HKMDB Daily News

November 19, 2009

The Robbers (Variety review)

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The Robbers
Wode tangchao xiongdi

(Mandarin dialogue) A Tempo Films Investment Co., Stellar Mega Films Co., Shanghai Film Group, Infotainment China Media, Beijing Back Light Pictures Co. (International sales: Infotainment, Beijing.) Produced by Wang Tianyun, Yuan Xin. Executive producers, Han Xiaoxi, Qin Hong, Ren Zhonglun, Cindy Lin, Amber Wang. Co-producers, Tao Zi, Hu Jun. Directed, written by Yang Shupeng.

With: Hu Jun, Jiang Wu, Wang Xiao, Li Li-chun, Yu Xiaolei, Yin Lu, Yin Jian, Li Sa, Yang Shupeng.

By DEREK ELLEY
A pair of amoral thieves end up defending a tiny village they initially came to pilfer in “The Robbers,” a rambunctious black comedy in period duds that plays like a Chinese riff on “Seven Samurai.” More ironic than knockabout in its humor, and packing an earthy punch in its action sequences, this is an intelligent crowdpleaser with some limited commercial potential beyond East Asia, especially if platformed at Western fests.

In his second feature, self-trained filmmaker Yang Shupeng (aka Leon Yang) delivers on the promise shown in his 2007 WWII drama, “The Cold Flame,” especially in his handling of actors and mood. Yang’s offhandedly witty script — whose flavor was not fully reflected in the subtitles on the print caught — is brought vividly to life by leads Hu Jun and Jiang Wu, whose screen chemistry holds the movie together.

Setting is a remote area in central China during the supposedly highly cultured Tang dynasty — referred to in the film’s ironic Chinese title (”My Tang Dynasty Brothers”) and in a witty, straight-faced cameo by helmer Yang himself as a fraudulent wandering poet. (Latter sequence requires careful resubtitling to bring out the humor for general auds.)

When itinerant ruffians Xue Shisun (Hu, dressed like a Japanese ronin) and tubby Chen Liu (Jiang) arrive in Kuzhulin Village, they initially pose as thirsty hunters. But after getting a drink from villager Ma Qi (Li Sa), Xue announces he’s actually a robber and demands Ma’s money. Meanwhile, Chen starts cozying up to Ma’s daughter, Luo Niang (Wang Xiao), who’s engaged to a local.

From then on, the pic becomes a rondo of capture and escape as Xue and Chen are arrested by the village head, talk their way out of things, are arrested again by soldiers who’ve been hunting them for several years, and are then helped to escape by the village’s beautiful (but deadly) female butcher, Ying Ge (striking TV thesp Yu Xiaolei, in her first major film role).

As the to-and-fro continues, a leery bond starts to form between the two amoral reprobates and the dumb-but-not-so-dumb yokels, with the former helping the latter against the corrupt soldiery. Following a cataclysmic finale, the unexpected coda is actually quite moving.

As the two robbers who seem to have no moral compass at all, Hu and Jiang manage to switch from character comedy to serious combat with deceptive ease. Hu, too often cast in woodenly serious roles, looks especially relaxed here, and chimes well with Yu in their disappointingly few “romantic” scenes. Actors playing the villagers are excellent, never tipping into pratfall comedy.

Clever editing manages to pack a lot into the tight running time without any feeling of haste, and an excellent score (part orchestral, part Beijing Opera-like) binds the film’s several moods together. Shooting in an actual (redressed) village in Zhejiang province, helmer Yang gets the most out of the landscape in a down-and-dirty way, as well as plenty of physical oomph in the battles with the soldiery.

Camera (color), Zhou Shuhao; editor, Fang Lei; music, Lu Jiajia, Hou Dudu; art director, Du Changshun; costume designer, Zhang Yuedong; sound (Dolby Digital), Liu Yang; sound designer, An Wei; action director, Wang Jianjun; assistant directors, Wang Xu, Zhou Yingying. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (Midnight Passion), Oct. 14, 2009. Running time: 91 MIN.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941632.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Overheard (Variety review)

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Overheard
Sitteng fungwan

(Cantonese dialogue) An Edko Films (in Hong Kong)/Beijing Polybona Film Distribution Co. (in China) release of a Sil-Metropole Organization (Hong Kong)/Bona Entertainment Co., Shanghai EE-Media Co., Xi’an Qujiang Film & TV Investment Group (China)/Neo Studios (Singapore) presentation of a Pop Movies, Film Unlimited production. (International sales: Distribution Workshop, H.K.) Produced by Derek Yee, Henry Fong. Executive producers, Song Dai, Yu Dong, Zhang Yong, Wang Jianjun, Jack Neo. Executive in charge of production, Huang Bin. Directed, written by Alan Mak, Felix Chong.

