Father Geek back with our entire Asian crew back together again. Yes... not only Darius25, but this week's column features the return from vacation of AccSpy and the Hong Kong beat, and pigmon and the latest from Tokyo. Buuuuuut first ol' Father Geek here in Texas has some info for you...

I'm the guy that just bombed on that Feardotcom piece of *#& a week or so ago. You may or may not have use for this piece I'm sending, as the movies I'm going to review are neither "new" nor without review elsewhere on the net. Yet I thought I'd write it up and send it in because your site needs more news about the mad genius known as Takashi Miike.

I just had the pleasure of viewing two of his more recent films (this Japanese workaholic does seven movies a year!) Visitor Q and Ichi The Killer - both were done in 2001.

Those two films, along with the brutally brilliant Audition (1999) have convinced me that this guy is the king-of-all-cinema in the world today and I'll fight to the death anyone who says otherwise!! Okay, maybe I won't fight till the death but I will argue convincingly.

Why? What other director would open a film with its title emerging from a puddle of the hero's spooge? What other director would have its hero rescue an abused woman and then accidentally slash her throat open, causing a bloodbath that makes Shogun Assassin look like The Country Bears? None that I know of. But exploitation isn't the name of the game when it comes to Miike - much more is at work in his films; something a lot more meaningful than the exploitative thrills of the grossouts mentioned above.

Visitor Q, shot on DV, starts with a salary man being propositioned by a high school girl in a Tokyo love hotel. Kenichi Endo, in a performance so brave it makes Keitel's romp in The Bad Lieutenant seem chicken shit in comparison, plays this salary man, who also happens to be the girl's father. They soon strip naked, he goes down on her and they end up having sex. The scene, as wacko as it may sound, is mesmerizing. It gets so damn close to porno yet feels so much like art. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it. I didn't know whether I should have been offended, disgusted, amused, or in awe. In all honesty, I was all of those things.

And from that point on, the film just got darker, dirtier and much more dangerous. Takashi Miike takes every damn taboo he can think of and throws it up there on the screen for us to debate. Incest, parental abuse, fetishistic portrayal of lactating breasts, necrophilia - you name it, this film has it.

Anyway, while the salary man is paying to bone his own daughter, the salary man's son, so horribly bullied by his schoolmates (pissed on in one scene, no less!) he feels the need to turn his rage against his own mother and beats the living hell out of her. Thankfully the mother's addiction to H allows her a brief escape from her own living hell. When the salary man brings a stranger home, the aforementioned Visitor Q, a chain of events is set off that eventually in a beautifully gruesome way bring this disjointed and dysfunctional family back together again. Happy ending? You bet! At least I thought so. Then again, I am a sick #$*!

Anyway, I avoided spoilers as best I could - I think this film deserves to be seen with its surprises/shocks intact. If you think that what I've described above is pornographic, maybe you're correct. But is it art? Absolutely. Garbage? No f'n chance. I've seen Guinea Pig (albeit briefly) and ten miserable seconds of that pathetic woman-hating waste of time, seemed like eternity. Unlike that shit, Takashi Miike doesn't exploit his characters so much as he exploits us the audience. He demands our attention with imagery so perverse yet so beautiful, it's impossible to turn away. You may love it, you may hate it, but guaranteed, you'll never forget it.

Visitor Q is not a film for all viewers. It rips apart the Japanese nuclear family in only a way that Miike can do. Having lived in Japan for a few years and having seen the real-life rash of attacks by seventeen-year old high school boys (bus-jackings, murders, rapes, robberies etc.) over a short period of time and the wave of fear caused by this, I can understand where Miike is coming from. He's worried about the future of Japan. And he's throwing the blame everywhere. No one is immune. This film is an attack, make no mistake about it - a beautiful and brave attack.

See Visitor Q because Hollywood in a million years will never have the guts, balls or brains to do anything one tenth as daring or original as this film.

Which leads me to the phenomenal Ichi The Killer. You gotta love Ichi. He's a part-time failed waiter, peeping tom, explosive ejaculator who when wearing his black rubber suit with a big 1 on the back, is turned into a savage killer who slices and dices his enemies like a veg-o-matic gone mad. In one scene in particular, he slices off a yakuza dude's face and we get a nice long shot of the face sliding down a wall. I'd never seen that before.

