Lau Ching-Wan as 'Mad Detective'

I’m glad to see that Johnny To has become a recognizable, marketable name on the international film festival circuit. His trio of excellent and stylish films in 2006 (ELECTION, ELECTION 2, EXILED) generated considerable enthusiasm beyond the niche of loyal, hardcore Hong Kong film fans.

Even more exciting for me, though, was the prospect of To reuniting with former frequent colloborators Wai Ka-Fai and the great Lau Ching Wan, both of whom are still under recognized on the world cinema scene. To’s colloborations with Wai tend to be more whimsical and less straightforward than To’s solo works; they bring something out in each other that is altogether distinct and pleasurable. Though I haven’t kept up with most of Lau’s recent performances, he was nothing short of marvelous in MY NAME IS FAME. Would the reunion live up to expectations?

MAD DETECTIVE premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival and, after playing a few other fests, surprisingly was picked up for US distribution. I watched it at home, on video, and, while I was not blown away as I have been by other To/Wai/Lau pictures, the film is resonating quite nicely in my head nearly three days later.

Grabs you by the back of the neck and body slams you into the mud. Before you can catch your breath, your face is scraped along a broken concrete highway, leaving a long, bloody trail. All that’s left is for a speeding truck to crush your head like a grape.

 Read my entire review at Twitch.

One more DVD release for the week that I missed on Tuesday: ArtsMagic DVD presents the latest in its “pink” line.

Love – Zero = Infinity
“One of the infamous ‘Four Devils’ of the Japanese pink movie scene, who dominated the erotic cinema of the 1980s and 90s, Hisayasu Sato delivers his own unique take on the mythos of the vampire.

“Takeshi, an alienated young man spends his lonely days obsessively following total strangers. He is employed to observe the movements of a beautiful, but disturbed doctor, whose behavior is causing concern. As Takeshi continues to track her, a bond begins to grow between them, a bond which can only end in tragedy.”

• 1994. Japan. 62 minutes.
• ArtsMagic DVD
• Directed by Hisayasu Sato
• Featuring Kiyomi Ito, Takeshi Ito

Other details have not been published, but ArtsMagic releases in the past have featured original-language audio tracks, English subtitles, and generally an audio commentary as well.

Here’s a post at Twitch; the comments are also worth reading.

Perusing the wonderfully useful Twitch DVD Release Calendar, here are my picks of the Asian films to be released this week in Region 1.

Cello
“A cellist is haunted by strange events after a car wreck.”

• 2005. South Korea. 92 minutes.
• Tartan Video
• Directed by Lee Woo-cheol
• Featuring Jeong Ho-bin, Jeong Yu-mi, Park Da-an, Seong Hyeon-a
• Audio Tracks: Korean (Dolby Digital 5.1), Korean (DTS 5.1)
• Subtitles: English and Spanish
• Director’s commentary
• Behind the scenes with cast and crew
• Original theatrical trailer
• TV spot

Electric Shadows
“A violent chance encounter sets in motion a boy’s discovery of a long-lost friend.”

• 2004. China. 95 minutes.
• First Run Features
• Directed by Xiao Jiang
• Featuring Xia Yu, Li Haibin, Zhang Yijing, Qi Zhongyang, Wang Zhengjia
• Audio Tracks: Chinese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Director’s introduction & biography
• Film notes
• Photo gallery

Also released this week (all descriptions from Amazon.com):

A friend of mine recently returned from a week-long business trip to Beijing. He talked about the tremendous size of the city, the ten traffic loops that surround it, the incredible cleanliness (people mopping the roads), and the complete absence of birds (as far as he could tell).

He also noted that bulldozers were busy demolishing buildings and clearing entire lots, right up to the edge of many roads.

Having lived in Beijing for more than a dozen years, filmmaker Xiaolu Guo has paid particular attention to those bulldozers. More importantly, she has meditated upon what the tremendous upswing in construction — and inevitable destruction — has wrought, and what it may mean for the future of Beijing, and China itself, especially in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. She distills these thoughts in The Concrete Revolution, which is less a straight-forward documentary than an absorbing personal essay.

Read my entire review at Twitch.

Jackie Chan revived his Police Story franchise by slapping New in the title and making it more dramatic — his squad is killed in front of his helpless eyes and he becomes an alcoholic until a young cop gets him back in the game.

If I were to rate the series, I’d put this fifth installment below II and above IV. Police Story III: Supercop was the best, though the first was also excellent.

New Police Story has a couple of very good stunts, the reliance on dramatics is not a bad idea, but overall it’s a bit dry. Worth a rental.

The Lions’ Gate Region 1 DVD is said to include original audio tracks plus English dubbed features.

