Saturday, September 20, 2008

Update

Flash bulletin! Showings start today for Dive!

Chiang Mai movies update Saturday, September 20, 2008

by Thomas Ohlson

Major Cineplex (only) opens the film Dive! today (Saturday) in Chiang Mai in a special sneak preview, at 8 pm at Airport Plaza.

Presumably, this will be good for tomorrow as well.

Please note that the film is Thai-dubbed only! No English subtitles!

Also, the business about there being an English-dubbed version of Boonchu 9 at Airport Plaza is incorrect. Major Cineplex staff told me it was a mistake on their website.

I have included below my comments on the film Dive! as they appeared in my regular newssheet, plus another picture. You can see more images from the movie at its website here, or via MThai, here.

Dive! Japan Drama – 115 mins – Director Kumazawa Naoto continues his successful streak of youth films with the teen sports flick Dive! Based on Mori Eto's best-selling novel, Dive! follows the diving dreams of three teenagers, played by Ikematsu Sosuke (left), Mizobata Junpei (right), and Hayashi Kento (center), who won Best Newcomer at the 31st Japan Academy Awards. The three young stars underwent diving training for three months in order to convincingly portray their characters onscreen. Seto Asako co-stars as the boys' coach.

Teen diver Sakai (Hayashi Kento) first joined the MDC diving club because he was impressed by the diving skills of Fuji (Ikematsu Sosuke) whose parents are both Olympic divers. Both Sakai and Fuji's diving dreams are on the rocks though when the club falls onto hard financial times. New coach Asaki (Seto Asako) tells them there's only one way to save the team from disbanding: they must produce an Olympic athlete. But clashes between the new coach and the team only throw the club into further disarray, especially when Asaki recruits a new diver (Mizobata Junpei) to the club.

Three young men try to turn their dreams of Olympic gold into a reality in this sports drama from Japan. The Mizuki Diving Club has enjoyed a reputation for transforming talented young divers into world-class champions, but in recent years the club has had a run of bad luck, and with few winning divers emerging from their ranks, sponsorship is dwindling and unless things change the MDC could go out of business. Faced with this grim possibility, the head coach (Ken Mitsuishi) swallows his pride and brings in Coach Asaki (Asaka Seto), a lovely but determined instructor who intends to restore the MDC to its former glory. Asaki puts her focus on three young divers she's convinced have the greatest potential -- Yoichi (Sosuke Ikematsu), the head coach's son, who despite his talent had has problems living up to his father's expectations; Shibuki (Junpei Mizobata), a loner given to sharp mood swings; and Tomoki (Kento Hayashi), who Asaki feels has the potential for greatness despite his less-than-impressive record. With qualifying events for the Olympics coming up soon, Coach Asaki pushes herself and her students to the limit, preparing Yoichi, Shibuki, and Tomoki for the all-important qualifying meets, but can the boys handle the pressure that comes with the most prestigious event in sports? Dive! is based on a novel by Eto Mori, which was later adapted by the author into a popular manga series.

~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Thursday, September 18, 2008

What's On starting September 18

What’s on during the next month! Double Issue!

Chiang Mai movies beginning Thursday, September 18

by Thomas Ohlson

Best bets: WALL•E. Mamma Mia!

To avoid like the plague: Death Race.

Of special note: Three Colors: White and Three Colors: Red on Fridays September 19 and 26 at Alliance Française.

Trois Couleurs / Three Colors by Krzysztof Kieslowski – This is a major film event in Chiang Mai, and should merit your consideration. The three films that make up this trilogy are being shown on three successive Fridays at the Alliance Française this month (on the 12th, 19th, and 26th), and three successive Saturdays at Film Space in December.

These are quite amazing films, and you owe it to yourself to begin your acquaintance with them, if you haven’t already. You will want to return to them again and again to savor their richness, as these films do not give up their secrets and their pleasures easily. More details can be found under the Alliance Française section below.

Here are my comments for movies playing at Major Cineplex at Airport Plaza and at Vista at Kadsuankaew for the month beginning Thursday, September 18, 2008. There is also information on film programs at the Alliance Française and CMU’s Film Space for the next three weeks. This is Issue Number 47 & 48 of Volume 3 of these listings.

Airport Plaza says they have added a version of Boonchu 9 which is English dubbed with Thai subtitles, as well as the one in Thai with English subtitles. If so, it might be worth your while to check it out. It’s a pleasant outing.

I will be away from Chiang Mai to attend the Bangkok International Film Festival September 23 to 30, and this newsletter will be in hiatus during that time. This issue is a double issue, covering events for two weeks (where possible; not possilbe, of course, for movie times). The same sort of thing may well happen during the World Film Festival in Bangkok October 24 to November 2. For this reason and others, I am expanding for the time being the schedule of films coming to Chiang Mai in the coming weeks.

Next issue of this newssheet in two weeks!

Now playing in Chiang Mai * = new this week

* Cyborg She: Japan Romance/Sci-Fi – 120 mins – MovieSeer: One day, a beautiful cyborg girl appears in front of a dull university student. Even though the cyborg starts to like him, she can't truly feel emotions, so the boy has no choice but to say goodbye to her inhuman power and 'violence'. Missing her, he continues his lonely existence. Some time thereafter, a disastrous earthquake hits Tokyo, and the cyborg girl saves his life. In that moment, she starts to have feelings like a real human being. Thai dubbed only; no English subtitles.

Reviewers say Kwak Jae-Young's Cyborg She is a touching time-spanning sci-fi romance/comedy that borrows a lot from the Terminator and Back To The Future movies. The results are mixed, they say, but Kwak's unique storytelling and the impressive visual effects are wonderfully brilliant.

