in the mood for love

our glorious years have passed like flowers...



hong kong, the early sixties. mrs su (maggie cheung) and her husband move into the spare room in mrs suen's (rebecca pan) apartment. mr chow (tony leung) and his wife move into a spare room in the next-door apartment. mrs su works long hours, she's a secretary for a shipping company, and her husband frequently makes long trips to japan on business. mr chow works similarly late hours' as an editor for a newspaper, whilst his wife works even later into the night.

with lives such as these, mrs su and mr chow find themselves bumping into each other at late night eateries, as well as when they're making their way in and out of their building, and a neighbourly friendship begins to develop, spurred on by their shared interest in martial arts serials. it isn't long, however, before the frequent absences of both mr su and mrs chow are revealed as more than coincidental: they're having an affair.

mrs su and mr chow's friendship continues to develop as they play out likely scenarios of their spouses burgeoning to infidelity and how they may choose to confront them. all the while, their own relationship develops; but, always in their thoughts, is a conviction that they will not pursue an illicit entanglement of their own...

this is a film that i've loved since i first saw it a long while ago. so, when i found out that it was screening in the newly restored howard assembly room (at opera north / leeds grand theatre), i was there in a flash. the venue is rather lovely and definitely a nice place to watch something. the film, as always, was great.

the film is a real gem: a minimalistic portrait of the moments that occur between two people who are falling in love. it is said that a more defined narrative was sliced from the film during editing; but, regardless of whether this is true, the intensity and intimacy created by having almost every frame focussed on the interaction between its two central characters, either together or apart and thinking about each other, is incredibly powerful.

wong's pacing is excellent: despite the film garnering criticism for its (perceived) languid nature, last night, the ninety-eight minutes simply flew by. as performers, and an on screen pairing, maggie cheung and tony leung are completely engaging. even though this film was made after maggie cheung had already begun to take on fewer and fewer roles, her talent, grace and beauty are as evident as they ever have been. coiffured and wearing a stunning selection of dresses, she seems to almost glide through the film, managing to convey internal dialogues and thoughts through small movements and looks. tony leung, too, suits the role perfectly; looking great in a haze of smoke and managing to convey a sensitivity and vulnerability, with a presence which makes him a believable object of desire, in the eyes of mr su.

so much credit needs giving to wong and michael galasso for the selection (and composition) of the music to which cheung and leung's movement is, seemingly, choreographed to. it is one of my favourite soundtracks and still gets frequent airtime in my house. much praise should also go william chang who, as artistic director, costume designer and editor (no less...), plays a huge part in creating the visual beauty which christopher doyle and mark lee capture on film with aplomb. by 'in the mood for love' doyle seems to have managed to reign in a lot of his jauntier camera trickery and, along with lee, gives more emphasis to the lighting and composition, which, for me, makes this one of his strongest works.

great stuff. maybe it's time to go and watch '2046' again...

the dvd is £7.99 from play.com

a good lawyer's wife

together like a horse and carriage...



ho-jeong (moon so-ri) is a former dancer, turned teacher, who lives with her husband, chang-geun (kim in-mun), and their precocious, adopted son. when young-jak isn't spending his time working as an attorney, he is having an affair with a younger woman (baek jeong-rim). ho-jeong seems to be aware of this infidelity, but ignores it, despite her own sexual frustrations. however, when the teenage son (bong tae-gyu) of her neighbours begins to take an interest in her, temptation gets the better of her...

this was a little bit of a surprise; i've been aware of the film's existence for a while, but apart from knowing that involved moon so-ri having an affair, i had no knowledge of it's tone or content. still a $5.99 price-tag piqued my interest...

im sang-soo, whose 'the president's last bang', i heartily enjoyed, delivers a startlingly frank view of a family, their relationships and division. chang-geun's parents, have little to do with each other; the mother, in a scene of great comedy, reveals that she has been seeing someone else and, even if it sounds strange at her age, has been re-discovering the joys of the orgasm. this should give you an idea of the tone of the film. there is humour and drama, plenty of discussion of sex - with very little held back - and suggestions of deeper divisions, on a national scale, are also made.

an interesting and solid production. good stuff...

