Johnny To in Hollywood

The American Cinematheque will present "Hong Kong Hero: A Tribute to Director Johnnie To" from June 3-5 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and June 17-19 at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

Details are not yet online, but here's the schedule at the Egyptian:

June 3
7:30 pm BREAKING NEWS
9:30 pm THE MISSION / HONG KONG CINEMA

June 4
7:00 pm RUNNING OUT OF TIME / RUNNING OUT OF TIME 2

June 5
5:00 pm RUNNING ON KARMA / HELP!

It's a modest selection, and I would love to see certain other of his recent films highlighted. THROWDOWN, anyone? Wouldn't ELECTION be a gas, coming on the heels of its screening in the Competition at Cannes?

Still, the double feature programming make this an irresistible bargain, and none of these are to be missed on the big screen, though RUNNING OUT OF TIME 2 might give me pause. I saw the first ROOT at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas in 2002, and it looked wonderful.

For Los Angeles readers with calendar conflicts, be advised that BREAKING NEWS will receive a theatrical release from Palm Pictures, though it may not be around for much more than two weeks.

HONG KONG CINEMA is a 2001 documentary "from Postif journalists Hubert Niogret and Lorenzo Cadelli, who interview the island's most influential filmmakers including Johnny To, Wong War Wai, Tsui Hark, and Tony Leung."

In their enthusiasm, the Cinematheque incorrectly say they are presenting "the first L.A. Tribute to this virtuoso," forgetting that UCLA highlighted the maestro in the fall of 2002. Of course, Subway Cinema in New York presented the first retrospective of Milkway Image films in the fall of 2000, and that certainly put the spotlight on To.

In any event -- exciting news!

Zee Oui (2004)

Thailand. 85 minutes.
Mangpong DVD. Region 3. PAL.
Directed by Nida Sudasna, Buranee Ratchaiboon
With Duan Long, Premsinee Rattanasopar, Chatchai Plengpanich

[Reviewer's disclaimer: I am basically ignorant about Thai films and Thai culture. Please regard as a simple film review. Thanks.]

Is it possible to go wrong with a true story about a cannibalistic child killer?

Penniless farmer Li Hui (Duan Long, the lead in the excellent Chinese film DRIFTERS) emigrates from China to Thailand in 1948. His abuse and humiliation by his would-be countrymen begins from the moment his name is misunderstood by immigration officials to be Zee Oui -- which he vigorously protests.

Lacking the funds for the necessary entry fee, he is locked up until his Uncle Dong finally shows up, days later. Dong gets him a job with a butcher and promptly disappears.

Li Hui's first task is to kill chickens by slitting their necks. This proves to be ill-fated employment because the throat slitting brings back fatal, unpleasant memories.

It doesn't help that the butcher's wife restricts his diet to white rice, while the family enjoys a full repast of meats and vegetables, nor that the two bratty children are only too happy to ridicule him. When Li Hui can't take it anymore, he steals money from the family and heads off to another part of the country.

The bodies of dead children soon start appearing, and Dara, a hot young reporter (Premsinee Rattanasopar, the love interest in BANGKOK DANGEROUS) has personal reasons for pursuing the story, despite the cautions of her editor, Santi (Chatchai Plengpanich).

Dara uncovers Li Hui at his new location, wracked with coughing fits from what the English subtitles call "asthma" (actually, tuberculosis). Eventually, the tortured histories of both Li Hui and Dara are revealed, but not before more children are ripped open so that their hearts and kidneys may be used as part of an (ahem) alternative heath therapy.

Though the plot description may sound like a diabolical tale of horror, the filmmakers had something else in mind. Li Hui doesn't make wisecracks or laugh maniacally as he kills -- he coughs.

And that's part of the overplayed melodrama that ultimately sank the picture for me. I have no fear of melodrama, but it needs to be fine tuned in order to be effective in anything beyond a soap opera.

After a suitably creepy prologue, filled with foreboding and bloody guts, the plot begins, and so does Li Hui's mistreatment by others. But we never see Li Hui as anything but a future child killer.

He's a victim himself, as demonstrated over and over again in scenes that are cruel to watch and punctuated by bombastic minor-key music that booms like organ music in old radio dramas (dum dum DUM!!).

It feels like the filmmakers are struggling to apply a modern sensibility to his crimes, to explain that he was a victim himself, as though that were some kind of justification for his evil acts. Of course it's not, though it's interesting to consider how much of the killer's background is accurately portrayed. Here, he's a veteran of the Sino-Japanese War as well as the survivor of childhood illness thanks to the ministrations of his mother, who cooked up an unusual broth to help him get better.

To be fair, it may be that the filmmakers were just trying to understand what might have driven someone to commit such horrific crimes. But that raises other questions. To accept this reading of the film is to ignore the sometimes graphic footage on display, which feels a bit exploitative for a sensitive drama.

And one is also left wondering why the possibly racist tone of Li Hui's mistreatment is never addressed. Or was he only ridiculed because of his weak physical condition, brought on by TB? Is it possible that the Thai people of the time are being held up for examination? These very interesting points are given only glancing attention as the film gallops to its foregone conclusion.

The directors are two women who are sisters. They have considerable experience directing television commercials, and the film looks very stylish, with several nifty camera moves, sweeping panoramic views, and editing choices that catch the viewer's eye.

In this regard, Tanissapong Sasinmanop served as both the director of photography and the editor, and did a superb job in each assignment.

* DVD Notes *

The picture quality is fine. It gets a bit muddy at times, but that may be more a reflection of the production than of the transfer.

The Thai audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds suitably expansive.

The English subtitles have a few misspellings but are generally easy to read. At about the 50 minute mark, several lines of dialogue are spoken before the subtitles start showing up.

Extras include the film's terrific trailer and teaser, plus two other features narrated in Thai but without English subtitles. The DVD's packaging refers to a "scoop" feature, which I suppose is either one or both of the features. In any event, these features include brief interviews amidst clips from the film, and likely focus on different aspects of the production and/or historical background. One is three minutes and the other is 8 minutes.

The DVD itself is packaged in a cardboard slipcase and comes in an ultra-thin case.

VC FilmFest: Ready to Ignite

Los Angeles readers: I hope you have cleared your schedules. All others: read on to see what's new and fabulous.

VC FilmFest 2005 fires up its engines tomorrow night with the Opening Night Celebration of Alice Wu's SAVING FACE. A female surgeon in New York must deal with her disgraced pregnant mother moving in with her while trying to keep secret her gorgeous dancer girlfriend.

