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SCREENING LOG
- 6/30-7/6, 2003
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I watched INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN, VENGEANCE!,
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, COME DRINK WITH ME, GOLDEN SWALLOW,
A BETTER TOMORROW, PROJECT A, LA GUERRE EST FINIE, FIGHTING
ELEGY, BANQUET/HAO MEN YE YAN, THE LIN FAMILY SHOP and IN
THE WILD MOUNTAIN. Titles marked with a * are included Asia
Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Chinese Films http://www.chinesecinemas.org/chinacentury.html.
In order of preference:
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972, Chor
Yuen)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068744
I'm not sure what this is doing at the top of this week's
viewings, but it refuses to defer to a lesser standing. On
paper it reads like standard B-movie sexploitation revenge
fare: a strong-willed debutante falls into the custody of
a brothel run by a kung-fu lesbian madam wielding killer fingernails,
and is beaten and raped into submission by a series of sleazy
johns; eventually she develops her feminine charms into a
deadly weapon by which to enact her bloody vengeance. The
film is remarkable in how it fuses the two dominant strains
of the '60s wuxia film (the "xia nu" woman warrior
a la King Hu and the sado-masochistic path towards heroism
a la Chang Cheh) into something wholly original that cuts
(literally!) to the heart of the perverse allure of the cinematic
woman. But amidst the oodles of seduction, softcore sex and
slaughter, a repressed emotional longing for a pure love denied
to all involved emerges, and becomes the deadliest weapon
of all. With all the power of a primal wet dream-cum-nightmare,
this is a complex and unforgettable movie.
*The Lin Family Shop (1959, Shui Hua)
This title is not listed on IMDb
A major highpoint in Chinese cinema, this is a superbly crafted
tale about a shopkeeper in the 1930s who valiantly tries to
keep his business afloat amidst a tidal wave of adversities:
cutthroat competition from the shop across the street (their
constant presence does much to add to the film's anxious atmosphere),
Japanese invasion and civil strife, unrelenting creditors
and unyielding debtors. All of this is beautifully orchestrated
into a tight, suspenseful narrative; but the film's truly
exceptional achievement is in realizing its seemingly contradictory
dual objectives: we remain sympathetic to this humble, struggling
shopkeeper even as his dwindling options force him to exploit
and victimize people even more helpless than he. Thus the
film is a vivid portrait of the vicious cycle of unregulated
capitalism, in which everyone becomes a victim and oppressor
in spite of himself: a complex examination of humanity that
deserves comparison with the best of Renoir.
Golden Swallow (1968, Chang Cheh)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0063105
Someone must have been playing a joke when they got Chang
Cheh, the most beefcake macho director in Chinese cinema,
to direct the sequel to COME DRINK WITH ME, one of the key
feminist martial arts pictures of all time. But Chang's reputation
was still in a nascent stage at this point, having just come
off his breakthrough ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN Ð at any rate Chang
takes the story and makes it wholly his own. The film doesn't
start off on a good foot, with some dull expository dialogues,
but this is in order for Chang to maneuver the narrative away
from the female protagonist and towards the true object of
his obsessions, a cold-blooded assassin (played wonderfully
by Jimmy "One Armed Swordsman" Wang Yu) who has
it bad for his old flame Ms. Golden Swallow but also has one
mother of a death wish, hacking every bad guy and perceived
bad guy in sight. His psychosis leads to extravagant fight
scenes where the slew of severed bodies flying through the
air borders on camp, and yet they vividly illustrate an insatiable
blood lust that itself is the lifeblood of Chang's perversely
fascinating heroic thesis, which Chang seems to salute and
satirize at once. If gushing, gaping wounds are to Chang what
shiny reflective interiors are to Douglas Sirk, then this
is the WRITTEN ON THE WIND of wu xia, a masterpiece of raw,
haunted emotion sheathed in layers of ironic violence.
Chris-435 Fixing Recommendation of the week
Come Drink with Me (1966, King Hu)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0059079
The first martial arts feature by the director who put the
"arts" in "martial arts" - and already
his unique vision is manifested here: the assemblage of a
rich assortment of characters from all walks of life, creating
a self-enclosed microcosm of society in which to enact a metaphorical
narrative progression from chaos and darkness to order and
righteousness founded on Chinese literary and philosophical
tradition; the positing of the woman warrior as central heroine,
in all her feminine ass-kicking glory; and last but not least,
an ingenious approach to action filmmaking in which the mise-en-scene
of bodies in motion is choreographed with groundbreaking editing
techniques: the yin-and-yang of Gene Kelly and Sergei Eistenstein.
Did I mention that this is also a hell of a lot of fun to
watch?
A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072417
The idea of watching two and a half hours of two live-wire
nutjobs unbottling their marital dysfunction at the top of
their lungs in front of their friends, family and especially
their little children is not going to appeal to everyone.
There is a lot about Cassavetes' ragged, messy, films that
rub me the wrong way, and yet they have more integrity in
their refusal to resolve or compromise than the many sleeker
and more audience-friendly fare inspired in their wake. Even
when the situations feel forced or contrived, the actors involved
(especially Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as the couple) are
so committed (in more than one sense) that every scene feels
totally organic, ebbing and flowing from one moment to the
next. Emily Dickinson (the ORIGINAL Gena Rowlands!) may have
had it right all along: "Much madness is divinest sense/
to a discerning eye. / Much sense the starkest madness."
