Spotlight on Christopher Doyle

I have often chased down films either by a particular director or country for the better part of the last decade. The only exception to this was from 2005-06 when I looked for films that cinematographer Christopher Doyle worked on. Ofcourse, Doyle is no ordinary cinematographer but is one of the top 2-3, if not the best, director of photography working in any film industry around the world. He is best known for his work on Asian films, especially his associations with Wong Kar-wai. In fact, it was Wong Kar-wai’s films that first led me to Doyle's vibrant and fascinating palettes. However, what really drove me to start hunting down other Doyle films was his work on Fruit Chan's Dumplings segment in 2004's Three...Extremes. The Dumplings segment was easily one of the best lit and shot films I had seen that year and that short forced me to seek out other Doyle filmed works. The quest led me to Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's hypnotic and mesmerizing Last Life in the Universe which naturally led me to the director's next film Invisible Waves. In the few years between 2002-2006, it appeared that anything that Doyle shot was worth seeing. Hero was a visual treat, 2046 was a seductive follow up to the cinematic treasure In the Mood for Love while The Quiet American was a brave political film made in a time of "us against them" policies which left no room for reason or diplomacy.

After Invisible Waves, I eased off on the film hunt and instead dove into various regional, directorial and soccer themed spotlights. Interestingly after 2006, Doyle also moved away temporarily from Asia to work with M. Night Shyamalan (2006's Lady in the Water), Gus Van Sant (2007's Paranoid Park) and Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control, easily the best American film of 2009). A perfect opportunity for a Christopher Doyle spotlight would have being in 2006 when his more famous and precious works could have been captured in a single umbrella. As a way to make amends, I decided to finally have an overdue spotlight on Christopher Doyle and use the opportunity to catch-up on some of his previous works which I missed, especially his directorial debut Away with Words which formed the starting point of this 5 film series.

In order of viewing:

Away with Words (1999, Hong Kong co-production, directed by Christopher Doyle)
Happy Together (1997, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
The White Countess (2005, UK co-production, James Ivory)
Ondine (2009, Ireland/USA, Neil Jordon)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002, Australia, Phillip Noyce)

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Images, Identity and the ocean

It is not surprizing to discover that Doyle's directorial feature debut is a film rich in visual language. The film does not do away with words as may be indicated by the title but instead the words do not provide a means to enjoy the film. Trying to depend on a narrative driven by dialogue will not lead to a satisfying feeling regarding this film. Instead, one must allow the stunning colors and unique point of view camera angles to form a guide through the film's flashbacks and loosely arranged sequences. The reason that dialogues are not a key ingredient in the film is because the film's three main characters are in a foreign land unable to communicate their feelings or thoughts accurately for variety of reasons.

Asano is a Japanese who finds himself in Hong Kong and is unable to speak the language while Kevin is an Englishman whose drunken episodes lead him to forget his surroundings (including the street name where he lives) thereby getting arrested by the police on a frequent basis. Kevin's girlfriend is also an outsider and tries to form a bridge between Asano and Kevin yet she is adrift in her own sea.

The interactions between the three form the crux of the narrative while Asano's flashbacks of his childhood provide the film's visual strength. Asano loves the sea and not surprizingly his memories are often associated with water. Throughout the film, different camera angles give a sense of the joy that Asano experiences as he mentally makes his way towards the sea. So the camera rushes down the path towards the sanded beach eventually pointing at the rich blue water. One of the film's most unique angles involves seeing the perspective from a tire racing down the street.

Note: Away with Words is co-written by Tony Rayns, the brilliant Asian film programmer responsible for ensuring that the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) unearths promising works from Asian filmmakers around the world every year.

A different affair in Buenos Aries

A steamy affair, love, break-up, agony and seductive music. Welcome to life, Wong Kar-wai style. However, unlike other Wong Kar-wai films, the setting in Happy Together is not Hong Kong but is instead Buenos Aries and the love story involves two men, Lai (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) & Ho (Leslie Cheung). The sexuality of the characters does not matter too much as the relationship issues and arguments portrayed in the film apply universally to both men and women. As a result, the film forms a case study of a broken heart and the misery that loneliness can sometimes bring.

