Tag: Singapore

NYAFF 2021: Wrap-Up and Reflections

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) has come and gone for another year. As usual, we were not left disappointed by any stretch of the imagination.

NYAFF is a one-of-a-kind celebration of films from across Asia and the Asian American experience. Each year it showcases films from Japan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, the USA and even Kazakhstan (Sweetie, You Wouldn’t Believe It).

Given the high profile of South Korean cinema right now, it’s no surprise that the festival opened and closed with two blockbuster Korean films: ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU and SINKHOLE. From Hong Kong, the late great Benny Chan’s final film, RAGING FIRE, was given a glorious final bow in a year where LIMBO, TIME and HAND ROLLED CIGARETTE all reminded us of the glory days of HK cinema. Japan’s two major sequels — THE FABLE: THE KILLER WHO DOESN’T KILL and LAST OF THE WOLVES were amazing highlights as well.

So, here’s a deeper look at some of the terrific films we managed to catch at historic 20th edition of NYAFF this year. You can also see the rest of our coverage at our NYAFF 2021 festival hub.

We’d like to thank the NYAFF festival organisers for their generous access to films and materials — and we’re already making plans for a drink to celebrate your 21st birthday next year.

Escape from Mogadishu

The biggest South Korean release of the year is a top-notch action thriller set against not-too-distant history. In January 1991, amidst rising rebellion and the ultimate collapse of Somali President Barre’s government, the South and North Korean embassies find themselves working together to flee the country before the violence escalates further. The aftermath of this event, and broader Somali Civil War, has famously been depicted by Ridley Scott in Black Hawk Down (2001). Although playing out on a small scale, and with a drastically smaller budget, Ryoo skilfully manoeuvres the audience to a bittersweet ending via a breathless series of spectacularly staged action sequences. Read our full review.

Raging Fire

The film world lost Benny Chan last year after a short bout with cancer. His final film — starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse — gets a posthumous release, and it’s as fitting a tribute as any to one of the true heroes of Hong Kong action filmmaking. As the film closes out with footage of Chan at work, coupled with a dedication to the late director, even the most hardened of HK action fans will probably feel a little emotional. This is a film that knows its audience. Read our full review.

The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill

One of those rare instances where the sequel outdoes the original. A standalone sequel that doesn’t require knowledge of the first one, it scarcely mattered that it’s been a couple of years since I’d watched the predecessor and completely forgotten the ending. This time, all the pieces come together quite nicely, and there are at least two large scale set-pieces that are world class. Strong hints at a third outing, so hop aboard the Fable train now. Read our longer review.

Last of the Wolves

The follow-up to The Blood of Wolves, a film that never really got past its stylistic excess. Which is where this sequel tops it in every way. Yes, there’s still a fair bit of blood, but there’s also a wicked driving narrative in this clash of wills. Ryôhei Suzuki adds a dangerous element that genuinely keeps us guessing, and it all comes to a satisfying conclusion in the vein of Infernal Affairs or the Outrage series. Or leaves the door open for even more explorations of this old-school battle without honour or humanity. Read our even more exciting full review.

The Book of Fish

A remarkable and beautifully shot monochrome gem that is equal parts meditative and poetic. Two central performances carry this, but the supporting cast is charming and effective. While there are some specific cultural touchstones here, they are not really a barrier to entry. Read our full review.

The Silent Forest

A Taiwanese film about sexual abuse in a school for hearing impaired kids is exactly as emotionally harrowing as you’d imagine. The cast of excellent young actors, and a refusal to provide us with all the solutions, really makes this piece on the cyclical nature of abuse engaging and memorable. Read our complete review.

A Balance

An intriguingly multi-layered narrative, and arguably too multi-layered. Lots of strands that touch on some real and still unresolved issues in Japanese society (and beyond) – trial by media, sexual assault, abortion laws – but even in the slightly long running time they don’t get fully addressed. Part of me wants to recut that ending with the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music. Read our full review.

Limbo

Cheang Soi’s Limbo is a throwback Category III Hong Kong thriller that may not always feel cohesive, but with the stark black and white photography, it’s never anything less than stylish. The action climax, in which our hero fights the killer in the rain, is a relentless showdown that should rightfully be praised as one of the greats. In fact, this goes for all of the action and set-pieces peppered throughout. Read our full review.

Time

This might be Ricky Ko’s debut feature, but in every other way it’s got the look and feel of a throwback to Hong Kong’s past cinema greats — not least of which is the 84-year-old former matinee idol Patrick Tse. He plays a killer for hire who now takes on euthanasia cases. Sometimes an odd blend of tones, but ultimately the core performances and the slick action carries this ‘grandpa assassin with a heart of gold’ through to the end. Read the full review.

Fighter

A solid character study about a North Korean refugee who finds an outlet through boxing. Yun Jéro’s film avoids some of this minefield of issues by focusing less on ideological differences and more on a general feeling of societal disconnection. Read our full review.

