Reviews

ADVENTURES OF POWER Review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:43 -0500

Writer/director Ari Gold also stars as the title character Power in this underdog/rock n' roll/road comedy. The story is as simple as it's protagonist: Power is a full-on loser, who works at the local energy plant with his gruff union leader dad Harlan (Michael McKean) and lives in a tent on the front lawn of his eccentric hippy aunt Joni (Jane Lynch) while persuing his dream of being a respected "air drummer". You see, Power never got to have a real drum set growing up, so he has done the next best thing, he's learned to mimic his heroes in the empty space in front of his face.
After a mishap at work, when Power accidentally pulls a lever and covers one of the big bosses in raw oil while getting his groove on, he is given his walking papers. This happens right before his dear old dad has planned a walk-out with the workers in order to get better wages. This is the final let down for Powers' dear old pop. That night Power thinks he can redeam himself in the eyes of his disapproving father by winning the local talent contest being held at his Aunt Joni's bar. Making a mockery of himself, Power decides to hit the road, on his 12 year old best friends child sized bicycle, and make his way to Mexico for a clandestine air-drum competition that reeks of danger, but may hold promise for Powers' destiny. AFter almost getting caught in a police sweep, Power makes his way to the Big City, still in persuit of his dream and credibility.
He ends up living in a Chinese take out restaurants back room, after being rescued from a mugging by the owners, and dating the deaf girl who works there, Annie (WEEDS' Shoshannah Stern) despite Annie's disapproving mother. But Annie falls in love with Power, and supports his dream. Power joins up with legendary a air drum instructor and his troupe of protege's, Power proves to be a limitless talent. They set to prepare to win the big air drum off with only a couple of weeks to prep their big contender, Power.
Meanwhile, pop-punk/country hybrid music star Dallas Houston (ENTOURAGE's Adrian Grenier) is raking up zillions of dollars on the charts, under the management of his rich oil baron daddy, but his heart is in air drumming as well. And his embarrased fatherbe damned, he's going to follow his heart and join the competition.

Ugh.

If the above sounds tedious and worn, trust me, it is. With the cast of "zany" characters, and sub-plots about a union strike and Annie's mothers past that go nowhere, I was wishing I had a sink full of dirty dishes needing washing before I even hit the halfway mark of this movie. First, the character of Power is so pathetic there's nothing to like. It's like a more obnoxious, older, and rocked out version of Napolean Dynamite. There is nothing the character rises against that isn't of his own making by his own dimwitted behavior. Like when Power gets fired for screwing up at work, it's totally his own fault. He deserves to get fired. He deserves everything bad that happens to him because he's such a gonad. Then, the talents of Chris Guest stalwarts Michael McKean and Jane Lynch are completely wasted with characters that go nowhere, and exhibit fewer interesting traits than a stack of wet cardboard.
Then, the air drumming itself? Yeah, it's a ridiculous and ham fisted ronic and absurd concept, but at least teach the actors to really nail the music they're mimicking. Make us go "Well damn, that looked dead on!" so we have an iota of appreciation for the entire point and subject of the film, as silly as it may be. Make us believe.
On top of all that, and I'm remiss to really say this but here goes, the film is full of minor characters of different ethnicities. But the way they are used to invoke laughs is damn close to being racist. Cheap shots at stereotypes abound, as it's not what the characters say that is supposedly funny, but how they say it. It comes from the "Har har! They talk funny!" school of humor. Cheap, antiquaited, and plain old offensive at times. The Chinese restaurant owners characters, I'm surprised they didn't own a laundromat so they could deliver golden comedic lines like "No tickey no washey!" Then there's the recurring Mexican character who is fond of saying "You my freeeeiiind" in some kind of half baked play on Rob Scneider's "You can do it!" guy. Then there's the east Indian air drummer. And the Black Dude air drummer. Etc etc. All overblown cartoon versions of racial stereotypes. Wow. Just. Wow.

Double ugh.

Of course this all builds up to the "big climax, the air drum off competition. And of course it comes down to being between Power and Dallas Houston, whose popularity and celebrity almost ensure he is the winner. But Power rallies, when his show stopper RUSH's "Tom Sawyer" turns out to be the final competition piece. Of course this leads to an underdog victory (trust me I'm not spoiling anything here) and a face to face meeting Powers' hero, RUSH drummer Neil Peart.

Triple ugh.

How the production got the rights to use "Tom Sawyer" and roped the notoriously curmudgeonly Neil Peart into a cameo is beyond me. But more, er, power to them for it. Produced as an independent feature, ADVENTURES OF POWER struggles (and actually succeeds for once) at looking slicker than it should. It seems like it wants to be a hybrid of NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE and SCHOOL OF ROCK, or at least fall firmly into the category, as stated earlier, of underdog/rock n' roll/road comedy that leaves the audience shaking their heads, laughing, and feeling good as they walk out of the theater. ADVENTURES OF POWER is full of unlikable characters that deserve no sympathy, and tropes that go so far beyond cliche it had me wanting to rip my own eyes out. I usually at least have dumb fun with these types of movies, but this was so bad, and such an empty void creatively, that I have had trouble even finding something to review. Going to see the dentist for an impromtu root canal sans anesthesia would have brought me more pleasure than watching this lobotomizing cinematic fart. It's got me rethinking my hatred for Rob Zombie's films. They might not be the worst thing I've ever seen after all.

Chandmani Sum review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:36:32 -0500

Little bump as I included the trailer for your viewing pleasure.

Mongolia is faraway, barren and mostly unknown territory for us Westerners. Most of us know very little about it, except maybe a little trivia about Genghis Kahn. Rowan Lee Hartsuiker took the time to visit the place and document his findings, granting us a quick peek into a culture most of us didn't even know existed. The 30-minute documentary Chandiman Sum is the result.

I'm not much of a documentary fanatic myself. Not that I lack interest in the varied range of subjects (name it and there is probably of documentary on it), but I find the format very limiting. As part of the film medium it does very little with images and sound, making the audiovisual experience neglectable. On top of that most documentaries prove very manipulative and subjective, not exactly when I have in mind when watching badly shot images with little to no artistic direction. I know this is not the case for all documentaries, but unless proven wrong I consider them the exceptions to the rule.

Chandmani Sum is clearly one of those exceptions. Hartsuiker traveled to Mongolia and stayed there for 6 months in a tiny village, spending time on getting to know the people and their customs. His camera observes them in their everyday lives, but rather than simply capturing life in Mongolia, his documentary tries to convey his experience over there. For that, he is not shy to experiment with all means necessary.

Visually Chandmani Sum is a true beauty. Completely presented in a light blue monochrome color, only rarely allowing other colors to come through, the documentary gives a very unique look at the desolate countryside of Mongolia. Hartsuiker has a great eye and knows to capture some magnificent scenes, giving them a rather daunting and otherworldly feeling. In some scenes the editing reminded me of Aronofski's Pi, with very quick and sharp cuts, creating a streak of chaos within the quiet and barren landscapes.

The soundtrack is almost completely composed of Mongolian) vocal music, but plays mostly like illbient. It calls a dark and moody atmosphere, creating a perfect flow with the images. In several short sequences the performers are visible themselves, demonstrating their vocal skills which is actually quite impressive to see. On top of that layer of sound Hartsuiker provided a couple short monologues. Their muffled appearance, trying to become part of the soundtrack but ultimately failing as the brain is too conditioned to make out the words, is probably my only real issue with this film. Of course this is only a problem for those who understand the Dutch language.

Hartsuiker explained that his main goal was to give people an image of Mongolia they would remember. I can only speak for myself, but with his documentary he surely achieved his goal. In a rather ironic twist all extra stylistic additions help in creating a more believable view on the Mongolian people and their lives. On top of that, the film's a blast to watch and to listen to.

Chandmani Sum is not your everyday documentary. It presents reality in a stylized way but doesn't lose any of its incredibility. Hartsuiker succeeds in his mission, delivers a visually accomplished document with a superb soundtrack and transports you to a world not quite like ours. And the best part? It's entirely free (in a legal way), a quick look around the web will guide you to the source.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC Review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:30 -0500

(Our thanks goes out to Joseph Sylvers for the review)

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy's book within the book begins with the phrase "Don't Panic", because the universe is a dizzying, dazzlingly complex place, that to take it all in at once could result in hyperventilating, existential angst, or spasmadic fits of fear and trembling, and before reading it in book form it's important to take a breath and relax. A Town Called Panic does not invite any moments of calm or temperance, or respite from the chaos of the world, instead it revels in its absurd animated mania that would not feel out of place on Adult Swim or Saturday mornings.

