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Chunhyangdyun (2000)
Pure Beauty !
Im Kwon-taek was already known for being korean best director. His former film "Sopyonje" ("The Pansori's singer", 1993), amongst others, was probably the best proof of his talent. He confirms here with his new film, a pure gem ! Of course, some people (let's hope that they won't be too many !) will never be seized by the film, reluctant to Pansori melodies and tunes. They probably even won't try, their ears "offended" by this rough singing, often panting, sometimes slow-speeded or on the contrary very fast and like breathless. How wrong they will be ! Because Pansori, this traditional korean narrative song sung by only one singer who plays all the different characters of the story, with one drum (the "puk") playing, this song tears hearts and souls of those who accept to give themselves to it...
And when the tale is as a beautiful and romantic one as Chunhyang's, the singer's throaty sounds and the incredibly beautiful pictures fill us with happiness. Im Kwon-taek, great director, moves us not only through the story told by also through his direction. His numerous sequence shots, the natural way he alternates close-up and wonderful purefaces shots on one way and splendid landscapes all drowned in gold and light on the other, spreads poetry in perfect harmony with the story told.
Maybe the plot (social classes differences getting in the way of a love story which is threatened then saved by marital fidelity) doesn't bright by its originality. Asian operas, novels, films are full of that kind of stories. But that's not the important point, after all haven't all stories been already told ? The way to treat those stories makes the real difference and the one Im Kwon-taek gives to Chunhyang's legend shines bright all around ! The korean director leads two young beginners in the lovers' roles. Yi Hyo-jeong, who is the exemplary Chunhyang, is only 17 years old and it was for her, as for her partner Cho Seung-woo, her first film. She brights with sweetness and he shows real nobility.
Mùa hè chieu thang dung (2000)
Beautiful Film
If you have seen and liked very much (as I did) The Green Papaya Fragrance /L'Odeur de la Papaye verte, 1993,(Caméra d'Or at Cannes Festival for the Best First Film, French Academy Award for Best First Film, 1994 and nominated at the Oscars), young French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Huong's first film and big hit (he was born in France after his parents had left Vietnam in the 1970's), you will enjoy A la verticale de l'ete. Even if this third film may be not be seen as perfect as his first one, it nevertheless has a big attractiveness and an often irresistible beauty (his second film, Cyclo, in spite of its Golden Lion Award at Venice Festival, was a critical and commercial flop). In this new film, the director's fascination for food is obvious again. Food as it is and as it must be prepared (more than its ingestion or taste)... Tran Anh Hung sayed in interviews that he tried to let his "female side" speak. He did it well actually. And this achievement gives the three sisters beautiful characters and portraits (in the same way than Mui's, the young then older girl in L'Odeur de la Papaye verte). Let's say right away that the sisters are acted by three excellent and beautiful actresses. The close-ups on their faces, the way Tran shoots Lien's languorous waking-ups and her slow body-stretchings in her brother's bed where she finds herself every morning "without knowing how" or "just because she was cold at night" she says, all those shots are marvellously sensual ! The alternation between contrast and fusion in colour and shades, sometimes pastel and sometimes bright, the music and the songs (some Lou Reed's old classic ballads lulling Lien's waking-ups, and beautiful scores by Ton That Tiet) add to this film's aestheticism. A LA VERTICALE DE L'ETE was first screened at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. A worth seeing film !
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Good Girl !
Let me remind you first that the story and the characters are all true. Erin Brockovich exists and did reveal PG & E' scandal. I'll add that, according to witnesses, the real Erin also used to work dressed in very... revealing clothes ! That is for those who would think that Julia Roberts's incredible uplift cleavage is shown here for no other reason than arousing and holding the viewer's interest... Steven Soderbergh is remembered having won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1989, at the age of 26 years old and for his very first film: "Sex, Lies and Videotape". The hardest was just starting for him: he had now to prove that he deserved it... He had to be seen as a talented director ("Kafka" or "The Limey"), never hesitating to experiment new film genre. With "Erin Brockovich", he fits into the current trend of US "campaigner films". Are 60's and 70's best hours of US political cinema back to the screen ? Let's wait and see a little more before answering (hopefully) "yes"... In the meantime, I have no choice but to call "Erin Brockovich" a real success. Of course, the story alone (true, then) couldn't be enough. It needed an appropriate direction to make the most of it. Soderbergh's one is precise, sober, fluent and well-paced, all rolled into one. He has succeeded in turning a story with no action strictly speaking, at least in hollywoodian sense of the word (no car chase, no guns, no various violence, etc.), into a... sustained action film the viewer never gets bored with. As in front of a film noir or a thriller. The director's work's best parts can be found in the rythm he gave to his film (and who says rythm does not obligatory means high speed...), in an excellent editing, with no particular effects, without any trick. I would even venture to say that Soderbergh tried to make his direction as invisible as glass, in the same way than George Orwell tried to do with his prose. And let's give thanks to Soderbergh for having spared us the recurrent sequences in US cinema: the "trial ones" ! A powerful story, an adequate direction and, of course, great acting. The whole film rests with pretty Julia Roberts. Of course she didn't wait for this film to show her real talents or acting. Hollywood's most expensive star ($20 millions for this film...) had already seduced wild world viewers with various comedies, such as Pretty Woman, Everybody says "I love you", My Best Friend's Wedding or Notting Hill. More seldom she had been seen in good drama, Mary Reilly being almost an exception... In the role of Erin, Julia Roberts glows with her dynamism, her obstinacy and, naturally (well, she's Julia Roberts, after all !) her stunning smile. The clothes she wears (tiny-mini-skirts and high-heeled shoes that make her legs looking endless but also lead to a funny walk, all in addition to her cleavage), the way she talks (more vulgar than glamour) could have done a disservice to her. But, by making her more "human" and closer to the "ordinary people" she defends, by exposing an outward appearance in contrast to the character's pyschology, the result is quite the reverse. At her side, great Albert Finney is perfect and Aaron Eckard brings humanity to his role... A worth seeing film !
