Michelangelo Antonioni Films

When I heard of the consecutive deaths of Bergman and Antonioni, I felt a sudden jolt. Even though it had been a few years since I last saw a film by either of them, their deaths were a reminder that the masters of cinema are all but gone (Godard and Alain Resnais remain and are amazingly still making films). Driven by a guilt at having not seen some of his masterpieces and in way of a tribute, I decided to visit some of Antonioni's critically acclaimed films.

Mystery, Loneliness, Beauty and disappearances:

L' Avventura (1960): Rating 9/10

A beautiful woman. A picturesque Italian countryside. But all is not right beneath the surface. Anna (Lea Massari) is unsure about her affair with her lover, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti). She undertakes a trip with him, her good friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) and few others. An isolated island. 30 minutes into the film, Anna disappears. Just like that.

Everyone looks for her but to no avail. Claudia is distraught because because she cared for Anna the most.




Sandro tries to look for her but eventually runs out of ideas.






Claudia has lost feelings for everything. A beautiful sun-rise only means that an entire night has gone by without Anna having been found. Hope is fading but her anger with Sandro is increasing as she believes it is his fault that Anna has gone.



Shortly after the characters leave the island, the film makes us forget about Anna. Sandro chases after Claudia and the two of them temporarily find comfort in each others arms. But Sandro is not an easy man to love and Claudia finds herself with the same misery and doubts that Anna had faced.

There is an easy flow to this film. The camera moves effortlessly from scene to scene and at all times Antonioni is aware of what he wants to show us. The visual beauty of the landscapes only heightens the fact that each character is miserable and lonely. Each person is an island in themselves and occasionally, they let the others come near them.

There are two sequences in the film which highlight man's lust for beauty. In the following sequences, the men in a small town freely gawk at Claudia's beauty.




But all the town men are reflections of Sandro -- they chase after an object of desire and after having their way with them, look for the next beauty.

Beauty, Chaos & Time:

L'Eclisse (1962): Rating 10/10

Although Antonioni directed La Notte in between L' Avventura and L'Eclisse, the start of L'Eclisse feels like a scene which could take place a few days after the ending of L' Avventura. Monica Vitti appears in a similar black dress to one from the final scene of L' Avventura. Her character Vittoria is discussing her relationship with Riccardo. The words they exchange are something one would have expected Claudia to have shouted at Sandro in L' Avventura.





Vittoria and Riccardo go their separate ways and the camera freely drifts to the stock exchange where Vittoria's mother is a regular buyer and seller. The chaos and madness of the trading floor is beautifully captured. For a long while, we forget about Vittoria as the film focuses on the stock market's meltdown which results in a lot of people losing money, including Vittoria's mother. This segment of the story focuses on Piero, a sharp floor trader who is ambitious and knows the market's pulse.



When Vittoria returns to the screen, she and Piero engage in a little romantic tussle. Piero is clearly in love with Vittoria but she keeps him at a distance.





The next few shots show the distance between the two despite their bodies being close together.



This is one the most beautiful shots in the film. This hug speaks volumes -- two faces which touch but are miles apart. Piero knows that this is the last time he will ever touch Vittoria and Vittoria knows that she will leave him never to return.



The final sequence in the film is series of landscape shots which we have visited earlier in the film. The only difference is that the scenes are devoid of Vittoria and Piero. We see some new characters and in one case, Antonioni toys with us in trying to show a character that is similar to Vittoria.






I believe these scenes represent the passage of time. Vittoria and Piero have gone but time moves on. Earlier in the film, Vittoria had placed an object in a barrel of water and by the film's end, we see the water slowly drip out of the barrel. Eventually, the barrel is empty but we see no sign of her.

All the film's main characters are gone by the ending. They have moved onto other loves. Yet movements in the street go on. Beautiful and haunting.

Sexy mystery:

Blowup (1966): Rating 10/10

The choice of London and use of English language gives this film a very different feel from Antonioni's previous films.

Thomas (David Hemmings) plays a fashion photographer with an attitude. He wants to shoot the girls the way he wants. But he also gets bored easily (something he shares in common with other Antonioni film characters) with the stick beauties in front of him. When we first meet him, we see a carefree and reckless person -- his driving is rash and impulsive, just like his instincts for buying beautiful objects.

Eventually, we see a different side of him. He loves to photograph nature and is making a collection of photographing everyday shots of harsh reality. On a visit to a park, he comes across a couple enjoying a day out. He obsessively follows them, sort of like a modern day paparazzi (or what Paparazzo would have done in Fellini's La Dolce vita). The woman, Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) sees him taking the pictures and gets angry at him for invading her privacy. She demands the pictures but he refuses.

Later on, when he blows up the pictures, he finds a real mystery unfolding before his eyes. A murder, an affair? We see what he sees in one of the film's intense and engaging sequences. Our curiosity is pricked and we can't wait to find the answers. But we never do get the answers we want. And that is how life goes. An adventure (L' Avventura) that hides a mystery?

The Camera that knows it all:

Blowup is a visual treat like Antonioni's other films. In all three films, the camera moves freely from one locale to locale. Even though at times, we may feel that the camera is giving us the freedom to see everything, we have to be aware that we are only seeing what Antonioni wants us to see. So sometimes we are offered a close-up, a long shot or even a 360' degree view of the sky. At all times, the freedom of the camera is exactly the kind of freedom that Antonioni wanted the camera to have. This controlled freedom is a real pleasure because his camera freely follows one character and has no hesitation about leaving one character mid-stream to chase another. Each character is only followed until there is something worth noticing about them. Once they go off-screen, we really don't miss them because we have now moved onto more interesting characters.

In L' Avventura & L'Eclisse characters disappear off-screen -- a character walks out of a scene and out of the movie. But in Blowup's final scene, a character disappears in front of our very eyes. Time has moved on. The camera has shown everything that needs to be shown. Lights out. Nothing more to see here. We can leave.

But the images stay in our head. We replay them when we close our eyes. The camera may be turned off but the audience can use their neurons to fire those visuals up. The artist may be gone but his work lives on..........................

Abel Ferrara Films

Abel Ferrara Spotlight, part II and III

Part Two: Sin and Redemption

The Addiction (1995): Rating 9/10

This is a very intelligent and creative take on a vampire film. While the usual vampire films feature topics of God vs Devil and basic religion morality, The Addiction adds a layer of existentialist philosophy along with discussions of man's hunger for evil on top of the regular religious conflicts.

Kathleen Conklin (Lili Taylor) is doing her ph.D in philosophy and at the film's start, she is watching horrific images of butchered Vietnamese at the hands of American soldiers. While walking home, Kathleen is troubled by all this savagery and is lost in her thoughts when she is suddenly dragged into an alley by a vampire (Annabella Sciorra).

The lighting is just wonderful in the scenes when the vampire descends on Kathleen. In the above shot, we don't ever clearly see the vampire's face and the mixture of light and shadows shows a terrifying image.

The next three pictures show how Kathleen's expressions change as she becomes an unwitting victim.



It is not very clear but in the next picture you can see the blood dripping on a satisfied vampire's mouth.

After this attack, Kathleen goes through a physical and mental change. She is constantly sick and throws up frequently. Her body is weak and her mind forces her to look for quick fixes like drugs to ease her pain. But it is her mental change that is even more drastic. Previously, she had been horrified at images of man's evil. Now, she only looks at the pictures of horror with cold gazes. She is trying to understand the evil but her emotional attachment to humanity is weakening.

"There is no history. Everything is eternally with us."

Her hunger and thirst grows to a point where she starts lusting for victims. She hunts down people close to her with some strangers thrown in the mix. She does not spare her teacher and even her closest friend. When her friend wants to be spared, Kathleen responds with "Prove there is no evil. Then you can go." She is still struggling to understand all the horror around her.

On a particular night, she lures a man. But this is not an ordinary man.

Peina (Christopher Walken) is a supreme vampire at ease with his situation. He quotes Nietzsche and gives a lesson to Kathleen on the meaning of being a vampire.

"You are a slave to who you are."

Then Peina inflicts more pain as he re-bites Kathleen with more gusto than her first experience.

"Eternity is a long time. Get used to it."

