the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

Summer/The Green Ray (1986) - Eric Rohmer

Well Rohmer #5 for me, and still not sure I really understand him. I got his style somewhat down, I just can't see why he's so great, if he's great at all. His films are boring, not slow, boring. Perhaps they are made more for an intellectual crowd of senior citizens, whose tastes I thought resembled my own. I'm not sure though, point is, I found this film to be somewhat pointless, just like most of his other films. Perhaps somebody can explain the allure of Rohmer to me, and offer some better recommendations.

I'm not sure what exactly you've seen of Rohmer so far, but I'd highly recommend films like Claire's Knee (1970), Perceval le Gallois (1978), his latest, Triple Agent (2004), and, of course the Four Seasons Quadrilogy (1990-98).

There's a bit of discussion here (near the bottom of the page). Chris Knipp is perhaps a bigger fan of Rohmer than me so hopefully he'll get a chance to add to this.

The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985) - Hou Hsaio-Hsien

The breakthrough film of Hsien and the entire Taiwan new wave, the film remains one of his most personal attributes. It is a story of growing up, and it is one of the few Hsien films written by Hsien. His directorial style was emerging but not quite cemented. The shots were becomming more observant, and the takes slightly longer, but he was still a few films away from the distinct style he would be known for in the coming decade.

Like most films of the movement, this has a political undercurrent as well. The story emphasizes the detachment that these Chinese citizens feel living in Taiwan. No one expected to stay long, but in the case of the revolution, and health problems, the family remained. There is that youthful detachment that we see in later Tsai Ming Liang films, present in Ah Ha, the Hou character in the story. It seems there really isn't much else to do in Taiwan but raise a little hell.

This was extremely popular in Taiwan, and internationally helped to break Hou through. It established him as a festival favorite director, and focused a great deal of attention on his future films, most notably City of Sadness.

I personally wanted to get a better prespective of his earlier work, but due to problems in availability, I had to take what I could get. This film is certainly up to his later more readily available films, and it begs the question once again "Why isn't City of Sadness available?"

Indeed, "Why isn't City of Sadness available?" Well, technically it is on DVD but without English subtitles.

Good review, by the way. Two films that Hou made between The Time to Live and City of Sadness are also excellent: Dust in the Wind (1986) and Daughter of the Nile (1987). I can't think of another filmmaker who's made as many great films in the past 25 years.

I've seen a solid block of the NYFF official entries now, though there is another week of press screenings. Peter will set up a special location for it and my capsule reviews will be posted. I'm not much up for talking about Rohmer right now, because I have my hands full seeing two or three films a day -- and you don't have a choice of the times! But they have been good, as I hope you'll see.

I have that City of Sadness DVD, and that's the only way I saw it, so I still have no idea what the hell the movie is about. It played for one day in Chicago about a year ago, but it was downtown at a bad time, and I couldn't get to see it.

Regarding Rohmer,

I've seen My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, Chloe in the Afternoon, A Winter's Tale, and Summer.

Of those I might have found Claire's Knee the most interesting, partially because of the whole pedophelia subtext. I just believe he's a director that I'll appreciate the more films I see from him, but I'm starting to lose patience, usually five films is more than enough to grasp a director. Speaking of which I'm about to have my introduction to Bela Tarr, so we'll see how that goes.

Regarding Hou, I am not too familiar with a lot of his films. He's an avenue I'm quite excited about exploring (along with Peter Greenaway, if I could possibly get a larger contrast). At least these director's are readily available, at least their later films are. Cafe Lumiere I still have heard no news about being released here in Chicago, so keep my fingers crossed. Not to get on a rant, but I also don't see The Weeping Meadow on the upcoming release list for the next month or two, I really hope this film comes around as Angelopoulus is damn close to my favorite director currently making movies.

City of Sadness recounts the massacre committed by Chinese troops in 1947, but it's not overtly political, it makes its point by following a single family through the tribulations. I was fortunate to see the film at the Walter Reade a few years ago and I'm dying to see it again. A vhs exists in the U.K. but it's OOP.

I'm looking forward to your take on Tarr. But early Tarr isn't what you might expect based on his recent works.

