The Butterfly

"It takes time to get used to things"

Chungking Express is more a mood than a story, more style than substance but an entertaining and colorful watch. Lonely and heartbroken people brush up to the edge of madness as they look for love or try to reclaim it. Lives touch briefly with unexpected outcomes.

In the first short story, Officer #223 is attempting to win back his girlfriend May, unable to move on. Most evenings he hangs out at the snack bar using the pay phone to try and get in touch with her through relatives and friends. Each day he purchases a can of pineapple with the expiration date of May 1, coincidentally his birthday, and vows after eating thirty of them if she hasn't come back, he will move on. His love lines cross paths with Brigitte Lin's Blonde Wig Woman who is a drug dealer and smuggler who has been double-crossed by the trafficking mules she has prepared.

The whole May 1 expiration date bit was too on the nose, feeling more and more contrived as the bit went along. Brigitte Lin in sunglasses, a trench coat and armed with a gun was at least interesting. It took a while to care about a guy who couldn't get over being dumped. Brigitte Lin's drug dealer, who was never given a name, was more compelling. I eventually began to vibe with this strange emotional bump in the night. At least it got #223 to stop talking about pineapples. "Do you like pineapples?" Yeah, that's a player move. I honestly would have loved to see this relationship play out with both people on opposite sides of the law.

My interest perked up with the second story when Tony Leung looking sexy in a police officer uniform entered the scene. Officer #663 was also nursing a broken heart after his flight attendant girlfriend soared away for new sexual adventures. Faye, the new worker at the snack bar took an instant liking to him. When his girlfriend's letter with the apartment keys ends up in her hands, the movie nosedived for me. Using the keys from the envelope, Faye began breaking in to #663's apartment every day-cleaning, buying new bedding and decorations, restocking items, and generally making herself at home. #663 with his keen observation skills carefully honed by his years as a cop never noticed the differences. He had a habit of psychoanalyzing his soap and dish towel and thought the soap was just getting fat because it couldn't move on from his ex.

Maybe it's a male fantasy that an invisible woman will clean, decorate, and restock their apartment like little cookie elves but if the roles were reversed instead of quirky, we'd find it creepy. A male character hanging out all day uninvited sniffing a woman's things and making himself at home would be stalkerish and not romantic. I quickly lost interest in this story. And as much as I love the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'"after hearing it for nearly 45 minutes, I'm not going to want to hear it for another decade.

The frozen action overlaid with sped up action, swirly camera action and stop motion running was a director's creativity on overload especially when dazzling colorful lights joined the artistic fray. As I said, this was all about the mood. Different people will see this film through their own expectations. Character development and story resolution were beside the point. How did it make you feel watching the lonely people connecting amid the kaleidoscope of lights?

Rather than being romantic, the stories showed just how desperate some people are for companionship and will latch onto the first person who pays any attention to them. With the exception of maybe the drug dealer, the rest of the characters seemed to being hanging onto their sanity by a thread. Were they lonely because their behavior ran people off or were they behaving strangely because they were lonely? Chungking Express was visually impressive, the narrative-not so much.

9/29/23

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A menagerie of kung fu styles!

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow was Jackie Chan's first hit and first hint at the comedic kung fu movie style he would go on to perfect. A 65-year-old Simon Yuen meshed perfectly with Chan and the old kung fu artist showed he was still spritely for a man his age.

Chien Fu is an orphan who works as a janitor and tackling dummy for a martial arts school. When he "saves" a beggar from being abused by another school he inadvertently meets his new kung fu teacher. Pai Chang Tien is a Snake Fist master in disguise and on the run from the Eagle Claw clan who are seeking to eliminate all those who practice the reptilian style. After an arduous training montage, Chien Fu learns the Snake style just in time to face the Big Bad. But in order to defeat him he will have to add another style to succeed in the life or death battle.

Simon Yuen was a delight as the crafty old master who could defeat opponents with chopsticks and a rice bowl. He may have had stuntman help but there were many scenes where he was still showing he had the moves that had kept him employed for thirty years at the time. His son, Yuen Woo Ping, alongside Hsu Hsia created the entertaining fights. While acrobatic and comic, the fights could be slow as Jackie Chan went through his elaborate moves. The movie did show why there need to be animal rights activists when Chien Fu learned Cat's Claw technique from watching a house cat fight a cobra. PETA line 1! Tino Wong made an appearance as an offended fighter who roughed up some of the school's fighters and in the end had to be taught a lesson by Chien Fu. In the final fight with Hwang Jang Lee, aka Thunderleg, the legendary kicker accidentally knocked out one of Jackie's teeth which was quite apparent. The screeching cat sounds were hilarious when Chien Fu used the Cat's Claw technique.

