DVD Disfigurement

This Week's Region 1 DVD Releases

FACE (2004)
South Korea. 88 minutes
Directed by Yoo Sang-gon
Release Company: Tartan Video

"A forensic examiner, exhausted from his work, turns in his resignation. His former boss, pressed because of a recent series of murders in which the killer disassembled the bones of the victim, sends a young and beautiful fledgling examiner to convince the reticient expert to return to his duties. The examiner, plagued by what appears to be the ghostly apparitions of the departed, finally returns to work, even as he is distracted by the serious illness of his young daughter, who is in need of a new heart.

"The film never builds any real suspense. The first scene appears to be an outtake from the first scene of TELL ME SOMETHING (body on an examining table is brutally sliced open) and another liberally borrows from THE RING. The early spooks work well on a visceral level (eliciting at least one genuine 'Oh s--!' from an audience member), but they don't really mean anything and it's difficult to relate them to the plot."

My recent complete review of a cinema screening. DVD includes interviews with director, cast, and crew, plus outtakes.

FEMALE YAKUZA TALE (1973)
Japan.
Directed by Teruo Ishii
Release Company: Panik House

"Heroin is the contraband. Prostitutes-turned-drug-mules are the Japanese mob's new means of transporting the narcotic. Avenging angel Reiko Ike, once again, stands in the way of the Yakuza's evil machinations - wielding a blade nearly as lethal as her killer beauty. Stunning, glorious swordplay inundates this high-octane tale of gambling, smuggling and hookers gone wild."--Panik House.

Audio commentary by Chris D., production notes, poster and still gallery.

SALARYMAN KINTARO 2
Japan.
Directed by Tomoharu Katsumata
Release Company: ArtsMagicDVD

"Based on the best-selling comic book, Salaryman Kintaro follows the adventures of Kintaro Yajima, a motorbike gang leader who is hired by the Yamato Construction Company when he saves the CEO’s life. With his forthright way of dealing with matters, he starts solving problems the only way he knows how, by busting heads and spilling blood."--ArtsMagicDVD

DVD not pictured. Anime. Four episodes. Interviews with director and producer.

SEX & FURY (1973)
Japan
Directed by Norifumi Suzuki
Release Company: Panik House

"A frenetic, thrill-packed ride of wild period action set in Edo-era Japan, Sex & Fury is known the world over for the indelible image of stark-naked, sword-wielding Reiko Ike slashing her way through dozens of gangsters to the groovy strains of lounge-jazz on the soundtrack. Sex & Fury also features Swedish sexbomb Christina Lindbergh (Thriller: A Cruel Picture) in a typically revealing role."--Panik House.

Audio commentary with Chris D., production notes, still gallery.

Weather, Weather, Weather

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I was unexpectantly abducted by aliens while driving (see picture), and they didn't have Internet access.

...

Alien abductions aside, I was under the weather last week, soaked up to the gills in work this week, and will be driving home to Los Angeles in the next few days.

And beyond that, a bit preoccupied still with the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, and near-obsessed with Hurricane Rita. Stormy females always drive me to distraction...

Upon my return to LA, I should be able to return to regular updates. I'm also looking forward to (finally) being able to catch up with a huge pile of DVDs...lucky me!

The Transporter 2 (2005)

France/USA. 92 minutes.
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
With Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, Matthew Modine

If you don't think THE TRANSPORTER 2 rocks, see A SOUND OF THUNDER just before it.

That's what I did this past Friday, and the snappy pace and refreshingly unpretentious French hybrid was a relief to watch after the disastrously soggy science fiction adaptation. Luc Besson has trained his people well: their aim was to make a fun genre picture, and they succeeded.

As a favor to a friend on vacation, Frank Martin (Jason Statham) takes an atypical job driving a rich family's son, Jack (Hunter Clary). He listens sympathetically to the boy's mother, Audrey, (Amber Valletta) complain about her husband (Matthew Modine), director of national drug policy, and his inattention to the family. Quickly Frank becomes a father figure to Jack and a romantic ideal to Audrey.

Happily, dysfunctional family politics are pushed aside when Jack is kidnapped by Lola, a leggy crop-haired blonde (Kate Nauta) striding about in skimpy lingerie and a trenchcoat, and the usual incompetent gang of anonymous trigger-happy underlings.

Lola is the paramour of Gianni (Alessandro Gassman), gangster for hire with an awful accent and a hilariously unbelievable college education. Gianni talks like a low-rent Benicio del Toro with an off-the-shelf vocabulary builder.

