Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561654 times)

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2480 on: March 11, 2018, 10:47:42 AM »
I think emotionally the scene works, but the time and place of the scene, in the classroom where seconds ago he'd been bullied for being gay was odd and I kept thinking they should go somewhere else or do that later. I guess my pragmatism is strong enough that it keeps me from appreciating the spontaneity and courage of the scene which gets tipped over into foolhardiness because of the context. Also in most movies someone would have seen them for added drama and I kept waiting for that shoe to drop It is memorable and well done on its own terms, I agree.

Teproc

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2481 on: March 18, 2018, 11:40:08 AM »


Mimi wo sumaseba / Whisper of the Heart
(Yoshifumi Kondô, 1995)
Round 1 review by FifthCityMuse
Round 2 review by tinyholidays
Round 3 review by smirnoff
Round 4 review by BlueVoid
Round 5 review by oldkid

               VS               


Ah fei zing zyun / Days of Being Wild
(Wong Kar-Wai, 1990)
Round 1 review by sdedalus
Round 2 review by tinyholidays
Round 2 resurrection by pixote
Round 3 review by BlueVoid
Round 4 review by Sandy
Round 5 review by oldkid





Whisper of the Heart


I never knew John Legend's 2017 coup on cinematic music hadstarted as far back as 1995, and in a animated Japanese film at that. I haven't seen all of the incriminated films from the past year, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that none of them uses them quite as touchingly as Yoshifumi Kondô does here. Well, Kondô and Miyazaki, who did pen the script, which results in a film that looks and sounds like a Miyazaki film, and at times even feels like it... but doesn't quite get there for me. Which is to say that's it's still a lovely, warm film that has occasional moments of greatness (the scene in which our main character sings and is accompanied by her love interest on the violin and the old musicians join in) and is all-around very solid.

It's the first Ghibli film I find to have a problem found in many Pixar films, which is that it feels very constructed. It's saying all the right things, and delivering the best possible message to its target audience (young girls primarily here, but there's nothing that wouldn't apply to boys as well)... but you can see it doing that. The only flight of fancy it allows itself, aka the requisite flying scene in a Miyazaki film (I guess Mononoke doesn't really have one), doesn't quite work as a result: the whole film is so resolutely down to earth that it doesn't really work. It looks nice and all, but it's like the film's heart isn't in it. The lighter touches of magical realism do work very well, especially the first time Shizuku follows the cat and finds the antique store. It's lower-key Totoro, or maybe more accurately lower key Kiki (that's a lot of ki), which, as much as I love those two, is perhaps not the best idea in the world.

This is all starting to sounds as if I didn't like it, but let's face it: it's Ghibli. This isn't their greatest effort on any front, but it's still quite good, and it only looks slightly bad in comparison to their masterworks. Minor Ghibli it is, but it's still something I'd recommend to anyone who isn't averse to animation and/or coming of age narratives, and would actively recommend to people in its target demographic. But maybe the fact that it feels so distinctly targeted is what makes it limited in its reach.




Days of Being Wild


Spoiler alert : the reviews I listed above are all better than whatever follows is going to be. Just read those (especially sdedalus and pix).

Allegedly the first part of an informal trilogy composed of this, In the Mood for Love, and 2046. I haven't seen the latter (yet), but I suppose that means the title isn't referring to the year it takes place in then ? Shame, I was really hoping for some melancholy romance set in a dystopian Hong Kong there. As you surely know, this – being a Wong Kar Wai film – is not about the plot. I was pleasantly surprised with how little I found confusing about it, which I think means I'm finally getting on his wavelength (and some familiarity with people like Leslie/Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau helps too).  No, it's about mood... he really ruined the pleasure in realizing that by having the word in the title of one of his most prominent films, but oh well.

What mood is that, exactly ? Well, if I could easily define it, there wouldn't be much of a point making films to portray it, now would there ? Actually, « Days of Being Wild » covers it relatively well, though « Days of Being Nonchalantly Wild » would be even more accurate. It's becoming obvious to me at this point that I have nothing to say about this film other than I really enjoyed watching it. I might have enjoyed a film about Tony Leung's character more than one about Leslie Cheung, but I suppose that's what Chungking Express is for. Cheung is quite good though, and gets away with a performance that's always teetering between mysteriously charming and … kind of rapey ? To the point that I half expected him to start murdering everyone else in the film at some point, but no it turns out that he's more hedonistic than, you know, homicidal. Which becomes the focus point of the film after a while, and I thought I might have lost the film at that point since I liked his girlfriends a lot more than him, but the finale made me reconsider his character and appreciate him more.

But the bottom line is this : I got lost in the film, its cinematography, its music, its... mood. It's hard to define what makes that work, but it does.