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow started out slow, but once Simon brought Jackie up to speed on his fighting skill, the movie also picked up speed. Aside from the initial slapstick scenes, the comedy also became better integrated into the story as it went on and wasn't so over the top. This was a fun kung fu flick that showed off a variety of styles which I always find interesting. The chemistry between Chan and Yuen made up for story plot holes and lapses. For fans of Jackie Chan, it's one to check out to see where his comedic style really began to take root.

9/28/23

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"Who doesn't treasure life?"

Street Angel followed a group of low-income workers who forged bonds of love and friendship as they dealt with the hardships thrust upon them in an uncaring city of have and have-nots. Music, magic tricks, humor, and true love lightened the mood of a melodramatic story.

Xiao Hong and her sister Xiao Yun fled the Japanese and ended up in Shanghai working in a tea house. Xiao Hong sings for the customers while the owner put her older sister to work as a prostitute. Hong flirts with the trumpet player, Xiao Chen, who lives across the street with his friends. Their flirtation turns to love and all seems well until Hong discovers her new guardians intend to sell her to a wealthy street gangster. Chen and his friend Wang, visit a lawyer with an office high in a skyscraper only to discover that justice is out reach for the poor. C buddies The buddies spirit Hong away and the two lovers marry. Yun finds her sister and for a time it looks like the sisters may have a happy life. Sadly, the melodramatic aspect of this film could not be outrun as the economy worsens and rent prices increase, even worse, the tea house owner and the gangster are hot on their trail.

Music dominated much of the film. Zhou Xuan sang several lovely songs and enthusiastic trumpet music also livened the story's setting. Chen entertained Hong and his friends with numerous magic tricks to keep everyone's spirits up when money was tight. Zhou Xuan and Zhao Dan played their roles exuberantly and earnestly as the lovers went from frolicking to despair.

The quality of the filming was difficult to tell as the film I watched in the public domain had not been restored and could be quite blurry at times. Even at that, I could tell it was well framed and shot. This was one of the earliest Chinese films to use sound and they made the most of it with the background music and musical numbers.

Street Angel worked in humor that bordered on slapstick without going overboard. The love story felt authentic, even the second love story felt earned. The bright loving, parade-like atmosphere crashed into reality by the end of the film when the characters faced the harsh truth of their lives and limits of their power. Those who lived high above them had access to justice and medical care while they struggled to keep a roof over their heads and a smile on their faces. "Who doesn't treasure life?" Treasure life they might, but the poor toiled in a system that would swallow them whole if they weren't lucky. This plucky group of friends were a delight to watch as they held each other up and held on tight, even when it seemed their luck had ran out.

8/29/23

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"Without a dictionary, how will you be the king of children?'

King of the Children was a heartwarming slice of life film set in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. The story rolled along languidly with gentle humor as Lao Gan learned he had been assigned to be a teacher to a small poverty-stricken middle school. Without preaching, the film addressed some of the problems the school and children faced during the chaotic political time.

Lao Gan who had not trained to be a teacher found out one day that he would take over a middle school class in a rural district. The children's poverty largely reflected his own. He was flummoxed that he had the only government approved manual and the children had no books. The principal had stacks of old teaching material in his building saying they were best used as toilet paper at the present time. The students had learned in the past by the teacher writing from the manual on the roughly hewn board in chalk. Poor Lao Gan was covered in chalk dust by the end of the day using this method. He also discovered that most of the children failed to recognize Chinese characters that they should have learned in elementary school. Top student Wang Fu called Lao Gan out saying he had no idea what he was doing but the effervescent teacher was quick to learn on the job. Realizing he needed to find a way to engage the children better, Lao stopped using the manual and started using personal essays to teach the children how to better comprehend the words they were learning in class. The teacher in the next hut complained that the students must not be learning because they laughed too much. It wasn't long before the principal knew he was not sticking to the manual, a problem regardless of the positive results. The Cultural Revolution was not open to a teacher who rocked the boat so Lao Gan's teaching career was short lived.

Xie Yuan was the heart and soul of this film with his genuine smile and wild, unruly hair. Lao Gan courageously and joyfully broke the rules in his attempt to open the children's minds to better understanding of what they were learning. Rote memorization and the copying of texts had not yielded successful results. By making the lessons personal, the students began to grasp the meanings and importance of the words and characters they were studying. But as many authoritarian leaders know, words and books have power which is why they try to control them.

The cinematography and scenery were gorgeous. Though the subject matter was realistic, the color filters were not, lending an almost fairytale ambiance to the poverty-stricken community and the special teacher who brought learning magic to the children. Red, blue and yellow filters, along with dense fog often conveyed mood better than words.

The film didn't directly confront the Down to the Countryside Movement. The children never spoke of being transferred from urban areas to the countryside to learn farming and animal husbandry instead of taking paths to higher education. Burned out tree stumps and a cleansing fire at the end of the film might have alluded to the 17 million youth of the Lost Generation. The words from the song in the background did give voice to it---

"I came from the eastern mountains
They don't let me go back
I came from the East
I want to go back."

