Dominatio Per Malum

So, i recently watched 2 classic Chow Yun Fat movies. They don’t make movies like they used to.

City on Fire (1987) 6/10

Long before Infernal Affairs, Chow Yun Fat played the conflicted undercover agent with his charismatic comedic wit. Although the film feels dated and the plotline is fairly predictable, with cartoonish villians, it is still a guilty pleasure. Notable for the “brotherhood” bond between good guy Chow Yun Fat and bad guy Danny Lee, which would be reversed in The Killer, where Danny Lee plays the good cop trying to capture Chow Yun Fat the assasin.

The Killer (1989) 7/10

Chow Yun Fat as the assassin with the kind heart, Danny Lee as the good guy catching the bad guy and Sally Yeh as token female flower vase? All these and more, replete with gratuitous shots of white pigeons that has been the trademark of John Woo. Its predictable and a tad tacky, but the bromantic film is classic 80s HK and a whole lot of fun. This was back when John Woo was actually a good director.

Antichrist (2009) 3/10

Antichrist will polarize audiences. You either love it or hate it. In my case, i hated it. It was a dull, pretentious and needlessly graphic film which made the film experience as enjoyable as a lobotomy. But it one respect it did succeed marvelously in that it managed to evoke despair in the hearts of the audience. Antichrist is bookended by moments of brilliance. The prologue opens in a hauntingly gorgeous black and white sequence while the epilogue finishes with a mind-scratching sequence. But the core of the film is relentlessly bleak, starting out as an exercise in psychological spooks before degenerating into mindless gratuitous torture. This is one film that i won’t watch again. While i am a fan of how director Lars Von Triers pushes the envelope of cinema, this is one film i would classify as a provocative failure. The film plays out like a lucid, psychotic nightmare and the allusions it draws about the fundamental essence of human nature is as haunting as it is repulsive. The leads, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe are fearless in their performance but the limited and unfathomable script lets them down.

“A fever dream of the twisted, depraved and unnerving, it’s quite unlike anything you’ve seen before. And quite unlike anything the right-minded may want to see again.”- David Edwards

“I rarely find a serious film by a major director to be this disturbing. Its images are a fork in the eye. Its cruelty is unrelenting. Its despair is profound. Von Trier has a way of affecting his viewers like that.”- Roger Ebert

Hello Schoolgirl (2008) 8/10

Based on a comic book, Hello Schoolgirl is a surprisingly well crafted tale that engages because of excellent lead performances. Notwithstanding its comic book roots, director Ryoo Jang-Ha creates a believable spring autumn romance that is layered and compelling. Special mention goes to Yoo Ji-Tae, played a middle aged bachelor falling in love with Lee Yeon-Hee, played the schoolgirl. What would have been semi-creepy a premise turns out to be a hardwarming and compelling love story, made possible only because of the outstanding performances of both leads. Now that is the “A” plot. Unfortunately, the “B” plot follows the only occasionally interesting romantic overtures between another spring autumn romance. This time a younger male played by Kang In pursues an older woman played by Chae Jeong-An which fails because it lacks the palpable chemistry which the “A” plot has. Thus the main value of the weaker “B” plot is similar as a foil to the main story. Luckily the main plotline holds up very well and single handedly makes Hello Schoolgirl a compelling experience.

Entre Les Murs [The Class] (2008) 8/10

I had expected a typical film about an inspiring teacher who changes his pupils. You know, the sort of predictable plotline that films like the Choir follow. But this was quite a different experience. Filmed in a faux documentary style, the Class offers no final redemption, no inspirational teacher defying the odds. What amazes me is the realism of the film and how it offers a peek into the racially diverse world of French schools. The characters that inhabit the film are as achingly real as they are flawed. One of the best films ever made which was nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Golden Palm in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

“The Class confirms and extends Cantet’s status as one of the masters of European social cinema. It’s a hugely important film that shows how the real frontlines of class and race in this continent don’t involve riot shields or rock-hurling marchers, but are played out every day in our city schools as a series of sometimes attritional encounters.”- Sukhdev Sandhu

Roman Polanski raped a child.