Happy Together starts off in rich black and white before switching over to color around the 20 minute mark. There are 2 moments of color spliced in between the black and white footage and one of them has to do with the dreams of Lai's quest to head to Iguazu Falls. The journey to the world famous waterfalls ends up becoming a defining marker in the relationship between Lai and Ho. The two get lost en route and never make it to the falls while their fight during their drive starts the process of a gradual break-up. Even though Lai and Ho's relationship is shown to be turbulent and has endured many previous split-ups, the fallout from the long car drive is more serious. The film then depicts the sorrow that engulfs a broken heart. A person with a broken heart cannot enjoy anything around them, no matter where they are. In one case, it appears that Lai is asleep during one of the most fierce and noisy derby games in the world -- River Plate vs Boca Juniors. Only a person gripped by depression and misery could sleep in such a hostile environment.

In another case, Lai attempts a common therapy for misery -- alcohol. Naturally, Quilmes is on display as it is the popular beer available around Buenos Aries, or where ever an Argentine soccer game is played for that matter.

The real star of the film ends up being Doyle's camera which injects life in a familiar tale of love & anguish. The camera pushes and prods in confined spaces ensuring that dullness does not fully descend onto the work. A few personal favourite sequences involve the soccer game that employees at the restaurant indulge in during their breaks. The camera ensures the audience feels like another player in the game, trying to play the ball and even receive a pass. In one instance, the game is heard without any background noise but in another case, music blurs out the sounds of the players and the camera slows down to give a poetic look at Lai in the foreground while the sun and the players occupy the background.

War, Love and a perfect bar

The White Countess is set in 1936 Shanghai against the backdrop of an impending Japanese Invasion and a World War. Although, one would not know much about the political situation in the world if it were up to Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) as his dream of a perfect bar/club is a place where politics is left outside and patrons can mingle freely without their ideologies. The sentiment is noble and at first it succeeds in attracting clientele to his new club. However, as the threat of a Japanese invasion increases, attendance in the club declines. A Japanese businessman Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada) suggests that Todd Jackson needs to slowly introduce some political tension in the club that would then influence more people to attend. Matsuda’s words ring true but by the time the crowds return, the invasion is on the doorstep leading to a mass exodus of people from the city.

The film tries its best to keep any politics elements off the screen which results in a work free of any tension and appearing quite sterile. The dramatic exodus at the end feels at odds with the film's overall calm rhythm and comes too late to make a difference to a movie that produces no lasting sentiments.

A mythical tale dressed up in reality

The enchanting selkie. The lady from the sea. Full of beauty and mystery. Although in modern day, such a lady would arouse more distrust than enchantment. Neil Jordon takes a mythical celtic tale and adds a layer of present day political sentiment about distrust of emigrants and foreigners.

Christopher Doyle's camera perfectly captures the grayish skies and always rain tinged atmosphere that exists in a small Irish town. Interestingly, Doyle came to this film after having worked on M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, which was a different take on a mythical mermaid tale.

The long journey home

Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on a real life story of three young Aboriginal girl's journey to return home to their mother from the correction camp they were placed in by the Australian government. The camps were created to separate mixed blood children (white & native) from their parents in a government backed experiment meant for the “good of the people”.

The film is a worthy yet rare return for Doyle and Noyce to their native Australia to shoot a film. Doyle’s camera captures the sheer vastness and heat of an unforgiving Australian landscape perfectly.

