Category: Foreign

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Thai Arthouse Film “Ploy” Is Not Quite My Cup Of Tea

Ploy

I have a high level of tolerance when it comes to art-house type of movies but “Ploy” seems to be out of my league.  I don’t mind those long minutes of waiting for something to happen like that one foreign film with a boy and an old man watching the sunset, in real time.  So long as there is a reward in some forms after the wait.  Maybe it’s a subtle theme, maybe it’s to communicate a certain emotion, or maybe it’s just beautiful to watch.  Without rewards, I feel stupid spending time watching an art-house clip.

Some clips from “Ploy” are pretty brilliant.  I like the conversation between the husband (owner of a restaurant in US) and his wife (an ex-actress from Thailand) on why after 7 or 8 years of marriage, the guy doesn’t say “I love you” anymore.  And the subsequent conversation on the same topic with the husband and a little 19 years old girl (called Ploy whom they met in wee hours at a hotel bar).  The mixture of real and unreal clips within the movie at times adds interesting twists.  Some one-liners are bizarrely wicked.  Like before a date rape, the guy said [to the unconscious girl in bed], “Don’t worry, I will use a condom.”  Huh?!  Where does that come from?  We all chuckled.  And we chuckled when one of the actresses suddenly turned the film into a musical (pretty much like a French art-house movie).

Most clips are slow and excruciatingly painful to watch.  No, the sex scene between the bizarre side story of a bartender and a hotel maid is not at all sexy, way off the chart, and doesn’t contribute much to the main story.  It’s a shame though.  If the storyline was to be tighter and unfold a certain cohesive theme, that would have worked better.  During the interview, the director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang mentioned that the 12-hour long shooting on the sex scene was no fun to make.  I read that those sex scenes in “Lust, Caution” were hard to make too (took days).  But Ang Lee has made the scenes beautiful to watch, non-pornographic, and meaningful to the storyline.  If there was one suggestion I could offer to the “Ploy” team on those scenes, dim the light please.  OK make it two, change the casting.

The young girl, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, who plays the character Ploy is perhaps one of the few rewards I can take home with.  The filmmakers should have exploited this advantage much more.  The film does leave me pondering on what is real, what is not.  And for better or worse, from a country that is famous in making horror and action movies, an art-house Thai film that was premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival could be special to some.  It’s just not my cup of tea.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Foreign Movie Reviews

K-20: Legend of the Mask – A Japanese Batman?

K20

It’s Takeshi so Cynthia has got to watch it.  So I have got to accompany her.  And I had no idea what to expect.  Besides, I reckon since my parents are going to be in town this week, my sister is getting Singaporely married this weekend (for her wedding tour, click here), I’d better catch up with my Movie Review Squad for a movie, this week.

Nope.  There was no tears.  No Japanese female eye candies either.  Just Takeshi in what seems like a Batman meets Thief Guild kind of western concept set in Japan when World War II didn’t happen.  Cynthia loves it, I love it less.  Just because I feed on tearing moments and eye candies, and none in this.  The film though, is quite a classic.  There are moments of memorable acts.  Moments that I could visualize decades later when some of us play back the scenes and recite the dialogues with the actors.

The special effect is jaw dropping.  No doubt “K-20” is one of those rare big budget Japanese movies.  A fantasy story with the background of Japan entering a class movement separating the rich and the poor.  Naturally – I suppose – someone would stand up and redistribute wealth in his own way.  Lack of originality aside, “K-20” is blessed with the right kind of humor, a storyline in suspense, amazing backdrops, and Takeshi.  I kind of enjoy watching Takeshi in his not-too-pretty-boy look (did someone just stepped onto his face in the set or was it a double?).  He is as hilarious as ever, someone can who put a smile to my face even in his most serious moment.

While watching “K-20”, I couldn’t help but to have flashbacks to Batman, Zorro, Robin Hood, Spiderman, and V for Vendetta – the fighting, the flying, the stealing, and the mask.  It is good to watch Takashi taking a leading role again.  An enjoyable evening, early this week.

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Animation Foreign Movie Reviews

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea – That Can’t Be A Gold Fish, Can That Be?

