the duchess

a couple of hours ago, my belly was on a woman...



a young georgiana spencer (keira knightley)is married off to the duke of devonshire (ralph fiennes), becoming the duchess of devonshire. georgiana, the duchess or 'g' (very hip-hop for the eighteenth century), soon finds her dreams and romantic notions of marriage crushed by the duke; as far as he's concerned, a successful marriage consists of his new wife bearing a male heir for him, and little else.

georgiana puts up with her lot, despite holding a torch for an up-and-coming politician, charles grey (dominic cooper), and soon finds herself the darling of the london set, wowing all with her sense of style and personable nature. still, regardless of her popularity, her husband is none too pleased with the fact that he now has two daughters, with georgiana, and it isn't long before he begins to roam...

well, after watching 'pride and prejudice', making a subsequent trip to chatsworth house and seeing a plethora of promotional material for 'the duchess', i decided to go and see this. i happily missed all the attempts to tie the narrative in with charles / diana / camilla bollocks, otherwise i may have been put off...

the first thing to say about this film, is that it is very pretty; there's a heap of nice cinematography, some amazing locations, lots of quite amazing costumes and some rather super wigs. all good. beyond this, the film, based on a novelisation of the duchess of devonshire's peculiar marriage, is a scandal filled, soap opera of a costume drama. there's comedy and melodrama aplenty and, even though it's not up to the standards of austen, it is an enjoyable watch. knightley and cooper both do quite good jobs of swanning round in the foreground, as does hayley atwell (as georgiana's friend, who soon becomes the object of the dukes attention), but it is ralph fiennes, simon mcburney and aidan mcardle who steal the show.

fiennes is, quite simply, super when it comes to portraying the duke as a loathsome swine and, indeed, he seems to revel in the role. meanwhile, mcburney and mcardle, as charles fox (the leader of the opposition) and sheriden (the playwright), provide titter-worthy banter and an extra layer to the film.

a fun, but lightweight, slice of costume drama...

the film is currently on general release...

he - born to kill

the special technique of letter-boxing...



i'd write a synopsis, but the one on the dvd box sums things up nicely;

"during the investigation of a case, sergeant li fu-xing (alex man) met with a boy named chen xing-fa of 8 or 9 years old. with great concerns and confidence, li wished to personally reform this self-abandoned and rebellious. disappointingly, not only he tailed in the end, but also chen xing-fa (jack kao) had grown into a phonomania. with an alias of ah-lung, chen never changed a bit, instead he became merciless, evil and heartless. sergeant li had no choice but to pursue him. thus a bunch of bloody killings broke out..."

yep, that's right. although, if that makes sense, the film tries its hardest to confuse you. beginning with ah-lung killing li, the film then switches to a string of delirious memories as he recalls meeting a young sergeant li, his teenage life as a young rascal and his adult life as a cold killer. all interspersed with him waking up in his hideout, waiting for the cops to come. quite frankly, it is just a bit rubbish. and, that's me being kind...

it is, in essence, a crappy exploitation flick, filled with dialogue that i can believe is as dire as the attempt which has been made to translate it, with some limited violence thrown in for good measure. all in all, it is a little cheap and nasty.

what makes the film cheaper and nastier, apart from the aforementioned translation; which appears on screen as burnt in chinese/english subtitles, is the fact that it is, quite clearly, a transfer from a really shitty vhs. not only this, but the entire soundtrack appears to have been done in post-production and they have done a terrible job.

best avoided...

the dvd is hk$88 from buyoyo.com

sparrow

umbrella...



four pickpockets, or sparrows, who work in central hong kong, come into contact with a beautiful young woman, chun lei (kelly lin), and find their lives turned upside down. kei (simon yam), bo (gordon lam), sak (law wing-cheong) and mac (kenneth cheung) all find themselves falling under chun lei's spell, only to find that she is always being watched by the stooges of mr fu (lo hoi-pang); an old timer who feels that chun lei is his property...

this is a film which took three years for johnnie to to film: in hong kong term, that's an eternity. in that time he has chalked up another half a dozen directorial credits to his name; including the excellent 'exiled', 'mad detective' and the two 'election' films (which, criminally, i still haven't got round to watching). for me, i see this as being a labour of love: ideas that to had, shots he wanted to film, but finding the film to put them in, obviously, became a tricky prospect.

the film, in terms of narrative, is very simple; however, as with almost all milkyway productions, it has richness injected into it from other avenues. visually, the film is quite, quite beautiful; the shots of hong kong and the unconventional framing of shots and lighting of scenes showcase some of the most interesting cinematography i've seen come out of hong kong for a while. on top of this, the movement of characters and the choreography of scenes where there are pockets to be picked are more akin to busby berkeley numbers, than hong kong choreography.

add to this a stellar cast and you're able to forgive any perceived narrative short-comings.

a great little film...

the dvd is hk$95 from buyoyo.com

under the rose

and into the gutter...



when i saw that joy sales had re-issued this, a documentary (and a catIII one, at that), i thought i'd investigate. all i could find out, was that it was directed by otto chan and was presented by james wong. now, otto chan has a few adult, crime and comedic features to his name; none of which i've seen. james wong, on the other hand, as well as having composed the music for dozens of films, throughout the eighties and nineties, is one of those guys who crops up all over the place.

and, so the the dvd arrived and, ably assisted by veronica choi, james wong takes you on a journey into the world of sex in early nineties hong kong: porn, dogging, public snogging, gigolos, bar girls, peep shows and prostitution. this is not a standard documentary. mixing tales of old, interviews, (actual and questionable) hidden camera footage and reconstructions, it paints a picture which flits between the scandalous and the silly. and, in a typically hong kong way, the humorous and the unsavoury have little to divide them.

not great; a little too sleazy at times, but rather funny at others. a curiosity, for sure...

the dvd is hk$31 from buyoyo.com