Viewer at IMDb: “What if James Cameron's Terminator was a love story? Sounds ludicrous but that's exactly what Kwak Jae-Young's Cyborg She is - a love story between a high-tech cyborg from the future (Ayase Haruka) and her inventor boyfriend Kitamura Jiro (Koide Keisuke).

In the year 2070, a kindly, frail, and physically handicapped Jiro built a female cyborg as a personal aide to assist him in his daily life. Equipped with a time travel device, Jiro sends the cyborg back to 2007 in an attempt to prevent the incident that crippled him (a mentally unstable office worker shot him in a restaurant shootout). Fulfilling her duty, the cyborg meets up with the younger Jiro and successfully saves him from the gunman.

As Jiro and the Cyborg slowly start to form a relationship, the Cyborg becomes a bit of a celebrity as she uses her high tech powers to perform a number of heroic deeds (she saves a girl from being hit by a car, she stops a hostage taker from killing one of his victims, saves people from a fire) as well as gets into a bit of innocent mischief (she takes clothes without paying, does the "robot" in a disco). However, Jiro and the Cyborg's happy life come to an abrupt end as a massive earthquake hits Tokyo, effectively destroying the capital. While the Cyborg does her best to save Jiro, she unfortunately suffers serious damage during the quake and now Jiro must try and save her.

Cyborg She is directed by Korean director Kwak Jae-Young who many may recognize from his popular 2001 hit My Sassy Girl. Kwak's inventive humor and storytelling is again much in evidence here and he delivers a satisfying and entertaining movie. While some of the comedy may border on the silly, I found myself laughing at the visual gags. The film borrows liberally from other sci-fi films, notably Terminator and A.I., but crafts an interesting time-jumping, century-spanning love story that is quite effective and endearing.

The VFX/SFX work was surprisingly top notch, especially during the climactic destruction of Tokyo as well as during some of the Cyborg's robotic effects. Some of the story's loopy continuity and Back To The Future-styled time travel concepts are a bit hard to follow but Kwak does make it work in the end, and pulls some inventive story twists.

Ayase Haruka is alluring and cute in her role as the future Cyborg, creating a likeable but somewhat stiff heroine. Koide Keisuke is also likeable as Jiro, in an otaku/anime geek sort of way. Their love story begins in typical awkward fashion but soon develops into a sweet romance thanks to their nice and controlled performances. Kiritani Kenta steals many scenes as Jiro's goofy college friend. His scene where he gets the Cyborg drunk is especially fun to watch.

* Baan Phee (Phop/Pob) 2008 / บ้านผีปอบ 2008: Thai Horror/Comedy – 90 mins – At least the 11th installment of this popular ghost/ horror/ comedy series. Porp/Pob/Phop seems to be a traditional form of ghost in Thailand, where there is of course a rich vein of supernatural folklore and ghost stories, though she is normally depicted as an old hag. There was apparently a glut of really bad Pop movies in the 1990s - there have been at least ten films in the Baan Phee (Whatever) series of horror anthologies - so it developed that the word came to mean generic Z-grade film among Thai film fans. MovieSeer: “The story begins in a long lost village. There, a haunting event is bound to happen. Klein is a voodoo doctor, and his regular duty is to drive off pain and sickness of the villagers, together with his wife, E-Yip and Cha-bar as helpers. Klein’s way of living is interrupted when a group of volunteer doctors led by doctor Tui comes to town. Due to their professional treatment, these doctors gain the villagers trust, and the townspeople lose faith in Klein, which makes him uncomfortable enough that he turns to black magic to bring his popularity back. Thus, the evil spirit or “Phee Phop” is revived, with results similar to those in the other films in the Phee Phop series.” In Thai only; no English subtitles.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan: US Action/Comedy – 113 mins – Starring Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, and Rob Schneider. Zohan is an Israeli commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream: becoming a hairstylist in New York. It’s an Adam Sandler comedy, and if you like his kind of low and crass comedy, you should like this one well enough. Here he plays the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for laughs. I laughed. A lot. And cringed. A lot.

James Berardinelli, Reel Views: Even die-hard Sandler lovers will likely acknowledge that their hero isn't firing on all cylinders here. We go to these movies to laugh at dumb, crude things and, while You Don't Mess with the Zohan offers plenty of crass, stupid material, not a lot of it is funny, even on a base level. For every successful gag, there are perhaps ten that don't work or that try so hard that they lose their appeal. As a ten-minute skit on “Saturday Night Live,” You Don't Mess with the Zohan might have worked. As a two-hour movie, it lacks the comedic energy to rise above a middling crowd of forgettable summer movies.

Has been banned by censors in Egypt, Lebanon, and the U.A.E., and "is 99% likely that the film will be banned in all Arab countries.” But a huge hit in Israel ("Israelis like to laugh at themselves," says the Israeli distributor). Mixed or average reviews: 54/53 out of 100.

Burn / คนไฟลุก: Thai Thriller – 90 mins – All you ever wanted to know about “SHC” – Spontaneous Human Combustion. As you certainly know, that’s the familiar medical condition wherein a living human being suddenly bursts into flames. Director Peter Manus comes up with a pretty far-fetched explanation for this pretty far-fetched human malady. Slow and not really too scary or gory; the film is more of a drama, and you will be quite surprised at who the villain turns out to be. Some interesting effects and moods.

MovieSeer: Burn circles around the mystery of Spontaneous human combustion (SHC), the belief that the human body sometimes burns without an external source of ignition. The story follows the investigation of a female victim’s mysterious death caused by SHC. Mona, the daughter of the victim, is an ambitious lawyer who accidentally involves in the crime. She regrets the unfinished reconciliation between her and her mother. The incident brings her to Ploy, a nurse whose mother passed from SHC as well. Both girls seek to find the truth behind their mother’s death. Kwan, a diehard journalist, follows her instinct to unveil the evil force behind the case.

