Change Your Image
Muzman
Reviews
Ringu (1998)
The story with a life of its own, off the screen
What an adventure: Watch small Japanese film; Go online to talk about it; Discover it's huge, there's several versions, many titles, some knock-offs, non canon sequels, controversy etc. It's great! Good thing it's not just me that's confused. If you go to the Korean version's entry on this illustrious site you'll find several comments that seem to be talking about -this- version (and people pointing out the difference in both).
Well, I saw a DVD called "Ring" (not "Ringu" or "The Ring" as it is sometimes known) and this is definitely it. At least, I think so. One thing's for sure; this kind of situation is only going to become more widespread in future. And imagine when the MP3-like remix/re-edit culture takes off!
Anyway, the movie... It's pretty cool. It's not the scariest thing I've ever seen (that plum goes to 'The Woman in Black', which I highly recommend to folks who like this sort of low key "creeper" ghost story). But it stuck with me for a while just the same. It (like Woman in Black) reminded me of Hitchcock describing 'Psycho'; that it's not so much what happens on the screen that gets to you, more what it does to you when you're alone, in the dark. I found this film interesting to watch, but didn't think much of it at the time. There were even laughs; Why doesn't Kyuji get a call? "The spook has the wrong phone service!" we joked (well, it was funny at the time). Sadako as a child looks quite comical and one flashback segment looks like something out of a silent era slapstick comedy (you know: the 'daddy's got a bat for daughter' bit <---not a spoiler). Still there's enough good stuff and nicely resonant images and themes for it to work. The way, as the week progresses, each re-viewing of the tape seems to add just a few more frames to the end and we are taken closer and closer to that tiny hint of movement just before it runs out.
I seem to recall many films and TV shows using televisions and their snow/noise in conjunction with stories of spirits, but none as well as this one. It has the same spine tingling dread as an inexplicably open door or window drifting in the breeze. Makes you wish you had eyes in the back of your head and emitted bright light from your every pore. But this is only long afterward, when one is alone in the dark.
Plus the films seems to be having a slight dig at a work obsessed culture that leaves its children to fend for themselves from a very young age (or perhaps I should say, some aspects of the film remind me of some things I've heard about Japan. So anyone who actually knows about these things is free to tell me I'm full of it). One way or the other the film's human base is what makes it interesting.
It's a pity that the "creeper" or "chiller" ghost story isn't a bigger genre. But it really does have to be small I guess. A glance around the comments here will show people who raced out to see it after many breathless recommendations and found it didn't live up to expectations. That's because flicks like this have to sneak up on you. They have to catch you a little unawares. So get this one out at the bottom of a pile of other videos and then forget about it until you and your chums have had an all out gore session, everyone else around that night has gone home or fallen asleep after too much pizza and only the hardcore are left, half awake at 3am. Then just let it sink in.
This one actually works better on video, for obvious reasons (although the phone didn't ring after I saw it. But expect stunts like that to appear once this Digital-media-confluence we've all been hearing about gets off the ground).
Pâfekuto burû (1997)
High quality
( spoilers lie within. ) I've been hoping for an anime like this to reach these shores for ages. Despite the sci-fi fantasy and giant robots the genre is famous for, it's perfectly capable of making any sort of film. Take Wings of Honneamise for example; basically a sweet drama about the first space program of a (spectacularly designed) fictional world. It was around ten years ago that story appeared in the West, now Perfect Blue ably picks up the mantle. And it's probably the best psychological thriller I've seen for a long time, filmed or drawn.
Much has been said about it along the lines of "Hitchcock goes to Japan" and it's not far wrong. Most of what people call thrillers these days are actually over cooked detective stories. However helpless or innocent the protagonists, they usually operate with the resources and/or sanction and authority of some official body, be it the cops or the FBI or someone else. These stories can be great, but there's something more thrilling about fairly ordinary folks with no such know-how dropped into horrible situations. It's hard tale to spin and none did better or more often than Hitchcock. Now we have an anime proving it can cut it in this tough sub genre.
