The Butterfly

What kind of future was I dreaming of?

Director Koreeda Hirokazu challenges three generations of the same family to live in the moment regardless of where they thought they would be or where they want to be in life in After the Storm. A typhoon draws the family members together and forces them to face the illusions they've created and the things they've given up.

Shinoda Ryota (Abe Hiroshi) is the divorced son spiraling down the drain. Only valuing his family after losing them, he works at a detective agency to spy on them. Early success as a writer has now crippled his creative desire and confidence leading him to spend too much time at the racetrack which leads him to sponging off of others.

Shinoda Yoshiko (Kiki Kirin) is the recently widowed mother who instead of mourning is feeling freed from her former convention, even taking a classical music class. This gentle matriarch is the touchstone for truth who connects the characters.

During Typhoon 24, Ryota, his mother, his son, and his ex-wife Kyoko are stuck in Yoshiko's small apartment. During this time excuses and damaging filters are slowly washed away. Yoshiko pointedly talks with her son, "I wonder why it is men can't love the present. Either they keep chasing whatever it is they lost. Or they keep dreaming beyond their reach." Ryota has been hanging on to his ex-wife and the family life he thought he had but never lived, his father's legacy of disappointment, and his writing. He's always looking for the next big deal whether through gambling or some other illicit way instead of working consistently and facing his fears. For his mother life is simple, it is to be lived and enjoyed wherever you are. Ryota begins to shake off the past and realize a relationship with his son is worth fighting for in the present.

Abe Hiroshi had the difficult job of making Ryota at least somewhat sympathetic, not an easy thing to do for a character who is always looking to others for money. Kiki Kirin was the revelation in this film as she gave a splendid performance as the mother who loves her imperfect children, always hoped to be out of the apartment complex she's lived in for 40 years and tries to help her family find their place in the world with the time she has left. Of all the performances, hers is the one I'll remember and the one which touched my heart.

After the Storm is a slow-paced look at characters, especially Ryota as he glacially evolves from the wretched self-centered man who only wants what he can't have to someone who catches a glimmer of what can be. He could be frustrating to watch as he chose the easy way out at a cost to others. Yoshiko's compassion and honesty helped to balance out the emotional weights of the film.

For all of the adults, life hasn't turned out the way they planned. Life rarely does. But wherever we are that is where life is and we are called to live it in the present moment. Ryota finally states, "I haven't become what I want to be---yet." While there is time there is opportunity to become who and what we yearn to be. "So long to myself from yesterday."


10/12/22

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Two out of three ain't bad

Gamera 2 was my least favorite of this particular Gamera trilogy. With a larger budget than Gamera 1, the special effects were bigger and louder, but its heart wasn't.

In a world with Kaiju, a meteor headed toward the Earth is never just a meteor and this one was no exception. Before you knew it, Japan had a silicone-based infestation on its hands.

I didn't find Destoroyah, I mean Legion, particularly terrifying even with the blood spurting and city annihilations. Neither Legion's costume nor Gamera's were particularly inspired. I love guys in rubber suit Kaiju costume movies so that wasn't a problem for me. Most of the fight scenes were done in the blurry dark which obscured the suits even more. The immediacy and scale of these creatures compared to the populace and buildings was lacking. There weren't any real money shots of Gamera up close either. And I wasn't a fan of his new flying capability, I liked the retro spinning saucer style.

Gamera is a Kaiju if not for the people, at least for the Earth, and he's always on hand to dispense with whatever malevolent force comes along (look out humans, you may be on his list!). He usually has someone who has a personal connection with him and that was missing from this movie. While there was a group of children keeping watch over a possibly dead Gamera, that personal connection felt disconnected. None of the main characters ever felt like they were in imminent danger either further distancing them from the action.

The human cast was all fairly likeable and easy on the eyes, even if too much of the movie centered on them. At least they were able to take care of one problem with the Legion near the end of the movie instead of being completely reliant on Gamera.

For low budget 1996 special effects, Gamera 2 did an adequate job. The miniatures were excellent and were believably blown up and torn down. How they ever find someone to do tank duty when a Kaiju comes to town, I will never know! And in a world with Kaiju, if a giant extraterrestrial that is on a killing spree torches a building and lays a huge pod on it, I would get out of town---fast! See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya! But instead, people are still milling around the streets and have to be told to leave.