Sinkhole

This blockbuster film may begin with a light-hearted tone, but seamlessly transitions into a disaster movie that manages to keep the comedy coming as regularly as the dramatic twists. It’s already the fastest film to pass one million viewers in South Korea this year, marking it as late contender for one of the highest grossing Korean films of the year — so make sure you jump in and see this before the inevitable Hollywood remake. Read our full review.

Hand Rolled Cigarette

A slick debut continues the the revival of Hong Kong cinema in this beautifully shot thriller. Although ultimately losing the top prize to Taiwan’s My Missing Valentine, the seven nominations at the 57th Golden Horse Awards mark director Chan as a voice to watch. Read our full review.

Under the Open Sky

As a character study, this works incredibly well. Koji Yakusho once again finds himself on the wrong side of the law in this exploration of institutionalisation resulting from long-term imprisonment. He’s excellent in the role, bringing a world weariness and hair-trigger anger that never feels anything less than genuine. Some of the more plot-driven elements let it down in the back third – including a conclusion (that I won’t spoil here) that felt like one step too much – but it’s generally an admirable outing.

Blue

There’s something about NYAFF and boxing films (see also: One Second Champion) that keeps drawing me back in. This is a solid character piece thanks to the three charismatic leads, each damaged in their own way and looking to boxing for answers. What I particularly like is that despite some of the boxing movie tropes it falls back on, it refuses to offer any easy solutions by the end.

Tiong Bahru Social Club

First things first: the film is gorgeous visually. A fun skewering of the algorithmically dominated social media landscape played out IRL. The illusion of choice and the myth of happiness are explored in a lighthearted way, but like actual social media what really brings this all together is an adorable kitty.

Junk Head

Like the earlier editions that this builds upon, one has to salute Takahide Hori for the amazing effort that has gone into the stop-motion/CG blend here. With an aesthetic that sits at the exact intersection of Despicable Me and a Tool music video, the painstaking level of detail found in every frame of this film is nothing short of phenomenal. While the character designs and creature revelations are often ingeniously crafted, long stretches of the film are simply figures chasing each other around corridors. Read our full review.

One Second Champion

Follows the low-key adventures of a downtrodden dad gifted with the ability to see one second into the future. An interesting light wibbly time premise that, like the titular champion, never really finds a good use for the concept. When it does just become a straight boxing film, it works quite well – complete with its own handful of Rocky moments.

Midnight

In the grand tradition of Hush or Wait Until Dark, a woman with a hearing impairment becomes the target of a serial killer. That’s the premise of Kwon Oh-Seung’s debut film, one that draws inspiration from Korea’s own I Saw the Devil and through to overt references to The Shining. A sensory thriller with a solid cast will keep you on edge with a few clever tricks up its sleeve. Read our full review.

Ninja Girl

An odd little premise that never quite gets up off the ground, but like the titular character, quietly sneaks up behind you and works its way into your conscience. The chaotic ending is a barrel of fun as well, with the film living up to the title and giving our diminutive hero a minor victory. Read our full review.

As We Like It

A near-future spin on Shakespeare continues to play with gender roles, but gets a little lost in their exits and their entrances. Given Taiwan’s broader attitudes to LGBTQI+ issues have only recently progressed, AS WE LIKE IT may seem like a quantum leap. (Especially when compared with last year’s The Gangs, the Oscars and the Walking Dead). Yet as this chaotic, cheeky and often undergraduate collage of influences rolls into its statement denouement, one can’t help thinking what a bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes. Read our full review.

August 23, 2021
IFFR 2021: Asia in Focus at the June edition

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is back for a second round of fine films and moving pictures.

You may recall that this year’s IFFR is a hybrid affair. After the successful online offerings in February, which we covered in detail at the time, they have returned with a new selection for the European summer. In the first half, films like Sode Yukiko’s Aristocrats, Queena Li’s Bipolar and Taiki Sakpisit’s The Edge of Daybreak were highlights in our Asia in Focus coverage. The second part is going to be even bigger.

As we lament the loss of the Sydney Film Festival and Cannes from the May/June schedule, IFFR fills in the gaps nicely. Films from Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are represented across the program, with almost two dozen films relevant to our geographic focus right here.

For a full program and screening details, check out the official festival site.

UPDATED: 19 May 2021 – Added newly announced films including Closing Night offering.

Japan

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8
Dir: Shunji Iwai

Shunji Iwai will forever have a place in our hearts thanks to 1993’s Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? The prolific filmmaker has most recently made separate Chinese and Japanese versions of Last Letter, a film based on his own novel. Originally conceived as a 12-part internet series, this brilliantly titled film stars model/actor/director Saitō Takumi (playing himself) who cultivates three tiny capsule kaijū — Avigan, Remdesivir and Ivermectin — to fight Covid.

Ayako Tachibana Wants to Go Viral
Dir: Sato Amane

Following the Kaidan Shin Mimi Bukuro G-Men series and Shiorinoinmu (2019) — the Grand Prix winner at the Hidden Treasures of Horror festival — Sato Amane’s latest offering sounds fascinating. Described as a “quirky satire on YouTuber mores,” it starts as a spin on the pinku eiga (erotic films) era before turning into horror territory. Sounds like a must-see to us.