the dvd is $5.99 from k2dvd.com

heat team

arse and tongue...



after watching 'beast stalker', then 'the sniper' and declaring that dante lam was a hack, who would never again reach the heights of 'beast cops', 'jiang hu : the triad zone' or, even, 'twins effect', it was with trepidation i began viewing 'heat team'.

the film focusses on two cops; wong (eason chan) and lee (aaron kwok) who are brought into a special unit, led by fung (yumiko cheng), to investigate a robbery which may happen, then happens. wong is a womaniser, with a penchant for dating female cops, whilst lee is a bit of a sap, who still carries a torch for his ex-girlfriend, who kind of abuses him. things hot up after the robbery, when one of the crooks, to (victoria wu) is captured...

the first thing that should strike you is that the budget must have only been a fraction of what they spent on mr lam's two most recent efforts. this, in my opinion, is a good thing as it seems to force some creativity into the production, which is nice. secondly, there is comedy here; sure, it's not hilarious film, but at least it was making smile when it tried to and i wasn't just laughing at it for taking itself far too seriously.

i am, however, finding myself thinking about what they were up to when they were making this film; were they deliberately focussing on chan and kwok, whilst pushing the narrative thread to the point where it is almost insignificant? or, is it just a mess, where chan and kwok are the most interesting element of the film and the plot just holds no interest for the viewer? 'jiang hu...' may make you suggest the former, 'the sniper', the latter. i'm not sure.

the film is reasonably watchable, at best; mainly for chan, kwok cheng and wu, but also for danny lee's small role, as the police chief, which is played very nicely. it's kinda hard to recommend, but equally hard to totally dismiss. i'm not sure if that's praise or criticism...

err...

the dvd is hk$39 from buyoyo.com

all's well, ends well 2009

bowling ball...



bo (ronald cheng) is unlucky in love. well, that is to say, his girlfriends are. there's nothing wrong with bo, he's a nice enough guy but, unfortunately, he's cursed. unless his sister, chu (sandra ng), gets married, it would seem that all of his girlfriends are likely to befall some kind of terrible fate. not good.

so, bo decides to enlist professional help, in the form of dick cho (louis koo) - love therapist. for a fee, cho claims that he will open sandra's heart to the possibilities of love and then free her to fall in love and get married. however, cho's technique of allowing ladies to fall in love with him, before he reveals this to them, looks risky as the potential spinster becomes enraptured with him. then, further complications arise, when cho finds himself falling in love with mandy (miki shen). still, things may be looking up for bo, when he meets bucktooth jane (yao chen)...

so, another instalment of the 'all's well, ends well' series: in fact, it was this film which resulted in me buying the three disc set. i was standing in a dvd shop in mong kok, chuckling at a dishevelled sandra ng, sitting in her dressing gown, sporting five o'clock shadow on her upper lip and clearing phlegm from her throat after a very undignified yawn. a young lady who worked in the shop then pointed me towards the dvd and, as it was only a few dollars more, i picked up the set that had the original and '97 incarnations as well.

if the scene described above is not filling you with a desire to watch the film and you're already groaning on the inside, you'd probably best avoid it. if, on the other hand, you are powerless against the lure of even the silliest, most formulaic and over blown hong kong comedies, you should probably snap it up. the film dips into the 'all's well...' bag of tricks and sets up three pairs of couples, tangles them up a little, throws in a mixed bag of increasingly stretched situation comedy and lots of nonsense, aiming to make its audience feel good and giggle.

for me, it was great fun and i grinned like an idiot for most of the film. there's nothing big or clever or original about it, it's just a good solid slice of daftness. sandra ng, whom i love unashamedly is in pretty good form, louis koo and ronald cheng are both very likeable and seem to be having fun. raymond wong is raymond wong. meanwhile, miki shen is rather cute and a good foil for koo, whilst there's something strangely alluring about yao chen, even when she has her huge fake teeth...

fun, if that's what you like...

the dvd is available, along with 'all's well, ends well' and 'all's well, ends well - 97', for hk$100 from buyoyo.com

shall we dansu?

every step takes you closer to blackpool...