There's a lot I hadn't seen before over the course of this film's two hours and it's a film that demands to be seen more than once - if you can stomach it. Again Takashi Miike is on the attack here. And in my opinion, he seems to be attacking violence in cinema. Call me crazy, that's just how I saw it.

You want violence in cinema? This film has it. Women are beaten and hacked to death, children are killed, men are gutted/split in half/torn apart; the scenes of blood and guts seem to follow Spielberg's ten minutes rule. I watched this film with a friend of mine and he thought the film crossed the edge of good taste about twenty or so times. He's not an easy guy to offend either.

But I think that was the point. Crossing the line of decency and good taste can sometimes force you to reconsider that line. What the hell is that line anyways? Why does it apply to some films and not others? I mean, if you want heroes, and you want bad guys, and you want action, and you want suspense, and you want sex, well then, this film has it all. And it delivers like a motherf@#er! Just like Spiderman.

The point is, whether or not you like Spiderman, if you're looking for entertainment, what really is the difference between Spiderman and Ichi the Killer? A bit of blood and guts and so called bad taste? So f'n what! Why is violence okay sometimes and not others? Is there such a thing as 'good' violence? Should Yoda whipping ass be any less disturbing than Ichi booting in some rotten bastard's skull? If so, why?

Cause Yoda's cute and green? Symantics, my friend, symantics. When you justify some violence and crucify others, you're crossing into hypocrite territory. Ichi The Killer is a great film to debate this use of violence in cinema. I think that was Miike's point. He wants to make hypocrites of those who would criticize his use of violence. I mean, it's a damn super hero story. Ichi kills bad guys! Just like Spiderman and Yoda. What's the diff?

Ultimately, if you love films by George A. Romero, the Coen Brothers, Tarantino, Scorsese, or you loved Battle Royal, then you MUST see this movie. BUY it on DVD (make sure you get the uncut version which is 129 min) and support the cause. Nothing like this movie has ever been made before and it deserves to be seen by all of us who are sick of those MPAA cock-knockers dictacting what type of world of cinema we should be living in. Ichi The Killer is a big F#$ you to Jack Valenti - Mr. PG-13 to Temple of Doom yet a NC17 to Clerks??? - here's some violence in cinema for ya Jack - suck one this one!

Ichi The Killer is one of my favorite films of all time and I'll recommend and force people to watch it for as long as I live. I've watched this film twice thus far and loved every damn second of it both times. I can't wait to watch it again.

While Hollywood murders the soul of cinema, and not one f'n movie plays up the street that's worth one red cent of my hard earned duckets, Ichi comes along and renews my faith in film.

Thank you Takashi Miike, you my friend, are a God amongst directors.

Hope you can use this, Shawn

Now here's the regular Thursday column and Darius25...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, hope you’ve been enjoying these last few days of summer as the fall season (and the busy work schedule) starts to creep in. We have a fully-loaded column for you this week, which has information on “Marigold”, “Police Force”, “Aitbaar”, director Johnny To’s “No Shortcuts”, “So Close”, “Aiki”, and “The Last Samurai”.

INDIA

- Some more rumours have appeared online regarding the Hollywood-Bollywood collaboration “Marigold”. It seems that Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Love Hewitt are up for the role of the titular character in the film, while Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, and Amrish Puri will make some sort of appearances. However, except for Salman Khan, none of the names have been finalized. The film is due to start shooting in February, with a release date of Winter 2002.

- More Bachchan news. The actor will headline an all-star cast for Feroz Nadiadwala’s upcoming production titled “Police Force”. The action film will also feature Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Jackie Shroff in leading roles. No female leads have been finalized as of yet. Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar (“Chandni Bar”), it will start shooting early next year.

- And yet some more Bachchan news. The actor’s collaboration with hit-maker Vikram Bhatt, “Aitbaar ”, was shelved due to budget limitations earlier this year. But with the success of two big hits this year (“Aawara Paagal Deewana” and “Raaz”), the producers have managed to secure enough funding to complete the project. Production is in full swing now and with a second schedule already complete, it looks like the film will be finished by the end of this year. Besides Amitabh Bachchan, the thriller also stars Bipasha Basu and model John Abrahams.

MAINE DIL TUJHKO DIYA (I Have Given My Heart To You)

Last week’s major release was this new action-romance from director Sohail Khan, who debuts here as a lead actor along with model Sameera Reddy. The pair are launched with the help of Sanjay Dutt, who provides major starpower needed for this low-key film to succeed.

