Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561496 times)

michael x

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1360 on: August 11, 2010, 11:18:12 PM »
 :D

sdedalus

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1361 on: August 12, 2010, 02:28:23 AM »
God how I wish contemporary movies had action sequences as well shot and edited as the ones in John Woo's films.

Hard-Boiled is the Singin' in the Rain of action films.  The genre in its purest form.
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flieger

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1362 on: August 12, 2010, 03:21:13 AM »
It's a good verdict, michael x. Hurrah!

Tim

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1363 on: August 12, 2010, 10:24:14 PM »
even though I don't have time to be involved in this (b)racket right now - yes, Hard Boiled is a clear winner in that round!
"Only cinema narrows its concern down to its content, that is to its story. It should, instead, concern itself with its form, its structure." Peter Greenaway

Bondo

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1364 on: August 17, 2010, 11:59:02 PM »
My Rice Noodle Shop (Yang Xie, 1998)

The film starts by recapping a brief history of the civil war in China that led many to flee to Taiwan, hoping for eventual return. The more personal story is of a woman whose family had a wildly successful noodle shop in China and now she is running a struggling one in Taipei. The tale is told going between the present and flashbacks to the pre-war period, eventually closing the gap.

Now, one problem enters in on the present scenes. I think we are supposed to pity her struggle, but the truth is she has terrible public service/tact and I think her restaurant should close. Sure, maybe it is just trying to be funny, but it undercuts the struggle. Of course we also get false emotional notes such as an old man who can’t pay for his dinner because he’s still waiting for his son to send him money. This doesn’t resonate. As far as I’m concerned, if he doesn’t pay, he doesn’t eat, and she can’t blame him that she keeps letting him buy on credit. But then I’m a horrible person who likes starving old people or something.

The bigger theme that works a bit more consistently is the idea of all these people putting their lives somewhat on hold…sacrificing present happiness, in the hope that they will return to their hometown in China and reunite with loved ones that may or may not still be alive and may or may not still be holding out for them.

Though there are many nice features here, ultimately I find too many of the characters lacking in subtlety and thus realism and it prevents the film from really landing. It also falls into the habit of assuming that misery is more emotionally resonant. Decent, not great.
I love it when a movie can provide a strong central female character, so My Rice Noodle Shop was still, despite the shortcomings I discovered, a good movie. Carol Cheng carries the film with an inspiring performance which at times shows the right amount of energy, and at other times sublime subtlety. For the acting alone this is a worthwhile film.


It’s dense. But accessible in a surprising way. It also feels more solid, less expositional than Ghost in the Shell. I mean, all that stuff is still there, and those conversations that are more rhetoric than anything else still exist, but it feels held together better, more interesting, more solid.
Patlabor 2 (Mamoru Oshii, 1993)

This was a struggle for me. I figured I would slide right into things having just watched the first film in the series last night as background (and for my animation marathon). I also read a complete plot summary prior to turning this on. Yet, I was still largely at a loss for what was going on.  This film screams for a dub. It is heavy in exposition and it is a real challenge to keep up with the subtitles much less actually look at the visuals (though many of the longer expository conversations have pretty static backdrops). Further, it seems like the film pays almost no attention to developing the characters. I had some vague notion of where characters from the first film might have fit in, but the film doesn’t really identify its characters so that you know who is in a given scene and I certainly wasn’t skilled enough to always tell them apart (lots of uniforms since many of the characters are police or military).

Like the first film, this has a largely absent villain with unconvincing motivations, in this case seeming like an uninspired way for the film to make its political point (apparently something about opposing Japan’s military engagement in other countries through the UN). It just seems a distant and rather convoluted mess.

Obviously I agree more with FCM's dense comment more than the accessible comment. I've liked Oshii's work on The Sky Crawlers and even on Patlabor 1 well enough (it didn't blow me away but was competent) but have to admit a great dislike of Ghost In The Shell. It seems Patlabor 2 is more like the latter than the former pair in some ways and I felt overwhelmed and underwhelmed simultaneously (because apparently those aren't opposites).

Verdict: If this were Panlabor vs. My Rice Noodle Shop, I'd probably give the edge to Panlabor. But this is Panlabor 2 vs. My Rice Noodle Shop and that one goes to the often touching tale of lives affected by the Chinese civil war.

duder

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1365 on: September 05, 2010, 04:38:41 PM »
A Dedicated Life (Kazuo Hara, 1994)

Kazuo Hara's filmmaking M.O. is pretty simple: he attaches himself to compelling, strong-minded characters, turns the camera on, and hopes to come across something interesting in the process. He struck gold with Kenzo Okuzaki in The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (which you should watch right now!), but his other movies are all pretty boring, and A Dedicated Life, a documentary on Japanese writer Yasushi Inoue, is no exception.