For me, this Gamera felt impersonal, and I never connected to the monster risking his own life and shell to protect Japan. There were still some entertaining scenes and the humans weren't annoying, a huge plus in this genre. If you are a fan of Gamera it is definitely one to try. It can stand on its own, but best to watch this trilogy in order to better experience it.


10/04/22

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"I drink upon occasion, sometimes upon no occasion." Don Quixote

Ozu is one of my favorite Japanese directors/writers, but he missed the mark with What Did the Lady Forget for me. Not dramatic enough to be a drama and not funny enough to be a comedy, it languished in a dull middle ground somewhere lost in a mathematic word problem.

I knew I was in trouble when for the first 20 minutes of a 70-minute film we were treated to a university lecture on Salmonella and junior high school boys dealing with mathematic word problems. I found myself wondering where Ozu had found the props and how hard the staff worked at polishing the sets to a shine as he required.

The premise of the story was a domineering housewife and a docile professor husband-a classic Ozu gender role reversal. Tokiko, the wife, insisted that her husband play golf each weekend which involved an overnight stay outside of town. The problem being, he didn't like to play golf, so he was always figuring out ways to make it look like he'd golfed but hadn't. Most women balk at a husband taking an overnight trip every weekend instead of encouraging it making this a very foreign concept. Maybe she wanted some peace around the house, but she wasn't doing anything interesting while he was away except gossiping with her friends.

In walked another of Ozu's standard story upheavals-a modern niece, Setsuko, who wore western clothes, smoked, drove, and drank. She and Komiya, the husband, became co-conspirators when he was staying with a male student during his aborted golf trip and they both showed up at the same bar. They had to hide where they had both been to Tokiko who was furious when Setsuko came home drunk after midnight and was brought home by Komiya's student. It actually sounds more interesting than it was, even a night out at a geisha house became a drag.

Setsuko began to berate Komiya for not being masculine enough and not wearing the pants in the family which after a fight between the three ended up with Komiya slapping Tokiko. Instead of throwing fuel on the fire, Tokiko was thrilled and felt like it showed her that Komiya loved her. She bragged about it to her friends and the role reversals were reversed and everything was put back into its proper patriarchal relationship. The cutest scene was at the end when Tokiko made a sweet move on Komiya which led to a night of bliss. It would have meant more to me if he hadn't slapped her to get it. That Setsuko was just as domineering as Tokiko and ordering Komiya about never seemed to occur to her or him. I'm guessing the title refers to Tokiko and how she had forgotten that Komiya was the head of the household and that is what would lead to harmony in their home.

This was supposed to be a comedy, but I didn't get it, if it was funny, it was far too subtle for me. I get that it was a classical farce set up, the situations just didn't come across as very humorous. Slapping Tokiko to put her back in her place ruined this film for me and for the most part I found it lacking in any emotional depth to begin with. The sets, costumes, and frames were attended to with the greatest care as is to be expected with Ozu, it just didn't feel like he developed the story with the same care.


10/3/22

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Director Zhang Yi Mou left Gong Li and Zhang Zi Yi behind along with his penchant for saturated colors and rousing scores. He settled into the dust of a poverty stricken rural community far removed from the upwardly mobile citizens of the nearest city. The focus of the film was a crumbling schoolhouse and a 13-year-old substitute teacher tasked more with keeping the kids in school than teaching them.

The majority of the characters were played by local people using their real names. When the film's older teacher has to leave to care for his dying mother, the mayor of the village hires the only person he could find, Wei Min Zhi, a teenager from another village who is barely older and more educated than the children she will be instructing. The school has been hemorrhaging children due to their parent's poverty and she is offered a bonus of 10 yuan (aprox $1.50 USD) if she still has the same number of kids when the teacher returns. In the dilapidated schoolhouse, chalk is like gold and the teacher parses out exactly how much she will need over 26 days.

