Notes on some films

4:30 (Royston Tan, Singapore, 2005)
After 15, 4:30 deals also with youth in contemporary Singapore, but focuses on the relationships between a boy, Xiao Wu and a depressed Korean man who occupy the same appartment even though they never utter a word at each other. The film depicts their loneliness, their incapacity of communicate, it's mainly taken from the boy's point of view and I must admit that some scenes reminded me of Eric Khoo's films, particularly the scene when the son is at school class which is shot in the same manner than in Tan's segment Talk to Her and the general tone, the pacing, the minimalist composition, the loneliness of the characters, isolation and absence remind of Tsai Ming-liang's style.
official website
His next film is a musical feature film, 881 see more news here

Mee Pok Man (Eric Khoo, Singapore, 1995)
Mee Pok Man is named after a cheap fish noodle dish, Mee Pok, that he sells at a local stall where prostitutes, pimps regularly come. He's a silent, recluse man. His love to a prostitute, Bunny, whose only wish is to get out of this situation in any ways, becomes more and more of an obsession. The depiction the daily life of those characters in a modern urban environment is quite raw, bleak without any artifice and a bit morbid towards the end. Even though the characters are rather pathetic, it still works.
official site

My Mother is a Belly Dancer (Lee Kung-Lok, HK, 2006)
For some reasons I was expected something more original, however the film makes a change with its social content from the usual HK production. A group of wives, "see lai", (in other words, "sloppy housewives suffering from loss of youthfulness, beauty, and passion" see Focus Films website) living in a council estate decides to learn how to dance oriental belly dancing which causes or bring up some social family tensions.
Each character is well-played, and the film seems quite fresh but it still lacks of something to make it more innovative and deeper.

After this Our Exile (Patrick Tam, HK , 2006)
Another Focus Films, the film makes the return of the new-wave HK director, Patrick Tam and deals with family matter in a social context, and moreover with father and son relationship.
The film stars Aaron Kwok (better in any other roles he did, but still..), Charlie Young (no much presence here). Great cinematography by Mark Lee Ping-Ban (HHH's cinematographer).

Eternal Summer (Leste Chen, Taiwan, 2006)
I was so disappointed by it, perhaps this film is good for a very young adolescent audience in search for naive romance, and the omnipresence of piano or violin is too overdone.

Some Korean films (bis)

Last batch as after a while a change is needed or boredom, lassitude will come....

No Mercy for the Rude (Park Cheol-hie, 2006) with Shin Ha-kyun (Save the Green Planet...).
Killer (he has no name) is a mute hitman, a killer, who masters knifes and decides to kill only rude people in order to have a surgery to recover his voice.
Another crime/comedy movie which contains a certain dose of dark humour and of a rather graphic violence, the film could almost remind in somehow of Park Chan Wook, but here the pace is quicker and the film less flashy, and less stylish especially in its aesthetics, editing and cinematography, which, personally, makes it more enjoyable. Again the film is also worth for the performance (expressive) of all the cast, and particularly the main actor and the marginal/eccentric characters, which each one is well developed. The added voice-over which translates the thoughts and personal answers of Killer doesn't overload the film, on the contrary it contributes to its tone and pace. Overall, a rather enjoyable film, well directed and an impressive debut.

The Scarlet Letter (Hyuk Byun, 2004). A mystery/thriller with several sub-plots, the film starts more like a thriller side with the investigation of a murder of a husband, which leads to a psychological mystery with the mysterious widow while the love relationships between the detective and his wife and his lover, two women too stereotyped in the fact that they are too opposite, is deepened developed, which in the end makes the film too unbalance (without counting the long scene in the car boot). Good performance again though.

some Korean Films

After a week, full of craziness and sleepless nights, I guess I needed to charge up the batteries and just relax and watch easy, entertaining films. I found that Korean films, and precisely crime, thriller Korean films are rather suitable for such a mood.
Although they seem to be rather alike and I will surely forget them in a couple of weeks - or perhaps even in a few days, there is still a certain thrill that keeps me distracted despite my sleepy, almost somnolent state. It's rather ironical watching crime, semi-action films during these moments...

So Sunflower (Kang Seok-beom, 2006), Cruel Winter Blues (Lee Jeong-Beom, 2006), Tazza : The High Rollers (Choi Dong-hun, 2006), all made in 2006, all dealing with the gangster, crime world, and all focusing on the character development, and usual themes su ch as individual destiny & fate, friendship/brotherhood, characters with a heavy past, revenge, betrayal and so on... However all are very well-played, especially Sol Kyung-Gu in Cruel Winter Blues (whose outstanding performances in Oasis or Peppermint Candy by Lee Chang-dong were already very noticeable), it's a pity that the film slipped into a melodramatic ending, the film offered good character studies even though the story is known. A bit more cliché, however very well-executed, was Tazza : The High Rollers, a film about gambling and gamblers based on a comic which takes all the ingredients of a film noir (non linear narrative structure with flashbacks, voice-over, typical characters such as the femme fatale, the greedy, corrupted ones....) but succeed in keeping the pace all way to the end. Sunflower was probably the less good one and less "original" but shares with Cruel Winter Blues the anti-happy ending ...

