Film review 影評: Love Exposure 愛之剝脫

Original Japanese title: 愛のむきだし
Director: Sono Sion 園子溫
Cast: Nishijima Taahiro 西島隆弘, Mitsushima Hikari 満島ひかり, Ando Sakura 安藤サクラ, Atsuro Watabe 渡部篤郎, Watanabe Makiko 渡辺真起子
Length: 237 mins
IMDB

Sono Sion's Love Exposure has all the hallmarks of a great cult film. It's brave and ambitious (it's nearly 4 hours long), has copious amounts of sex and bloody violence, and picks its satiric targets wisely. It even references another cult flick (the Female Convict Scorpion series). While some may feel it's bloated, the film has enough creative energy to sustain your attention for the most part.

Yu Honda's (Nishijima Taahiro) father Tetsu (Atsuro Watabe) becomes a kindly Catholic priest, several years after his wife's death. Tetsu's personality changes abruptly after his brief romance with wild Kaori (Watanabe Makiko). Obsessed with sin, Tetsu forces Yu to confess to him everyday. Sensing his father's nonchalance towards his minor sins, Yu meets a 'master of the obscene' and picks up the art of upskirt photography, all to get closer to his father. Obtaining no sexual arousal from such 'perversion', Yu recalls his late mother's wishes that he finds 'his own Virgin Mary'. Soon, his goddess arrives in the form of men-hating Yoko (Mitsushima Hikari). Meanwhile, Aya Koike (Ando Sakura), a sinister figure of the local cult Zero Church (more like a Christian sect than an Aum Shinrikyo 真理教 clone), is spying on all of them...

Love Exposure provides plenty of guilty pleasures, regardless of whether it's deliberately satirical or simply indulgent. The barrage of panty photos may be shocking at first, but Yu's kung fu panty photo skills transforms it into a hilarious (if a bit repetitive) joke. Then there's the continual presence of the penis, the porno aesthetics, and the surreal religious imagery that leaves a good deal to gaze/flinch at. Most impressive is Ando Sakura's take as a demented villain, something I didn't expect watching her in Torso 性軀幹.

Sono has dabbled into serious issues before (e.g. suicide in Suicide Circle and Noriko's Dinner Table 紀子之食桌) with mixed results. I certainly didn't expect him to produce something didactic this time around, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of themes touched and ridiculed here. The obvious targets of religious fanaticism and puritanism are present, but it's the intersection of love, sex and religious morality that forms the core of the film. The religious dedication to the idea of love coinciding with activities considered outside of sexual norms is refreshingly rebellious.

However, the mediocre image quality inhibits the potential flair of certain scenes- the hazy yellow does spoil our visual appetite. Is Love Exposure a deliberate experiment in digital video (in which case, it fails), or was it originally intended to be a straight-to-video low budget release (hard to believe since Sono's films have done well in the box office)?

Furthermore, the film feels like a stretch in the final hour, not only because of the sudden change of pace (one recital of Corinthians 13 is necessary, two isn't) but also the rather insubstantial and predictable conclusion. It seems that Sono had run out of ideas to fool with, or simply needed to close the film. Sono originally came up with a 6 hour cut- one wonders how many more (interesting) things does he have to say. (Cue the inevitable 'original director's cut' DVD?)

Nevertheless, Love Exposure is an enjoyable, if overlong, ride worth savouring. You certainly won't find this gleeful, politically incorrect mishmash in mainstream cinema.

Love Exposure is showing in the HKIFF.

Film review 影評: Timber Gang 木幫, Survival Song 小李子

Director: Yu Guangyi 于廣義 (Simplified Chinese: 于广义)
Length: 90 mins, 94 mins
Year: 2006, 2008

Sometimes the best films are made at places that the director knows inside out. This is the case for Yu Guangyi, a man without prior filmmaking training or experience, who has created two award-winning documentaries capturing old, impoverished lifestyles in the face of rapid social change in China.

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Yu was raised in Heilongjiang province 黑龍江 in Northern China, and only left at 26. A graduate at the Chinese Academy of Art 中國美術學院 and working as a woodblock print painter, he returned home after 20 years in December 2004, following a group of loggers trekking up the Changbai Mountains 長白山 to cut down trees throughout the winter.

