"If we can't live together, we'll die alone!"

Pending Train was an entertaining story about strangers on a train mysteriously landing in a dystopian future. The strength of the drama was the characters and how they learned to work together through their fears and problems in order to survive.

Mild spoilers:
From the first, "Guys, where are we?" it began to feel like the writers had recently watched Lost (2004) and wanted to update the story for Japan. Shirahama Yuto (Jack) was a fire fighter with a painful past experience at work that has left him with deep seated guilt and a need to save everyone. Kayashima Naoya (Sawyer) was a hair stylist who due to his painful past trusted no one. Hatano Sae (too bland to be any character from Lost) was a school gym teacher who thought no one liked or respected her at work who was part of a weak sauce love triangle. The rest of the main cast contained a businessman who took a walk on the wild side (Locke), an effervescent game designer (Hurley), a graduate biology student who had a physics professor for some reason, a shady self-centered manicurist, and a middle-aged CEO who worried that she didn't spend enough time with her daughter.

As with Lost it turned out there were Others on the island who would compete for resources and survival. The battles were not nearly as deadly or mysterious. I have to say there were several characters who had me wishing a Smoke Monster would come and drag them away. At one point I honestly thought earnest Shirahama was going to quote Jack and say, "If we can't live together, we'll die alone," and he did more or less. Hatano was so uninspiring that her flashback story centered on her looking at a rainbow. She was everyone's cheerleader with either a smile on her face or a look that said, "where did I leave my purse?" None of the women had particularly interesting backstories or compelling stories in the future.

Despite the Lost coincidences and poor writing for the female characters, I did enjoy this drama. Kayashima showed the kind of character growth that makes dramas worthwhile. Shirahama worked through his guilt with the help of his new friends. The struggle to figure out where/when they were, and how to obtain food and water was interesting. The bromance that developed between Shirahama and Kayashima was the most engaging relationship.

The scenery varied with one side of the tunnel displaying Tokyo's ruins covered in an almost rainforest. And on the other side of the tunnel (always a tunnel in these pesky time-traveling dramas!) was a barren landscape. The latter setting appeared to be the one Kurosawa Akira used in his film Dreams for a post-apocalyptic future. The OST had a tendency to err on the overwrought side, not always meshing with a scene's mood.

The biggest problem I had with the drama was their "science" which would have been convoluted for an old Godzilla film and only coming in second to the Professor making phones out of coconuts on Gilligan’s Island ( yes my pop culture references are old ^^). And it was hard to get on board with people starting a fire with a green stick on a green leaf. The last two episodes dragged and didn't make a lot of sense with what had gone on in previous eps. To make matters more complicated the drama seemed to give an alternate ending unless they threw their own pseudo-science out the window.

Some people wanted to go home, desperate to see their loved ones while others had nothing to return to and were happy in their made kingdom. Many of the characters decided after learning how to survive in a hostile environment, the problems at home would be easier to deal with and they also would show appreciation for each day and those they cared about. "We have the power to recover from all kinds of obstacles and failures." Yet life is funny and people can be cruel and ignorant in the face of the unknown. I'm sure there were more than a few characters who would like to have said, "We have to get back to the island!" or at least "When's the next train to the future leaving?"

Pending Train came across more as a healing drama for damaged people than "it's the end of the world as we know it." If you enjoy a more character driven drama, don't mind a lack of dire consequences in your dystopian stories, and can overlook the terrible science, this drama can be a fun watch.

8/12/23

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Character driven with a melancholy atmosphere

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

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

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

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

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

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

8/9/23

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Don't forget to tip your rider!

The Devil Rider packed a big emotional punch into a short amount of time. Instead of single-mindedly focusing on the royal court and their politics, this drama special focused more on The Devil Rider and the people hurt and forgotten by an overly entitled elite.

In 1637 Choi Munbok was assigned the task of delivering a message to a Joseon general during the conflict with the Qing dynasty. Serving his country meant leaving his wife who was in labor. He rode his horse through a harrowing hail of arrows during multiple ambushes, suffered an injury that would be lifelong, all to deliver a message that ended up being meaningless. Fourteen years later he became unwillingly embroiled in palace politics which put his daughter's life at risk. He would once again be asked to become The Devil Rider.