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Japanese imagination knows no bound, I must say.  A gold fish that looks like a baby girl to me except the missing limbs and the ability to live both in and out of water.  Am I the only one who wonder if I was reading the subtitles correctly?  It is beyond the visual art on the big screen.  It is about changing of perceptions from within your head.

Here is a brief summary of the story (skip this paragraph if you don’t want to read this mild spoiler).  A gold fish (more like a little girl) fathered by a sorcerer and has a Goddess as her mother escaped her fish tank within the ocean one day for what?  I don’t know.  But she found a 5 years old little boy who falls in love with her.  Thereafter, this gold fish is recaptured by her father but defies the law of the Universe, tries to become a human being, and in the mist of all these magical intervention, Ponyo (the name of the gold fish given by the young boy) brings along with her Tsunami onto the city of the young boy whom she must meet again.

It is almost a flawless outstanding piece of story crafting.  That is to compare with Hayao Miyazaki’s previous work “Spirit Away (2001)” that is quite possibly my favorite of his films that I have watched so far.  From the color and grandeur and style point of view, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” has Miyazaki’s trademarks everywhere – just like “Spirited Away (2001)” and “Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)”, both I enjoyed watching a lot.  From the animation perspective, the character’s movement looks convincingly natural.  From the artwork perspective, I love the clever use of the illusion of light and dark.  Looking at that two hot bowls of instant noodle, Cynthia and I looked at each other, swallowed hard feeling very hungry at that very moment.  That is realism on 2D.

What “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” lacks is perhaps a true villain.  I almost say that the ending is kind of weak.  But then again, it is so darn cute and memorable.  It is a strong recommendation to those who have watched 68 years old Hayao Miyazaki’s previous works.  On average, it takes him 3 to 4 years to create a new animation.  I can wait.  I think his next project will be on global warming.

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Foreign Movie Reviews Photography

Love Matters, But Does Jack Neo?

Photo taken right before the show started ... Love Matters

Apparently it does, Jack Neo is still one of the most celebrated film directors in Singapore.

So we are invited for the Gala Premium of “Love Matters”.  It is good that our team from the Association of Bloggers (Singapore) that is still at its infancy stage have the opportunity to meet up in a causal non-work related setting.  As I looked across the theatre, taking mental pictures of our team members, I felt as though we have worked together much longer than just a few months – from media kit to logistics, from membership to sponsorship to partnership and more.  We’ve just put up a FAQ section in our temporary website.  10 of us, working voluntarily, with a day job to do in a challenging economic environment whereby, all of us should focus on what earns us a living instead.

A comedy like “Love Matters” is good, to lighten up the mood.  I remember 2008 started with bloodshed conflicts (remember Pakistan?) one after another.  2009 too started with one (read about Israel lately?) topped with a global financial meltdown that not only affects the investors, but now the aftermath is felt by the common people on the ground.  Like me and perhaps, you.

I don’t assign stars to my reviews.  Take “Love Matters” as an example.  You can’t really compare it side by side with an International film like, say, “Love Actually” (my friend Ed and I were just talking about “Love Actually” at a café while waiting for the Red Carpet event to take place).  To be able to see something closer to our local culture on a big screen, local talent Jack Neo’s films are as close as it gets.  Three love stories intertwined into a single plot, there is this young boy having a crush with his schoolmate who is attached, there is this flamboyant young man who doesn’t know what love is beyond physical intimacy, and there is an old married couple whose well of passion has dried up long time ago.  As Jack Neo wrote in his blog, the following translated paragraph summarized what he envisages the film to be.

Those who are not in love yearn for love; those who are loved don’t know how to love; and those who are in love for too long no longer feel the love.

There are pockets of quality jokes that even for Cynthia who doesn’t know a single word of Chinese, she laughed hard.  Beyond bits and pieces of comedy (my favorite one is the gigolo scene) is a bit of horror (“Hard Candy” anyone?) and a bit of tragedy with tons of tears.  It is relevant to our current environment on what sex in the fifties is like (think Viagra in Chinese potion) and what teen sex is like (sex videos getting uploaded into the Internet sounds familiar?).  Perhaps the topic of sex has earned the disappointing NC-16 rating, at least to Jack Neo.  I would think that the younger crowd may have some to learn from the story.

