Ok, the person in the bottom photo’s not me, but its going to be one day, I promise you that. (You just wait Jason. Ha. *green with envy*) Still not getting the picture ? Watch Iwai Shunji’s Love Letter.
I wonder if the collective filmmakers ( I would like to think at least half of them had to be sane when the film was shot ) who took part in Chen Kaige’s latest film The Promise knew how *beep* ridiculous the notion of a man capable of running faster than the speed of light is. ( trivia; not even our fastest, most advanced fighter plane today can reach even a mere 1% of light speed, which if possible, would already be at an astonishing 30000km/sec. Yes, that’s just 1 measly percent. )Sure, you say, its a movie, but this is way more than pushing the audience’s ability to suspend their disbelief; its downright insulting. Contestant No.1 for this year’s worst film watched. AVOID AVOID AVOID.
So beautiful and realistic is Weta’s rendition of King Kong ( with the chompy chirpy Rexes coming in a close 2nd, though I still feel the Rexes from Jurassic Park are the most realistic ever ) that barely five minutes past his first appearance in the film I have lost the ability to visualize him as a CG character generated from mere pixels and texture maps but instead saw him more as a real performer with an emormous, overwhelming presence. King Kong is an oversized silverback with a soft spot for beautiful blondes such as Naomi Watts, and I wonder how Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey would feel if they ever sat through this film, admiration or distaste. There can be no ambivalence however, that King Kong is going to be one of the best effects films released this year.
Films Retrospect 2005
Total tally for films watched in 2005 stands at 28 in theatres and 150 on dvds, making that 178 in all ( Click here to see the entire list ), averaging out to about 1 film every 2 days for the entire year. Here are my top 10 favourite films viewed in 2005, in no particular merit.
1)The Machinist (Brad Anderson)
2)Not One Less (Zhang Yimou)
3)Tony Takitani (Ichikawa Jun)
4)Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)
5)Cha No Aji (Ishii Katsuhito)
6)Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass)
7)Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
8)Life Of Mammals (Documentary, David Attenborough)
9)Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
X)Majo No Takkyubin (Miyazaki Hayao)
Certainly it was tough trying to sift just 10 films out of 178, there were many other entertaining capers like Constantine and Starwars EP3, as well as films that had very outstanding visuals ie Lemony Snicket’s, also others worth mentioning like Hotel Rwanda and Daremoshiranai. Due to the exorbitant price of tickets here in Tokyo, exacerbated by its cretaceous release dates the abililty to view the latest films plunged dramatically, but the silver lining was that rental stores here stock many old titles that I was able to catch up on.
With that, here’s to another bountiful year ahead for movie viewing ! :]
The initial impression upon watching Hou Hsiao Hsien’s Millenium Mambo, ( especially the first scene where we have Hsu Chi strolling down this bridge as the camera follows behind her, shot perhaps on a 48 or 60 framer ), was how much it reminded me of the splendid Korean film Take Care of My Cat. 2 things : 1) The dreamy and carefree, immediately memorable music ( I liken it to the pleasurable feeling of intoxication, without any of the nasty side effects )that give both films their characteristic mood, and 2) each fall into that risky category of cinema where there is no clearly established plotline; nothing important seem to be happening most of the time onscreen; there is no apparent premise or conclusion, and in the case of Mambo the potential bore factor skyrockets because the photographer is Lee Pingbin, who loves to lock down his camera and shoot empty compositions where the actors are completely out of frame. 3 other directors who have an affinity for this form of narrative comes to mind : Hu Jinho, Tsai Mingliang, and Robert Altman.
I cannot better explain their style of storytelling by this saying : The journey is the destination. Next stop, Hou Hsiao Hsien’s latest film Zhu Hao De Shi Guang ( Three Times ).
Fright nights twice in a row with viewings of Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and then Scott’s Hannibal, I think I’ve been served enough cinematic blood and gore for a long time to come. Meanwhile, Yukisada Isao ( director of Shouting Out Love, ) makes a surprise visit to school, popping into our art direction class today to give us a few words on filmmaking. I just had to disagree with his views on the deficits of recent Korea cinema; evidently, if you have been catching up on the cream of the crop, it has never been stronger.
Despite having watched a total of over 140 films ( and still counting ) on a mixture of dvd and cinema screenings so far this year ( this is excluding film appreciation seatings in school now ), the unthinkable, unprecedented has still happened : I have not yet seen even one of the 31 new films reviewed in this December’s issue of Sight and Sound, which by far is still the most insightful and well written film magazine ( except of course the peerless Singaporean FIRST, with reviews so intellectually potent I’ve uncontrollably vomited blood per read. ) I’ve ever read, thus making its recommendations so incredibly important.
