2014 Hong Kong Cinema

The San Francisco Film Society presented the 2014 Hong Kong Cinema series from November 14 to 16 at the Vogue Theater.  There were 8 films in the series and I saw 5.  I had already seen one of the films (The Golden Era) and another film did not appeal to me (The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom).  The film which I would like to have seen but my schedule did not permit was Uncertain Relationships Society and even that seemed aimed at younger demographic than me.

From Vegas to Macau starring Chow Yun-fat, Nicholas Tse & Chapman To; directed by Wong Jing; Mandarin & Cantonese with subtitles; (2014)
Chungking Express starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai  & Faye Wong; directed by Wong Kar-wai; Cantonese with subtitles; (1994)
The Midnight After starring Simon Yam & Suet Lam; directed by Fruit Chan; Cantonese with subtitles; (2014) - Official Facebook
Aberdeen starring Louis Koo, Gigi Leung, Miriam Yeung & Eric Tsang; directed by Pang Ho-cheung; Cantonese with subtitles; (2014)
Overheard 3 starring Sean Lau, Louis Koo & Daniel Wu; directed by Alan Mak & Felix Chong; Mandarin & Cantonese with subtitles; (2014)

The series was mixed bag for me.  I greatly enjoyed two films while the other three left me in various states of boredom.

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SFFS programmed a 20th anniversary screening of Chungking Express which I had not previously seen.  With Chungking Express, I have now seen 8 of Wong's 10 feature directorial efforts.  The two missing links are My Blueberry Nights (Wong's only English language film from 2007) and As Tears Go By (Wong's 1988 directorial debut).

It's not very original for me to say I greatly enjoyed one of the most celebrated films of the past two decades but that is the fact.  Chungking Express is an unabashed romantic comedy or at least 90%.  Regardless, it has more quirky humor than his other films.

The film is divided into two parts which (upon first viewing) have nothing to do with each other.

The film starts with Takeshi Kaneshiro as a HK cop who is despondent over breaking up with his girlfriend.  He gives the separation 30 days; if at the end of that time, they have not reconciled, he will move on.  He marks the days off by purchasing canned pineapples (one per day) with an expiration date identical to the 30 day deadline (May 1 if I recall correctly).  Meanwhile, Brigitte Lin plays a drug smuggler who constantly wears sunglasses and a blonde wig.  When the Indian immigrants she hires to mule her smack rip her off, she is in deep trouble.  The two of them crisscross HK and each other until a fateful meeting in a bar leads to a one night stand.  As a postscript, Lin's character shoots a man (a white guy to boot) to apparently take care of her problem.

Although the 1st half of the film has its moments, it was the 2nd half of the film which burnished Chungking Express' reputation.  Another HK cop (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is also depressed about breaking up with his girlfriend.  He stops in at a all-night restaurant to get coffee and meets the owner's niece and new employee Faye (Faye Wong).  With her pixie cut, insouciant manner & expressive face, Wong is the breakout star in what was her first lead acting role.

I don't think they ever mentioned names on screen although IMDB lists character names.  In the film, I recall that Kaneshiro & Leung were referred to by their characters' badge numbers.  I don't recall Lin's character ever being addressed by name.  Faye Wong's character is called Faye.

Anyway, Tony Leung's ex-girlfriend (an airline stewardess) stops by the restaurant to leave a note for him.  Everyone in the restaurant steams open the note to read it.  More importantly, she leaves his apartment keys with the note.  Leung is not anxious to read the note so he keeps putting off picking it up.  Leung is also transferred to the dayshift.  When Faye sees Leung on duty, she rushes to his apartment with the keys and cleans, explores, buys new goldfish, fantasizes and generally acts in an outrageous manner which would be called stalking today but was oddly endearing in 1994 HK.  All the while, Leung senses something is off at home.  It isn't until he comes home early that he literally bumps in Faye coming out his apartment.

The second half of Chungking Express was delightful and as enjoyable as any movie experience I've had in a long time.  Faye Wong even sings a memorable Cantonese cover version of the Cranberries' Dream.  Unlike many films, I thought Chungking Express lived up to its reputation and is still fresh after 20 years.

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I was also impressed with Pang Ho-cheung's Aberdeen.  I have to admit that my working knowledge of HK geography is embarrassing.  I couldn't identify Kowloon, the New Territories, Aberdeen, Repulse Bay, etc. on a map.  Aberdeen (aka Little Hong Kong) is a town on the south side of Hong Kong Island.  The film is set in Aberdeen although the setting is only relevant in one scene which I can remember.