Meanwhile, out of Japan comes the sequel One Missed Call 2. According to the Media Blasters web site: “The One Missed Call curse has become an urban legend in Tokyo. Your cell phone rings with a chilling tone. Your violent demise is heard on the other end. Moments later, you die a horrible death. However, the curse has mutated to fool a wiser public and reach a broader audience.”

The two-disc edition probably includes a lot of neat stuff, but the Media Blasters site proved too challenging for me to surf effectively. It’s also out today.

Dig deep into your pockets, folks, it’s time to fork over two twenties for another Criterion release. Here’s the sales pitch in their own words:

“One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu’s family portraits, Late Spring tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent Ozu players Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara command this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, which remains as potent today as ever — almost alone justifying Ozu’s inclusion in the pantheon of cinema’s greatest directors.”

Late Spring is the only Asian title out today in Region 1, but need there be more for the week?

In view of the dearth of any new Asian films being released on Region 1 DVD this week, we direct your attention to the limited release of Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (official web site). Is it just in New York City this week?

According to the site, only a truly limited number of US communities will have the opportunity to see this film on the big screen. If yours is one of them, check it out. It’s been well-reviewed (generally) and, hey, it’s Asian.

Admit it. You’re staring at the middle-aged actor playing Bernard on Lost and thinking: I know this guy. Doesn’t he live down the street from me? Bernard is the white dentist married to the black lady of faith.

Bernard is a very decent man and that was proven tonight. Very nice to see Rose and Bernard center stage instead of the Lord of the Rings midget drug addict or the eternal lust triangle between Doc, Bad Boy, and Bad Girl. Yet it was bugging me that I didn’t know the name of the actor playing Bernard, because I saw him in the parking lot at Fry’s in Burbank back in January.

It was a sunny Friday morning and I was leaving the store, almost on my way out of town to start a new phase of my life in another town in another state, and I saw Bernard loading the trunk of his vehicle (was it a compact? Nah, probably a mini-SUV of some type) with a box. I recognized him, but I didn’t know from what, and that’s always embarrassing.

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. This is an arid time for Region 1 Asian releases, so if you’re aimlessly wandering around the “New Releases” section of your local rental shops and come across 18 Fingers of Death!, beware. Supposedly it’s a “mockumentary” directed by James Lew. I’d never heard of it before, though it’s listed as being made in 2004.

Note this review submitted by David M. Keplinger to Amazon: “I’m glad this movie is in the ‘comedy’ section otherwise I’d not known it was a comedy. I laughed one time. To say this is in anyway as clever or funny as Kung Fu Hustle is like comparing Rosie O’Donnell to Cindy Crawford. I think you get my point.

“I think you could take one of those 18 fingers of death and poke your own eye out. That would be slightly more enjoyable then having to watch this movie.

“I got to see this movie for free yet I somehow feel I should in some way get my money back. It’s the oddest feeling. Kinda goes with the bitter taste left in my mouth after having watched this movie.”

Fighting for shelf space against Brokeback Mountain and The Chronicles of Narnia, look for Gong Li in The Story of Qui Ju.

Amazon lists the DVD as being released last week, but whatever the case, it might be hard to find at a brick and mortar retailer. It’s being released through Sony Pictures, which should guarantee at least a minimum order from retailers and rental shops. I’ve had some success looking in the “Drama” section for foreign-language titles, rather than in the “New Release” area.

Hard-bitten Anthony Lane wrote in The New Yorker: “This new film by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou is a far cry from his earlier work. After such intense, forbidding fables as ‘Red Sorghum’ and ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ we are now offered a rough-edged comedy about a man kicked in the groin by the village elder.”

With the recent release on DVD of the horridly boring Memoirs of a Geisha, perhaps disappointed viewers of that disaster will be sufficiently intrigued by Gong Li to search out her earlier work. Though I haven’t seen The Story of Qui Ju, which was released in 1993, I still recommend this colloboration between her and real-life love (at the time) director Zhang Yimou.

Once upon a time, prolific Japanese auteur Takashi Miike was barely represented on Region 1 DVD shelves. Now, thanks to companies like Arts Magic DVD, more and more of his prodigious output is coming to light.

“Regarded as a milestone in cult maestro Takashi Miike’s career, Osaka Tough Guys (Naniwa Yuuky-den) is the bridge between his work as an apprentice director and as an auteur,” in the advertorial words of Arts Magic. “It also displays the two distinct themes that he would explore in later work. Here, bonded together for the one and only time is an affectionate look at late youth that he would later develop (Young Thugs) together with the magic realist dive into yakuza life and rituals (Full Metal Yakuza, Fudoh) for which he is best known. When two street punks, Makoto and Eiji, run out of drinking money, it seems they have no choice but to look for work. But when they find an extremely well-paid job that requires no experience, they don’t realize that they’re about to be conscripted into the yakuza!”