Inoue is a narcissist par excellence, a sad little man, way too much in love with himself, who spends his time demanding admiration from those around him at boring lectures and boring boring dinner parties. Hara, unfortunately, is working at Inoue's level, trying his hardest to destroy the image the man created for himself over the years, and taking great pleasure in uncovering petty lies such as these:




=======




 ::)

Inoue may have been a great artist, but you wouldn't know it from watching this. Which is sad. But I guess that was the point.


"I make bitter films. I hate mainstream society." — Kazuo Hara

Whatever, guy.


The Longest Nite (Patrick Yau Johnnie To, 1998)

Johnnie To loves the big finale, hum? Let's start at the end then. After 70 minutes of senseless violence, farcical bad ass posturing and silly plot twists, a bald Ching Wan Lau and a bald Tony Leung find each other in a mirror warehouse (?!). Cue ridiculously awesome shootout in which they "kill" each other over and over again in a blaze of exploding glass and heavyhanded symbolism! :D





















*sigh* :)

Now back to the 70 minutes of film that precede this. In the first round verdict, Clovis called this movie a mix of Bad Lieutenant, The Shield and Pulp Fiction. I would say The Usual Suspects is a more apt comparison, but that's beside the point. All of those have an emotional core that's completely lacking here. I would go into detail, but I'd merely be cataloguing the numerous ways in which this movie is offputting, which I really don't feel like doing. Instead, I have prepared a Tastelessness Reel to do the job for me. Just play it on a loop until you get a sense of it :)


« Last Edit: September 05, 2010, 04:40:43 PM by duder »
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duder

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1366 on: September 05, 2010, 04:39:37 PM »
Oh, I have to pick a winner. A Dedicated Life moves on. I disliked it less.
...

roujin

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1367 on: September 09, 2010, 07:33:53 PM »
Fun. The Longest Nite (or at least its final set piece) looks pretty cool.

tinyholidays

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1368 on: September 11, 2010, 03:55:44 PM »
Artists in Wonderland vs. Pushing Hands



Artists in Wonderland. 1998. Sato Makato. Japan.



Artists in Wonderland

Walking down the halls of a painting gallery can be a pleasant experience for many people. One observes the scenes and objects put to canvass, the technique used to create the piece (provided one understands such things), and in all likely will live some kind of emotive or intellectual response. What is the picture about? What do I think it is about? Why were such colours chosen? Why is she smiling at me? How come Goya likes drawing death and decay so much? What is that itchy feeling in my pants? Etc.

Of course, for the most part the paintings you and I study and observe at the gallery were created by respected artists, some of which are known the world over. Their art tells a story, releases or relieves frustrations, challenges. Whether the work be as clear as another one of those ‘Jesus on the cross’ paintings, or as abstract as that one with the spheres and the thingy, we can appreciate the effort.

Japanese director Sato Makato takes those ideas and documents them for the viewer to observe in a slightly different light with his film Artists in Wonderland. Makato visited several different mental institutions where patients were encouraged to channel their capacities and emotions towards creating art, most notably paintings and sculptures. The mind of a mentally challenged individual is fit only for the specialists to even attempt to understand, but by and large the regular societal members will agree in saying that a mentally ill individual simply doesn’t ‘think’ or ‘function’ as, or the lack of a better term, ‘normal’ people do. What kind of art would they create if given the opportunity? If a monkey can make art, then there’s no reason why a mentally handicapped person can’t. After all, it is said that the activity of creating a work of art can be a soothing and possibly a healing experience.



The concept of the film starts off in promising manner. The viewer witnesses a mental patient drawing an elaborate if somewhat confusing picture of a plant with one of the employees supervising him providing some comments which were recorded off screen and hence narrate this segment. Her comments are intriguing and give some insight into how these patients approach their work. She briefly comments on what techniques she, as a student, had been taught to adopt when drawing plants and various objects. Her educational background provided her with rather technical strategies and guidelines to follow and help channel whatever inspiration she had. What she notices is how the patient, lacking any formal training and probably with a radically different thought process, is creating what she sees as an impressive picture, full of detail and rich textures of emotions. Whereas she was instructed to begin a picture of a plant with a particular part of the organism, she explains that the patients tend to start their pictures with whatever leaves the biggest impression on them. It is the impression from whence the art is derived.