Aberdeen is a slice of life film about three generations of the Cheng family.  Pang regular Miriam Yeung plays elder sister Wai Ching, a tour guide for old British fortifications.  Her husband Yau (Eric Tsang) is a doctor.  Louis Koo is Tao, her younger brother is a motivational speaker.  His wife, Ceci (Gigi Leung) is a fashion model & actress.  Their daughter Chloe is a precocious girl.  Wai Ching & Tao's father  (Ng Man Tat) is a widower and Taoist priest who has taken up with bar hostess (Carrie Ng).

Each family member faces their own challenges.  Wai Ching has unresolved issues with her late mother that she cannot get past.  Her husband Yau is having an affair with a nurse in his office.  Ceci is struggling with her age, lack of work and the pressures of the casting couch.  Tao is growing increasingly concerned about his daughter; worried that her weight & appearance will work against her in the future and also feeling guilt about a young girl he bullied for those very reasons during his youth.  Dong (the patriarch) mourns not just the loss of his wife but the loss of fishing which has been his family's way of life for generations.

Pang successfully juggles these disparate threads.  Whereas there was an element of the juvenile in his previous films, Aberdeen deals with universal issues that adults face.  It's not about guys making porn movies, people coping with a cigarette sales ban in HK or the self-detracting behavior of 20something women in China.  Instead, people get old, people have to deal with dead loved ones, people have to confront their own transgressions, etc.  These issues elevate Aberdeen to something memorable.  I won't say Aberdeen has gravitas but it is Pang's most more mature work to date.  It shows a leap in ambition from his previous films.  By ratcheting down the humor and focusing on the bittersweet lives on the Cheng family, Pang has made the best movie of his career so far or at least of the half dozen or so films I have seen.

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From Vegas to Macau boasted an all-star cast and was described in the program guide as "genre-twisting."  I thought it was an action-comedy.  As I was leaving the theater, a couple was walking directly in front of me.  The man said to the woman, "I don't get Chinese humor."  Me neither.  From Vegas to Macau (aka The Man from Macau) relied on too many plot twists and broad humor.  It's one of those films where you see a car drive through a wall & explode.  Then the action rewinds and you see the real reason the car through the wall & exploded.  Another thing I notice about HK films I don't like is that they overly rely on technology to advance the plot.  In this case, Chow Yun-fat had an X-ray sensor attached to his fingernail which then sent the image to his brain via some cybernetics.  This was so he could cheat at cards.  He also had a deck of gold playing cards that he could toss with lethal accuracy.

Fruit Chan's The Midnight After was genre-twisting.  A bus full of people drive through a tunnel and when they come out, everyone else in HK has disappeared.  I don't recall the reason ever being explained.  There are hallucination of guys in Hazmat suits.  Some people turn into sand or dirt.  By the end, it rains blood.  To be honest, I don't know what I saw.  At times the film bored, at other times it was frustratingly vague and on the occasions it caught my attention, the film quickly lost it.

Overheard 3 is the third in a popular series of films.  I have not seen Overheard or Overheard 2.  Overheard 3 had something to do with the New Territories & how residents could inherit the right to build homes.  There are gangsters that want to build there.  The meat of the 131 minute film is that Louis Koo has just gotten out of prison (I presume this was covered in Overheard 2) after taking the rap for murder.  The four Luk brothers are gangsters & owe Koo a debt of gratitude.  Koo, with the help of hacker (Daniel Wu), is out to take the Luk brothers down.  The slips them a Mickey Finn, installs spyware on their cellphones and then manipulates them into turning on each other.  Perhaps something was lost in the translation but the complex criminal & interpersonal relationships, deceptions & betrayals & high tech surveillance just couldn't generate interest from me.  Frankly, these Chinese action films seem to be stuck in a rut.  It seems like I've seen a bushel full of these types of films which leave me mild at best.  They almost all have some memorable scenes or character but very few of them keep my attention throughout the film.

Yang Fudong's Cinematic Influences

PFA stands for Pacific Film Archive.  I frequently see the organization referred to as BAM/PFA with BAM standing for Berkeley Art Museum.  I've never been to BAM.  I need to get over there before it moves.  I can't recall if I've mentioned it on this blog but the construction on the new BAM/PFA building is visibly progressing.  I walk past the construction site whenever I go to PFA.  The new BAM/PFA site will be one block from the Downtown Berkeley BART on Centre St.  It's scheduled to open in Spring 2016.

I thought about that because for the first time I can remember BAM and PFA had a companion exhibits.  BAM has an art exhibit by Yang Fudong titled Yang Fudong: Estranged Paradise, Works 1993–2013 which ends at 5 PM today.  PFA had a film series titled Yang Fudong's Cinematic Influences which screened six films between August 22 and October 6.  I saw one film in the series.

