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Promises, promises...
I was drawn to The Promise because Nicholas Tse and Sanada Hiroyuki were in the cast. It sounded like a fairytale which also had possibilities. If the characters hadn’t been so shallowly drawn, the promise of an entertaining film might have been fulfilled.Qian Cheng is a starving child with a sick mother. After scavenging food from a battlefield, she is approached by a goddess who offers her a deal she can’t turn down. Qian Cheng can be wealthy and adored by men. The catch, there’s always a catch, she can never fall in love or she will lose her love. Years later during a battle, a slave named Kun Lun displays a propensity for running---fast. General Guang Ming knows talent when he sees it and makes Kun Lun his personal slave. Duke Wu Huan is determined to take over the kingdom and have a grown Qian Cheng for his own. The table is now set for a love square.
The whole premise of the story is that Kun Lun, Guang Ming, and Wu Huan were all obsessed with Qian Cheng. It had to be the spell, for while she was beautiful, she wasn’t charismatic. Qian Cheng fell deeply in love with the masked man who saved her and had no qualms about giving herself to her supposed savior despite never having seen his face. Instead of coming across as a seductress, she appeared vapid to me. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters or root for any of the possible love combinations. They all seemed fairly vacuous. Aside from Kun Lun being able to enter the Speed Force, they just weren’t that interesting. Sanada and Tse camped it up a little in their portrayals of foes and besotted men, though Wu had other reasons for his obsession.
The CGI and special effects were rudimentary at best. There were luxurious costumes, especially for the opposing armies. You would not miss Guang Ming’s men in their bright red armor. The wigs left a lot to be desired though.
I enjoyed the premise of The Promise, or rather, I wanted to enjoy the premise of the film. The one-dimensional characters were difficult to become invested in. I appreciated most of the performances, it would be hard to ignore Sanada Hiroyuki and Nicholas Tse. The sets, scenery, and costumes were beautiful even with the low grade CGI and occasional editing glitches. It just felt like the movie promised so much more.
2 December 2024
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Laundry Kung Fu!
Dreadnaught was a martial arts film directed by Yuen Woo Ping. It starred Yuen Biao and a non-beardy “Beardy” Bryan Leung. In a supporting role was The Wong Fei Hung, Kwan Tak Hing, who’d played the character in at least 80 films. Most of the Yuen clan made a showing in this film or helped as martial arts directors.Mousy is a cowardly laundry man who is afraid of his own shadow and especially his sister. He is friends with Leung Foon, a student of the famous Wong Fei Hung. Across town is a rival of Wong’s, Tam King who is intent on bringing the physician down. The maniacal White Tiger is on the loose and Tam gives him shelter in his opera troupe. Mousy’s “lucky” bells trigger White Tiger’s deadly instincts sending the killer on the fearful washer’s tail.
Full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of slapstick comedy and Dreadnaught had its share. I found Mousy more annoying than endearing. If slapstick is your thing, you will likely enjoy this more than me. For a comedy it also had a rather high body count. With so many Yuens involved it couldn’t help but have creative and quality fights. The opening Lion dance and deadly dance off exhibited choreography requiring numerous skills. Yuen most likely to be cast as a deranged killer, Yuen Shun Yi, played the serial killer with frightening opera face paint. White Tiger seemed unable to speak only using growls to communicate. Yuen Biao was quite acrobatic and his latent laundry kung fu was interesting. Bryan Leung was excellent as Leung Foon who played for laughs and tears. Brandy Yuen and Yuen Cheung Yan both played assistants to the Marshall. This was my first time to see Kwan Tak Hing play Wong Fei Hung. At 76 most of his fights were choreographed using stunt doubles though he still held his own in several scenes. Rule of thumb with fight scenes on tv or movies. If you can’t see the face, it’s probably a double. Phillip Ko Fei made an appearance as bad guy Tam King. And Sai Gwa Pau who played Cocky So in Kwan’s movies also showed up here. Too bad they couldn’t get Walter Tso (Leung Foon) for a cameo.