The story is that of a typical Bollywood pot-boiler. Rich girl Ayesha (Sameera Reddy) comes to Bombay to enroll in a college, where she falls for middle-class student, Ajay (Sohail Khan). The relationship isn’t well-received by the girl’s father, Mr. Verma (Kabir Bedi), who hires a local goon (Sanjay Dutt) to rough Ajay up. Much violence ensues, but the couple end up together at the end.

The story may seem simple, yet there are plenty of attractions for fans of Bollywood cinema. The college hijinx is pretty decent with some memorable sequences, while nearly all scenes featuring Dutt are catered to the hot-blooded action fan. There’s also plenty of melo-drama for the girls, while we bloodthirsty fans get to watch Dutt beat the living crap out of Sohail Khan. However one warning though – the much hyped Dutt vs Khan clash isn’t ALL that – it’s good, but way too brief. However, Dutt does have some very cool fights in the climax.

The acting is pretty decent. Sohail makes an adequate debut on the other side of the screen. He kind of looks like his famous brother Salman, yet has enough different mannerisms to set him apart from the superstar. He can get away with the dramatic scenes, and isn’t too bad in the action department either. Sameera Reddy is also decent, but isn’t given much to do except to cry and look nice – both of which she does pretty well. Sanjay Dutt plays the negative gangster character yet again, and pulls it off with ease. He isn’t given much to do except to be a badass, and does his job very convincingly.

The direction is your standard run-of-the-mill variety. Sohail Khan has delivered some excellent films in the past (“Hello Brother” notwithstanding), but he doesn’t do anything here that sets it apart from any other films. Yeah the wire-fu is nice, but is used WAY too many times in the movie. Also, Khan’s reliance on sped-up then slown-down scenes reminded us that he’s just a wannabe director trying to use the latest trick and these scenes get annoying really fast. However to its credit the film does look quite polished. It may not be a big-budget production, but you won’t notice the difference. The cinematography is pretty decent, while the film is decently paced. The songs are typical filler-material, but are decent enough while you’re watching the film.

In the end, “Maine Dil Tujhko Diya” is nothing spectacular but is not really bad either. There’s some decent acting and good action sequences to keep you entertained for roughly 3 hours. This one could be skipped till it hits DVD, but watch it in theatres if you HAVE to see every Sanjay Dutt movie.

Newcomer Sameera Reddy looks pretty damn decent (with Sohail Khan): See Her Here

Another pic of the lead pair: Just Click

SOCH (Idea)

The second film released last week is a suspense thriller from newcomer Sushen Bhatnagar. The young director has crafted together a decent thriller with some suspenseful moments, yet is bogged down by the usual Bollywood clichés like the comic relief and unnecessary songs.

The film’s story is somewhat unique, even if it does remind of you of a Hitchcock-like thriller. Sanjay Kapoor stars as a famous film star, Raj, trapped in a disastrous marriage with a young starlet, Madhulika (newcomer Aditi Govitrikar), who’s excessively jealous and somewhat psychotic. His best friend is a hot new director, Preity (Raveena Tandon), who’s secretly in love with him yet cannot declare her feelings. Madhulika is always suspicious of her husband’s friendship with Preity and is always threatening to either kill the director or kill herself. The relationship is called into question when Madhulika is suddenly murdered and Raj is the prime suspect. Don’t worry folks this is not a murder mystery! The killer is Om (Arbaaz Khan), a psychotic stalker who has more than just murder on his mind. He comes in contact with Raj and proposes a deal, the nature of which I won’t reveal here. It is sufficient to say that the rest of the movie depends on a cat-and-mouse game between the two leads, and there are plenty of thrills till the violent climax.

However, don’t get your hopes up yet. What looks like a solid plot is ruined by unnecessary comedy segments, ridiculous songs, and some pretty cheesy acting. Sanjay Kapoor is ok at best. His character of a famous movie star would have made for an interesting twist had an actual movie star (ie. Shahrukh Khan, or Hrithik Roshan) played the role – but Kapoor is a mid-class actor at best and is therefore very unconvincing in certain segments. However he is decent during the high-tension parts, especially in the second half when he starts going over the edge. Arbaaz Khan is pretty good as the stalker and delivers a genuinely creepy performance. Raveena Tandon is horribly miscast as the director/love interest. She doesn’t look anything like a director and her “directorial” segments looks like she’s playing make-believe. The actress looks more comfortable playing the damsel in distress in the latter half of the movie. Newcomer Aditi Govitrikar has the most interesting role in the film, and pulls it off convincingly. Yet she’s onscreen for only 30 minutes and fails to make an impact by the time the end-credits roll.

