The full program for the 2018 Sydney Film Festival has been released, and once again it has sent us into a frenzy of making lists and buying tickets.
As The Reel Bits has long put Asia in Focus, we thought we’d take a closer look at the Asian cinema screening. The films here come from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. We will, of course, be covered the rest of the program in more detail over the next month or so.
UPDATED (1 June 2018): SFF have made some last minute additions to the roster, including the Lee Chang-dong’s highly anticipated BURNING and the Palme d’Or winning SHOPLIFTERS from Hirokazu Kore-Eda.
America Town
(South Korea, Jeon Soo-il)
The one Korean film on this year’s program is actually about sex workers for the US military in the 1980s. Jeon Soo-il’s film follows the young Sang-kook (Kim Dan-yul) who works at his father’s photo studio secretly developing nude pictures for American soldiers. The teenager’s life changes when beautiful bar hostess Young-lim (Lim Chae-young) visits his shop for an ID photo. Would make a fascinating double feature with last year’s VR feature Bloodless.
A Brighter Summer Day
(Taiwan, Dir: Edward Yang)
Edward Yang’s award-winning 1991 film gets a 35mm restoration, so now you can examine this glorious portrait of the 1960s, rock ’n’ roll and sexual awakening in Taiwan in the way it was meant to be seen. This rare one-off screening will give audiences a chance to see the 237-minute masterpiece in a theatre. Starring Chang Cheng in one of his first roles, he appears alongside such industry staples as Elaine Jin and Lawrence Ko.
The Blood of Wolves
(Japan, Dir: Kazuya Shiraishi)
Following Dawn of the Felines and Birds Without Names, director Kazuya Shiraishi continues the animal title theme with this adaptation of Yuko Yuzuki’s novel Lone Wolf’s Blood. Set on the mean streets of Hiroshima 1988, prior to the anti-mob laws, it sees rumoured mob-tied Detective Shogo Ogami (the legendary Koji Yakusho) saddled with a rookie (Tori Matsuzaka) in this noir thriller. A must see.
Burning
(South Korea, Dir: Lee Chang-Dong)
An adaptation of the short story “Barn Burning” written by Haruki Murakami, the mysterious trailer doesn’t give much away, as we only know that an incident has occurred between Jong-Soo (Yoo Ah-In), Ben and Hae-Mi (Jeon Song-Seo). Also starring Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Okja). Director Lee Chang-Dong is best known for his films Secret Sunshine (2007) and Poetry (2010), which won the best screenplay award at Cannes.
Dragonfly Eyes
(China, Dir: Xu Bing)
If you think you’re being watched, you probably are. Xu Bing’s massive years-long project promises something truly original. 10,000 hours of surveillance footage has been cut down to form a narrative feature. The cloud-based footage includes real car crashes, collapsing buildings, plane crashes and other factual moments from life in contemporary China. We’re not sure about the ethics of this one, but it sounds like it will be impossible to turn away. Just like the Internet.
An Elephant Sitting Still
(China, Dir: Qian Hu)
Got a spare 4 hours? This intimate portrait for four people desperate to leave their Chinese town in tinged with tragedy. Director Qian Hu (aka Hu Bo) committed suicide prior to the release of the film. Yet here he uses long takes to study an egotistical society, and perhaps offer up a mirror to viewers in the Sydney Film Festival audience as well.
The Great Buddha+
(Taiwan, Dir: Huang Hsin-yao)
The set-up for this should be enough to encourage viewership: “Two middle-aged losers stumble upon a crime.” It’s also the first feature narrative from Taiwanese documentarian Huang Hsin-yao, who expands his 2014 short film here. Leads Bamboo Chen and Cres Chuang have been described as a “scuzzy yet endearing duo.”
The Hungry Lion
(Japan, Dir: Takaomi Ogata)
Continuing to explore the ethical line around found footage, this is another indictment of the new media age. The basic setup is about a Japanese high school girl caught up in a sex tape scandal. Or as the blurb for the Tokyo International Film Festival said succinctly, “The brutality inherent in videos and other media is the film’s subject, bringing to light our darkest desires. These 78 minutes are a stark reminder that we live in the golden era of fake news across the world.” This is sure to be another divisive film from the socially conscious Takaomi Ogata (Never Ending Blue, Sunk Into the Womb).
Inland Sea
(Japan, Dir: Kazuhiro Soda)
Following Kazuhiro Soda’s Oyster Factory from the 2016 festival, the distinctive filmmaker turns his eye to Mr Murata, an elderly fisherman, who wonders if it is time to stop delivering fish to the town at the tender age of 86. As with previous films, Soda’s observational approach is neither hurried or judgmental, merely signalling that the times are becoming quite different. Also expect to see lots of stray cats. It’s kind of his thing.