Largely observational, Timber Gang documents the harsh climate and working conditions that the loggers, many of whom Yu knew personally in his childhood, face while trying to make a living. We observe their joyfulness displayed in their opening ritual to the 'Mountain God' slowly dissipating, as their manual labour consumes their 4 months in the wilderness. The primitive working practices take toll on the loggers themselves, who resort to the questionable fire cupping treatment (拔罐), and the horses they use to carry the logs.

Though shot on grainy digital video (don't expect the Discovery Channel treatment), Yu manages to capture some striking scenes. The cutting up of the horses' corpses may be an example of the loggers' resourcefulness, but seeing their sadness suggest that they treat them on equal terms as human colleagues. The poetic ending of death and birth warps into cruel irony when juxtaposed with the end titles, as we are informed that logging is no longer allowed in the area in order to make way for a reservoir.

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Yu's attempt to trace the loggers results in Survival Song, which is not so much a sequel as a separate story. There are more scenic images, and the video quality has improved, but the human drama is even more intimate and pronounced.

It's October 2006, and with the construction of the reservoir it means villages are flooded and relocation necessary. Mr. Han, who Yu knew since army service and once a worker at the Forestry Ministry, lives in an abandoned lodge, relying on illegal hunting and poaching to feed her wife, a cat and two dogs. Xiao Lizi, fired from his job, returns from hiding and stays at Han's home. Their house is 15km away from the reservoir and there are no neighbours within a 5km radius. Loggers occasionally visit, but essentially they're living in the middle of nowhere.

If Timber Gang is a portrait of men at work, then Survival Song shows a family's daily struggle to live. We're not seeing any feats of men conquering (or defeated) by nature, but rather Han's disappointment and resilience, his desire to sleep under a roof and get on with life.

Curiously, Survival Song's centre gradually shifts towards Xiao, a character part quirky and part disturbing. The peculiar relationship between Han and Xiao feels like a buddy movie at times, with Xiao being the useless/helpless partner that gets the laughs. But the 'third act' (if that's an appropriate term for a documentary) reveals there's more strength to him than we suppose.

Yu's involvement within Survival Song is greater, simply because there's less characters (46 in Timber Gang) to work with. We get oddities such as Xiao holding an imaginary microphone and singing a pop song. But the revealing parts come from Han himself. Frustrated by his lowly existence, Han launches tirades questioning his purpose in life, attacking corrupt officials and even the Communist Party. This, combined with the unfortunate turn of events later on, leaves us with a man and his environment being left behind in China's rush towards modernisation.

(N.B. In the post-screening Q&A, Yu said that Xiao is currently a road construction worker living in a normal family, and Han is now single and living with a friend, fulfilling a housewife role.)

Timber Gang and Survival Song were shown in the HKIFF.

Simplified Chinese articles on Timber Gang and Survival Song

Film review 影評: Torso 性軀幹

Director: Yamazaki Yutaka 山崎裕
Starring: Watanabe Makiko 渡辺真起子 Ando Sakura 安藤 サクラ
Length: 104 mins

Don't be misled by the programme guide that Torso is another quirky indie like Lars and The Real Girl (never released in Hong Kong but somehow in Taiwan and Singapore). Instead, realising that Yamazaki Yutaka is a regular collaborater with Kore-ada Hirozaku, and you may expect a quiet, observational and contemplative drama. (You won't, for example, expect Christopher Doyle 杜可風 to direct a Michael Bay-blow-shit-up, unless if he's really drunk.)

However, Yamazaki's directorial debut is a disappointing effort that leaves many loose ends undeveloped and unexplored.

Film review 影評: Tony Manero 周末殺人狂熱- Just a psychopath?

Director: Pablo Larrain
Starring: Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera, Paola Lattus, Héctor Morales, Elsa Poblete
Length: 98 mins
Year: 2008
IMDB

Raul (Alfredo Castro) is a 52 year old man with only one goal: to give the best impersonation of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever 週末夜狂熱. He's staging the dance act with a bunch of amateurs at a local restaurant, but he's aiming for a bigger prize: winning a lookalike contest on a TV variety show. But his dedication takes a murderous turn...

