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"Everything will be okay"
Parangal (Award) was the sequel to Jollibee’s Date from 2017. This was a nice continuation to the original short film/commercial about a boy having a Valentine’s date with his mother.Joey addresses the audience at his high school graduation, a day of awards for him. It is also a day he has been looking forward to so that he could pay tribute to his mother, the person who sacrificed to get him to this point. In Date, he followed his deceased father’s instructions to give his mother a nice Valentine’s Day. And while Joey was committed to stepping up to help his mother, his mother, as single mothers do, took on the role of mother and father to make sure her son graduated.
Parangal may have only been a creative commercial for Jollibee but it was also a reminder to remember the cost of parenthood when things get tough. Joey’s biggest gift was not an award, but the love of a mother dedicated to giving him a chance to succeed in the world. The mother was awarded a hard working son who also knew how to express gratitude. Gifts far greater than the price of a bucket of chicken.
22 December 2024
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Nine minutes of film sunshine
Hand Sign: I’ll Be Your Ears aka Boku ga Kimi no Mimi ni Naru was based on a true story which made this sweet short film all the more poignant. In many ways it was a music video as there were very few words spoken out loud by the characters. Set at a university, two students met and despite their differences found they had something in common.A new deaf female student hands out fliers trying to find someone to help her take notes during class but has no takers. One day a male student in her class sees her frustration at attempting to read the professor’s lips and steps up to help her. As the two spend more time together, Rika wants to learn more about the joy of music and Wataru wants to learn more about sign language.
I don’t know the name of the band playing but I loved that they signed the lyrics and of course this played into the budding love story. Rika and Wataru did a fine job portraying the steps in the relationship, from tentative greeting to eagerly wanting to know more about each other.
While the story was sweet it avoided being saccharine, especially knowing it was based on the experiences of two real life university students. Those little extra efforts at communication people often avoid can lead to friendship and even love. How many interesting relationships do we miss out on by not stepping out of our comfort zones? The real people who inspired this hopeful and sunny film discovered the rewards and were generous enough to share them with the rest of us.
20 December 2024
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Wong Fei Hung and his disciple Fei Fei are in Thailand to visit his friend Mr. Chu and also Fei Fei’s sister Yu Ying who owns a restaurant. On the way to Chu’s house, they meet Leo who has run afoul of the local martial arts school. Leo joins WFH on his travels. Mr. Chu has his own problems with Ku, a local Chinese businessman who is striving to take over the docks with his drug smuggling and human trafficking. Along for the ride is an evil kung fu master and his disciples who allied themselves with Ku.
What this film had going for it was the cast. Kwan was nearly 70 but still did many of his own fight moves. Sammo was at the beginning of his career and the guy who was the punchee as much as the puncher. He showed his stuntman skills by flipping and twirling when the receiver of fists and kicks. As the martial arts director, the choreography reflected his style-smash mouth, basher, hard hitting fists, and bodies hitting the ground even harder. The action kept the movie moving forward in a way the story wasn’t able to. Nora Miao had a high billing but very little to do except stand around occasionally and wring her hands.
The story wasn’t very original and had one of my least favorite tropes-the noble kung fu master who refuses to fight. WFH kept telling Sammo and Carter to be patient and tongue lashed them when they fought. Even when they were defending Fei Fei’s sister from being raped. Pretty sure WFH would have defended himself if the bad guys tried to sexually assault him. The popular master only allowed the good guys to fight after the bodies of friends and family started dropping.
Overall, The Skyhawk had its entertaining moments and several quality fights. It was fun to watch Kwan Tak Hing near the end of his career and Carter Wong and Sammo Hung at the beginning of theirs. Only for fans of old kung fu films and as usual rated on a curve.
18 December 2024
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Home is where the heart is?
Home is a short Thai film about a daughter who visits her family. The guideline says it’s about finding your true happiness, but I think the director may have overestimated my ability to discern that message out of this inscrutable short.A university student draws money out of an ATM and makes her way home. Her father is working in the forest where he grows much of their food. She asks if he needs help but he declines. Her mother is elated to see her and makes her favorite dishes which the daughter leaves untouched. Her parents become worried at her withdrawal but the daughter refuses to talk with them.
