan’s biggest action stars, Jo Shishido of the chipmunk cheeks. So in a sense this is more Nikkatsu than Shaw but it lacks the ferocity that Nikkatsu brought to their action films and one can only guess that the Shaws wanted a watered down version of a Nikkatsu film with one of their rising stars topping it.

Jimmy Wang Yu plays Yang Ming Xuan, born to Chinese parents in Hong Kong but ending up as an orphan in Japan. He is a topnotch agent in a pan-Asian police organization and he and his partner are investigating large amounts of gold being smuggled into Japan that could destabilize the economy. Everything leads to the always smirking George (Shishido) who is in charge of the Japan branch of an equally secret criminal organization called ADV. The advantage keeps going back and forth between Yang and George as they one up each other. Unfortunately for George he suffers from that disease so many screen villains seem to catch – he prefers gloating to simply killing Yang every time he has a chance. Bad for him. Good for Yang. It appears that Yang’s long lost Chinese father may be the head of ADV and so he goes to Hong Kong and later Macao to prove the charge false – ah the good old days of Pan Am and no airport security. In Hong Kong he meets up with a sister (the ever so demure Fang Ying) he didn’t know he had who is also trying to prove her father’s innocence.

From a 2009 perspective the location shooting is the best thing about the film as Yang drives all over Hong Kong (and a bit in Macau) in a city that is barely recognizable today.

Rating: 6/10

R.I.P. David Carradine

Snow Girl and Others

I am hoping to get through a bunch of Shaw Brother’s films this month and jot down some quick thoughts on them. Why? Because they are there, of course. I have a pile of unwatched Shaw DVDs that nearly reaches the moon and it is time to make a small dent in it. Most of the DVDs are still back home gathering dust but a number of them made the journey with me. To make this Blog entry a bit longer I am also throwing in for no additional cost some mini-mini reviews of some non-Asian fare I have come across lately. In fact I have been watching a lot more non-Asian than Asian films recently. First up is Vengeance of a Snow Girl.

Vengeance of a Snow Girl
Director: Lo Wei
Year: 1971
Time: 117 minutes

Vengeance of a Snow Girl is a somewhat long winded wuxia tale that ultimately takes on a surprising poignancy. The Snow Girl seeking vengeance is played by Li Ching, not exactly physically the most formidable or fearsome of actresses. She is about as tall as a roll of Charmin and just as soft with large beseeching eyes that would make a doe cry. She began mainly as a dramatic actress and quickly acquired the nickname “Baby Queen”, but with the popularity of the martial arts film all the Shaw actors were expected to pitch in and Li Ching had her share of action roles. All that said, Li Ching is quite good in this wrathful role bringing her acting chops to one of wuxia’s more memorable heroines.

In the dark a red hooded figure quickly flits from roof to roof , but the eyes make clear who is behind the masked face and what the gender is (though later the not too observant kung fu men seem to think she is a man – gender recognition rarely being a learned skill in many martial arts films). She darts into the room of Ge Hong and steals one of his deadly Golden Claws thus setting in motion a standard tale of revenge but with enough twists and curiosities to make it intriguing. Since she was a young girl Bing trained with two hermits in order to gain the requisite skills to avenge the murders of her mother and father at the hands of four martial arts masters. Now she feels ready to return the favor. She is at a slight disadvantage though as she is crippled and only able to walk aided by her two jade crutches (weapons within needless to say), but her kung fu is great and she can all but fly. Visually she makes a lethal looking killer – walking crab like she appears monstrous in her hate and at times when director Lo Wei speeds up her crooked walk she has a certain Ju-on quality about her.

Ten years previously Ximen Chong (Lee Kwan), Tong Hong (Ku Feng), Ge Hong (Wong Chung-shun) and Gao Yun (Tien Peng) demanded that Bing’s father turn over the Jade Phoenix Sword to them for safekeeping and upon his refusal they kill him and his wife. In the shadows this is witnessed by Bing as she submerges herself for hours in ice cold water to both escape and to protect the sword– this turns out to badly damage her legs. Now in an explosion of hatred she wants blood. One of the three killers Gao Yun feels great guilt for his actions and sympathizes with his would-be killer and further complications arise when one of his son’s (Yueh Hua) falls hard for Bing (after first thinking she was a he). Gao tells his son that she can be healed – but as in all wuxia stories it won’t be easy – she has to go to a mystical snow field with a hot water spring – but she will be instantly frozen to death unless she has a magical pearl that resides inside a volcano with her – but she will burn to death in the volcano unless she is wearing heat resistant armour (looking amazingly like asbestos suits) that is the property of a Prince. The journey begins even knowing that when she can walk no one will be a match for her killing skills. Meanwhile, Tong Hong and his spoiled daughter (Chiao Chiao) are after Bing and the Jade Phoenix. Good production values and some great location shooting, the film could have used a little better editing and some better action choreography but it’s the plot rather than the action that makes this a satisfying outing. Btw – keep an eye out for Sammo in red as one of Tong’s henchmen.

