Jacob's PIFF Wrap-Up and Final Grades
After somewhat of a bad start, PIFF quickly kicked into gear and confirmed its ability to showcase quality movies, thereby earning the title I previously gave it as Asia’s premiere film festival.
Anyone who followed my writing in the last week might have been thrown off by how nice I was (seven of the nine reviews I gave were positive). It’s not that I didn’t see any bad movies; I just chose not to write about most of them. What’s the point in tearing down relatively unknown films? It’s best they just stay unknown. Besides, having already wasted two hours of my life on them, I wasn’t about to spend more time dissecting why they were terrible. I’d much rather recommend the ones I liked, of which there were many. But, because I’m a vengeful troll, I’m still going to highlight the worst the festival had to offer – “Night and Fog” (Ann Hui, Hong Kong, A Window on Asian Cinema). Man, that was awful. Of course, given my selective taste, I’m sure there’s even worse lurking in the bowels of the PIFF program.
And so, without dwelling on the negative for too long, I must say my overall experience at the festival was surprisingly good. I was impressed by the way the lineup delivered in the actual theatres. I watch a lot of movies and for every good one, there’s usually three bad ones. PIFF defied this ratio. Few of them were groundbreaking masterpieces (only Tsai Ming Liang’s “Face” contained things I had never really seen before on film), but for the most part, they were technically well-made and visually stunning. I guess that’s what happens when the world’s leading filmmakers all release their latest projects in the same year.
What’s more, the festival wasn’t the chaotic zoo I envisioned it would be. I never saw any ridiculous lines and most of the screenings I attended didn’t sell out. Not to mention that the volunteers were all very helpful and nice; they even gave me a bag of coffee for being the 2022nd customer when I showed them the ticket to my last screening (why they chose this number I have no idea). Maybe they just saw the “dark circles” under my eyes from festival fatigue and thought I deserved it.
Of course, there were still some disappointments. Due to scheduling issues, I didn’t make it to the two screenings I was anticipating most – “The White Ribbon” (Michael Haneke, Austria, World Cinema) and “Dogtooth” (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, World Cinema). I’m not so bent out of shape over “Dogtooth” because I had already seen it via press screener, but I’ll probably have to wait upwards of a year until “The White Ribbon” is released on DVD. And that makes me a sad cinephile…
After this week’s orgy of films, it’s gonna be tough going back to the basics. In the 51 other weeks of the year, Busan really isn’t a movie lover’s paradise. The Busan Cinematheque is the only place that offers something different from the mainstream fare that dominates the marquee of the country’s for-profit cinemas. And if they’re not running anything of interest, it’s pretty dead. So it’s with some sorrow that 25 movies, 12 articles, and dozens of cups of coffee later, I now declare PIFF over.
FINAL GRADES (in chronological order):
Note: I saw the films listed below “Good Morning President” via press screener. For an explanation of the 100 point rating system, click here.
The March of Fools (Ha Kil Jong, Korea, 1975) – 48/100
Vincere (Marco Bellochio, Italy, 2009) – 71/100
Bun Rye’s Story (Yu Hyun-Mok, Korea, 1971) – 43/100
Face (Tsai Ming Liang, Taiwan, 2009) – 64/100
Night and Fog (Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 2009) – 19/100
Bright Star (Jane Campion, UK, 2009) – 55/100
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, USA, 1967) – 69/100
Tales from the Golden Age (Cristian Mungiu…, Romania, 2009) – 64/100
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner, France, 2009) – 73/100
An Aimless Bullet (Yu Hyun-Mok, Korea, 1961) – 70/100
The Dust of Time (Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greece, 2009) – 40/100
Mother (Bong Joon-Ho, Korea, 2009) – 69/100
Letter to Uncle Boonmee (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, 2009) – 81/100
Good Morning President (Jang Jin, Korea, 2009) – 29/100
White Material (Claire Denis, France, 2009) – 61/100
Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel, 2009) – 42/100
A Brand New Life (Ounie Lecompte, Korea/France, 2009) – 44/100
Air Doll (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan, 2009) – 35/100
Father of my Children (Mia Hansen-Love, France, 2009) – 60/100
Vengeance (Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2009) – 50/100
Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza, Philippines, 2009) – 51/100
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2009) – 85/100
Like You Know It All (Hong Sang-Soo, Korea, 2009) – 61/100
The Time That Remains (Elia Souleiman, UK/Italy/Belgium/France, 2009) – 56/100
If you enjoyed my writing, please visit my blog (where I write about the film scene in Busan).