Yoo Oh Sung gave a wonderfully emotional performance as the imperfect Choi Munbok, portraying a broken man who often let his daughter down yet was also fiercely protective. He showed a man dragged down by guilt and a loyalty he could not forsake. All of the supporting cast were strong. Lee Chae Young gave an excellent performance as the daughter of the betrayed general looking for vengeance.

The Devil Rider could be frustrating and heartbreaking telling the story of people who were used and discarded by the imperial court. "Rags like us never had names to begin with." Still, Munbok was able to free himself from his past and grasp what was important to him with a lighter heart in the present which is all most people can hope to do even today.

8/8/23

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

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

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

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

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

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

8/8/23

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Learning to let the music pour out of you

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8/7/23

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Shaolin vs Ninja!

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

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

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

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

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

8/5/23

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Lots of noise, little substance

Hidden Strike starring Jackie Chan and John Cena finished filming in 2018 and finally made it to Netflix five years later. The film felt like it could have been on-hold since 2000 with its over-reliance on CGI, gravity defying stunts, and sexist humor.

Dragon Luo and his security team are called to Iraq to help evacuate Chinese workers from their refinery who have been attacked by mercenaries. They load up special buses to transport the workers and their families to the Green Zone. On one of the buses is Luo's estranged daughter Mei. Chris Van Horne who used to work in private security, now resides in a village in Iraq and helps out with the local orphans. His brother Henry talks him into attacking the convoy with the story that it contains the rebel criminals responsible for their father's death. It doesn't take long for Luo and Chris to meet up, compare notes, and join forces to stop the bad guys and save the hostages.

I watch a lot of martial arts and action movies, and can appreciate a check your brain at the door movie, but was disappointed in the fight choreography for this film. Jackie's character relied on kung fu as was to be expected for many of his fights while Cena appeared super human with his strength. At the age of 69 Chan still moved pretty well. Many of the fights, especially with Cena, came across as completely unbelievable due to wire work and CGI. Jackie had one silly fight in fire suppressant that was entertaining but went on for too long. Several of the fights using both weapons and fists and kicks seemed uninspired. If you approach it as a comedy or even a cartoon with a high body count, there were humorous moments. A couple of scenes with a jet engine and one involving a cliff almost strayed into Wiley Coyote territory.

The problem with some of the comedy was that it relied heavily on hand signal jokes and flat tire jokes. Oh, and women don't know how to drive humor. The hand signal schtick was confusing because Chris' dad died due to a miscommunication, which was supposed to be the source of his man pain. The producers must have felt an action and comedy movie wasn't enough, because they threw in an ill-conceived romance. They didn't have time to effectively build the buddy/bromance aspect of the film, but still tried to wedge a possible "romance" which fell flat largely due to crude comments by Chris. Even the relationship between the two brothers was insufficiently developed, which lowered the emotional stakes when tragedy hit. It might have been a mindless action film, but buddy and romance chemistry is even more important in such cases. And while Chris' love for the villagers was supposed to show what a great guy he was, it felt a little condescending. Somehow the Iraqis were only colorful extras in the background instead of having any involvement in the goings on in their own country.

If you are a Jackie Chan and/or John Cena fan, need a movie with lots of explosions, gun fire, quippy comments, CGI, and wire-work, this may be one you need to check out. If you're hoping for something more than a few entertaining moments, best to lower your expectations or see what else is on Netflix. This was a strike out for me.

7/28/23

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"War is hell"

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

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

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

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

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

7/27/23

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The title is the best thing about this movie

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

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

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

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

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

7/15/23

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"In a mad world, only the mad are sane"

One of the meanings for Ran in Japanese is "chaos". You know when you are about to watch a film by Kurosawa based on Shakespeare's "King Lear" you are going to experience a theatrical marvel, chaos, and a boat load of pain. Kurosawa used all of his skills to bring to life the story of a king driven mad by his traitorous children. At 75, his directorial skills were far from obsolete. He made a stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking tragic epic in a manner only he could do.