I was a little surprised this movie was allowed to be made with its not-so-subtle criticism of the Cultural Revolution and perspective on poverty, but I'm glad it was. Lao Gan with his compassionate heart and riotous hair brought joy to the students and to this viewer. If you enjoy gentle slice of life stories about teachers attempting to break the education mold for the benefit of children, this might be one to try.

8/22/23

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Until death do us part...

This drama special had the potential to be a satisfying romance and murder mystery. There wasn't just one secret, there were several. A construction worker paid for a wife from Vietnam, but his own insecurities created problems that turned deadly.

Mail order bride stories tend to be problematic in real life. They are often rife with scams and human trafficking issues. In this story, a rough construction worker buys a Vietnamese wife. He has little trust in her and hides her foreign registration card and passport. She diligently works taking care of his shoddy home, assisting his invalid mother, learning Korean, and eventually finding jobs to help support their little family. He drinks at night, falls asleep, and goes to work, leaving little time for conversation. Eventually, they have a child together. Despite her loyalty he refuses to help her gain Korean citizenship, fearing that she will leave. She patiently hopes that one day he will see the love she has for him. The special opens with her being interrogated by the police for his brutal murder, so spoiler alert, there's not a happy ending for this couple.

This drama special had great potential but the writers decided to sabotage the relationship, not with a secret but with physical abuse. On separate occasions he hit her in public repeatedly. If she killed him, I was ready to be a witness for the defense. She constantly displayed saintly long suffering with his silences, distrust, jealousy, and physical abuse. Nothing she did seemed to penetrate his insecurities. He may have shown kindness towards her a few times, but I can't get past him hitting her and leaving her vulnerable without her foreign registration card. At first, he may have been cautious with a stranger in his house but some of his actions could be perceived as him treating her as less than because she was foreign or even worse because she was a commodity he had paid for. Because he refused to communicate with her and treat her as a real wife, he set up the dominoes to be knocked over leading to his death and financial ruin. Secret had many secrets but the biggest was why the writers thought an abusive male lead was ever going to be seen as sympathetic.

8/21/23

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"We know it's wrong, but preaching won't help"

Women of the Night was a brutal look at women without a support system who were left to fend for themselves on the streets during post WWII Japan. Sisters Fusako and Natsuko took different roads, but both ended up at the same destination—prostituting themselves to survive. Once again, Mizoguchi showed the devastating affects of war and poverty on women, this time taking on topics that were often taboo.

Mizoguchi spared no one in this melodramatic look at the plight of women in the chaotic years after the war. A husband died, two children died, parents died, dying of malnutrition was a real fear, two sisters slept with the same man, opium was on the scene, STDs were dealt with, two characters were raped, gangs preyed on the weak, abortion was discussed, and pregnancy affected a main character. While life on the streets could be rough and deadly, Mizoguchi veered from informative into an area that felt exploitive.

Aside from desperation, the film was filled with anger, deep seething anger. Rage-filled Fusako hoped to infect as many men as she could. Natsuko only saw men as a way to make money, even willing to betray her sister to find a patron. The prostitution gangs fiercely guarded their territory, viciously attacking any woman who wandered their way or sought to turn straight. Men patrolled the streets looking for easy marks to rob and rape, further exasperating the predicament of young women on their own. Once "defiled" the girls often felt they had nowhere to turn but to prostitution.

Fusako had resisted turning to prostitution until the betrayal, which felt like an insincere reason for abandoning hope, and immediately diving into the world of street walking. By the end of the film, she made a 180 in the shadow of the Madonna in a bombed-out church that looked like a cemetery. It brought to mind the old Madonna (virgin) or whore definitions for women. She decided that she would work on behalf of all women for a world where their virtue could be protected. After being shown the dire straits women without family or fortune faced it felt insincere and an excuse for a hopeful ending. When the Purity Association had preached chastity at a women's clinic, the prostitutes jeered that they weren't turning tricks for fun and who would feed them if they quit? Would jobs suddenly be available and polite society accept them? Would men no longer take advantage of them? At one point there were 70,000 officially recognized prostitutes, not counting those who worked the streets. Mizoguchi repeatedly heaped humiliating trials and tribulations upon the female characters in this film and seemed to leave them with the false hope that simply walking away would provide them with food and shelter and a society that might come to accept them and be a safe place for women. After all the fury, degradation, and sorrow, the film's ending felt trite and unearned.


8/21/23

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"Success always comes with a price in suffering"

In Uegetsu, Mizoguchi wove a strange tale of hubris out of fantasy and realism loosely based on Ueda Akinari's stories. The acting and story telling were well done as Mizoguchi explored militarism and the price women paid for it. At least I hope that was the message.

