Stone

I saw Stone which was featured at the 2010 Mill Valley Film Festival as part of their tribute to Edward Norton. I had to use a Landmark Theatres discount card by November 30 and the film fit my schedule. To be honest, it wasn't a film I was particularly interested in seeing.

Stone starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich and Frances Conroy; (2010) - Official Website

I enjoyed De Niro and Norton's previous collaboration which was a 2001 film called The Score. The caper film featured De Niro and Norton as two cat burglars (bankrolled by Marlon Brando!) forming an uneasy partnership to rip off an artifact from the Montreal Customs House. It was full of twists and turns and featured an exciting sequence where they are breaking into the vault.

Stone is a completely different film. De Niro plays Jack Mabry, a Michigan parole officer and Norton plays Stone, a prisoner up for parole. Mabry would seem to have all the power in the relationship but he has two disadvantages. First, Mabry is hollowed out after a lifetime of existential subsistence. He takes no pleasure or comfort from his job, his marriage, his religion or even himself. Second, Stone is a particularly intelligent, observant and manipulative prisoner who eventually pushes his sexy and ferral wife (Jovovich) onto Mabry. Rounding out the cast is Frances Conroy as Mrs. Mabry, a woman who has spent her lifetime having her spirit eroded by Mabry's lack of passion and empathy.

Jovovich has received much praise for her performance which is provocative and open to interpretation. Actually, each character's actions and motivations are open to interpretation. It makes the film more complex and true to life. However the film is morose and depressing; the same could be said for life. Oddly, Stone (the convicted arsonist) seems the least maladjusted of the quartet.

Kamui Gaiden and Cast Me If You Can at the Viz

Perusing the Viz Cinema's December schedule, I notice they are screening Cast Me if You Can from December 10 to 18. Cast Me if You Can was one of the films I enjoyed at the 2010 Mill Valley Film Festival.

I'm glad the film is getting a limited release in the Bay Area. I hope it finds an audience in Japantown.

§§§

I swung by the Viz earlier this week to see Kamui Gaiden. There was a colon in the title in the film but I won't quibble.

Kamui Gaiden reminded me of a Japanese version of The Treasure Hunter from the 2010 Chinese American Film Festival. There were a lot of special effects (some of which looked fake) and not much plot or character development. I fell asleep for most of the last 30 minutes. There was a neat trick where a horse's leg was cut off but that was little respite from the two hour ordeal. The plot involves a ninja on the run from his cohorts. He encounters a fisherman and his family. His paranoia leads to tragic consequences.

The film starred Ken'ichi Matsuyama who I previously saw in Detroit Metal City and the Death Note films. He was unrecognizable to me. The actor is truly a chameleon and the role of Kamui was nothing like his roles in the other film.

I didn't find many redeeming qualities in Kamui Gaiden and frankly wished I had spent the two hours doing something else.

Kamui Gaiden starring Ken'ichi Matsuyama; Japanese with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website

Taiwan Film Days

I caught two films San Francisco Film Society's Taiwan Film Days at Viz Cinema from October 22 to 24.

Monga; directed by Doze Niu; Min Nan (Taiwanese) and Mandarin with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Tears; directed by Wen-Tang Cheng; Min Nan (Taiwanese) with subtitles; (2009)

§§§

Monga which means canoe in Min Nan was a showy gangster movie about five teenagers who come together to form a gang. The leader is Dragon who is the son of the local mob boss, the brains behind the outfit is Monk, the fighter is Monkey and the coward is A-Po. The fifth member is a new kid a school called Mosquito. The five of them form a tight-knit group who assert their collective will at school and in the neighborhoods. As they get older, Dragon's father essentially sends them to a gangster training camp which consists of learning mental discipline and fighting skills with knives, swords and fists (but not guns).

Change is coming though. A mainlander (Chinese from the PRC) has aligned himself with a Taiwanese gangster recently released from prison. Director Doze Niu plays Grey Wolf (the mainlander) who preaches co-prosperity but secretly wants to take over the street action in Taipei. To accomplish this, he induces Monk to betray his gang. Monk is ambitious and harbors resentment towards Boss Geta (Dragon's father). Balancing him out is Mosquito who never knew his father and has made Boss Geta his father figure.