Three programs of short films will be presented Friday evening, as well as the documentaries SHAPE OF THE MOON, QUEEN OF ASIA, and GOOD FOR HER. A preview of Jet Li's latest, UNLEASHED, will entice Midnight viewers.

Saturday is full to bursting, with seven programs of shorts, the documentaries MONKEY DANCE and IT GOES ON: THE UNDOCUMENTED IS DOCUMENTED, the experimental TOKYO MAGIC HOUR, and the retrospective screening of ONCE WERE WARRIORS.

Saturday evening highlights include Quentin Lee's excellent, heartfelt ETHAN MAO at 7:00 pm; a tough choice between James Lee's heralded THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE at 9:00 pm and Kenneth Bi's RICE RHAPSODY at 9:30 pm; and the Midnight screening of THREE: EXTREMES.

Sunday shapes up as another full day, with more shorts programs, the documentaries 62 YEARS AND 6,500 MILES BETWEEN, COSMIC CURRENT, TO YOU SWEETHEART ALOHA, WHAT'S WRONG WITH FRANK CHIN?, and the narrative features PERTH, SLOW JAM KING, and the intriguing UNTITLED ASIAN INVASION EXTRAVAGANZA.

My pick for Sunday is PARADISE GIRLS. In this drama, three women living in different countries have different reactions to very trying circumstances. Even though it's deliberately paced, it is fascinating to watch, and the director's composition and pacing are spot on.

The festival continues on Monday through next Thursday, when the closing night film will be Georgia Lee's RED DOORS.

Check the festival web site carefully for film descriptions, showtimes, and locations, as the venues change daily.

More Heroics

Benny Chan's HEROIC DUO hits Region 1 today. This Hong Kong thriller from 2003 stars Ekin Cheng and Leon Lai, with Francis Ng.

Kozo at LoveHKFilm.com said in part: "Rare action and fun performances makes Heroic Duo an entertaining film, but the ridiculous story and sometimes embarrassing script do their best to ruin things. This is a decent commercial exercise with some fun star turns, but not much else. "

The DVD is said to include Cantonese DD 5.1 and DTS audio tracks with English and Spanish subtitles. Extra features include a "making of" featurette and interviews with the filmmakers.

Note the very subtle John Woo references on the cover. Talk about setting yourself up for disastrous comparisons...

Chop Socky Tuesday

Don't miss CHOP SOCKY: CINEMA HONG KONG, a documentary released on DVD today by Docurama.

In my advance review, I concluded: "As the documentary wraps up, you only wish there was more to it. For those with a greater and wider previous exposure to Hong Kong cinema, it's a ride through familiar territory with a couple of new stops. But for newcomers, or friends you want to introduce to the cinematic wonders awaiting on your DVD shelf, it's an ideal primer."

'Kung Fu' Stumble?

During its first two weeks of limited release in New York and Los Angeles, KUNG FU HUSTLE played like gangbusters, with nary a drop-off the second week.

Sony Pictures Classics had already planned on rolling it out on more than 2,500 screens, and must have been delighted with the initial returns since they had already budgeted $12 million for prints and advertising. Television advertising was noticeable.

But when the returns were totaled for its first wide weekend, HUSTLE stumbled to a fifth-place finish, with a per-screen average of $2,915 for a gross of $8.0 million.

It's easy to see why THE INTERPRETER came out on top: PG-13 rated suspense thriller with big name stars in Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman, and nothing else quite like it.

Yet I was astonished to see that A LOT LIKE LOVE did about the same business as HUSTLE. I would have thought that Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet were played out as box office attractions -- especially Kutcher.

Two hold-overs were surprisingly resilient. Despite awful reviews, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR dropped just 39.6% to finish #2, and SAHARA dropped just 31.1% in its third week to claim the #3 spot. Both are indications that word of mouth has been positive.

The last time Sony Classics expanded an Asian film to a broad audience, it was CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON in late 2000. But that was a much slower roll-out. Did that make the difference?

Did HUSTLE's R-rating keep away some of the younger audience? According to a report in Box Office Mojo, Sony Classics said that "70 percent of the audience was males 18 to 40."

Where were the girlfriends, wives, and unattached single women? Were they not attracted to Stephen Chow? Did the trailers and R-rating make it look too violent? Did the absence of an attractive female lead matter?

What does it all mean?

That it's hard to break a new (to America) star? (Can't dismiss the Jet Li factor when looking back at HERO's success last summer.)

That it's hard to get people to come to a CGI comedy when the hard-core geek crowd has already been satisfied by SIN CITY? (Can't dismiss the Quentin Tarantino/skin factor either.)

Having finally seen KUNG FU HUSTLE last week, I must admit to feeling distinctly underwhelmed by the picture. As a result, I'm not terribly disappointed by the news of its flat returns. It could be that enough people will love it and let their friends know, and that next week's admissions will increase.

If not, we move on, like a shark.

LA Indian Fest Concludes With HARI OM

Illness overtook me this past Thursday, causing a temporary interruption in site updates and movie watching.

Most distressing was missing out on the Indian Film Festival, which closed last night with a gala presentation of HARI OM, complete with musical performances at the afterparty, and perhaps a bit of drinking. HARI OM also won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film

There were at least three programs that I wanted to catch, including the Centerpiece Gala BLACK FRIDAY, at which director Anurag Kashyap unexpectedly appeared. That film won the Dramatic Feature Competition Grand Jury Prize.

The jury commented: "In recognizing this year's winner, the dramatic feature jury wanted to be as poetic as the film that it is recognizing and are afraid we’ll come up short. This year's winner displayed original storytelling, innovative cinematic technique and boldness of vision in tackling a complicated social issue. It told a story with multiple and conflicting points of view and did it without ever being judgmental. The film commands admiration from us as filmgoers and human beings."

Other award winners included WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THESE? (grand jury prize, documentary); AMAL (grand jury prize, shorts); THE NEW HEROES: INDIA (audience award, documentary); and RAJU AND I (audience award, shorts).

Attendance for the festival was reported to be up 15% with a number of sold-out screenings.

More regretful musings about missed screening opportunities can be pursued by visiting the festival's official web site.

Beyond Bollywood: LA Indian Fest

More than 30 features, documentaries, and shorts will screen during the 3rd edition of the fledgling Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

The program promises to provide ample demonstration that there is life beyond the elaborate Bollywood productions that dominate the public's perception of the Indian film industry. Q&A sessions are scheduled following many of the films with the directors present.