Hidetora who had unified his region through fire and the sword and an utter lack of mercy announces that he is ready to retire. Taro, his eldest son, flatters him feigning humility when Hidetora bequeaths the title to him. He gives the two other sons, Jiro and Saburo their own castles, confident that his actions will bring lasting peace to the valley. Far from a sycophantic speech to his father, Saburo, the only son who loves him, tells him the plan will never work as does the court jester. Saburo and Hidetora's loyal retainer, Tango, are both banished for speaking the truth. It doesn't take long for Hidetora to realize his youngest son was right. Taro, at the bequest of his wife, Lady Kaede, humiliates his father by forcing him to sign a pledge of loyalty and into handing over the title Hidetora had sought to retain. Hidetora travels to Jiro's castle but finds no welcome from his middle son. Upon hearing the third castle is empty he and his entourage seek shelter there only to fall into a trap. Taro and Jiro join hands to destroy their father. After every last man and woman loyal to Hidetora is killed trying to protect their lord, Taro is "accidentally" killed, and his father is allowed to walk out of the burning keep, his mind completely broken. For all of the victories in his life, he could not see the evil his sons had harbored in their hearts and that evil would bring all he'd fought for and attained to naught.

***Warning! 417 year old spoiler ahead in the next paragraph!!!***

As Hidetora wanders aimlessly, his jester and Tango find him and care for him. Lady Kaede seduces Jiro and orders him to have his gentle wife, Sue, murdered. When Saburo comes to find his father, Lady Kaede incites Jiro to attack Saburo's men after agreeing to a truce. Saburo finds his disturbed father in a rocky "grave". Saburo's forgiveness clears Hidetora's mind and they dream of telling tales and living together. Jiro's man kills Saburo and Hidetora loses all hope and dies next to him. Like in King Lear, the family was extinguished. Saburo's men and allies triumphantly kill Jiro and his men laying waste to the last of Hidetora's family.

Much like King Lear, Ran ended with the tragic and inevitable loss of life based on a father's bloody past, pride, and blindness to the truth. Hidetora was haunted by all those he'd killed, including the families of his daughters-in-law. Unable to escape the ghosts of his cruel actions, Hidetora and his jester were forced to take refuge among the rubble of the keep he'd burned, at one time spending the night in the hut of a man he'd blinded. His jester ever speaking the truth and folly of his actions. There were no heroes in this film. Hidetora had blood on his hands. Jiro and Taro were murderous and duplicitous. Although Lady Kaede was widely hated, her vengeful actions, with the exception of her hatred of the Lady Sue, were understandable. Only Saburo who spoke the truth perhaps had a vision for a better tomorrow and he ended up paying for his father's sins.

At times, Kurosawa showed the chaos of battle in a beautiful manner with soldiers racing across fields and in castle keeps, silently except for the haunting music. Just as quickly the exquisitely orchestrated military dances devolved into the brutality of war with bodies filled with arrows, severed limbs, and crimson blood dripping ceilings. Fire and smoke choked out all sanity and peace. At one point, Hidetora wondered if he was in hell. He was in hell, a hell of his own making carved out by the carnage he had wrought during his life, the example his sons had learned from, pitting them against him and each other.

The opening scenery was gorgeous, vibrantly alive with verdant green hills. Kurosawa was truly a master of filling the screen with interesting movement and use of color. After the dye was set and the father gave his sons their inheritance, the windblown landscapes became dry and vast. As always, Kurosawa's fateful wind blew across the screen, tinged with either dust or smoke. Emi Wada won an Oscar for best costume design and it showed. The lifeless beige and gray backgrounds were the perfect contrast for her intricately and brilliantly hued costumes. The only detractor in this film for me was Nakadai's makeup. Much like the aging makeup on Mifune Toshiro in "I Want to Live", it was overly theatrical. The white and purple makeup obscured Nakadai's face and thus his unhinged performance.

Whether order was restored out of the familial chaos, is unknown. The film showed that confusion and disorder are always at the ready when truth is abandoned for what people pridefully want to hear. Children learn from what their parents do, not what they say, especially when their parent has been burning villages and castles to the ground in his desire to gain more. Hidetora made the classic mistake of thinking upon his retirement he had any say over what the next generation would do. Their desire for power was just as ravenous as his own had been-maybe more.

The message is timeless, whether in Shakespeare's day, Kurosawa's, or our own. As long as chaos bids us take what is not ours, view others as less than and disposable, we are bound to repeat the actions that bring sorrow instead of joy. The last character standing, blind atop a precipice, his painting of the Amida Buddha fallen and out of reach, reflected much of the mood of the film. The lust for power blinds men, their only hope for peace lost, ultimately leaving everything in ruins.