The story, as if you didn't read the front page, goes like this: Mima is a sheltered girl, living in a protective publicity bubble as a member of the squeaky clean J-pop trio called Cham. They've had some modest success and have a good following, but haven't really got off the ground in a major way. At a small comic fair appearance she announces her retirement from the group to pursue acting. When she gets home she starts getting strange phone calls and faxes. She also fumbles her way onto the internet after being rattled by an obtuse, but innocent, fan letter. There she discovers a web site put up by someone speaking as her, detailing everything about her life right down to her thoughts and regrets about her new job, her superstitious habits and her every purchase. As things go along it seems without the group she really is a nobody. The acting isn't an instant success. Her standards begin to slip in grabs for acceptance and publicity. And under the weight of the job, fear, regret and loneliness she gradually cracks up. Then people around her start dying.
This film is brilliantly put together. In the slow and deliberate early stages we watch her uneventful life for a while, pushing for more air time in a drama series and a few mildly unsettling moments (letter bomb aside), nothing much happening really. Then we're slammed in the face. The script even foreshadows it beautifully; "Mima, your character undergoes a psychological transformation after a brutal gang rape in a nightclub". Then we watch them film it; take after take, camera set up after set up, long lurid close ups for what seems like forever. The crew and production staff seem slightly ashamed, to say nothing of her managers. People in the audience are turning away. I'm one of them, but I have to grin about how damn brilliant this is. It's just an unevenly dubbed cartoon isn't it? Well this is just the start of the rollercoaster ride. The effectiveness of this also speaks volumes about the character development, notable in Mima herself and her managers. Handling this sheltered and delicate personality whilst trying to do their job and get her work and publicity in an unforgiving business (to say nothing of the fact that the rest of Cham are still with the agency and are starting to become quite a breakthrough success). It's all very well done. Another example; when her vague and hallucinatory behaviour seems to be getting too intense and prolonged (despite the rape scene and other things) the explanation is handed to us, perfectly timed. She's been reading the stalker web site religiously as a sort of emotional crutch. While the site itself has slowly changed tone to one of describing (as her) the kind of life she should have had. And she starts to agree, or maybe she is updating it.
As others have noted, this film seems to echo a couple of reality bending films, beating them to the punch in some cases. Requiem for a Dream, Memento and even Fight Club spring to mind. The former involving dreams, ideals and regrets sitting alongside a slide into usettling seediness (and stealing a great moment shot for shot from Perfect Blue, as others also note), the latter two having scenes that are confusingly without proper context or meaning until a bit later in the film and generally being about losing your self and forgetting what you have or have not done.
Although I found the ending a little awkward (they usually are in this kind of film) I didn't see it coming and it does sit well with everything else. The light epilogue being another somewhat Hitchcockian touch. Don't let all my comparisons distract though. It's a damn fine film in its own right. I imagine it's even better with the original dialogue. See it on the big screen if you can.
Pizza (2000)
A comedy to call our own
Yeah it's cheap. Yeah it's low brow. Yeah the acting often seems incidental (accidental?). But this is about the most inventive and funny Aus' comedy series in quite a while.
The most obvious thing everyone looks at is the budget/production values, or lack thereof. It's clearly filmed on a shoestring (hey, it's from SBS and there's stuff happening outdoors! What else could we expect). Part of the shoestring comes across in the acting, or lack thereof. 'Less than amateur' is a good description. But beyond that there's some serious comedy talent on display in the writing and the way the whole thing is put together. It's infectious, it really is. The situation, if you can call it that, takes place in a small time pizza store run by the aggressive and occasionally violent Bobo and generally revolves around the bizarre adventures of his two no-hoper delivery guys; Pauly and Sleek. Pauly is a nervous bloke, plagued by bad luck and quick to blame most things on "anti-chocko sentiments" (that's; an irrational prejudice against Mediterranean peoples, Arabs and anyone darker). He get's stuck in generally horrendous situations on a regular basis and it's a point of pride that he survives them. It runs in the family you see (Hitler got started down his final solution path after a road rage session with his grandfather, adapting the well known wog 'up yours' into that famous salute. If that's not nicely twisted race comedy I don't know what is). Sleek 'the Elite' fancies himself as a Lebanese rapper and lothario cruises around on the phone to his large extended family. He generally has all the sexy adventures and there must be some clause in some contract that says he is to be naked or at least stripped down to his jocks in every episode. The core ladies are Bobo's interfering Mama (always calling him from her palatial Italian mansion, where she appears to spend most of her time in bed listening to Dean Martin); various characters played by Tania Zaetta and Annalise Braakensiek as model 'Claudia MacPherson' who, aging, bitchy and vapid, tries to get on the cover of magazines and into society pages for living, sometimes moonlighting as a 'TV presenter' (read: lightly dressed, general purpose crumpet the networks seems to have a limitless supply of). Then they have a supporting cast that consists of....well, everyone! Australian television history is on display in the cameos for this thing. Cop Shop, A Country Practice, Kingswood Country (which was pretty much Australia's version of 'Till Death Do Us Part' or 'All In The Family', depending on where you're from), as well as dozens of contemporary comedians, presenters, sports identities etc. Even someone like writer Bob Ellis shows up playing the Prime Minister! Everyone wants to be on Pizza.
