The Butterfly

"When it rains, I want to see you even more"

Yunbogi’s Diary was released in 1965, the year relations between South Korea and Japan were normalized. This boy’s diary was also, if not the first, one of the first Korean books published in Japan after the normalization. Though officially things had been worked out there were still unresolved feelings and issues between the two countries. Yubogi’s story was not only his own, but represented the stories of thousands of impoverished Korean children at the time.

Yunbogi is a ten-year-old boy taking care of three younger siblings. After his mother left them with their ailing father, it fell upon this child to earn enough money to feed them. His sister, Sun, also worked selling gum on the streets with him. Yunbogi goes on to work various jobs---goat herding, shoe shining, anything to bring in money. Yet still the tiny family is starving.

Director Oshima Nagisa used stills of Korean children set to music with voice overs by children and himself. He took the pictures while doing research for the short film. Ostensibly he hoped to coax guilt from the Japanese regarding their destructive occupation and the long-term consequences for the people. He also hoped to evoke compassion for the Korean people most adversely affected…the children. Japanese policies had gutted the country leaving the citizens in a deadly precarious position after WWII and then exasperated by the Korean War. Japan’s economy had turned for the better by 1960, but South Korea was still struggling. Oshima controversially highlighted the disparity by showing images of children and conveying the damning words of a 10-year-old boy desperately working to keep his siblings alive. Yunbogi’s spirit was strong, condensing into a powerful resiliency as he was knocked down again and again. Despite that resiliency, he was also a child who was willing to starve to death if it meant his mother would return home.

“Chili peppers when boiled down become even hotter. Barley dies and sprouts anew.”

4 May 2025

Read More

"Life has no script"

I’m Married…But starred two of my favorite Taiwanese actors, Jasper Liu and Ko Chia Yen. No one does realistic marriages like Taiwanese dramas, but somehow this one didn’t completely blow me away.

Lin I Ling and Zeng Xue You have been married almost four years and are still living with his parents. Zeng is fine with the set-up, he has two women to take care of him leaving him plenty of time to build his Lego town after work. Lin is not nearly as enamored with the set-up which causes a lack of privacy and autonomy. Zeng’s first words tend to be, “My mom said…” Not what a wife wants to hear every time they discuss an issue. Lin doesn’t want children while Zeng does. At least once a week Lin contemplates divorce. When she puts a soul mate app on her phone due to a client’s request, it changes the trajectory of her relationship.

These two characters seemed ill matched. Zeng was passive and overly kind to everyone. Lin was blunt and easy to anger. I don’t know what age the characters were supposed to be but the actors were both pushing 40. If they hadn’t been able to save enough money by that age, especially living at his mom’s for free, it’s doubtful they would ever put enough cash together for their own “house.” Another sticking point being that Zeng’s mom had a tendency to reallocate their savings. Disagreements over whether to have children can doom a marriage. Both flirted with other people. For me, this drama would have benefited from showing what inspired them to marry in the first place.

The special effects were telling. The father-in-law and other older men were often portrayed as houseplants, completely invisible to the rest of the family. When Zeng heard difficult news, his brain funnily enough displayed the blue circle of death with a “stop function” indicator. Lin’s talking uterus popped up out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly.

Six episodes into the drama I was ready to divorce Zeng because as nice as he was, no wife wants to be second to another woman, even her mother-in-law. I kept waiting for Zeng to find his useless cajónes. While he did have some character growth, that growth never displayed itself by disagreeing with his mother. His mother may not have been evil, but she was manipulative. Newly married couples need to learn to depend on each other and make decisions for themselves.

