Fantasia 2012, total films seen: 21
This was a really good year (certainly better than last year) but there were also quite a few films that I wanted to watch but couldn’t because of my schedule. Honestly, I felt like there were just way too many films and it was a bit overwhelming trying to pick a reasonable number of them to watch.
Vulgaria (2012)
Director: Pang Ho-Cheung ; Screenplay: Pang Ho-Cheung, Lam Chiu-Wing, Luk Yee-Sum
Cast: Chapman To, Dada Chan, Kristel Lin, Ronald Cheng, Susan Shaw
Apparently this film hasn’t even screened in Hong Kong yet so I don’t know how audiences there will react but I along with many others in the Fantasia audiences were laughing our asses off very frequently. If you want a raunchy, outrageous comedy filled with oral sex and animal fucking jokes that also works as a satire of the film industry then this is the comedy for you.
The story is about a film producer who being behind on child alimony payments accepts funding from a mule loving triad leader to remake a classic porno. Really that’s all you need to know about the story as its best to go into it knowing as little as possible. There are surprisingly some decent emotional scenes but luckily they don’t get in the way of the comedy. Also be sure to stay for the credits for hilarious “lost footage” via hypnosis. Trailer after the jump.
Continue reading “Fantasia 2012 review: Vulgaria [Recommended]”
Love Fiction (2011)
Director: Jeon Kye-soo ; Screenplay: Jeon Kye-soo
Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Kong Hyo-jin
This is an okay romantic comedy but to its credit, Love Fiction does feature atypical characters. The protagonist is a writer, Joo-wol, who’s suffering writer’s block until he meets a woman, Hee-jin, on a business trip. She works for a film importing company but also does photography as a hobby. He writes a cheesy love letter to her and they begin to date. He also discovers she doesn’t shave her armpits which is funnily enough what breaks him out of his writer’s block.
The usual romcom tropes also appear. There’s the cliched montage of them having fun on various dates. There’s an awkward scene where he confesses his feelings during a social gathering with Hee-jin and her co-workers. Then there’s also a somewhat contrived meeting where he finds out something unsettling about her past which eventually leads to an argument between the couple during an exhibition of her photos.
Mini reviews of Cold Steel, Afro Tanaka, Revenge: A Love Story, and The Sword Identity are after the jump. Continue reading “Fantasia 2012 Mini reviews”
Love in the Buff (2012)
Director: Pang Ho-Cheung ; Screenplay: Pang Ho-Cheung, Luk Yee-sum, Jody Luk
Cast: Miriam Yeung, Shawn Yu, Mini Yang, Vincent Kuk, Susan Shaw
This a pretty good romantic comedy/drama that deals with adult relationships in a mature, realistic way while offering up a fair number of laughs along the way. The film is a sequel to Love in a Puff which I haven’t seen but was vaguely aware of. It’s not essential to watch it to enjoy Love in the Buff but it was easy to see that those who watched and remembered the previous installment would more likely understand some of the quiet moments that occur in the beginning of the story.
After an amusing beginning about a black widow, the story focuses on the main Hong Kong couple of Cherie and Jimmy. Their relationship has become strained as Jimmy consistently misses various appointments with Cherie because of work (although it isn’t always work that’s keeping Jimmy away). Fed up with his immaturity, Cherie moves out from their apartment. Jimmy tries to re-conciliate but ends up moving to BeiJing due to a change in his job. Coincidentally, months later, Cherie’s job also has her moving to BeiJing. In the captial, they both find new and more appropriate love interests. Of course, they run into each other “by chance” in BeiJing which ignites old feelings which prompts them to secretly meet. There comes a point where both are forced to make a decision between each other or their other love interests.
Reign of Assassins (2010)
Director: Su Chao-Pin, John Woo ; Screenplay: Su Chao-Pin
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Jung Woo-sung, Wang Xueqi, Barbie Hsu, Kelly Lin
This is a solid Wu Xia feature with a great performance by Michelle Yeoh that should interest anybody (like myself) who has gotten bored with historical wu xia or war films from China. She’s joined by Korean actor Jung Woo-sung. Both of their voices are dubbed which is fine for Jung but weird for Yeoh who is given a voice that sounds way too young and cutesy for her. Even though Yeoh does speak Mandarin, it’s not her native language and the producers likely wanted to avoid the criticism that her spoken Mandarin received in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Still, the director should’ve gotten a more appropriate voice actor for her.
The story is a bit confusing at first but what it amounts to is that Shi Yi (Michelle Yeoh) is part of a group of assassins called Dark Stone. During a raid on some palace, she steals half of some sacred remains which purportedly allows the owner to become master of the kung fu world. However, an incident with a monk prompts Shi Yi to change her ways and to adopt a new identity but of course she can’t hide from the Dark Stone assassins forever.
Robo G / ロボジー (2011)
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi ; Screenplay: Shinobu Yaguchi
Cast: Shinjiro Igarashi (Mickey Curtis), Yuriko Yoshitaka, Gaku Hamada, Junya Kawashima, Shogo Kawai
This is an amusing drama with decent jokes but also a few really good ones. Three engineers are tasked with building a robot in three months but days before its unveiling the robot gets broken. Rather than lose face, they hold auditions for someone to act as the robot and end up having to settle with an old retiree, Suzuki (Mickey Curtis). It’s only suppose to be a one-time performance but when the the robot saves a girl named Sasaki (Yuriko Yoshitaka), it becomes a media sensation. The engineers and Suzuki are forced to continue with the charade as they are invited to various conferences. Sasaki also happens to have a keen interest in robotics herself and attempts to learn more about the robot that saved her, which ends up threatening the whole cover-up.
You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011)
(Literal Chinese title: Those years when we chased that girl together)
Director: Giddens Ko ; Screenplay: Giddens Ko
Cast: Zhendong Ke, Michelle Chen, Ao-Chuan, Steven Hao, Tsai Chang-hsien
There are already plenty of reviews for this film out there so there likely isn’t much new that I can add but I enjoyed the film. Based on the director’s own autobiographical novel (he even gives the main character his real name) the universal themes of this work should easily resonate with those who have pursued that special girl but couldn’t quite attain her. Lest you think this is all tragic and bittersweet, think again as you can expect to see more than one group masturbation scene that will bewilder you. There is fair amount of amusingly crude humour due to the boys in the story although some jokes will probably not work depending on one’s sense of humour. Focus lies on the growing closeness between one of the boys, a childish rascal who hates studying that the serious, studious girl can’t help but grow to like. The actors that portray these two are very believable.
Continue reading “Fantasia 2012 review: You Are the Apple of My Eye”
Film Beats (from the East) 