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May 6th, 2008
05:19 pm - Addendum: Udine Far East Film Festival Last Day
Before I forget all about it!
35. Gone Shopping: An episode movie from Singapore (the only movie to come from there). It plays in a shopping center and follows various characters around the mall: a woman who finds her only bliss in shopping, a small girl who was forgotten by her parents, a D&D fan who falls in love with a Gothic Lolita and a transvestite who prays to the gods of the mall. It was a sweet movie, and it did well connecting the characters. Something that I wouldn't mind watching again sometime. 4 out of 5.
36. Tactical Unit - The Code: The first part of a HK TV Series produced by Johnny To. It's a spin off/remake of his hit series PTU or so. It's quite obvious it was made for the TV, but the problem was that it was a bit boring in parts. 3 out of 5.
37. Sparrow: The new Johnny To movie is a kind of musical comedy, but no musical. The music takes you back to Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers and the characters are all set up as likable bunch of thieves. They meet a beautiful woman and try to safe her from the clutches of the king of thieves (i.e. a Triad boss). Problem is that the story is lacking in depth. This could be saved by humor or amazing thieving sequences (like in A World Without Thieves or what was the other one called...?), but it lacks either. 2 out of 5.
38. Shadow in the Palace: A South Korean period piece with a touch of horror movie. In a palace in ancient Korea the queens lady-in-waiting takes her live, or so it seems. A young court doctors discovers that she was murdered and tries to solve the case, fighting against conspiracies from the side that wants to find out and the side that doesn't. To top that, the murdered woman is out for revenge. This was actually quite entertaining and the torture scenes were BLOODY! Ouch! The setting inside the ancient palace with everyone in court clothes was beautiful. Definitely worth seeing. 4 out of 5.
For me the best movies in the Festival were:
1. Gachi Boy (Japan)
2. Crows Zero (Japan)
3. Adrift in Tokyo (Japan)
Japan was pretty strong this year. Last year it had some pretty bad movies in the festival. Some honorable mention go to:
Handle me with Care (Thailand)
Always 2 (Japan)
In the Pool (Japan)
The Assembly (China)
Going by the Book (S. Korea)
Funuke, show some love you losers! (Japan)
The Detective (Hong Kong)
Our Town (S. Korea)
Magic Boy (Hong Kong)
An Empress and the Warriors (Hong Kong)
Mad Detective (Hong Kong)
And the actual winners:
Black Dragon Awards (Voted by those who paid more to see the festival)
1. Mad Detective (Hong Kong)
2. Fine, Totally Fine (Japan) <--- didn't see this one
3. Crows Zero (Japan)
Audience Awards (all could vote, including Black Dragons)
1. Gachi Boy (Japan)
2. Adrift in Tokyo (Japan)
3. Fine, Totally Fine (Japan)
See? Japan was pretty strong this year :)
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April 26th, 2008
04:03 pm - Udine Day 8
Since we didn't do much else than watch movies, here comes the batch before the last.
30. An Empress And The Warriors: A Chinese period drama. The nation of Yan is in a state of constant warfare. As the king is deadly injured he bestows his position on the general with the best skills. He's a commoner though and therefore not accepted by the other generals. In an sudden turn of events the king's daughter is proposed for the position. To be accepted he has to learn the skills of war. This was a pretty good movie, good actors, beautiful locations and catching story. 4 out of 5.
31. Love of Siam: A new movie by the director of the Thai Horror 13 Beloved. No, it's not another horror movie, it's a love story between two boys. Separated for a few years, they meet again by chance. Mew has become a quite successful singer/song writer with his band August, but Tong is still dealing with the repercussions of his sister's disappearance years ago. It's a pretty long movie at more than 2 1/2 hours (the director's cut is 3 hours), but it doesn't feel that long at all. It's a heartfelt story with character. Definitely worth seeing if you can stomach that it's a male/male love story. 4 out of 5.
32. Gachi Boy - Wrestling With A Memory: A Japanese movie by newcomer Koizumi Norihiro (he also did Taiyou no Uta) about a young college student who cannot remember past a day after an accident (some thing as in 50 First Dates). He decides to join the Pro-Wrestling club at his university, but can he keep his condition a secret? I'd never thought that I'd laugh and cry while watching wrestling. This was the best movie at the festival! 5 out of 5.