I enjoyed this short drama primarily for the actors’ performances. Jasper Liu stretched and displayed more emotional nuance than I’m used to from him. I found many of the couple’s decisions mind boggling though many real life couples fall into the same pits they did every day. As much as I love Jasper Liu’s beautiful smile, I might have been tempted to smother him in his sleep the ten thousandth time I heard, “My mom said…”




29 April 2025
Slightly spoilery comments below
*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****
The minute “Rain” showed up, the Piña Colada song (Escape) sprang into my brain.
“If you like piña coladas
And gettin' caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga
If you have half a brain
If you like makin' love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for
Write to me and escape”


Infertility was not treated the same for men as women. Lin was subjected to every woman in the family giving her advice, forcing vile potions on her to drink, they had priests chant over, and even moved the bed to a more favorable (public) feng shui place in the house. When it turned out Zeng was the one who was infertile, everyone clammed up and left. Speaking of which, Lin’s uterus also shut up, and baby making was never brought up again. And on that subject, Lin thought about divorce incessantly and then suddenly decided to have a baby. Baby’s do not heal marriages, they exasperate current problems and reveal new ones.

I will admit, a man buying menstrual pads for a woman he is dating would definitely give him a star in the win column. I’m not sure that would be enough for this couple to stay together, maybe a place of their own and a good couple’s therapist. These two needed to be able to make their own decisions, one of which should have been to purchase a CPAP machine for beautiful Zeng to tame his snoring.

Read More

Ajummas Assemble!

Could there be anything more fearsome than three ajummas uniting for vengeance? Maybe, but for the self-absorbed and abusive men that had run afoul of our lovely ladies and one teen boy, the Avengers Social Club would strike fear into their hearts before the drama was over.

Through a series of events connected to the local school, Kim Jeong Hye collects two other women in need of vengeance along with herself. The women agree to not physically hurt anyone or do anything (too) illegal. Jeong Hye’s husband is determined to become his father’s heir and brings home his 19-year-old illegitimate son, Lee Su Gyeom, to sweeten the deal. After all, mere girls can’t be in line for running a company. Gyeom isn’t thrilled with the father and mother who abandoned him leaving him to be raised by grandparents. It’s not long before Gyeom joins the Avengers group. Hong Do Hui is at the mercy of a wealthy con artist who wants to shake her down for money when the annoying woman’s bully of a son is “injured” after Do Hui’s son hits him. Lee Mi Suk’s husband has become physically and verbally abusive. He is running for school superintendent and is in bed with Byeong Su and the perverted principal Hong Sang Man. The ladies and Gyeom may be up against an abuser, the school system, the class system, and two major corporations, but they are about to learn just how strong they are.

ASC was a fun wish fulfillment drama. If you live long enough, you’ll be gleefully screwed over by someone and oh how satisfying it would be to have vengeance. As much as I love a good revenge story, ASC was far more about how the women grew as individuals and as friends. All three needed to find their confidence and courage to be their best selves. They also found that three is better than two, and four is better than three. Just like a pack of lionesses (+1 cub) they discovered strength in numbers. The three actresses were all quite good, especially, Ra Mi Ran, as ASC’s resident Unnie.

“Why are they doing this to us?” Rarely has there ever been a group of men less self-aware and more self-absorbed. The women were seen as either property, tools, or impediments. They would learn that it’s very dangerous to underestimate women. Even when it looks like all they do is wear pretty clothes and drink tea.

The biggest drawback to the drama for me was the length of the episodes. Several episodes in the middle could have been shorter with the conflicts and resolutions integrated into one episode instead of two, and the last episode almost felt like a long epilogue due to numerous flashback recaps.

What I learned from ASC:

Don’t anger the woman who cooks your food.
Friends teach friends to cuss and give them a safe place to let loose
Shin kicks are vile but in certain circumstances are well deserved
Korea has children’s books about rabbits who poo on other animals
Do not call women Stodgy Extra Ajummas (especially if any of them are going to cook your food)
The writers could not do math, a 17-year age gap is not small
Mangas can be research material for revenge
Despite the enormous earrings, the drama was set in 2017, not 1985
Never underestimate a woman in a chicken fight!
Some families are made, not born
And most importantly--Sometimes you can feel stronger just knowing that you’re not alone.

