Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561553 times)

Bondo

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1710 on: July 07, 2012, 07:18:41 PM »
The God of Cookery (1996)

As a fan of Stephen Chow's film Kung Fu Hustle and looking at this film's title, I had an expectation that it would be silly. While this blending of martial and culinary arts has great promise as a premise, the handling of the material is at a drastically lower level than the later film.

Chow plays "Stephen Chow," dubbed the God of Cookery but as the film opens, we can see that he's let the title go to his head. He's mean, greedy and lazy. We can only be glad when he's taken down a peg. Thusly humbled, we watch as he takes up with some street food peddlers and begins his quest to reclaim his title and fame.

While I did enjoy this and it had a number of particularly good gags, there's just too much digging to the bottom of the barrel in broad comedy and intentionally poor filmmaking. I could see certain choices like random extreme closeups being made in an outright parody like Kung Pow: Enter The Fist, making fun of bad films for using these techniques, but this film is less parody and more comedy and rather than feeling referential, it just feels lazy. And while I recognize that Kung Fu Hustle came with its own share of broad humor, the plethora of jokes here at the expense of ugly people is just too mean-spirited. These things work against the film's qualities and never does the film show the sheer innovation of KFH.

3/5

Labyrinth of Dreams (1997)

As with many things, when it comes to pacing, moderation is a virtue. Move too fast and moments can become weightless, lacking impact, move too slowly and things become tedious. But if you hit the sweet spot in between, you can draw out the emotion and the tension of a scene for maximum effect. Labyrinth of Dreams is a moody black and white thriller that attempts to draw out moments past the viewer's comfort zone, but does occasionally cross the line into tedium.

Tomiko (Rena Komine) receives a posthumous letter from a friend, a bus conductor, who had died in an accident, warning that the friend suspected her fiance Niitaka was going to kill her. Adding that to rumors going around the group of conductors of a bus driver who gets involved with his conductors before killing them, Tomiko sets her mind on revenge when, coincidentally, Niitaka shows up and is paired with her.

If there's a thematic element to this story it seems to be something about the dangers of a young girl's erotic imagination. We witness Tomiko seemingly overwhelmed by lust for the attractive Niitaka, even knowing the danger he presents. In this way, it shares some traits with Twilight's exploration of similar themes but told in a more etherial manner.

There's a lot to like about the visual quality of the film and the mood, but I can't help but feel that some adjustments to pacing and editing out some of the more unnecessary scenes would leave this much more effective as a short film.

4/5

Verdict: Labyrinth of Dreams manages to be a film that is clearly superior on a technical and thematic basis, yet for all it's sloppiness, The God of Cookery is vastly more entertaining. Ultimately, I'm loathe to celebrate Chow's lazy embrace of mediocrity so I'm sending Ishii's not entirely successful attempt at something grander on to the next round.

smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1711 on: July 07, 2012, 09:41:11 PM »
Nice job with the recent matchups. I can't say much about the verdicts not having seen the film, but it's great to see the bracket one step closer to the third round.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1712 on: July 08, 2012, 06:50:48 AM »
Bondo, your review of The God of Cookery pretty much matches my view of the film, although I enjoyed it a little less. Good review writeup.

pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1713 on: July 22, 2012, 02:02:21 AM »
Round One Resurrection Forecast, Films 111 - 115


Expect the Unexpected (Patrick Yau, 1998)
Lost to Autumn Moon (verdict by Bill Thompson)
The end credits of Expect the Unexpected begin with a special thanks to Ray-Ban. That tells you how cool this movie is. It's the Men in Black of nihilistic cop-and-robber romances! Or not. But the cast is beautiful. You can't help but root for Simon Yam, Lau Ching Wan, YoYo Mung, and Ruby Wong to all get together and make babies. I didn't plan to watch the whole movie, but it sucked me in — partly because the first twenty minutes alone left me no clear clues as to whether the movie as a whole might be any good. The pace within scenes is weird, and there's a surprising disregard of spatial awareness, given the type action on display, but somehow the film overall moves well and gets more and more entertaining as it goes. I didn't relate to Bill's problems with tonal inconsistencies and narrative disconnectedness; it all fit together pretty well for me. The very underplayed throughline of the film seemed to deal with the way cops working in violent crimes deal with their constant exposure to the kind of horrificness they see every day. Yam's solution is to close himself off to any sort of personal life at all; he's all serious business. But it's not easy being that cool all the time. Lau, on the other hand, seems to surrender to all sorts of petty vices, opting for a if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them strategy, but personal happiness seems as out of reach for him as for Yam. Therein lies the tragedy. Some Johnnie To/Wai Ka-Fai fan should watch this in the second round and decide whether Patrick Yau is more like Christian Nyby or Tope Hooper.