Here’s a review by Twitch’s Todd Brown in which he concludes: “In the grand scheme of things Osaka Tough Guys stands as a relatively minor film in Miike’s canon, it is however a mightily entertaining one.”

The disk includes two Japanese-language audio tracks (DD 5.1 and 2.0), English subtitles, an interview with Miike, and an audio commentary by Tom Mes (Midnight Eye).

It hits the street today and should be available at better Region 1 retailers.

The Mu Empire ruled the Earth twelve centuries ago before sinking below the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Now it is ready to rise again and regain its rightful position, subjugating the nations of the world to slavery, but first it demands that Japan turn over the mighty submarine Atragon.

Filled with a fair number of scale-model explosions, a colorful pagan tribe, and a renegade military group, Atragon should be more fun than it is. Sadly, due to a tepid tone and the inability of director Ishiro Honda (Godzilla, The Mysterians, Attack of the Mushroom People) to build momentum or sustain tension, the film simply plods along, accumulating scenes.

From a distance of more than 40 years, however, it is the military sub-plot that holds the greatest fascination. Captain Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) revolted at the end of World War II, refusing to accept Japan’s surrender, and disappeared with a submarine and his crew. Former Admiral Kosumi (Ken Uehara) approved of his actions and helped him cover up by going along with the cover story that Jinguji was killed in action.

When the action picks up, Kosumi is working in Corporate Japan with his old friend’s daughter, Makoto (Yoko Fujiyama). The Mu Empire makes its threats known; somehow they know that Jinguji is alive and is building a powerful new submarine, called Atragon.

No new releases this week. Takashi Miike’s Osaka Tough Guys is due from Arts Magic next Tuesday, so get your pre-orders in now.

Minor health problems have plagued me for the past month, salvaged by a mostly enjoyable week-long working vacation. Back to the DVD salt mines!

Out on R1 DVD today is Marebito, the latest from the director of Ju-On and its remake The Grudge. Here’s the description from distributor Tartan Films USA.

“Masuoka (cult filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo), a solitary cameraman obsessed with the desire to understand fear, watches grisly footage of a man committing suicide in the subway. Desperate to understand the madman’s intentions, Masuoka returns to the scene, inadvertently opening a door into a bizarre and horrifying underworld. Here among the ghosts and creatures he finds a strange and beautiful mute girl. After kidnapping her, Masuoka discovers evidence of a chillingly inhuman nature and realizes he has discovered a truth too frightening to be real.”

Frankly, after reading that I have no idea what the movie’s “about,” though Tim Lucas raved , which means it’s worth a look in my book.

The DVD is said to include original Japanese audio (DD 5.1 and DTS), English and Spanish subtitles, and interviews with the director, producer, Shinya Tsukamoto, and the original theatrical trailer.

DVD releases this week give Region 1 readers an opportunity to catch up with two recent festival favorites as well as check out two classics by Zhang Yimou that star Gong Li.

R-Point
Korean film from late in 2004 about soliders investigating a mystery with unexpected results received some festival exposure in 2005 and is said to be a psychological thriller with some unique twists. This one I’m eager to see. From the Asia Extreme line at Tartan Video.

The World
I saw Jia Zhangke’s Unknown Pleasures several years ago and it was a film easier to admire than to love. The World takes place in a theme park, and when I was in Chicago this past summer I read Jonathan Rosenbaum’s ecstatic reviews in the Reader…and still didn’t make it to the Saturday afternoon screening he introduced. Shame on me. For those specially interested in the spare, sparse side of Chinese storytelling, it sounds like a “can’t miss.” For the rest of us, it sounds like an opportunity to expand our horizons. From Zeitgeist Films, the disk includes a video interview with none other than Jonathan Rosenbaum.

An early review at DVD Beaver is highly critical of the new Razor release of Ju Dou, so buyer beware of both of these titles.

Ju Dou
Gong Li plays the young bride of an older factory owner. She eventually takes up with a younger man, and their resulting offspring creates further divisions. Banned in China upon release. Directed by Zhang Yimou.

Raise the Red Lantern
Gong Li plays a rural woman who is drafted into becoming the the newest wife of a powerful man. The competition between the wives is fierce, with a red lantern hung to indicate where “the master” will spend the night, and thus which wife is favored that night. Gorgeous to look at, with characters who sneak up on you with a surprising force of emotion. Directed by Zhang Yimou.

