the general's son

im kwon-taek has directed around a hundred films, in a prolific career, from 1962 until the present day. he made major contributions to early korean cinema, post the japanese occupation, and in the 'new wave'; he is widely considered to be korea's leading director. together, his films have won every prize available in korea's three annual film awards ceremonies.

in 1990, '91 and '92, im directed the three 'general's son' films. in his debut role, park sang-min won a 'best new actor' award, whilst the film won 'best korean film' and 'most popular film' and 'best at production design' awards.



one

kim doo-han's (park sang-min) mother died when he was a child; he lived the life of a beggar, stealing food, eventually ending up in jail. throughout this time, kim survived because he was a gifted fighter. in the mid 1930s, kim is released from prison and decides to shun the life of a beggar and find work. he begins, cleaning the toilets of a cinema, owned by local gangsters. kim soon begins to rise through the ranks, aided, in no small part, by his fighting ability. as time moves on, kim becomes a major player in the jong-lo gang, which becomes the biggest gang, swallowing up the territory of others. when kim ki-hwa, the head of jong-lo, is arrested, kim becomes their leader: a clash with the local yakuza looms on the horizon.

two

the local yakuza have tightened their grip around jong-lo territory, during one of kim doo-han's spells in jail, on the morning after his release, the yakuza attack a hung-over jong-lo gang. they easily beat kim and his men, forcing them to pay taxes on their territory, to the yakuza. kim ki-hwa, who is once again the leader of jong-lo, gets sick of paying the japanese and leaves.

kim begins to rebuild jong-lo, taking on the territories of other gangs and growing in strength; a day of reckoning with the yakuza is coming. meanwhile, kim becomes acquainted with a korean novelist, who tells kim about his father's exploits; sparking off thoughts about a fight between korea and japan, bigger than jong-lo's fight against the yakuza.

three

kim doo-han flees jong-lo, for manchu, finding kim ki-hwa running things, in the shadow of mountain bandits. kim soon finds himself having to flee manchu, returning once more to jong-lo, only to find that the japanese have tightened their grip. the jong-lo gang is at it's weakest and the yakuza are ready to attempt to wipe them out. will this be kim's last stand?



as you'd expect from im kwon-taek, these films are good; they have style, good cinematography, great performances and, because it's a trilogy, im fashions a world with depth, inhabited by a rich cast of characters. park sing-min seems to convincingly age ten years, over the three years that it took to film and puts in a great performance as a man who fights with both his brain and fists.

the lack of guns in the film, was a refreshing change and is filled with some pretty solid brawling going down. park sang-min is pretty talented; his unstylised (probably quite realistic, really) one-on-one and one-on-many fights are pretty damn good, as are the many-on-many clashes. there is some, very limited, gun-play and plenty of sword wielding yakuzas thrown in for good measure...



the dvds look pretty good, sound good, but the music (apart from the singing in the second film) is pretty poor, although it gets progressively better and there's some over zealous use of sound effects, here and there. the subtitles are a little clunky (some poor grammar, different spellings of the same name and some spelling mistakes) at times, but a bit of imagination will get you by.



highly recommended.



the general's son collection is available on dvd for $24.99 from dvdfromkorea.com - it's a limited, three disc, edition. my copy had a card, signed by im kwon-taek, inside!!!

taking care of business

mummy, what's a filofax?



spencer barnes (charles grodin) is a bit of a twat; he's a tight-ass advertising executive, who's life is dictated by the contents of his filofax. one day, he leaves it at an airport, where an amiable car thief, jimmy dworski (james belushi), finds it. jimmy notices the promise of a $1000 dollar reward for it's safe return and sets off to return it; but he ends up being mistaken for spencer and enters the foreign territory of big business. meanwhile, the real spencer loses everything...

now, i've seen this film dozens of times, it's like a security blanket; the kind of film that you can just switch on and the world seems to be at ease. as a result, i have no objectivity at all and love it.

the dvd is £4.99 from hmv.co.uk

the medallion

hmm and err...



well, you look at the film and think; original idea by alfred cheung, directed by gordon chan, action sequences by sammo hung. that's a pretty good start. then you see; starring jackie chan (always a good thing), lee evans (as good an exponent of physical comedy in recent times), anthony wong, christy cheung, julian sands and john rhys-davies. things are looking even better. i'd say, that you were quite entitled to be quite excited at the prospect of watching this. that, however, would absolutely ruin the film for you.