Opening Night Gala tonight is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's BLACK, "a cathartic tale of a deaf, mute and blind girl, and her teacher who brings a ray of light into her world."

Thursday's program begins in the late afternoon with A BREATH and is followed by the documentary program WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THESE? and LITIGATING DISASTER, and finishes with the US Premiere of EMPTY CANVAS.

Friday gets underway with a repeat showing of EMPTY CANVAS, BLACK FRIDAY ("the first feature to address the serial bombings that rocked Mumbai over a decade ago"), and THE JOURNEY, an earnest but plodding lesbian drama that's won several awards.

Saturday has a children's program beginning at noon, and shorts take center stage in the afternoon. And then a flock of films explode in the late afternoon and evening, and you'll have to check out the site to make your pick.

The festival closes Sunday evening, April 24, with a gala screening of HARI OM, in which "an autorickshaw driver and a French tourist set out on a cross-cultural journey through Rajasthan as he eludes gangsters and she attempts to catch a glimpse of the 'real' India."

San Francisco Goodness

The 48th edition of the venerable San Francisco International Film Festival gets underway tomorrow night, Thursday, April 21.

More than 100 films will screen. Asian highlights include:

World Premiere

Woo Ming Jin's MONDAY MORNING GLORY (Malaysia)

North American Premiere

Edmond Pang's BEYOND OUR KEN (Hong Kong; also showing at Udine)
Deepak Kumaran Menon's THE GRAVEL ROAD (Malaysia)
Sumiko Haneda's INTO THE PICTURE SCROLL: THE TALE OF YAMANAKA TOKIWA (Japan)
Garin Nugroho's OF LOVE AND EGGS (Indonesia)
Yasmin Ahmad's SEPET (Malaysia)

US Premiere

MY MOTHER THE MERMAID (South Korea)

A personal favorite, featuring an astonishing lead performance from Jeon Do-yeon (UNTOLD SCANDAL, NO BLOOD NO TEARS).

Director Park Heung-shik creates a tone that deftly mixes aching romantic yearning with magical realism to produce something beyond reality, yet it feels absolutely authentic. Not to mention heartbreaking.

Also Screening

Kim Ki Duk's 3-IRON (South Korea), due for limited US release next week
Anuraq Kashyap's BLACK FRIDAY (India: also showing at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles)
Tian Zhuangzhuang's DELAMU (China)
Takashi Miike's IZO (Japan)
Im Kwon-Taek's LOW LIFE (aka RAGING YEARS; South Korea)
Itti-sunthorn Wichailak's THE OVERTURE (Thailand)
Saw Teong Hin's THE PRINCESS OF MOUNT LEDANG (Malaysia)
Three master directors' THREE...EXTREMES (Hong Kong/South Korea/Japan)
Jia Zhangke's THE WORLD (China)

Dreaming of an Asian Italy

Of all the film festivals I'd like to attend, the Far East Film Festival tops my list.

Held in Udine, Italy, beginning on Friday, April 22, Asian films screen from 9:30 in the morning until well past midnight for seven days of total bliss.

What's more, admission is charged only for the two evening screenings -- everything else is free!

I invite you to visit the site and drool at the list of films. Beyond recent offerings from the region, there's a special section this year on "Nikkatsu Action," films from the 60s and 70s, and many filmmakers and industry guests are scheduled to attend.

At the site, click "Program" to read overviews of 'the year in film' for each of the represented countries.

Click "Schedule" and the film title to read the informative program notes, which were written by a veritable who's who of Asian cinema writers, including Mark Schilling, Darcy Paquet, Shelly Kraicer, and Tim Youngs.

If you're like me, maybe you'll start putting your pennies aside and dreaming of an Italian spring next year.

Slicing, Dicing, and Gliding Majesty

Slicing and dicing his way into your heart, HANZO THE RAZOR meets America today.

Home Vision Entertainment releases a three-disk box set of 1970s samurai films, starring Zatoichi himself, Shintaro Katsu, as a less politically-correct hero than we might expect today.

The set includes SWORD OF JUSTICE, THE SNARE, and WHO'S GOT THE GOLD? For a detailed look, visit Asian DVD Guide. Updates are provided on the site's front page about the latest Shaw Brothers releases, while a message a bit deeper in the forum by webmaster Muldoon provides a graphics-intensive analysis of HANZO.

The other release today may appeal to an even broader viewership.

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, from arthouse auteur turned martial arts maestro Zhang Yimou, divided audiences between those who thought it was better than HERO and those who thought it was worse.

Another core component of viewers thought *both* films were flops, but I was transported by FLYING DAGGERS and thought it was magical.

Extra features for the Region 1 edition include a commentary by Zhang Yimou and Ziyi Zhang, a couple of "making of" features, music video, photo gallery, costumes gallery, storyboard comparisons, and trailers.

Miss it (again) at your peril.

Ready, Set, 'Hustle'

In its second weekend of limited release, Stephen Chow's KUNG FU HUSTLE earned nearly $38,000 per screen for a total of $264,000. Its cumulative gross is $639,000, according to Box Office Mojo.

Amazingly, the per-screen average is down just 1.9% from its first weekend, which should bode well for its expansion on Friday, April 22 to more than 2,000 cinemas nationwide.

That's a lot of suburban multiplexes. Sony Pictures Classics' trailer emphasizes the slapstick action comedy and uses The Sweet's 70s bubblegum hit "Ballroom Blitz" to sell the picture as a crazed flick, while their print advertising in dailies and alternative weeklies has been emphasizing different characters from the film.

If the film doesn't perform to financial expectations, expect the audience to be blamed for not being willing to try something different.

The competition is interesting. Three other studio releases will be vying for box office gold.

Sydney Pollack's THE INTERPRETER, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, is a thriller set in New York City. In the trailer, Sean Penn looks like an exhausted policeman with barely the energy to pick up his paycheck, and Nicole Kidman's accent sounds wobbly. Still, could be fun if expectations are lowered to zero. It's the widest release of the week, at 2700 theaters.

Former Jet Li cohort Anthony Anderson stars in KING'S RANSOM as a man who plots his own kidnapping. From the director of JASPER, TEXAS -- a made-for-cable movie about the nasty murder of a black man who was killed by being dragged behind a car driven by white racists. Need I say more about the challenges of making your way in Hollywood? Potentially, KING'S RANSOM could divide the "urban" audience and keep them away from KUNG FU HUSTLE. But it's booked into fewer theaters (1500), while HUSTLE's count is 2300, so that may be a decisive factor.

Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet star in the romantic comedy A LOT LIKE LOVE. It sounds a lot like garbage, though it might pull in some couples if men can be dragged away from their televisions before the NBA playoffs start on Saturday.

All in all, KUNG FU HUSTLE presents a strong alternative for moviegoers.

It needs to hit big this coming weekend, because the following week two heavily-advertised movies come barreling down the pike: HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and XXX: STATE OF THE UNION. But if HUSTLE gets enough people to sample it, the word of mouth will spread and it could easily develop staying power, even under the expected blitz of the May blockbusters.

UCLA Celebrates Chinese Film

Beginning tomorrow, Saturday, April 16, the UCLA Film and Television Archives presents "Contemporary Mainland Chinese Film." The series continues through May 7.

The series gets off to an award-winning start with the US Premiere of PEACOCK, which recently won the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and is described in the program notes as an "elliptical, yet deeply moving film [that] tells of three siblings caught in the dreary, repressive climate of a Henan province town at the tail end of the Cultural Revolution."

The award-winning films continue Sunday evening with KEKEXILI: MOUNTAIN PATROL, "a harrowing trip to the desolate mountains of Tibet." I've read that the landscapes are deeply memorable and are integral to the characters and the story. The film won a Golden Horse Award. Director Lu Chuan will be present.

Next Wednesday is a double feature. First up is LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN. Set in Beijing during the period from 1930 to 1948, director Xu Jinglei "explores the complex relationship between feminine desire and Chinese modernity. "

Second on the bill is AN ESTRANGED PARADISE, in which director Yang Fudong "uses camera, lighting and cinematic space to outline the internal landscape of Chinese modernity." Sounds like a cup of coffee may be in order beforehand.

Toward the end of the series, another one, "In Our Time: New Taiwanese Cinema," will begin unreeling. It starts in two weeks, on Friday, April 29, and continues through Sunday, May 8.

Full details, a complete schedule, and ticket information can be found at the UCLA Film and Television Archive web site.

These two series will collide a bit with the VC Film Fest schedule, making for some tough choices for Asian film fans in Los Angeles.

Perhaps too much is better than not enough?

Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong (2004)

Hong Kong. 55 minutes.
Docurama. Region 1. NTSC.
Directed by Ian Taylor
With Jet Li, Jackie Chan, John Woo, Bruce Lee

Release date: April 26, 2005

If you think the term "chop socky" is perjorative, don't let that keep you from picking up this disk.

As a Caucasian/Latino child growing up in Los Angeles, I watched "chop socky" films on weekend afternoon television, complete with English dubbing and frequent commercial interruptions. Nowadays, I shudder at the negative connotations of the term, which has been employed for years as a shortcut to imply "I don't like Asian martial arts mayhem" or "I'm not interested in those cheap, silly Asian films," or maybe something worse.

On the other hand, the term is viewed with affection by a number of long-time fans, calling to mind halcyon days of youth, innocence, and the magic of discovering Hong Kong films for the first time.

Putting those titular concerns aside, CHOP SOCKY: CINEMA HONG KONG is a rousing and respectful overview of Hong Kong martial arts films in the 20th Century.

It helps if one keeps in mind that this film originally aired during the summer of 2004 on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), a premium cable network in the United States. IFC has also aired the ZATOICHI series of films, among other Asian offerings, and presents films in their original aspect ratio and language without commercial interruption.

Beginning with recent films released by Hollywood studios -- the usual suspects (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; KILL BILL; X-MEN) -- the documentary rewinds to early silent films (rare clips that are an unexpected treat), notes the influential black-and-white THE STORY OF WONG FEI HUNG in 1949, moves swiftly to the Shaw Brothers, Chor Yuen, and Chang Cheh, and then pays due reverence to Bruce Lee.

Along the way, editing and filming techniques are explained with generous samples from classics and modern-day reenactments from veteran actors and directors, including Lar Kar-Leung. The latter, in talking about Bruce Lee, says that death was good to him "because no one wants to see an old martial artist," but the director/performer's own moves belie this statement.

The fighting styles and weaponry used in martial arts films are given special attention, and interview snippets with Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, John Woo, Chor Yuen, David Chiang, and others make the time fly by.

As the documentary wraps up, you only wish there was more to it. For those with a greater and wider previous exposure to Hong Kong cinema, it's a ride through familiar territory with a couple of new stops. But for newcomers, or friends you want to introduce to the cinematic wonders awaiting on your DVD shelf, it's an ideal primer.

* DVD Notes *

The aspect ratio properly fluctuates depending upon the source material, from the interviews shot on full-screen video to the letterboxed restored clips from the Shaw Brothers. The visual presentation looks fine.

Only one audio track is provided: English-language DD 2.0. To be more precise, the narration is spoken in English, and all interview subjects who speak Cantonese or Mandarin are subtitled in English. The subtitles are easy to read and well timed.

The extras are thin: deleted, separate interviews with Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and John Woo (4:54 total); a "network clip," the 30 second promotional advertisement that was run by IFC; and nine trailers for other, non-Asian Docurama releases. The entire Docurama catalog is available for review on disk or in an enclosed booklet.

Two LA Fests Get Ready

Beyond the IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival in June and AFI FEST (American Film Institute's Los Angeles International Film Festival) in November, the local calendar is crowded with smaller festivals, but two deserve special note this month.

Kicking off next Wednesday, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles highlights features, shorts, and documentaries. I'll write more about this next week, but locals should check out the schedule.

Tickets are now on sale for VC FilmFest 2005, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Check out the extensive schedule of films, and for further breathless hype and highlights, be sure to read a breakdown of some of the films.

Tribeca: A Whiff of Asia

Even as the happily demented Philadelphia International Film Festival continues, up the coast the upscale downtown Tribeca Film Festival tries to steal its East Coast thunder.

Tribeca has not emphasized Asian films in its past programs. (New Yorkers instead look forward to another edition of the New York Asian Film Festival presented by Subway Cinema in June). Again this year the selection is small, but they're all premieres and all look promising.

The festival opens, oddly enough, next Tuesday, April 19. A brief look at the Asian films:

World Premiere of STOLEN LIFE, a Mainland Chinese drama about the deceptions that change a young woman's life; from Li Shaohong, the director of last year's acclaimed BAOBER IN LOVE.

North American Premiere of Wong Kar Wai's long-awaited 2046, which will finally come to US cinemas in August.

