210) Antique (2008)

210) Antique (2008) Dir: Min Kyu-Dong Not Yet Released Date Seen: July 11th, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

Antique, an adaptation of a popular manga about gay pastry chefs that solve crime in their spare time, immediately impressed me with its over-eagerness to please. It's very much a capable summer movie as defined as a very light but amiably hyper source of superficial entertainment that dabbles with a certain aspect of the human condition with more unabashed glee than wisdom. 

The film's approach to storytelling and how to live life is simple: excess is best. There is no room in between ecstatic frenzy and the most sparkly, shiny and peppy kind of depression that you can find (I wish that when I felt depressed that I felt as good as these guys do). Any doubts  if sweeter is necessarily better are strictly rhetorical, even if the film's characters don't realize that yet (Sun-woo, a "gay of demonic charm" mock-seriously wonders, "Can anyone be unhappy eating cake?"). 

Antique careens forward recklessly on the speed and the energy of plentiful montages full of double-exposed overlapping shots, chockablock of floating daydream imagery, commercial-worthy food photography and rapid-free dialogue. It's too syrupy to to be of much value in terms of its airy musings on how people need to be responsible for other people to be happy but it doesn't need to be. After all, durable fluff never needs that long of a shelf-life.

189) The Longest Nite (1998)

189) The Longest Nite (1998) Dir: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-Fai and Patrick Yau Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 20th, 2009 Rating: 3.75/5

While I couldn't say why immediately, it was obvious that the five scenes that Patrick Yau directed before The Longest Nite were different from the superb noirish framework Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai gave them. Yau's scenes all revolve around spontaneous violence, creating jaw-dropping moments of insane black humor thanks to their frighteningly abrupt and volatile nature. To and Wai probe the nature of those scenes with a tangled plot that could only come from them (the film's central metaphor of being a rubber ball, full of restless motion but not being able to control where you go, is very much Wai's cinematic worldview distilled). Moody and dark, the film is yet another exceptional transitional film in To's career, a movie that like Hero Never Dies (also 1998) pushes him from his so-so earlier films to the string of great films that he continues to crank out today.

Note: Tony Leung Chiu-wai was seriously miscast here. The film can be broken down into four quarters. First and last are when the film goes off-the-rails and requires Tony to be an unhinged tough guy capable of matching Lau Ching-wan's effortless attitude; the middle half is a traditional whodunnit plot. Leung does well with the that latter chunk but is never really convincing in the former. These extended bookend scenes are crucial in changing Leung's character from a mild-mannered detective into a vicious character capable of anything, just like Lau's character. Leung instead shows that he's best when he's playing characters that look breathless and confused all the time, which is nowhere near the enigmatic anti-hero the role required.

187) Written By (2009)

187) Written By (2009) Dir: Wai Ka-Fai Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 18th, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

Though it's about a family that uses writing to cope with loss, Written By, screenwriter and sometimes director Wai Ka-Fai's latest film, does not have a particularly memorable plot. The film's characters ping-pong back-and-forth so many times between living their lives, creating fiction that mirrors their lives and becoming literally absorbed by that fiction that eventually any coherent narrative thread becomes lost and all that's left is a prevailing feeling of grief. When he's not shuttling us between repetitive confrontations between the living and the fictive dead, Wai proves that he's capable of immersing us in the oppressive emotions of someone dealing with survivor's guilt. Those sentiments are what linger on after the end credits roll, which is fitting considering that the film begins with a quote about how loved ones live on in our memories.

186) Love Exposure (2008)

186) Love Exposure (2008) Dir: Sion Sono Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 17th, 2009 Rating: 4.25/5

The very last scene is kind of a letdown but the rest is a weird saga of misanthropy and bizarre hope in the face of absurd odds. See my mention of it in my piece on Japan Cuts for The Onion's New York Decider.

184) Yoroi Samurai Zombie (2008)

184) Yoroi Samurai Zombie (2008) Dir: Tak Sakaguchi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 16th, 2009 Rating: 2/5

Yoroi Samurai Zombie, Tak Sakaguchi's second film behind the camera, doesn't do much with its atmospheric setting, heavily overworked fog machines and stuntmen--at least, it appeared like they were stuntmen based on the fact that we see two scenes of physical violence three times each, as if to prove that what just happened really happened. The premise is laughably simple--a family get kidnapped by a group of robbers and are then all terrorized by an undead samurai. It could've been fun but instead, it was just mostly a lot of dull meandering and neat make-up effects. I laughed a couple times at its sporadic knack for non-sequitur humor but man, this movie makes Be a Man! Samurai School look restrained and moderately successful. 