Despite my dislike of Mousy’s over the top cowardice, I did enjoy this movie. Yuen Shun Yi made for a terrifying Big Bad, mainly because he had the skills to back it up. Yuen Biao and Bryan Leung’s kung fu abilities worked well with the fight choreography, making each fight entertaining. And it was fun to see elder statesman Wong Fei Hung, Kwan Tak Hing, have the chance to show he still had some moves left as he pushed eighty. This wasn’t the best Yuen Woo Ping film, but it was worth watching for the fight scenes. As always, I grade this old kung fu flicks on a curve.
30 November 2024
Dreadnaught: “One that is among the largest or most powerful of its kind.”
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"Women are like products for sale"
Burden of Life was a short Gosho Heinosuke film from 1935. Not going to sugar coat this one. I hated it. Even taking into account the time period, it was so overtly sexist that it made my blood boil.There might be a couple of elements below that could be considered spoilery:
The film starts out safely enough (sort of) with a playful bantering of the sexes. Itsuko is the middle sister married to an artist who paints semi-nude portraits of her. They live beyond their means and rely on her parents helping them out with money. Oldest daughter Takako is married to Tetsuo and are always fighting. He disapproves of her buying anything for herself, yet he spends his time in hostess bars drinking and buying drinks for the hostesses. Machiko, the youngest daughter, is about to be married which is costing her dad more money. Nine-year-old Kanichi is the baby of the family. He stays away from his dad as much as possible, even eating dinner in the kitchen to avoid him. Shozo has nothing good to say about the boy. His mantra is, “We never should have had him.” Finally, the mother has had enough and begs the father to be kinder to him and plan for the son’s future as well.
I’ve watched numerous older films, but the gaslighting of the mom to prove that the father knew best and women were overly emotional was too much for me. There appeared to be a tiny softening of Shozo near the end but it was not nearly enough for me to accept any real character growth. I found the father’s attitude deeply disturbing. Shozo didn’t know Kanichi’s age and had no plans for the boy to be educated. He considered the boy too short and too ugly to ever be married. Surprisingly, this was one of the first times I’ve come across a father wanting to be rid of a son. Daughters were often lambasted as being useless, but sons always seemed to be coveted. Shozo’s domineering attitude toward his wife had me hoping she’d smother him with her pillow while he slept. He kept saying he wished Kanichi had never been born, being as brilliant as he was, surely he knew how babies were made, didn’t he?
Despite the age of the film and knowing attitudes have changed in the last nearly 100 years, I could not enjoy this film at all. Other early directors had a modicum of respect for their female characters and audience. A child being continually rejected by his father destroyed any enjoyment I might have had with this film otherwise. If you are a fan of Gosho or can tolerate bad parenting and dismissive attitudes for women, at 67 minutes it’s worth a try. I gave myself a day to think about it and try to rationalize the father/husband’s behaviors and the neighbors’ but am still mad. Given this was supposed to be a lighthearted slice of life, I don’t think that’s the response Gosho was trying to elicit.
17 November 2024
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Revenge of the insects!
Genocide was a dark film with a very bleak opinion of humanity. Director Nihonmatsu Kazui threw a lifetime of grievances against the screen to see what would stick-nuclear war, environmental concerns, concentration camps, PTSD, racism (whether intentional or not), sexism (whether intentional or not), murderous insects that could communicate, and the Cold War. That was a lot to tackle in 86 minutes.Joji collects insects on an uninhabited island with Annabelle both for her own study and for his friend, Dr. Nagumo in Tokyo. When Joji and Annabelle are “relaxing” they see a plane catch fire with four parachutes dropping out. Later, two American crew members are found dead and one unconscious. Because Joji tried to sell a watch he found that belonged to a crew member he is arrested for murder. Colonel Gordon wants him to pay for their deaths but he is far more concerned about a missing nuclear bomb. Soviet spies are scouring the islands attempting to find it as well. To complicate matters, killer bees are on the loose bent on destroying humanity. Joji, his wife Yukari, and Dr. Nagumo become hopelessly entangled with a vengeful scientist, predatory insects, and two super powers.
