somewhere along the line, this happened

click to enlarge
taiwan, so much to answer for...

Turning Japanese

i so did not want to be that guy. you know the one. the manga-readin-anime-watching-hentai-jerkin otaku. i know i was halfway there with my robot lovin, but i was always able to limit myself in my mind to transforming robots, which mercifully kept things on the sane side (although my toy closet begs to differ). but here i am now. after visitng tokyo, jizzing my pants here and now listening to music from anime,
my transformation is complete. see you suckers at the ny anime festival

Shanghai Miss

Last night i watched david ren's "shanghai kiss" at the imaginasian theatre. i have been hearing about this movie for years, but as with all asian american films i approach it with trepidation. in theory, i believe that there is validity in the idea of supporting asian american filmmakers, but at the same i do not believe in elevating bad art just because the creator looks like me. Personally, i think the best way to support asian american film is to push good filmmakers no matter their subject matter, and to ignore the bad ones. the goal should be to be the best filmaker, not the best asian american filmmaker. So, in the case of first time filmmakers, you never know what youre going to get.

the film, despite the ridiculous cover art of the dvd, is not about hayden panetierre, but in fact is centered around liam liu, played by ken leung. Ken Leung's face has been everywhere, but his most high profile roles have been in xmen3 and a celebrated role on an episode of the sopranos. but i first noticed him in spike lee's forgotten "sucka free city" a slightly muddled tv movie he made as a pilot for showtime i believe. he really shines in this movie. half of it is the writing, which is admittedly sharp in its dialogue. the problems arise however in plot and structure. the story unfolds for the most part unfussily, but often in inelegant directions, so its a mixed bag. i could see what mr ren was trying to say and do in his movie, but wished he had the maturity or the wisdom to express them more deftly. also, outside of ken leung's role, all the other characters are paper thin.

again, i think alot of that boils down to writer/director david ren's age and inexperience, as it is revealed that hes was 19-21 during the making of this film, so its clear that the character with any sense of reality was the one who resembled him most. however, the most disturbing and distracting part of the film is the love story between hayden panetierre's character and ken leungs, in that her character is a 16 year old and his is pushing 30. this kind of relationship was handled much more deftly in woody allen's "manhattan" between woody's character and mariel hemmingway's. but the directors decision to write hayden panetierre's character as having cutesy and infantile affectations did nothing to help cover up the creep factor in their relationship. furthermore, i think one of the fundamentals of handling a romance in movies is to make the romantic leads attractive in any way to the audience, and i think the only people who would be attracted to hayden panetierre in this movie are 16 year olds and pedophiles. and since ken leung's chracter is not 16, well then what can you say....

kelly hu however, was quite good in the movie sporting a believeable beijinger accent, but still, her stunning looks clearly place her as an american no matter how fobby you try and deck her out. she did however put in a stellar effort and shows that she is at least more versatile actor than lucy liu, which i know is not saying much...

also not to be overlooked is the asian american blogosphere's current obsession with having asian american male leads, which is fine, but i dont want that to be the main goal of a movie. in a way thats downright embarassing because movies are the province of fantasy and idealised situations, and if the only way i can see a brother hookin up is through some sad dudes power fantasy, then no thanks. thankfully this isnt the case, and the relationships with both white and asian women are handled matter of factly with not alot of time spent on the different races of the love interests, but instead more on the age differences or cultural differences, as in the case of ken and kellys romance.

but at the end of the day, i cant say this is a wholly successful movie, but it is what it is, the work of a budding young director, who although defintiely has a facility with dialogue and actors, needs more life experience to tell a story with wisdom. it seems perfectly at home going straight to dvd, as i am not sure it deserved a theatrical release. get it here if youre so inclined.

cup o noodles

For those who care, the noodles, my favorite japanese rock band who dont seem to speak any english will be swooping through the usa on a short 3 date tour. no matter, their tunes rock! ironically i will be away on a short 4 day tour of tokyo after taiwan so i will miss them. but please, dont miss this opportunity to see them when they pass through your city. heres their myspace. someone pick up a t shirt for me.

Michael Haneke

So in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine was an article on Austrian film director Michael Haneke, who is often lumped in amongst extreme horror directors like takashii miike and park chan-wook for their extreme uses of violence in their films. but in reading the article, a few things intrigued me, mostly the fact for a director known for his shocking tactics, there really is not much on screen violence in his films. most of the violence take place off camera. which made me sort of puzzled as to how shocking it could be. furthermore, i have a weak stomach, and really cannot stand gore, although sometimes in ridiculous hellraiser type horror movies i often crack up at the gore because its so unreal. but if it serves the story well i can usually take it. case in point is apocalypse now and its infamous cow slaughtering denoument which is horrifying and stomach churning to watch and even to this day every time i see it it makes me weak in the knees, mostly because i know it is real. but anyways the article also delves into haneke's philosophical goals of his films which are primarily a critique on western (which by default usually means american) films and media depiction of violence. but the conundrum is can you use more realisitic violent images to critique the effects of unrealistic violent images? or does it just serve to further desenstize audiences?

having these questions in mind, i decided to go rent a haneke film to see what theyre all about. So i went down to my local library, the poor man's netflix, and took out "benny's video". It was quite disturbing but in a completely different way then i expected. First of all tonally it was just quite banal and calm and i think thats what made it all the more unnerving because it created this overall sense of dread over all the proceedings. it was also a much more sophisticated and sensitive and philosophical social critique of the effects of violent images and the fundamental nature of the viewer-media interface than i was expecting. i had been led to believe that his films were much more sensationalistic and titillating but the banality of the evil in the movie makes the violence truly and existentially horrific whereas traditional horror movies offer us the thrills of watching violence without the danger of actually getting hurt. this movie hurts you because when the girl is killed so coldly by benny, its such a surprise and youre as gobsmacked as if you were in the room, and paralyzed by a sense of not knowing what to do in the same situation in life. Secondly, in watching the interview with haneke, he dissects his use of off camera violence, in that in film, the mere act of showing an image creates distance between the reality in the film and the reality of the viewer. but if you dont show it or show it slightly out of the frame while still maintaining the audio, it is much more powerful, because the sound enters your mind and feeds the imaginination which erases all distance between the viewer and the film. this i think is also why movie music works so well to enhance and manipulate emotions in film, as they tickle the reptilian parts of the brain over which there is no conscious control.

anyways it has given me alot to think about and now i have also rented caché with juliet binoche about a family who keeps receiving anonymous disturbing surveilance videos of the family and drawings on its doorsteps every morning. once again it seems like another meditation on the act of recording and its place in modern society as a replacement for actual experiences.

Bloody Simple

So I am finally getting around to watching "Blood Simple" by the Coen Brothers, which stars the young Frances Mcdormand, and I'm realising that she didn't start getting better looking until she got older. I think it has something to do with the lines around her mouth. Or maybe i love MILFs. Or maybe both.

Anyways its alot slower than i expected and less razzle dazzle than the Coen Brothers' other early works...I'm undecided on whetehr i like that or not....I guess i should wait until the end of the movie.....