the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

**arsaib4** · 10-12-2005, 10:18 PM

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.

**wpqx** · 10-16-2005, 02:12 AM

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.

**wpqx** · 10-16-2005, 03:20 PM

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.

**arsaib4** · 10-17-2005, 02:43 AM

"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.

**arsaib4** · 10-17-2005, 02:50 AM

David Cronenberg's A History of Violence (2005)

Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times (TIFF)

**trevor826** · 10-17-2005, 07:18 PM

Vital (2004)

Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

Starring Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kazuyoshi Kushida

Film No4 in Tartan's Asia extreme tour 2005.

Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) wakes up in hospital after a car crash, his memory is gone but his parents take him home and hope for the best. Finding his old medical books he decides to enrol as a medical student, (his father is a doctor). During the training he has to do dissect a corpse which is unusual in that it is a young woman, suddenly memories come flooding back to him, but are they just memories?

Sounds macabre, depressing or gross but provided you can let yourself flow with it, it’s quite beautiful. Hiroshi slips from the present to the past and often into a higher plane of consciousness!

Tadanobu breezes through his role and just manages to keep his character interesting, Kazuyoshi Kushida excels as the father of Hiroshi’s ex girlfriend. The directing and editing are superb (as I’d expect) and Nami Tsukamoto (any relation?) is beautiful and I assume from her performance, a trained dancer.

The film asks many questions such as: How do we define love? What is waiting for us when we die? What is reality? And as one of the doctors asks, “Where is the soul?”

Provided you can just absorb it, you will find plenty to appreciate in this “strangely poetic love story” from Tsukamoto. I've often noticed a similarity between the work of Tsukamoto and Cronenberg, one line in this film feels like a definite reference to Cronenberg's Crash!

I loved it but have no doubt that it will not appeal to a great many people which is a shame.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 15.

**arsaib4** · 10-19-2005, 01:56 AM

I'd like to see Vital but I can't find another version of its Japanese DVD, which ranges anywhere from $40 - $70.

It looks like the best option would be the Tartan U.K. disc which will be out in the first week of December.

Any other upcoming Asian releases from Tartan that seem interesting?

**hengcs** · 10-21-2005, 12:22 AM

Recently ...

Kebab Connection (2005) (Germany)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=208.topic

Shade of Happiness (Onnen Varjot) (2005) (Finland)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=207.topic

Election (Hei She Hui) (2005) (Hong Kong)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=210.topic

;)

**arsaib4** · 10-21-2005, 01:48 AM

Alan Clarke's Made in Britain (1982)

Pornchai Hongrattanaporn's Bangkok Loco (TIFF)

**arsaib4** · 10-21-2005, 01:50 AM

It’s not surprising to learn that Roads to Koktebel, the debut feature of two young Russian filmmakers, Boris Khlebnikov and Alexei Popogrebsky, has played at numerous film festivals around the world since its premiere a couple of year ago, winning many awards during its run. While the film isn’t remarkable in any way, its straight-forward, understated approach is quite appealing. But I’m sure a few people have overstated their case after discovering some correlation between the bleak landscapes found in Roads to Koktebel and the ones omnipresent in the works of Tarkovsky and Sokurov.

The film deals with a father (Igor Csernyevics) and his precocious 11-year-old son (Gleb Puskepalis) trying to reach a town called Koktebel, which is in Crimea near the Black sea. We gradually discover that they’ve started from Moscow on foot because of necessity, and need to see the boy’s aunt once they reach their destination. Along the way, they come across individuals usually found in movie road trips: a good-hearted station master, a duplicitous old man, a lonely nurse etc. But interestingly enough, the father, who initially came across as a responsible individual, slowly succumbs to booze (his possible problem before the trip started), and gets smitten with a woman, forcing the boy to make his own decisions.

Along with being a well-acted and beautifully shot effort, Roads to Koktebel is also expertly crafted and sustained tonally, something not usually seen in debut features. There isn’t much dialogue; most of the action is interpreted from gestures and expressions. A couple of characters early on in the film could’ve been employed more meaningfully, including a teenage girl, however, the filmmakers do spend as much time as possible with their protagonists, allowing us to grasp their developing relationship. The metaphysical contortions in the narrative are extraneous, but the film makes up for them during the final sequence which is fierce and brazenly alive.

Grade: B

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*ROADS TO KOKTEBEL was released on DVD in August by Film Movement.

**wpqx** · 10-21-2005, 12:08 PM

Adoption (1975) - Marta Meszaros

Rather simple in it's construction. Adoption is an intamte chamber drama much in the vein of Autumn Sonata or even Saraband from Bergman. The story focuses on two principle females. An older widow, and a young girl from adopted parents. The two bond, and in the process each help to free each other of the obstacles in their way. Rather than the frequent use of deep focus photography, this film has a blurry visual style. The camera gets so close on occasion, that it's almost impossible for things to be in focus. As usual for films of the country and time, the pace is slow and contemplative.

**trevor826** · 10-21-2005, 03:42 PM

Novo (2002)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin

Starring Eduardo Noriega (The Devil's Backbone), Anna Mouglalis (Merci pour le chocolat), Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia)

Graham (Eduardo Noriega) has a slight memory problem, within 10 minutes he’s forgotten everything so he’s forever scribbling notes to remember names, places, just about everything. A temp Irene, (Anna Mouglalis) becomes attracted to him and his somewhat innocent idiosyncrasies and they end up together with her forever writing little notes just so he remembers who she is, (one of the reasons she enjoys their relationship so much is that everytime they make love it’s like the first time).

A man who regularly reports on his activities is also following Graham; it’s only after a while we find out that before the start of his memory loss he was his best friend. There’s also a young boy who regularly appears; again it’s a good while before we know whom he and the mysterious woman (Paz Vega) who pops up now and again are and how they are connected with Graham.

A twisted chain of events slowly reveal the truth about Graham and his memory problems until for some unclear reason his memory returns and the story is wrapped up quite nicely, or is it?

This uses a similar idea to “Memento” but without the reverse plot. It seems (and the dvd extras only add proof to this) that the sole reason is to make a slightly twisted romantic drama with nudity in abundance (especially Eduardo Noriega and Anna Mouglalis), fairly smart and erotic, a little too glossy maybe (the cast are certainly more attractive than the average Joe), entertaining but not groundbreaking.

An ideal movie for a relaxing night, but definitely only for adults.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 18

Region 2 Pal dvd available from Tartan Video.

**trevor826** · 10-21-2005, 07:07 PM

arsaib4 - Any other upcoming Asian releases from Tartan that seem interesting?

Tartan don’t appear to be up to much over the coming months apart from Vital, the other films on the Asia extreme tour and a few oldies.

They are releasing a series under the J-Horror banner but the 2 announced sound distinctly average:

Infection 2004 Masayuki Ochiai
Premonition 2004 Norio Tsuruta

Apart from those the only other film I could find was “A Bittersweet Life” 2005 Ji-woon Kim, hopefully a little more interesting.

What I’d like to know is why there are no releases of films by directors like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, after all the USA branch has Doppelganger on its schedule.

Cheers Trev.

**arsaib4** · 10-21-2005, 11:51 PM

A Bittersweet Life played at Cannes earlier this year. Looks like a typical K-thriller, but people seem to like it.

Yeah, I'm also a bit surprised by the lack of K. Kurosawa in the U.K., especially since you guys have so many Asian labels. Almost all of his recent work is available on DVD here. Bright Future and Doppelganger are quite good. Pulse is releasing theatrically next month, I think.