With: Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Zhang Jingchu, Alex Fong, Michael Wong, Lam Kar-wah, Waise Lee, William Chan, Stephen Au, Sharon Luk, Queenie Chu, Henry Fong, Lok Ying-kwan, Yeung Ling, Matt Chow, Yuen Fu-wan, Geoff Wong.

By DEREK ELLEY
After last year’s wishy-washy “Lady Cop and Papa Crook,” Hong Kong writing-helming duo Alan Mak and Felix Chong — two of the key creatives behind “Infernal Affairs” — power back with the bent-cops crimer “Overheard.” Quality casting down the line and a script that manages some characterization between its twists and turns make for an entertaining package that’s flawed only by a lack of sustained tension in the direction. Summer release did well in both Hong Kong and China, though in Western markets it’s largely an ancillary item.

First seen clandestinely bugging the offices of Fung Wah share-trading company, Leung (Lau Ching-wan), Yeung (Louis Koo) and Lam (Daniel Wu) are members of the Commercial Crime Bureau, currently involved in a big surveillance op monitoring suspected price fixing.

Screenplay rapidly sketches the friendships, tensions and family backgrounds within the surveillance team, housed in a chaotic temporary office, full of tech equipment and clothing, that’s staffed in shifts around the clock. All the main characters are flawed in some way: Lam is about to marry the daughter of a rich guy (actor-producer Henry Fong), with whom he’s not too comfortable, and Yeung has a young son with cancer, putting a strain on his marriage.

Of the three, Leung has seniority, and he’s the only one able to get on with their irascible boss, old pal Lee Kwong (Alex Fong). But unbeknownst to Lee, Leung is seeing his estranged wife, Yam (mainland Chinese thesp Zhang Jingchu), adding a layer of guilt beneath his seemingly easygoing exterior.

When, one night, Lam and Yeung overhear Fung Wah slimeball exec Lo (Waise Lee) giving a shares tip to his secretary (Queenie Chu), they wipe the evidence from the records and decide to make a quick killing themselves. Leung subsequently gets involved, against his better judgment, and the whole affair turns very deadly when China’s Securities Commission investigates the team, and corrupt tycoon Ma (Michael Wong, hammy) wants their heads on a platter.

Pic is strongest during its first act, as the characters swim into focus, eavesdropping for fun on workmates (William Chan, Sharon Luk) with their surveillance equipment, and prove almost as mistrustful of each other as they are of their quarry. Second act, which only makes sense in such a money-obsessed environment as Hong Kong, is less atmospheric, and the finale, though entertaining, is the least original part, relying on pure Hong Kong action devices.

Lau, as the grizzled heart of the movie, impressively shades in his character, but it’s Koo, who’s started to broaden his roles beyond tanned beefcake, who’s the biggest surprise. Tech contributions are pro, without being either glossy or grungy.

Camera (color, Panavision widescreen), Anthony Pun; editors, Kong Chi-leung, Chan Chi-wai; music, Chan Kwong-wing; art director, Man Lim-chung; sound designers (Dolby Digital), Nip Kei-wing, Phyllis Cheng; visual effects supervisors, Lim Hung-fung, Yee Kwok-leung, Lai Man-chun; assistant director, Lanbo [cq] Cheuk. Reviewed on DVD, London, Nov. 6, 2009. (In Hawaii Film Festival — Hong Kong Cinema.) Running time: 101 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941633.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

November 13, 2009

Petition (Variety review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: — dleedlee @ 3:12 pm

Petition
La cour des plaignants

(Documentary — France - China) An Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, Arte (France)/3 Shadows (China) co-production, with the participation of RTBF Television Belge, YLE TV1, BBC Storyville, Television Suisse Romande, Centre National de la Cinematographie. (International sales: Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, Bry-sur-Marne Cedex, France.) Produced by Sylvie Blum. Directed by Zhao Liang.

With: Zhang Weiye, Qi Huaying, Fang Xiaojuan.
(Mandarin dialogue)

By JUSTIN CHANG
A sometimes plodding but cumulatively impactful examination of human-rights abuses in China, “Petition” lobbies on behalf of those who have lobbied in vain. Debuting documaker Zhao Liang spent more than 10 years following several self-described “petitioners,” whose tireless efforts to seek justice from their government have caused them no end of grief and ostracism. While this French-Chinese co-production could benefit from a tighter trim, its journalistic acuity, emotional force and unimpeachable agenda should rally socially oriented fests and cablers seeking worthy, relevant fare. Pic also merits widespread Chinese distribution through underground channels.

