Bunohan, bunohen, bunoheh

It has been quite some time since I attended a movie screening, not to mention a premiere. Going to a movie premiere is like opening a letter from someone you have just sent a love declaration letter to. You do not know what is inside the reply. The girl might have rejected you and preferred to remain friends but the girl might also say yes and how long it was that she hoped you have written to her.

Hmmm… maybe that is a little dramatic but the point is that going to a premiere is very exciting. You have heard about the movie for some time, the hype is building up, etc. and now is the time for you to see it yourself.

This was what happened to me for BUNOHAN. The marketing and PR work was superbly executed, creating a lot of hype and anticipation. After months on end anticipating, the Malaysian premiere was last night and I was lucky to be able to watch it.

Not that many people cared about what I think about the movie but since this blog is a lot about what I do and what I think and since I do write quite a bit about movies, I just want to record down my thoughts on BUNOHAN.

Poetic. Complex. These are the two words that comes to mind immediately. The surface storyline does not sound extraordinary. In fact, if summarised to just a couple of sentences, it sounds just like any normal local movies. But as in all good movies, what is extraordinary lies with the execution of the movie itself.

At its core, it tells the story of a powerful conglomerate from Kuala Lumpur who wants to acquire a piece of inherited land and the things people do to protect that land and the things people do to acquire the land, by hook or by crook. Bla bla bli bla bla bla…..Yawn…..

But that is the McGuffin, nothing more. At the end of the movie, one wonders what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. As Lao Tzu said, what is beautiful is in fact ugly, what is ugly is in fact beautiful. The use of folk lore and myths, the supernatural, adds another layer to the movie in the Jungian sense. Myths and symbols, the collective unconscious.

BUNOHAN can be appreciated at many levels. At the most basic level, one enjoys the story, the fighting, the beautiful mise-en-scene. The deepest level, I don’t know what. I have not really fathom so deeply but it inspires one to think, if he or she is willing. It tells about the society, about our own inner demon, about what it means to be family, about what it means to have a tradition and such.

The acting is superb, especially so from Faizal Hussein. The tempo at mid-way through is a bit slow and the story does not develop much midway through. The curiosity surrounding the story of Adil’s parenthood can be heightened. The fighting scenes can be made more exciting.

Let’s perhaps look at this compared to Farhadi’s A SEPARATION. It is also a story of a family and their struggles. It also has a Hitchcock-like mystery. The shooting style and mise-en-scene is very different of course. The tempo in A SEPARATION is much faster. But at the end of it, it is also about confronting our inner devil, about the society that we live in and how we, as a part of this society, fit into it or fight against it and try to make some sense out of it.

But the million dollar question is will it give OMBAK RINDU a run for its money? The answer is perhaps it does not need to. Malaysia needs talented people like Dain to lift it up another notch. We need good substantial movies. Others can go ahead and make a lot of money but at the end of the day, what remains and will be remembered of a civilization is its arts and culture.

Bombay, Hong Kong, KL – Movies Movies Movies

Ah, here is another movie related post.

So the Astro Kirana Short Film Awards is happening on the 27th Feb night. I am elated that this is happening since I was responsible in putting up the first one, from proposing it to seeing it happen. It is a very good initiative from Astro to help aspiring filmmakers by giving them a platform to exhibit their work and to give an opportunity, via Tayangan Unggul, to further their career in film making.

Next on my “To Blog” list is the Hong Kong International Film Festival. YTSL alerted me that the programme is out and I immediately checked out the programme. Oh my goodness! Just look at the list of films, especially so the tribute to the 25th anniversary of Film Workshop where such great movies like SHANGHAI BLUES, PEKING OPERA BLUES, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA, SWORDSMAN etc. are featured.

Also, look at the other programming, the tributes to Bergman, Antinioni etc. and the variety of films by new talents. It is an amazing festival, and needless to say, our Yasmin Ahmad’s TALENTIME will also be shown, despite the fact that the film is not yet shown in Malaysian cinemas, a huge shame.

I have written about SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and since it really won so many awards at the Oscars, this film became ever more hot. However, I still do maintain my position that this film feels “fake” to me, despite the fact that I do like this movie in general. I have compared it with Mira Nair’s SALAAM BOMBAY! and I maintain that SALAAM BOMBAY! is a far superior movie.

SALAAM BOMBAY!, which is in my top 100 movies of all time (item number 10 in the top 100 movies list), is about a child that has to go through the difficult life in Bombay in order to make Rs500 so that he can go home to his village and see his family. In his quest to save the Rs500, he works as a tea delivery boy, amongst others, and met many other kids around the block. With them, he encountered prostitution, drugs, deceits and lies. He also found friendship and some happiness along the way.

The way SALAAM BOMBAY! is told is so much more solid in that one can really feel for the children and from the little things they do to each other (for example when the little girl gave the hard-earned money after a hard day’s work to the boy because she knows that he needs it) and the occasional joy such as the dancing sequence to the scene where the little girl pretends to talk to the boy over the phone up to the final scene there the little boy sat on the pavement alone, missing his home, his family and friends and while playing with his top (gasing), started crying. We FEEL every moment of it. What a heart wrenching movie this is!!

For those who has not seen SALAAM BOMBAY!, I will say forget SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and watch SALAAM BOMBAY! instead.

Real Movie on Love and Loneliness

Can’t help it but wants to share it here. A scene from ASHES OF TIME. Can’t wait to watch the Redux!

********

Muyong Yin (played by Brigitte Lin): Who are you anyway?

Ouyang Feng (played by Leslie Cheung): Don’t you remember me?

Yin turns around and looked at Feng, mistaken him for her “lover”.

Yin: You once promised to marry me. Of course I remember you.

Feng: Did I really say that?

Yin: You passed by Gusu City the other day. We drank together under the peach tree. You touched my face…. And said you’d marry my sister if I had one. You know I am a woman in disguise. Why did you still say that?

Feng: A man can’t be serious when he is drunk.

