Paradise, Hell -- both sides of the same coin!!

Paradise Now (directed by Hany Abu-Assad)

‘The people of one country gave the people of another country the land of the people of the third country’. This is what I remember from my junior high school history class about the definition of appeasement regarding the creation of Israel. Since then, I have understood a lot more about International political games but those words stuck in my mind. Ofcourse, the mentioned definition is outdated now; you won’t find any media outlet using those words. Nope, the world is much more clear cut now – there are good guys and then bad guys. Everything either belongs to the good guys or to the bad guys, and most likely whatever belongs to the bad guys ‘should’ belong to the good guys! Or so we are told. So how does one define the Palestinian situation? Using Newton’s 3rd Law ofcourse -- ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’. Now the problems arise when we try to define the ‘action’ and the ‘reaction’. Because the western media has one definition of ‘action’ (naming Palestinian acts) but the Arab world sees only one aggressor – Israel. If one were to condense all the violence and political nonsense back to 1948, we have a solid answer -- the creation of Israel was the big-bang event which upset, shook and shaped events in the Middle East! That event led to a stern ‘reaction’ but Israel countered with such strong ‘action’ that the situation only got worse. And each day only adds to the mess.

Documentaries have been brave enough to expose this situation but when it comes to movies, very few have dared to touch this topic. That was until last year. Two movies, Munich and Paradise Now , covered two very different sides of this good-evil issue. Munich presented one side of the ‘Action’ and Paradise Now presented the response. But these definitions are not that clear cut. The incidents in Munich start out with Israel having to respond to the violent actions triggered by Palestinian terrorists. So in one aspect the movie covers both sides of the coin, but from then on, the movie focusses only on a course of 'action'; violence must be fought with violence! But as the film progresses, Eric Bana's character questions his endless killing and it becomes clear to him that violence is not the answer. But that is something other people don't want to hear and in the end, his character finds himself as a hunted target, treated along the same lines as the people he was killing.

That story took place in the 1970's but things are no better now. The suicide bombing techniques from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have filtered to other countries and as a result, the world is no longer a safe place (was it ever to begin with?). And the volatile global situation make Paradise Now a relevant movie. The story is clear cut – two youngsters (Said, Khaled) hope to help the revolution and earn a trip to Paradise by sacrificing their bodies via a very explosive method. The film shows glimpses of their life and the final moments before the two head out to complete their mission. But things go wrong and Said gets a change of heart. Khaled was confident before but Said’s hesitation and logic rubs off on him. Said on the other hand thinks things clearly and emerges with a strong will, ready to carry out his plan. The final scene focuses on his stern eyes and then the camera fades to white. Equally important to both men’s decision is the wonderful Suha (played by the charming Lubna Azabal who starred in Exils and Viva Laldjérie ) who gives both men valuable advice because she saw her father die for the cause and believes suicide is not the answer. One of the most surprizing things about this movie is its humour. The humour is around the absurdity of the missions being carried out and even the methods used. The people sacrificing themselves are forced to read a script and act out their final message, which will be video-taped and sold to people at special rates in video shops. The camera equipment being used is not high-tech so Khaled is asked to repeat his message again, and again until he gets it right. He is given advice by the people running the mission. In fact, the entire mission comes complete with director, producer, script-writer, camera man and even a driver.

Paradise Now is not a movie with heroes nor is it about villains. It is delicately and cleanly shot and is about people who are forced to believe they have no other choice but the option in front of them – human sacrifice. These people have no airplanes to fight back with so they have to use themselves as a weapon. This is not a new argument though. The Battle of Algiers showed the same reason for the use of suicide missions to fight back. That movie, set back in the 50’s when the Algerians took on the French, is much more relevant today than ever. In fact, both Munich and Paradise Now combined together still can’t achieve the brilliance of The Battle of Algiers . If I had to pair a 4th movie with these three titles, it would be the brilliant documentary Checkpoint . The drama shown in that doc is not scripted and that is what makes the events shown even more horrific! The camera is plunked on the side and the daily humiliation and abuse that Palestinians suffer as they attempt to cross one town to another via the countless checkpoints is captured. Of course, the Israeli soldiers are also pawns in the bizarre political game being played as they are merely told to follow nonsensical orders for perpetually changing checkpoints (Kafka would have been proud). Checkpoint is not about ‘action’ or ‘reaction’ but about the causes which will eventually lead to a ‘reactive’ event! These 4 movies may compliment each other but at the end of the day, will anything change? For the sake of humanity, one hopes so! Until then, we can atleast hope that cinema does not resort to lies and deceptions but is brave enough to take complex and touchy issues head-on.

Love, Isabella, Regrets, Thanks, Bettie and Sweet Cyrus

Falling…..in Love (directed by Ming-Tai Wang): Rating 6.5/10

Directly imported from Taiwan, this movie is so new that it has only debuted at one International film festival in 2006. The movie’s summary in a nutshell -- Love hurts, Love causes pain, Love demands sacrifice, Love is based on choices, Love requires patience and Love Kills!!! Alan (Cheng-Lung Lan) is heart-broken after he gets dumped; he falls for another woman, but is un-decided about her. So he drifts into another woman’s lap; his drifting causes his girlfriend heart-aches. Another love story is spliced with the movie and is related to Alan’s tale but the link is not revealed until later on but it is not too hard to guess. The truth is that the movie is nothing special. Wai-kar Wong and Hsiao-hsien Hou have explored such themes enough times already. Sure the movie is technically good but currently most Asian movies look like a work of art anyhow. But if the movie’s story is boring, then there is no point in looking at a dressed up sulking heart-ache!

Isabella (directed by Ho-Cheung Pang): Rating 7/10

Winner of Best Music at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, this is another example of a hyped movie with no story. Once again like Falling…in Love this movie looks good visually but there is nothing to be told. A womanizing police-officer Shing meets his match when he encounters a young beautiful Yan (real-life named actress Isabella Leung). After Shing sleeps with her, Yan claims to be his daughter. Shing can’t figure out if she is lying or not? Either way, he develops a special relationship with Yan. The story is set in 1999 before Macau’s official hand-over from Portugal to China and a wafer-thin plot revolves around this political situation. The hand-over plot is a forced inclusion while Shing drifts around the city with Yan. Sure the beautiful locales of Macau enhance the story’s peaceful mood but it makes no difference as the movie moves too slowly while nothing happens. I am tired of film-makers who think showing a man shaving is art. No there is nothing insightful there but nowadays in films it is fashionable once again to show trivial everyday things and pass them off as art!

Everlasting Regret (directed by Stanley Kwan)

‘When your city is no longer your city, history can turn the right man into the wrong choice’. A movie which starts out with a line like that promises to be interesting, right? The ending line is interesting as well (can’t remember that one right now) but I lost interest in everything shown in the middle. Once again, the movie is competent visually and the story is not that bad but I could not care long enough to continue watching.

Thank You for Smoking (directed by Jason Reitman): Rating 7/10

I had such high expectations from this movie, but in the end it failed to maximize its potential. Given Aaron Eckhart’s sly smooth talking manipulative roles in Neil LaBute’s features ( Your Friends & Neighbours , In the Company of Men ), this movie seemed tailor suited for him -- if Eckhart’s character was going to defend the evil companies, then he had to be quick on his feet and ready to chew up anyone who tried to get in his way while making it look all so innocent and harmless. Unfortunately, his edge is toned down in Thank You.. because the story forces his character to show some compassion and act like a responsible father despite working for the ‘bad’ guys. In this day and age enough books, movies and documentaries have been made about the evil corporations and their methods to spin stories for their own good. So if a satire on this topic has to work, then it has to show intelligence and give new insightful material. Maybe I have the wrong impression about this movie. Maybe this film was only meant to be a character study of a particular lobbyist and nothing else. If that was the case, then why go to all the effort to have the story set in big tobacco? (having not read the novel, I can’t accurately comment on the book to film translation). Whatever the motives in making this movie, I didn’t enjoy it as much. All the best scenes were shown repeatedly in the trailers and the movie didn’t really have anything new to say.

The Notorious Bettie Page (directed by Mary Harron): Rating 8/10

I will get the obvious out of the way – Gretchen Mol is indeed radiant and terrific as Bettie Page and Director Mary Harron has done a really good job of showing Bettie’s innocence as she evolved from a poster pin-up to an actor in S&M/porn movies. Sure it is believable that Bettie was that innocent because she lived in a time when playboy had not yet made its mark and kinky magazines were hidden behind the counters. An example of her innocence -- when the photographer asks Bettie to remove her bikini top, she readily agrees saying that she no see the harm in that. Nor does she see anything wrong in being dressed up in leather, given a riding crop and asked to whip another naked woman. She really was treating her career as just that, while having some fun on the side. This was also a time when the media was not saturated with sexual innuendos and buzzing with the sex lives of film-stars. Bettie led a lonely life and reconciled her career with her religion and love of God. We are given snippets of her life, right from childhood through her college years and how she landed up doing what she did and how she got out of it. There are some good performances in this movie with Lili Taylor once again standing out. I thought Taylor was fantastic in Bent Hamer’s Factotum and once again, she delivers her lines with ease.