But Kathleen does not want to get used to it. She is tired of her life and tries to end it but she can't. In way of advice to cope with her situation, Peina tells her to read Sartre and Beckett.

After she dives into existentialism, she starts to make sense of the evil around her.

"Our addiction is evil."

She draws a conclusion between man's killing nature and even her habit of finding victims to satisfy her thirst. Her thesis impresses all the professors and she proudly gets her doctorate.

On the way to a party arranged by her, she is content and composed:

"We drink to escape the fact that we are alcoholics.... Existence is the search for relief from our habit and our habit is the only relief we can find."

In moment of her supreme confidence, she comes across a man on the street preaching the word of God and giving out fliers. The flier has an image of Christ on the cross. That simple photo throws Kathleen off balance. She screams "I will not submit" and goes into a fit of rage. In her anger, she and her vampire friends descend on innocent people in a gruesome blood orgy buffet.

But the fit of anger revealed something about Kathleen. Unlike the other vampires around her, she is still torn inside between religion. Peina & Casanova (Annabella Sciorra) have freed themselves from thinking about God because they have chosen the path towards existentialism. Kathleen can't completely give up a part of her catholic upbringing and she finally realizes that the only way she can save herself is by religion.

The final sequences of the film shows her finding redemption only by fully accepting the word of God and throwing aside everything else she has learned.

Bad Lieutenant (1992): Rating 9/10

As the title indicates, Harvey Keitel plays a lieutenant who commits every imaginable sin -- gambling, drugs, lying, stealing and killing. He is not afraid to speak his mind and even shocks his colleagues when he shows no remorse at learning about a nun getting raped. He is made part of investigating the nun's case but he is not interested. The only interest he has at the moment is trying to learn how the New York Mets will do as that will help ease the gambling debt he incurred by betting on baseball games.

He is not afraid of the criminals to whom he owes a huge debt. The following words convey his state of mind:"No one can kill me. I am blessed. I am a fucking catholic."

In a drugged state, he goes to the nun asking if she wants revenge on the two men who raped her. He is shocked when the nun tells him that she has already forgiven the men. He can't understand that.

After the nun leaves, he sees an apparition of Christ. At first he is angry and starts by throwing a rosary towards the image of Christ.


His emotions go from anger to sheer misery.






In the end, he finally comes to peace with himself and only finds redemption by going back to his religious roots.



This is not an easy role but Harvey Keitel has fully given himself to the role. He is both naked on screen in the physical sense and lays all his emotions bare for everyone to judge.

Both the above films had two very different characters but in both cases, the main characters only achieve peace by giving themselves completely to God.

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Part Three: Cops and Killers

Fear City (1984): Rating 5/10

Beware. The killer is on the loose. But he does not just kill random people -- he targets prostitutes, exotic dancers and pimps. This does not please Matt Rossi (Tom Berenger) who owns most of the girls getting killed. Matt is a former boxer and images of his fights are spliced in between the scenes to convey his anger. The killer is a karate fighter (and a follower of other Eastern martial arts) who is on a mission to clean the city of filth. Naturally, the film's climax is a battle between the two men and no prizes for guessing who wins.

Religion is a common theme or element in Abel Ferrara and Nicholas St. John's films and Fear City is no exception. Before his major fight, Matt heads to a church to ask God for strength. Overall, the film is typical of 80's TV -- dramatic scores, quick cuts, sloppy action and bad acting. The only thing carefully constructed is Melanie Griffith's strip show.

Note: there is a line of dialogue in the film which would have passed without much comment back in 1984. Matt is very angry and can't wait to kill the person hunting his girls. But he is asked to show some calmness by one of the mobsters, who has seen enough through the ages. He wants Matt to understand the enemy and says the following: "You can never prevent terrorism. You can only find its root and destroy it." Such words today would carry a completely different context.

King of New York (1990): Rating 8/10

Christopher Walken plays Frank White, a gangster boss who has just gotten out of prison. While he was away, his boys led by Jimmy (Laurence Fishburne) did his dirty work. Slowly, Frank's gang starts taking over all the illegal operations in New York. A trio of cops try their best to stop them. But no matter what Dennis Gilley (David Caruso) and his colleagues do, Frank's boys get out of jail because of their expensive lawyers.

In a interesting scene, Frank visits the head investigating cop and tells him that he is only killing gang members that were corrupt and immoral. He mentions that drug trade existed before him and will exist after him. All he is trying to do is to ensure that the illegal activities are run in a clean businesslike manner.

Notes:

-- One can find shots of rosaries hanging in a car when a gang member is dying. The tiny hint of religion still finds its way among killers.
-- Wesley Snipes plays one of the trio of cops who do everything within and outside their power to stop Frank. In one scene, Snipes makes a harmless comment about a vampire. Little did he know that 8 years later, he would play a vampire hunting Blade.

The Driller Killer (1979): Rating 4.5/10

The following message is shown before the picture starts:

Coupled with the film's title, I imagined the noise would be from gruesome killings in the movie. But as it turns out, the loudness in the movie is because of the nonsense music played by a band which contributes towards driving an artist into becoming a killer with a drill.

Reno Miller (played by Ferrara himself) is an artist working on a piece that will bring him and his girlfriend much needed cash. But all around him there are distractions and noise. For example, in the downstairs apartment a band is constantly playing loud music at all times of the day. The constant source of noise prevents Reno from getting any rest or focusing on his work. Eventually, Reno starts to lose touch with reality and his nightmarish images start entering his daily life. His character is closely related to Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. There is even a scene which is a tribute to De Niro's famous "are you talking to me?" monologue. Reno is looking at his masterpiece painting of a buffalo. He feels the buffalo's eyes are glaring at him and asks the creature: "what are you looking at?". In Taxi Driver, it was a mirror that reflected Bickle's dual personality. But in The Driller Killer Reno finds meaning in his painting.

**** A spoiler -- word about the ending ****

Reno runs around unleashing his terror on homeless people or whoever he comes across. At first, his killings are done when he is taken over by his dual personality. But by the end, the two personalities mesh and in his conscious state, he goes out to seek revenge on the woman who left him. In the film's final scene, his ex-girlfriend gets into bed thinking its her lover who is under the covers. The screen goes black and we can hear her asking her lover to come closer. We can only her muffled responses from Reno. The credits roll but we know what will happen to the woman.

The title and the weapon of choice may lead one to believe this is a slasher film. But despite few gory scenes of blood, the film spends most of its time examining Reno and showing his character's transformation. It will be interesting to see how the version Hollywood is remaking in 2008 will play out.

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And finally, some shorts:

Ferrara started his career with a trio of shorts -- Nicky's Film (1971, 6 min), The Hold Up (1972, 14 min), Could This Be Love? (1973, 29 min).

The grainy video transfer of the silent short Nicky's film make it hard to understand the story but it appears to be about a character trapped in a nightmare. The Hold Up shows how a character who is guilty in stealing money is able to get away because of his connections. Such a theme would be explored in King of New York when Frank's men got away with murder (literally).

The most interesting of the shorts is Could This Be Love? which looks at how high society looks down upon middle class hard-working people. The film is about an artist who believes she is above the filth of society. Her boyfriend is no better even though the artistic shoe he designs appears to be completely unusable. The two throw parties where their like minded friends laugh at other people who they feel are below them. In terms of theme, this short stands out from Ferrara's other work which have focussed on the underground aspects of society where criminals and hookers thrive. Ferrara has also equally explored the layer of heroes and cops who fight the underground criminals. Quite often in his films, the two layers collide with justice sometimes taking a back seat to the harsh reality of life on the streets of America.

Abel Ferrara films

Director Profile: Abel Ferrara, part I

Over the last few months, I have seen Abel Ferrara's name mentioned quite a bit both on film magazines and Internet film sites. A big reason for that has been around Ferrara's latest film Go Go Tales which premiered at Cannes and garnered a lot of attention. I must admit that when I first saw his name, I could not pin-point which films he had directed. But after a quick search, I found that I was familiar with a few of his films. I had seen Body Snatchers and knew about Bad Lieutenant. However, one film title stood out -- Crime Story. When I was a young kid, I used to love watching the TV series Crime Story. In fact, I used to stay up late (way past my bedtime) to watch the show. Even though I was too young to understand the plot intricacies, I knew enough to be able to identify Dennis Farina playing the good cop and the character Ray Luca (played by Anthony Denison) as the bad guy. And ofcourse, the opening credits song was burned into my head. Almost two decades later, I can still remember the lyrics clearly:

"And I wonder
I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder
Why
Ah-why-why-why-why-why she ran away
And I wonder where she will stay
My little runaway , run-run-run-run-runaway"

So it was appropriate that I should start my Abel Ferrara spotlight with the pilot movie that started the series that I loved so much....

