supernova88 Reviews

Durian Durian (2000)

humanistic and tender, magical yet real

[7/10 · 24 January 2005]

I thought Durian Durian was an exceptionally charming film. I believe that in this film Fruit Chan has done what lots of movies fail to do, which is to take on a stereotype character, deal with it and then present its flip side in such a humanising and tender way.

The film is largely about a Chinese call girl in HK, and her exploits are seen through the eyes of a little girl living in the back lanes where the call girl works. while this makes for a half-decent premise, Chan takes the film on an arc midway, just as one begins to settle into the setting and characters, and the film begins to explore a richer, subtler and charming side to this girl's life.

The film starts off feeling very urban - the camera is often hand-held, its movements rapid and its compositions documentary like and voyeuristic. however, as the characters unfold and become more and more well-rounded, so too does Chan's visual style. the cinema verity feel is replaced with a measured, elegant style. stillness and lush winter photography dominate, and by the time the picture ends, one has the feeling of being transported to an entirely different place, seeing before one, an entirely different character.

I enjoyed this film, very, very much. the manner in which it handled the character of the sympathetic prostitute reminds me very much of Jean-luc Godard's treatment of Nana Kleinfrankenheim in Vivre Sa Vie - it was measured, not sappy, in some ways magical, in other ways thoroughly real.

Trust me. this is a good, good film.

A Legendary Love (2004)

bad Tiara star-vehicle (should have been so much more)

[3 September 2004]

i was disappointed. i very much wanted to like this film as i'd like to hope high for Malaysian films. first the good - m nasir was very good. he met my expectation and handled a tedious script to his very best. sofia jane was excellent. if the stories that jaquelina instructed the removal of lots of jane's scenes are true (to take out screen "competition"... jaquelina co-produced this with her husband) then it is regrettable. it's just a rumor, but one does wonder why an excellent performer and performance ended up so maligned. moving on, the production values are all excellent. great set, nice cinematography, nice costumes... editing style was fine, though the decision to drag it out to 145 minutes was certainly ill-chosen.

now the bad. tiara jaquelina was really not fit to play this role. she is so limited, so one-dimensional and so wooden. she doesn't exude the grace nor the natural beauty demanded of the role, nor does she poses a voice (a bit croaky, isn't it?) to perform lengthy verses of spoken word poetry kinda dialogue and voice over. inevitable that she was the lead actress but deeply, deeply flawed decision for the film.

poor characterisation. didn't feel for them all. m nasir tries and succeeds somewhat to elicit a response from me but the rest of the leading cast are all cardboards. i'll blame the scriptwriter for this. just too much screen time for everyone but the film doesn't work hard enough to develop character, narrative and a love for the world. it's so easy already because everything's in place: great set, great story, great characters. in the end it just became a bad tiara star vehicle.

that's why i'm so disappointed.

Returner (2002)

Hollow Style

[29 November 2002]

The Returner rips off the Matrix from the very first frame to the last. Everything from leather trench coats to stylish hail of bullets, dark glasses, flying shootouts, and of course, bullet-time has been duly burgled from its all too evident hero of a film. In fact, the style of the film is so closely linked to the Matrix that one wonders why the filmmakers even bother. The Returner succeeds most when the lead character played by Takeshi Kaneshiro displays his uncool sides: he's a bit of a whiner, embarrassed of his accomplice, and at times, almost a loser/antihero. This, however, is incongruent when matched against scenes of heroic gunfire, dodging bullets (yes) and all-too-cool turn-and-shoot fight choreography.

The story-line is as simple as it is predictable: a girl returns from the future with the knowledge of alien-wars that are to come. She arrives in October 2002 with the mission of nipping the alien invasion in the bud, and enlists criminal-with-a-heart Takeshi Kaneshiro. Much of the film relies on highly improbable scientific situations that really stretch the believability and credibility of the sci-fi aspect of the film. In one scene a baby alien is held captive by Korean authorities (now that's a foreseeable prospect!) under such insecure conditions that the villain, being shown the creature for the first time, actually gets to strangle the poor thing and shoot at it. The girl from the future has a device that gives the wearer limited-time high-speed movements, yet one wonders why a tool like this isn't more often deployed in situations of massive gunfire (after wondering, one arrives at the conclusion that the device is merely a weak excuse for Matrix-like bullet-time scenes). In another instance, the scruffy girl with a 72 hour mission gets a makeover at a stylish boutique. and later laments failing in her mission by a matter of seconds. The logic is always a several pounds too weak.

Kaneshiro, in all fairness, looks completely the part. He can be cool when he needs to be, and foolish yet likeable as well. If only the cool parts didn't demand such proximity to Neo, Kaneshiro could have been a cool hero on his own terms. In the end, this is a film with a lot of flash but absolutely nothing to bite into. With the releases of Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions on the horizon, be ready for many years more of this unhealthy trend. Hollow style. hollow unoriginal style.