i approached the film, thinking that it would be a little silly, a bit of a mess and generally a big pile of pooh. as a result, i kinda enjoyed it.

sure, the story is a mess, five script writers (including bey logan?) do a good job of spoiling the broth. the fact that thirteen deleted scenes (which, i think, would have added to the film) are included on the dvd, tells you that, in the end, someone must've got nervous and hacked the film to little bits and ended up with an almost presentable series of events, that come in just under ninety minutes.

so, the film tells the story of eddie yang (jackie chan), arthur watson (lee evans) and nicole james (claire forlani); a hong kong cop and two interpol agents, trying to track down snakehead (julian sands), who is some kind of villain. they become embroiled with a young boy, who holds a sacred medallion which has the power to save lives and give people special powers. it's an okay plot, for a children's film, but i'm not sure if that's what the makers wanted...

chan and evans are okay together and forlani doesn't let the side down. anthony wong has been dubbed with a ridiculous voice, or i hope he has. anyhow, apart from the silly use of wires (making all jumps look, kinda supernatural in the worst way) there's a couple of nicely choreographed and executed exchanges, but not many though...

to be watched only if you expect it to be rubbish, yet you think you may find it mildly entertaining.

the dvd is £3.99 from hmv.co.uk

inserts

"we're pioneers of the neo-plastic arts"



boy wonder (richard dreyfuss) is a director; a former boy wonder of hollywood's silent era. the thing is, he can't weave his magic on the talkies. harlene (veronica cartwright) is his leading lady; a former star of the silver screen, who now uses more heroin, than is good for her. rex, the wonder dog, (stephen davies) is his leading man, and an undertaker.

during one shoot, big mac (bob hoskins); boy wonder's producer, who harbours dreams of becoming a hamburger mogul and cathy cake (jessica harper); big mac's potential fiance and wannabe starlet, arrive on the set. although, it's not an actual set, it's boy wonder's house and the film, is a porno...

boy wonder isn't keen on his producers being on his set, something that is magnified, when his leading lady dies of an overdose. big mac and rex hatch a plan to dispose of the body, leaving boy wonder and miss cake to see just how much she wants to be a star.

essentially, this is a stage play, transposed to the screen; a classic farce, rich with tragedy. dreyfuss is great and cartwright is amazing; although everyone is very good and there are some fantastic lines, very funny jokes, situation comedy and a few moments of genuine drama.

very good.

the dvd is $8.97 from dvdpacific.com

branded to kill

the smell of rice cooking...



the oddball story of hanada aka number 3: the third best assassin in japan. hanada (jo shishido) is a killer, a hit man, and a good one; he has a pretty crazy wife and a love of the smell of cooking rice. one day, hanada makes a mistake and now, number one (koji nambara) is coming after him...

this film is a real slice of surreal, bizarre yakuza action, with a crooked sense of humour, endless invention and is, to cap it off, a visual treat. apparently, the studio president, back in 1967, didn't see it that way and seijun suzuki's contract was terminated. well, you can't win them all...

excellent stuff.

the dvd is £4.99 from play.com

sexo por compasión

compassionate sex?



dolores (elisabeth margoni) is generous to a fault. so generous, that her husband, manolo (jose sancho), has left her. dolores continues her daily life, sitting with a dumb struck child, attending to a bed-ridden old woman (leticia huijara) and supporting her friend, floren (mariola fuentes), who owns a bar and dreams of pepe (alex angulo), the local street sweeper, sweeping her off her feet. dolores plagues father cura (juan carlos colombo), her local priest, with her confessions that do nothing but show her to be saintly and without sin.

after dolores' husband leaves, she is stuck in her drab little backwater, carrying out her duties, when she decides to move in with floren. she decides that she can get her husband back, if she commits sins. unfortunately, she decides to choose adultery and ends up sleeping with all the men of the town. her compassionate love, inspires the town's men to love their wives more, work harder and enjoy life; the drab town soon bursts into colour.

everyone is feeling the benefit of delores' (although she has now renamed herself 'lolita') generosity and men begin to travel from all around to see her. still, is she sinning and what will happen if manolo returns?

this is the first film from actress, turned writer / director, laura mana; i've watched all three films, but in reverse order. her most recent film; 'to die in san hilario', is a comic tale, set in a heightened reality, similar to that of 'sexo por compasión'. 'killing words' is a very dark and tense thriller, based around the kidnapping of a woman. both are very different, but excellently crafted stories, filled with great performances.