As the premise suggests, Tony Manero can easily be a darkly comedic skit on obsession. Raul is Tony Manero- he uses his name, he gets the same suit, he rehearses the same dance routine, and he repeatedly watches Fever to get every detail exactly right. Occasional out-of-focus shots further add to the depersonalisation of Raul. He stops at nothing, and even resorts to violence, to reach full immersion into the character. His acts and antics are both repulsive and humorous, and Castro does a good job playing Raul as a rather pathetic and unfeeling man.

But not satisfied (and rightly so) with mere oddball caricature, director Pablo Larrain sets the film in 1970s Chile, during General Pinochet's rule, and makes Tony Manero a potent social and political allegory. Army patrols, summary executions, the secret police- the lawlessness of the government breeds the lawlessness of its citizens, and perhaps Raul is the personification of the 'anything goes' brutality. The political critique in Tony Manero isn't pointed, but pervasive.

The poverty of Raul's environment, complemented with the grey and grainy lensing, adds another dimension to his character. Though Raul never voices this, his fellow dancers clearly think this act is their getaway key out of the ghetto. While the film doesn't humanise Raul, several scenes, including the telling use of local music and Raul's almost religious experience in watching a certain crucifix scene in Fever, hints to some undercurrents in his character.

We may be witnessing a case of the intoxicating effects of pop culture as a means for escapism, or someone who simply wants to escape from his surroundings, whatever it takes. And it's the eventual TV dance off and its aftermath, with Castro's gestures and movements, that leaves further room for interpretation. All these subtexts add up to make Tony Manero an occasionally amusing, but ultimately a rich, haunting character study.

Tony Manero is showing in the HKIFF.

Recommendation 推介: Tokyo Sonata 東京奏鳴曲

The Daydreamer highly recommends fellow daydreamers to catch the remaining screenings of Tokyo Sonata at Palace IFC or Broadway Cinematheque (check here). Shown in last year's HKAFF, Tokyo Sonata was one of better releases of the rather lacklustre 2008**. Kurosawa Kiyoshi 黒沢清, director of horror films such as Kairo (aka Pulse) 惹鬼回路 and Retribution 惹鬼狂叫, comes up with a family drama/shomingeki 庶民劇 with a difference, blending surreal and comedic moments with brutal strife and honesty. Don't miss this limited run!

**= I thought of putting my 2008 top ten list as my first blog post, but since I started this blog late February, it seems a bit too late to look backwards. In case you're wondering, I saw There Will Be Blood 黑金風雲, No Country For Old Men 二百萬奪命奇案, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 叛逆暗殺, I Just Didn't Do It 儘管如此我沒有做過 and 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days 4月3周2日墮胎日記 in 2007 (a pretty good year for cinema), and I haven't seen Wall-E 太空奇兵.威E. And no, the disappointing The Dark Knight 蝙蝠俠黑夜之神 wasn't the best film of 2008.

33rd HKIFF picks 電影節心水推介

It's the time of the year when Hong Kong cineastes go nuts (or try to go nuts, thanks to the daily constraints that is our job). I'm relieved the programme still has a lot of arthouse and world cinema, and not dumped with heartwarming drudgery as announced previously in Mingpao 明報. Though smaller in scale this year (what happened to the outdoor screenings?), there's still plenty worth watching. As always, I'll give the same advice: try something you won't normally be able to see in the cinemas. I'm clocking at 23 films right now and somehow I feel a guilty urge to downsize a bit. Hmm...

Some disappointing absences in this year's programme: Theo Angelopoulos' The Dust of Time; The Dardenne Brothers' The Silence of Lorna; acclaimed Cannes animation Waltz With Bashir; Charlie Kaufman's first- and probably last- film Synecdoche New York; Kawase Naomi's 河瀨直美 Seven Nights (I've only seen one of her films but I was impressed with The Mourning Forest 殯の森); Swedish vampire-high school drama Let The Right One In; Argentine psychological horror The Headless Woman; and Yu Lik-wai's 余力為 Plastic City 蕩寇 (although it's rumoured to have a June release date- see 講。鏟。片's post).