The directing is decent through the suspenseful parts and is solid for almost all of the movie. Most of the scenes take place during nights and that’s fine, as is most of the local outdoor locations. However my main problem is that any tension from a particular scene is distracted by all of the songs and comic relief. Personally, the movie should have made with one (or maximum two) songs and no comedy whatsoever. And the ending isn’t as clever as one might expect – the unnecessary action sequence feels like a cliché in an otherwise unconventional subject.

All in all, “Soch” is a decent enough thriller if you watch it on video. The film has way too many problems and the cast isn’t huge enough (nor are the production values) for it to warrant a theatrical viewing.

Here’s a pic of the beautiful Aditi Govitrikar (with Sanjay Kapoor). Pity she doesn’t have a larger role: HOTCHA... HOTCHA...

CHINA

Here’s the latest report from AccSpy:

- Edison Chan, Kelly Chen and Elva Siu have joined Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-wai's "Mo Gan Doo (No Shortcuts)". They will play the younger Andy, Andy's ex-girlfriend and Tony's ex respectively. The much-anticipated film, which is slated to release in Christmas, tells a story about two childhood friends who head in opposite directions as a cop (Tony) and a triad member (Andy). The twist is that both of them go undercover for business purposes (ie, Andy is the cop, Tony is the triad member). The first glimpse of the set will be available in the coming weeks.

- Corey Yuen’s sexy thriller "So Close" will be opening in HK this weekend. Here's some pics from the premiere.

Shu Qi: Just Click Now

Vikki Zhao and Shu Qi: See Them Both With A Simple Click

Karen Mok: She's Right Here

- The news reported that only 30 HK films have been released theatrically until this week in HK, which is a new low quantity in HK film history. As for the latest HK box office - "XXX" debuted at no.1 with $2.26 mil. Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo's sequel comedy, "Mighty Baby", fell from no.1 to the second place, grossing $17 mil in 17 days, and already passing the total collection of the original, "La Brassiere". No.3 is co-director Peter Chan's first film in 6 years, "Three", which has star Leon Lai generating strong award buzz as a Chinese medicine doctor. It has grossed $6.1 mil since last weekend's debut and has also set the new record in Korea as the highest grossing Asian foreign film in history. "The Powerpuff Girls Movie", featuring voices of Kelly Chen, GCGooBi and Josie Ho in HK, debuted at no.4. "Unfaithful" and Spanish film "Talk to Her" entered at no.5 and no.7 respectively, while Michelle Yeoh's "The Touch" is at the final stage of its run at no.10 with a total grossing of $11 mil so far.

JAPAN

Here’s the latest report from Pigmon:

- The shooting for director Daisuke Tengan’s “Aiki” has now been completed. The drama, about a handicapped boy using Aikido to play wheelchair basketball, has been generating some rave reviews in the industry. Starring Haruhiki Kato and Ryo Ishibasi (Audition), the film will make its world premiere at Toronto in September, and will be released in Japan this January.

- The shooting for director Yoichi Sai’s “Keimusho No Naka (Inside Prison)” is also complete. Based on a popular manga, the black comedy focuses on the not-so routine lives in a high-security prison. The film stars Ren Osugi (“Brother”) and Tsutomu Yamazaki and will be released this January.

- Well-known documentary director Kazuo Hara is about to work on his feature film, titled “Matano Hi No Chika (Someday with Chika)”. Set between the 70’s to the modern day, the film tells the story of a woman named Chika and her various love affairs over the years. The main lead will be played by 4 major actresses – Takami Yoshimoto, Makiko Watanabe, Kumiko Kane, and Kaori Momoi. The film is due to release next summer.

- Some additional casting is underway for the Tom Cruise-Edward Zwick film “The Last Samurai”. The Meiji Emperor will be played by famous Kabuki actor Nananosuke Nakamura, while his teacher Katumoto Mori will be played by Ken Watanabe. Popular actress Koyuki has also joined the film as Katumoto’s daughter.

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@home.com. See you all next week.

Darius25