24 April 2025

Read More

"Now is now"

Perfect Days was a beautiful meditation on life. Hirayama had more in common with the Buddhist monk he greeted than any of the other characters. Every day was thoughtfully prepared and acted out, most often with a gentle smile and nod of gratefulness.

Hirayama faces each task of his day with a thorough meticulousness, whether it is caring for his plants, cleaning the toilets for his job, or bathing in the bath house. Every morning he greets the day with a smile of gratitude. Instead of chants, he listens to an outstanding soundtrack of bluesy hits from the 70s and 80s on his cassette tapes. He’s no hipster and thinks Spotify is a brick and mortar store. That’s not a knock, the people intrigued by his music have no idea how to load an audio cassette either. He rarely speaks as if he’d taken a vow of silence. Only when necessary does he converse. Every night he reads a few pages from a book before dreaming in black and white as his mind frames the day in light and shadow.

Yakusho Koji won Best Actor for his role in this film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. He is certainly one of the best actors in the world. He conveyed a wealth of emotions with few words as Hirayama practiced his contemplative life. Hirayama’s world wasn’t perfect. Different people bolted into it and jostled him about. Was he running from a past or simply finding a way to heal the wounds from it? Whatever the reasons for his solitude, he seemed at peace, refusing to give into anxiety. “Now is now.” Spoken like a zen master. When he scrubbed toilets he performed the task like a soulful meditation. He communed with the trees and called them friends, delighting in the leaves scattering the sunlight about. An old film camera helped him capture poetic moments.

If you are looking for a film with a beginning, middle, and end, this is not it. This was more like a Buddhist walking meditation with each step intentionally caressing the earth and each breath deeply felt. Every moment was a gift of wonder. Hirayama’s days may not have always been perfect but they were special.

“Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, yeah”
-Nina Simone

22 April 2025

Trigger warning: Bare old man butts in a bath house.

Read More

"The Pig and the Pearl"

The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine was one of Gosho Heinosuke’s earliest films. The title of the play for which the main character was writing was called “The Pig and the Pearl.” Pretty much summed up the married couple in this story.

Shinsaku is walking on a country road and comes across a man painting a landscape. Because the area is quiet, he thinks it would be a great place to live and write. The “famous” writer asks repeated questions of the painter who becomes perturbed at the interruptions, and down right angry when Shinsaku disparages his artwork. The two end up in a childish fight broken up by a pretty woman from the village. Shinsaku rents a house for himself and his young family soon thereafter. To his chagrin, he finds that even quaint towns can be noisy at times.

Immature Shinsaku called his wife, a very young Tanaka Kinuyo, an “idiot” several times, berating her for not being quiet enough or the children not being quiet enough. When he asked, “Why did you have to have a baby?” I loved her reply, “You were responsible, too!” From there Shinsaku scolds her for backtalking him. He was malleable when people flattered him, but unable to use kind language with his wife. Kinuyo constantly nagged him to write so that they could pay their bills instead of him playing mahjong with the boys or hanging out with the neighbors. When he finally attempted to write, annoying sounds sent him into a tizzy. Perhaps all this was supposed to be a marital comedy, but I just found him ever grating and not remotely funny.

As this was Gosho’s first “talkie” he must have felt liberated being able to use sound. Scenes were filled with long minutes of people singing or playing in a band. An airplane was heard and shown which much like the music did little to move the story along. The movie felt less like a cohesive story and more like an experiment with songs and running gags. One song called, “Speed up!” at least gave Shinsaku a modicum of writer’s inspiration. It was also the mantra I repeated as the minutes dragged by.

21 April 2025

Read More

"Got backup?"

Chongqing Hot Pot was a strange amalgamation of buddies flick and thriller where most of the turning points relied heavily on coincidence and luck. Clocking in around 90 minutes, it felt much longer.