I'm a bit surprised that you haven't gotten into Hou yet. Trust me, there's much to explore and you won't be disappointed. Café Lumière doesn't have a U.S. distributor. However, a few screenings have been held recently in major cities; not sure about Chicago. The Taiwanese DVD has subs. I want to write about a few of his films starting with his latest.

I'll try to watch The Weeping Meadow next week. Angelopoulos is one of the few filmmakers who deserve to be seen on the big screen. But, as you saw, I posted about the DVD which is available in the U.K.

Autumn Almanac (1984) - Bela Tarr

Well who wants to see a bunch of miserable people try and make life more miserable for each other? If you answered yes, you have some issues you need to deal with and you should also check out this film. Perhaps because I was just thinking about the film, but this reminds me a little of the tormenting family in Zanussi's Family Life. Whereas in that film people existed for the sole purpose of making their family miserable, this group has some agenda, and of course it involves money.

The whole film is masked in darkness. Tarr tints nearly every image, and most of the picture is shrouded in blue. The takes are moderate, but certainly not the epic shots that earned Tarr his current reputation. The film is heavy on dialogue in parts, and comes off more as a chamber drama than anything else. You could see a film like this working on the stage, and therefore the actors give a theatrical performance to it. The words are spoken with some angst, and nearly everyone is prone to violence.

I was hoping my first Tarr film would be characteristic, hence the reason I avoided the three films already on DVD, but alas I'll have to wait a little longer before I can make him out as a director. I can however assess this particular work as a film in and of itself. It's not the most spectacular of films, and certainly can wear your resistance down (as many gloomy films can), but there is something intriguing in the misery.

Abdellatif Kechiche's Games of Love and Chance (2005)

Patrice Chéreau's Gabrielle (TIFF)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Doppelgänger (2005)

Im Sang-soo's The President’s Last Bang (TIFF)

Béla Tarr's The Prefab People (1982)

Amos Gitaï's Free Zone (TIFF)

Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand) is the third feature film from award-winning filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi. And much like his earlier two films, A Time for Drunken Horses (2000) and Marooned in Iraq (2002), Ghobadi has set it near the Iraqi border. Here, more specifically, it’s Northern Iraq from where the Kurd population spreads out inside the border of Turkey, another country (besides the likes of Iran, Syria, and Armenia -- who also hold Kurd population along their borders), which has failed to acknowledge the region commonly referred to as "Kurdistan." But this film isn’t about borders; it, in fact, transcends any that exist, whether geographical or political, and that’s one of its major triumphs.

Our protagonist is a young 13-year-old boy (Soran Ebrahim) who’s nicknamed "Satellite" due to his ability to install TV satellite dishes. He’s also the leader of a horde of orphan kids living in makeshift refugee camps as they depend on him for various "odd" jobs, including plucking mines from minefields, something that has taken many lives and limbs. Their territory is partly invaded by an armless boy who can see the future (an obvious and rightful attempt by Ghobadi to undermine what villagers got through news channels after upgrading -- the one they flipped on was Fox!), but Satellite eventually tries to befriend him because of his hauntingly beautiful young sister (Avaz Latif) who’s usually seen carrying a child, a relationship that gets defined in a disturbing flashback.

Turtles Can Fly is strikingly shot. The stunningly poetic visuals remind one of mid-period Kiarostami, perhaps not surprising since Ghobadi, a Tehran based Kurd, was an assistant of the master on The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). But Ghobidi’s landscape is almost mythical, perpetually shrouded in fog and mist, a potent metaphor or perhaps a pungent pun. Unfortunately, the film’s narrative also seems lost at times in trying to impede the impending tragedy, which doesn’t hit as hard partially because this isn’t the first film that has dealt with kids in precarious situations. However, it was the first to be shot in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein (a giant arm from one of his numerous statues gets bought by a kid for a few mines!), obviously a time-period which coincided with the arrival of American troops. But Ghobadi seems ambivalent, and rightfully so: the problems of his people didn’t start with Saddam and they’re not going to end with the Americans. And the last thing to do now is to start the blame game because that will only delay the support the Kurds rightfully deserve.


Turtles Can Fly - Grade: B+

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*The film had its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2004. IFC Films released it theatrically in the U.S. earlier this year. It is now available on DVD.

Vincent and Theo


According to Robert Altman the van Gogh brothers had quite a relationship in the 1800's.