*In the Wild Mountains (1986, Yan Xueshu)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0135063
Two peasant brothers, one a principled traditionalist, the
other a free-thinker, battle over their differences while
developing affections with each other's wives, leading to
a double divorce and re-coupling. What seems like an outrageous
bedroom farce on the surface is filmed with great sensitivity
to human feeling as well as the natural rhythms of countryside
life. For Chinese standards it's certainly an ambitious film
for tackling not only the subject of divorce (taboo especially
for rural communities) but the rift between urban progressive
and rural traditionalist mentalities. While the film ultimately
sides with the former, it does so only after establishing
a new understanding of the relationship between personal desire
and communal responsibility.
Fighting Elegy (1966, Seijun Suzuki)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0060586
Much more narratively coherent that Suzuki's TOKYO DRIFTER
of the same year, this is an energetic rendition of a Kaneto
Shindo screenplay about a strong-willed but sexually repressed
young man's misadventures in various military academies. The
film shifts gears from scene to scene in terms of tone and
approach -- from clumsy, swaggering violence to grand spectacle
to tender, intimate romance to shockingly bawdy bathroom humor
-- and for all of its unevenness, it's oddly appropriate to
the film's awkward adolescent milieu, definitely moreso than
whatever "quality" teen pic you could pull out of your hat.
Having watched three Suzuki movies, I've come to the tentative
conclusion that no director has ever struck me as being so
simultaneously bored and delighted with the movies he worked
on as he. His films seem to both celebrate and mock whatever
subject matter or genre convention lies in their path. For
this reason it's hard to make a sustained argument either
for or against his films -- they are allusive, beguiling and
well night inimitable.
ali-112 Fixing Recommendation of the week
La guerre est finie (1966, Alain Resnais)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0060481
The most "conventional" Resnais film I've seen is this existential
treatise on will and memory disguised as a sexed-up political
thriller, starring Yves Montand, looking beautifully beleaguered,
as a veteran Spanish terrorist on the run, both literally
and metaphorically, as he tries to account for his values
and beliefs in the midst of a bewildering series of intrigues
and encounters. Resnais uses both flashbacks and flashforwards
to reflect Montand's searching-and-scanning state of mind.
A deft and admirable work.
Ishallwearpurple Chow-Yun Fat Film of the week
*A Better Tomorrow (1986, John Woo)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092263
The movie that propelled action auteur John Woo (as well
as stars Chow-Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung) to the top ranks
of Hong Kong Hollywood. Admittedly it's hard to sift through
two decades of gunplay-and-heroic-bloodshed imitations from
all over the world to appreciate this watershed film for what
it is: a steroidally stylized, glamourously violent yet oddly
compelling examination of the complex codes of loyalty, honor
and brotherhood through which three men struggle to find their
life's meaning. What must have seemed so startlingly urgent
and innovative 17 years ago now seems to teeter on the brink
of self-parody -- in that regard Woo is certainly following
in the footsteps of his mentors Chang Cheh and Sam Peckinpah.
But perhaps with the further passing of time and impending
unfashionability, the Woo aesthetic may remain standing and
its impact, influence and importance measured with greater
clarity. It certainly helps that Chow, Cheung and especially
veteran actor (and Chang Cheh mainstay) Ti Lung generate tremendous
chemistry to supplement the steady stream of bullets.
Vengeance! (1970, Chang Cheh)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065450
This ultra-violent revenge tale is the most abstract and
direct distillation of the Chang Cheh aesthetic -- narrative
plays second fiddle to Chang's obsession with blood-spattered
pain and torture; the male body becomes a canvas upon which
knives, swords and bullets paint a deep red calligraphy that
marks the line between vibrant motion and sudden death, as
well as revealing a deep psychic wound that no amount of ass-kicking
catharsis can conceal nor satiate.
*Project A (1983, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085127
Jackie Chan's first international blockbuster is a bona fide
swashbuckler in which he plays a sailor eager to protect Hong
Kong from a band of evil pirates. The film plays as light
and entertaining as one would expect, with the eye-popping
exception of some of the stunts, especially the ones done
by Chan -- they are so intense that they threaten to take
the viewer out of the story. When you watch a guy take a three-story
free fall and land on his HEAD (no editing, no camera tricks
involved), the plot becomes the least of your worries. In
a sense, Chan is every bit as much as John Woo an heir to
the macho legacy of Chang Cheh; he's just as obsessed with
presenting the body as a temple of self-inflicted pain and
suffering for the sake of embodying a masculine ideal. And
the effect is much the same: you feel bludgeoned into a state
of reverence. Suffice to say, in our CGI-assisted age of action
filmmaking, we'll never see the likes of Jackie Chan again.
The Banquet/ Haomen Yeyan (1991, Alfred and Tung Ho "Joe"
Cheung)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101999
Made in a hurry to raise relief funds for Chinese flood victims,
this is a very slapdash effort starring loveable Eric Tsang
as a callous businessman who learns to be a good guy while
trying to secure a lucrative deal to help rebuild Kuwait after
the Persian Gulf War. The story takes a backseat to the dozens
of Chinese celebrities who make cameo appearances, and if
only to promote their name-recognition among us, I'll state:
Jacky Cheung, Leslie Cheung (RIP), Maggie Cheung (THE best
actress of the '90s), Stephen Chow (the Jim Carrey of Asia),
Gong Li, Sammo Hung, Aaron Kwok, Leon Lai, Andy Lau (the Tom
Cruise of Hong Kong), Carinna Lau, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Tony
Leung Ka Fai, Anita Mui, Tat Ng Ma, Michelle Reis, Alan Tam,
Ti Lung (still so good after so many years), Joey Wong, Sally
Yeh, etc. etc. Whew. Whew -- "Planet Hong Kong", as David
Bordwell called it, was probably THE most exciting place for
moviemaking during the 1980s and 1990s, and this film is valuable
if only as a snapshot of the immense talent on hand during
the creative pinnacle of this tiny island colony's booming
blockbuster industry.
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