Home Sweet Home (directed by Pou-Soi Cheang): Rating 6/10

The Ring showed the terror that lies inside apartments – a tv set and a phone can be pretty menacing; Dark Water showed the dangers lurking in the hallways of mid-size apartment complexes; Ju-on focused on the evil inside houses and elevators. So it was about time that a movie went beyond the walls and illuminated the perils that lay inside the elevator shafts and air ducts of high-rise buildings! Unfortunately, Home Sweet Home fails to do that. The good thing is the movie wastes no time in plunging into action. It takes only 8 minutes for the threat to be exposed – an evil woman, who lives in the depths of the building, kidnaps a young couple’s son. She climbs walls in the elevator shafts and crawls inside the air ducts, but she is not an evil demon – she is a mere mortal with a tragic story. She too was once a mother and the film story eventually becomes a tangle between two mothers (the young boy’s mother is played by Shu Qi). The emotionally sad horror movie is dragged out and a fitting ending restores order in the high-rise complex. But for how long?

Being Cyrus (directed by Homi Adajania): Rating a solid 9/10

A big name cast graces Home Adajania’s debut film. Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani and Saif Ali Khan put in good performances in this polished dark comedy about the crazy Sethna family. Cyrus (Saif Ali) is a self-proclaimed drifter who wants to recount his story about his encounters with the Sethna family. But from the first shot, we are given a clue that things don’t seem as we are being told. If Cyrus claims to be a drifter, then why is a tiny pile of money sitting next to him? One normally does not associate wads of money with a drifter? From then on, we are lead into the world of the Sethna family who Cyrus befriends and becomes a part of. But what Cyrus tells the audience does not seem to go along with what he does. For example, Cyrus claims to be a fan of pottery and is eager to apprentice under Dinshaw Sethna (Shah). But at no point, does Cyrus show an interest in pottery! Nonetheless, I was willing to go on with his story. Until, a dream sequence really sheds light on exactly what the movie might be about. A harmless incident from his childhood is shown but that really indicated where this movie might be going or what exactly was going on. In the end, this is a well made movie. Sometimes, it feels too right as all the shots have been carefully constructed to flush out a story with all the loose ends tied up. Acting wise, Boman Irani once again proves he is good no matter what role is given. Dimple Kapadia still has her charm and Naseeruddin Shah plays his role delightfully (although at times his English dialogues seem forced). Saif Ali Khan finally gets a role away from all the Dil Chahta Hai cookie cutter roles that he is forced to do in Bollywood; in the past, he has proved that he is capable of playing a shady character but this time around, he is a given a role with a real bite. Overall, this was clearly a refreshing change from the usual nonsense that comes out of Bollywood!

Heroes and Thugs

X-Men 3 – The Last Stand? Maybe!

What is the point of reviewing such a movie? Even if the critics trash it (which they did), people will still go in record numbers to see the film (and they did just). In a particular theatre (city X), all the opening day evening screenings were sold out and so the theatre (in its infinite greed) decided to have a special show at midnight just to accommodate all the numbers. Now, considering this multiplex was running shows every 30 minutes (more or less) starting from 11:40 am Friday morning, you would have thought that the line-ups would not have been that bad. But all those timings catered to a variety of crowds and ensured all age groups would be present to see the movie -- the die-hard fan probably could not sleep the night before so he/she might have seen the special Thu Midnight screenings; remaining dedicated fans would have taken Friday afternoon off from work to see the movie; Friday evening was reserved for the Teeny boppers who treated this as a date night flick and the weekend afternoon shows brought in kids between the ages of 8-13. Yes a truly great movie for every age group! So if that is the case, then who the hell cares if this movie is any good or not? Heck, a monkey could have directed this movie. Because the truth is all the hard work in order to build this franchise was done in the first two movies. Bryan Singer, who didn’t return to direct this 3rd installment, build such a good reputation with the first two films, that this movie would have made money no matter what. For example, here are some of the things done right with the first two parts:

1) Casting – It was a brilliant idea to cast the two powerful Brits, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as the battling foes. There is nothing better on screen than to see two intelligent good friends turn their wits against each other, all the while respecting each other. Then there was the discovery of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (in fact, his character has grown so much throughout the series that he will have his own spin-off movie); Famke Janssen's presence added to the film’s glamour and beauty and Halle Berry's inclusion ensured crowds (even though she is the least favourite character of mine in the movie).

2) X-Men 101 – The first movie was so basic that anyone could have understood it. That opened the door for people not familiar with the comic book or the cartoon series. The second movie was much better and only added to the interest.

3) Special Effects – Ice, Fire, Storms, Claws, Lasers, Mind waves and other cool super powers ensured that the audiences were treated to amazing special effects in each movie.

So what is X-Men 3 about? And what could this movie possibly offer?

Well it is hard to constantly find plots for humans and mutants to keep fighting each other so the only possible angle left was the anti-mutant gene factor -- for every proton, there is an electron. So for every x-gene mutant, there has to be a gene which can take away (or negate) the x-gene! Sure enough, the humans find the anti-mutant gene and try to ‘cure’ the mutants. Oh-oh. Bad idea!! That leads to yet another political debate about acceptance and tolerance (‘God loves you the way you are’). Ofcourse, all this ties in very well with the spirit of X-Men (the original story was developed with an eye on civil rights) and the story incorporates modern day issues of equality and societal integration of ‘different’ people. New characters with even more cool powers are added, some are killed off and the stage is set for ending it all. But ofcourse, it is difficult to finish this money making series that easily. The teaser clip at the end of the credits gives a taste of possible future movies. But the fact is, if this had to be final movie, it should have had more punch to it. The movie is too tame and even the effects are pointless. The biggest special effect in the movie is when Magneto uses his powers to dislodge the Golden Gate bridge and re-locates it to form a connection to the island prison of Alcatraz so that his army of mutants can get to the prison. Seriously, why this much effort? Would it be un-cool for the mutants to go on speed-boats to the island prison? Could Magneto not have acquired a classy stealth fighter for his gang? Atleast in most other movies, there is a reason for having special effects. In this case, it was absolutely pointless. But what difference does that make? People came to watch the movie and it made tons of money. That is all Hollywood cares for!

Rating -- 6/10

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Election – Voting for Thugs!

The Godfather introduced the cool gangster to the silver-screen. From then on, countless copies were made. Eventually, the winds blew the genre far East where film studios in Japan, Hong Kong and India polished and build on the ideas and crafted their own masterpieces. In recent years, Hong Kong and Japan's quality of this genre has been so high that Hollywood and Bollywood have started making their own copies of these Eastern gangster talkies. Johnny To’s Election is just another addition to this firmly established cool gangster genre. This time around, we are introduced to the inner workings of a triad’s leadership selection process. This particular triad elects its chairman through a democratic process as opposed to having the leader inherit his position through familial ties (like a rival group’s mentioned in the movie). But in reality, democracy is only good on paper. Sooner or later, someone will find ways to manipulate the process and buy the votes. And this is exactly what Big D does in the film. But the elders find out and vote for Lok instead, much to Big D’s dismay. But Lok can’t officially be the chairman until he gets the sacred baton, which has been in the gang for centuries. The movie then moves into a search and hunt film to retrieve the baton (feels very similar to To’s 2003 movie P.T.U which was about a search for a missing gun and had a lot of the same actors as Election ). Back-room dealing ensures that the Baton is properly handed over to Lok. Even that does not ensure forever peace. The movie ends with a feeling of more to come and sure enough, Election 2 premiered this year and even played at Cannes last month. Overall, I really liked this movie even though it has nothing new to offer; the story takes the corrupt model of democracy, mixes it with the Godfather theme and adds a few sprinklings of P.T.U . The final product is an interesting movie, which will surely be copied by Hollywood and Bollywood in the near future.

Rating: 9/10

Simply Taiwan!

One Country, 3 directors, 6 movies! A diverse collection ranging from the colorful past to the murky present!!!

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Until a few months ago, I had never heard of this talented director. But after seeing three of his movies in quick succession, I can understand why he has such a huge following around the world! I first cracked the world of Hou Hsiao-hsien with his highly acclaimed beautiful 2005 flick Three Times which illustrated the director’s full control over every frame as every movement on screen was perfectly orchestrated. Yet, I felt unconvinced about the second (1911 segment) of the three shorts in that movie and felt that it could have been better if it had been shot in black and white as opposed to being rich in color. The first 1966 segment was in simple colors (not too bright) and the final 2005 segment was grayish. I could not understand the bright colors in the middle segment and thought having black and white would have been a better bridge between the two other segments. But all my doubts were banished when I saw the director’s earlier work – the visually scrumptious The Flowers of Shanghai . This is because the 1911 segment in Three Times is along the same lines of the colorful brothel love story shown in The Flowers of Shanghai . That same story was touched upon again in the 1911 segment and it had to be in color, otherwise the richness of the story would have been lost. And within the context of Three Times the 1911 segment had to be without dialogues and had to be with text cards. One of the connecting elements of the three stories in Three Times is the usage of text messages as a form of communication. All the characters use one form of the written word to express their feelings, be it via letters, scrolls or SMS text messages. The audience needed to be brought in the loop as well and the sure fire way to convey that was to let them read the messages itself. And in the case of the 1911 segment, the audience had to do precisely that, whereas in the other two segments, it is the characters doing the reading.