There are some films that are enigmatic and leave the viewer to draw their own conclusion. Others are simply a slice of life that leave more questions than answers. This short film did both. I could try and make up a profound meaning to the happenings in this film, but I don’t think it was that deep. It felt like a film about that time in life when a young person is seeking the answers to questions they aren’t sure how to ask just yet. And too wound up in their own feelings to understand how their silence can cause pain for caring parents. Or not. Whether Home is where the young woman's heart was, remained to be seen.
16 December 2024
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"If your mind is strong, no ghost can harm you"
Ta aka Grandfather is a Thai short film based on a supposedly true story. The film tells the story of a mother and her experiences with her daughter who can see ghosts and her father who could also see them when he was alive.Prae struggles to sleep by herself telling her mom that she sees a ghost under her bed. The mom checks but doesn’t see anything. Prae is insistent and her mother lets her sleep with her. When the situation repeats, Nim tells her daughter that there is nothing to fear from ghosts and relates a story from her own childhood. Nim’s father was a shaman of sorts who people called upon when they needed him to expel ghosts. One night he took Nim with him when he was asked to exorcise a ghost who had possessed a young girl. The experience changed Nim’s view on spirits forever.
Ta was an entertaining short ghost story with a twist at the end. Some Thai ghost stories are quite scary, this one had a moment or two but ended up being more about Nim, her father, and her daughter and their role in the village. I enjoyed this short spooky familial film, mainly because it focused on the family and wasn't horrifying.
16 December 2024
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A college student has a crush on a girl in school, but she is in love with someone else. Can he win her over with her favorite Jollibee burger?
What felt contrived to me was that he seemed to pull the burgers out of his, uh, pocket. He always seemed to have one at just the right time. The burgers had to be ice cold by the time she found them. Also, I kept wondering if she’d already eaten or was thinking, cold burgers, again? Am I being stalked?
Crush was entertaining for a short film/commercial, but didn’t wow me like their other commercials/short films I have seen. But it was good enough for a quick drive through meal.
16 December 2024
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Satisfying love triangle
Josh Kim filmed The Police Box after dropping out of film school. He’s gone on to make other films and shorts. The first short of his I watched was The Postcard. One of his guiding thoughts is “what if?” That question served him well in this seven-minute film, one of the more interesting romances I’ve seen recently.A young man and a young women sit at the window in a bar each evening. The young woman is fixated on a policeman who walks the beat. Outside the bar is a police box where he writes down notes. After she writes the policeman a note in the book, the young man at the bar takes matters into his own hands.
I have to say, when the film first ended, I was thinking, “What?” Then it dawned on me and I laughed. What a great ending to this short film. The acting was quite basic, but the twist Josh Kim threw in at the last made it all worthwhile. This is one romantic triangle that I can easily recommend.
11 December 2024
PS-After the film ends, he runs it again with the costs he incurred during filming.
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"Cheer up"
Ophelia is a short film by Celina Mae Medina. It was not only her thesis but also a result of “two years of personal crisis and research.” The film was dedicated to her friend Allen. While this film is important, if the discussion of suicide is a trigger you may want to avoid it. **Lia is a college student suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. Scattered throughout her bedroom are sticky notes with positive messages. Her parents try talking with her and at her. “Cheer up.” Always helpful advice when a loved one is having a mental health crisis. They blame her girlfriend and each other. Lia wants to see a psychiatrist, feeling she can no longer go on. Her parents are convinced the problem is spiritual and resist sending her to a psychiatrist, using alternative treatments.
The film did not glorify suicide nor ridicule anyone needing mental health help. Lia’s family was financially well off. Her parents loved her even if they were clueless. But clinical depression and suicidal thoughts don’t care about any of that. Willing them away or praying them away is like trying to put out a four-alarm fire with an eye dropper of water. Director Medina made her short film available on YouTube during the pandemic to start conversations and to help people who are struggling to not feel so isolated. Ophelia showed how devastating and destructive it could be to hear platitudes from people who did not or could not understand the depth of her anguish/and were in denial about how deeply it ran. The running time for Ophelia may have been short but this gut punch of a film will be remembered much longer.