My rating for this film: 7.0

Non-Asian

Religulous (2008) – Bill Maher has long been one of my favorite political humorists with his scathing wit and anti-establishment sentiments. Much of my pleasure was no doubt due to how in synch we were regarding our total contempt for Bush and his cronies – but Maher puts his money where his mouth is. When nearly all the media became shameless cheerleaders for the Iraq invasion Maher constantly questioned it from the beginning and received lots of heat and hate mail for that. Now he turns his attentions to another very sensitive subject – religion – and in Religulous he takes great pleasure in skewering the big three – Christianity, Judaism and Islam. This is a documentary of sorts I suppose – but certainly not an objective one and for those who find religion and humor irreconcilable they should stay far away from this or they will just get pissed off with his smarter than thou attitude. Maher is an agnostic and finds religion to be one of the most dangerous forces in the world today. Here again I am in basic agreement with his views though religion to me is a two-sided head – it can clearly be a force for good but it all too often falls into the hands of fanatics, blow hards, charlatans and nuts who use it for political and moralistic agendas as well as for financial gain. With so much of the hatred around us today being spawned by religion it makes this film relevant if nothing else. And it’s funny.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) – I have to admit to approaching Wes Anderson’s films with some trepidation. They are such intentional oddball curiosities that I worry that if I don’t “get it” it may imply that I am just not hip enough to understand his unique vision – but strangely enough though I probably don’t really get it I always end up liking his films – Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and especially The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. But a wandering narrative, a thick air of lassitude and a dead pan delivery makes appreciating Darjeeling even more challenging than usual - but as in his other films by the end I was a captive of the mood he weaves. To a large degree what happens in Anderson’s films don’t really matter all that much – the pleasures are derived from his wonderful marriage of music, framing, detailed sets, gorgeous cinematography and moments of pure lump in your throat cinema. This is a simple story of three brothers in search of their mother in a trip across India (that is as kind to the Indian Tourist Board as Slumdog was scary) but of course it turns into more than that – it becomes a search for themselves. It begins with one of those marvelous Anderson moments – Bill Murray is running to catch the Darjeeling Limited and suddenly out of nowhere Adrian Brody passes him by and makes the train. Murray doesn’t and perhaps Anderson is symbolically waving goodbye to Murray who has been in most of his previous films – but in retrospect it is kind of unfortunate that Murray missed the train as this sort of unflappable humor is his forte. The DVD includes a short called Hotel Chevalier that wasn’t shown in the theater but is a prelude to the film (and has Natalie Portman taking her clothes off) – it is a lovely mood piece as well – it almost felt like a Leonard Cohen song of unresolved love.

The Inglorious Bastards (1978) – coincidentally I read that the next Quentin Tarantino film was somewhat inspired by this 70’s Euro production. Not that his film Inglourious Basterds follows the same plot but it was a film that he liked and he wanted to pay homage to it by using a similar title. Directed by Enzo Castellari, the film follows five allied troops during WW II who were on their way to a court martial before they are able to escape during a German attack. They decide to head for the Swiss border but on the way they fall into a situation in which they have to decide whether to continue to the border or do the right thing and kill lots of Nazis. No prize for guessing which way they go! It wouldn’t have been much of a movie otherwise. The American stars were Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson. Enjoyable enough I guess though hard to see where QT’s passion comes from.

Seth Rogan has become my kind of leading romantic man – what that says about current times I am not sure – but the dissolute overweight slacker persona that he takes into most of his films seems to have hit a chord out there in movieland. I liked Knocked Up quite a bit but both of these films are a definite step down.

Pineapple Express (2008) – Rogan tries his hand at action comedy with mixed results. A male bonding film between two and later three dimwitted potheads has its moments but feels too conventional even as absurd as its premise is. Rogan’s character witnesses a murder and his special brand of weed leads right back to him. He and his dope dealer (James Franco) go on a muddle headed run but eventually have to face the fact that their druggie ways have ruined their lives. Yikes – did the Motion Picture Board make them insert that awful maudlin scene along with a couple other buddy buddy ones? It takes a John Woo turn towards the end that is more than a bit unbelievable but still fun to watch.

Zack and Mimi Make a Porno (2008) – this film answers the quaint question – can two platonic friends make a porno together and fall in love. And the answer is Yes! Porno brings them together – porno saves their lives – porno is the answer for all of love’s knotty questions. Zack (Rogan) and his life long friend Miri (an adorable Elizabeth Banks) need to pay off a lot of bills and so decide that the only thing that will bring in money quickly enough to stave off being thrown out of their apartment is making a porno and selling it to all their old high school classmates. Makes perfect sense. So they gather a motley cast to do so (among them Jason Mewes, Traci Lords and Craig Robinson – the warehouse superintendent in the TV show The Office – he also is in Pineapple Express). This felt like a major step down for director Kevin Smith and though I am not sure if this was a straight to video production it sure felt like one.

Greenwich Village (1944) – Visiting New York City in the 1920’s from far away Kansas, Don Ameche gets off a tour bus in the heart of Greenwich Village and life is never the same as he joins a transvestite revue with his spot on imitation of Judy Garland. O.K. not quite, but within a week he finds himself a girl (Vivian Blaine) and is a composer of a Broadway hit show. Only in New York my friends. This is a pretty standard musical from 20th Century Fox with a few solid but not really memorable numbers. What will probably attract a modern day audience more than the two leads are the cast surrounding them – the wonderful Carman Miranda has three numbers all adorned with various high setting head wear and a male black dance group called The Four Step Brothers have one sizzling number that just makes you smile. But best of all is William Bendix, one of the great character actors of his day, doing a soft shoe in a Roman toga. Bendix could be chillingly nasty (The Glass Key) or your best buddy (the long running TV series Life with Riley) or even Babe Ruth (The Babe Ruth Story) and here he brings substance into a pretty insubstantial but mildly enjoyable film.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were co-stars for a bunch of MGM hits going back to the 1930’s when Judy appeared in three of Mickey’s Andy Hardy series and then later in higher profile films. Recently a box set of some of these big hits was released and I got around to watching two of them. I’ve never been a huge Garland fan – that is until she opens her mouth to sing and then zing – when she sings it is like she is having a religious experience but her religion is show business. Both of these are terrific films – not for the plots which are as flimsy as a grass hut but just for the great numbers and the warm chemistry between these two teenage stars.

Babes on Broadway (1941) – this one falls into that musical sub-genre that might be labeled “Let’s Put on a Show”. The old timers are beginning to realize that their style of vaudeville has fallen out of fashion and are having a hard time making ends meet. So naturally their musically proficient offspring decide to put on a show in a local barn to raise money – and not just any show but one with songs like "How About You" and "Babes on Broadway". They end up on Broadway of course in a sizzling show that dazzles. Directed by the great Busby Berkeley with a load of songs from Judy.