As far as the story of The Flowers of Shanghai is concerned, it centers around the brothels in 1880’s China. Food, drink, games and love is all that takes place. Games are played, the losers have to drink up, food is served and then after that, someone leaves with a girl of their choice. Problems arise when love comes into the equation. A man wants to buy a woman’s freedom but that does not go as per plan. Jealousy and doubts set in, and in the end, heartbreak follows. Sounds simple but it is much more complicated than that. And each emotion, each feeling is captured perfectly. What more can I say? Only that this is an absolutely stunning visual cinematic feast!

Goodbye South, Goodbye

Gangsters go through their complicated lives trying to etch out a better deal and a better future for themselves. At times the movie has shades of Hong Kong gangster/Japanese Yakutza movies but this one stands completely on its own. I quite liked it but not as much as the director’s other two movies. The film gives a glimpse into the lowest rungs of gangster business, a tier where negotiations are made over the kind of chickens to be traded, gambling rackets, family inheritances and other back-room deals. Slow, yet never dull. The camera just waits patiently and allows us to observe what the characters will do next, how they will react and how they will cope.

So overall ratings: Three Times (now updated to 10/10), Flowers of Shanghai (10/10) and Goodbye South, Goodbye (8.5/10)

Tsai Ming-liang

What Time Is It there?

Tick tock. The clock slowly ticks away. Taipei. Paris. What time is it really? Does the time matter? Because what is there to do really? Sell Watches! Wait for things to get better! And wait for the love to return! These things take time, they don’t change overnight. But the expectation that the next hour will be better, that the next day will be different enable the characters to go on. They sit, they wait and they hope. And when they start losing hope, they cling onto something else, something which they feel is better, something which will give them a better chance of happiness. That something might not make sense to an outsider but for the main characters, their lives depend on it. On one side is the boy who sells watches. One day he meets a girl who insists on buying his watch. The girl is leaving for Paris the next day and wants his watch only. She eventually convinces him to sell it to her. After the boy’s father dies, his mother finds it difficult to let go. The boy is afraid of the dark and tries to stay locked up in his room. If he leaves his room, he encounters his mother trying to come up with schemes to welcome the dead father’s spirit back. Meanwhile the girl is lonely in Paris. She longs for home and is relieved when she meets another woman who can speak the same language as her. Meanwhile, the boy is feeling more detached with his life. So he longs for the girl who left for Paris. In hoping to establish a connection with her, he changes the times on all the watches he sells to show Parisian time. In fact, wherever he finds a clock (be it in a hallway or mounted on a building), he tries to switch the time to Paris time (hence the title). He then seeks French movies so as to be closer to her. And his introduction to French cinema starts with 400 Blows . Meanwhile, the girl meets the real life grown up version of the boy from 400 Blows. In a way, sitting on two separate sides of the planet, the two of them connect in a strange way. Different times, but same feeling. The movie moves extremely slowly with long uninterrupted shots of nothingness. But that is exactly the point the movie is trying to make. Nothing happens in these people lives yet they keep waiting for something to happen. The clock on the other hand keeps ticking away.

Rating: 9/10

The Wayward Cloud

A long empty corridor. A woman carries a watermelon across it. Next scene, we see that watermelon cut open in half lying in between a woman’s open legs. A man approaches the watermelon, licks it and ends up achieving penetration of a different kind. The main character is the same who used to sell watches in What Time Is It There but he now acts in porno movies. He meets the returned girl from Paris, who moves into the same apartment block as him. The two of them don’t hook up but continue to admire each other from a distance. Each of them is initially busy trying to beat the heat wave that has covered the city. Water is a scarce resource and the tv news informs the public that it is cheaper to drink watermelon juice as opposed to water because of the abundant supply of watermelons as opposed to water. And this also explains the watermelon motif that keeps reappearing throughout the movie, be it as a song prop or as a sexual tool. The film contains a handful of songs which are very well orchestrated with completely unique props (sexual triggers and even a watermelon beast). The same slow technique as the Ming-liang Tsai’s previous movie is used but the songs lend a different mood to the movie. A bit of comic relief in some cases and in others just a melancholy commentary on the state of things. Overall, I didn’t find this film as interesting as his previous effort but this is a completely unique endeavor with a truly ‘climatic’ ending.

Rating: 8/10

Leon Dai

Twenty Something Taipei

A different shade of Taiwan from all the other movies. On face value, the modern Taipei shown is not as lonely as the other director’s efforts. The capital city is shown to be a vibrant, fast moving metropolitan city complete with drinks, drugs, clubs and liberal sex. Someone hooks up with one person, then another, switches partners and continues. While the fast paced music continues to throb in the background. In between is a sweet budding romance. The characters aren’t unique to Taipei but could easily inhabit Mumbai, New York, London or another major city. And despite the differences this movie has with the above 5 movies, there is a tiny segment which overlaps with Hsiao-hsien Hou’s Three Times . His 2005 segment has a lesbian love story which is clearly found in the middle of Twenty Something Taipei. Now, it may seem like a stretch to try to connect these two separate movies but it goes to show that both directors had a similar source which they worked off and both wanted to show a modern view of their city where a newer generation is growing up.

Rating: 7.5/10 . Not a bad movie. Cliched, yes! But entertaining nonetheless!!

CIAFF Festival wrap-up notes:

It is over, finally!! So was the festival worth is? Yes. When does one get a chance to build a film festival from ground up? And this festival was indeed started from nothing. Movie invites were sent to Asian movies all around the world. Plenty of responses were received and as expected many chose to not send their movies over. Money kept a lot of established movies out of reach (like Three Times) and on other occasions the smallness of the film festival kept a lot of distributors away. Some movies pulled out because they were selected for TIFF and wanted to have their Canadian premier there instead. But in the end, despite all the hurdles, the movie lineup was fantastic. Strong features included Red Doors, Kiều, Electric Shadows . The docs were powerful and eye-opening -- China Blue, Bombay Calling, Continuous Journey, In the Shadow of Gold Mountain, Slanted Screen . The shorts were carefully selected and put together in segments which complemented each other. For example, The Beyond Asia Selection was so named because it contained works which stretched the traditional Asian themes normally shown on screen -- Hiro, Wake, Shui Hen, System of Units, The Time is Now, Aunty Gs and Three Sisters of Moon Lake were all perfect selections. There was another short segment aimed towards Food and Memory themes with Grace Lee’s Best of Wurst being the pick of the lot.

But the biggest problem with starting a new film festival is getting the word out. And the crowds were very disappointing for some of the bigger features. The good weather, the theatre locations (hard to find parking) might have been other factors but the simple truth could have been is that people were just not interested. When the words ‘Asian Film Festival’ are mentioned, people might get an aversion to what is shown. The truth is that the festival covered movies from Pan Asian countries or movies from people of Pan Asian decent. This meant the pool to select movies from ran as deep from Iran to Japan, India to Indonesia and even included Canada, US and the UK. And as it turned out, the movies selected were quite diverse in their Asian themes – the films selected were either by Asian film-makers or North American film-makers of Asian decent or even movies which contained Asians in leading roles (and not stereo-typical 20 second roles that Hollywood offers). The cinematic showcased countries were Canada, US, Singapore, Germany, Scotland, UK, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Japan, Korea and Philippines -- hardly an easy to label batch of films. But it is a learning experience and hopefully next year, better pre-planning would result in better turn-outs.