Spring in a Small Town starring Wei Wei, Shi Yu & Li Wei; directed by Fei Mu; Mandarin with subtitles; (1948)

Voted Best Chinese Film of All Time in a poll of Chinese critics and cited as an influence by Kar Wai Wong.  I went to the screening of Spring in a Small Town by high expectations.  Indeed, the film plot seems to have been the basis for many Wong films.

Dai Liyan (Shi Yu) is the head of a once prosperous family.  The war has taken his health and much like the partially ruined compound of his estate, he is a functioning but broken man.  His health laid low by tuberculosis; his self-respect following suit.  His wife, Zhou Yuwen (Wei Wei) senses this but with little to distract her and a reputation to uphold, she stays in her loveless marriage.  Is it loveless because he is physical incapable or because they have grown apart?  The answer is yes.

Dai's childhood friend Zhang Zhichen (Li Wei) arrives for a visit.  Ostensibly staying on to treat his friend's illness, Zhang was also Zhou's first love which Dai is unaware of.  Quickly, Zhou's restlessness and frustrations find an potential outlet with Zhang but both are unwilling to cuckold Dai.  This sexual tension continues for the second half of the film as Dai becomes increasingly aware of the odd behavior of his wife and best friend.

Spring in a Small Town is an amazing film.  Made three years after the end of WWII, the damaged town is a symbol for the scars that were still fresh from the war.  Director Fei Mu adds visual flourishes that would make John Alton proud.  Many scenes are bathed in shadows.  Wei Wei has a remote beauty to her which the camera displays to great effect.  As I heard mentioned after the screening, Wei Wei was like the Chinese Ava Gardner.

There is a wonderful scene where Dai's younger sister turns sixteen.  Having her eyes on Zhang, she and her brother become aware of the full extent of the attraction between Zhang & Zhou as everyone's inhibitions are loosened by the alcohol.  Seemingly encouraging his wife, Dai's humiliation is near complete while the teenager is too naive to understand the full extent of the evening's events.

Like my favorite Kar Wai Wong's films, Spring in a Small Town was moody, claustrophobic and melancholy.  The experience of watching the film was more than the sum of the on-screen parts.  The inner conflict within the three main protagonists is hinted but still open to interpretation by the audience.

Spring in a Small Town was remade in 2002 as Springtime in a Small Town (directed by Zhuangzhuang Tian).  Well received by critics, I would like to see it for comparison purposes.

How Many Ip Man Films Does It Take?

The title was fashioned after a popular commercial of my childhood which asked the rhetorical questions phrased as a literal one, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"  How many Ip Man biopics does it take to saturate the market?

By my count, I have seen have seen three films based on Ip Man's life in the past few years.  I added two to that total in September alone.  I saw both films at the 4 Star.

The Grandmaster starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai & Zhang Ziyi; directed by Kar Wai Wong, Mandarin, Cantonese & Japanese with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website
Ip Man: The Final Fight starring Anthony Wong; directed by Herman Yau; Cantonese with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

The Grandmaster was supposed to be a different kind of kung fu film.  Directed by Kar Wai Wong who is known for unhurried explorations of forbidden longing.  Tony Leung plays Ip Man in The Grandmaster.  His impossible love is Zhang Ziyi who plays the daughter of a kung fu rival.  After an impromptu match between the two (which Ip Man "loses"), it seems a romance is likely but WWII gets in the way.  Gong (Zhang) in the north is separated by the Japanese Army from Man in the south of of China.  We watch Gong confront her late father's protege over his collaboration with the Japanese.  The most memorable scene involves a duel between Gong and Ma San (Zhang Jin), in the snow, on a train platform, while a train speeds past the platform.  Suffering grievous injuries during the fight, Gong is unable to fight with Man in Hong Kong when the meet after the war.

Covering some ground I've seen before (particularly evocative of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Leung and Zhang's interplay mixes martial arts and romantic attraction.  Their skills and philosophies during the fight reveal their strength of character and only serves to intensify their appeal to each other.

The Grandmaster was edited down by 15 minutes from the international film festival version which probably detracted from the experience.  Frankly, writing nearly two months after seeing it, I remember the fight sequences more than the interaction between Leung and Zhang.  Both Leung and Zhang are movie stars of the highest order.  By that I mean, they have screen presence galore.  You can't take your eyes off them when they are on screen.

Ip Man: The Final Fight focuses on his later life in Hong Kong when age and money troubles are taking their toll on him.  Trying to maintain his dignity, Ip Man struggles with separation from his wife (and eventually widower status) and pecuniary matters such as having to teach kung fu to make a living.

