Category: Film Festivals

So you see a big budget Korean blockbuster like (say) Vampire Cop Ricky, and you get…

I liked Independence Day, but it didn’t stick with me. This was about the same. South Korea, from my limited experience, has less of a national character when it comes to film than Japan or Hong Kong; the technique and acting is on a par with and deeply influenced by Hollywood film, without the minimalism and immediacy of so much Japanese film or the visceral propulsion I associate with Hong Kong cinema. I know Korean cinema is not a new institution, but it feels to me like they’re still finding their way, at least as far as mainstream big budget stuff goes.

There was some interesting cultural stuff. Digital media players are clearly popular enough in South Korea so as to not require any introduction for a sight gag. Even more fascinating to me: the crime lord’s primary source of income was a cyber racing parlor. Yep, a room full of degenerate gamblers betting on a horse race that exists only in the computer, with the odds constantly reprogrammed by the crime lord. Funky.

So the premise of a crooked cop who gets bit by a vampire mosquito and only turns into a vampire when he has a hardon? You might not see that if it starred Owen Wilson. But you might, and it’d be entertaining, which is what this was.

Grade: B.

I didn’t know anything about Ultraman before seeing these four episodes. What I know now: there are five members of Team DASH, and they fight giant monsters, kinda like Kaiju Big Battel. Team DASH is a special group within the UDF. Giant monsters tend to ravage a specific area of Tokyo which is a cut below the classic Toho models.

Officer Kaito can turn into Ultraman Max, who is exceedingly tall and who kicks butt on almost everyone. He only gets to stick around for three minutes, though. And, um, that’s pretty much it.

Of the four episodes, the episode where a staff writer dreams he’s Officer Kaito dreaming he’s a staff writer was my favorite. Miike’s comedy episode with cat monsters (Fluffy, Mopsy, and Blackie, says S.) who eat memories also rocked. The other two were OK. Everything was low budget. I kind of want a toy King Ele. Nice way to finish off the evening.

Grade: B.

Shinobi is state of the art Japanese high budget historical romantic dramatic action. The story is not Romeo and Juliet with throwing stars, as tempting as it is to use that line. (So tempting I used it anyway.) However, it is fated lovers and there were throwing stars, so that’s all good.

There’s a minimalist plot which, for much of the movie, looked like it was going to leave me hanging in terms of story satisfaction. I’d been sort of middling satisfied as the various ninjas, each with their own unique fighting style — excellent fight choreography — battled and struggled and died. But then the final confrontation turns out to not be the two lovers; rather, their story transmutes into the driving engine for something which is in the end more important. And that rocked.

It actually made me wanna see it again, just to pick up on the real plot, which I think flows alongside the romance throughout the entire movie. There’s a bit early on when the leaders of the two ninja tribes are confronting one another alone. On first viewing, I thought it was an echo of the romance. Now I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that.

The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous, aided immensely by those big craggy Japanese mountain vistas, and it avoided being glossy. I was expecting something at a sort of Azumi level of polish, but instead we got a subtly colored palette with depth.

The acting was decent. I think the two leads are both medium hot Japanese stars at the sort of Colin Ferrell/Kiera Knightley level, but they inhabited their roles well enough. Good action, as I mentioned. Kippei Shiina was particularly awesome as the ninja who isn’t immortal, “Just bad at dying.” Tak Sakaguchi was his usual excellent self.

Grade: B+.

I gotta stop seeing Thai movies unless they get really good reviews. Hell was kinda Saving Private Tootsie in, well, Hell. Lots of wandering around, no dramatic tension, and I didn’t really care if any of the characters made it back to the mortal world. Also I knew they would, because the big demon boss said “Let them out once they learn their lesson,” except he couched it in terms of karmic debt.

So after about an hour I gave up and went off and had sushi with S. instead. That was better.

I’ll give the movie points for a decent grotesque Grand Guignol vision of Hell. It was icky and looked completely unpleasant without being CGI’d out all over the place. The ghost demon children were particularly nice. But yeah, unpleasant people in an unpleasant situation does not make for a quality movie going experience.

Grade: Incomplete, but heading for a D.

This was, I think, a metaphor for the state of sports in Boston after the first two New England Patriots Super Bowl victories. The All Out High baseball team is of course the Red Sox, doomed to never win (at least in the eyes of the city). The All Out High soccer team, successful and snooty and possessed of innumerable chicks in miniskirts, is the Patriots. The struggle of the baseball team to make the Nationals under a goofy laconic manager is the struggle of the Red Sox to make the World Series under Terry Francona.

This interpretation is perhaps assisted by the guy in the Patriots jersey I saw in the line for Ultraman Max. Not sure. Also, I’m not sure what the ending of the movie says about what I should expect from Boston sports this year. Perhaps best not to dwell on it.

And come to think of it, Terry Francona didn’t wear a mask at any point during the World Series year. Maybe he’s not that much like the All Out High manager after all. (Yes, I did get another dose of masked wrestler.)

Anyways, I’d been hoping this would be cut from the same cloth as Cutie Honey; it was. Huge high energy broad comedy. There’s a big Shaolin Soccer influence as well, mostly in the sports wirework. Can’t begrudge a sports comedy that, and it’s not as if Shaolin Soccer wasn’t heavily influenced by over the top anime.

Fun romp. I liked it immensely.