The Return of Recreational Movie watching

Having finished programming movies for the Asian Film Festival, I finally have the time to again watch movies subjectively. Here is a quick score-card of some recent talkies:
(note: because of restrictions with publishing in this blog, I can't use my html table and have to present the data in this ugly format)

Film : (Year, Director, Rating out of 10)
15 Park Avenue: (2005, Aparna Sen, 10)
Three Times : (2005, Hsiao-hsien Hou, 9)
Sitcom : (1998, François Ozon, 8.5)
The Weather Man : (2005, Gore Verbinski, 8)
Secuestro Express : (2005, Jonathan Jakubowicz, 8.5)
Goal! : (2005, Danny Cannon, 7.5)
The Statement : (2003, Norman Jewison, 6)
The 40 Year Old Virgin:(2005, Judd Apatow, 4)
Phantom of the Opera: (2004, Joel Schumacher, 6)
Marebito: (2004, Takashi Shimizu, 5)
Il Mare: (2001, Hyun-seung Lee, 6.5)
Myth: (2005, Stanley Tong, 6.5)
Bridget Jones,EOR: (2005, Beeban Kidron, 5.5)

15 Park Avenue was a movie that I was looking forward to for a while. And that was only because I had loved writer, director Aparna Sen’s last effort -- Mr and Mrs. Iyer. In my mind Mr and Mrs Iyer was a perfect Indian movie which did justice to the complex and diverse Indian landscape. So after a gap of almost 3 years, Sen returns with a stellar cast in 15 Park Avenue, bringing back her talented daughter Konkana and Rahul Bose from Iyer and adding talented veterans such as Shabana Azmi to the mix. In terms of a story, 15 Park is almost identical to Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mera. Both movies deal with a schizophrenic character and their turbulent familial relationship. But the most striking difference in the two movies is in the ending. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mera’s ending tries to find a solution and ends on a hopeful note. But 15 Park’s ending is open ended with no possibilities of an attempted solution. In reality, 15 Park’s ending reminded me of the final shot in the smart French film, Caché. Even though the two movies ending consisted of continuous shots, there is a not so subtle difference. In the last shot of Caché, the viewer has to look closely past the assembled crowd to make sense of a possible clue or something. But in 15 Park, the final shot is devoid of any crowd. As the final frame comes on the screen, the crowd has disappeared. We are shown a long shot of an empty street, with an empty house. The absence of any activity might be the clue, whereas in Caché, the activity in the final shot was the clue. My theory on 15 Park’s ending is probably as far fetched from any reasonable meaning but here goes – Shabana’s character teaches Quantum physics in the movie and that is where I believe lies the clue to the ending. If a character is searching for a non-existent address in a city, then what does it mean if the character finds that address? Does it mean that character has ceased to exist or has their character crossed a space-time warp into an alternate reality? But there is a problem with the space-time ending. Rahul Bose’s character cannot be present in two places at the same time, so if he is present at the fictional address then that means the ending signifies that the main character has ceased to exist. In Caché, the ending does not come as a surprise. This is because the entire movie is built on still images and long continuous shots. But 15 Park is based on conversations and chatter (both real and imaginary) throughout the movie and the ending signifies utter peace, complete silence. The silence is broken only for a few seconds when a boy walks by whistling but it is a peaceful noise. Other than that, all is silent. Finally, the voices can be heard no more!

I admit I didn’t know of Hsiao-hsien Hou until last year when I heard about Three Times. Now having seen that movie, I can understand why he has such a following. Three Times is a gorgeous movie. 2 actors, 3 different love stories in 3 different eras – 1911, 1966 and 2005. I found the 1911 segment the weakest but it is also very inventive. Hsiao-hsien Hou recreates the silent movie era complete with placards shown on screen after the characters talk. Instead of having the segment in black and white, Hsiao-hsien Hou opts for vibrant colours. I do wonder what affect having the segment in black and white would have had to the movie’s flow. Would it have broken the flow or would it have formed a bridge in between the semi-colorful 1966 opening segment and the grayish 2005 segment? But this is a minor niggly point in such beautifully shot movie. In all 3 segments the lovers communicate with written words. In 1966, they use hand written letters. 1911 features written scrolls and in 2005, the words are exchanged via SMS text messages. The end result is the same in all 3 methods – the need to communicate and express one’s feelings for the other. My favourite segment was the 1966 segment which clearly had the feel of a Wong Kar-Wai movie like Chunking Express or Days of Being Wild (only the first 20 minutes or so). I decided to get a few of Hsiao-hsien Hou’s older movies and once I am done those, I will put up a separate article on him.

The only reason I rented Sitcom was because of François Ozon. Ozon’s movies are so interesting (8 Women, 5 x 2, Swimming Pool) as they represent different facets of human emotions. And I was not disappointed with Sitcom. It is such a hilarious take on the complicated familial dynamics that it makes American Beauty look like a simple and plain movie. In Sitcom, we meet a somber quiet father, a bubbly aging mother, a quiet introvert son and a young vivacious daughter. Added to the mix are the rich maid and her black husband. And then there is the evil hamster who in reality is a personification of the evil father who is out to ruin the family. Not like the family need any help in messing things up for themselves. Presenting Exhibit A -- the son claims to be gay, the maid’s husband checks to see if the boy is really gay by kissing him (and other stuff unseen by the camera), the mother tries to make the son normal by sleeping with him, the daughter attempts to kill herself. Truly a sitcom with a twist!

The Weather Man – gloomy yet bright. Huh? As Bill Murray has perfected the dead pan look, Nicolas Cage seems to be right at home with the depressive aging man. The only question I have is whether weather men are paid as much as shown in the movie? (upwards of a million dollars).

Secuestro Express – Express Kidnappings in Caracas! I had expected this movie to be much worse but I ended up liking it. A well to do middle class couple get kidnapped for some fast cash but their kidnapping does not go as per plan. Nothing earth shattering about the movie but it moves at a brisk pace.

Goal – An American movie about Soccer! Is that a joke? And that too a rags to riches story about a Mexican kid who moves from LA to play for Newcastle United. No wonder this movie was ripped to shreds in the British Press. I seriously expected a typical clichéd Hollywood movie. And yes it is indeed clichéd. But after the first 20 minutes, I ended up liking it. It has a good heart and a few scenarios made the movie feel a bit genuine, like the digitally altered scenes and the Manager character. The digitally altered soccer crowd scenes looked good and having real players on display made it seem a little bit genuine; having a soccer manager clearly modeled after Arsène Wenger was something that I appreciated. If in real life Arsenal's manager, Wenger took on an unknown player such as Kolo Toure from the Ivory Coast only based on what his friend told him, then it is not that far fetched that in the movie Santiago could get a try out with Newcastle. Yeah it still sounds improbable but in the movie, it seemed to work. The movie is not a work of art but it is pure fun.

The other movies were mostly passable. 40 Year Old Virgin is boring and plain dull. My biggest problem with that movie was that the lead was horrible. If they had gotten Ben Stiller for the title role, they maybe the movie might have been better. Oddly, after finding the first 35 minutes horrible, I ended up not disliking the rest. Either I got used to the dullness or I was able to channel out the dumbness. Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason is identical to the first movie expect with different locales. The first movie was funny but the second one is not! The Jackie Chan movie Myth is essentially about a male Tomb Raider running around searching for famed treasures. The only newsworthy thing in the movie might be the quick topless shot of the Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat. She can’t act in a Bollywood movie and in Myth she actually manages to be worse. But she is finally able to display her topless front side to the camera whereas only her naked back makes it on Bollywood celluloid. Ofcourse, the typical stereotypical image of India is shown in the movie – a land of spirituality, sensuality, dancing women ready to shed their clothes off, snake charmers and cheating saints.

That’s a wrap!

Remaking Asia

It starts with a single drop. Then a trickle follows. Gradually, a steady flow is established. And if unchecked, the flow could turn into a flood. What then? Damage? But Damage to whom? Those unleashing the flood would profit by saturating their consumers with goods. But for those on the other side, the drought would result in losses.

What does this have to do with movies? Nothing with original Hollywood movies but it has impacts for Hollywood’s rapid remakes of Asian cinema. Ofcourse, Hollywood looking towards the East for cinematic influences is not a new phenomenon. Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and other works were presented to Western audiences in different moulds. These were not straight remakes but more like inspirations, taking the essence of Asian themes and sprinkling Western notions on top. George Lucas admits his robotic duo for Star Wars were inspired from another Kurosawa flick The Hidden Fortress . Quentin Tarantino’s adventures in cinema owe a lot for his love for Asian cinema. But these inspirations were just admirations and in some ways a homage to the Eastern ideas. Nowhere was there a need to remake each frame of celluloid into an English version with American actors and locales. Why would such a need have been there in the first place anyhow? Hollywood was ‘considered’ to be a front runner in dazzling the world with those dreamy images. ‘Considered’ is a key word here. The perception was there but the rest of the World was not asleep. European and Asian cinema was already churning out great works from the 50’s through the 1960’s. But as the decades wore on, just like Hollywood, there was a slowing down of art and the debate of art vs commercial cinema arose. Producers started calling the shots and global cinema, including Hollywood, went through an adjustment/transition phase. But despite all the upheavals, the 90’s turned out to be really good for Hollywood’s spread into European and Asian markets. As Asia opened its doors, giant multiplex chains started opening in countries like India showcasing the latest Hollywood talkies. Hollywood had truly arrived in Asia.