It is defiantly ridiculous, and never offensive, mean, or crude. In a dayglo town, we see old toys moving of their own accord. Toys from a time before action figures, when plastic figures stood on mounted bases and lacked bendable limbs.
A town called "the town", houses a postman, a policemen, a music school, a farmer, his wife, and their animals (who attend the music school), and a horse, an Indian, and a cowboy. The later are the films heroes here making their big screen debut from the Belgian produced animated series with the same name as the film. The trio forms a strange family, with the Horse heading the household, driving, the car, handling the finances, etc, with Cowboy and Indian as the two young impish tricksters getting into various shenanigans.

The action begins when the boys realize they have forgotten Horse's birthday, and decide at the last minute to build him a barbeque. The boys make a slight snafu when instead of ordering 50 bricks they have delivered 500,000 bricks. The best scene is a drunken party that takes place early on, but where I expected the film to dip after the 20 minute mark, it kept delivering, taking us into the center of the earth, into a Penguin shaped mobile Artic..."research"...station, and an undersea kingdom located directly beneath the town.
Horse, in love with the school's music teacher, only wants to get back to his lesson in time, but instead they chase a merman through a series of wacky encounters.

This was one of the few films that was screened twice during the AFI fest and I only caught the 2nd screening on the last day of the festival. The director wasn't there, but in place there was someone from the Belgian consulate who said that though he had not seen the film he had been assured by everyone who had that it followed in Belgium's unique tradition of cartoons, comics, and sense of humor. He spoke with a vague craftiness more like a producer than a diplomat, but perhaps there is not much difference in the two. In fairness all of the characters did seem to survive of a daily diet of fresh waffles (even the mermen).

The show has been on since 2003 in 5 minute segments, and given their previously limited time, it's impressive they can develop a full feature that never sags once. Though many have referred to the film as stop-motion, it is actually a process called puppetoon, where instead of "a single figure photographed and repositioned and photographed again" - according to wiki - the puppets are rigid and static pieces; each is typically used in a single frame and then switched with a separate, near-duplicate puppet for the next frame. Thus puppetoon animation requires many separate figures. It is more analogous in a certain sense to cell animation than is traditional stop-motion: the characters are created from scratch for each frame...". Though the effect is light, the production seems painstaking.

A Town Called Panic is a delightful lo-fi animated film, that doesn't aim to impart any kind of moral or lesson, but recreate a Chuck Jones's "Looney Toons" like free range explosion built of escalating absurdity and stacking gags on top of gags in a Tower Of Babel to cartoon comedy heaven. It doesn't quite reach these epic levels, but it's a fun film that I could imagine watching episodically week to week, late on a foggy night or over breakfast cereal the day after (or breakfast cereal late that night). Enjoyable for the uninitiated (like myself), and probably more of a treat for fans. At 75 minutes it's a breezy watch, rewarding in easy cheer and quirky charm. Along with Ponyo this is one of my favorite animated films of the year, and makes clear the point that there are still open avenues available to animators who want to work outside the CG universe.

(Editor's note: Zeitgeist Films will be releasing the film in the states starting on December 16th at NYC's Film Forum and then a slow roll out over most urban/major areas in early 2010. Check their site for further dates.)

FANTASTIC MISTER FOX Review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:38:31 -0500

[Our thanks to regular reader indiemaker for the following review.]

"Uh, my dad's on fire..."

Fantastic Mr. Fox might just be one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. 2009 has really shaped up to be a year of daring big studio gambles. While some have been more successful than others, it's pretty amazing that we've seen mega budget adaptations of The Watchmen while iconic children novels have been left in the hands of outsider auteurs.

I'll shamefully admit that I'm completely unfamiliar with Ronald Dahl's original book so it's difficult for me to make comparisons, but I assume that Wes Anderson's script shares few similarities. This is an Anderson film through and through and about as child friendly as Where the Wild Things Are. But there's a glaring difference, this is fun and entertaining.

Anderson's films tend to polarize audiences. If you're a fan of his previous work, you'll assuredly be a fan of this. If you've grown tired of his retro, hipster, ironic schtick, you'll be moaning the whole way through.

I still believe Bottle Rocket is Anderson's best film, it remains his most personal and heartfelt picture. Since he's developed and trademarked his visual style, his obsessive attention to detail and colorful art direction tends to outweigh the story. He's too willing to give his fans exactly what they expect. Much like Tim Burton, the very things that turned Anderson in the type of auteur that film students aspire to become have also become a crutch.

Still, Anderson's storybook compositions lend themselves perfectly to animation, his deadpan direction, not so much.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is an odd beast. Many of you have probably read the controversial article in Variety a few months back citing the crew and D.P.'s bitterness and animosity towards Anderson's overbearing restrictions and absence from set.

The film is a visual feast and the hand-made, purposefully amateur(ish) stop motion animation is intriguing and unique. Yet, this is a dialogue heavy film where all of the humor is based on expert timing and subtle facial expressions. As beautiful and endearing as the puppets are, they lack the facial and physical complexity to match the actors' line delivery.

But there are plenty of amazing animated adult features from the 70's with dramatic acting paired to low-fi animation and that's the thing. The film really feels like the product of entirely different era. It's an interesting dynamic.

There was a brief interview with actor Jason Schwartzman after the film and while he and other actors visited the set, they never saw any of the animations before or during line readings.

Often in animation, actors are either brought in to dub their voices in a sound room after the shooting has completed and they cite their lines while watching the animation play in front of them or vice versa. The animators are given video performances of the cast to draw from.

Neither happened in the case of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Schwartzman told the audience via live Ichat that Wes had the entire cast act scenes out on physical locations similar to the script. Supposedly, there may be extras on the DVD of Jason, Bill Murray, and Meryl Streep digging holes by a real tree on a farm while reading their lines.

In many scenes, there's an obvious divide between the actors' performances and their puppet avatars and it becomes distracting at times. There are scenes where it matches and works terrifically, but it's a bit of a mixed bag.

Also, I can't figure out what the overall message is. Being unfamiliar with the book, I'm not sure if they're similar.

The story revolves around Mr. Fox, his wife, son, and nephew. Mr. Fox is a thief. When he is almost killed with his pregnant wife after getting caught taking chickens, he takes a 12 fox year hiatus from a life of crime.

But when Mr. Fox begins stealing again from three local business owners, he starts a war. The majority of the film is about Mr. Fox and his family being violently hunted down by the three business owners.

In his big epiphany, Mr. Fox claims that stealing is part of his nature, he is a wild animal after all and that's what separates him from the human world.

SPOILER WARNING.

In the end, Mr. Fox and the other animals are unable to completely escape the businessmen they stole from and are forced to live in the sewers where they'll presumably spend the rest of their lives. But they find a tunnel that leads to a large supermarket that closes early on the weekends and they celebrate knowing they'll be able to steal their food there from now on.

END SPOILER.

Yeah, seriously, that's the fucking ending. Was that the ending of the book? Is this a children's film at all? Essentially, it's an anarchist tale. Hey, they're criminals at heart, why hide it. Fuck the system.

The characters drink and smoke and often use the word "cuss" to replace "fuck." Characters say things such as "This is a major cluster cuss", "stop cussing with my head," "you cussing me?"

It's cute and clever but also kind of shocking. There's also some fairly intense violence. Mr. Fox actually murders a fellow animal character who goes at his wife with a switchblade. But maybe that was in the book, most children's books are probably darker than we actually remember.

I personally don't believe the film is totally inappropriate for children, but I'm not sure if they'll fully enjoy it either. While it's beautiful to look at, the dry witty banter is sure to go over their heads.

Still, if you're not automatically turned off by Anderson's specific breed of cinema and have any interest in seeing this, it is most definitely worth your hard earned money to experience on the big screen.

Oh, and chaos reigns!

WHITE ON RICE Review

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:22:36 -0500

[Our thanks to regular Twitch reader Indiemaker for the following review of Dave Boyle's indie comedy White on Rice.]

White on Rice is a film that has slowly but surely garnered its fair share of buzz these past few months. I know Todd posted a brief review over the summer and I suspect the film is going to become a substantial cult célèbre even if it may be a while before many of you get a chance to see it.

White on Rice has become something of a festival darling and rousing crowd pleaser throughout its extensive fest play. The film is currently being self promoted and independently distributed by its writer/director David Boyle. So if you're anxious to see it now, you need to go to the website and beg Dave to personally bring it to your town.

I'm sure the director is becoming more and more wary of all of the comparisons being made in reviews to Napoleon Dynamite. Let me say they're unwarranted even if his viral marketing campaign has admittedly presented WOR in a very similar vein.

In short, WOR is a quirky fish out of water tale with a "loveable loser" in the lead. The plot revolves around Uncle Jimmy, hilariously portrayed by Hiroshi Watanabe. Jimmy is a middle aged Japanese man who moves back in with his sister in America after his wife divorces him. But there's good reason why Jimmy is now single and that's where the big catch comes.