Girl Crazy (1943) – with even a cornier plot than Babes, this one has teenage lothario Mickey being sent to a boy’s agricultural college out west by his wealthy dad to keep him away from girls. Fortunately for us Judy is the daughter of the Dean of the college (the always welcome dithering Guy Kibbee) and Mickey and Judy soon cross swords and eventually hearts. June Allyson and Tommy Dorsey also show up to entertain. Some amazing songs from the Gershwin brothers here – "Embraceable You", "But Not For Me", "Fascinating Rhythm" – but the best is saved for last – a gigantic Busby Berkeley choreographed number to "I Got Rhythm" with a stunning vocal from Garland.

Honey West TV series (1965) – claiming to be the first TV show with a female action detective Honey West only lasted for one year. Perhaps the audience wasn’t quite ready for a kung fu hottie with a pet ocelot. Or perhaps it just wasn’t that great a show. I have gotten through about half the series and haven’t really decided yet. Anne Francis (Forbidden Planet) is a cocktail of oozing sex with a stiff upper cut – usually dressed to kill with various gadgets hidden on her in hard to find places. So far though the show seems to be making a big miscalculation – perhaps they thought they had to to be palatable to the audience of the sixties – but in nearly every episode she walks into a trap and is captured only to be rescued by her smarmy male partner (John Ericson) who would look much more at home in a gigolo bar. Honey feels like the female version of Peter Gunn – cool jazz – and as portrayed by the stunning Francis it’s a neat flashback to when people were still stylish, drove big cars and never looked worried.

And as a reward for getting this far, here is a literary recommendation: Death of a Red Heroine (2000) by Qiu Xiaolong. Qiu has written a series of five detective novels all featuring Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Department beginning in the early 1990’s. I have all five of them and had been waiting for the right moment to begin reading them. The right moment felt like the other day. Chen is a man torn between duty to country and his real love for poetry which he has had published (and quotes extensively through the book). He is in charge of a special squad which tackles the difficult cases and perhaps none more so than when a young woman’s body turns up in a remote canal. To some degree this is a basic police procedural – find out who the victim is and then gather evidence to discover the killer. But the book is so much more than that as it explores the Byzantine intricacies of Party politics and a rapidly changing China. It really makes for fascinating reading. The author is an interesting figure in his own right – he wrote a book about T.S. Eliot (Chen wrote a dissertation on Eliot), has published poetry and was a critic of Tiananmen Square that forced him to stay in America where he now works. The book is very critical in many ways of China present and past and I was wondering how the heck he had gotten away with it until I realized that he was living in the U.S. I believe these books were written in English by Qiu and they are poetic at times in their own right – I love small passages such as when he is asked to recite some poetry at a dinner thrown by his subordinate and Chen replies “Don’t ask me to read anything. My mouth is full of crab. A crab beats a couplet”.

Two More from Union Films

Last night I dreamed of Brigitte Lin. Odd. I have a friend who dreams of her from time to time. Was it in Chungking Express in which one of the characters ponders whether you can catch someone’s dreams? I wish I could remember this one better. I did when I first woke up but then I fell back to sleep for a few hours and there were only wisps of it remaining when I woke up again. I recall that Brigitte was a Goddess who came to visit me and tell me something important but I don’t recall what it was. Perhaps an apology for The Three Swordsman?

Here are quick reviews of the two other DVD’s I picked up of films from Union Film Productions. Wish I had ordered a bunch more as these two were quite enjoyable as well. Maybe I was just in the mood for period action films.

A Girl Fighter
Director: Yeung Sai-hing
Year: 1972
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 86 minutes

This is the fourth of these Union Film productions that I have watched starring Polly Shang-kwan but while she is at best a co-star in the others, in A Girl Fighter she is clearly the main focus and her often lead co-star Tien Peng is only around to support her. Like the others, the film has loads of action (choreographed by Poon Yiu-kwan, co-credited for action in A Touch of Zen) but it also has a clear dramatic narrative that may have been mildly influenced by a classic Western (Rio Bravo).

It looks like a relaxing night for the Lio family of needlework and reading when a local bully breaks in with the intention of raping the wife. When the husband and family elders try to intervene they are killed and so is the wife. So much for a quiet evening at home. The killer is Kim Teng-jiao (Law Bun), a nasty brute whose father Zhang-peng is the big shot in the county with vast hoards of men at his bidding. And no one messes with his boy if he wants to stay healthy. When the authorities advertise for someone to help them capture Teng-jiao they get no takers until a diminutive figure shows up to offer assistance. The authorities look askance at one another because Sima Mu-rong is not only small but also of the female gender. But she soon shows them her fighting skills by taking on four guards and embarrassing them. She gets the job. No resume required.

Like most spoiled bullies, Teng-jiao is taking up space at the local brothel, The Spring Whorehouse. After killing a few of his drinking buddies and smacking him up more than a little, Sima takes her man to the local jail to await transportation for trial. This is the real meat of the story as Sima and six guards attempt to take Teng-jiao across hostile territory with dangers everywhere as the father has every intention of getting his son back. Sima gets some surprising assistance from Geng (Tien Peng) who is related to the Lio’s and also from Captain Dong (played by Miao Tien with his usual stern authoritative presence). Numerous fights occur and the small band of brave men and one woman who refuse to give in slowly dwindle one by one.

It is always enjoyable coming upon actors like Miao Tien (a.k.a. Miu Tin) in these old films. He had quite the lengthy career and filmography stretching from King Hu's Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch of Zen until he became a favorite of Taiwanese new wave director Tsai Ming-liang who used him in a bunch of his films - Rebels of the Neon God, The River, The Hole, What Time is it There and Goodbye, Dragon Inn (in which he watched himself on screen as a much younger man). He died in 2005 at the age of 80.