Between Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh, and Michelango Antonioni, which is which?

Wong’s film is a riff on 2046 that feels warm and sticky. The heat emanates from subtle gestures, sneaky glances, and flashes of flesh. With Gong Li and Chang Chen.

Soderbergh’s segment is evidently meant to be humorous, but it comes across as a strange exercise in pointlessness, and lacks any hint of the erotic. With Robert Downey, Jr., and Alan Arkin.

Antonioni’s entry bares the greatest expanse of skin, with two lovely women displaying their natural beauty, though I would be hard pressed to describe what exactly was meant to be romantically enticing about it.

Joshua Zyber of DVD Talk compares the Region 1 release of Eros (out today from Warner) with the Region 3 edition (released several months ago from Mei Ah) and notes differences in both quality and content of the films.

Sundance is over (though Rotterdam is ongoing) and the Oscar noms are out today. Movie City News has a nicely-formatted list.

Howl’s Moving Castle was deservedly nominated for Best Animated Film. The other nominees are The Corpse Bride (out on DVD today) and Wallace & Gromit.

Here’s my review of Howl’s Moving Castle from last July.

Just this past month, I expanded my knowledge of Hayao Miyazaki a bit with viewings of My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso, thanks to US cable channel Turner Classic Movies. Those films are actually easier entry points than Howl’s Moving Castle, but even newcomers will find much to enjoy.

No Asian DVDs out in Region 1 today. Sony will be releasing Zhang Yimou’s The Story of Qui Ju on April 4.

Sundance occupies the cinema blogosphere right, and rightly so, but it’s not easy to find much about foreign-language films premiering there. On the other hand, Region 1 dwellers might easily find a couple of new Asian pictures on disk.

Thunderbolt
1995. Hong Kong. 111 minutes.
New Line DVD.
Directed by Gordon Chan.
With Jackie Chan.

Jackie Chan’s auto racing picture, filmed in Japan, has failed to receive a proper (original language in original aspect ratio) DVD release for years. This version reportedly includes a Cantonese audio track in addition to the English dub, but I haven’t confirmed this myself. Might be worth a trip to the local video shop for a rental.

For more information, check out this thread at the Asian DVD Guide Forum. Those folks know a lot more about DVDs and previous versions than I do.

Vital
2004. Japan. 86 minutes.
Tartan DVD.
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto.
With Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kazuyoshi Kushida.

An amnesia story with a twist. Todd at Twitch called it “an important work from an important film maker.”

DVD includes featurettes, interview with the director, music video, and audio commentary by Tom Mes of Midnight Eye.

Both disks retail for just under $20.00, and will be out tomorrow.

Sorry for the long interlude between posts, but I departed for greener work pastures at the beginning of December, and have been limited in what I’ve been able to see, Asian movie-wise.

My most recent reviews have appeared at Twitch, where I was invited to become a contributing writer. There you can read thoughts on:

The Promise

Korean Backlash — Notes on Lady Vengeance, Welcome to Dongmakgol, and The Bow

Still have a couple more reviews to write up from my few days at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Hopefully I’ll get back into a regular schedule in a couple of weeks so I can update every week with news about upcoming Region 1 DVD releases of Asian films.

Thanks for visiting.

My reviews, posted at Twitch:

SPL (Hong Kong)

My initial reaction was “Zowie!!” The action is fierce and fabulous, the picture looks terrific — neon-tinged primary colors dominate the palette — and it’s wrapped up in a classic police story.

A second viewing still rocked my house as I became more attuned to the melodramatic flourishes, the finely-tuned performances by the underplaying Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, the continual, subtle nods to films like THE KILLER (and possibly THE WARRIORS?), the razor-sharp, efficient editing by the superb Cheung Ka-Fai, and the thunderous musical score by Chan Kwong Wing and Ken Chan. (more … )

INITIAL D (Hong Kong)

Automotive porn in the finest sense, INITIAL D will please those who have both a racing fetish and a tolerance for broad Hong Kong-style humor. (more… )

THE RED SHOES (South Korea)

Dazzling, bruising, and hysterical, THE RED SHOES doesn’t so much tell a story as assault the senses. (more… )

THE SUSPECT (Japan)

With an occasional light touch, the film is not oppressively dark or grim. Muroi may not be a joyfully berserk rebellious cop, yet his rigid determination to do the right thing is strangely reassuring. (more… )

Interview originally published in AFI FEST Daily News:

THE SUSPECT Crosses the Pacific, Samurai Spirit Intact

Quiet, stubborn and honorable in a dishonorable world, Chief Inspector Shinji Muroi could best be described as a modern-day samurai. Ryoichi Kimizuka, writer/director of THE SUSPECT, would be pleased. (more…)

Coming soon: reviews of DEAD RUN, SHANGHAI DREAMS, and AMU.

