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oyceterWe went to watch Tokyo Godfathers in Berkeley on Sunday, the newest movie from Satoshi Kon (Kon Satoshi? I think Kon is the surname, but I'm not sure). He also did Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress (Sennen Joyuu), but I've only seen Perfect Blue. I had to kind of check around online to see if I wanted to watch it, because I was sad and homesick and Perfect Blue isn't exactly the most happy or optimistic or even sanest movie around. Haven't seen Millennium Actress either, but anyhow, the summary of Tokyo Godfathers looked pretty safe.
Anyhow, it was a really fun movie. It's mostly about three homeless people -- Gin, a gambler whose gambling lost him his family; Hana, a male cross-dresser; and Miyuki, a runaway teenager -- who find a baby. They go through tons of adventures trying to return the baby to her rightful home, and along the way, many coincidences happen which make each one somehow come to terms with his or her past. Actually, Hana goes through much less of that and is played mostly for comic relief, which kind of disappointed me. She (he?) gets some moments of seriousness when discussing her relationship with Gin, but really not half as much as the other two. It's a fun little wacky Christmas movie with some very good moments -- I particularly liked the scene with Miyuki calling her father and not being able to talk to him. I'm rather fond of the use of silence in general in movies, especially since soundtracks make the silence so rare, and that scene just has lovely timing, with the father speaking and Miyuki unable to and finally hanging up. I did feel that the almost over-the-top humor kind of got in the way of some of the better moments, and I wasn't particularly impressed with the last minute plot twist with Sachiko. Also, very interesting animation. It reminds me a little of Lain, and the people seem somehow more real and grittier than they do in most anime. I liked how we see that Miyuki in flashbacks is chubbier, as that one didn't have to scrounge for food. I mean, how often does one see a not-stick-skinny anime girl? I was also particularly fond of the opening credits. Hee, I notice random things.
So good all in all, and much happier than Perfect Blue. I think I will keep watching out for this director. A lot of anime fans are absolutely in love with Oshii Mamoru, the guy who did Ghost in the Shell, and Ootomo Katsuhiro, the guy who did Akira (surnames first for both), but I'm a little leery of them. I sometimes get the feel that they throw in too much death and destruction just for the sake of having death and destruction. Plus, I am iffy around the treatment of the women characters in both. I dunno... in general, the worldview of both is a bit depressing for me (ha, I make no intellectual judgments, just what makes me feel fuzzy).
Tonight the boy and I watched Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou. I have to look up what he did -- I keep getting him mixed up with Chen Kaige since they came from the same class of directors in the seventies. Ok, courtesy of IMDB: he did Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern and To Live, all with Gong Li. Anyhow, Hero is an absolutely gorgeous movie. I swear, it should have won some sort of award in cinematography at least, and it could have had the stupidest plot in the world and I probably would have watched it several times just for the visuals. I like to pretend that Zhang Yimou made it because Ang Lee was getting so many kudos for Crouching Tiger and Zhang Yimou wanted to make a really Chinese martial arts movie. Well, the story for Crouching Tiger is more typically martial arts, seeing how it was taken from the most famous writer of martial arts stories' book. But Hero has got the whole historical background, cool politics going for it.
Plus, did I mention the absolutely gorgeous visuals? I need to figure out how to screencap DVDs. Here's the official gallery, but it doesn't capture the gorgeousness at all. There are just beautiful compositions -- every other scene is centered and perfectly symmetrical with the architecture, the fight scenes are awesome and it's just pure eye candy. It's also got beautiful saturated colors -- I remember Ebert saying that China had one of the last Technicolor plants in the world, which was why the colors in Farewell My Concubine were so lovely, and I can't help but recall that watching this movie.
The movie reminds me of Rashomon in terms of structure, layers on layers on layers of stories, although it doesn't quite go so far as Rashomon does in questioning narrative per se. My mom and sister didn't really like the structure, but me and my dad thought it was pretty cool. Plus, it allowed for the gratuitous use of pretty colors -- each story segment is coded differently -- red or blue or green or white or black. And I love the story because it's all about being a good ruler and doing stuff for the good of the country despite one's personal feelings. I feel like this is a big theme in Chinese literature at least -- I got tons of stories on poet-administrators who lost their posts and were exiled because they commited political suicide just so they wouldn't have to watch the king ruin their country. I also find it funny that a lot of our big heroes are writers. Well, at least mine are, hee. It's also got the thing in which no one is really the bad guy and everyone is quite regretful at the ending, which always gets me. I guess it's a bit like the myth of the noble warrior -- one cheers on Hector and Achilles both (although in this movie, Achilles would have been properly saddened at Hector's death instead of dragging him around in the dirt. I always thought poorly of Achilles for that).
