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Category: Cinéma - Movies
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Published: Monday, 12 November 2018 23:45
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Written by Gilbert Seah
The (22nd) ReelAsian International Film Festival is currently running in downtown Toronto and North York.
Capsule reviews of selected films (most if the main features) follows below this article.
For more information and a full schedule of screenings, please check its website at:
http://www.reelasian.com/festival/
Capsule Reviews of Selected Films
DEAR EX (Taiwan 2018) ***
Directed by Mag Hsu
This gay positive Taiwanese entry arrives timely at ReelAsian just in advance of same-sex marriage becoming legal in Taiwan in May of 2019. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang has championed the gay art house movie with films like VIVE L’AMOUR but DEAR EX is yet another worthwhile entry, looking at the gay lifestyle from a lighter though still quite serious view. The film follows three people who are linked by fate because of love and family. Adolescent Song Chengxi (Joseph Huang) loses his father Song Zhengyuan (Spark Chen) to cancer, but instead of having time to mourn, Chengxi finds himself caught in a feud between his widowed mother Liu Sanlian (Hsieh Ying-xuan) and his father’s gay lover Jay (Roy Chiu). As Liu fights Jay for Song’s insurance money, though it is never clear what had happened to the money. Each of three subjects are super-hyper and when they get together, there is now hostage of shouting and fighting, driving not only the other crazy but the person him or herself. It is comical to see the three interact and what is the final outcome of the film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r94pd519Jf4
HOUSE OF THE RISING SONS (Hong Kong 2018) **
Directed by Anthony Chan
Who else best to make a movie of the band The Wynners, a Hong Kong pop sensation of the 70’s than a member of the band himself? Anthony Chan started the chart-topping pop band The Wynners, the band inspired by The Beatles’ visit to Hong Kong. The film traces the band’s formation. Despite opposition from their parents, five young men form a neighbourhood band called The Loosers to play music and rebel against the staid conformity of their traditional upbringing. As they began to pursue their dreams, they find that the journey to stardom is never easy. Armed with grit, perseverance and raw talent, the band weathers the strain brought on by creative conflicts, personnel shake-ups and their rapidly growing popularity to become The Wynners and establish themselves as true musical legends. The cliche-ridden film is a breezy easy-going comedy that is often all over the place. This is no BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, but a teen flick where teens can do anything while the elders are the ones who always look silly and do everything wrong. Though touted as a bio of the band, the film feels less so.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3HQSJcLAMU
MIRAI (Japan 2018) ***
Directed by Mamoru Hooda
Director Mamoru Hosoda’s (he started his own animated studio Studio Chizu) MIRAI is his third feature after his studios’s WOLF CHILDREN and THE BOY AND THE BEAST. Again his interest in children and their fantasies are under consideration in his latest tale from the point of view of young Kun, the elder son in a typical Japanese family. When the film opens, Kun is greeted with the arrival of a new born baby sister. Things around the house are altered, as father now tends to the household chores of cleaning and cooking while mother goes on full time work. Emotions like jealousy and anger start to emerge. Kun fantasizes meeting his sister when she is grown up as well as his dog, humanized while shown how to ride a bike by his late great grandfather who was in the Japanese navy. The film’s animation is somewhat similar to Studio Ghibli’s in look and feel, especially since both studios are fond of animal creatures and Japanese folklore. MIRAI is simplistic in its theme, just about a boy growing up, and it is this simplicity that the film works its charm.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d-lsJZgmJs
RAMEN SHOP (Singapore/Japan/France 2018) ***1/2
Directed by Eric Khoo
The third film of Singaporean director Eric Khoo named after noodles (after MEE POK MAN and WANTON SOUP) RAMEN SHOP shows Khoo at his sappiest and most melodramatic. Despite this flaw, RAMEN SHOP still shows the director's brilliance especially when he meticulously examines both sides of the Singapore-Japan relationship. Not many westerners are aware that the Japanese did far worse than the Nazis in torturing their enemies especially during the Japanese Occupation in Singapore during WWII. The film sees a young Japanese, Masato (Takumi Saito) travelling to Singapore to discover his roots and to make peace with his grandmother (Beatrice Chien). This is achieved with the help of his comical uncle (Mark Lee) through the fine-tuning of a gourmet dish - bak-kut-teh. This is Singapore as it really is, as depicted by Khoo in all his movies where the Chinese speak ‘Singlish’ and not perfect English with a western accent as in CRAZY RICH ASIANS and where the citizens live in cramped single or double roomed flats and not in mansions holding extensive parties. Khoo is Singapore’s film pioneer and his films have won awards the world over including at Cannes. This is the chance for Reel Asian fans to watch a quality film made by a top-notch Singapore director.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joHJKFC77ic