Uncle Jimmy is actually anything but loveable. Oh, he is a loser through and through but he possesses few, if any redeeming character traits. Comparing WOR to Napoleon Dynamite based on surface traits does the film a great injustice. It's a far far darker movie, shockingly so. I'd rather liken it as a cross between Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata and Observe and Report.

Uncle Jimmy isn't just goofy, he's mentally retarded and dangerous. He's brash, rude, selfish, and often throws violent temper tantrums. His actions go far beyond the silly man child antics of any Will Farrell role. And since the rest of the characters are firmly rooted in reality, his over the top behavior becomes all the more disturbing.

Like Seth Rogen's violently bi-polar mall cop comedy, I think many Twitch Readers are going to find a lot of laughs in the film's wildly aberrant tone, even if the material is actually PG friendly. Yeah, wrap your mind around that for a moment.

But the heart of the film, or at least, its first two acts, isn't just watching Jimmy continually fuck things up. The film is really about a family falling apart at the seams much like Tokyo Sonata. Native Japanese actress, Nae Yuuki gives a terrific performance as Jimmy's responsible sister, Aiko. She dotes on her incompetent brother like a mother while ignoring her own pre-pubescent son, Bob, finely played by newcomer, Justin Kwong.

Meanwhile, Aiko's husband Tak also becomes increasingly depressed as his wife spends all of her affections on Jimmy.

All of the characters are fully fleshed out and impeccably well written, a refreshing thing as all of the main cast are Asian or Asian American, even more surprising as the film was written and directed by a white man in his mid-twenties, a Mormon no less.

Let's get straight to the point, David Boyle is a Japan-o phile, something many of you Twitch guys out there can relate to. But David is an entirely different breed of Japan- o- phile. His background is not in anime, J-Horror, or any of the other things that attract many of us here. No, Dave was a Mormon missionary who happened to become fluent in Japanese while staying in Australia. And if you haven't seen his debut film, Big Dreams, Little Tokyo, I strongly recommend you track it down and watch it immediately.

I caught Dave's first film at the Philadelphia International Film Festival a few years back and was impressed. The film's synopsis is one that initially made me cringe and I often find people rolling their eyes at me when I describe it to them. Dave stars in it as a creepy Japon-ophile trying to make a career teaching Japanese to the Japanese in Los Angeles. Of course, he falls in love with a cute Japanese nurse in the process.

But here's the thing, Dave's first film is smart, genuine, and very sincere. The humor is character driven and consistently avoids easy jokes as does White on Rice. It was of the rarest film experience for me, a heartwarming and family friendly comedy about cross cultural differences that I thoroughly enjoyed. We had to add screenings at the Philadelphia Film Festival after selling out due to positive word of mouth. So don't just take my word for it. This is all the more reason why White on Rice's first hour had my jaw on the floor.

In many ways, Uncle Jimmy is the physical incarnation of every horrible stereotype of Japanese men. Although a lot of it is going to go over most mainstream viewers' heads. Once again, Dave doesn't go for the obvious jokes. Jimmy is not a retread of Mickey Rooney's terrifying portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffanys. No, the cultural humor here is far more informed. It made me recall a controversial lecture I once attended by a published and highly regarded anthropologist who was quoted as referring to Japan as a nation of over-educated 12 year old adults, a county of men incapable of taking care of themselves who marry less for love than to find a replacement for their mother. This historian claimed that as a reason behind pedophilic pornography and manga being so prevalent in mainstream Japanese culture.

I'm not agreeing with any that, and it's foolish to make such sweeping statements on an entire culture but Uncle Jimmy is the embodiment of everything you might find on a Fuckedgaijin.com message board and reminded me of that lecture. Jimmy moves to America after running out of a 3 month supply of pre-prepared meals his ex wife left him. He is unable to drive, cook, or even tie his own shows, (he wears Velcro, again, like a mentally retarded person). He has an unhealthy obsession with dinosaurs, and there's a lot of underlying humor suggesting that he's a pedophile. He has fantasies about his significantly younger room-mate and niece in law still dressed in her middle school clothes making him brown bagged lunches.

This type of material may be polarizing for some viewers as there were a few audience members at the Austin Asian American Film Festival who felt offended. Yet, no other character in the film shares these characteristics. It's an odd thing and I'm still a bit conflicted on it as a whole. Although, I'll admit I laughed, and I laughed a lot.

The film goes places I never would have imagined. If you think you know where it's heading, trust me, you don't, and that was really refreshing. But the third act is a bit of a let down. WOR suddenly shifts to a much sweeter, nicer tone closer to that of Big Dreams, Little Tokyo. This is after Jimmy almost accidentally, and violently murders his brother in law. Everything wraps up a bit too nicely ala dues ex machina. It really betrays all that comes before it although that's not to say it totally diminishes the previous two acts. I just wished the tone was more consistent. Technically speaking, White on Rice is an noticeable advancement from Big Dreams, Little Tokyo. Despite my qualms with the story, David's direction has improved by leaps and bounds.

Oh, Bruce Campbell also provides his voice in a dubbed Samurai film within the film. So obviously, Dave's got full nerd cred here.

Again, White on Rice is not an Asian Napoleon Dynamite. It may be an Asian What About Bob or even an Asian Clifford, but it is not Napoleon Dynamite. That's probably an awesome thing depending on who you are, and here at Twitch, I'll suspect that it's the former rather than the latter.

Alone review

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:03:45 -0500

Reading the reactions beneath the 4Bia 2 review it seems that I'm not the only one who waited a long time before actually sitting down to watch Alone. Since I just saw it yesterday, here's my take on the film. Let it be a reminder for those that keep postponing it. When directors duo Pisanthanakun and Wongpoom made Shutter in 2004 they stormed the Asian suspense scene and convinced tons of people of their talent. But like many before them, they were soon forgotten and returned back to relative anonymity. Completely unjustified as their later output easily outshines Shutter.

I was never a big fan of Shutter as it did very little for the genre. It was a pretty basic genre piece that went through the motions rather blandly. Take some long-haired ghosts, some jumpy noises and a good little twist at the end and you have a film that's very much like all these other Asian horror flicks. Ironically, the same could be said about Alone, and yet I found it to be way better than Shutter.

The premise of Alone is pretty standard. When Pim's mom falls ill Pim and her husband return to Thailand to visit her in the hospital. There, Pim is confronted again with the death of her twin sister who died during an operation to separate them from each other. Old wounds are reopened and it doesn't take long before visions appear and loud noises are added to create some big scares. Ah yes, the perks of Asian suspense flicks.

Like many other in the genre, Korean suspense films in particular, there's a very strong dramatic line running below the entire film, creating a mixture that goes beyond simple horror and easing the audience in a somewhat subdued state. Only to scare them awake at given points in the film. An old trick, but one that works if executed well.

Visually Alone is a definite step up from Shutter, with meticulous shots, good sharp editing and impressive sets. There's something about those Thai houses with their green/blue walls that is very attractive to the eye. The cinematography gives the film that extra notch of class that is largely absent in most of its peers.

The soundtrack too is pretty solid, only at the end becoming a tad over-dramatic. Apart from that, the timing is excellent and the noisy scares actually transcendent cheapness. Acting is also strong, with good performances from both leads and their younger versions. Nothing too fancy, but more than sufficient for a film like this.

All things considered, Alone is just another Asian suspense film following in the footsteps of a gazillion others, but executed so well, with so much precision, that it rises far above mediocrity. The difference with Shutter is that it's simply better in each and every aspect, gluing things together in a more cohesive way and creating a far more enjoyable overall experience.

Fans of Shutter should really try and find this film as there is little that can disappoint them. If you were a little disappointed by the directors' first film you should still give this a go, unless you're looking for something original and creatively sparkling. Alone is Asian suspense done right, remaining firmly within the limitations of the genre yet getting as much out of it as possible.

PHOBIA 2 Review

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:56:58 -0500

Horror anthologies are notoriously uneven affairs, typically ill-matched collections of low budget efforts from little known talent trying to make a name for themselves with a quick scare or two. Such was very definitely not the case with Thai horror anthology Phobia, a collection of four short films that gathered the best and brightest talent from Thailand and gave them all the resources to do things right. The result was a huge success, one that won both at the box office and in the press - a result that has led now to a sequel.

Titled Phobia 2, this new effort ups the number of included works to five and shuffles the directorial lineup slightly with three of the original four directors being joined by two fresh faces. And the result? A diverse and engaging collection of stories loosely linked by car and road themes, in which the were minor references to other stories scattered throughout the collection, but one which delivers so well that it has become an even bigger hit than the first. We'll run through them here not in running order - which goes Novice, Ward, Backpackers, Salvage and In The End - but in what I consider to be weakest to strongest.

