You Are Viewing Film

At the outset, Zhang Yimou’s latest wuxia film House of Flying Daggers ( simply named Lovers here in Japan ) is a delightful visual treat – everything is just so beautifully photographed, from the flowy, opulent garbs adorned by the courtesans, with hues so intense the colours threaten to bleed off the screen, the rich, smooth tones of skin worn by the actors, bloodied nose notwithstanding, and the quintessential bamboo forest battle, drapped in a lush, misty green tint, just to name a few hightlights. In fact, one can probably argue that the director and DOP ( Zhang Xiaoding, who also shot the brilliant film Spring Subway ) spent more effort in prettying up the sets and characters than even the last grandiose work Hero.

Having said all these, it becomes all the more painful that the story fails on so many grounds, undermining the fantastic cinematography and what the film could have ultimately been. Perhaps it was a blessing that I was able to watch this amidst the proprieties of the Japanese, for I wager the singapore crowd would have had zero tolerance for any hammy spectacles, filling the cinema with uproarious laughter.

On a side note, my taiwanese friends were quick to quip that Andy Lau has been finding it hard to shake off his undercover woes ever since Infernal Affairs.

Kickstarting the 2nd installment of the Spiderman series with a montage of comic panels by the great artist Alex Ross was certainly a welcoming way to setup the right mood, prepping the audience for the story ahead, and despite in my opinion, parts of the film that suffered from a rather awkward pace of editing and several repetitive scenes that didn’t quite add additional value to the narrative, Spiderman 2 still scores pretty well with fantastically choreographed action sequences ( those who are somewhat familiar with CG, compositing and rotoscoping will have an idea just how much work was needed for the seamless integrated movement of Dr Oct’s tentacles ) and the ever enjoyable J.Jameson, Parker’s Daily Bugle boss spewing note-perfect, rapidfire caustic. Of course, “drowning” out a mini sun in the city’s river depths was laughably ridiculous.

Just got word that Kazuaki Kiriya’s sci-fi flick Casshern will be released on dvd in late October. I’ve yet to watch this, but I really like the main character design and if the trailer’s any indication of how the film’s final colour grading will be presented, its going to look fantastic, very much like what we’ve seen in UH3.

Meanwhile, news on setting up of Lucasfilm’s Singapore branch have been confirmed, great news indeed. It’d be most interesting to see where the local animation scene will go from here.

Tian Zhuangzhuang’s Springtime in a Small Town is a quaint little piece of cinema set in China during the post 2nd world war period, a brief, uneasy intermission between the end of the Japanese invasion and the Communist Takeover. In a small, derelict war torn town in Southern China, a doctor ( Zhang Zhichen ) from Shanghai pays an unexpected visit to his old school friend Dai Liyan, whose wife ( Yuwen ) he now recognizes as the woman he had a brief but passionate affair ten years ago. No longer in close proximity with his husband because of his poor health and temper, while still bearing feelings for her former beau, the arrival of the guest sets off an uneasy tension amidst the small household, complicated more by Liyan’s younger sister who also takes a liking for doctor.

Springtime is one of those films I’ve come to recognized ( together with a few others like the Korean Take Care of my Cat and One Fine Spring Day ) where seemingly nothing important seems to happen and the narrative justs drags on ceaselessly, certain anathema to Hollywooders and many other moviegoers, but whose real value lies in a small conscious effort on the viewer’s part to invest alittle patience or even better, a second viewing, where they’d be greatly rewarded.

Beautifully shot in slow, deliberate takes through the shadowy corridors of the old house, it evokes the same aesthetics last felt in Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love, no stranger because of DP Li Pingbin, who worked together with Doyle.

Highly recommended, but Hollywooders *yawns heard*, you’ve been so caveated.

Heat, an explosive and highly entralling crime genre piece was the first exposure I had of director Michael Mann’s outstanding work. His sleek portrayal of the 2 hardened protanganists, namely De Niro and Pacino, ( especially the tense exchange in the cafe has come to be remembered as one of recent crime cinema’s most memorable scenes. ) as well as the film’s many electrifying scenes have had palpable influence in the film industry, including Hong Kong’s laudable Infernal Affairs and PTA.

The Insider is an equally impressive piece, with much less action set pieces but no less engaging plot. Al Pacino once again, together with Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer ( forever remembered as the handsome Captain in the Sound of Music, having lost none of his charisma ) lend themselves to powerful performances, topped by Mann’s sensuous use of music and Dante Spinotti’s beautiful cinematography, and you have a masterful piece at hand.

Michael Mann is fast becoming one of my favourite directors.

A Sight and Sound review of the Insider is posted on the comments page.

Talk about uncanny serendipity. Today morning I was at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum to view an exhibition on 17th century Flemish and Dutch painters, which included some works by Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrant and Vermeer. As I sat down near a resting area by the main entrance after I’ve finished, this caucasian gentleman wearing a cap and spotting a most distinctive sharp, angular nose walked by. He could have been any of those tourists around, but he wasn’t just any other tourist. This man is Captain Jean Luc Picard, commander of Starfleet Enterprise, Prof Charles Xavier, leader of the X-men.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I also couldn’t pass up such a good chance to get an autograph, so here you go. Mr Patrick Stewart was all friendly and courteous, an exemplary British gentleman indeed.