Grade: A.

I find most movies advertised as “so bad it’s good” don’t fulfill the latter term. Three MIghty Men was an exception. The print sucked, the music was laughable, the acting wasn’t, the fight scenes… actually, the fight scenes were kind of imaginative, but they were imaginative at about half-speed. Captain America’s actor knew some gymnastics, so we got that.

The Spider was defeated, by my count, six times. No explanation given. Not a lot of explanation of anything, really, except the reason why our heros wore masks. (“The Spider is like a child; masks send him into a rage and he will try and kill us. Also, my costume is bulletproof.”)

Grade: B as entertainment, D- as a movie.

This was, I think, a metaphor for the state of sports in Boston after the first two New England Patriots Super Bowl victories. The All Out High baseball team is of course the Red Sox, doomed to never win (at least in the eyes of the city). The All Out High soccer team, successful and snooty and possessed of innumerable chicks in miniskirts, is the Patriots. The struggle of the baseball team to make the Nationals under a goofy laconic manager is the struggle of the Red Sox to make the World Series under Terry Francona.

This interpretation is perhaps assisted by the guy in the Patriots jersey I saw in the line for Ultraman Max. Not sure. Also, I’m not sure what the ending of the movie says about what I should expect from Boston sports this year. Perhaps best not to dwell on it.

Anyways, I’d been hoping this would be cut from the same cloth as Cutie Honey; it was. Huge high energy broad comedy. There’s a big Shaolin Soccer influence as well, mostly in the sports wirework. Can’t begrudge a sports comedy that, and it’s not as if Shaolin Soccer wasn’t heavily influenced by over the top anime.

Fun romp. I liked it immensely.

Grade: A.

No clever titles this trip. It’s gonna be a long one.

The drive up was nice, excepting the insane Big Dig traffic in Boston. Taking 89 up through Vermont is a win from an aesthetic standpoint; it was a bit late for much of a view of the islands, but on the way back S. and I expect to be able to bask in natural beauty. Customs happened. This year, our maps were accurate and we found our Montreal domicile without trouble.

Said domicile — well, 210 square feet is 210 square feet. Clearly, the owner took an apartment that covered the entire first floor and chopped it into three apartments for short term rental. The flaw is a lack of apparent air conditioning and no windows; it’s substantially hotter in the apartment than it is outside. Also, I have not yet figured out their wireless. So it goes. [Update: wireless!]

We’re three subway stops away from Guy-Concordia and the venues. Tim Horton’s makes good coffee. Right now — 11:20 AM — I’m waiting for the box office to open up so I can horrify the nice young lady by asking her to print out 64 tickets. Eventually they’re going to figure out a better system for this.

Really, the festival is pretty much what I’m thinking about right now. The links here go to IMDB, rather than the Fantasia site (like the ones in the last post).

Saturday

Three Mighty Men: bad Turkish 70s flicks are really hot on the festival circuit right now, and I kinda wish I was kidding, but I kinda don’t because if I was kidding I wouldn’t have the chance to see this one. This is also the only movie I’ll see at this year’s festival with a masked wrestler, unless someone else holds a surprise for me.

All-Out Nine: Field of Nightmares (no IMDB page): come to think of it, I’m probably stoked about this because I liked Cutie Honey so much; I’m hoping we get another mega-enthused translation of manga to film. And, OK, as a sports fan I can’t but be intrigued by the subject it parodies. Japanese Bad News Bears, right?

Hell: I’m really curious to see if Thai film’s changed much in two years. As devoted readers will recall, Saving Private Tootsie and The Bodyguard did not me overwhelm in 2004. Also, grand guignol is fun.

Shinobi: big gloss. Action. The trailer is pretty awesome. Tak Sakaguchi, who rocked my world in Versus and who did action direction in Death Trance which I really gotta see, is in it. So yes.

Arthouse Ultraman (no IMDB): Double Miike! Doing television! Ultraman! Sure!

Sunday

Vampire Cop Ricky (no IMDB): I’m pretty much all about the Korean SFX action slash sex farce horror flicks, sure.

Samurai Commando 1549: more widescreen Japanese action! I’m either gonna be really burnt out on the stuff or very happy by the end of the weekend. This doesn’t have a pedigree that turns me on, but I like the premise, so why not?

Train Man: OK, this just seems really sweet and cool and touching. And maybe a true story! So it’ll be a good breather from the action and the horror and so on.

Junk: Fantasia’s doing a lot of Russian films this year — it’s a focus — and that seems like a good thing to take advantage of. The story is not wacky or weird or anything, which makes this a good chance to see how a different culture works with the basic tropes of suspense.

It looks like this:

Three Mighty Men
All-Out Nine: Field of Nightmares
Hell
Shinobi
Arthouse Ultraman
Vampire Cop Ricky
Samurai Commando 1549
Train Man
Junk
Wilderness
Red Shoes
Isolation
Synesthesia
The Gravedancers
The Kovak Box
Storm
Pusher 3
The Echo
Subject Two
The Descendant
Reincarnation
DJ XL5 Zappin’ Party Cavalcade
Ressonances
Evil Aliens
The Order of One
Five Deadly Venoms
Aziris Nuna
The Great Yokai War
Executive Koala
Arcanum
My Dead Girlfriend
Kebab Connection

Commentary perhaps later.