Can this be suicide, murder, accident, or a secretly religious sacrifice? The mystery behind “deadly fire” needs to be revealed before fire erupts.

Bangkok Dangerous: US Action/Drama – 100 mins – Directing twins Danny and Oxide Pang return to remake their popular 1999 thriller about a ruthless hitman (this time Nicolas Cage) who travels to Bangkok in order to carry out four crucial (for him) murders. During the course of his jobs, the triggerman falls in love with a pretty local girl (Hong Kong actress and pop singer Charlie Yeung [or Young] in a quite affecting performance) while also forming a friendly bond with his young errand boy (nicely played by Thai actor Shahkrit Yamnarm, seen at right).

A fairly decent, if cliché ridden and predictable, action flick, shot in some interesting locations in Bangkok. You should be happy with it if you like a somewhat low-powered action shoot-’em up action picture. And/or are a fan of Nicolas Cage.

Makers of the movie are saying that they were shooting the film in Bangkok during the 19th of September coup d'état two years ago. Filming stopped, but only for six hours. They are fond of claiming that they fired the only shots in the coup.

Rated R in the US for violence, language, and some sexuality.

Tevada Tokmun / Te-wa-da / เทวดาตกมันส์: Thai Comedy – 90 mins – Some Academy Fantasia 4 winners from the hit TV reality show in a comedy about the misadventures of an angel and a monk.

Mamma Mia!: US/UK/Germany Comedy/ Musical/ Romance – 108 mins – Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth. Donna, an independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited daughter she's raised alone. On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, Sophie invites to the wedding three men from Donna's past, all possibly her father. Popular ABBA music that I find horrifyingly infectious and which I can’t get rid of. Extraordinarily vivacious and energetic musical that is bound and determined to make you sing and dance and feel good about marriage and things like that. Mixed or average reviews: 51/53 out of 100.

Boonchu 9 / Boon-Choo / บุญชู 9: Thai Comedy – 90 mins – A continuation of this popular Thai comedy series. The son of the original Boonchu is a happy monk who is defrocked by his mother and sent to university in Bangkok. There he meets up with new “friends” – two homeless kids – who, as friends will do, drug him and mug him. But it all turns out all right eventually because it is foremost a feel-good movie for Thais from start to finish. It’s the gentlest of comedies/family dramas, with the sweetest of characters. The Thais I saw it with were thrilled with it every moment, and laughed and worried and got upset over the slightest of the plot complications. They had a thoroughly good time, but I think you need Thai sensibilities to enjoy it. Has some appealing young stars and well-established older comedians. Airport Plaza claims they have a version which is English dubbed with Thai subtitles, as well as one in Thai with English subtitles.

WALL•E: US Animation/ Comedy/ Family/ Romance/ Sci-Fi – 98 mins – It’s a work of genius from the first frame to the last! Robot love on a dead Earth, and the cutest love story in years. There's virtually no dialogue for the first 40 minutes; you’ll be enthralled. And the brilliant animation continues throughout the closing credits. Reviews: Universal acclaim: 93/85 out of 100. There’s a terrific Pixar cartoon before the feature.

The Coffin / Longtorai / Long Dtor Dtai / Lhong Tor Tai / โลงต่อตาย: Thai Horror – 90 mins – Ananda Everingham as a claustrophobic architect who participates in coffin rituals to gain a new lease on life. It has much going for it, with a stellar cast and a fine director, but I was mightily confused. It didn’t seem to be the movie that director Ekachai Uekrongtham set out to make. The script won a prestigious prize from the Rotterdam Festival, but the movie hadn’t been made yet, and to get the necessary funding he had to change it into a horror flick, making compromises along the way. The beautifully shot opening sequence of the burial ritual at the temple gives an idea of what the film could have been. And although this is the director’s first English language film, it is shown in Thailand only in a Thai-dubbed version, with English subtitles which don’t jibe with the movement of the lips. The result for me is simply awkward.

Made of Honor: US Comedy – 101 mins – A piece of fluff about, what else, love problems, with the appealing stars Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan. Generally negative reviews: 37/39 out of 100.

Death Race: US Action/Thriller – 90 mins – The most twisted spectator sport on earth as violent criminals vie for freedom by winning a race driving monster cars outfitted with machine guns, flamethrowers, and grenade launchers. The previews are the most repulsive imaginable, and have convinced me I don’t wish to see it. The consensus: Little more than an empty action romp – mindless, violent, and lightning-paced. Rated R in the US for strong violence (mauling, maiming, bruising, beating, impalement, immolation, detonation, decapitation) and language. Mixed or average reviews: 42/48 out of 100.

Scheduled for Chiang Mai cineplexes on Thursday, September 25

Eagle Eye: US Action/Mystery/Thriller – With Shia LaBeouf and Billy Bob Thornton. The race-against-time thriller Eagle Eye reunites actor Shia LaBeouf, director D.J. Caruso and executive producer Steven Spielberg for the first time since their sleeper hit Disturbia.

In Eagle Eye, Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and their family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country's most wanted fugitives, who must now work together to discover what is really happening. Fighting for their lives, they become pawns of a faceless enemy who seems to have limitless power to manipulate everything they do.

