The Illuminated Lantern tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2009-08-30://1 2010-03-09T06:16:24Z Movable Type 4.31-en Links for March 2010 tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2010://1.8 2010-03-09T05:40:59Z 2010-03-09T06:16:24Z Hollywood is afraid to make movies about terrorism, so the world will learn of it through Bollywood. Films of Pauline Chan, part one and two. Peter Hessler writes another great book about his life in China, Country Driving. Jackie Chan... Peter Nepstad Hollywood is afraid to make movies about terrorism, so the world will learn of it through Bollywood.

Films of Pauline Chan, part one and two.

Peter Hessler writes another great book about his life in China, Country Driving.

Jackie Chan makes a strategic retreat from Hong Kong?

Typefaces of 70s Bollywood Movie Titles.

]]> Beast Stalker tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2010://1.6 2010-02-23T03:30:41Z 2010-02-23T06:04:35Z Image=beaststalker.jpg Director=Dante Lam Country=Hong Kong Year=2008 Peter Nepstad Nicholas Tse is a cop searching for redemption, Nick Cheung a killer for hire. When a dedicated, crusading attorney (Jingchu Zhang) goes up against a triad killer (Patrick Keung), he authorizes the kidnapping of her daughter, and promises she will be killed unless she destroys the incriminating evidence against him. From there on it's Nic vs. Nick, fighting it out over the fate of one seriously adorable little girl. A well crafted, well acted, high tension thriller, let down only by the complete pointlessness of it central organizing conceit: a car accident in which everyone's lives are "changed forever".

]]> Before the accident, the film establishes Nic Tse and Kai Chi Liu as partners in a police squad, having just finished a bust, while the triad baddy has just busted out of jail. They happen across the jailbird just as he switches cars, and follow in pursuit, causing a car accident. When the accident happens, one of the other cars just happens to be the attorney prosecuting his case! The passengers in the fourth car of the accident are not "revealed" until the end of the film, but you would have to be particularly inattentive not to realize that Nick Cheung's glass-covered, scarred face and near immobilized wife (Miao Pu) were results of that same crash.

Still, implausible coincidence can sometimes serve a good story. Consider Kate Atkinson's recent crime novel ONE GOOD TURN, which opens with what appears to be an incident of road rage, stopped on the spur of the moment by a mystery writer nearby. He then becomes the target of a killer, while many of the onlookers to the event end up woven into the tale neatly and we learn, among other things, that "no good deed goes unpunished". Not so with BEAST STALKER. The accident really changes almost nothing in these characters lives, other than their physical conditions. They are: aggressive cop, dedicated attorney, triad bad guy, and hired killer before the accident, and they are the same afterwards. Sure, our lead cop is having a bit of a mental breakdown because of all the damage he has caused, but it feels more like a leave-of-absence sort of problem rather than something long term. So what was the point? Why build up such an elaborate set piece but leave the audience with nothing other than maybe thinking, boy, that sure was clever? I'm asking, I really have no idea.

So what was the point? Why build up such an elaborate set piece but leave the audience with nothing other than maybe thinking, boy, that sure was clever?

It's frustrating because just little script changes could have made the whole thing work. Make Nick Cheung a reformed ex-con, trying to go straight, who has to then turn back to crime to pay for his medical expenses. Make the accident the cop's fault, to make sure he has someone to resent. Have the attorney pick up the case AFTER being involved in the accident, not before, and her obsession leads to the dissolution of her marriage, etc. (I could be wrong with this last point, she might have been assigned to the case after the accident as it is. The subtitled dialog suggested that she had been on the case, and the opposing council wanted her dismissed because of her involvement with the accident, but she was kept on the case. Perhaps the spoken dialog is clearer). But see! Now the accident really is a pivotal event!

Oh, well. Enough with the back-seat directing. Because of the script failures, this film doesn't have legs quite in the same way that Dante Lam's classic BEAST COPS, which this film clearly connects itself with. But it does have some very good points that make it worth seeing, now, including great action sequences and very strong performances by the whole cast.

Nick Cheung bagged himself a Hong Kong Film Award for his multi-dimensional portrayal of a killer for hire. Seems like every time you turn around he's being celebrated again, but what the hell, he's paid his dues and he is certainly in his prime. Nicholas Tse delivers on his end as well and though he sometimes overplays, he nonetheless shows his strengths and he remains the one I most look forward to see in films among actors of his generation (sorry, Daniel, Edison, Eason, & etc). Kai Chi Liu also took home a HKFA for his supporting role, which is hardly fair as he's pretty much good in everything these days. I found no fault in the performance of Jingchu Zhang, except that she is distractingly beautiful, and in a film in which there is no romantic connection, couldn't they have cast a more normal looking actress for a change?

The action sequences are the real highlight, though. In an age of digital-everything, hyper-everything, action movies are ginned up to such extremes that sometimes I despair of ever seeing what a real person running down a real street might look like. thankfully, Dante Lam and action director Bruce Law has come to our rescue and has delivered a few painstakingly, carefully choreographed, realistic action sequences that are absolutely thrilling. The central car accident is just about perfect, but a couple foot chases between Tse and Cheung are where the film really delivers.

]]> Links for the Week of February 2, 2010 tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2010://1.5 2010-02-02T06:32:27Z 2010-02-02T07:02:51Z The most influential Chinese movie of the decade. The future of Hong Kong Cinema. Duriandave on the hunt for movies featuring Forbidden City cabaret performers from the 40's. Bollywood band leader Ted Lyons, of Jan Pehchaan Ho fame, checks in... Peter Nepstad The most influential Chinese movie of the decade.