With Tim Roth as Vincent and Paul Rhys as Theo, this film is stately, visually stunning and emotionally gripping.

It was screened at the cinematheque for the "Frames of Mind" series on supposed "mad artists". Loved it.

The costumes and sets seem just about perfect. Altman's locations are evocative and serve their point marvellously.
Vincent pretty much lives in squalor while Theo is more "upper crust". He's an art dealer, and he can't sell his brothers' paintings to save his life.

{van Gogh sold only one of his paintings in his lifetime, and the film opens at the 1988 Christies auction where his canvas "Sunflowers" sold for 40 million pounds}

The contrasts and clashes between between "the Artist" and "the narrow-minded successful brother" is what makes the story so great. And the casting of two FINE actors to play the leads adds mountains to the experience.

This is an Altman film I'd seen on vhs many moons ago but had forgotten how incredibly accurate and engaging this movie is.
The big-screen amplified everything, and the opening credits are among the best in cinema history- it's just paint...

Kudos especially to Tim Roth, an actor that I wouldn't have thought could play Vincent van Gogh.

He sucks the paint from his brushes, he drinks the cleaning water from his canisters, he cuts his ear off, he goes out into the middle of a field...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Johann
The contrasts and clashes between between "the Artist" and "the narrow-minded successful brother" is what makes the story so great.

---

I like your review of this film, Johann, but maybe I didn't see Theo as being quite so "narrow-minded'. Yes, he was more practical than Vincent, whose brilliance lay in his madness. But Theo was also a sympathetic character who, unlike Gauguin, never really wavered in his love and support for Vincent.

I agree that Tim Roth's performance is top-notch, and Altman's "realism" type directing is perfect for the story of this man's life. This ain't no period piece, folks. Fluffy dresses and funny accents aren't gonna tide you over here. Van Gogh was inspired by a woman pissing in a bucket, and Altman's not afraid to show it, and if that makes you quesy than you better not watch this film. But if you're interested in the devolution (or evolution) of a brilliant artist's mind, then this film will certainly hold your interest.

Also recommended for anyone planning a trip to Paris is a visit to the large Van Gogh collection at the Musee D'Orsay. And if you make it to Provence region of southern France, stop by the town of Arles, where Van Gogh descended into madness while producing some of his most famous paintings. Lots of beautiful sunflower fields in the area.

"Flightplan"






Spoilers!


The Jodie Foster vehicle makes good use of her range and abilities as an actress but unfortunately descends into sap and goofiness at the end of the film. A serious Sean Bean is given little to work with as a frustrated captain. The tension is sustained and the feeling of unease is well crafted until the unfortunate third act.

Peter Saarsgard seems to be trying to channel John Malkovich with his sleepy and insincere portrayal of a corrupt air marshall.

Wait for video (if that).

As good as Altman's effort is, I think the great French director Maurice Pialat's film simply titled Van Gogh is better. Pialat, as always, also didn't pull any punches showing a burnt-out Vincent nearing the end of his rope. Unfortunately, it's only available here on vhs. Hopefully a DVD will come shortly.


Flightplan seems quite unusual. Although, I do recall the audience laughing at its preview before another screening. It was either gonna be really good or it was gonna suck. Looks like the latter is true.

Haven't seen Pialat's movie. Thanks for the tip.

JustaFied: I agree with everything you said.
The relationship between the 2 brothers is near perfect acting. I'm not taking anything away from Paul Rhys. He was stuffy, but his stuffiness comes from the time and the employment he had.

It's such good acting because this is how people relate to each other. The problems Vincent had with "marketing" his work were very real, and that was the time.

The auction at the beginning is Altman's trump card for driving home the idea (which Antonin Artaud made famous) that van Gogh "was suicided by society".

An Altman masterpiece I would say. See it folks!
There is so much to admire in an Altman film!

Jason Reitman's Thank You for Smoking (TIFF)

2005 / 3rd Q Film List

Jang Jun-hwan's Save the Green Planet! (2005)

Pierre Morel's Banlieue 13 (TIFF)

Female (1933) - Michael Curtiz, George Cukor, William Dieterle

Well it took three men to direct a 60 minute movie, although only Curtiz got the credit. The result is a pre-code film that could have been extraordinary, but instead reaffirmed chauvinist attitudes of the day. In other words a women's picture written and produced by men.