Battle Royale
Dir: Fukasaku Kinji

Before Hunger Games and The Hunt, there was Japan’s genre-making spin on the survival genre that’s as iconic as it is bloody. Now 21 years old, this film can legally drink in more places around the world.

Black Cat
Dir: Tanaami Keiichi

One of several classic picks in the line-up, this 1972 short animated film by Keiichi Tanaami features the slinky song ‘Fushiawase to Iu Na no Neko‘ (‘A Cat Called Happiness’) by Maki Asakawa.

The Blue Danube
Dir: Ikeda Akira

Named after the famous Strauss waltz, the Japan Times described this as a film about “finding levity in the drudgery of war.” Concerning a fictional town at a long-term war with the neighbouring village, it’s the fourth film from director Ikeda (Anatomy of a Paper Clip).

Cinephilia Now: Part 1 – Secrets Within Walls
Dir: Sasaki Yusuke

Upon taking up a job in the Tottori, filmmaker Sasaki Yusuke was disappointed to find it only had one cinema. This was, after all, the historic location of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s seminal New Wave film Woman in the Dunes. Yet in place cinemas he finds a network of small exhibitors, collectors and enthusiasts who keep cinema alive in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. So, if you love cinema — and chances are pretty good if you are reading this — then here’s the documentary for you.

MINAMATA Mandala
Dir: Hara Kazuo

Legendary documentarian Hara Kazuo, whose 1987 film The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is on just about every list of essential Japanese films, has not been known for short films of late. His last film, Reiwa Uprising (2019), was a chunky 248 mins. Now this latest film, shot over fifteen years, is a 372 minute examination of the legal battles between the citizens of Minamata and a a chemical factory that caused an outbreak of severe mercury poisoning sixty years ago. It’s a spiritual sequel to the works of the equally recognisable documentarian Noriaki Tsuchimoto, including Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971) and The Shiranui Sea (1975).

Poupelle of Chimney Town
Dir: Hirota Yusuke

The debut film of Hirota, the CGI director for Beyond (2003) and Harmony (2015), has been selected as the Closing Night film of IFFR 2021. It take place in a kind of Steampunk town covered by perpetual chimney ash. Everyone has given up hope of ever seeing the sky, except for Bruno the Tailor. When he disappears, his lonely son meets Poupelle, a benign monster made of garbage, and the adventure begins.

Sea Palace
Dir: Kenzō Masaoka

Kenzō Masaoka is one of Japan’s most important names in its illustruous animation history. The first to use cel animation and recorded sound in anime, he’s known for films such as The World of Power and Women (1933) and Spider and Tulip (1943), which is arguably his most famous work. Yet before he got there, there was this very early short: a live-action featurette full of special effects that was thought lost until this restoration.

Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo
Dir: Sadao Yamanaka

IFFR’s Japanese selection is rounded out with another classic from Tange Sazen series of films. Starring Denjirō Ōkōchi (A Diary of Chuji’s Travels), this 1935 film deals with the comedic misadventures of a pot which unwittingly changes several hands with a treasure map inside. It’s widely considered to be the best of the series. Two years after this film was released, Sadao Yamanaka would make his masterpiece, Humanity and Paper Balloons.

China

200 Cigarettes from Now
Dir: Tianyu Ma

It seems that Risa Bramon Garcia’s 1999 movie is not the only one to use this many cigarettes as a measurement of time. Tianyu Ma’s thesis film reflects her own experiences as an Asian-American woman as this mid-length film follows Xia and her best friend Jie as these creative ex-pats lounge about in their Boston apartment.

The Day Is Over
Dir: Qi Ri

“Almost too elegantly written to be a debut,” says the IFFR. “Yet it is all that.” After winning best Chinese-language film in the Firebird Young Cinema competition at the Hong Kong International Film Festival last month — playing alonside the award-winning Summer Blur — Qi Rui’s film comes with some massive expectations. A youthful road trip across country sounds like the antithesis of Daigo Matsui material, especially with words like “gothic” and “moralist” bandied about in equal measure.

A Song for You
Dir: Dukar Tserang

Dukar Tserang is described on at least one official bio as “a notorious Tibetan independent director of movies and documentaries,” which is about as good as someone’s calling card can get. This light-hearted road movie follows musician Ngawang (Damtin Tserang) as he journeys from the nomadic Tibetan plateau to the city and beyond for his shot at recording an album.

The Old Child
Dir: Felipe Esparza Pérez

This short film takes inspiration from Philosopher Zhuang Zi’s famous dream of being a butterfly, and waking up unsure of whether he was a actually a butterfly dreaming he was a man. In this contemporary spin, Perùvian born filmmaker Felipe Esparza Pérez uses VR to tackle the same existential questions.

Hong Kong

Decameron
Dir: Rita Hui Nga Shu

A number of documentaries and feature films have tried to give snapshots of Hong Kong is at this moment in history, including last year’s Hong Kong Moments. Rita Hui Nga Shu’s video essay examines the country in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, years of protests against the Chinese government and an uncertain future.