Crime Story (1986): Rating 7.5/10

The title song comes on. Memories gush in and a few seconds later, Dennis Farina appears on screen playing the tough no-nonsense cop, Lt. Mike Torello. The countdown starts until the smooth talking manipulative mobster Ray Luca appears. But after my happy memories fade away, I find myself faced with a film that was typical of what I remember about 80's TV -- tough macho men, cheesy dialogues and average production values. Ofcourse, it is unfair comparing TV of the past with the slick productions that exist today. Still, it was worth watching this film to know how the rivalry between Lt. Mike Torello and Ray Luca started.

In the film, I was surprized to find the presence of a younger David Caruso playing a punk gangster who is eager to make it big. Ofcourse, back then David Caruso was at the start of his TV career and his famous roles in NYPD Blue and CSI were still about 7 and 16 years away respectively.

Now onto some Ferrara films that I never saw before....

New Rose Hotel (1998): Rating 6/10

Based on a short story by William Gibson, New Rose Hotel is a story about corporate espionage. I can see what Ferrara was intending to do with this film but the end result is a dull hazy dream. Fox (Christopher Walken) and X (Willem Dafoe) have spent a year trying to hatch a plan to trap a Japanese genius, Hiroshi. But nothing they have come with is a good idea until Fox spots Sandii (Asia Argento) in a club. He offers her a million dollars to woe Hiroshi. She eventually agrees despite X not liking the idea because of his love towards her. How she manages to crawl into bed with Hiroshi is kept off-screen. This is a good strategy on Ferrara's part as it forces us to see the movie from X's point of view. X is in the dark regarding Sandii and what is going on with her after she leaves for Marrakesh with Hiroshi. And the lack of information coupled with a few tidbits of rumours tears him apart. The movie's grainy video footage adds to the nightmarish trip that X is going through. As he is trying to rehash the past, the same scenes are repeated over and over without any variation. While X maybe be thinking the same things over and over, having the audience see the repeated scenes adds nothing to the movie. As a result, the film loses any freshness and slowly grinds towards the end.

The Funeral (1996): Rating 8.5/10

"You know what your problem is? You read too many books. F***ing up your brain."

Johnny: "That's the American tragedy -- we need something to distract us. That's all we got is books[sic]. Maybe radios and movies. Keeps us alive."

Not exactly the words you would expect in a gangster movie, but this is not an ordinary mobster film. It is Ferrara's take on a mafia story seen through the eyes of the three Tempio brothers and the women around them.

Johnny (Vincent Gallo) is the youngest of the three brothers (22 years) and the only one capable of speaking the above words. Yes he is reckless but he does think every now and then. Chez (Chris Penn in an electrifying role) is a highly emotional person -- one minute he is calm and considerate, followed by a sudden burst of violent anger and a few moments later in tears and in a suicidal state. Ray (Christopher Walken) is the eldest and is almost a fatherly presence to both. He knows when to kill and when to not pull the trigger. Ray evaluates all his actions from a moral point of view and is not afraid to use religion to reason things out.

The movie starts with a funeral and has a few flashback sequences which are not entirely related but shed some light on each of the brother's personalities. For a change, we also get to see things from the women's point of view with Jean (Annabella Sciorra) being given the most interesting part as Ray's wife. As Jean mentions, the women can only stand on the sidelines and watch the Tempio men throw their lives away.

The film is raw and provides emotional scenes that other mobster movies wouldn't bother having -- family arguments over trivial matter, mobs discussing the merits of taking revenge or not, etc. Best to watch without knowing the story as Ferrara is not afraid to throw in a complete surprize or two just when we least expect it.

Next up: 5 more Ferrara features along with some early shorts.........

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Parts II & III of the spotlight.

Brazilian Cinema

Spotlight on Brazilian Cinema, part three

When I started my spotlight on Brazilian cinema a few months ago, I had a few selected themes that I wanted to focus on. But after seeing more than a dozen films, I decided to abandon the themes -- the films were so rich and diverse that trying to squeeze each film into one theme was not doing justice to the movies. However, the one elements that stands out from all the viewed Brazilian films is the beautiful cinematography; it didn't matter if the film is by a first time director or an accomplished film-maker, the visuals are perfect in all cases. In that respect, cinematography in Brazilian cinema is the best in the world alongside films from Taiwan, India and Hong Kong.

Just like India, Brazil is a complex and diverse country featuring many ethnicities and plenty of varied landscapes such as forests, beaches and desserts. In the hands of talented camera men, the wonders of Brazil's natural beauty are captured perfectly on screen and help form the backbone of an engaging narrative.

God is Brazilian (2003, Director Carlos Diegues): Rating 7/10

Diegues is considered one of the film-makers responsible for the Nuevo wave of Brazilian cinema. But his talents are almost wasted on this comedy about God visiting earth. In the film, God (played by Antônio Fagundes) is tired of the daily stress and wants to take a vacation. So he visits Brazil in order to find a saint to temporarily replace him. God shows up in front of Taoca (Wagner Moura), a light hearted simpleton. The two of them undertake a journey across the beautiful Brazilian landscape in search of the saint. Along the way, God performs some magic to prove his identity and even to earn some money for their journey. It is rare to see special effects in a Brazilian movie but the limited effects add to the film's visual beauty. The screenplay and acting however leave a lot to be desired.

Drained (2006, Director Heitor Dhalia): Rating 10/10

This is one of the most witty and original films I have seen this year. Credit for bringing these eccentric characters to life goes to Lourenço Mutarelli who wrote the novel and to Heitor Dhalia for bringing pitch perfect performances from his cast. The film can be described as a deadpan dark comedy but the main character Lourenco (Selton Mello) is much more dangerous than any character in a Jim Jarmusch or Aki Kaurismäki film.

By profession, Lourenco collects people's antiques. But it is never clear whether he sells these antiques or simply keeps them for his collection. He decides the value of each antique himself and if he likes the story behind the item, be buys it. His office (housed in a warehouse) is always lined up with people waiting to sell their item by pouring their heart out to Lourenco. But right from the film's start, Lourenco's mind is preoccupied with two things -- Garconete's behind (a waitress played by Paula Braun) and the foul smell that comes from his bathroom. It would be unfair to give away any more details but the unique characters and scenarios make Lourenco's life hell.

There are some audacious camera shots in the movie -- the opening sequence features the camera shamelessly glaring at Garconete's behind -- we watch every swing as she gracefully heads to work. The film stands out from other Brazilian films because of its visual choices -- there are no bright colors saturating the screen but instead brownish colors are prominent.. Also, there are no scenes of beaches or any other visual cues that could place this film in Brazil.

On the other hand.....

Baixio das Bestas (2007, Director Cláudio Assis): Rating 8/10

Bog of beasts contains all the elements associated with Brazilian cinema -- heat, crime, sex and sensuality. The film is set in a small Brazilian town where not much happens on the surface. But underneath the surface, every possible sin is committed. The local town cinema has been long shut down. So as part of the town's entertainment, the local men head to a designated location every night to see a naked girl -- the girl's grandfather brings the girl every day and asks her to remove her clothes for the men who pay him; he decides when she should put her clothes back on. The raging hormones are kept at a distance but is it possible to keep the girl safe from all those prying eyes?

The film is raw and attempts to show the naked animal behaviour of men. The camera does not flinch during an orgy scene that turns into a gross rape because of the dangerous mix of alcohol, boredom and lust. It has been 5 years since Assis last directed a film. His 2002 film Mango Yellow contained plenty of lasting images about life in Recife. With Bog of beasts, he leaves the port city behind and heads inwards to the Brazilian countryside where the mood is darker and life more bleak.