Yes, I wish “Love Matters” has the cinematography quality of “Dance of the Dragon”.  The backdrops are a bit too ordinary to me.  And yes, I wish the story is tighter and less irregular in terms of scripting quality.  At some parts of the story, Cynthia and I would turn and look to each other and have the “huh?!” look.  Having said that, I am happy to support the local industry and “Love Matters” is Jack Neo’s 13th production that will certainly give you a good laugh and a tiny bit of something to ponder about no matter how old you are.

Photos shared here are those that I have taken during the Red Carpet event.  Yes, I just have to throw in pictures of Cynthia taken at the rooftop of Vivocity because I have always wanted to take some pictures of her there.  This set of photos is also the first time Nikon’s Color Efex Pro 3.0 for Capture NX 2 is being featured in my website, as a good alternative to Adobe Photoshop products.  Stay tuned for further write-ups on what software is for you if you are a Nikon digital photographer.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Tokyo! Which of the 3 Segments You Like the Most (or Dislike the Least)?

I planned this outing with my Movie Review Squad even before I left for my trip 2 weeks ago.  This time I picked the title.  I have a soft spot for the picture house genre, especially one with a promise of a story interlaced with multiple plots.  And coincidentally, we watched yet another Japanese film.  Cynthia and TK both enjoy the previous one and I was OK with it.  As for “Tokyo!”, while I adore the three filmmakers’ vision and originality towards this three-set story, Cynthia didn’t like it finding some parts of the film offensive; TK fell asleep half of the time.  OK, we missed the intended show schedule because we were terribly late (something to do with road block caused by a marathon event, German food, and just us being late most of the time – all led to a ticket refund) so naturally we were all quite sleepy.  Good for TK, he felt refreshed after the show.

All three stories exhibit at least two common elements: a storyline set in Tokyo and an original idea that may be foreign to the majority of the audience.  French director Michel Gondry opens the movie with the first set “Interior Design (インテリア・デザイン)” – a story of a Japanese couple’s struggle in pursuing their film making dream in Tokyo.  There are lots of engaging dialogues between the characters, story development in different directions, and towards the end, this first segment of “Tokyo!” turns into a metaphor – a visionary one.  I suspect “Interior Design (インテリア・デザイン)” is the most accessible of all because of a fair bit of drama and humor involved.

The second segment “Merde (メルド)” is directed by another French director Leos Carax.  The French word merde simply means shit in English.  A story of a mad man who emerges from the sewage system and terrorizes Tokyo.  Perhaps the most intense of the three, I awe at the quality and the difficulty of acting involved.  Personally, I think “Merde (メルド)” casts a fresh perspective on a well-known modern day terrorist figure.  This segment is also the most unacceptable segment amongst the rest of the Movie Review Squad.  Though it was at times painful to watch, I admire this segment the most.

“Shaking Tokyo (シェイキング東京)” is the last segment directed by the Korean director Bong Joon-ho, it delivers a story between a Hikikomori (people who cut off physical human interaction with the rest of the society) of 10 years and a pizza delivery girl.  There is not much dialogues, more like monologues (for obvious reason), and the primary channel of communication to the audience is in the form of facial expression and body language.  And hence, the pace is much slower than the other two.

I don’t think these non-Japanese directors have restrained their artistic expression at all.  Some may find “Tokyo!” tilts towards the realm of self-indulgence.  Yes, “Tokyo!” is a different kind of movie.  There is a fine line between being original and intolerably bizarre.  I am an odd ball; I am leaning towards liking this one.

PS. Your very last chance to win that 60″ plasma TV!

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Foreign Movie Reviews

20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) – So It Was Movie Before Manga For Me

Rarely our Movie Review Squad has such a long deliberation on which movie to watch.  And we settled for “Twentieth Century Boys” after a 3-way split between Rocknrolla, the Bunny, and this Japanese one last week.  I asked TK to give me an executive summary on what this show is about.  It’s originated from a manga, yes I know that.  I think TK didn’t have time get past the first few pages of the manga and Cynthia went in thinking that it is an animation.  I read that “20th Century Boy” is a close to 2 and a half hours show.  And I braced myself for a long part 1 of a trilogy.