Keep Rolling
Dir: Man Lim-chung

With around 30 features to her name, Ann Hui is as much a staple of Hong Kong cinema as the country itself. This documentary chronicling her life and films comes to us from debut filmmaker, and longtime collaborator, Man Lim-chung. The reviews say that this is amazing so we can’t wait to see it at IFFR this year.

Time
Dir: Ricky Ko

This might be Ricky Ko’s debut feature, but in every other way it’s got the look and feel of a throwback to Hong Kong’s past cinema greats — not least of which is the 84-year-old former matinee idol Patrick Tse. He plays a killer for hire who now takes on euthanasia cases. It sounds like this could be a dark cult classic in the making.

Malaysia

The Song of Southern Islet
Dir: Chong Keat Aun

The winner of Best New Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at Golden Horse Film Festival, Chong Keat Aun’s feature is the lone Malaysian entry at IFFR 2021. Set in 1987, this beautifully shot film is inspired by the filmmaker’s childhood.

Philippines

Fan Girl
Dir: Antoinette Jadaone

Antoinette Jadaone continues her metafictional explorations by asking what happens when a teenager meets the actor who is the object of her desires? Paulo Avelino plays a sinister version of himself in a film that is sure to resonate with a legion of online fandom. Not to be confused with Fangirls, the Australian musical.

Singapore

Faraway My Shadow Wandered
Dir: Liao Jiekai, Sudhee Liao

A co-production across Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan, filmmaker Jiekai Liao teams with choreographer and independent dance artist (and debut filmmaker) Sudhee Liao for a hybrid documentary at the intersection of dance, photography and film.

Mat Magic
Dir: Mat Sentol, John Calvert IFFR 2021

Another film playing as part of the Cinema Regained strand, this 1971 film is described by the programmers as “certainly the silliest film at IFFR 2021.” It sees Sentol play a bumpkin who promises to perform magic, but thankfully runs into magician-actor John Calvert who performs for him. “You have never seen anything like this!” adds IFFR in one of the biggest calls of the year.

South Korea

Homeless
Dir: Lim Seung-hyeun

According to a recent study, despite Seoul’s success in reducing homelessness overall by 20 per cent since 2014, “the average period of homelessness in Seoul remains high at 11.2 years.” Indeed, the Academy Award winning Parasite looked at the class strife in the country. Director Lim reflects on his own time as a child growing up in saunas by following a pair of parents who care for their baby in a similar fashion. Great to see some more social drama coming out of South Korea.

Self-portrait 2020
Dir: Lee Dongwoo

Acting as a kind of companion piece to the film above, Lee Dongwoo explores homelessness after an encounter with a homeless man on the streets of Jongno district in Seoul. The man turns out to be Lee Sang-yeol, a filmmaker whose short film, Self-portrait 2000 toured film festivals two decades earlier. Now homeless, alcoholic, and bipolar, Lee Dongwoo starts a new project with his new friend while exploring the social issues in the nation’s capital.

Modern Korea – Doing Our Best the People’s Network
Dir: Jisun Youm

One of several episodes of Modern Korea directed by Jisun Youm, the national broadcaster KBS uses archive-footage to critically examine their own history in this documentary. Of particular interest is their look at their involvement with the military dictatorship from 1963 to 1972.

Thailand

Underground Cemetery
Dir: Wisarut Sriputsomboon

Thailand’s sole entry in the second half of IFFR — following the powerful The Edge of Daybreak and memorable Lemongrass Girl in the first half — is a short film from Wisarut Sriputsomboon. It concerns Thong-Yu discovering that his house is about to collapse, leading to what the festival describes as a “sarcastic reflection on karma, guilt and Thailand’s political climate.”

May 14, 2021
Review: Vị (Taste)

“Conceived as a counterpoint and a complement to Competition, says Berlinale of their program strand, “Encounters is a competitive section devoted to new cinematic visions.” If ever there was a film that fit that description perfectly, then it’s Lê Bảo’s VỊ (or Taste).

Conceived and developed under Torino’s FeatureLab, and expanding on an award-winning 2016 short of the same name, it ostensibly follows an unemployed Nigerian footballer Bassley (Olegunleko Ezekiel Gbenga) who moves in with four women in Ho Chi Minh City following termination from his team.

Initially playing entirely without dialogue, we follow Bassley through barber shops, alleys and warehouses. He and the women perform massages on each other, eat food, watch television, lay in bunkers, have sex and, on the more absurdist end of the scale, wash a pig in a river and make giant hot air balloons. All of this seems to be happening in isolation of the rest of the world, with the implication that they rarely if ever go outside, creating objects for a social strata they cannot be a part of. “I have never seen a hot air balloon I made floating in the sky,” comments one woman.

Image © E&W Films, Le Bien Pictures, Deuxième Ligne Films, Petit Film, Senator Film Produktion

Structured more like a installation piece or something you might find in the Forum Expanded section of the festival, it almost feels like the kind of film you can wander in and out of and absorb in dreamlike snatches. At one point they bring in a giant swordfish, confirming that there are external influences. In other scenes, we slowly get information about Bassley’s family. “I have a son in Nigeria, a child of my loins,” he pragmatically laments. “That is why I work.”