One extremely annoying bit about the programme is the scheduling for the Film Workship 電影工作室 retrospective. Not all of us caught the films on the big screen, but rather on DVD or one those weekend afternoon filler slots on TV. If you genuinely want to pay tribute to this golden period and allow as many people (particularly the younger ones who aren't as film literate) to appreciate these classics, then why schedule them on weekday afternoons?!

Also, what's with the mascot, Baufa 爆花? There's the questionable case for a new logo for HKIFF Society, and now somehow we need an irrelevant mascot designed by one Jan Lamb 林海峰. Is HKIFF trying to be down with the kids- we're not dealing with the Summer Pops festival here- or to sell loads of 'limited edition' t-shirts? Duke of Aberdeen is ranting about it too.

Anyways, I'll stop ranting, and here's my picks:

• The Shinjuku Incident 新宿事件- Now I know I said right at the beginning that you should try something different (how much more Hong Kong can you get with Jackie Chan 成龍?), and I know very well this will be out in cinemas on April 2nd. But interestingly it's a Category III cut that's shown in HKIFF, compared with the IIB cut on general release. And according to this article, we might get the added bonus of dismembermant and disembowelment. If you're into this kind of stuff...

The Shinjuku Incident trailer:

• Other galas- Ann Hui's 許鞍華 followup to last year's The Way We Are 天水圍的日與夜, Night and Fog 天水圍的夜與霧, and Wong Kar Wai's 王家衛 reimagined masterpiece Ashes of Time Redux 東邪西毒終極版 are definitely must-see Hong Kong movies of 2009. Do note that all galas (with the possible exception of Yang Yang 陽陽 and Jia Zhangke's 賈樟柯 24 City 二十四城記 have general release dates, so don't worry if you miss out this time.

Ashes of Time Redux trailer:


24 City trailer:

• Documentaries- Burma VJ- Reporting From a Closed Country 緬甸起義－看不到的真相 gives an insightful look at 2007's 'Saffron Revolution'. Soda Kazuhiro 想田和弘 (whose hilarious Campaign 完全選舉手冊 was one of the highlights of last year's HKIFF) tackles a serious subject this time with Mental 完全精神手冊, observing a mental clinic and its patients Frederick Wiseman-style. Tammy Cheung's 張虹 Election 選舉 had a brief run at Broadway Cinematheque last year, and now we get to see the full 130 minutes director's cut. A must-see if you care about Hong Kong politics, and I dare say only 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok Hung 梁國雄 comes off decently in the film. The 215 minutes long Doctor Ma's Country Clinic 馬大夫的診所 is an engrossing look at China's countryside poverty. Michelangelo Antonioni's rarely seen 4 hour document of China during the Cultural Revolution 文革, Chung Kuo 中國 (commissioned by yet banned in China until 2004), and new accompanying documentary China is Far Away- Antonioni and China 中國已遠：安東尼奧尼與中國 are also highlights.

Burma VJ- Reporting From a Closed Country trailer:


Mental trailer:

• Gomorrah 我在娥摩拉的日子 and The Baader Meinhof Complex 赤色風暴- An ideal crime double-bill (sadly non-existent in Hong Kong) on April 5th: the first one, a multi-storyline thriller on the powerful Camorra mafia that won last year's Grand Prix at Cannes; the second one, an epic saga on the notorious leftist terrorist group that dominated the 70s.
  

Gomorrah trailer:


The Baader Meinhof Complex trailer:

• Che 捷古華拉- Another epic (it's 270 minutes long), this time on everyone's favourite leftist rebel. Don't expect any romanticism or acting showpieces in this though. Reviews have been mixed, but this is a major movie event in this year's HKIFF. Will we see Long Hair in the audience? (If my memory is correct, he was invited to The Motorcycle Diaries 哲古華拉少年日記 premiere but didn't stay for the film.)

Che trailer:

• Love Exposure 愛之剝脫- Another 4 hour film, but probably much more easy going. Sono Sion's 園子溫 previous films showed some promise (Noriko's Dinner Table 紀子之食桌, shown in 30th HKIFF), and this may cement his status as a cult maverick. Hell, balletic upskirt photography, references to past Japanese cult flicks, religious fervour, lesbian schoolgirls... On the other hand, this can go down badly, but reviews so far have been positive.
  