Dive!: Japan Drama – 115 mins – Director Kumazawa Naoto continues his successful streak of youth films with the teen sports flick Dive! Based on Mori Eto's best-selling novel, Dive! follows the diving dreams of three teenagers, played by Ikematsu Sosuke (left), Mizobata Junpei (right), and Hayashi Kento (center), who won Best Newcomer at the 31st Japan Academy Awards. The three young stars underwent diving training for three months in order to convincingly portray their characters onscreen. Seto Asako co-stars as the boys' coach.

Teen diver Sakai (Hayashi Kento) first joined the MDC diving club because he was impressed by the diving skills of Fuji (Ikematsu Sosuke) whose parents are both Olympic divers. Both Sakai and Fuji's diving dreams are on the rocks though when the club falls onto hard financial times. New coach Asaki (Seto Asako) tells them there's only one way to save the team from disbanding: they must produce an Olympic athlete. But clashes between the new coach and the team only throw the club into further disarray, especially when Asaki recruits a new diver (Mizobata Junpei) to the club.

Three young men try to turn their dreams of Olympic gold into a reality in this sports drama from Japan. The Mizuki Diving Club has enjoyed a reputation for transforming talented young divers into world-class champions, but in recent years the club has had a run of bad luck, and with few winning divers emerging from their ranks, sponsorship is dwindling and unless things change the MDC could go out of business. Faced with this grim possibility, the head coach (Ken Mitsuishi) swallows his pride and brings in Coach Asaki (Asaka Seto), a lovely but determined instructor who intends to restore the MDC to its former glory. Asaki puts her focus on three young divers she's convinced have the greatest potential -- Yoichi (Sosuke Ikematsu), the head coach's son, who despite his talent had has problems living up to his father's expectations; Shibuki (Junpei Mizobata), a loner given to sharp mood swings; and Tomoki (Kento Hayashi), who Asaki feels has the potential for greatness despite his less-than-impressive record. With qualifying events for the Olympics coming up soon, Coach Asaki pushes herself and her students to the limit, preparing Yoichi, Shibuki and Tomoki for the all-important qualifying meets, but can the boys handle the pressure that comes with the most prestigious event in sports? Dive!! is based on a novel by Eto Mori, which was later adapted by the author into a popular manga series.

~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Scheduled for Chiang Mai cineplexes on Thursday, October 2

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: US Animation/Sci-Fi – 90 mins – Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" takes audiences on a new "Star Wars" adventure, combining legendary storytelling with eye-popping animation.

On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, we join our favorite characters, such as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains – led by Palpatine, Count Dooku, and General Grievous – are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the "Star Wars" universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights.

Some voices provided by Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee.

Disaster Movie: US Comedy – Follows the comic misadventures of a group of ridiculously attractive twenty-somethings during one fateful night as they try to make their way to safety while every known natural disaster and catastrophic event – asteroids, twisters, earthquakes, the works – hits the city and their path as they try to solve a series of mysteries to end the rampant destruction. Most reviewers do not hold out much hope for this movie.

Luang Pee Teng II / หลวงพี่เท่ง 2 รุ่นฮาร่ำรวย: Thai Comedy – Monks meet misadventures, make merit.

Scheduled for Chiang Mai cineplexes on Thursday, October 9

E-Tim Tai Nae / อีติ๋มตายแน่: Thai Action/Comedy – Director Yuthlert Sippapak’s new film is written by and stars comedian Udom Taepanich (known by his nickname “Note”). Note plays a boxer, Ei-Ting, performing in a boxing show in Pattaya. He meets a Japanese tourist named Itemi (Asuka Yanagi) or “E-Tim” and falls head over heels for her. At the end, Ei-Ting has to prove his love for E-Tim and to prove he is worthy of her attentions.

Scheduled for Chiang Mai cineplexes on Thursday, October 16

Max Payne: US Action/Thriller – 125 mins – Starring Mark Wahlberg. Based on a popular interactive video game, this is the story of a maverick cop determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. “As the mystery deepens, Max (Wahlberg) is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal,” or so says the studio.

Scheduled for Chiang Mai cineplexes on Thursday, October 23

Beverly Hills Chihuahua: US Comedy – With the voices of Drew Barrymore and Salma Hayek. In this Disney comedy, a pampered Beverly Hills Chihuahua named Chloe (voice of Drew Barrymore) finds herself accidentally lost in the mean streets of Mexico without a day spa or Rodeo Drive boutique anywhere in sight. Now alone for the first time in her spoiled life, she must rely on some unexpected new friends – including a street-hardened German Shepherd named Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia) and an amorous pup named Papi (voice of George Lopez) – to lend her a paw and help her to find her inner strength on their incredible journey back home.

Tropic Thunder: US Comedy/War – 107 mins – I have seen this, and it is absolutely outrageous, even more outlandish than Zohan. Robert Downey, Jr. is on a roll recently, and this is another truly amazing performance from this acting genius. Here he plays a very method actor who, when given the role of a black in a movie, had his skin pigmentation blackened surgically so as to better play the part. Unbelievable! – and if you’re not thoroughly put off by the idea, you might just have the best laughs you’ve had in years. I heartily recommend the film, but only for those not easily shocked.

Also starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise. It’s an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the biggest war film ever. After ballooning costs (and the out of control egos of the pampered cast) threaten to shut down the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia where they inadvertently encounter real bad guys. Directed by Ben Stiller.

Rated R in the US for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content, and drug material. Generally favorable reviews: 71/72 out of 100.

- Robert Downey, Jr.'s performance is nearly on par with what Heath Ledger did as the Joker... -- Cinema Blend

Tropic Thunder Co-Star Praises Robert Downey, Jr.

Tropic Thunder actor Brandon T. Jackson knows that co-star Robert Downey Jr. might receive some criticism from his unusual role in the comedy. But Jackson has a message to those that have a problem with the caucasian Downey painting his face black for most of the movie.