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Tough !
A weird and squalid story ? A terrible and true story ! Teena Brandon really existed and lived as Brandon Teena. All is shown in this film is about nothing but truth, Kimberly Peirce (and her co-screen-writer Andy Bienen) invented nothing, only changed Candace's name (actually Lisa Lambert)... Strictly relying on a documentary, "The Brandon Teena Story" (Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir, 1998), the director sticks to Teena Brandon's terrible story to the letter. To such an extent that Lana Tisdel (the real Lana) withdrew the complaint she had lodged against the film (driven to do it by her family, after having helped to the script writing). When she watched the film, she could do nothing but ascertain its accuracy... BOYS DON'T CRY is a sensational film. Some viewers hate it maybe. Those highly disturbed by Teena Brandon's story, those who maybe identify with her/his pathetic persecutors and murderers. A film which clashes with its audience head-on, which leaves it flabbergasted and which is food for thought. We are confronted with one of the worst examples of intolerance and stupidity, with brute savagery Man is sadly able too often. The certainty that there will be no happy end creates a tension which quickly takes hold of the viewer without giving him a break. The final half-hour explodes to our faces, the director doesn't spare us any violence. One may wonder whether Brandon's rape sequence (by John and Brendan), exposed in such full details on the screen, was really necessary or not. Maybe an ellipsis showing only Brandon's swollen face in the vile sheriff's office, forced to tell his/her rape would have been just as well. Maybe, one can argue about that... On the other hand, the sequence in which the two freaks force Brandon (with physical violence again) to expose her real sexual gender is obvious, in spite of the hardly bearable and physical disgust we can feel watching it... Kimberly Peirce's direction (she is a 31 years old young woman) is tremendously effective. Present time shots alternate with past ones, and the unstoppable chain of events is forged forward, shot after shot. The story's bleakness can be seen in the film's tones (a lot of indoor shots and oudoor location night ones) and the director (successfully) tried not to use over-dramatic grandiloquence. Objective truth is the only thing she is interested in. And this one is terrible enough ! It is interesting to note that we don't see Teena Brandon's character, as a liar and thief she is, as particularly pleasant at the beginning of the film. She becomes likeable little by little, actually more we can feel danger growing and more the other characters show us their true faces. She is not an "heroin", only a sad victim. And now, of course, I must talk about the actress' performance. Hillary Swank, 25 years old when the film was shot, hardly noticed in such stupid films as "Buffy, Vampires Killer" or "Miss Karate Kid" (!), worked wonders and deserved the Best Actress Academy Award she won for this role. Her acting perfectly displays Teena/Brandon's enthusiasm for a new life, her naivety in believing that everything will be right, her natural and devastating charm, but also her fragility, her mind's confusion and the uncertainty about her own identity. She becomes very moving in the last thirty minutes, particularly in her relations with Lana. Chloe Sevigny, who is Lana, had unanimous support from critics too and won a Golden Globe. She plays Lana's grunge side with excellence, quite retiring and not very self-confident at the start, physically somewhere between Courtney Love and Madonna. But she slowly changes after her meeting with Brandon, and the love given by the one she believes a boy transforms her into a different girl. And that is all Chloe Sevigny's talent to know how making this low evolution perceptible to us and this character really engaging... The rest of the cast is very good too. Teena Brandon, 21 years old, was murdered on December 30th 1993, as well as her two friends, Lisa Lambert (Candace in the film) and Philip Devine (and not Candace's child). Her two murderers were sentenced, one to Death penalty (by lethal injection), the other one to Life imprisonment... A film not to be missed, in spite of its toughness ! Note 1: The screenplay, refused by US big studios, was eventually shot by an "independant" director, Kimberly Peirce. Note 2: "BOYS DON'T CRY" (traditional English saying) has also something to do with English pop group The Cure's song of the same title, song that can be briefly heard in the film.