Kate Harding starts her article with this important and powerful reminder of what Polanski has done. It is an impassioned and lucidly argued piece on why no one should be above the law, not least Polanski. Rape is rape. There is no issue of consent, because the child’s age makes it statutory rape. In any case, consent had not been given.

But Polanski has his supporters. Patrick Goldstein asks if “at a time when California is shredding the safety net that protects the poor and the unemployed, not to mention the budget of the public school system, you’d hope that L.A. County prosecutors had better things to do than cause an international furor by hounding a film director for a 32-year-old sex crime, especially one that Polanski’s victim wants to put behind her.” In so doing he evokes a most compelling allegory, describing Polanski as a modern day Jean Valjean from the classic “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo about an ex-convict trying desperately to be a good man but perpetually haunted by tenacious constable. I am not entirely convinced by the Les Mis analogy, not least because Valjean’s crimes were far less disturbing than Polanski’s.

Still, Polanski’s capture has triggered much debate, with the NYT’s Room For Debate Post highlighting the different perspectives. Now, just as there is no doubt as to Polanski’s guilt, let it be said too that there is also no doubt as to Polanski’s brilliance. The Pianist(2002), his powerful, wrenching tale for which Polanski a won Best Director Oscar is a testament to his craft. My personal favourite however, is his “Death and the Maiden” which is one of the most brilliant psychological thrillers i have ever had the chance to watch.

But should brilliance, however great absolve one of wrongdoing? And what of judicial misconduct? Should the fact that the then trial judge intended not to honor the plea bargain reached between Polanski and the Prosecutor be a redeeming factor? And should the victim’s subsequent forgiveness count for anything?

Having recently watched Michael Sandel’s thought provoking classes on ethics in http://justiceharvard.org/, this episode actually pits two competing school of thoughts, that of Consequentialism, which derives its ideas from utilitarianism. The idea is to look at the welfare of society as a whole and decide if it is beneficial. As Robert Harris, someone who does know Polanski questions in this NYT editorial questions:

“He is no threat to the public. The original judicial procedure was undeniably murky. So cui bono, as the Romans used to say — who benefits?”

In short, what is the point of jailing an old man for a crime committed 30 plus years ago when that man can better contribute to society as a director?

In contrast a Deontological approach takes a view that the ends do not justify the means. Again, back to Kate Harding who reminds us that:

“It works on behalf of the people, in fact — the people whose laws in every state make it clear that both child rape and fleeing prosecution are serious crimes. The point is not to keep 76-year-old Polanski off the streets or help his victim feel safe. The point is that drugging and raping a child, then leaving the country before you can be sentenced for it, is behavior our society should not — and at least in theory, does not — tolerate, no matter how famous, wealthy or well-connected you are, no matter how old you were when you finally got caught, no matter what your victim says about it now, no matter how mature she looked at 13, no matter how pushy her mother was, and no matter how many really swell movies you’ve made.”

And so, we are back to a grey area where whether Polanski should be extradited depends really on whether you follow a consequential reasoning or a deontological reasoning. For my part, i do believe that Polanski should be punished for his crimes, but the fact that there was judicial misconduct in the proceedings and the time lag should thereby entitle him to significant reduction in sentence because it is a strong mitigating factor. The victim’s forgiveness is a relevant point to be taken into consideration.

The reason why i believe that judicial misconduct and the failures of due process should either entitle a guilty accused to be acquitted or have his sentence discounted is because the rule of law is itself dependant on the justice system following the rules which it has set. Because of the seriousness of Polanski’s crime, it would be unwise to give a full acquittal, but the lack of due process should entitle him to a discount in sentence. As Justice Louis Brandeis opines in one of the most famous dissents in OLMSTEAD v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438 (1928) :

“Will this court, by sustaining the judgment below, sanction such conduct on the part of the executive? The governing principle has long been settled. It is that a court will not redress a wrong when he who invokes its aid has unclean hands. 16 The maxim of unclean hands comes [277 U.S. 438, 484] from courts of equity. 17 But the principle prevails also in courts of law. Its common application is in civil actions between private parties. Where the government is the actor, the reasons for applying it are even more persuasive. Where the remedies invoked are those of the criminal law, the reasons are compelling.