There really was a lot to unpack with this film. Charlie, the black crew member, suffered casual and overt racism from just about everybody. He’d suffered severe PTSD from the war and had become addicted to drugs which caused everyone to treat him even worse. Yukari was sexually assaulted twice and the female doctor once with very little afterthought. The vengeful scientist was a survivor of the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp and had it in for humanity. “I love insects because they never lie.” The American colonel seemed to be a rogue commander willing to start a nuclear war and kill thousands of people to cover up his mistake. The Russians were using the deadly bee research for biological weapons and desperately wanted to get their hands on the bomb. As people showed their ruthlessness and/or utter stupidity on a regular basis, I began to root for the bees.
The actors performed well, something of a rarity for cheap horror flicks. There were several non-Japanese actors who were dubbed in Japanese. I don’t know who wrangled the bee actors but I hope they were paid handsomely. My biggest complaint was in the editing. There were times that people disappeared and ended up somewhere else without explanation. If you have a problem with insects, this film has numerous buggy scenes. I had to turn my head when bodies were infested with creepy crawlies or being chewed on. The science and logic for the film was genuinely lacking. It stretched credulity when a USAF officer believed that detonating a nuclear bomb was a smaller offense than going to the trouble to retrieve it. It's not like someone could have stuffed a multi-ton bomb into a backpack and carried it off the wooded island. Despite gruesome infested wounds, no one would believe the scientists that the insects had turned against humans. Un-bee-lievable.
Genocide was unflinching in its nihilistic view of the world and humans’ place in it right to the bitter end. Nihonmatsu took a stand and didn’t deviate from it. The insects let people know, “The Earth doesn’t belong to humans alone. We don’t care if mankind destroys itself with nuclear weapons, but we refuse to let you take us with you!”
29 October 2024
Trigger warning: Numerous insect scenes in a variety of manner and stages
(Rated on a curve for old, low budget, niche films)
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"Family is what you make of it"
Twinsters is one example of the internet and social media being used for good. After taking part in a YouTube video, American actress Samantha Futerman was contacted by a French woman living in London named Anais Bordier. The woman’s profile pic looked eerily familiar. Both women were adopted. Both women were born on November 19, 1987 in Busan. And both women looked exactly alike!This documentary followed Sam making contact with her sister and their journey toward learning more about themselves and their past. Sam grew up with two brothers and feeling accepted at home and school. Anais was an only child and often felt lonely and had anger issues when she was young. She was taunted at school for being adopted and different and did not feel accepted. Both women were excited and nervous about meeting the other. Sam and her family visited Anais and her family in London. Anais later visited Sam in Los Angeles. The sisters traveled to Korea to do more research into their past. Sam had been to Korea before to gain information and had met her foster mom. This time Anais would be able to do the same and discover maybe she’d been loved and cared for more than she’d ever known.
The Twins Study Center did the DNA testing for Sam and Anais as well as testing them for similarities and differences. When in Korea the two women attended the International Korean Adoptees Association gathering where their birth country welcomed them. It was heartwarming to watch two sisters go from not hugging to holding hands and embracing each other. They faced the ups and downs of their adoption stories together and in the process found that they were surrounded by more love than they thought possible.
“Family is what you make of it. There is no definition.”
12 October 2024
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Two children are seen searching for anything to eat, knowing they are starving and could die. Their world is decaying and crumbling apart. Every step crunching on the ruins of civilization emphasizes how they live in a godforsaken land. They search a blown-out building and find a man tied and chained to a wall. Realizing he might be someone else’s food cache; they work quickly to secure him for themselves. Is he dead or still alive? And does that even matter anymore?
This is not a great film, but one that people who want to annihilate others should see. Governments who believe there is such a thing as “limited” nuclear war should see. Our mutually assured destruction can put us in a position where those who survive have only the bodies of other unfortunate souls to feed upon. Hu Bo’s pessimistic vision of the future is a dark place of utter misery. Children who should be giggling, playing, and well-fed have become scavengers in a wasteland spiraling down a hole deeper than any well.
