Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561631 times)

ProperCharlie

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1640 on: October 24, 2011, 05:53:01 AM »
Sorry for the lack of pictures, unfortunately I haven't had the brain-space or time to write up any reviews recently.  I don't like leaving loose ends and I did watch both of these films, so...

Mooi tin oi lei 8 siu see (James Yuen, 1998) aka Your Place or Mine

This is an attempt to do a Hong Kong version of a Richard Curtis film, only it lacks the redeeming qualities that make Richard Curtis films at least moderately paletable.  Instead of the quieter moments of Hugh Grant reflecting on love, joy, loss (probably in the rain), you get a failed comedic moment between the two leads and unfettered men-as-boys larks that cross the line into misogyny.  The view of women in the film is unreconstructed objectification.  Now I do argue that sexual objectification does have a right time and place, but this isn't it.  The female characters are ciphers.  Roughly drawn stereotypes for the leads to lust after, or describe graphically to each other.  They exist in an entirely different world to the leads, a world that seems of little interest to the director.  Apart from that, this is bland.  I have in my notes for this the phrase 'Friends mid-90s urban generica'.  Yes, it's that bland.  Take out the cultural aspects of this film and it could be just about anywhere.  Even the buddy-buddy relationship doesn't feel real.  There's no chemistry.  The relationship with the father figure feels more like one of friendship that the actual friendship does.  All in all a pretty awful experience.

Jing wu ying xiong (Gordon Chan, 1994) aka Fist of Legend

This is more like it.  The best fighting films are more like dance pieces.  There's a grace and beauty in watching the violence that flows through sinew and bone.  During the fight sequences, Fist of Legend is beautiful.  You can see exactly what's going on in the fight.  The rhythm of punch, block, throw is matched with the rhythm of edit in turn matched by the rhythm of the characters thinking ahead in the fight, planning what their next attack or feint will be.  The film bursts into life whenever there's a fight.  And that's my small niggle with it.  During the non-fighting parts, I ended up hoping the next fight would break out soon.  The narrative is disposable as is the interesting historical setting of 1930s Shanghai.  One scene in particular turns a bit Monty Python as a trial in a British-run court becomes a little Silly. 

Luckily, there's a lot of fighting. 

Fist of Legend goes through to the next round.  It's an easy win.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2011, 09:55:55 AM by ProperCharlie »

mañana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1641 on: October 25, 2011, 08:00:11 AM »
Ouch, bummer Your Place or Mine was such a miss for you.

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smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1642 on: November 03, 2011, 09:14:09 PM »
It's good to see there'll see be Kung-fu movies in the next round though. :)

BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1643 on: November 13, 2011, 10:18:13 PM »
Rice People(Neak Sre)
Rithy Panh
1994
Cambodia
Thor's Round 1 verdict




I really did not want to sit down to watch this film. A movie about a rice harvest. Great. Sounds riveting. Oh wait, a family drama about a rice harvest? I'm even less interested. It's with these narrow blinders that I'm so often surprised by how poorly I judge films before watching them. Of course 'Rice People' (Neak Sre) offers a whole lot more then a family picking rice. Taking place after the genocide by the communist Khmer Rouge part in Cambodia, it follows the struggle of one family's struggle in a small town to cultivate a strong rice crop so that they can survive another year. Unfortunately, after the father is incapacitated after a freak accident in the field, the work is left entirely on the shoulders of the wife and their daughters to do the backbreaking labor of maintaining a rice paddy.

With such a simple premise there is so much that goes on in this film. The human struggle and the emotional, physiological and physical torment of the family is harrowing. I never gave much thought to where or how rice was grown. Needless to say I was enthralled and mesmerized by the amount of labor that goes into traditional farming of the grain. This matched with the beautifully shot panoramic landscapes of the fields was incredible in itself. However, while the harvest is what propels the story, its the drama of dealing with incredible tragedy and the perseverance by the strong female lead that make this a really moving film. It is highlighted by two truly spectacular performances by the mother and the eldest daughter, which is surprising since the daughter is played by a non-actor. Despite this, she steals every scene she is in.

I do wish the film laid out the political context better. Except for one scene, this is not really touched upon at all, yet its apparent that it integral to the climate of the film. It's not a part of history I'm familiar with, and it would have been helpful to understand the mindsets of the people in the film. And while I think overall it is a moving film and surprisingly watching the rice harvest captured my imagination, I nevertheless found myself bored and wishing for a shorter run time. With a brisker pace this could have been a really great film, but as it stands it is still a very good family drama.