Spoilers Below:
The story opens with two couples-Genjuro and Miyagi and Tobei and Ohama. Genjuro decides to take his pottery to a larger town to sell with war on their doorstep, hoping to make a tidy profit. Tobei has dreams of grandeur as a samurai even though he doesn’t have enough money for a weapon or armor and heads to town with Genjuro. After Genjuro succeeds, he decides to make more pottery for a grander profit against Miyagi's advice. She wants them to be together happily and with soldiers headed their way they need to be prepared to flee. Genjuro ignores her and with Tobei, who was rejected by the samurais, works feverishly to fill his kiln. The soldiers arrive pillaging and enslaving, but the four manage to escape. Afterwards they rescue the pottery and take it to sell. Tobei uses his share to outfit himself and join the army. Genjuro is seduced by Lady Wakasa who says she will help him to make more money if he will marry her. He falls under her spell and forgets all about his wife and son. Ohama is captured by soldiers on the way home and gang raped. Miyagi is killed by ravaging soldiers for the meager amount of food she is carrying for her son. The husbands go about their lives enthralled with their circumstances, scarcely giving a thought to their wives caught up in the chaos of war.

Despite the negative ramifications shown of militarism and the effects it had on women, throughout the film I found the husbands reprehensible. Driven by ambition, lust, or a need for power, they hardly suffered. Yes, there was humor interspersed but the wives were not given the chance to laugh. After finally coming to their senses, Genjuro and Tobei both learned that home is where peace lies, coming full circle from the start.

Ohama's story was resolved too neatly for a woman who had been repeatedly "dishonored," not suffering the fate of so many comfort women from the previous war. I've read that Mizoguchi wanted a different ending, more in line with real life where she would have been shunned and Tobei would have stepped over her to grow his military power. Even with this "happy ending", had she been a real woman and not a man's version of a woman, she most likely would have suffered greatly from her painful and humiliating experiences and not immediately bounced back.

Death could not dim Miyagi's loyalty to her family. She who had been utterly abandoned by her husband continued to be caring toward him, looking out for him and her child by reuniting them. Miyagi who was forever separated from her child and husband due to his ambitious and lustful needs was never allowed to share the peaceful home fires she so lovingly stoked. Finally, Lady Wakasa could not be seen as a villain. She had been murdered along with her family by men bent on more power, and was only seeking the love she never lived to have.

The fantasy elements were well done and the film was well crafted. All of the performers conveyed their characters perfectly. The various soldiers and armies were routinely shown as out of control and often dishonorable---a scathing rebuke of militarism. This is one of those films that is considered a classic and one of Mizoguchi's best. While skillfully woven together, I could not get past the price of the husbands' hubris being paid by the women and why the dutiful wives were the ones who were destined to suffer for the men's misdeeds. How long Genjuro might have been haunted remained to be seen.

So even though the story taught a lesson to the husbands about ambition, and ultimately brought about the fulfillment of peace and harmony for those who remained, it came at a cost, a cost the women paid with their blood. Their selfish husbands finally did what was right for those who survived, but only after blowing everything up to begin with. Whether or not this was what Mizoguchi envisioned, as a woman it was a bitter pill to swallow.

8/15/23

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Character driven with a melancholy atmosphere

Step back to a place in time with video arcades, skating rinks, phone booths, pagers, and no cell phones. Teens have been rebelling since the dawn of time and these teens were trapped in the cement jungle of Taipei with only the detached neon god spreading harsh artificial light over the packed, dreary streets. Welcome to the Rebels of the Neon God.

The film follows the lives primarily of Hsiao and Ah Tze. Hsiao is a teenager failing at his college cram school and completely disinterested in studying. He lives with his parents in a small, but comfortable apartment. His mom is convinced that he is the reincarnation of the god Nezha, explaining the emotional distance between father and son. Tze is a petty crook who with his buddy, Ping, steals change from phone booths and vending machines to use at the arcade. Hsiao's father is a taxi driver whose side-view mirror is broken when Tze smashes it in an act of rebellious aggression, an act that will come back to haunt him in more than one way.

Tze lives with his brother in a filthy apartment with a backed-up kitchen drain that constantly floods the place. He sleeps on a cot above the moat, flicking cigarette butts into the swill. He begins a relationship with Kuei, his older brother's one night stand. She works in a skating rink and for the phone "dating" service but is as aimless as Tze and Ping. When Hsiao withdraws from the college prep class and pockets the money, fate brings him across the path of Tze. He stalks Tze with the adeptness of a serial killer, watching as he and Ping steal the motherboards from the arcade's games. Hsiao's father locks him out of the house for taking the refund money and disappearing. With nowhere else to go, Hsiao returns to the hotel to rent a room where Tze and Kuei are spending the night. Obscured by the falling rain he takes the opportunity to have a little revenge for the road rage incident by vandalizing Tze's motorbike and spray painting that Nezha was there next to it. For nearly the entire movie Hsiao is emotionless and speaks no more than 10 words, but when he sees Tze's frustration over his destroyed bike he literally dances with joy. When the mother board deal goes south, the petty crooks end up escaping in the cab with Hsiao's dad which triggers reactions in both Tze and the father with feelings of guilt for both men.

