The Lyrical and Meditative Films of two 21st Century Masters

Looking over significant films of the 21 century on They Shoot Pictures, East Asia makes a prominent showing. While Japanese cinema has been internationally admired since the 1950's, the works of other East Asian nations have not caught on until recently.

Looking over significant works of recent history, names like Wong Kar Wei, Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke, Ming Liang Tsai and Apichatpong Weerasethakul are common. The last two of these directors will be the focus on this blog. For ease and my own sanity, I will refer to Apichatpong Weerasethakul as Fred (I'm not the first to call him this).

The films of Fred and Tsai have a great deal of common elements and represent a movement of hyper realism in terms of characters and mise en scene. however, both of their films contain supernatural or fantastical elements that gives their films an ethereal film.

In the film "What Time is it There?" a brief encounter between a woman and a man selling watches in Taiwan spurns a mysterious connection. The two of them have parallel experiences while he is in Taiwan and she is in Paris.

What is most fascinating about film is the juxtaposition of the two films. First, the woman goes to Paris in the winter and for a large portion of the film, is tucked into tight, claustrophobic, and bleak places not indicative of the city of lights. At the end of the film are scenes finally shot in Luxembourg and the Paris of lore comes alive. Though the garden is cold and the crowd is sparse.

While in Taiwan, the man continues to sell watches, deals with a mother who cannot her husband's death, and takes an interest in french culture. In fact, through most of the film, the man is seen doing more Parisian things than the woman. Also, the colors of the Taiwan scenes feature more vibrant reds and colors than those shot in Paris.

In one of my favorite juxtapositions of the film, the man watches Francois Truffaut's seminal film The 400 Blows starring Jean Pierre Leaud. Meanwhile in Paris, the woman encounters the real Jean Pierre in an inspired cameo.

The film is purposely disjointed and almost entirely free of dialogue which is a common theme in many of Tsai's films.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (pronounced ah-pah-chee-ta-pong weere-ah set-ah-cuhl) aka Fred's films are similar to Tsai. Looking at his film, Tropical Malady, one sees symbolism of love, frustration, happiness, and a confusing disjointed vision of man's struggle against himself.

The first hour of the film is a love story between two men in Thailand. It is sweet and the story is fairly linnear. With not enough of words, the love develops and then, one of the men disappear into the forest and the other one goes in to find him.

What follows in the next hour is a man's battle with a mysterious naked man which I take to represent love and the carnal duality of emotions buried within men. The theme of men as beasts was clearly delinneated in the early portions of the film in dialogue. The beast literally comes to life in the final frames in the form of a glowing tiger speaking in a strange tongue.

The battles in the forest could also be taken as allegorical referring to Jacob wrestling with the angel. The fight of Jacob symbolizes wrestling with his feelings about the lord and his own personal faith. Given that love is a leap of faith, I think this could be a logical point.

These are just two films by these great auteurs and are absolutely necessary watching for those who want to delve into the great of the 21st century. Yes, they are slow and many will consider them boring but like many of the movies I discuss on this blog should not be watched to escape or to enjoy but to experience in the same way that one views modern abstract art.

Crazy Bitches of Asian Horror Films

ive always been a huge fan of asian horror films. ever since i saw Ringu seven years ago, i knew that the dark atmospheric, creepy, psychological scariness was right up my alley. finally i was seeing a horror movie that legitimately scared the crap out of me. Whether it was Sadako from the Ring climbing out of a TV and eating my soul or Kayako climbing down steps croaking and eating my soul or Asami from Audition putting me in a bag sticking needles into me and um...eating my soul, im a sucker for the scary black haired lady of Asian horror.

One of the first major films I saw that features the black haired lady/ghost was KAIDAN, the seminal collection of horror films by Masaki Kobayashi. the four short films were all based on popular legend and one of them was about the vengeful female ghost with long black hair covering her eyes. a lot of people have criticized the japanese for overusing this but the imagery and themes of revenge are no different from western culture's fascination with zombies, vampires, or eerie white ghosts. the color white is also a strong symbol of death in asian culture which is why a lot of the black haired ghosts are wearing white gowns. as an aside, i will add that throughout asia, black is not a mourning color--white is.

now that we have the historical info out of the way lets talk about da bitches.

of course the women arent bitches, they are seeking revenge for violent deaths to themselves or their family and frankly most of the the time, their anger is justified though their methods be a little extreme. it is right for Sadako from Ringu to make a video that kills people unless they copy it and show it to someone else? Um....maybe she overreacted but you would be cranky if someone dumped you in a well to die and had to be cold and wet for seven days. So, I usually give the female villians the benefit of doubt. However, I saw BLACK HOUSE, and frankly was... the chick from that was a crazy bitch.

she killed without remorse which was her shtick. she did not feel guilt and killed people for insurance money. the hero in this film is a meek insurance agent trying to justify the claims. finally, ive been waiting for claims agent as a protagonist (such an oft under appreciated hero of nerdom). overall, black house was an awesome movie but one of the few clear cut cases of an angry female with long black hair killing seemingly for no reason.