Ruth Chatterton plays a corporate boss who is able to command pretty much anything she wants, and as we see she isn't used to not getting what she wants. Her philosophy is to treat men the way they treat women (at least at the time). She invites them to her home, gets them drunk, has sex with them, and then disregards them the next day at the office. Right now you're probably thinking this movie rocks, but it is when she meets George Brent's character that the film turns to shit. Suddenly this cold calculating woman becomes a mere child doing "men" things. All that thinking and hard work, it's too much for her to bear. Let her worry about important things like finding a husband and raising kids. This solution is not a surprise, but it is a letdown. I found it degrading and as a result the whole film suffers. It also is flawed by it's multiple director approach, blatant stock footage, and uneven pacing. My how times have changed though.

Grade D+

Ruth Chatterton plays a corporate boss who is able to command pretty much anything she wants, and as we see she isn't used to not getting what she wants. Her philosophy is to treat men the way they treat women (at least at the time).

Ahhh... the good 'ol days. ;)

Who'll Stop the Rain (1978) - Karel Reisz

Well I thought I was getting a Vietnam movie, and instead I got a disintesting story of a stubborn ex-marine trying to get rid of some heroin. That's the bare bones plot synopsis. The film itself is not that good and suffers from what I believe to be weak characters. Nick Nolte is the one actor in the film that does any acting, and he makes an impression, but the rest of the cast is easily forgettable and fails to make any sort of mark.

For a Summer Season which contained films from the likes of Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), Ridley Scott (Kingdom of Heaven) and Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds), it would’ve been hard to imagine that a film that would display a few flickers of skill and intelligence would belong to Michael Bay (the key word being "flickers" because ultimately anything and everything gets buried underneath the rubble), but that was just the case. The Island, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, a pair of actors who aren’t known for their box-office clout, starts off intriguingly enough. Set in a post-apocalyptic near future, most of the film’s surprisingly leisurely-paced first-half unfolds at a self-contained facility whose identically dressed residents consider themselves survivors, and from time-to-time, one is sent to supposedly the only uncontaminated place left on Earth: "The Island." But Lincoln Six-Echo’s (McGregor) curious nature impels him to question his existence and that of his surroundings. And when his virginal object of affection, Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson), is selected as the next candidate, it prompts him take a bold step. Something that also enables Bay to expertly start blowing up downtown L.A., but not before he gets to support our President’s stance on stem-cell research (in a typical doltish manner, of course), and shamelessly, yet skillfully ape from the likes of Kubrick and Scott (ahhh… the good ol’ days). The lead actors have nothing much to do. Only Steve Buscemi, who plays that one guy who knows everything, seems to be enjoying his big payday. It’s too bad that Bay ultimately decides to back-peddle from all the exquisitely shot mayhem, taking the film where it started, but quite possibly he simply ran out of ammo. The Island is too long and too loud, but it's conscious of itself, and for a summer flick, that’s a good thing.

Grade: C+
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*THE ISLAND was released in July. It will be available on DVD on Dec 13th.

In Her Shoes (2005) - Curtis Hanson

Well I've always been a Shirley Maclaine fan, so that was enough to get me to this film. I'm a little amazed that the last four movies I've seen have all been playing at regular mainstream theaters. This film has a tendency to want to get too happy and Hollywood, but it restrains itself slightly, key being slightly. There are good moments, and I found the acting good all around, even Cameron Diaz who is usually completely forgettable does a good job here. I must say Curtis Hanson has earned his reputation as being one of the best actor directors. The man gets great work out of whoever is in his cast no matter how bad of an actor they may be.

Needless to say the film really picks up when Maclaine comes in the picture. Obviously it is the big turning point that sets the story in motion, but she gives the film a new life, and brings about a whole different world. Can't tell if Miami is just that sunnier, or if there was an intentional contrast between Philadelphia and Miami. That said, the scenes back in Philly with Toni Collette eventually got sunnier and brighter to coincide with her emerging happiness. The basic message of the film is that these sisters need each other, but they needed the time apart to get their lives in order. There is also a little case of everyone helping everyone, and of course no one really minds a little attack on the wicked stepmother.