REVIEW: Vincere
(Marco Bellochio, Italy, World Cinema)
If there’s one thing I don’t need, it’s another history lesson on the evils of fascism. “Vincere,” a biography of Mussolini’s early years, avoids falling into this trap by sidestepping his reign as dictator altogether. It’s much more interested in depicting Il Duce as a lousy father and husband, than as a lousy leader. And thus, the film shows the destructive nature of his politics through the story of his personal life.
The first portion recounts Mussolini’s (Filippo Timi) affair with Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who he marries and has a son with, during the outbreak of World War I. However, with his rise to power, he abandons his family, and more or less absconds from the film. The second portion focuses on the female protagonist’s suffering as she’s thrown in the loony bin, thereby losing custody of her child, for claiming ties to the country’s new head of state. Ida, who upon meeting Mussolini appears impressed merely by how loud his voice carries, stands in for the Italian people, seduced and then wronged by a charismatic man motivated primarily by his own ambition.
“Vincere” is rare in that it actually benefits from its bloated production value and heavy-handedness. It’s rife with symbolism, and the dramatic score never lets up. Meanwhile, the seamless insertion of stock footage into the narrative adds to the pyrotechnics orchestrated by director Marco Bellochio. The in-your-face approach (the headlines from WWI-era newspapers literally jump out at you throughout the film) turns this familiar subject into a solidly entertaining movie, one that seems aware of its limits and chooses to go for broke instead of cowering before them.
Posted 10/16 12:02AM
Back to Top
Face
(Tsai Ming Liang, Taiwan, A Window on Asian Cinema)
Thursday October 15, 13:30 at Cinus Busan Theatre 2
The first thing I did when I got back home after the screening of “Face” was re-read the synopsis – something about a Chinese filmmaker traveling to France to make a movie about the myth of Salome. But even that is more than I could have told you. In fact, two girls approached me on the subway and, assuming I had just seen a PIFF film, asked if I enjoyed it.
- “Yes,” I briefly responded, still a little unsure of how I felt.
- “What was it about?”
- “I don’t know.”
Nowadays, most movies are so plot and character driven that many people seem to forget that they’re above all a series of images shown at 24 frames per second. With the brilliant use of mirrors and reflections to throw off the viewer’s sense of perception, Tsai creates such rich, disorienting compositions that you can’t keep your eyes from darting all over the screen. And for this reason, he frequently chills on a single shot without the slightest action or camera movement for as long as it takes to absorb all of its details (sometimes upwards of 5 minutes). That, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes him one of the greatest filmmakers in the world right now.
“Face” is really just for true-blue cinephiles, and even then perhaps only admirers of its unusual director. What’s it about? What’s it saying? What’s the point? If you require immediate answers to these questions after you watch a movie, this one isn’t for you. While it isn't my favorite of Tsai's, it may be his most impressive. If you’re curious about him, I recommend starting with “The Hole” (1998), a much more accessible concept piece, and then working your way up from there.
Posted 10/14 3:53PM
Back to Top
Bright Star
(Jane Campion, UK, World Cinema)
Thursday October 15, 16:30 at Cinus Busan Theatre 1
I can almost guarantee that “Bright Star,” about John Keats’ (Ben Whishaw) affair with Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), will get some recognition in terms of Academy-Award nominations; and here’s why: it’s made by Jane Campion, it’s a historical romantic-drama that ends in tragedy, and it’s just soooooo dreamy. With its lyrical mood and visual beauty, the movie begs comparison to a poem. But while poems are usually meant to be profound, “Bright Star” is nothing more than a straightforward love story. It’s all very pretty – with plenty of flower fields, butterflies, and, of course, actual poetry – but it’s also boring, the kind of period-piece my Mom always falls asleep to on the couch, and then proceeds to claim she likes (I love you, Mom). And so I really can’t recommend this to anyone who isn’t in the middle-aged married woman demographic.
It’s not that’s it’s a bad film, but the director continuously undercuts what little it achieves. There are many splendid shots of the protagonists roaming around the gardens near their country home. Unfortunately, Campion never lets them breathe long enough for the audience to fully take in their luster. Just as Fanny constantly interrupts Keats’ musings, to the dismay of close friend and fellow poet Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider), the film’s contemplative moments are too often disrupted by scenes of heavy dialogue. For whatever reason, a considerable portion of screen time is devoted to the irrelevant back-and-forth between Fanny and Brown, leaving the movie’s more important figure on the sidelines. But its biggest crime is being unexceptional, and thus, inappropriately titled; “Bright Star” shines like a burnt out light bulb.