The Samba Poet (2006, Director Ricardo Van Steen): Rating 7.5/10

Van Steen's film is based on the real life story of Noel Rosa, a famous samba artist. The film follows an often tried and tested formula used to depict life of people who go from being a nobody to achieving instant fame only followed quickly by their decline -- we are shown scenes of his initial love with Samba, followed by how Noel rose to fame and had a passionate affair followed by how he lost everything. However, in Noel's case, his decline was accelerated by his ill health. Ofcourse, his fiery affair also added to his problems. The film does a very good job in showing how Noel turned everyday incidents into catchy music and formed his unique voice.

Spotlight on Taiwan, take two, part two

"Did you like the movie?"
"A bit too serious".
"You prefer comedies?"
"Not really. But it didn't have to be so sad."
"Life is a mixture of sad and happy things. Movies are so lifelike, that's why we love them."
"Then who needs movies? Just stay home and live life!".
"My uncle says we live three times as long since man invented movies."
"How can that be?"
"It means movies give as twice what we get from daily life."
-- Yi Yi (A One and a two), Edward Yang

In April, I had planned my spotlight on Taiwan by watching films from Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. Both Yang and Hou are credited with the "New Wave of Taiwanese Cinema" (starting from the 1980's) while Tsai is considered part of the Second New Wave, starting from the 1990s. But I put the spotlight on hold until the past few weeks. Over the last few months, some significant events have occurred with regards to the two New Wave directors -- the World unfortunately lost Edward Yang who passed away on June 29. And Hou Hsiao-hsien's first non-Taiwenese film, The Flight of the Red Balloon premiered at Cannes leading his work to be judged in a newer light from his native Taiwanese works (Café Lumière was still a joint Taiwanese/Japanese venture).

Now, the first Edward Yang film that I have seen is the last film that he completed -- Yi Yi. One film is not enough to establish a proper analysis but Yi Yi is such a beautiful film that it can stand on its own.

Yi Yi (2000, Director Edward Yang): Rating 10/10

There is a poetic beauty that resonates throughout this film which shows the complicated lives of the Jian family and the people that interact with them, including their neighbours, friends, relatives and co-workers. In the hands of a lesser director, the film would have turned into a melodramatic soap opera as the topics covered include wedding, affairs, first love, relationship crisis, corporate politics and even murder. But Edward Yang ensures that all the issues and characters are handled tenderly and each character is given enough screen time so that the audience can get to know them better and understand their motives. Even at a length of 170 minutes, the film does not feel long and is a real heart warming tale.

Film Style -- Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang:

Going by Yi Yi as an example, Yang's style is closer to that of Ang Lee rather than Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. Ang Lee has handled family oriented stories in the past which is what Yi Yi is -- multiple characters are shown with screen time given to each character; there are no long takes in Yi Yi but sometimes depending on a situation, the camera lingers around a character for a few extra seconds. Whereas, both HHH and Tsai use long takes (with less edit cuts) to focus on one or even two characters in their films. The long takes allow us to soak in all the details around the characters and to fully understand their motives. Two different styles but the end result is still the same -- absorbing cinema!

Hou Hsiao-hsien:

Millennium Mambo (2001): Rating 7.5/10

One of the strongest aspects of Hou's Flowers of Shanghai was the colorful visuals which perfectly conveyed the exotic excesses of the brothels of 19th century China. With Millennium Mambo, Hou changes gears completely and portrays the club hopping life of Taiwanese youth. The film is basked in cool bluish visuals mixed with some bright neon lights as the main character Vicky (Shu Qi) alternates from clubs and bars while her boy-friend gets into fights. Shu Qi carries this film on her shoulders and the camera leisurely hovers over her as she changes clothes, walks around half-naked, makes love, gets into fights with her boyfriend and attempts to run away from him.

Vicky's character and the film's portrayal of modern youth in Taipei seems to have been the basis for the third short in Three Times. The 2005 released film contained three short segments set in three different time periods -- 1911, 1965 and 2005. Each short's visual look was completely different; the 1911 segment appears to have been straight out of Flowers of Shanghai and the 2005 segment has a similar feel to Millennium Mambo.

Tsai Ming-liang

When I came across my first film by Tsai Ming-liang What Time is it there?, it took me a while to let all the details sink in. It was a beautiful film but back then I didn't realize that I had jumped onto the story half-way. The original story of the main character Lee Kang-sheng (Hsiao-kang) started as early as 1991 with Youngsters. With each film, Lee Kang-sheng's character grew up and underwent a transformation -- along the way he switched jobs, fell in love, felt loneliness (even attempted suicide) and eventually found bliss working in the porn film industry. My last image of Lee Kang-sheng was achieving orgasmic joys along with singing/dancing around Taipei in 2005's The Wayward Cloud. In 2006, Lee Kang-sheng finally left Taipei for hot and sultry Kuala Lumpur as Malaysian born Tsai Ming-liang headed to his birth-land to cinematically capture Malaysia for the first time. I can't wait to watch that adventure but until then, I decided to catch up the story from the start. Well almost from the start...

A teenager rebels:

1992's wonderful Rebels of the Neon God shows a young Lee Kang-sheng developing a crush and getting jealous. But before he fell for a girl, he was angered by an act of vandalism directed towards his father. Despite his young age, he is patient and quietly waits to extract his revenge. In the end, he feels a tinge of guilt for his actions yet continues along his drifting ways. His relationship with his parents is starting to crumble as he is rebelling against society and himself -- he drops out of school and uses the money to spend time at arcades and wander aimlessly around the city.

Love and a place to stay:

Lee Kang-sheng has grown up slightly when we meet him next in 1994's Vive L'Amour. He atleast has a job, being a door to door salesman. Ofcourse, he is still as mischievous as ever. During a job visit, he finds a key hanging outside an apartment door. He quietly snags the key and sneaks in one night to find the apartment empty. The vacant apartment is in the process of being sold with the realtor (May Lin played by Yang Kuei-Mei) dropping by occasionally to show it to prospective clients or to use the place for her own sexual acts. It turns out that May Lin's lover (Ah-Jung played by Chen Chao-jung) also uses the apartment as a place to stay. So both Ah-Jung and Lee Kang-sheng find themselves as unexpected room-mates. While Ah-Jung is able to satisfy his desires with May Lin, Lee Kang-sheng finds pleasure by spying on the two making love and gratifying himself. But all three characters are extremely lonely in the vast and cold city. At the start of the movie, we find Lee Kang-sheng attempting suicide. His appetite for life is slightly increased thanks to the unexpected encounter with Ah-Jung.

A strange illness:

At the start of The River (1997), Lee Kang-sheng is quietly heading towards a department store. A girl heading down the escalator recognizes him and the two hang out together. This chance encounter proves to be fatal for Lee Kang-sheng. While tagging along with the girl, he finds himself at a film-shoot and is asked to play the role of an extra -- the film's director wants him to play a dead body floating in the river. Lee Kang-sheng is reluctant to play the role because the river appears to be 'filthy'. Still he agrees and is very convincing playing a dead body floating away. But shortly after that role, he develops a strange itch in his neck. Gradually, the itch develops into a mysterious illness which takes over him -- he is in constant pain and wants to die. His worried father is willing to try anything to cure his son but Lee Kang-sheng's condition gets worse.

In this film, we truly get to see a different side to Lee Kang-sheng's parents -- we get to see his father's secrets and observe his mother's day to day life. The illness that inflicts Lee Kang-sheng temporarily brings the parents together but it is clear their lives are drifting away. And a strange encounter between father and son also ensures that the two won't ever see eye to eye.

Another job and a real love:

Lee Kang-sheng's father passes away in 2001's What Time is it there?. While Lee Lang-sheng is not too concerned with his father's death, his mother is convinced the father's ghost visits them. Also the apartment flooding problem that the mother had fixed in The River mysteriously returns. Lee Kang-sheng has found a new job selling watches on a skywalk. One day a girl (Shiang-chyi) wants to buy his personal watch which has dual times. At first he is reluctant to part with the watch but eventually gives it to her. The girl tells him she is leaving for Paris the next day. After she leaves, Lee Kang-sheng is obsessed with Paris and the thought of that woman. He goes about changing all the watches around him (and even in the city) to reflect Parisian time. Meanwhile, Shiang-chyi is lonely and having a hard time adjusting to life in Paris.