None of the youth had anything to look forward to and sought to find pleasure in the moment, whether it was games, smoking, sex, or impaling a cockroach on a desk. Hsiao was an isolated boy with anger seething below his benign face, unable to measure up to what his parents wanted from him. Whether he went home again or remained on the streets was never answered, although his father left the door cracked open for him. Hsiao's parents worshipped the old gods, he and the others answered to the cold god of the streets. Tze was always restless whether pulling small jobs, hanging out with his friends, or smoking like an inmate marking time in his apartment. Ping and Kuei were largely side characters, the loyal buddy and the girl Tze had sex with, but struggled to commit to. Despite their gritty exteriors, Tze and Ping weren't hardened criminals, they simply had nowhere to go and no better tomorrow to look forward to.

The area of Taipei where the movie was filmed came across as dirty and deteriorating though there were signs of new construction. Rain fell almost constantly, making the urban setting more claustrophobic. Aside from Tze's dilapidated apartment, two seedy hotels were used as sets, complete with porn on the small televisions. The streets, school room, and arcades were packed with people, people who were side by side but not communicating. Phone "dating" was shown several times, so even the normal act of meeting someone was difficult to do.

These young people were alienated from the general society, living somewhere on the edge without a safety net below them, desperately searching for belonging. Despite the oppressive atmosphere, there was a glimmer of hope. Each person who watches the film will likely come away with a different interpretation based on age and walk of life. I saw young people who felt trapped, rebelling against the suffocating box they'd been put into. They were all longing for love and acceptance and something that would help propel them to a brighter future but with no idea how to get there.

8/9/23

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"I'm a drifter, the man from Tokyo"

If you want a good example of a highly stylized film, Tokyo Drifter fits the bill. With its vibrant Crayon coloring, stagey architecture, and jazzy theme song sung and whistled by various characters throughout the film, it's more of a hypnotic experience than yakuza story.

When Tetsu and his boss Kurata attempt to go straight, the Otsuka gang works to bring them down by ruining a real estate deal Kurata is orchestrating. Three murders later, Tetsu is forced to go on the run or drift until the heat is off. Otsuka's hitman "The Viper" is always close on his tail. Tetsu evades him across Japan with the help of "Shootin' Star," another drifter who warns him that Kurata may betray him. One character observes, "It's hard to handle a man like that once he gets good and mad." Director Suzuki rewarded the audience with Tetsu finally becoming the hurricane he was renowned for being. The film ends predictably in Tokyo for predictable reasons, but the trip there made the ride worthwhile.

Suzuki edited the film in such a way that there were times I wasn't sure what happened. He could make it challenging to keep up, especially in the snowy battles in northern Japan or during a dreamlike fight on a snowy train track. You never knew what to expect, there was even a bar room brawl, of course in a Western bar because no one brawls like Brits and Americans. Though the film supplied plenty of fist fights, gun fights, even sword fights, none of the fights were particularly convincing. The final scene was orchestrated like models doing a shoot, color coordinated with the set's architectural pieces. The gun fight more a dance than a struggle for survival.

Aside from the use of vibrant colors, the lighting could be surreal and contrary to the rules of nature. The sets may have been stylish but also appeared flimsy, especially when someone bumped into a wall causing it to shake. There were gorgeous travelogue shots of Japan as Tetsu drifted through them. But it always came back to the bright neon lights of the seedy side of Tokyo. The film felt quintessentially 1960's in manic mood and color.

While the film could bounce around-the betrayals, alliances, and creative storytelling never let the momentum slow down. Tokyo Drifter is a surreal yakuza experience, but one that is worthwhile if you like arthouse films or those films a little on the vividly strange side.

8/8/23

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Learning to let the music pour out of you

Tale of a Raindrop is a coming of age story about Michiru, a young woman who is on the cusp of graduating from college, and who must confront ghosts from the past and challenges from the present in order to let the music within her pour out.

The movie opens with Michiru stating like a mantra:
"A lot has happened in the past few days. My best friend passed away. A man told me he loves me. I met my sister that I had never met before, and she is gone. And now I'm standing by a snowing beach. I came here to meet my father. I'm going to graduate college next month, and I will start working for a broadcast company. This is the story of my youth."

Chapter 1: Like Music Pouring Out from the World
Michiru was raised by a single mother, never knowing her father. One day she received a letter from an unknown younger sister. Sayuri had also been abandoned by him. She told of things their father liked, especially a book titled "Snowflake". It was a story of a snowflake who fell in love with a raindrop, but when it begat another raindrop the snowflake dissipated. At the theater where she worked a strange young man who loved silent movies mumbled nervously that he loved her. The mumbler took her to a concert in the park which entailed a friend who played the violin. Michiru watched in amazement as the mumbler and violinist danced to the music in their own joyful world.