"It is the gods who weep. They see us killing each other over and over since time began…They can't save us from ourselves."

Ran was a gorgeous and enthralling film to watch and a cautionary tale as well.

6/28/23

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What price honor and glory?

The Sword asks the question, "what price honor and glory?" It's something I always wonder when I watch these films where swordsmen try to move up the pecking order by defeating someone ranked higher than themselves and toss the word honor around while doing it. "Excuse me, I know we don't have any disagreements, but would you mind terribly battling me to the death to see which of us is the superior swordsman?" This procedure never seemed very polite, much less honorable. In this film, Adam Cheng was forced to weigh the costs of spending years hunting for a legendary swordsman simply to test his skills.

Adam Cheng as Li Mak Yin befriends Ying Chih, a young swordswoman being hunted by a kidnapper, on the road to finding Hua/Wah, the legendary swordsman who has gone into hiding. Along the way he runs into his old flame who grew tired of waiting while he was on his quest and married Lin Wan (Norman Chu). Lin Wan turns out to be a vicious brute who wants Hua's sword Hon Sing. When Ying Chih is finally kidnapped Li goes to help her and is gifted the cursed sword Chi Mud to aid him by a woman who saved his life after a fierce battle with Lin's henchman. Turns out Ying Chih is Hua's daughter. In a very awkward moment after returning the man's daughter, Li asks if they could duel. After that interlude, the bodies start stacking up.

For a 1980 martial arts film, The Sword was slow, melancholic, and artfully done. Director Patrick Tam used beautiful framing and compositions combined with dramatic lighting. 1980's synth music was utilized for the soundtrack which actually worked quite well for setting the mood. The film asked how it felt to get what you wanted. Were the costs in innocent lives worth a lifetime of trying to beat and be the best? For the lone swordsman was the emptiness and loneliness of the lifestyle a satisfying tradeoff to feed one's pride and ambition?

The stunt work and fight choreography were acrobatic and quick. Despite being a more thoughtful movie, it did have gruesome ends to some of the fights. There were not only the traditional impalements, but one person decapitated himself and another was split in half. Chi Mud, much like The Ring of Power, was infused with hate and malice, and considered an evil sword. And just like the ring, it orchestrated the deadly destiny of several lives.

Adam Cheng played the conflicted and ambitious swordsman well. As Li weighed some of his exploitive actions, his life goals began to change. Norman Chu can be counted on to give depth to a villainous character and he did. Tien Feng, often cast as a baddie, was sympathetic as the aging considerate swordsman who cared for those around him. Jade Hsu found just the right balance as the firebrand daughter. She was forced to act idiotic for a scene but the writers finally put Ying Chih back on the right path. Eddy Ko, in a mostly silent role, made for a frightening henchman. Overall, the acting was quite good, especially for the genre.

The Sword was an excellent martial arts film for 1980 in comparison to so many others made during this time. The scenery, settings, and costumes were of a higher quality than most. For those looking for non-stop action, this might be a disappointment because it takes its time developing Li's character arc and the stakes being played for. The movie ends on a mournful note as Li moves beyond what he has been taught about honor and begins to understand that the real world has real consequences for his prideful actions. I would definitely recommend this film for fans of the genre. As always, I rate pre-1990 niche dramas on a curve.

6/27/23

*Many sites use a copy and pasted synopsis that says a swordsman and a samurai team up to find a blade. There is no samurai in this film, my guess is that it's either for a different movie or someone wrote a synopsis who had never seen this film.

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"...and life will get better and better..."

To Live aka Lifetimes put Zhang Yi Mou and Gong Li in the penalty box for two years due to what was considered a critical view of some of the Chinese government's policies. The film followed a family from the Civil War in the 1940's into the Cultural Revolution. The little family chose to adapt and to do what was necessary to live as the volatile political climate changed around them.

Xu Fu Gui (Ge You) was an inveterate gambler married to Jia Zhen (Gong Li) with a young daughter and a baby on the way. His gambling caused him to lose the family mansion and his wife. Fu Gui lived in dire poverty with his mother as he attempted to sell thread and needles on the street. Jia Zhen came back to him with his daughter, now a mute due to a fever, and a baby boy when she heard he'd stopped gambling. Gifted a box with an elaborate shadow puppet set by the same man who maneuvered him into his losses, Fu Gui created a traveling troupe and took his show on the road.