The Phantom Lover (Ronny Yu, 1995)
Lost to Adrenaline Drive (verdict by Bill Thompson)
Through twenty-five minutes, this movie has neither hooked me nor disinterested me. Normally I'd keep watching and wait for some clearer impression of its quality to register, but this early uncertainty is very much in line with Bill's verdict, so I'm inclined to just trust him here and move on. Extra motivation: I wouldn't be all that comfortable resurrecting four films in a row that Bill kicked out, even if Yellow Fangs was a fluke resurrection (and even if he's the person responsible for ending the bracket run of Village of Dreams, lol).



All Under the Moon (Sai Yôichi, 1993)
Lost to Butterfly Lovers (verdict by Melvil)
I gave up on All Under the Moon after about a minute — largely because the existing DVD has some serious interlacing issues — but I still kept watching for another nine minutes because I needed a decent screenshot. It's not a very visually appealing film, though, with its misguided eye for long shots and full shots, so I eventually had to cheat and jump around at random to find a still that seemed somewhat representative of the film as a whole. I feel comfortable assuming it's every bit as boring as Melvil described — though I was admittedly intrigued by the representation of a Korean national living in Japan. I can't remember offhand another Japanese film that touches on Asian cultural distinctions from a similar perspective.



Doctor Mack (Lee Chi-Ngai, 1998)
Lost to Nabbie's Love (verdict by Tequila)
I'm normally grab my own screenshots, but I had to steal the one above from Tequila's verdict because, well, it's unsurpassably awesome. From the moment, I saw it, I knew Doctor Mack was destined for resurrection. Dammit, though, the movie keeps refusing to rise above the level of watchable. I've given it just twenty-five minutes, but that seems like it should be more than enough time for it to capitalize on the ridiculous amount of charisma Tony Leung brings to the table here. Nope! If he were in every single frame of the film, it'd probably be a masterpiece. The director keeps cutting away from him, though, and the script goes so far as to include whole scenes where his character isn't present at all. Amateurs!



The Making of Steel (Lu Xuechang, 1997)
Lost to Tonight Nobody Goes Home (verdict by roujin)
Before I start watching The Making of Steel, I want to note here how totally predisposed I am to root for this film to be good, partly because I put a lot of effort into tracking it down for the bracket in the first place; and partly because, when I skimmed through it a little, it made a very good impression. roujin's verdict dampened my enthusiasm a bit, but in the end he gave me a ray of hope, writing, "I feel like I'm missing a lot of things in this film." So fingers crossed that The Making of Steel will be another Ordinary Heroes . . . . . . Hmm, okay. Twenty-five minutes later, it seems that it's a mildly interesting film, but probably not interesting enough to overcome the too occasional invisibility of the white subtitles. At least early on, the main character seems as underdrawn as the village's violently abusive bully seems overdrawn. The narrative progression, as described by roujin, intrigues me, especially the thematic relevance of Berlin and rock 'n' roll to the Cultural Revolution setting (the film opens in 1974, I think), but there's not quite enough filmmaking competence on display to earn the benefit of the doubt.

Up next: Genghis Khan, Beat, The Swordsman in Double Flag Town, Shanghai Fever, and I Like You, I Like You Very Much.

pixote
« Last Edit: July 22, 2012, 01:49:20 PM by pixote »
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BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1714 on: July 22, 2012, 09:37:42 PM »
Love reading those forecasts Pix. Made me so happy that inspired me to complete my matchup today!
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roujin

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1715 on: July 22, 2012, 09:40:47 PM »
I don't remember that rock element from Making of Steel at all...

BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1716 on: July 22, 2012, 09:48:45 PM »
VS.



Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam)
Wong Kar-Wai
1994
Hong Kong
Sam's Round 1 verdict




Whatever you think of Wong Kar-Wai's films, its undeniable that he has a sense of style. I love the look and feel of his films. 'Chunking Express' was made at about the same time as 'Ashes of Time' and Wong tried to convey the same themes but in a completely different setting. Originally the film was supposed to be three separate stories, but because of the length the third segment got turned into his next feature film 'Fallen Angels'. Both segments in 'Chunking' feature a lovesick police officer and their struggle to get over their past and find a new love interest.