Chapter 2: Like Music Pouring Out of Her
Michiru finally met up with her sister Sayuri, a high schooler who had turned to prostitution to earn money for herself and to support her older boyfriend's drug habit. The two sisters lived together, seemingly happy for a while, but Sayuri was bitterly disappointed to find that despite sharing an absentee father, Michiru wasn't miserable and hadn't been forced to live as harsh a life as she had. Before she left, Sayuri gave Michiru a letter from their father's old friend. Though Sayuri rejected her older sister, a special gift set her free to dance to her own music.

In anticipation that he would lead to her father, Michiru tracked down the old friend who turned out to be her age. Through him she discovered the lonely and sad life her father had lived. Afterward, as she walked along the snowy beach we returned to where the movie began with her stating her mantra over and over. The music grew louder as Michiru made peace with the past-the losses, the grief, guilt, anger, pain, and betrayals and found the music within. She realized who she was and that person was not reliant on who her father had been. As she began her new life, like the blooming cherry blossoms, she emerged from her dormancy, forgiving and refusing to carry the baggage of the past.

Chapter 3: Like Music Pouring Out from Me
"The world silently crawled inside me. I cannot stay here any longer…I will never stop dancing under the rainbow."

Tale of a Raindrop was an almost whimsical look at a young woman beginning new chapters of discovery in her life and coming to terms with losses along the way. Through her relationships, she learned how people were able to find the music in themselves in order to dance joyfully. There were times it fell into overly precious territory, almost pretentiousness, but then righted itself, as Michiru confronted the past and present. Rainbows cannot form without raindrops, and Michiru found her place in the world as a beautiful raindrop.

8/7/23

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Shaolin vs Ninja!

Duel to the Death was short on plot but delivered with high flying action! Two men met to fight for personal and national honor and pride. More than that it had ninjas-exploding ninjas, invisible ninjas, even naked ninjas. Tony Ching Siu Tung pulled out all the stops for the fight choreography.

Ching Wan leaves the Shaolin temple to participate in a fabled duel. Hashimoto, his opponent, is sent by the Shogun to defeat him in order to honor the country. Kenji, unknown to Hashimoto, is also ordered to go to China with numerous ninjas to "help" Hashimoto win and steal kung fu secrets from the temple. Song Lam, a cross-dressing swordswoman, crosses paths with both of them before revealing that she belongs to the school where the underground arena holds the fights. Surprisingly, both male leads were not fooled by her disguise! The ninjas also kidnap China's greatest fighters to take back to Japan to force them to disclose their kung fu secrets.

The plot and the acting were simple. Where this movie excelled was in the fight choreography and ninja action. The film was quite dark with numerous gruesome deaths and dismemberments. What made this one a winner for me were the ninjas, many of their scenes were hilarious, though I don't think they were intended to be. A giant ninja divided into five ninjas-even a naked one, they hid in the sand, concealed themselves on ceilings and in trees, disappeared, and literally exploded. My favorite scene had ninja kites! When Eddy Ko's character met his demise, I laughed hysterically. The sword action was fast and aided by serious kung fu and ninja flight. I don't think I've ever seen as much wire-fu and prolonged aerial action in an older martial arts movie, especially one that wasn’t a fantasy.

Norman Chu played a mostly respectable samurai who was taught to win at all costs. His was the strongest performance of the lot. Damian Lau as the more thoughtful Shaolin fighter, was sadly lacking in screen charisma. I almost didn't recognize Eddie Ko behind his thick black beard. Speaking of beards, the wigs and beards were among some of the worst I've ever seen---comically bad. The costumes and sets, on the other hand, were quite lovely. A couple of telephone poles and more modern roads weren't camouflaged very well though it did look like they tried with leaves and sand. Overall, the cinematography, scenery, and music were of a higher quality than what you would expect from this era and genre.

Duel to the Death raced along at a fast pace. Whenever there was a quiet moment, a ninja was sure to pop out of the sand or even thin air to liven the place up. For fans of old kung fu movies, this is definitely one to seek out. Whether you watch it in all earnestness or like me, as laugh therapy, you're sure to find at least parts of it entertaining. It's worth it for the ninja kites alone.

8/5/23

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"Don't avoid the truth!"

The Tale of the Bookworm is a drama special book lovers can appreciate. In a little over one hour, it covered as much story ground as most dramas cover in 16 bloated episodes. The only copy of Heo Gyun's book "The Tale of Hong Gildong" aka "The Biography of Hong Gildong" has been stolen and an awkward bookworm must use what he's learned from reading to solve the case. The drama incorporates the usual political intrigue, a loyal bookpig, a hint of romance, a bromance, self-sacrifice, a bookwolf, and the determined bookworm who is willing to risk his life to find the missing treasure.