North American Premiere of Masayuki Ochiai's INFECTION. The director previously made PARASITE EVE; this one is billed as "psychological terror" set in a hospital at night.

North American Premiere of Norio Tsuruta's PREMONITION, "an intriguing and mesmerizing horror film." From the director of RING 0.

North American Premiere of the North Korean documentary A STATE OF MIND, said to follow the story of two gymnasts "with unprecedented access."

North American Premiere of the South Korean bio-pic RIKIDOZAN, about "the father of Japanese wrestling." Directed by Hae-sung Song (FAILAN).

North American Premiere of SHUTTER, a "nastily entertaining supernatural thriller" from Thailand.

A Nice Summer Picture to Relieve the Heat

Sony Pictures Classics has set August 5 as the US release date for Wong Kar Wai's 2046, though the running time is "TBD." Does that leave room open for the master auteur to tinker a little more? The Tribeca Film Festival will have the US premiere later this month.

That August 5 date means that 2046 will have to compete with (get ready, people!) THE DUKES OF HAZARD remake that opens the same day. Decisions, decisions...

SPC's description reads: "He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention.....to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back- except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change."

It's a gorgeous picture. The imagery washes over the viewer and has the potential to leave audiences confounded or darkly delighted. The passion behind the romance feels palpably warm. After watching it on DVD, I can't wait to see it on the biggest cinema screen I can find.

Haunting, Mysterious, and Unsettling

Out today in a Region 1 edition from Tartan Video USA is the Korean thriller MEMENTO MORI (1999). It's one of my faves from the last few years.

Though I haven't had a chance to check out Tartan's version, which is said to feature Korean DD 5.1 and DTS audio tracks, English/Spanish subtitles, plus documentaries and a photo gallery, here's a slightly edited review I wrote for this site almost exactly three years ago about the Korean Region 0 disk.

South Korea. 98 minutes.
Spectrum DVD. Region 0. NTSC.
Directed by Kim Tae-Yong and Min Kyu-Dong
Written by Kim Tae-Yong and Min Kyu-Dong
With Lee Young-Jin, Park Eh-Jin, Kim Min-Sun

Don't be misled by thinking that this is an everyday horror film. It's really more about what happens to ordinary teen girls facing the intense pressures of adolescent life.

The film is a sequel to 1998's WHISPERING CORRIDORS in name only; the two male first-time directors did extensive research and came up with an original story that centers around a girl named Min-Ah. Min-Ah finds the secret diary shared by her schoolmates Hyo-Shin and Shi-Eun. As Min-Ah reads the diary, she is utterly fascinated by the details that are revealed about the relationship between the girls, to the point that Min-Ah's friendship with her two closest friends begins to be affected. Then something happens to one of the girls, and no one will ever be the same again.

You could boil the plot down to one sentence: It's tough to be a teenage girl. Or you could describe it as a simple love story between two complex creatures. But neither effectively captures the essence of the movie, because at heart it is extremely unsettling in ways I cannot fully convey.

The first part of the film details the ordinary life of schoolgirl Min-Ah. She plays around with her friends, goofs off during class, and frets about her appearance. She attends an all-girls school, so boys are not in evidence. The male teachers are viewed mysteriously. Parents are never mentioned. It's all about Min-Ah and her friends. So the secret diary is powerfully alluring -- it's different, it's daring, it's nothing she's ever experienced. As she reads, the diary comes to life. We see the attraction and affection between Hyo-Shin and Shi-Eun in private. Yet there's a growing unease -- teenage romances, though paralyzing in their intensity, rarely last. How long can the relationship survive?

After a tragedy occurs, the girls cope in different ways. Increasingly, the school and the students become disconnected from reality. But are the strange occurrences supernatural? Or are the girls losing their minds?

The horror elements are icing on a cake that is already quite tasty. They are not fully integrated into the balance of the material, but in many ways that works to the advantage of the film. The co-directors show tremendous potential with their debut effort.

The photography is gorgeous with a welcome degree of variety. The editing is razor sharp, and the excellent musical score, utilizing piano and choral compositions, enhances the mystery.

* DVD Notes *

The letterboxed presentation is excellent. Colors are vibrant, black tones are very deep, and flesh tones appear appealing.

Two Korean audio tracks are provided (DD 5.1 and 2.0). I listened to the DD 5.1 track, and it was excellent - dynamic and expansive, with extensive use of the surround and LFE channels.

The white (with black backing) removable English subtitles are easy to read, but sometimes fly by a bit quick. No other subtitles are provided.

Twenty chapters can be selected from a multi-page video capture menu ("scene selection"). Cast and crew information is provided in Korean only. The original theatrical trailer is included. Click on "OST" and you can listen to 10 musical selections from the sound track. It would have been more helpful, though, if you could choose to listen to all 10 pieces in a row, instead of having to select each one. A small commemorative booklet, with production notes in Korean, is included.

The Triumph of Chow (Con't.)

The reason KUNG FU HUSTLE's per-screen total of more than $38,000 was so good is that only seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles were booked. The film will go wide on April 22; the positive word-of-mouth will only help, but the thing that will make it soar on that first wide weekend will be if the target movie-going demographic (the teens and twentysomethings who make or break first weekends) gets the word.

From the distributor side (Sony Pictures Classics), it's been gratifying to see the advance promotional effort and money they've spent. According to an Indiewire article last Friday, the distrib has invested a staggering $12 million dollars for the P&A (prints and advertising) budget, in the hopes of reaping a CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-sized windfall return.

The down side is that CROUCHING TIGER proved itself to be an anamoly among Asian films. Sure, HERO made a surprising $50 million when Miramax finally dumped it in the American marketplace last August, but all the post-CROUCHING TIGER wanna be hits crashed and burned, in the sense that very few were touched by any distributor and others were simply poorly made and deserving of their burial.

KUNG FU HUSTLE treads newer ground because it's a comedic turn with martial arts and CGI, and, in Stephen Chow, a star new to the general American audience. It's for this reason that I applaud Sony Classics and their Asian production entity that backed its making.

If HUSTLE is a sizable hit, it may pave another avenue of release for certain types of Asian films. The problem will inevitably come when HUSTLE knock-offs are made and a few distributors may be tempted to overspend on P&A in the hopes of duplicating the (assumed) success of HUSTLE.

On the other hand, since HUSTLE is a different type of movie than CROUCHING TIGER, it may be that another adventurous distributor will open their eyes to the broad commercial appeal of certain types of Asian films -- like Korean comedies.

