El Duderino Diablo
10-03-2003, 03:33 AM
Taking a break today before burn out kicks in (not that I've seen that many movies so far I'm just a short tempered misanthrope) so I thought I'd write up my impressions on the films I've seen thus far.
A Tale of Two Sisters
S. Korea
2003
Since I first saw Kwai-Dan almost twenty years ago I've been of the opinion that Asian filmmakers had as good a grasp, if not a better grasp, on the what makes a damn fine ghost story than anybody in the west. A Tale of Two Sisters, like Japan's Ring, just reaffirms that belief.
Two Sisters is another variation on the evil stepmother story as two sisters try to come to terms with their mother's suicide and their father marriage to chilly new wife. Good performances combined with atmospheric set design, good cinemtography, effective plot twists and a mounting sense of dread make this one of the better Asian horror entries in recent years.
Simply put, it kicked my ass.
1/2 The Rent
Germany
2002
The shit suddenly hits the fan for a hacker on the vege of completing a big scam. On the run in Koln/Cologne with nowhere to stay he begins to insinuate his way into the lives of a few local apartment dwellers, often without their knowledge. Observing where people hide their spare keys or taking advantage of open doors he spends nights and days in people's homes while the're out working various shifts. The police are after him, some of his unwitting hosts are beginning to suspect that something is going on at home while they're away and he's beginning to have feelings for a neurotic clean freak who ran him down.
Performances were good and thestory was okay but nothng to write home about.
Simply put, this movie was okay but it didn't kick my ass.
Evil
Sweden
2003
Brooding adolescent Erik is getting whipped at home by his asshole stepfather so he takes it out on classmates, stealing, beating and just generally being an asshole himself. Although an excellent student his behaviour has seen him through damn near every high school in Sweden. As we meet Erik he's being given the boot again. His last chance at a future and getting into a post-secondary education is to get through his final year trouble free at the exclusive Sjärnsberg school. Cue forshadowing because we know this just isn't to be. Right off the bat Erik butts heads with the schools seniors and the traditions they hide behind to justify their own brand of cruelty.
Erik can only turn the other cheek so far before he reaches the breaking point and when he does the violence is swift, ruthless and bloody.
Good movie. Absolutely kicked my ass. Within the first five minutes of the movie I was ready to hate our young protagonist but as the story progressed went from regarding him with mild suspicion to rooting him on. Andreas Wilson puts forth a very good performance as the volatile Erik. While the ending was awee bit too pat the process of watching the tensions build at the Swedish prep school was well worth it. Good story, performances, set design.
Good movie, it kicked my ass.
My Flesh and Blood
USA
2003
Already reviewed in FilmThreat so I won't bother getting into it here except to say that it kicked my ass and deserves to be seen.
16 Years of Alcohol
Great Britain, Scotland
2003
Former TV show host, model (?), The Skids frontman and writer Richard Jobson's semi-autobiographical (?) movie based on his novel that covers three chapters in the life of Frankie Mac, as a child watching his drunken, womanizing rogue of a father tear his family apart, his adolescence as a violent delinquent and his attempts as an adult to redeem himself and establish a stable life form himself as he struggles with the demons of alcoholism that have been such a part of his life since childhood.
Great performance from Kevin McKidd, great cinemtography, use of locations and a kickass soundtrack made this well worth seeing.
Gozu
Japan
2003
Jumpin' H. Jesus on a pogo stick! It's Miike Takashi, what the hell can I say except "Holy shit."
I came out of the theater feeling as if I'd been administered some kind of strange and potent narcotic. Not that that's always a bad thing. Simple fact of the matter is that no matter how strange and self-indulgent Takashi gets I'll probably always be fan of his movies.