Low born bookworm Jang Suh Wan is accused of a murder that occurred at the same time as the theft of Heo's book where Jang regularly "borrows" books to copy. He and Capt. Lee are charged by the sinister Minister Lee with finding the radical book or face the consequences. Along the way, Jang meets a book loving concubine and a book obsessed prince. He's also kidnapped a couple of times and threatened with torture, the worst torture was having a book's ending spoiled for him! The horror! It would make any self-professed book lover crack! While there were comedic and fun bromance moments there were also blood spewing and blood pooling deaths.

Han Joo Wan made for a sweet bookworm with Sherlock Holmes abilities. Choi Dae Chul as Capt. Lee had great chemistry with the bookworm and was easy on the eyes. You can always count on Lee Dae Yeon to make for a proper Joseon schemer, he could do this role in his sleep. And Ahn Nae Sang brought the right amount of moral ambiguity to the famous writer. The special looked low budget, but the cast's charisma covered over most of the cinematographic cracks.

Heo Gyun is historically credited with writing The Tale of Hong Gildong, though authorship has come into dispute. In the drama, Jang's hero may not have been what the bookworm had hoped for but the power of the written word was more important and life altering. It was fun learning a bit about this progressive and subversive for the time writer and Hong Gildong, one of the most influential early writings in Korea. The Tale of the Bookworm was simply done but effective and entertaining as it reminded us of the power of books to change minds and the world.

8/3/23

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"War is hell"

Children of Hiroshima was made seven years after the bombing of Hiroshima, when the wounds were still fresh and the horror still a recent memory. The film showed a scarred city rebuilding, but rubble, blown-out buildings and stripped trees were a visible reminder of the terror that took place on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 a.m. Into this setting four years after the blast, Takako, a kindergarten teacher, visits her family's grave and seeks out the three surviving students from her old class.

Takako escorts the audience on a tour of Hiroshima and her reunions give us a glimpse into the different ways people suffered after surviving the blast. She looks up the only three children still alive from her class four years ago. One child shines shoes to help his family, his mother works on a building while his father lies dying from radiation poisoning. A little girl saved by a priest during the bombing, lives in the church but has fallen ill with radiation poisoning. The last child is likely the luckiest. His parents were killed but he still has two older brothers and an older sister. After five years of waiting, the sister whose leg was badly damaged when she had been trapped under rubble is about to be married. Takako's teaching friend is sterile, yet opens her heart and helps other women have babies. And an old family friend, blinded and deeply scarred is reduced to begging on the street and resides in a shack outside of town. His grandson lives in an orphanage, one among many such children.

The story could feel manipulative at times, especially when Takako intruded into private family moments as if only through her eyes could the audience witness the other's misery. While I loved Ifukube Akira's Godzilla scores, his music here was heavy handed as if attempting to elicit an emotional response and felt out of place. I recognized his ponderous marches immediately.
The anti-war theme while important and still timely was bluntly reinforced with each succeeding encounter.

Director Shindo judiciously left out the debates over why the war was started, how many innocents suffered under the Japanese war hammer, and whether the bomb(s) should have even been dropped. I will follow his lead in those matters. But undeniably by showing the cost to people's lives, and the long road to healing, he did give ample examples of why "war is hell" and "the greatest evil". Perhaps not for the Japanese, but for people around the world, this film may have been the first time they'd seen the damage done in Hiroshima not only to the city but to the people. Both Shindo and actress Otowa Nobuko were from Hiroshima, making this film more personal for themselves. As he did with some of the people Takako came across, he also revealed hope for the future, a resilient and generous people, and life beginning anew out of the ruins.

In 1952, the occupation of Japan had just ended and the people were still reeling and learning how to cope and heal from a national tragedy along with post-war self-reflections. A variety of emotions played out in Children of Hiroshima-grief, resentment, hope, love, fear, and anger. When Takako heard a single plane flying above, the memory of the fateful day was triggered, a day with all the normal things people do under a clear blue sky, until a new horror was unleashed upon them. War is hell and the greatest cost is always for the innocents who pay the price.

7/27/23

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The title is the best thing about this movie

When a sci-fi movie opens quoting Charles Dickens, you might think you're in for an intellectual thriller about gene manipulation. Intelligent writing is something this movie will never be accused of. Bearing the title Mutant Ghost Wargirl, you might also think you are in for some wacky fun or a thriller about a deadly phantom. Disappointingly the movie wasn't much fun or thrilling .

I'd like to blame the terrible subtitles as the reason I struggled to understand the story, but bad as they were, poor translations weren't the major problem. Ghost aka Wu Qing Qing is an agent for The International Security Union who goes undercover in The Korean Mystery Crime Organization in order to bring down an illegal gene experimentation lab called Medusa. She ends up being dosed with a gene injection fluid (GIF). An extraction team arrives to break her out, but the bad guys have a demigorgon which slows them down long enough for a bad mutant to kill most of the team and kidnap Ghost's friend. Mysteriously and off-screen, Qing Qing is rescued by a Chinese investigator named Zhou Yang in Korea. For cliched plot reasons, Qing Qing has developed amnesia. She also has super powers due to the GIF and every time the fluid activates further, an increased percentage appears on her arm to reflect the new abilities. Slowly her memories return prompting Qing Qing and Zhou Yang to seek a way to get the secret microchip she stole from the baddies back to her people. Lots of fights ensue with her powers further increasing.