1½ Stars

Phone (2002)

Cheap potshot flick

[28 November 2002]

With each new tech boom comes its horrors. It is not a novel phenomenon that the horror of horror films inflict via the medium of new technology. Evil has channeled itself into the home through the television set (Poltergeist), the video player (The Ring), and surely any number of films about computers and the internet. Here, the technological culprit is obvious. In this sense, Phone is part of a technophobic trend in horror films, where new technology enters the home and transmits its evil till all the characters lose control. Needless to say, this is an ever-present fear in times of quick technological progress.

But while it's nice to mention Phone in the same breath as the astute Poltergeist and The Ring, the film really does not deserve it. It is a truly poor film that is flawed from the script level right through to the acting. In every good horror film (I dare say) the thing that scares should build from something more inane into fully blown uncontrollable horror. Even the poor ones accomplish this - but Phone doesn't. Instead it is merely contented to put forward scare after scare and shock after shock that do nothing to escalate our fear. Instead, it counter-productively turns the scare item into an annoyance. The source of horror doesn't grow, it is just revealed. The characters don't lose control of the situation - their little control over evil technology is the same in the last scene as it was in the first. Everyone starts off in the frying pan and everyone stays there.

Another glaring problem with Phone is its lack of focus. In between taking cheap potshots at us, the film segues into maternal warfare, forbidden schoolgirl romance, sex-deviant thriller, investigative detective stuff, piano lessons, spirit possession, and it even manages to work out its own brand of Electra complex - a little girl sabotages her parents' lovemaking, and later kisses her father on the mouth (in possibly the most perversely exciting scene of the film - that's how bad it is). None of these subsections gel to tell a cohesive story or convey a cohesive mood. Phone would have benefited from concentrating on a couple of the above themes and developing them further, cutting out all the unnecessary frills along the edge - which it did, but only after more than an hour, when the film was already dead and buried. In other the words, the movie starts one hour too early, and you'd benefit from missing as much of the first two thirds as possible.

Phone also pulls out every cliché available to the horror genre: disturbed little girls, long-haired evil women, taps that spout strange things, lifts with their own minds, nursery rhyme chants, dolls, portraits, and strange faces in mirrors. None of these are executed with any scare factor. Also, look out for some amusing name-dropping: an Evian bottle, a Samick piano, and of course, the ever-present Motorolla. All-in-all, this is as cheap a flick as it gets. It takes you for a fool and you'll no doubt reciprocate.

½ Star.

Valentine (2001)

good for the gory deaths

[12 November 2002]

as a slasher movie, well, we've seen it all haven't we? valentine is no more or less redeeming than all the i know what you dids and the screams and the halloweens put together. but it does have the most gory deaths of all.

i'm not by nature a violent person, but after a lot of boring (and i mean, VERY EXCRUCIATINGLY BORING) slasher films, this one's death scenes made me wake up and wait eagerly for the next. it also helps that the characters all possess heightened stupidity. you'll be cheering for the cupid from the word go. all these make the death scenes so much more satisfying.

it's not much to boast, in fact, i find it quite disturbing to be saying all these. but there you have it. a notch above the other slashers (at least in one respect. or two. final-girl marley shelton looks like a cross between heather graham and uma thurman. now that can't be a bad thing).

Memento Mori (1999)

I don't know why I love it so much, but I do.

[9/10 · 23 September 2001]

I have seen Memento Mori twice at the Melbourne International Film Festival and I think it's a very good film. My first impression of it was that it's quite like Virgin Suicides meets Carrie. And i maintain that it weaves between the romance and horror genres very effectively. I have not seen the original Yeogo Goedam but i assume it was more of a straight horror.

Because of it's genre crossing, Memento Mori adds to the horror theme of Shi-eun's return a sadness and tenderness that coagulates very strangely, but effectively with the terror-filled images of Shi-eun's body on the ground, and her haunting of the school. I really like the love story, but i see it as a horror film about adolescent love.

I had the privilege to speak to one of the directors, Kyu-Dong Min at the festival, and he said the film was supposed to tap into the horror of being an adolescent. Which i think he and his co-director do very well. the school-girl scenes are all extremely realistic. Some parts are humorous but humour is placed so tightly in the middle of horror that things shift so quickly.

the production design must be commended. I particularly love the piano design at the end of the film. With the diary, however, (i know, it's really good), but Kyu-Dong Min actually mentioned that they researched heaps of teenage girls' diaries and many were much more elaborate than the one they made for the film. just a sneak.