The future of Hong Kong Cinema.

Duriandave on the hunt for movies featuring Forbidden City cabaret performers from the 40's.

Bollywood band leader Ted Lyons, of Jan Pehchaan Ho fame, checks in with MemsaabStory.

]]> The Beasts tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2010://1.3 2010-01-27T03:25:17Z 2010-01-29T05:44:36Z Image=thebeasts.jpg Director=Dennis Yu Country=Hong Kong Year=1980 Peter Nepstad Siblings Ah Ling (Patricia Chong) and Ah Wah (Eddie Chan) join a fresh-faced group of city teens to take a weekend camping trip in the mountains outside of Hong Kong. Alas, the villagers don't care for visitors, much, and a group of vile, thuggish, "disco boys" have taken up residence in town, where they steal hens, hunt and butcher wild boar, and drink snake blood. They also like to rape girls, as no doubt consensual sex is pretty much out of the question for them. When these beasts run into the campers, the encounter leaves one girl brutalized and insane, and another camper impaled on a boar trap. When the police are unable to convict the gang, the teens father (Chan Sing) takes it upon himself to make sure justice is served.

]]> THE BEASTS is a brutal film about a depraved group of thugs who live in filth. While the campers neatly dab their sweat with a wet towel, these men clearly haven't bathed in a long, long time. They live with animals, reach their hands into vats of dead snakes, carry a pet baboon around on occasion. Director Dennis Yu is remarkably even able to convey the stench of their world, not only by having it remarked on when they go to a bar, but also in the reactions of the characters themselves. One rushes out of an outhouse when the police are coming, and later, when his hands are near his face, he smells his own shit. Another time the stench of a rotting corpse is so foul that after handling it, one character wipes his face with the back of his hand, and the smell makes him vomit.

Blood, vomit, shit, it's all there. But the Pearl City VCD version of the film is, I suspect, an edited version of the film (the rape scene, for example, contains no nudity). And it is not as harrowing as its American predecessors, TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, or DELIVERANCE, in which the entire running time is given up to the hillbilly murderers chasing down and brutalizing their victims. Here, that's only the first half, the second half switching to more of a Charles Bronson DEATH WISH sort of sensibility.

Playing characters with mental disabilities is something of a regular sideline of Cheng's career.

The casual viewer might not recognize any of the actors in THE BEASTS save one, Kent Cheng, the "fatty" of countless Hong Kong films, in one of his very first movie roles. Here, he has shaved his head and plays the mentally handicapped cousin of one of the thugs. Playing characters with mental disabilities is something of a regular sideline of Cheng's career (WHY ME? (1985), BELOVED SON OF GOD (1988), HAPPY GO LUCKY (2003)), but he really does do it incredibly well and THE BEASTS is no exception.

While watching this landmark HK New Wave film it becomes apparent that a cleaned up, restored DVD release is desperately needed and in fact warranted. But I suspect this may not even be possible in this day and age. The soundtrack alone would make a quality, cleaned-up DVD release problematic, as everything from Genesis to The Police gets played on the boom box the city kids bring with them camping.

]]> Lethal Ninja tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2009://1.2 2009-11-29T19:09:25Z 2010-01-26T00:50:33Z The Iga and Koga ninja are at each other's throats again, this time because Dr. Kikuchi, head of the Iga ninja, has developed a serum that cures everything, and an evil arch-villain named Brian (Waise Lee) wants it, and has... Peter Nepstad The Iga and Koga ninja are at each other's throats again, this time because Dr. Kikuchi, head of the Iga ninja, has developed a serum that cures everything, and an evil arch-villain named Brian (Waise Lee) wants it, and has the Koga kill Kikuchi to get it. Only trouble is, the serum is in a box that can only be opened by the "key" -- an unemployed, flute-playing street musician named Copy (Dayo Wong). Purple, red, and green-clad ninjas led by Hong Kong action veteran Eddy Ko hop about trying to save, kill, or kidnap Copy.

]]> A low-budget Japanese/Hong Kong co-production of the kind we're likely to see less of in the near future, as B-list Hong Kong actors don't exactly attract any box office in Japan, and Japanese actors don't help a production to get released in Mainland China. Which is too bad, because kickboxing champ Masato and cute Hisako Shirata turn in pleasing performances. Waise Lee is suitably villainous, as long as you can stop laughing every time someone calls him Brian. The star is without a doubt Dayo Wong, though, who does a good job being a sort of realistic slacker thrown into a weird ninja world. He gets all the best jokes, and is completely rude in the politest manner possible.

About the level of a typical straight-to-video production, its not surprising it sat on the shelf for a while (the end credits list the copyright date as 2004). The most problematic element of the production is the music, by Kiyoshi Yoshikawa, who scored the film with slow, echoey, cut-rate Kitaro. This undermines the credibility of Dayo Wong's character -- are we supposed to think his original music is good, or not? Because holy crap, it is awful. But overall, LETHAL NINJA is an inoffensive Saturday-afteroon ninja film that maintains a certain camp charm throughout, and ends with a winning postscript.

]]> Under Construction tag:illuminatedlantern.com,2009://1.1 2009-08-30T16:16:44Z 2010-01-26T00:45:06Z This site suffered a complete loss of data; while many of the static pages still exist, the dynamic pages have been erased. The blog will be undergoing renovation for the next few months to clean up the mess.... Peter Nepstad This site suffered a complete loss of data; while many of the static pages still exist, the dynamic pages have been erased. The blog will be undergoing renovation for the next few months to clean up the mess.