Hey folks, Harry here... and the film that Jan highlights... SUZHOU RIVER by Lou Ye sounds like an absolute terrific film... keep your eyes open for it. If you see it on a video list, festival list or any sort of list... check it out... His review has me stoked to see this one.... Here's his latest report...
Hey Harry,
Let me say this one more time: Year 2000 is the golden year for the Asian Cinema. Every day when I was waiting for rush tickets, I heard people always raved about Asian films. The most talked about is of course Ang Lee's CTHD. Kitano's BROTHER, Oshima's OHATTO and Wong Kar-wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE were also mentioned. I saw three films today and the best of the three is a Chinese film called SUZHOU RIVER. Again, the winner for today is another Chinese film.
Anyway, here are my film reviews:
(1) Suzhou River; directed by Lou Ye
Let me proclaim: Lou Ye is gonna be one of the most important Chinese filmmakers in future (on the condition that his films are not banned by the unreasonable Mainland Chinese Film Board). SUZHOU RIVER is a very impressive debut for such a young, talented director. The story structure is non-linear but comprehensible, but just let me briefly talk about it.
It's about a mythical love story of a courier and a young girl whose father is involved in illegal business. Although they're in love, the courier later kidnaps his lover under his gangster's boss order. When he is ready to let the girl go when they got the ransom, the girl feels used by him. She jumps into Suzhou River with her favorite mermaid doll in her hand and her body is never recoverd. Later, there is a myth that some people saw a mermaid swimming in the river. Few years later, the courier returns to the city, looking for his lover. Coincidentally, he meets another girl who looks exactly like his ex-lover. But this new girl is now working in an underground bar as an entertainer who dresses like a mermaid, and too bad, she has already got a boyfriend, which is a videographer. And this story is told, however, in the point of view of the videographer. My description of the story actually goes to the backward direction but I guess it's easier for you readers to understand. So, is the new girl actually the courier's ex-lover? Is the mermaid myth true?
Lou Ye, like many young independent filmmakers, shot this film with handheld digital camera. But what's amazing is that the camera is often in the point of view of the videographer. So, what you see in the film is actually what the videographer sees in his eyes. (By the way, that's why the videographer is never shown in the movie. And during the Q & A section, I learnt that the videographer and the narrator of the story is actually the director himself.) What I love about this film is that you can feel you're watching a film made by a director that is going to be successful some day. You can feel something unique from his filmmaking style, his confidence and boldness as a young director who wants to make a statement in today's Chinese or World Cinema. Although you may feel a bit confusing because of the kinetic handheld camera, it's effective to capture the city rhythm of today's Shanghai, which is full of rapid but confusing changes.
Anyway, there is one more screening of SUZHOU RIVER on Saturday and I highly recommend this easily-ignored film.
(2) Such is Life; directed by Arturo Ripstein
SUCH IS LIFE is such a piece of ?hit. It's about a mentally troubled wife whose husband is gonna marry the landlord's young daughter. In the film, she keeps crying and crying over and over again. There is no story development whatsoever except the characters just keep talking and talking to themselves, telling us what they feel. Watching this film is like watching a play on the stage. When the movie was finished, nobody applauded. So, you know how bad this film is.
(3) Harry, He is Here for Help; directed by Dominik Moll
This is an interesting film that starts out like a comedy but ends up like a thriller. If you're my faithful reader, you will immediately think of my previous review on THE WRESTLERS, which also looks like a comedy in the beginning but turns out to be a tragic, dark film in the end. The story, in brief, is about a guy on his way for vacation with his family encounters his long time forgotten friend named Harry in a washroom. Their encounterance in washroom is awkward, but what is more amusing is that this Harry guy remembers every single thing he did, every little thing he wrote 20 years ago when they were just kids. However, it turns out that Harry is a psycho who is obsessed of him, especially his unfinished novel he wrote when he was just a child. To help him focus on writing again, Harry kills those bothering people around him, including his parents.
This film is unconventional for having two different styles at the same time and I guess this type of style will become more and more popular in future (Actually, do you guys still remember FROM DUSK TILL DAWN? That film also got two styles in the same movie). Anyway, HARRY is an interesting, entertaining film.
Anyway, I gotta go to bed right now...I have to catch tomorrow's early screening of MEN OF HONOR, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert DeNiro.
Jan