An unblinking record of human suffering, the film (whose French title means “Petition: The Court of the Complainants”) essentially grants its subjects the open forum and attentive ear denied them by authorities. Like his countryman Jia Zhangke, Zhao is casting an intensely critical eye on his country in the wake of rapid industrial change and an uneasy suspension between communism and democracy, but Zhao’s methods are more straightforward than Jia’s and his anger more palpable.

Since 1996, Zhao has filmed petitioners living in squalid, makeshift homes near Beijing’s Southern Railway Station; every day, they attempt to lodge complaints at the nearby petition office, where they are met with indifference, rejection and, if necessary, physical force to remove them from the premises. Since filming is forbidden in the petition office, Zhao used hidden cameras, and his secret footage of the treatment to which petitioners are often subjected is particularly galvanizing.

Complainants include farmers thrown out of their villages by authorities in cahoots with the local mafia, and homeowners who received no compensation for the government-ordered demolition of their houses. Many have come to Beijing from all over China and endured countless abuses — imprisonment, institutionalization, beatings — for their determination to speak out in protest.

The first half of the 129-minute docu reps a numbing catalog of grievances and, while it can make for repetitive viewing, it also speaks to Zhao’s point about the incalculable toll on ordinary citizens due to systemic corruption and denial of responsibility.

Despite “Petition’s” focus on the realities of its subjects’ daily lives, few vivid personalities emerge until the second half, when the film finds its key thread: Qi Huaying, who since 1987 has sought justice on behalf of her late husband, and her daughter, Fang Xiaojuan. The patience and longevity of Zhao’s years-in-the-making approach pays off enormously here, as he follows these two very different but equally courageous women to a devastating emotional confrontation.

Rather less successfully, the film contains at least two scenes that feel unnecessarily exploitative in their attempts to crank up the drama, one of them involving a petitioner trying to flee on train tracks from government henchmen. Elsewhere, the pic allows its subjects to argue for democracy in China and express their rather remarkable pride in their country — which, as Zhao demonstrates via footage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, seems to care more about a grandstanding display of nationalistic showmanship than about its displaced citizenry.

Tech credits are pro for this low-budget guerrilla effort. Zhao’s voice is often heard phrasing questions during interviews, while occasional intertitles serve to streamline information and provide context.

Camera (color, DV-to-35mm), Zhao; editors, Zhao, Shun Zi, Bruno Barwise; sound, Zhao. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Special Screenings), May 22, 2009. Running time: 129 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940368.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Petition (Screen Daily review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: — dleedlee @ 3:02 pm

Petition (La Cour Des Plaignants)
Director. Zhao Liang. France-China. 2009. 123 mins.

Even Franz Kafka would find it hard to credit the systemic injustice denounced in Petition, an angry and harrowing investigation by Chinese documentary maker and artist Zhao Liang. The film, on which Zhao has been working since 1996, looks at the world of the ‘petitioners’, people who come to Beijing from all parts of China in order to plead their case against injustices, and who find themselves embroiled in a no-exit situation which leaves them homeless, impoverished, even disabled. The film, some of it shot using a secret camera, is an exemplary piece of journalism, and will be a must for television and for festivals, especially those with human rights interests, although theatrical prospects will be limited.

The film looks at the lives of petitioners who come to Beijing to visit its Complaints Office, and who find themselves stuck there for years on end, waiting to air grievances against local abuses of justice. Obliged to wait in the city, without much hope of winning redress, complainants find themselves living in the now-demolished ‘Petition Village’, a shanty town in which poverty reigns. Despite their living conditions, the interviewees generally state their determination to stay and see their case through.

To make things worse, local authorities send their own brutal and unscrupulous representatives, known as ‘retrievers’, to Beijing to dissuade petitioners. The odds against the wronged are so overwhelmingly stacked that one can only admire the determination of the multitudes who persist in their purpose.

Often shooting with a hidden camera, Zhao films and interviews a number of people, following some over the twelve years of the shoot. In particular, providing a narrative thread of sorts, he follows Qi, a woman determined to get justice for her husband’s unexplained death in hospital. In one of the film’s most painful moments, Qi’s daughter Juan decides to leave her mother and start a new life. Her return visit a couple of years later, with a child of her own, results in a painful confrontation – one of those moments at which Zhao’s approach appears uncomfortably intrusive.