33. Run Papa Run: Triad boss turned father tries to hide what he does from his precious daughter. It was pretty cute and funny, even started off with musical scenes. 4 out of 5.
34. Mad Detective: A Hong Kong movie about a detective who is stark mad, but can see a person's inner personalities and solve pretty much every case. He was kicked out of the force but is called back to help. Great acting by the main actor (got his sign, hehe). An all around good movie. 5 out of 5.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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April 25th, 2008
07:58 pm - Udine Day 7
Weather has cleared up and it's pretty nice outside now. Not that we see much of it. Too bad our only long break falls into the "siesta" or whatever it's called here, with all shops closed.
25. Hellcats: A Korean movie telling the story of three women/girls (older sister and her daughter, younger sister) who live together, but keep their love life private. All of them fall either in or out of love, but even those heartbroken find something worth keeping. It's a good movie, with an engaging cast. 4 out of 5.
26. Magic Boy: A Chinese movie about two magicians. One who only does street tricks for fun and the other who tries to be more. Both of them love the same girl. Can they still be friends that way? One has to let go when she decides. A sweet movie, very touching. 4 out of 5.
27. Your friends: A Japanese movie about a girl who limps (Emi) and another girl who's constantly sick and in hospital (Yuka). They become best friends even though they know that it won't last forever. After Yuka told her of a puffy cloud that was painted in the children's ward when she was small, that made her feel free and as if she could fly, Emi starts taking pictures of clouds.She tries to find the perfect puffy cloud for her friend.
The story is pretty touching and the actors are also excellent, especially the one of Emi, but in the middle of the movie is a part with a friend of Emi's brother, that is just needless. This makes an otherwise very good movie needlessly long. 4 out of 5.
28. The Rebel: The first Vietnamese movie to make it all the way to Europe. An excellently done love story/revolution drama. It plays during the French occupation of Vietnam. The male main character was a stunt man in Hollywood for many years (Spiderman, etc) and the female lead is fresh from Norway. Both were guests and quite the cute couple. The movie was pretty straight forward story-wise, but it was done skillfully and quite obviously with a lot of love. 4 out of 5.
29. Crows 0: Miike Takashi is back at the festival! Even if it was only a video message, that man definitely has character and humor. The movie was based on a manga (pretty much Tenjo Tenge without girls) about a school named Suzuran, where boys go to proof their worth by fighting. Genji transfered to the school to win it over. And since he's played by Oguri Shun (took me quite some time to realize that, the voice gave him away) there's also a pretty face (not only one). Lots of fighting, some great Yakuza like punk rock (never thought I'd say that), the right touch of humor makes for a great and entertaining flick. I was totally wired at the end, even though it was way past midnight. I'm definitely looking forward to the next part. 5 out of 5.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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April 24th, 2008
01:05 am - Udine Day 5-6
It finally cleared up yesterday evening and today was decently clear so I finally managed to go to the post office. The didn't even issue a receipt there and I had to especially ask for one. It's a strange country :)
17. Resiklo: A SciFi movie from the Philippines. A very bad one at that. They tried really hard with the SFX, but the plot was stolen from every SciFi movie there is and the actors were so bad that it hurt. Mildly entertaining scenes did not save it. 2 out of 5.
18. The Glorious Team Batista: A Japanese movie with Abe Hiroshi.The story is about a crime in the OP and Abe comes in from the Ministry to investigate if a recent series of deaths was murder or negligence.A solid movie all around. Definitely worth a look.4 out of 5.
19. The Other Half: A Chinese family drama about a mother and her two adult daughters. The mother is about to re-marry and leave for Holland. She worries about her daughters who didn't marry yet. Not all is as it seems at first. A broken family with no luck when it comes to man. Pretty well done and solid performances. 4 out of 5.
20. Our Town: A Korean psycho-thriller. Someone is killing girls and women and binding them up out in the open to be found. A writer tries to find out more, but he has his own reasons for that. His friend, a cop, helps him, but he is soon starting to have doubts. Could his friend be the killer? Of course it's not as easy as that. This was really an excellent movie, with some amazing actors. Worth watching. 5 out of 5.