…

Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means-to declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal-would bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this court should resolutely set its face. “

Tokyo Godfathers (2003) 5/10

In Tokyo Godfathers, director Satoshi Kon creates over the top characters and situations within a realistic world and the end result is a jarring pastiche that never feels quite right. Whereas his previous films like the excellent Millennium Actress (2001) used animation to give realistic portrait of life and Paprika (2006) allowed his imagination to run wild, Tokyo Godfathers does not seem to know whether to be realistic or exaggerated and the result is a film that tries to aim for pathos even as it becomes increasingly over the top. The main characters are a trio of bums who happen to come across an abandoned baby. In their quest to return the child to its rightful parent, various hijinks occur, many of which feels utterly ridiculous and not particularly realistic. The film does not have particularly likeable characters, and its exaggerated tone makes it all the more difficult to identify with its characters who seem more like caricatures. This is difficult when the film obviously wants to make us sympathetic to for example the young girl estranged from her father but sabotages the attempt at pathos with over the top hijinks. The end result is a disjointed film that neither achieves slapstick comedy nor emotional connection. The film itself is still competently crafted and direction, but lacks soul.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) 8/10

Inglourious Basterds marks a return to form for Quentin Tarantino after the lacklustre Death Proof. It is one of the more accessible Tarantino films and Basterds contains many of Tarantino’s favourite themes and stylistic influences. It should come as no surprise that Basterds is a loquacious film. Those who watched Basterds because of its marketing might well be under the impression that it was a WW2 action film, seeing how Brad Pitt is used prominently in its promotion. In truth, Brad Pitt doesn’t really have that much screen time, and there are few action sequences. Instead, in true Tarantino fashion, the film is one long talkfest chock full of black humor, obscure references and non sequiturs. In other words, its bloody brilliant.

The film is full of Tarantino’s little stylistic flourishes, from its excellent soundtrack, the use of chapters to bookend each segment and its generous use of gore. It is almost amazing how, at the end of the film, you realise that you have spent the better part of two hours watching characters just chatting. Granted, the dialogue sometimes feels meandering and lacking in focus, but when it is good, it is golden. At its best, the dialogue zings and sizzles and Tarantino expertly manages to craft tension from the most mundane of conversations.

The ensemble cast is excellent, none more so than Christoph Waltz, one of the most menacing SS officers ever put on screen. He completely steals the scene in two major sequences, the first being the excellent opening scene of the film and the second being a chance meeting with Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent).

At every turn, Tarantino surprises and even thrills the audience. Even the boldly ahistorical ending will likely polarize audiences. This is a film in which i honestly could not have predicted how the scene would have played out. It is a testament to Tarantino’s craft that Basterds, which is closest in form to Pulp Fiction, is an enjoyable, sometimes over the top film that appeals the film lover rather than to studio expectations of more skin and more explosions. One final praise needs to be given to the cinematographer who cloaks the film in beautiful vibrant colors with the color red taking especial prominence. I loved the way the film turned out and i can unreservedly proclaim Basterds to be one of the best films of 2009. Watch it.

Ashes of Time Redux (1994) 7/10

The first time i watched Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 masterpiece, i thought it was beautiful but plodding, poetic but pretentious. Rewatching the “Redux” version a few years later, i am once again impressed by the visual beauty of WKW’s creation. This time, i understand the film better, and perhaps it may be attributable to better editing in the Redux version. Not that the story makes any sense because it still doesn’t. But like a poem, and indeed most WKW films, it is more important to appreciate the feel and mood than to make sense of what it all means. Beautifully languid and possibly even zen, Ashes of Time is the only time wuxia flicks and existential will appear on the same sentence. Like a bottle of wine, Ashes of Time is a film that ages better with time and as you grow older you better understand the existential angst that underlies the film. The themes of memory, unrequited love and lost chances play out in a hazy, poetic canvas. What does it all mean? Is there a point to this film? Well, with Wong Kar Wai, the experience is more important than the destination.