I can see where does the money of this so-called most expensive Japanese film ever made have gone to.  Some of the effects are pretty good (a sci-fi movie after all).  The cast of 300 people is pretty intense.  I have a hard time trying to remember who is who.  TK seems to enjoy the film with the plot stepping forward and backward in time.  Surprisingly Cynthia loves it too and calls it a very creative movie (that doesn’t jerk tear thank God, she said).  As for me …

If you have already read the manga and love it, this action-mystery film is a must-watch.  Now that I am reading the manga, I admire the filmmaker’s effort in recreating each scene in exact detail as the manga.  The cast even matches with the look of the manga characters.  That is impressive.

Maybe because of the relatively slow pace especially when the plot goes back in time and dwells on the childhood stories, maybe there are missing gaps in between scenes due to film adaptation that confuse me, maybe there are just not enough eye candies to keep me interested (shallow I know!), I was not jumping out of my chair.

Nevertheless, the effort is commendable and looks like “20th Century Boys” is one movie that up the standard of the Japanese production.  Although I am not quite getting the idea of how a bunch kids’ role-playing game can turn into a disastrous future, I will be there when the 2nd installment arrives.  Meanwhile, the manga looks pretty good and it is filling up the gaps I have from watching the film.  Do check out the manga too when you have time.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Murder Of The Inugami Clan – A Detective Story That Triggers Childhood Memories

Woke up at 7am on a Friday morning, I switched on my phone an hour later and a text message arrived at my inbox: Murder Of The Inugami Clan?

Not a big fan of the genre of crime but I am happy to do a bit of give and take.  Who knows, one day the rest of the Movie Review Squad may yield to the genre of horror – something I love, and often watch alone.

Do you remember the days when you were still a young adult, grew impatience, and started to read books for the adults?  And you might have struggled to finish reading the books like me?  I remember vividly what types of books I read when I was very young: the genre of Wuxia and the Japanese detective novels translated in Chinese.

What hindered me back then hindered me this evening.  Japanese detective novels usually involve quite a number of characters and it is not easy to memorize who is who (in Japanese) as the stories develop.  “Murder of the Inugami Clan” triggers my childhood memory because the story is so similar to those that I have read when I was young: the sheer number of characters, the mystery, and the indescribable dark mood that overshadows the entire story.  The Japanese can be so creative, however illogical the stories can sometimes be.

Notable Japanese director Kon Ichikawa’s final piece of work (he passed away this year at the age of 92) has a certain darkness and bleakness within but not without a dose of humanity.  The story is set after the World War II and the wealthy Inugami patriarch passes away leaving behind a strange will with strange conditions.  A series of murder take place even before the will is announced; a series of past history begin to surface as the plot unfolds.  It is our detective’s job to put the pieces together and solve the puzzle.

I believe what Kon Ichikawa wished to retain is the traditional approach to film making as “Murder of the Inugami Clan” is a remake of his own movie created 30 years ago.  Some audience may chuckle at how unrealistic some of the murder scenes are.  I doubt if any such scene was at all realistic three decades ago.  Pockets of humor are scattered in making the film relatively more uplifting.  I personally enjoyed watching the acting.  Very old school.  (Yes, I did at times allow to watch TV when I was young and my favorite was and still is Japanese dramas).

Not necessarily a film to entertain but a film to admire without having to think too hard.  When our main character Kosuke Kindaichi, the detective, first checks into his hotel room, he looks out of his window, captivated by the beautiful greenery scenery of the mountain behind the lake,and he said something like: where a nation is defeated, nature endures.  So subtlety describes the feeling of people after the war.

Categories
Foreign Movie Reviews Romance

Cyborg She (僕の彼女はサイボーグ) – How Many Times Can You Alter Your Past?

