Saturday, March 31, 2007
Summer Palace (颐和园)
"Summer Palace" (颐和园) is the newest film from acclaimed Chinese director Lou Ye (娄烨). The film tells a sexually charged love story between two students at
Beijing University (北京大学) (it's actually called "Beiqing University" (北清大学) in the film) with the backdrop of the
Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
Lou Ye submitted this film to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival as the only entry from China but without the approval from the Chinese government. As a result, Lou Ye is banned from making film in China for five years. I don't know if the decision of bypassing the Chinese government is due to the touchy subject about the 6.4 incident. If it is, it's totally not worth it. Because the Tiananmen Square protests contribute little if anything at all to the love story of the two main characters. If the script was rewritten without any mentioning of the 6.4 incident, but just the relationship of the characters, it could have been a better film with a more focused narrative. It's what's interesting in this film anyway. Like the characters in other Lou's films, Yu Hong is not an ordinary Chinese girl (actually the character is a Korean Chinese). She is a determined, butch, highly sexed college student, although we definitely see her have sex more than study. Scratch that. I have never seen her study in this film. Her desire is over powering everything, and all she does is to screw around, and to smoke, which is very rare for a female college student in China. It's intriguing to see the relationship between the characters playing out over more than a decade from Beijing to Berlin. This is probably why the actors look too old to be college students at the beginning of the film, although they surely seem more experienced in bed than any college student from Beijing University. The images are dark. The sound track reminds me so much of the music in the French film "Blue" ("Trois Couleurs: Bleu"), and the sex in this film echoes "The Dreamers." Is this really a Chinese film after all? My rating: 6 out of 10. |
Labels: SFIAAFF2007
Finishing the Game
"Finishing the Game" is the opening night film at the 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF). But I was really disappointed with this over the top comedy.
Bruce Lee suddenly died when filming his last film "Game of Death." In order to finish the film in the 70s, studio executives started to search Bruce Lee's replacement. Although today is not any better, three decades ago it's even worse to be Asian in Hollywood. Director Justin Lin shows racial injustice toward Asian in many his comic moments. But the loud comedy just doesn't quite click with me and took a long time for me to settle in. Perhaps I am not familiar with the 70s pop culture so I just simply don't get the joke. So there isn't much left for me to enjoy in the film when I don't feel it's funny. That being said, I am impressed by the look of the film and its amazing casts, when they are not trying very hard to be funny. My rating: 3 out of 10. |
Labels: SFIAAFF2007
Made In Korea: A One Way Ticket Seoul-Amsterdam?
Born in South Korea, In-Soo Radstake was adopted by a Dutch family when he was three months old in 1980. He grew up as a Dutch man, and didn't think about his Korean heritage, certainly knows little about it.
Twenty-six years later, he started to make contact with other Korean adoptee came to Netherland on the same flight with him, and eventually he began to search for his birth mother as well as his true identity. This engrossing documentary tells us his emotional and very personal journey. Children-search-for-mother is a universal sentimental subject that almost never fails to be a tear jerker. So does this film. It's constantly a roller coaster ride of hope, frustration, despair, joy, confusion, anger, forgiveness, regret, love, sorrow, and pretty much every human emotion can get involved. We feel those emotions in Mr. Radstake's film. However, I feel a little bit unsettling and start to have doubt about his true motivation to search for his birth mom. Is it because he wanted to make this film or is it because that he felt compelled to do so from the bottom of his heart? And, is he more Korean now after his journey? Will he find his mom and meet her after so many years? I let you draw your own conclusion from this documentary. My rating: 8 out of 10. |
Labels: SFIAAFF2007
The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief (大阪恋泥棒)
This is a fascinating documentary which takes a look at the Japan's subculture of "host clubs" where stylish boy hosts entertain female clients, for money of course.
"Host clubs" are rarely heard in the Western world, if any at all. But in Japan, it has become a subculture among young people. A host is a well groomed glamorous boy who takes female clients and provides them companionship, attention, entertainment, sex, and even love. Well, at least that's what those female customers are led to believe. Issei is a 22 years old owner of Café Rakkyo in Osaka, one of the most popular host club in Osaka, Japan. This documentary takes a in-depth look at "host service" through interviews with Issei, his colleagues, as well as their female clients. These hosts are the best among the hundreds of host-wanna-be. They not only dress in style and can earn as much as $50,000 per month, they are also quite smart actually they deserve to be awarded with honorary degrees in psychology. A host must charm his female clients with a charismatic personality (even to fake one) in order to have these clients spend as much as $500 a bottle of champagne for the host. A host must constantly analyze his clients' mind in order to keep these girls' dream alive so they will continue to spend tens of thousands dollars at the club each month. It's bloody brutal when this game is played over player's mind and emotion, not only just how much liver cells these boys and girls are killing each night due to senseless heavy drinking. A majority of the girls who buy the host service at these host clubs are in the adult industry themselves. These girls sell their bodies to make money then they spend the money on these hosts in order to satisfy the urge for love and to overcome their loneliness. The cycle never ends. Underneath all the happiness these girls are buying from their preppy hosts, we see profound sadness among these lost souls. Not only they are searching for happiness, they also begin to search for themselves. My rating: 9 out of 10. |
Labels: SFIAAFF2007
Recap the 25th SFIAAFF
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More than a week has passed. It's long overdue to recap the films I watched during the 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF).