In many ways, I preferred Ip Man: The Final Fight to The Grandmaster.  Ip Man was presented as more flawed in The Final Fight.  His students have their own lives - one is a corrupt cop, another fights in death matches for money, one of his female students resents Ip Man's girlfriend after his wife dies, etc.  Through it all, Ip Man tries to persevere with some measure of his honor intact.

Anthony Wong, whom I associate most with Johnny To films, plays Ip Man with a quiet reserve.   Zhou Chu-Chu as a nightclub singer/heroin addict/Ip Man's girl is memorable.

Both of these films were worthwhile and there is much to admire and enjoy about them.  I wish I had time to write more about them.

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The 4 Star is hosting the annual Chinese American Film Festival from November 13 to 20.  Three of the films are being screen free of admission charge on November 12.  A few of the films look interesting.

Five at the Castro

In April & May, I saw five films at the Castro Theater.

Blood Simple starring John Getz & Frances McDormand; with Dan Hedaya & M. Emmet Walsh; directed by Joel Coen; (1984)

Happy Together starring Leslie Cheung & Tony Leung Chiu Wai; directed by Kar Wai Wong; Cantonese & Mandarin with subtitles; (1997)

Fallen Angels starring Leon Lai, Michelle Reis & Takeshi Kaneshiro; directed by Kar Wai Wong; Cantonese with subtitles; (1995)

Spring Breakers starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson & Rachel Korine; directed by Harmony Korine; (2012) - Official Website

Enter the Void starring Paz de la Huerta; with Nathaniel Brown & Cyril Roy; directed by Gaspar Noé;  English & some Japanese with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website

Happy Together and Fallen Angels were double features as were Spring Breakers and Enter the Void.

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Way back in early April, I saw Blood Simple at the Castro.  Blood Simple is notable because it is the first Coen Brothers film.  I always get them confused.  Joel Coen is usually credited as the director, Ethan Coen is usually credited as the producer and both are usually credited as the screenwriters.  For the past few films they have worked on, both are sharing credits as director and producer.  Joel is married to actress Frances McDormand although during production, they were likely not married.  They were married on April 1, 1984 but I'm not sure when the film was in production.  It premiered in September 1984.  Blood Simple was remade by Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern) under the title A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.

Bar owner Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) suspects his wife Abby (McDormand) of having an affair with Ray, one of his bartenders.  His suspicions are justified because they are having an affair but Marty is a controlling, manipulative jerk so it's not surprising his wife would stray.  Marty hires private investigator Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to surveil the two.  When Visser returns with photographic evidence of the affair, Julian ups the ante by hiring Visser to kill the couple.

Visser is one sleazy "sonbitch" as they say in Texas where the film is set.  He doctors photos of Ray & Abby to make it appear they are murdered.  He presents the photos and collects his fee, but then double crosses Marty and kills him with Abby's gun which he has stolen during the course of his "investigation."  He inadvertently leaves behind his distinctive cigarette lighter and later realizes Marty locked one of the photos in the floor safe.

Ray arrives at the bar to collect his last paycheck only to discover Julian is dead.  Seeing Abby's gun and remembering a warning from Julian to not trust Abby, Ray assumes Abby killed her husband.  The becomes an after-the-fact accomplice by cleaning the office of the blood and disposing of Marty's body.  Actually, Marty isn't quite dead as Ray discovers when he starts to bury him in a cornfield.  No need to split hairs, Ray keeps on shoveling dirt over the barely conscious Julian.

Ray & Abby have some cryptic conversations where Ray attempts to explain he has taken care of Abby's mess but unaware her husband is dead, Abby doesn't get the drift.  Roy is put off because he thinks Abby is playing coy.

Abby goes to the bar and finds the office looking fine...except someone has attempted to break into the safe.  It was actually Visser trying to retrieve the doctored photo but Abby assumes it was Ray since he was upset over his last paycheck.  Combined with Ray's odd comments from before, Abby assumes Ray killed Marty.

When they later meet at Abby's apartment, Abby is leery of Ray thinking him a killer.  Ray has noticed someone following him and instructs Abby to turn off the light.  Fearful that Ray wants the lights off so he can kill her too, Abby refuses.  Visser has indeed been following Ray and is positioned on the roof across the street with a high powered rifle.  He shoots and kills Ray which causes Abby to knock out the light & hide in the bathroom.  Visser is quick to enter the apartment but when he goes into the bathroom, it is empty.  Realizing Abby must have exited the bathroom window and into the window of the next door unit, Visser reaches his arm out to open the next door unit's window. Abby slams with  window shut on his hand and drives a kitchen knife through his hand.  Visser shoots through the wall thus weakening it.  He eventually punches through the wall to remove the knife.  As he enter the unit to kill Abby, she shoot him through the door.  Her comments indicate she thought it was her husband who had come to kill her.