At first the kids are running the show with Zhang Hui Ke, an energetic 11-year-old leading the insurrections. Wei is in over her head and somedays closes the door to keep the kids in while she sits on the outdoor step. One day Hui Ke doesn't report for class and Wei finds out that he has gone to the city to earn money for his debt ridden family. Refusing to accept his loss she seeks help so that she can travel by bus to the city to return him but is turned down. The kids come up with the idea to move bricks at the local brick factory to earn money for her bus ticket learning math along the way. Even with their work they can't come up with enough cash. Eventually, Wei does make it to the city where the little boy is lost as it turns out. She relentlessly searches for him and runs into more bricks in the form of bureaucratic brick walls, unable to get anyone to help her. This little pink cheeked substitute is not so easily deterred though and begins to wear people down. That she is near penniless and forced to scavenge food and sleep in the streets much like Hui Ke never seems to occur to her.

Zhang Yi Mou's look at the class differences and the detriments of growing up in poverty was interesting. Wei has no identification, no cell phone, no pager, a complete alien in the city. Unlike the village where everyone knows everyone else, the city is filled with mostly hostile strangers, even those with cell phones who sleep in the bus station. At the end of the movie it mentions 1 million children drop out of school due to poverty even as China moves financially forward and this film highlights how 3 yuan (42cents USD) for a Coke is completely out of reach for the children, most who have never tasted it even though it's sold in the local store. And the 20 yuan (less than $3) needed for bus fare might as well be a million.

Most of the children gave bright, emotional performances, especially Wei Min Zhi and Zhang Hui Ke. While I enjoyed the film and Wei's persistence, some scenes ran a little too realistically close to time. The city scenes went on too long for me. Yi Mou might have been trying to show Wei's dogged patience, but it also tried mine until the skies finally opened up for her. Fortunately, Yi Mou glossed over the danger penniless young people can face in the city.

Not One Less made me think of a shepherd searching for a lost sheep in a flock of indifferent sheep. The natural performances and stripped down story came across as authentic and heartwarming even when veering into the realm of a fairytale. The children may have lingered too long in the city but the gratifying culmination of the story was worth the wait and the trip.


9/22/22

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"You weren't given a hand grenade for nothing!"

In the waning days of WWII on a small jungle island in the Philippines, the Japanese soldiers found themselves outmanned, outgunned and perilously short on supplies. Fires on the Plain showed the ravages of hunger and despair not only on the human body but on the mind as well.

This film was a fascinating look at war through the eyes of PFC Tamura. He found himself in a foreign land with no place to go. He had been to the army hospital to be treated for TB but returned to his company only to be rejected by his squad leader. The company had been decimated by enemy fire, lack of artillery and ammo, but more than anything starvation. The men took turns foraging for yams and bananas to feed themselves and Tamura was too weak to be anything but a drain on already strained resources. He was told if the hospital refused him again to stay there and when the time came to use his grenade on himself. Upon returning to the hospital Tamura found himself with a group of "squatters" kept outside the makeshift hospital presumably left to die. He made quick friendships with two of the squatters. Peace did not last long as the hospital was shelled and those who survived scattered.

As the days dragged on, Tamura found himself wandering alone, knowing he would die. Yet he still filled his canteen, still put one foot in front of the other and continued walking though he had no destination except survival. Along the way he met others and found that everyone was going toward one town with the hope of being evacuated. Poignant scenes of bodies left to lie in the muddy tracks of the road with Tamura refusing to look as he continued on were searingly painful. Even during these dark moments, lighter ones were interspersed as a boot exchange took place one after the other. Before the bedraggled and exhausted men lay a muddy marsh beneath a road on a hill, and a cleared field to cross, dangerous obstacles where the enemy could take advantage. After a disastrous attempt, Tamura found himself alone again wandering up a rocky hill with bodies strewn about like dead ants. Still resigned to dying, he trudged ever onward.
Eventually, he was reunited with two of the squatters and introduced to "monkey meat" and the madness hunger and despair can bring.

Tamura was an affable character rejected for being too weak, yet he never accepted much from anyone and shared with others. He survived when much of his company died and never gave up his humanity as he witnessed humanity in all its varied shades of black and gray around him.