"To be honest, he played a black dude better than anybody I've seen!" Jackson told People Magazine about Downey's performance in the Ben Stiller-directed film.

Jackson did admit to having initial hesitations about Downey's part. In the movie, Downey portrays Kirk Lazarus, an Academy Award-winning actor that's cast in the most expensive Vietnam war film ever.

However, Lazarus's character, Sgt. Osiris, was originally written as an African-American. So Lazarus dyes his skin to play the role.

"When I first read the script, I was like: What? Black face? But when I saw him [act] he, like, became a black man," Jackson said. ""It was weird on the set because he would keep going with the character. He's a method actor."

http://www.reelmovienews.com/tags/tropic-thunder/

As the Downey character says at one point, “Man, I don't drop character 'till I done the DVD commentary.”

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Alliance schedule

At Alliance Française on Fridays at 8 pm

The Alliance presentation of the three extraordinary films that make up the “Colors” trilogy of Krzysztof Kieslowski is a major film event in Chiang Mai, and should merit your consideration. Schedule for three successive Fridays at the Alliance Française this month, two of the films remain. If you want to catch them again, you will have a second chance in December when Film Space shows them on three successive Saturdays, on the 6th, 13th, and 20th. (And with Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique on the 27th.) These are quite amazing films, and you owe it to yourself to start an acquaintance with them. I am sure you will want to return to them again and again to savor their richness, as the films’ secrets are not discovered easily.

Friday, September 19: Trois Couleurs: Blanc / Three Colors: White (1994) by Krzysztof Kieslowski – 91 mins – France, Drama. In Polish and French with English subtitles.

With Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr, Aleksander Bardini, Grzegorz Warchol.

This is the second of the "Three Colors" trilogy Red, White, and Blue: the colors symbolizing liberty, equality, and fraternity. White, therefore, was written around the destructive dynamics of a relationship based upon great inequality. Karol is a Polish hairdresser working in France. He has a beautiful wife, Dominique, whom he loves to obsession, and who is in the process of divorcing him for his inability to "consummate the marriage.” Karol loses all of his earthly possessions and is literally driven out of France by his estranged wife. Karol decides to fight back...”

Alliance description

White is perhaps the craziest of the three: Kieslowski moves quickly and fluidly through a careening narrative that encompasses love lost and regained, death and rebirth, France and Poland, abject poverty and capitalist triumph. All in 90 vivid minutes. It’s actually a comedy, though it might take a second viewing to convince you of that. A black comedy. Which I suppose is why it’s called White, Kieslowski being Kieslowski!

There’s an interesting film clip of an interview with Julie Delpy discussing and dissecting the ending of White, where her character uses sign language to communicate with her ex-husband. There seems to have been some disagreement about what her signs were meant to convey, and here she explains it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gqYoVAErLQ. Interestingly enough, this whole scene seems to have been an afterthought, and she was called back to film this additional scene in the middle of the shooting final film in the series, Red.

Friday, September 26: Trois Couleurs: Rouge / Three Colors: Red (1994) by Krzysztof Kieslowski – 99 mins – France, Drama. English subtitles.

With Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frédérique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Samuel Le Bihan, Marion Stalens.

Third and last part of Kieslowski's trilogy . . . Valentine is a young model living in Geneva. Because of a dog she ran over, she meets a retired judge who spies his neighbors' phone calls, not for money but to feed his cynicism…”

Alliance description

Jean-Louis Trintignant is one of the leads in this film, as he was in the September 5 showing at the Alliance, Un homme et une femme / A Man and a Woman, only this shows him almost 30 years later.

About the director:

"Live carefully, with your eyes open, and try not to cause pain."

Krzysztof Kieslowski (b. June 27, 1941 in Warsaw, Poland -- d. March 13, 1996) was a leading director of documentaries, television and feature films from the 1970s to the 1990s. The social and moral themes of contemporary times became the focus of his many significant films and his unique humanist treatment of those themes secured his place as one of the greatest of modern film directors. He was a prominent member of the Polish film generation who defined the so-called "Cinema of Moral Anxiety" - films which tested the limits of Socialist film censorship by drawing sharp contrasts between the individual and the state.

Kieslowski graduated from the Lodz Film School in 1968 and began his film career making documentaries that were both artistic and political and aimed to awaken social consciousness. Workers '71 attempted to relate the workers' state of mind as they organized strikes. The people's desire for more radical change was addressed in Talking Heads. In 1973, social and political commentary infused The Bricklayer, the story of a political activist who becomes disenchanted with the hierarchy surrounding Party politics, and returns to bricklaying. Kieslowski's documentary Hospital (1976) is both a homage to the hardworking surgeons in a Polish hospital, and a revealing look at the problems with health care in Poland.

His early feature films were made for television; they include Personnel and Calm. Because his feature films evolved from the documentaries, he continued to use documentary techniques to enhance and add realism to the fiction films. The Scar (1976) was Kieslowski's first theatrical release, a socio-realist view of management problems in a large industrial factory. He came to festival attention with Camera Buff (1979), a parody on the film industry, an exploration of the unknown and a wry commentary on censorship. Blind Chance, a 1981 feature film, concentrates on what role fate or chance plays in our futures.

In 1984, he began a longtime writing collaboration with Polish lawyer, Krzysztof Piesiewicz with No End. Set during Poland's martial law of 1982, it is the story of a dead lawyer who watches over his family as they continue on with their lives. His wife becomes involved in his last case involving a worker who had been arrested when he tried to organize a strike.

