Father Geek here with Albert Lanier and his take on several of the more strange little flicks screened at this year's HIFF...

OFFBEAT ENTRIES PART OF WEEKDAY LINEUP DURING HIFF

The Hawaii International Film Festival easily slid into the weekdays--the heart of the festival--with confidence after the opening weekend. Crowds were up thus far, several screenings were either sold out or were generally well attended.

However, some of the films tended to get stranger and stranger, at least during the late night slots.

Nov. 3 started off almost like a Technicolor blur for me. I saw most of the short doc REINCARNATION IN SHANGRI-LA then saw a half hour of the Czech feature GIRLIE and then saw all of the short film THE SWEET SPOT and ten minutes of Ash's THIS GIRL'S LIFE before heading over to Gordon Biersch at the Aloha Tower Marketplace for a HIFF Delegates or Filmmakers party (hey, I go to parties during film festival! s too, you know). Since those were abrupt film-watching experiences, I won't go into detail about those films.

I did hightail it from the delegate’s party in time to see the gay comedy MAMBO ITALIANO at Dole Cannery theatres at 7:15 p.m.

This over-the-top comic film takes place in Montreal, Canada. Angelo, the film's main character, is a former law student and wanna-be television writer who winds working as a travel agent to pay the bills.

Angelo comes from an Italian Immigrant family who emigrated to Canada looking for better opportunities (actually, in one funny scene, Angelo's father explains that they thought Canada was actually the "real United States" and it t! urns out they miscalculated ending up in the Great White North or the "fake United States). However, Angelo winds up breaking up almost an Italian family rule: Never move out of the House unless you're getting married. He finds an apartment which unfortunately is broken into, burglarized and slightly defaced (a certain 4-letter word referring to female genitalia is written in whipped cream on one of the walls in the apartment).

Enter Nino, a handsome young cop who responds to the call. Nino and Angelo used to be friends in elementary school but went their separate ways as they got older. Nino and Angelo start to resume their friendship. In fact, on a camping trip, Angelo and Nino become more than just friends in the privacy of their tent in the woods. Soon, the two men are living together and enjoying their time alone in the apartment.

However, Nino wants their relationshi! p to remain a secret. He likes living in the closet. It's preferable to his mother finding out that her sweet, adoring son is the apple of another man's eye or for his conservative police colleagues to find out that his straight arrow demeanor is actually aimed in another direction.

Angelo is uneasy with living a lie and during an argument with his parents blurts out that he is gay. If Angelo thought trying to be a TV writer and getting rejection letters faxed to him urging to quit because his writing was bad, he doesn't know how easy he had it.

Overall MAMBO ITALIANO is one hell of a comedic ride. MAMBO ITALIANO is crude but effective, a broad comedy that consistently goes for the jugular. Director Emile Gaudreault (who co-wrote the film's script along with Steve Gallucio) creates a comedic free-fire zone for the audience with one-liners, sight gags and gut-busting scenes shot like rounds from machine gun straight at theatergoers attending this movie. Luke Kirby as Angelo and Peter Miller as Nino serve as adequate lead performers in MAMBO ITALIANO but the real stars of the picture are Paul Sorvino and Ginette Reno as Angelo's father and mother. Sorvino and Reno are wonderful here because both actors know how to escalate their scenes, pushing the dialogue and comic situations until almost every laugh is drained out of the scenes they appear.

While MAMBO ITALIANO does work, the film admittedly as a straight film reviewer (I hate to label myself) , this comedy seems aimed and intended largely for a straight audience. I can't see a gay audience embracing Nino and Angelo who are largely conflicted, self-hating gays (after all, Nino prefers staying in the closet). In fact, in one scene Angelo blurts out that he has nothing in common with "those people" who live in the gay neighborhood of St. Elizabeth's Village in Montreal. In another scene, Angelo accidentally hangs up on callers while volunteering at a gay help line even demonstrating a blunt insensitivity to other callers.

The film's ending despite its happy veneer seems deliberately unresolved especially in regards to Nino. We kind of wonder how this guy will keep up his facade.

I ended the night by attending the sold-out World Premiere screenings of the 57-minute documentary MASTERS OF THE PILLOW and 11-minute politically-charged porn film YELLOWCAUST.

Yes, you are reading that correctly: a porn film. YELLOWCAUST was directed by University of California at Davis Asian-American studies Professor Darrell Hamamoto. The short sex film (actually billed as a Festival remix, there is a longer version scheduled to released in the future) followed MASTERS OF THE PILLOW, directed by James Hou, which documents the YELLOWCAUST shoot and features interviews with filmmakers such as Justin Lin of BETTER LUCK TOMORROW and Eric Byler of CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES as they talk about Asian sexuality.