Finally I watched JSA (Park Chan-wook, 2000) with Song Kang-ho (another excellent Korean actor, often plays in Park Chan-wook, and in Kim Ji-woon such as in The Foul King, but also Memories of Murder, Green Fish and receltly in The Host, and in the next Lee Chang-dong's film..), Lee Byung-hun (A Bittersweet Life by Kim Ji-woon) and Lee Yeong-ae (the Lady Vengeance). So with a solid cast, interesting script and well-craft storytelling, the film is as good as expected.

Very brief notes on some Asian Films

Brief notes on the films seen at the 3 Continents film Festival : see post here
Before making the "top" 10 of the best Asian films made in 2006, I'll soon post the ones of 2005 (which I didn't do).

Also here are 4 films I have recently seen :

Exiled (Johnnie To, HK, 2006)
A loose sequel of The Mission (one of my favourite To's films), the film is set in Macao and uses most of the same cast than in The Mission (which is to me still better than Exiled). Even though masterfully done and classy with typical To's humour and style, and all characters are very well played, the film doesn't bring out all the intensity and the complexity like it did in previous film, Election (1&2). However surely one of the best HK film of the year (with Election2) and some great, memorable scenes.

Woman on the Beach (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2006)
Having seeing all Hong Sang-soo's films, I found this one a bit minor to his filmography, closer to The Turning Point or A Tale of Cinema and much more accessible to the public, Hong uses the same topics, such as the difficult relationships between men and women.

Time (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea, 2006)
Being mixed with this director's works, this one left me rather impassive, and for some reason too expected. To me, 3-Iron is the one I liked the most and found interested. However it's well acted and I guess well done.

The Foul King (Kim Ji-woon, South Korea, 2000)
A funny and enjoyable film, very well acted (Song Kang-ho is very good). Recommended.

Notes on some Japanese films

The Blessing Bell (Sabu, 2002) with Susumu Terajima.
The Blessing Bell is a contemplative and urban tale which offers a slow pacing and a well structured narrative and sharply edited. The film opens with a static shot on some rails, like an invitation to a meditative journey... Then a man (Susumu Terajima) appears from the distant corner and walks pass by the camera and vanishes. This man encounters various people during his wandering (he walks and walks and walks aimlessly...), listens to them, their bad luck or difficulties (which permits to evoke various social problems such as unemployement, poverty, suicide, loneliness without being sentimental or pityful or anything alike, the film is more subtle), but does not utter a single word. He's an observer, a confident and a passerby and gets along with the course of the events, until he decides to take part and be an actor/master of his fate.
Great performance from Susumu Terajima and an interesting film with a Jim Jarmusch influence.

A Stranger of Mine (Kenji Uchida, 2005)
Divided into 3 main parts, the film is told from the points of view of 5 different characters : a lonely and desperate woman, a broken-heart, depressed salaryman, a embittered private detective (old friend of salaryman), a confident, cunning woman (ex-girlfriend of the salaryman), a fallen yakuza boss. All the characters are getting connected at some point, the film, a debut and still only film by Kenji Uchida, and whose narrative is very well structured, is a charming, simple, light comedy using also different genres, sometimes more romance, sometimes more comedy, sometimes more like a film noir. Very well played.

Antena (Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, 2004)
Antena is rather a heavy, psychological, family drama dealing with a childhood trauma and suffering, affliction from the sudden disappearing of the youngest daughter one night. The film is very physical, and the actors, especially the main actor (Ryo Kase) shows an impressive, and quite disturbing performance in a very sober, ascetic mise-en-scene.

Takeshis' (Takeshi Kitano, 2005)
Well, that's a very Kitano film!!! Almost impossible to summary this film, it seemed a bit all over the place, completely illogical and irrational, with absurd and humourous situations, flashbacks and "replays"and non-linear narrative, yet, typical of Kitano's filmmaking, his recurrent actors (Susumu Terajima, Ren Osugi, Kayoko Kishimoto...) are all excellent too. Highly recommended.
website

A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth (Tetsu Maeda, 2006)
Entertaining, Pulp Fiction almost like but more in comedy style.

Brief notes on some Asian films

Before I loose tracks, briefly :

Japan
The Stairway to the Distant Past (Kaizo Hayashi, 1995) and The Trap (Kaizo Hayashi, 1996) with Masatoshi Nagase, two of the trilogy of the private detective Maiku Hama, The Most Terrible Time In My Life (Kaizo Hayashi,1994) being the first (saw a couple weeks ago). Contrary to the first, those two films are in colour, they still are done like a film noir in 60s style, perfectly acted, complex and interesting plot, The Trap has a more mystery atmosphere, which sometimes can slightly recall David Lynch's Twin Peaks. This trilogy is surely one to not miss.
Yo Yo Cop Girl (Kenta Fukasaku, 2006) entertaining and fun (but poorly acted).
Love - 0 = No Limit (Hisayasu Sato, 1994) pinku erotic film with a rather grim, depressing atmosphere.