10 December 2024
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Spoilery Trigger Warning Below
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Suicide
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Real love with a side of extra rice
How to review a three-minute short film? Keep it even shorter! Was The Vow a short film or a long commercial? Really does not matter. It was filmed with a gauzy romantic effect as a man remembered the first time he met “The One." The Vow related a story of true love and real devotion revolving around a Jollibee’s fast-food restaurant.If you have three minutes to spare and want to hear a beautiful wedding vow with a meaningful twist, this film is worth it. I don’t know if Jollibee’s two-piece spicy chicken with extra rice and upgraded pineapple juice is any good or not but they certainly made a satisfying commercial. Everyone should be so lucky to have a person as devoted and selfless in their life as the narrator.
10 December 2024
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"A man with a heretical style can live honorably"
Destiny’s Son aka Kiru was a lovely, if nihilistic, style over substance tale of a samurai’s journey of loss. Director Misumi Kenji crafted a spare film clocking in at 70 minutes based on story by author Kyoshiro Nemuri. I suspect people who have read the book would be able to fill in the narrative gaps in the film.Takakura Shingo was given permission to take a three-year walkabout by his low ranking samurai father. When gentle Shingo returns everyone is surprised that he has developed incredible sword skills. This sets off a chain of events that leads to murder and Shingo taking to the road, this time for good. Skilled, loyal, and good-hearted, Shingo learns more about his background and the treachery of “honorable” samurai.
Death was a main character in this drama as it lurked behind every character. Betrayal and Deception were strong supporting characters as Shingo dealt with ambushes repeatedly. The young samurai vowed to never marry as he was unable to save the three women in his life nor were his skills successful in protecting his father figures. Shingo’s theme song could have been “Alone Again, Naturally.”
Most of the sword fights were of the swipe and fall variety. There was one notable exception. During a duel an opponent made like a banana and split vertically as his corpse fell to the ground. Shingo’s innovative style was considered heretical which I found amusing as if there was a sacred way to murder people.
Misumi created a very stylish film with a variety of framing and filming techniques. He pared the story down to the bare minimum, hitting the highlights in Shingo’s sad life. Ever at the mercy of merciless people and a merciless system, Shingo’s invincible sword skills could not protect his heart.
7 December 2024
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"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen"
Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui returned for this sequel to The Heroic Trio from the same year. While The Heroic Trio was campy and fun, Executioners was dark with an erratic script and zero fun.Wonder Woman aka Tung (Anita Mui) is now married with a daughter. Her husband, Commissioner Lau, is rarely home as he is dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear strike that has left the people without clean water for several years. An entrepreneur named Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong) has figured out how to clean the radiation out of the water and sells small shipments at premium prices. Invisible Girl* aka Sandy Ching (Michelle Yeoh) turned over a new leaf after the first movie and is helping transport medical supplies. Thief Catcher Chat (Maggie Cheung) is still doing whatever she can to make a buck. Religious leader Chung Hon and a military colonel are both in cahoots with Mr. Kim. The president is vulnerable as well as the government in general with Kim and the Colonel both gunning to take over the country. Somehow the Heroic Trio must find a way to save themselves and the people from the evil men’s machinations.
The budget must have been miniscule for this film. In order to make the cheap sets appear post-apocalyptic they turned down the lights and turned up the fog machine. The strength of the first film was the relationship between the three women. Here, they were rarely together. The main exception being a gratuitous bubble bath scene at the beginning of the film as they played a game of grab and tickle. If there was a Sapphic subplot it might have made more sense but here it seemed to be designed to titillate 15-year-old boys. There weren’t many action scenes and most weren’t memorable. The plot seemed to be focused on the women fighting in skirts or short shorts and having as many people killed as possible. If they had ever planned a third film those characters eliminated should have counted themselves lucky.