I really love this Japanese film.  I am so feeling her heart  – an expression I learn from the film to describe a strong affection in a cyborg-human relationship: I feel your heart!  While the Americans are remaking the Korean success “My Sassy Girl”, the director of the aforementioned movie, Kwak Jae-yong, has created “Cyborg She”.

Let’s not look into the technical details of the paradox of time travel.  Besides, that would give out spoiler, which I don’t normally do without warning.  There are enough twists in “Cyborg She” that keep the audience in suspense all the way to the end.  The special effect of the Cyborg looks convincing, so are the scenes from a Japanese small town in the old days as well as ‘that disaster’.  The acting of the main actress Haruka Ayase (綾瀬 はるか) looks convincing too.  She is so pretty.  I read somewhere that she acted in that Japanese movie “Hero”.  She has certainly left a deeper impression this time.  If I may add, the soundtrack is great too.

Arguably one of the more original movies based on the concept of time, “Cyborg She” is my favorite romance story that involves time travel.  Exactly why the director Kwak Jae-yong likes to create female characters that are so overpowering, I have no clue.  But I always enjoy watching or reading stories that involve heroines.

If I must pick something to critic, some scenes appear to be repetitive and a bit too lengthy.  Then again, with such an eye candy, who really cares?

I have been pondering why titled as such.  “I, Robot” came into my mind.  If I think along that line, “Cyborg She” seems fine.  Time to wait for the DVD to be out!  Below is the trailer, with Chinese subtitles.

Categories
Diary Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Under the Same Moon – Who Wouldn’t Want This Boy As One of Your Own?

A less than ordinary day of mine began with Cynthia’s facial appointment at Vivocity.  Armed with a book and my music collection, my plan was to sit down at a cafe somewhere and space out, which is what I am good at doing when I am alone – spacing out.  So I was at Coffee Bean – a local cafe – with my glass of coffee looking for a table.  Full house.  I turned to an old Chinese couple who, I supposed, have more or less finished their drinks.  My plan B was to quietly hide at one side of the round table, listen to my music, and read my book.

We ended up chatting for forty-five minutes, maybe an hour.  I seriously have no idea that I can actually speak Mandarin!  And certainly have no idea that I can understand that much Mandarin either given my Cantonese root from Hong Kong.  Amazing.

But that is not the end of the story.  Soon, this old couple’s son arrived, together with wife and a baby.  Now, for a brief moment, faced with a family of three generations at a cafe with me being a total stranger, it was kind of awkward.  I looked around, full house still.  OK.  I had a hearty chat with mainly the old couple’s son, for another forty-five minutes, maybe an hour.  We exchanged contacts before we parted.  I am no Owen Wilson.  But I swear I was thinking of the movie “Wedding Crasher”.  A truly enjoyable chat; way better than spacing out on my own.

Some human emotions do melt hearts.

The Mexican movie “Under the Same Moon” (Spanish title “La Misma Luna”) that we watched later in Vivocity melts hearts too.  I didn’t have a high expectation.  In fact, I chose to watch this because Cynthia and I are currently learning Spanish.

Several video editing glitches and slight over-dramatized plot aside (seriously who really think that stories by, say, Sophie Kinsella is realistic but yet we all love the plots), the emotions and the dilemmas people faced are as real as it gets.  The acting by and large is admirable.  And I wish to single out the acting of the little boy Adrian Alonso here.  There is a whole array of despair, determination, and delight for Adrian to act out in tears and in laughter.  Cynthia did cry and the film got my eyes watered.  It’s so easy to love this character – for his street smart approach and genuine devotion to the people around him.

This movie is a journey of a little boy finding his way to his mother separated by a country border.  The plot is well paced with the stories from the two sides of the border well gelled with one another.  Certainly a pleasant movie to watch and one that most can relate to.

PS. I recognized the little boy from the big screen but couldn’t pinpoint who he is.  Only Cynthia can recall such a detail: he has acted in “The Legend of Zorro”.  Now I know.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Summer Rain – A Spanish Film Directed by Antonio Banderas That May Be Too Abstract Even for the Picture House Fans

Cynthia and I have just started our Spanish class so there is no reason to give this Spanish film a miss.  Before you read on, if you are not a huge fan of the European picture house movies, chances are you may not enjoy this at all.  Simply a fan is not enough, must be a huge one.  It’s slow; it’s random; it’s the seventies.