Three childhood buddies, Four-Eyes, Xu Dong, and Liu Bo are trying to peddle their failed hot pot restaurant that lies underground in an abandoned bomb shelter. Gambler Liu Bo owes a huge sum of money to the loan shark Seven. He’s hoping the sale of the restaurant will help him pay off the ruthless businessman. A buyer is willing to put some money down on the hot pot spot if they expand it. In the process of expansion, they accidentally knock a hole in the building above which coincidentally happens to be a vault in a bank. To steal or not to steal? And how to repair the floor so that no one notices it? They gain help from an old school friend who coincidentally works in the bank and is unhappy with her co-workers and had a crush on Liu Bo in middle school. Their efforts are thwarted when coincidentally a crew of deadly thieves picks that bank to rob on the day their plan is to go down.

Despite all the beatings Chen Kun’s Liu Bo took at the hands of the loan shark gang and the robbers, I found my mind wandering during much of the film. Aside from Liu Bo, the other friends were underdeveloped and not very compelling. It didn’t help that the buddies were supposed to be in their mid-twenties and the men’s ages IRL ran from 35-40. The story depended heavily on fate stepping in over and over again which detracted from the urgency and real threat to the characters.

Chongqing Hot Pot had an interesting premise as the down on their luck friends had to decide if they wanted to continue to be losers or become hunted criminals. Turns out the three didn’t have to undergo any character development as fateful coincidence lent them a hand in their decision and future.

21 April 2025

Read More

"I may be the last friend you'll make in this life"

Director Park Hoon Jung’s The Childe played out like a live action version of a Looney Tune’s chase scene, albeit with more realistic gore and blood. Some place buried under the bodies might have been a cautionary tale about the haves and have nots, but you’d have to dig pretty deep.

Marco fights in illegal boxing matches in the Philippines. His Filipino mother is sick and needs an expensive operation leading Marco to hunt for his Korean father. One of many children abandoned after their Korean fathers went home, Marco’s search has done nothing but cost him money he doesn’t have. One day out of the blue, a Korean lawyer appears with all the papers Marco will need to travel to Korea. His wealthy father is ill and he must go there now. Dear papa has been searching for him! Yeah, because life is just that fair. On the flight over, a strange man offers his friendship and warns him that all is not as it seems. Oh, if only Marco knew the half of it. The young boxer is traded off from one killer to the next until a final battle that will sort out the intricacies of the dysfunctional family and killers.

The Childe was entertaining but hardly suspenseful. The story and character development were painfully thin propped up by numerous car chases on empty highways and streets and foot chases that led to nowhere. Marco seemed to have a homing beacon that caused him to run straight into the arms or car of the enemy. In a country with strict gun laws, everyone seemed to have one, including a school child. There was the overt gore showing that chaebols can get away with literally murder and killers can walk down the street armed with no one noticing. Most of the humor came at Kim Seon Ho’s Nobleman’s expense. A proud “professional”, he suffered numerous humiliations at the hand of the man he’d named a “friend”.

The Childe was superficially entertaining in a maladjusted world with a family no sane person would want to be a member of and a professional killer that didn’t seem quite sane. Marco found that a nebulous brotherhood might be more valuable to him than being a wealthy half-brother.

20 April 2025

Read More

"Early worms get eaten first"

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies showed how the vultures come out when an older relative is near the end of their lifespan. For the most part the writers made the distasteful somewhat palatable and at least one character had a change of heart.

M’s friend/cousin Mui makes her living off of becoming the #1 of dying patients, when she’s not hosting her Only Fans site. When M discovers his grandmother has terminal cancer he decides to become her #1 and begins to take care of her. Other family members also have their eyes on the old woman’s house, the only thing of value she owns.

Taew Usha Seamkhum as the grandmother gave a wonderfully nuanced performance as the woman who accepted life and people as they were. Grandmother was aware that when people visited, it was because they wanted something. She also saw the potential in her ne’er do well grandson and had pity on her deadbeat son. Even though she knew M's motivation for being with her, she could at least take pleasure in having someone to eat and play cards with and go to chemo with. Some of the supporting actors were stronger than others.