The film offers more than its share of horror. Notably, after a woman fleeing from retrievers is run over by a train, other members of the petitioner community salvage her jawbone and a fragment of scalp to use as evidence if her case comes to light. Despite their oppression and the apparent hopelessness of their situation, the petitioners appear to be a tight-knit, mutually supportive community, as well as extremely lucid about their cause and what it represents. Many of them openly voice what seems to be the film’s own unequivocal message, that the current state of corruption in China will only end when democracy comes.

In the final episodes, we see Petition Village demolished as part of the Olympics building programme, making petitioners’ living conditions even more untenable. The film’s end sequence contrasts their plight with the official image of a modern China projected by the fireworks of the Olympics opening ceremony.

The film offers no spoken commentary on events, but uses occasional captions to fill in additional background. If the situation Zhao depicts seems inexorably grim, hope is offered by the fact that he has succeeded in making this film, and by the fact that his subjects have had the courage to talk openly about their travails.

Production companies
Ina DPE
ARTE France
Three Shadows

International sales
Ina
(33) 1 49 83 29 92

Producer
Sylvie Blum

Cinematography
Zhao Liang

Editors
Zhao Liang
Sylvie Blum
Shun Zi
Bruno Barwise
http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/cannes-reviews/-petition-la-cour-des-plaignants/5001676.article

November 5, 2009

The Warrior and The Wolf (Hollywood Reporter review)

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The Warrior and the Wolf
By Deborah Young

Bottom Line: Disconnected Chinese costumer is a sexy fable with sumptuous visuals.
ROME — In this epic wartime romance set in western China 2,000 years ago, the main attractions are the visual pageantry of the landscape and the sexual chemistry between highly photogenic protagonists — Japanese star Joe Odagiri and Hawaiian actress Maggie Q, as a chic young warrior and a wolf-woman, respectively.

The evergreen fascination of Chinese costumers pulls “The Warrior and the Wolf” through some seriously incomprehensible scripting and a surprisingly short supply of exciting effects and battle scenes. Beyond Asian territories, few are likely to have the privilege of enjoying cinematographer Wang Yu’s elegantly lensing on the big screen, and will have to settle for video.

Veteran writer-director Tian Zhuangzhuang’s early interest in China’s ethnic minorities (”The Horse Thief”) resurfaces in this magical genre tale, based on a novel by Yasushi Inoue. But film is more a series of anecdotes than a tied-together story geared to emotional build-up.

Entire chapters of the novel are summarized in on-screen type, setting the scene in the Kumlan mountains, where fierce nomadic tribes have long been battling the army of the Imperial Court. Curiously, winter snows are so heavy that the war has to be put on hold; soldiers go home to wait for the spring thaw and more fighting.

Lu (Joe Odagiri) is a simple, good-looking shepherd who distinguishes himself by adopting a wolf cub. One day he crosses paths with the formidable general Zhang (played by Taiwanese actor Tou Chung-hua). Though it’s never spelled out, viewers will sense a strong mutual attraction between the two men, without which the ending is incomprehensible.

Under Zhang’s tutoring, Lu is quickly transformed into another bloodthirsty fighter lusting to kill. In the rare battle scenes, the barbaric cruelty and axe-swinging of yesteryear is accompanied by heavy grunts and groans. When Gen. Zhang loses a battle, he expects his superiors to execute him, but evidently they don’t, or he wouldn’t be back in the final scenes.

Time passes and Lu is now a commander. He has also lost a big battle and expects the worst on his return. When a heavy snowfall catches his retreating troops, they take shelter in a tribal village inhabited by the cursed Harran people, who live by night and in the daytime hide away in wolf-like dens.

In the hut he has appropriated, Lu stumbles over a bundle of fur and discovers a beautiful, wild Harran widow (Maggie Q) underneath. When he rapes her, she announces she will be turned into a wolf for copulating with a non-Harran. The film’s final third is happily devoted to the passionate animal-like couplings and secret, forbidden love between a man and a woman who have no future and nothing to lose.

There seems to be a lot of missing narrative in this visually sumptuous production, which is enjoyable enough as a sexy fable. Odagiri and Maggie Q are bigger-than-life performers, able to compete with the extraordinary landscapes, and endow these heroes of yore with dignity and fascination, if not emotional depth.