Ofcourse, like in the older Colonial days, the rewards flowed only one way. In the days of old colonial voyages, when the ships returned back to the Western shores, they took along some exotic Eastern goods in return. The Eastern goods were then integrated into Western fabrics and sold back to the Eastern lands for a profit. Old habits die hard. They really do. If Spices and herbs were prized back in the olden days, Asian cinema has turned out to be a modern exotic trading good now. Hollywood really has found a love for taking an Asian movie story and remaking it with Western locations and actors and then presenting it to American audiences as the new money spinning movie. In some instances, the product is shipped back to the Asian country from which the remake was made to earn a profit. Japan was once again the promised land as the Ringu movies were converted into The Ring series. Other Japanese horror movies such as Ju-on and Dark Water found suitable remakes. To be partially fair, Hollywood did credit the original film-makers and screenwriters and in some cases, even asked the original Japanese director to remake an English version with Japanese locales ( Ju-on , Ring 2 ). But mostly the credit is not all that obvious. Whereas some magazines and websites might talk about the original Asian film source, on screen, the true source listings might be pushed until the end of the frame. The average American filmgoer might not even know that the movie was remade from Asia. What need is there to tell the person that? In a culture where clothes and food influences from Asia are so casually embedded within Western stores, the original source does not matter. As America rushes to patent Asian spices and herbs as their own, then why should Asian movies be left un-touched? For example, America has already patented Basmati Rice as their own even though farmers in India have been growing this for a few centuries. The bottom profit margin is all that matters. If the Asian movie remakes make money, then more and more will continue to be unleashed into the market. The upcoming year will present North American audiences with remakes of hit Asian movies such as Infernal Affairs (Martin Scorsese will direct an all star cast of this intelligent Hong Kong cat and mouse game), My Sassy Girl , and Oldboy to name a few.

I was surprised to learn that a Korean movie I recently saw, Il Mare , was slated for a June 2006 release by Hollywood. At first glance, this seemed like an unlikely remake story. The love story in Il Mare introduces a new hurdle in front of love struck people – a time boundary. Huh? Well as it turns out that the man and woman in the story can’t meet each other because they are physically separated by 2 years in time. A man moves into a house where he finds a letter in his mailbox marked 2 years into the future. As it turns out, the letter is from a woman who occupies the house 2 years into the future and the mailbox is able to transmit letters to and from her (backwards and forwards in time). Meaning if the man placed a letter into the mailbox, the woman in the future would get it and she could in turn place a reply in the mailbox for him. Thus begins a relationship between the two via the letter exchanges. Even though the movie is well shot, this hardly seemed a candidate for a remake. But that is exactly what will happen in the summer of 2006 when Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock will have their letter romance via the mailbox in front of The Lake House .

And when Hollywood can’t remake the original (due to the complexity of the story), it seeks to profit from the distribution rights. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hero The House of Flying Daggers and 2046 are the most popular examples. Using these releases as an example (especially 2046 ), Hollywood has the audacity to complain that its revenues were affected because these Asian movies were available in North America in the form of VCD’s and DVD’s before Hollywood’s official theatrical release. The movies had been released in Asian theatres for almost a year before their official VCD and DVD’s started hitting the American markets. But Hollywood does not want people to see these DVD versions. Instead, Hollywood wants the North American viewer to wait 1-2 years before its ‘chai’ drinking executives can decide which Asian movies are worthy to show in American theatres and which can be ignored. If Hollywood can’t completely shut down the global cinematic tap, then it atleast wants to control the tap’s flow and only allow a slight trickle or a few drops to get through.

I used to believe that there were some movies Hollywood would never dare remake. For example, the shock horror Japanese (especially Takashi Miike) and Korean movies! But I am not sure anymore after the intense Korean movie Oldboy will get a scene by scene remake later this year. If that experiment succeeds, then would Hollywood chase down movies such as Miike’s Audition ? Hollywood is not alone in remaking Eastern Asian movies. Bollywood too has followed suite by openly plagiarizing Hong Kong/Korean cinema. In Bollywood’s case, they don’t even acknowledge the influence of the original Asian film-makers. Bollywood has been known to freely copy Hollywood and European cinema in the past but has found a new source in their neighbours to the Far East.

In the end, Asia might not be the only market to feel Hollywood’s eyes burning in the back of their heads. In the future, European and South American cinema might be invaded as well. Insomnia and Vanilla Sky were just two candidate droplets taken from Norway and Spain. Will the flood be avoided? Time and American box office receipts will be closely assessing the situation!

The Making of an Asian Film Festival

What makes a perfect film festival? Is there such a thing as a perfect film festival? Well having worked for three years in a row for 2 very different film festivals, I am beginning to realize that there is no such thing as a perfect film festival. There can’t be. While it is a challenge getting films selected, some external factors prevent films from reaching a festival on time and even if they do make it to the festival, technical problems prevent them from being shown.

After two years of working for other organization’s film festivals, I got the chance this year to work on an independent inaugural Asian film festival, a festival that would get the chance to make brave selections, a festival where we would have more control. And how has this experiment gone? It has been enjoyable but no matter how much we can try, we are still at the mercy of the same problems as that other film festival – budget constraints, political selections and the ‘invisible hand’ or external forces. In the end, thankfully we still managed to get a healthy collection of movies. It is surely a great achievement considering the obstacles we had. One of the biggest hurdles being having no budget! How can you ask a film-maker to showcase their movie if you don’t have a budget to fly them over? How can you ask a film-maker to offer their movie at a cut-price? But amazingly, a lot of film-makers were very co-operative and excited at letting us show their movies, some with major discounted fees. For a first time festival, it was an achievement to get a good collection of submissions. This required a lot of film requests sent out to all corners of the world. We got a lot of responses back, and some even from film-makers whose movies were premiering at this year’s Rotterdam and Berlin Festival. One thing was clear, most film-makers want to support new film festivals and are enthusiastic to have their films shown in new cities. Here is a sampling of some films (features and documentaries) previewed and selected:

Red Doors (directed by Georgia Lee)

This charming movie is our opening night film. It is a wonderful movie about the American-Chinese Wong family. The story revolves around the father and his three daughters. If that sounds like Ang Lee’s Eat, Drink, Man, Woman , it is not. Red Doors combines cross cultural issues with everyday relationship and life complications (work, school) and presents them in a very polished manner.

Kiều (directed by Vũ T. Thu Hà)

Our closing night movie is another treat. The movie is a modern day adaptation of the classic 19th century Việtnamese epic poem, The Tale of Kiều. Kiều had a really strong opening at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and it is easy to see why. It is a very easy flowing movie which moves at a leisurely pace without ever being dull.

Electric Shadows (directed by Jiang Xiao)

As of this moment, we are not sure if we will get this movie or not. This is one of the more polished films I got to see this year. This 2004 movie has been called the Chinese Cinema Paradiso . One can see the similarities but this one stands on its own. The movie shows the power of cinema to reach out to masses and cause a change. The story intersects with the present to the era of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and as the movie progresses, we find that the two stories have a common thread.

China Blue (directed by Micha X. Peled)

Where do your jeans come from? Who makes these jeans? And how much work goes into the making of a perfect pair of jeans? China Blue does more than just answer such questions. It gives an inside look into the blue-jeans factory in China, complete with highlighting the harsh working conditions of the people involved and the constant struggles they have to overcome. The movie offers ample evidence for people who talk about the poor labour conditions in China and other ‘sweat’ factories for the big brand companies.

Bombay Calling (directed by Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal)

Indian people living in North American are victims of countless monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly telemarketing calls from India offering cheap long distance and other services. In fact one of my first blog entries was about one such annoying call -- Calling India . So it was refreshing to see a movie like Bombay Calling which puts a face to these countless Indians making these phone calls and the ruthless Business men responsible for these companies.

Two Documentaries showing Canada’s forgotten past

Continuous Journey and In the Shadow of Gold Mountain are two eye-opening and insightful movies which highlight often forgotten or unmentioned racial incidents in Canadian History. It may seem surprising to hear that in Canada before 1950, Chinese or Indian immigrants were not welcome. Taxes and restrictions were imposed on people from these countries whereas no taxes were imposed on immigrants coming in from Eastern Europe. In fact, Eastern European immigrants were given free land and encouraged to settle down. Even though Chinese immigrants were responsible for constructing the railways that linked the entire country together, they were not considered welcome. Radios in 1920’s and even 30’s played daily songs about only having a ‘white Canada’. It was not until Pierre Elliot Trudeau gave his multiculturalism speech in 1971 speech did things change. Canada has indeed come a long way but it is still interesting to know what lay in that past.