Yin: Because of your promise, I’ve been waiting for you until today. I once asked you to take me with you…. But you refused. You said you cannot love two persons at the same time. Surely you love Yin! Why did you fall in love with another woman? Do you know I went to look for that woman? Because someone said that you love her most. I had wanted to kill her. But I didn’t in the end. Because I didn’t want to prove that she is the one you most love.

Yin: I once asked myself… whether I am the woman you love most… but now I don’t want to know the answer anymore. If ever I ask you the same question..… please don’t tell me the truth! No matter how unwilling it is for you to say it, please don’t tell me that the person you love most is not me!

********
Superb soundtrack. Superb cinematography. Superb acting from Brigitte.

“Ouyang Feng: I once heard someone say, if you have to lose something, the best way to keep it is to keep it in your memory.”

Man of Marble

Man of Marble, 1977

(Czlowiek z marmuru)

dir: Andrzej Wajda

Halfway into this movie, three things come to my mind. First is Citizen Kane. Second is Mao Tse-dong and third is Amir Muhammad. Of course many other things got my mind to work, and movies like this one is great because it sets my mind free. It let’s me ponder on history, philosophy, politics, economics, film techniques, aesthetics, all at once. And by this, I mean real history, real politics, not some imagined settings which are not only biased but totally wrong.

There are not many Polish directors that are well known. One can actually count them with one hand. Roman Polanski is Polish but I don’t consider his movies really Polish, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi. Anymore that one knows, one then can be considered a learned world movie buff (actually there are a couple more names that should be quite familiar to people who digs world movies). These bunch of directors made some really interesting and good movies, including Polanski. Here’s a sample:

Polanski: KNIFE IN THE WATER; THE PIANIST (non-Polish films: ROSEMARY’S BABY; CHINATOWN)

Kieslowski: THE DECALOGUE; Three Colours trilogy; NO END

Wajda: ASHES AND DIAMONDS; A GENERATION; LANDSCAPE AFTER BATTLE; MAN OF MARBLE

Holland: EUROPA, EUROPA; A WOMAN ALONE

Zanussi: YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN; CAMOUFLAGE; POSSESSION

In fact, Wajda’s new film, KATYN, actually made it to the nominee list in the recent Oscars, so one should be quite familiar with him (in fact, I was offered the acquisition of the rights to KATYN and THE DECALOGUE plus a few other Polish movies, so stay tuned to the channel).

MAN OF MARBLE is about a young lady, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), who is making her diploma film and picks a subject that interests her but the “authorities” would rather forget (reminds me of Amir Muhammad). Told in the CITIZEN KANE style, her subject is a person, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), a bricklayer who has been identified by the authorities to be used as propaganda tool to show the people the power of the labourers and the potential growth and prosperity of the nation under Stalinist rule. However, Birkut soon fell into disfavour and is then conveniently forgotten. Agnieszka is interested to know what happened to Birkut and went all out to look for witnesses and the people involved to get a true picture of this once hero. As she went further into the investigation, the authorities put an end to her work and stopped her from using the camera and films. Once steely and determined, we finally see her breaking down in the presence of her father who encouraged her to go locate where Birkut is now. Encouraged, she found his son and got to know what happened to Birkut.

This film is a study on the Polish society under Stalinist rule and how they manipulate and create icons and idols to support their political agenda. We see the same thing happening in Communist China under Mao Tse-dong as well, where a particular common citizen is chosen to be the example to the whole country. Sometimes, whole towns are made model-towns for propaganda purposes. Propaganda songs are sung everywhere (one particular song actually mentioned Malaysia, I think it is talking about Ching Peng’s struggle in Malaya – that gives an idea on what era this film is set). At the end, Wadja showed us how he reconstructed a made icon and found a man whose only objective is to be honest and work for the welfare of the people but is a sad victim of political propaganda and agenda, and then had to live a broken life which he didn’t really recover from.

Wajda is widely acknowledged as to be the forerunner of a new generation of Polish filmmakers after the second world war and shortly after Stalin’s death, made his first movie A GENERATION. The movie is a marked move away from the propagandist films made before and Wajda continued to push the boundaries further and further with his next movies such ASHES AND DIAMONDS. Together with Zanussi, they sort of started a movement called “Cinema of Moral Concern” with the expressed objective of morally examining modern Polish history and and modern Polish life.

MAN OF MARBLE is a truly fascinating film. Watch it if you can and if you are interested in history, politics, movies, you will love this film.

Polish Films

Talking about Andrzej Wajda, it reminds me of an incident which is very funny and which I still remember to this day. In fact, this is one of the many, many incidences like this which truly brightens up my day. We have this so-called, often self-appointed and self-projected illusion, movie expert in the company and this person needs to be seen as knowing everything about movies, especially in front of the bosses. We were having dinner, with the boss of course, and a movie came up in the conversation when we were talking about movie censorship in Malaysia. The movie is PROMISED LAND and apparently it was banned in Malaysia. When the boss asks which movie is that, the person, who obviously doesn’t know about the movie, struggles and spoke some crap and I came in and ask if it is Andrzej Wajda’s THE PROMISED LAND. This person, in the trademark move, blinks the eyes continuously and said yes yes, it is Andrzej Wajda’s movie (pronouncing Wajda’s name exactly the same way I pronounced which amused me big time).

There are many moments that happened in the course of my work here with this person and whenever I caught that person bullshitting (which is a lot of times and characterised by an incessant blinking of the eyes and/or looking at other people around the table for rescue, and then giggle then change topic) I find myself laughing loud inside and definitely made my day.

So with this, here’s some notes on Wajda’s MAN OF MARBLE, a very remarkable film.

Man of Marble, 1977

(Czlowiek z marmuru)

dir: Andrzej Wajda

Halfway into this movie, three things come to my mind. First is Citizen Kane. Second is Mao Tse-dong and third is Amir Muhammad. Of course many other things got my mind to work, and movies like this one is great because it sets my mind free. It let’s me ponder on history, philosophy, politics, economics, film techniques, aesthetics, all at once. And by this, I mean real history, real politics, not some imagined settings which are not only biased but totally wrong.

