Bloodthirsty Catholics
I’ve not done a film review in a long time and to be honest I’ve not managed to keep up with Asian Cinema as much as I used to but this said I saw a Korean film over the weekend which is worth mentioning: Thirst (박쥐 – literally translated as “bat”).
From legendary director Park Chan-Wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I’m a Cyborg…) the film premiered earlier this year but has only recently come out on DVD so I finally had a chance to get hold of a subtitled copy. Anyone who’s watched his previous works will know that you’re in for a brutally visual tour de force and although it’s not nearly as extreme as Old Boy it does not disappoint. From the outset it’s a beautifully crafted narrative with excellent acting, a stirring soundtrack, luscious backdrops and a few good stunts which are genuinely exciting (unlike most of the todays CGI-fests).
As with all Mr. Chan-Wooks films it’s a bit difficult to know where to begin when explaining the story. Perhaps I could best sum it up as Catholic-vampire-noir but with very adult overtones which go way beyond your usual sharp-teeth blood-sucking clichés. At this point it’s worth pointing out that about one-third of South Korea’s 45 million population are Christian and numbers are growing faster than in any other country (in stark contrast to its decay in the west).
The story revolves around a troubled priest, Sang-hyun (played by Song Kang-ho), who works in a small hospital but is unsure about his vocation which is amplified by the death he sees around him. He volunteers to take part in an experimental drug trial in Africa with fails, leaving him with a particularly nasty and fatal disease but miraculously after a blood transfusion he recovers.
Returning to his home he becomes a local hero (a “bandaged saint”) and devoted parishioners, thinking that he has the gift of healing, flock to his services. One of the visitors is his childhood friend who invites him to his house to play mahjong with his family. There he meets his friend’s wife, Tae-ju (played by Kim Ok-bin), who he finds himself dangerously drawn to. We discover a particularly dysfunctional family with an overbearing mother who treats her grown son as a baby and his wife as their servant.
Suddenly one night Sang-hyun relapses and violently collapses only to wake up the next day a changed person with an increasing taste for blood (which he initially steals from comatose patients at the hospital). His personal demons return full force and from here on in things start to get crazy. He begins an affair with Tae-ju who is also pretty messed up, having been forced into her marriage, and the intensity builds with both willing each other to deeper extremes until finally murder is committed.
I wont give the rest away but sufficed to say it gets pretty horrific with much lustful blood-letting and general insanity. There’s also a hint of Shakespeare in here with multiple layers of subtext which will take repeat viewings to unravel. It adds a whole new dimension to the Catholic sacrament (whereby it’s actually believed that the wine is turned into Christ’s blood)!
Trailer (Korean Version):
Trailer (International Version):
Overall a unique take on the vampire concept with some thrilling twists but imperfect in its execution (7/10).
Forever Enthralled
Zhang Ziyi has a new film out next month (in China anyway) about the life of the late Peking opera master Mei Lanfang titled “Forever Enthralled“. It’s a slight departure from her former action roles (House of Flying Daggers etc.) but the trailer looks promising:
The director, Chen Kaige, has had mixed succes in the past so it will be interesting if this film is a return to form after his pretty but shallow previous outing, The Promise.
Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) is well known for having stood up to the Japanese occupiers in 1937, who liked his art but for whom he is said to have refused to perform, making him poor until the war finished in 1945.
I personally find Chinese Opera pretty incomprehensible and headache inducing but perhaps this can change my mind.
Overlooking The East
There have been some amazing advances in CG animation over the past few years with Pixar having a string of hits which seem almost unstoppable and meanwhile a new level of sophistication is emerging both in the visual style and story telling departments. What I find strange though is that the creative output of the Japanese animation (anime) industry is still largely ignored by the west (with a few exceptions) even though they produce more content than every other country put together. I would suspect this has something to do with the cultural gap which can be particularly evident if you are unfamiliar with that part of the world although for me makes it all the more interesting…
Recently I’ve seen two anime films which I’m sure most people will not have heard of but which use cutting edge animation to great effect and if you enjoy that sort of thing definitely worth getting your hands on -
Appleseed Ex Machina
Following on from first film in 2004 Appleseed Ex Machina takes the unique look to the next level in evidence by a greater depth of detail and texture than its predecessor. Whilst some of the character articulation needs work it’s still a visual feast to behold. Cyborgs and mecha eat your heart! [Review]
Vexille
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK6UwzLSQwk
Whilst borrowing on a similar visual style Vexille is an altogether darker film in both its appearance and tone. Set in a self-isolated Japan of 2077 the visuals are outstanding and, even though the score by Paul Oakenfold is unorthodox, it’s refreshing and compliments the excilarating action scenes. [Review]
Neither of the story lines here are totally unique and the character development is sometimes lacking but if you’re after eye candy they might just blow you away!