V For Vendetta

Directed by James McTeigue

Screenplay by: Andy and Larry Wachowski

Graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Rating: 6/10

What a mess! What a royal Hollywood mess! But then what can one expect when Hollywood takes a well written Graphic novel written by a Brit and turns it into a movie? With the exception of Sin City Hollywood has completely failed to understand the importance and depth of Graphic novels. Moore's From Hell was not such a bad screen adaptation but the Wachowski brothers have completely messed up Moore’s well written 'V for Vendetta'. I should have headed into the theatre with low expectations really. I mean seeing how the brothers turned their own brilliant Matrix movie into a disaster by making 2 brain dead sequels, how could they really have handled Moore’s intelligent story? This was a story which combined '1984', 'Fahrenheit 451', 'Brave New World' with various works of Literature and comic books and turned it into a grim futuristic tale. The story showed us how a government could use the threat of fear and war to strip its citizens of complete freedom and treat them like brain dead slaves. (Sound familiar? Well as it turns out a certain country is attempting to do that right now). The story was written in 1988 with the bleak future taking place in 1997-98. Considering we are now in 2006, the brothers had to move the timeline and they moved it to 2020. They changed the dialogues to include recent terror attacks in the U.S and U.K to further their story along. Fine, these changed aspects to the story are not that bad. But the problem is the screenplay is so un-inspired and makes for a boring movie. There are forced action sequences included in the story which have nothing to do with the original story. In fact, the final knife fight scenes try to evoke The Matrix sequences with the knife moving in slow motion through the air. The movie completely drops the ball in mentioning that in the bleak future, people are not allowed to read books, watch movies or even enjoy the pleasures of art. And then the token scenes of British people glued to their televisions watching the news unfold seem to be in very poor taste – they are straight out of mindless Hollywood action movies which include shots of a diverse group of people just to show that everyone is affected by the action events.

Another element from the brother's Matrix trilogy is included in this movie – Hugo Weaving. The impressionable voice of Agent Smith gives the voice of 'V' the central character of the movie. Half-way through V.. , it was impossible to not equate his talks with Evey (Natalie Portman’s character) to his speeches to Neo (Keanu Reeves in the Matrix) as his tone was identical. Natalie Portman is quite good in her role but her character is changed slightly from the novel. In the novel, Evey is a desperate 16 year old who is in need for money and tries to sell her body. On her first night, she is caught by the 'Finger Men' and that is when V comes to save her. In the movie, she is a professional who works in TV and is going dressed up for a dinner date when she is caught and encounters V. V manages to use her network Identity card to bypass security on a few occasions. But in the novel, V does not need an Identity card to bypass security – he breaks into the central computer system ('Fate') which controls all the British people and disrupts Britain’s network airwaves. Why was this change included? The argument could be that the change was needed to make the screenplay flow and mesh with the story but in the end, it does not.

But what if someone has not read the novel and sees the movie? Is the movie enjoyable then? On its own, the movie still ends up being a boring mess. The movie is caught in between trying to be a serious political revolution movie and an action Hollywood flick. It can't be both. Very few movies are like the first Matrix movie which combined intelligent ideas with action. There are so many intelligent ideas in V for Vendetta but they are presented in such a dry manner. Why does a movie which has powerful lines like 'You can kill a man but you can't kill an idea' and connects multiple story lines (Guy Fawkes and V, V's personal revenge) end up being so un-inspiring? A movie which asks people to wake up and start a revolution ends up putting one to sleep!

Water, Football, Sex and Junebug

Water (written and directed by Deepa Mehta): Rating 6/10

Yet another triology is complete but just like the disappointing conclusion of the ‘Revenge’ Trilogy by Chan-wook Park, Mehta’s ‘Element’ trilogy ends on a whimper. Water tackles the subject of Sati and injustice that women have to endure in the name of laws written in scriptures ages ago. The story has all the potential for a riveting absorbing movie but the end result is a boring drab movie. Technically the movie is good with the visuals giving a good sense of the surroundings. But the real flaws are in the make shift story and the terrible acting pairing of Lisa Ray and John Abraham. Lisa Ray is completely miscast as the young Sati because she still has trouble delivering Hindi diagloues and her expressions don’t even come close to the emotional complexity such a role requires. John Abraham can’t act but he can deliver dialogues. Acting is more than just saying a few lines. When Abraham speaks his few lines, there is no emotion on his face. In fact, there is no emotion whatsoever in this movie. The only spark of emotion is shown in a brief moment by Seema Biswas when she learns the young Chuyia has been sent into prostitution. But other than that, people just speak their lines. The best performance in the movie has to be the young Sarala who is very impressive as the young girl thrust into the life of a Sati.

What was the point of having the story set in 1938? There are Sati’s who exist today (at the end the movie informs us the number is 34 million) so why not tackle the story from the present and use the past as an arc to connect the two stories? Meaning show that nothing has changed from Gandhi’s time. It was absolutely wasteful to mention Gandhi in the movie without having a better etched out story. The movie is so clean, the sets so carefully constructed and everything so well laid out that the movie seems contrived and forced in order for us to go ‘wow such an intelligent movie’. In fact, reading some of the reviews in the Western World, I think Mehta has been able to fool most people. Just because someone makes a movie about a sensitive topic does not mean we should stand up and praise them. Deepa Mehta had to endure so much hardship just in order to complete this movie (her original set in Varanasi was destroyed by fundamentalists and she was forced to move the movie to Sri Lanka). I just wish she could have made a more powerful movie as opposed to giving us a cold emotionless 2 hour waste.

The Football Factory (directed by Nick Love): Rating 5/10

Hooliganism is a nasty part of British football and it tends to undermine the importance of the on-field game. In fact, the shallow North American press hardly ever reports on soccer but they never fail to highlight cases of soccer violence. There are plenty of books out there on soccer hooligans (‘Among the Thugs’ being a good example) and even more books written by former hooligans to give their side of the story. I have not read John King’s book on which this movie is based but I can safely assume that it would be a better read than this movie. The movie focuses on the Chelsea gang (or the ‘Firm’ as it is called in some quarters) and their rivalry with the Millwall gang. The gangs from both these London based soccer teams have had their share of historic fights and the movie tries to highlight some of those aspects. But all the movie shows is a bunch of people walking about, gathering in numbers from various sides and in the end, shouting and charging at the rival gang. Punches and kicks follow with bricks, bars and knieves added to the combat arsenal. There is not much to this movie with the usual lines used to explain the violence (‘What else is there to do on a Saturday’, ‘fights equal good buzz, etc). Plenty of drinks and drugs on tap, before the weekend festivities start. Like other movies, it shows the fighting gangs live for the weekend. They drudge through their week long jobs before getting their high from the kicks and punches game on the weekend. Yeah maybe that is all there is. But one does not need to see a 90 minute movie to know that.

Lie with Me (directed by Clément Virgo): Rating 4/10

Another movie which tries to portray sex as art and even blur the line with porn! What is the point of such a movie? This time it is a Canadian effort which tries to pass off sex as a sophisticated art movie and the end result was sold out shows at the Canadian Film Festival circuit in 2005. No point in looking for a story or character development in such a movie. A young woman likes to screw for fun. She wants to know if both love and great sex (lust) can be possible with one man. She eyes a man at a party. But they don’t jump for each other right away. He has a girlfriend. And she has to play around a bit. She teases him, sucks another man, and lets herself be taken knowing full well that she is being watched by him. His girlfriend on the other hand sees him watching her, so she replicates her acts onto him. All balanced out. Eventually, as expected the two of them hook up. Plenty of sex follows. And plenty of male frontal nude shots as well. She continues to wander about, her abstract thoughts used as a background voice-over narration. Confused and un-decided, they grow apart, come together, grow apart and end up together. But for how long? I don’t care to know. I have still not seen Last Tango in Paris in its entirety but I am sure this movie tries to capture some of its essence. But there are better ways to highlight the debate between love and lust. The French movie Secret Things was brilliant but Lie with Me is well off the mark. Not that this is the only art/sex/porn movie out there. From what I have read Michael Winterbottom’s 9 songs is another such recent movie.

Junebug (directed by Phil Morrison): Rating 8/10

After three strikes, a movie finally hits the mark. Junebug is a refreshing movie which shows the complexities about family relationships and even people in general. How do two people get along? Can two completely different people ever be happy together? Why are some men always in a perpetual angst mode? How do people connect with art? What is more important, work or family? Acting wise, the movie is spot on. The women in the movie are very well portrayed and range from house wives to career driven. The tension between a mother and a daughter in-law are also shown and the frosty relationships between two brothers are also portrayed. A very good movie!

95th Post

This turns out to be my 95th entry for this blog. Unfortunately, it is not a very polished entry but given the recent flood of movies that have been passing through my DVD, I can only find time to spare a few quick words.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (directed by Chan-wook Park)

The trilogy is complete but oddly I lost interest. It is a strange feeling really – you wait so long to see a movie and when you finally get a chance to see it, you find that you no longer care. That is the case I felt with ..Lady Vengeance. A long time ago I saw Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and really liked the movie -- that movie had started off slowly but took time to develop its characters and outline the story before plunging into a series of cuts and stabs to end on a bloody note. Then I saw Oldboy , a dark and wicked movie which started off interestingly and slowed down slightly in the middle before finishing off with a real hammer blow of an ending. So I eagerly waited for the final installment of the revenge trilogy. Now ..Lady Vengeance does take time to outline the characters and story but after the first 30 minutes or so, I lost all interest. I can’t explain it. Maybe this movie should have come before Oldboy ? Or maybe I just had moved on to other movies while waiting for this to finally get released? Or maybe I need to attempt to see this movie some time again in the future?