At the soft end of the spectrum - surprisingly - is Salvage, by director Parkpoom Wongpoom. That this is the weakest of the lot comes as a surprise because Wongpoom is one of the brightest lights not only of Thai horror but of horror cinema all around the globe. As the co-director of the original Thai version of Shutter and subsequent hit Alone, Wongpoom's films have spanned the globe thanks to their mix of smarts and style. But his directorial effort here, revolving around a dishonest woman who run a used car lot selling cars refurbished after major accidents as 'like new', suffers somewhat from a lack of focus, an unlikeable lead and a run time that overstays what the premise is really able to sustain. That said, however, Salvage also features some fantastic jumps, some truly gruesome effects work and what is quite easily the single most graphic and unpleasant image in the entire project.

Significantly stronger is Backpackers by Songyos Sugmakanan. Though much of Sugmakanan's career has been devoted to romances and comedies he has one truly masterful horror-tinged effort on his resume with the absolutely fabulous Dorm, in which he casts a young Charlie Trairat as a young boy sent away to boarding school where his only friend turns out to be a ghost. Sugmakanan reunites with a much older Trairat here - and watch for Trairat to be popping up in leading man roles on a regular basis soon, he has literally grown up on screen in Thailand without a single significant mis-step in his film career - in what may very well be Thailand's first full blooded, classical zombie film. With a story that involves both human and drug trafficking before getting into undead territory Backpackers may be a touch too busy for its own good but the execution is strong, Trairat is excellent and the film boasts a number of truly iconic images.

Taking middle position is Ward, by first time director - but long time producer - Visute Poolvoralaks. The shortest and simplest tale of the lot, Ward takes its young protagonist and drops him, completely helpless, into a hospital room late at night following some sort of accident. Unable to walk, he must share a room with one other patient - an elderly man on life support, due to have the plug pulled the next morning. But, unconscious or not, he doesn't seem particularly pleased by this turn of events and our young hero will have to struggle to survive the night. Poolvoralaks makes excellent use of space and mood here, working his scenario as well as possible and having the good sense to keep things short and sweet.

Opening the anthology in impressive fashion - and demonstrating just how far its young director has come in a very short time - is Paween Purijitpanya's Novice. Now, Purikitpanya already has a certain amount of notoriety thanks to his installment in the first Phobia anthology and his debut feature Body #19 but Novice takes his game to an entirely different level. Purijitpanya has always been enormously gifted on a purely visual level but also very much crippled by a wild over dependence on visual trickery and seizure-inducing rapid-fire editing, a tendency that has severely hobbled everything he has made up until this point. No more. Though clearly still a Purijitpanya film - by which I mean the visuals are stunning and flawlessly executed - he has finally found the confidence to let his story and characters breath and the results are stunning. The story of a young man sent away to become a monk after being involved in some sort of tragedy - presumably he has essentially been sent away into hiding by his mother to prevent legal repercussions - Novice is a perfect blend of mood, jumps, strong performances and flawlessly employed effects. If Purijitpanya keeps this up he will quickly build a name for himself as one of the very best in the world. And, speaking of performances, why doesn't Ray MacDonald work more? The Thai actor with the Scottish name is on screen only sparingly but proves, once again, that when given the chance he has a natural energy and charisma that makes him an ideal lead. Someone in Thailand needs to make a hard edged crime noir and put this man front and center.

And, finally, the project closes with the strongest of the lot - the slick, irreverent, and very, very funny horror comedy In The End by Parkpoom Wongpoom's directorial partner on both Shutter and Alone, Banjong Pisanthanakun. A lovingly playful mocking of horror conventions on the set of a fictional sequel to the duo's hit film Alone, In The End drops Alone star Marsha Wattanapanich - playing a parody version of herself - on to the set of a bad horror sequel in which the same quartet of superstitious, pop culture referencing twenty-somethings that made Pisanthanakun's entry in the original Phobia so much fun are cast as key support staff. Cue tragedy, the return of the movie-set ghost as possible real-life ghost and hilarity ensues. Smart, slick, self-referential in all the right ways and, most importantly, very funny indeed, In The End will probably play best to those who have seen both Alone and the original Phobia but prior knowledge is very definitely not required to enjoy this one thoroughly and it leaves me hoping beyond hope that when Pisanthanakun finally gets around to making his next feature he'll make it a full on horror-comedy. Because he's got the chops on both fronts.

MID-AUGUST LUNCH UK DVD Review

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:56:31 -0500

Offered up with an array of awards from its festival run in 2008, Gianni Di Gregorio's Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo Di Ferragosto) finally makes it to DVD on 7th December through Artificial Eye. A warm, likeable and gently comic drama, it times in at barely over an hour and restricts almost all the action to a single apartment. Resolutely small scale, but with a big heart, it's a wonderfully natural and easily digested tale of demanding mothers and obedient sons.

With a remarkably hang-dog expression, middle-aged Gianni (played by the director) goes about household chores for his elderly but decadent mother in the apartment they share in Rome. Hard up and with rising bills to pay, Gianni agrees to look after his condominium manager's mother for a day or two over the August holiday in exchange for clearing some of his debts. When the day comes however, he finds himself lumbered with not only the manager's mother but his aunt too. Whilst striving to keep the bickering trio happy, Gianni feels faint and calls on his doctor, only to find himself a favour up and with yet another elderly lady to contend with. And really, that's it. A simple but immaculately crafted story sees a couple of peripheral characters appear throughout as Gianni visits his local bar for respite and goes in search of fish for the titular lunch. These brief excursions from the apartment show an alluring but unsentimental vision of Rome, mid-holiday and free from the usual crowds that fill its narrow streets. The focus though is on the interaction between these elderly ladies and Gianni's reactions to them. Wine glass in hand, he experiences moments of frustration, stress and absurd laughter as the ladies transpire to be devious, endearing, mischievous and, at times, melancholy. The adage that in old age we revert back to childhood ways, needing ever more supervision, is borne out over the warm August days in a beautifully realized snapshot of twilight years.

A triumph of subtle characterization it's refreshing to see pensioners portrayed as something other than just crazy or cantankerous (which is not to say these aren't valid too) and there's a challenge here, intentional or not, to how we perceive the aged. Yes, there's comic mileage over strict regimes and quirky ways, but there's also some wonderfully developed personalities that defy you to ever see the ladies as simply 'old people'.

Based largely on personal experience, Di Gregorio shot Mid-August Lunch in the very apartment he lived in with his own mother for years, using non-actors for all but the condominium manager role. What transpired for budgetary reasons has actually paid off with superb performances and an almost fly-on-the-wall sense of realism, with the affectations of professional actors blissfully absent. Produced by Matteo Garrone, of Gomorra fame (Di Gregorio wrote the screenplay), it's slight but hugely endearing and a model of understated film craftsmanship.

Special features are limited to a couple of brief but enlightening interviews with the director and the theatrical trailer.

HIGANJIMA Review

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:58:17 -0500

Akira is a boy with issues. Yes, this could be said about virtually any high schooler and while it is true of Akira for the typical reasons - the girl he loves is in love with his best friend, for one thing - in his case the issues run a bit deeper. You see, two years ago his elder brother Atsushi went away for a romantic weekend away with his fiance and simply never returned. And though Akira does a good job of presenting a brave face in public the reality is that his family has never recovered from the loss, the continued absence of Atsushi slowing gnawing away at their souls. And so, when a strange woman arrives in town claiming to know Atsushi's whereabouts Akira has no choice: he must follow her wherever she may lead. And when where she wants to lead is to a mysterious island over run with vampires, vampires which Atsushi has spent the past two years battling, Akira's friends have no choice, either: they must come to protect their friend. And so a small group of high school students set off to battle hordes of the undead.

Kinetic and enormously bloody - Atsushi makes his first appearance by smashing a vampire's skull to a pulp with the end of a log - Higanjima marks the return of Volcano High director Kim Tae-Gyun to the sort of energetic, manga inspired action with which he first made his name internationally. A Japanese language film, Higanjima is darker by far than Volcano High - bloodier, too - while still showcasing the sense of style that made Kim's earlier work such a treat to watch.

Though the Higanjima formula is familiar - the charismatic villain, dark antihero, mysterious femme fatale, and everyman lead all hit every note you'd expect them to - Kim introduces enough surprises, enough clever set pieces, to keep things moving at a brisk pace. While Akira is somewhat milquetoast as a leading man and overly prone to running and crying, and his friends are almost entirely wasted by a screenplay that gives them precisely nothing meaningful to do, Higanjima compensates with a host of strong secondary players and continuous, well executed action.