Auteur theory

The films in this spotlight show that Christopher Doyle has the ability to work with multiple directors in different countries and still provide the necessary look to assist in the filmmakers varying visions. In this regard, the films are a perfect example of seeing an auteur theory at work as the same DOP produces vastly different results depending on who the director is. For example, nothing about The White Countess gives a clue that Christopher Doyle is the DOP as the film looks and feels like a Merchant Ivory Production. On the other hand, Happy Together feels like a Wong Kar-wai film even though it is shot in a completely different continent and culture from other Wong Kar-wai films. A director may be the final authority in the film’s final vision but he/she does depend on a good DOP to achieve their unique vision. It is hard to imagine a Wong Kar-wai film without Christopher Doyle’s creative camera movements in tight quarters.

Asian flavours kick off 2007

There is something to be said for continuity. A trip to Asia marked the end of 2006 and the final film I saw as the year ended was the Korean flick The Host on Dec 31. So it shouldn't be a surprise that 3 Asian films were the first movies I saw this year. Of the three, one was a film that I wanted to see for more than 6 months, a second was a movie that I had heard about but was not eager to see and the third was a repeat viewing of a personal favourite from last year.

Invisible Waves (directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang): Rating 8.5/10

I had wanted to get this film for CIFF last year and attempted to get it for our upcoming Pan-Asian film festival this year but the producers never replied to our queries. So I was delighted to finally get a chance to see this film as it was released on DVD.

In the end, it is a worthy watch. Ofcourse, since Christopher Doyle shot the film, there were was never a question about the film's visual beauty. Just like Pen-Ek's previous film, Last Life in the Universe, Doyle has perfectly chosen an appropriate palette to match the story's somber mood. The story is that of revenge & murder yet the peaceful mood projected by the film makes one forget that. On that of that, Pen-Ek has ensured the film has no un-neccesary extras or dialogues. The only people one sees on screen are meant to be there. Streets, bars and ships are empty, devoid of any life whatsoever. As a result, we can spend our time focusing on only the characters on hand and drawing our own conclusions.

The main character, a chef (played by Asano Tadanobu), commits a murder hoping that is his ticket to freedom. However, a murder is never that easy. Especially, when the chef has made the mistake of shattering the invisible yet firm boundaries of trust and loyalty. After the chef has committed the murder, his boss, who had hired him for the kill, asks the chef to leave Macau for Phuket. But trouble follows the Chef onto the ship and eventually in Phuket. How the chef evades trouble and returns back for revenge forms the final hour of the story.

The peaceful background score and the earthy visual colors give the film a very dreamy feel. Even though the film drags on near the end, if one is sucked in by the leisurely mood, one won't notice the time ticking away. But if is not enchanted by the film's look, then the last 30 minutes might feel like the work of an over-indulgent self-absorbed director. Either way, there is something to be said for the style that Pen-Ek brings to his films and how Christopher Doyle perfectly manages to give the visual look to accomplish Pen-Ek's vision.

Just like in his previous film, Pen-Ek has chosen the Japanese actor Asano for the lead character. Asano is a worthy choice as the chef (Kyoji) because he only shows the barest emotion required of his character. Kyoji is calm before the murder, while he is having an affair, after the brutal killing and unfazed despite being mugged and beaten up in Phuket. All the characters fit with the film's framework. There is a tiny but interesting cameo for Eric Tsang who normally is found in Hong Kong gangster movies. In the end, while I liked this film, I am still not fully convinced this is a great work. It is certainly good but the deliberate omission of extra characters and background noise makes one feel that they are watching a very controlled film.