There are not many Polish directors that are well known. One can actually count them with one hand. Roman Polanski is Polish but I don’t consider his movies really Polish, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi. Anymore that one knows, one then can be considered a learned world movie buff (actually there are a couple more names that should be quite familiar to people who digs world movies). These bunch of directors made some really interesting and good movies, including Polanski. Here’s a sample:

Polanski: KNIFE IN THE WATER; THE PIANIST (non-Polish films: ROSEMARY’S BABY; CHINATOWN)

Kieslowski: THE DECALOGUE; Three Colours trilogy; NO END

Wajda: ASHES AND DIAMONDS; A GENERATION; LANDSCAPE AFTER BATTLE; MAN OF MARBLE

Holland: EUROPA, EUROPA; A WOMAN ALONE

Zanussi: YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN; CAMOUFLAGE; POSSESSION

In fact, Wajda’s new film, KATYN, actually made it to the nominee list in the recent Oscars, so one should be quite familiar with him (in fact, I was offered the acquisition of the rights to KATYN and THE DECALOGUE plus a few other Polish movies, so stay tuned to the channel).

MAN OF MARBLE is about a young lady, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), who is making her diploma film and picks a subject that interests her but the “authorities” would rather forget (reminds me of Amir Muhammad). Told in the CITIZEN KANE style, her subject is a person, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), a bricklayer who has been identified by the authorities to be used as propaganda tool to show the people the power of the labourers and the potential growth and prosperity of the nation under Stalinist rule. However, Birkut soon fell into disfavour and is then conveniently forgotten. Agnieszka is interested to know what happened to Birkut and went all out to look for witnesses and the people involved to get a true picture of this once hero. As she went further into the investigation, the authorities put an end to her work and stopped her from using the camera and films. Once steely and determined, we finally see her breaking down in the presence of her father who encouraged her to go locate where Birkut is now. Encouraged, she found his son and got to know what happened to Birkut.

This film is a study on the Polish society under Stalinist rule and how they manipulate and create icons and idols to support their political agenda. We see the same thing happening in Communist China under Mao Tse-dong as well, where a particular common citizen is chosen to be the example to the whole country. Sometimes, whole towns are made model-towns for propaganda purposes. Propaganda songs are sung everywhere (one particular song actually mentioned Malaysia, I think it is talking about Chin Peng’s struggle in Malaya – that gives an idea on what era this film is set). At the end, Wadja showed us how he reconstructed a made icon and found a man whose only objective is to be honest and work for the welfare of the people but is a sad victim of political propaganda and agenda, and then had to live a broken life which he didn’t really recover from.

Wajda is widely acknowledged as to be the forerunner of a new generation of Polish filmmakers after the second world war and shortly after Stalin’s death, made his first movie A GENERATION. The movie is a marked move away from the propagandist films made before and Wajda continued to push the boundaries further and further with his next movies such ASHES AND DIAMONDS. Together with Zanussi, they sort of started a movement called “Cinema of Moral Concern” with the expressed objective of morally examining modern Polish history and and modern Polish life.

MAN OF MARBLE, one of the films from the “cinema of moral concern” movement, is a truly fascinating film. Watch it if you can and if you are interested in history, politics, movies, you will love this film.

Attack Station

Attack the Gas Station!, 1999

(Juyuso seubgyuksageun)

dir: Kim Sang-Jin

The Korean New Cinema begins with movies like this one. They are unconventional, edgy and stimulating. Box Office takings soar, film exports increased and artistes get recognition at international festivals. As time goes by, Korean movies became more and more formulaic and thus getting more and more boring and unimaginative. The production quality has improved, no doubts, but the creative quality has gone down a mile.

The year 1999 is an important year for Korean cinema. It is the year where Koreans flock the cinemas and kick started the revival of the Korean movie box office hit phenomena. The movie that led this was SHIRI which eventually beat TITANIC at the box office but that same year also saw the release of TELL ME SOMETHING and ATTACK OF THE GAS STATION! The year also marked the release of critically acclaimed movies such as NOWHERE TO HIDE and MEMENTO MORI.

ATTACK THE GAS STATION! is a black comedy and is set in the course of one night, like Johnnie To’s PTU. It also reminds one of movies like Guy Ritchie’s LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. Four friends, each with their own dark history, got bored and decided to rob a gas station. They have actually robbed the station the night before but since they are so bored, they decided to do it again. However, the station’s boss is smarter this time and hid the cash.

Seeing that there is not much money in the till, they put the boss and his teenage employees captive and run the station themselves under the direction of their leader (played by Lee Sung-Jae). Clumsy as they are since they do not know how to pump gas, they manage to get some cash out of the station’s customers, and in the course of doing so, also kidnapped customers that annoys them.

The situation becomes more chaotic when local gangs are involved and the four guys, who are all excellent fighters, made captive of these gangsters. By now, you will imagine what it is like in the room where all these people are held captive, the station employees, the arrogant customers and local gangsters, one of whom has a grudge against one of the station employees. It is quite a spectacle to see the shift in power among the captives which is at once comical but is so true to human behaviour.

Then the four guys decided to order Chinese food and got the delivery boy involved in the chaos. The delivery boy felt that he was insulted and gathered his big gang of delivery boys to teach them a lesson. Here, we see the role of the “lower” income group/blue collar workers in affecting the politics of the country, that is if you wish to see this as a metaphor and commentary on the state of the Korean society.

The final scene is a huge ensemble of gangsters, delivery boys as well as cops and the standoff is comical. Of course, the four guys got away and the incident was then forgotten but the movie sticks in my mind. The shooting style and look and feel is edgy, one cannot but see the decay of youth and the rise of the lower income class and all these within a movie that many will consider comedy. Movies like this one makes my heart pump faster and leaves me feeling refreshed. They make me love the movies more. It is very satisfying.

Seventeen Years

Seventeen Years, 1999

(Guo Nian Hui Jia)

dir: Zhang Yuan

It is always easy to want to read a movie and this is even more tempting if the movie is from a country that imposes stringent censorship laws and thus a lot of “messages” cannot be explicitly shown on the screen. Zhang Yuan is widely considered as the fore-runner of the new Chinese Underground movie-makers with his first docu-movie MAMA in 1992 and followed that up with the provocative BEIJING BASTARDS the next year. Together with Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Wang Xiaoshuai, they are now widely regarded as the pillars of China’s 6th Generation filmmakers.