10 October 2024
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"It was no dream"
Kwaidan is a 1964 film that contained four unrelated ghost stories. The film drew most of its material from Lafcadio Hearn’s 1904 book called Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Director Kobayashi Masaki crafted each stylized story much like a painting. The skies were often brightly painted backgrounds with each vignette taking place primarily on a soundstage. These were not terrifying or gory tales, more like eerie, karmic, Twilight Zone episodes.1) The Black Hair/Kurokami (B)
An impoverished ronin discovers what goes around comes around aka payback is a bitch when he leaves his loving wife to marry up and take a new position.
2) The Woman of the Snow/Yuki Onna (B+)
A young woodcutter is spared by a snow witch on the grounds that he never tell anyone he saw her. He learns the lesson to never betray a woman.
3) Hoichi the Earless/Miminashi Hoichi no Hanashi (B)
Blind, kind, Hoichi is a young monk at a temple not far from where an epic battle took place 700 years before. The ghostly Heike clan calls upon him to sing the tales of their failed battle night after night. He pays a painful price for his freedom.
4) In a Cup of Tea/Chawan no Naka (B-)
Can you swallow someone’s soul when drinking a cup of tea? A writer receives a proper punishment for writing an open ending to his story.
I enjoyed the stylized view of each of the stories with most having a stage production look and feel. They often appeared surreal, especially Yuki Onna’s swirling eyes in the sky. Each varied in length with Hoichi the Earless being the longest (maybe too long) and In a Cup of Tea being the shortest (maybe not long enough).
The cast for each story was strong. Nakadai Tatsuya played the naïve woodcutter and Kishi Keiko played the complicated Yuki in Yuki Onna. I love his wild eyes though he was the babe in the woods in this segment. Shimura Takashi as a Buddhist priest tried to help the blind Hoichi who was bound to his ghostly visitors each night. Too bad his character didn’t have a strict attention to detail.
Each of the four stories took a different approach to the supernatural though all of the main human characters paid a price for their encounters. Kwaidan had strong performances, taut stories, and a mesmerizing artistic appeal to it. There was an almost poetic rhythm to the moralistic storytelling. While these were technically horror stories, they were the type you could see people telling around a campfire, preferably with any powerful talisman available hanging around their neck.
3 October 2024
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What I Liked:
--Vengo Gao-He was tailor made for the role of a suave, badass vampire.
--Gothic vibes-the dark exteriors and interiors were perfect for this story.
--Costumes-I loved all the velvet, especially Jing Xue’s wardrobe.
--Eternally winter-a great vampire setting. You never see vampires sipping Mai Thais on the beach. The Snowpiercer train ride through the frozen landscape also felt other-worldly.
--Ever present Snowman- I had hoped Frosty would have transformed into a snow monster but we can't have everything.
--Gold Crow-I’m a fan of the Corvus genus of birds though this avian actor was forgotten about much of the time.
--Non-romantic relationship for most of the drama-Based on Mi Lan’s childlike personality, there was definitely a maturity gap and vastly unequal power structure between her and Zhi Heng. Lovers don’t usually tell the other to “drink your milk.”
Neutral:
--CGI-Not great, but not a deal breaker for me
--Ending-spoilery comments after review
--The writers couldn’t use the word “vampire” or show them drinking blood but angry, biting, hair-pulling sex was all right. Mmmm…kay
What I didn’t like
--Zhi Heng written to be utterly stupid and inept in the opening salvo. This brutal scene had him acting completely out of character. They needed a set-up for him and Mi Lan to meet and to show his mostly indestructibleness but man it made him look less than powerful or intelligent.
--Anything that hinted at a romantic relationship. I don’t mind age gaps, but this was a maturity gap. Mi Lan was treated like a 12-year-old and acted like one for much of the drama.
--Terrible wigs-some of the wigs looked like roadkill.