Kieslowski's mammoth Decalogue, co-written with Piesiewicz, is a series made for Polish television based on the Ten Commandments. Each episode is set in a contemporary apartment complex in Warsaw and is one hour long. Kieslowski tackled the project after feeling "tension, a feeling of hopelessness, and a fear of worse yet to come - everywhere, everything, practically everybody's life." The series was shown in its entirety as the centerpiece of the 1989 Venice Film Festival and is considered a masterpiece of modern cinema.

Lack of funds in Poland drove Kieslowski to seek financial backing from the West - most notably in France. The Double Life of Veronique (1992) firmly established Kieslowski with an international reputation. This moody, atmospheric study of two women, doppelgangers, one French, one Polish, who share the same name, birthday, heart condition, and a vague sense of the existence of the other, was a commercial as well as critical success and made a star of its leading actress, Irene Jacob.

The Three Colors trilogy, representing the colors of the French flag, Blue (1993, liberty), White (1994, equality) and Red (1994, fraternity) followed. The trilogy explores these three themes; in Blue, Juliette Binoche grieves as she loses her husband and child in a car accident and her new life and freedom cannot replace lost love. In White, a Polish hairdresser tries to regain the love of his ex-wife, a beautiful French girl played by Julie Delpy, and seeks equality in their one-sided relationship. In Red, Irene Jacob is a model who gradually falls in love with an older man (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) after she accidentally kills his dog in a traffic accident. The retired judge arranges for her to "accidentally" meet someone her own age and for whom he thinks will be good for her. The films were scheduled to be released three months apart and while each can stand on its own; they were designed to be seen as a single entity.

Kieslowski periodically announced his retirement from filmmaking, though he never actually abandoned the cinema completely. His last project was to coauthor another trilogy with Piesiewicz, with the films tentatively titled Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Kieslowski died before the trilogy was completed. A chain smoker, the great director died following cardiac surgery at the age of 54. Heaven, the first in the trilogy, was completed in 2002 with Tom Tykwer at the helm and Cate Blanchett in the starring role.

Facets.org

At Alliance Française on Friday, October 3: Les Mauvais joueurs / Gamblers (2005) by Frédéric Balekdjian – 85 mins – France, Crime/ Drama. English subtitles.

With Pascal Elbé, Simon Abkarian, Isaac Sharry.

Vahé, Sahak, and Toros run a bonneteau game on the streets of Paris. They're Lebanese French. Vahé also works with his father, a cloth merchant, and is in love with Lu Ann, Chinese French, who's broken off their affair. Vahé wants to make things right: with Lu Ann, with his father's business, and with Yuen, Lu Ann's younger brother, who's on the edge of delinquency and owes money to the gang who arranged his passage from China. Vahé tries to be like a father to Yuen, teaching him a work ethic. When Yuen impetuosity puts his own life in jeopardy, Vahé tries to save him. Are Vahé's impulses and hopes to die on the streets of Paris?

Alliance description

The setting is the Paris garment district, where low-end French criminals rub elbows with the teeming masses of illegal Chinese immigrants. One such "illegal," a snot-nosed and lazy kid called Yuen, wants nothing to do with his French "protectors," and will stop at nothing to escape their influence. Unfortunately, those thugs have a financial interest in Yuen remaining complacent, so it's only a matter of time before someone gets shot. Vahé is the one kindhearted crook who tries to keep the peace between his French colleagues and the Chinese youth, but his influence is minimal.

efilmcritic

The last time a French film exploded with such raw energy was when Mathieu Kassovitz debuted with La Haine in 1995. This is writer/director Frederic Balekdijan's first feature, also, and it uses the same neo-realistic style, with handheld cameras close in and on the streets. There isn't a whiff of falsehood, or evidence of a set designer's duster. Even the script has the rough-cut unpredictability of real life.

It deals with card sharks, street scams, petty crime, backed by an uglier, darker crowd of Armenian thugs. This is the Paris of immigrants, sweatshops, cafes, and illegals. Chinese, North Africans, Eastern European gangsters coexist in a barely sustainable truce. Sooner or later a spark will ignite the tinderbox and someone will be killed. Followed by revenge attacks. Followed by God knows what else. In this no-go, gendarmes are noticeable by their absence.

Stories and characters move swiftly. There is no conventional plot, only the time it takes to rip the lid off the powder keg and somehow survive. Or not.

Angus Wolfe Murray, Eye For Film

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Film Space schedule

At Film Space: on Saturdays at 7 pm

Note: Film Space has postponed their previously scheduled September showings of the “Colors” trilogy by Krzysztof Kieslowski to December, in order not to conflict with the showings of these same three films by the Alliance Française in September. Film Space is now showing “A Month of Asian Films” throughout September. October, in a last-minute change, will offer “A Month of Musicians.”

Film Space is to the right and in the back of the CMU Art Museum, in the Media Arts and Design building across from the ballet school, on the 2nd floor. Or maybe the roof. A small but nice place to view movies. A contribution is requested in the donation box at the entrance. Well worth supporting.

At Film Space on September 20, 7 pm: Be With Me (2005) by Eric Khoo – Singapore Drama/ Romance – 93 mins. In Cantonese, English, Hokkien, and Mandarin with English subtitles. Generally favorable reviews: 67/69 out of 100.

Be With Me consists of three stories of love vs. solitude: 1) An aging, lonesome shopkeeper doesn't believe in life any more since his wife died. But he is saved from desperation by reading an autobiographical book and meeting its author, a deaf and dumb lady of his own age. 2) Fatty, a security guard in his fifties, lives for two things: good food and love for a pretty executive living in his block of flats. But, if it is easy to satisfy his first need winning the heart of the distant belle is a horse of another color. 3) Two teenage schoolgirls get to know each other on the Internet. Soon they fall in love.

