Author: phil

Saw 6ixtynin9 last night at the Four Star’s 2005 Spring Asian Movie series.

I liked Last Life in the Universe by the same director, evidently 69 is the movie he made directly before that one.

I’m ambivalent about this movie. It wasn’t a flat out dark comedy, although some parts were very funny. It’s a fascinating character study. The main character Tum is played straight up, not at all tongue in cheek. She’s alone, quiet, moral, human, pragmatic.

The plot teeters right on the edge of believability.Each event makes sense, but after a while you start to realize that it is all a touch improbable, and make the choice to believe it anyway.

The director skillfully sketches the minor characters, but because of the complexity of internal conflict that Tum is making, they seem a bit flat by comparison. However, characters like the nosy downstairs neighbor, who initially seemed to be just there for comic relief, are cleverly woven into the story.

At first I wanted to suggest that the director connect the scenes with music to make the plot flow better. But the movie doesn’t tell us whether to laugh or cry. One moment I’d be laughing, another I’d tense up in anticipation of violence or danger. No laugh track or music to tell me how to feel. I was forced to decide how to react.

The movie kept me switching shoes, from my place as an audience member where I could laugh and analyze, to being in Tum’s position, and trying to make sense of what was going on, and how much of it she was responsible for.

In the end, we are left in the just Tum, and her choices.

I was going to give this movie 2.5 stars, but after writing about it, it gets 3 out of 4 stars.

I saw just a few films this year. [SFIAAFF 2005 festival website]

Here’s a listing of what I saw.

Friday 3/11 @ Castro:

The Green Hat: very good. loved the subject matter. There are a lot more films on adultery than there are on cuckoldry.

Swades: I had a ticket for swades but was tired and decided I couldn’t make it through a 3 hour movie.

Sat 3/12 @ Kabuki:

Monkey Dance: a very good documentary about 3 kids in suburban Mass. who participate in a Vietnamese cultural dance club.

Yasmin: Great movie about Muslim woman in the U.K. Westernized, but still dealing with her traditional family, she has to decide who she is in the face of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Sun 3/12 @ Castro:

Baytong: Yasmin and Baytong would have made a great double feature. Terrorism strikes again, this time in Thailand, and a young monk leaves the monastery to care for his niece, after his sister’s death in a bombing attack. At times extremely funny, but honest and unflinching look at what it means to be Buddhist in the face of terror, and if it is possible to deal with Muslims in the same culture.

Sorceress of the New Piano: Greatshow about a brilliant woman who found a way to make a life in music outside of the traditional concert pianist. Margaret Leng Tan plays John Cage and toy pianos. Brilliant!

And, she was there at the Castro and did a performance and answered questions. So awesome.

Cutie Honey: Guilty pleasure. Live action anime. funny, over the top, as only a cartoon can be. The costumes and visual style was so Japanese. I’m definitely getting better at giving myself breaks at festivals these days.

Monday 3/14 @Kabuki:

Hana and Alice: Love Iwai Shunji’s latest. Loved it. He’s good, so good, and portraying love, young girls, and adolescence. I forgive him for ‘All About Lily ChouChou’, which I loved, but scarred me for life. Bought the DVD. See this charmer.

Music Video Asia: Not as good as in the past, but the videos from Machi, L’Arc en Ciel, and Notorious MSG made it worthwhile.

Wed 3/16 @ Kabuki:

A Fond Kiss: Ken Loach’s film. JD’s dad thought it was predictable–“How many ways does [interracial couple against parent’s will] story go?”. Still, I thought it quite good. Mostly because I identified so strongly.

Living On Tokyo Time: A pretty funny film. Okazaki is famous for his documentaries but I wanted to see more fiction. Funny film about a Japanese american guy who hooks up with a Japanese student, and gets married. It doesn’twork out of course, and watching just how foreign they are to each other is pretty hilarious. Also, footage of SF, Geary St. in the 60’s *so fun to watch*.

I snuck into another screening of Hana and Alice after to catch the ending again.

And that was it for this year!

Saw this at a matinee at the Shibuya Toei CineTower. I like the diversity of Japanese crowds. It’s not just little kids, there’s women on a break from shopping, several teenages with their boyfriends, and the just random people there by themselves, to catch the latest Miyazaki flick.

Like me.

This movie has a much different texture and feel than some of the more recent films, but it’s all Miyazaki. It feels more like Nausicaa to me, darker, more magical, less playful.

I’m looking forward to seeing this one again.