--Both Liang and Situ weren’t written consistently and could give you whiplash with their back-and-forth emotions
--Liang’s plot armor-Zhi Heng could take on a jillion Shadow Warriors but somehow Liang always slipped through his fingers. Although he was always being beaten, shot, etc. Characters would also go into hiding and then come back into the open with no consequences.
--The magical stones element felt ill developed and clunky. Another demerit for censorship-it plays havoc with creativity.
--Wei Lian’s creepy walk on the dark side with Jing Xue
In conclusion:
❄Overall, I enjoyed this drama. It was a nice attempt at the vampire genre given all the restrictions and had a luxurious look. The costumes and settings may have been Republican Era but the drama felt more like a magical storybook which I quite liked. Far from perfect, yet also strangely addictive, Snowfall made for an interesting if fractured fairytale.❄
30 September 2024
Short spoiler below
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I didn’t mind the SE. It had been foreshadowed from the beginning. Since I didn’t care for any romance between the two main characters, I didn’t need the HE. The only thing I didn’t care for was the apparent deviation from the source material. Of the Republican Era and strictly historical dramas I’ve watched, the censors seem to prefer sad endings so I know going into these dramas the likelihood of the main couple living HEA is a low percentage. At least it didn’t come out of the blue and the story was headed in that direction from the beginning unlike other dramas where a disappointing ending is tacked on.
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"Who can throw a stone?"
Love Letter was actress Tanaka Kinuyo’s first film to direct. WWII was over and the censors had left so she could address sensitive issues about American G.I.’s having Japanese lovers. The subject for her first film was a tough one and the 1950’s attitude of the male lead was difficult to sympathize with.Five years after WWII, Reikichi lives with his younger brother, Hiroshi, who pays most of the bills. An old friend brings him into his business translating and writing love letters in English for women who have been involved with American soldiers. Most of the women are asking for money and Yamaji makes the letters flowery and eloquent. Reluctantly, Reikichi begins work there to bring in more money. He’s despondent because he has never forgotten his first love who married someone else. When he discovers that she’s a widow he goes to the train station every day to search for her. As luck would have it, she comes into the shop to have a letter written to an American soldier who had fathered her baby.
First the positive. I enjoyed Tanaka’s fluid directorial style. Despite the year and cultural values, she showed Michiko in a mostly sympathetic light. Mori Masayuki gave a wonderfully complex performance, even when I wanted his character to erupt in flames. Yuga Yoshiko brought a damaged, yet sweet spirit to Michiko. Michiko was a woman who had lived through her own hell and was still able to be kind to others. The supporting characters were also strong. Tanaka made a guest appearance as a woman needing a letter written by Reikichi but instead received an earful about her lifestyle from the sullen man.
Much was made of Reikichi’s loyalty in waiting for Michiko for five years. They made a point of him standing next to the Hachiko statue, the dog who had waited faithfully for his deceased owner every day at the station for nearly 10 years. For Michiko to have sullied herself with a foreigner from the country that had defeated them was too much and the diatribe Reikichi buried her in was vile. That she’d also given birth to a “blue-eyed baby” who had died made her acts even worse. He knew nothing about her and the struggles and pain she had faced. He was unable to comprehend that the man she’d been involved with had been what she needed at the time. This kind of overly precious attitude about women’s virtue struck me as false given the horrors the Japanese military committed against women during the war.
What saved this film for me was that both Hiroshi and Yamaji called Reikichi on his stupidity and stubbornness. “Who do you think you are? A saint? You can’t be proud of the way you lived.” They knew that the war years and post war years were brutal for women, especially single women without a family to support them. For Hiroshi, Michiko’s actions could be forgiven as she had only been with one guy, unlike the prostitutes who made a living off the white bread foreigners. Michiko was a kind and elegant women who condemned herself for being “depraved” which was awful to hear. Reikichi wasn’t exactly a great catch. Though well educated he’d been sponging off his brother since he came home.