The film did get a little Jewish when Simon showed up, which is to say normal for Hollywood, but the Jewish themed humor was used only once to make a comment about joining "Jews for Jesus". Simon is neither charismatic, or in my opinion a really good catch. He's demanding, he orders for everyone, and he can be a little wimpy. Yet at the same time he seems exactly what is needed, flaws and all.

I enjoyed the film, but I can't see it as a best of the year. Of the three films I got to see theatrically this week, this seems the weakest.

Grade B

What were the other 2 films you saw this week besides this and A History of Violence? In Her Shoes had a screening at Toronto but I knew that it was getting a wide-release relatively soon so I passed. It has garnered some good reviews.

Hollywood’s decision to make Canada the home of its numerous productions for monetary causes seems fathomable, but apparently the sort of effect that has had on Canadian film board’s own trajectory doesn’t. As Toronto-based critic Liam Lacey recently reported, TeleFilm Canada has now decided to channel its support towards more "commercially viable" projects, and has more or less delivered an ultimatum to the likes of David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan and others to get in line with their new policies or lose funding. (No, it’s not a coincidence that Cronenberg chose to sign on with an American company for A History of Violence (2005), while Egoyan’s decidedly more marketable Where the Truth Lies (2005) is a Canada/U.K. co-production.) Unfortunately, Canadian bureaus want to compete with our films by making films that look like ours, something that has met with disbelief within the film community. A key member of which is Don McKellar, a multi-faceted prodigy who’s been a part of many key projects in recent years. His debut feature as a filmmaker came with Last Night (1998), a brilliantly staged apocalyptic drama I remember much more vividly than War of the Worlds (2005), which I watched just a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, McKellar’s second film, Childstar, comparably seems to be a more commercially calculated effort, and it suffers for being so even though the reasons for that are quite obvious.

McKellar, also an accomplished actor, plays Rick who, quite ironically perhaps, is a struggling filmmaker working part-time as a limo driver. He comes across an arrogant and obnoxious American "childstar" named Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall), who’s come with his mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Toronto to shoot his latest vehicle. Rick gets involved with Taylor through the mother who herself is a bit lost, yet fails to admit it. McKellar’s initial set-up seems to be a Hollywood satire, but the film is too tame to be taken seriously, and at times it even falls into its own traps. Seeking freedom, Taylor eventually runs off with an aspiring actress/model who also happens to be a hooker (with a heart of gold, of course), and Rick’s job becomes to find the kid which makes him realize the true nature of the people that surround Taylor. Overall, the film is briskly-paced and handsomely-shot, but it doesn’t have an original point-of-view to offer, and perhaps it isn’t much better than these sorts of films that play on kiddie channels. McKellar does provide a bit of dry humor through his performance; although, he would’ve been better off basing the film on Jason Leigh’s character, which was ripe enough to be explored. Childstar has its moments, but they’re too few and far between for it to be considered a success.


Grade: C

Serenity was the other film I saw in theaters.

On video I just watched The Sand Pebbles (1966). This finally gets me settled on the Oscar nominees from 1966. The next several films I watch will probably all be Oscar related. This film is an out of touch and out of date exotic epic that was already obsolete by 1966. The presence of Steve McQueen makes it worthwhile, but the film is generally just droning. Robert Wise handled the direction about as well as you might expect, which is to say a seemless invisible style. There's nothing I can get out of this film, and like all too many of the films in this category, worth only watching for Oscar-related research.

A Woman's Face (1938) - Gustav Molander

Early Ingrid Bergman. This film like so many others was given a Hollywood treatment by George Cukor with Joan Crawford. As for the original, Bergman plays a disfigured villian who finds her "true self" once her face is fixed by a wonderfully generous doctor who she intended to rob. Somewhat hokey, but for whatever reason this may cross your plate.

Grade C

Jean-Luc Godard's For Ever Mozart (1996)

Wang Xiaoshuai's Shanghai Dreams (TIFF)

Quo Vadis (1951) - Mervyn LeRoy

Wow talk about a waste of three hours. Here's an overblown, boring, pointless epic featuring tons of mediocre performances and bad messages. Ustinov is irritating and over the top as Nero, Robert Taylor never could act, and even Deborah Kerr can't save this one. Instead it's three hours of "look how dumb the Romans were killing Christians". Jesus I can't believe this shit used to pass for entertainment. Someone should have fed MGM to the lions for making this nonsense. Again this received a boatload of Oscar nominations, as pieces of crap like this often do, thankfully it was denied any major awards. The story has been remade countless times, and I'm yet to see a version that does anything for me. They need to leave Rome alone.