Filmed only 14 years after the end of WWII Fires on the Plain was a critical look at war. These were not glorious, patriotic, die before capture soldiers. The men were starving, defeated and only wanted to go home. The enemy was not only the Americans and Filipino guerillas, but also hunger, desperation and even each other. Many struggled with the will to live and the will to not die. Some wanted to be captured so that they could eat corned beef and others were afraid the Americans or Filipinos would kill them. With American fears of booby-trapped bodies it was a real concern, yet they also showed American medics picking up the wounded after a skirmish. It was also a harsh admittance of stories of cannibalism of both Japanese soldiers and captured foreign soldiers. There was nothing easy about this film.

Funakoshi Eiji gave an understated performance as Tamura as he navigated the roads of death, clinging to his humanity, not even sure where his will to live came from. The skills of the supporting actors varied but most carried off the madness, stoicism, and fear so many of the characters endured. Filmed in black and white the movie had beautiful cinematography. You could feel the claustrophobia of the jungle not knowing where the danger could come from, the muddy paths and rocky ground under bare or near bare feet. The music perfectly reflected the feelings of the characters and the situations they found themselves in. I'm not a film student but I can say this was well made and edited in the eyes of an amateur.

Fires on the Plain showed desperate men and what they would do and would not do to survive when left abandoned without hope or rescue. Though it could be starkly pessimistic in its view of war, tiny rays of hope pierced the gloom on occasion keeping it from being overtly oppressive. Fires on the Plain might not be for everyone but it is a movie I will not soon forget.



8/30/22

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If he will cheat with you, he will cheat on you!

Man of the House is a biopic based on Tochuken Kumoemon a rokyoku performer who died 20 years before this film was made. The protagonist was thoroughly unlikeable making this a difficult film to watch. Tochuken developed his performances by experiencing other people suffer, usually the women in his life. He was an insufferable "artist" who had no grasp of what real emotions were or the courage to actually feel them.

The film begins with Tochuken and his second wife Otsuma along with his troupe, traveling by train to Tokyo for his biggest performance ever. Those around him were concerned because eight years ago he'd created a scandal by having an affair with his shamisen player and divorced his wife. Now he's married to Otsuma, who is dying of tuberculosis. He has the troupe disembark in a town before arriving in Tokyo where he disappears, drinking and hanging out with geishas. His manager warns him against a relationship with the geisha Chidori for fear it will harm his wife's health. Tochuken brushes him off saying that Otsuma is a performer and knows it will help his performance. Once again, he is surrounded by scandal and in the newspapers for the wrong reasons.

His son from his first wife travels to see him but Tochuken has little time for him. He stresses that the worst thing a man can be is weak. Yet when his son stands up for his stepmother begging his father to dismiss Chidori, his father runs him off. Otsuma tells the son that they have to accept Tochuken's behavior if it helps him to perform. When Otsuma finally confonts Tochuken, he tells her that even if his performances are not as good, people love him more.

Tochuken loves to brag about his toughness. When out hunting he approaches a bird too closely and blows it to bits, much like the women in his life. As Otsuma's condition deteriorates he refuses to visit her in the hospital. He wants to remember her as a performer and not as a mere woman. Ultimately, Otsuma gives him one last performance.

I'd like to think Director Naruse was casting a critical lens on the self-absorbent, cruel behavior of a performer who excuses his actions saying it's all in the name of art. Even now, nearly 100 years later, gifted men are afforded great latitude in the name of allowing them to develop their craft whether it's acting or mathematics or politics.

Tochuken said the worst trait a man could have is weakness. As someone who could not face reality and true suffering with a posse of enablers around him to insulate him, he more than any other showed himself to be weak and pathetic. Man of the House was well made, though somewhat faded, the care of the shots shown through. Tsukigata Ryunosuke was handsome as the devilishly charismatic actor. And Naruse carefully spotlighted Tochuken's almost gleeful destructive behavior toward those closest to him which again, I'm going to take as a criticism of the egocentric behavior. Not an easy watch by any means but worth trying if you are a fan of Naruse's films or biopics, even one with a troubling subject.





8/15/22

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I will give up kindness in order to fight for justice

White Vengeance gives an epic look to the story of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu as they struggle to see who will ultimately wear the crown after rebelling against the Qin Dynasty.