Venue: Rome Film Festival

Production companies: BDI Films, Sky Eagle Worldwide Holdings
Cast: Joe Odagiri, Maggie Q, Tou Chung-hua
Director/screenwriter: Tian Zhuangzhuang
Based on a novel by: Yasushi Inoue
Producer: Bill Kong, Hao Li, Satoru Ogura, Han Sanping
Director of photography: Wang Yu
Production designer: Liu Weixin
Music: Evgeny Galperine, Sasha Galperine, Du Wei, Zhao Li
Costume designer: Emi Wada
Editor: Wenders Li
Sales: Fortissimo Films
No rating, 104 minutes
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/the-warrior-and-the-wolf-film-review-1004032831.story

November 4, 2009

Lan (Variety review)

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Lan
Women tian shang jian
(China) A Beijing Asian Union Culture & Media Investment Co. production. (International sales: Asia Union, Beijing.) Produced by Dong Ping, Jiang Wenli. Executive producer, Liu Xiaolin. Directed, written by Jiang Wenli.

With: Zhu Xu, Yao Jun, Zhu Yinuo, Ma Sichun, Hu Qiuyan, Liu Ye.
(Mandarin dialogue)

By DEREK ELLEY
At age 40, mainland Chinese actress Jiang Wenli (”And the Spring Comes,” “Lost Indulgence”) makes a smooth segue behind the camera with autobiographical coming-of-ager “Lan.” Cultural Revolution-set tale of a young girl, whose dream of becoming a champion gymnast is scuppered by the realities of everyday life and family background, is handled with grace and feeling, and is notably light on the political cliches besetting stories of the era. The audience-award winner at this year’s Pusan fest, this unabashedly old-school movie (in the best sense) is ripe for festival and Euro TV exposure, with some limited theatrical potential as well.

Stylistically, the film is like a less arty version of “Peacock,” directed by Jiang’s husband, lenser-helmer Gu Changwei. But that takes nothing away from Jiang’s accomplishments here: Every setup is beautifully composed and lit, never pushed beyond an average viewer’s patience, and the movie has a refined sensibility that doesn’t shy away from emotion or occasional flights of fancy. It’s a sure crowdpleaser at fests.

Jiang Xiaolan (Yao Jun) is a young girl in an unnamed railway town on the southern bank of the Huai River, the traditional dividing line between North and South China. Branded as “rightists,” her parents have been sent to a labor camp in remote Xinjiang, so she’s raised by her grandpa, Tang (Zhu Xu). Because of her family name (the same as that of KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek), she’s teased by other schoolkids as a “bastard of counterrevolutionaries.”

Though the politics of the Cultural Revolution are aways in the background, they’re sensed rather than made explicit, and the pic is almost entirely free of the usual banner-waving scenes. Portrait of everyday life is remembered by the main character — her childhood dreams, home life with grandpa, etc.

Grudgingly admitted into the local gymnastics club, she’s kept apart from the official athletes but continues to be inspired by local champ Jiang Shaoyi and Romania’s Nadia Comaneci. Meanwhile, her grandfather makes her a leotard like the other girls’ and builds a bar in the garden for her to practice on.

The old man also keeps the fiction alive that her parents will one day return from their patriotic work “turning the desert into fertile land,” and also entertains her with tales from his youth as a train driver. But as the Cultural Revolution nears its end in 1976, and Xiaolan (now played, seamlessly, by Zhu Yinuo) enters puberty, he succumbs to old age, with Xiaolan caring for him and taking on more adult duties.

Pic is full of memorable images that aren’t especially new in Chinese cinema, but fit together into a beguiling portrait. A sequence in which Xiaolan imagines herself flying above the town sounds too cute on paper but plays absolutely right dramatically.

Jiang’s controlled direction and the delicate, staccato score by Evgueni Galperine (”The Warrior and the Wolf”) keep the movie free of sentimentality, as do the perfs by veteran Zhu (an old hand at such roles) and the two young Xiaolan thesps. Supporting players are equally well drawn, especially Ma Sichuan as Xiaolan’s older neighbor and Hu Qiuyan as Xiaolan’s mom. Mainland star Liu Ye cameos as Li’s b.f.

Chinese title means “We’ll Meet in Heaven.” English subtitles on print caught badly need revising, including converting the names into Chinese style.

Camera (color), Lin Liangzhong; editors, Yang Hongyu, Liu Jiami; music, Evgueni Galperine; production designer, Feng Ligang; art director, Song Zhen; costume designer, Xiang Honghui; sound (Dolby Digital), An Wei, Ye Dan, Li Shuo, Shen Jianqin; special effects, Wang Hongli; visual effects, China Film Post; visual effects supervisors, Xu Xin, Li Liping; assistant director, Qi Dagang. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (New Currents), Oct. 10, 2009. Running time: 89 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941543.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

November 3, 2009

Talentime (Malaysia)(Variety review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: , — dleedlee @ 10:49 am

Talentime

(Malaysia) A Chilli Pepper Films production. (International sales: Primeworks Studios, Selangor, Malaysia.) Produced by Mohammad Effendy Harjoh. Executive producers, Ahmad Puad Onah, Faszil Manap. Directed, written by Yasmin Ahmad.