However, watching SEVENTEEN YEARS is a different experience compared to watching BEIJING BASTARDS. In fact, EAST PALACE WEST PALACE is already different as the movie feels more formal and better produced, marking an end to extreme low budget production.

His latest movie, LITTLE RED FLOWERS, is similarly well produced and actually had its theatrical run in Kuala Lumpur but I doubt many have actually gone to watch it, due a lot to the lack of publicity as well as support from the media and movie reviewers. It is easy to read a lot of things from this very simple movie as well but I will leave my commentary of this movie for another post focusing on just that movie.

SEVENTEEN YEARS is about a person who has lost 17 years of her prime age in prison, from being a teenager and then released from jail in her thirties. These precious years are lost just for the sake of 5 Yuan. It happens in a family where the parents are both from a divorced family and brings to their new marriage a daughter from the previous marriage. We are then shown that both parents love their own daughter more than the other and to add to the tension, both sisters are not really in good terms with each other.

The daddy’s girl (Yu Xiaoqin played by Li Yun) studies hard and looks very decent while the mummy’s girl (Tao Lin played by Liu Lin) is brash and tomboyish and wishes to work in a factory. However, an unfortunate incident involving 5 yuan (about RM2.50) puts Tao Lin in jail for apparently killing Yu Xiaoqin and after 17 years, she is allowed to return to her family for a short holiday to celebrate Chinese New Year. The film reaches this point fairly quickly but the best part of the film is what follows.

A young and good hearted prison captain brings Tao Lin home as after so many years in jail, she has no idea how things worked. Her parents have been informed but they didn’t turn up to pick her from the station. So the captain took pains to locate the parents as all the old Hutongs have been demolished to give way to modern development.

The new dwelling was finally found but the young captain was made to witness a family drama so intense, it shocked her. Can the step father forgive her? Can she forgive herself? Did she steal the 5 yuan? What actually happened?

We the audience are treated to something rare in cinema, the portrayal of human emotion so intense, the players don’t have to act so as to act. The acting is so believable, so un-bombastic (give this to any Hollywood actors/actresses and I guarantee they will blow it by making the characters look so emotionally bombastic!), it strikes a chord in our heart and we feel the characters.

For me, this is one of the best movies that has come out of China, such a little film but so emotionally powerful. Well executed, well directed, well scripted. Neat! For me, this is cinema as perfect as can be.

Barking Dogs Never Bite

Barking Dogs Never Bite, 2000

dir: Bong Joon-ho

Bong Joon-ho was largely unnoticed until THE HOST grabbed international attention. Even that, in a world where most people choose their movies based on genre and has little regard of who the director is, it is easy to overlook this director’s two previous gems, i.e. MEMORIES OF MURDER and this movie that I am about to review.

BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE is Bong Joon-ho’s first feature length movie and we can already see from this movie the director’s style and the subject that preoccupies his head. He is concerned about the society that he lives in and the quirky people that is part of that society. He is interested in examining the psychology of these people and how these people live that led to the extraordinary events that happens. The criticism of the society and the people are always delivered with a mix of comedic sarcasm, drama and tragedy, and in the case of THE HOST, fantasy and science fiction.

The story centers around a college lecturer, Yun-ju (Lee Sung-jae), who is leading a rather sorry life. He is poor, has a nagging wife who is also pregnant and he realises that if he wants to be a professor, hard work alone is not enough. He has to bribe the Dean for that appointment. The problem is Yun-ju does not have that big amount of money to bribe the Dean even after convincing himself that giving money to buy that position is not morally wrong. How is he going to raise that cash?

In the midst of all these, there is a dog that barks and that annoyed him terribly. Despite the fact that one is not allowed to keep pets in the apartment, apparently no one gives a damn about that rule. And therefore, Yun-ju took the job up himself, kidnapping the dogs and silencing them without understanding the effect on the owners who lost their beloved dog. The consequences can be darn serious and he got a taste of his own medicine when his wife’s newly acquired pet dog went missing when he took it out for a walk. In a very well constructed and executed scene, we understand why the dog meant a lot to his wife and it’s now his turn to recover the lost dog to redeem his guilt.

Crossing his path is Hyeon Nam (played by the ever-oh-so-superb Bae Doo-na). Hyeon Nam is a clerk in the apartment maintenance department. She is a bored person whose job seems to only consist of stamping approvals on bulletins. The recent rise in the number of lost dog cases intrigued her and one day, she accidentally witnessed someone actually killing a dog. She then sets out in hunting down this dog murderer and when Yun-ju met her while looking for his lost dog, they became good friends. The thing is, of course, Hyeon Nam does not know that Yun-ju is the dog murderer. Anyways, this conflict was finally resolved as well, with an “all’s well ends well” ending.

There is one scene that suddenly jumps out on the unsuspecting audience and that is when Hyeon Nam went all out to save Yun-ju’s dog from the dog eater, we see a lot of yellow people suddenly cheering for her on the rooftops of other apartments. Of course, this is a fantasy in Hyeon Nam’s mind, that she is now a hero, something that she always wanted to be in her private times spent with her best friend (who I suspect loves her romantically as hinted by the director in a couple of nuanced scenes). There are also a couple of underground characters, the janitor and the beggar, that added to the uniqueness and richness of the story. This is indeed a grade A movie.

We therefore get a glimpse on the society through the lives of Yun-ju and Hyeon Nam: the corruption in Korean university system, the loneliness of people who has to depend on the company of their dog, the prejudice against women in the corporate world, the restless youth of the day but also the sense of morality and civic-mindedness, the Confucian tradition, that is still quite deeply ingrained in the Korean psyche. But then again, that is getting eroded day by day.

No dogs are harmed in the making of the movie.