The film is the first clear reflection of Tsai Ming-liang's influence. Just like François Truffaut used the same actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud) to play the role of Antoine Doinel in multiple films, Tsai is doing the same with Hsiao-kang (playing the character of Lee Kang-sheng). The one difference is the character of Lee Kang-sheng has gone on for more than 16 years and multiple films while Antoine Doinel was used in three films over a period of 11 years. In What time is it there?, Lee Kang-sheng watches The 400 Blows and falls in love with the film, while Shiang-chyi comes across an older Jean-Pierre Léaud on a bench in Paris. One cinematic circle is tied.....

The girl returns:

The short film The Skywalk is gone (2002, 26 minutes) is an epilogue to What Time is it there?. Shiang-chyi returns from Paris to discover that the skywalk where she bought the watch from is gone. In the absence of the skywalk, she attempts to cross the heavy traffic road and gets a ticket from a traffic police officer. Somewhow, she loses her id card as the officer was giving her a ticket. The loss of her id card is a symbolic reflection of her mental state -- she is at a loss because the missing skywalk represented a link to her past life in the city.

Near the end of the short, Lee Kang-sheng makes an appearance. He crosses paths with Shiang-chyi as he is going upstairs in an underground pathway. But Shiang-chyi does not recognize him and continues walking. Lee Kang-sheng stops, turns around and ponders. But he has no time to chase after her as he has a job interview to rush to.

Watermelon and sex:

What is Lee Kang-sheng's next job? We see him giving a nervous interview to be a porn actor at the end of The Skywalk is gone. He does not perform very well in the interview but the start of 2005's The Wayward Cloud finds him pleasuring women while eating a juicy watermelon all in front of a camera crew. So he must have impressed his employer somehow!

And that is where my contact with Lee Kang-sheng ends. I still have a few more months before I truly learn what he did in Kuala Lumpur.

Fade to black, end of film, theater shutdown:

2003's Good Bye, Dragon Inn shows a theater running its final shows before the inevitable shutdown. We see how the movie hall goes from days of being completely packed to only catering to a few film buffs. The once polished cinema is now falling apart and the rains causes water to flood the hall floors. Hsiao-kang only has a brief cameo playing the theater projectionist. One can imagine his character, Lee Kang-sheng working this job as a secondary stint to his porn star career. In fact, given Lee Kang-sheng's past behaviour, I would not put it past him to splice the film with shocking images from other films, a la Tyler Durden (Fight Club).

Curtains down. Rain drops.

Films viewed in this round:

Vive L'Amour (1994): Rating 8/10
The River (1997): Rating 9/10
The Skywalk Is Gone (2002): Rating 10/10
Good Bye, Dragon Inn (2003): Rating 7.5/10

---

part II of the profile.

The Bourne Trilogy

I first heard of Bourne when I was a little kid. My mother was watching the original 1988 movie and I decided to sit and watch a bit. I was young and could not understand much. In fact, I could not fathom the fact that the main character didn't know who he was. My mother tried to explain about his memory loss but I don't think I got it. I did remember the name Bourne and the book's author, Robert Ludlum. Time ticked away. When the new Bourne Identity came out in 2002, for some reason I stayed away. Likewise, I didn't see the second film, The Bourne Supremacy in 2004. However, over the last two years I caught bits of both films on tv and was quite impressed with what I saw; both films appeared stylish with some good acting. A few weeks ago after I saw the trailer of the third film, I decided to watch the previous two films to better prepare for today's release of The Bourne Ultimatum.

The Bourne Identity (2002, Director Doug Liman): Rating 9/10

A body floating in the water. And so it starts. A man in search of his identity. His first clues lead him to a personal bank account in Switzerland under the name of Jason Bourne. He finds that he owns money in various currencies and multiple passports. Who could have so many identities? The question keeps bothering him. While his memories can't dig up the past, his physical body starts defending him and acting like a programmed entity. He quickly becomes a target and needs to escape. Bourne comes across Marie, a young woman in need of money. In exchange for $10,000, Marie agrees to take Jason to Paris. Now, the two are hunted together. The shots appear to be called from the C.I.A headquarters in Langley by Conklin. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A very impressive start to the trilogy with the right balance of action and story. The acting is top notch with Matt Damon providing the exact precise coldness needed for his part. Franka Potente is wonderfully expressive in her portrayal of Marie -- her expressions of shock at seeing Bourne kill a man are something that most Hollywood films don't feature. Chris Cooper seems to be perfectly at ease playing the slimy double agent who can't be trusted.

The Bourne Supremacy (2004, Director Paul Greengrass): Rating 8.5/10

The film kicks off with Bourne and Marie relaxing in exotic Goa. But India was never going to be the ideal hideout anyhow. It's geographical closeness to Russia makes it a vulnerable target to anyone on the run from the Russians. Ofcourse, that is something that Bourne had not accounted for -- he always thought his enemies were his own countrymen and had no idea of a Russian plot. And it is precisely a Russian threat that finds Bourne and eliminates his love. A new chapter in his hunt starts with him digging up a past involving Berlin and Eastern European espionage. In the end, Jason Bourne moves closer to understanding his past.

The film is thin in story compared to the first film and focuses more on action. Ofcourse, all the action is very well filmed. Credit for that goes to Paul Greengrass who has crafted some fine moments in this film, especially the car chase sequence in Moscow. The addition of Joan Allen as Pamela Landy is a real coup as Allen's strong expressions are a pleasure to watch.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007, Director Paul Greengrass): Rating 10/10

The film starts off with the final moments of The Bourne Supremacy with a wounded Bourne on the run in Moscow. Six weeks later, the action shifts to the U.S when the C.I.A are determined to eliminate Bourne, despite what Pamela Landy has to say. Turin, London, Madrid, Tangier are a few exotic spots before Bourne returns to New York to finally meet his past.

Paul Greengrass has taken some of the best elements from The Bourne Supremacy (car chases, fights) and combined them with the brilliant use of close-up shots used in his United 93 and crafted a breath-taking fast paced masterpiece! The action in this film is non-stop with the close-up cameras ensuring that the audience is constantly focused only on the right details. For example, Bourne and Nicky (Julia Stiles) are talking about the past in a Spanish cafe. The camera focuses on Bourne's face and we can see his eyes and ears are trying to keep tabs on what is going on around them. In the background, we can hear the usual cafe noises (like cups being placed on the counter, customers talking) while the camera stays focused on the two of them. And then the camera quickly jumps to show Nicky's finger nervously rubbing the cup. She knows about his past but he doesn't remember anything and her nervousness comes across in this one shot, even though her face doesn't give much away. We are only concerned with the two of them, so why should we be forced to see long shots of the cafe and the waitress as is often done in most Hollywood action films?

In Tangier, Bourne comes across the strongest agent (Desh) yet sent to kill him. During the chase, the background music plays at a fast tempo to stay in sync with the on-screen action. But when Bourne squares off with Desh (Joey Ansah), the background music stops so that we can hear the raw emotions of the tough knuckled fist fight. The hard hitting fight is just one of the several perfectly filmed action sequences in this film.

It was a real pleasure to be lost in the technologically advanced espionage world of Jason Bourne, Pamela Landy, Nicky and Noah Vosen (David Strathairn). The acting is perfect throughout with David Strathairn and Joan Allen providing perfect opponents for each other. This is how action and thriller films should be made!!

Overall: All the three films have been superb with the third one being the best of the lot.

Zodiac -- a hunt, mystery and the obvious sign

Just like one can't judge a book by its cover, one can't (and shouldn't) judge a film by its genre. Ratatouille & Zodiac are two of the best Hollywood films of 2007 but both were films that I had dismissed on first glance. Having already changed my mind about Ratatouille, it was going to be the turn of this dark serial killer film.

Zodiac (2007, Director David Fincher): Rating 10/10

A few minutes of dialogues and then bang, the first victim. No wasted dialogue, just straight to the point. The main characters of the film slowly start appearing, the cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), crime beat reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). The first cipher of the killer's code arrives with a warning -- publish the code in the paper or innocent people will perish. Code is published and average citizens take a crack at breaking the code. With the code broken, the first set of clues are established. A jump in time later and another killing. Another code, the mystery widens. With each killing, the list of suspects grows. Trails lead to dead ends. Until, finally out of nowhere, a good tip leads to one alarming suspect. Yes, this might be him. Film is 98 minutes old. Then, with the suspect in front of the police, the camera fades to black.