As I motioned before, there are a lot Korean films, a lot gangster films, and films about Japanese concentration camps at this year's festival. But over all, most of the films are crowded in the middle. None of the films I have seen are awful, nor outstanding. For me, there is no repeat of those magic moments as when I watched "Be with Me" or "Eve and the Fire Horse" during last year's festival. But nevertheless, I enjoy the festival like always and this is indeed a great Asian film festival I hold in my heart dearly. So without further ado, here is my final scores (out of 10) for the features at the festival that I have watched (a few were screened before the festival):
I have already written about "Dark Matters," "Air Guitar Nation," "The King and the Clown" ("왕의 남자"), and "Exiled" ("放逐") on the list. Others should come soon... |
Monday, March 12, 2007
Reign Over Me
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Tonight, I went to a pre-screening of "Reign Over Me" at San Francisco Centre. The film will open on March 23.
This is the first time I have been to this theatre since it opened last Fall. Very nice leather seats, inside the fancy shinning Westfield San Francisco.
Adam Sandler plays Charlie Fineman, who lost his wife and daughters during the "9/11." He turns into himself and shuts off the world surround him. One day, his college roommate Alan Johnson, a dentist played by Don Cheadle, spots him on a busy New York street. So this dentist becomes determined to bring Adam Sandler's character back to the real world, not only by introducing him to his psychologist friend, but even wait outside the door, or sometimes even go to the therapy session together. Never mind the doctor-patient confidentiality. Will Adam Sandler eventually deal his grief in a way others think he should? If this question is laughable, so is the film. The problem of the film is it keeps trying hard to be a comedy, while the subject matter is quite heavy and is nothing funny about. One moment I become really concerned about Adam Sandler's wellbeing, but the next moment, I feel that he is pretending and just acting out with double lives. I have seen great films about grief, such as "In the Bedroom." But "Reign Over Me" is not about a man in grief. The film never finds the right tone for what it tries to play. Just like the confused dentist himself who finally confesses that he hates to be a dentist. Many characters in the films are more laughable, not in a funny way. The woman who wants to have sex with the dentist is simply absurd and ridiculous. I am not sure if she is gonna get any help she needs from the same psychologist helps Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. Small city (New York City), uh? And finally, the use of 9/11 of this film is simply a marketing scheme. I think it's a cheap shot to ask viewers to give Adam Sandler's character some sympathy up front by mentioning 9/11. Don't believe me? Try to replace 9/11 with some tragic accident for Adam Shandler's character. Any difference to the film? Not from the movie I saw tonight. My rating: 3 out of 10. |
Thursday, March 8, 2007
The Host (괴물)
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I just came back from a pre-screening of the highest grossing of all time in South Korean: "The Host" ("괴물"). (It opens tomorrow.)
Normally I don't like monster movies. Actually most of them gross me out. But tonight at Metreon, I giggled, screamed, gasped, jumped, and I am entertained. In 2000, the US military base in Seoul dumped highly toxic chemical into Han River. A few years later, a deformed fish monster came out the water, wiping out anybody in sight on the shore. A dysfunctional family runs a small snack shop on the beach, and the young daughter of the family is among those who are swept away by the monster. Despite the horror the monster creates, the family is determined to go on a mission to find their loved one. The film has scary moments, but to me actually it is more funny than scary. I laughed a lot even when I got scared. I feel the same excitement when I visit a haunted house during Halloween. I chuck after I scream. What I really like about this film is that it doesn't show off the special effects and it doesn't let the monster run the course of the film. Instead, the film focuses on a few very unique and memorable characters, played by an impressive ensemble casts including the hottest Korean actors. The camera always finds a quiet moment that creates a sharp contrast to the chaos surrounded. Extremely effective. The film also doesn't shy away from delivering a political message. From how the monster is created to how the US government reacts to the monster, it makes us wonder who the real monster is. My rating: 8 out of 10. |
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Starter for Ten
I giggled a lot during a British comedy "Starter for Ten" with its silly comic moments and quirky dialogues. Despite its charm, this movie falls a little flat and is not able to go beyond its surface to avoid the normal comic formulas.
In "Starter for Ten," Brian Jackson, terrifically played by James McAvoy, is a new college freshman from a small town and becomes a team member to compete in a quiz show called "University Challenge." He seems pretty lucky to get attentions from girls, yet, he has pretty bad luck to win a girl's heart. James McAvoy is perhaps the only reason to watch this film. How can I forget the way he moves his feet with happiness after he gets a kiss goodbye from the girl he likes? Just recently, he gave a superb performance in "The Last King of Scotland." He is one of the great actors to keep an eye on. There are many funny lines in the film, very British. But if this film was more original and dug its characters a little deeper, it would have been a better film. My rating: 6 out of 10. |
Monday, March 5, 2007
Zodiac
I wish I liked "Zodiac" more. It's directed by David Fincher, who also made "Se7en," one of my favorite films. But "Zodiac" is not as captivating as "Se7en," but much longer.
"Zodiac" tells a story about the serial killer Zodiac who terrified San Francisco and the surrounding area in the late 1960s and early 1970. A cartoon artist at San Francisco Chronicle becomes obsessed with unlocking Zodiac's code. The problem is that everybody knows that until today we still don't know who Zodiac is. So no matter how excited Jake Gyllenhaal acts in the film, thinking that he figures out who Zodiac is, we just sit there looking at him like he is an idiot. If this film was a documentary, or if I knew more about this case, or if I had experienced the terror in the 1970s, I probably would have appreciate this film more. However, it's not the case. While I enjoy the good performance and the suspense the film builds, I just can't get excited because I know all of the characters will eventually fail and get extremely frustrated. I know that much without having to see this film. So what's new? It would be a better film if it was a fiction based on the Zodiac case, and nobody would know what's gonna happen next, like the fascinating "Se7en." My rating: 6 out of 10. |
Friday, March 2, 2007
The 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) lineup
The reality is that I have to give up some of the films at the upcoming 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) due to schedule conflict. I simply can not go to different theatres to see different movies at the same time. Nevertheless, here is the lineup.
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