While on the road, Fu Gui and his friend Chun Sheng become conscripted into the Nationalist army where they pull canons and entertain the troops with their shadow puppet show. The Red army overruns the Nationalist army and they end up doing the same thing for the other side. Fu Gui is finally able to go home and he finds a very different environment. His wife and kids are selling and delivering drinking water. Nui, a local communist leader oversees their neighborhood. Long Er, the man who ended up with their mansion was executed for being a counterrevolutionary after burning the house when the government tried to confiscate it. Fu Gui declares it's good they are poor and that he'd lost their house or he would have been the one executed.

The 1950's arrive and during the Great Leap Forward everyone is required to "donate" all of the iron items they own leaving them without cooking utensils. As Nui states, "We're racing toward communism and you're worried about food?" You Qing, their son, fights back against his sister's bullies and the family is almost labeled saboteurs. The next morning, after very little sleep he and all of the other young school boys are required to smelt iron. His mother tries to keep him home but Fu Gui is afraid of the repercussions if the child doesn't go. Tragedy strikes and an old family friend is reminded that he owes them a life.

The 1960's bring the Cultural Revolution. Fu Gui is ordered to burn his shadow puppets or risk being declared a capitalist. The neighborhood and homes are covered in Mao propaganda and images. Their daughter Feng Xia is wed to a lame Red Guard leader at a factory. When the time comes for her to birth their child, her parents discover that all of the doctors and medical professors have been imprisoned for being reactionaries with only young student zealots left. Feng Xia's husband brings an imprisoned doctor to help, but he's starving and of no use.

Some of the family's own choices led to their suffering as in Fu Gui's disastrous gambling habit. But the political situations had more than their share of tragic effects on the family. The lack of sleep so many suffered from caused a death. Locking away doctors and intellectuals left people vulnerable to unskilled students. With only one party, corruption or paranoia could lead to innocent people being arrested as capitalists, especially when no dissenting opinions were allowed.

Fu Gui's shadow puppets became symbols for part of the story's theme. Initially, they were used only for entertainment with the artistic freedom to make the show lewd or comical. Later the puppets told more propagandistic stories. Eventually, Fu Gui was forced to burn them lest their feudal and subversive nature land him in prison. His family became part of the neighborhood theater instead. When Feng Xia married, the song sung, toasts given, pictures taken, and even the presents all revolved around Mao. They didn't even have the freedom to say, "thanks, that's just what we needed, another Mao statue/picture/mural/book" as they glance over at the table and walls filled with them. The family never complained as the political landscapes changed, they merely dressed the part and endeavored to recite the party lines whatever they were. Only at You Qing's grave did the family crack, removing their masks and let loose their true feelings toward the governmental perpetrator.

The performances were phenomenal. Ge You gave an outstanding performance as the complex Fu Gui. He won a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film also won the Grand Prix award. Gong Li's part was smaller as the wife and mother, but her performance was powerful and compelling. Her tears, dignity, and rage pulled me in and never seemed contrived.

To Live showed how people adapt and survive even in tumultuous and dangerous times. The family conformed and persevered clinging to each other in order to live. Once he kicked his gambling habit Fu Gui realized why he wanted to live---his family. "There's nothing like family." Despite tragedies, Jia Zhen only desired "…a quiet life together" and repeatedly and doggedly chose to live. Together they weathered the political changes that created financial and social upheavals in their lives, never letting hope completely die. As Fu Gui declared to his grandson, "life will get better and better" without any evidence that it would yet he still chose to live in expectancy. To Live used the political changes as a structure to show how people are able to endure and to live with dignity even when the world tumbles around them. Zhang Yi Mou made a beautiful film about the tenacity of the human spirit and one well worth trying.

6/9/23

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"A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children"

Love and Duty featured another Ruan Ling Yu tragic character who suffered for making a wrong choice. Old films are not forgiving of women who stray so you know going into this story to buckle up and be prepared for a boat load of pain and at two-and-a-half hours, Ruan's character was on a sinking ship of misery.