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY (Hong Kong 2017) ****
Directed by Tai-Lee Chan
Don’t let the ordinary sounding title fool you. This one is the best of the films I have previewed at Reel Asian 2018. Mrs. Wong (Teresa Mo) knows her husband, a driving instructor (Ray Lui) is having an affair, but for the sake of their marriage and their autistic son (Ling Man Lung), she chooses to silently endure his infidelity for the time being. What follows is an extremely realistic, heartfelt drama of a working-class woman struggling to breakthrough her midlife crisis. One cannot help but feel for the central character, Mrs. Wong. Director Chan lets us into the reason she persists. Two reasons, one which is her son who occasionally shows how loving he is The other is that she has little other alternatives. TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY and there is nothing one can do about it r can one? At the film’s mid-point, the film turns into a suspense thriller as Mrs. Wong decides to stab the husband’s mistress to death. Besides the compulsive storyline, Chan’s camera also shows the beauty of Hong Kong as a city as well as the terrible gossip that exists in every neighbourhood in such a closed community as Hong Kong. Teresa Mo (showing both the character’s vulnerability and ferocity) and Ling Man Lung both win acting honours at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FF-BiUHpUc
WISH YOU WERE HERE (China/Japan 2018) **
Directed by Kenneth Bi
Kenneth Bi’s third film follows the tone of his early films THE DRUMMER an RICE RHAPSODY - slow and pensive. I am not really a fan of Bi as his films require a bit of patience to reap their rewards. On the eve of her latest fashion showcase in Beijing, successful entrepreneur Yuan Yuan is approached by Keiko, a mysterious young Japanese woman. An admirer of Yuan Yuan’s career, Keiko has learned Mandarin and fashion design for a chance to speak with her idol. As Yuan Yuan takes Keiko under her wing, long suppressed memories begin to surface of her time in Hokkaido and the husband she’d left behind. Yuan Yuan finally builds up the courage to visit the small town she left behind more than 20 years ago in order to confront her past decisions and face her deepest fears. A journey of forgiveness and reconciliation, his latest film is an examination of a woman traversing through modernity and tradition; youth and maturity; past and future. The closing night film.
Trailer: (unavailable)
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Category: Cinéma - Movies
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Published: Thursday, 25 October 2018 20:47
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Written by Gilbert Seah
TIFF Cinematheque Present - The films of INGMAR BERGMAN
A must for all those serious about cinema, Ingmar Bergman films demonstrate the art of cinema and the influence of a director’s life and religion on his craft.
Bergman has also been an influence on many a filmmaker, most notably Woody Allen, Margarethe von Trotta, Olivier Assayas, Mia Hansen-Love, Ruben Ostlund among others. Allen has made films like STARDUST MEMORIES which is definitely Bergman in tone while von Trotta has made SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN, a documentary on the Master’s work. It is a pity the doc is not screened as part of this retrospective as it would serve as the perfect companionship. The doc was screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and hopefully will get a theatrical run soon.
This exhaustive series screens almost every Bergman film, which needless to say should be seen on the big screen. The cinematography by Sven Nyquist,who has worked on most of the Bergman’s films is nothing short of astonishing.
Bergman’s films range from the playful like the most entertaining FANNY AND ALEXANDER to his most serious (about death WILD STRAWBERRIES, CRIES AND WHISPERS and of course, THE SEVENTH SEAL with the grim reaper or relationships PERSONA) to his kind of action/revenge flick, the excellent THE VIRGIN SPRING). A warning is that the films are not an easy watch - many are ultra-grim, except maybe for FANNY AND ALEXANDER which runs more than 3 hours in length.
Religion plays part in Bergman’s films. His childhood is best exemplified in FANNY AND ALEXANDER.
