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• A string of movies

  2007-10-25 2:34AM / 標準BLOG / movies / 會員可以看
  13個評論

  Have watched a few movies at home in the last month or so and I've finally decided to just spit out the latest compilation here and now. Just didn't know where to fit them in so....here they all are.
  
  Ronin Gai, Japan, 1990
  Drama. I do enjoy my samurai films. A ronin was a masterless samurai during the feudal period (1185–1868) of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the ruin or fall of his master (as in the case of death in a war), or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege. In this film, four ronin hang around this tavern which is also a brothel. Some renegade samurai are killing off the prostitutes in righteous indignation and for sport. When a favorite prostitute is in peril, the ronin finally get their act together to confront the band of samurai and their supporters.
  
  The film isn't exactly the tightest but I enjoyed the storytelling. There is a reason for every scene and sequence. I didn't particular get where each of the ronin characters were coming from because each character was sparingly explored. Just went with the flow. There's only one battle scene and that's when the ronin show their worth.
  
  The Painted Veil, USA, 2006
  Drama. Not a whole lot going on. Edward Norton is a very good actor and this is the first I'd heard him speaking with an English accent. Same with Liev Shreiber. No one's particularly heavy on the melodrama, especially not Anthony Wong. Naomi Watts plays the wife who's been separated from her lover (or her adultery) as her husband, played by Norton, drags her off to some tiny village in China to help fight the cholera epidemic. In China, they finally dispense with their preconceived illusions, forgive each other, discover each other, and fall in love. Husband meets an early demise. Enjoyed the music and the landscapes.
  
   All About Eve, USA 1950
  Drama. Finally watched this classic. It's great. Good scrīpt for which I definitely needed the subtitles; they're spoken seemingly rapid-fire. Great acting. That ambitious, conniving, unethical Eve scared me. She'd kick my arse.
  
  Devils on the Doorstep, China, 2002
  Drama, Satire, Comedy. It's not really a comedy but there are some funny-like bits. A couple of Japanese POWs get dumped on peasant Ma Dasan's doorstep and he's told to watch over them until they're collected. Months go by and they're still under his charge with their original captor still unknown. After half a year, Dasan and friends decide to return them to the Japanese army for a reward The prisoners are convinced that Dasan had been kind in allowing them to remain alive. When they're returned to their Army, however, they are convinced that the Chinese had done them wrong by keeping them locked up. If it wasn't for the surrender of the Japanese and the end of the WWII, the entire village would've been wiped out in retaliation.
  
  Filmed in b&w and is directed, produced and starred by Jiang Wen. A bit long. You feel sorry for these simple, Chinese peasants who believed their good deed would even remotely earn them a reward or make the vicious, merciless, inhumane Japanese soldiers feel any gratitude (or anything not evil).
  
  Eye in the Sky, Hong Kong, 2007
  Drama. This is the first 2007 HK film I've purchased and I did it based on one review and the two male leads. Plus, it's not so expensive on VCD.
  
  A sort of "Training Day" and procedural. Because Dog Head (Simon Lam) is training the new Surveillance recruit, Piggy (Kate Tsui), we get to see how the Surveillance Unit operates. It seems to work like a well-oiled machine, so coordinated and all. However, like many HK films, when things go wrong, they're bungled in a big way. Where a force of 10 - 15 surveillance members somehow is reduced to two, then to one, at a critical juncture.
  
  The unsteady camera work got on my nerves.The quick focus-in/focus-back, the floating - not so wild about that. Things like that just seem to scream "fake" and "trying too hard" to me. The film's first two-thirds had me enthralled and then the incredulous turn of events that led to the 'emotional' scenes kinda let the air out of the movie's impact up until then. I guess the film needed that otherwise the writers wouldn't be able to put forth a satisfying emotional/spiritual pay-off.
  
  The Valet, France, 2006
  Comedy. Light-weight. Billionaire who's having an affair with supermodel is caught on film with her in the streets. To quell his wife's suspicions after the photo appears in the rags, billionaire asks the passing valet, Francois, who's captured in the same incriminating snapshot, to impersonate as supermodel's bf. Billionaire's afraid to leave his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) who's a majority partner in their corporation. Yet billionaire also wants supermodel who's ready to dump him.
  
  You get the expected awkwardness between the faux couple, as well as, clueless, confused third-parties coming into the picture. KST speaks wicked French and plays the all-knowing and shrewd wife. One would be hard-pressed to feel any sympathy for Daniel Auteuil's billionaire who's a somewhat confused and desperate cad who believes wealth is an attractive personality trait. There's a cute love story.
  
  The Harmonium in My Memory, Korea, 1998
  Light drama, light comedy, romance. I most enjoy these kinds of films. This one's a coming-of-age tale about a teenaged girl living in the Korean countryside who falls for her attractive new teacher who's also new at teaching. She thinks she's got a connection with him until she sees he's interested in one of the other new teachers who happens to be a few years older than he. All I can say is that it was delightful and charming. Just look at the DVD's cover - what's not to like? haha. Highly recommended.