Despite the gorgeous, colorful costumes, grand battle scenes, excellent cinematography and strong cast, White Vengeance could never figure out what the focus of the movie was. Was it the bromance gone wrong between the two men determined to become the next emperor? Was it a love story? Or a love triangle? Was it a bromance between the the two advisors to the opposing sides? The beginning of the film was particularly vexing as the focus jumped back and forth between characters and also time jumping leaving the viewer with no clear ground to stand on and making it hard to find their bearing in the story. If you are completely unfamiliar with this this historical event, it may be even more confusing. If you are familiar with the history, you may be upset with the obvious artistic liberties taken.

The famous banquet contained few of the historic events. If the beginning of the movie was confusing and moved too rapidly, the ending dragged and was quite anticlimactic. The changes to Xiang's and Yu Ji's story didn't move me, in fact, the changes caused me to roll my eyes. Director Lee couldn't seem to decide if Xiang Yu was an evil emperor wanna be or a tragic romantic hero. Liu Bang came across as having almost no agency of his own and being completely dependent on others until he made the quick jump to pathologically paranoid.

Feng Shao Feng played Xiang Yu and did a fine job, but lacked the fiery presence for a renowned warrior. Leon Lai's subdued performance lacked the cunning edge of the future emperor. Zhang Hanyu as Zhang Liang and Anthony Wong as Fan Zeng, the two strategists behind the big men gave the most compelling performances. Their two characters were the most interesting as well. Liu Yi Fei was the woman passed back and forth between the two leaders with little to do.

With the exception of a few wuxia style scenes that did not fit comfortably into a movie based on historical events, the fights and battles scenes were well choreographed. The CGI enhanced armies played well, with only a few glitches.

The look of White Vengeance was exceptional. However, WV's erratic focus and underdeveloped main characters took away from my enjoyment worsened by the creative license taken with the historical events.





8/12/22

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All my effort is rewarded with a slap!

Director Ozu tread over common 1930's cinema ground in this film. Once again, a strong woman who sacrifices all for her family and the fear of unemployment loom during a time of economic crisis and cultural upheaval.

Woman of Tokyo managed to pack a fair amount of tragedy into its scant 47 minutes length. Chikako worked an office job during the day and told her brother, Ryoichi, she helped with translations for a professor at night. She paid all of the bills and her brother's tuition as well as giving him spending money. Ryoichi's world turned upside down when he found out that his sister was actually working as a prostitute at night leading to tragic consequences. Chikako only desired for her brother to graduate so that he would have a stronger chance of landing a job, something he was unable to appreciate.

My reaction to this film might have been better if so many of these early films didn't focus on women becoming prostitutes to provide for their men, whether husbands, children or brothers and then bearing the brunt of abuse from those men and society. In a world where male unemployment was high and job opportunities were scarce for women, the women still did what was necessary to feed and shelter their families sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not. And in the case of Woman of Tokyo, like many other cinema sisters, put their brothers through school. This film would have fared better with me if Chikako had ever set her brother down and explained the facts of life to him and the reality of their situation. He lived a carefree life going to school, hanging out with his friends and with his girlfriend while his sister worked day and night to provide for him. His pocket money for entertainment came at the sacrifice of her body and shame. The police were also investigating her as a "dangerous person". To bear his reproach and scorn and society's as well seemed absurd. Women's pride always seemed to take a backseat to providing for their fragile men. I know it was a different day and time, different culture and a time of transition but this film hit my feminist's rant button as I watched it.

As always, Ozu put together an aesthetically pleasing film. A teapot as it boiled and steamed and then calmed followed much of the mood of the film. The version I watched had no sound. Tanaka Kinuyo, as the girlfriend who spills the gossip and Egawa Ureo as the thoughtless brother have shown up in other Ozu films and always do a good job even in this film where they are given little time to develop their characters. Okada Yoshiko's performance varied as she played the sweet dutiful sister sending her brother off to school in the morning and warmly welcoming a customer in the evening. I wish Ozu would have let us see into her feelings and motivations more instead of leaving her largely silent and stalwart.

If you are a fan of Ozu's films or silent films, Woman of Tokyo is worth seeing, even if it feels the theme may be redundant to some of his and other directors' works from this time.