With: Pamela Chong Ven-teen, Mahesh Jugal Kishor, Mohammed Redzuan Adamshah, Jaclyn Victor.

By RUSSELL EDWARDS
Somewhere between understated and underdeveloped, “Talentime,” the swan song of Yasmin Ahmad, who died in July at age 51, reveals a writer-director granted insufficient time to reach her full potential. The story of two school talent-show contestants and their extended families, this slight pic offers a cross-section of contempo Malaysian life with hints of its religious, racial and social complexities. Already the subject of a 2006 Tokyo fest retro, Ahmad has received similar tributes — with “Talentime” headlining — across the fest circuit this year. But even within Southeast Asia, the pic underperformed in commercial venues.

Love blossoms (but drama plods) as comely singer Meleur (Pamela Chong Ven-teen) falls for mute student Mahesh (Mahesh Jugal Kishor), who’s assigned to drive her to rehearsals. Whether it be Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” or Pete Teo’s cute love songs, music provides a much-needed boost to Ahmad’s material, but unscored sections are marked by awkward silences, with clumsy comedy relief. Thesps utter jokes and straight lines with little sense of their meaning, as if the dialogue had been rehearsed to death. Snappier editing could get the pic up on its feet.

Camera (color, HD-to-35mm), Low Soon-keong; editors, Raja Affandy, Raja Jamaluddin; music, Pete Teo; production designer, Wong Voon-leong. Reviewed at Tokyo Film Festival (Winds of Asia), Oct. 20, 2009. (Also in Pusan Film Festival — Winds of Asia.) Malay, English, Tamil dialogue. Running time: 115 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941535.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Murderer (Variety review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: — dleedlee @ 10:45 am

Murderer
Satyan fan
(Hong Kong-U.S.) An Edko Film (in Hong Kong) release of a Focus Features Intl. (U.S.)/Hero Focus Group, Sil-Metropole Organization (Hong Kong) presentation of an Eastern (Hong Kong) Film Prod. production. (International sales: Edko Films, Hong Kong.) Produced by Candy Leung, Cheung Hong-tat. Executive producers, Chui Po-chiu, Song Dai. Co-producer, Stephen Lam. Directed by Roy Chow. Screenplay, Christine To.

With: Aaron Kwok, Janine Chang, Cheung Siu-fai, Tam Chun-yat, Chen Kuan-tai, Chin Ka-lok, Wong You-nam, Josie Ho, Teddy Lin, Michelle Ye.
(Cantonese, Mandarin dialogue)

By DEREK ELLEY
An amazing amount of talent is wasted on psychothriller “Murderer,” whose chief culprits are first-time director Roy Chow (previously an assistant to Ang Lee) and scripter Christine To (”Fearless,” “Secret”). After an impressively edgy start and an audience-teasing midsection, the pic sinks at the 80-minute mark with a twist that’s outrageous even by genre standards and direction that abandons its previously atmospheric style. Pic tanked in Hong Kong on its July release and has only a minor cult career on ancillary to look forward to.

Shot in saturated, slightly lurid colors by ace lenser Mark Lee and moodily scored by Japanese vet Shigeru Umebayashi (”2046″), the pic starts like gangbusters with the sudden bone-crunching fall of Hong Kong cop Tai (vet Chen Kuan-tai) while hunting a serial killer who drains blood from his victims with a power drill. Tai’s partner, Inspector Ling (Aaron Kwok), is found at the scene with temporary memory loss.

All the clues progressively point toward Ling being implicated, and his only defender is his buddy, “Ghost” (Cheng Siu-fai), who’s handed the case while Ling rests. To add to his problems, Ling has three days in his diary he can’t account for, and even his wife (Taiwan’s Janine Chang, speaking Mandarin throughout) and adopted young son (Tam Chun-yat) can’t remember what he did.

As Ling tries to prove his innocence — between ghoulish memory flashes — the evidence against him mounts on all fronts. Even Ghost discovers that all three of the serial killer’s victims were childhood neighbors of Ling.

The big reveal is not only laughably out there but also is explained by the murderer in a speech that’s so long it actually becomes boring — and there’s still a half-hour to go.