In many ways the strengths and weakness of Higanjima mirror those of recent martial arts fantasy hit Dororo, the concept of the film somewhat weighed down by a script that lacks in some areas and some flawed special effects but the plentiful number of things the film does very right ultimately winning out. And on the subject of those special effects ... though the effects work is quite good through the entire film it almost seems as though the producers ran out of money when it matter the most and were forced to use incomplete work in the big finale, the end result being some truly horrible composite work and a thoroughly unbelievable monster. It's quite bad and, had what came before not been so damn entertaining, would have been enough to spoil the entire film but as it is it simply leaves you hoping that they get that part corrected for the inevitable sequel.

Pop Skull review

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:30:11 -0500

Even though this film has had quite some Twitch coverage already, many people still seem reluctant to watch it. Which is a damn shame, as Pop Skull is the first American film in 5 years that gets a full score from me. So here's some more raving and praising.

Wingard is pretty new to the scene, but with Pop Skull he makes sure people will have a hard time forgetting his name. Not that his film will become a big commercial success or cult favorite, but even those that hate it will carry the experience for some time to come. Pop Skull is not an easy film to shed off.

The ironic thing about Pop Skull is that its very core lies one of the most conventional and over-used themes in cinema. Daniel is a rather normal guy that one day finds himself dumped by his girlfriend. Unable to forget her he retreats from social life and even estranges himself. Sounds like a good start for a solid romantic drama featuring moody autumn-like settings and wailing guitar music, but Wingard decides otherwise.

I do believe that Pop Skull can still best be described as a rather straight-forward drama, only occasionally drawing from other genres to enhance Daniel's feelings. There are equal parts mystery and horror mixed in for added effect, but even by saying that you won't have a good impression of what this film is actually like.

Pop Skull plays like a mixture of Vincent Gallo and Tsukamoto with some dashes of Noé. The setting, characters and general mood seem to be lifted from Gallo's films. Daniel is a rather scruffy-looking character, numbed down and floating through life as if he isn't even there. The dark, sharp and brooding drama feels like Noé's territory, and as for Tsukamoto's part, that's where the hyperactive editing, crazy strobe effects and tampered soundtrack come in.

Wingard starts his film with a short epilepsy warning. I managed to suppress a little snigger, but only 10 minutes later it was obvious he wasn't just kidding or playing safe. Daniel's first crazy scene involves some scary use of partial, full and multi-colored strobe effects (the red and blue ones were killer). Later on Wingard goes even beyond by cross-editing certain scenes in a strobe-like manner. Scenes with similar setups are entwined together in one aggressive visual trip, alternating each other every frame.

Crazy editing tricks aside, the film features some strong camera work, an elaborate range of filters and Wingard has a strong sense of color. Most scenes are rather dark but things never become vague or unclear. All of this was done with virtually no budget and in a certain sense it shows in the uncompromising and unrelenting way the film was put together.

The soundtrack is pretty cool too, featuring a various range of electronic and guitar-based ambient tracks, underlining Daniel's moods and granting the film plenty of extra atmosphere. All of this adds up to a very emotive, tangible film that is more interested in making you feel than making you follow a simple narrative.

The film is not overly long but since it is quite demanding that's not really a big problem. You'll have your hands full with all the crazy visuals, mad editing tricks and trippy cuts. The horror aspect is used sparsely but adequately and only helps to further immerse the viewer into the barren world of Daniel. The drama, as simple as it might be, is very strong and effective. Just don't be expecting a straight genre film, Wingard is aiming higher than that.

Films like these don't come around too often, so they should be treasured. It's a difficult film to recommend as it's not really your average drama which can be enjoyed with a bucket of popcorn and a couple of handkerchiefs ready. Pop Skull is an experience that will take you to rather unpleasant places in a pretty straightforward and bold manner. It's the kind of cinema I like and love, so here's to hoping Wingard's next film will be just as impressive.

[K-FILM REVIEWS] 국가대표 (Take Off)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:27:35 -0500

Park Ji-Sung, Kim Yeon-Ah, names which carry the brand image of Korea around the world just as much as Samsung, LG and Hyundai do. Where exactly the idea of sports fits into all this, that's an entirely different matter.

There is no denying that Guus Hiddink's 2002 miracle brought Korean football (I won't use "soccer" unless forced to at gunpoint) from a niche sport which only mattered when the national team faced Japan to what is today the second most popular sports in the country after baseball. Several players play in the EPL and other European leagues, and despite never repeating and/or confirming the achievements of that crazy summer, Korea now definitely means something in world football, at least much more so than it did ten or fifteen years ago. The same could be said for Kim Yeon-Ah's incredible rise to stardom, her headline-grabbing rivalry with Japan's Asada Mao, and the top star status (and multi-million dollar endorsements) she enjoys in her homeland, a country which barely paid attention to figure skating before she exploded on the scene. But these are not exactly examples which will effectively demonstrate Korea's "philosophical" approach to sports, it's actually the short term affairs with other sports which perfectly exemplify the phenomenon.

Take, for instance, the small love story between the land of morning kimchi and basketball, when Ha Seung-Jin was drafted by Portland in 2004. Give it a couple of years of subpar performances and a quick return to Korea's domestic league, and the same NBA which was gracing the prime time of cable sports channels is now relegated to its old status, niche filler. If he's lucky, Park Tae-Hwan might be lucky enough to enjoy the limelight and elevate the profile of swimming in the country for the next few years, but a lack of medals at the next championships would pretty much spell the end of the country's infatuation with the young prodigy and his sport of choice. Some manage to overcome this irritatingly fickle sports culture, like former ssireum fighter Choi Hong-Man, who constantly transformed himself, first as an MMA fighter, then as a comic presence on TV variety shows, and lately even on the big screen, last seen as the beast-like villain in ゴエモン (Goemon), complete with a side-splittingly (ahem) hilarious coda to his character. Still, this is more often than not the exception confirming the rule, mentality which was at the center of MBC's lovely short drama 태릉선수촌 (Taereung National Village): you're only as good as your last medal. The shinier, the better.

This, of course, is a perfect platform to make a sports drama, mold which produced two entries in 2009 alone - films which were pretty much structured in a similar way, but not so surprisingly ended on opposite ends of the box office spectrum. The former would be the weightlifting dramedy 킹콩을 들다 (Lifting King Kong), which despite excellent acting by Jo An and Lee Beom-Soo's usual solid work didn't make much of a mark - admittedly, both the comedy bits and the second half's melodrama are so overwrought that they risk erasing the charismatic performance by the leads altogether; the second is 국가대표 (Take Off), the third consecutive hit for Kim Yong-Hwa, who keeps increasing his score film after film, this time hitting the all time Top 10. Explaining why this film sold eight million tickets is not exactly rocket science: a quasi-monopolistic wide distribution fighting side by side with the other big shark, Yoon Je-Gyun's disaster flick 해운대 (Haeundae); its being a feel good crowd pleaser effectively combining comedy, a little drama pushing the right buttons (family, again), and exhilarating sequences like all the best sports dramas. But whereas a director making it big three times in a row is not exactly a surprise, three straight homeruns borne out of derivative subjects which manage to find a voice of their own is quite an accomplishment.

When you think of his debut 오! 브라더스 (Oh! Brothers), Rain Man comes to mind, whereas his second feature 미녀는 괴로워 (200 Pounds Beauty) is a sort of Korean take on Shallow Hal. As for Take Off, you could literally cite a dozen films, from Cool Runnings all the way to Yaguchi Shinobu's dorky ウォーターボーイズ (Waterboys). Box office intake, too, has been on the rise, with the first selling over three million tickets in 2003, the second doubling its score in 2006, and the aforementioned jackpot by his third effort. Sure, we're not exactly dealing with superb filmmaking, as the scope of Kim's storytelling is neither broad nor terribly subtle. But Oh! Brothers wasn't the one trick pony you would expect from that kind of setup, and all things considered 200 Pounds Beauty was not the offensive teenybopper manure you'd rather expect to pollute Korean TV's airwaves. Kim makes quintessentially commercial films, crowd pleasers with very little ambitions other than the goal of entertaining its purveyors with some well acted, capably directed fluff. But that might very well be the reason why his films always manage to work, one way or another. Citing the fact he knows how to pick actors and make them shine would be too convenient, because clearly there is some kind of distinctive touch hiding in the shadows. Take Off is another one of these seemingly effortless popcorn flicks: it lets acting and characterization (as one-dimensional as it is) carry the pacing, so that when the big sports payoff surrounded by melodrama kicks in, it all becomes a lot more bearable than you'd expect. These are walking cliches for sure, but nobody is trying to fool you into thinking otherwise, and by pushing forward that modus operandi with at least a modicum of honesty - something Haeundae terribly lacked, for instance - even the most saccharine moments can be excused.