HK
Dog Bite Dog (Cheang Pou-Soi, 2006) with Edison Chen and Sam Lee. For those who like extreme violent films this one is recommended. It's well done, just a few things that could have been left, such as the cheesy song - but the music score in general is good, just the soppy song with the girl, who represents the only humanity in the film, a bit cliché - and also the end sentence. Apart from that, the pace is tense and is held all way to the end, the atmosphere is rather bleak (the range of colours goes from dark grey/green at the first part to more sepia ochre and light second part), Sam Lee and Edison Chen are good
On the Edge (Herman Yau, 2006) with Anthony Wong, Nick Cheung, Francis Ng, a low Infernal Affairs.
The Banquet (Feng Xiaogang, 2006) with a gallery of stars...supposedly a loose adaptation of Hamlet. Nothing outstanding here, and I'm fed up with Zhang Ziyi and films in the vein of Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers and Chen Kaige's The Promise...

60s Nagisa Oshima

Watching some early Nagisa Oshima films at the moment, this post will be edited and I will develop a bit more. Those films associate psycho-sexual study and sharp political,social commentary.

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) shot in black and white but sometimes switched in colours, is a more experimental film. It uses several literary references and adds brief images of political events and uprisings of the time and contains lots of dialogues and and analysist talks (a bit too much for my taste though). Mostly shot in hand-held camera, especially for the outside scenes, the film seems to leave a certain improvisation and an influence of JL Godard. An avant-garde kabuki theatre troup, Juro Karo Situation Players, takes part also in the film (especially towards the end).

Sing a Song of Sex (1967) presenting also the typical Japanese New wave aesthetics, loaded of sexual connotations and political references, the film shows a group of disillusioned students drifting away, mixing reality and fantasy and getting along with songs, which some are funny and ligh songs, some much more melancholy.

Violence at High Noon (1966) in an overexposed black and white and a beautiful cinematography with many close-ups, the film involves mainly three characters and presents a non-linear narrative structure with many flashbacks, the film combines desire, passions, violence and death from different points of view.

Very brief Notes on some films

Quick post just to name some films seen recently. May edit and write notes on them later. I'll also post a comment on Dong, Jia Zhangke's documentary at some point.

Japan :
Dead Run - Shisso (Hiroyuki Tanaka aka Sabu, 2005), Despite a good, promising beginning, the movie failed in some ways, perhaps because there are many Japanese films depicting the stray, lost, depressed youth and the religious trip didn't bring anything in to it. Rather grim however.
The Man in White Suit (Takashi Miike, 2003), standard yakusa movie, but well-done.
Bedroom (Hisayasu Sato, 1992) an erotic drama film with a non-linear narrative structure, unfortunately far not perfect, the classical music was very annoying and too cliché to be used, also the film contains too much dialogue (especially at the beginning) and not enough atmosphere. The main actress didn't have enough presence either, her character fails to stand out. The film is known for the controversial presence of Issei Sagawa.
The Most Terrible Time In My Life (Kaizo Hayashi ,1994) with Masatoshi Nagase, in black and white, in a retro style with a slight 60s Suzuki influence, this is a film noir, the first of the series of the private detective Maiku Hama. Masatoshi Nagase is great, entirely in his role, the plot is interesting. Recommended.

HK :
Wing Chun (Yuen Woo-ping, 1994) with Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Norman Chu... funny, entertaining, some good fighting scenes.
Dragon Tiger Gate (Wilson Yip, 2006) with Donnie Yen, Nicolas Tse, Shawn Yue... a very disappointing action film, no characters, no acting, no story and a laughable end... SPL was better
Thrown Down (Johnnie To 2004) with Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying... as always well directed, good characters.

South Korea :
The City of Violence (Ryoo Seung-wan, 2006) quite forgetable, unoriginal plot, the end is like a Kill Bill kind, Crying Fist was better.
Dasepo Naughty Girls (Lee Je-yong, 2006) a low silly comedy.

Notes on some Asian films

Quick entry..
Recently seen :

China :
- Baober in Love (Li Shaohong, 2004) with Zhou Xun, Huang Jue...
A married bored salaryman unexpectedly finds true love and passion in an egnimatic, crazy but beautiful woman, Baober....
Starting like a light romantic tale, the film turns into a darker psychological drama dealing with Baober's past and memories, almost as as if it were two different movies. Visually excessive (too many effects, overdose of colours, fast-editing), if the sub-subject of this movie is also to show the massive changes of China today, the excess of camera works and visual effects makes the characters too superficial and the point too unclear. Good performance from Zhou Xun though.

HK :
- The Longest Summer (Fruit Chan, 1998) with Sam Lee, Tony Ho...
The longest summer is the 1997 summer, the summer of the handover of HK to People's Republic of China. Another story on HK by Fruit Chan (this is the second of the trilogy which includes Made in Hong Kong and Little Cheung), the film follows a group of soldiers, who after losing their job in the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong, decides to set up a robbery. The film focuses on two brothers Sam Lee, the younger one who introduces them into the triad gang and Tony Ho (the ex-soldier), capturing a sense of disjunction, loss of marks and alienation. The end reminds me of Taxi Driver. Recommended, but Made in Hong Kong is still my favourite.
Other post on Fruit Chan.