Ashes of Time

Ashes of Time, 1994

dir: Wong Kar Wai

In the mood for a Wong Kar Wai movie, I stretched for my copy of ASHES OF TIME. This is no accident as I was talking about this movie with the producer of FLOWER IN THE POCKET who is an avid fan of ASHES OF TIME. It reminds me how long ago I have watched that movie and I remember the impression of the movie is not very favourable since half the time, I have no idea what is actually happening. Rewatching it some years back didn’t really help, so I thought I may as well give it another try since there is something in there that really captivates me and I remembered the feeling. I want to explore that feeling.

ASHES OF TIME is by far not an easy movie to watch despite having one of the biggest cast line up that I have ever seen in a Hong Kong movie. Plus the talent of Christoper Doyle, William Cheung and Patrick Tam, it promises to be one of the best received movie. But the reverse is actually true. Most of the people in the team didn’t know what is happening and Patrick Tam was said that he thanked God Christopher Doyle did an amazing job with the visuals to make his editing job that much easier.

The story of ASHES OF TIME, if there is one, is loosely based on Jin Yong’s novel “The Legend of the Condor Heroes”. It is meant to be a prequel to the novel, on how the characters in the novel is as it is by examining the relationship between the characters when they were still relatively young.

This is where it started to charm me, this time, besides the great cinematography and music which I appreciated before. In ASHES OF TIME, deliberately or not, Wong Kar Wai infuses a certain humanism in the characters. For all of us who grew up with a steady diet of TVB drama adaptation of Jin Yong, if not read Jin Yong’s novel ten times already, the characterisation that we feel from the novel and the TV adaptations is somehow different from how Wong Kar Wai depicted them to be in the movie. In ASHES OF TIME, these characters are much weaker, more humane, still has love in their hearts, and still think of their hometown and people they love. The characters in ASHES OF TIME has just a tad too many human flaws.

These human flaws made the characters interesting and charming. And God-damn Wong Kar Wai made the characters recite dialogue which to many people will sound very comical, including me. In the scenes where Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung exchanges words, I cannot help but imagine the words of Leslie Cheung coming out of Stephen Chow’s mouth and I started laughing.

Well, anyways, this movie is about unrequited love most of the time. The people you love is not always the person you are married to. One exception that stood out was Jackie Cheung’s character where his wife came to look for him and he brushes her off. She refused to go and waited outside for him for days. Then much later, after many experiences, Jackie Cheung decided to leave to which Leslie Cheung asked him what he is going to do with the wife. He answered that he will take her along. And somehow, we the audience understood that Jackie Cheung understood the underlying meaning of love, i.e. the person you love most is in front of you. Make a life with her or you will regret later, like how Leslie Cheung regretted not saying the 3 words to the girl he loves, i.e. Maggie Cheung, or how Tony Leung Chiu Wai married a woman, Carina Lau Kar LIng, who loved his best friend, Tony Leung Kar Fai, more than she loves him and had to resort to abusing the horse to satisfy her sexual needs (hic!).

Another character that stood out was Charlie Young’s character who played a poor woman whose brother was murdered by a band of roving bandits. She asked Leslie Cheung to help avenge her but because she has no money and Leslie Cheung will not kill for no money since he is an assassin/assassin agent. All she can offer is a donkey which is supposed to be her dowry and a basket of eggs. Leslie Cheung said that she can actually get more money by selling her own body since she is not ugly. But Charlie Young adamantly stuck to her principles of not selling her body and it finally took Jackie Cheung to avenge her for the price of one egg which resulted in one of Jackie Cheung’s fingers getting cut off. What follows is a dialog between Leslie Cheung and Jackie Cheung, and it clearly shows the difference in characters between the two of them, who later in the novel, are sworn enemies and killed each other in a duel.

I came to realise the richness of the characterisation in the movie and even thinking of it now, a feeling of sadness for the characters and sympathy for their regrets arise from my stomach. This may be the same feeling I felt when I first watched the movie. And the theme music and scenes keep playing in my mind. Indeed a great movie.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary, 2004

dir: Ho Yuhang

As I was saying to a friend, Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country but the Malaysian society is in fact very fragmented. Although we are made to believe that we are one nation, the three main races do not, in reality, mixes that well. Sometimes, it is a wonder to me on how these people can live in the same country, see each other daily at work and still know so little about each other.

SANCTUARY takes a look at the lives of a Malaysian Chinese family. It is popular myth that the Chinese in Malaysia is wealthy which is a basis for the New Economic Policy for weath distribution. I for one could not agree with this as I see with my own eyes how poor many Chinese family can be, and I come from one of these poor families. SANCTUARY put that on the big screen for all to see.

The story centers around a brother and a sister. The brother is a job hopper who can never find a permanent job and also sucks at gambling at the pool table. The sister works in a photocopy shop, that is evidently pirating textbooks. The grandpa lives in an old folks home, prefering to stay there to take care of another old woman instead of coming home to stay with his grandchildren. In fact, he seemed very much happy and contented playing and attending to the dog compared to with his grandchildren. The kiddo’s dad is dead, having been stupid and committed suicide. The connecting theme of these characters is that they are struggling to find their own sanctuary, a place where they can find peace, love and quietude. But can they find it? For me, I don’t think they can. In fact, I think they are doomed.

Throughout the movie, we see the characters looking for their sanctuary; the brother’s attempt to move to a motel is fruitless as the sound from the construction drilling annoyed him, the grandpa’s only peace is to look after the sick old woman but that soon has to come to an end, the sister’s solace in her brother turned out to have a dangerous romantic turn, well even the dead is not at peace as we still hear the construction drilling sound when the brother and sister visits their parents at the cemetery. So finally, where do they go? Maybe they are as doomed as their father. We see the number 4 appear at least three times in the movie. Number 4, in chinese, is synonymous with death. Is this their destiny?

The camera work is one of raw realism. Often times, on handheld, the camera follows the character and thus we always see the back of the character’s head. This technique gives us the feeling of watching the character from behind, seeing what he is seeing, and sometimes, a feeling of peeking into their lives, which indeed is what we are doing. In a scene in the cemetery, the camera went behind the joss sticks that and I get a feeling that I am the parents looking at my kiddos but can do nothing to help them find solace and peace and love. It is a very sad feeling. We see that the characters gets glimpses of richness, of what is “good” in the world via a radio commercial but all these seem so unreachable for the characters. For them, material comfort and cosmetic beauty will never be within their reach in this lifetime. But still, it challenges, even if one achieves material comfort and beauty, is that really a true sanctuary? If not, what is?