Ghost in the Shell Live Action
What exactly is the definition of human in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a fully synthetic body? Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical? Ultimately how do we define what it is to be human?
I’m not going to try and answer this today but these are the philosophical questions that form the basis of the futuristic manga and anime series ‘Ghost in the Shell‘ created by Masamune Shirow (first published in 1989). Whilst being nearly 30 years old the franchise is still alive and well with three movies, a TV series, game and trilogy of novels being spawned from it along with many aspects having slowly percolated into popular culture (it heavily inspired The Matrix).
With such a strong pedigree it’s rather worrying that Production I.G has sold the rights for a live-action movie to DreamWorks under the direction of none other than Steven Spielberg. For fans this is a pretty worrying development. Whist there is no denying Spielberg’s talent it’s an altogether different proposition when applying it to something like this, the main fear being that it will be severely dumbed down for a Hollywood audience.
If they can respect and stay faithful to the original maybe this has a chance but then again the likelihood of that is pretty low – the precedent is already pretty well established for ruining Asian cult classics.
Update (10/2009): Apparently Dreamworks has hired Laeta Kalogridis as lead writer (who also worked one of the Tomb Raider movies) along with Avi Arad (formerly of Marvel) and Steven Paul to produce what’s being called a “3D live-action film”. Anyone care to speculate what that means?
GO! GO! PiKAPiKA!!
We interrupt our usual coverage to bring you one of most unique short animated films I’ve seen in a long time from some very creative folks in Japan (all made without a single drop of CG):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zp-65Lwmh8
Using stop-motion animation and time-lapse photography techniques the film was shot in Tokyo over a period of 10 nights, using 77 people, different coloured flashlights, and a digital camera with a long exposure to capture over 16,000 frames (behind the scenes). It’s no small feat for a semi-amateur production and the end result certainly has the wow factor.
A group in Germany called Lichtfaktor do something similar for a living and have made some seriously cool tv ads which you can find on their website. It would appear to becoming a bit of a fringe art form with some calling it “light writing” or “light graffiti” but a whole lot less destructive than its spray-on counterpart (interview)!
You’ve got to wonder when Sony will commission someone like this to do a Bravia advert for them – it certainly has all the right visual elements to go with their “colour like no other” campaign.
Photo by Lichtfaktor
Painting with light is something which anyone can try fairly easily themselves, still images being the simplest. You’ll need a tripod and a camera which can do exposures of 10-30 seconds at around iso100 with as small an aperture as possible (plus a whole lot of practice and patience!).
Hello to Tomorrow
Eurostar, the high speed train which runs under the English Channel (through the Channel Tunnel) between London and Paris, has recently relocated to St. Pancras International station in London (from Waterloo). It’s grand new home, celebrated for its Victorian architecture and often termed the ‘cathedral of the railways’, features heavily in a recent TV advert for the service which clearly draws heavy inspiration from another classic (in style, if not in substance at least):
The Eurostar AD (2007):
Koyaanisqatsi (1982):
For an iconic film which so few people know of, but had such a deep impact on the way we viewed the world, it’s nice to see this little homage (complete with Philip Glass soundtrack). Even though purists may see this as denigrating the originals’ artistic integrity isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery?
From a purely marketing perspective it definitely gets the right message across.
More video segments from Koyaanisqatsi after the break…
The Machine Girl
In the world of ultra-violent Japanese films they don’t come much more insane than this:
NOTE: TRAILER NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
Yakuza, Ninjas, Sushi, Chainsaws, Flying Guillotines… it has it all! Where else in the world would you find a movie about a school girl seeking revenge on her brothers killers and the loss of her own arm (conveniently replaced with a gun)?!
I’m not saying the film will be any good but it might just be crazy enough to become a cult classic. [via]