Surprisingly, more pizza delivering goes on than you'd expect. It helps offer up increasingly over the top sub-plots somehow. Sure it's filled with crass jokes, over cooked pop culture references, profanity-as-humour, but dammit it works. All the off the wall takes on history and society are too good some times. No sacred cows. Everything is blown up out of proportion and the popped with anything from hard nipples to gun fire. Sexist? Yep, every kind of prejudice all at once in fact. Non-cliches and non-stereotypes need not apply. Perfect example; the first episode of the latest series has the shop moving to cheaper confines in the mythical western suburb of Sydney, Hashtown (or Hashville, or something) and during the first day the boys run afoul of every unpleasant character of Aus' suburbia. Whip thin, bottle blonde bogan women screeching at their brood of mullet-headed children; thuggish gangs of various shades. In one sequence Pauly is lost amid the endless roundabouts and cul-de-sacs, running into screwdriver wielding white trash in trackies who nick his car, while around the corner some gangs of Asian folks decide to have a gun fight. While escaping he runs into a pack of enormous Maoris, then leaps over a fence into the marijuana plantation of some shotgun toting bikies. Magic.
Somehow it's not just an over the top scandal-fest though (so far, anyway. Even if there's room for a more strict script editor at times). The happy, well balanced and good natured Australia most of us idealise is smashed weekly by this violent, crazy, harshly class based and ethnically divided world of Pizza. And we know it's true, or at least as true as the nice idealised version. Or you could just see it as funny.
Sat sau ji wong (1998)
Not bad. Not bad at all
As most other reviewers have noted, this film is a surprise. Not a standard Jet Li actioner, but an amusing buddy comedy with a pretty intricate plot. Jet Li is Fu, a mild mannered and highly skilled, ex Chinese army soldier who lives in the cheap end of town (in HK, that is). He hangs around with a bunch of blowhard hoods who get hit jobs from coded requests in the personal ads (presumably Fu wants to be one of them for the money and prestige, but I thought this aspect was a little thin. Something lost in the subtitles no doubt). A high level Japanese businessman/crook was assassinated, activating his revenge fund of $100 million and attracting bounty hunters from across the globe. Fu gets wind of the job via his little network and tries to get in on it. It is here that he meets Eric Tsang's character, a fairly seasoned lowlife, who sees Fu's potential and latches on to him, becoming his sponsor or agent. Well, they make quite a pair; one an achingly polite, meek, ass kicker (!), the other a sharply dressed professional liar with a fake resume from hell.
Surrounding these two and their odd relationship is loads of wheeling and dealing as global hit squads, the police, the dead guy's grandson and those who control the estate vie for whatever they can get out of the deal. All the while rumours circulate that the job was done by the mysterious uber-vigilante know as the Angel of Death or The King of Killers. It's a multi-lingual, multi-cultural affair that really reflects our contemporary world in a way that isn't seen often enough on screen. And by the end it's clear the film has bitten off more than it can chew, not getting the most out of the power games and some characters. But that doesn't stop it being generally well acted, exciting, funny and filled with character ( a lot more than most that share the Jet Li shelf at my video store anyway)
Do check it out.