178) 20th Century Boys Chapter 2: The Last Hope

178) 20th Century Boys: The Last Hope (2009) Dir: Yukihiko Tsutsumi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 12th, 2009 Rating: 3.75/5

Though I initially had some problems with the film's lack of common sense logic at times, the pervading sense of dread and paranoia really worked me over. See my mention of this in my forthcoming piece on this year's "Japan Cuts" program at Japan Society for The Onion's New York Decider.

177) 20th Century Boys (2008)

177) 20th Century Boys (2008) Dir: Yukihiko Tsutsumi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 12th, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

From what I'd heard from NYAFF overlord Grady Hendrix, I was expecting this one to be an unbearably long set-up for a superior sequel, like a weird reversal of the quality of the Death Note live-action movies. Boy, was I wrong. See my mention of this in my forthcoming round-up of this year's Japan Cuts program for The Onion's New York Decider.

176) Ip Man (2008)

176) Ip Man (2008) Dir: Wilson Yip Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 12th, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

While it's tempting to say that the increased gimmickiness of the fight scenes in Ip Man, actor/martial arts choreographer Donnie Yen/director Wilson Yip's latest collaboration, are why the film is the most entertaining of their recent work together, that's only partially true. Sure, it's fun to watch Donnie Yen fight a big guy, then ten guys, then a bunch of guys with axes--a lot more fun than the technically impressive but kinda boring fights in SPL and Flash Point, too--but what really makes the film a perfect fit for Yen is the film's nationalistic message. 

Set just before World War 2, Ip Man is the story of the titular real-life martial arts master (Yen, of course) that apparently was not only just the best martial artist in a city full of sifus but was also much better than the haughty occupying Japanese soldiers that are of course not nearly as good at kung fu as Yen. By that token, the film has a comic book logic with an obvious plot and a ham-fisted and perhaps even inexplicable message--the fact that the film came out several months after the Beijing Olympics makes me wonder what kind of counter-programmed message it's sending about the competitive nature of the Chinese. 

At the same time, that kind of stuffy mandate seems to suit Yen's normally charisma-less style of fighting. The fights here feel like they're choreographed with a dynamism that his onscreen bouts otherwise sorely lack and his character. Also, his character is certainly subdued enough for an actor of such modest talents. Within the realm of contemporary martial arts epics, Ip Man is certainly good enough to keep you rooting for the good guy, especially during the last fight scene, where for a moment, it actually looks like Yen's met his match.

175) Be a Man! Samurai School (2008

175) Be a Man! Samurai School (2008) Dir: Tak Sakaguchi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 11th, 2009 Rating: 2.75/5

Not silly or imaginative enough for me to really feel much of anything about but it has a few good gags. Via my Twitter: "I liked Be a Man! Samurai School more when it was Cromartie High School. Fun at times but mostly just a so-so retread of CHS gags--Quirky schoolmates! Weird school rituals! Weirder school spirit!" 

173) Warlords (2007)

173) Warlords (2007) Dir: Peter Chan and Wai Man Yip Date Released: June 10th, 2009 Rating: 4/5

Impressive in its focus on the mercenary attitude of its protagonists. See my "Get Your Reps" for The L Magazine.

168) All Around Us (2008)

168) All Around Us (2008) Dir: Ryosuke Hashiguchi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 6th, 2009 Rating: 3.75/5

 All Around Us, writer/director Ryosuke Hashiguchi's return to making movies after a seven year hiatus, is for the most part an expertly observed drama about a young married couple. Based on a novel of his, Hashiguchi deftly alternates between episodes in the lives of Shoko (Tae Kamura), a literary PR agent whose pregnancy is forcing her to take a series of serious emotional blows and Kanao (Lily Franky), a happy-go-lucky sketch artist who takes a high-paying job drawing courtroom portraits for newspapers to support his family. From that kind of set-up, All Around Us could have been a much more emotionally rich version of Judd Apatow's Knocked Up--indeed, the hilariously deadpan scene where they're determining to have sex could very well be a deleted scene from that film--but as it progresses, it becomes more like a cross between The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Edward Yang's Yi Yi. 