Lê Bảo’s film is a work of abstraction, and it doesn’t have to all make literal sense, but he scatters enough nuggets throughout so there is at least something for every viewer to hook into. Gorgeously photographed by Vinh Phúc Nguyễn in a widescreen ratio, the measured pace of the film allows us to linger on moments.

Perhaps the most powerful of these images is the simplest: the players gathered around a tiny window trying to catch a glimpse of the wider world. VỊ could be seen as a commentary on colonialism, and some have even suggested the isolation that comes from globalisation. Over the last year, these issues have come back to the forefront of discourse, and Lê Bảo is unquestionably an artist who has a unique point of view on the topics.

2021 | Vietnam / Singapore / France / Thailand / Germany / Taiwan | DIRECTOR: Lê Bảo | WRITER: Lê Bảo | CAST: Olegunleko Ezekiel Gbenga, Thi Minh Nga Khuong, Thi Dung Le, Thi Cam Xuan Nguyen, Thi Tham Thin Vu | DISTRIBUTOR: Wild Bunch International, Berlinale 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1-5 March 2021 (GER)

March 10, 2021
Berlinale 2021: Asia in Focus at the Berlin International Film Festival

The 71st edition of the Internationale Filmfestspiele in Berlin is almost upon us. With new offerings from Céline Sciamma to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut, it’s going to be massive – and partly online.

Running in hybrid mode — online in March (1-5) for press and industry and selected cinemas in June (9-20) for the general public — there’s over 130 new films, almost two dozen shorts and a retrospective of Mae West, Rosalind Russell and Carole Lombard films of 1930s and 40s. Swell!

As is our tradition at The Reel Bits, here’s a collection of Asian cinema that Berlinale ’71 is highlighting in 2021. Films from Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam are represented across the Competition, Berlinale Special, Forum, Panorama, Generation, Encounters and shorts selections.

For a full program and screening details, check out the official festival site. We look forward to covering the festival this year.

Competition

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Japan, Dir: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

A filmmaker practically made for festivals, from the 5-hour long Happy Hour (2016) to Asako I & II (2018). A kind of anthology containing three stories in one, he follows similar themes to his earlier films by following the intersecting lives and coincidences of women in love. This just shot to one of our most anticipated films for 2021.

Introduction (Inteurodeoksyeon)

South Korea, Dir: Hong Sang-soo

Recent international law has indicated that Hong Sang-soo must have a new film ready for every festival season. Partly shot in Berlin, the logline says something about a young man trying to find his way. This is starting to sound familiar! Cue Kim Minhee, alongside Shin Seokho, Park Miso, and other regular collaborators like Gi Ju-bong.

Berlinale Special

Limbo

Hong Kong, Dir: Cheang Soi

This thriller, based on the novel Wisdom Tooth by China’s Lei Mi, stars Gordon Lam, Cya Liu, Mason Lee and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi. The director of the Monkey King series and SPL II has a cult following and we know from behind the scenes footage that this has at least one trash-based fight sequence. Count us in. In fact, this one has already been sold for international release in 2021.

Encounters

Vị (Taste)

Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, France, Germany, Dir: Lê Bảo

The Encounters section of the program aims to showcase previously unseen parts of the world. This seems to fit that bill perfectly. Revisiting the 2016 short of the same name, it follows an unemployed Nigerian footballer who moves in with four women in Ho Chi Minh City and creates an unsustainable world of their own. It participated in FeatureLab 2017.

Berlinale Shorts

Les Attendants

France/Singapore, Dir: Truong Minh Quý

Also known as The Men Who Wait, Truong Minh Quý follows his sci-fi documentary feature The Tree House with this short. Set on a slag heap, it stars Gérard Thomas, Jean-François Geneste, and Souleymane Sanogo as some of the men who are apparently waiting.

Day is Done

China, Dir: Zhang Dalei

One of the shorts that covers the festival theme of longing to be understood, it also serves as a kind of follow-up to The Summer is Gone. Mubi also describes it as a “commercial commissioned by FIRST film festival and LEXUS company.” Zhang has in turn described this as trying to “interpret a car’s driving texture in film language.” So, the themes of understanding and the urge to buy an expensive car.

Panorama

A Balance (由宇子の天秤)

Japan, Dir: Yujiro Harumoto

Following 2016’s Going the Distance, this film focuses on documentary director Yuko (It Feels So Good‘s Kumi Takiuchi) as she investigates an incident of school violence several years before that resulted in a suicide. She soon finds herself more deeply connected than she first realised. One of several recent Japanese films dealing with bullying and school violence, this one debuted at Busan last year where it was described as “a film which sets out to hold the media to account.”

Forum/Expanded

Come Here (Jai jumlong)

Thailand, Anocha Suwichakornpong

Following By the Time it Gets Dark and Mundane History, Suwichakornpong brings her third feature to Berlin for its world premiere. It sees a group of actor friends on a road trip to a raft house, with a parallel narrative about another woman who finds herself alone in the middle of the forest after her friend goes missing.

The red filter is withdrawn

(레드필터가 철회됩니다)

South Korea, Dir: Minjung Kim

Notions of colonialism infuse this short film, one that is based on René Magritte’s La condition humaine. It captures landscapes of caves and bunkers in Jeju Island and contains quotes from Hollis Frampton’s A Lecture performance script.