This seemingly “slow” movie is not for those who watches only INDIANA JONES and SPIDERMAN movies because this film is truly beyond them. It is beyond mass popcorn entertainment but if one has the patience to watch, feel for the characters and reflect, then the journey will be very rewarding.

Lelaki Komunis Terakhir

Lelaki Komunis Terakhir, 2006

(The Last Communist)

dir: Amir Muhammad

Amir Muhammad is a gem. He is a person that never gives up. Being a fore-runner of the Malaysian independent film movement, or the so called Malaysian “New Wave”, he made his PATHER PANCHALI with the premiere of LIPS TO LIPS in 2000. His wit and guts resulted in his now famous Banned Trilogy, i.e. THE BIG DURIAN, THE LAST COMMUNIST and VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW. Why banned? Because the authorities thought he is inciting racial hatred, promoting the virtues of the communists, talking bad about the government and its leaders past and present, etc. Hmmm…..

THE LAST COMMUNIST is essentially a documentary tracking Chin Peng’s life from his birthplace in Sitiawan to the community of ex-communists in southern Thailand. In a road movie format, Amir not only told the story of Chin Peng but bring to live the towns and places that has been touched by Chin Peng and the communist. We see, for example, the interview of a bicycle shop owner in Sitiawan (Chin Peng’s family owned a bicycle shop), the interview of rubber estate tappers when the topic of communists terrorizing rubber estates popped up, leading up to the interviews with ex-communists who are still living in southern Thailand. The interviewees comprise of all the three main races in Malaysia, quite evenly distributed, which is rare in a local production (movies in Malaysia are either predominantly Malay or Chinese or Indian). He even interviewed an Malaysian Indian that speaks perfect Hokkien.

Amir is also not shy to use song and dance just like how the directors in Bollywood will do, only that Amir has 5 song breaks compared to the normal 3 or 4 song breaks in a typical Bollywood movie. The first song is about the birth of communism with he publishing of the works by Marx and Engels. The second song is about malaria in Malaya, followed by the third song that asked us to be thankful for a peaceful and prosperous country as Malaya. Then the 4th song is about identity cards, which is one of the methods used by the British to isolate the communist and the final song dispenses advice on how to choose your gun. All these does not still include the few songs sung in between, such as the church guy songs and the karaoke sessions. Indeed, this can in fact be a musical if Amir wishes. However, I cannot help but admit to be personally quite fond of a couple of the songs, particularly the Birth of Communism song and that Malaria Conquers Malaya song, both has strong melodies, witty lyrics and excellent dance sequence, although the Malaria song only uses finger dances predominantly.

Technically, we will have to accept that this is a film on a shoestring budget and meant to be told documentary style. So “imperfections” such as seeing the cameraman’s own reflection, etc. abound but this only added to the realism and charm of the work. The opening credit title is also quite creative although not too original and the final fireworks ending gets us to ponder on the history of Malaysia, particularly the history of communism in Malaya.

We may not learn a lot about the communism in Malaysia in this film but it is enough to excite those interested to go and find out more about this aspect of our history. Overall, a very smart work this is.

A Film I Strongly Recommend

After watching this film, I discovered that my eyes are a bit wet. It got wet without me realising it because I was literally sitting at the edge of the sofa watching the drama, the humanity, unveil itself before me. The film that I am talking about is Ritwik Ghatak‘s THE CLOUD CAPPED STAR.

“I didn’t appreciate your worth,
I thought you were like the others
But now I see you in the clouds…
…perhaps a cloud-capped star,
veiled by circumstances…
… your aura dimmed.”

As in all great stories, it is a very simple tale. A young girl imprisoned within her life to support her family, making countless sacrifices for the better of her family, so that the family can hold on together. Her sacrifices were not always repaid with kindness and she was often taken for granted. When she finds herself in trouble, her father who speaks mouthful of “educated” and “wise” lines also abandons her. She lays her hopes on a man whom she thought she would marry but the man betrays her. Will any good come in the end? Yes, but will she live to see it? We don’t know. We don’t need to know.

Her only happiness was when she was young and free of responsibilities, when she and her brother climbed the hills and get to see the sunrise. It was difficult climbing the hills but seeing the sunrise made it all worth it. This became her philosophy in life too. In the course of the movie, we see how she treasures the moments in the hills together with her beloved brother and how she longed to return to that feeling. Towards the end, although she was in deep trouble and abandoned, the fact that she is finally relieved of her responsibilities made her smile and we as the audience felt happy for her because after all these hardship, she finally returns to her innocent childhood, free of worldly burden.

Wow! What a film! Please, I beg you, if you love movies, to please watch this film if you can.

If you love movies like Satyajit Ray‘s APU TRILOGY or Yasujiro Ozu‘s TOKYO STORY, you will love this one.

Jia Zhangke

I was totally bowled over by STILL LIFE when I first saw it. After that, I watched THE WORLD which was also magnificent. Today, thanks to the public holiday, I found time to watch the 150-minute PLATFORM. Absolutely amazing movie this is!

From what I make of his movies, Jia Zhangke’s observation of day-to-day life and his ability to translate that into his films through the lives of his characters done with nuanced simplicity is something that I admire greatly. He reminds me of Hou Hsiao-hsien, movies like THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI, for example.

I am so happy to still have UNKNOWN PLEASURES and XIAO WU still in my library waiting for me to unwrap and enjoy them. Truly, still unknown pleasures. Maybe I will watch it tomorrow after a nice breakfast in Petaling Street since there is nothing playing at the cinemas right now except crap (TURNING PAGES in the Picture House (wonderful place) in Cathay is worth checking out though but it’s sooooo far from my house. Distance is no excuse as Tsai Ming Liang said when we met him last Friday;-)).