I’ve been around long enough to see the relatives crawl out of the woodwork in order to try and get what they can from a dying person. In real life, they rarely learn any meaningful lessons from a beloved elder, their eyes only on the financial prize. For most of the film the only people I felt any sympathy toward were Grandmother and Sew, her daughter. It was, however, disappointing that Grandmother failed to learn the lesson she suffered from as a daughter when her parents died.

While this film had a patented redemption arc, and I love a redemption story more than any other kind, it didn’t move me as much as I would have hoped. Perhaps, it was a more realistic portrayal of the selfish children and grandson but I spent much of the film being irritated with their myopic vision. It is the nature of children to be involved in their own lives and neglect older members of the family, but when the clock was ticking down on the matriarch’s life, I found their behavior inexcusable. The elderly may not want visitors who “are counting the minutes” before they can leave, but they also crave those precious minutes with beloved children and grandchildren when their own minutes are slipping away.

13 April 2025

Read More

"Some lies come true"

Rikuoh told the story of a struggling tabi maker whose company had been in business for 100 years. As other tabi factories succumbed to the fading need for the traditional white socks, Miyazawa Koichi would risk nearly everything to guide his family’s company in a new direction in order to keep it afloat and relevant in a changing and challenging market.

Miyazawa Koichi fears his family’s tabi factory will not last another decade. When a young bank officer tells him to expand into something different, he chooses to make running shoes patterned after the ancient style socks. The runner that inspired him is Mogi Hiroto who was injured from his poor form and would benefit from shoes that guide his foot into a more proper stride. From there, Miyazawa will have to convince family, friends, workers, bankers, and suppliers in his dream. Miyazawa must rely on his super strengths of tenacity and resiliency for his company to survive.

Rikuoh was completely predictable in every way. It benefited from the veteran actor, Yakusho Koji, to keep the cheesier moments grounded in reality. While there were no surprises, there didn’t need to be. This was pure comfort viewing. There were moments of conflict and setbacks, but I never doubted for a moment that Team Dragonfly would be okay and that allowed me to sit back and watch as the scrappy seamstresses and engineers made their magic happen.

If you need your business dramas to make logical sense, this may not be the drama for you. There were obvious lapses in the business narrative that the viewer is expected to overlook or fill in the gaps. Some were larger than others. (What business doesn’t carry insurance?) The women were secondary, mainly represented by the seamstresses. The banks and multiple businesses contacted were completely void of women. Miyazawa’s wife and daughter appeared to be for décor, or for the wife to say in any given situation, “That’s nice, dear.”

Overall, the drama kept my attention with its languid interlaced approach to storytelling splitting time between the scrappy Team Dragonfly, Mogi’s journey and running team, and the shoe competition. Everyone learned valuable life lessons, even a few of those characters who were originally antagonists. On the race track or in the factory, there were no shortages of inspirational speeches and tearful cheering. Miyazawa and Team Dragonfly helped their company overcome numerous obstacles and setbacks. Just like the determined runner Mogi, they all had to repeatedly get back up and dust themselves off, hug it out and start over as many times as were necessary.

12 April 2025

Read More

"Remember, I did try to be polite"

Secret of Chinese Kung Fu was highly “influenced” by Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss. The only problem with that was The Big Boss was a terrible story saved only by the best kung fu fighter to ever grace the silver screen. I watched this film because I’m a fan of Lo Lieh, but he was asking a lot of me to sit through this one. Definitely not the worst I’ve ever seen but completely forgettable.