Dao (1995)
Best Fight Scene Ever!
Sadly, only that pathetic fanboy cliche is fit to describe the final sequences of this movie. Try as I might to be one of those wordy, artsy farsty, poetic types, nothing seems to fit. So I'll spray out that perfect piece of gobsmacked verbage like so much cola beverage through a nostril.
In a feudal old China the relatively sheltered world of two friends is eroded and both will have to take a journey of self discovery. Bandits, trappers and legendary mercenaries stand in the way. OK, so it's a bit uneven at times. Really the tale is about Ding On, his search for his origins and the broken blade of the title. But there's this odd, intermittent narration that seems to try and split the lead role and is annoying as hell. The plot lumps, however, are worth the effort because (as I've been saying) this is a startling film. A quite realist film, in fact, from the king of wuxia; Tsui Hark. At times it even makes reference to the myths of flying people as mighty warriors scoff at the idea and then proceed to swing about on ropes. Although some of the action could be seen as a little far fetched (and story-wise the film is really melodrama), the persistent realism of the film really sinks in and swinging around chain weapons seems like a really dangerous thing to do. Unless you happen to be a total badass, of course. Even then you'll feel the urge to stay the hell out of the way of those things and wince when people run headlong into the fray.
It's all blazing sun and inky, fire lit night. Stone Battlements and ramshackle frontier towns. Ding On's rebirth on the wastelands (helped by kindred spirit Black Head) against the bandits is something to behold. And the closer is the best siege battle followed by... the Best Fight Scene Ever! (nb: I had an easy time with the subtitles as I saw it on TV where they were done by Australia's mighty SBS. It's a damn shame a lot of retail releases don't have the language experts they do.)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
It's...a sequel!
Bigger! Louder! Dumber! More! Before you have time to be confused they'll be on to the next bit! It's to be expected I guess; the only way to out-do the first one is to chuck any shred of historical feel (plus the pace, the dialogue and spread the CG budget so thin it looks like Babylon 5 at times). In the first few sequences it's obvious what happened; using every male bodybuilder in the world as an extra forced them to blow out the catering budget on protein shakes. This movie lacked any thrilling aspect, any tension. The leads felt like they were in a dull bubble of safety no matter how many times they were kidnapped (which was a lot), being shot at (also a lot) or dangling from somewhere dangerous (which seemed to happen anywhere they were more than a metre above sea level). Sure, in this kind of matinee pulp we all "know" that the good guys are going to make it, but there can still be the odd thrill of risk and close shaves. The only guy who seemed to be working for a living in this was Oded Fehr, as the long suffering Ardeth Bey. He probably got the lowest pay rise after the first one and then he has to carry the film! A pity really, since the bad guys were pretty good for the most part. Patricia Velasquez and Arnold Vosloo (playing crazy dead people) had more humanity than their white hatted counterparts. (*spoilers!*)
And what the hell is wrong with letting them live?! Can't we skip the resurrection schtick for just one film (the next one)? Or at least reduce it a little. The amount of time it took in this one didn't help. The next one will need a score card.
(/spoilers)
It's tough to talk about films like this and criticizing them without the suggestion that you've taken it too seriously. You're supposed to relax and go along with it. Well that's what the first one did, it was Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Army of Darkness. It was bright and breezy and had lots of character. The Mummy Returns just makes the first one look good. It's silly fun and it will do very well but this time it's too much silly, too little fun.
Memento (2000)
"You're not a killer. That's why you're so good at it."
(*probable spoilers*) I read a review of The Talented Mr Ripley which summed up a large part of that film for me. It said something like, "It's when he kills that we feel most sorry for him". Well Memento's backwards approach doesn't give us that context immediately, but towards the end it has sunk in just how sad this story really is. In some ways they are alike; stories about people who have little in the way of identity, only iron clad purpose and desire. They don't know who they are, but they're fairly certain where they have to go (even if deluded on that front as well). Stories about the manufacturing of truth.
