Father Geek here at the Geek Headquarters Compound in the hills of Central Texas with another Thursday edition of our regular weekly column on Asian Cinema from Darius25 and AccSpy... as is the usual case I have some info that found its way thru our barbedwire fences directly to my international editing work station...
I was lucky enough to see Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell)'s Avalon at the Cambridge Film Festival yesterday, and since the film will be coming your way courteously of Miramax sometime later this year I thought I'd share my thoughts. Basically, the film is a wierd hybrid between Matrix/final fantasy and Eraserhead!
[Warning, some spoilers ahead]
> Its a dark, brooding film with exceptional
,if sparsely used, CGI. Set in a post-apocalyptic Poland,
where a people compete in a military virtual reality
game for cash. Malgorzata Foremniak plays Ash,
(Apparently she was picked because of her similarity to
Major Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell). She plays
a warrier class soldier within the game, who's intent
on getting to a rumoured higher level . When not logged on (which involves
wearing a black headset sitting in a darkened room)
she's seen walking too and from her dark apartment
through burned out Suburbs of an unnamed city.
Mood is everything here - the whole film was apparently digitized
and a sepia filter applied to get the colors Oshii was after.
Her quest for the next level introduces her to Dariusz Biskupski's
character Bishop (yep, the main characters are Ash and Bishop,
looks like Oshii's seen Alien/s too many times), who is one
the "seven sisters" who created the game.
Only negative point is the pacing is a little slow, but it really
makes up for it with those cool war sequences!!
Call me DrSAW.
Hey Father Geek, You may or may not remember me, but I was the Pakistani guy present at Harry's book signing in London. And after all these years of following your site religiously, I have finally been compelled to write to you. And the reason is Pakistan's first international feature in 15 years, described by one critic as the 'Lawrence of Arabia' of the Subcontinent
Click Here to Read.
Zar Gul Just Click For More Info is currently being showcased in Beyond Bollywood -- A Tour of Contemporary South Asian Cinema, from June 2 until Aug 28, in the United Kingdom.
It is already a winner of four international awards including Best Director and Best Film. It most recently won the winner of the 2002 Best Foreign Film award at the Hollywood Underground Film Festival, held May 2002 in Hollywood, Ca.
Although this film was made in 1998, it has been showing at film festivals around the world ever since. Harry, I know you like to champion worthy unknown films and if ever there was one, this is it. It deserves to be seen on the big screen. Spread the word so it may finally get the wider release it deserves. Pakistan and all Pakistani's like me will be eternally grateful to you.
Cheers...
Waqas aka 'NeVerMind'
Ok.. it's not a lot of news, but Stephen Chow's making a new flick, it's going to be called "Kung Fu College".
Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia is going to distribute and put
up some money.. but that's all I have...
And here's info on some other films in the works over here....Golden Zenith - Zhang Ziyi (attached);
So Close II - It won't be released until August;
Warriors of Heaven & Earth - He Ping (Diretor)with Jiang Wen, Kiichi Nakai,
Zhao Wei, Wang Xueqi;
Missing Gun - Lu Chuan (Director) with Jiang Wen, Ning Jing, Wu Yujuan, Liu
Xioning; then there are the
New listings of Columbia Asia:
Monkey King,
No Thieves,
Underwear Godfather (fka Yakuza Side Story), and
Very Very Story (Produced by Ang Lee)
Thats all for now from...
The Devil's Halo
- An update about last week’s news about the 20th Century Fox Bollywood film: It turns out that everything you’ve heard is true except for the fact that Ram Gopal Verma is not directing the film, but actually executive producing it. Fox has tied up with Verma’s production company and they have a struck a deal to produce 3 films, with the first being “Ek Haseena Thi (There Once Was A Beautiful Girl)”. Verma is too busy with his upcoming projects, including his next directed-film “Bhoot (Ghost)”, to direct this new film. However, like all of his other productions, Verma will be very much involved on the film in all aspects – from the script to the songs to the actual editing of the final cut. So expect a Verma-like film very much along the vein of “Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya (Love, What Have You Done?)”, “Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (Do Anything for Love)”, and the upcoming “Road”. As for this new film, the actual director is a yet another newcomer and Verma-protégé, Sridhar Raghavan. The romantic thriller stars Saif Ali Khan and Urmila Matondkar, and will start production in August. The expected release date is this January.
- More news on “Bhoot (Ghost)”: famous actress Rekha has joined the cast of this film, which includes Ajay Devgan as the protagonist/antagonist, and Verma-regular Urmila Matondkar. The casting is pretty much complete, and the film is about to start principal photography very soon. Ramgopal Verma is expecting to make this really fast and possibly release it by the end of this year.
- Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty have been signed to play the leading roles in director Mani Shankar’s “Rudraksh”. The film will have an extraordinary high budget for an action film, with most of the money going towards “proper” FX work. The film, which also stars Bipasha Basu and Isha Koppikar , was launched on July 10. It will be released in late spring/early summer next year.
- Producing legend B. R. Chopra has launched a new film, “Baghban (The Gardner)”, after more than a decade. The family drama, will also reunite the famous yesteryear pairing of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. The film, to be directod by Chopra’s son Ravi Chopra, will also feature Sameer Soni, Divya Dutta, Lillete Dubey, Rimi Sen and Paresh Rawal in prominent roles.
Here’s a pic of newcomer Rimi Sen (left), Hema Malini, and Amitabh Bachchan: Just Click Here Now
- Big news: the first pic from J.P. Dutta’s mega-epic “Line of Control” is finally released and man oh man, does it look good. Yeah it’s nothing but a standard group pic of the stars, but it’s still pretty damn AWESOME!! And one more thing, asides from the people in the pic, this war story stars Sunil Shetty, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Manoj Bajpai, Ashutosh Rana, Rahul Khanna, Himanshu Malik, Nagarjuna, Sanjay Kapoor, Karan Nath, Rahul Dev, Raveena Tandon, Amrita Arora, and Kareena Kapoor!!
Now then, here’s a pic of (back row) Bikram Saluja, SANJAY DUTT, Atul Kulkarni, (front row) AJAY DEVGAN, and Abhishek Bachchan: Check Them All Out Here
Last week’s new release was producer Vashu Bhagnani’s mega-starrer which also happens to be acclaimed actor Anupam Kher’s directorial debut. It looks like another one of those copy-cat family dramas, made in the wake of such acclaimed blockbusters as “Mohabbatein (Love Affairs)”, “Ek Rishta – The Bond of Love”, and of course, “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sorrow)”. However since it is directed by Kher (known to be a perfectionist), and does feature a plethora of decent actors led by Anil Kapoor and Waheeda Rahman, we do have some hopes of watching a normal popcorn film – at the very least.
It turns out that the film is just marginally satisfying – but only if you know what you’re getting into. For a movie that also stars Fardeen Khan (who’s decent at best) and Abhishek Bachchan (absolute the worst actor in existence), you won’t feel that bad when you’re walking out of the theatres. Anil Kapoor gives a decent performance (as expected) as Om, the eldest of the three brothers living under the same roof with their mother (Waheeda Rehman). Raising the family practically on his own, he’s the normal responsible father-figure who sacrifices everything for his family. His other two brothers though are not as responsible – Jai (Fardeen Khan) is a hotshot engineer whose main ambition is to work in the automotive industry, while Jagadish (Abhishek Bachchan) is the typical younger brother – rude, crude and out of control. The happy family thing doesn’t last for long when Jai marries an uptight snob (Urmila Matondkar) who moves him to the US. Om also gets burdened with financial problems and has to sell his ancestral house, while Jagadish gets kicked out of University for hacking into the school’s personal records. As a result, he leaves the family aswell. All three brothers get separated, but deal with their own problems (separately), conquer them and come back together again.
The main problem with the film is the very unoriginal script. Ok, you’ll tell me that most family dramas have the same basic concept and STILL turn out to be decent entertainers for the most part. You see, those films have something going for them – either good music, good drama or perhaps good acting (starpower). I’m sorry to say that this film has none of those elements. Acting is just strictly average. Anil Kapoor is a very good actor given the right kind of role – and he just about manages to salvage this film. His performance is very sincere and you feel sorry for them, but you’ll end up hating the other characters so much that you’ll wonder why Om even tries to get his family back together. Fardeen is ok at best – I didn’t dislike him, but he never did anything special. He’s probably here for the money (if any!). Abhishek Bachchan, hehe, has done a typically disappointing job – as usual. Ok, sorry, I do hate the guy but I will give credit when it’s due (ie. Akshaye Khanna’s performance in “Humraaz (The Confidante)”). Here, he just tries to be a very happy, obnoxious carefree guy but fails miserably at pulling it off. He tries to act very much like Hrithik in “K3G”, but I don’t think he comes anywhere close. And when he becomes all serious, then don’t even bother!! Waheeda Rahman appears in the film after an absence of 12 or 13 years, and man she has definitely AGED!! Now now, I have nothing against the elderly, but this woman (who is a legend in her own right) looks really tired here and she really looks like she gave it her best. Her acting is still ok, but again, she has done something like this many times in the past (ie. “Lamhe”) except she looks like she might collapse any second!! Out of the three heroines, only Urmila Matondkar succeeds in becoming her character – you hate the bitch from the get go and you still hate her at the climax. Mahima Choudhary’s wasted as Anil’s wife, while newcomer Tara Sharma has about 15 minutes of screentime. And those were some really SLOW scenes!