The film covered over two decades in the life of Yang Nei Fan (Ruan Ling Yu) starting when she was a school girl. She and a boy named Li Zu Yi (Jin Yan) begin to have feelings for each other, but before anything can get started her father declares she is to be married to a rich young man in a month. With no say in her own life, she is ignored when she begs her father to not force her to marry at such a young age. The marriage ends up being filled with awkward silences, though intimate enough they have two children. When her son falls into a pond and is rescued by Li the two are excitedly reunited. She invites him to meet her husband which he agrees to. While her husband, Huang Ta Jen, is out with his mistress the two begin to connect emotionally, all being witnessed by the troublesome servant Fox. They begin to spend more and more time together until Li gives her an ultimatum. Either she runs away with him or he kills himself. Because she doesn't have grounds for divorce, she would be abandoning her family illegally. When the time comes for her to leave, Li tells her she can't bring the children which she finds to be devastating.

The affair is covered in all the papers and though the lovers take on new identities it's not long before they are discovered and Li has trouble holding down a job. Meanwhile, Nei Fan becomes pregnant. Tragedy strikes leaving her in an even more precarious position. As time passes the younger generation fatefully becomes entwined leading Nei Fan to make a drastic decision.

Love and Duty was a film thought lost for many decades. A copy of it was discovered in Uruguay in the 1990's and was given to Taiwan and is currently stored at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. The copy I watched had one, sometimes two running clocks on the screen as well as the TFAI stamp on the screen. The film is being shared not only for entertainment purposes but also for research and teaching purposes. There was no music accompanying the version I watched.

The performances were for the most part strong, but the acting style felt dated. There was more overacting than I've seen with quality silent films from this era. Ruan Ling Yu was a special actress who sadly took her life at the age of 24. She was quite young here but still conveyed a wide range of emotions first as an effervescent student and then a tired older woman. She also played her grown daughter with Huang.

With some older silent films, the tragic life of a female lead serves as an indictment on society's treatment of women. This story came across as a cautionary tale of what happens when a woman does not do her duty. The audience is repeatedly told that Nei Fan is unforgivable and a sinner with no path to redemption. She is only worthy of heartache, poverty, shame, and pain. "A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children." The film felt longer than 2 ½ hours and could have been trimmed without losing anything important. It was difficult to watch this woman being ostracized throughout much of the film for making a bad life choice. Her husband who spent much of his time with his mistress suffered no ill effects.

Despite it's unforgiving tone, Love and Duty was an interesting historical piece of entertainment and a peek into the troubling moral code of the day regarding women. Ruan Ling Yu didn't star in many films during her short life and many of those have been lost to time. Though not as strong as other films of hers I have seen it was a gift to be able to watch this talented actress in this rescued film.


5/24/23

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Tony is on fire!

Tony Jaa showed the world the fierce beauty that is Muay Thai in Ong Bak. It helps when watching this movie to recognize that Tony worked without wires, without CGI, and without stunt doubles. Fast, acrobatic, and incredibly limber he did moves that will leave your jaw gaping.

Plot? The story scaffolding holding up the film was exceptionally thin. Tony's Ting goes to Bangkok after his village Buddha's head called Ong Bak is stolen by a drug dealer. He meets up with a cousin and his female friend/"sister"/girlfriend who spend their time gambling or fleecing gamblers. The Big Bad loses a ton of money on the fights in his fight club when Ting accidentally becomes involved in them and defeats all comers. Unlike his cousin, Ting doesn't fight for money or gamble, all he wants is the Ong Bak back.

From start to finish, whether it was the villagers racing to the top of a tree or Ting racing through Bangkok leaping over cars, sliding underneath a moving car or flying up a wall (no wires, remember) the action came fast and often. The fight scenes in the club were brutal. There were no holds barred and everything in the room could be used as a weapon. Ting was even hit with a refrigerator! At one point in a different setting, Ting continued to fight with his pants on fire! Most moments of glorious flight ended in an acrobatic dismount. Even the pickiest judge would have given him a 10 for form and style.

I pity the stuntmen who took the hits in this movie, because even with padding there were numerous hits and kicks that were going to leave a mark afterward. Some of the falls were Sammo Hung hitting the ground hard falls.

The director made use of slow-mo as well as showing impressive stunt scenes repeatedly from different angles just in case you missed something spectacular or your eyes refused to believe what they were seeing the first time. Tony trained for several years in Muay Boran, a predecessor to today's Muay Thai, for this movie. To say he was dedicated to his craft would be an understatement.