City of Life and Death (2009) 7/10

Director Lu Chuan who is easily one of the more exciting directors from China, follows up his excellent Kekexili (2004) with a sobering and powerful take on The Nanking Massacre. The City of Life and Death (known as Nanking! Nanking in its chinese title) would seem like the sort of film that would lend well to easy moralising especially since it is a Mainland Chinese film. But to his credit, Lu Chuan is a far more nuanced director and doesn’t take the easy cinematic short cut of caricatured villians and saintly good guys. The solid black and white cinematography is beautifully shot, but i question the need to use black and white when a color version would be better. Using black and white for a WW2 film almost seems like aping Schindler’s List and unless you can use it to great effect, it seems like an unnecessary gesture. It is not that B&W doesn’t work for the film, but rather that i think color would have been better.

Still Lu Chuan crafts a great ensemble tale, with no one character being a plot device and each contributing to the tale in their own way. This is good because these supporting actors really shine when given the spotlight, with chinese actor Wei Fan making a memorable impression as Mr Tang. However, the disadvantage is that stars like Ye Liu don’t have much screen time for character development. The cast is uniformly solid, but i felt that the Japanese lead Hideo Nakaizumi as Kadokawa is too one dimensionally nice for my liking.

While City of Life and Death isn’t quite Schindler’s List, it is however an excellent retelling of the Naking Massacre seen through the eyes of both the Chinese and Japanese. And considering how the film strives to be balanced rather than jingoistically patriotic, the film is truly another feather in the cap of Lu Chuan who delivers a powerful and compelling movie experience and history lesson all wrapped in one.

District 9 (2009) 7/10

District 9 could have been a great film, but instead settles for merely being a good film. Its premise is intriguing and a refreshing twist on sci fi conventions. See, aliens are broadly categories into nice (ET) or monstrous (Alien trilogy, War of the Worlds etc). In District 9, Aliens are an insectoid race which while possessing strength and agility is generally dumb. Sort of like Zombies. This is itself an unusual take on sci fi to present them as largely stupid, mindless beings which can barely fend for themselves. Of course, this is explained by the aliens being worker aliens with the hive mind being somehow destroyed leaving the remnants to fend for themselves.

The exposition which sets out these details in the first act is masterfully done and the film weaves social commentary in a pseudo documentary fashion that deliberately parallels apartheid and the various concentration camps and gulags that we have created. But the film takes a dramatic shift in tone in its second act, turning its focus exclusively on one character and the film becomes a sort of The Fly meets The Fugitive. This shift is unfortunate, because the film becomes predictable and the film abandons the compelling social commentary it built in the first act. The film is somewhat redeemed in its action packed final act which while predictable at least provides brainless popcorn entertainment. Still one cannot help but lament that if the film continued and went along the compelling premise it constructed in the first act, District 9 could well have become a great film. Nevertheless it is still a far better summertime choice than GI Joe or Transformers 2.

In The Loop (2009) 8/10

In the Loop is what The Office wants to be. Sharp, sardonic and an absolute blast to watch, the film skewers the political process and shows politicians for what they truly are: screwups who are trying desperately not to blow the whole world up. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) puts in a mesmerizing and commanding performance in an expletive filled performance. It is a virtuoso display of foul-mouthed eloquence the likes of which has been rarely seen. A sharp, witty and engaging dialogue which has one of the highest laughs per minute of any film i have watched and a brilliantly absurdist plot makes this one of the best films of the year and an excellent showcase of Brit humor.

Open Wide: Spoon-Fed Cinema

The box office numbers don’t lie, but they don’t tell the whole story either. The weekend grosses, widely guessed at on Thursday night and breathlessly reported by the middle of Sunday afternoon, record the quantity of tickets purchased, but they cannot register the quality of the experience. The aggregate of receipts shows that a lot of people like going to the movies, but not necessarily that they like what they see.