And Maggie Cheung is gorgeous.
Really, really gorgeous. I think she looks like the Chinese version of Lena Olin because of her slanty cat eyes. Unfortunately, Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger fame just kind of gets to sit around and do nothing important. Tony Leung is also quite good, as is Jet Li.
I also love the fighting scenes. Of course, this is because I love martial arts stuff in general -- I used to watch all these "historical" martial arts TV series back in middle school until they stopped making them (mostly based on the same writer who did Crouching Tiger the book). I love the whole wire ballads in the air and the concept of qigong/chi gong. I remember going with my roommate to see Crouching Tiger in America, and, besides being very disappointed in the extremely prosaic and simplified translation, I was interested in her reaction to martial arts. Ex. "Why is everyone flying?" And for a second I was kind of baffled because in my mind, why wouldn't they fly? I love the swordplay and the gracefulness of it, how it looks like dancing, and how it's the skill that ostensibly matters -- there are always people stopping an inch short of a killing blow to allow the opponent to regain control, and swords light enough to be flexible and wave around. I always love the over-dramatization and having people not draw their swords for a long time, just avoiding blows. Alas, I am not a martial arts expert or anything, so I can't really say anything about the staging of the fight scenes, except that I thought they were gorgeous. I don't think they're quite as inventive as some in Crouching Tiger (I compare these two because sadly, they are probably the only two martial arts movies I've watched and remembered).. Crouching Tiger gets lots of bonus points for the really cool use of weapons in the fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, but I think in Hero, the fight between Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi, both in scarlet, amidst bright yellow falling gingko leaves, and a fight between Tony Cheung and Jet Li on a still, perfect lake, are particularly gorgeous. Plus, I love the moment when Broken Sword (Cheung's character) stops because a drop of water has fallen on Falling Snow (Maggie Cheung)'s face and how Jet Li turns lets him have that moment.
Ok, there is also a lot of smirking done because of the stylization of the movie -- how many soldiers did the Qin emperor have?! This is what, 220 some BC? Lots of arrows! Plus, I'm never sure whether to giggle or not at the dying calligraphy students. Also, the Qin emperor hangs tons of floaty green curtains around his palace so he can not see all the assassins? Uh huh, even though they do make for a great shot.
Little quibble, with spoilers:I heard that Zhang Yimou was so sick of making controversial movies that were forever being banned in China that he finally made this one. Stirred up tons of controversy in Taiwan though because of the not so hidden message that the unification of China was a great thing, despite the bloodshed. I don't really care about that, and I think it's stupid of people in Taiwan to try to ban it (not sure if they did, but Taiwan is getting pretty silly over stuff like this). Most of my quibble is that they forget to mention that the Qin emperor wasn't all lovely and wise and unifying China for the good of the people blah blah! Si Ma Qien, the great Han dynasty historian, had a particular axe to grind with him and often portrayed him as superstitious and cruel, but then, he wasn't very impartial. Plus, Qin Shihuang burned books =(. Grrrr. Granted, he did unifiy the writing system and the roads and built the beginning of the Great Wall, but he also killed tons of people in building the Great Wall and (I think) was a bit megalomaniac, what with all the clay soldiers and all.
I dunno. I'm not asking for the movie to be perfectly historically accurate, but they really made him into this grand hero who was wise and wonderful. Plus, his kingdom fell apart after he died. The Han Dynasty at least lasted for some time. Oh well.
I was also a little irked because my favorite character, Flying Snow, was wrong while the other two smart and wise men were right. I'm pretty predictable -- it's hard for me to not like a kickass woman with an awesome sword. But I'm still annoyed because the final story is that Broken Sword was more noble than she was and rose above petty concerns like avenging his country to realize that the Qin emperor would unify China, which would be of the good. Not only that, but he convinces Nameless (Jet Li) as well, so basically all the guys are all wise and knowing what's good for the kingdom while the girl is there pettily protesting the death of her family. I mean, it's not really filmed that way, and she gets a lovely death scene (heh), but one can tell her thoughts are not as lofty as those of the guys.
Anyhow, it was a really fun movie. It's mostly about three homeless people -- Gin, a gambler whose gambling lost him his family; Hana, a male cross-dresser; and Miyuki, a runaway teenager -- who find a baby. They go through tons of adventures trying to return the baby to her rightful home, and along the way, many coincidences happen which make each one somehow come to terms with his or her past. Actually, Hana goes through much less of that and is played mostly for comic relief, which kind of disappointed me. She (he?) gets some moments of seriousness when discussing her relationship with Gin, but really not half as much as the other two. It's a fun little wacky Christmas movie with some very good moments -- I particularly liked the scene with Miyuki calling her father and not being able to talk to him. I'm rather fond of the use of silence in general in movies, especially since soundtracks make the silence so rare, and that scene just has lovely timing, with the father speaking and Miyuki unable to and finally hanging up. I did feel that the almost over-the-top humor kind of got in the way of some of the better moments, and I wasn't particularly impressed with the last minute plot twist with Sachiko. Also, very interesting animation. It reminds me a little of Lain, and the people seem somehow more real and grittier than they do in most anime. I liked how we see that Miyuki in flashbacks is chubbier, as that one didn't have to scrounge for food. I mean, how often does one see a not-stick-skinny anime girl? I was also particularly fond of the opening credits. Hee, I notice random things.
So good all in all, and much happier than Perfect Blue. I think I will keep watching out for this director. A lot of anime fans are absolutely in love with Oshii Mamoru, the guy who did Ghost in the Shell, and Ootomo Katsuhiro, the guy who did Akira (surnames first for both), but I'm a little leery of them. I sometimes get the feel that they throw in too much death and destruction just for the sake of having death and destruction. Plus, I am iffy around the treatment of the women characters in both. I dunno... in general, the worldview of both is a bit depressing for me (ha, I make no intellectual judgments, just what makes me feel fuzzy).
Tonight the boy and I watched Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou. I have to look up what he did -- I keep getting him mixed up with Chen Kaige since they came from the same class of directors in the seventies. Ok, courtesy of IMDB: he did Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern and To Live, all with Gong Li. Anyhow, Hero is an absolutely gorgeous movie. I swear, it should have won some sort of award in cinematography at least, and it could have had the stupidest plot in the world and I probably would have watched it several times just for the visuals. I like to pretend that Zhang Yimou made it because Ang Lee was getting so many kudos for Crouching Tiger and Zhang Yimou wanted to make a really Chinese martial arts movie. Well, the story for Crouching Tiger is more typically martial arts, seeing how it was taken from the most famous writer of martial arts stories' book. But Hero has got the whole historical background, cool politics going for it.
Plus, did I mention the absolutely gorgeous visuals? I need to figure out how to screencap DVDs. Here's the official gallery, but it doesn't capture the gorgeousness at all. There are just beautiful compositions -- every other scene is centered and perfectly symmetrical with the architecture, the fight scenes are awesome and it's just pure eye candy. It's also got beautiful saturated colors -- I remember Ebert saying that China had one of the last Technicolor plants in the world, which was why the colors in Farewell My Concubine were so lovely, and I can't help but recall that watching this movie.
The movie reminds me of Rashomon in terms of structure, layers on layers on layers of stories, although it doesn't quite go so far as Rashomon does in questioning narrative per se. My mom and sister didn't really like the structure, but me and my dad thought it was pretty cool. Plus, it allowed for the gratuitous use of pretty colors -- each story segment is coded differently -- red or blue or green or white or black. And I love the story because it's all about being a good ruler and doing stuff for the good of the country despite one's personal feelings. I feel like this is a big theme in Chinese literature at least -- I got tons of stories on poet-administrators who lost their posts and were exiled because they commited political suicide just so they wouldn't have to watch the king ruin their country. I also find it funny that a lot of our big heroes are writers. Well, at least mine are, hee. It's also got the thing in which no one is really the bad guy and everyone is quite regretful at the ending, which always gets me. I guess it's a bit like the myth of the noble warrior -- one cheers on Hector and Achilles both (although in this movie, Achilles would have been properly saddened at Hector's death instead of dragging him around in the dirt. I always thought poorly of Achilles for that).
And Maggie Cheung is gorgeous.
Really, really gorgeous. I think she looks like the Chinese version of Lena Olin because of her slanty cat eyes. Unfortunately, Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger fame just kind of gets to sit around and do nothing important. Tony Leung is also quite good, as is Jet Li.