- A Fishy Story (Anthony Chan, 1989) with Maggie Cheung, Kenny Bee...
A suprising and refreshing love story set in the 60s with an historical backround inspired by the riots in HK in 1967 after the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China. Maggie Cheung plays a fresh, young aspiring movie star who is moving in a flat whose neighbour is an unlicensed taxi-driver (Kenny Bee).
Entertaining, well directed, and as usual it's always a pleasure to see Maggie Cheung!
This movie won some awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1990 : Best Actress (Maggie Cheung), Best Cinematography (Peter Pau), Best Art Direction (Szeto Wai Yung).

South Korea :
- Public Ennemy (Kang Woo-Suk, 2002) with Sol Kyung-gu, Lee Sung-jae...
A good solid dark thriller. Well acted.

Sogo Ishii films and other films

A couple Sogo Ishii films.
Considered as one of the most known Japanese outsider filmmakers, Sogo Ishii's films are based on the visuals work (colours, aesthetic cinematography, effects, camera movements) and soundtracks (with importance of music too). Actors, Masatoshi Nagase and Tadanobu Asano are often his collaborators.
Recently seen :
Gojoe (2000) : with Masatoshi Nagase, disappointing film.
Dead End Run (2003) : a 50 minute film containing 3 shorts (Last Song, Shadow, Fly), each one starting with a runaway character, a dead-end, a meeting and a death or eventual death. Visually and technically very well done, however the shorts don't bring anything new.

Already seen:
Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001) - probably his most famous
Labyrinth of Dreams (1997) - and still my favourite.
Angel Dust (1994)

Other movies seen :
Young Thugs: Nostalgia by Takashi Miike (Japan, 1998) a prequel of Young Thugs: Innocent Blood which I haven't seen, about kids (great in the film) in Osaka in the 70s. We can easily feel the nostalgia (the childhood times) mixed with a cartoon/manga style (for the burlesque aspect of some of the scenes).
Postmen in the Mountains by Huo Jianqi (China, 1999) even though still rather typical mainland Chinese film, and a bit too sentimentalist, the father-son relationship is well played, and I like Liu Ye. Set in the mountain of Hunan, the film also offers some nice landscapes.
Sky Lovers by Jiang Qinmin (China, 2002) only for Liu Ye, despite the fact that his character is a bit annoying.
Be with Me by Eric Khoo (Singapore, 2005). The film intermingles 3 stories about love, but also loneliness, quite inequal, the more touching and interesting one is surely Theresa Chan's story. Some great, beautiful portraits.

Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves (Pen-ek Ratanaruang), 2006, Thailand with Tadanobu Asano, Kang Hye-jeong (recently seen in Welcome to Dongmakgol), Ken Mitsuishi, Eric Tsang...

This pan-Asian film by Pen-ek Ratanaruang brings again some of previous collaborators of Last Life in the Universe such as prolific and talented Japanese actor, Tadanobu Asano and acclaimed cinematographer, Christopher Doyle.
Invisible Waves is an atmospheric thriller, a film noir (the range of colours of the film goes from blue to grey) with a soft touch à la David Lynch. Kyoji (Tadanobu Asano) becomes a murderer when his boss asked him to kill his wife and will promise him freedom by paying him his travel to go to Thailand where a man, Lizard, will take care of him. On the cruise, he meets Noi, a mysterious young lady who travels with her baby. (note that Noi and Lizard were also names used in Last Life in the Universe).
But as Kyoji said it seemed that the sea is judging him, the cruise is rather dreamy or more nightmarish, with mysterious things and encounters that happen to him, the cruise appears to be like a labyrinth of subconsciousness loaded by guilt or self-punishment, in search of redemption.
The film itself displays a constant, quiet travel (it is set in 3 different locations, Macau, Hong Kong and Phuket, 4 locations if we include the sea) giving a smooth, lingering pace enhanced by the soft movements of the camera.
However, even though the film has outstanding cinematography, irreproachable performances, classic, yet, well-done, narrative structure, Invisible Waves is mainly built on the character of Tadanobu Asano, perfect here, an impassive, languid man who is overtaken by the waves of his destiny and the events imposed to him.

notes on Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and other Asian films

a bit late with all my viewing entries, so it will be very brief (started to be so long ago now that it's even hard to remember...).

Thailand :
Fun Bar Karaoke (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 1997), Pen-Ek Ratanaruang' s debut feature film, and even though it had a potential to be a rather good movie with some original ideas (the opening sequence is very well done) and different characters, it could have been a bit more careful, especially with that constant appeareace of the mic on screen!
6ixtynin9 (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 1999), visually and technically better achieved, this black comedy/thriller reminded me somehow of Shallow Grave or the Korean film, The Quiet Family. In a way, I thought Fun Bar Karaoke was a bit more interesting.
Monrak Transistor (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 2001) follows the fate of a young, rural man, very stylish with several musical scenes and a reference to Tears of the Black Tiger, beautiful cinematography and very good performances from the all the cast, especially the leading actor.
However Last Life in the Universe remains his best work and display all his talent as a director.