What I'd love to see is a wider variety of Asian films getting exposure in the US. It's been several years now that horror and violent action films have been the only genres that distribs are willing to chance, beyond the traditional arthouse fare of dramatic character studies. (Or, to be fair to the distribs, the only ones they've seen that they really love and are willing to risk their money on.) It would be lovely to see a few Korean romantic comedies, or Hong Kong melodramas, or ... name your favorite movie that you've seen on import DVD that you would have loved to have seen (and dragged your friends to) on the big screen.

I'm not holding my breath -- I know distribution is a cutthroat business and that profits are often elusive. But while there's at least a tiny buzz of excitement about the possible success of KUNG FU HUSTLE, why not dream a little?

Meanwhile, EROS managed a disappointing per-screen average of $4,472 at 12 locations for a total of $53,666.

More brightly, OLDBOY had an uptick of 36.4% as it added five screens (for a total of 13) and has accumulated $194,479 in its three weeks of release. That total is less, of course, than what HUSTLE made in fewer theaters in one weekend, but OLDBOY is not very funny.

ONG BAK is still playing in 28 theaters in its 9th week of release, though the extremely low $892 per-screen average would indicate its on its last legs before the expected DVD release (finally with English subtitles). Magnolia Pictures spent nowhere near $12 million on the release, but they did have a number of prints in distribution and reportedly did some television advertising. I would expect the DVD release would push it firmly into the profit zone, but it wasn't able to break out to a wider audience. How much of that was due to Magnolia and how much because of the darker violent edge of the movie? Both HUSTLE and ONG BAK were rated R in the US (for "Restricted"), but HUSTLE's lighter side may be what ultimately grants it access to a broader market.

STEAMBOY is still puffing along, but its per-screen and theater totals have both dropped precipitiously as its gross totals $392,659.

The IFC Films release of NOBODY KNOWS has now extended into its 10th week with a very nice total of $609,137. It's still playing at 9 theaters nationwide.

(Source: Box Office Mojo.)

* Site News *

Currently I'm on a visit to Texas USA, where the weather is lovely and spring-like. This after an extended 43-hour odyssey across half of America involving multiple buses, a flat tire, a faked medical emergency, a prostitute, a sleepless night, an immigration checkpoint, a man carrying a sidearm, 8,371 obscenities, three ex-convicts, a shotgun in a 12-year-old girl's face, a five-hour delay in a town where the stop lights begin flashing at 21:00, a redneck bar, and more cigarette smoke than my lungs care to remember.

I know, I know, you've heard this one before . . . but I swear it's all true.

The Triumph of Chow

Read all about it at Movie City News. Congratulations to Stephen Chow and distributor Sony Pictures Classics.

More later -- I'm in a different state that is very far from the American coastline and not feeling very Asian this past weekend, but that's OK too.

'Hustle,' 'Eros,' and 'Oldboy' Tantalize

Your mission, should you choose to accept it (and live in a city in the US where these films are playing) -- support Asian cinema.

Stephen Chow's long-awaited KUNG FU HUSTLE arrives supported by extensive publicity and generally positive word of mouth.

Wong Kar Wai's segment of EROS is, according to at least one source, the best of the three stories told in a movie that has generated little buzz.

Park Chan-wook's OLDBOY continues terrorizing audiences. You have been warned, but if your stomach is strong, miss it at your peril.

That is all.

* Site News *

As you read this, I'm in transit crossing half the country for a short vacation. I posted this in advance, since my departure was scheduled for very early on Thursday morning.

If all goes well -- and the Computer Gods are smiling, and the Greyhound bus drivers are drug-free -- updates will continue as usual next week.

Koma (2004)

Hong Kong. 85 minutes.
Tartan Video USA. Region 1. NTSC.
Directed by Lo Chi Leung
With Angelica Lee, Karena Lam, Andy Hui

Imagine drunkenly stumbling into someone else's hotel room and discovering a ghastly scene of bloody violence. That's what happens to Ching (Angelica Lee) after a friend's wedding, and soon she is set on a collision course with organ thieves.

When Ching picks Ling (Karena Lam) out of a police line-up as a possible suspect, Ling angrily reveals that she had a one-night stand with Ching's boyfriend, Wai (Andy Hui). Ling begins stalking Ching, making phone calls threatening to cut out her kidney, even as she pines for Wai. Ching begins to fall apart, but more surprises await. Dynamic performances by rising stars Lee and Lam add emotional substance to the ongoing, nerve-jangling jolts.

As with the underrated DOUBLE TAP and the spooky INNER SENSES, director Lo Chi Leung demonstrates his ability to establish an atmosphere that ripples with dread. He then proceeds to tell a story that claws its way into the viewer's soul.

(Originally published as program notes in the catalog for AFI FEST 2004 presented by Audi.)

* DVD Notes *

Tartan's video transfer appears be taken from the Hong Kong theatrical release print, which has at least one minor -- though notable -- difference from the Panorama Region 3 disk. (For details, see John Charles' review at Hong Kong Digital. There you will also find a lengthy excerpt from an e-mail I wrote to John asking about the crucial difference, as well as comments on the visit of director Lo Chi Leung to AFI FEST in November 2004.)

Both the Panorama and the Tartan disks include three Cantonese audio tracks (DD 5.1 and 2.0, and DTS), while only Panorama has a Mandarin dub track. The Tartan version includes English and Spanish subtitles, which are easy to read and well timed.

The Tartan 15-minute "making of" supplement sounds like the same one included on the Panorama edition, with the added bonus of English subtitles.

Exclusive to the Tartan edition is a scene-specific audio commentary by director Lo Chi Leung, in Cantonese with English subtitles. The director explains his approach to certain sequences, fills in details on locations and the reasons for the choices he made, and is effusive in his praise for the cast and crew. If you like the film, it's definitely worth a listen.

Philly Launches

It's total Asian insanity at the Philadelphia International Film Festival, beginning tomorrow.

I've only seen two (highlighted in bold print and illustrated with pictures). Films listed by festival sections. Quotations from the excellent program notes by "Danger After Dark" programmer Travis Crawford.

New Korean Cinema

ROAD
"A quiet, reflective study of aging and distant memories."

SWEET SIXTIES
Comedy about the "loves and lives of sixty-somethings."

THIS CHARMING GIRL
Character study from a debut director.

TOO BEAUTIFUL TO LIE
A charming screwball comedy. Recommended.

WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN
From the director of TURNING GATE and VIRGIN STRIPPED BARE BY HER BACHELORS.