My rating for this film: 7.5

A City Called Dragon
Director: Tu Chong-hsun
Year: 1969
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 90 minutes

Director Tu Chong-hsun’s A City Called Dragon is an intriguing link between King Hu’s Dragon Gate Inn (1967) and A Touch of Zen (1971). Tu was Hu’s assistant director on both of those films and Hu’s influence in this film is apparent everywhere – from the main theme of the film (rebellion against authority), the slow drawn out tension of certain scenes, the tracking shots, the percussive soundtrack, the action style and most primarily in his iconic use of actress Hsu Feng. Hsu Feng debuted while a teenager in Dragon Gate Inn as the young girl, but it was in A Touch of Zen that she earned her legendary status as the chivalrous very deadly female warrior fighting for freedom against immense odds. Clearly her character in A City Called Dragon is modeled on Miss Yang from Zen and could almost be the same character at an earlier stage in her life.

A Touch of Zen notoriously took three years to be made and nearly bankrupted Union Film when it tanked at the box office. Hu constructed a small town for the setting and then let it sit in order to give it an aged look. His patience in waiting for the correct shot became legendary as in one such instance when he waited months until some flowers bloomed. It was likely during one of these breaks in which this film was made and though I would have to go back and see it again, the sets in this film looked very much like the ones in Zen and the old mansion is used very much in the same moody haunting manner. But all that said, this is no A Touch of Zen. It is missing Hu’s elegance and poetic rhythm as well as his insights into character, religion, politics and gender. Still I quite enjoyed the film though I admit much of that came from my appreciation of Hsu Feng who the director poses beautifully with sword in hand time after time in a near beatific light.

The film takes place during the Sung dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) with Emperor Hsiao Hsia in power and rebels, who are based in the Tai-hun Mountains, fighting for their freedom. Miss Shang is on her way to Dragon City to make contact with rebel Chen Young who has secret plans to hand over to her to take to the rebel stronghold. Before reaching the town, Miss Shang learns that Chen was captured and killed along with 80 members of his family by the Mayor (Shih Jun – the scholar in A Touch of Zen). Her mission now changes to finding the secret plans and killing the Mayor. Everyone in Dragon City is under suspicion and as soon as she enters she is followed by a coterie of peddlers sending rhythmic signals to one another. She has to kill one of them in order to escape their watching eyes but this alerts the authorities to her presence and the entire security apparatus begins to search for her. Just to be safe, the Mayor requests the assistance of Wuo, a vicious killer with a wicked laugh who works for the Emperor. But all is not as it seems. The film is perhaps too deliberately paced but it creates a tense claustrophobic atmosphere and a mood of solitary heroic desperation. The main fault is that the final fight takes place at night and much of it is lost in the darkness – whether due to the transfer or the original is hard to say.

My rating for this film: 7.5

Union Film Production Company

Ah, Songkran has come to a merciful end and none too soon. It was basically four days of ducking and dodging but eventually getting soaked. On the second day four good humored fellows set up two barrels of water right outside my apartment building and dumped or threw buckets of water on almost anyone leaving or entering the place. No one was shown mercy except the Muslim women in their burkas. One poor fellow rode up in a taxi and they patiently waited for him to get out. He thought he could out wait them but after about ten minutes and no doubt at the urging of the driver he made a dash for it like Jim Brown in the The Dirty Dozen. He didn’t make it either. I think by the third day and perhaps the fifth time I needed to change my wet clothes I decided that next year I will sit out Songkran in some foreign locale! But it did give me time to finally get around to watching some DVDs.

A number of films that were produced by the Taiwanese film company Union Film Productions back in the 1960’s and 70’s have made their way onto DVD and right before I left for Asia my small order from YesAsia showed up and I just took a look at three of them. YesAsia has seventeen of their films on DVD in their catalogue. At least from this small sampling I wish I had ordered a bunch more as all three were very solid period wuxia/action films that are fairly entertaining. Union Film Productions is best known as the home that King Hu joined in Taiwan after he jumped the Shaw Brothers ship upon completing Come Drink with Me and he put the company on the map with Dragon Inn (1967) and A Touch Of Zen (1971). The expense and lengthy shooting time of A Touch of Zen helped contribute to eventually bankrupting the company, but during this time they were also making a number of smaller budgeted martial arts films that are chock full of sword play and kung fu. Though they do not have the same high production values as the Shaw Brothers wuxia films during these same years, they are not far behind and what they may lack in gloss, glamour and intricate fight choreography, they make up for with imagination and a body count as far as the eye can see.

Some of the same actors show up in many of the films – Tien Peng, Pai Ying, Polly Shang-kwan and many character actors. Polly who had debuted in Hu’s Dragon Inn is clearly a favorite of the production company and shows up in many of these films and in all three of those I viewed. That is not a co-incidence as I mainly bought ones that she was in as she has always been one of my favorite female action actresses. I think she was as skilled as Angela Mao (both went through training since childhood), but never became the cult figure that Angela did primarily I think due to her petite somewhat shapeless stature and a lack of Angela’s fiery charisma. She is great to watch in these three films though – always out for revenge and a veritable killing machine often wielding her two short swords.

The quality of the DVDs ranges from terrific to only O.K. They are widescreen with good colors and the English subs are shown below and easy to read.

The Bravest Revenge
Director: Chien Lung
Year: 1970
Duration: 89 minutes

The Bravest Revenge begins with action and from that point on only pauses occasionally for some terse dialogue and minimal plot development before the next action set piece kicks in. Director Lung seems to go by the well-honed film theory that if the actors aren’t moving and someone isn’t being killed you are just wasting your audience’s time. It was certainly alright with me as I hadn’t seen a wuxia in a while and this felt pretty good. Lung is also a big proponent of the zoom, often for no particular purpose that can be discerned. In an interview, Eric Tsang said of his first directorial outings that using zoom shots back then was considered the sign of a knowledgeable director but admits it looks terrible now. Yes, they do. Yet this is only an amusing distraction in a field of death.