HK :
Beyond Hypothermia (Patrick Leung, 1996), a Milkway Image production (Johnnie To) with Lau Ching Wan and Wu Chien-Lien. A kind of female version of John Woo's movies dealin with a Cambodian hitwoman who's new job is to assassinate a Korean mafia top boss.
It didn't bring anything new, the girl was nice and had a certain kind of presence, Lau Ching Wan wasn't too bad, but he has been much better in other films and the mean character who played the Korean hitman was just a waste.
Deadful Melody (Ng Min Kun, 1993) mainly worth watching for Brigitte Lin and Carina Lau (also starring Yuen Biao). Flying fights all over the place. In the same kind of vein as The Magic Crane (also involving a lyre).

China :
Blush (Li Shaohong, 1994), in the current of the 5th generation of directors (historical epic like), with a story intermingled with the Chinese history, here in a more female point of view. A bit too melodrama though, but well acted and nice set.

South Korea :
The Showdown (Kim Jin-sung, 2005), a modern martial arts film without effects, a bit more realistic, but too conventional and predictible.
A Bloody Tie (Choi Ho, 2006) starring Ryu Seung Beom, Hwang Jung Min. A good film noir. Somehow funny, surely well done and quite entertaining. Certainly be a hit.

Notes on some Asian films

so hot, too lazy to write....

Last Asian films seen :
Chinese :
Sunflower by Zhang Yang with Joan Chen (2005), a family subject drama which was okay (despite the constant soft piano music) but I probably prefered Quitting. Joan Chen who plays a mother wasn't recognizable, she played very well.
Huayao Bride in Shangrila by Zhang Jia Rui (2005) .

HK :
Viva Erotica by Derek Yee (1996) with Leslie Cheung, Shu Qi and Karen Mok, which was enjoyable to watch
Two films that I will not recommend and not much worth watching (Half Twin by Yip Wai Ying, 2006 and Fear Of Intimacy by Vincent Chui, with Tony Leung Ka Fai, 2004).

Japanese :
Haze, the latest Shinya Tsukamoto film (lasts about 50 mins, 2005).
Best not to be claustrophobic! It's about a man (Shinya Tsukamoto) who suddently wakes up and finds himself stucked in a narrow, concrete room in a prison like without knowing why and how he ended up there. He tries to escape. Quite of a twisted movie, may watch it again. Rather gory, and I guess it's just pure "horror" and angst (with bits of flesh and corpses lying or floating everywhere, with panicky, petrified, horrified facial expressions on close-ups...).
Otakus in Love by Suzuki Martsuo (2005) with Ryuhei Matsuda. Based on a manga, the film is a rather fun & stylized movie, some good parts.
A Blue Automobile by Hiroshi Okuhara (2004), which was okay, quiet almost minimalist with hardly any dialogue and a succession of static shots and some dreamy scenes. The film is about a young man who works in a music shop and performs as a DJ in some bars, he had an accident when he was a child which injured one of eyes and now wears dark glasses (the film develops typical contemporary Japanese themes however, the drifting youth, suicide attempt... mixed with a triangular love affair...).
I've watched the series of Female Scorpion (I had only seen Scorpion: Female Convict 701 before) with very charismatic Meiko Kaji :
Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41 (Shunya Ito, 1972)
Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable (Shunya Ito, 1973)
Scorpion - Female Prisoner 701: Grudge Song (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1973) which was I think the weakest, or perhaps I got tired of watching all in a row).

Notes on some Asian films

A bit late at the moment with my postings...
(very short...)

Japanese films

- First I've recently seen in one of the finest theatres in Paris during my short journey over there, Twilight Samurai by Yoji Yamada, 2002 (finally saw it!) which I appreciated especially for the screening itself (great sound, great view, big screen...). I actually liked the simplicity of the film, the pace is rather slow and quiet, the performances are subtle and precised, it even seemed that each movement, each gesture were carefully thought and executed.

- Black Angel, by Takashi Ishii (vol.1, 1997), which was a bit disappointing and all over the place. A dark thriller/action with some beautiful, yet, dangerous women/hitwomen.

- The City of Lost Souls by Takashi Miike (2000). I didn't even know that Michelle Reis played in one of his films. It's a typical Miike film (a violent gangster film), I liked it, mainly because the mix of ethnicities : a Brazilian/Chinese couple as heros, Chinese mafia, Japanese yakusa... Quite of a good fun, and entertaining too, I liked a fast pace & the silliness, it reminded me of a cartoon. I tried to watch Izo, but I didn't get into that much. I even stopped half way through it, it actually tired me.

- Scrap Heaven (2006) by Lee Sang-il, the director who made 69, (with Jo Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama). The film left me rather mixed (too teen for me, which was already the case for 69, however 69 was even more teenage film). It reminded me somehow of Fight Club, but in "softer version".