That was a long write up because the film had a lot of plot twists.  Everyone was suspicious of everyone else...as it should be in noir.  Both Abby & Ray thought the other capable of murder which makes for a healthy extramarital relationship.  M. Emmet Walsh, two years removed from Blade Runner, shines as the depraved PI.  Dan Hedaya also stands out as Marty.  The Coen Brothers have made some really good films and this is one of them.

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Ho (Leslie Cheung) and Lai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) are a dysfunctional gay couple at the center of Happy Together.  Lai is the more stable one while Ho is prone to promiscuity and mental abuse.  The two seem to have gone through several cycles of breakup, reconciliation and abuse.  For a change of pace, the film is set in Argentina.  At the beginning, I thought the film was going to be black & white but color is gradually added to the scenes.

After Ho & Lai breakup, Lai gets a job a nightclub where Ho comes in with other men.  This upset Lai greatly.  One day Ho shows up at Lai's apartment after being beaten.  Lai takes him in to care for him but eventually the rekindle their relationship and the destructive cycle begins anew.  Ho torments Lai until he leaves him once again.  Lai begins a friendship with Chang (Chen Chang) a co-worker at the Chinese restaurant he works at.  It is implied Chang is gay but their relationship is platonic.

However, when Chang leaves for an extended trip to the southernmost lighthouse in South America, Lai flounders and begins to exhibit behavior similar to Ho's...who coincidentally shows up at this juncture. Lai has matured in the intervening time.  He recognizes the cycle of abuse and refuses to see Ho.  In addition, Lai has stolen money from a business associate of his father.  He writes a letter attempting to reconcile and promising to return to Taiwan to face the consequences.  Before he returns, he visits the lighthouse Chang went to.  According to legend, you can drop your sorrow into the sea at this location.  Afterwards, Lai returns to Taiwan where he goes to the night market food stall which Chang's parents own.  Although Chang is not there, Lai glimpses a photo of him tacked the support beam and steals it.

Happy Together reminded me a lot of director Kar Wai Wong later 1960s trilogy.  The themes of destructive relationships and unfulfilled desires are present in Happy Together although it is played out among gay men.  As always, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai delivers a subtle performance as Lai.  In the later trilogy, Leung displays characteristics of both Ho & Lai in his performance.

I saw Fallen Angels at the Red Vic in January 2009.  I remember the cinematography.  Much of the film was shot at night among neon lit streets of Hong Kong.  The loose plot involves a hitman (Leon Lai) and his handler (Michelle Reis).  The two never meet but they exchange messages about jobs at a ramshackle, industrial space that serves as their apartment.  The woman is sexually attracted to the man; even using the scent of his clothing as masturbatory aids.

The other main character is odd mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who essentially breaks into businesses at night and either sells their products or insists on being paid to leave.  For example, he breaks into an food truck and forces people to buy the food out the window.  Some people don't know anything is amiss but if you try to leave without buying anything, he harasses them.

I glimpsed a plot but it's not important.  The three lead actors plus Karen Mok as a pink haired punk with a voice that couple peel paint just power through the scenes.  Some scenes are humorous such as the killer showing a classmate a photo of his "wife" who is a black woman he paid to have his photo taken with.  Other scenes have a kind of violent elegance more associated John Woo.  Still other scenes are headscratchingly weird.  The effect is cumulative; you'll either grow to love it or grow hate it - I was the former.  The film also has a distinct soundtrack which I liked.

Happy Together and Fallen Angels was a very successful double feature in my opinion.

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Spring Breakers was advertised as not your typical spring break film.  Right at the beginning, there is a skillfully edited montage scene which makes spring break appear grotesque.  Actually, when thought of rationally, the debauchery is grotesque in a libertine sort of way but for generations, young people have rationalized their annual week of bacchanalia as a necessary stress reliever.  Also, there is a "what happens in Ft. Lauderdale stays in Ft. Lauderdale" mentality and code of silence.

Four college girls (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson & Rachel Korine) go to Florida on spring break.  Actually, three of them robbed a restaurant to get the money so they could go.  This film is already going in directions other spring break films don't go.

After the requisite party scenes, the film swerves into uncharted territory.  The four girls are arrested for public drunkenness or disturbing the peace.  Arraigned while still in their bikinis, the four believe they will spend the rest of spring break in lockup because they can't pay their bail.  Witnessing the proceeding is a corn-rowed wigga called Alien (Jame Franco).  Rapper, gangsta, playa and owner of an outrageous gun collection, Alien bails out the four women.

The five are out to party but the action gets increasingly disturbing.  At one point, two of the women point a gun at Alien during (what the audiences thinks is) foreplay for ménage à trois.  Initially hesitant, Alien embraces the new spin, even going so far as to suck on the pistol barrel à la fellatio.