Sisters Wai Wai and Yee Yee save Chang Chi who is unconscious on a piece of driftwood near the shore. They nurse him back to health and even find him a job at the local cannery. Kang Ho returns to town now wealthy and a nefarious criminal. He has his sights set on Yee Yee who has her sights set on her houseguest who frequently practices his kung fu shirtless at home. Kang is determined to own the cannery and recruits fighters from Thailand and Japan. A mysterious stranger shows up in town and helps Kang’s henchmen earning him a job with the suave gangster. It will be up to Chang Chi to protect the sisters and workers from Kang and his thugs.

Szema Lung played the hero. He was pretty to look at and had more than adequate martial arts skills, but he was deadly dull in this role. Lung Fei, without his trademark mustache, made an appearance as a karate expert from Japan. Blacky Ko and Jack Long filled in for the Thai fighters. Lo Lieh was, of course, the Big Bad. Even after leaving Shaw Brothers and going to make movies in Taiwan he was still stuck as the baddie. As always, he could be counted on to give an interesting performance.

The fights were average for a kung fu flick. Lung Fei choreographed fights that may have been repetitive, but were reasonably fast for 1977. The “Thai” fighters showed off high kicks instead of the more often used elbows and knees in Muay Thai. Unless it was to represent that Kang was an international drug smuggler, I have no idea why they tried to pass off Japanese and Thai fighters.

Secret of Chinese Kung Fu wasn’t terrible for a 1970’s low budget kung fu movie, but it wasn’t good either. Only for fans of the genre.

7 March 2025
Warning---The only copy I could find was dubbed in English and cropped on the sides

Read More

"I will devour them for you"

Every once in a while, I need a wish fulfillment drama like Kurosagi aka The Black Swindler. Where much like in Leverage, capable people punish and stop swindlers and criminals who often evade prosecution. Kurosaki Koshiro had a strong need for revenge after the deaths of his family members due to a swindler and worked with a powerful man who may or may not have been his enemy to accomplish his goals.

Kurosaki goes by many alias all beginning with Kuro. He is a Black Swindler who devours White Swindlers who prey on the vulnerable and fleece them of their money. He shares his take with Katsuragi, a sweet shop owner and launderer of illicit money. Katsuragi sells Kuro information on swindlers who are drawing the wrong kind of attention. In going after one white swindler, he meets a man much like his father who has lost everything. The man’s daughter, Tsurara, is vehemently against Kuro helping her dad. She is studying to become a lawyer so that one day she can be a prosecutor. Another fly in Kuro’s anointment is detective Kashina, who much like Tsurara is overly enthusiastic, judgmental, and living in a black and white world. Each time Kuro thinks he’s taken down the person who helped destroy his father, he finds a deeper level of swindling deceit.

I like to visit a world where there is someone who gives criminals their comeuppance. Not everyone in The Black Swindler felt the same way. Tsurara and Kashina seemed far more offended by Kuro who brought down swindlers than the actual swindlers themselves. Kashina who banged on about the need for law-and-order beat Kuro just for the heck of it at one time. Pretty sure assault on a citizen was a crime. Then he followed Kuro to Shanghai to prevent him from taking down a Big Bad and somehow managed to find Kuro on a remote street in a city of 25 million people. I have trouble finding my husband when we get separated in the grocery store! Also guessing China would frown on a foreign officer doing business clandestinely on their soil. Kashina and Tusrara with their shouting and breathless earnestness came close to spoiling my viewing experience. What made up for them were the more well written characters. Hirano Sho gave Kuro the emotional depth this single-minded character needed. Miura Tomokazu as the world weary and creative dessert chef Katsuragi was the perfect reluctant father figure and foe. I enjoyed every time Yamamoto Koji came on screen as the enigmatic and humorous Shiraishi. Nakamura Yuri’s character didn’t have much depth as Katsuragi’s assistant, but was skilled enough to take down the bad guys quietly and efficiently.

There were stand alone cases Kuro faced and those that tied back to the swindlers he was hunting. The cases were interesting and Kuro always got his man, even when he was a woman. The solutions may have been over simplified but I didn’t care, it was nice to see the schemers give Kuro a good meal as he devoured them and their ill-gotten gains.