Mostly Martha (written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck): Rating 10/10

This 2001 movie is a perfect blend of cooking, acting and writing. Martha (played perfectly by Martina Gedeck) is a perfectionist when it comes to her kitchen. But this need for perfection makes her a control freak. Her patience and wit are duly tested when the care-free fun loving chef Mario (played amazingly by Sergio Castellitto) is hired to work alongside Martha. And when Martha’s sister is killed in a tragic accident, Martha has to look after her young niece Lina (Maxime Foerste). Not having experience dealing with kids, Martha struggles with Lina. But Mario is able to reach out to Lina and helps forge a bridge between Lina and Martha. A wonderful movie!

Lilya-4-ever (written & directed by Lukas Moodysson): Rating 9.5/10

An intense and chilling movie from the writer and director of 1998’s Show me Love (better know as F*** Åmål). Since I had loved his previous effort, I wanted to check out this 2002 movie as well. I am glad I did because it is an excellent effort. Story: Lilya’s mother takes off to the States and leaves her daughter to fend for herself in a cold former Russian republic (we are never told the exact name of the city or country but that does not matter). She says she will call for Lilya when things are settled but that is not how things turn out. Instead of moving to the states, 16 year old Lilya is left at the mercy of people who are looking to exploit and use her at every chance, right from her aunt to her boyfriend. Her only salvation is a 13 year old boy who is abused by his father and lives a solitary life. Their friendship is the only comforting and sane thing which holds both of them together. The movie could easily double as a docu-drama because of its Verité feel.

Best of Youth, Part I (directed by Marco Tullio Giordana): Rating 8.5/10

Broken up into two parts, each 3 hours long, Best of Youth requires an investment of one’s time. And as it turns out, it is a worthy investment. Initially, I was skeptical about having to spend so much time watching a movie but as it turns out, one hardly notices the time fly by. Simply put, it is a story about two brothers as they grow up from the 1960’s through to the 80’s (part I only). The movie focuses on the changing ideologies of the young men as they go through their lives, learning and experiencing new sensations along the way and maturing into independent adults. The brothers start off on the same path and gradually find themselves drifting from each other. Typical with most Italian movies, this one is complete with emotion, family, politics and love. What else is there? I am sufficiently interested to spend 3 more hours watching Part II.

The Life of Jesus (written & directed by Bruno Dumont): Rating 5.5/10

Sometimes a movie is what it is and reading too much into it is not worth the effort. La Vie de Jésus has won many awards but it is not half as complex as it made out to be. The story revolves around bored white French youngsters who have nothing to do in their little town. Their amusements range from driving around on their bikes and insulting an Arab family in the town. The movie predictably ends when the white racist French boys beat the crap out of the Arab kid. Yes the movie gives us a realistic glimpse into the boring life in a small town. Yes the movie does not shy away from the awkward racist situations but so what? Much better interesting movies exist out there on this very topic.

Igby goes down (2002 movie written & directed by Burr Steers): Rating 7.5/10

A coming of age movie jam packed with plenty of big star cameos. Not bad and enjoyable in parts.

Gangster No. 1 (2000 movie directed by Paul McGuigan): Rating – not worth it

Yawn! A British Gangster movie which is more talk than action. The constant voice over narration provided by Malcolm McDowell loses its appeal after a while and instead becomes annoying.

Napolean Dynamite (2004 movie directed by Jared Hess): Rating 8.5/10

A funny movie on par with Rushmore and Jon Heder’s interesting performance makes this one a fun movie to watch. The fact that Jon Heder is aptly supported by a quirky cast only adds to the movie’s enjoyment. Ofcourse, it is also possible to watch this movie without any emotion or interest as the humour is dry and offbeat.

Dot the I (2003 movie written & directed by Matthew Parkhill): Rating 9/10

I had never heard of this movie. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Best to watch it without knowing the story! At times, the movie tries to be too clever for its own good but in the context, it works. The twists at the end are easy to pick up and not totally unexpected. It was also the first movie where I saw Gael García Bernal in a completely English speaking role and he does not disappoint.

So many movies....

Too many movies to talk about! 13 in total! So just a quick summary of what I thought of each one then.

Capote (Directed by Bennett Miller): Rating 9.5/10

I will start with the obvious: Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant playing Truman Capote. He is the movie really. But credit also goes to a powerful performance from Clifton Collins Jr. who plays Perry Smith, one of the murderers. One could feel the torment Capote suffered by his own actions (or subsequent inactions) as the movie progressed. I had wanted to see this movie for quite a while now and I am glad to have finally seen it!

Hustle & Flow (written and directed by Craig Brewer): Rating 10/10

I am tired of reading reviews about this movie which only praise Terrence Howard’s performance. Yes, Howard is brilliant but calling this his movie is unfair -- he is helped by a solid screenplay, hip music and great acting from his ensemble cast. The way all the characters are written is very fresh. Sure some are stereotypical but they are given chance to develop into something different. This was a movie which also showed how the creative process can sometimes work and we are privileged to some wicked music along the way. Loved it! In a minor way, I was reminded of the French movie, The Beat that my Heart Skipped in some sequences – both movies are about street hoodlums desperate to escape their life and in both cases, music provides an outlet.

The Edukators (Directed by Hans Weingartner): Rating 9/10

Excellent! This movie is a grown up child of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers . I had disliked Bertolucci’s movie but I quite liked this one. The movie shows both sides of youth rebellion – the system sucks and one must rebel against it. But what does one achieve after such a rebellion? Another worse system? Most likely! The movie ties up the free love movement of the 60’s with the cold hate of modern consumerism. Intelligent ideas are presented and the characters engage in lively debate. One can say that the movie does not really scratch the surface of the obvious ideas but most people never get beyond that first layer anyhow.

Imagine Me and You (written and directed by Ol Parker): Rating 6.5/10

A clean cut romantic comedy about two women falling for each other! Rachel spots Luce on her wedding day and fights with her feelings for her husband before finally giving into her love for Luce. There are some really funny witty parts but overall felt too clichéd and boring.

King Kong (directed by Peter Jackson): Rating 7/10

If I view the movie on face value then there is nothing worth raving about. Sure there are some great moments, especially those involving Kong and Naomi Watts, and Kong’s battles with the dinosaurs. Naomi Watts looks great really. Her make-up is perfect even when she is dragged through water, runs from a T-rex or through the jungle. She does a decent job of expressing herself but acting wise no one in this movie really stood out. Now if I were to see this as a political movie, then I would say that I quite liked it. The movie is about America really. It is about America’s fear of outsiders. It is about America’s greed in exploiting others for its own use. And when one is no longer usable, then that thing should be destroyed. Seriously, can’t a giant ape and his blond love be left in peace? Can’t the ape be left to have a romantic time skating with his blond lady? No need to negotiate with an outsider. Just send bombs and bullets and destroy the outsider.

A Fond Kiss (directed by Ken Loach): Rating 9/10

A pleasant surprise! I knew nothing about this movie and ended up liking this one quite a bit. In religiously charged Glasgow, a Scottish Pakistani man falls for an Irish Catholic woman. Unlike East is East and countless other Western Indian movies, this movie shows that it is not only the Indian culture which has problems with its kind marrying others from outside the culture (region, religion, etc) but even the Catholic religion imposes similar restrictions. What is a couple to do really?

8 Mile (2002 movie directed by Curtis Hanson): Rating 8/10

A really good movie! I waited this long to see it but it was worth the watch.

The Triplets of Belleville (2003 movie written & directed by Sylvain Chomet): Rating 9/10

A smart and enjoyable animation movie! The catchy title song is pleasant and blends in perfectly with the movie’s relaxed mood.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (directed by Sijie Dai): Rating 7.5/10

A decent movie about the change that a book can make in one’s life! Literature can open one’s eyes to the world outside and sometimes there is no turning back.

Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003 movie directed by Bob Odenkirk): Rating 8/10

Michael Blieden adapted his own stage play for this movie and it shows. The core of the movie feels like a theatrical play and it works. 4 friends, 2 men and 2 women, end up in conversations ranging from relationships, careers, ghosts, science, to whatever their fancy. Quite funny at times and absorbing!

Insomnia (2002 movie directed by Christopher Nolan): Rating 10/10

I didn’t want to see this Hollywood remake until I had seen the original Norwegian version but after waiting for a few years, I gave in and decided to give the Hollywood version a look. It is a excellent thriller with multiple layers and is expertly acted and coolly shot.

Road to Perdition (2002 movie directed by Sam Mendes): Rating 5.5/10

There was a reason why I didn’t see this movie when it first came out – it looked boring. But I had hoped that maybe I was wrong? Well as it turns out, my first instinct was correct. This is a terribly boring gangster movie where all the main characters look disinterested and are wrongly cast. The first 30 minutes were painful but I hoped that the incident around the 40 minute mark might shake the movie up. It did for a while until it became boring again. Yuck!