Posted 10/14 3:48PM
Back to Top
Tales from the Golden Age
(Cristian Mungiu…, Romania, World Cinema)
“Tales from the Golden Age” paints a vivid picture of life in Romania before the collapse of the iron curtain, when a carton of eggs or a slab of pork was considered a luxury and people relied upon a complex bartering system to get basic groceries. The use of handheld cameras captures the gritty atmosphere of the setting’s cramped living quarters, car-less streets, and worn-down buildings, without ever compromising the directors’ primary goal of being funny.
The film contains elements of black comedy, though it never really takes any dark turns – its humor is more of a watered down grayish color. “Tales” recounts the day-to-day hardships for ordinary Romanians under Ceausescu’s strict regime, but the general tone is mostly very light. I would have liked to see it go further in the direction it begins to head towards in the last two segments (“The Legend of the Air Sellers” and “The Legend of the Chicken Driver”) where the characters’ unfortunate situation isn’t only portrayed as one big farce.
“Tales” is remarkably consistent, both stylistically and thematically, for a film with five directors’ grubby hands all over it. “The Legend of the Air Sellers,” however, is the obvious highlight. When Bughi (Radu Iacoban) asks Crina (Diana Cavallioti) to join him for a con he’s devised, you expect an elaborate scheme with high stakes and big rewards. After all, they just finished watching “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967). But it turns out he simply goes from housing project to housing project gathering glass bottles under the guise of being there to collect water samples for the Ministry of the Environment, and then trades them in for the deposit money. The entire film is soaked in allegory, but this tale concisely sums up its uplifting message without being overtly obvious – in trying times, people will inevitably appeal to each other’s humanity and pull together.
Both entertaining and evocative, “Tales” is by-and-by an accomplished movie and hints at a very promising career for Cristian Mungiu (who was more or less at the helm of this omnibus feature). Still, I can’t help but think that it will be considered one of his smaller works years from now; it doesn't quite match the sheer awesomeness of "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" (2007), of which my gut tells me there’s plenty more of on the horizon.
Posted 10/13 3:31PM
Back to Top
REVIEW: Lourdes
(Jessica Hausner, Austria/France/Germany, World Cinema)
Tuesday October 13, 17:00 at Cinus Busan Theatre 2
Well, here it is, folks, the first big surprise of the festival. I walked into “Lourdes” – about a paralyzed woman on a visit to the titular French cathedral – with no prior knowledge of the film or its director, and found myself in awe of its expert craftsmanship.
Every shot is flawlessly composed, almost to the point where the incessant use of frames and slightly off-kilter symmetry creates a sort of bland perfection. In terms of the way the film looks, it’s as pristine as a bottle of rubbing alcohol. And this goes hand in hand with the minimalist approach Jessica Hausner is going for. The music is sparse, the colors are drab (apart from the glaring use of red for contrast), and the narrative is barely developed beyond the basic premise. Nine times out of ten, this last characteristic would constitute a failing, but “Lourdes” is compelling in spite of having few plot points. It’s the kind of film where you pretty much know where it’s going the whole time, but how it actually gets there in the end still leaves you bewildered.
Even the acting is guarded. The director gets a wonderfully subtle performance out of Sylvie Testud, who does more with minute facial expressions than most actors can do with their entire bodies. Her composure is emotionally sedate throughout the film, but a faint smile or twitch of the eyes occasionally opens up a window into the protagonist’s feelings about her condition, which at times come across as hopeful and at others utterly devastated.
Movies with religious themes typically invite the viewer to dig for depth and meaning; “Lourdes” resists this urge. Hausner intentionally veers away from making a healing-through-spiritual-faith film. Christine is the least devout of the pilgrims on the trip, and casually dismisses any attempt to explain her miraculous recovery as the intervention of some higher power. Did she feel an “inner illumination” as she regained the use of her limbs? – asks the priest. “No, not really.” And so (without giving away any details) it’s probably best to take this simple story at face value and interpret it as a long, drawn out cruel joke. Its philosophy seems to say that if there is a God, he’s one sick bast***, and thus recalls one of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare: “As flies to wanton boys we are to th’ gods, they kill us for their sport.”