No, it was not him. Then the real movie starts. A much faster paced investigative film with as much enthusiasm and intelligence as displayed in All the President's men. In that 1976 film, Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward followed 'the money' to uncover the mystery. In Zodiac, Robert Graysmith starts with minimal information (newspaper clippings) and armed only with his keen sense of curiosity & observance. It is fascinating to watch Robert Graysmith uncover layer after layer of the onion peel. Each clue he receives, lights up the darkened path leading to the Zodiac. As the tension builds, the film charges ahead in the quest for the truth.

The film does a commendable job in keeping the audience involved. The clues are shown as they appeared to the real life people involved in solving the case. As a result, the audience arrives at the same conclusions along with the main characters. But what really makes this film stand out is its structure. The first 98 minutes make for a good film -- serial killer, victims, patterns, suspects, characters and clues. But it is during the last hour when the movie really shines. The final 60 minutes puts all these clues together and tries to fill the missing gaps. Since we have already been given bits of information before hand, when Graysmith starts putting together the full picture, we can follow his train of thought. We even get a sense of his fascination with the case and the lengths he will go to satisfy his curiosity.

Another strong aspect of the film is its ability to stay constantly focused on the main plot; any tiny diversions from the hunt are elements relevant to the story -- for example, a first date for Robert is a useful addition because it shows his obsession with the mystery.

Overall, Zodiac is a truly fascinating film that takes a often repeated genre in Hollywood films and turns it into a polished intelligent work. A film like this and even the South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder (2003, also based on a real life serial killer) show that beauty & originality can exist inside an ugly pool of cliches.

Note: One can find some elements similar to Fincher's Seven. The fade to black shot at the 98 minute mark is similarly framed to when John Doe finally appeared before the police in Seven. The shades of darkness also evokes a mood found in that 1995 film.

Understanding Buenos Aires

Can one truly understand a city (or a country for that matter) without ever visiting it? Quite a few writers in the past have written about cities strictly from their imaginations. Kafka is just one example that comes to mind when he wrote about America despite never having visited the land of opportunity. In cinema, Lars von Trier has made two films out of his proposed American trilogy (Dogville and Manderlay) much to the anger of many North American critics who think he has really tarnished the U.S. I find myself in a similar position with regards to Buenos Aires -- imagining a city without ever visiting it.

The book:

Jorge Luis Borges. The doors open. Face to face with a Labyrinth. A matador lurks around the corner with a knife waiting for a kill. A glass tiger. A shadow. Another labyrinth opens up. This is the world that Borges created. A tower of Babel built around a Labyrinth of mirrors housed in Buenos Aires.

Futbol:

Boca Juniors , a soccer team rooted in Buenos Aires' Italian Community.

River Plate , Boca's eternal rivals yet the most successful team in the local league (32 titles won against Boca's 23). Located in the Núñez barrio, the northern edge of the banks of Rio de la Plata.

Other teams based in Buenos Aires -- San Lorenzo (rooted in the city's Spanish community), Lanus, Velez Sarsfield, Nueva Chicago, Argentinos Juniors (famous for having Diego Maradona and Riquelme plied their trades here), Banfield, Quilmes.

Each team rooted in a neighborhood. A path can be charted via each team and the city.

Disappearances:

The dirty past that won't just go away. The Official Story beautifully captured the emotional impact such disappearances had on its generation. The 2003 film Imagining Argentina (starring Antonio Banderas & Emma Thompson) also tackled the topic of people abducted from their homes by the military junta.

Labyrinth:

People get lost in a labyrinth and might vanish without a trace. The labyrinth does not have to be a physical structure but can be a mental state imposed by a government. The intelligent 1996 film, Moebius by R. Gustavo Mosquera tackled the issues of Labyrinth and disappearances in one smooth manner. The film focuses on a train that gets lost in the underground labyrinth of Buenos Aires train system. In fact, the ghost train isn't really lost -- it is just moving at a different speed on the Moebius like train tracks. The missing train also alludes to the issue of people who were kidnaped from their homes. The ghost train takes uses the same underground train tracks like the regular visible trains but can't be seen by anyone unless someone makes an effort to track it down. Likewise, the ghosts of the people who were lost in the streets of Buenos Aires lurk around the corner invisible from view. But the truth can be found if one hunts it down, a fact shown in Luis Puenzo's The Official Story.

The voice:

The well written novel The Tango Singer by Tomás Eloy Martínez attempts to understand the complex labyrinth like structure of Buenos Aires that exists in reality and the one that Borges created. The main story revolves around the main character's (Bruno Cadogan) quest to find Julio Martel, the city's best known Jazz singer. No matter what corner Bruno takes, he seems to miss Martel's voice. He can't seem to understand the pattern that Martel is making in trying to pick the locations of his concerts. The novel is brilliant when Martínez describes the city's structure. The story seems to drag a bit when Martínez dives into the past story of Martel's life and even the city for that matter. But each side story that Martínez tackles opens another door of the labyrinth.

In the end, a city as rich with history and complexity as Buenos Aires needs a visit. Until that happens, it is refreshing to know authors, film-makers and even soccer can help provide glimpses of the complicated puzzle that is Buenos Aires!

Autobots, Transform...and be very very loud about it!!

Like most kids my age, I grew up on Transformers. The cartoons provided an endless dose of action and fun with the Autobots transforming and battling the evil Decepticons. Optimus Prime vs Megatron!! I had enjoyed the original Transformers movie as well when the Autobots went through a rough path losing two leaders in quick succession (first Optimus and then his replacement). But when I heard that Michael Bay was directing a Hollywood version, I was not the least bit excited. Why? Because Michael Bay does not just direct movies, he directs LOUD action movies which don't care for story or acting as much as they do for big explosions.

Transformers (2007, Director Michael Bay): Rating 7.5/10

As expected the film does have plenty of LOUD nonsense, horrible acting in parts (I just can't buy that Rachael Taylor's character can decode encrypted signals with her eyes closed) and contrived scenes (little girl asks bit mighty transformer if he is the tooth fairy while Spielberg pats Bay on the back for yet another introduction of a sentimental E.T like shot). Argh! But surprizingly when our ears drums are not being damaged, there is an actual story here. Also, the clever use of digital cameras for close-ups really adds to the film's past faced action sequences. The movie's first hour only gives us a tiny glimpse to some of the transformers that exist. Instead, that time is mostly spent on a teen romance story -- geek guy with geeky friend, jock stud, hot girl, fancy car. Once an hour has passed, Optimus Prime finally appears on the screen (I have to admit that I felt a tinge of nostalgia to see this red truck autobot). It was a great touch to include the original voice behind the powerful Autobot leader in the film.

In the end, as much as I didn't mind the film, I can't just ignore all the negatives:

1) The film has to inform viewers multiple times that Qatar is in the middle East. That was a great help as it will ensure that viewers won't confuse that with the other Qatar that exists in South America or the fake Qatar constructed in the American desert.
2) Apparently everyone around the world knows where the Nellis Air Base is, so there is no need to qualify its exact location.
3) A summer action movie won't be complete without the required hotties. In this case, we get two of them, one apparently brilliant signal analyzer and the other a whiz at cars. Un-huh! But thankfully, the film-makers allowed the signal analyzer to keep her clothes on.
4) Rachael Taylor plays an Aussie. Unless her character is an American citizen, there is no way she could have could clearance to enter the American Security bases. And if she got clearance, then she should have been with an American escort at all times. Ofcourse, I may not know about the rule that American army allows hot blonds of any nationality through without any security clearances.
5) A Micheal Bay film won't be complete without a love story. But amazingly, there is no kiss this time. As Mikaela and Sam (Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf) approach each other, something holds them back from kissing. Maybe the same force that allowed Rachael Taylor to keep her clothes on?
6) The ending is a real anti-climax -- when Megatron finally emerges, his battle with Optimus prime does not last too long and the film ends too fast after a slow build-up.