'sexo por compasión' is a funny, off-kilter romantic comedy, of sorts, mana again creates a world filled with believable characters and a magical quality, that never appears twee.

great stuff.

the dvd is $8.78 from dvdpacific.com

day watch

light? dark? what's the difference...



so, i've been doing some reading; i've been reading about how the first two films were adapted from the novels and what is expected from the third film. so, i re-watched 'day watch', with a friend who'd just finished reading the first book.

apparently 'night watch', pretty much follows the first part from the first book (three parts per book); as you'd imagine, there's a lot more detail in the book, and you don't find out much about egor, but apart from that, they're pretty close. as a film, it sets things up, perfectly, for the second film.

as for 'day watch', it takes from the final part of the first book and the first part of the second book, mixes them together and then, things change. the finale of the second film, doesn't feature in the books. this end, has been created in order to tie up the russian side of the story: fox, having poured money into the post-production of the first film and the second film, want the third part to be set in an english speaking country. from what i can gather, it's the same director, he'll be using the same source material (but, changing it accordingly as he already has done for the first two films) and it will feature some of the russian cast...

back to 'day watch'. i remember when i watched 'night watch', when the end arrived, i was really looking forward to 'day watch', since everything had been set up so nicely. it seemed like an age before it arrived. the mythology, from the first film, is expanded considerably, the central core of characters remains and is bolstered with more of sveta (the first film's white witch) and alisa (the blinging wife of zavulon. she's my favourite).

sveta has begun working (and falling in love) with anton, egor is living with zavulon and causing trouble, which anton is trying to help him sort out, but he ends up getting framed for a murder. alisa is pissed off that it's her lady friend, galina, who's been killed and she strikes up a relationship with kostya. meanwhile kostya's father tries to persuade zavulon that kostya doesn't want the license to get his 'first blood', that has just arrived. it looks like things are all building up to some big finale. they are...

after the set-up in the first film, the second film doesn't disappoint; it continues in a similar vein; expanding the world of the day watch and the night watch, hinting at a bigger world, than is shown. the visual flair of the first film, the humour and the action all remain in tact and even bettered.

it's good to think that the russian side of the story is wrapped up so nicely, that even if the third film fails to maintain the quality, then nothing is lost or ruined.

the dvds are $14.99 or $19.99 from alldvd.ca, but it seems as if the subtitled version that appeared, has now gone. although, you can do what i did, and subtitle it yourself...

her fatal ways 3

better than 'rocky 3'...



in this instalment, cheng (dodo cheng) and sheng (alfred cheung) are asked to travel to hong kong to make security arrangements for the visit of chairman chien (michael lee). en route, they run into bad weather and their plane lands in taiwan. whilst there, inspector chiang (chan chung-yung) is there guide.

the pair then move on to hong kong, visiting the locations that chien will visit, aided by hong kong policeman, inspector lu (anthony wong). things seem to be going well, until chiang arrives from taiwan, with news that there's an assassin, planning on striking during chien's visit...

these aren't great films, but they are good solid, light-hearted comedies; they've got a great sense of fun and plenty of chuckles.

good stuff...

the dvd is hk$32 from buyoyo.com

devils on the doorstep

happy new year brother and sister....



mid-winter, the north of china: a small rural village, during the japanese occupation. ma dasan (jaing wen) is getting intimate with his lady friend, yu'er (jiang yihong), when there's a knock at the door. the couple panic, yu'er hides and dasan opens the door; as he does, a gun is thrust into his face and he's told to close his eyes.

the man holding the gun drags two sacks into dasan's house, proclaims that he'll be back for them in a few days and leaves. dasan opens the sacks to find two men, bound and gagged. he runs to the door, only to be stopped by another gun, popping it's bayonet though the paper screen door. he's ordered to interrogate the men and make sure no harm comes to them in the meantime.

and so, our story begins; dasan enlists the help of other villagers and discovers that one of the men is a loud, brash japanese solider and the other is a quier, restrained, chinese man, who's been made a translator for the japanese army. dasan et al begin to take care of the pair; fearing that their unknown captors will return. they don't. months begin to pass...

jaing wen, is already one of my favourite chinese (mainland) actors; now, he's one of my favourite directors too. this is simply a stunning film, mixing comedy and tension with ease. the small group of characters are all developed well and add a rich depth to the film, whilst the black and white cinematography is perfect for the film.