21. The Screen at Kamchanod: A Thai horror movie based on an even that happened in Thailand in 1991. A movie was screened out in the open at Kamchanod and halfway through the movie many people appeared out of nowhere to disappear once the movie ended. In this movie someone tries to re-enact the some thing on the same date. But when he finds the movie and previews it at an old cinema, the ghosts come out. Quite creepy. Not very gory. 4 out of 5.
22. Black House: A young insurrance assesor is called to a customer only to find his son who hanged himself. He soon starts thinking that this wasn't a suicide but murder. He starts researching the father, but soon he notices that he is being stalked. A warning for digging to deep shows up on his doorstep. A decent psycho horror slasher. Quite well thought out and shocking. 4 out of 5.
23. The Guardpost: A Korean movie about a guardpost at the border to North Korea. A few soldiers show up to find out why communications stopped only to find everyone but one dead, dreadfully slaughtered. What happened and why? It's a run against time as there's a new killing among the newcomers. Very bloody, very dark and quite straight-forward. Not too bad, but not too good either. 3 out of 5.
24. Body No. 19: A Thai Horror movie at an extremely high level. The opening scene is a real treat already with the camera falling down among raindrops. The set-up is excellent, but it's quite gory. Like really gory. It's based on a real story once again where a doctor cut up his wife in 2001 and disposed of the parts in the sewer system throughout Bangkok.It's not as simple in this movie though. If you like horror movies than this is definitely a must see. 5 out of 5.Note to self: Find out what the title song was!
So that's it for horror day. We're skipping out on Sick Nurses so I could type this up. Time to head back to our room. Tomorrow we want to catch the first and the last movie, so we need to sleeeeeeep.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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April 22nd, 2008
11:50 am - Udine Day 3-5
It's been raining all this time. It's so bad that we even had to skip lunch once, because there was no way to get to the restaurant without being soaking wet. I still have something to send out, but the P.O. is so far away... it's supposed to stop raining tomorrow, so I hope I can finally deal with this. I really did not expect it to rain like that. It's also cold... bah.
10. Going by the Book: A Korean movie about a very diligent cop who is cast as bank robber in a training and does his job way to good. A very funny movie, with a good actor in the main role. I think it had a good ending song, I'll have to look it up. Anyway, this one's a keeper. Will definitely order it. 5 out of 5.
11. Deathfix - Die and let live: Another movie by Miki Satoshi and this one really fits the label of "crazed comedy". It's like a road trip with the most unlikely cast ever, but it's still funny in a good way. Problem was the late time slot. After one o'clock in the morning things stop being funny. Did you know that the kanji for hill (oka) looks like a seal? 3 out of 5.
12. Kala Malam Bulan Mangambang: A Malaysian black/white movie in the style of old detective movies. The main character is a reporter who lost his job and now tries to scoop an interesting article in a small village where people go missing. As a spoof it was very well done and quite likable, but way too long. Half an hour less would have helped. 3 out of 5.
13. Adrift in Tokyo (aka Ten Ten): The last Miki Satoshi film in this festival. It was a bit like "Kikujiro no natsu" and maybe that's why I liked it? Of course the trademark Miki Satoshi humor wasn't missing either, but it was more than a simple comedy. A not so young students with debts gets an unrefusable offer from his dept collector: Join him on a walk through Tokyo and he'll receive 1 million yen. More than enough to pay everything off. As the two walk through Tokyo they get to know each-other better and meet a cast of strange and likable people. What's not to like? Nothing. 5 out of 5.
14. Funuke, show some love you losers!: A refreshing black comedy from Japan. Young Kiyomi lost her parents in a terrible and gory accident with a truck. This brings her older sister back into their little village in the middle of nowhere. Her sister tried to make it in Tokyo as an actress the past 4 years, but failed miserably. She blames Kiyomi for it because she drew a horror manga with her sister (which even won a newcomer price), making fun of her wish to become an actress. Then there's also the older brother (not blood related) and his new wife (as crazy as the rest of the family). It's hard to explain what it's all about, but it's definitely a lot of fun, but also a nice sprinkling of drama. If you have the chance, go watch it. 5 out of 5.