Bob (Ha Jung-Woo), a Korean adoptee with a somewhat illustrious past in ski jumping, finds himself becoming the new ace of Coach Bang's (Seong Dong-Il) unlikely project, assembling a Korean ski jumping team for the upcoming Winter Olympics. The task is easier said than done, as you can expect: maybe because of Korea's peculiar approach to sports culture, Bang finds it almost impossibly hard to recruit candidates for his team, particularly as ski jumping is not exactly a popular sport, and would never grant its "stars" economic stability. He does find his four, a collection of characters which would give the first ever Jamaican ski jumping team from Cool Runnings a run for its money: other than Bob, who only came back to Korea to find his birth mother and is still seemingly reluctant to reconnect with his ski-jumping past, Bang finds the slightly boorish Chil-Gu (Kim Ji-Seok), papa's boy Jae-Bok (Choi Jae-Hwan) and ticking bomb Heung-Cheol (Kim Dong-Wook), who all join for different reasons (avoiding military duty, for instance). As you can expect, even training itself is not easy, as the team ends up practicing in the forest with wires, on top of moving vans and even in run down amusement parks. And, even when they manage to grab a ticket for Nagano and the Winter Olympics, they find out that all this idea really amounted to was everything but sports, the first of many obstacles their path to the limelight will be laden with.

The first hour or so of Take Off requires a bit of patience: the acting is good all over the board, particularly the always reliable Ha and a very inspired Seong Dong-Il, but the comedy is a little too cute to make any impact, and mostly serves as an in-between filler to punctuate all the intriguing practice scenes. If anything, Kim never indulges on the cheap gag button, so those 50-60 minutes never really overstay their welcome, and more or less effectively lead into the real substance, the second half focusing on the ski jumping sequences and the family theme (Bob's search for his mother, and Chil-Gu's dualism with his brother, played by Lee Jae-Eung). Whereas the latter is just by the numbers melodrama acted well and delivered with earnest fervor, it's the jumping sequences which really help the film. Carefully researched with the help of the real team (the film is loosely based on the Korean ski jumping team's real life story) and shot with Red One and CamCat cameras, the jumps balance just the right mix of tension and adrenaline, complete with all the cliches of the sports canon (for good or bad).

And that is really all it entails to: Take Off is nothing more than a good popcorn flick, and it never pretends to be more than that - a mentality which might very well be its saving grace. It's well acted, well shot, and the predictable twist and turns are delivered in such low key fashion that when the inevitable melodrama switcheroo occurs, you kind of accept it as it is, knowing you didn't waste your time. And when a film of this kind runs for nearly two and a half hours (in the more polished director's cut) and still manages to never overstay its welcome, you know you're dealing with pretty accomplished fare. Does it take off? Not really, but unlike certain tsunami-related escapades, it certainly makes you understand why so many people enjoyed it. And that's really all we can ask from popcorn flicks: leaving you with a smile on your face by the time the ending credits roll, nothing less or more....

RATING: 7

국가대표 (Take Off)
Director: 김용화 (Kim Yong-Hwa)
Screenplay: 김용화 (Kim Yong-Hwa)
Produced By: KM Culture
Int'l Sales: Showbox/Mediaplex
Box Office: #2 - 8,088,809 Nationwide Admissions - 57,5 Billion Won
Running Time: 137 Minutes (147 Minutes Director's Cut)
Release: 7/29/2009 (12 and Over)
CAST: 하정우 (Ha Jung-Woo), 성동일 (Seong Dong-Il), 김지석 (Kim Ji-Seok), 김동욱 (Kim Dong-Wook), 이은성 (Lee Eun-Seong), 이재응 (Lee Jae-Eung), 최재환 (Choi Jae-Hwan), 이한위 (Lee Han-Wi), 김용건 (Kim Yong-Geon), 박정수 (Park Jung-Soo), 김지영 (Kim Ji-Young), 이혜숙 (Lee Hye-Sook), 쥬니 (Jooni), 조진웅 (Jo Jin-Woong), CAMEO: 강제규 (Kang Je-Gyu), 김수로 (Kim Soo-Ro), 오광록 (Oh Gwang-Rok)

Reel Asian 2009: The Ache

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:00:00 -0500

The heroine, Sheri, is a young Chinese Canadian who, despite her mother's obsessive fear of anything "dirty," secretly works in a fetish parlor. One day, she comes across a strange woman, Celeste, going through her trash. Disturbed by what the woman says to her, Sheri asks more questions and discovers the illicit affair of her father, Wooie, and the 10-year-old curse on her family.

Independent and local filmmaker Keith Lock worked together with sex columnist/poet Louise Bak to bring a script inspired by Chinese folklore and Bak's own family history. As Sheri's father wrestles with his passion for Celeste and his duty to care for his family he tries to distance himself from her. Of course this does not bode well with Celeste so she starts cursing Wooie, his business and family, even Sheri's friend Cosmo. What unfolds in the film is scene after scene of stale dialogue and stifled delivery that feels arguably longer than its run time. Pity.

[SOUTH ASIAN REVIEWS] கந்தசாமி (Kanthaswamy)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:58:35 -0500

With super powers come super responsibilities.

If there's anything that India's insanely vibrant and varied film culture has taught us to expect, that is its continued defiance of any and all expectations. And when it comes to Kollywood, Tamil Nadu's own answer to the Bollywood onslaught, it seems that increasingly lavish blockbusters with budgets, stars and overseas location shots on par with its Mumbai brethren might be the new wind of change ruling the industry - but not necessarily the box office, as it's often the smaller budgeted films that have made an impact in 2009. Recipient of what is arguably the biggest hype since the incredible success of Boxing Day Tsunami-themed drama தசாவதாரம் (Dasavathaaram), Susi Ganesan's கந்தசாமி (Kanthaswamy) is one of the first bonafide superhero blockbusters in Tamil cinema history, and it doesn't seem content with breaking records alone - it also possesses one of the wildest premises of recent memory, from any country: let's just say that faithful believers of Murugan (the Hindu God of War) will never look at their deity of choice in the same light, after sitting through this three hour-plus baby.

Widespread poverty and the rich's corruption are amongst the most conventional of themes in any non-masala (from the famous Indian dish, indicating mainstream potboilers filled with overwrought histrionics, slapstick comedy, action, romance, and of course wild songs pieces) production, but for a huge blockbuster like this to tackle them so significantly might be an indication of how ambitious Ganesan's fourth film was. A protege and assistant director for दिल से (Dil Se)'s Mani Ratnam throughout the 1990s, Ganesan's first two films were of a much smaller scale, focusing mostly on new faces, limited budgets and an emphasis on storytelling over the usual pitfalls of the Indian canon. With his acclaimed third feature திருட்டு பயலே (Thiruttu Payal) - focusing on rogue youths and the influence that sex and money have on their generation - becoming a surprise hit, Ganesan got the chance to direct his first bonafide masala extravaganza, one which took a few years of lengthy and conflicted production-related vicissitudes to come into fruition, but is certainly not your everyday Bollywood blockbuster. By casting acclaimed stars like Vikram and Shriya (who has also starred in a few Hollywood pics, like The Other End of the Line), veterans like Prabhu and slapstick comedy king Vadivelu, Kanthaswamy was going to arouse interest anyway, but people still hadn't dealt with the film's most curious attraction: the fact we were dealing with a new brand of superhero.

During the day, V. Kanthaswamy is an officer for the CBI, India's equivalent of the CIA. He's impeccably dressed, handsome and tremendously efficient, demeaning himself with the panache of an Hollywood Golden Age A-lister and the perfect smile only toothbrush ads on TV would bestow upon you. He and his team are currently undergoing an income tax raid to follow the black money trail which is afflicting the region, and here's where our connection with Kanthaswamy by night begins. Those a little familiar with Hindu culture might recognize the name already, but Kanthaswamy was also one of the aforementioned God of War's names, which should set all your suspicions in motion. As throngs of poor souls flock to the temple of Murugan to ask for mercy, a little money to survive past the day and similar amenities, a man (or is he a God?) finally emerges, answering the wishes they write on pieces of papers tied to a tree. We make first contact with our superhero one night, as he appears from above, inside a temple where a corrupt local policeman was sleeping. He's wearing baggy harem pants, a laminated black armor in perfect bargain Batman style surrounded by a stylish cloak, and his most evident trait: colorful feathers on top of a very familiar mask. If his clucking war cries and fixed-head motions weren't enough to give you the idea, yes. We're in the presence of Man. Chicken Man.

Alternating between CBI agent by day and superhuman poultry specimen by night is a success for Kanthaswamy, until the day when two events risk to put an end to his noble efforts: one is the discovery of the black money trail they were after, which sends evil tycoon PPP's most sinister plans in motion; the other is the fact that his superhero persona, heralded as a God by the populace, is arousing suspicion in the eyes of the police, which begin an investigation to find who's behind the cock-a-doo mask, leaving feathers in his wake. Further complicating things is the sultry Subbulakshmi, PPP's daughter, who pretends to fall for Kanthaswamy to avenge her father's newfound paralysis, condition caused by our clucking hero. Little does she know that this is a masala flick, so they'll repeatedly misunderstand each other, fall in love, dance at a corrida arena in Mexico and much more, before the real theme of the film starts emerging.