I was quite confused when the movie indicated it was set in 2077 Korea because where Qing Qing woke up the signs were in Chinese and the street décor was decidedly Chinese. With the exception of a couple of "Korean" police officers and a few people in a strange nightclub with its own green haired Joker, everyone spoke Chinese. Later they mentioned it was Chinatown, but with Chinese agents operating in Korea and a giant holographic dragon circling about downtown Incheon it looked more like China had annexed the country. The Joseon styled robots in hanboks who served the Chinese Big Bad were troubling.

The story and editing were choppy with terrible pacing. Story logic must not have been a priority because there were huge lapses in narrative and logic. A romance was shoe-horned in, developing quicker than Ghost's super speed given the whole story took place over a day or two. The sets and lighting looked straight out of Blade Runner without the charm. Most of the acting was sub-par, with the villains being extra cringe worthy. Qing Qing's dominant power was the ability to teleport like Marvel's Nightcrawler into a puff of black smoke, followed only by her ability to spit up gallons of blood. Out of all the Chinese movies and dramas I've watched this movie wins the Buckets O' Blood Award for the most red goo expectorated. Many of the fight scenes relied on Matrix styled slow-mo action with kung fu posing. Or the fights were almost non-existent as Qing Qing and her black smoke moved so quickly you only saw the bodies falling. As often as weapons flew directly toward the camera I wondered if it was originally filmed for 3-D. Wasn't there anything good about this movie you may be asking? The CGI wasn't bad during several fights, but that's all I've got.

The writers for Mutant Ghost Wargirl could have given the movie more meaning by delving deeper into the ethical issues of gene manipulation. Even without confronting the morality of using people as guinea pigs, the messy story could have been cleaned up some if they had better explained key plot points and not make the viewer fill in the enormous narrative gaps like a road crew filling in potholes after an ice storm. What the movie really needed was for a scientist to have developed a Better Acting Injection Fluid and a Make the Story Coherent Injection Fluid, because as it stands the ridiculous title was the most fun thing about the whole movie.

7/15/23

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"How many deaths are enough?"

The Lost Bladesman followed part of Guan Yun's epic journey from being Chancellor Cao Cao's prisoner to making his way back to Liu Bei while taking down numerous generals and assassins. I can't judge the film on historical or legendary correctness, only on its entertainment value. The film looked amazing, had several creative and well-choreographed fight scenes featuring Donnie Yen and included Jiang Wen's nuanced portrayal of the inscrutable Cao Cao. Those things were more than enough to keep my attention throughout the film.

The film opens with Guan Yun being held prisoner and aiding his injured men. Cao Cao admires Guan's military prowess and seeks to convert him to his side. A man of immense integrity, compassion, and loyalty, Guan Yun largely refused. Guan's only goal was to return Liu Bei's concubine to him who was being held hostage and support his sworn brother. Cao Cao releases him, but his men call upon just about every swordsman in the land to execute Guan on sight. The movie really gets going at this point.

The story was not terribly complex, but a cursory glance at history did help explain a few things that were glossed over for an audience familiar with the tale and characters. I've heard complaints that Donnie Yen didn't look the part. Guan Yun's legend stated that he wielded a 49kg/108lb Green Dragon Crescent Blade, that's like swinging a large child holding an enormous broadsword in battle, not sure who they were going to find who would fit that description. I'm certainly not in the place to judge how a revered legendary character stood up to cultural expectations. I can only offer my opinion how the movie came across as entertainment in my neck of the woods. As the movie played out with numerous fight scenes, Yen did what he does best---fight. His Guan was compassionate and benevolent but he kept being drawn back into bloodshed as he reluctantly faced down the six generals ordered to kill him. Jiang Wen did what he does best---bring a complex character who was thinly written to life. His Cao Cao was the mesmerizing power behind the throne who tried to appear benevolent though many of his actions would say otherwise. Yen and Jiang had great chemistry in their politely adversarial relationship. A half-hearted love story thrown in did not enhance the narrative. The cinematography was nicely done as well as the sets and costumes giving a feeling of authenticity.

If you are looking for historical and mythical accuracy, this may not be the film for you. If you are looking for an entertaining martial arts film with some good performances and a little history added to the mix, this might be for you. I enjoyed The Lost Bladesman more for the fight choreography than for the story. There were several scenes including one in an alley with a reluctant Guan not wanting to kill anyone off the battlefield that were quite exciting. The film did a fairly good job of portraying the man who was a lamb in wolf's clothes and another man who would rather be wrong than be wronged. Both wanted peace, but took different paths to try and reach that unreachable destination. "How many deaths are enough?" History would tell us way too many.

6/16/23

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