15. The Detective: A Hong Kong thriller which plays in Bangkok. It's quite obvious that the director comes from the Horror genre, especially the use of music gives this away, There's also a few scary scenes in it. It's a detective story with a twist. The execution is not exactly to my liking, but the story and the actors are good. An enjoyable movie. 4 out of 5.
16. The Wonder Years: A Korean family drama. After her father's death two years ago a girl thinks that her mother isn't her real mother after reading his diary. On top of that she seems to have definite lesbian tendencies, but that might have been a result of not really having any friends. It's a very well done psychological study of a girl growing up with tons of insecurities. It doesn't make for a crowd pleaser that way, but it sure was interesting. Still, a bit though for a 9 in the morning movie. 3 out of 5.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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April 20th, 2008
10:07 pm - FEFF 10 Udine Day 3
I'm pretty tired already, but two more movies to go for today. At least we'll be able to sleep in tomorrow, as I am planning to skip the Thai movie tomorrow morning.
7. Happiness: A Korean movie about a guy who gets cirrhosis (how do you write that again?) and leaves for a country sanatorium. There he suddenly turns into a nice guy, meets a sweet (but equally sick) girl and falls in love with her. Only as long as it's convinient for him though. As soon as he is well again he dumps her. And starts drinking again. Hated it. Hated the main character. Bah. 2 out of 5
The battery is low, I was hopping to write about the other two. Well I'll try.
8. In the Pool: Part of a Miki Satoshi special and a really funny and enjoyable film about people and their neuroti ticks. Definitely worth seeing! 5 out of 5
9. The Assembly: A Chinese war movie in the vein of "Letters from Iwo-jima" and Saving Private Ryan? Tells the story of a company that fought to the last man. Their captain is trying to find the mine where he dragged them all. At first no one believes him, but even after they do, no one wants to search for them. Very well done movie, with remarkably less pathos than most U.S. war movies. Well done. 5 out of 5.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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10:45 am - Far East Film Festival 10
We've made it in one piece to Italy. It took way longer to get a password for the wireless lan here than it took to get here. Bah. Our room is nice (if a bit cold), weather is just as crazy as in Austria, but at least it stopped raining for now.
Movies seen so far:
1. L - Change the World
It's strange to have this directed by the director of Ring and Dark Water. He's such a strange guy, look more like a Yakuza than anything else. Anyway, the movie was fun and ejoyable, I expected it to be way worse. It's the best of the lot simply because it's not taking itself so seriously and L is just great, even if he's running and jumping around a bit. I don't really see a problem there. The actor put a lot of thought into his character and did a very good job.
4 out of 5
2. Quickie Express
An Indonesian "sex comedy" about a gigolo delivery service. Nothing special really. The subtitles sucked or it probably would have been funnier. It was also pretty late and we were pretty tired, so that also comes into it. The director was funny though and I liked his explanation of the film industry in Indonesia.
3 out of 5
3. Handle me with Care
A Thai road movie that somehow reminded me of "The Sure Thing", only that the main character has three hands. It was very cute, even got teary in one spot. The music was really good! Must find out who the singer at the end was, he sounded a bit like U2?
4 out of 5
4. The Happy Life
A Korean comedy, only as with all Korean comedys that doesn't mean it's light-hearted. After his friend died, the main guy decides to resurrect their old college band "Active Volcano". Even though it's a midlife crisis thing for him (he's over 40), it gradually turns into more for him and his friends. A very entertaining movie, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, with lots of great rock songs. This comes highly recommended.
5 out of 5
5. Always - Sunset on Third Street
The sequel to the Japanese smash hit playing in the late 50ies. It was just as nice as the first one, but a bit better paced. Maybe that's because the characters didn't need much introduction anymore.I laughed, I cried, what could you want more from a movie? Ah, and the director is quite handsome too. I didn't think he'd be so young.
5 out of 5
6. Secret
A Taiwanese romance from and with Jay Chou. I wonder why a close to 30-year-old insists on playing a teenager in his own movie. It's a sweet story though, but not without some faults. With a bit fine-tuning this could have been an excellent film. Maybe next time.
3 out of 5
That's it for now.
Current Location: Udine, Italy
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