the film deals with the japanese occupation, war and it's effect on people; you don't need to know the history of the japanese occupation of china to enjoy the film, but it may help provide a little more context. all i'll say, is that you shouldn't read the interview with jiang wen or watch the introduction by stephen soderberg (a bit of a dick), before you watch the film.

the dvd is $19.17 from dvdpacific.com

operetta tanuki goten

that's 'princess raccoon', to you and me...



a strange, surreal love story, between a banished prince (odagira joe) and a raccoon princess (zhang ziyi); presented in the form of an ultra-stylised operetta.

great stuff...

the dvd is hk$76 from buyoyo.com

sepet

love and hong kong film...



orked (sharifah amani) is a young malay girl, who has developed an interest in chinese films, mainly through her mother's religious devotion to hong kong soap operas. her favourite star is takeshi kaneshiro, who she fell in love with after watching wonk kar wai's 'fallen angels'. didn't we all...

one day, she stops at a vcd stall and asks if they have any takeshi kaneshiro films. ah loong (ng choo song) - aka jason - tells her that they have two; 'no sir' and 'chungking express'. she chooses 'no sir', but, after instantly falling in love, jason runs after orked and gives her the 'chungking express' vcd. they begin to fall in love, but will a love story between a malay girl and a chinese boy have a happy ending?

writer / director yasmin ahmad crafts a funny (orked's parents are hilarious), touching (i was on the verge of shedding a tear or two by the end) and engaging love story.

very good.

the dvd is $5.99 from sensasian.com

vampire settle on police camp

worth it for the title...



eddy ko is an instructor at a police academy. unfortunately for him, in one of his past lives, he murdered an innocent family; now, they're out to get him. he drafts in a group of cadets to help him, and his assistant sandra ng, to take on the vampire ghost family.

the film just scrapes past the 70 minute mark; it's crass and silly, but i found myself enjoying it. probably more than i should. there's a few nice special effects thrown in, some decent fighting and lots of very silly fun.

the dvd is hk$30 from buyoyo.com

arrested development - season 3

for all things shall pass away...



well, 'arrested development' has come and gone, at least it went out on a high. the third, and final, season keeps up the high standards of the first two; it's a testament to the quality of the program, that it's very difficult to name a favourite character.

this is excellent and highly recommended.

the dvd is $20.66 from dvdpacific.com

heaven's 7

silly street fighters...



now, i've seen the sequel - 'seven street fighters' - but, i didn't realise that this was the first film, until i started watching it. i enjoyed an un-subbed watch of the sequel, which was surprisingly easy to understand, funny and quite entertaining. i'd heard that this wasn't as good...

the film tells the story of seven ex-soliders, who get roped into stealing, what they think is vietnamese treasure, from the americans; unfortunately, what they get is a biological agent. now, the bloke who hired them to steal it and the americans want them dead...

now, this is a pretty entertaining action comedy, neither is of a particularly high quality, but a slightly un-hinged thai charm makes it work, for me. fun, especially as it was dirt cheap...

the (quite poor quality) dvd is hk$23 from buyoyo.com

swallowtail butterfly

italian folk songs and chinese wine...



the film opens with an introduction to yentown; a city filled with the leftovers of a boom period that saw the value of the yen rise dramatically. the yentowners are a cosmopolitan mix of japanese, chinese and americans, who hope to scrimp and save enough to return home wealthy.

a young girl's (ayumi ito) mother has just died, she is handed over to a woman, who subsequently dumps her on glico (chara); a young, head strong prostitute. she christens the girl 'agahe' - butterfly - and takes her under her wing. the two live together and agahe begins working at a small, out of town, cafe / mechanics; they fix cars, salvage and recycle what they can and eke out an existence.

one day, the stumble into a money making scheme, that sees them make their fortune, but will money bring them happiness? will their past catch up with them?

along with 'fried dragon fish', this is the most detached, from reality, that i've seen from shunji iwai. it is also, at times, as dark as 'all about lily chou chou'; yet somehow, it manages to retain, the charm and, dare i say magic, that the likes of 'love letter' exude.

now, i love shunji iwai and this now ranks amongst my favourites, of his. great performances, great atmosphere, it's funny, sad, intense and ever so slightly odd; an off-kilter epic, rich in character.

recommended...

the dvd is hk$93 from buyoyo.com

travellers and magicians

the cup flows over...



the second film from bhutanese writer / director khyentse norbu. his first film, 'the cup', was a charming tale of life, for a couple of tibetan refugees, who arrive in an buddhist monastery during the france '98 world cup finals. it's highly recommended, as is this, his second film...

