Blues Harp (1998, Takashi, Miike, Japan) against
Green Fish (1997, Chang-don Lee, Korea)
It’s January and there is a frigid breeze haunting the city I live in, so much so that it freezes the tears that roll down my cheeks when I step outside. The ski and Premier League seasons are in full swing, yet as much as I adore the Gunners and respect the other English clubs, January can mean only two things in truth: NFL playoffs and the Far East bracket. Why not spice up the elements by fusing the two together?
Put your game faces on Filmspotters because we’re going assess this matchup play by play and blow by blow. It will be like Primetime but hosted by a white boy. Uh, we do what we do!
Storming out of the tunnel is
Blues Harp, a story about the newly found friendship between three very different people in urban Japan. The first of these three is Chujii (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), a half Black half Japanese (that’s right) bartender in a pub that puts on music shows every night. A little known fact is that he very much enjoys playing the harp (or harmonica), but only in his private quiet time, not in front of any significant audience. He also deals drugs for a gang member in order to earn some extra money on the side. The second is Kenji, a young, resourceful but perhaps too brash Yakuza gang member. The third is Tokiko, a perky ‘glass is half full’ type of girl who visits the same pub Chujii works at to see the music shows. One night, their fates become intertwined when Chujii not only helps out Tokiko from some customers but hides Kenji, who is on the run from some rival gang members who he has irked. Pretty soon, Tokiko and Chujii start dating and move in with each other. The former becomes inadvertently involved in a plan Kenji has concocted to overthrow a Yakuza leader. The players are fired up and ready for kickoff.
First and foremost,
Blues Harp has a great sense of style, a style that serves the storytelling very well. This isn’t a three hour epic drama, but a 100 (give or take) minute film that tells a compact and interesting story. There are few scenes here that do not serve any purpose in the narrative, with perhaps a couple of exceptions that I will assess a bit later. The character development on display is also well up to par with what one would at least hope for in a Yakuza film. Chujii is of the laid back type. From his demeanor it appears as if very little can rile him up. Tokiko on the other hand is very expressive. To reference to a recent film, she is very much in the same vein as Poppy, from Happy Go Lucky. What the film does well is not make her perkiness unbearable. Her reactions and comments to the people and events around her tickled my funny bone more than once.
Perhaps the most ambiguous character is Kenji, the Yajuza gang member. At times, there is an appearance about him that denotes confidence and a know-how that should make him a formidable foe. And yet, from the very get go, there are hints that indicate he may be getting in over his head. He is highly loyal to those he believes he can trust, as is demonstrated in the scene during which he repays (literally) Chujii for helping him out when he was in need early in the film. Interestingly enough, the movie makes a semi-subtle reference to something that may be cooking under the surface with regards to how Kenji views Chujii. I won’t give it away here, and the movie never explicitly provides an answer, but it is an interesting theme that the story toys with a bit. Put some easy points on the board with these fun characters. Add a little bit of subtlety and you get a quarterback sneak the defence just didn’t see coming. Another set of downs, let’s keep on rolling.
The films greatest strength, its leader on the field, is in these relations that unfold. It is possible to argue that there is a slight sense of ‘been there, done that’ but we spend enough time with these people that by the time the third act begins, the viewer is fully invested in them, which is more than I can say for many other films I’ve seen. Chujii and Tokiko, as different as they are, do form a good looking couple. Her inherent goodness inspires him as does his work ethic (minus the drug dealing) and laid back attitude make her feel good. The determination that fuels Kenji to honour this new friend and ally he has found in Chujii is a nice element. Rather than have Kenji drag Chujii into his plot to shake up the Yakuza, he wants to protect him. One thing leads to another, and when it is Kenji’s driver, who out of jealousy, brings Chujii into the plan and subsequently into great danger, Kenji feels compelled to do all he can to save him. The final scene has a strong dramatic effect because of everything that came before it. The viewer has come to like these people so much that seeing them in any danger raises the stakes to a remarkably intense level. Instead of an overtly gritty, glum gangster movie, what we have is a surprisingly effective character driven story. The Yakuza element merely serves as the starting off point for the character moments that follow. A wise decision which is nicely put into effect by director Miike.
Blues Harp makes a ‘wildcat’ play and strolls into the end zone yet again.
One last point I’d like to make. Eventually Chujii is invited to the stage one night at his pub to play the harmonica with the band. We have already seen the band play some grand blues/rock at the beginning of the film. The singer takes a backseat and Chujii starts blowing the heck out that little harp of his. It’s great stuff to watch and listen to. There are maybe 3 or 4 scenes like this in the movie that show off great blues musical numbers for 2-3 minutes. Every one of them is a treat to listen, doubly so if you like that kind of music. A great, great soundtrack for the movie. Onside kicks, full backs throwing passes, wide receivers finding ways to get open… Blues Harp is brimming with confidence.
Blues Harp had a game plan and stuck to it. There is no cop out at the end, it isn’t trying to be ‘important’ in any particular way. It simply wants to tell a story with compelling, memorable characters. It does just that but with a confident sense of style as well. A well coached product with players ready to give it their all.
After scoring senselessly, a kickoff to…
Green FishIn Chang-dong Lee’s
Green Fish, Makdong (Suk-kyu Han) is a 26 year old single guy coming home following a term he served in the military. Just because he was in the military doesn’t mean he can handle everything though. In one of the movie’s initial scenes, Makdong, while taking the train home, decides to come to the aid of a damsel, Mi-ae (Hye-jin Shim) who has caught the attention of some annoying blokes. She gets away fine but Makdong gets slapped around a fair bit. The Korean Jason Bourne this guy certainly ain’t.