Sadly, that delicacy isn't sustained throughout the film's 140 minute runtime. By the last half hour, the characters look to have achieved a miraculous emotional breakthrough, granting them a lasting sense of closure. This means that their lives are now spent living every moment to their fullest, a cliched false sentiment that spoils all the moments of fragile tenderness that Hashiguchi's gradual, moment-by-moment approach to dramatizing their lives up 'til that point earned. 

All Around Us instead ends with a series of resolution, which is especially grating considering that Kanao and Shoko understand that being happy is mostly a matter of faith. "Living's a skill," an understanding nun tells Kanao and as obnoxious as that sounds, beneath its deceptively simple message is a lot of truth. Giving Kanao and Shoko this kind of happy ending feels like a cheat. An otherwise terrific film marginally but memorably brought down by a soppy finish.

167) Rough Cut (2008)

167) Rough Cut (2008) Dir: Hun Jang Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 6th, 2009 Rating: 2.25/5

I think I like my buddy films to be a more funny or just more loose than Rough Cut is. Very uptight and not particularly memorable, mostly because both male protags humorlessly make each other better at what they do--acting and gangstering respectively--more through their distant growling at each other rather than through their gritted teeth and clenched fists. I was almost able to go along with writer/director Hun Jang's debut feature but only when it had both feet firmly planted in the slick world of acting and filmmaking egos. I lose interest after The Odd Couple's first "real" fight scene, when the plot's alternating between the mob world and the movie world becomes a necessity to the film's mirthless bit of fantasy fluff.

166) Breathless (2009)

166) Breathless (2009) Dir: Yang Ik-Joon Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 6th, 2009 Rating: 2.75/5

Writer/director Yang Ik-Joon's Breathless isn't necessarily a bad film, just one with questionable emotional worth. His character study of Sang-hoon (played by Yang himself), an abusive debt collector that defines the South Korean male patriarchial tyrant stereotype--he beats his women, he's a deadbeat dad, he curses constantly, he drinks too much and he's also a product of a broken home--is honest in its rawness but infused with a dishonest kind of wishful thinking. 

Over the course of the film, Sang-hoon changes for the better and while he does it on his own terms, the changes that he undergoes after he takes a surly teen under his wing feel like cheap in their  quick melodramatic fixes to serious character flaws. Yang's performance and his interactions with his sister and her kid alone humanize him sufficiently, making this added queasily romantic subplot also a fruitless redundancy. As the relationship gradually becomes the film's central focus, Breathless loses its edge as a prickly entry in what NYAFF programmer Daniel Craft sagaciously calls the Korean subgenre of "My Bastard Dad" melodramas.

Note: Yang's performance is powerful but like Tom Hardy's performance in Bronson, which also relies on broad physicality, I hesitate to praise him in a role that requires him to go over the top and never come down.

165) Fish Story (2009)

165) Fish Story (2009) Dir: Yoshihiro Nakamura Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 5th, 2009 Rating: 4.25/5

If you can't believe that the world will be saved from imminent meter-related destruction by a punk song in 2012, Fish Story, Yoshihiro Nakamura's modernist slacker comedy, is not for you. As it's title implies, Fish Story is the epically convoluted saga about how, because of the transformative power of music, the world is saved from all of its self-fulfilling prophecies of premature extinction. Weaving back and forward and back again through time, various vignettes show us how a pre-Sex Pistols garage band in 1975 changed everything in its own small way. Like Moby Dick except with world-ending meteors and supernatural cassette tapes.

164) Snakes and Earrings (2008)

164) Snakes and Earrings (2008) Dir: Yukio Ninagawa Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 5th, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

Sorry to those that saw this here earlier but you can read my excited review when it gets republished on The L Magazine's site as a "Get Your Reps" post.