Mùa hè chieu thang dung (2000)
Beautiful Film
If you have seen and liked very much (as I did) The Green Papaya Fragrance /L'Odeur de la Papaye verte, 1993,(Caméra d'Or at Cannes Festival for the Best First Film, French Academy Award for Best First Film, 1994 and nominated at the Oscars), young French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Huong's first film and big hit (he was born in France after his parents had left Vietnam in the 1970's), you will enjoy A la verticale de l'ete. Even if this third film may be not be seen as perfect as his first one, it nevertheless has a big attractiveness and an often irresistible beauty (his second film, Cyclo, in spite of its Golden Lion Award at Venice Festival, was a critical and commercial flop). In this new film, the director's fascination for food is obvious again. Food as it is and as it must be prepared (more than its ingestion or taste)... Tran Anh Hung sayed in interviews that he tried to let his "female side" speak. He did it well actually. And this achievement gives the three sisters beautiful characters and portraits (in the same way than Mui's, the young then older girl in L'Odeur de la Papaye verte). Let's say right away that the sisters are acted by three excellent and beautiful actresses. The close-ups on their faces, the way Tran shoots Lien's languorous waking-ups and her slow body-stretchings in her brother's bed where she finds herself every morning "without knowing how" or "just because she was cold at night" she says, all those shots are marvellously sensual ! The alternation between contrast and fusion in colour and shades, sometimes pastel and sometimes bright, the music and the songs (some Lou Reed's old classic ballads lulling Lien's waking-ups, and beautiful scores by Ton That Tiet) add to this film's aestheticism. A LA VERTICALE DE L'ETE was first screened at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. A worth seeing film !
Fa yeung nin wah (2000)
A Masterpiece !!
Fascinating Wong Kar-wai keeps making his own way, film after film. The film of frustrated Love (not to say impossible Love), of loneliness, gloom, regret... However, for the first time, Wong shows married people confronted to adultery. He never gives us a "moral lesson" which would force us to chose our side. His way ? Never shoot Chan's husband's face, nor Chow's wife's. They'll never be seen and will remain only figures from which a few words can be heard. Because of that, the viewer can't like or dislike the "guilty pair". He will know nothing about them and will be able to identify himself to the two main characters who, like the viewer, ask themselves unanswered questions. On the other way, Wong Kar-wai's camera (and thanks to his faithful and wonderful cameraman Christopher Doyle and also Mark Li Ping-bing) sticks to Chan and Chow and magnifies them. A film by the cantonese director, and this one more than any other, is so visual and sensual that the viewer finds himself facing a problem: how to speak about a masterpiece ? Because "IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE" IS a masterpiece ! with which words can those pure beauty feelings and emotions be described ? This film must probably be seen several times again in order to reveal the magic that haunts you a long, long time after it has ended... Of course, I could talk on and on or endlessly go on raptures over any Wong Kar-wai's shots, over their originality, the viewing angles maybe never used before, the fantastic colors, over the way he manages to make us see so many things in such confined places (halls, kitchen, room, office, narrow-street, etc...), over the so marvelous music (ah, those tangos ! what pure beauties !) which mixes so perfectly well with the images that one asks oneself which one inspired the other. I could multiply the adjectives, all the most extravagant ones and analyze the film, shot after shot, image after image... But no ! Cinema magic can't be understood (by definition !) when it reaches this peak of quality, when it is so inspired that one must talk about a real state of grace. Then, the only clever solution is to shut up and let oneself invaded by the artist's genius ! Just let's say this before taking this wise way: the fact that this film didn't get the Golden Palm, the Great Prize, the Best Direction Prize or the Jury's Prize at the 2000 Cannes Festival is of course an obvious injustice(even if the awarded films didn't steal their prizes) ! "IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE" had to content itself with the "smallest" technical award, the one given to the Best image quality and, then, got by Christopher Doyle and Mark Li Ping-bing (the least that the Jury could do...). Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Asian films big star, linked to so many major H-K films (and to most of Wong Kar-wai's former ones) got the Best Actor Prize at Cannes. A deserved award for his so well controlled acting, sparing itself ornaments and very intense. One can't be but happy that he got it because his performance can't be dissociated from the film's success.
And how not to use the same words for the ever outstanding Maggie Cheung Man-yuk ! Of course, she couldn't prevent Björk from winning the Best Actress Prize (but who could have, the Icelander having done an exceptional performance in "Dancer in the Dark" ?). However, like Tony Leung, Maggie embodies her character to the perfection. Incredibly beautiful, with elegance and flowing moves strengthened by some shots in slow motion (she doesn't walk, she seems to slide !), she can show on her face the complete emotions palette, just in a few seconds... Wishing this film can be distributed in ways worthy of its greatness, I put it in my "immediate personal cult-films list" !