It is no secret that I love the beautiful and talented Michelle Yeoh and will watch anything she is in. I also adore Maggie Cheung. The three women combined could not save this movie, actually if they’d had scenes together it might have helped. Anthony Wong as the villain was hampered by having to wear heavily scarred facial prosthetics and a mask on top of that. Kaneshiro Takeshi’s religious leader seemed to be a prominent role until he lost his head early on. Lau Ching Wan’s character had possibilities but ended up all wet. One of the characters that dragged this movie down considerably for me was the daughter. She was always getting lost or making a scene or diving into danger. It didn’t help that the dubbed voice was equally annoying as the character.
Executioners had a wealth of talent and wasted all of it on a dreary, convoluted story. When the three women were together fighting it was exciting. The trouble was the director forgot that key piece and squandered his cast and my time.
5 December 2024
Trigger warning: Rats and drinking of rat’s blood
* In the first film, Michelle Yeoh’s character wore an invisible cloak, but not in this film.
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"Run towards the angry sea"
Boat People aka Run Towards the Angry Sea dealt with the brutal years directly following the end of the US/Vietnam War when Ho Chi Min and his party reunified Vietnam. This was the third film Ann Hui directed focusing on Vietnam resulting from stories she had heard while making the previous two. This film told the story of a Japanese reporter and the impoverished children he befriended.Akutagawa Shiomi had reported favorably on Ho Chi Min’s government previously so he was invited three years later to see the country’s progress. His visit to a New Economic Zone is highlighted by happy children singing and greeting him. Not long afterwards he sees people being forcefully removed from their homes. Troops beat first and ask questions later when he photographs horrific scenes. He follows a girl who scooped up noodles from the street and meets her family who are fearful of him. The oldest son tells him he can photograph them on the street for a price. As Akutagawa explores the city and NEZs without his escorts he comes to find that his initial introduction had been a show and that numerous people were willing to risk anything to flee their fates.
I’m old enough to remember the humanitarian crisis of the Boat People when nearly 300,000 people died at sea. This film did not focus on the boat people but rather the circumstances that drove people to make such a dire decision. The New Economic Zones were home to “bad elements” which could simply mean having been a capitalist or having contact with western countries or having wrong ideas by virtue of living in the south. Clearing land mines or farming in remote, inhospitable conditions was not a future many people had envisioned.
George Lam played reporter Akutagawa. He gave a strong performance as a left leaning reporter whose eyes were gradually opened to the horrors around him. A young Andy Lau played a former translator sentenced to a NEZ who was determined to leave the country before being blown up by a land mine. Newcomer Season Ma was believable as Cam Nuong who did what she needed to do to help her family and also had dreams of her own.
The biggest drawback for me was the lack of a language barrier. For the most part, everyone spoke Cantonese. And while there was a segment of the society that was ethnic Chinese, the Hao, who suffered greatly under the new regime, that didn’t seem to be the case here. Lam and his buddy Inoue’s Japanese didn’t sound very authentic, but I’m hardly an expert. I also had a hard time watching Akutagawa use his camera in the pouring rain. Not sure his camera would have survived the punishment he put it through.
While Ann Hui attempted to be apolitical, this time in Vietnam’s history could easily have been a criticism of any totalitarian regime that shut down free thinking and punished those who were seen as suspicious or disloyal. The terrible conditions left from decades at war were also visible. Land mines and unexploded ordinances took their toll as much as the unsympathetic party in control. The film was not an indictment on Vietnam in our present but on a specific time in its turbulent history and the price some people paid for not being on the winning side.
Boat People won numerous Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. The transformation of Akutagawa as he went from the idealized version of events to the harsh reality was poignant. The asexual friendship that developed between him and Cam Nuong which went from caution and suspicion to acceptance and compassion also hit the right notes. Without any spoilers, Boat People was tragic and heartbreaking on many levels yet also showed the determination and resiliency of the human spirit.