- Moe no suzaku by Naomi Kawase (1997). I think it's my 4th film by this underseen director. There aren't many Japanese woman directors, in fact I think it's the only one I know.
Anyway, I liked it a lot. The film is done in very natural and intimate manner with a documentary approach (Naomi Kawase directs also documentaries), the film mainly explores the same theme than in her other films, the family relationship. She is a very interesting director.

- Desert Moon (2001) by Shinji Aoyama. I must say that the film is a bit disappointing. This is not like Eureka, I even prefered A Forest with No Name than Desert Moon.
The film lasts a little bit over 2 hours and I found it too long whereas I didn't feel that way for Eureka which lasts over 3 hours!!!
Desert Moon focuses on a family relationship and the family unit in crisis, a theme that is easily well explored in many Japanese films. But the end went quite wrong and too conventional to me and I disagree with it (I won't spoil it). There are some good uses of sound at some parts and like for The Forest with No Name, I found the film a bit in the same vein than those of Kyoshi Kurosawa.

HK films
- Shanghai Grand by Poon Man Kit (1996) with Leslie Cheung & Andy Lau which was ok, I can always watch HK movies even if they're average, this one is gangster film set in the 30s. The film is a Tsui Hark production with a John Woo kind of style.
- Mongkok Story by Wilson Yip (1996), a triad movie, okay, quite funny (a special kind of humour) a bit messy or too long, worth watching for at least Anthony Wong who is great in there.

Korean film
King and the Clown by Lee Jun-ik (2005) which was the best selling film of 2005 nationwide in South Korea. The film, set in the 15th century, was fine & entertaining, well-acted, nice set and costumes, and shares some common matters with Farewell my Concubine but in a more comedy.

Notes on some Asian films

Still keep on watching movies...

Korean Movies :
Mist (Angae) by Kim Soo-yong, 1967
Compared as an Antonioni or Renais, the film delivered surely a breeze of new wave and modernity.
Jun Kijun returns to his native village before starting to work in the company of his father-in-law. He finds a friend who dreams to become singer of opera in Seoul. The story is only purpose. It's film about errance, memories (flash backs are inserted as memories). I liked the atmosphere of the film, nostalgic, calm and melancholy, very nicely shot in black and white.

Road to Sampo (Sampoganeun Kil) by Lee Man-hee 1975
The director of this movie died before finishing it (during the editing and the movie got re-edited due to censorship). This is a complete different mood than the one above, a bit all over the place, a sort of road movie using different genres from tearful drama, romance to almost burlesque, the acting being often exaggerated. The main leading actor reminded me of Choi Min-sik (Failan, Old Boy, Drunk on Women and Poetry and so on). The main actress had a very nice face, there are a lot of nice close-ups on her face.

Recent ones :
My Generation (Noh Dong-seok, 2004). First Film.
Shot in DV in black and white, this film has the merit to give a change to the recent Korean production and another look to the independent Korean scene. It offers a different view, more realistic and quite minimalist of the urban life in Korea. No stars, no special effects, gunfights and chases, the film follows two young people covered by debts and money problems, bored and depressed (especially the girl). The film has however surely some flaws, and is quite awkward in its story and narrative structure, but in somehow gives a breath of fresh air the Korean film industry.
Last Witness (Bae Chang-ho, 2001) - a thriller/drama which involves the Korean past history, long flashbacks, the pace started well than slowed down - mixed.
R-Point (Kong Su-chang, 2004) - war/horror, ghost story in the Vietnam war, well acted, quite good suspens.
Shadowless Sword (Kim Young-jun, 2005) - a sort of martial arts/swordsplay movie that fails.

HK/Chinese movies :
some Chen Kaige films
Yellow Earth is considered as landmark in Chinese history of cinema, the film that launched what we called "the 5th Generation". Directed in 1984 by Chen Kaige and shot by Zhang Yimou, the film is set in 1939, during the sino-japanese war.
Guo Qing, a young soldier of the Eigth Route Army is sent into a border village in North Shanxi Province to collect folk songs that will be adapted afterwards by the Communist Party for nationalistic purposes. He stays at a widowed father who lives alone with his younger son and teen-age daughter.
Yellow Earth offers a sense of framing and of a composition of image : close-ups on the characters giving powerful portraits, large views on the arid and desolate landscape, a restraint range of colours (ochre, brown, red)...The film contains just a few dialogue, but the silence is loaded by the sounds of nature (birds, wind, river..), the folk songs.
Temptress Moon starring Leslie Cheung and Gong Li, was made after Farewell my Concubine a couple of years later. It's surely not as great as Farewell, not as deep, lyrical and impressive. The set, the acting are very well done though.
The Promise, the last Chen Kaige movie, shouldn't be watched as like his other films, just pure commercial entertainment, and even then it was quite ridiculous sometimes.

I watched the 4 movies of the Monkey King - Journey to the West, made in the 60s. Will try to write something about them.