Kwok, who’s taking much more “serious” roles nowadays, overdoes the intensity of his confused character to diminishing effect. Other thesps punch the clock, including Josie Ho, who’s spliced in as Ling’s sister for no apparent reason.

Camera (color), Mark Lee; editor, Cheung Ka-fai; music, Shigeru Umebayashi; production designer, Man Lim-chung; costume designer, Eddy Yeung; sound (Dolby Digital), Chan Wai-hung; sound designer, George Lee; visual effects supervisor, Victor Wong. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (Midnight Passion), Oct. 12, 2009. Running time: 119 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941524.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

November 1, 2009

A Good Rain Knows (Variety review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: , — dleedlee @ 9:56 pm

A Good Rain Knows
Ho woo shijeol
(South Korea-China) An NEW (in South Korea)/Zonbo Media (in China) release of a Pancinema (South Korea)/Zonbo Media (China) presentation of a Pancinema, Ho Films, Taurus Films (South Korea)/Zonbo Media (China) production. (International sales: Pancinema, Seoul.) Produced by Paek Myeong-seon, Chen Weiming, Hur Jin-ho, Kim Yeon-hak. Executive producers, Park, Chen. Co-executive producer, Lee Gang-bok. Directed by Hur Jin-ho. Screenplay, Lee Han-eol, Hur.

With: Jeong Woo-seong, Gao Yuanyuan, Kim Sang-ho, Ma Shaohua, Li Fenghua, Yan Feng.
(English, Korean, Chinese dialogue)

By DEREK ELLEY
The good news is that Hur Jin-ho, South Korea’s master of meller minutiae (”Christmas in August”), has bounced back with one of his finest pictures, after the soupy “April Snow” and flawed “Happiness.” The bad news is that, at least in Anglophone territories, “A Good Rain Knows” is virtually DOA, due to the stiff acting in English of the two leads in this Korean-Chinese co-production. Subtitled in non-Anglo markets, this could still have some arthouse chances, though locally it failed to make much of a B.O. mark on its October release.
The film began as the present-day episode in “Chengdu, I Love You,” a three-part portmanteau movie inspired by last year’s earthquake in Sichuan province, China. Along the way, Hur decided he needed a canvas larger than 30 minutes and went his own way with a standalone feature.

The dismembered version of “Chengdu” preemed at this year’s Venice fest with only Cui Jian’s and Fruit Chan’s segs. (Hur did a half-hour demo cut of his seg, to prove his point to producers, but this was never shown to outsiders.) In China, “Rain” will be marketed as part two of the “Chengdu” stories.

It’s spring in the Sichuan capital, and Park Dong-ha (Jeong Woo-seong) arrives on a brief business trip involving the job of rebuilding after the 2008 earthquake. While there, he bumps into Mei (Gao Yuanyuan), an English-speaking tourist guide with whom he once had a relationship when both were studying in the U.S. Thrown together for a short, intense period, they reinvestigate their feelings for each other.

With almost zero plot, the film is built entirely on emotional texture. Mei playfully claims they never actually dated at the time; Park claims they did. Meanwhile, she has to come to a painful decision when he leaves for the airport the next day — which leads to her revealing something she’s kept secret during their friendly flirtation.

The clumsy English title refers to a text by Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, about how spring rain “knows” when to fall and bring nature back to life. Hur seeps the movie in imagery — succulently lensed in crisp colors by Kim Byeong-seo — that could have been purely touristy wrapping but here supports the story’s theme of metaphysical renewal: walks in bamboo-forested Du Fu Park, locals dancing at night, street life in the Sichuan capital. And at the center is the ever-smiling face of Mei, whose bright exterior conceals an emotional vacuum.

Given that the pair can communicate only in English, Hur wisely keeps dialogue between the two to a minimum, but their exchanges (and especially Gao’s English) are so arch that the delicate atmosphere fractures whenever they open their mouths. When acting in their own languages, the thesps are fine.

Culturally, the pic is fascinating. Though wholly set in China, it has a totally Korean feel in look and rhythm. Even Gao (”City of Life and Death,” “Shanghai Dreams”), who’s never looked more beautiful, has been given the cute look of a South Korean actress. And between the jokes (for Korean auds) about Chinese food and driving, at least one drinking sequence — between Dong-ha and his Korean liaison (Kim Sang-ho) — might just as well have been set in a Seoul bar.

Handsome, besuited Jeong, the “Good” in “The Good the Bad the Weird,” shows the problems of melding more formal Korean with looser Chinese acting styles, and often looks stiff opposite the enchanting Gao. Kim provides some boisterous character color in his several scenes.