'travellers and magicians' is the first film to be shot in bhutan; it tells the story of dondup, an official in a tiny village, who dreams of life in america. when a friend informs him that he may be able to get him a visa, he sets off, only to be frustrated by the slow pace of life in the bhutanese countryside. along his way, he meets an apple seller, a monk; who relays a story of another man who dreamed of a different life away from his village, and a father / daughter rice paper selling team.

the four are all making their way to thimphu; where dondup can get his visa and the others can join a festival. as they move closer to their destination, the monk continues his story and dondup begins to spend more time with the rice paper girl; is america still so attractive?

as i've said, i loved 'the cup' and as soon as i saw that this had got a release on dvd (hong kong, but i think that a r1 disc is also available), i ordered it straight away. once again, norbu crafts a contemplative, charming and funny film; what's equally impressive is how, he once again, does it with a cast of non-actors. bhutan certainly is beautiful, i wouldn't leave it for america...

excellent stuff.

the dvd is hk$66 from buyoyo.com

her fatal ways 2

return of the dodo...



dodo cheng returns as inspector cheng and, after her exploits in hong kong, she's been promoted and also works as a police instructor. sheng (albert cheung) is still working with her and he's been developing his esp powers. the pair are investigating arms dealers, with the aid of kung-fu expert hsu (michael wong), when they have to cross the border to hong kong once more. there, they team up with wu (waise lee), cousin of tony leung's character from the first film, who's also a cop.

now, this isn't quite as enjoyable as the first film, it's a touch confusing in places, but it's still entertaining and it did make me chuckle; especially when dodo gets a 'new' look...

the dvd is hk$32 buyoyo.com

scarred memory

don't read the back of the box...



now, after reading the blurb on buyoyo.com (which is just taken from the back of the dvd) i thought this sounded interesting. what i didn't realise, until i started watching the film, is that a major spoiler had been given away. quite annoying really...

dr yip (veronica yip) is an emergency room doctor, who suffered a serious assault a few months ago; she's tried to blank out her memories, but she soon finds her life crumbling around her. her relationship, with a fellow doctor, deteriorates and her negligence causes the victim of triad beating to become brain-damaged.

the victim, lung (simon yam), is moved to the intensive care unit and dr yip follows. lung makes slow progress until a triad hitman fails in an attempt to kill him; bringing him out of his coma. dr yip decides that she's had enough and leaves for macau, only to bump into lung a few months later; his memory is gone, his mind is only slowly recovering and he now walks with a limp. dr yip decides to help him, as she feels responsible for his condition; as they work together, they find that they are falling in love, but the time is coming, where dr yip will return to hong kong...

now, i liked this; it's quite restrained, yam and yip both put in strong performances, the direction is also nicely understated and there's some pretty effective stylisation used to show yip's breakdown. a good romantic thriller; not a phrase i use that often...

just don't read the blurb...

the dvd is hk$33 from buyoyo.com

the chimp

closely observed...



the first film from kyrgyzstan, that i've seen. 'the chimp' tells the story of a young man's last summer in his small, boring town, waiting for national service to start. he lives with his parents and his little sister; his father is a self-loathing alcoholic and his mother's had just about enough of him.

now, our main character is shy, probably because everyone calls him 'chimp', because of his big ears. still, he continues to search for romance in between working on the railroad, fighting and trying to keep his father out of trouble.

good, but not great...

the dvd is hk$73 from buyoyo.com

avenging quartet

ooh, what a mess...



a japanese military leader kept details of war atrocities, during the occupation of china. when the japanese were defeated, he hid them, by pasting them on to the back of a famous antique art scroll. the japanese want the scroll, but it has been stolen by waise lee, who has fled to hong kong.

now, a chinese cop (cynthia khan) must travel to hong kong, to find the scroll and waise lee, who happens to be her ex-lover. once there, she befriends moon lee and a police man (chin kar-lok); they set out to find waise lee and the scroll, before the japanese agents do...

now, this had a bit of potential, but it's such a mess that nothing seems to gel together and it turns into a big pile of mush. luckily, there are a few reasonable action sequences, to distract you, but they don't make it worth recommending.

meh...

the dvd is hk$ from buyoyo.com

nathan barley

peace and fucking...



charlie brooker and chris morris's sitcom; it's exactly as good as you'd expect it to be.

the dvd is £13.99 from play.com