The film boils down to a story of betrayal and youth growing up to harsh realities. Another nice touch is the film was set in the 1980s so Dragon has a mullet that makes him look a little like Jose Canseco from the late 1980s. Monkey and A-Po have New Wave bangs which reminded me of the band A Flock of Seagulls.

Clocking in at nearly 2.5 hours, the film could have been edited down to beneficial effect. Also, I was expecting more of a gritty gangster film and Monga was rather stylized. Striving for epic dimensions, the film felt like a special 2 hour episode of Miami Vice set in Taipei. Ethan Juan and Mark Chao are effective as Monk and Mosquito, respectively. Han-Tien Chen as Mosquito's initial nemesis Dog Boy and Ju-Lung Ma as Boss Geta stood out among the supporting cast.

I can't fully recommend the film because of its excessive run time but I was entertained for most of the film.

§§§

More gritty than Monga is Tears - a tale of partial redemption for a crooked cop who isn't so bad when you get to know him. Guo (Chen-Nan Tsai) is a fifty-something cop who shows the younger cops a thing or two about water boarding. He lives in what is basically a SRO with his dog. Divorced, mostly estranged from his children and he claims to have not shed a tear in 10 years. His only semi-emotional interaction is with a betelnut beauty named Wen (Enno Cheng).

Guo catches a case involving a girl who overdosed on extra pure heroin. His dogged pursuit of that case leads to unexpected connections with Wen and brutal consequences. I won't say much more except the connections were highly contrived but the portrayal of Guo is told in a detached manner that gives the story a weary & cynical feel to match Guo's outlook. Guo's ultimate fate didn't elicit much of an emotional response from me. It was more of a dispassionate coda to the story which tried to be elegiac.

Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age but Tears rates a lukewarm recommendation from me as well. Chen-Nan Tsai's performance is worth the cost of admission or rental. Jian-wei Huang's performance as Guo's junior partner who isn't as sensitive as he appears also stood out.

2010 Mill Valley Film Festival

The 2010 Mill Valley Film Festival ran from October 7 to 17.

I saw six films at the festival. I had a ticket to a seventh film but missed it due to the mother of all traffic jams. I took me three hours to get from Golden Gate Park to the Golden Gate Bridge.

2010 Mill Valley Film Festival
Love Crime starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier; directed by Alain Corneau; French with subtitles; (2010)
Red Hill; (2010) - Official Website
Cast Me If You Can; directed by Atsushi Ogata; Japanese with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Kung Fu Chefs starring Sammo Hung; Cantonese with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website
The Queen of Hearts starring and directed by Valérie Donzelli; with Jérémie Elkalîm; French with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website
A Somewhat Gentle Man starring Stellan Skarsgård; Norwegian with subtitles; (2010)

The film I missed was The Reverse, a 2009 Polish black comedy about "a meek publishing clerk in Stalinist-era Warsaw [who] believes her fortunes have changed when a handsome stranger emerges-literally from the shadows."

I saw three films at the Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley, two films at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael and one at the Century Cinema in Corte Madera. I was unaware that the Century Cinema even existed. It's a cavernous theater which seats 800.

I don't get up to Marin County very often. I was able to grab a bite to eat at Pearl's Phat Burgers in Mill Valley and Sol Food in San Rafael. Sol Food is highly touted Puerto Rican restaurant which had a line out the door everytime I drove past it. I was able to get a seat at their "Small Place," a takeout joint with limited seating a block away from their "Big Place." I had a decent Cubano sandwich. I wanted to try their Niño Pobre (Po' Boy) Sandwich but my appetite wasn't up to the challenge. The Phat Cheeseburger was very good at Pearl's and was served with some of the most garlic infused garlic fries I ever had.

I read in Wednesday's Chronicle that Pearl's is opening a location on Market Street near 6th Street. That's neighborhood has a different vibe from E. Blithedale Avenue in Mill Valley but the opening is part of the Mid-Market Revitalization Plan and with the help of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.

§§§

I enjoyed three films at the festival.

A Somewhat Gentle Man was my favorite. The Finnish film Hellsinki was my favorite film last year. The year before that, the Swedish film Let the Right One In played at MVFF although I saw it Bruce Fletcher's Dead Channels. Maybe Scandinavian films are closely aligned with my tastes.