Grade D

Forgive me, just too lazy to cut and paste everything ...
so here are the links instead ...
;)


From Europe

(1) One Day in Europe (2005) (Germany/Spain)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=198.topic

(2) Aftermath (Lad de små børn) (2004) (Denmark)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=195.topic

(3) From Zero To Ten (Da Zero A Dieci) (2002) (Italy)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=196.topic


From Asia

(4) Everlasting Regret (Chang Hen Ge) (2005) (China/HK)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=183.topic

(5) Shen Hua (The Myth) (2005) (Hong Kong)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=155.topic

(6) Wait 'Til You're Older (Tong Meng Qi Yuan) (2005) (Hong Kong)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=190.topic

It looks like you're attending yet another film festival. ;)

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Well between this, Saw, and Ladder 49 my options weren't very good. Hoping for some cheap laughs I opted for dodgeball. The result was a film that was just bad. Most half assed comedies can at least keep you laughing even if the humor is low brow. Dodgeball on the other hand delivers nothing more than a few light chuckles. The "I'm in every movie" Ben Stiller is his usual self in this movie, which is to say irritating and pointless. His character is the same one he's played in countless films, and I can't laugh too hard at him shoving a piece of pizza down his pants.

Vince Vaughn plays the "hero" of the story and his group of dodgballers is full of losers that don't exactly exist in any format. I did get a small kick out of seeing Wash from Serenity in here, but even his character was just an irritating pirate, so another point lost. The film was overly simple and extremly predictable, so much so that even the unpredictable moments were predictable. I know I'm sounding scathing, but I can't think of much to salvage this film.

Grade D

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

Again with the Oscar nominees. This one was slightly better than the last few, for one simple reason, length. This picture shouldn't have been epic, and it wasn't. The story is unrealistic as one might expect from Hollywood. Convincing us that the Rome of 1954 is luxurious and romantic rather than a decaying hell hole. There are bound to be good match ups and this one pairs everyone off without much of a hitch, but one would expect there'd be a little conflict of interest. Generally the film has likable moments, what garnered an Oscar nomination when the Rear Window, A Star is Born, Salt of the Earth, and others were snubbed boggles my mind.

Grade C

Wong gok hak yau (2004 - Hong Kong) One Night in Mongkok

Directed by Tung-Shing Yee

Starring Daniel Wu, Alex Fong, Kar Lok Chin, Cecilia Cheung

The second of six films in the Tartan Asia extreme tour and a damn sight better than the first, R-Point - 2004 .

A turf war between two gangs of youths leads to the death of one of them and escalates into a feud between two of Hong Kong’s biggest gangs. The police seem unable to clarify the truth and identify those involved but get information that a hit man has been hired to take out one of the bosses. Their job is to catch the assassin before he reaches his target and avoid an all out gang war

Sounds like any one of the dime a dozen Hong Kong action flicks, the sort that make you wonder why anyone would visit never mind live in Hong Kong and indeed that’s the impression it gives for the first ten minutes or so. It has all the usual ingredients including the tart with a heart (Cecilia Cheung) but somewhere along the line things change. As with "Infernal Affairs", this raises itself above the quagmire and produces a film with a bit of depth and conscience.

In the average flick of this type life is cheap, the deaths mount up till in the end you think they’re going for the world record, guns are seen everywhere and nobody seems to bat an eyelid even when they start going off. The bad guys and often the police don’t appear to care who gets caught in the crossfire as long as they get their man and more often than not, the police are just as, if not more thuggish and bullying than the bad guys.

In this film, people see someone with a gun and they panic, scream, run or fall to the ground, especially when the gun is fired. Life, even the lowest is respected by most and the police in particular have a conscience and try to capture the bad guys rather than putting bullets through their heads. Small changes, but ones that make big differences to the overall tone of the film.

There is a strange religious mix, the events take place just before Christmas and it’s quite funny when the hit man (who is also on a mission to find out what’s happened to his sister) asks Dan Dan (the tart with a heart) why everyone is dressed up and she says something like “ I don’t know, think it’s the birthday of that Jesus guy.”