Kenji Mizoguchi’s UGETSU (1953) came out last week. It sounds fabulous (details here at the Home Vision site).

The PINKY VIOLENCE COLLECTION has been delayed a few weeks, and is now set for release on December 6. Read the details at the Panik House Entertainment web site.

Wong Kar Wai’s THE HAND was the first and best segment of the three films that made up EROS; the trilogy will be released on February 7. A rental will be recommended, but THE HAND is very much worth the time and effort to see.

With no new Asian releases this week, you may want to check out THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, new on DVD, which is tough, downbeat, and stylish. It’s a remake of James Toback’s FINGERS, but has a direction and rhythm all its own.

AFI FEST concluded this past Sunday. I saw 30 films, many quite good, and others not to my taste.

Of the Asian films, SPL was the stand-out, but SUNFLOWER was extraordinarily powerful.

I could admire the artistry of SHANGHAI DREAMS but not love it. DEAD RUN began in a more straightforward vein before plummeting into the abyss. Strong stuff.

THE SUSPECT received, surprisingly to me, a rather cool reception. I thought it was a very good, subtle drama, but maybe people were expecting something else.

AMU was conventionally told but passionate and illuminating. INITIAL D was happy brainless fun. THE RED SHOES confounded.

I’ll post links to my reviews of these once they’re all posted at Twitch, as well as my interview with the producer and director of THE SUSPECT.

No Asian films out on DVD in Region 1 this week.

American Film Market starts today, so check the trades for deals daily; all the reports are that this is expected to be a very busy market.

AFI FEST starts tomorrow night with the Opening Night Gala Presentation of WALK THE LINE.

Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s INITIAL D gets things rolling for the “Asian New Classics” section on Saturday night at 6:00 pm; Alan Mak is reportedly in town. The film also plays Sunday at Noon.

Ryoichi Kimizuka’s THE SUSPECT has its North American Premiere on Sunday at 9:15 pm; the director will be present, and the film is quite good; recommended. The film also plays Monday at Noon.

Zhang Yang’s SUNFLOWER screens Monday at 6:30 pm and Tuesday at Noon.

Sabu’s DEAD RUN has its US Premiere on Monday at 9:45 pm and also plays Tuesday at 3:00 pm. Practically the only way to see one of Sabu’s films in the US is at festivals, so check it out.

Xiaoshuai Wang’s SHANGHAI DREAMS screens Tuesday at 6:45 pm and Wednesday at 3:00 pm. From the director of BEIJING BICYCLE and the excellent DRIFTERS.

Seijun Suzuki’s PRINCESS RACCOON screens Tuesday at 9:30 pm and Thursday at 12:15 pm. An obvious “don’t miss.”

Hopefully more next week. Meanwhile, check Twitch for more of my reviews during the next few days (thanks Todd!) and I also have several stories that will be running in the AFI FEST Daily News, distributed on-site during the festival.

It’s a splendid week for fans of classic Samurai films to have access to money and a DVD player, though some may prefer a dark and haunting Korean thriller.

This Week’s Region 1 DVD Releases

REBEL SAMURAI: SIXTIES SWORDPLAY CLASSICS
Japan. 420 minutes.
Release Company: Criterion Collection.

Four-disc collection. Titles also available individually. Detailed information about the films is available at the Home Vision web site. Here’s a list of the features:

KILL! (1968):
# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# Original theatrical trailer
# New essay by film and cultural critic Howard Hampton
# New and improved English subtitle translation

SAMURAI REBELLION (1967):
# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# Excerpts from a 1993 interview with director Masaki Kobayashi
# Original theatrical trailer
# New essay by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie
# New and improved English subtitle translation

SAMURAI SPY (1965):
# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# Exclusive interview with director Masahiro Shinoda
# New essay by film scholar Alain Silver
# New and improved English subtitle translation

SWORD OF THE BEAST (1965):
# New, restored high-definition digital transfer
# New essay by Japanese-film and pop-culture authority Patrick Macias
# New and improved English subtitle translation

SPIDER FOREST
South Korea. 2004. 120 minutes.
Directed by Song Il-gon.
Release Company: Tartan Extreme Asia.

“An enigmatic mystery that follows a tormented car accident survivor haunted by visions of murder, this dreamlike thriller is a challenging audience puzzle.”–TLA Video web site.

Features:
# Deleted Scenes,
# Behind The Scenes
# Cast Interviews
# Photo Gallery
# Original Theatrical Trailer