Hamamoto is also interviewed in MASTERS OF THE PILLOW. The UC Davis Professor decided to shoot a porno film with an all Asian American cast partly because there almost no Asian-American males present in American sex films (Asian females are numerous however) and Hamamoto wants to change that reality. The other reason stems from Hamamoto's desire expand the parameters of Asian American sexuality in opposition to the ! dominant stereotypes and archetypes of Asian American men (non-threatening asexuality) and women (exoticized hyper sexuality). Hamamoto's theoretical framework is found in his essay THE JOY FUCK CLUB which discusses his take on Asian American sexuality.

Since I don't review porno films, I will not reveal my analysis of YELLOWCAUST or lay bare a complete dissection of the film (you should see my written notes on this flick). However, I did find MASTER OF THE PILLOW to be a fairly effective documentary that explores a fascinating subject.

The jam-packed Honolulu audience that saw the film that Monday night obviously found the doc and the porno interesting enough to sit through. I actually got the chance to meet and interview Hamamoto who was present that night in Honolulu for the scr! eening and took questions and answers from the audience afterwards.

Just talking with Hamamoto provided one of the most surreal moments of this fest for me. Whether you agree with this academic who aims to become an "Asian Larry Flynt" or you think he is just a dirty old man with a PhD, Hamamoto at least has my respect for following the courage of his convictions (even if I would have things differently if I were in his position). So much for the old bump and grind...

AUDIENCES STILL FLOCK TO FILMS ON DAY 4 OF FEST

The 23rd edition of the Hawaii International Film Festival wrapped up its opening weekend on Nov. 2 with a surprisingly strong audience turnout.

The first film I saw on Sunday—DRIFTERS--happened not to be sold out but then again, as festival veterans know, not every screening can be a sell out.

The Taiwanese drama DRIFTERS is actually set in mainland China. The film's protagonist Er Di formerly lived as an illegal in the U.S. While working in a restaurant in the States, Er Di had a coupling with da! ughter of the owners of the restaurant resulting in the birth of a little boy. The child's relatives demanded that Er Di sign a paper waiving any claim of paternity to the boy on his part. In return, Er Di was allowed to see his son but not to tell the boy that he is his father. The scheme seemed to work for a while until Er Di got tired of denying his parentage and tried to tell his son that he was his father. In retaliation, Er Di finds himself deported back to China by his son's relatives.

Most of this information is provided to a viewer during a conversation Er Di has with his brother. These facts are important because the major plotline of DRIFTERS revolves around Er Di and his son. This is primarily because the little boy has arrived in Er Di's hometown in China to visit his cousins and other relatives. Er Di tries desperately to see him by heading up to the home of the boy's local relatives and being turned away and by trying to crash his birthday party in order to give him a gift only to be thrown out once more. Er Di seems lost throughout most of DRIFTERS. His sole emotional column of support being his love for a son who does not know him as a father. Er Di spends his time eating at his brothers' house and watching his Beijing Opera actress girlfriend perform while standing behind the makeshift stage set up for the production. Even that romance seems to be a hesitant liaison, failing to achieve romantic velocity at times.

Er Di's brother raises the stakes by kidnapping his sibling's son so as to give Er Di the chance to see and connect with his child. This reunion doesn't ! last for very long though. Local police step in to return the child to his other family members. Er Di and his brother wind up in jail (though mostly for assaulting a police officer, the kidnapping charges have been dropped). After several days in jail, Er Di gets out. He eventually meets up with his girlfriend who has ditched the opera troupe and made off with thousands of Yuan. The two decide to take their chances and make a fresh start elsewhere...

DRIFTERS may be set in China but the film obviously contains the flavors and nuances of Taiwanese features: the sense of disconnection, the hollow feeling of being, sadness disguised in silence. The central story which focuses on Er Di's struggles to see his son is watchable and interesting at times but DRIFTERS seems too mired in its own swamp of sadness and lethargy.

Writer and Director Xiaoshuai Wang has some material worth developing but I think part of the problem is Er Di's status as an ex-illegal. This fact hangs about the film like a Damocles sword.

The main drama seems more like a large diversion to keep us watching until the director can focus back on whether Er Di should run off or stay in China. In the end, the most interesting aspects of DRIFTERS are explored slightly but not delved into deeply leaving me with an incomplete feeling in regards the film's characters.

HOTEL HIBISCUS is as sunny as DRIFTERS is morose. This Japanese feature is set and shot in Okinawa and revolves around the occupants and proprietors of a small two story hotel--the Hotel Hibiscus.