Now, with that expectation set, “Summer Rain” is Antonio Banderas’s second Spanish movie as a director.  Subtly, he expresses his own ambition and emotion to the Spanish film industry through the movie.  The Spanish title is “Camino de los Ingleses, El”.  That roughly translates to “The English Road” or “The English Way”.  Be it as “Summer Rain” or “The English Road”, both concepts relate directly to the story.  Perhaps the former one is easier for the audience to connect with.

Let’s look at how faithfully “Summer Rain” portrays Spain in the seventies.  The costumes, the sunglasses, the typewriters, the street scenes look authentic.  The attitude towards sex and relationship, I think that is pretty authentic as well.  The filming looks old fashion and so is the music.  And if you pay attention to the scene composition, time and time again, you would see a similar concept composed in different ways.  For instance, the dropping of the kidney into the bucket and the dropping of the same actor who has his kidney removed into the swimming pool filmed from underneath the pool; the sister who comes out from the balcony and steps back into the shadow and then later, the brother who does the same – both linked by a similar emotion; the beginning scene with a flower and a car drives passes by and the ending scene with the same angle but different flower, and with the same car that passes by – if you are into this sort of details, you may find the film an art to admire.  This dualism extends beyond scene composition.  It works its way into the characters as well.  A young boy’s hatred towards his porn star birth mother is in a relationship with a prostitute.  Irony?  Perhaps.  But there is no coincidence.

Another worth noting observation is that the sex scenes are extremely artistic.  Some of the scenes would have been really awkward to watch, borderline gross, but I think the filmmaker has managed to get the ideas across without turning the film into a pornography.  And some sex scenes are extremely seductive.  Just when I thought I have seen it all on big screens.  (Note: Please don’t watch this film purely based on what this paragraph says.)

The flip side, on the other hand, is that the storyboarding of the scenes can be a bit random and the abstractly lengthy narration – artistic to some – may not sit well with the majority of the audience.  The main story is straightforward.  One young boy comes out of the hospital with one less kidney and the book “Divine Comedy” in his hand.  He has decided to be a poet.  One young girl whose passion is to dance and is willing to do whatever it takes to attain that dream.  There are other friends of them whom each has a journey of his own to take.  Together, their fates intertwine and a new destiny is weaved.

But is it only one destiny?  To say more would be to give out the spoilers.  So I shall end my write-up here and let you decide if “Summer Rain” is for you or not.  It is a film with open interpretation.  And I personally am not sure if many of you may find the pain of going through this 2 hours film justifies the joy of a potential interpretation – if there is one for you that is.

*     *     *    SPOILERS BELOW     *     *     *

If you notice, the narrator always seems a bit detached from the movie.  He is physically in the story but he takes no part in how the story develops.  Or does he?  I think he ‘writes’ the story.  And what you see is just one version of the story.  Towards the end, as he says ‘another viewpoint’, the entire story is rewritten from the beginning.  There is a different flower by the road.  Subtle difference that may result in a different story.

Is the beginning scene how the story begins?  Or is there a mixture of concepts here?  Try to recall with me.  There is an image of the ballet dancer in the operation room, with the young boy alone without the doctors.  There is this young boy naked flying on top of the world looking so peaceful.  This young boy wouldn’t have known this dancer prior to the operation, would he?  I can only imagine that beyond the ending scene, he has been taken to the hospital after he is found sitting in a chair at the middle of the road the next morning unconscious.  And he has died and gone to the netherworld.  The opening scene could well be a mix of the opening and the end.

That brings up a good point here on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.  Inside Dante’s epic poem that he journeys through the three realms of the dead – Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, Beatrice is the ideal woman who guides him through Heaven.  Although the reference to “Divine Comedy” is limited, I can’t help but to visualize that this group of friends together with the abstract narrator have journeyed through the similar and if the linkage is too far fetched, that could contribute to one of the major weaknesses of this film.