The direction isn’t that great either. Except for the fact that you KNOW it’s directed by Anupam Kher, you won’t feel his presence here whatsoever! Ok, so it is his first film, but the actor has built a considerable amount of reputation for himself, and none of this passes over to the actual film itself. Yeah scenes flow along pretty nicely, and the film has great pacing, but I haven’t seen anything special here that I would have seen if it was directed by Yash Chopra or Karan Johar. Heck, I think I saw better direction (or a more noticeable attempt) at Sanjeev Darshan’s “Ek Rishta” or Arjun Sablok’s “Na Tum Jano Na Hum (Neither of Us Know)”. Hell, I didn’t even see some of producer Vashu Bhagnani’s trademark touches like in his other films.
The bottom line is that this is a super-hyped blockbuster which fails to deliver on all levels. This one’s for fans of Anil Kapoor only. All of you can wait a couple weeks, when it’s released on DVD.
Urmila’s in this so I gotta post a pic: See Her Here
Mahima ain’t too shabby either: WOW!!!
And newcomer Tara’s definitely a looker: You Can Say That Again
And one pic of our heroes: (left to right) Fardeen Khan, Anil Kapoor, and Abhishek Bachchan: They're All Right Here
- Three award-winning actors, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang, will join Andy Lau in director Andrew Lau's "The Man Without a Shortcut (lit.title)". Eric has replaced Francis Ng in the last minute due to Ng's schedule to shoot a TV series. Andrew Lau has signed a two year-deal with Media Asia, in which he will make 4 films with the company. This project was initially produced by Andy Lau's Teamwork Pictures but the sudden shift is due to the fact that Andy is now involved in a lawsuit against a Teamwork co-financier. Andy and Tony, two of the brightest male stars in HK, haven't been in the same picture since 1990's cop flick "The Tigers". Also, famed cinematographer (and Wong Kar-Wai regular) Christopher Doyle is the cinematographer of this film!! Here’s a few pics from the shooting ceremony.
Andy Lau with a brand new look:
Click
Tony Leung Chiu-wai, with director Andrew Lau on the left:
Click Again
Another Tony, on his knees: Just Click Once More
- In a recent visit to HK as a representative of Australia Airline , John Travolta (who arrived in his private jet no less!) mentioned that he has had conversations with director John Woo for a possible third collaboration, this time a mafia drama project called "Gangsters".
- Since the Hollywood film "Love Letter", Peter Chan has been busy producing films with his Applause Pictures (including recent success "The Eye"). Peter is back in the director’s seat this year to direct one of the three segments in a horror anthology flick (with the other two directors from Korea and Thailand). The film stars Leon Lai in one of the leading roles. Here's the first look at the poster:
Click Here To See It
- Carina Lau ("La Braissere") will join Sammi Cheng in Stanley Kwan's next film. Carina will next be seen in the La Braissere sequel, fighting new castmate Rosemund Kwan over Lau Ching-wan.
- For last weekend's box office in HK, "Men in Black II" claimed no.1. "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts" was not far behind in no.2. The only film making its debut in the top 10 was "Kandahar", which landed at no.6.
Father Geek back with more...
And then there was this that you will find interesting...
Father Geek back one last time simply to say ... Here's Darius25...
Asia-AICN
Hey all, hope you’ve had a great week. We’re back with lots of cool new info for you, including news on “Ek Haseena Thi (There Once Was A Beautiful Girl)”, “Bhoot (Ghost)”, “Rudraksh”, “The Man Without a Shortcut”, director Peter Chan’s new film, and a new John Woo film called “Gangster”. I’ve also reviewed Bollywood’s latest release “Om Jai Jagadish”, and we have pics from the film along with pics from “Baghban (The Gardner)”, “Line of Control”, Peter Chan’s new film, and “The Man Without a Shortcut”.
INDIA
OM JAI JAGADISH
CHINA / HK
Here’s the latest report from AccSpy:
We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@rogers.com. See you all next week.
Darius25