For the complete program schedule, ticket pricing, venue and showtimes, please check th Cinematheque website at:
tiff.net
Capsule Review of Selected Films:
CRIES AND WHISPERS (Sweden 1972) ***
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Though the only foreign film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, CRIES AND WHISPERS is one of my least favourite Bergman films. Though the cinematography here by Bergman regular Sven Nykvist is one of his best works, the film is too artsy for my taste. The story follows three sisters, played excellently by Liv Ullmann, Ingrid Thulin and Harriet Anderson, one of which is dying from an unnamed ailment. She is closer to her maid that the oner two sisters though she (Agnes) tries to reconcile the problem after her death. There are lots of heavy breathing, moaning and groaning and of course, crying and whispering, which I think could be quite laughable at times. Religion is always at the forefront again. There are hints of lesbian love and incest though thankfully Bergman spares the audience any sex scenes. All a very sordid and gloomy affair.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pw7FYex5pQ
FANNY AND ALEXANDER (Sweden 1982) *****Top 10
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
FANNY AND ALEXANDER is the film that has been on many a critics Best Film list. Personally, its stands as my best Bergman film, even to say that it is one of my 10 best films of ALL TIME. The film is pure delight from start to finish despite its over 3 hour running time (The film was originally made for television). The first hour is light and cheerful (rare in a Bergman movie) as the wealthy Swede family celebrate Christmas among the family and servants. This is Christmas in Sweden with all the food, decorations, dancing and celebration. At the hour mark, the father, Oscar dies and the mother marries a wicked over-religious bishop who moves the mother and children into his own house, demanding that every personal possession be left behind. “I worry for the children’” says the grandmother, prompting the worse to come. Alexander, particularly suffers the wrath of the bishop. The bishop’s household is also the epitome of evil. I have seen this 3-hour film three times, and it is pure ecstasy each viewing.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkszXVEUHco
HOUR OF THE WOLF (Sweden 1968) ****
Directed by Imgmar Bergman
The HOUR OF THE WOLF is a bewitching hour. As described by the Master, Bergman himself: "The hour of the wolf is the time between night and dawn. It is the hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most palpable. It is the hour when the sleepless are pursued by their sharpest anxieties, when ghosts and demons hold sway. It is also the hour when most children are born." His film captures this hour vividly through the life of painter on the verge of madness played by Max von Sydow. It all happens when the painter mysteriously disappears and his pregnant wife (Liv Ulmann) discovers his diary and hence his thoughts of his affair with another woman. HOUR OF THW WOLF traces the painter’s decent into madness (one of the film’s best segments involve him and his wife attending a dinner party where everything drives him crazy). Bergman does what he does best here - shows the demons in an individual.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6aNUjm7Y2I
PERSONA (Sweden 1966) **
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
PERSONA, quite similar in tone to CRIES AND WHISPERS is again, one of the least favourite of my Bergman films. The film follows an actress played by Liv Ullmann who is recovering in a hospital before being cared fro by a single nurse, played by Bibi Anderson. The two move into the doctor's beach house where the two continue the actress’s convalescence. The actress initially never talks but slowly opens up, which gives the chance for the nurse to go on and on about her youth and adventures including an abortion and a sexual fling with a young stranger that gave her the best sex in her life. Needless to say, the two torture each other.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rtSjV_gFkw
SUMMER WITH MONIKA (Sweden 1953) ***1/2
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
The lesser known work, SUMMER WITH MONIKA is Bergman’s teenage romance. The film begins with flirty Monika (Harriet Anderson) asking for a match from Harry (Lars Ekborg) in a coffee shop. This leads to an evening at the movies and love that soon blossoms. In the coffee shop, an elderly mane warns of the turmoil of spring just as the teens laugh and prepare for good times. The contrast of life’s outlook is so different from the old and the young. But the you g eventually grow older and Bergman sows that misery is part of life, as Harry’s anther blurts out int one scene; “Suffering is part of life”. The two lovers eventually escape on a stolen boat to spend a summer idyll in the archipelago. Then life takes a turn as Monika finds herself pregnant. The two marry, and matrimony rears its ugly head. Bergman over emphasizes the emotions of his teen characters - Monika not only sobs during the teary moments in the movie but uses a hanky to wipe away tears followed by her blowing her nose. Harry’s yawns by contrast are big ones. Despite the lack of nudity, Bergman’s film is very sex and erotic.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S00-c-Rd-K4
THE VIRGIN SPRING (Jungfrukällan) (Sweden 1960) Top 10 *****
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
THE VIRGIN SPRING in retrospect plays like a classic art-house version of TAKEN where the father goes on an all-out revenge against the perpetuators of the crime committed on his daughter. Bergman knows how to draw his audience into his story and by the time the father lifts up his weapon (a butcher knife) against the villains, the audience is right on the point of cheering him on and violently. THE VIRGIN SPRING is the harshly beautiful rendering of a 14th-century legend. While taking candles to her church, the virginal young Karin (Birgitta Pettersson) is brutally raped and murdered by three goatherds. The assailants later unknowingly take shelter at the farm of her father (Max von Sydow), who realizes their identity when they try to sell his daughter’s clothes. Bergman’s attention to detail is another reason this film is so perfect - from the eating utensils to the furniture of the 14th Century farmhouse. The film won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and is Bergman’s most commercially accessible film.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ea
WILD STRAWBERRIES (Smultronstället)(Sweden1957) *****Top 10
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Arguably Bergman’s best film, WILD STRAWBERRIES opens with Professor Borg’s voiceover describing his life, he a 79-year old widowed doctor with a son with no children. He is looked after by a good housekeeper of 40 years service. Bergman demonstrates his prowess at drawing the audience into his characters. When the film begins, Borg has a nightmare - one that is classic Bergman. Borg is walking down an empty street of deserted building when he looks up at a click with no hands. He looks at his pocket watch, which turns out has no hands either. A horse bearing coffin comes around the corner with the coffin falling off right i front of Borg. A hand reaches out from the coffin t grab his hand. Borg opens the coffin to see the face of the corpse as his own. This opening sequence is nothing short of genius. The film then follows Borg en route to receiving his honours in Lund as he is accompanied by his pregnant daughter-in-law Marianne who does not much like him and is planning to separate from her husband, Evald, his only son, who does not want her to have the baby, their first. One of the best films eve made about old people facing death.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs_j7y_QyM8