Still, Makdong’s curiosity about Mi-ae propels him to go look for her. A string of luck has our skinny hero come across her at a lounge where she is a popular singer it turns out. Finding her finally leads him to Mi-ae’s lover, an entrepreneur/mob leader named Bae Tae-kon (Seong-kun Mun). With no job and a big question mark all around regarding his future, he snags a simple job in Bae’s organization. Is Makdong really cut out for this kind of work? Well, I’ll let Filmspotters find that out if they choose to watch the movie, but rest assured that is doesn’t start out promising. What’s more, it becomes apparent that Mi-ae is ready to start a fling with this young gun, which makes Makdong feel somewhat awkward at times. There’s no question he finds her attractive, but believes he owes his loyalty to Bae who saw enough in him to land him a job within his organization. A promising lineup, no doubt. But how will it stack up in the Far East brackets, Asian cinema’s version of the playoffs?
The movie is…fine. It’s…good, I’ll go with that. I think the issue lies in the fact that as the story evolves, the writing and directing feel slightly unfocused. This works to the detriment of the main character. For example, quite early in the film it is evident that it is through Makdong’s eyes that we will see this world, this culture. He is an awkward fellow, particularly with women. His family as some eccentric characters, such as one of his elder brothers who drives an egg truck around Seoul to earn a living. This leads to one of the funniest scenes I’ve had the privilege of watching in quite some time. They get involved with a couple of police officers and… I’ll stop now. It really needs to be seen. What I thought was compelling about such a sequence, as well as others, was how they stressed Makdong’s immaturity in many situations. He doesn’t seem to have fully evolved into a mature 26 year old. When Mi-ae begins to make some moves on him later on, he becomes as stiff as a rod! It’s kind of funny and Suk-kyu Han should be commended for the performance. So far, Fish is making some plays to march down the field. They still have their 4 downs left.
It’s at about the half way mark of the film that things go astray a little bit. The film doesn’t fall apart by any means, but it looses something. When a rival mob leader/entrepreneur starts challenging Bae, there are more and more scenes that focus on him rather than Makdong. I wouldn’t say that Bae becomes the main character, but suddenly his presence (key word: presence, not necessarily screen time) becomes much more intriguing and worthy of dramatic effect within the narrative than Makdong’s. For about the final half hour of the movie, Suk-kyu Han is relegated to standing with a somewhat numb look in his eyes. In fact, merely due to the final 30 minutes, I preferred Seong-kun Mun’s performance to Han’s. There is nothing wrong with a catalyst event propelling the film into the final third, in this case the appearance of the rival mob boss, but it really takes the wind out of the sails of he who, at the start of the film, was the dominant character. When Makdong’s final fate is sealed, I didn’t care so much for him anymore. Oh no, fumble! The other team has the ball!
There are some scenes that, for all intents and purposes, didn’t work for me at all. The second time Mi-ae attempts to seduce Makdong not only feels predictable, but has a terribly awkward feel to it. Perhaps this was Lee’s intention, but it certainly didn’t make the scene a pleasure to watch, even intellectually. There was another cringe inducing moment during which Bae’s henchmen, including Makdong, bring a poor sucker to dig his own grave. There is an atrocious attempt at comedy that rang terribly false. Another disappointing scene has a drunk Mi-ae greatly anger her lover Bae. While not a terrible scene per say, it felt forced. I was under the impression that its only purpose was to set up the next scene, incidentally the seduction scene I wrote about earlier. And it isn’t even as though her flirtation with Makdong makes much of an impact throughout the film. Not that it didn’t have its place in the story, but I was not under the impression that the writers knew exactly what to do with it. I imagine it was part of Makdong’s growing and process of maturation, but I never felt its importance. The defence is reading the quarterback like a book. He’s scrambling, sacked and overthrowing late in the game here…
The movie does have one spectacular final scene which almost saves the Makdong/Mi-ae relationship. Effective and touching, it really works. I also enjoyed the visual style of the film. It felt at times like a movie from the 70s, one of my favourite cinematic decades. The lighting, the camera work, there was something about them that reminded me of that era, even though this is a 1997 film. I don’t know whether that was intentional or not, but it worked for me. There are of course elements of the film noir genre here, with a femme fatale seducing our hero, and plenty of slimy characters lurking in the shadows. There are several scenes that occur at night and they all look great. Good stuff for sure, but that was more like that a touchdown a team scores in the final minute when they’re already down by 21.
Green Fish had me interested for its entire running length, but mostly because I hoped the story would get back on track with the strong start it had with Makdong’s character. That never happened unfortunately. I started to feel as though the writers had perhaps ran out of ideas for him. The weight of the Makdong/Mi-ae affair is never felt to its true potential either. A decent film, one that I’m sure many of you can like if you one day choose to watch-oh, I’m sorry, experience. For me, it didn’t quite fire on all cylinders. A worthy effort, but it could have used some extra drills during training camp.
Final score:
Blues Harp 30-17
Green Fish. A respectable effort by the Fish, but Blue had too much fire power and a stout defence that sealed the deal in the late stages of the game.
Blues Harp earns its trip to the next round. Director Miike is given the Gatorade treatment.
Green Fish is left to ponder on the journey in the Far East bracket that could have been...
Fish are Green,
Harps are Blue,
I preferred the latter
And so will you.