The film is a dark comedy about an ex-con who is trying to live his life on the outside but keeps getting nudged towards his old lifestyle by his old gang. Stellan Skarsgård who I am most familiar with as the math professor in Good Will Hunting plays Ulrik, the likable and easy going ex-convict.

The running gag throughout the film is that every woman he meets want to have sex with - his battle-axe landlady (who also happens to be his boss' ex-wife), his slutty looking ex-wife and eventually the secretary at the garage he works at. Ulrik also has a grown son whom he is estranged from. He has told his girlfriend that his father is dead so when Ulrik arrives unannounced, he tells her that Ulrik is his uncle who has been away traveling.

The film let Ulrik move from situation to comedic situation while slowly ratcheting up the stress in his life. Ulrik's landlady softens towards his as their carnal encounters become more frequent. For his part, Ulrik would rather watch TV or eat dinner but his landlady won't accommodate him. The secretary at work takes a liking to Ulrik after he beats up her abusive ex-husband. Ulrik is also looking forward to becoming a grandfather as his son's girlfriend is pregnant.

An ex-con's life is difficult and as his life falls apart, he is drawn back to a life of crime. He is tasked with murdering the man who testified against him. I won't give away the ending but will say that the movie felt like a comedy throughout. It's hard to imagine Ulrik as a murderer but he shows a few flashes of his old self.

§§§

Love Crime is French drama which starts off like The Devil Wears Prada. Christine, an older female executive (Kristin Scott Thomas) mentors Isabelle, a young up-and-comer (Ludivine Sagnier). The relationship is complex. Initially Christine dominates the relationship but after being betrayed and with some encouragement from her assistant (Guillaume Marquet who makes the most of a small role), Isabelle decides to go on the offensive. The film sets up to be a cross between Working Girl and The Devil Wears Prada but a murder throws the film off kilter.

I thought the murder and subsequent investigation was too much and changed the tenor of perfectly enjoyable movie. The film made obvious the intentions of the murderer so the suspense was limited. The murder was so far out of character as to seem implausible.

Despite that, I still enjoyed and recommended the film. The performance of Thomas, Sagnier and Marquet were outstanding & the first half of the film was compelling drama. Even the second half kept my attention although I correctly predicted the outcome (as most of the audience likely did).

§§§

The third film I enjoyed was a low budget comedy from Japan called Cast Me If You Can. Starring Tôru Masuoka as Hiroshi, an actor who makes his living in supporting roles on television and film. Constantly being mistaken for someone else, Hiroshi lives under the twin shadows of his anonymity and his father who is a famous playwright. Hiroshi has a goal of starring in a Japanese remake of a unnamed Woody Allen film. The role is taken from him due to a scandal where he is mistaken as the lover of the wife a Diet member. The one good thing that comes into his life is perpetually upbeat Aya (Hiromi Nagasaku). Also an actor but not as accomplished, Aya correctly recognizes Hiroshi from his roles. Aya has ambition but strangely seems attracted to the modestly accomplished and somewhat unfriendly Hiroshi.

The plot is really just a vehicle for the misadventures of Hiroshi & Aya in the professional and personal matters. The two actors give spirited comedic performances and the film as a whole is sweet-natured comedy that I enjoyed.

§§§

The Queen of Hearts, a similar low-budget comedy from director/screenwriter/star Valérie Donzelli missed the mark slightly but merits a paragraph. Donzelli plays Adèle, a young woman rebounding from a harsh breakup. As she pulls her life back together, she interacts with three men (all played by Donzelli's husband Jérémie Elkaïm). One is a student at an art college, the other is the husband of her employer and the final one is her love at first sight although she may want to take a closer look. The film is kind of goofy; Adèle doesn't know how to use a cell phone and her cousin has some eye problem which requires her to wear bandages over her eye when she sleeps). A cute soundtrack and playful nature nearly save the day. My attention drifted towards the end and I dozed for a few minutes.

§§§

Red Hill and Kung Fu Chefs round out the film lineup. I was expecting a gritty Australian action drama in Red Hill but it seemed more like a cut-rate Hollywood action film. Kung Fu Chefs - the title says it all. It could have spoofed martial arts and gastronomy but the humor was largely flat and the action scenes ho-hum. I'd skip both if I had it to do over again.