Love Exposure trailer:

• Other Japanese films- Highlights include Still Walking 橫山家之味, Kore-eda Hirokazu's 是枝裕和 (Nobody Knows 誰知赤子心, Hana 花之武者) latest film and one of the best of 2008; All Around Us 生有時死有時, a welcome return for Ryosuke Hashiguichi 橋口亮輔 (whose A Touch of Fever 20歲的微熱 was shown in last year's HKAFF); PIA Film Festival winner Naked of Defenses 無防備孕記; the experimental blend of documentary and drama in Deep in the Valley 谷中暮色; the intriguing but possibly risky Torso 性軀幹; and the Ichikawa Jun 市川準 retrospective (oddly, his most famous work, Tokyo Takitani 東尼瀧谷, is missing).
  

Still Walking trailer:


All Around Us trailer:


Deep in the Valley trailer

• The Good, The Bad, The Weird 風塵三俠決戰地獄門- Last year's HKIFF we had Miike Takeshi's 三池崇史 Spaghetti Western: Sukiyaki Western Django 日式牛仔一品鍋. Some liked it, but I felt it was an indulgent mess with plodding, heavily accented English dialogue. This time it's the Koreans' turn, and Kim Ji-woon 金知雲 (A Tale of Two Sisters 姊魅情深) makes a smart choice and goes for the all-out action thrill ride. Coupled with the amazing Song Kang-ho 宋康昊, this should be a fun to watch.
  

The Good, The Bad, The Weird trailer:

• Other Korean films- Highlights include My Dear Enemy 愛情回水一日遊starring Jeon Do-youn 全度妍 (the wonderful Secret Sunshine 密陽) and Ha Jung-woo 河政佑 (the thrillingly brutal The Chaser 追擊者) in a road movie; the surreal The Land of Scarecrows 稻草人國度 features some stunning imagery; Members of the Funeral 家有白事 is a black comedy; Rough Cut 酷大佬與串打星 (also known as A Movie is a Movie) tackles the issues of identity and violence in a mainstream way; and the autobiographical Treeless Mountain 儲不滿的錢罌 is a touching tale of lost childhood. There's also the Yu Hyun-mok 俞賢穆 retrospective.
  

My Dear Enemy trailer:


Rough Cut trailer:

• Tony Manero 周末殺人狂熱- Raul is a psychopathic fan of Saturday Night Fever 週末夜狂熱, and will do anything to give his best John Travolta impersonation. Acclaimed film has the potential to be a cult hit, a potent character study on fan fetishism, and as a allegory to life in Chile under Pinochet's dictatorship.
  

Tony Manero trailer:

• J.C.V.D. 玩殘尚格雲頓- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian action star that never really made it big, mocks himself and his life in this farce. It could be another Last Action Hero 幻影英雄, but the promise of a tearful monologue by stone faced Van Damme sounds...just plain weird.
  

J.C.V.D. teaser:


J.C.V.D. trailer:

• Of Time and the City 城市流光 and The Beaches of Agnès 沙灘上的華妲- two essay films by two great directors: Terence Davies directs a lyrical documentary about his beloved city Liverpool (and perhaps would make a good comparison to last year's My Winnipeg 故城風雪行), and Agnès Varda ('Mother of the French New Wave') makes her autobiography joyful and whimsical.
  

Of Time and the City trailer:


The Beaches of Agnes trailer:

• Hunger 大絕食- this film debut by Young British Artists member Steve McQueen won the Camera D'Or at Cannes last year. Famous for his video installations, McQueen creates a spellbinding portrait of IRA member Bobby Sands, who uses his body as a weapon of protest.

Hunger trailer:

• Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni retrospectives- most of the films are readily avaliable on DVD, but Fanny and Alexander 芬妮與阿歷山大 and Scenes from a Marriage 婚姻暗流 are best appreciated in the cinema where you have full concentration on the big and beautiful screen. I guess the need for patience and observation is particularly the case for pretty much all of Antonioni's films. And it goes without saying that these two directors are real cinematic masters- if you haven't seen any of their movies, now's your chance.
  

