movies of week 14 & 15.
I just ordered The Host (Korean) and 15 (Singaporean) on DVD. Yay!
Four movies these past weeks; one Korean, three Taiwanese.
Rebels of the Neon God
One of Tsai Ming-liang's first films, Rebels is one of those movies where little actually happens and the focus is on the what and the how rather than getting from point A to point B in one clear-cut plot. So, basically, it's an art film. One plot thread tells the story of a young man who stops going to school and begins to rebel against his father and tradition. Another follows two other young men, who make money off small crime. These two loosely told stories intersect but in the end the film's more about the moods, the mental landscapes..
Maybe it took a while for me to get into Tsai's cinematic language but despite some memorable scenes, Rebels was my least favourite of the three films I've seen by him. There was something so seemingly pointless about it and I didn't really grab Tsai's use of his usual re-occurring element of water in this film.
The Hole
There is a virus spreading in Taipei through the water system and most of the town is deserted as parts of it are evacuated. Two people remain in one evacuated area - a woman and a man living in apartments on top of each other. A repairman leaves a hole on the man's floor and the woman's ceiling. The film, mostly focused on the depressing, heavy mood of constant rain and fear of the virus and various scenes with little to no dialogue, is periodically interrupted with glamorous musical numbers (acted by the film's cast) from musicals performed by Grace Chang.
The portrayal of alienation, loneliness, fear and most importantly hope is what makes this my favourite Tsai film that I've seen thus far. Also, the occasional light comedic outbursts and the musical numbers were delightful. I didn't absolutely love it but it's on my DVD-purchase consideration list.
Strongest Romance (The Best Romance, the Perfect Couple - this movie seems to have a million translated names)
As far as I understand, the Korean name for this is a play on the character's last names - she's Choi, he's Kang - choikang means "best" or something similar. So that part I can forgive of this incredibly misleading movie title. But why shove that romance in there? Forget "strongest" or "best", there was hardly any romance in this film! It was a romantic comedy VERY focused on comedy and not at all fussed about ignoring the romance. It's more about these two people getting mixed up in each other's lives in amusing ways and while there is some romantic attraction it's far from being the focus. She's an entertainment journalist who wants to be more, he's a cop who's great at his job if it wasn't for his phobia of sharp objects.
The comedy in this is very "loud" in typical Korean fashion which tends to mean it's not everybody's thing. I'm usually a big fan of "so ridiculous I can't help but laugh"-type comedy but this one had plenty of stuff that flew over my head and left me puzzled on why it was supposed to be funny to balance the *actually* rather amusing stuff. Also, while the plot wasn't much, there were some things that weren't elaborated on and added to the confusing stuff.
Basically, I hate to give this one such a harsh review but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't a major fangirl of the male lead, Lee Dong-wook (*raises hand*). And I liked his other movie role in Arang, which I saw like a month back, muuuch better - this just wasn't a very well-written film.
What Time Is It There?
A man sells clocks on the street. A woman buys one that shows two times at the same time as she's going to Paris soon. The connection becomes an obsession for both of them, a desperate mean to getting rid of loneliness, though one that quite never works out.
This one had some killer comedic scenes (absurd as hell but I loved them!) and some awesome dramatic ones (the woman who played the young man's mother had some powerful scenes), but the main feeling I had from this was one of depression and frustration. It was looking at the movie, seeing what the director was going for, and rolling at the message, the mood, the idea about human connections, communication etc.
This one has a sequel but I don't know if I want to see it. If it leads to further frustration, I probably don't.
Four movies these past weeks; one Korean, three Taiwanese.
Rebels of the Neon God
One of Tsai Ming-liang's first films, Rebels is one of those movies where little actually happens and the focus is on the what and the how rather than getting from point A to point B in one clear-cut plot. So, basically, it's an art film. One plot thread tells the story of a young man who stops going to school and begins to rebel against his father and tradition. Another follows two other young men, who make money off small crime. These two loosely told stories intersect but in the end the film's more about the moods, the mental landscapes..
Maybe it took a while for me to get into Tsai's cinematic language but despite some memorable scenes, Rebels was my least favourite of the three films I've seen by him. There was something so seemingly pointless about it and I didn't really grab Tsai's use of his usual re-occurring element of water in this film.
The Hole
There is a virus spreading in Taipei through the water system and most of the town is deserted as parts of it are evacuated. Two people remain in one evacuated area - a woman and a man living in apartments on top of each other. A repairman leaves a hole on the man's floor and the woman's ceiling. The film, mostly focused on the depressing, heavy mood of constant rain and fear of the virus and various scenes with little to no dialogue, is periodically interrupted with glamorous musical numbers (acted by the film's cast) from musicals performed by Grace Chang.
The portrayal of alienation, loneliness, fear and most importantly hope is what makes this my favourite Tsai film that I've seen thus far. Also, the occasional light comedic outbursts and the musical numbers were delightful. I didn't absolutely love it but it's on my DVD-purchase consideration list.
Strongest Romance (The Best Romance, the Perfect Couple - this movie seems to have a million translated names)
As far as I understand, the Korean name for this is a play on the character's last names - she's Choi, he's Kang - choikang means "best" or something similar. So that part I can forgive of this incredibly misleading movie title. But why shove that romance in there? Forget "strongest" or "best", there was hardly any romance in this film! It was a romantic comedy VERY focused on comedy and not at all fussed about ignoring the romance. It's more about these two people getting mixed up in each other's lives in amusing ways and while there is some romantic attraction it's far from being the focus. She's an entertainment journalist who wants to be more, he's a cop who's great at his job if it wasn't for his phobia of sharp objects.
The comedy in this is very "loud" in typical Korean fashion which tends to mean it's not everybody's thing. I'm usually a big fan of "so ridiculous I can't help but laugh"-type comedy but this one had plenty of stuff that flew over my head and left me puzzled on why it was supposed to be funny to balance the *actually* rather amusing stuff. Also, while the plot wasn't much, there were some things that weren't elaborated on and added to the confusing stuff.
Basically, I hate to give this one such a harsh review but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't a major fangirl of the male lead, Lee Dong-wook (*raises hand*). And I liked his other movie role in Arang, which I saw like a month back, muuuch better - this just wasn't a very well-written film.
What Time Is It There?
A man sells clocks on the street. A woman buys one that shows two times at the same time as she's going to Paris soon. The connection becomes an obsession for both of them, a desperate mean to getting rid of loneliness, though one that quite never works out.
This one had some killer comedic scenes (absurd as hell but I loved them!) and some awesome dramatic ones (the woman who played the young man's mother had some powerful scenes), but the main feeling I had from this was one of depression and frustration. It was looking at the movie, seeing what the director was going for, and rolling at the message, the mood, the idea about human connections, communication etc.
This one has a sequel but I don't know if I want to see it. If it leads to further frustration, I probably don't.