Kaige Chen is rapidly becoming, hands down, my favorite Chinese director.
Farewell My Concubine
and
The Emperor and the Assassin
are both
brilliant, epic films about pivotal points in Chinese history. They are tonally very different films, one dealing with an attempt to assassinate the Qin emperor - the man who united all of China for the first time, but wasn't exactly Mr. Nice Guy when he did it - the other about the impact on the lives of two stars of the Beijing opera as they live through first WWII and then the People's Revolution. Both equally brilliant. Both cinemagraphic masterpieces. Both highly recommended. So I was thrilled to hear that Chen had directed a fantasy film. I keep waiting for a Chinese
Lord of the Rings, and
The Promise
(Wu ji) is as close as anybody's yet come. Breath-taking scenery, and some truly incredible staging, and the goddesses flitting about are amply inspiring. Problem is the story sits closer to a tall tale a la Paul Bunyun than it does to epic fantasy. People outrunning bows and arrows and jumping across mountaintops, that sort of thing. And the actual story is very small - the usual king, princess and bad guy involved in a three way argument, with no sense of any actual residents of the kingdom beyond the inexhaustible supply of faceless toy soldiers to knock over. Really incredible to watch, mind you, and one all lovers of fantasy films should see, and its not fair to judge a movie for not being something else. But I can't help but thinking the expertise, the landscape, the talent, the means and the money is all there to make a truly sweeping fantasy epic - if only the right story would come along. When it does, I hope Kaige Chen will give fantasy another go. In the meantime, as eye candy goes, this is utterly tremendous.
The Science of Sleep
(La Science des rêves) This film was written and directed by Michel Gondry, who co-wrote and directed the brilliant
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
earlier, that film being one of my favorite SF films of recent years. Here Gondry has crafted another quirky masterpiece. But, while it's billed as science fiction according to NetFlix, it really isn't, any more than a Wes Anderson film might be, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be of interest to any fan of genre. (In the same way that a Wes Anderson film is.) The dream sequences are worth it alone, and it's a very funny, imaginative, and original film. It's also amazing what you can do without a budget. Sometimes a lot more than you can do with one.
Pan's Labyrinth
- okay, I'm way late to the table on this one. What can I say? Loved it utterly. Am reminded of something John Grant (aka Paul Barnett) told me years ago, which is that while the average Hollywood SF film was two decades behind the literary version of science fiction, the best of filmic fantasy was as good as its literary variety. Certainly I enjoyed this as much as anything I've read from Neil Gaiman, with whom it bears some similarity. A darker, horrifying and adult sister to
Labyrinth
in some way, minus David Bowie and the Muppets. Guillermo del Toro is a genius. Now, did she really or is she? I think I know how I feel about the (possibly) ambiguous ending.
The Departed
- not a bad Scorsese film, but Siu Fai Mak & Felix Chong's
Infernal Affairs
(Mou gaan dou) is way better, doesn't have Jack Nicholson ad-libbing over the script, and doesn't have the tacked-on Hollywood ending, which is infinitely inferior to the more subtle Chinese original. Not saying you wouldn't enjoy
The Departed - most everyone who saw it did, myself and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences included - but you owe it to yourself to see the original. Also, while I usually dislike the need for sequels,
Internal Affairs II threads itself back into the first film in a way I've never seen any sequel but
Back to the Future II do (though it bears pointing out in an entirely different way), and leaves you with certain scenes and events skillfully reinterpreted. Complex, but brilliant. I haven't seen Internal Affairs III, so can't speak to that, but if you are tossing a coin between Matt Damon and Tony Leung, let me weigh in for Tony.
brilliant, epic films about pivotal points in Chinese history. They are tonally very different films, one dealing with an attempt to assassinate the Qin emperor - the man who united all of China for the first time, but wasn't exactly Mr. Nice Guy when he did it - the other about the impact on the lives of two stars of the Beijing opera as they live through first WWII and then the People's Revolution. Both equally brilliant. Both cinemagraphic masterpieces. Both highly recommended. So I was thrilled to hear that Chen had directed a fantasy film. I keep waiting for a Chinese Lord of the Rings, and The Promise
The Science of Sleep
Pan's Labyrinth
The Departed
6 comments:
I've only seen the last three on your list...
Pan's Labyrinth is certainly an utter masterpiece, and I was so enthralled by it that I had to see it again, and once more when it finally came to DVD. :)
The Science of Sleep was good also, although, for some reason, I had expected more; still enjoyable, however. And certainly not SF, at least not in my book.
I enjoyed The Departed as well, although I still haven't seen Infernal Affairs, which the Scorsese film is based on. I will someday, though, to be sure.
Sequels can be good, though, like you, I tend to dislike them.
Another movie you might be interested in checking out, if you haven't already, is one called The Lookout. Great film throughout; I think you'd enjoy it.
Sincerely,
John-Mark
Hey John-Mark:
I liked Out of Sight a lot, so I will check it out. Thanks! And definitely see Internal Affairs - the ending is SO SO SO much better.
My wife gave me the Pan's Labyrinth DVD for my birthday, and whilst I did enjoy it, it didn't live up to the hype for me. I think (and I'm picking nits, since it's evidently superior to almost everything Fantastical that cinema provides us with today) is the way the Spanish Civil War narrative is just so much more fully realised, and believable, and powerful, than the Labyrinth sections ... compared to the Bowie/Muppets Labyrinth, this one was something of a cul-de-sac. Although with cool moments.
But I found myself comparing it, a little unfavourably, with a sfnal film also oriented around a new-born baby, and the symbolic power of the child: Children of Men. That really did blow me away, in part because I'd read the ho-hum Christian-allegory P D James novel on which it is based, and so wasn't expecting much; but the film is astronomically better than its source text. Really really powerful and moving.
Yeah, I was very impressed with Children of Men too - really enjoyed that film. Have you ever seen Primer, btw? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.
Oh, and I wasn't comparing it with Labyrinth either - I am nuts about both Muppets and David Bowie.
Primer was great! One of the most intelligent approaches to time travel I have ever seen. Don't watch it half asleep though because you'll never follow the story.
And no way the ending of Pan's Labyrinth was ambiguous. I think you can ask the question about the girl's "essence" but the movie basically gives away the ending in the first scene.
I felt that PRIMER was as intelligent and complex as any literary tale of time-travel, and more so than a good many.
Re: Pan's Labyrinth - and with spoilers - there are a good many people online who believe that she simply died (as opposed to truly returning to the underworld) because of the choice in editing to place the vision of the underworld BEFORE the cut back to her dying. Had she died first, and then we'd "followed her" down, it would be less ambiguous. But since she has the vision, then returns to the "real world" and dies, it does raise the possibility, reinforced by the fact that the story is a story she is herself aware of and which she relates to her unborn sibling - further indication that it *might* be her imagination.
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