I also love the fighting scenes. Of course, this is because I love martial arts stuff in general -- I used to watch all these "historical" martial arts TV series back in middle school until they stopped making them (mostly based on the same writer who did Crouching Tiger the book). I love the whole wire ballads in the air and the concept of qigong/chi gong. I remember going with my roommate to see Crouching Tiger in America, and, besides being very disappointed in the extremely prosaic and simplified translation, I was interested in her reaction to martial arts. Ex. "Why is everyone flying?" And for a second I was kind of baffled because in my mind, why wouldn't they fly? I love the swordplay and the gracefulness of it, how it looks like dancing, and how it's the skill that ostensibly matters -- there are always people stopping an inch short of a killing blow to allow the opponent to regain control, and swords light enough to be flexible and wave around. I always love the over-dramatization and having people not draw their swords for a long time, just avoiding blows. Alas, I am not a martial arts expert or anything, so I can't really say anything about the staging of the fight scenes, except that I thought they were gorgeous. I don't think they're quite as inventive as some in Crouching Tiger (I compare these two because sadly, they are probably the only two martial arts movies I've watched and remembered).. Crouching Tiger gets lots of bonus points for the really cool use of weapons in the fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, but I think in Hero, the fight between Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi, both in scarlet, amidst bright yellow falling gingko leaves, and a fight between Tony Cheung and Jet Li on a still, perfect lake, are particularly gorgeous. Plus, I love the moment when Broken Sword (Cheung's character) stops because a drop of water has fallen on Falling Snow (Maggie Cheung)'s face and how Jet Li turns lets him have that moment.
Ok, there is also a lot of smirking done because of the stylization of the movie -- how many soldiers did the Qin emperor have?! This is what, 220 some BC? Lots of arrows! Plus, I'm never sure whether to giggle or not at the dying calligraphy students. Also, the Qin emperor hangs tons of floaty green curtains around his palace so he can not see all the assassins? Uh huh, even though they do make for a great shot.
Little quibble, with spoilers:I heard that Zhang Yimou was so sick of making controversial movies that were forever being banned in China that he finally made this one. Stirred up tons of controversy in Taiwan though because of the not so hidden message that the unification of China was a great thing, despite the bloodshed. I don't really care about that, and I think it's stupid of people in Taiwan to try to ban it (not sure if they did, but Taiwan is getting pretty silly over stuff like this). Most of my quibble is that they forget to mention that the Qin emperor wasn't all lovely and wise and unifying China for the good of the people blah blah! Si Ma Qien, the great Han dynasty historian, had a particular axe to grind with him and often portrayed him as superstitious and cruel, but then, he wasn't very impartial. Plus, Qin Shihuang burned books =(. Grrrr. Granted, he did unifiy the writing system and the roads and built the beginning of the Great Wall, but he also killed tons of people in building the Great Wall and (I think) was a bit megalomaniac, what with all the clay soldiers and all.
I dunno. I'm not asking for the movie to be perfectly historically accurate, but they really made him into this grand hero who was wise and wonderful. Plus, his kingdom fell apart after he died. The Han Dynasty at least lasted for some time. Oh well.
I was also a little irked because my favorite character, Flying Snow, was wrong while the other two smart and wise men were right. I'm pretty predictable -- it's hard for me to not like a kickass woman with an awesome sword. But I'm still annoyed because the final story is that Broken Sword was more noble than she was and rose above petty concerns like avenging his country to realize that the Qin emperor would unify China, which would be of the good. Not only that, but he convinces Nameless (Jet Li) as well, so basically all the guys are all wise and knowing what's good for the kingdom while the girl is there pettily protesting the death of her family. I mean, it's not really filmed that way, and she gets a lovely death scene (heh), but one can tell her thoughts are not as lofty as those of the guys.
(no subject)
Wed, Jan. 28th, 2004 03:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Jan. 28th, 2004 11:58 pm (UTC)Is Hero ever coming out in America? Or has it already? I've got the DVD, and I'll lend it to you if you want! Just a warning -- it's region 3...
Re:
Mon, Feb. 2nd, 2004 02:30 pm (UTC)Thanks for the offer!That's really kind. I don't think I have a way to play Region 3, but if I find one, I might take you up on it. I have some friends who may have region 3 players.
Re:
Tue, Feb. 3rd, 2004 04:37 pm (UTC)And if you can find the DVD player, the DVD is here for the asking ;).