Exiled (directed by Johnny To): Rating 7.5/10

Macau. Two gangsters knock on a door. A woman opens the door. The men are looking for Wo. The woman informs them that no one by that name lives there and closes the door. A few minutes later, two more gangsters arrive asking the same question. Once again, the woman slams the door and the men leave. These two men run into the other two men waiting half a block down. They all know each other and not surprised to find themselves at this location. The woman looks nervously from her window while taking care of her baby. A few moments later, a truck packed with furniture appears. The driver is none other than Wo, who sees the four men but continues to drive on. He opens the door to his apartment, followed by one man from each of the pair. The three go upstairs. The apartment is mostly empty but Wo bends down to open the bottom drawer of a cupboard and takes out a gun. He starts to fill in the six bullets. The two men empty out 6 bullets from their multi-cartridge weapon so that they are all on level terms with 6 bullets each. Then the three face off, pointing the gun towards each other (the scene is inspired no doubt from Reservoir Dogs). A moment passes by, the wind blows through the apartment and then poetically, the bullets start flying. After the firing had ended, Wo’s wife enters telling Wo that the baby needs food. Wo looks towards the other two and asks if they can sit down and talk. But one of the men says that there is no furniture. The next few scenes can only take place in a Johnny To movie. The five men (Wo + the 4 gangsters) empty all the furniture from the truck, fix the place up, cook fresh food and all sit down together to have dinner.

It turns out all the men know each other -- two men were sent to kill Wo because he had tried to knock off the big boss and two other came to inform Wo out of loyalty. Eventually, the five men sit down and chat regarding Wo’s future. The next morning, the five go off in search of a final job. The rest of the movie is as stylish as most Johnny To films but unlike the Election series, these movies contain a bit of dry humor like that present in To’s P.T.U film. With a lot of the actors being the same from those movies, at times the movie feels like similarly covered ground. What sets this apart from past To films is the choice of Macau and the two stylish gun shoot out scenes, the second one being near the end. For kicks, a Red Bull can is tossed in the air while on the ground, the bullets fly. I have not seen the original Mission film which might have been a prequel for this film as it contained the same actors. If I had not seen enough Johnny To movies in the past, I might have liked this film more.

Khoshla Ka Ghosla (directed by Dibakar Banerjee): Rating 10/10

Very rarely do I see a movie more than once but I had see Khosla Ka Ghosla again, a film I consider as one of the best films of 2006. I had helped book this film for CIFF last year just on instinct that it might be a good movie given the star cast of Boman Irani and Anupam Kher. I barely knew the story and there were no reviews of the film as no one had seen it. The movie was to be released in India on September 22 and it showed at our festival on Monday, Sept 25. The word from India was very good on the opening weekend and that helped ease my worries. Still, I walked nervously into the theatre on Monday evening. I was still nervous during the film’s opening 15 minutes but gradually I eased into the film, got comfortable and duly loved the film.

But on this second viewing, I was able to give this film my undivided attention. And I loved the film even more. It is a perfect movie from all accounts. Not only is the story shockingly realistic, the dialogues are very true of a Punjabi family living in Delhi. One has to listen carefully to how the dialogues are delivered (the tone) and pay attention to the little expressions and acts of fidgeting that signify a character’s mental state (example: Anupam Kher’s discomfort at bringing home a bottle of alcohol). I can’t think of a finer North Indian movie that I have seen in the last decade than this one. The complete cast is excellent with Anupam Kher, Ranvir Shorey, Navin Nischol and Boman Irani giving vintage performances. Even though I have singled out these few actors, the entire ensemble cast & crew deserves credit for giving this story life (Jaideep Sahni wrote this gem).

Despite this movie’s virtues, I still can’t help but ask the question: who will watch this movie? Most Indians used to Bollywood song and dance films probably skipped this comedy as there are no songs, no melodrama (Even though, the soundtrack contains a very lively pulsating Punjabi dance number). And will this movie get distribution so non-Indians can get a chance to see this? I just hope that word gets out and people try to watch this film. The positive thing is a lot of the people I talked with in India last month loved it. I just hope more such Indian movies are made and get wider distribution. Along with Being Cyrus, Khosla Ka Ghosla is proof that good Indian movies can be made within a branch of the nonsense studio system with Bollywood actors. Both these worthy films were released in 2006 and both were works by first time directors. Boman Irani was the one common actor in both films and along with his performance in Lago Raho Munnabhai cemented his status as one of the best Indian actors working in the film industry today.