Chau Mutien (Yee Yuen) has escaped from prison and is up to his old tricks again of ravaging the countryside. Brother Hsih (Ma Kei) who captured Chau the first time is brought out of retirement to bring him down again, but Chau has been practicing for this moment and with his powerful sword he is able to slay Hsih in front of his four children – three sons and one daughter. He considers killing them as well but lets them live and tells them to come back in five years when they are ready to fight him. Big mistake. The four (Chan Bo-leung, Sit Hon, Man Chung-san and Polly Shang-kwan) each trains with a different master for the requisite period of time and they learn all the basics like walking on water and catching a knife between their teeth. In exactly five years, they gather in Blue Dragon Town to revenge their father.

They find the area very much changed though – Chau is a huge kingpin now with more minions working for him than Donald Trump. The four immediately get to work and begin whittling away at all the black attired followers of Chau (being dressed in black turns out to be a one-way ticket to an early departure from the film). The four are joined by a mysterious fellow named Tsai (Tien Peng) who seems pretty handy with a sword – but then he should be as he is the Sword King. But even though the minions fall like leaves in a wind storm, Chau shows that he is more than a match for all five of them – even at the same time! Tsai realizes that he needs the Sun Sword to defeat Chau and goes off on a mission to track it down – while the four siblings decide they can’t wait for him and need to give Chau one last challenge. They wade into his well protected fortress and the killing begins in earnest. The action choreography is pretty good in this one with an enormous amount of acrobatic jumps that appear to be very much influenced by the way King Hu shot his action scenes – using trampolines and quick edited shots. At times it is a bit absurd as a character jumps out of one frame and in the next is sitting in a tree a mile away – but over all it is impressive, fast moving and lots of fun.

My rating for this film: 7.5


The Ghost Hill
Director: Ding Sia-sa
Year: 1971
Duration: 91 minutes

The title Ghost Hill is quite misleading as it may give the impression that this will be a supernatural tale but it is a straightforward period sword fighting flick with close to non-stop action. The director is behind a few reasonably well-known films – Whiplash with Cheng Pei-pei, 800 Hundred Heroes with Brigitte Lin and the perhaps infamous A Queen’s Ransom starring Angela Mao and George Lazenby - but Ghost Hill is a more enjoyable jaunt then any of those. There isn’t much of a plot beyond revenge but Ding fills the screen with loads of thugs in bad haircuts, colorful costumes, eccentric weapons and imaginative action scenarios that make it a bit of a hoot.

It begins with a seeming dash of samurai influenced swordplay on the beach as two men duel for the privilege of being handed the Purple Light Magic Sword from an old master who is retiring from the business and looking for the right man to take on the title of Sword King. Even though Jun (David Tong-wai) wins the bloodless match, the old master gives the sword to Shadow Tsai (Tein Peng) and explains that Jun only won by using the secret Hidden Tiger Leaving Dragon sword move which is against the rules of good etiquette. This decision naturally doesn’t sit too well with Jun.

Back home Shadow leaves the sword with his master only to return soon to find that the master has been killed and the sword stolen – he immediately suspects Jun. At the same time across town so to speak the long term nemesis of his family (for never explained reasons) Yun (Chan Bo-leung) and his daughter Swallow (Polly Shang-kwan) are also being attacked by a group of masked villains and the father is slain – and Swallow thinks that Shadow must be behind this. She calls her pal Jun over to help her out. What none of them realize initially is that the very evil King (Sit Hon) is behind both attacks and is trying to set these potentially formidable opponents against one another so that he can then rule the world and perhaps even move out of his spacious cave to a nicer neighborhood. He has a hottie of a daughter – Gia (Han Hsiang Chin) who is equally adept at poison, seduction and swordplay.

Eventually the good guys figure out who is responsible for all this trouble and they team up to invade his multilevel multi-cavernous cave with more booby traps than an Indiana Jones movie and this is when the film really takes off. There are some ten gates opposing our heroes and each one has its own obstacles to overcome such as ice, fire, explosions, poison and so on. With the help of the Beggar Gang who talk in sing-song syncopated rhymes they storm Hell’s Castle and the body count makes D-Day look like a walk in the park. The action choreography is so-so – often looking too slow and on another occasion absurdly speeded up – but it’s the set pieces in which the action is placed that makes it all rather silly fun.

My rating for this film: 7.5

The Brave and the Evil
Director: Jimmy Wang Yu
Year: 1971
Duration: 102 minutes

“The Brave and the Evil can never exist together”

In his years with the Shaw Brothers Jimmy Wang Yu (director and action choreographer of this film) was largely responsible for popularizing and re-energizing the wuxia film and he is also credited in 1970 for starring in the first pure kung fu film with Chinese Boxer. Yet he never felt that he was being fairly compensated for his work and the box office that he brought in and so he broke his contract with the Shaw’s and began working with other production companies as well as setting up his own production house. The Brave and the Evil was one of the first films he worked on after leaving the Shaw Brothers and it is an interesting mix of both sword fighting and kung fu. It also has a certain Spaghetti Western influence weaving through it in particular in the musical motifs.

Hei’s Fortress is home to a large pack of cutthroat villains headed by Devil Whip Chao I-fu (another ex-Shaw leading man Paul Chang Chung). A premium is clearly placed on nasty sounding nicknames as his top henchmen are named Swift Sword Chieh-fei (Kenneth Tsang), Butcher Li-Erh-yu (Sit Hon) and Killer Liu Piao (Man Chung-san) and their perpetual snarls match their names. Word comes to them that a shipment of value is coming through their territory and is guarded by Hung Te-wei (Ma Chi), a well-known swordsman. They attack in full force and though loads of minions are killed they eventually murder Hung with the use of Chao’s tricky Devil Whip. Minions are clearly easily replaceable since no one ever seems too concerned with their demise. There must be a 1-800-minion line in which they can be ordered and by the end of this film they just about have to all be replaced.