Film review 影評: Claustrophobia 親密- (Not) A Love Story?

Director: Ivy Ho 岸西
Starring: Karena Lam 林嘉欣, Ekin Cheung 鄭伊健
Length: 100 mins
Year: 2008
IMDB

Watching this on a early afternoon weekday screening two weeks ago, I remember the audible groaning a few rows back midway in the film. It was clear that Claustrophobia won't go down well for the couples, let alone the mainstream audience, who pay to see it under the impression that it's just another date movie.(Speaking of which, why are Basic Love 愛情故事 and L-O-V-E 愛到底 entering the already crowded market including Give Love 愛得起 and Love Connected 保持愛你, 2 weeks after Valentine's Day?) Indeed, it has so far made merely around HKD$80,000 in its 2 week run.

But commercial success never guarantees the quality of a film, and fortunately Claustrophobia is a peculiar gem worth watching.


At its simplest, the film is a backwards narrative (like Francois Ozon's 5x2 and Harold Pinter's Betrayal), spanning a year, of the relationship between Pearl (Karena Lam) and his boss Tom (Ekin Cheung). But Claustrophobia is no office rom-com like Johnnie To 杜琪峯 and Wai Kar Fai's 韋家輝 Needing You... 孤男寡女. Strikingly, it's not immediately clear what type of relationship we're witnessing: an affair, a lapse of romance in a platonic or co-worker relationship, or a case of unrequited love.

The interactions between Pearl and Tom when they are alone are central to the plot. But these moments are few: co-workers, firemen, and Tom's wife and daughter either interrupt or are awkwardly present. There aren't any outward expressions of love either: no sex scenes, no kissing or embracing, no flirting. We're left to pick out words and nuances that hint something more than a strictly business relationship.

It's the rigidity of the story structure and its ambiguities that infuriate many of the local audience. A quick browse in the Yahoo! Hong Kong movies website gives us comments such as '文藝爛片'- crap art film; '我中計了'- I got screwed; '沒內容.沒連接.沒意義'- no content, no connections, no meaning. The mostly inane dialogue might also make some wonder why there's a Best Screenplay nomination for the film at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.

Whether or not you'll appreciate the film depends on your patience and willingness to go with the flow and fill in the gaps yourself. Claustrophobia is a delicate film, grounded on realism, and makes no attempt to spoonfeed the audience and explain everything.

SPOILERS AHEAD

On the surface, Claustrophobia, as its English title suggests, takes a pessimistic view on office relationships and contemporary Hong Kong life in general. Co-workers either act raucously or backstab each other. Pearl and Tom are stuck with them at work, on the way home and even after hours. There's no glimpse of a fulfilled private life, and any relationship can't last in this city of OT workers.

But there's a duality to the film. The Chinese title of the film bears a contradictory meaning- 'intimacy'. However, with its story structure, the film gradually becomes warmer. We witness Pearl recalling her dream about Tom at the same location as the tense encounter at the beginning. The subplot of another ambiguous relationship between the two young co-workers only reveals itself later in the film. And in the film's most sublime and perhaps autobiographical moment (Ivy Ho used to work in an ad agency), we see Pearl and Tom musing about love and life while a cheesy TV advert featuring two young lovers loops over and over in the background.

By going against the chronological order and ending with an earlier pleasant point of Pearl and Tom's relationship, Claustrophobia also explores the possibilities of love, or even the inevitable feelings we have for those who we, while we don't exactly choose to, interact with each day.

SPOILERS END

At a time when big budget costume dramas (without the imagination of the glorious works of the 1980s) and cheap love stories (essentially promotional vehicles for pop idols) dominate Hong Kong's output, Claustrophobia is a breath of fresh air. Though an industry veteran (she wrote Comrades, Almost a Love Story 甜蜜蜜 and July Rhapsody 男人四十), Ivy Ho's assured directorial debut is a welcoming introduction to a new voice in Hong Kong cinema.

Claustrophobia is still screening at Broadway Mongkok.

Interview with Ivy Ho (Chinese)

Variety review

The Hollywood Reporter review