8/6/22

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Do not excel, do not fail

Samurai Marathon is based loosely on a true story in 1855 around the time the Americans came calling in their "black ships." A local lord decides he needs to toughen up the men in his village who have been accustomed to peace by having any man under 50 compete in a 36 mile grueling marathon. Trouble began when the resident ninja spy mistakenly sent word to the Shogun that the lord was planning rebellion misunderstanding that it was a drill. Oops! The town of Annaka still holds a race in honor of the samurais' run.

Samurai Marathon is one of those movies you have to be patient with. It starts off slow, very slow, with a multitude of characters introduced with barely enough time to register faces and motivations, certainly not enough time to care about many of them. Satoh Takeru plays the super secret ninja spy who makes the error and then spends the movie trying to clean up his mistake. Komatsu Nana portrays a princess who just wants to be an artist and has no inclination to marry the man her father is setting her up with. And that guy would be Tsujimura Heikuro, played by Moriyama Mirai, a character that straddles morality. The local lord promises a wish to the first man across the finish line and Heikuro is determined to be that guy by hook or by crook. Other colorful, but not very memorable characters fill out the race roster.

The movie finally gets some traction at the halfway mark when the race has begun and the disparate groups face off against each other. There are several fierce sword battles. Director Bernard Rose, no stranger to horror, included some particularly gruesome decapitations. An assassin with a six-shooter increases the menace. Seriously people, a serpentine exit is the best strategy, don't run away in a straight line!

With a cast this large and unwieldy, the acting was fine. Even with the few weaker performances, the characters scarcely have enough time on screen running for you to notice. The first half of the movie was disjointed and could be confusing racing from character to character. The pacing was uneven at best until it finally hit its stride. I will say that in the opening scene when Danny Huston as Commodore Perry makes an appearance, I thought he would play more into the story. When this actor shows up in a movie you know it's time to hide the jewelry and the women and children, he always plays a baddie. For the most part, short of introducing the handguns, he provided little reason to take up screen time.

Samurai Marathon is not a bad way to spend your time if you can make it through the first hour and still be engaged. By the time the mud covered motley crew of runners dragged into the castle I was rooting for them, well, most of them.




8/5/22

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As an episode of the television show Leverage, The Con Artists would have been an average episode without any character development. As a stand alone movie, it failed to deliver the fun adrenaline rush a heist movie should give.

Full disclosure I like Kim Woo Bin. Sadly, his performance, for me, lacked the sex appeal and energy required for the leader of the con artists. This movie almost solely focused on his character, Ji Hyuk, putting a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. The other two members of the team were relegated to comic relief and subterfuge. Ko Chang Seok made the most of his role, but it felt like he was there simply to give credibility to Ji Hyuk. Lee Hyun Wu as the hacker didn't have enough to do to make me care about his character. Kim Yeong Cheol as the villain lacked the menacing presence to be threatening. All of the police were cardboard bland and lent little to the story. The characters overall were thinly drawn, even Ji Hyuk which left me unable to connect with or invest in any of them. The FL Jo Yoon Hee was thrown into the mix as an ill conceived love interest. The romance had no development and just felt thrust into the story like, "wouldn't any woman instantly fall in love with KWB?"

The plot twists could be seen from a mile/km away, it wanted to be more clever than it was. The OST felt generic and uninspired. Basic is the word that comes to mind when I try to describe the plot. It's a heist movie, there should be biting humor, a certain cool factor, and a sense of urgency to the unfolding plot. Instead of a rollercoaster ride I got a merry-go-round.

There was never any sense of danger or excitement, the Con Artists was a perfectly fine tv episode, but could not measure up to the plethora of heist movies on the market. Sorry, KWB, I'm still rooting for you.






7/22/22

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Martial Arts Movie meets Sandals and Sword Movie!

In what could be the bloodiest Afterschool Special ever, Jackie Chan and John Cusack bring two disparate societies together briefly and peacefully in BCE China along The Silk Road.

Chan played Huo An, the captain in charge of the Silk Road Protection Squad who believed in all races and cultures living peacefully and equally together along the Silk Road. His crew only used their swords and abilities for defense. Cusack was the Roman general Lucious on the run with his men and with his young, blind charge Publius. Adrien Brody as Tiberius was the Evil brother who blinded his younger brother and murdered their father to gain his father's position, even though I'm not sure that was the correct procedure for becoming a consul.