Blush(Hong Fen)
Shaohong Li
1995
Hong Kong
Melvil's round 1 verdict




'Blush' (Hong Fen) is a movie rooted deep in political context. Set during the Communist Liberation of 1949, the movie follows the lives of two women, Qiu Yi and Lau Pu, who are forced into a rehabilitation after the brothel at which they work is raided by communist reformers. The pair, who are best friends at the time of the raid, are separated when, upon arrival at the camp, QiuYi escapes. She flees to the home of a wealthy former client of hers with whom she has a love affair. What follows is a twisting and turning love tangle involving these three characters.

What is disappointing is that this is mostly a fairly dull melodrama. It's frustrating since there are a few really brilliant scenes thrown in, but as a whole the overly dramatic and often whiny leads are grating. Also somewhat troubling was that I couldn't help but feel I was watching a propaganda film. Since the film is so intertwined with the Communist Liberation it is hard for the film not to take a side. I got the sense that the message was unquestionably in favor of this liberation and serves as a warning sign for those that oppose it. Again, I have little knowledge of the political context of the time, but If QiuYi hadn't resisted and hadn't run away, all of the terribly anguish that the characters suffer could have been avoided. It's not overwhelming, but it was still off putting.

While I do think the movie does try to reach for some interesting insights into the political mindset of the time, it was mostly lost in mediocre melodrama. The cinematography was a highlight. There was an at times overwhelming since of bleakness, highlighted by the dark, gritty interior shots and dreary outdoor scenes. This paired with a wonderful use of colors, especially yellows really accented the feelings of the characters at the time. So while there where peaks of really intriguing cinema, it was on a whole very tedious.



Verdict: This was an interesting match up since both films dealt with similar themes. Both took place either in or right after a communist revolution, both featured strong female leads, both were melodramas and weirdly both featured the strong female lead having their head shaved. Since they were very similar it was actually easier for me to compare the two. 'Rice People' was the more compelling film and will be moving on.

PS. Sorry about the poor 'caps' for Rice People. I neglected to cap anything before I sent it back to Netflix, so these were internet pulls.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2011, 10:20:02 PM by BlueVoid »
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mañana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1644 on: November 14, 2011, 11:14:42 PM »
This was an interesting match up since both films dealt with similar themes. Both took place either in or right after a communist revolution, both featured strong female leads, both were melodramas and weirdly both featured the strong female lead having their head shaved.
Ha, funny how that happens.

I'm glad Rice People turned out to be a pleasant surprise for you. Good stuff.
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pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1645 on: December 30, 2011, 04:35:04 AM »
Round One Resurrection Forecast, Films 76 - 80


Hakuchi (Tezuka Macoto, 1999)
Lost to Nostalgia for the Countryside (verdict by edgar00)
The second half of these first round resurrection forecasts begins with me finally starting to make decisions about films I didn't watch all the way to the end. I hate to do it, but if I ever want to catch up with this bracket, it's probably the only way. The good news, though, is that it wasn't quality that kept me from finishing Hakuchi, only time. It's one of the most interesting of the first round losers to date, and edgar's general enthusiasm for it ("this movie was very much like the much-maligned Southland Tales") makes me very comfortable resurrecting Tezuka's movie, despite having only watched the first half. I'm quoting edgar out of context, by the way. He wasn't very engaged by Southland Tales (and I've never seen it), but the point still stands – namely, that Hakuchi is weirdly good. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for darkly campy dystopias. I think, too, that Hakuchi offers some great fodder for discussion (thematically, tonally), and I hope whoever watches it next for this bracket does a better job engaging with the film (along edgar's verdict) than I'm doing here.



No. 3 (Song Neung-han, 1997)
Lost to Talking Head (verdict by smirnoff)
"I'm sorry you're going to have to watch this pixote." That's how smirnoff ended his verdict, though I didn't necessary remember that when I turned off No. 3 at the thirty-eight minute mark and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I'd forgotten half of what I'd seen and figured it was just best to move on. From what I've viewed so far in this bracket, modern Korean cinema didn't really start to come of age until Green Fish in 1997 (and that needed a resurrection to make it past the first round). The other twelve Korean films in the bracket from before 1998 haven't faired very well, with only four making it to the second round and just one (A Petal) making it to the third. The movies from the early 90s that I've seen have generally been very safe and bland, written and filmed like mediocre television dramas. The mid-90s films have displayed an infusion of style seemingly borrowed from Japan and Hollywood, but also an infusion of emptiness. The boring earnestness of the earlier films gives way to a boring faux-coolness. Either way, these movies have been really underwhelming, and No. 3 continues that trend. I mean, just look at the guy's hair in the screenshot. What was I supposed to do with that?