Cold Mountain (2003 movie directed by Anthony Minghella): Rating 5/10

In an ideal world, one should have enough time to properly judge and evaluate each movie. But this is not an ideal world. One does not have time to waste on awful movies which have nothing to offer. Such is the case with this horrible waste of a movie. I tried to watch it and eventually decided that I could not waste any more time on this one. But I still managed to fast forward and get a feel of it. A strong cast, a director with a reputation and still a boring flick!

Waiting for Happiness

Heremakono (2002 movie written and directed by Abderrahmane Sissako): Rating 8.5/10

Sometimes the simplest movies are the ones which are a pleasure to watch. And oddly enough, watching the boring lives of people sometimes makes for an interesting movie. Such is the case of Waiting for Happiness , this simple movie from Mauritania. What is the story? There isn't one! In fact, the movie just shows us a slice of some people's lives living in a small town by the ocean. Not much happens there and at times, people die waiting for something to happen. The sun rises, they wake up, they wait, the sun sets, yet they still wait. And so on. This does not feel like a scripted movie. It feels as if Abderrahmane Sissako got permission to plunk his camera down in a little town and filmed the people in their daily routines. An excitable young boy who loves working and hooking electrical cables up, an aging old man who does not care anymore, a young man who spends too much time thinking and looking out of his window to see how many visitors the local prostitute gets, a mother who is worried that her son is not normal like other boys, a young girl who is taking singing lessons, a photo shop which sells dreams of life abroad, etc. The visuals of this town surrounded by the desert on one side, and the ocean on another are just beautiful. There is something poetic about observing a solitary figure walking through the vast desert.

Match Point. Game. Set and Match!

Match Point (written and directed by Woody Allen): Rating 10/10

I really want to say ‘I can’t believe this is a Woody Allen’ movie, but I can’t make such a statement because I have only seen a handful of his movies. And those were not even the best of his work, judging from what I have read. For some strange reason, despite all his previous duds, I was still eagerly waiting to see this movie though. And I had to wait a long time (almost 2 months) because my city only got this movie this past Friday. Was the wait worth it? A big Yes! This is a vintage movie. That being said, the movie requires patience. Because there is a lot of dialogue wrapped around a simple story. What is the story then? A Love story? Yes, in some ways. But I like to think of the story as being about greed. Yes there is passion thrown in there as well. And the movie does explore the differences between love and lust along the way but in the end, the only question that matters is how important is greed? Is it more important than love? Is it more powerful than a lustful blond bombshell? Ofcourse, a little luck goes a long way in ensuring that the means to greed are not blocked. I am not going to bother talking about the story because I walked into the movie not knowing the story. The only thing I will say is that the story is not that original as the idea was tackled a few years back in The Talented Mr. Ripley but this movie handles the question of greed a wee bit subtly. The acting is quite good and the screenplay is excellent. One comment about all the characters in the movie -- none of them are portrayed to be good people and are corrupt on some level. At no point does it seem that we are watching sweet innocent people. All the characters are calculating things for their own good and at times are not afraid to openly admit their needs.

Since Match Point is shot entirely in London with mostly British actors and British money (BBC) but directed by an American, the movie was going to be intensely scrutinized by the British critics. And from what I have read, they despised the movie. Their arguments are valid in a way – they felt the dialogues are poor, the British characters stereotypical, a lot of the well known Brit actors are wasted and the locales are very touristy. But since I am not British, I overlooked a lot of their problems. This may be an American’s simplification of a British landscape but given the story, it didn’t matter. The story could have been set in New York just as easily. Yes the dialogue is not as sophisticated as some British dramas but it was never meant to be. Given the context of the movie, the dialogue the characters speak does not have to be intelligent, it has to be convincing enough for them to satisfy their needs. And in some cases, those words are cold and sparse but those are all the words they need!

Cakes, Penguins, Bears, Cars and Girls

What makes a good movie? So many ways to analyze a movie, so many ways to critique a movie but at the end of the day, one sure fire way to know what makes a good movie is if one genuinely likes it. Based on that likeness factor, I try to judge this week’s haul. There are a couple of highly praised movies but I just didn't like them. At times, I don't care about the objective state of a movie...here goes --

Layer Cake (Directed by Matthew Vaughn): Rating 9/10

I genuinely enjoyed this Brit gangster movie. Even though it is not on the same caliber as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels , it is well made and decently acted. Daniel Craig gives us a sample about what we can expect when he finally makes his Bond debut. In the movie, Craig plays a simple nameless gangster who believes his crimes are justified as being just ‘business’ (been there, seen that in several countless Asian gangster movies). But his character is not street smart enough to look at the whole picture and understand the hierarchy about how the drug business really works. Because of his naivety, we can see the careless mistakes this gangster is making and as the audience, we have a sense of where these mistakes will lead his character. Nonetheless, it is a watch-able movie if you are in the mood for this genre.

March of the Penguins (Directed by Luc Jacquet): Rating 10/10

WOW! All the people associated with this movie should be very proud of their work. This is a beautiful and eye opening work. We learn something new and are introduced to a world which we will never encounter personally. And the film-makers spent more than a year living in the harsh icy land of Antarctica to bring us this film. For that reason alone, they deserve all the praise and credits! As for the film itself, it looks at the annual Empire Penguins mating and march routine. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, this is just a delightful and tragic story about what has to be one of the hardest parenting jobs out there.

Grizzly Man (Directed by Werner Herzog): Rating 7/10

This one is a tough documentary to judge. I first heard about this movie when it was doing the film festival circuits. The hype around this movie was huge. It was even sold out at the local film festival in my city and for one reason or another, I missed the regular theatrical screenings (after the festival) as well. So I had to make do with the DVD version. And I am glad I saw this on DVD because that gave me the chance to better assess this movie. But I don’t think it was a good idea to see this movie after I had seen March of the Penguins because my expectations were sky high. ..Penguins had given us a real insight into the strange yet beautiful animals so I expected a similar feat from Grizzly Man . That was my biggest mistake. Because this is not a movie about Grizzly bears but about a man who ‘believed’ he loved those creatures. I say ‘believed’ because after watching this movie, I am not convinced if the man in question really understood the bears. Werner Herzog does a pretty decent job of going through 100 hours of footage that Timothy Treadwell made about his Grizzly bear encounters over a span of 13 years. Ironically, Timothy was killed and eaten by the very creature he claimed to have loved. But despite Herzog’s best intentions, I didn’t find this to be an interesting documentary. This is not his fault because he didn’t shoot the original footage so he could only work with what he did. And some of the people he interviews are not the most interesting (not to take any names but one of Treadwell’s ex-girlfriends). Nor do I find any merit in listening to Treadwell hype himself up via his video diaries. It is clear that Treadwell was not doing anything to protect the bears even though he keeps repeating this several times. So why should I praise a documentary about a person who was clearly delusional? I don’t want to judge Treadwell but documentaries are usually an interesting film medium -- they sometimes help to shed light on uncovered topics but in this movie’s case, I didn’t find that to be the case. That being said, one scene really stands out from this movie. There was a scene when one of the bears is swimming. As the bear is heading towards the shore, Treadwell touches it slightly from behind. Suddenly the bear jerks backward in a reflexive manner expressing annoyance at having been disturbed. The bear’s reaction was a very human behaviour when we react at having been touched by a stranger. Treadwell never clued onto that cold behaviour from that bear or the several others he tried to befriend. He believed the creatures acknowledged him, and he himself wanted to become one of them. Some people do want to become someone (or something else) because they can’t stand the strange world they inhabit. But if movies were made about all such people, should we really stand up and praise all of them?

Breathless (1960 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard): Rating 7.5/10

This movie is considered to be one of the classics of modern cinema! I am sure I would have felt differently about this movie if I had seen this back in 1960 and not in 2006. Because back in 1960, this movie would actually have been different! But in this day and age, I find it quite dull. Yes there are lots of interesting parts to this story about a French car thief and an American girl but overall, I was not that bowled over. In 1960, this movie’s pacing might have felt ‘breathless’ but nowadays even the most amateur movie can splice frames at a frantic pace.

Fat Girl (2001 movie Written and Directed by Catherine Breillat): Rating 6.5/10

You sometimes know what to expect when you are watching movies from certain directors. I had seen an earlier film by Catherine Breillat and read about her latest film Anatomy of Hell , so I prepared myself for the worst. Contrary to my preconceived notions, I didn’t find Fat Girl that shocking. It is brutally honest in its portrayal of teenage girls, sibling rivalry and boys but what annoyed me was the direction this movie took in the final 20 minutes. Surely there was a more effective way to end this movie? I felt like the Breillat didn't know how to end the story so she decided to end it with a bang just because...The movie focuses on the relationship between two sisters, a thin 15 year old and a fat 13 year old. The two already share a love-hate relationship when the older sister meets a young Italian boy. Mix sex with raging hormones and you have a complicated range of emotions. Like in other Breillat movies, the camera does not flinch but instead invites us to watch closely as the characters go about their lives. A bit too closely at times….