Recent ones :
Fearless (Ronny Yu, 2006) Jet Li film, it's nice to see Jet Li in a HK film again, however the film is different from the 90s HK production, not just with the effects (the slow motion kind fr instance), but even the atmosphere, and the absence of any humour. Last sequence is great though.
49 Days (Lam Kin-lun, 2006) - with Stephen Fung & Gillian Chung supernatural/ghost/thriller, not great.
Two Become One (Law Wing-Cheong, 2006) a Johnnie To production, romantic comedy dealing with breast cancer. with Miriam Yeung and Ritchie Ren. Watchable thanks to Miriam Yeung.

Notes on some Asian films

A couple of movies I've watched quite recently and that I won't recommend but when you're too tired or can't be bothered to do anything else, they are watchable...

- Running Wild by Kim Sung-Soo (2006) : just action/thriller movie, watchable, probably will forget in a few months... but I'm sure many will like this movie.
- Sunday Seoul by Oh Myung-hoon (2006) : 3 segments in different genres about a series of unbelievable events happened in Seoul, very inequal, a lack of originality and depth, nothing outstanding, not even that funny.
- Where A Good Man Goes by Johnnie To (1999) with Lau Ching-Wan, Ruby Wong, Lam Suet. Set in Macau, an alright crime film mixed with a bit of romance and a bit of humour. Rather enjoyable still.

The Soong Sisters and other Asian movies

OoOooops...
been a while..
Firstly, spring is coming, the forum, Fragments, has just been moved to another place.
A special place has been made for cinema discussions and particularly Asian cinema. Hopefully, it will be more active...
http://www.hekae3.com/frag/index.php

movies seen recently :

The Soong Sisters by Mabel Cheung, 1997... okay but could have been better
The movie is based on the true story of the three Soong sisters : Ai-ling (Michelle Yeoh), the eldest sister who married one of the richest Chinese men of the time, H. H. Kung (Finance Minister under Chiang Kai-shek power), Ching-ling (Maggie Cheung), Sun Yat-sen's wife, and May-ling (Vivian Wu), the youngest and Chiang Kai-shek's wife.
The Soong family was one the most influential and powerful families in 20th Chinese history. Their father (Jiang Wen) was Charlie Soong, who made a fortune by selling Bibles in China. The last of the three sisters, May-ling died in 2004 at the age of 105 in New York. Despite that they had also three brothers, none of them are mentioned in the movie at all.

The movie tells the sisters' lives from their childhood (beginning of the 20th century), through the years of the Republic of China, from the revolution and the founding of the Republic of China in 1911 by Sun Yat-sen, the northern expedition in 1927, the sino-japanese war and the civil war between nationalists and communists. It focuses on their love and family relationships, their different political ideas (although not too heavily developped....) while the historical changing of China still remains in the backround.
They are presented as the future women of the New China : One loved money (Ai-ling), and one loved her country, (Ching-ling, surnamed as the Mother of China, and was the First Lady), one loved power (May-ling, the ambassador for China and then Taiwan to the Western world).

I personnally thought this historical epic, which lasts over 2 hours (some scenes were cut, and the movie was shot in Mainland China at the time of the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC), could have been better, but it's interesting to see at least for the history. However the cast gathered some of the most known movie personalities (Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Vivian Wu, Jiang Wen as the father, Winston Chao as Sun Yat-Sen, Wu Hsing-Kuo as Chiang Kai-Shek) and everyone played very well. The set is somptuously well done, and the direction is classic, but the music is too present and too dramatic, and overall the film is a bit too "academic".

Others :
Taga tameni by Taro Hyugaji, 2005... only worth for Tadanobu Asano
Cocktail by Herman Yau, 2006... not great, watchable though
The Art of Fighting by by Shin Han Sol (first feature film), 2005... (basically a young guy who's being constantly bullied by stupid boys at school, meets an odd elder, who excels in the art of fighting, wants to learn from him...). Nothing really outstanding or different from any other movies of this genre (comedy/action although no so much action, a bit of fighting mainly), but it was okay, and the cast played well : Baek Yoon Shik (Save the Green Planet, President's Last Bang) and Jae Hee (3-Iron).

World of Geisha

World of Geisha by Tatsumi Kumashiro (1973).

My second movie by this director, the other being Street of Joy. Both of these movies are called as "nikku roman porno".
Starring Junko Miyashita, prolific actress and queen of the nikku roman porno who also performed in A Woman Called Sada Abe, Watcher in the Attic, Street of Joy (three of them are recommended) and many others that I still haven't watched yet.

World of Geisha is rather short like many of the genre - it runs just over 60 mins.
It is set in 1917, just before the Russo-Japanese war in a geisha house.