This alarming event can be ascribed to 1) The exorbitant pricing of cinema tickets in Tokyo, charging rates fitting for seatings perhaps 20 years in the future, 2) The ironically Precambrian rate by which new films hit Tokyo shores, where by the time they actually start screening them the dvd copy of the same film would have long since been colonized by dust mites in Amazon’s warehouses, and 3) My sadly tondemonai level of japanese which largely prevents me from renting most foreign films ( read films from France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Korea, etc ) that carries no english subtitles. I fear if a remedy is not formulated soon enough, I’ll be missing treasure troves of films by near future Godards, Truffauts and Renoirs.
Suffering, revenge, and finally salvation, the 3 recurring themes in Park Chan Wook’s “Revenge” trilogy comes full circle as the series ends with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of Oldboy ( as compared to other excellent korean films per se ) and I’ve yet to see Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the first in the series ( though reliable sources from my personal Korean film guide and classmate Mr Kim has it that it ranks the highest of the three films on the gore-ometer, which may influence viewing decisions a wee bit ), but nontheless Lady Vengeance proved interesting enough ( even with me half struggling with the Japanese subtitles, you lucky bastards back home. ) Some memorable cameos come and go, rounding up main characters from the 2 former films. Gotta catch this one again.
Recently just as I was starting to get jaded with the largely nondescript, unsatisfying Japanese films that I have had access to here in Tokyo, comes a mind blowing piece of work that utterly sweeps me off my feet, myself smiling and swearing unwittingly throughout the film’s viewing, marvelling at its sheer brilliance and beauty. Based on a short story of the same name by renowned writer Murakami Haruki, Tony Takitani ( directed by Ichikawa Jun, whose previous film Byoin De Shinu To Iu Koto ironically inflicted me with severe soporificism ) explores the issues of isolation, solitude and loss. This film is in a word, beautiful; the quiet photography, subdued palette of colours that lend to the film’s intended feeling of emptiness, the music, poised piano arrangements mirroring the visual’s quiescent mood, the treatment and art direction, each scene decorated with the aloofness of an Edward Hopper painting, the screenplay, conversations and exchanges like soothing poetry but with non of the rigidity, more like the words of a child, honest, direct, austere. My highest recommendations.
You can get the Japanese 2 disc special edition of the dvd here.
Despite playing like an Apple endorsed film at times and my at best lukewarm interest in political satire films, Wim Wenders Land of Plenty nontheless held my attention with a narrative ( Winders writing up a treatment in just 3 days ) that was languid in the beginning but built up momentum as the film progressed, and one is certainly reminded of a similar plot setup in Wender’s much older work, the excellent Paris, Texas. While the director’s decision to shoot the film in video escapes me for moment it is however interesting to note that the utilized camera, Panasonic’s AGDVX100A, held up rather impressive considerably such a big blow up to theatre resolution working with just DV source, and I cannot wait to see what its latest incarnation the HD AG-HVX200 can do for independent filmmakers, not to mention those poor, starving film students.
This year’s seasonal transition from summer to autumn seemed to have creeped in cladestinely, but the clearest harbinger of the big freeze season are the nights when I could feel myself curling up my toes as the piercing cold air assailed my feet.
Back in school, I’ve just only realized that Yukisada Isao ( director of Sekai no chushin, and his soon to be released Haru no Yuki ), who also happened to have graduated from my film school was also assistant director for Iwai’s Love Letter. Respect for him ups 30%. Time for film watching has declined since school started and the films I want to watch just continue to pile as I read the latest copies of Sight and Sound. Including Wim Wender’s recent work, Land of Plenty, above.
Just a week into term 2 and three film production shoots are cramped back to back, I’m thinking about dropping a module lest I die a painful, undeserving death : ” film student dies of fatique during shoot, hand still clasping zoom servo. ” Meanwhile, time for watching films become harder to come by but I was glad I finally got around to see Majo no Takyubin ( Kiki’s Delivery Service ), fantastic, as per Ghibli animation.
On a sadder note, I wish the school would inform us earlier when “erai” characters such as the cinematographer for the film Shall We Dance ? visits the school for a talk, I would’ve prepped my copy of the dvd, screaming hysterically for a signature like a rabid F4 fan. Just wait till Iwai Shunji shows up.
