Toronto Film Festival, Day Three
Sep. 7th, 2003 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedBlind Japanese swordsmen, Bangkok drug silliness, Japanese alienation and kick-ass Thai martial arts...
Title: Zatoichi
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Recommended
Beat Takeshi takes on the legendary blind swordsman, Zatoichi and produces a fine, if not great, film. Kitano, of course, plays Zatoichi with the same mixed sense of menace and playfulness he's brought to most of his roles, from Sonatine to Brother. Among those opposing him is Tadanobu Asano as a Ronin forced to take a bodyguard job for a ruthless gang. The film has a leisurely pace and a convoluted plot, but it pays off in moments of great beauty amongst the flurries of bloodshed. I'm afraid the jury's still out on how effective the CG blood is, though.
Title: The Tesseract
Director: Oxide Pange
Country: Thailand/U.K./Japan
P's Rating: Crap
Complete and utter pretentious twaddle masquerading as significant social drama. In spite of the title, the only experimentation this misfire does with time is to ocassionally backtrack in time with different characters, a technique that is hardly a revelation. And dear god, the dialogue is atrocious. Not to mention difficult to hear, due to less than fabulous sound design. Stay far, far away from this one.
Title: Bright Future
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Okay
The third of three movies this fest starring Tadanobu Asano. This time he's a disaffected young man working in a laundry who one day quits his job and murders his employer. The film then follows his estranged father and a younger co-worker, both devastated by his act and both struggling to find some meaning in their future. Drawing everyone together is the poisonous jellyfish that Tadanobu has been acclimating to fresh water and eventually escapes into Tokyo's rivers. The film doesn't always work and it's got pacing is a bit soft, but the central metaphor of the beautiful but deadly jellyfish--do they stand in for the unknowable future or the dual nature of youth?--is utterly compelling
Title: Ong-Bak Muay Thai Warrior
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Country: Thailand
P's Rating: Recommended
A refreshing breakneck Thai action film starring newcomer Panom Yeerum. The plot is fairly basic--the head of the Buddha of Ong-Bak village has been stolen by a Burmese soldier. (One thing about Thai films: the Burmese are always the bad guys.) Ting, trained by monks in the Thai fighting style of Muay Thai, is sent to find the Buddha and return it to the village. The stunts are what really set this apart, recalling Jackie Chan's earlier films. Of particular note is a chase through a Bangkok market, with Panom Yeerum flying through the air and evading his pursuers with an unbelievable grace that owes absolutely nothing to CG effects.
Title: Zatoichi
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Recommended
Beat Takeshi takes on the legendary blind swordsman, Zatoichi and produces a fine, if not great, film. Kitano, of course, plays Zatoichi with the same mixed sense of menace and playfulness he's brought to most of his roles, from Sonatine to Brother. Among those opposing him is Tadanobu Asano as a Ronin forced to take a bodyguard job for a ruthless gang. The film has a leisurely pace and a convoluted plot, but it pays off in moments of great beauty amongst the flurries of bloodshed. I'm afraid the jury's still out on how effective the CG blood is, though.
Title: The Tesseract
Director: Oxide Pange
Country: Thailand/U.K./Japan
P's Rating: Crap
Complete and utter pretentious twaddle masquerading as significant social drama. In spite of the title, the only experimentation this misfire does with time is to ocassionally backtrack in time with different characters, a technique that is hardly a revelation. And dear god, the dialogue is atrocious. Not to mention difficult to hear, due to less than fabulous sound design. Stay far, far away from this one.
Title: Bright Future
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Country: Japan
P's Rating: Okay
The third of three movies this fest starring Tadanobu Asano. This time he's a disaffected young man working in a laundry who one day quits his job and murders his employer. The film then follows his estranged father and a younger co-worker, both devastated by his act and both struggling to find some meaning in their future. Drawing everyone together is the poisonous jellyfish that Tadanobu has been acclimating to fresh water and eventually escapes into Tokyo's rivers. The film doesn't always work and it's got pacing is a bit soft, but the central metaphor of the beautiful but deadly jellyfish--do they stand in for the unknowable future or the dual nature of youth?--is utterly compelling
Title: Ong-Bak Muay Thai Warrior
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Country: Thailand
P's Rating: Recommended
A refreshing breakneck Thai action film starring newcomer Panom Yeerum. The plot is fairly basic--the head of the Buddha of Ong-Bak village has been stolen by a Burmese soldier. (One thing about Thai films: the Burmese are always the bad guys.) Ting, trained by monks in the Thai fighting style of Muay Thai, is sent to find the Buddha and return it to the village. The stunts are what really set this apart, recalling Jackie Chan's earlier films. Of particular note is a chase through a Bangkok market, with Panom Yeerum flying through the air and evading his pursuers with an unbelievable grace that owes absolutely nothing to CG effects.