Here's the VIFF summary of the movie: Mob lieutenant Ozaki (Miike regular Aikawa Sho) has lost it. Deranged and paranoid, he sees a harmless pet as a lethal attack dog. His boss (Ishibashi Ryo) decides he must be put down, and delegates Minami (Sone Hideki) to escort him to the yakuza dump in Nagoya. It's an onerous job for Minami, who feels he owes his "elder brother" loyalty, but things look up when Ozaki appears to peg out in the car as they arrive in Nagoya. But then his corpse goes missing, and Minami faces the challenge of finding it to authenticate Ozaki's demise. His increasingly nightmarish quest brings him up against not only the scary coffee-shop owner (a chubby, bald transvestite) but also the hyper-lactating manageress of an inn, the spirit Gozu (which has the body of a man and the head of a cow and is given to licking those it haunts) and a very unusual case of transgendered reincarnation, not to mention other horrors too dubious to be described in a family festival catalogue. Business as usual for Miike, then.
- Tony Rayns
Now take that description and apply it to a two hour, nine minute and amazingly surreal movie. If your familiar with Miike Takashi then you know what I mean and can just dive right in. All others beware.
And yes, it absolutely kicked my ass. Several times.
Cop Festival
Japan
2002
A dozen short surreal and/or comedic films about cops.
Didn't really kick much ass. Actually Elephant Detective (?) was pretty cool and made the whole experience worthwhile.
Science Fiction
German
2003
An improvised German Groundhog Day, more or less. An arrogant self-help instructor and a dimwitted but good hearted student of his get bumped to a paralell unverse where they never existed and are immeditely forgotten by everyone around them the moment they pass through a door.
About forty minutes too long and proves once agan that German comedy really is an oxymoron.
Didn't kick my ass.
Goodby Dragon Inn
Taiwan
2003
I'm tired, my hands hurt and I'm getting lazy. I also can't give this movie the write up it deserves here so I'm just going to say that I founds this movie to be beautiful and sad and funny. Beautiful cinematography, lighting, colour, sound editing. A beautiful, bittersweet movie.
From the VIFF guide:
Tsai Ming-Liang has fashioned what may be his most brilliant metaphor yet: a lament for the death of feelings framed as a valediction to an entire era of Chinese cinema, not to mention an epitaph for the very idea of going to the movies. A decrepit old barn of a cinema is screening a martial arts classic, King Hu's 1966 movie Dragon Inn. Even with the rain bucketing down outside, it doesn't pull much of an audience--and some of those who have turned up are less interested in the movie than in the possibility of meeting a stranger in the dark.
Anyway, this cinema is dying. There are even holes where the rain gets in. It's run by just two people, the box-office girl and the projectionist. She has a gammy foot and a crush on the projectionist. He makes a point of going missing when she looks for him. Oh, and the place is haunted. Two of the men in the auditorium look suspiciously like lead actors from Dragon Inn itself. Ghosts? Or ghosts of memories? The Japanese kid who seats himself next to one of them, in search of a grope, finds the resemblance quite uncanny... The film is almost wordless, because the images do the talking--both Tsai's and King Hu's. Of course it's also cruelly, astringently funny.
- Tony Rayns
Fu Bo
Hong kong
2003
This Macau set movie weaves together the seemingly disparate stories of a alienated Fu Bo (generic term for a morgue attendent, apparently), the recently deceased that he works on each day, a gang hitman, a prison cook and the death row prisoners whose final meals he prepares.
Disjointed and not entirely succesful at tying up the story threads that seem so disparate at the beginning.
Some interesting camerawork and video effects and Anthony Wong in a minor throw away role aren't enough to save this one.
Can't say it kicked my ass in the least.
Golden Chicken
Hong Kong
2002
Sandra Ng stars as a prostitute trapped for the night in an ATM booth with her erstwhile mugger (Eric Tsang) after the power goes out during a storm. To pass the time Ng recounts her career as a prostitute to the sad little Tsang, chronicling her careers ups and downs as they mirror those of the former British colony.
Ng's performance, her comedic timing combined with that peculiar type of HK irreverence for everything along with some genuinely funny cameos makes for one the better recent HK movies I've seen in a very long while.
Groped my ass most professionally.
Simulacrum
Hong kong
1996
What the hell? An experimental HK indie shot on DV? Tony Leung Kar-Fai plays a Manchurian Candidate style hitman controlled through his addiction to vitamin health drink boxes. He recieves information packets on his targets that don't really say much about who his targets are. They don't even have pictures of them! As he tracks his targets down his mind begns to wander or maybe it's reality that begins to wander.