Japan had much to process after the war. Soldiers had experienced traumas and civilians had lived through their own. Most people had either visible or invisible battle scars. Reikichi was learning the hard way that forgiveness was hard to come by and sometimes harder to give when clinging to rigid ideals.
30 August 2024
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"If you search, fate grows. If you give up, fate dies"
In 2015 it was estimated 20,000 children in China had been stolen and trafficked just for that year. Some were sold for adoption, others for forced labor or prostitution. Lost and Love told the story based on a real-life father who had spent 15 years chasing down leads and searching for his child all over China. Andy Lau gave one of his best performances as the determined father who would never stop in his quest to be reunited with his son.Lei Ze Kuan rides his motorcycle with flags displaying missing children’s faces as he chases down leads on his missing son. After a road accident he meets Zeng Shuai when the young man fixes his bike. It turns out that Shuai was a kidnapped child and “adopted” by the family he lives with. The family has been good to him, but because of his unknown status he cannot go to university, marry, ride the train, or any other thing which requires an id card. He asks Lei to take a side trip and go with him to check on clues as to where his family might be. The two men bond during their road trip seeking the truth they both desperately want.
I’ve watched many films with Andy Lau, but Lost and Love is the first one where I wasn’t constantly reminded by his acting that he was “Andy Lau.” He gave a vulnerable performance as a father who was ridden with guilt and anguished over his loss. This understated interpretation was quite moving. Jing Bo Ran also gave a realistic performance as a lost son torn between wanting to find his biological parents and not wanting to betray his adoptive parents. The chemistry between the two quickly evolved into a surrogate family as they traversed the country. As they grew closer there were several tender and playful moments between them.
Peng San Yuan based the story on real life father, Guo Gang Tang. She added another missing child whose story with Sandra Ng as a trafficker was woven throughout the film, though it did turn melodramatic. Peng illustrated the complicated feelings and responses parents had who lived through the nightmare of having a child stolen from them. Aside from the guilt and fear, the trauma caused marriages to dissolve, mental health to collapse, and for some parents, the despair drove them to suicide. Peng not only wrote the screenplay but also directed the film. The pacing and transitions kept the film flowing even with three stories being told. The film was visually appealing as Peng highlighted the stunning verdant scenery of the countryside and architectural beauty of old chain bridges.
Lost and Love was heartwarming and heartbreaking and did so without falling into the trap of sentimentality. There were a couple of coincidences that were a bit too on the nose, but I’m a sucker for these stories based on real life events and was able to overlook them. I cannot imagine the terror of not knowing if your child was safe and whether you’d ever see them again. I also cannot imagine having the strength to spend every day for nearly two decades following any hint that might bring me closer to that child and dealing with the soul crushing despair every time a lead did not pan out. Lost and Love brought a horrifically painful subject to light while also showing the supportive networks and people trying to reunite families.
If you’d like to see how the real-life father’s story was resolved, see below.
28 August 2024
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After TWENTY-FOUR years, Guo was reunited with his son!!!
This link still works as of this writing:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57815491
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Mrs. Nogami, the headmistress of the Shiragiku Dormitory finds Kuniko work as a live-in worker at a shop. No one there knows what Kuniko used to do for a living. Her boss works her from morning until night and after her living allowance is subtracted from her wages Kuniko will only be making 10, 000 yen/68 USD a year. After her past is revealed, the shopkeeper is determined to demean and replace Kuniko. Rather than be humiliated and taken advantage of, Kuniko takes the situation literally into her own hands. At her next job in a factory, Kuniko tries another tactic and reveals her past to the women in the dormitory. Instead of being supportive her female co-workers violated Kuniko in a disturbingly violent scene. At her third job she finds love, but also runs into the limitations of societal forgiveness and acceptance.