NYTimes: Although four stories, three fictional and one real, are folded together in Eric Khoo’s elliptical film Be With Me, the tale that gives this delicate, melancholic movie its backbone is the true one of its courageous central character, Theresa Chan. A deaf and blind Singaporean woman in her early 60’s who plays herself in the movie, Ms. Chan is an indomitable life force and charismatic screen presence. Even after she concludes her account of transcending the “silent, dark prison” of her disabilities with the help of gifted teachers, you are left wondering how she did it.

Wikipedia: Be With Me is a 2005 Singaporean drama film directed by Eric Khoo. The film is inspired by the life of deaf-and-blind teacher Theresa Chan, and premiered in the Director's Fortnight selection in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. It was also the official entry from Singapore for the 78th Academy Awards in the foreign-language category. In December 2005, the Academy body disqualified the film on grounds that it was not "foreign" enough as the dialogue is mainly in English. Out of ninety-three minutes, the film only has two and a half minutes of dialogue. Be With Me is the first film in Singapore to explicitly feature a lesbian relationship.

About the director, Eric Khoo:

Wikipedia: Khoo Kim Hai [aka “Eric” – pronounced "Air-lick" in Singlish] was born 27 March 1965, and is the youngest son of the Singapore billionaire Khoo Teck Puat.

A film director from Singapore, he was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. He attended City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia where he pursued cinematography. Khoo began his career with short films, directing works like “When the Magic Dies” (1985), “Barbie Digs Joe” (1990), “August” (1991), “Carcass” (1992), “Symphony 92.4” (1993), “Pain” (1994), and “Home VDO” (2000). A large number of his prize-winning shows have been screened at various film festivals around the world. He has also produced and/or directed made-for-television films, music videos and television advertisements. In February 1999, Khoo was named in Asiaweek magazine as one of 25 exceptional Asians for his influence on film and television. In June of the same year, he received the Singapore Youth Award in recognition of his contribution to the country's film industry.

Kinema: Eric Khoo was born in 1965 to a well-to-do family in Singapore. According to Khoo, his mother started taking him to the movies at the age of two, developing in him a love for the cinema. When he was about eight years old, he chanced upon his mother's Super 8 camera, started making "little animated films" on it, and has since been unable to put his camera down. Khoo's interest led him to study cinematography at the City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia. Back in Singapore, he began making award-winning short films before venturing into feature film-making.

Dr Kenneth Paul Tan: “Khoo's films explore a set of hard-hitting themes, including a sense of alienation in contemporary Singapore, nostalgia for a humane past, and the centrality and complexity of human sexuality. Influenced by Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Khoo often features a complex anti-hero as the protagonist of his films: the lonely old man who commits suicide on his birthday in “Symphony 92.4,” the pork-seller in “Carcass” who takes comfort in television dramas and regular sex with a prostitute, the outcast necrophilic hawker in Mee Pok Man, the model citizen who breaks down in 12 Storeys - all dysfunctional individuals struggling to cope in a rigid and yet fast-paced society administered by harsh norms. Khoo usually captures grittier, less sanitized images of Singapore's underbelly that contrast starkly with the projected images of tourism-hungry Singapore. Yet, Khoo possesses the remarkable ability to invest tremendous aesthetic beauty into the dilapidated back alleys, crumbling old buildings, and seedy prostitute dens, without trivializing them.”

Eric Khoo will be one of the jurors in the upcoming Bangkok International Film Festival, which I will be attending next week.

At Film Space on September 27, 7 pm: Eating Air / Chi feng (1999) by Jasmine Ng Kin Kia, Kelvin Tong – Singapore Action/ Romance – 100 mins. In English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay with English subtitles.

A motorcycle-kongfu-comedy.”

A Nutshell Review (Singapore)

Following the chronicles of Ah Bengs, Ah Boy, our anti-hero protagonist played by Benjamin Heng, introduces to us his gang of arcade playing, motorcycle riding, and rooftop gathering friends. While street corner gangs are not as sophisticated as organized hoodlums, they too practice their own brand of honor. Petty fights are common, and so are motorcycle challenges. But when his best friend Ah Gu chances upon drugs and borrows from loan sharks, what will happen to their friendship, as the challenges that they face become more and more dangerous.

Romance is in contrast to the reality and ugliness of street gangs, With Ah Bengs, there surely is their Ah Lians hugging their torsos on bike rides (jiak hong in Hokkien, for joyrides). Alvina Toh plays Ah Girl, Ah Boy's main squeeze. The moments together are bittersweet, boy-meets-girl, falls in love, boy-loses-girl, punctuated with an excellent soundtrack done by local acts like the Boredphucks. It's back to the old days where mobile phones are not as prevalent, and calls are made to each other using early technology like pagers and voice messages, which was nostalgic.

Heng brought life to Ah Boy, with his crazy kung-fu imagination as he evolves from an aimless wanderer, to crazed street kid with a huge dose of "yi qi"/honour. Toh too plays her role convincingly, as a schoolgirl seduced by Ah Boy's carefree ways, to becoming someone with inner strength.

This film manages to gel its subplots together, adding much to its depth. While its protagonists are street gangsters, it makes no attempt to glorify nor condone their actions, and therefore doesn't feel preachy on what's right or wrong.

Variety:

The young people who dominate the film are recognizable from Singapore to Japan, their lives imprinted by popular culture (manga, kung-fu movies), their jobs either nonexistent or time-wasters and their escape symbolized by careening on motorbikes in the night streets. Essentially, Tong and Ng's film gathers together a group of such lonesome dreamers and works out their short destinies within a Singaporean context. Picture's Chinese title is local Hokkien-dialect slang for having a good time.