Posted 10/12 3:55PM
Back to Top
REVIEW: A Letter to Uncle Boonmee
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, Wide Angle)
Thursday October 15, 19:00 at Megabox Haeundae 2
“A Letter to Uncle Boonmee” isn’t so much a movie as an experiment in photography, a series of images that capture a mood instead of a story. It has no plot, per se, though it does revolve around a group of soldiers who have driven out all the villagers of a small town. Yet, they’re not all that important. With a sudden pan or tilt of the constantly moving camera, the director decides to focus on some other development, seemingly unrelated but every bit as entrancing: a flock of migratory birds flying overhead, or a cow roaming through the forest.
Few filmmakers can replicate sensations on-screen, but Apichatpong Weerasethakul achieves this difficult task by shooting the regular rhythms of everyday life and splicing it into the narrative. The best example of this remains the nearly five minute opening shot of Carlos Reygadas’ “Silent Light” (2007). This short’s last sequence, however, comes damn close to rivaling it.
I’m pretty obsessive about my film count and rarely do I allow myself the luxury of watching the same movie twice in less than 24 hours. “A Letter to Uncle Boonmee” garnered this special treatment. Of course, its 18 minute runtime was a major factor, but still, that says something.
Note: “A Letter To Uncle Boonmee” is only screened with an entire collection of shorts entitled “Short Film Showcase 3.” Fortunately, it’s the first one being played so if you’re only interested in seeing this gem, you don’t have to stick around for the others.
Posted 10/11 11:25AM
Back to Top
REVIEW: "Mother"
(Bong Joon-Ho, Korea, Korean Cinema Today)
Tuesday October 13, 19:00 at Megabox Haeundae 5
Thursday October 15, 20:00 at Daeyoung Cinema 2
It wasn’t until my second viewing of Bong Joon-Ho's “Memories of Murder” (2003) that I realized it was a masterpiece. And with this in mind, I decided to give “Mother” another chance after writing it off a few months ago. While some of my initial criticisms remain valid, I do think I was a bit harsh – its only real weakness is a tepid second act.
One of the film’s most captivating aspects is the mother-son interaction, and while Kim Hye-Ja has some great solo scenes (her acting throughout is phenomenal), there’s nonetheless a sudden void when Do-Joon (Won Bin) is sent off to jail for murdering a high school student. At this point, “Mother” becomes very police-proceduralish, relying too much on flashbacks to unveil new clues surrounding the case.
But beyond the brief lull midway through, the movie really is the work of a master filmmaker. Bookended by two glorious shots, the cinematography alone makes it worth seeing (and yes, I said the exact opposite here). The lush panorama of Kim dancing in a field at the beginning announces the film’s spotless aesthetic, and the last sequence closes it on an equally high note.
Perhaps what I misjudged most the first time around was the ending. The story arch reaches a dark, gut-wrenching final turning point, one that brilliantly plays into the themes already built upon. So, just to clear things up, the movie’s merits heavily outweigh its shortcomings. “Mother” boasts a terrific cast, beautiful camerawork, and an interesting (though sometimes faltering) plot progression.
Posted 10/11 11:09AM
Back to Top
REVIEW: Good Morning President
(Jang Jin, Korea, Opening Film)
“Please don’t leave before the end of the film,” stipulated one of the lines on the dos and don’ts list put up right before the screening of the festival’s opener, “Good Morning President.” Had it not been for the glitzy atmosphere of the whole evening, and the guilt I likely would have felt for walking out on my first PIFF film, that’s exactly what I would have done. (
Bobby apparently has no shame --he walked out halfway through)
In a nutshell, the movie contains ridiculous plot devices, juvenile humor, and far too many editing tricks designed to cover up its lack of genuine technique. Another testament to its childishness is its politics. The North Koreans come off as more rational than the belligerent Americans and Japanese. Most of the world has already turned the page on the Bush era, yet Jang Jin is still intent on depicting the USA as a foolish nation hungry for war. (For the record, it’s not that I was offended, but gutless anti-Americanism is so passé.) And Japan? Well, f*** Japan. They’ve always been a**holes. Right? (Note: The sarcasm in honor of the Koreans)
Now, a lot of the references were probably beyond my elementary knowledge of Korean politics. Maybe I need a better understanding of what's going on to truly appreciate the film, one may argue. Hogwash. I caught quite a few of the nods to real events, and most of them felt like they were thrown in simply for the sake of being timely or historical.