163) Dream (2008)

163) Dream (2008) Dir: Kim Ki-Duk Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 4th, 2009 Rating: 2/5

Is Kim Ki-Duk losing his edge? Did he ever really have an edge? Were all his "good" films flukes--all four of them? Am I just trying and failing miserably to find an angle to approach writing about this horribly bland and unmemorable film about dreams being a portal into our projected subconscious desires? Oh, that one I know. Yes. The answer is yes. At least putrid Kim Ki-Duk films make me feel something. This was like cinematic novocaine.

162) The Equation of Love and Death (2008)

162) The Equation of Love and Death (2008) Dir: Cao Baoping Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 4th, 2009 Rating: 3.25/5

As its title suggests, The Equation of Life and Death, suffers from an excess of shrill sentimentality but thankfully not so much that it defuses the bristling tension in debut filmmaker Cao Baoping's neo-noir. Li Mi (Xun Zhou) is a cab driver desperate to find out what happened to her missing boyfriend, whose letter have grown more and more erratic. Eventually, after tirelessly asking each and every fare if they've seen him, she stumbles into two guys that know more than they think. The trouble is these two guys have knives and are preoccupied with evading the cops. While there are some serious lulls to Li Mi's emotional arc, Baoping fills her story with just enough twists to keep it interesting without being contrived. 

161) Go Go 70s (2008)

161) Go Go 70s (2008) Dir: Ho Choi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 4th, 2009 Rating: 1.75/5

A strictly by-the-numbers biopic about a moderately interesting seminal Korean funk band from the '70s. Very bland. There's really nothing to add except the music sounded good. The kind of bland that makes you lethargic from your inability to think--pout about predictable the film is, but never really think about what's going on in it.

158) Vacation (2008)

158) Vacation (2008) Dir: Hajime Kadoi Not Yet Released Date Seen: June 2nd, 2009 Rating: 4/5

Hajime Kadoi's Vacation is an exceptionally potent melodrama about life in prison as it does not claim to fully understand the emotions of either an inmate or a guard. Even during a flashback that looks to give us insight into the psyche of Toru (Kaoru Kobayashi), a guard working on death row, there's no sense that you're seeing a definitive explication of the man's preceding or future actions. The emotional vacuum that envelopes the prison's rituals and regulations in the film is relentless, distilling raw emotions through silent and deceptively inhumane protocols. I doubt I will see anything as frightening as the scene where prisoner Kaneda (Hidetoshi Nishijima) sees his sister for the last time or his long, drawn-out execution this year.

146) If You Are the One (2008)

146) If You Are the One (2008) Dir: Xiaogang Feng Not Yet Released Date Seen: May 27th, 2009 Rating: 2.75/5

Spoilers below!

Xiaogang Feng's If You Are the One, a romantic comedy about Qin Fen (You Ge), a 40-something year-old man that goes in search of his soulmate and ends up finding Shu Qi,  may be one of the most simplistic, herky-jerky attempts to use melodrama to tackle the current economic crisis. In it, Qin goes on a series of blind dates and eventually gets the more curious than deeply emotionally involved Smiley (Qi) to agree to be his wife. Her one condition is that she'll always have her ex-husband in her heart. The rest of the film is spent with Qin trying to woo her over, a venture that eventually pays off after she tries to kill herself. Apparently the trauma of the event makes her realize that Qin really is the right guy for her after all. What does this have to do with the economy, you ask? According to Feng, everything. 

Though his role as an inventor and hence an active cog in the wheel of the big money machine is relatively minor, Qin's outlook on life is meant to serve as a model of patience in the face of certain doom. At the beginning of the film, Qin sells the patent of a tube meant to resolve conflicts for two million dollars but by the end, he has to buy it back because nobody takes it seriously. Like Smiley's love, his monetary prosperity comes and goes freely. Apparently, all you have to do when things get tough is wait for it to try to kill herself, I mean to get better.

That kind of blaise truism is so in love with its self-satisfied non-resolution that it smothers the film's better moments, specifically the handful of delicately observed scenes of conversation between Qin and Smiley, with its overbearing insistence that everything will work itself out somehow, someway--so long as your girlfriend has a change of heart after TRYING TO KILL HERSELF (can you tell I'm angry?). These quiet bits of dialogue are all inevitably cut short by Feng's persistently listless wandering from one scene to the next. If I'm not even allowed the small pleasure of watching the two bond at a natural pace, I think I'd just rather wait for a better romcom to come along.