I went to see it expecting the worst and have to admit I was impressed with it, the one problem I did have was with Cecilia Cheung’s character, she didn’t quite gel in her role as a working girl and (this maybe down to the subtitling) she had a horrible habit of saying “my dear” at the end of almost every sentence (a little too Nancy - the original "Tart with a heart" from Charles Dickens Oliver Twist!)

The camerawork was good, the acting overall very credible and the plotline although hardly original was above average for its genre, above all the films got soul.

Recommended, above average crime drama and one I'd probably buy on dvd.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 15

Sounds good. I read in an Asian online journal that One Night in Mongkok is quite possibly the best HK crime-drama since Infernal Affairs, so it must be something; the film was also compared favorably to Johnnie To's PTU.

Well saw a few today. Watched a rather long cut of John Wayne's the Alamo (1960), then wandered in and out of Forbidden Planet (1956), Swing Time (1936), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). I'm not going to get into any of these films, because none are the last film I've seen, and that goes to Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone (1982), a deliberate cult movie if ever there was one.

The film is absolutely horrible, but in the best way imaginable. I honestly think it cost more to record the soundtrack (which is amazing btw) than it did to shoot the movie. Richard's brother Danny was responsible for the music and he also makes an appearance playing the devil, and he does it with a great deal of charisma. Another Elfman appears as Frenchy Hercules, part of a comically miscast family full of dysfunction.

So if you want animation, blackface, musical numbers, a topless princess, a midget king, and lots of other absurdities, this film is for you. Cult movies can be a lot of fun, and this film is. I challenge anyone to watch this film and not laugh at least once. Granted you'll probably laugh at it rather than with it, but that's ok. The film is so bad you can't even make fun of it. Fantastic stuff, and thanks to Fantoma, it's now available in an extremely well put together DVD.

Vengence is Mine (1979) - Shohei Immamura

Like Oshima, Immamura has made a boatload of films that are rather hard to come across. Also like Oshima, I can't tell if there is a particular style of the director. But regardless of auteur status, the man made some good movies, and this is certainly one of them. The story is told in interesting fashion, jumping around a bit temporally. But it is the protaganist that makes the film interesting. How someone can be so indifferent to his own death boggles my mind, but that's just the character. There's no reason for his killing, but alas there's no reason for his living either.

Definitely looking forward to seeing more of his films.

"Buy 6, get 1 for free." That’s what a Ukrainian army general informs Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) while referring to Soviet tanks after the end of cold war in Lord of War, a convoluted satire about the illegal international gunrunning operations. To its credit, the film’s opening and ending sequences are quite effective, but for much of its over-long running time, it relies a little too heavily on tawdry one-liners, which is surprising considering that it appears to have a socio-political agenda and is allegedly "based on true events" (we know to be careful when that appears in our multiplexes). Orlov, a Ukrainian émigré, is the "lord of war" as an arms-dealer without scruples, and he narrates his ups-and-downs that also involve his parents, his brother (Jared Leto), and a model wife (Bridget Moynahan). He got involved in this trade on a low-level in the early 80’s New York, but later discovered a gold mine in his homeland after the fall of Soviet Union. We follow Orlov from Ukraine to Columbia to Afghanistan, but the film mostly settles him in Liberia (thankfully a real African country even though that’s where a few clichés rear their ugly heads). On his trail is an Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) and he faces competition from another dealer (Ian Holm), but that usually doesn’t stop Orlov from doing what he does best. Lord of War is written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca [1997] / S1m0ne [2002]), a talented filmmaker who, despite concocting interesting premises for his films, hasn’t quite been able to finish the jobs. Here, the screenplay carelessly throws out dates and events which seem just as imposterous as the name of the ship on which the arms were aboard, and the constant attempts to detail Orlov’s personal life end up being futile. However, the film boasts excellent cinematography (Amir M. Mokri) and production-design (Jean-Vincent Puzos). And while at times it ends up glorifying the man whose occupation it tries to condemn, the Lord ultimately fires a bullet which isn’t supposed to hurt, but for some reason it does.

Grade: C+
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*LORD OF WAR is currently in theaters. It is scheduled to appear on DVD in January.

David Cronenberg's A History of Violence (2005)

Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times (TIFF)