If anything, Kanthaswamy is a labor of love which somehow oozes the same sensibilities as Kaz Kiriya's works - no frame (laboriously photographed by N.K. Ekambaram) is left untouched, with filter upon filter, bleach bypass and digital color correction, undercranking and overcranking madness which would make the Shaw Brothers proud, and the same over-produced maelstrom of visuals which makes you feel as if you're witnessing a prolonged trailer or music video. The sumptuous art work by Thotta Tharani is sublime, from the song pieces set in anything from near replicas of Milano's La Scala to wild shoots in the desert, Mexican escapades with Mariachi (want to see Vikram dressed as a Matador? This is the film for you) not to mention dozens of grown ass men dressed in red and yellow as delivery boys, singing and dancing the praises of pizza. And I haven't even mentioned the best part, our chicken superhero and his escapades. His first appearance, a sort of Bizarro-world dreamy rendition of Orson Welles' entrance in The Third Man which mixes wirefu action, insane film references (even wondered how a superhero can manage to kick your ass while at the same time not breaking the beer bottle you just threw at him?) and hilarious dialogue, is one of the most disarmingly funny ten minutes you'll ever experience this year, and that's only one of several moments of unintentional hilarity. This film simply explodes with energy, and the majority of those scenes are playful and visually arresting enough to erase the thought that what you're witnessing is completely, utterly ridiculous. But, alas, it seems like Ganesan wasn't content with "just" an insane masala flick, he also wanted a meaningful coda to his little jewel.

Halfway through the film, a big denouement regarding Kanthaswamy's "superpowers" changes the mood significantly, turning the rest of the film into a more predictable Bollywood extravaganza full of intrigue, action, love, and over the top sexual innuendo (which admittedly works, particularly when you possess the kind of explosive sex appeal as Shriya does). Coupled with the bathroom break-like quality of Vadivelu's slapstick gags, which serve no reason other than giving viewers a breather in the midst of all that bombastic frenzy, the film overstays its welcome by a good hour, perhaps more, which again goes back to a much too ambitious script, or perhaps too lazy. The idea behind this switcheroo, even the way Ganesan deals with it is pretty clever, but trimming a good 6-70 minutes out of this film would have done wonders, particularly as most of the song numbers are really catchy, and the action is mostly watchable in a tongue-in-cheek way, as long as you don't expect the kind of exploits Hong Kong would serve you with. Stars Vikram and Shriya might not be subtle thespians (then again, they're not asked to be, particularly in this kind of film), but they've got metric tons of screen presence, and show good chemistry. But even all those strengths can't help when you're dealing with such an interminable gorilla of a film.

Despite being nothing more than a collage of derivative pieces, Kanthaswamy just screams at the viewer with so much energy and enthusiasm that it's hard to dislike it - also, its Robin Hood-like thematic undertones and social commentary are delivered with the delicacy of an elephant, but it still beats going the lone superhero way with a too-cool-for-words finale. It's just a shame that nobody taught Susi Ganesan a thing or two about editing. There's a lot of charm in this film, but no matter how wild and out of this world your labor of love is, there's no superhero who will turn quantity into quality....

RATING: 6

கந்தசாமி (Kanthaswamy)
Director: சுசி கணேசன் (Susi Ganesan)
Screenplay: சுசி கணேசன் (Susi Ganesan)
Audiography: దేవి శ్రీ ప్రసాద్ (Devi Sri Prasad
Produced by: V Creations
Running Time: 194 Minutes
Release: 8/21/2009
CAST: விக்ரம் (Vikram), பிரபு (Prabhu), சிரேயா (Shriya), வடிவேல் (Vadivelu)

[K-FILM REVIEWS] 날아라 펭귄 (Fly, Penguin)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:13:26 -0500

It's almost a metaphor for the intents behind the long series of projects funded by the Human Rights Commission of Korea, the idea that a penguin could manage to fly despite its evident physical limitations, but the results have often been rather contradictory. Maybe cinematic flair wasn't really what the commission was after, and this was just the most accessible medium to raise awareness in regards to a few taboo subjects afflicting Korean society - without actually putting forth any idea or suggestion on how to change things, mind you. But it's interesting how these projects have always been rather tame in delving into such controversial themes (something that other films, particularly from the indie sphere, tend to do better), and how the slightly sanctimonious "official" badge they carry always seems to limit these often illustrious directors' output for this franchise. A look at the names and you'd expect otherwise, what with the inclusion of A-list directors like Park Chan-Wook, Jang Jin, Ryu Seung-Wan and Park Jin-Pyo, and plenty of interesting talents who participated in the making of these seven projects (four If You Were Me installments, two animated Anima Vision ones, and this). Again, a rather noble endeavor (if a bit of an ironic paradox, considering the current junta's practices), but maybe better suited for television, whose rhythm and sensibilities these shorts often resemble. 날아라 펭귄 (Fly, Penguin) is this franchise's very first feature film, but alas it seems to carry the same benefits along with this long-standing's project's most peculiar and recurring shortcomings.

It's curious, because despite director Im Soon-Rye's repeated involvement with the project (she directed one short for the first installment of If You Were Me, and starred in another one a year later, directed by Ryu Seung-Wan), she never managed to do as effective a job of depicting the conflicting social mores of the time as she did in her non-commissioned feature films, particularly her brilliant 1996 debut 세 친구 (Three Friends) and the glorious 와이키키 브라더스 (Waikiki Brothers). Now welcomed into the realm of commercially successful directors - thanks to her earnest but rather flat big hit from last year, the female Olympic handball team biopic 우리 생애 최고의 순간 (Forever the Moment) - Im seems to have lost a little bit of the edge which made her early work so refreshing and topical, despite now displaying a much more polished overall package. She's always been a very good storyteller, but maybe the experience she amassed changed her in some way - and I'm not limiting myself to the film world, as the simple effects of getting older can change a director's style quite dramatically, case in point the last two-three years of Hong Sang-Soo's work. Fly, Penguin reflects some of those changes, basking in the same low-key atmosphere and sparks of playfulness sprinkled here and there, but devoid of the underlying angst which populated her first two feature films - and, to a much lesser degree, her third. On one hand, the slightly complacent and antiquated wisdom which pervades the film might be a result of the format itself (it's still a human rights commission film, with all the pro and cons that come with it), but I'm not entirely sure it should all be blamed on that premise.

What this film most resembles is one of those one-two episode TV specials which are often produced during major festivities like Chuseok, Lunar New Year, or occasions like Father's Day: well meaning, classic storytelling with strong moral underpinnings and often good performances, but actually a precious very little to say about the theme which hasn't been conveyed a thousand times before. Despite being the first feature film of the now six year old series, we're still essentially dealing with an omnibus, the only difference coming from there being a single director behind it all. The four vignettes are somewhat integrated, but they still feel like distinct entities, with the only real trait d'union being the way in which those stories conclude, by overcoming stereotyping and embracing new understanding - certainly the core goal of this project, so in that sense Fly, Penguin can still be considered a mild success. None of these stories add anything new to the table, but the fact they're still topical to this day shows how little certain traditional mores have changed over the years.

The first segment focuses on Hee-Jung (Moon So-Ri), a working mother obsessed with her son's education, enough that she forces half a dozen special academies on him, and even makes weekends at home an "English-only" territory. It's a sort of in-joke about the government's ever growing obsession with the "global generation" and its many unhealthy consequences on the education of children and the stability of the average Korean family. Showing how grotesque and Draconian the experience at certain English villages can be with rather biting irony, this is perhaps the most successful segment of the entire film, but then again it fails to get to the message at the very core: the post-1988 Olympics obsession with English that Koreans have been displaying has its roots in the ruthlessly Machiavellian approach to education that Park Jung-Hee's regime has ingrained into the Korean psyche from the 1960s onwards. In Korea, the education of children is as much (or perhaps more) of an economic investment as it is a necessary pillar of the cultural growth of a child - so you don't learn English because it can enrich you intellectually and widen your cultural spectrum, but just because you'll eventually become more competitive in the job market (same goes for any other subject, really). The spurious emphasis on that aspect alone creates hordes of clones who can sputter Keynes' theories in quasi-academic English they perfectly memorized yet rarely understand, but youngsters with little creativity and who can't tell Shakespeare and Tom Clancy apart, all this pressure to make it big in the global market killing enough of their joie de vivre to make them eligible for a role in the next zombie flick. The film never really points out the fact that this practice is completely insane, but just that mommy's efforts are a tad excessive and risk negatively influencing her family's harmony, that is all.