8 January 2025

Read More

The rest is silence

You know to brace yourself for the pain when Feng Xiao Gang took on Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy in The Banquet. Vengeance, desire, madness, and treachery were never far away in this opulent film inspired by Hamlet.

In a tale as old as time, a king is murdered by his brother who then steals his throne and empress. The Crown Prince lives in a bamboo forest with a theater group pining for his lost love who married his father. When the news arrives that his father is dead, killed by a “scorpion sting,” CP Wu Luan heads for the capital. Empress Wan loves Wu but also enjoys the perks and power of being an empress and is disappointed that Wu seems to have little interest in ruling the country. When Emperor Li declares a banquet, everyone in attendance is looking to murder someone else. Family gatherings can be a bear.

The role of Empress Wan was originally to go to Gong Li but due to scheduling conflicts was taken over by Zhang Zi Yi. In the book, the queen was Hamlet’s mother, but here, the young empress had been his lover. I would love to have seen what Gong Li would have brought to the role but ZZY availed herself well as the conflicted, scheming empress. Ge You brought out the fratricidal emperor’s lethal and sexy sides. Daniel Wu’s crown prince varied from brooding to whiny. That’s not a slam, Hamlet was one of the first emo “heroes.” Zhao Xun made the most of this version of Ophelia though Qing never went completely mad. Despite a strong cast, the writing let them down. By the end of the film, I wasn’t heavily invested in any of the characters. Ironically, Ge You’s acting pulled me in more than any of the other performances. It also didn’t help that I knew what the final course of the meal would be.

The story only thinly related to Hamlet and was told at a glacial pace. In order to spice things up there were some of the most erotic scenes I’ve observed in Chinese films. ZZY had a body double for the full backside scenes, something else you rarely see. The final scene strayed from the book in a puzzling manner which left a bad taste in my mouth. The dependable Yuen clan choreographed the few fight scenes which were elegant and bloody. One clandestine fight was more dance fu and foreplay than fists and kicks.

The Banquet excelled in its stunning cinematography, luxurious costumes, and beautiful score. This film was truly a treat for the eyes and ears. By utilizing blank masks and theater, the film gave us a story within a story. Everyone wore a mask in one form or another. The Banquet was a sumptuous feast for the eyes, but some of the dishes were a little bland.

12/12/24

AKA LEGEND OF THE BLACK SCORPION

Trigger warnings: A "romantic" rape. :(
Also, backside nudity and a few gratuitous breast shots that didn't show everything.

Read More

"He lies"

When watching Thai short films/commercials made by life insurance companies you can usually be assured of having your heartstrings tugged. A Dad’s Story was no exception. These companies know exactly how to hone in on your tear ducts.

A young daughter and her father are walking as he reads a report she wrote for school. She describes how handsome, kind, generous, and sweet her dad is. He is Superman to her. And then like a punch to the gut he reads the next words, “…but he lies.” In the next minute she narrates how little eyes see everything. Love, sorrow, sacrifice, all rain down in her words.

MetLife didn’t give any answers to life’s hardships and unfairness, simply encouraged people to not give up because children’s futures are worth it. The three minutes of this commercial are also worth watching.

11 December 2024

Read More

Special of the day!

Grand Maison Tokyo was a “grate” drama where the chefs “whipped” up “un-brie-lievable” dishes all while showing that cooking can be transformative. Broken friendships were “heel-ed” and new ones were created out of the “ingredients” of respect, forgiveness, and the mutual love of “egg-cellent” food. Oh, yeah, there will be puns, I’m on a “roll!”

Obana Natsuki has been reviled as a terrorist for three years ever since his crew in Paris catered a dinner and a diplomat was accidentally given food contaminated with nuts and collapsed. Everyone involved took a hit, the restaurant and chefs, and the politician and magazine writer who extolled and recommended the restaurant. In the world of high-end food making a mistake was nearly a death sentence and some of those involved were looking for revenge.