Grading this movie was tough. Story: C- Acting: C- Cinematography: C Fight scenes/fight choreography: A

Most people know going into a movie like this you aren't going to see great acting or be entertained with a compelling story. This is a pure smash mouth, elbow hitting, shin kicking, pants on fire, good time with one of the most energetic and acrobatically gifted fighters of his time. No wires, no CGI, no stunt doubles. No problem.


5/18/23

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"Gossip is a fearful thing"

When I watched Ruan Ling Yu in The Goddess I was mesmerized by her performance. It was honestly one of the best performances by an actress I had seen in a long time. Discovering that she had taken her own life at such a young age was crushing. Center Stage was a strange amalgam of documentary and movie about her captivating and tragic life.

In one of her best performances, the ethereal Maggie Cheung played Ruan. During an interview she stated she could understand how Ruan must have felt finally going from secondary "wall flower" roles to having serious roles offered to her. Maggie had plenty of ditzy female characters on her resume before this film and afterwards would go on to star in such films as In the Mood for Love and Hero. In much the same way Ruan had suffered from gossip, Maggie also understood the vicious nature of gossip about actors' personal lives

The set-up of the film did not work for me. Ruan was a gifted actress with a sad, yet fascinating life. The back-and-forth between re-enactment and interviews and behind the scenes shots destroyed the rhythm of the story. It was very distracting when the film cut from a disturbing scene straight to an interview with a 90-year-old who knew Ruan. Some of the interviews and speculations did not line up with the timeframe of the story as it was laid out which could make the following scenes confusing. Due to the film's structure, I was always aware that people were acting and it destroyed my emotional connection to what was happening on screen. For me, it would have been far better if they'd shown the interviews after the film along with the behind-the-scenes shots. Having the director yell that he could see Maggie breathing and then show them reshooting the scene and then presenting what was supposed to be a sorrowful funeral felt emotionally false.

When the movie had longer stretches of showing Ruan's story instead of people telling us her story, it was much more meaningful. But just as the joyful or sorrowful moods would crescendo, there would be a startling halt and a cut to the documentary.

Ruan Ling Yu was a stunning actress who lived a tumultuous life, having had three different lovers who contributed to some if not most of her problems. Two of the men were married with multiple mistresses and her first love was an inveterate gambler and womanizer. They cost her dearly financially and personally. Because of the constant tonal shifts in the film there would be no catharsis for the viewer at the end as the gossipy papers and people wrought devastation on her life pushing her into a corner, she saw only one way out of. By the time of the funeral scene, it felt more like a sterile documentary with high-end re-enactments one might find on television.

What kept my attention was Maggie's performance and her insightful interviews. The film also had clips and images from Ruan's films no longer available. I found the business aspects of the film informative, more so when they let the characters show the business dealings instead of the documentary telling about them. There were so many sides of this complicated woman to explore which were not touched on, such as---Why did she always choose cruel, unavailable men? Much of the action took place when Japan had invaded Manchuria causing political and financial upheavals which were barely touched upon.

When Ruan starred in New Women, based on a real actress who had been hounded by the press and committed suicide, it exposed an unflattering and malodorous side of the press. Instead of self-reflection and changing of their ways or going after the men in the film or the studio, they turned on her and hunted her relentlessly, plastering what they wanted to about her private life in their rags. I felt the film let me down with explaining the ex-lover's story and how he was legally tied to her. Born a wealthy man, his family disapproved of Ruan, the reason he gave for not marrying her. He burned through his money gambling, then turned to Ruan to support him. When she tired of dealing with him, she broke it off. They had never been married and yet he sued her for support and later for adultery. The last lawsuit seemed to be the final straw for her along with the cruel gossip.

The film's stuttering style failed to affect me emotionally. Which is a shame because I have been quite curious about this talented woman. Ruan Ling Yu's life was more dramatic and heartbreaking than most of her films. Though Ruan had a couple of female friends, an adopted daughter, and at least one lover at any given time, she seemed utterly alone and vulnerable. She was no match against the power of the poisoned pen and wagging tongues in combination with her devious ex at the young age of 24 or 25, especially during a time of crisis for her country. Dying at the pinnacle of her career caused Ruan Ling Yu to become a screen legend. In her suicide note she wrote that she was not afraid of death. "My only fear is the malicious gossip." Nearly one hundred years later too many young entertainers are still dying because of malicious gossip. Gossip truly is a fearful thing.

5/9/23

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