Instead of me writing about the movie (PLATFORM) which I am not very good at, here’s a direct copy from Acquarello, my master mentor:

“Platform opens to an appropriately temporally indeterminate sight of a bustling, crowded backstage of a provincial theater as a group of itinerant performers await the commencement of their traveling cultural education program that equally extols the country’s technological and social progress made possible by the Communist Revolution and celebrates its principal architect, Chairman Mao Zedong. However, a cut to a shot of the company tour bus as the manager provides constructive criticism on the performance of the peasant troupe (apparently caused by inaccurate mimicking of train sounds by some members who have never seen a train in real life) begins to reveal the disparity between their state-commissioned, official message of national modernization and the reality of life in the rural provinces. The theme of mimicry and imitation of the foreign and unfamiliar continues in a subsequent, lighthearted scene, this time to the family home of one of the junior performers in the troupe, Cui Ming-liang (Wang Hong-wei) in the city of Fenyang in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, then reveals the timeframe to be the late 1970s as his mother obliges the idle, cocksure young man by altering a seemingly impractical pair of bell-bottom jeans in which the cuffs are so wide that, as she bemusedly comments, they can be used to sweep the streets. The film then proceeds in a series of slice-of-life vignettes that obliquely chronicle the lives of Ming-liang and his fellow “art performers” – the demure object of his affection, Ruijuan (Zhao Tao), Ruijian’s more progressive-minded friend, Zhong-ping (Tian Yi-yang), and Zhong-Ping’s ambitious and self-motivated lover, Zhang-Jun (Liang Jing-dong) – through pop culture influences that indirectly reflect the social reformation of latter-day contemporary China from an insular, state-run economy towards privatization.

Filmed in distancing medium shots that visually reflect the nation’s increasing regional polarization and cultural heterogeneity as a result of shifting economic reforms away from isolationism and state-controlled industries towards globalization, modernization, and integrated free enterprise, Platform is a humorous, quietly observed, serenely realized, and incisive cultural document of China towards the end of the twentieth century. Jia Zhang-ke further creates a sense of pervasive discontinuity through modular narrative ellipses that establish a chronological linearity and progression that, nevertheless, blurs the relativity between each subsequent, self-contained episode. In essence, the film serves as a deliberately fragmented, unsentimental, and emotionally dissociative first-hand account of contemporary history: an estranged and depersonalized chronicle that illustrates the marginalization of humanity under the turmoil of profound national change. Similar to the plight of the perennially dislocated acting troupe in Theo Angelopoulos’ epic film, The Travelling Players, the evolution of the itinerant performers – from disseminators of peasant propaganda, to champions of an eroding, indigenous culture, and eventually, to gauche (and unintentionally comical) assimilators of commercial pop culture – is a poignant articulation of a generation foundering in their own seeming irrelevance and figurative exile from within their homeland, desperately struggling for inclusion and a sense of place in their country’s future. It is this sentiment of cultural displacement that is illustrated in the repeated encounters between Ming-liang and Ruijuan among the ruins of a disused ancient fortress: an elegiac image of unrequited love lost in the expansive and formidable landscape of a silent, unarticulated, and disconnected human history.

© Acquarello 2004. All rights reserved.”

The Obligatory

Hmmm…. I am not a film critic and therefore am not obliged, as Roger Ebert said he does, to come up with a top 10 list or something. However, I am a film lover. I love watching movies and I do watch a reasonable number of movies a year, both good and bad movies. I don’t know how many movies I watched this year but on average, I think I watch at least 7-8 movies a week (in the cinemas, on DVD, VHS and VCD and on TV) and yes this is despite me having a full time job and also spending about half a year in India in the construction industry.

The most I watched in a week was 25, that’s about 4 a day. This happened towards the tail end of my stay in India when I discovered that superb DVD rental shop called Cinema Paradiso located near the Hyderabad Central shopping complex. Add to this enjoyment, there’s a great Subway shop right below, I always managed to get a bite of the superb chicken ham sandwich (superb by Hyderabad’s standard and my desperation for anything that does not taste Indian).

I wished I have kept a detailed journal of the movies that I have watched along with a capsule review of it so that I can keep track but alas! I am such a weak-willed animal and could never do anything consistently and I lack discipline, both physically and mentally and most of all, I am definitely a lazy Lao-Tzu-an (if such a term exists to justify my wu-wei). Hahahaha…. too much philosophy will corrupt the mind.

Ok, seriously, maybe I can do so much as to indicate that few movies that I thought are worthy of one’s time, starting from my country Malaysia and moving beyond. Because of me having not watched too many movies, this list is a list based on some ignorance because I could not watched all the movies in the world and the world produces about 4,500 movies a year.

Malaysia – Malaysia released again about 20+ movies last year but most are forgetable movies. The movies to watch are RAIN DOGS, LOVE CONQUERS ALL and GUBRA with RAIN DOGS leading the way by quite a large margin. Directors to watch out for: Ho Yuhang, Yasmin Ahmad, Amir Mohammad. Tan Chui Mui is also to watch out for. There is something in LOVE CONQUERS ALL that clicked for me (I don’t know about you). On the box office side, CICAKMAN led the way with a box office collection of close to RM4.5million, followed by REMP-IT. Two very forgettable movies, but somehow made quite some money. Sigh… Une generation purdue c’est moi.

Thailand – Maybe I have not watched too many new Thai movies this year but maybe Thailand’s film industry is not doing very well also. This is sad given the potential that it has shown. I hope in 2007, we will see some more exciting Thai movies. For Thailand in 2006, INVISIBLE WAVES and Wisit’s THE UNSEEABLE are a good attempts. Thai directors worth checking out, if you have not: Wisit Sasanatieng (CITIZEN DOG, TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, BLISSFULLY YOURS), Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE, 6IXTYNIN9).

Philippines – The only movie I watched from this territory that was released in 2006, THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS, was worth the time.

Singapore – Ooops… only watched I NOT STUPID TOO which was ok. I think I should pay more attention to our neighbour.