As the action heats up and gets weird, the girls peel off.  First to go is Selena Gomez whose character goes prayer group and was not part of the robbery.  Next to go is Rachel Korine (the director's daughter) who was the getaway driver during the robbery.  She is shot during a drive by shooting by some rival gangstas of Alien.  I guess getting a flesh wound in the arm puts a damper on the thug life.

The two girls who are left (Hudgens & Benson) are the wildest of the quartet.  The two actresses go for broke in their performances.  The scene where they enter the diner to rob it is chilling and there is a shocking disconnect between their petite bikini clad appearance and their behavior.

After a threesome in the pool, Alien and the two girls go to get some payback for the driveby.  Rocking tiny bikinis, wearing pink ski masts and toting assault rifles, the two girls contribute to a memorable shootout.

Although Spring Breakers has some disturbing imagery, it's played as a dark comedy.  Franco chews up the scenery.  Some of the scenes are patently ridiculous.  Director Harmony Korine has a vision of where to take the film and she gets there in stylish fashion.  I thought Spring Breakers was tremendous.

I was on the fence about sticking around after Spring Breakers.  The next film (Enter the Void) was more than 2.5 hours long and the film was starting at 8:45 PM.  I'm glad I did because the opening title sequence was almost worth the price of admission.

What followed was equally imaginative and exhausting.  Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) is American drug dealer in Tokyo.  His sister Linda (Paz de la Huerta) is a stripper, also in Tokyo.  Oscar is shot by the police (in the Japanese style public toilet of all places).  His spirit or soul rises from his body and the rest of the film is told from this disembodied viewpoint as the action skips back and forth in time to tell Oscar and Linda's story.

This sounds like a gimmick film but director Gaspar Noé is almost able to pull it off.  I say almost because I'm not sure if the movie was received by the audience as the director intended.  The story is told in mind-numbing detail as layer upon layer and character upon character is given screen time.  This may have been Noé intention so as to show the state of Oscar's spirit.  The effect on the audience was excruciating at time.  Although my concentration flagged occasionally, I never fell asleep and my interest was maintained through the end.  What an ending!  Linda and another character go to a love hotel.  After a dizzying array of overhead shots featuring several characters performing various sex acts, Linda engages in sex.  In some ways, it's as if Oscar is having sex with her sister but if that isn't creepy enough, Noé switches visual perspectives midway through the act.  The audience gets a shot of the penis inside Linda's vagina during and we  are treated to the proverbial money shot.  Boring and obligatory in pornographic films, in Enter the Void it signaled Oscar's rebirth or reincarnation as well a signpost to the audience that film was almost over.

Enter the Void was self-indulgent but Noé's vision for the film proved engrossing.

Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson & Rachel Korine (pick two) in masks and James Franco (back to camera) in Spring Breakers

Wong Kar Wai's 1960s Trilogy

Way back in April, I saw Wong Kar Wai's loose trilogy as a triple feature at the Castro Theater.  I didn't forget about the films.  I was just unsure what to write as my opinion of the three films varies greatly.

Days of Being Wild starring Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau & Carina Lau; cameo by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai; Cantonese with subtitles; (1990) - Official Website
In the Mood for Love starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai & Maggie Cheung; Cantonese with subtitles; (2000) - Official Website
2046 starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Zhang Ziyi, Faye Wong, Carina Lau, Gong Li & Takuya Kimura; Cantonese and some Japanese with subtitles; (2004) - Official Website

All three films were directed by Wong Kar Wai.  Christopher Doyle was the cinematographer on all three films as well.

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The films showed a career arc.  Days of Being Wild, Wong's second film as director, was interesting but hinted at Wong's potential.  In the Mood for Love was a masterpiece.  2046 was self-indulgent.

Days of Being Wild did not focus Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) as the other two films did.  Leung makes a cameo at the end of the film but the main character is Yuddy played by the late Leslie Cheung.  Yuddy is a "love 'em and leave 'em" type in 1960s Hong Kong.  At the beginning of the film, he romancing Su Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung, looking different somehow), a cashier in a concession stand.  Their's is an intense, lusty relationship which Yuddy breaks off.  That leave Li Zhen emotionally crushed although she eventually forms a friendship with Tide, a cop (Andy Lau). 

Yuddy's next conquest is Mimi (Carina Lau), a glamorous cabaret singer who suffers the same fate as Li Zhen.  Yuddy's friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung) is secretly in love with Mimi.  When Yuddy decides to go to the Philippines to search for his birth mother, Zeb gets his chance with Mimi.