Technical package is immaculate on all levels, with Lee Jae-jin’s fretted score adding further delicate texture. Original title means “Season of Good Rain.”

Camera (color, widescreen), Kim Byeong-seo; editor, Choi Jae-geun; music, Lee Jae-jin; art director, Lu Dong; sound (Dolby SRD), Gao Ying, Seong Woon-yong, Lee In-gyu; sound designers, Lee Ho-jun, Lee Dong-hwan. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (market), Oct. 12, 2009. Running time: 100 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941518.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction (Variety review)

Filed under: Reprints — Tags: — dleedlee @ 9:51 pm

Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction
Jiqi xia

(China) A China Film Group release of a www.letv.com, Beijing Xiaoma Benteng Film & TV Culture Development, Xi’an Mei Ah Culture Communication, Shanghai Film Group, Xi’an Qujiang Film & TV Investment Group, Beijing Xin Ying Lian Film Co., Zhejiang Le Shi Zhenwei Film & TV production. (International sales: Infotainment China, Beijing.) Produced by Zhuo Shunguo. Executive producers, Jia Yueting, Li Ming, Li Kuo-hsing, Ren Zhonglun, Wu Tianming, Huang Qunfei. Directed by Jeff Lau. Screenplay, Kei On.

With: Hu Jun, Sun Li, Alex Fong, Gan Wei, Ronald Cheng, Wu Jing, Eric Tsang, Law Ka-ying.
(Mandarin dialogue)

By DEREK ELLEY
Hong Kong genre-mulcher Jeff Lau (”A Chinese Tall Story,” “A Chinese Odyssey”) weighs in with a China-backed “Transformers” ripoff that will have hardcore action fans holding down the fast-forward button to get to the meat. Typically playing with auds’ expectations (juiced by the title and action-heavy trailer), “Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction” is more a quirky comic tale of robot love than a pedal-to-the-metal f/x feast, and viewed in that light, it’s thoroughly engaging, thanks to lead perfs by mainlanders Hu Jun and Sun Li. Pic hauled in a warm $7.5 million in China in August, but tanked in Hong Kong.

Xu Dachun (Hu), head cop in a picturesque small town in Zhejiang province, is asked by TN Research head Lin Xiang (Hong Kong’s Eric Tsang, gratingly unfunny) to road-test his latest android, K-1 (Alex Fong), by giving the droid a place on staff. K-1 promptly falls for cute female cop Zhou Sumei (Sun), for whom Xu has been carrying a torch ever since her late father asked him to look after her.

With his superpowers, K-1 helps out Xu on one mission, but Xu is still leery of the android, who was never programmed to deal with love. Only at the halfway mark, when K-1 has to deal with a rogue cyborg, K-88 (mainland martial-arts star Wu Jing), and “saves” Xu’s life by turning him into a robot as well, does the real action kick in. K-1 ends up even more confused when he gets a lesson in robot’s rights from K-88.

Script is littered with jokes about Chinese movie stars and even references to Lau’s erstwhile filming partner, Wong Kar-wai — the film is set in, uh, 2046 — but at heart, it’s a genre riff on human-vs.-android feelings, and whether there’s much difference between the two. As K-88 notes, “God created Man and Man created machines. Man can question God, so why can’t machines question Man?”

Hu (”Red Cliff”) is looking increasingly relaxed in lighter roles, and here he’s nicely partnered with up-and-coming Sun (”Fearless,” “Painted Skin”), whose likable work in the central role keeps the pic interesting during down time. Fong, with an Elvis hairdo and a pasty android face, is too constrained by his emotionless role; Wu has more physical presence in his scattered appearances.

“Transformers”-like effects are smoothly done, and Edmond Fung’s widescreen lensing of the traditional-looking Ningbo locations are always well composed. Other credits are all quality. Chinese title simply means “Robot Hero.”

Camera (color, widescreen), Edmond Fung; editors, Angie Lam, Wong Wing-ming; music, Mark Lui, Ronald Cheng; production designer, Bill Lui; art director, Liu Jingping; costume designer, Zhao Zhiying, Zou Jianhua; sound (Dolby Digital); visual effects, Xian Tao Digital; visual effects supervisor, Ma Yongan; second unit camera, Choi Man-lung; assistant directors, Lau Wai-keung, Chan Ho-ming. Reviewed on DVD, London, Oct. 29, 2009. (Also in Tokyo Film Festival — Winds of Asia-Middle East.) Running time: 102 MIN.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941519.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

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