The cinematography too, should gain praise. Most parts are shot with stark whites, blacks and deep greens and it's really effective in bringing out the emptiness of the school in the lives of Shi-eun and Hyo-shin. But it is also the photography of the two girls on the roof during sunset really got me. when you first see it, it's a love scene - they walk left and right, playing with socks and all. And when you see it at the end of the film, it becomes a nostalgic scene.

Lastly, i must praise the acting of all three leads. Kim Min Sun is really likeable as Min-ah. Lee Young-Jin showed great control as the living dead girl and Park Yeh-jin arguably holds the whole film's acting performances together, both in terms of performance and narrative.

I really like Memento Mori. So far, it's in my top 3 films of the year. It's not exceptional. It's not one of those films with fantastically rapturous visual imagery, complex structure, or profound philosophical narrative. In fact, i don't know why i like the film as much as i do - apart from what i've just mentioned above. but i do. if i could see it again, i would. 9 out of 10.

The Road Home (1999)

Closeups of her face

[9/10 · 1 October 2000]

I think The Road Home is one of Zhang Yimou's best films. The storyline is good and the acting is better. I like how Zhang Zhiyi plays Di, she really portrays the character well. She's at times lost, naive, excited, frustrated, in clouds and determined. I think her acting scores.

What i really enjoy about the film is also the way Zhang Yimou gives Zhiyi a lot of closeups... extreme closeups. It almost fetishises her face, and it definitely helps to create a very nostalgic feeling, almost dreamy. Totally sets you up in her frame of mind. What i find interesting about this is that whilst the viewer feels what she feels, it's almost like a reverse - Zhang Yimou positions the viewer to fancy the character the same way the character fancies another character. But you get the idea. You come out with the same kind of feeling Di would have had.

I spoke to someone two days ago, and he said it was an extremely sad film. I tend to disagree to some extent. of course, it is an extremely emotive film, and if you like emotive films then you must see this... but i sensed an uplifting thing going on in there. I think it's because the film is told through flashback and you know what happens from the start, and you just want to watch how it unfolds. I found it terribly moving but i was never too sad throughout. It's the kind of film where you empathise with the character A LOT but you don't feel sad yourself.

Plus, one more thing to wrap it all up. I thought that one of the best images i've ever seen in films is the freeze frame ending of The Road Home. I think it's such an awesome image, it will probably stick with me for so, so long. And so will the whole film, of course!

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

A visually poetic film

[9/10 · 8 August 2000]

I thought that The Virgin Suicides was one of the most visually poetic films i had seen in a long time. The use of a very nostalgic, almost blurry yellow/blue hue on the entire film creates this feeling that really makes the film a beautiful experience to sit through. I guess you can't deny that part of the visuals is also the 5 Lisbon sisters, adding to the whole golden sunny 70s feel. I think the set production people did a great job, and of course, Sofia Coppola.

My favourite scenes from the film, well, one of the most striking to me is when the camera shoots the house from exterior and the lighting, shadows, weather, everything changes in high speed. I thought that scene was extremely poetic, if you don't mind me repeating the word. I also thought that in Lux's final scene, when the boys watch her from behind, through the back glass door, and then when she turns... i thought that scene was really beautiful-scary, in a weird way. She seemed almost like a ghost returning. Very uncanny, or something like that.

Plus, a few final notes about the show - when watching it, i was very often reminded of Brian De Palma's Carrie. I guess the similarities are there: the 70s straight haired blonde look, the impossibility of going to the prom, finally going and becoming prom queen, and the horror the ensues... i thought the scene when Lux became homecoming queen, i was almost expecting the bucket of blood to splash on her (!) and i guess it did, in it's own way later.

Plus, i thought that Coppola inserted humour in very subtle but effective ways. A few examples would definitely be the way Trip Fontaine swaggered around school, tucking his hair around, and when the camera revealed Lux's underwear with Trip's name on it. That was really funny, because it used a very 70s dissolve which really set the tone as well. I thought Sofia Coppola's style was very subtle and gentle but also very powerful as well.

I liked The Virgin Suicides on many levels. I'd give it a 9/10 (and I've voted!). But to me, the most striking and commendable thing about the film is the visuals. I think Coppola really captured the mystery about the girls that the neighbourhood boys went through. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to see how beautiful a film can be.

La fille sur le pont (1999)

French New Wave-y + evocative soundtrack

[8/10 · 8 August 2000]

I liked how there were very strange, bizarre mind-reading moments. I liked the choice of black and white. And the intro scene when Adele speaks to the "camera".

The storyline was pretty predictable, but i didn't mind that too much. The visuals were very French New Wave-y, which i loved.

But to me, the most outstanding (or one of) points about the film is the soundtrack. I thought the music really added a great evocative effect to the knife scenes. An almost trance-like feeling.