The security man Hung had a daughter and not just any daughter but one with a temper as fast as her two-short-sword slices. Upon hearing about her father’s death and the culprits responsible, Tien Chao (Polly Shang-kwan) hops on a horse and rushes like a hellcat towards Hei’s Fortress for a little thing called vengeance. On the way she is seen by a lone wanderer, Iron Palm Pai (Jimmy Wang Yu) who is usually accompanied by a Marricone like theme wherever he goes. Not liking evil guys much, he decides to join her on her quest. After first killing much of a town of evildoers – one with a rather deadly sharp abacus – they set out for the main bad guys. The final 45 minutes of the film is made up of two large set pieces – one with Polly taking on zillions of them and then Wang Yu doing the same. Wang Yu’s final duel to the death with Chao is terrific – lasting as long as a slow kiss with Angelina Jolie it goes on to the point of exhaustion – one shot of the two in a waiting stationary position of attack with the sun coming up behind them is Kill Bill cool. The action choreography is an interesting mix – lots of swordplay involving Polly and the bad guys and then Wang Yu strictly using his deadly Iron Palm kung fu. Good stuff though fairly generic.

My rating for this film: 7.0

Shinjuku and Songkran

I just got my first dousing. A couple shots to the stomach and a blast in the back. The Songkran festival began today in Bangkok. It was apparently once a somber religious festival in which water was poured over friends, family and elders to cleanse them of the past year’s bad luck so they can begin anew. That aspect of the festival is still around but for many others Bangkok turns into a giant water pistol shoot-em-up obstacle course in which foreigners are not only fair game but prized targets. It is pretty difficult even getting to the corner 7-11 without getting drenched to the great delight of any Thai around. Having fun (sanuk) is a big part of Thai culture and no more so than during Songkran with a farang in your gun sights. So I may be spending much of the next few days ensconced in my apartment or lying by the pool munching on Famous Amos cookies and sandwiches. It’s not that I mind getting soaking wet – time after time after time – but I am told that to increase the sanuk factor the Thai’s now sometimes add various components to the water like oil and cement. I think my pasting was pure water though. At any rate, this has given me time to write up a short review on Shinjuku Incident which is playing here in a bunch of theaters but only in one as far as I know that isn’t dubbed into Thai. So earlier in the week I found my way to the RCA Complex along with another Asian film fan who was passing through town.

Shinjuku Incident
2009
Director: Derek Yee

Jacky Chan has been threatening for years that at some point in the future he will move from action to drama films. In his mid-50’s now, that isn’t a bad game plan. Still it wasn’t something that his fans or anyone else was anxiously waiting for. Shinjuku Incident is to a large degree that film. In a way, it’s like going to watch a famous strip tease artist only to discover that on this night she has decided to stay fully clothed and will perform a tea ceremony. You keep waiting for the joke to end and for the clothes to come off. They never do and you are not sure if you just got gypped or have witnessed a new art form in the making. Either way you have to admit to yourself that you would have preferred seeing her disrobe even if doing a tea ceremony. In Shinjuku Incident violence swirls all around Jackie’s character for much of the film, but he stays true to his tractor driving character and refrains from any snazzy acrobatics or kung fu whacks. Not doing so would have made this a Jackie Chan film rather than a Derek Yee picture – but it sure would have felt good seeing him smack down some nasty Yakuza’s.

Going with Derek Yee for his first dramatic outing was probably a good choice for Jacky – over the years Yee has shown himself comfortable both with straight drama (Lost in Time) and with crime stories (One Nite in Mongkok). Still this is a tricky balancing act – how do you have Jackie in a drama without bringing lots of baggage and expectations with him – and without allowing Jackie to make this his movie. For the most part I think Yee succeeds admirably by adroitly pulling together numerous threads and characters and making Jackie’s part less than the whole. He also surrounds him with a terrific cast. But it has to be said that Jacky is really not all that great a dramatic actor and I think this hurts the film overall – he can play serious but he can’t do it with any lightness, charm, nuance or layers. In Shinjuku he is so constantly honorable and dour that even Fan Bing Bing making goo-goo eyes at him doesn’t bring a smile or a tumble in bed. This was a role made for Lau Ching-wan and if he had been cast I think this would have been one of Yee’s better films. It is still a very solid fast moving crime drama that builds tension slowly and inexorably to the crackling climax. Some others who have seen the film have given it thumbs down based to a large degree on Daniel’s Wu’s over the top nutty manic performance but this was only a mild distraction to me and really only effects the last 20-minutes of the movie.

Shinjuku throws a sharp dagger through the heart of the supposed brotherhood and code of criminal gangs. Steelhead (Jackie) is a small town tractor driver in the Mainland whose fiancée goes to Tokyo to make some money before they get married. She disappears . . . for years. He illegally immigrates to Japan to look for her and after arriving he meets up with fellow townsman Jie (Wu) who introduces him to the tough life of illegal Chinese immigrants in Japan where the work is hard, the pay is low and the cops are always after you. There are others in this merry band of Chinese (Chin Kar-lok, Lam Suet, Ken Lo) and they get by through work or small time swindles. Through a series of somewhat incredulous events Steelhead discovers that his fiancée is now married to a top Yakuza Lieutenant and decides to work his way up the criminal food chain. Jie at the same time only wants to be chestnut vendor but some very bad luck sets him on a path to Wu nuttiness and bad wigs and fashion statements. As internecine gang war breaks out among the Yakuza, Steelhead and his Chinese gang become involved and all bets are off as to who is coming out of this alive and who can be trusted. It is quite compelling and certainly a stern lesson to Mainland Chinese about trying to make their fortunes by sneaking into Japan (the film is set of course in the 1990’s before the Chinese Economic Miracle)! Good parts are also handed over to Jack Kao, Kenya Sawada, Yasuaki Kurata, and Paul Chun Pui.

My rating for this film: 7.5

HKIFF 3 - Final

My quick trip to the HKIFF is over with only some ten films in the bag and five of those were old classics. I had wanted to spend more time wandering about HK this time but the sun did an Infernal Affairs on me by staying undercover the whole time. Never saw it - not even a peek or a wink. But it's still Hong Kong and even in drab damp charcoal grays it feels like no other place on earth. I spent way too much time in the Photo Shop and came away with a load of pictures to scan in some day when I am able to. I still only got through perhaps 35% of his offerings but I was surprised to find lots of new ones of some of my old favorites. For those who appreciate the likes of Veronica Yip, Anita Mui, Chingmy, Ada Choi and Maggie I picked up quite a few. And lots of others in smaller bunches. None this time around of Little Tony and Leslie I am afraid - I just ran out of time and money.