Maybe age plays with memory a bit. Because as it stands, I much prefer the original animated transformer film as opposed to this very LOUD movie. In animation, you can actually focus on and admire the transformers themselves. Whereas, in the movie the fast cuts and close-ups really give a jarring effect while watching the transformers fight -- one can't focus on the robots themselves and is only able to get a quick glimpse of these amazing machines. As a result, the transformers look like a colorful heap of junk as opposed to the carefully defined creations that they really are. I can only dream if instead of this muddled mix, the film-makers had opted for a Ratatouille style animated flick. Sigh!

A Taste of Western Europe

Switching gears for a bit to witness themes of love against culture and tradition, voyeurism, affairs, mafia crime & a tale of a boy genius.

France:

Where Fig Trees Grow (2004, Director Yasmina Yahiaoui): Rating 7.5/10

Another in a line of French productions depicting life of North Africans settling into their new French life. The story is similar in parts to Inch'Allah Dimanche but that film dealt with the relationship and marriage issues in a serious tone. Where Fig Trees Grow adds a touch of humour while depicting how a barber balances his feelings for a local belly dancer and his wife. The barber enjoys his profession and secretly loves his belly dancing neighbour. But his life is complicated when his parents force him to get married to a sweet innocent woman because of family honor. The title comes from Rue des Figuiers (Fig Tree Road) where the characters live; as the film progresses, we witness the growth of love and understanding among the main characters. But then there are some characters who choose to not inhale the air surrounding them and are content in rooting themselves in a land far away.

Exterminating Angels (2006, Director Jean-Claude Brisseau): Rating 7/10

A darkened room, a couple sleeping. Two shadowy figures mumbling in the background. A radio transmitting messages over the air. Then a clue -- the two figures are fallen angels, doomed to follow instructions and induce human behaviour and desire by suggestions. Even wonder where those thoughts enter our brains? Well the fallen angels ofcourse!

While the radio transmitter element feels straight out of Jean Cocteau's brilliant film Orphée, the rest of Exterminating Angels feels like a mix of Brisseau's defense of his previous film, porn portrayed as art and voyeurism. One can't judge the film without taking each element into consideration:

Secret Things was an interesting take on power that sex can wield. In that film, two woman freely toy with men by teasing and arousing them. Both decide to use their sexuality to advance in the world. What they didn't count on was running into a ruthless man who could crush both of them in an instant. It was an interesting film that was not afraid to take risks with plenty of nudity and sexuality shots which fit in nicely with the film's structure. But a nasty lawsuit resulted from the film when an actress claimed that Brisseau exploited her to do certain risky scenes in public. Brisseau has taken this scandal and made a film that attempts to explain his reasons for wanting his actresses to do simulated sex scenes because that is the only way he can decide if he wants her for the role or not. Now, is this exploitation, voyeurism or just plain disturbing?

I am not very fond of films using extreme sex scenes and trying to pass them off as 'art'. And there are plenty of such scenes in Exterminating Angels especially the main scene with three women pleasuring each other while François (the film director playing Brisseau's alter ego) watches and films them. This is one of the best shots of the film as the fast past music and dim lighting really lend to the mood. But still, is there a need for this scene in the film, even though it looks enticing? In order to defuse any criticism, Brisseau has added such questions in the film with François' wife asking him the need for having such shots. Also, his wife tries to talk some sense into François by telling him that he is being used by the girls. François feels he can accurately understand sexuality by filming women pleasuring themselves; he wants to understand what goes on in their head as their bodies hit peaks of pleasure. But as his wife points out, he is not just a mere observer because he is directing the women -- he is telling them what to do and in most cases, the women are telling or showing him what he wants. Is that still a natural observation?

The dialogues in the film are mostly hollow and pointless. After a while, even the repeated scenes of women living out their fantasies in front of François get taxing. Still, there is some merit in this film even though it appears to be exploitative cinema.

Germany:

Summer 04 (2006, Director Stefan Krohmer): Rating 9/10

A wicked little German film which feels part Roman Polanski (A Knife in the Water), part Eric Rohmer (Claire's Knee), a touch of Lolita and even has a hint of the creepiness and awkwardness in Michael Haneke's Funny Games. A German family head out to the lake for a vacation. Along with the couple is their 16 year old son with his 12-13 year old girlfriend. While boating, the 13 year girl meets a much older stranger who clearly fancies her. That sets up an interesting dynamic within the family which gets even more complicated when the mother also starts taking an interesting in this stranger. The older man liking the young girl feels like Lolita and the key scenes on the boat contain the air of tension that Polanski's first film had. Powerfully acted by Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Other) as the wife and mother, this was a really engaging watch.

Italy:

Romanzo criminale (2005, Director Michele Placido): Rating 8/10

Based on the real life Roman gangs of the 1970's, Placido has carefully crafted an intense look at the rise and fall of the group that wanted to conquer Rome. Based on Giancarlo De Cataldo's novel, the film contains plenty of scenes familiar to mafia films -- the childhood friends getting into crime, drugs, gun fights, gang's family elements, mob vs police battles and the eventual decline. Also, thrown in is the love story with a prostitute which causes one of the gang member's wanting to get out of the gang, which leads to the often repeated dialogue that mafia is something one can't get out of. Despite all the familiar elements, it is still an interesting watch that is very well acted even though the movie feels quite long at 140 minutes.

Switzerland:

Vitus (2006, Director Fredi M. Murer): Rating 6/10

A run of the mill film about a genius child prodigy. As a six year old, Vitus has a gift for playing music which leads to his parents pushing him more and more. But Vitus has an interest in other things, like flying, which is helped by his grandfather who encourages him to do what his heart desires. As Vitus grows up, he discovers how to use his talents in other areas -- at 12 he understands the stock market which leads to a lively second hour where he is able to structure a company and share his riches with his grandfather. The first hour is much duller than the second hour where things take on a lighter tone because of how Vitus is able to manipulate and run a fake company.

Eastern Europe, part V

I am almost at the end of the Eastern European cinema & soccer spotlight. Plenty of themes have emerged from all the films but for this part, I will only focus on the mood evoked by the films in question.

Lightness showing shades of darkness:

Fuse (2003, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Director Pjer Zalica): Rating 8/10

The war between 1992 & 1994 has spawned plenty of films, mostly dealing with themes of war & rebuilding efforts - parents dealing with their dead sons, villages & towns dealing with unemployment and economy restructuring and shattered love stories. Fuse starts with a father trying to cope with the death of one of his sons in the war; he still does not believe his son has died and has conversations with his son's ghost (or himself as it turns out). There are plenty of tragic stories around the town of Tesanj as the locals attempt to move on. When the unexpected news arrives that the American president (Bill Clinton) will be visiting town, the town council look for ways to brush aside the corruption and ugliness in order to present a happy face. That means dealing with the local prostitution and crime ring along with trying to establish friendly relations with the neighbouring Serbian town. A U.N force is sent to ensure that the two towns can peacefully patrol the borders. Plenty of farcical situations are shown regarding how the two sets of patrol guards deal with each other, along with some painful truths about the war. It is to Zalica's credit that the humour is balanced with the tragedy in such a delicate manner. Like No Man's Land, the film also shows the difficulties that independent U.N forces can have in trying to understand the local situations.

Dealing with tragedy & darkness with some touches of lightness:

Pretty Village Pretty Flames (1996, Former Yugoslavia, Director Srdjan Dragojevic): Rating 7/10

Srdjan Dragojevic has crafted a powerful film that shows the insanity & cruelty of war. The film starts off with two childhood friends, Milan (a Serb) and Halil (a Muslim) overlooking the opening of a national unity tunnel in 1971. We follow these two friends story over the next few decades when the war places them on opposite sides of the tunnel, Milan inside with 6 other people who are cut off from their Serbian army and Halil outside the tunnel. The bulk of the film is spent inside the tunnel with Milan and the other people trying to survive the opposing forces bullets. The film moves forward and backwards in time, enabling us to get respite from the harrowing war scenes. In the film's future sequences, Milan is lying in a hospital bed trying to get his strength back and plot his final revenge. In the past sequences, we see the two childhood friends growing up. But the film does not spare us the evil of war showing close up footage of burning villages and the lengths people go to survive in harsh conditions. The moments of jokes and humour in the tunnel manage to take away from of the edge from the darkness that surrounds this film.