Verdict: I really wanted to be the first one to send a film to the Sweet Sixteen, but what can I say, I liked Days of Being Wild better, so we'll have to get a third verdict here. Sorry for making this bracket even tougher to complete than it already is.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2018, 12:24:16 PM by Teproc »
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Bondo

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2482 on: March 18, 2018, 01:29:37 PM »
My unofficial third verdict is you are wrong.  :P

1SO

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2483 on: March 18, 2018, 01:32:32 PM »
Bondo just cancelled out my verdict. (Or did I just cancel out his?)

Teproc

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2484 on: March 18, 2018, 03:09:29 PM »
My unofficial third verdict is you are wrong.  :P

Right, I think I saw a post in response to one of the previous reviews where you called it morally repugnant (or something to that effect). Is it about the rapey vibes Leslie Cheung gives in two of the early scenes or something else ?
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Bondo

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2485 on: March 18, 2018, 06:36:14 PM »
Don’t even remember TBH but Whisper of the Heart is a joy.

oldkid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2486 on: March 20, 2018, 01:57:15 AM »
Don’t even remember TBH but Whisper of the Heart is a joy.

Exactly.  Although it took me two viewings to come to that conclusion.
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2487 on: April 01, 2018, 11:28:02 AM »
The Scent of Green Papaya
It's hard to describe a film like this, it's beautifully shot but what makes it stand out is that what it photographs so beautifully isn't wonderful vistas or impressive constructions but rather the beauty of the everyday. It reminds me, unsurprisingly, of Vertical Ray of the Sun but I liked this more and if I had to guess why it's because it accepts being a mood piece and while it has a narrative, and a reasonably interesting, if barebones, one at that, it never lets the narrative overwhelm or distract from the immediacy of the images and emotions. It has something to say and something to show and does both in sync, revealing things when they're relevant and bathing the screen with images that accentuate the slightly widened perspective. If I have one complaint it's the depiction of the lead character In both cases the actresses play her as hard working but not super bright, but the child actress has a spark in her eyes that makes her simplicity a consequence of life and station, you still get a sense of curiosity and ability from her, while the older actress seems to play her as slightly mentally challenged, the posture and blank childlike stare seeming regressions on the younger character. Both performances are good, but even reading the latter as a consequence of 10 years of servitude it didn't quite mesh for me Given the structure and content of the film it's not a dealbreaker at all, but an odd incongruity in an otherwise very smoothly flowing film. One other notable piece is the soundtrack, which is not really my style at all the way it interjects itself rather regularly, but contextualized in the film it actually worked surprisingly well. Really glad I finally got around to this.


After the Rain
This may not be as visually stunning as Scent, though it definitely has its own sense of visual beauty, but it's just as lyrical and smooth flowing. The kind of film that engages you to let it wash over you. It's not complex, in fact I found it surprisingly straightforward, but that doesn't mean it lacks insight or worth. It does a lot of characterization of the lead and his wife with a few conversations and the mix of world weariness and optimism is one I really enjoyed. There's nothing to make you go "wow" but it all fits together really beautifully and comfortably, the only out of place moments being the two short interludes where the film decides to amp up the score as it lingers over the peasants in the inn. Even though the music in these moments is unaggressive, the moments stand out as the film screaming "look at me" when it is very unassuming otherwise. I really like the stripped down samurai story that eschews plot machinations to make its arc and tone stand out.

I have a hard time saying which should move on, they're both strong films that don't fully connect with me but still affected me and gave me beauty and insight and a pleasant time. I decided to read the previous two verdicts but it seems both were similarly conflicted. In the end I'm going with After the Rain. Where Papaya is beautifully done mood piece, and it has some tangential exploration of servitude and class and familial expectations, it felt like it avoided really getting into the moral complexities of the lives it depicted especially with the ending it goes with. The semi blank slate lead serves it very well to a point, but ultimately holds it back. After the Rain is the opposite, it's a little clunky at times and quite overt, sometimes even blunt, but it blends that with its narrative and atmosphere to the point where it doesn't feel that blunt or clunky. The lead is an embodiment of what the film wants to explore about compassion, self-determination, self control and the conflict of living true to oneself while also finding one's place in a society that has its own rules and expectations. It doesn't dig deep on these points, but it's still an effective piece of cinema. Now I'm wavering again.

Teproc

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2488 on: April 01, 2018, 11:58:39 AM »
Very nice reviews PA, even though it means my verdict is overturned. Mostly I'm happy that we finally have a film in the Sweet Sixteen, exciting !
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oldkid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2489 on: April 01, 2018, 12:38:21 PM »
Great reviews and insightful perspective.

But your verdict is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Well, maybe not.  I really love After the Rain, too.  Just not as much as Scent.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky