[Moderator's note: I am splitting these reviews up by country, because I have to split them up some way. I am not trying to be provincial. -ecl]
SIFF Reviews
(Miscellaneous)
Film reviews by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1991 Jeff Meyer
PEACOCK KING (Hong Kong, 1990):
I'd like to recommend the first five minutes of this film -- the cheesy special effects and the awful subtitling really produce a few marvelous moments. (As the Daughter of Hell rains fireballs down upon an archaeological expedition at the South Pole, the screams of the dying and the panicked scientists are translated as "Move quickly.") Unfortunately, the rest of the film gets so sugary (with the exception of a stop-action transformation/metamorphosis scene that is so overdone that it gets boring after a while) that it peters out about halfway through.
SWORDSMAN (Hong Kong, 1990):
The latest from Tsui Hark, the man who brought you CHINESE GHOST STORY, PEKING OPERA BLUES and A TERRA COTTA WARRIOR. The story deals with a rather high-spirited swordsman and his classmates, who are caught up in a power struggle to recover a secret scroll. In the same vein as PEKING OPERA BLUES, but better (the male lead plays it pretty loose) than BLUES or TERRA COTTA WARRIOR. As usual with films Hark is involved in (he's co-director here), the story doesn't take itself entirely seriously, and knows when to throw in a joke when the kung fu plot is getting a mite ridiculous. Certainly this is has some of the best fight-scene gags I've seen in any Hong Kong martial arts flick. If you're a fan of the genre, this is definitely worth seeing.
AVA & GABRIEL (Curacao, 1990):
Nice premise -- a talented artist enters a small village to paint a portrait of the Madonna for the local church, but manages to stir up a storm due to his attributing African features to the Virgin Mary, as well as his wooing of a local beauty. The questions of prejudice never make it past your average TV docu-drama, and for the most part the picture wallows in a tropical DYNASTY atmosphere. Avoid.
MANIC ZEN (Japan, 1990):
A young rock musician who is descended from a long line of Buddhist priests is expected to enter a temple for a year as a novice, so that he can claim his inheritance. Well, you can see the possibilities... The film concentrates on rather droll humor, especially when the musician starts to like the aesthetics of the job, and some satire of modern Japanese society (there's a number of jokes I'm sure I'm missed because I'm unfamiliar with the culture.) For those who enjoyed films like LIVING ON TOKYO TIME, I suspect this will be a similar pleasure; it is not a sprawling spoof like TAMPOPO.
THE VIOLENT COP (Japan, 1990 (US Premiere)):
I need to keep reminding that, when it comes to "dark satire", Japanese films tend to be pitch-black. The film features Takeshi Kitano (Sgt. Hara in MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE; he also directed the picture) as Azuma, a sort of a taciturn, shuffling Dirty Harry. He is, as the title says, a violent cop; and as case he becomes involved in, tracking down a gang of monstrous dope dealers, gets more involved, he becomes more and more violent.
As the film starts off, the title character's breaking-the-rules use of force appears as almost humorous -- very similar to tough-cop American films; the hitting and kicking isn't romanticized, but in the context of the events, it's seems rather droll. What changes is that the criminals' level of violence escalates (again, non-romanticized), and Azuma does the same; guns are introduced, and whatever surface humor there was vanishes quickly.
This ends in an utterly ridiculous situation at the end, a lampoon of every tough-guy cop final confrontation scene, that is *so* violent I felt ill afterwards -- not due to gore, but just the pure brutality of it all. The film makes its point clearly and with some humor, but in the process completely repulsed me. (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER comes to mind, but it's not *that* horrific.) I'd recommend it only to the more hardened black humorists out there.
RED DUST (Hong Kong, 1990):
Looking for some unadulterated, well-done romantic fluff with good production values and engaging faces? Try this one. The film follows the life of a young, independent romance writer from a section of China that is invaded and occupied by the Japanese in 1938. She is approached, and falls in love with, a fan of hers who is also a collaborator with the Japanese (he's suitably noble, of course). Meanwhile, her greatest friend, a student whose absent boyfriend is a resistance fighter, also comes to live with her, and the three form a pocket of relative happiness during the war. But with the ending of the war and the rise of Mao and communism, their world is thrown into turmoil. (My God, I sound like the cover blurb for a Harlequin Romance novel.)
Anyway, while the plot is nothing above the norm, the acting, dialogue, and production values are very good, and the film even has a DR. ZHIVAGO-like ending which lifts it out of mundanity. Actually, given the choice between seeing ZHIVAGO and RED DUST again, it'd be a tough call. If they had just gotten Alec Guiness in the cast...
ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND, PART II (Hong Kong, 1990):
Let me just open this review by saying that there are few things which enhance a midnight film experience more than pogo-hopping kung fu vampires. It's the sort of subtle plot element that a good Hong Kong martial arts film is known throughout the world for, and ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND, PART II, is a fine addition to the hall of fame. It reminded me of the comic parts of Tsui Hark's A CHINESE GHOST STORY; while I like Hark's style of comic action-adventure, he usually has some actual drama running through it; and there are times where I want my Kung Fu funny and silly and over-the-top all the way through. Unfortunately, some of them get so silly (like PEACOCK KING) that it loses its edge; happily, this SIFF comic Kung Fu entry hit things right on the noggin. ENCOUNTERS is the brainchild of director/producer/star Samo Hung; Samo resembles a Pillsbury dough boy with a Moe Howard haircut and the sort of awesome martial arts abilities (bouncing off walls, leaping hundreds of feet in the air with a WHOOSH sound) that only come out of Hong Kong studios.
After a hilarious opening sequence (ah, those pogo-stick vampires!), we open up on Samo trying to make enough dough in his small village to appease his girlfriend's father. His rival, a rich geek with a monkey witch doctor, tries to do Samo out of his girlfriend by various forms of black magic. On Samo's side is his mentor, a hilariously droll master martial artist, and his best friend, a decent comedy relief. As the conflict escalates, the witch doctor decides to destroy everyone on Samo's side, leaving you with the a final hour of high-voltage special-effects monster-kicking fun. Lots of energy, lots of fun, lots of guys slapping their wrists together, wincing, exclaiming loudly and firing explosive bolts from their fingers. That's entertainment!
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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