Ploy

Thailand/Singapore, Dir: Prapat Jiwarangsan

Described by the director as their first “medium length film,” PLOY makes its debut in Berlin in the Forum Expanded section. From the director’s statement: “In the film, I used a diary of a Thai migrant worker who lived in Singapore as a starting point to explore the relationship between migrant workers and Singapore landscape.”

Generation

Fighter

South Korea, Dir: Jéro Yun

Documentarian and narrative feature filmmaker Jéro Yun follows films like Beautiful Days and Mrs. B, a North Korean Woman with another story of a North Korean defector trying to restart her life. Jin-ah (played by Full Moon‘s Lim Sung-mi) begins work as a cleaner in a boxing dojo before finding herself at a crossroads.

Summer Blur (汉南夏日)

China, Dir: Han Shuai

Following its debut at Busan, this emotional coming-of-age film has been compared with Celine Sciamma’s Water Lillies. Han Shuai’s debut was filmed in Wuhan during the then-emerging pandemic, the film unfolds from a girl traumatised by witnessing a boy drowning and the pressures of dating another boy shortly after.

Short Vacation (종착역)

South Korea, Dir: Kwon Min-pyo, Seo Hansol

Another coming-of-age tale, it follows four high school girls given a photography project to take photos of the ‘end of the world.’ They take this to mean Sinchang Station, the last station on Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1. With the description throwing up thematic shades of Daigo Matsui (Our Huff and Puff Journey comes to mind), the directing pair of Kwon Min-pyo and Seo Hansol deliver a story about strong women on the cusp of adulthood.

Last Days at Sea

Philippines/Taiwan, Dir: Venice Atienza

The Filipino film narrates the story of twelve-year-old Reyboy leaving his village, and traces his last days at home. “The film is an impossible pause of life,” comments Atienza in a statement. “It is an attempt to keep the last moments of a boy’s childhood — to celebrate this beauty before it is left behind in search for a better future.”

February 18, 2021
Review: Wet Season

Anthony Chen’s second feature may be called WET SEASON (热带雨), but in weather terms its more like the seasonal build-up. Filled with slow-burning tension, one where you always feel like you’re on the cusp of something, it almost never catches fire. After all, embers get notoriously damp in the rain.

The Singaporean drama is, at its core, a coming of age drama about the relationship between school teacher Ling (Yeo Yann Yann) and secondary student Kok Wei Lun (Koh Jia Ler). While there is an inevitability to their interactions, Chen’s understated film is all about character, mood and setting.

That setting, as the title would imply, is a frequently rain-soaked one. This leads to an incredibly claustrophobic feeling in the first half of the film. Ling’s drives back and forth between work and home are often filled with her anixety as glimpsed through a raindrop streaked windshield. Her tense relationship with her husband Andrew (Christopher Lee) is built around their struggles to conceive a child. She’s also taken on the burden of caring for her bed-ridden father-in-law.

While there’s a pervading feeling that we know exactly how this is all going to turn out, it’s to Chen’s credit that the film doesn’t go there as rapidly as one would expect. Chen’s pacing is so measured that the film appears to be an aimless series of transitions at times. When the dam bursts, in a scene that’s appropriately uncomfortable to watch, it feels more like a sad inevitability than anything titillating or climactic.

What makes WET SEASON worth sticking around for is the Golden Horse Award-winning performance of Yeo Yann Yann. She’s difficult to read at first, and we ponder whether her closeness to the boy is one of misplaced maternalism or something else. Yet as Wei Lun becomes more irrational, possessive and inappropriate, we see a strength emerging in Ling that becomes the backbone of the film.

The bittersweet ending is almost a step too far, even if it does finally leave Ling in a place of empowerment. Here we come to the realisation that the film has not strictly been about a teacher-student relationship at all, and that the coming-of-age aspects are more about one’s late 30s than late teens. One suspects that this perspective would add a great deal to a second viewing, although Chen asks a fair bit of us for this minor payoff.

2019 | Singapore | DIRECTOR: Anthony Chen | WRITER: Anthony Chen | CAST: Yeo Yann Yann, Koh Jia Ler, Christopher Lee | DISTRIBUTOR: MIFF 2020 (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-23 August 2020 (MIFF)

Read more coverage of Singaporean cinema from the silent era to festivals and other contemporary releases. Plus go beyond Singapore with more film from Asia in Focus.

August 17, 2020
Review: A Family Tour

Director Ying Liang’s 2012 film When Night Falls, loosely based on the real-life case of a Chinese man who killed six policemen after he was harassed by them, resulted in Liang’s own threats of arrest by Chinese authorities upon its release. In A FAMILY TOUR (自由行), Ying fictionalises his own exile in a very personal narrative.

Ying projects himself onto filmmaker Yang Shu (portrayed by Chan Wai), who has also been exiled to Hong Kong following the release of a subversive film five years earlier. Separated from her mother Chen Xialon (Gong Zhe), she travels with her husband to Taiwan for a complicated reunion. As the ailing Chen Xialon can only travel under the watchful eyes of an organised tour, Yang Shu must steal moments with her mother as they make pit-stops along the way.