Girls of the Night was one of the few films from this time that was both directed and written by women. Tanaka Kinuyo filmed a fairly progressive film given the timing of the new law. Far from condemning the ex-prostitutes, the film tried to show that the majority of the women sold their bodies due to tragic situations pressuring them from society, family, or personal relationships. Mrs. Nogami time and again supported Kuniko and the other women in her care. When Kuniko asked why it had been okay for her to use her body as she wished before and now it was illegal, Mrs. Nogami had no good answer for her. Girls of the Night also had a lesbian character in a small supporting role, the first I’ve run across in this era. Whether due to the source material or concerns of how the audience would receive the film, they did hedge their bets by having Kuniko be harshly critical of her own past actions and decisions.
The pure and polite society Kuniko interacted with might not have had to sell their bodies to make a living but they also showed they were far from the moral ideal. Kuniko had more than her share of encounters with vile humans but she also found healing in the people who accepted her. The most important person she had to convince that her past could be forgiven was herself. Tanaka’s 5th film in the director’s chair once again showed Mizoguchi Kenji was wrong and that she was quite smart enough to direct a film.
10 August 2024
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During the 1960’s at the age of three, Jiang Xiao Lan’s parents were sent to the “countryside”. Her 89-year-old grandfather was left in charge of her. Initially enforcing his authority with a ruler style whacking stick, the neighbors convinced him to use his words instead. At school Xiao Lan was ridiculed and taunted mercilessly as a “bastard of counter revolutionaries.” Grandpa wanted Xiao Lan to have a skill so that when she grew up she would not be sent to “the countryside.” She joined gymnastics but was never accepted and always considered an amateur. Lan missed the parents she scarcely knew. The only connection she had to them were their letters that Grandpa read to her. After a time jump, not much changed for Xiao Lan as she entered adolescence.
Lan was beautifully shot as if each scene was a painting, featuring both photogenic actresses who played Lan. Most of the scenes contained either rain or snow with Lan carrying her ubiquitous umbrella. Lovely music accompanied Xiao Lan’s growth from small child to teenager. Zhu Xu as Grandpa Tang gave a tender performance as the man who cared for and tried to shield Xiao Lan from the harsh realities of her life. Yao Jun and Zhu Yinuo seamlessly portrayed the melancholy Xiao Lan who desperately wanted to fit in somewhere and longed for her missing parents. Director Jiang created several whimsical scenes such as Xiao Lan flying across the Huai River with her umbrella to the north to find her parents. There were also several references to missing teeth, the meaning of which eluded me.
Jiang Wen Li composed a touching film showing the consequences of the cultural revolution on families. The relationship between Grandpa Tang and Xiao Lan came across as loving and realistic. While it was beautiful to look at it, I kept waiting for some sort of emotional climax which never came. I enjoyed Lan and maybe on a different day would have rated this graceful film higher.
9 August 2024
(7.75)
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Still Human. Still Dreaming.
Still Human is the kind of heartwarming, healing film that is like catnip to me. I’ve seen this paradigm before of the Filipina maid changing hearts and breaking down barriers, but Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji put their own stamp on it.Cheong Wing has been confined to a wheelchair ever since a construction accident. His wife divorced him and is now remarried. His son is in the States studying to be a doctor leaving Cheong Wing alone in his miniscule public assisted housing. With his closed off persona believing himself to be “rubbish” and having special needs he hasn’t been able to keep a maid. In walks Evelyn Santos from the Philippines. She speaks no Cantonese and he only speaks a little English, at first glance it does not seem like a match made in heaven as he confiscates her passport. Other Filipinas in Hong Kong tell her to play dumb and never let him know if she learns Cantonese or else her workload will be greater. As Evelyn and Cheong Wing come to know each other and see the other as human, healing and growth occur.
This film highlighted the marginalized people in the community. Evelyn and the other maids were on duty 24/6, with only Sundays off. She suffered derogatory comments and treatment almost everywhere. Cheong Wing struggled to keep his head up as he felt like a burden on his family and friends. Director/writer Oliver Chan hammered home the message that despite a person’s circumstances, as long as they were breathing, a person could have dreams. Everyone needs a purpose, a dream, something for them to reach for in life to give their experience meaning. It didn't matter if the person was old, handicapped, poor, or an other. The two characters broke down those barriers to otherness with respect and compassion.