As an introduction, a voice of a woman sings "Princess Anju asked the girl : How did you feel ? As if intoxicated, she answered, I felt as if I were a little bird waiting for spring". Then a few words which are like a tip and an advice from an older geisha to a novice are written "About men, it's not their man's looks, About men, it's their money that matters to them", "Don't get cheated by a man's looks, About Men, money's all that matters to them", words that are repeated by the older geigha to her young, unexperienced geisha.
Yet, the rule will be broken when Sodeko (Junko Miyashita), an experienced geisha, receives a new client for the first time.
As they are about to live an intense pleasure, news about the rice riot are announced...
The guest wisely proposes "Let's go to bed while it's still safe."
Title and credits... World of Geisha.
Despite the warning of beginning "Don' fall for your first client" (they only must pretend to be excited), she got sexually excited... several times.
While they are having sex, short portraits of the everyday life of geishas are intermingled and sexual, erotic scenes are associated with the current events of the time depicted by still images of rice riots, Korean uprisings, and the Japanese invasion to Siberia in 1918.
Some of these scenes are rather historical and politically evocative, such as the scene of a man, named as buffoon, who entertains a guest with several geishas by telling him some erotic, until the guest asks him to hang himself in order to demonstrate how women feel when they get too excited : his hanging is directly connected with another hanging scene, "the banzai incident". Other scenes also depict the relations between sex and money, such as the quite funny scene of a geisha performing a danse, sitting on a pile of coins which she manages to push up her vagina and then let the coins out one by one...
Shot mostly in sequence shots (making more like a succession of short scenes), with eventually some close-ups, and mainly indoors and hardly lit (especially for the sex scenes), the film finishes quite abruptly.

Also recently seen : Jigoku (Hell) by Nobuo Nakagawa (1960), a horror film in which the second part offers some quite interesting visions and imagery of hell.

Everlasting Regret

Everlasting Regret by Stanley Kwan (2005).

Despite the negative comments or reviews it received, I wanted to see it.
The movie is set in Shanghai and covers the times from 1947 up to the 80s, mostly shot indoor. It follows a linear narrative structure, cut by period of times, sometimes accompanied by a sentence or two. Every now and then, the story is narrated by the voice-over of Tony Leung's character.
So. 1947. In Shanghai, when all beauties were glimmering, a photograph, Mr Cheng, (Tony Leung Ka Fai) spotted a young girl, Qiyao (Sammi Cheng) whose beauty is even qualified as pure. Introduced to this new world, she encounters Officer Li (Hu Jun) whith whom she starts a love affair, her first love. However, Li, being a Nationalist officer, when the communists won, he has to hide and flee. Qiyao is devasted by the loss of her first love...
The story continues depicting other love relationships with other men in the 50s (Daniel Wu, short appearance though), during the end of the Cultural Revolution, up to the beginning of the opening of China in the 80s (Huang Jue)....
Sometimes it reminded me of HHH or of WKW. However, I'm sure it could have been better. I thought that Tony Leung Ka Fai acted very well and I liked his deep voice and Hu Jun, even if he was mainly present at the beginning gave a short, but well-acted presence. I prefer the last part of the movie, it seemed to be better handled and better played. I wasn't impressed by Sammi Cheng who I thought was too blank (it didn't feel like she was fully in her character) - and I kept thinking especially for the first parts of how it would have been with Maggie Cheung! I was surprised that all the historical facts or elements related to historical events were left very behind. It's easy to follow though.

Seventeen Years

Seventeen Years by Zhang Yuan (1999).

Yu Zhenggao and Tao Airong are a remarried couple. Each one of them has a daughter of the same age. However they constantly argue for no specific reasons, and the two sisters are different in their characters. Yu's daughter, Xiaoqin, is a studious, quiet girl whereas Tao's daughter, Tao Lan, is an outgoing girl. One day, another quarrell bursts when Xiaoqin stole 5 yuans that her father had left on the table. But, the money is found on Tao Lan's bed, and Tao is accused of being the thief. The mother gets angry with her daughter. Tao Lan runs off. She comes across Xiaoqin and hits her with a piece of wood. Xiaoqin dies...
Seventeen years later, Tan Lao is still in prison but because she was rewarded for having a good behaviour, she is picked up with only a few others amongst all the female inmates to spare the Spring Festival with her family. Tan Lao is now a woman, but a completely broken, silent and faded woman. Nobody is there to meet her at the prison's entrance. The police woman who sees her at the station decides to accompany her to her family...
This movie won many awards at international film festivals and was allowed to be screened in China (his previous films were forbidden, now all his current films are authorized). It's a particularly moving film - and be prepared to have tissues or hankerchieves next to you! But I loved the scenes when the policewoman and Tao Lan walk across the city, they are very good portraits of urban environment, also all the actors are excellent and, of course, the final part is rather touching, even if quite dramaticly tense, but very well played and well shot. Zhang Yuan subtely depicts the relationships between the characters without explaining too much.
This kind of close and intimate relationships will be seen again in I Love You.

Other Zhang Yuan's films seen so far :
Beijing Bastards (1993)
East Palace West Palace (1996)
Crazy English (1999) although quite loosely - documentary about a guy who teaches English in a special method - after awhile I got a bit bored, it was on tv once, I knew afterwards that he directed it.
I Love You (2003)
Green Tea (2003)
also a revolutionary opera that he filmed but this is never mentioned, I saw it when it wasn't supposed to be shown at the festival.
His lastest film is Little Red Flowers (2006).