I also made a stop by the Tsui Hark/Workshop Exhibit that they have in conjunction with their screening many of his films. For me and many others, Tsui Hark is the greatest living director/producer around with so many classic films to his credit - so one might have expected the HKIFF to really go to town honoring him. Instead though, his films were shown primarily during the afternoons of weekdays in small theaters with smaller screens. Really shameful. And then this Exhibit was a big let down - primarily just posters of many of his films - I could have done nearly the same thing with my own posters. I had really expected much more. Maybe in 25 years they will do it right. Or maybe by then the HK Film Archives will do it as they know how to do these things.

This time around the HK Film Archives was shining the spotlight on Evan Yang, one of the top directors for Cathay. Their exhibit of him was well thought out and informative. I caught two of his films - both which I had previously seen on DVD and reviewed - but seeing Mambo Girl on the big screen was really wonderful - Grace Chang is glorious. It is such an old fashioned story of familial love that you might expect to find that today's audience would find it laughable - but at least this audience didn't and I could hear sniffling all around me and the 20-something next to me was crying so hard I wanted to put my arm around her to comfort her - but thought better of it! Beginnging the festival with Shanghai Blues and ending it with Mambo Girl felt just right.

The only other film I caught was Lonely Tunes of Tehran, another film from Iran but not nearly as interesting I thought as The Book of Law. It follows a Mice and Men duo on the fringes of Iranian society. One is a slow witted large lunk of a man while his friend is a constantly talking eyes bulging gnomish midget. They illegally trudge around Tehran putting up satellite TV hook-ups for people to be able to see channels from America, Europe and the Middle East. This is against the law and they have to keep a wary eye out for the authorities as well as the landlord trying to collect back rent. But the film isn't political really - it's about friendship in hard times with next to nothing going for you and little hope that it ever will. It is a slice of life tale with no dramatic twists - just two guys trying to eke out a living.

As usual I get to the airport too early and so have time to wander around a while before going through passport control - and in Terminal 1 I come across a Media Asia Hollywood exhibit - but I was too cheap to buy a ticket though I did snap a picture or two from outside. Has anybody gone into it? And then there was this cool game room to kill some time. Where else but Hong Kong would have this?

A very few pictures of my time in HK here.

HKIFF 2

Another rainy windy day that sends a cool chill whipping around. Not too nice for sightseeing but just fine for moving going. Three more films seen. And all of them terrific. Two of them dealt with Islam and faith in very different ways. The first one was Talentime, the latest film from one of my favorite directors, Yasmin Ahmad from Malaysia. As in her previous films that comprise the Orked trilogy, Yasmin explores the themes closest to her heart of faith, tolerance, family and living in a multi-cultural society. The film is less moody and more narrative than her previous efforts as she widens her net and follows three families - a mixed Malaysian family that is very much like the one in Orked, an Indian family composed of a widow and her two children and another Malay family of a dying mother and her son. The thread that brings them together is a Talentime - a high school talent show in which a child from each of the three families are involved. The film initially appears to be a lighthearted comedy but as the lives of these families spill over and interact, it takes on a powerfully emotional resonance that is at times wrenching. There are a few false notes here - primarily in the form of an English grandmother - and the directing at times felt lax - but in the end her humanistic voice and a simple plea to love each other is what will be remembered.

Next up was an Iranian film titled The Book of Law that took me very much by surprise with its puckish and at time Woody Allen type humor. It is a real treat. A small group of NGO Iranians visit Beirut each year for a meaningless meeting that allows them to eat well and enjoy the sights for a few days before heading back to Tehran. Rahman is a middle aged balding gentleman who has a mother. aunts and a pair of sisters at home constantly looking for a worthy wife for him. But instead he becomes mezmerized by Juliet, a lovely blond Lebanese Christian translator who can quote the great Persian poets. Back home, Rahman pines for her and returns to look for her - only to discover that she has converted to Islam and loves him. They marry and go home where the fireworks begin between Juliet, now renamed to Amanam, and the women folk in Rahman's household who look on her as an outsider (who shockingly wore shorts when she was ten years old!). Matters aren't helped when Amanam begins showing them the falsity of their ways by quoting the Koran at them. Very much a gentle humorous poke in the eye of hypocracy, intolerance and how religion is practiced, one has to be a bit surprised that this got past the Iranian censors - but maybe they have a sense of humor too (hmmm doubtful). Underneath the humor though grows a surprisingly poignant love story which is what really makes the story special. See it if you can.

The third film seen - some little unknown film called Peking Opera Blues directed by someone with the odd name of Tsui Hark. It wasn't bad!

HKIFF

Since I arrived in Hong Kong on Monday the city has been under a constant gray drizzling sky that gives the place a drab drenched look as people scurry through the rain drops for cover. Still the Hong Kong International Film Festival is up and running with loads of films scheduled over the next two weeks or so. I am only here for a small helping of that - six days and about ten films. That isn't very ambitious admittedly but this time I wanted to have time to wander about and not feel as if I had to rush from one film to another. Last year I felt like it was a military campaign of logistics with strict timetables to set and meet. This year I abandoned the small confines of the Evergreen Hotel in Kowloon for a hotel in Fortress Hill. It's a much nicer place though I do almost miss being able to touch the opposite wall with my toes when lying in bed. In one of those near supernatural happenings, after checking in I decided to walk about the neighborhood without really having any idea in what direction I was headed - but after about 15 minutes I came across some familiar landmarks and realized that like a homing pigeon I had walked straight to the Starlight Photo Shop! Needless to say I looked to see if it still was in operation and found it immersed in just stuff everywhere - literally mounds of newspaper clippings and pictures just strewn about as if it was hit by a small hurricane. If a fire Marshall ever passed by he would shut this place down in a nanosecond - a spark could burn Hong Kong down. I did manage to wade through the piles on the floor and picked up loads of new pictures and have to go back for more. The place is a treasure even if a messy one.