We then move to the controversial social lifestyle which pretty much any Korean salaryman has to get used to: rookie employee Ju-Hoon (Choi Gyu-Hwan) quickly comes to terms with how conservative the working atmosphere can be - he's a vegetarian and can't have a single drink without health complications, so imagine how fun a company dinner would be, what with the torrents of soju, raw fish still moving about as it is being served (you'll pardon me the douchebaggery, but I was focusing a lot more on the yummy-looking live octopuses than Ju-Hoon's disgusted look) and whatnot. Again, the issue is not really that of being a vegetarian, but the bold attempt of going against group think, which can make you an influential visionary (if you've got the cojones to stand out), but much more often turn you into an outcast who can't get anything done. Because Ju-Hoon starts bringing lunchboxes from home instead of eating out with his colleagues, he's predictably ostracized, meeting a sort of invisible glass ceiling which essentially impedes a productive life in the company environment. The segment uses a conventional but effective (and in many ways realistic) expedient to allow Ju-Hoon his escape from a life of discrimination, highlighting how "caliente" Koreans can be on both ends of the spectrum. But then you wonder why it spent so very little time focusing on the room salon culture, nights spent out drinking until the wee hours of the morning to maintain the facade intact - forget the huge bills, it's livers and relationships that end up paying the ultimate prices. It is all fine and dandy, but when you consider that these issues populated many a 1990s Korean film, and the fact that they often dealt with it more realistically and ironically - best of all would be Lee Myung-Se's 1995 ode to salarymen, 남자는 괴로워 (Bitter & Sweet) - it all sorts of becomes preaching to the choir, too little too late.

Despite the predictably excellent work by Son Byung-Ho, the third segment is rather pedestrian. Son plays Kwon, the section chief in charge of Hee-Jung and Ju-Hoon from the first two segments. Although he always exuded that familiar air of company boss in the second segment, we get to see what might be leading him to look forward to all those nights out spent drinking: the man is a 기러기 아빠 (goose dad), a pater familia who sent wife and kids abroad to study (which again connects this story to the first segment), and remained in Korea alone, having to adapt to all the difficulties it brings to the table, but also coping with the responsibility of supporting a family you rarely (if ever) get a chance to see. Once his family returns for a brief holiday, he finds himself feeling like a stranger to them: his wife refuses to have sex, and his kids almost only speak English with their mother alone, essentially leaving him out of any discussion, not to mention any decision making. Im deals with the theme intelligently, but again she adds nothing to what is essentially a staple of short dramas on TV - I can count a good half dozen episodes of 베스트극장 (Best Theater) dealing with this theme alone. The fourth and last installment is also the least successful, a true shame because Park In-Hwan and Jung Hye-Seon (Kwon's parents) give tremendously naturalistic performances, as a couple which faces divorce late into their marriage, but having been introduced so late the story sort of comes out of nowhere, and it is never given enough time to blossom into something more effective, before the inevitable coda reunites all characters.

Fly, Penguin, which was partially funded by everyone involved in the shoot, is the kind of earnest, well meaning low-key filmmaking which has characterized the human rights commission franchise since its very incipit. There's nothing particularly wrong with this film, and acting is often excellent (particularly the aforementioned couple, theater trained actors like Park Won-Sang and Son Byung-Ho, and the predictably wonderful Moon So-Ri), offering the kind of minimalist performances that are rapidly disappearing from TV's increasingly over the top canon. It pushes the right buttons without making any shocking statement, but that's probably its biggest merit and most daunting shortcomings: we all know that the penguin is not going to fly anytime soon, but the rather sanctimonious "understanding is all it takes" code to it all doesn't really do anything to change status quo. Maybe the human rights commission - and the government along with it - should pour more of its money into quirky and eclectic works like 반두비 (Bandhobi), which does push the envelope and even adds some breezy cinematic flair to the proceedings (film which, perhaps for those same reasons, was nonchalantly ignored). But then again that'd be too risky. It would suggest that what these commissioned features are really aiming for is change....

RATING: 6

날아라 펭귄 (Fly, Penguin)
Director: 임순례 (Im Soon-Rye)
Screenplay: 임순례 (Im Soon-Rye)
Produced by: Human Rights Commission of Korea
Box Office: #189 - 21,684 Nationwide Admissions - 136,259,500 Won
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Release: 9/24/2009 (General)
CAST: 문소리 (Moon So-Ri), 박원상 (Park Won-Sang), 최규환 (Choi Gyu-Hwan), 손병호 (Son Byung-Ho), 박인환 (Jung Hye-Seon), 조진웅 (Jo Jin-Woong), 백승도 (Baek Seung-Do)

LIFF '09: SODIUM BABIES review

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:36:14 -0500

(Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival running from 4th-22nd November 2009.)

What makes the Decaillon Brothers' vampire thriller Sodium Babies so special? It's an obvious calling card, yes, messy, gaudy and hyper-kinetic, throwing every low-budget editing and post-production trick in the book at the screen. Here's the genre flavour of the week; here's paying homage to every Hollywood blockbuster they ever saw; here's comic books, computer games, music videos and all the rest of it.

But it's fun. There's a vitality, an energy to it all, a warmth and sense of humour conspicuously absent from both high-profile calling cards and a lot of French genre cinema for some time. The film relies a little too heavily on its convoluted mythos, it's uneven, questionably paced and for all the brothers' skill the low budget is still obvious. But it's a tremendously entertaining watch, hugely inventive, fantastically memorable in places and suggests Benoit and Julien Decaillon could well go on to much better things.

Though it's about vampires, Sodium Babies is much closer to the neon-tinted grime of White Wolf's Vampire: the Masquerade mythos than anything recently put to film. No sparkling pretty-boys here; the story follows Dead Dog (Benoit Decaillon), a lowly ghoul, a nobody pressed into service as a footsoldier for one of the head vampires in an unnamed city.

It starts with the final confrontation about to begin, then flashes back to show Dead Dog recruited into the ranks more than three decades before. Plucked from incarceration in an asylum after shooting his girlfriend in the grip of a nightmarish vision, he quickly finds a new life as an enforcer for the bloodsucking elite.

The Decaillons then attempt a montage spanning the thirty years since, leaping forward through the ages in a flurry of different colour palettes, costume changes, split-screen and lighting effects like some shoestring DV crime epic, before setting up the power-play from a rival vampire who convinces Dead Dog to try and topple his masters as revenge for a life wasted on pettiness and filth.

The montage bears noting because it encapsulates the strengths and weaknesses of the film all at once. The brothers conceived the backstory to Sodium Babies as part of a series of short films they shot with friends in their home town of Poitiers - these are recurring characters played by the same actors time and again.

There is a definite sense that the Decaillons, their cast and crew are in on the joke to the exclusion of the audience, at least to some degree. The montage doesn't actually convey that much concrete information and when events are set in motion that inspire Dead Dog's change of heart, meaning he's open to the idea of backing a coup, while the sequence of events is easy enough to follow the viewer never entirely stops wondering 'who', 'what', 'how' or 'why'. With the story never entirely grounded the pacing feels awkward and disjointed, betraying the brothers' inexperience somewhat, and the plotting occasionally comes across as less than coherent.

Still, though Sodium Babies certainly has its faults, as a low-budget debut it's hugely impressive. Any half-attentive viewer can see the joins - again, many of the effects rely on creative framing, lighting and colour tinting, and the intermittent switching between live-action footage and comic book panels is far from seamless.

But it has a genuinely impressive magpie artistry to it and a self-effacing humour that means even the weakest parts have some kind of impact. 'Maybe my problem was I couldn't dance,' Dead Dog muses as the montage races through the seventies, and it raises a wry smile. Visions in a puddle of bloody vomit; people drowning in bathtubs; a lonely forest in total silence, snowfall heading upwards - much of it's been done before, but it's still done with enough of an eye for eerie, haunting beauty and a self-awareness that excuses any missteps in the process. At its best, the film buys much more than twenty-five-thousand Euros would suggest; Dead Dog's acceptance of the rival vampire's blood and their conversation inside the depths of his psyche are witty, haunting, compelling, and fantastically eye-catching.

And for all the plot arguably trips itself up the ending is both neatly resolved and surprisingly bleak. The acting varies wildly, but each of the principals have their moments and Benoit Decaillon shows quite some talent in front of the camera as well as behind it. Dead Dog isn't the most original character ever written, but he's an effectively sympathetic everyman, enough that his ultimate fate is a lot more affecting than audiences might expect.

Sodium Babies is an obvious calling card, but as well as technical proficiency it demonstrates the Decaillon brothers' aptitude for something a little more lasting or profound. It's an obvious homage to a string of readily identifiable genre influences, but it mashes them together to make something far more distinctive and individual than that. Vibrant and spirited, messily artistic, it makes for great entertainment as well as a dizzying ride, and for all its flaws comes highly recommended.