2009 is the first time in years that a Korean movie was chosen as the opening film of PIFF, and it’s not without significance. It’s supposed to hint at the end of a downturn the Korean film industry suffered recently. But why did the programming committee pick such a bad movie to celebrate the so-called comeback of the country’s national cinema? And one that caters mostly to a Korean audience? If anything, “Good Morning President” confirms my fears that the current slump will continue for some time to come.
Posted 10/10 11:43 AM
Back to Top
REVIEW: Dogtooth
(Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, World Cinema)
Friday October 9, 20:00 at Lotte Cinema Centum City 4
Sunday October 11, 17:00 at Cinus Busan Theatre 2
I sat down and watched “Dogtooth” for no other reason than it got a high rating from the one film critic I actually follow, Mike D’Angelo (whose reviews you should probably be reading instead of mine). He encouraged his readers to see this movie raw, and I’m gonna go ahead and do the same. The less you know, the better; a major part of its appeal is its ability to surprise the audience and, to be honest, I might not have enjoyed it as much had it not been for the mind-f*** factor. However, though I’d like to think that you’d simply walk into a film based solely on my recommendation, I realize that most of you will inevitably need more than the blessing of some dude who occasionally likes to write about film. If you feel brave, just go see it already. If not, here’s why I think you should.
The film zooms in on the daily lives of an unusual family, whose three children are more than just a little sheltered. If I refer to them as children, it’s only in relation to their parents – they look like they’re somewhere in their mid-twenties. Their entire universe consists of a spacious house with a backyard and a swimming pool. That’s it. None of them have ever dared to venture beyond the tall wooden fence that confines them. So, when is it safe for these overgrown babies to leave home according to their protective parents? “When the right dogtooth falls out. Or the left one.”
What makes “Dogtooth” so engrossing is the way Giorgos Lanthimos introduces the strange nature of this family one oddity at a time. You first realize something funny is going on after several long shots of the children getting all dressed up to go out leads into a regular dinner scene. Then, the viewer discovers that the children’s vocabulary has been messed with in order to alter the meaning of words that relate to the outside world. When one of the two daughters asks for the telephone, her mother nonchalantly hands her the salt. And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
These two examples demonstrate how the film works as a series of initially alienating moments with individual payoffs that come later. What seems random or confusing at first turns out to be a carefully calculated move by the parents to keep their children in the bubble they’ve built for them. This clever premise is made ingenious by the director’s carefully measured execution, and constantly wavering tone. Where a lot of filmmakers would have botched a similar project, Lanthimos hits all the right notes. Which brings me to my final point: “Dogtooth” takes a steaming s*** on Michael Haneke’s front lawn. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a die-hard fan of the Austrian auteur, but this movie opened my eyes to one of his major weaknesses. By adopting such an uncompromising, holier-than-thou approach, his films can easily be interpreted as patronizing moral lessons. Lanthimos avoids this misstep by infusing his social commentary with a touch of the absurd humor that’s straight out of Luis Bunuel’s playbook.
Posted 10/9 11:28AM
Back to Top
Jacob's Pre-PIFF Picks and Pans
I’ve written this article as a follow-up to my previous piece about PIFF, and together, they form my personal guide to this year’s festival. The asterisk denotes the films I’ve already briefly discussed in the 3rd issue of Busan Haps magazine.
WORLD CINEMA
*Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece)
*The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Austria)
*Tales From the Golden Age (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
Bright Star (Jane Campion, UK)
“Bright Star” is shaping up to be a contender in the arty column of this year’s potential Academy Award nominees. This period-piece/historical-drama about the brief but passionate romance between John Keats and Fanny Brawne is gilded in Oscar gold. And though shameless baiting usually turns me off, I still hold a small (yes, small) place in my heart for Jane Campion.
White Material (Claire Denis, France)
If North Korea decided to drop the bomb on the South, most of us waegookin would be trying to secure a spot on the first airlift out of the country. “White Material” is about the kind of person who would stay regardless. The film isn’t as polished as some of Claire Denis’ other works but it’s nonetheless an arresting portrait of a French woman who stubbornly latches onto her coffee plantation in an unnamed African country erupting into civil war. It’s worth watching solely for the protagonist, who repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the imminent dangers around her (thereby putting her family at risk) as all hell begins to break loose. Yet, the movie also works as an astute allegory for colonialism.