Boy (Benjamin Heng) is a teenage fantasist who imagines himself (in red-tinted sequences) as a martial arts hero. One of his pals, Gu (Joseph Cheong), who has ambitions to become a punk gangster, becomes involved in selling what he thinks is a packet of drugs when he falls into arrears on his bike payments.

About the directors, Jasmine Ng Kin Kia and Kelvin Tong:

Kelvin Tong

Best known for his award-winning 1999 kung-fu motorcycle movie, Eating Air, Kelvin Tong is a brand name in cutting-edge Singapore cinema. Named as the best Singapore movie to date in October 2003 by Singapore’s Mandarin national broadsheet, Lianhe Zaobao, Eating Air represented Singapore extensively in the international film-festival circuit.

His direction and original screenplay saw the Singapore movie winning The Young Cinema Award at the 2000 Singapore International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI prize at the 2000 Stockholm International Film Festival. Kelvin has directed several other films such as Moveable Feast, The Maid, Love Story, Men in White and Rule #1.

Jasmine Ng

Having studied Film and Television at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Jasmine has worked on award -winning TV commercials and feature- length films with some of the best in the region, including local feature film 12 Storeys. After working with Kelvin Tong on Moveable Feast, Jasmine continue to co-write, co -direct, edit and produce the Singapore feature film, Eating Air with Kelvin.

As a creative director and executive producer with VHQ-TV, she has also created the award-winning “Afterlife” presented on Discovery Networks Asia and recently completed a documentary, “Pink Paddlers.”

At Film Space on October 4, 7 pm: Last Days (2005) by Gus Van Sant – US Music/ Drama – 97 mins. A Seattle-set rock & roll drama about a musician whose life and career is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain's, the lead singer of the popular Seattle-based rock band Nirvana who committed suicide in 1994. It’s a meditative journey through the last days in the life of fictional musician Blake (Michael Pitt). In a bewildered state of drug withdrawal, Blake stumbles through deep woods groaning and mumbling quietly. His words are only occasionally audible, and even less occasionally coherent. The focus is on Blake's tortured, slow-motion movements and his tangle of chin-length blond hair, which hangs like a mask over his face. Reaching a clearing, Blake enters a dilapidated mansion where he lives with four similarly confused young rockers. A string of foggy events follows in partially chronological order. Scenes overlap, allowing for minor details to be added later. This style hints at the insignificance of time—and of everything—from Blake's perspective. Avoiding human contact, taking long walks, playing music, and hiding in the greenhouse, Blake nears his inevitable end. He digs up a parcel from the backyard, smokes a cigarette and painstakingly pours a bowl of Cocoa Krispies, changes into a black evening gown and grabs a rifle, answers the phone and says nothing when a voice asks him about an upcoming tour. Blake then descends into a bizarre, barely conscious state during which people come and go from the house. But none of it seems to register, as he is already lost. Last Days finds melancholic beauty in green trees reflecting in windowpanes, and the sound of rippling lake water echoing the ambient noise in Blake's head; and Pitt shows chameleon expertise in his mutely charismatic depiction of the unreachable Blake, whose resemblance to Cobain is both haunting and magical. While the minimalist style is not for all viewers, those who appreciate experimentalism will find Last Days hypnotic. Rated R in the US for language and some sexual content. Generally favorable reviews: 67/60 out of 100.

At Film Space on October 11, 7 pm: I'm Not There (2007) by Todd Haynes – US/Germany Biography/ Drama/ Music – 135 mins. Starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin. I'm Not There is a film that dramatizes the life and music of Bob Dylan as a series of shifting personae, each performed by a different actor—poet, prophet, outlaw, fake, star of electricity, rock and roll, martyr born-again Christian—seven identities braided together. The unique editing, visuals, and multiple talented actors portraying Bob Dylan make for a deliciously unconventional experience. Each segment brings a new and fresh take on Dylan's life. Rated R in the US for language, some sexuality, and nudity. Generally favorable reviews: 73/71 out of 100.

At Film Space on October 18, 7 pm: Sid and Nancy (1986) by Alex Cox – UK Biography/ Drama/ Music – 112 mins. Alex Cox's biopic tells the bleak, heroin-drenched story of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his disturbed American girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Gary Oldman delivers a bravura performance as Sid, matched by Chloe Webb's grating, clearly unhinged Nancy. The two lovers' childlike tenderness with each other contrasts sharply with their bleak, violent nihilism, and while the script implies that Nancy's death was accidental, the line between intention and accident is deliberately blurred. By turns romantic and horrific, Sid and Nancy is often grueling to watch, but always compelling. Cox's romantic vision draws us in while throwing us back in time to London and New York at the inception of the drug-laden British punk era. The film's dreamlike style and a hypnotic score dramatize the schism between Sid and Nancy’s world and the world around them--and the inevitable horror when those worlds collide. Generally favorable reviews: 72 out of 100.

At Film Space on October 25, 7 pm: Linda Linda Linda (2005) by Nobuhiro Yamashita – Japan Comedy/ Drama/ Music – 114 mins. A somewhat beguiling teenage charmer that follows the antics of four high school friends, all girls, who decide to form a band only three days before a potential gig at the annual school festival. Unburdened by plot or hormonal drama, the movie follows the girls through lengthy rehearsals, minor setbacks, and painfully awkward encounters with boys and teachers. With the title taken from a catchy 1980s tune by Japanese punk icons The Blue Hearts, Yamashita's film is as unconventional and understated as a teenage drama can be, yet it's fairly enjoyable with moments of painfully awkward humor, and solid performances by the four lead actresses.