Green Snake (Tsui Hark, 1993)
Lost to The Tai-Chi Master (verdict by smirnoff)
Umm... umm... umm... yeah. I guess maybe I shouldn't have tried to watch this one sober. It's just a wee bit crazy. I gave it half an hour, but Tsui never really gave me anything to latch on to or keep me watching. The mythic story was just ... crazy. The action was just ... crazy. The visuals were just ... crazy. To quote from smirnoff's review: "It's not so much unintelligible as it is hokey. Still... I'm willing to give this one credit for its fun and fantastic visuals. The giant snakes made of paper-mâché and monks shooting rainbows out of their foreheads may look absurd, but it's also quite amusing (at least for the first little while)." I wasn't quite so amused, I don't think, but the pressure of getting through all these films is maybe starting to get to me. Luckily, Green Snake is on Instant Netflix now, so you can watch it yourself if you want, marvel at its insane brilliance, and then order me to give it a full look.



Keep Cool (Zhang Yimou, 1997)
Lost to Musuko (verdict by Melvil)
I don't know what led the director of Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern to try his hand at a hip, modern, goofy, romantic comedy, but I don't much care for it. I couldn't help but read this film through the lens of Zhang's earlier filmography, so Keep Cool just feels like the work of a director trying overly hard to prove to the critics how modern and versatile he can be. (He'd have better luck a few years later with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. edit: By which I probably mean Hero.) The direction is Keep Cool is very, very strained. Zhang employs a lot of jittery, hand-held, low-angled closeups and jump-cut editing, and it's largely just awkward. It's like he was watching the present-day sequence in Good Men, Good Women and thought, ooh, I can do that. But Keep Cool serves as a nice reminder that Hou and Zhang have different strengths as directors. Still, Melvil was quite kind to this film in his verdict, making me feel extra guilty giving up on Keep Cool after just twenty minutes. If he wants me to give it a full look for resurrection, I definitely will.



Childhood Days (Shinoda Masahiro, 1990)
Lost to A Petal (verdict by Tequila)
Childhood Days is the only movie of this round that I watched all the way through until the end. What really kept me engaged was the gap between how much I wanted to like the film (it's very well made, it's got the word childhood in the frickin' title, etc.) and how much I was actually liking the film (it's a little boring, a little too familiar). It worked pretty well for Tequila as a nostalgia piece, but for me the film was more Lord of the Flies than How Green Was My Valley or Hope and Glory. I never teased out a full thesis, but I felt like the film was mediating darkly on the psyche of World War II-Japan through the children of the time, lamenting the cultural notions of might and right that fueled the country's military policy of the time. It's more interesting to me on paper than in how it plays out in the film. And the passing similarities to Village of Dreams certainly don't help matters, not with that other film being more thematically elegant and dramatically engaging. There are, however, moments in Childhood Days that make me question my whole understanding of the film (or lack thereof). At around the halfway point, for example, Shinji (our small, adorable protagonist) meekly says to Takeshi (the strong, alpha boy), "You're so kind to me, but... why...?" He can't even finish the question, but Takeshi knows he's asking why does he bully him when they seem to be friends at the same time. Takeshi responds by standing up, driving Shinji to the ground, and fighting back tears as he shouts, "Can't you see? Can't you see?" all the while driving Shinji's head into the floor. It's an odd moment to say the least. I was like, "Wait, is Takeshi in love with Shinji? When the f—k did that happen?" But little else in the film really supports any sort of homoerotic reading, so I don't know what's going on. Anyway, the point is, can I resurrect Village of Dreams again?

Up next: Dangan Runner, Black Republic, King of Chess, Samurai Fiction, and Sumo Do, Sumo Don't.

pixote
« Last Edit: June 13, 2012, 10:40:32 PM by pixote »
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mañana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1646 on: December 30, 2011, 09:10:17 AM »
I mean, just look at the guy's hair in the screenshot. What was I supposed to do with that?
;D

Good stuff, pix.
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smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1647 on: December 30, 2011, 09:11:40 AM »
Green Snake (Tsui Hark, 1993) - A series of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes played in reverse.

A brilliant description. :) All I can't say about No.3 and Green Snake at this point is good riddance. I enjoyed your observations about Korean cinema though.

PS. Somethings gone wrong with the links.

sdedalus

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1648 on: December 30, 2011, 09:33:34 AM »
Luckily, Green Snake is on Instant Netflix now, so you can watch it yourself if you want, marvel at its insane brilliance, and then order me to give it a full look.

I just might do that.

(He'd have better luck a few years later with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.)

LOL.
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pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1649 on: December 30, 2011, 11:13:18 AM »
PS. Somethings gone wrong with the links.

Fixed. Thanks!

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