I liked Memento better too. Despite its depressing basis its not relentlessly sad. Leonard's deadpan narration, "Now, where was I?", cry of the perpetually distracted, is pretty funny at times. And further illustrates what's wrong with him. In fact, pretty much everything about this film does (well, as much as it could for people with brains that can piece together a film). Many will dismiss it as gimmicky and say the rug is pulled out right at the end. But it's interesting and entertaining in every way. Don't miss it. (I note in the business data that it opened on 11 screens in the States?!?! This is pathetic!)
A Few Good Men (1992)
Mostly harmless
The hype surrounding this film is nearly as windy as the film itself. It's really more like a made for TV drama, apart from the big name cast. The soundtrack underlines that impression in me at least. The dialogue is bombastic, with acting to match. The characters are pretty one dimensional with the usual A to B motivations and it really shows itself to be much ado about nothing by the end. For all the apparent machinations and guilt and so forth, there really isn't much going on. Even on the first viewing the intrigue was minimal and the whole "military morality" angle was forced. Sure, I know it's the central theme but the second half of the film practically has it in captions under the screen. The subject matter is relatively small though; an accidental death at a US military base; the old "It's impossible through words to describe what is necessary..." school versus the rights and privileges of a civil society in peace time. Normally I'd applaud that, something that straightforward sets the stage for a good morality play with insights into an arcane institution. But this is, for want of a better word, preachy. Oh well, it did it's job I suppose; the cast performs valiantly and it ignited the "My, isn't military jurisprudence interesting" genre (and let's face it, it is interesting; the authority works in a completely different way to the usual cop drama) probably inspiring the TV series JAG and a slew of more recent films. And, although I'm ragging on it, I've seen it several times. It's surprisingly entertaining and I'll probably watch it next time it comes on TV. Which is where it belongs.
Killing Priscilla (2000)
Compulsory viewing for all would-be directors
This film a remarkable insight into Hollywood and film making. No glitz, glamour or incessant sales-pitch spin here. Just long hours and endless struggles with the studio system. The film follows director Stephan Elliot during the making of EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (A fairly successful film that was generally considered to be mediocre at best; and I should add that I haven't seen it at the time of this post). After the massive world wide success of THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT, Elliot's follow up, WELCOME TO WOOP WOOP, practically got him thrown out of the business. EYE had to be a success. With the casting coup of Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd, both on the cusp of superstardom, as leads in a psycho-sexual thriller there was little chance it would fail. But strangely the studio doesn't seem to care. In fact, as this film tells it, every obstacle to its release is put up.
This documentary shows us the movie business unadorned; the endless drafting, the constant lying and stroking of egos, the fact that a budget of 30mil only gives you about 8mil to work with after everyone down the line has skimmed a little. Watch as Stephan's vision and adaptation of the book are butchered, his set pieces are cut, the money dries up and the finished product (after many re-cuts) is left on the shelf for eighteen months and all but forgotten. This film is offputting but would make great preparation for anyone wanting to enter the business and anyone who ever dreamt of making movies.
Event Horizon (1997)
Fun if you don't expect too much
(minor spoilers in here) This movie has made a lot of people mad. Mostly people who want a lot more than shock tactics and old-ideas-reworked from a film. I was lucky really, I saw an interview with someone involved in making it (the writer I think). He was pretty lighthearted in describing how he wanted to do a haunted house movie in space. Lo and behold; EVENT HORIZON is a haunted house movie set in space. I laughed out loud when the ship is found parked in the upper ionosphere, perfectly placed to have constant lighting and thunder outside. For the most part it is a stylish, well paced fright fest. The acting and the dialogue is actually really good. Despite the fairly limited character development, the performances managed to convince me that the rescue crew had been together for some time. Great cast too; Sam Neill is still in his IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS mode and appears to be having a ball. The film also contains some of the most unpleasantly realistic scenes around (slow decompression anyone?) It's no world beater by any means, or in any genre, and it all gets a bit silly just prior to the climax. But it's classy, darkly comical and shocks with aplomb. The design is gorgeous (if you like high-tech design that ranges from art deco to neo-gothic) and for me the soundtrack is a milestone of both electronic and orchestral movie scores. (Orbital, Michael Kamen and the London Metropolitan Orchestra do horror! Very cool.) Loads of fun.