Yesterday I went to see my first film - Shanghai Blues. In truth, if it weren't for this film I doubt if I would have made the trip as there really aren't many new films being shown here that get me excited. This one does though. It's the Big Enchilada. The Golden Sword. The Holy Grail of Hong Kong film. I've always wanted to see this on the big screen and it was worth coming for. It's Tsui Hark at his most sentimental and most playful with scene after scene of beautifully constructed controlled chaos. It plays mainly for laughs with Sally Yeh providing the slapstick comedy but just when Tsui has you laughing he throws in small moments of sublime poignancy. Someone told me that it was being released in the US on DVD. Can that be right? It still isn't out on a HK DVD. I hadn't seen this film in years and you always wonder if it will still live up to your memories - well this one did - as good as film making gets - straight to the heart.

Today I saw another oldie in the Tsui Hark/Workshop retrospective (shamefully the films have been given early afternoon time slots) - A Better Tomorrow. This film has been imitated and parodied so often that I worried that it would taste like stale bread - but it holds up remarkably well. This was the modern film that began the fetish of male bonding over bullets and blood and was a key work in the careers of Chow Yun Fat, Leslie Cheung and John Woo. It's overly operatic and often corny, but it works. It's not so much the action and violence anymore as it actually seems tame compared to what came after it - it's just the great presence and chemistry between the actors. Leslie is astonishingly innocent looking with his handsome puppy dog pouts and I would have to guess that many of the women in the audience were there for him.

Last night I saw a newer action film that was more polished in its technique than A Better Tomorrow ever was - but it lacked its emotional impact because the three main characters were so hollow and uninteresting. This was The Sniper from director Dante Lam. It has gained lots of publicity for all the wrong reasons - the presence of Edison Chen. The film was in the can a year ago but events forced it to be held back till now. It's great seeing Edison in front of the camera again but unfortunately he wasn't co-starring with Gillian or Cecilia. He was so much more expressive in those home movies. Here he is your basic block of wood with literally one look of petulance on his face the entire film as if some starlet refused to be photographed naked by him. He isn't the main character though - that falls to Richie Ren whose fans were out in force last night. He plays a stiff lipped police sniper commander who takes Edison under his wing to train. A former colleague has just been released from prison with a major gripe and he wants revenge and to show that he is the best. The film is fast paced but predictable and not nearly as tense as one might expect. This may be caused by the fact that you don't have a rooting interest in any of the characters or in their fates.

Now that wasn't the case with Dante Lam's Beast Stalker which I caught today - in this one he does everything right. Similar to The Sniper it is primarily a deadly cat and mouse game between two men - one on the side of the law (Nicholas Tse) and one on the other side (Nick Cheung). A child is kidnapped to force the mother who is prosecuting a criminal case to destroy evidence. Cheung is the kidnapper and Tse is out to find the girl. It is much more though than a simple police chase - it is an interlocking story of colliding fates that leads to tragedy all around. All the characters are well-drawn and well rendered by the actors and because of this the story becomes totally gripping. This is one of the best new films I have seen from Hong Kong for a while.

So I Lied

About no more pictures. While I was rooting around in a drawer looking for my passport I came across these playing cards that I had gotten years ago as a promotion from Celestial. So I zipped them through my scanner. Kind of cool in a geeky way.

Shaw Brothers Playing Cards - 1, 2, 3

Final Photos and HKIFF

This is definitely the last of the photos for a very long time. I promise! Not only because I have nothing left but also because at this point it looks like I will be off in Asia for the next nine months and there isn't much opportunity to scan over there! I leave in about 24 hours so this may be the last post for at least a week or two. As I get older, jet lag just seems to knock me off my feet for longer periods of time. But I am taking my usual assortment of DVDs to watch - loads of Shaw Brothers, some catching up on HK films from the past year, a bunch of Japanese films from the 1960's/70's and some old and new Bollywood. Not to mention a lot of old Hollywood films and TV shows. I always take way more than I ever get around to watching.

I took a gander at the line-up for the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Geez. I hadn't really planned on going this year with money being a bit tight but then I saw that they were screening three of my absolutely favorite films ever - Shanghai Blues, Peking Opera Blues and Mambo Girl. These are part of a retro on Tsui Hark's Film Workshop company and another retro on the films of Evan Yang who wrote or directed many of the better films for Cathay in the 1950's and 60's. There are lots of other treats as well too of course - the latest from Malaysian director Yasmin Ahmad, Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time Redux, Sion Sono's Love Exposure and something called Sexy Killer from Spain. The only bummer is an Egyptian film called Cairo Station made in 1958 that I once read about and would love to see, but it plays at the same time as Mambo Girl. So if I can find a hotel that doesn't bankrupt me, I may have to go.

The last picture show. Some oldies. Most of these I bought in Hong Kong. There is this small lane that runs below Hollywood Road which sells all the Mao paraphernalia you could ever want - but some of the small stands also have a smattering of old usually black and white photos of stars. I also have some from some books and I think I have hijacked a few from the Internet that I wanted to give a home to. So we have a few pages devoted to Bobo Fung, Connie Chan, Ivy Ling Po, Josephine Siao, Linda Lin Dai, Lily Ho and Candice Yu. Then I have a page of miscellaneous pictures in which I didn't have enough for a page for any actor. And finally a page of magazine covers of oldies where I could not identify the actor. If anyone knows, let me know please. I should know some of these but the brain cells are not connecting. Number 13 looks kind of like Ava Gardner but perhaps it could be Diana Chang?

Bobo Fung

Candice Yu

Connie Chan - 1, 2, 3

Ivy Ling Po

Josephine Siao

Lily Ho

Linda Lin Dai

Miscellaneous

Not Sure