Frank is falsely assumed to be conspiring with the kidnappers, but Audrey, of course, Knows The Truth, and tries to help him on the sly. Also feeding him information is the vacationing French police chief Tarconi (Francois Berleand), who provides wry comic relief. Frank rockets around Miami tracking down leads while avoiding both the police and the bad guys.

All of this is giddily entertaining with more than its share of gloriously silly scenes (Frank dislodging a bomb on the undercarriage of his car with a neat move you have to see to disbelieve; Frank chasing down a fleeing bad guy on a jet ski; Frank's acrobatics to preserve something of value loose on a city street).

The tone is one of mock seriousness mixed with a knowing wink about the outrageous antics on screen, with the highlight probably being the exceedingly clever firehose fight. The martial arts sequences were choreographed and directed by Corey Yuen and are integrated well into the frenetic pace.

That means the whole thing is edited to within an inch of its life; purists won't be pleased but you might as well complain about the viral-like spread of multiplexes -- there ain't no stopping it. It's not my preference for how action flicks should be shot, but, still, THE TRANSPORTER 2 was mighty pleasing.

Shoujyo: An Adolescent (2001)

Japan. 132 minutes.
Screened at Facets, Chicago
Directed by Eiji Okuda
With Eiji Okuda, Mayu Ozawa, Shoji Akira, Mari Natsuki

Shot through with pangs of loneliness and despair, SHOUJYO paints an intricately-detailed portrait of an emotionally hollow police officer and a family in turmoil.

Middle-aged Tomokawa (Eiji Okuda) lazily patrols his police beat on a bicycle. He leverages his "service" to the community to his advantage; e.g. having found a lost dog, he keeps it several days so as to impress the dog's female owner, who gratefully has sex with him in her closed shop. Even as he makes love to the woman, however, Tomokawa studies himself in a mirror, too self-absorbed to pay any real attention to anyone but himself. He doesn't seem pleased with his reflection.

Nonetheless, Tomokawa has friends: he hangs out with several male cronies, and spends time with Sukemasa (Akira Shoji), a mentally-challenged young man.

Out of the blue, Tomokawa is boldly propositioned by a young woman (Mayu Ozawa) in a cafe. Initially she won't even tell him her name, but with only token resistance -- because she looks so young -- he takes her to a motel. When he awakes, she is gone.

He becomes a bit obsessed and and eventually finds the young woman, named Yoko, at a funeral ceremony while she is filling in for her grandfather, a mortuary make-up artist. Even after she confesses that she is just 15 years of age, Tomokawa takes up with her again. Her brother turns out to be Sukemasa, and the three form an odd family unit.

Despite the quantity of bare skin on display, Tomokawa and Yoko's continuing sexual relationship makes one feel more queasy than erotically stimulated. It's not the age difference per se, but the fact that Yoko is so young. Within the context of the story, it's obvious that the adolescent Yoko is acting out more than she is seeking sensual fulfillment, so it makes twisted sense that she would yearn for Tomokawa -- especially when all her dysfunctional family secrets are revealed.

Eiji Okuda has been acting for more than 20 years, but this was his directorial debut. His acting performance is, alas, a bit flat. Tomokawa has a huge, flamboyant tattoo on his back -- drawn by Yoko's grandfather -- alludes to his colorful criminal youth, and appears resigned to make the most of his place in life before Yoko's arrival, but there's little evidence in his character to suggest why he would be willing to sacrifice everything for a relationship with a beautiful but obviously troubled 15-year-old girl.

What's surprising is that the other performances are uneven. We would expect solid turns in a film by an actor-turned-director, but the role of Yoko's mother (played, I believe, by Mari Natsuki) is strident and over-the-top ugly, and both Sukemasa and the stepfather come across as shockingly stereotypical. These missteps are nearly canceled out entirely, however, by the heartbreaking Mayu Ozawa. She captures the essence of adolescence: the desire to be loved, the longing for adulthood, the juvenile impulses, the teasing of sexual power.

Where Okuda truly surpasses expectation is in his visual sense. The picture is framed elegantly, with miminal, objective camera movements, judicious cutting, and sparing use of close-ups. Most of the time, we feel held at arm's length, even when the characters are within striking distance.

Though not every character or situation rings true, Okuda gets enough right to cast a slow burning, simmering spell.