Strange, disjointed and hallucinatory this movie doesn't always make sense but it is intriguing to watch.
Kicked my ass but no tin a kindly sort of way.
A Tale of Two Sisters
S. Korea
2003
Since I first saw Kwai-Dan almost twenty years ago I've been of the opinion that Asian filmmakers had as good a grasp, if not a better grasp, on the what makes a damn fine ghost story than anybody in the west. A Tale of Two Sisters, like Japan's Ring, just reaffirms that belief.
Two Sisters is another variation on the evil stepmother story as two sisters try to come to terms with their mother's suicide and their father marriage to chilly new wife. Good performances combined with atmospheric set design, good cinemtography, effective plot twists and a mounting sense of dread make this one of the better Asian horror entries in recent years.
Simply put, it kicked my ass.
1/2 The Rent
Germany
2002
The shit suddenly hits the fan for a hacker on the vege of completing a big scam. On the run in Koln/Cologne with nowhere to stay he begins to insinuate his way into the lives of a few local apartment dwellers, often without their knowledge. Observing where people hide their spare keys or taking advantage of open doors he spends nights and days in people's homes while the're out working various shifts. The police are after him, some of his unwitting hosts are beginning to suspect that something is going on at home while they're away and he's beginning to have feelings for a neurotic clean freak who ran him down.
Performances were good and thestory was okay but nothng to write home about.
Simply put, this movie was okay but it didn't kick my ass.
Evil
Sweden
2003
Brooding adolescent Erik is getting whipped at home by his asshole stepfather so he takes it out on classmates, stealing, beating and just generally being an asshole himself. Although an excellent student his behaviour has seen him through damn near every high school in Sweden. As we meet Erik he's being given the boot again. His last chance at a future and getting into a post-secondary education is to get through his final year trouble free at the exclusive Sjärnsberg school. Cue forshadowing because we know this just isn't to be. Right off the bat Erik butts heads with the schools seniors and the traditions they hide behind to justify their own brand of cruelty.
Erik can only turn the other cheek so far before he reaches the breaking point and when he does the violence is swift, ruthless and bloody.
Good movie. Absolutely kicked my ass. Within the first five minutes of the movie I was ready to hate our young protagonist but as the story progressed went from regarding him with mild suspicion to rooting him on. Andreas Wilson puts forth a very good performance as the volatile Erik. While the ending was awee bit too pat the process of watching the tensions build at the Swedish prep school was well worth it. Good story, performances, set design.
Good movie, it kicked my ass.
My Flesh and Blood
USA
2003
Already reviewed in FilmThreat so I won't bother getting into it here except to say that it kicked my ass and deserves to be seen.
16 Years of Alcohol
Great Britain, Scotland
2003
Former TV show host, model (?), The Skids frontman and writer Richard Jobson's semi-autobiographical (?) movie based on his novel that covers three chapters in the life of Frankie Mac, as a child watching his drunken, womanizing rogue of a father tear his family apart, his adolescence as a violent delinquent and his attempts as an adult to redeem himself and establish a stable life form himself as he struggles with the demons of alcoholism that have been such a part of his life since childhood.
Great performance from Kevin McKidd, great cinemtography, use of locations and a kickass soundtrack made this well worth seeing.
Gozu
Japan
2003
Jumpin' H. Jesus on a pogo stick! It's Miike Takashi, what the hell can I say except "Holy shit."
I came out of the theater feeling as if I'd been administered some kind of strange and potent narcotic. Not that that's always a bad thing. Simple fact of the matter is that no matter how strange and self-indulgent Takashi gets I'll probably always be fan of his movies.
Here's the VIFF summary of the movie: Mob lieutenant Ozaki (Miike regular Aikawa Sho) has lost it. Deranged and paranoid, he sees a harmless pet as a lethal attack dog. His boss (Ishibashi Ryo) decides he must be put down, and delegates Minami (Sone Hideki) to escort him to the yakuza dump in Nagoya. It's an onerous job for Minami, who feels he owes his "elder brother" loyalty, but things look up when Ozaki appears to peg out in the car as they arrive in Nagoya. But then his corpse goes missing, and Minami faces the challenge of finding it to authenticate Ozaki's demise. His increasingly nightmarish quest brings him up against not only the scary coffee-shop owner (a chubby, bald transvestite) but also the hyper-lactating manageress of an inn, the spirit Gozu (which has the body of a man and the head of a cow and is given to licking those it haunts) and a very unusual case of transgendered reincarnation, not to mention other horrors too dubious to be described in a family festival catalogue. Business as usual for Miike, then.