Danger After Dark

ARAHAN (South Korea)
"Adrenaline-pumping contemporary urban martial arts eye-candy."

CUTIE HONEY (Japan)
"Candy-colored and comedic fantasy-action about a sexy female superhero."

FLOWER AND SNAKE (Japan)
"An opulent example of Japanese S&M sexploitation at its most politically incorrect."

IZO (Japan)
Directed by Takeshi Miike. "Radical, indescribably insane."

KARAOKE TERROR (Japan)
A "savagely satirical Japanese black comedy."

MAREBITO (Japan)
"Eerie, dreamlike chiller" from the director of the JU-ON films.

OLDBOY (South Korea)
The film that outraged America comes to Philadelphia.

ONE MISSED CALL (Japan)
Takeshi Miike in mainstream thriller mode.

PINK RIBBON (Japan)
"Explicit documentary chronicling the history of the Japanese sex film industry."

R-POINT (South Korea)
"The year's big Korean horror hit."

SPIDER FOREST (South Korea)
"You may be completely seduced by it, or you may be completely confounded..." Count me in the "completely confounded" camp, but I agree that it's unlike anything I've seen.

SURVIVE STYLE 5+ (Japan)
"Five fantastical tales of crime and mayhem."

THROW DOWN (Hong Kong)
Johnnie To's "stylish, slick ode to judo, Akira Kurosawa, and the gorgeous nocturnal streets of Hong Kong."

International Masters

THE WORLD (China/France/Japan)
"A masterpiece from China’s acclaimed Jia Zhang-ke."

World Focus

CRYING OUT LOVE, IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (Japan)
"The romantic tearjerker melodrama to end them all."

THE SOUP, ONE MORNING (Japan)
"Extraordinary, multi-festival-award-winning Japanese independent film."

Slow Week Means Catching Up

Did you see this tumbleweed * tumbling through your town too?

It's a reflection of the inactivity around the "New Releases" section of video stores across America, as a week passes with no Region 1 releases of Asian films.

Have no fear, as the Korean thriller MEMENTO MORI finally gets a Region 1 edition next week, a domestic version of the magnificent HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and the box set of HANZO THE RAZOR rolls out the week after, and the documentary CHOP SOCKY: CINEMA HONG KONG -- which debuted on premium cable channel IFC last year and is better than its title may make you fear -- is freshened up with extra features for its DVD debut near the end of the month. Reviews will be forthcoming as time allows.

Because it's a slow week, new R1 DVD-wise, I recommend catching up on all those DVDs you've been meaning to watch ever since you bought them. Go ahead, vicariously rip off the plastic packaging and lovingly caress the covers. It'll make you feel better about yourself.

Or, you could catch up on the two Hong Kong films released for the Chinese New Year. Both HIMALAYA SINGH and SEOUL RAIDERS were released on DVD recently (March 24). I don't think either film received ecstatic reviews, but they might be worth a giggle or two, and should be available from your favorite Internet specialty retailer or local Chinese video shop.

If you run out of Asian films to watch, I suppose you could, as a last resort, spend quality time with loved ones, read, or exercise, but those sound like rather desperate measures and should be avoided if possible.

* To see the Original Photo, visit the web site for the Nellie Cashman Restaurant in Tombstone, Arizona. The restaurant happens to be the oldest in Tombstone, and the site provides information on the restaurant, links to other Tombstone sites, and several more interesting photos.

'Sin' Pays Off

Out of the Top 10 box office grossers for this past weekend, we can single out two that are of interest to Asian film fans.

SIN CITY looks like nothing before it, thanks to the digital filmmaking processes involved. Most of the women are adorned in lingerie, one or two wear nothing at all, and the men are constantly beating or being beaten, hand-sawing limbs off deserving deviants, or choking on their own blood, suffering nobly. It's possibly the largest volume of blood spilled on screen since KILL BILL VOL. 1 (though, admittedly, the blood is almost always a color other than red). In its excesses of brutal violence, it feels very much like certain movies from Hong Kong or Japan. The film doubled the gross of its nearest competitor for the top spot in the charts.

Dropping down to the #6 position, Hideo Nakata's THE RING TWO made another $6.2 million, for a cumulative total of $68.6 million. It's the only vaguely scary movie in general release, which may have something to do with its success.

Another interesting item for Asian film fans is the chart for "Top Limited Releases: Jan 1 - Mar 31 2005," the cumulative total for the first quarter of the year.

BRIDE AND PREJUDICE takes the #1 prize there (with a gross so far of $5.7 million).

Finishing #4, ONG BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR made $4.4 million. The key here is the gross in relation to how much Magnolia Pictures paid for distribution rights, and how much they spent on marketing. If you love action films, you can only hope that it was a very healthy return, and that Magnolia and perhaps other smaller distributors will be sufficiently cheered by the financials to give other Asian action flicks a chance to be seen.

(Source: Movie City News.)

Steamboy (2005)

Japan. 106 minutes.
English Dubbed Version.
Screened at Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood.
Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
With the voices of Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, Patrick Stewart

What if Germany had won World War II? What if the South had won the Civil War? What if steam power took over the world?

In STEAMBOY, Katsuhiro Otomo (AKIRA, METROPOLIS) creates an alternative history. Victorian England in the year 1866 is dominated by futuristic steam powered technology. The latest invention by Lloyd Steam (voiced by Patrick Stewart), a petite metal ball with hidden powers, causes an explosion in Russian-owned Alaska. The old man ships the invention to his grandson Eddie (voiced by Anna Paquin), living in Manchester, England, but the package is barely opened when trouble comes knocking on the door.

With breakneck speed, Eddie is running for his life, riding a circular bicycle (?!) chased by a mechanical device that looks like a dastardly steam-powered bulldozer. The ensuing chase will involve a runaway train and a murderous zeppelin. The sequence is outrageously unbelievable, but the blistering pace runs down any reservations with a smile.

Then we settle down for a little more set-up, a little more character development, and a lot more sermonizing.

It seems that Eddie's grandfather is at odds with Eddie's father, Ray (voiced by Alfred Molina), over the use of steam power to make weapons that will upset the balance of world order. Eventually all the talk about good science versus bad science becomes wearisome, and even the lovely hand-drawn 2-D look of the animation is not enough of a distraction to prop up the plot.

What is refreshing is to see an imaginary world influnced by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells as filtered through the sensibility of an outsider to the culture.

Lovers of finely drawn and shaded animation can rejoice. All others are forewarned.