28 November 2024
Triggers: Deaths from many different graphic sources. Sexual content was alluded to but not shown.
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Love in the time of Covid
I Want Us to Be Together was a sweet age gap romance starring Qin Lan and Fan Cheng Cheng. Cupid, in this instance, turned out to be Covid. When many people were figuring out they couldn’t live together anymore after quarantining in the early days of the novel virus, others found love.Yu Ge is going home for the New Year celebration to be with her parents and extended family. She says her parents are cool with her being single, but other relatives are more bothersome about it. Yu Ge auditions several men to play her boyfriend and ends up with Lin Bu Mian, a younger man who works at the same restaurant. Lin is nine years younger than her but beggars can’t be choosers. Her parents are overjoyed with the handsome young man and cannot contain their excitement. As the family prepares to travel to the gathering, they are told no one can leave. Everyone is going to learn a lot more about each other in the small apartment.
Qin Lan is a delightful actress who the very next year would have another age gap romance in the drama The Rational Life with Dylan Wang that was quite entertaining. In this short film the age gap was supposed to be nine years while in real life it was closer to twenty.
IWUtBT brought back memories of the early days of the pandemic. No one really knew how to deal with Covid or the best way to treat it or prevent it. Scary times with masks and quarantining. With all the fear and deaths the invisible enemy caused it was nice that something good came out of those dark times, even if it was a fictional romance.
19 November 2024
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This story was on thin ice
Donnie Yen took a dramatic turn without the benefit of his martial arts skills in Comeback Home aka Polar Rescue. This family thriller about a lost child set in a beautiful snowy wilderness was marred by poor storytelling.A De and his family are on their last day of vacation having a blast playing in the snow at a resort. He has promised his son a trip to Lake Tian to see the monster living there. Finding the road closed due to inclement weather they take an alternate route where their car ends up stuck in a snowy pothole. A De and his wife manage to dislodge the car but their son Lele throws a fit and nearly gets everyone injured when another car comes up the road. When the eight-year-old’s temper tantrum escalates, A De leaves him there to teach him a lesson while he drives his wife and daughter to a nearby store. When A De returns, his son is nowhere to be seen.
I was looking forward to watching Yen in a non-martial arts film and he did fine here as the worried and hotheaded father. The winter scenery was gorgeous. The music while melodramatic fit the film. Where Polar Rescue slipped and fell was in the writing. A De’s initial response seemed utterly unbelievable for a caring father. At times the search and rescue teams were portrayed with all the propaganda they could fit in. At other times they were incompetent, unprofessional, and petty. If only perfect people were worthy of rescue, no one would ever be rescued. I found most of the characters’ actions baffling and at times infuriating.
Comeback Home had interesting moments and many that strained credulity. If you are a fan of Donnie Yen or family dramas where a member is in danger you might want to give this a try. Or if you are simply in need of a film with snow continuously falling. If you’ve ever known someone who has worked search and rescue or you need your thrillers to make a modicum of sense, you’ll want to avoid this one.
19 November 2024
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The two female day clerks man the desk dutifully standing as guests enter the hotel and leave. One talks constantly about horror movies she’s seen as the other passively listens. Kai Lin, the quiet maid, follows her daily routine cleaning the rooms and general areas. The boss introduces Da Guan who will be handling the desk at night and tells him to familiarize himself with the hotel. When Da Guan is wandering around he notices Kai Lin doing one of her routines that is not quite normal.
The Wish Hotel is quite busy at lunch time when customers rent rooms for “romantic” meetings. The meetings keep Kai Lin busy and also reveal her proclivities to Da Guan. The maid doesn’t like change, but also doesn’t like her life. Only the “travels” of the guests perk her interest as do her actions for Da Guan.
Nothing overtly exciting happens in Wish Hotel, yet short films often reveal subtle rhythms and changes in the lives of those peered at. The daily routines run from the mundane to slightly out of the normal range, yet judgements aren’t made on the workers who cater to the customers who use the hotel for rest and recreation.
11 November 2024
Trigger Warnings: References to sexual activity but nothing shown.
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