YNOT at the Movies

Now I have so much sympathy for that poor Lindsay Lohan. I can totally understand her recent running into trouble with the law. (Lindsay, call me and I can talk this over with you free of charge.) How could somebody not to get drunk and high after making such a messed up (I should have used that F word) film?

What this movie is about? Well, depends on how this film is getting marketed. Some people want to see some skin of Lindsay Lohan since she plays a go-go dancer. But they will be disappointed because she probably wears more than folks on the Folsom Street Fair. However, you wouldn't see people humping on Folsom street after one arm and one leg are cut off, but you (are supposed to) see that in this film. Well, sort of. Use your imagination. Speaking of kinky.

Oh, right, the plot. It's about this girl who is kidnapped and tortured and then everybody gets a chance to scream or chop off somebody's hand or other body parts. Many scenes are gruesome for the sake of shocking values, so you will understand why Lindsay Lohan driving drunk, with somebody else's cocaine in the car as she claims.

I giggled so much during the film. It's not because it's a comedy, but because it's beyond belief how bad this film is. I wasn't alone. People around me are all giggling when we are not supposed to.

Here is an example how bad the film is. A guy walks into a classroom and whisper to a young teacher. The teacher turns to the students with a shaking voice:

"They found the body... [choked up] Don't ask me any question, because I don't have the answer."

This is probably the worse film I have seen this year and I wish IMDB can allow me to vote with a negative score, and this film would get one.

After the film, "I Know Who Killed Me." It's Lindsay Lohan, or her agent. She should pray that the judge on her case won't see this film. Otherwise, she is doomed to have a very long sentence ahead of her, so she can be locked up for a while to prevent her from making another film like this.

Won the top prize Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, "Tuya's Marriage" (图雅的婚事, China 2006, 96 min.) tells an engaging story about, well, Tuya's marriage.

In a remote location in Inner Mongolia, Tuya is the sole working adult in her family with two young children and a disabled husband. In order to deal with the hardship, Tuya and his husband Bater decide to get divorced, so Tuya can remarry and bring in a man to support the family. But Tuya has one condition to anyone who asks to marry her: Bater must stay with the family.

This film has a documentary feel. Most the actors are non-professional ones, and their characters even use actors' own names. Yu Nan (余男) gives an impressive performance as Tuya who faces the harsh reality. Tuya has to make a choice between love and family's survival. For Tuya, being able to support the family and her disabled husband is how she shows her love. Even that means she has to divorce her husband and marry to another man. The emotional burden is unimaginable.

Every character in the film seems to be genuine nice people, for the most part. Yet, life is not easy and they have to make heartbroken decisions.

The film's success should also give credit to its brilliant script. It's written by Lu Wei (芦苇) who also wrote "Farewell My Concubine" (霸王别姬) and "To Live" (活着). I am looking forward to see his next project "白鹿原."

If I were to make a choice similar to Tuya's, what would I do? That will be an entirely different film.

In order to deal with the repeated flooding problems as happening in China right now, Chinese relocate 1.13 million people (almost twice the population in San Francisco) to build the 2309 meter (1.435 miles) long "Three Gorges Dam" (长江三峡大坝).

One demolished county to give its way to the Three Gorges Dam is called Fengjie (奉节), which is completely under water by now. It's also the location where director Jia Zhangke (贾樟柯) ("World" (世界) and "Unknown Pleasures" (任逍遥)) shot his new film "Still Life" (三峡好人, China 2006, 108 min.)

The film tells stories of two totally unrelated individuals who come to Fengjie to look for people. One is coal miner Han Sanming: searching for her daughter that his ex-wife took with her 16 years ago. The other one is nurse Shen Hong: searching for her husband who has not come home for two years. And there is absolutely no connection between these two stories, except they all happen at the Three Gorges Dam. Also in the film, at the same location, something took off and went into the space -- I am still wondering what that was.

As Jia's other films, plots are not as important as the surroundings the director wants to present. Some hate his films, while some others are his cult followers. But even you don't like his films, you probably won't forget images that reflect lives in the world his characters live in. For example, four workers crawl into one bed one by one, shirtless, holding a bowl of noodles.

But his unconventional cinema language can also create some communication problems even with the subtitles. In this film, Jia pops on screen with words "cigarette," "liquor," "tea," and "sugar" to divide his film into four segments. Why? And why didn't he use "rice" or "soy sauce?" Well, perhaps only Jia knows.

Some feel it's unjust for this film to win the top Golden Lion award last year at the Venice Film Festival.

Actually, I wouldn't vote for it either if I were casting the vote. But, what do I know? I have not even seen Three Gorges (三峡), nor stayed at a place for 1.5 Yuan (about $0.2) per night. It's a story about different lives, so called "Still Live."

After his death, in order to realize his vision, American filmmakers are making his three films. "Interview" (USA 2007, 83 min.) is one of them. It opens on July 20th in the Bay area theatres.

In "Interview," director Steve Buscemi plays Pierre Peders, a journalist who is on an assignment to interview a celebrity actress. The bumpy start of the interview leads to a word play and truth seeking game between the two characters.

Watching this film is like watching a tango dance. However, instead using legs, they dance with their words and minds, gracefully.

Although the setup of the plot is a little stretchy and I must overlook so many details to believe the story, luckily, the verbal exchange is engaging and sharp. The film is about these two characters, and it doesn't leave me much time to think about the flaws in the plot.

The film is almost entirely set in the actress's funky loft, which has more props to use than in another two-people-talking film: "In Bed." Even though "Interview" is not at the same level as "In Bed," it's still a piece of admirable work with solid performances from the two lead actors (is there anybody else in the film?).

Now, I should go and interview somebody.

The film follows a renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky to China. Mr. Burtynsky wants to capture the unprecedented industrial revolution in China with his camera, in a way that we might never see before. Through his lenses, he wants the viewers to observe and try to comprehend the impact of urbanization and industrialization to the nature, to the people, and to the society.

The film opens with an eight minute long(!) shot going down an endless aisle in a gigantic factory warehouse in China. I bet our San Francisco buses would have had at least three stops already if they were running down inside that warehouse.

It's simply stunning.

Although the film tries not to pass on any judgment on the industrial revolution in China, as well as in the world, it makes us to think about what we are doing to the world at large, not only to China. We see the enormous amount of e-waste dumped in China, the massive coal mines, the abandoned cargo ship, the smoggy air, the 2309 meter (1.435 miles) long Three Gorges Dam (长江三峡大坝), and the war-zone-alike cities which will be submerged under the reservoir.

Unfortunately, the film loses its focus when it juggles between the photographer Burtynsky and the industrial world Mr. Burtynsky is trying to unveil. It turns out that we don't get to know either subjects in depth. I never know that old man's story who works at the dam for 20 RMB (about $3) a day; nor the woman's life who assembles about 400 circuit breakers a day as fast as this Asian kid playing Rubik's cube; nor Mr. Burtynsky himself.

However, after the film, I will never see a "Made in China" label the same way ever again. I begin to see those faces of young Chinese workers, and the endless factories.