Huo's crew was framed as gold smugglers and exiled to hard labor at the Wild Geese Gate where prisoners were tasked with rebuilding the city's defensive walls. Lucius and his weary, hungry men happened upon the city and determined to fight their way in. Huo met Lucius and they did battle, interrupted by a sandstorm. The next thing you know everyone was sitting around a campfire, holding hands and singing Kum Bah Yah. In exchange for room and board the Romans helped the prisoners rebuild the wall. The friendships were enhanced by a dance-off of military techniques and then a sing-off of national songs. Of course, the peace couldn't last because the merciless Tiberius and his 100,000 troops was on his way to create havoc.

Director Lee created a beautiful and epic movie visually. The sets, costumes, and scenery were lavish. The story, however, was heavy handed, with choppy editing, and beyond a couple of performances lacking in strong acting. Lee's overuses of flashbacks and flashforwards to try and tie the stories together and create emotional depth simply cut the momentum of the story and felt repetitive and manipulative. Without spoiling anything there were lapses in logic that left me adrift at times in the film. Also, while I am all for peace and understanding for all people, the movie's idealistic message lacked depth and any sort of realism. All of the talks of peace ended in one of the bloodiest battle scenes you'll see. Few characters walked away alive or unscathed. And there was a scene with killer eagles flying in that will make you think of the Hobbit's Battle of Five Armies. The Eagles! All of which was impressive, given that historically speaking the Roman Empire hadn't been officially created at the time this movie was supposed to have taken place. No one had any problems communicating with 36 different nations using the Silk Road, plus the Romans and Parthians.

As for the acting, John Cusack acted like he was lost for most of the movie. Jackie Chan walked around with a beatific smile or look that seemed misplaced in a movie with not only alliances but plenty of betrayals and backstabbing. Adrien Brody overacted, chewing up the scenery as much as John Cusack underacted looking for a place to take a nap. Most of the rest of the cast were serviceable to really dreadful.

The fight scenes, choreographed by Chan, were for the most part entertaining. The earlier fights were creative as you would expect from him, even if he's slowed down, understandably at the age of 60. The final no holds or swords barred battles were blood gushing and could be difficult to watch. There was also an over reliance on slow-mo action scenes that didn't always work to best effect. I wish the squad that carried their throwing swords had remembered them because they were only used in one fight.

Overall, I love the idea of a pacifist message just not the uneven implementation. With an overwrought film score and constant hammering of the movie's theme even in the face of contradictory and gorey violence, somehow the message of all men are brothers felt lost. There were simply too many detriments to this big budget film to highly recommend. Though parts of it were entertaining and it was an interesting concept to mash two film genres together, even if historically inaccurate, the ultimate execution was deeply flawed.

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Derek Yee returned to direct the remake of Death Duel, the movie he starred in as a twenty-year-old in 1977.

Peter Ho starred as the tattooed face swordsman with only one challenger left to fight before he died. Kenny Lin followed the trope of the disgruntled swordsman who refused to fight any more, gaining the name Useless Chi. This is one of my least favorite tropes because the swordsman/fighter waits until innocents are killed before deciding to stand up and take care of business.

The Sword Master felt like an old school kung fu flick only with better special effects and grander scale fights. The sets and costumes were all beautiful and believable. The characters could have been fleshed out more but for a wuxia they accomplished what they needed to.

Norman Chu who was in the original made a return as a clan leader in this one. There weren’t any good or bad clans, they were all pretty disreputable making it hard to root for anyone except the innocent civilians.

The Sword Master was not the best of its kind but it was an entertaining wire-fu wuxia with quality fights, a little romance and a bittersweet bromance. Worth checking out for a fresh take on an old classic.

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Tokyo, a city of culture…a capital of debauchery

Tokyo March is a film fragment and thus difficult to rate. Originally 75-100 minutes long it now clocks in at a scant 27 minutes.

After orphaned Michiyo was laid off from her factory job her uncle wanted her to become a “geisha” like her mother to help support the family. The translation geisha was probably incorrect as it seemed she needed no training and was expected to sleep with men as well as entertain rowdy crowds.