though i hope this film was an isolated example, im hoping that asian horror films dont jump onto this bandwagon. for too years, american horror films have been plagued by a maniac without much motivation to kill other than insanity. or the reasons they have for killing are pretty lame (freddy kreuger im lookin at you!). michael myers, leatherface, sandra bullock -- all merciless killers just because (sandra bullock makes me die inside).

what makes asian horror so entrancing for me is the motivation behind the killings. the women that are so terrifying and ruthless at the beginning of the film become almost pitiable. they are just looking for closure and an end to their emotional torture. i want to feel for the villian. a compassionate villian makes an interesting story.

whispering corridors, momento mori, tale of two sisters, the red shoes, cello, cinderella -- all of these have some sympathetic and black haired villian or ghost and use it to the story's advantage.

while these women may be misunderstood and crazy, they are intriguing characters. in short, these ladies are all right with me. except for the black house chick, that bitch is straight up trippin'

sometimes i watch a lot of asian horror films

i get them all at once from netflix and have myself a grand old time with foreign horror. i dont know why i keep insisting on seeing them as i am always disappointed in the films. perhaps im trying to match the brilliance and terror of juon, ringu, tale of two sisters, or r-point but most of the time i end up sad and horny...for quality horror films. there are some gems (cello!) but most of the time, im pretty underwhelmed by the once mythic and now familiar creature known as asian horror. still, i keep renting and without the smooth supple belly of tartan asia extreme to keep me warm, i wander through the netflix lists hoping to find another infection (the movie...not the condition). i am going to go in order of least favorite to best of this round o crap.

CARVED: THE SLIT MOUTH WOMAN

note: from 2005 and not the waaaaaaaaaay superior 2007 version. the 2007 version is not a remake. in fact, each of them is based on a japanese urban legend. the most remarkable thing about the 2005 version is not the horror but not the steamy softcore sex. yes my film geek friends, this version of the film is a soft core porn. there are 6 soft core sex scenes shoved into the films 63 minute running time. there are no legitimate scary moments aside from the tongue in mouth close up action that the japanese love so much. netflix sold this as a pinku/horror but really its just silly no budget soft core

RED EYE (redu ai)

this sadly has nothing to do with the decent cillian murphy thriller from a few years ago. this has to do with a haunted red eye train. before you freak out, just remember that in other countries there are such things as red eye trains. go figure. anywho, this film might actually benefit from a remake. there was quite a bit of potential here but it was too bogged down in back story to keep consistent scares. that on the top of the sub par acting hampering the relative viewing enjoyment. the film is definitely terrifying in theory but the execution lacked. there was one very effective scene involving a small child wandering into fog that was superbly atmospheric. in fact, the lighting was also impressive but not too much to say other than that.

VOICES

what we have is people freaking out and killing the ones they love in a brutal fashion. A+ for death scenes and an F for everything else. i like a little plot with my scares (but not too much. yeah, im hard to please)

VOICE

yes i just reviewed a film called voices and now i am reviewing one called voice. they are different films with different plots. in fact, voices was in the afterdark horror fest collection from 2007 and this one was not.

anyway, voice the best of the lot and i only gave it 3 on netflix! the story involves a mysterious murder, an all girl high school and ghosts. of course there are characters with intertwining fates yadda yadda weve been there before. when it comes to asian all girl school scariness, the whispering corridors films grab me. also, much like red eye, there was too much backstory. granted, this is a movie that benefited from it but it was a bit confusing. i liked the general feel of the film and liked how there was a sympathetic ghost rather than a blood thirsty one. what really impresses me with asian horror is frequently the idea of the sad ghost. like sadako in the ring, the ghost is really just someone who wants to be heard and understood. when its done well, its results in a compelling story that is both tragic and scary. the ghost in the eye might be one of the more tragic characters in recent cinematic history. but unfortunately, in the case of voice, it was a bit heavy handed

the greatest movie ever on the subject of noodles and their proper preparation into soup

when i think of very good east asian food movies, i think of ang lee's the wedding banquet and eat drink man woman. both films are excellent mediations on love and food (though the latter is more food based). the italians have long held the title for best movies that integrate food. tell me you werent hankering for some pasta after fellini's roma or goodfellas (scorsese is italian!).

there is a reoccuring bit on opie and anthony (US radio show) making fun of italians and their passion for food.

'the best part of the cow is the asshole.'

that always makes me chuckle.

what was i talking about? oh yeah...

TAMPOPO

great movie!

oh. i need more words. so, the movie was about a tribute to food and the zen of cooking, eating, preparing and most of the film is absolutely hysterical. there are some great little scenes seemingly unrelated to the story; my favorite of which two lovers who are obsessed with food which begins with a hilarious 9 1/2 weeks sex-food sequence.

tsutomu yamazak plays a john wayne like character with cowboy hat and ascot (he wore an ascot...check out hatari!) and a young ken watanabe plays his sidekick of sorts

anyway, i loved this film. it was adorable and highly watchable even for the non foreign film people out there

4/5