HOTEL HIBISCUS largely follows the lead of its pint-sized main character Mieko. The diminutive Mieko is part of an "international family"--her older brother Kenji is half black, her older sister Sachiko is half Caucasian. Both siblings are the result of romantic liaisons their mother had with servicemen stationed at an American Army base outside of town. Mieko's father is an easygoing sort who sleeps most of the day. His wife--Mieko's mother--goes off at night to support he family by working at a local bar. She might as well because the hotel seems to uncontaminated with guests, paying or otherwise. Mieko is a bold, brash, loud girl. The type of tiny female who might punch a boy in the chest who's either been mocking her father or irritating her in some way.

HOTEL HIBISCUS is largely segmented into title card punctuated episodes though a plot thread of sorts does exist. For example, mom and Sachiko leave ! for the U.S. to see Sachiko's dad at one point in the film and then come back at the end of the picture indicating some resolution). HOTEL HIBISCUS ended up being a wonderful surprise. A funny, slightly touching film that has one foot set in Okinawan folklore and legends and the other anchored in eccentric humor.

Director Yuji Nakae demonstrates an assured hand her for both gentle and offbeat comedy. This comic content might be very broad at times but Nakae (who co-wrote the screenplay) never loses cuteness and charm which permeates the picture.

HOTEL HIBISCUS is like a sunnier, happier, more magical counterpart to THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE but without the locker-room sexuality and perverse passions found in that more adult film.

Next up was the 63-minute documentary REFUGEE and the 20-minute short doc I THINK ! IN WHITE. Both were American films.

REFUGEE--in competition this year for the fest's Golden Maile award for Best Documentary--shined the spotlight on three Cambodian immigrants: Mike Siv, Paul Meas and David Mark. The three pals have largely been raised in San Francisco's Tenderloin District and decide to take a trip to Cambodia to visit and catch up family members they haven't seen in years.

Mike Siv, who is major subject of the doc, has a lot of questions for his father who has lived in Cambodia for years and has a new family by another wife. Siv is pleased to meet his father but at the same time he feels that his father has to explain himself to him. Siv asks his father why he didn't immigrate to the U.S. during the warfare that raged in Cambodia in the mid-70s, why he chose to stay and why he never thought about reuniting with his original family.

REFUGEE left me cold. This homecoming type of doc can always provide watchable and emotionally wrenching material (take a look at DAUGHTER FROM DANANG for example) and REFUGEE is worth a glance at initially.

However, the filmmakers who made REFUGEE can't funnel these tearful reunions and insightful conversations into a sharp, powerful documentary. Maybe I was put off by two men featured here--Paul and David—who seem to have an urban, hip-hop oriented kind of demeanor that pissed me off. Mike Siv gets to voice most of the few profound questions and comments in this film but even his inquisi! tive and searching persona can't save the film.

REFUGEE comes off as a seriocomic, self-indulgent doc instead of a funny and insightful journey into family separation and reconciliation. On the other hand, Crystal Liu's I THINK IN WHITE is both humorous and observant. This short doc trains the camera's eye on Liu's family including her father, a pharmacist by education who enjoys playing keyboards and guitar and singing American pop tunes. By focusing on her family, Liu also exposes herself--her reactions and perceptions to being Asian and specifically Chinese-American.

Liu's presence is only as a voice-over narrator but when you're watching Liu's mother flipping through a Victoria's Secret catalog and her sister's response to being asked if there any "hot Asian guys" at her school, we sense Liu is beginning to appreciate her Chinese heritage--not a hokey sense of ethnic self-discovery-- but in a cautious and measured but still slightly appreciative way.

ARAGAMI--one of the two Duel project pictures from Japan--was the last film I saw on Sunday.

Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, ARAGAMI essentially features a minimalist storyline pared down to its essence: a samurai warrior seeking rest for the night in a nearby castle find himself squared off against a aging demon in human form who hopes this samurai will be skillful enough to best him sword fighting and send into the great unknown.

ARAGAMI is simple but effective. Kitamura does a skillful job at mixing up the shot selections--not just settling for the standard wide two--shot scenes but going for fast pans of the protagonists and overhead shots that keep the audience involved in the visual action. Granted, ARAGAMI! is shot on one set (which looks like a performance art version of a Buddhist temple) and only features two major characters but this film doesn't feel claustrophobic or bottled up.

ARAGAMI takes a modest story and tells it effectively with a certain feeling of fatigue and exhaustion settling in on the demon character. This Japanese duel/action film which fits the parameters of the Duel Project bet between Kitamura and Yukihiro Tsutsumi (who directed 2LDK which was also screened at HIFF this year) turned out to be just the tonic I needed for a late night flick.

Albert signing out…