* English Dubbed Version Notes *

Normally it would be sacrilege for me to speak positively about dubbing a movie into English. Here, though, I must admit it makes perfect sense for a movie set in 19th Century Victorian England. Patrick Stewart gets to do a lot of excited exclaiming (perfect for a British stage-trained actor), and Anna Paquin sounds terribly believable as a young British boy (imagine that).

Less defensible, however, is the clearly commercial decision to cut the movie from the original 126 minutes to 106 minutes.

* Now Playing *

In Los Angeles, the dubbed version is playing at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood, Pacific's Sherman Oaks 5, Laemmle's One Colorado Cinemas in Pasadena, and Edwards Park Place 10 in Irvine.

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

South Korea. 115 minutes.
Tartan Video USA. Region 1. NTSC.
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon.
With Yeom Jeong-A, Im Soo-Jung, Moon Geun-Young, Kim Kab-Su

A car drives through a beautiful rural countryside and stops outside a peaceful house surrounded by blooming flowers near a lake. Two sisters emerge, and immediately it becomes clear that they are close. The older one looks after the younger, and they run hand in hand to a dock in the lake, where feet dangle in the water and clouds are gazed upon.

They head back to the house, to a cool reception from their stepmother. It's not the homecoming they wanted, as it becomes clear they have spent a long time elsewhere. At dinner that night, tension between stepmom, the girls, and their gray-haired father become even more apparent.

Father and stepmom retire to bed -- though father sneaks off to sleep alone in his study -- and the girls go to their separate rooms. One of them begins hearing noises in the night; she is soon joined under the covers by her equally unsettled sibling. The house is not so peaceful after all, and the family has definitely seen better days.

We know something is not right from the first very scene, in which a girl is brought in to see a psychiatrist in some kind of institutional setting. So when the car begins winding along mountain roads, we realize we're watching a recreation of what happened that caused the young lady to wind up talking to a shrink. In that respect, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS plays like a puzzle picture, in which the audience must figure out from whose point of view the story on screen is being told.

Beyond the thin conceit of the puzzle, which admittedly irritated me during my first viewing of the film, TWO SISTERS digs deeper into family relationships. It demonstrates the profound impact that one member of the family can have upon the others. It also shows that emotional turmoil may begin like a rock dropped into still water -- rippling slowly, ever expanding outward.

Make no mistake -- TWO SISTERS is a horror movie. It has its share of shocks and blood, and the second half of the film rachets up the tension, all the way to a gut-wrenching, bittersweet conclusion that is open to interpretation.

Still, it's the psychological horrors layered upon an emotional family drama and an overriding sense of sadness and loss that make TWO SISTERS distinctive, and allow it to languish in the memory.

* DVD Notes *

Tartan USA's DVD is a fine way to catch up with the film if you weren't able to see it in a cinema. The colors play a big part in the effectiveness of the production, and here they are accurately reproduced, and the audio packs a sufficient wallop. Both DD 5.1 and DTS Korean-language tracks are included.

The removable English subtitles are clear, well-timed, and easy to read. Spanish subtitles are also included.

Supplements include two audio commentaries, both Korean-language with English subtitles. I listened to the one featuring the director, cinematographer, and lighting director: the three gentlemen are polite and often laugh together, even as the cinematographer and lighting director express their disagreement with some of the decisions made by the director. The director notes that he intended to make a psychological film rather than a straight horror flick. The other commentary features the director and members of the cast.

What's billed as "original promotional footage" is the Korean theatrical trailer (with the Tartan logo added to the front).

My understanding is that was to be a two-disk edition, with the second disk presumably including the advertised cast interviews, "psychiatrist's perspective," documentaries, and trailers, but the copy I rented from a local video shop only included one disk.

Bad Guy (2002)

South Korea. 100 minutes
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
With Jo Jae-hyeon, Seo Won, Kim Yun-tae, Choi Duek-mun, Kim Jung-young

It's an incredibly alluring poster. Beware - it may draw you into its web and kill you.

Korean director Kim Ki-duk is like that. He's capable of composing beautiful landscapes: a floating fishing village lit from within at night (THE ISLE), gently waving tall grass beside a seaside military training camp (COAST GUARD), a Buddhist temple that floats across a lake throughout the extremes of the seasons (SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER, AND SPRING AGAIN); against those initially idyllic backgrounds he sets characters whose emotions roil their interior lives until they burst out and damage all within striking distance.

BAD GUY begins at a bucolic setting: a city park. A lovely, prim and proper young lady sits on a bench until she is joined by an unwelcome, unruly-looking stranger. He wants nothing more than a kiss -- as if she would grant such a thug access to those innocent lips. He tries to take what he wants by ugly brute force. He ends up soundly thrashed by a passing group of soldiers and spat upon by the young lady.

Shortly thereafter, the young lady succumbs to temptation and commits an apparently victimless crime. It may have been the first illegal act of her life, but she will pay dearly. With stomach-turning, head-spinning speed, she finds herself sold into prostitution. Her virginity is wasted. Her body is no longer her own. And the man responsible is the very one she spurned on the park bench.

Kim Ki-duk is a highly talented director. The film is powerful and accomplished, and the performances are excellent. Yet BAD GUY is, in my view, morally reprehensible and distasteful. I've tried to avoid spoilers for the films I've written about, but I'll make an exception here and explain that BAD GUY makes the case that a woman who has been raped and forced into prostitution can still fall in love with the man responsible. Worse, it works hard to make you feel sorry for this poor "bad guy" who really isn't so "bad" after all, because all he wants is to be loved.

The program notes for the 2003 Seattle International Film Festival (where I first saw the film) made the claim that it's "an attempt to understand the violence and lack of humanity that arises in a social class refused its most basic needs." I don't agree. I feel it promotes the idea that society is entirely to blame for individual problems and that no personal responsibility need be taken. BAD GUY is so slimy and sneaky that it leaves a very sour taste for having invested the time to watch it.

With all the recent attention focused on OLDBOY and director Park Chan-wook, it's good to remember that Kim Ki-duk has been fending off criticism regarding his extreme, violent imagery for years. Yet he continues to plow ahead prolifically. In addition to the belated Los Angeles theatrical run by Lifesize Entertainment of this 2002 Korean release, Kim's late 2004 film 3-IRON will get a stateside release from Sony Pictures Classics beginning April 29, and his early 2004 film SAMARITAN GIRL will be available on Region 1 DVD from Tartan Video USA on May 10.

* Now Playing *

In Los Angeles, at Laemmle's Fairfax 3 .