Kusama Infinity
(US, Dir: Heather Lenz)
While this documentary was made by US filmmaker Heather Lenz, it is a celebration of Japan’s most idiosyncratic artist Yayoi Kusama, aka the ‘Princess of Polka Dots.’ The documentary took over 10 years to make, and comprehensively spans the life of the artist from her move to New York in the 1950s, her voluntary institutionalisation in the 1970s, she is the epitome of the clash of cultures that is modern Japan.
Mirai
(Japan, Dir: Mamoru Hosoda)
Animation powerhouse Mamoru Hosoda’s film is one of our most anticipated animated films of the year. Since Summer Wars, Mamoru Hosoda’s output has earned him a massive reputation of being ‘the next Miyazaki.’ Not for nothing: those films have included Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast. His new film about a little boy who refuses to accept his new little sister, at least until he is visited by a possible future version of her, looks just as magical. Also known as MIRAI OF THE FUTURE, it comes straight to us from Cannes this year.
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
(US/Japan, Dir: Stephen Nomura Schible)
You know his work. He began his career, as a composer and actor, in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, which should have been the first sign of great things to come. Let’s do some of the list: The Last Emperor, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, The Little Buddha, The Revenant, and of course, Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes. Director Stephen Nomura Schible shot this over 5 years, and it’s said to be an intimate portrait of one of cinema’s greats.
Samui Song
(Thailand, Germany, Norway, Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
Murder! Marriage! Religion! Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang tells a tale as old as time, as soap actress Vi wants her impotent French husband dead. Concocting what is set to be a delicious mixture of noir and hard-boiled mystery, the trailer and promotional material tell us to expect the unexpected. Did someone say sleazy cult guru known as the Holy One?
Season of the Devil
(Philippines, Dir: Lav Diaz)
An all-singing love-story-rock-opera set during the Marcos dictatorship? Count us in! It follows poet and activist, Hugo Haniway, who sets off to find his wife, who has disappeared after setting up a village clinic. While it is about half the length of Diaz’s marathon 8-hour A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the Filipino director’s latest film still clocks in at an impressive 234 minutes. So plan your bathroom breaks accordingly. (Also, we now have that Donovon song in our heads).
The Seen and Unseen
(Indonesia, The Netherlands, Australia, Qatar, Dir: Kamila Andini)
In rural Bali 10 year-old Tantri is slowly losing her twin brother Tantra to a brain tumour. However, a magical occurance in her village results in her being able to sing and dance with her brother again, with a surreal mixture of shadowplay and cinema magic from a bygone era. Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini is best known for her debut feature The Mirror Never Lies, but this may be the next one of her films to watch out for.
Shoplifters
(Japan, Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda)
This is definitely one of our most anticipated films of the year, even before it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. The latest film from the Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda, it features an amazing cast that sees regular collaborator Lily Franky appearing alongside Sakura Ando and Mayu Matsuoka, it follows another father/son relationship where shoplifting is part of their bonding experience. The dynamic changes when Franky’s character finds a little girl freezing, and decides to bring her home to his family.
The Taste of Rice Flower
(China, Dir: Pengfei Song)
Pengfei Song’s second feature as a director (following Underground Fragrance), and third as a writer (including his script for Tsai Ming-liang’s Stray Dogs), looks at the intersection between tradition and contemporary life in China. For example, Kids only go to the temple because the Wi-Fi signal is strong. It’s all about a difficult mother-daughter relationship in this feature, one that appears to lament the commercialisation of modern times.
Wrath of Silence
(China, Dir: Xin Yukun)
Slick and brutal photography populate this blend of noir and western from director Xin Yukun, whose last feature (2014’s The Coffin in the Mountain) won Best Revelation at the Venice Film Festival, Best Directorial Debut at the China Film Director’s Guild Awards, and many more. Set in Northern China, this thriller stars Song Yang (The Final Master) and Jiang Wu (Shock Wave).
Yellow is Forbidden
(China/NewZealand, Pietra Brettkelly)
Pietra Brettkelly’s documentary joins McQueen and Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist in exploring the world of high fashion. Chinese designer Guo Pei’s work became known worldwide when she dressed Rihanna in a hand-embroidered canary yellow gown that took two years to make. Not bad for someone who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, when fashion in China was said to be virtually non-existent.
You can check out the rest of the titles and buy tickets (and maybe a flexipass or two) from the sff.org.au website.