- Tony Rayns
Now take that description and apply it to a two hour, nine minute and amazingly surreal movie. If your familiar with Miike Takashi then you know what I mean and can just dive right in. All others beware.
And yes, it absolutely kicked my ass. Several times.
Cop Festival
Japan
2002
A dozen short surreal and/or comedic films about cops.
Didn't really kick much ass. Actually Elephant Detective (?) was pretty cool and made the whole experience worthwhile.
Science Fiction
German
2003
An improvised German Groundhog Day, more or less. An arrogant self-help instructor and a dimwitted but good hearted student of his get bumped to a paralell unverse where they never existed and are immeditely forgotten by everyone around them the moment they pass through a door.
About forty minutes too long and proves once agan that German comedy really is an oxymoron.
Didn't kick my ass.
Goodby Dragon Inn
Taiwan
2003
I'm tired, my hands hurt and I'm getting lazy. I also can't give this movie the write up it deserves here so I'm just going to say that I founds this movie to be beautiful and sad and funny. Beautiful cinematography, lighting, colour, sound editing. A beautiful, bittersweet movie.
From the VIFF guide:
Tsai Ming-Liang has fashioned what may be his most brilliant metaphor yet: a lament for the death of feelings framed as a valediction to an entire era of Chinese cinema, not to mention an epitaph for the very idea of going to the movies. A decrepit old barn of a cinema is screening a martial arts classic, King Hu's 1966 movie Dragon Inn. Even with the rain bucketing down outside, it doesn't pull much of an audience--and some of those who have turned up are less interested in the movie than in the possibility of meeting a stranger in the dark.
Anyway, this cinema is dying. There are even holes where the rain gets in. It's run by just two people, the box-office girl and the projectionist. She has a gammy foot and a crush on the projectionist. He makes a point of going missing when she looks for him. Oh, and the place is haunted. Two of the men in the auditorium look suspiciously like lead actors from Dragon Inn itself. Ghosts? Or ghosts of memories? The Japanese kid who seats himself next to one of them, in search of a grope, finds the resemblance quite uncanny... The film is almost wordless, because the images do the talking--both Tsai's and King Hu's. Of course it's also cruelly, astringently funny.
- Tony Rayns
Fu Bo
Hong kong
2003
This Macau set movie weaves together the seemingly disparate stories of a alienated Fu Bo (generic term for a morgue attendent, apparently), the recently deceased that he works on each day, a gang hitman, a prison cook and the death row prisoners whose final meals he prepares.
Disjointed and not entirely succesful at tying up the story threads that seem so disparate at the beginning.
Some interesting camerawork and video effects and Anthony Wong in a minor throw away role aren't enough to save this one.
Can't say it kicked my ass in the least.
Golden Chicken
Hong Kong
2002
Sandra Ng stars as a prostitute trapped for the night in an ATM booth with her erstwhile mugger (Eric Tsang) after the power goes out during a storm. To pass the time Ng recounts her career as a prostitute to the sad little Tsang, chronicling her careers ups and downs as they mirror those of the former British colony.
Ng's performance, her comedic timing combined with that peculiar type of HK irreverence for everything along with some genuinely funny cameos makes for one the better recent HK movies I've seen in a very long while.
Groped my ass most professionally.
Simulacrum
Hong kong
1996
What the hell? An experimental HK indie shot on DV? Tony Leung Kar-Fai plays a Manchurian Candidate style hitman controlled through his addiction to vitamin health drink boxes. He recieves information packets on his targets that don't really say much about who his targets are. They don't even have pictures of them! As he tracks his targets down his mind begns to wander or maybe it's reality that begins to wander.
Strange, disjointed and hallucinatory this movie doesn't always make sense but it is intriguing to watch.
Kicked my ass but no tin a kindly sort of way.