She met Fujimoto, his son Yoshiki and Yoshiki’s best friend, Sakuma, during their visits. Each of the men fell in love with her. Papa Fujimoto discovered a secret bordering on Greek tragedy that set off an emotional bomb in the group.

An early Japanese melodrama, with a relatively complete beginning, middle, and end the 27 minutes were a worthwhile watch to see the director’s take on social and gender issues. I would like to have seen the completed work to hopefully better understand the characters’ emotions and why they were as devoted as they appeared to be.

The acting was fine for the most part though there was some hammy overacting by a couple of actors. Instead of just dialogue printed there was also some narrative content though I don’t know if that was done by a later party. The original music was missing as well.

Tokyo March was a quick and entertaining watch. The opening scene is badly damaged but most of the rest is discernible.

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Ninjas and cowboys and clowns, oh my! The Warrior’s Way is a comic book colored Western Wuxia mash up.

Jang Dong Gun is the mysterious man in black, the world’s best swordsman. After wiping out a rival clan he spares the last member, a baby girl. His clan declares him a traitor and starts hunting him down. He travels to America and settles into the nearly ghost town of Lode, a town being reclaimed day by day to the endless desert. The town is populated with an assortment of outcasts including a carnival troupe. A young woman with a past played by Kate Bosworth helps him to learn how to live an ordinary life while she has him teach her how to use a sword. She is seeking revenge against the dastardly ex-confederate colonel who killed her family.

Of course, peace doesn’t last long and eventually it’s a three-way fight between assassins, the Colonel’s gang, and the townspeople.

The movie is heavily stylized to the point it often looks artificial. The color saturation, slow-mo, and green screen effects work at times and not so much in others. You’re always aware it’s on a studio lot.

The music ranges from the Sailor’s Hornpipe ( how did they not have a Pop-Eye cameo!) to spaghetti Western inspired music to opera.

Jang had enough presence to pull off the almost silent assassin learning to acclimate to his new life. Bosworth’s Annie Get Your Gun, er, Sword felt over the top in some scenes. Geoffrey Rush as the town drunk with a secret was almost unrecognizable for much of the movie. There wasn’t much scenery left after Danny Huston finished chewing on it as the Big Bad. Old school Hong Kong kung fu star Ti Lung lent some cool cred as the head of Jang’s clan.

The action scenes were all fast and bloody. The three way fight pulled out all the stops to render a high body count. For those who are squeamish there was spurting blood and a few dismemberments.

The story is what let me down. The focus of the degenerate colonel seeking out women to rape is a trope I wish would crawl into a corner to die. Aside from that the second act felt plodding, even clumsy at times. The good hearted carnival folk with life lessons to share trope felt stale as well. The storyline was disjointed, never truly unifying into a smoothly told tale.

The Warrior’s Way was limited but entertaining. This colorful movie with stylish sword fights led by the man with “a warrior’s body and the heart of a priest” was a perfectly fine afternoon watch. But like a carnival ride it could give you whiplash as it jolted you from comedy to violent cowboy wuxia to heart warming redemption story and back again.

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Dorian “Flash Legs” Tan and Doris Lung team up to take down the murderous Devil’s Swordsman. All they need is the Sunshine Sword and to find out the identity of the masked swordsman.

The Devil’s Swordsman was killed two decades ago but has reappeared and is assassinating the heads of the tribes who brought him down with his hypnotizing sword. Discord and distrust reign as everyone is blaming Lung’s Maple Leaf tribe. There were double crosses and hidden identities. Unfortunately, the pacing was slow and very talkie for a kung fu flick making this 90 minute movie feel more like 2 hours.

As with most of these Taiwanese martial arts movies much of it was shot outdoors from the opening fight to the ending one.

The movie would have benefited from more flash legs and less talk. Dorian and Doris delivered in their fight scenes. Lo Lieh played an ill-fated fighter. The movie could have used more of him, too. The fight scenes were passable with lots of trampoline work.

The version I watched was badly faded and cropped on the sides which cut much of the fight scenes off. Like many of these old kung fu films, when the last fight ends so does the movie.

I watched this under the title of Thunder Blade and Lightning Foot. Under any name it’s an average at best film from this era.

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