From there Makato takes us to a couple of other facilities, each one populated by patients who have struck a love affair with the arts. One in particular, an elderly man, invests his efforts in the moulding and solidifying of clay sculptures. He is a colourful character who, despite his overall good nature, consistently mentions ‘what a pity it is.’ What exactly is ‘a pity’? I’m not entirely sure, but it made the chap rather comical. His works are not representations are clear, easily discernable objects or people, but rather abstract shapes and forms. Yet another patient, who demands that all name him She-chan, is a bit of an eccentric (even for his condition) who shouts that he likes high school girls in mini skirts. Although it never occurs on screen, it is hinted that She-chan sometimes becomes a bit physically violent with those around him. Yet, he channels his emotions as well as love for beaches and bikinis on a very art-house type program which features him as the star narrating whatever he feels like (usually something about high school girls in mini skirts). Each of these patients eventually sees the results of his and her efforts displayed in some galleries.



The crust of the film, as you can probably imagine, is the reality that impressive, curious and noteworthy art is emerging from these handicapped minds. I don’t think the film is trying to prove anything necessarily. There is no spoon fed message of ‘look you insensitive fools, these people can create beautiful things!’ The idea of simply following these people as they work on their respective projects in preparation for the expositions is a fascinating one. There is absolutely no intrusion whatsoever on the part of director Makato. He doesn’t interfere with any of the depicted moments. He lets the camera, and hence whomever the camera is capturing at a given time, show reality. There are a few shared moments with the family members or friends of these patients and even a glimpse or two of She-chan being told that shouting at and pinching people doesn’t leave a good impression of him with others. Mostly however, we see these outcasts artists at work. For that reason, the film does put the concept of art in an interesting perspective. As I mentioned earlier, the movie isn’t hammering home any specific argument, but I was captivated by the art given life by these supposedly stupid people. What’s more I found the fruit of their efforts to be very beautiful, at least most of the time. I was particularly taken by the sculptures created by the elderly patient (we even see him one night working with a kiln, which is a fun scene). It was equally rewarding to see that the time and efforts put into the preparations were treated with respect by and large by those helping them at the institutes. The film never tries to make up a ‘villain’ in order to construct some artificial conflict.




And yet, despite that major strength, I was hoping for a bit more. By the end, I longed for some more comments and analysis, the likes of which the viewer is given at the beginning regarding technique and inspiration. It would have been nice to hear from some of the visitors to the galleries once all the works are put on display. Some comments from the friends and family members would have added some context to these talented people we follow around for 90 minutes. Anything to add some meat to what is on display in the film. The value of art, what is means to different people, what it can do for these mentally handicapped people, what it might mean for them, etc. There is absolutely none of that. It’s 90 minutes of them working in their projects and putting them on display, with a few scenes featuring them in interaction with family or the people working at these facilities.

The absence of any of the above elements doesn’t hurt the documentary all that much. I like the film. It has an interesting topic, it spends a lot of screen time observing the patients toiling away on their art and unlike some documentary filmmakers, Makoto chooses to remain impartial throughout. It could have been more is essentially my complaint. Good but by no means great. With a little bit more depth the documentary would receive much higher praise from me, but as it stands it is still a fine project.

What he said?

Really, Edgar already nailed what I wanted to say about this doc. The people and art portrayed within are interesting, especially She-chan's video installation. Because the developmentally disabled are so hidden away in most societies (but especially Japan), the act of putting such artists on screen seems like a statement, even if none is being made overtly. I also wished for more presentation, more of an attempt to say why the film was being made. A bit more narrative involvement could have pushed this from solid to great.





Pushing Hands. 1996. Directed by Ang Lee. Written and Directed by Ang Lee and James Schamus. Taiwan.

This is an almost offensively typical story of an old Chinese man (Master Chu) who has moved into his son's home not getting along with said son's white wife, who seems to be offended and frightened at the very thought of a Chinaman living in her home, despite being married to one. I liked watching Sihung Lung, who plays Master Chu, but, as smirnoff mentioned:

It was the lead actress, she just wasn't that good.

Remember, westerners, don't be afraid of Ancient Chinese Secrets. If you like your plots hackneyed and your metaphors blatant, pick up Pushing Hands.



Verdict: This was my least exciting second round match-up so far, but I'm glad to be able to move a doc into the third. Artists in Wonderland advances.

Bondo

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1369 on: September 11, 2010, 04:03:37 PM »
Remember, westerners, don't be afraid of Ancient Chinese Secrets. If you like your plots hackneyed and your metaphors blatant, pick up Pushing Hands.

I do and I did (well, I watched it as the representation of Confucianism in my comparative religion class). I am disappointed in this verdict, even if it isn't a particularly special film.

 

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