Darkness descends :

Mirage (2004, Macedonia, Director Svetozar Ristovski): Rating 10/10

Mirage starts off similar to Underground -- a gypsy band is led by a drunk man (in Underground it was two drunk men) through the streets at night time, causing disturbance and waking people up. That is where the similarity ends though. The rest of Mirage shows a universal theme about how society can shape a young person; the film could have been set in any city in the world, let alone Veles, Macedonia. The drunken man in the film is a father who is trying to cope with his work situation and the changing political landscape of Macedonia. His wife & young son Marko quietly endure everything, whereas his teenage daughter gives him a headache as she seeks to sleep with anyone of her desire. Both the teenage daughter and father take their frustrations out on Marko, the quiet 12 year old who endures his father's beating and his sister's verbal lashings. Marko is an innocent boy but we see how the bleak environment surrounding him shapes his behaviour. Marko is bullied at school by a bunch of thugs who have power to do anything because one of the bully's father is the local chief of police. The only initial hope in Marko's life is his writing -- his teacher mentions his poetry could win him a trip to Paris. That gives him some purpose to escape his life around him. And when Marko comes across a convict named Paris, he sees that as a sign that Paris, France will be his destiny. But in the end, both Paris and his teacher let him down -- in a painful scene, we see Marko being beaten up by the bullies outside his teacher's home and when the teacher arrives, he sees the bullies and gets away to let Marko be thrashed. Paris tells Marko to take care of himself and even shows him how to use a gun but when Marko really needs him, he leaves.

Everytime when Marko sees a glimmer of hope that things will improve, things get worse. We can slowly see the darkness increasing and the ending is a real kick in the gut. Marko gets his revenge but that is not the kind of justice one would have hoped for but it does prove that weakness can't survive in a society where force and might are prized. Not pleasant viewing but a well crafted film.

Iska's Journey (2007, Hungary, Director Csaba Bollók): Rating 8/10

Another film where a 12 year old sees their life go from bad to worse. This time, it is a young girl whose hopes of a decent future are completely shattered when the screen fades to black at the end. The film's start finds young Iska trying to earn whatever little money she can by collecting metal scrap at the junkyard. Her parents are of no help to her and are willing to nab any little money Iska makes. As a result, she is left to fend for herself gathering food at a mining cafeteria. When things start to get bad, she leaves home and finds herself at an orphanage where things aren't any better. Atleast she manages to make friends with a boy her age. There is a hint of love that develops between the two as they plan to take the train to the seaside. However, Iska has to wrap one final thing up before leaving with the boy. And this is where things take an unexpected turn for the worst. What happens next is nothing short of cruel and ensures we leave the film with no hope of Iska ever having a decent go at life. During the first half, I was reminded of the beautiful Polish film Jestem which I saw in part I of the Eastern European series. But the last 20 minutes of this 92 minute film is a prequel of sorts to events shown in Lukas Moodysson's 2002 film Lilja 4-ever.

Some form of lightness:

After so much darkness, a light humour film is more than welcome. And I managed to get three such films -- two Czech and one Latvian short film.

Wonder (2007, Czech Republic, Director Mirjam Landa): Rating 7/10

A light hearted comedy/musical which starts off with Micky fleeing a prison. The only thing that got him through prison was his love of Karin, a local theater artist. So the first thing Micky does after leaving prison is to go audition for Karin's latest musical production. Through a series of clever tricks, he gets to play a part in the play. Predictably, Karin falls for him and Micky manages to get on everyone's good sides. Some quirky characters present in this film, especially the high strung director who demands a perfect performance from all actors. The musical performances are enjoyable and make for a decent viewing despite the contrived and predictable story.

Holiday Makers (2007, Czech Republic, Director Jirí Vejdelek): Rating 8/10

This is a real riot from the opening few minutes when a group of people board a tourist bus headed for a beach vacation in Italy. I was reminded of the two recent Bollywood films Honeymoon Travels and Just Married which dealt with similar themes. But those Bollywood films only focused on married couples. Holiday Makers has better etched out characters and deals with couple and parental relationship issues. The two bus drivers are downright hilarious in their dead-pan manner -- both drivers are named Karel and are obsessed with little details. For example, they debate on how long they should give the passengers at a rest-room stop or are persistent that the passengers return the coffee cup handles otherwise no one would be able to enjoy their coffee.

Ready and Done (2007, 23 min, Latvia, Director Inese Klava): Rating 9/10

This short documentary provides plenty of dead-pan humour, just by placing a camera in a 60 year old elevator in a Latvian hospital. We get the unexpected reactions of the hospital staff and patients who enter the elevator to find a camera there. The camera captures the last few days of this aging elevator which is to be replaced by a brand new elevator. The new elevator is 'supposed' to be faster, easier to use and more efficient. Supposed is the key word as we find that new technology comes with more problems. Also, we get to meet lift operator whose job might be rendered obsolete by the new elevator.

Observing Life go by:

Theodore (2007, 29 min, Latvia, Director Laila Pakalnina): Rating 8/10

This mostly silent film shows life through the eyes of Theodore, an aging Latvian man who is on the last few years (or days) of his life. Theodore uses his bicycle to get around and heads down to drink some beers while watching life go by. We get to see the sights that Theodore does first hand and we clearly hear all the sounds around him, including the peaceful sound of his bicycle as it makes its way across the countryside.

The art of fine animation and exquisite dining

Like most kids I grew up on cartoons. But as I grew up, my touch with the wonderful world of animation weakened. 1994's Lion King was a pleasant surprize which returned me back to my early child hood days when I used to love watching Kimba the White Lion (note: back then I didn't bother thinking that Kimba and Simba were different, I thought they were the same.) After the success of that film, many more animation films hit mainstream Hollywood, notably the slick Pixar films. After enjoying the initial offerings such as Toy Story, the animation films became another cliche just like action films or teen romance films. I found the Hollywood animation films were all style with no substance -- a lot of the films were packed with references to pop culture and clever sounding dialogues but they were hollow & just empty chatter. And it seemed if Hollywood had its way, every single creature on the planet would have been in animation films talking about the universe and grooving to the latest musical trend.

But it was not all doom and gloom. The intelligent Waking Life released in 2001 showed that there are indeed some topics which could benefit from animation. Two years later, another smart animation film was released courtesy of France -- Les Triplettes de Belleville. And surprizingly in 2004, Hollywood released The Incredibles which was a wonderful film that proved that maybe, just maybe, slick animation films can exist. But after that, we returned to more pointless animation films. And when a few months ago, I first saw the trailer of Ratatouille, I threw my hands up in despair -- Hollywood was now getting a rat to talk and cook. But two things changed my anticipation about this film:

1) The blog Reel Fanatic had been enthusiastically talking about the film for a few months. Only through Keith's blog did I realize that Brad Bird who was behind The Iron Giant and The Incredibles also created Ratatouille.

2) The wonderful New York Times article about how a real chef, Thomas Kellar, was used to cook for the film really swung me the other way.

And the verdict for the film?

Ratatouille (2007, Directed by Brad Bird): Rating 10/10

The highest rating I can give for a film! This is an absolutely wonderful film that fully uses the power of animation to craft a heart-warming tender story. Even though the concept of a rat cooking fine food can only be done with animation, this film gives us plenty of other scenes which regular film just can't capture. The beautiful shots of the food, all the way from its cooking and preparation to serving can't be perfectly captured by regular features, digital or not. Because if a feature film only focuses on a food's plating and look, it won't be able to capture the assembly line madness that exists in a kitchen. And on the other hand, if a film shows us long shots about the chaos in the kitchen, then it won't be able to properly get close-ups of the food. Sure a tv show like Hell's Kitchen attempts to capture the kitchen's madness and fine cooking preparations but it never manages to give us the true beauty that food really deserves. In that sense, Ratatouille is able to use animation to adjust the lighting, zoom-ups, long shots, etc to make the food look as mouth-watering as it should.

The story shows that at the end of the day, the best food is that home cooked meal a person has -- the highest compliment we can give to a restaurant is that the dish tastes like mom used to make it. The film shows the difference between stuffing oneself with junk versus carefully choosing what we put in our mouths. Interestingly, I can extend that comparison to Hollywood's animation films as well. Most animation films are assembly line commercial fare with a generic bland taste suited to cater all age groups. But Ratatouille is a carefully prepared delight with exquisite tastes that should still satisfy all palates.