In the Philippines, the wealthy Yuddy is living in a flophouse in the Chinatown section where he encounters Tide who has quit his police job.  At this point, the plot becomes a little fuzzy.  I'm not sure if it was my memory or Wong's unstructured style.  Yuddy does reunite with his Filipino mother with unsatisfactory results.  While taking a train with Tide, Yuddy is shot.  I can't the reason or if it was a random incident.  Although he survives for quite some time, the film ends with Yuddy dying as a result of his wounds.

There were a number of themes in Days of Being Wild that I caught.  One is the timing of romance.  Tide and Li Zhen may have been a couple if they had met before Li Zhen painful breakup with Yuddy.  Mimi & Zeb may turn out to be a couple because they had encountered Yuddy in the recent past.  So much of life is not quite fate but sequential for lack of a better word. 

Unrequited love is a major theme.  Much of Yuddy's behavior stems from his strained relationship with his aunt/foster mother (Rebecca Pan), a former prostitute.  They both want the love of the other but circumstances keep them emotionally separated.  What is more unrequited than a mother giving her son away...to a prostitute no less!

Combined with Doyle's cinematography and the 1960s music, Days of Being Wild is a contemplative film which evokes a mood and specific time and place.

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The trilogy was screened in chronological order.  After seeing Days of Being Wild, I was greatly anticipating In the Mood for Love, a critically acclaimed film I had long wanted to see.

A major character in In the Mood for Love is Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung).  I didn't realize until late in the film that Mrs. Chan is the same character as Su Li Zhen in Days of Being Wild.  Mrs. Chan is so different than the lovelorn Li Zhen of Days of Being Wild that it didn't register with me.  After the screening, while looking at the credits, I realized that Rebecca Pan was in both films (looking unrecognizable between the two films).  I don't believe Pan is playing the same character but it wouldn't surprise me. 

In the Mood for Love has a more structured plot than the other films in the trilogy.  Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and his wife (who is never seen on screen) rent a room in a boardinghouse run by Mrs. Suen (Pan).  One of their neighbors is Mrs. Chan and her husband (who is never seen on screen).  Mr. Chow is a journalist while Mrs. Chan is a secretary.  I don't recall their spouses' jobs but the spouses are absent for long stretches of time.

Mr. Chow & Mrs. Chan begin to suspect their spouses are having an affair with each other.  Taking solace in each other's company, the two form a platonic friendship.  Chow wants to wrote a kung fu serial for his newspaper which Chan is a fan of.  They collaboration raised the suspicions of their neighbors as Mrs. Suen subtly warns Mrs. Chow.  In fact, the warning was not about having an affair but allowing neighbors to think you are having an affair.

Chow rents a (garishly painted) room far from the Suen boardinghouse for the two to work together away from wagging tongues.  Their relationship intensifies during this period as both are deeply dissatisfied by their lives.  It still remain platonic as their circumstances dictate.  Not only are they married to other people but after condemning their respective spouses, they would be hypocritical to engage in the same behavior.

As the serial nears completion, Chow announces that he is leaving Hong Kong for a new job in Singapore.  He asks Chan to go with him (what about his wife?).  After initial hesitancy and delay, Chang decides to take his offer but after rushing to the room, she finds Chow has already left.

A year later, Chan (what about her husband?) goes to Singapore and calls him on the phone but remains silent.  She even talks the landlady into letting her into his apartment but again doesn't wait for him. 

Several years later, Chan (apparently divorced or separated) returns to the Suen boardinghouse.  Mrs. Suen is about to move to the US.  Chan agrees to rent her apartment.  At yete a future point, Chow returns to the boardinghouse and asks the new owner about Mrs. Suen and is informed she has moved and that a woman and her son live in the unit.  Chow leaves, not knowing the woman in Suen's apartment is Chow.  The film ends with Chow in Angkor Wat with Chow whispering into a tree hole and covering the hole with mud which is a old custom Chow had recounted earlier about how secrets could be shared.

In the Mood for Love was riveting.  First of all, it was beautiful to look at.  Maggie Cheung wore a stunning and endless array of cheongsam.  My words can't do justice to the colors and designs of these dresses nor the flaterring effect they had on Maggie Cheung's form.  She must have worn at least 30 cheongsam in the film; each more attractive then the last.

Wong & Doyle, also made use of slow motion and the claustrophic HK neighborhoods.  Chan & Chow repeatedly go up and down these stairs leading to a noodle joint with steam rising up.  They miss each other by moments even though they dine at the same place.

Finally, the soundtrack featured Nat King Cole's "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" as a leitmotif to great effect.

In the Mood for Love is a tremendous film - a great love story about a love that never was.  Poignant, elegiac and immensely engaging, I wanted the pair to find love with each other but Wong teasingly denied me that satisfaction.