Adapting his own short film I Have Nothing To Say into a feature, with his wife Peng Shan and novelist Chan Wai as co-writers, Ying’s six years of living in Hong Kong gives him an outsiders perspective on the bureaucratic system. As someone says of his fictionalised proxy, “You haven’t been an ordinary Chinese daughter for a long time.”

Nai An (Girls Always Happy) is excellent as the exhausted Yang Shu, carrying the anxiety of not being in her home while being admired as a filmmaker abroad. Yet it’s Gong Zhe (Trouble Makers) as her ailing mother who quietly commands every scene that she is in. The most revealing moments between the two of them come from what is not being said, as their brief snatches of interaction expose some of the assumed resentment that has underlined their shared trauma. Towards the end of the film, there’s a moment where they sit together in a tour bus, a powerful moment where this subtext becomes tangible.

Filled with long takes, something that is winkingly referenced by a cab driver in the film, the measured pace of the film allows for an intimacy rarely seen in a family drama. Although much shorter than some of its contemporaries, it follows the trend of “slow cinema” by allowing audiences to soak in every one of cinematographer Otsuka Ryuji’s (The Foolish Bird) shots.

Playing within the context of a film festival, as will be the case with most viewings of this film, the act of watching a film can be as much of a political act as making one. Indeed, speaking to the disappearance of indie film festivals in China, Yang Shu carries the bags and ephemera of long defunct events and festivals. Referencing the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement – and at the time of writing, political protests in Hong Kong are playing out as mass airport sit-ins – A FAMILY TOUR shows that sometimes the very act of maintaining a family can be political statement.

2018 | Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia| DIR: Ying Liang | WRITER: Chan Wai, Ying Liang | CAST: An Nai, Pete Teo, Xin Yue Tham, Zhe Gong | DISTRIBUTOR: Golden Scene Company (World Sales), Melbourne International Film Festival (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1 – 18 August 2019 (AUS)

August 14, 2019
Review: Ramen Shop

The title of Eric Khoo’s RAMEN SHOP (ラーメン・テー or Ramen Teh) instantly immerses viewers in the rich history of foodie dramas that dominate Japanese popular culture. Just look at the fine selection of “gurume doramas” (gourmet dramas) that populates Netflix at the moment, from Samurai Gourmet to Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories. Of course, Juzo Itami’s Tampopo* is synonymous with modern Japanese cinema, and from the food porn close-ups of Khoo’s opening sequence, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were right back in that territory.

Khoo uses food in this films as a means to bridge an inter-generational and international divide. Ramen chef Masato (Takumi Saito, Blank 13), born to a Japanese father and a Singaporean mother, decides to return to his mother’s homeland following his father’s (Tsuyoshi Ihara) death. The latter was emotionally distant following the death of Masato’s mother. With both of his parents gone, Masato takes a culinary journey to Lion City in Singapore to reconnect with a lost side of the family.

Known for being one of the leading voices in the revival of Singaporean cinema, you’d be forgiven for doing a double-take over his inclusion in the Japanese Film Festival this year. Yet Khoo’s outlook is as international as his CV, and there’s a tangible connection between this film and his 2011 manga adaptation Tatsumi, along with the more food-focused ventures of Mee Pok Man and documentary Wanton Mee. Here the simple bowls of hearty broth serves as both a connection to the past and a healing balm between disaffected generations.

Masato’s ostensible guide on this journey is food blogger Miki (Seiko Matsuda), and there are moments in their conversations that feel like a Food Network travelogue. Yet Khoo’s narrative goes much deeper than the food itself, peppered with flashbacks to his parents’ courtship. Through this, Masato also explores the atrocities of Japanese war crimes and a grief cycle over half a century old. This subplot is somewhat simplistically presented, as Masato reunites with his Uncle Wee (Mark Lee/Lee Kok Huang) and estranged grandmother via a diary his mother left behind.

The final few scenes do a deep-dive into emotional manipulation. While these moments may result in a few tears being shed, they are also very consciously constructed around some well-worn tropes. There’s even a thumbs-up smile that could have stepped straight out of the opening credits of a 1980s sitcom. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of substance in this dish, one that says more about commonalities than it does about differences. Just don’t watch this film on an empty stomach.

*Also playing at the Japanese Film Festival in 2018 in a lovingly restored 4K edition.

