Hey folks, Harry here... Jan is back with a third day of coverage at this year's TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL... and ya know what... for me, this is Jan's best report yet.... First up, Jan is talking about a bunch of films that we have little to NO knowledge of thus far... meaning.. this is our first word on these titles. Two... Every single review I read about Kitano's BROTHER gets me salivating... I can not wait to see this film.... WANT TO SEE IT NOW!!! Here's Jan....
Hi Harry, Jan Chik is right here, a crazy movie addict who is writing the latest movie reviews from TIFF at 1:30 a.m. By the way, I'm happy that there're many people reviewing films at TIFF right here, so we movie geeks can choose the right films at TIFF and pay attention for some movies that will be shown in theaters later on. BUT, before I'm going to write the reviews for the movies I saw today, I want to make an APOLOGY for my previous film review for Stephen Frears' LIAM. I mentioned that the movie is about an Irish family. Actually, the movie is about a British family who lived in the poor Irish community in Liverpool. However, the life they endure is just like any other Irish living in that community, which suffers poverty and stuff. WHY DID I MAKE SUCH A HUGE MISTAKE? Well, I was forced to write those reviews from the film fest very late at night because of the screening schedule. Plus, I gotta write in a very hasty manner because I wanted to go to bed as soon as possible for storing energy for the next day's movies. Anyway, I WILL NOT make this kind of mistake again. I'm now armed with notepads and stuff, so I'll write movie reviews right after the movie. Anyway, here are the films I saw today:
(1) April Captains; directed by Marie de Medeiros
Who is Marie de Medeiros? She is the actress who plays Bruce Willis' girlfriend in "Pulp Fiction." And I was just astounded that she is also a director who made such an impressive film. APRIL CAPTAINS is about the April Revolution in Portuguese history, one of the few revolutions in human history that didn't cost many casualties (only 7 people were killed....Is it 7? 5? Sorry, I didn't make notes for that, but it's below 10 for sure).
Like what Maire mentioned during the Q & A section after the film, the story is based on some autobiography written by the soldiers who participated the revolution. But the stuff they wrote was about some fun moments during this "bloodless" war, so you can't expect APRIL CAPTAINS is as gripping as SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Anyway, my guess is that they had "fun" moments simply because their revolution was successful.
Although the film is not perfect (not gripping enough, too many characters although they are all likeable), you know it's not an easy job for Marie to handle such a big movie. So, I was very impressed by this film.
By the way, being a Chinese myself, I feel both happy and jealous of the Portuguese success. They overthrew dictatorship without costing a lot. On the other hand, many Chinese were ruthlessly killed during the June 4th Incident in 1989, one of the darkest moments in Chinese history. Anway, let me move on to the next movie.
(2) Gohatto (Taboo): directed by Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Oshima is one of the most important directors in the film history of Japan. His films are often provocative, morally challenging. One of his famous films, "The Realm of Senses" (or something like "The World of Senses," depending on how you translate it), is a porn film that is anti-porn.
How about GOHATTO? It takes place in the late 19th century when Japan was dominated by the warlords. In one of the warlord clans, a young, potential samurai is recruited. But this guy looks like a girl, and very soon, many other samurai fall in love with him. Because of jealousy and internal rivalry, the solidarity within the clan starts to erode.
But perhaps Oshima is such a big shot, I expected GOHATTO would be a great film. However, the tune somehow turns comical halfway of the movie. I prefer the director to have stuck with the enigmatic atmosphere in the beginning. Also, there is not a clear conclusion for the real identity of the girl-looking guy. But Oshima is indeed a master. He can effortlessly build up an atomsphere that looks enigmatic and dangerous at the same time.
Well, is GOHATTO simply a homosexual film? It appears it is. However, I think the film is much more profound than that. It's about how a person's character can be easily destroyed his or her desire.
(3) The Girl; directed by Sande Zeig
The Girl, an American flick about two lesbian lovers, is a perfect test to see how long you can tolerate with a boring film. By the way, the lady sitting next to me fell asleep after 30 minutes. Being a movie geek myself, I can tolerate such a bad film until the end because I wanted to see how bad it was.
Anyway, THE GIRL is about an American painter who falls in love with a French bar singer. They argue, then make love, argue again and later make love again. But after 20 minutes or so, their relationship is somewhat settled and they both find out that their common enemy is the French girl's boss, who is powerful enough to control her freedom (I suggest the two girls to watch "Bound" to learn how they can screw up the boss). But alas, the movie tries to make its pace like some blues and jazz music, make its atompshere somewhat giddy uncaring like Wong Kar-wai's films. But THE GIRL is just boring and it sucks.
By the way, Canadians really got good manners. They still politely applauded when the movie was finished although the way they left the theater was like escaping from fire.
(4) Brother; directed by Takeshi Kitano
BROTHER is the BEST film I've seen in the film festival so far. Let me say this: When this movie is released, I can guarantee that a lot of people will be talking about it. Like many Kitano's films about gangsters, this one is full of violence, sadness, anger and dark humor.
Kitano plays an abandoned but incredibly fierce gangster who flees from Japan to America when his boss is killed. Now being a "Ronin" (Japanese term for a samurai whose boss is killed), he becomes a more ruthless and ambitious warrior to build up his own yakuza empire in America with his brother. But like many other tragic gangster heroes, his life is actually numbered up as his success continues.
The violence in BROTHER is CHILLING. You will be frightened, not excited, by the sudden burst of blood and the gunshots. And I love Kitano's trademark style, which is steely cold and filled with some odd, dark moments. After watching this film, I felt sad and disturbed for the characters. I was totally enveloped by the chilling, cold atmosphere of the film.
By the way, I'm very, very tired right now and got no time to edit the grammar and spelling....I'll talk about the films I'll see tommorrow.
Jan