Hayami Rinko is a fifty-year old chef who desperately wants to work at a Michelin starred restaurant. As luck would have it she and Obana bump into each other in Paris. The persona non grata talks Rinko into a partnership and financially backing a restaurant in Japan assuring her that he can not only gain her a Michelin star, but three. Obana contacts his former colleagues who are also working in Japan with measured success. Many people never want Obana to step foot in front of a stove again.

Obana’s people skills weren’t “berry” “gouda”, even at that he went about solving people’s problems like a “souper” cranky Mary Poppins. Instead of an umbrella, he carried a set of knives. Many of the characters struggled “pudding” up with him until they discovered his heart of gold. At the Grand Maison food and “thyme” mended the deep wounds of the past as those hurt or angered by the scandal found “peas.” While cooking for the chefs was a passion with the “beet” of a religious fervor, they found that they “cod” “yolk” around and find their smiles again. Love for two of the chefs was here today and gone “tomato” as the women in their lives did not like being put on the “back burner.”

It wouldn’t be a food drama without some cooking drama and competitions! Obana and Rinka, along with their team had to discover what ingredients made the perfect “matcha” and plate it in the most “a-peeling” manner. The competing owner of Gaku wasn’t afraid to play dirty and also had deeper pockets for expensive ingredients. Eto was just the “wurst.” He and another invested individual planted “im-pasta-rs” with Team GMT putting the Grand Maison in a “jam” at times. Lucky for Team GMT they had a “latte” “loaf” for creating perfect dishes and ability to forgive “pour" decision-making. They weren’t afraid to “whisk” everything in the search for the most delicious food they could create. When the chefs became discouraged there was always someone to give them a “Riesling” to believe.

Even better than the gorgeous meals the chefs created was their “stirring” loyalty to each other and their “perfect blend” of intriguing characters. Any way you “slice” it, Grand Maison Tokyo was a “mash” made in heaven of good performances, delicious looking food, and engaging characters. It was “shrimply” irresistible.

5 September 2024

Read More

"Life itself has its own life"

If you watched Everything Everywhere All at Once and thought it was overly simplified and spoon-fed its audience, Leonor Will Never Die might be the reality tripping, mind bending movie you want as long as you don’t mind a bare bones budget. Director Martika Ramirez broke the fourth wall and the 5th dimension.

Leonor worked in the movie industry until tragedy struck. Now ten years later, she and her son Rudy barely speak to each other and literally can’t keep the lights on in the house. She decides to dust off an old script and finish it hoping to help pay the bills. Before she can wrap the story up she’s hit in the head by a flying television and sent into a coma. She enters the world of her script and discovers the traumas she’s put her characters through.

The above paragraph sounds similar to other “entered a make-believe world” dramas and films we’ve all seen. Then Ramirez added a ghost that everyone could see, a pregnant man, and strange criss-crossings of realities. She even threw in a song and dance number. I’m not familiar with 1970’s-80’s Filipino action flicks but Leonor’s re-enacted film looked much like old Hong Kong films from the same time with the same chicka-bow-wow music.

I have no idea if Ramirez wrote this to speak about some deeper social commentary. Should we stop extolling violence to resolve problems, poor Ronwaldo was tortured by Leonora’s writing. Was the story a way for Leonor to work through her grief? I spent most of my time trying to figure out what was going on as the characters and story jumped from one reality to the next. At one point, when Leonora disappeared, the doctor told her son to not bother looking for her. She’d seen this kind of bizarre thing before when people needed to finish their stories. The doc looked at the distraught son as if to say, “Writers, am I right?” Martika Ramirez used comedy, violence, family, and supernatural occurrences to take a woman near the end of her life on a trip that could be described as a “dream within a dream*”--- especially if she’d had spicy food and cold medicine mixed with alcohol before bed.

24 August 2024

*Princess Bride quote and/or Edgar Allen Poe

Read More