sugiyama (koji yakusho) is an account on the up; he lives with his wife (hideko hara) and daughter (ayano nakamura) in the house they have just bought. despite this life, sugiyama is not happy and, each day on his commute home, he finds himself staring up at the windows of a dance studio, hoping to catch a glimpse of the instructor who often gazes from the window. eventually, sugiyama makes his way to the studio and signs up for lessons. pretty soon he discovers that taking up ballroom dancing has had quite a different effect on his life...

i've been meaning to watch this for ages, but was put off the us disc, when i read about miramax cutting it, although that should never come as a shock. still, when i discovered the hong kong dvd was uncut, and came in a box set with two of masayuki suo's earlier films, i snapped it up.

i'm glad i did, it's pretty darn great. as a comedic drama and a meditation on finding happiness, it works very well indeed. the cast, as an ensemble are excellent and suo's directing is right on the money. koji yakusho is always very good and, unsurprisingly, he shows it again here. as does naoto takenaka.

i shudder to think of how bad the gere / lopez fronted remake is...

great stuff.

the dvd is hk$221, as part of 'the masayuki suo collection', from buyoyo.com - it's worth noting that it is the original japanese cut and not the edited miramax version.

star trek

to boldly go...



dandan's blog. star date 2009, may 16th, 18:30 hours.

have just finished watching 'star trek'. it has been re-imagined, under the guidance of j. j. abrams; you know, the 'lost' guy...

it appears as if there has been a disturbance in the universe. a romulan ship, led by nero (eric banner), a nasty sort, has travelled back in time from the future and they seem to be pissed off with spock (leonard nimoy). with no spock to be seen, nero turns his wrath (a wrath, bigger and more successful than khan's - mainly due to his fancy future weapons - definitely some kind of penis metaphor) on the poor little uss kelvin, killing george kirk (chris hemsworth) just minutes after he has been put in charge of the ship and, if you can believe it, after the birth of his son, who just manages to escape.

said son is growing up and, with no father to guide him on the road to success, james tiberius kirk (chris pine) is, essentially, a hick. luckily for the world, nay universe, captain pike (bruce greenwood), a nice chap who studied the uss kelvin, sees some potential in this cocky whipper-snapper and talks him into enrolling in the star fleet academy. now, in order to realign the history (or should that be the future?) of the 'star trek' universe, all he has to do is rise through the ranks and become captain of the enterprise. easy. well, maybe not: despite having already befriended dr "bones" mccoy (karl urban), a run in with an instructor named spock (zachary quinto), means that kirk won't be joining the rest of a fledgeling enterprise crew, as they respond to a mysterious distress call from the planet vulcan...

who the hell does abrams think he is, steaming in here with his re-writing of the 'star trek' canon? well, it doesn't really matter who he thinks he is, because he's done it and he's done a pretty good job too. having just attempted to write some kind of summary introduction to the plot, i chose silliness, rather than face having to write a more sensible introduction, which began to summarise the whys, wherefores and, more importantly, the whos. there is a pretty huge frame of reference, that even the mildest trekker brings to the table; having watched good chunks of all prior 'treks (barring 'enterprise'), i know who's who, but the thought of trying to re-introduce such a familiar set of characters to both an expectant audience of hardcore trekkers and a cinema going public who open mock such individuals is a bit of a daunting task.

the solution seems to be to wipe the slate with a bit of time travel related jiggery-pokery and good casting. pine does a good job as kirk; slightly annoying, bull headed, but kind of likeable, because you know that he'll be fighting a good fight. zachary quinto, whose 'sylar' is the king of 'heroes', is rather ace as spock. this was not a surprise and was my main reason for seeing the film. karl urban, who i have liked since 'doom', is great, whilst saldana, pegg, cho and yelchin, make good as uhura, scotty, sulu and checkov, respectively. then, you throw in a few action sequences, a healthy portion of references (which come across as snappy dialogue to new ears and pleasing throwbacks to older ones) and that's pretty much it. job done.

all in all, the film comes across as enjoyable popcorn fare; there's fun, action, drama and jokes, which knit together nicely enough and, more importantly, suggest that what follows (now this re-introduction is out of the way) should be a whole lot of fun. it's by no means a thing of greatness, but it does what it's attempting to do very well.