Oliver Chan made this charming film for around 3.25 HKD/415,000USD. Anthony Wong was said to have forgone a salary. With or without pay he gave a complex performance of a man, father, friend without a reason to live only to be given another chance at meaning in his life. For the most part, Crisel Consunji held her own with Wong as the goodhearted Evelyn with a delightfully wicked sense of humor. “Sir, you even learn Japanese” as Cheong Wing attempted to hide his Japanese porn.
Still Human. Still Dreaming. If you are in need of an uplifting film to remind you that we are all neighbors, all family on this beautiful blue marble, that no one is less than, Still Human is just the ticket.
31 July 2024
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Invitation or Cancellation?
While researching films directed by women, I found this appealing short film by Jang Yi Je. I tried to discover more about the people involved with the making of this film, but this obscure short was lost in the vast space of Pluto titled films and shows. I suppose the numerous Pluto named entertainments could offer solace to the poor bullied planet that was kicked off the starting team of planets in our solar system. #justiceforpluto! But I digress…Yeon Woo is getting married soon, but has one person she needs to see first. She visits the best friend of her childhood, the person she can’t forget. Se Jeong has a pottery studio and is less than thrilled when the familiar face drops by after too many years apart.
Pluto teased a more complex story of familial and societal expectations and judgements. As happens so often in these stories, one person gracefully accepted who she was and the other bowed to the pressure to fit in and be “normal.” How far was Yeon Woo willing to go to please others? Small hints piqued my curiosity. Based on one comment I wondered how controlling was Yeon’s boyfriend. Se Jeong had hated the pottery studio as a child and now creates works of art. I would like to have known her backstory as well. My biggest complaint other than the blown-out photography was because it was a pottery studio, the film succumbed to the overly used Ghost trope.
These short films can be maddening when they seem to have enough material for a full-length film. In a mere twenty minutes, I began to feel invested in these two women and their stories. Was their love deep enough to forgive the past and courageous enough to walk hand-in-hand into the future?
1 August 2024
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"Grant all children a place in your heart, and regard the elderly as your own"
Song of China was difficult to rate as it was a film fragment with at least one reel missing. The beginning and ending seemed to be intact, but there was a bridge of information needed to make some connections. During a time when leftist movies were being made this film called people to return to traditional values and highlighted the moral superiority of rural life. It was the first Chinese film to be shown in the USA, but it also suffered from Hollywood interference with the story editing and subtitles.A dying father beseeches his son to “Grant all children a place in your heart, and regard the aged as your own.” The son and his young family move to the city in search of better opportunities. During the early days of the Republic, his son marries. The new couple spends most of their time partying, leaving their baby in the grandparents’ care. After a time, the father decides to move them back to a rural life. He and his wife guide their grandson, teaching him Confucian values. When the father sees poor peasants outside the window as a raucous party held by his son rages on, he determines to open an orphanage and school to comply with his father’s dying wishes.
The conflicts between the generations, traditional vs modern values, and city vs country life all played out in this story of 3 generations in a family. I’m sure there was a political motivation for the return to traditional virtues, but I’m not well versed enough in the history to make an informed discussion of it.
I did find a 1936 *NYT’s review interesting. It said "The subtitles were more Chinese in flavor than the performances." The subtitles were actually translated how Americans thought the Chinese talked in a much more flowery way. The reviewer was expecting Chinese Opera style acting and found the acting to be subdued. The acting is what I liked. In early American silent films, the acting could be hammy and overdone. I quite enjoy the often more realistic acting of Chinese and Japanese silent films.
The film I watched was the shortened 45-minute version and was badly degraded. The music was appropriate though I don’t know if it was original. There is a 65-minute version somewhere. While it could be heavy-handed with the filial piety sermonizing it still had entertaining moments and was an interesting snapshot of how some people felt during this time of transition.
16 July 2024
*https://www.nytimes.com/1936/11/10/archives/song-of-china-an-allchinese-silent-picture-has-a-premiere-here-at.html
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