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As I settled in for 2046, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I noticed that Chow rented room 2046 in In the Mood for Love. 

2046 has multiple stories within it which make it hard to discern the common threads.  One story involves Chow's novel set in 2046 and a man who falls in love with an android on his train.  To give this story arc resonance, actors Tak Kimura (the man) and Faye Wong (the android) play a Japanese businessman and the landlord's daughter in the hotel where Chow lives.  In fact, all the character in the fictitious future world are played by actors who have other roles in the film.

To cope with his unconsummated relationship with Chan, Chow has transformed himself into a ladies man (like Yuddy in Days of Being Wild).  He even encounters Mimi/Lulu (Carina Lau) who lives in room 2046.  When Chow returns to the hotel a few days later, he inquires about renting 2046.  The landlord tells him it is not available because Mimi was stabbed in the room by a jealous boyfriend (Jacky Cheung as presumably Zeb). 

From this room, Chow observes the sequential residents of 2046.  First is a  Wang Jing Wen (Faye Wong) who forbidden relationship with a Japanese man causes a nervous breakdown.  Next is Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi), the woman a nightclub owner and upscale prostitute who dresses like Mrs. Chan but is more overt and liberated in her sexuality.  I could go on but there are more threads in this film than Egyptian cotton.

Chow encounters another woman named Su Li Zhen (Gong Li) in Singapore.  These these women as well as Wang Jing Wen's younger sister provide a contrast in feminine sensuality for Chow to react to.  The effect of so many characters was overwhelming. 

Wong put his themes into overdrive in 2046 to the point that I couldn't really follow the film.  Worse, with so many characters, I couldn't empathize with any of them.  Chow as the playboy was much less compelling as Chow the forlorn lover.

So I wasn't so impressed with 2046 but I'd like to watch it again.  In fact, I'd like to see the entire trilogy again.  There are so many interconnected characters that I'm certain I missed many of the connections.  However, if I had to choose just one film of the three, I'd choose In the Mood for Love.

Playland at the Beach and The Lady From Shanghai

In March, the Balboa Theater had a one night screening of Playland at the Beach. That screening was the world premiere. The screening sold out so the Balboa added some more screening at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Those screenings old out so they kept adding more screening.

I missed all the screenings due to SFIAAFF or travel. I figured I missed the film and would have to see on KQED or somewhere else on TV. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Balboa has programmed Playland at the Beach for a week starting April 23. Unfortunately, that week coincides with the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival. I still not be able to watch the film at the Balboa but it deserves a mention in a blog about a cinephile in San Francisco.

Here is the synopsis from the film's official website.

San Francisco’s now-extinct Playland at the Beach, an amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, was established in the 1880s as a collection of amusement rides and concessions all separately owned by various concessionaires. In 1923, The Whitney's opened their first concession, soon followed by additional concessions. They eventually purchased the 10-acres of land on which Playland sat, and the land adjacent to Playland, including the Cliff House. After George Whitney's death in 1958, and years of decline, the land was purchased in 1971, and Playland was dismantled in 1972 for condominium development.

More than three decades later, Tom Wyrsch has resurrected the city’s lost treasure in his new documentary, the first and only documentary ever made about Playland at the Beach. For those who enjoyed Playland as a child, Laffing Sal, the Fun House, the Carousel, the Big Dipper, the Diving Bell, Dark Mystery, Limbo, and Fun-tier Town will bring back fond childhood memories. For those who have only heard stories about Playland, the documentary will help bring it to life.

With 12 interviews, almost 20 minutes of archival footage, 187 photographs and original music. (60 minutes)



I moved to San Francisco 20 years after Playland closed down. They used have a lot of the arcade games (including Laffing Sal) at the Cliff House. They were still functioning too. Later they moved it to Fisherman's Wharf. I've visited both sites although it been 4 or 5 years since I was last there. For more information, visit the Musée Méchanique website. I'm not sure if this is the official website or if this one is.

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As I recall, the end of The Lady From Shanghai (1947) starring and directed by Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth (married to Welles at the time) was filmed at Playland. As if it were planned, the Castro Theater is screening The Lady From Shanghai on April 21. Film director Peter Bogdanovich will be introduce the film. The screening is in conjunction with the TCM Classic Film Festival. Admission is free; download your free ticket at this website.

When I read that the Great Star was reopening, I thought that it was the theater in which Orson Welles hides among the crowd during a performance of Chinese opera. According to IMDB, the scenes were shot at the Mandarin Theater. The Mandarin was located at 1021 Grant Avenue which is literally around the corner from the Great Star.

Another item about The Lady From Shanghai is that Chinese director Kar Wai Wong (Chungking Express, Ashes of Time, In the Mood for Love) is filming a remake.