Or go see “Up,” the only hugely successful movie of the summer that engages genuinely adult themes. It’s about loss, frustration, disappointment. And it offers one of the season’s most pointed and paradoxical lessons. If you want to make a mature film for mature audiences, make sure it’s a cartoon.

The Piano (1993) 6/10

I did not particularly enjoy the film. I found the plot trite and predictable and the characters aloof and distant. But the performances, that is another thing. The film features some fantastic acting and Holly Hunter puts in one of her best performance ever, for which she was rewarded with a Best Actress Oscar, and deservedly so. But it is the young Anna Paquin who deserves a special mention for her tour de force performance that arguably ranks as one of the finest performances ever by a child actor (alongside Haley Joel Osment for The Sixth Sense). At the young age of 11, Paquin won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the precocious daughter in The Piano and it is a thoroughly deserving win. While i did not like the film very much, Paquin manages to steal almost every scene she is in, even alongside veterans like Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel or Sam Neil. Although much attention was given to Hunter for her strong performance, it is in fact Paquin that lights up the film.

This is one of the films where i wasn’t impressed by the plot, but is saved by an excellent cast and phenomenal acting by both Hunter and Paquin. The male characters fare much more poorly and seem to be set up as one dimensional plot points, but given the restrictions of the role, Harvey Keitel and Sam Neil give passable performances. While this is probably too artsy for the mainstream, cinetastes will do well to seek out this film, if only for the memorable performances of both Hunter and Paquin.

Roger Ebert: The Gathering Dark Age

Certainly most of those who see “The Hurt Locker” become enthusiastic advocates of the film. Apparently those younger viewers who have seen it haven’t had much of an influence on their peers. While the success of the film continues to grow as it steadily increases its number of theaters, the majority of younger filmgoers are missing this boat. Why is that? They don’t care about reviews, perhaps. They also resist a choice that is not in step with their peer group. Having joined the crowd at “Transformers,” they’re making their plans to see “G. I. Joe.” Some may have heard about “The Hurt Locker,” but simply lack the nerve to suggest a movie choice that involves a departure from groupthink.

Some weeks ago I went so far as to suggest the gap between some critics and some moviegoers may be because the critics are more “evolved.” Man, did the wrath hit the fan. I was clearly an elitist snob. But think about it. Wouldn’t you expect a critic to be more highly evolved in taste than a fanboy zealot? And what about “A Fan?” Should she be shunned by her peers for having her own ideas? And what about another one of my readers, the 15-year-old who says he has viewed dozens of my “Great Movies?” If you’re his friend, isn’t it worth wondering what he’s stumbled onto? And what about your date this Friday night? If he or she only wants to see the movie “everyone” is going to see, is that person going to be much good for conversation?

Note: GI Joe now stands at 53% on Rotten Tomatoes as of today. I fully expect it to drop below the 50% threshold. I always thought it was damn fishy that GI Joe, directed by Stephen Sommers who has had such duds as “The Mummy” and “Van Helsing” could have such surprisingly good early reviews. Now i know how the system has been gamed such that early screenings were only given to “friendly” critics.

Speaking of good movies, does anyone want to watch Hurt Locker with me, assuming it is screened in my country? Currently 98% on RT.

Update: GI Joe stands on 38% as of 8 Aug 2009.

Asperger’s Syndrome, on Screen and in Life

People with Asperger’s may have superior intelligence and verbal skills, and they often have an obsessive interest in a particular topic (astronomy, in the case of the title character in “Adam,” played by Hugh Dancy). But they tend to be self-defeatingly awkward in social situations, and romantic relationships can leave them at sea.

The syndrome is generally considered a high-functioning form of autism, which in recent years has been diagnosed in more and more children. While the reasons for the explosion in diagnoses are unclear, increased awareness may be part of the explanation, and one reason for the growth in awareness is the rise of online parent communities.

SHIT THIS PARAGRAPH ACTUALLY DESCRIBES ME.