[stextbox id=”grey” bgcolor=”F2F2F2″ mleft=”5″ mright=”5″ image=”null”]2018 | Japan, Singapore, France | DIR: Eric Khoo | WRITERS: Eric Khoo | CAST: Takumi Saito, Seiko Matsuda, Mark Lee, Tsuyoshi Ihara | DISTRIBUTOR: Elephant House (JPN), Japanese Film Festival (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes | RELEASE DATE: October – December 2017 (JFF) [/stextbox]

November 16, 2018
Melbourne International Film Festival: 31 July 2011

Bleary-eyed filmgoers across Melbourne woke up on a Sunday to find another great selection of films at the 60th Melbourne International Film Festival to satiate their never-ending lust for celluloid. Some of the best festival buzz came around Page One: Inside the New York Times and the “must see” Martha Marcy May Marlene which, unsurprisingly, completely divided the Twitterverse on the merits of its slow-burning narrative. The highly anticipated The Turin Horse had a few technical snafus, including incorrect projection and reported instances of the house-lights strobing for the last part of the film. Not a great way to witness the end of existence. Meanwhile, another post-apocalyptic film, Korea’s End of Animal, also had an unintentionally popping soundtrack, indicating that the end of times is not something we are meant to experience smoothly. Yet isn’t that what we love about cinema: the warts-and-all imperfections of watching light and shadow flicker on a screen in a darkened room?

Tatsumi

There are a handful of Japanese manga artists that have elevated the medium into something beyond its original intention, and as we are reminded in the opening narrative, Osamu Tezuka is one of those figures. Yet while Tatsumi is undoubtedly meant to evoke his presence, the autobiographical showcase of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work is also something else entirely. Largely credited with creating the gekiga style of alternative comics for adults, the film is unabashed in its love for the medium. At the time of their writing, Tatsumi’s works were controversial, groundbreaking and hard-hitting. Eric Khoo’s feature animation brings to life five tales of post-war Japan framed by narrative segments from the artist himself, and is a completely fresh and original take on the biopic concept. Using Tatsumi’s stories “Hell”, “Beloved Monkey”, “Just a Man”, “Good-Bye” and “Occupied” – along with elements of Tatsumi’s own autobiographical manga A Drifting Life – this Singaporean production, animated in Indonesia with Japanese dialogue, is an engaging and fully immersive trip through memory and experience. In discussing the original autobiography, critic Greg McElhatton commented that “one almost feels at times like this isn’t so much an autobiography but rather a guidebook for time-travelers heading to 1950s Japan”. This is exactly what the animated version of Tatsumi feels like: a capsule of an era preserved perfectly, not simply capturing the aesthetic look and feel of a time, but the cultural and personal experience of actually being there.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]Tatsumi is a fascinating and moving account of one man’s passion and the history of a genre told in visually striking style. [/stextbox]

Tatsumi does not currently have an Australian release date.

Terri

Terri is something of a curiosity.The eponymous 15-year-old small-town student (newcomer Jacob Wysocki) lives with his ill uncle James (Creed Bratton, US TV’s The Office) as he struggles through the day as an overweight pyjama-wearing outcast. The only person who seems to understand him is the school principal Mr. Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly, Cedar Rapids). Terri is like a really slow and awkward version of Napoleon Dynamite, and despite being peppered with some levity, it isn’t exactly uplifting. Indeed, it is difficult to know exactly what it is Terri is trying to say. The performances of teenage isolation and uncertainty, especially from relative unknown child actors, are actually quite good. Yet beyond setting up the world in which Terri inhabits, there is an aimless direction to the narrative which may be totally on trend right now, and accurately represent the headspace of the characters, but it doesn’t make for fascinating viewing either. Reilly provides some decent servings of mirth throughout the film, reminding us of the comic-serious roles he took on earlier in his career before the run of forgettable Will Ferrell-style comedies that have followed a generic path.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]Not sweet enough to be uplifting, nor is it funny enough to be considered a comedy, Terri is a anomaly in a category all of its own, although it just might not be a category that will take off. [/stextbox]

Terri does not currently have an Australian release date.

End of Animal

Never has the end of the world looked as grim as it does in Jo Sung-Hee’s debut feature, End of Animal (짐승의 끝). A bleak and often oppressive view of the end of times, but a mesmerising and gripping one as well. As Sun-Yeong (Lee Min-Ji) heads to her hometown to give birth in a cab, she is joined by a mysterious man in a baseball cap (Park Hae-Il, A Million). He seems to have an uncanny knowledge of their personal lives, and predicts that all electrical equipment will cease to function shortly. This comes true in a blinding flash of light, and a handful of people are left wandering around the remote Korean countryside looking for a roadside rest-station. Equal parts Cormac McMarthy’s The Road and The Bible, End of Animal begins as a mystery to be solved: what has happened? Who is the mysterious man? Who is the father of Sun-Yeong’s child? The answer to the latter may be where the deeper meaning of the film can be found, but like all good road movies, the enjoyment is in the journey. Yet like a nightmare, the players continue to travel but their ultimate destination eludes them. A microcosm of the world can be found in the handful of people that populate the minimalist locations, and if this is some kind of nativity play by way of 21st century Korea, it is not one written by the voice of a god expecting his first born child. It is a dark, uncaring and vengeful deity that is working to an agenda humans, in their ties to physical needs, will never understand.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]End of Animal is a bleak and intriguing post-apocalyptic nightmare that paints god as a bit of a dick. A strong contender for best in fest.[/stextbox]

End of Animal does not currently have an Australian release date.

The Melbourne International Film Festival continues until August 7, 2011.

For more news and reviews from the Melbourne International Film Festival, keep checking The Reel Bits over the next two weeks.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter@DVDBits. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits

August 1, 2011