The Father of My Children (Mia Hansen-Love, France)
“The Father of My Children” is divided into two parts distinctly separated by the suicide of a man struggling to fulfill his familial duties while desperately trying to avert financial ruin (after much deliberation, I’ve decided that this doesn’t qualify as a spoiler). The tragedy, however, isn’t so much the death of a loving father and husband, but the way the film’s impeccable rhythm and character development fizzles halfway through. The steady buildup gives way to an early climax and the movie itself drops dead, subsequently undergoing its own form of rigor mortis.
Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel)
I’m not too sure what the Venice Film Festival jury was thinking when they awarded this Israeli war movie the Golden Lion. “Lebanon” takes place entirely within the claustrophobic environment of a tank en route to seize a small town during the First Lebanon War, and the only glimpse of the carnage taking place outside its armored walls is seen through the gunner’s scope. Spatial constraints like these require creative writing and near flawless directing; this film lacks both.
The Time That Remains (Elia Souleiman, UK/Italy/Belgium/France)
There’s nothing inherently wrong about writing, directing, and starring in a film about yourself, but it takes tact not to come off as self-indulgent. Elia Souleiman’s semi-biographical retelling of his family’s experiences living in the newly founded state of Israel as part of the Palestinian minority sometimes fails on this account. However, its quirky comic treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is refreshing – a strange type of humor I found myself laughing at more upon reflection afterwards than while I was actually sitting in the theatre.
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK)
Andrea Arnold’s sophomore effort looks to be another dip into the lives of the UK’s urban underclass, a milieu she already explored in her first feature “Red Road” (2006). While some people may be compelled to compare her to her fellow countrymen Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, I don’t think she’s quite there yet. But she shows promise as a filmmaker, and I can’t say I’m not curious about her latest release.
The Dust of Time (Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greece) &
Vincere (MarcoBellocchio, Italy)
You hear a name so many times and eventually it starts to stick. Though I haven’t seen any of Theodoros Angelopoulos or Marco Bellochio’s previous films, they’ve recently made my “directors I need to check out” list (whatever that’s worth). Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do just that at PIFF.
PANORAMA OF KOREAN CINEMA
*Like You Know It All (Hong Sang Soo, Korea)
*Mother (Bong Joon Ho, Korea)
*Thirst (Park Chan Wook, Korea)
A WINDOW ON ASIAN CINEMA
*Face (Tsai Ming Liang, Taiwan)
Yatterman (Takashi Miike, Japan)
Takashi Miike (“Audition,” “Visitor Q”) is one nutty filmmaker, and while most of his movies are just too crass for my all-too-sophisticated sense of refinement, he occasionally pops out something so utterly bizarre or provocative that I can appreciate it on that level. If you read the synopsis for “Yatterman,” however, it’s hard to envision how this film could possibly rise above the pulpiness of its source material – a silly 1970s animated television series.
YU HYUN MOK RETROSPECTIVE
Yu Hyun Mok is amongst a handful of Korean filmmakers from the 1960s and 70s whose movies are still talked about today. Yet, for the most part, his work is completely unavailable to non-Koreans. The country’s cinema is usually defined nowadays by the new wave of directors who established themselves in the past 10 years; PIFF offers viewers who are eager to dig a bit deeper a unique chance to get a more complete picture.
*An Aimless Bullet (Yu Hyun Mok, Korea, 1961)
Bun Rye’s Story (Yu Hyun Mok, Korea, 1971)
Martyr (Yu Hyun Mok, Korea, 1965)
JOHNNIE TO RETROSPECTIVE
Johnnie To is perhaps Hong Kong cinema’s biggest brand name since John Woo. The two directors not only share the ability to produce artistically-inclined yet commercially-viable movies, but they also both have a keen eye for recreating their hometown’s criminal underworld. And between the two of them, they’ve staged some of the most stylish gunfights ever seen on film. To will be in town for the retrospective PIFF is holding in his honor and to introduce his latest release, “Vengeance” - a very typical movie for the filmmaker other than the fact that it stars aging French rock star extraordinaire Johnny Hallyday (I can’t think of a more ridiculous casting choice).
Vengeance (Johnnie To, Hong Kong)
Exiled (Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2006)
Election (Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2005)
POSTED 10/7 11:59 P.M.
Back to Top