good stuff...

it is currently on general release.

charley varrick

the last of the independents...



charley varrick (walter matthau) and three of his friends rob a small bank, hoping to walk away with a couple of thousand to see them through hard times. however, when charley and harman (andrew robinson) - the only ones who made good their getaway - arrive home, they discover that they've actually taken $750,000. whilst harman celebrates, charley puts two and two together, coming to the conclusion that the money is more than likely dirty...

well, considering that my dad hardly ever watches films, i know that he's watched this a couple of times and it is his favourite film of all time. that, perhaps, makes it strange that i had never seen this film. so, i know what you're thinking: does my dad know what he's talking about?

the answer is, yes. 'charley varrick' is a film, very much in the spirit of 'no country for old men'. after stumbling across a whole lot of money, an amiable criminal has to manufacture a safe escape, whilst being pursued by a psychotic mob-hitman; in this case 'molly', played by joe don baker, with the cops having little or no idea what to do. it's not quite on par with 'no country...', but it is very good, is clever when it needs to be and makes for a very entertaining watch.

good stuff...

the dvd is £5.99 from play.com

the king of kong

i wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, "hi, i see that you're good at centipede."



billy mitchell, the self-styled, hot sauce magnate and retro-gaming champion, had held the world's highest score on donkey kong for over twenty years. that was until steve wiebe, a high school science teacher and perennial non-achiever, topped billy's score. still, to be recognised as the best is not as simple as you may think: and a battle between billy and steve, the pursuit of the highest score and recognition of a world record lays before them...

so, i've finally gotten round to watching this and it was super fun. now, i've known a few gamers who have been ultra-competitive, driven and verged on being obsessive compulsive, but they pale next to some of the people who feature here. billy comes across as a dick. now, i'm pretty sure this is emphasised by the film-makers, but it really doesn't look like it took much effort to do. steve, on the other hand, is portrayed in a positive light and comes across as likeable, if a little o.c.d. in his pursuit of donkey kong glory.

however, perhaps more interesting are the characters on the periphery of this battle; walter day - the referee and high score keeper in chief, robert mruczek - the guy who sits watching and verifying hours and hours of record attempt video footage, and, steve sanders - a guy who was outed as a high score lair by billy, but subsequently became his best friend. a truly fascinating bunch...

great fun...

the dvd is £3.99 from play.com

hula girls

flowers blossoming in coal...



japan, 1964. sanae (eri tokunaga) is eighteen and lives in a small town which relies heavily on the coal mine, where she also works. with the influx of oil, the demand for coal is shrinking and the mine is threatened with closure. in an attempt to stave off disaster, the people who run the mine are investing heavily in a hawaiian themed resort, which will utilise the hot springs that are present in the town. the people of the town are not happy with this plan.

apart from sanae, who, along with her best friend, kimiko (yu aoi), signs up to be a dancer. when ms hirayama (yasuko matsuyuki), a professional dancer from tokyo, arrives, there are only girls willing to be dancers. still, the girls plough themselves into their new lives and the group begins to grow, but will the townsfolk accept this change and will anyone come to the resort?

well, what can i say? i wanted to see this as it sounded like it may follow on the heels of 'waterboys' or 'swing girls', both of which i enjoyed a lot. it doesn't, as it leans more towards drama, than comedy, but i still liked it a lot. sure, it is corny, devicive and melodramatic, but it is so damn likeable, that i found myself completely forgiving it for all its potential short-comings.

the cast are all great, the dancing is fun and there's a good few laughs, as well as some more emotional scenes. all in all, a very enjoyable, if not great, little film.

the dvd is hk$33 from buyoyo.com

all's well, ends well 97

pepsi...



kung (stephen chow) is unemployed, a womaniser and is feigning madness after his brothers, liu tau (raymond chow) and fei (francis ng), play a trick on him. liu tau is married to yinsu (christine ng), but all is not going well and and the spark seems to have gone from their marriage. fei is a student, and has been for many years, he is currently dating kam (amanda lee), who is a bit nasty. meanwhile, and papa (kwan hoi-san) just wants his orchid to grow well...