For all its high tech gadgetry and advanced technology, Japan is in primeval times when it comes to international film releases dates. Only now are Master and Commander, Peter Pan getting ready to kick off screening here in Tokyo. New films are going to have to take a backseat here while I’m in Japan, the pricey tickets not helping either.

If there’s any consolation, the dvd stores here are really good; they stock titles you can never find in Singapore, and its probably a good time to catch up on good films that I have missed or simply haven’t been exposed to yet, and that’s alot. Going to be adding a new list on the side menu here under new dvds watched, so far, Soderbergh’s Limey and a totally unknown but fantastically shot film called Dinner Rush.

Bernado Bertolucci’s The Dreamers = People drinking, smoking crack and having sex. Those were the highlights, in any case. Going to wait till I have more brain juice before attempting to write more about the film. For sure though, its an immersive piece, with richly and opulently textured sets, and what I can say, more than your fair share of opulent, nude female figures.

With a plot device so slow its almost guaranteed to elicit loud bahs or snores from the average moviegoer, Peter Webber’s Girl With A Pearl Earring will no doubt, however, be highly appreciated by fine arts students or anyone who is fairly familiar with Vermeer’s artwork. While it is a common affair in films to have allusions to famous art pieces, ( DaVinci’s Last Supper, Hopper’s Night Hawks and David’s Death of Marat, just to name a few ) GWAPE ups the ante with staging of Vermeer’s works so pervasively it runs from the first scene of the film until the last, an unabashly esoteric piece of film art. Certainly, a good knowledge of the artist’s work is not a prerequisite in appreciating the beauty of this film, but having one puts you on quite a different dimension. DOP Eduardo Serra ( whose much earlier work The King’s Trial was also based on Vermeer’s paintings ), reconstructs each shot with amazing detail and clarity, especially the artist’s working studio.

A painful reminder of my arts theory classes in Victoria school, where more often than not, I opted for an afternoon at the games arcade rather than listening to my lecturer rant on about aloof artists and their movements Romanticism, Neo-classicism, what have you.

Listening now to the OST of exalted Korean film Memories of Murder ( see film review in earlier post below ), scored by Japanese musician Taro Ishiwaro ( he also wrote the music for The Inanimate World ), hauntingly mezmerising. I exhort all to watch this fantastic and disturbing film.

Thailand director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Last Life in the Universe, an austere and beautifully shot film ( no small thanks to HKSC Christopher Doyle’s brilliant photography ) is at its very heart, the simple story of two hopeless souls meeting in tragic serendipity and learning to have hope in their lives again, albeit clumsily. Maximizing the creative cinematographic prowess of Doyle, as well as a refined, minimalistic script, ( both protaganists, especially Kenji, played with relish by Tadanobu Asano , barely speak more than a few lines in every conversation ), Pen-Ek blends the nuanced performances from the 2 actors with the richly designed and detailed production incidentals ( sets, notably Noi’s ramshackle home, in all its ransacked glory, music, supporting roles ) with great effect. The result is a highly accomplished film low on flashy visual spectacles ( cept perhaps for the moments when Kenji’s Yakuza past is revealed, with much applaud ), high on emotional impact, and very good filmmaking.

On an interesting sidenote, as the credits rolled several loud “huhs” could be heard, a mixture of disdain and bewilderment. Last life, lacking a definite and clearcut ending ( ie Kenji and Noi driving their VW into the sunset ), greatly disturbs the hollywooders.

Sometimes, the journey is indeed the destination.

In an early scene from Sofia Coppola’s off-beat romantic comedy Lost in Translation, Charlotte ( Scarlett Johansson ) posts herself at her high-rise hotel window, peering over Tokyo’s featureless urban landscape like an angel keeping watch, forever invisible and at once detached from her distant subjects. Later on in the show, she visits a shrine in the old imperial capital of Kyoto and witnesses a traditional Japanese wedding. Sheltering beneath a huge red parasol and garbed in picturesque costume, the two newlyweds link hands. Charlotte looks on quietly. In both instances, no words or maudlin narration were needed to convey the poignant sense of quiet, luscious melancoly so intended, yet the intensity of the final mood expressed was multiplied manifold without. It is exactly with such a cinematic framework of toned down, unobtrusive visual style and quiet narrative treatment that the movie Lost in Translation is built on, something so rarely seen in Hollywood productions and which wholeheartedly won me over.

In light of my approaching journey ( I am set for a 3 year film study course in Tokyo come March, courtesy of the National Arts Council ), watching this film is like a harbinger of solitude, heralding my days of impending loneliness and loss.

Surely this is a film I will not easily forget in my days to come.

*For a more poetic and expressive review of the film, check out the comments box.