Hey folks, Harry here... one of the benefits of an international medium like we have with this internet thing... is when you have a festival like Toronto... when someone reacts to something they've seen at another festival... they react with information about other films they've seen at a recent fest.... Like this from Dare. He attended the BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and saw one film that I'm very anxious to see... Tsukamoto Shinya's GEMINI... If you've seen his previous work... you'll understand... here's Dare...
Hey Harry,
Just read one of the readers' reviews of Tell Me Something, and thought I'd send you my two cents on the film, as well as a couple others that I saw at the late night Asian Horror section of the Brisbane International Film Festival last month.
Tell Me Something. (Korea, Dir. Chang Yoo-hyun, 1999)
This one is, as has already been stated, a very engaging serial killer whodunnit. It has a plot that twists and turns, and it definitely doesn't hold back on those disturbing images of the bodies. Did I say bodies? What I meant was fragments of bodies. And blood. A whole lot of blood. The opening title sequence has us watching an unconscious victim being slowly dismembered by the skilfully-handled blade of an unseen killer. The serial killer's motif can be seen in that where in each case a bag full of fresh body parts is found, once assembled it becomes apparent that not all of these pieces are from the same body.
It's a very bloody and entertaining piece, and it requires quite a lot of attention from the viewer to piece the story together.
Spooky, yes. But horrifying? Disturbing? I would have saved that description for this next film:
Audition. (Japan, Dir. Miike Takashi, 1999)
For a good deal of this film, you have a sense of normalcy about the situations and the characters. Except for a slight nagging feeling that if you scratch the surface something rank and horrid and twisted will come writhing out and really tear things up. And sure enough, later in the film, the lead character does just that little bit of scratching and all hell breaks loose.
The lead character, Aoyama, is a company executive who has lost his wife some time ago, and is now starting to feel the pangs of loneliness. At the prompting of a friend, he holds an audition, looking for women to date. Through this process he finds Asami and he manages to get close to her.
Bad move. Forget Sharon Stone's icepick maneuvers, there are scenes in Audition which are for me some of the most disturbing I've ever seen on the screen. The worst of it comes when the paralysed Aoyama has his ankles clamped and is straddled by Asami who, piano-wire in hand, saws slowly back, and forth, and back, and forth, and back, and forth, until with an audible *twangg* she cuts through his shinbone. And the camera just. won't. cut. away.
Most disturbing film I've seen in years. Which means a lot when, like I have, you've seen a few of the films by this next director:
Gemini. (Japan, Dir. Tsukamoto Shinya, 1999)
If you've seen any of this guy's films, like the Tetsuo films (Tetsuo: Iron Man, 1989, Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer, 1991) or Tokyo Fist, you've got some basic idea about his visual style. If you haven't, then you really should.
This one piqued my interest early, because this is a period piece, a costume drama. And I can't say I was disappointed, although I could understand if a hardcore fan was. Gemini is a more accessible film than any of the previous I've seen by this director.
To me, this was a great, fun ride. It was spooky in parts, but I just loved the demented, colourful, grubby appearances of some of the characters in the piece, most notably the uncleaned evil twin, which I guess is hinted at by the title of the film.
The story revolves around a respected small town doctor, who eventually comes face to face with his evil twin, who throws him into a well and helps himself to the doctor's lifestyle, wealth and wife.
I guess you'd call it a horror story of social exploration.
I liked this film. The combination of the Japanese period drama with Tsukamoto's visual style, is like getting a Kabuki actor in full demonic costume, and watching him breakdance. It was a lot of fun.
The Brisbane International Film Festival ("BIFF") this year ran between 27 July and 8 August. There is always a substantial Asian component, and the late night sessions are usually given over to cool stuff like these Asian Horror films. Just thought that it was one fest you might want to keep an eye on.
Keep up the good work,
Dare.