yep, a similar, but slightly different set up and cast to the first 'all's well...' film. and, as before (and with new year's comedies in general), it's all about misunderstandings, family quibbles, arguments, looking for love and everything working out in the end. and, it kinda works out. there's humour, silliness, a fight in a pool hall and the usual stuff, all rolled in to a pretty loose narrative. it entertained and made me chuckle, which is all one can really expect...

fun enough...

the dvd is available, along with 'all's well, ends well' and 'all's well, ends well - 2009', for hk$100 from buyoyo.com

the blue jean monster

why do you think babies have no teeth?



tsu (shing fui-on) is a cop, who lives with his heavily pregnant wife, chu (pauline wong), and power steering (tse wai-kit); a young rapscallion, who tsu has taken under his wing, as he killed his father many years ago. when tsu tries to foil a bank raid, he ends up getting beaten, shot, crushed and killed. luckily for him, though, a cat sits on his chest and he gets struck by lightening: a sure-fire recipe for being brought back to life...

now, tsu has to work with power steering and gucci (gloria yip), a young lady who was held hostage by the robbers, but managed to escape with their haul, in order to catch the criminals, all the time disguising the fact that he is dead from his wife. it's gonna be a tough couple of days...

well, with a synopsis like that, who wouldn't want to see this? especially as perennial bit-parter shing fui-on is actually the main lead. a rarity indeed. then, there's the 'yip factor': not only is there a cameo from the top-heavy, cat III star; amy, but the rather adorable gloria is also present.

the narrative is as batty as it sounds; mixing touches of cop action, with drama, horror and a large dose of humour. it is fantastically entertaining in its execution, with everyone involved having a blast. oh, and there's also a hilariously unsavoury joke about sex during pregnancy, which made me hoot with laughter.

super fun...

the dvd is hk$35 from buyoyo.com

three colours: red

perhaps you're the woman i never met...



valentine (irene jacob) is a student, and part-time model, living in geneva. one evening, she accidentally hits a dog, with her car. when returning the dog it to its owner, a retired judge (jean-louis trintignant), valentine discovers that he spends his days listening in on his neighbours telephone conversations. although disgusted by his hobby, valentine finds herself interested in this man and a friendship begins to develop...

the third and final instalment of the 'three colours' trilogy and, sadly, kieslowski's final film. i would say that this was my favourite of the three. after an 'anti-tragedy' and an 'anti-comedy'; 'rouge' or 'red' is an 'anti-romance' - or so you would be led to believe. as with the other two films, i pay this little heed, erring instead towards the thematic label of 'liberty, equality, fraternity', although kieslowski kinda brushed these aside...

still, 'rouge' can be said to have an theme of fraternity running through it, what with it mainly being a tale of people whose lives interconnect, without their knowledge or when they seemingly have little in common. in this respect, it is a great success, mixing drama and humour accordingly.

unsurprisingly, as with binoche and delpy (in 'bleu' and 'blanc' respectively), i'm now a little bit enamoured by ms jacob; who is rather super. whilst trintignant is also rather good in his role. i've really enjoyed watching these three films, especially as they really do work well as a trio, and i'm sure i shall enjoy them even more, when i revisit them in the future.

great stuff...

the box set, of all three films in this trilogy, can be purchased from k2dvd.com for $9.99.

master and commander

the far side of the world



'tis the napoleonic wars. captain jack aubrey (russell crow) and his crew are on manoeuvres, off the coast of south america, when they come under attack. a mysterious, heavily armed and alarming swift french ship is after them: after escaping an initial confrontation, a game of cat and mouse begins...

this had been recommended to me a couple of times, mainly by my mum, but i never got round to watching it, until now. and, only because it was a nice time-filler on a plane. still, i found it to be very enjoyable. there's a really nice tension to the whole affair, punctuated with some pretty interesting character drama from crowe (who is perfectly watchable) and paul bettany (who i like), filling the role as the ship's doctor and amateur naturalist.

the production design is all rather splendid and the sea battles are genuinely impressive. i may have to rewatch this on a proper telly.

good stuff...

the dvd is £2.99 from hmv.com