I'm embarrassed to say, but it took me a lot longer than it ought to have to figure when the second story had actually begun. That being said, Wong does a wonderful job of conveying the heartache felt by these two men, and the struggles of finding love and navigating the complex world of romantic intentions. As reflected in the name of the original title, and personified by the twisted and congested Hong Kong city in which the film takes place, love is a jungle. People change and love is lost. Those beautiful memories which you kept so close to your heart, now ache inside of you and its maddening to figure out what to do with those emotions. As the film postulates, do they simply expire?

Wong Kar-Wai's style oozes with cool. From the fantastic, vibrant visuals, to the eclectic characters 'Chunking' is never boring. Wong layers quirky personalities with truly deep scenes and while the questions he raises may be probing, they are encapsulated by a light weight coating which makes this film a supremely pleasant experience. It's smooth, slick and visually engrossing. What more could you ask for?



Little Cheung(Xilu xiang)
Fruit Chan
1999
Hong Kong
Gobman's round 1 verdict






Fruit Chan peaked my interest as a director. He is well regarded as part of the Hong Kong Second Wave film making. I had first come across him when I saw his credit as assistant director on 'Stage Door', which he helped make a year prior to his breakout as a director with 'Made in Hong Kong'. That film was the first of the '1997 Trilogy' which dealt with the year that Hong Kong was transferred from British to Chinese rule. 'Little Cheung' is the final film in the trilogy. Now, I'm not versed enough in this historical even to make all the connections between this handover and what takes place in the movie, but I saw very few scenes that outright discuss the event. It takes place during this era, and there are a couple key scenes towards the end which outright make reference to it, but it carried very little weight. To be honest, there was very little happening here plot wise at all. It's primarily about mood, and the relationship of a young boy, Little Cheung, who works as a delivery boy for his family's restaurant, and his girlfriend who he hires to help him.

The strength of the film lies in this childhood love story and the beautiful shots Fruit Chan puts together. There are moments between the young performers which are very touching, and genuine. It doesn't smack you in the face with a contrived scenarios that obviously seem constructed by an adult writer, they feel natural and young. Chan is known for his realism and casting non-actors in parts. I appreciated that feel here. I also admired the way he used the camera. He obviously didn't have a big budget, and the quality of the film is very poor, and yet he really puts together a visually interesting film and had a few breathtaking shots. The mood and atmosphere he puts together is an achievement. One which deserved a better movie to go along with it.

Unfortunately I had a lot of problems with the movie. My first is that the story is lacking. There were some side plots about gangsters and money, but they felt tacked on and insignificant. Chan does a pretty good job showing Little Cheung struggle to grow up, and I wish more time was focused on this rather than the distracting tangential story lines. The ending was also a let down. It was a bold choice, but it really left me feeling cold when I already was lukewarm on it. I wanted to grasp on to more, but it just wasn't there.

Narrative problems aside, my biggest problem is a few shots which Fruit Chan decided to include. I won't go into too much detail, but they involve multiple bodily fluids in people's drinks, and also a couple of completely unnecessary shots of Little Cheung which are vulgar and a little disturbing. This was not the right movie for these kind of shots and completely distanced me from the movie. The sad thing is they were not plot vital and this movie would have been a lot better had they simply been cut out. It makes me question Fruit Chan as a director, and quite frankly as a person. The shots are not art, they detracted from it. Had they not been included I would probably be in favor of the movie, and even recommended it as a nice coming of age story, but I was completely thrown off from the visual insensitivity shown by Chan. In my opinion this movie can stay buried in obscurity.



Verdict: So in the bout of the Hong Kong Second Wave directors the winner is.... WONG KAR-WAI. In a landslide. Fruit Chan does some interesting things with the camera, but is nothing compared to the master. There is too much wrong with 'Cheung' and so much right with 'Chungking'. An easy verdict. Chunking moves on.
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Verite

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1717 on: July 22, 2012, 11:58:46 PM »
Maborosi vs. Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker



Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker

The dramatic conflict here is choosing between, on one hand, familial duty/loyalty and business and, on the other hand, love.  The Cai family is a prominently wealthy family in the business of firecracker production.  The lead character is the only heir to the business, a young woman, Chunzhi.  Lest an outsider takes control, she is forbidden to marry.  An artist is commissioned to work on the Cai family door, and during the course, they fall for each other. 