Indonesia – Indonesia’s film industry is now experiencing a come back, with some good movies made in 2006. BERBAGI SUAMI is good. I have not watched EKSKUL but it swept the best film award at the recent Festival Film Indonesia and should be worth checking out. In terms of box office, the horror movie KUNTILANAK sold more than 1.5million tickets while HEART also made it to the box office, both in Indonesia as well as in Malaysia. KUNTILANAK will be released in Malaysia soon. Directors to check out: Nia Dinata (CA BAU-KAN). Watch out also for movies produced/directed by Mira Lesmana.

Hong Kong -heh heh, here it is. I have watched almost 30 Hong Kong movies released in 2006, I think. Worth checking out are A BATTLE OF WITS, FEARLESS, ELECTION 2, EXILED, MC DULL: THE ALUMNI and MY NAME IS FAME.

Korea & Japan – Again have not watched much new Korean and Japanese movies but among those watched THE HOST is very good. THE KING AND THE CLOWN and THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG (yeah, those are 2005 titles, not really 2006 but I managed to watched only recently) is good as well, although I would prefer the latter to the former. From Japan, ALWAYS- SUNSET ON THIRD STREET and NANA (yeah, again both 2005 releases) are really worth checking out. I really wish we can get Korean and Japanese releases faster here in Malaysia, if not on the big screen, then on DVD. We are always about 1-2 years late! Am looking forward to HULA GIRLS from Japan.

India – I have watched quite a few new Bollywood movies last year. I think about 10 new Bollywood movies. Not to mention catching up on older Bollywood/Indian movies, I think I have watched about 20-25 Indian movies last year. Among the new movies, LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI is very good, followed by RANG DE BASANTI and FANAA. On DVD, BLACK is really superb.

China – China is catching up very fast and is becoming one of the top five movie production country in terms of number of films produced (close to 300). Number one is still of course India at about 1,000 films a year. However, like India, the films are very regional, small budget and could not travel and as such, the rest of the world could not really see as many films from this territory as they should to do justice in passing any judgments that is valid. Anyways, while the Fifth Generation guys are getting more and more money to go bigger budget, the Sixth Generation continues to impress, such as Jia Zhangke’s STILL LIFE, Zhang Yang’s SUNFLOWER and Wang Xiaoshuai’s SHANGHAI DREAMS are very good works (yeah, last two are 2005 movies but still….)

Middle Eastern – Part of my job is to evaluate movies and recently, I have watched a considerable number of older Iranian movies, no, not your famous Kiarostami, Makmalbalf, Majidi type but some more obscure Iranian movies. A couple of them are actually quite good. However, I have not watched any new Iranian movies released in 2006 but am looking forward to THE UNWANTED WOMAN that won the Best Film and Best Director prizes at the 51st Asia Pacific Film Festival recently. Middle Eastern movies are not easy to get here, partly because of the censorship (for example, movies from Turkey will have some difficulties coming to Malaysia) and also because of political reasons. From Turkey, I managed to watched MUSTAFA which is very good but am looking forward to MY FATHER AND MY SON. However, I have just recently watched YACOUBIAN BUILDING from Egypt and it is indeed very good. Last heard, they plan to release a cut-down version for Malaysian release but I don’t think it is going to be good having one hour shaved off.

Mat Salleh/Western but Non-Hollywood – Sorry to have to re-label this part instead of the original “Europe”, not that there isn’t enough movies from Europe (European Union as a territory is the second largest film production territory in the world after India) but it is some sort of a revenge for the people from that part that labels movies from Asia “Asian” movies despite them coming from many different countries, heh heh. A few of movies that I thought was worth my time watching: VOLVER, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY and CACHÉ (2005 film but I consider it 2006 somehow). I watched a lot more older European movies on DVD that I have not watched – Fellini, Bergman, Rohmer, Antonioni, Bresson, Kieslowski, Wajda, Bunuel, De Sica, Truffaut, Godard, and from North America: Casavettes, Wilder. It is like a great catching up game and there are still so many movies that I have still not seen! How can I say that I am a movie buff and this is also a reason why I am never confident to talk movies with people who knows their stuff (or pretend to know their stuffs and frighten me by asking me if I have seen such and such a movie that is so obscure, perhaps only 10 people in the whole world has seen that movie but that is their trick, you see).

Hollywood – By Hollywood, I mean those big budget studio backed Hollywood produced movies that has a marketing budget that can be as huge as the production budget. I only remember two Hollywood movies I have seen that I thought is all right, one is THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and the second is THE PRESTIGE. HAPPY FEET is also ok la. The rest of the Hollywood movies, I did not think highly of except perhaps some silly fast-food entertainment. BORAT? Over-rated to the first degree! On the supposedly more indie side, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, A SCANNER DARKLY and CLERKS II shine.

Okay, the above should be the meat of this post. It is meant to be a brief note on some movies that I thought was worth watching from around the world and this of course implies that there are many other films that I have not watched (the world produces about 4,500 films a year, remember?), or films that I have watched and you have watched but somehow I did not include in here because of various reasons, and for that, please excuse me. Again, I really wished I have kept a journal on each and every one of the movies that I have watched so that I can share it but there is a voice that is always telling me that there is really no one interested at all and this whole thing of keeping a journal and writing short reviews on those movies is really a self-agrandisation scheme that my unconcious mind is trying to trick me to make believe that I am bigger than what I am. No one is really interested, so why do it? Why the time? A movie is personal, like religion, it is between me and the movie and nothing should come in between. Bwah haha. Yes, agree. I think, therefore I am lazy.

Photo taken by my wife during the New Year countdown at KLCC. She seemed to be using some black cardboard over the lense that is exposed 30 seconds technique. I have no head of what that means, doesn’t covering the lense equal to a total black out even though she kept waving the cardboard in front of the lense? Hmmm…. I think she used some Photoshop magic also… hmmm….

Watch this movie if you can

You may feel that it is a an over-dose of good feelings but I don’t know about you, I like good feelings :) Same good feelings like after watching IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Love it. If you like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and likes the feeling after watching it, you will love this movie. I do, I do… whao so nice…. I am so easily manipulated…. hehe.

Official site: http://www.always3.jp/