I really don't have much to say about this film.  At best, it's pedestrian, but, I, for the most part, think it's a poor film.  For one thing, as portrayed, there's really nothing admirable about the love interest Ning Hao.  If the point is that it's a strictly sexual attraction between the two, then okay, but if the intention was to have a substantial connection between the two, then this film failed, tremendously.

Moreover, I laughed hard a lot at serious moments.  Pretty much all the love scenes where unintentional hilarity to me.  Most memorably, the sounds Master (Chunzhi) made when she kept on resisting Ning Hao's attempts at kissing her, the moan she let out when he tried to take off her top...lmaoooo.

Still, I was never inclined to want to stop the film and quit.  And there were two shots that stood out: 1) Ning Hao on the boat with fireworks blasting everywhere and 2) Master standing by the raging river.



Maborosi

Death is a recurring subject in the films in one of my favorite directors Koreeda.  In this film, Yumiko loses her husband just 3 months after their son was born.  Death got the magical realist, fantasy treatment in After Life and a Naruse-Ozu-like treatment in Still Walking.  Here, it's a bare, extremely minimalist treatment.  There are barely any medium shots (from the chest up) and close-ups.  The majority of the time, the camera is set so that the people are in full figure and situated in the middle plane of the shot.  (I can't take screen shots because my DVD drives can't read the scratched up disc.)  Important emotional and narrative moments are rendered with no close-ups or medium shots.  A distancing effect is made palpable.  It's risky to make a film about strong emotional content like grief and render it in the style Koreeda does.  This effect is intensified by Koreeda's use of ellipses.  Important parts in the narrative are left out which makes the risk even bigger by providing a block to emotional connection for the viewer.  Moreover, even at a basic level of narrative, it can make it difficult to follow.  It's difficult to register facial expression (films like this play better on the big screen) and sometimes faces are completely unlit or turned away from us.  We don't even get to see the face of the lead character Yumiko's new husband until about 7 minutes after his introduction and after numerous opportunities to have shown it earlier.  But around the 50 minute mark of this 100 minute film, things start to open up for the viewer.  Different camera setups (including moving the camera closer), more sun and outdoors, etc.  Lest you get the impression that this is a gloomy film from start to finish, it's not.  There are several moments of banter, wisecracks, singing, laughter, etc.

While I've gone over the riskiness of the film's style, let me go over successful strategies employed by Koreeda to counterbalance the possible negative effect of ellipses, the camera setups, and lighting.  Koreeda uses repetition of camera setups for emotional effect.  It highlights the absence of a person when we return to a place we've been and a shot from an earlier sequence is repeated.  Koreeda also used repetition in dialogue as when Yumiko has a conversation with her new husband that is similar to an earlier one in the film with her first husband.  The difference in tone between the conversations not only remind us and her of her first husband and the pain Yumiko still carries, but also that she has a ways to go in relating to her new husband and that their dynamic will be different.  Objects are used to link Yumiko to her painful past.  Even Yumiko's son is called a memento of pain by Yumiko's town mate.  And the most effective technique was the sound design.  There is a sound that only makes sense to the viewer when we hear it again near the end of the film.  And related to this, the film's title will only be made meaningful to the viewer near the end of the film.  Admittedly, while I think these are successful storytelling devices, things like the conversation and sound design can get overlooked because of the languid pace, the ellipses, the long shot durations, a rarely moving camera, and camera and lighting setups.


Verdict:  Maborosi has two of the most memorable shots, which I didn't mention above, not just out of the films in this bracket but in all of the movies I've ever seen.  While I no longer think Maborosi is a great film and don't think it's a contender to win the bracket, it has many moments of merit compared to none for its opponent.  Maborosi moves on. 
« Last Edit: July 23, 2012, 12:13:42 AM by Verite »
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smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1718 on: July 24, 2012, 12:14:40 PM »
Good reviews all. Maborosi survives! I know I wasn't super high on it but I don't remember much about the film beside the creepster elements.

Jared

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1719 on: July 25, 2012, 11:10:46 AM »
Good reviews all.

Totally agree. Only reason Im not commenting on any of them much is because I havent seen like 7 of the last 8 movies matched up.

Nice to see this picking up steam lately. I should have my match up posted some time next week.

 

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