NYAFF, Part 4(finally!)
Aug. 15th, 2011 12:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zesty_pintoVERSUS
An escaped convict, a group of mobsters, a forest that leads to the gate of hell, and zombies. Plenty of zombies.
Bringing the grindhouse out of Japan, the film still manages to capture some great visuals that come from shooting in the woods. There is a missing level of creativity that I thought could be found in the film, but it has some great fight scenes and tries to hit as many bad cliches as possible. This isn't to say it's bad: if you're a grindhouse fan, this is actually a great movie to add to your collection. Personally, I was kind of nonplussed towards the film, but I can understand why this is a cult film to begin with.
TROUBLESHOOTER
An ex-cop gone freelance suddenly finds himself part of a huge frameup operation where he is used as the primer for a bigger operation. Who can he trust? What can he do?
The film has its entertaining moments for sheer sake of stunts, and the plot has a layering to it that does seem complicated (perhaps even too complicated for this kind of film), but it seems to be laced with too little dimension for my liking and too much camp. The protagonist is somewhere between daring and goofy, while some of the people portrayed in the film run themselves as too stupid, while villainous characters seem to become too obvious coupled with an ending that feels less like a climatic fight and more like a schoolroom brawl.
The one thing I did find amusing about this film is that it was directed by someone who worked under the director of THE UNJUST. Perhaps more amusing is that one of the scenes was revealed to be filmed a few blocks away from where his mentor was filming that movie.
YAKUZA WEAPON
The yakuza of ages past has changed quite a bit for an exiled son of a yakuza syndicate. When his father is killed by a geeky businessman with an obsession for his tsundere love interest, he returns to settle the score and soon finds himself de-limbed. The government takes him and replaces his arm with a minigun and his leg with a rocket launcher. The story makes less sense along the way.
As the trailer suggests, it's based on a manga that has been followed faithfully based on the late manga creator's son. The film is so over-the-top crazy from the beginning to the end that it is hilariously funny. From the AK-47 toting bar owner who serves melon soda and ketchup spaghetti, to the aforementioned love interest that greets the main character with a pair of uzis, to the antagonist's obsession with her in a school uniform? One of the more amazing feats includes a 15 minute fight scene that is best seen to be believed. Again, another good choice for the grindhouse fan.
THE CHASER
A cynical detective gone pimp is having issues finding out where his prostitutes are going. When he catches a random person who manages to have something from one of his previous women, he inadvertently admits that he is a serial murderer of women. Between the protagonist's inability to accept him as a killer, and the police's attempt to convict the man of the crime, there is one of his last whores whom he sent the killer's way and her fate...
A film set along the longest night possible, the bleakness of the film is set to ugly tungsten lamps and underlit corridors to provide the beauty of its gritty bleakness and even when the longest night ends, the day is equally greasy and colorless. The acting from the prostitute's daughter is second-to-none, but the rest of the film is downright genius. I would add this one as one to view unless you can't handle the grisliness of this topic (I'll add that it was inspired by a serial killer who was murdering young women in Korea a few years ago).
BATTLEFIELD HEROES
War breaks out between two sides of Korean kingdoms over the insults of foppish nobles. As a result, a group of soldiers conscripted from their farms are brought to battle an impenetrable fortress. Between them, the Chinese forces allied to the attackers try to find the strongest way to get through as the Koreans who fight with them try to find ways to make them waste time and delay the assault by trying to find solutions that put the Chinese in the way of hurting themselves. Between this, one of the farmers-turned soldiers turns from soldier to hero along the way.
There's a lot of strange things going on with this film. During the after film party, the director admitted it was a criticism on Imperialism and his disdain over it and reminded viewers that it was researched on an actual event in Korean history. How much of it is true is anyone's guess, but between the raunchy comedy of songs about rice, catapults filled with animals, and the generally dimwitted nature of the soldiers and the nobles that instigated this fight; the chicanery inherent in the political side is strangely concise through the feigned stupidity. There is a very real reminder of how diplomacy works in the film that seems subtly veiled through the winks and gestures that makes this a film to think over. Wasn't a fan of the ending, but I would watch it again if it was on TV.
VERDICT!!
Out of all the films I saw, I guess I would have to say that China's fare came out on top. Ocean Heaven and Buddha Mountain are just so good at touching me that I couldn't accept any other film, and Punished was just a solid production from beginning to end. That's not to disregard some of the gems I've seen along the way, such as Milocrurze's unconventional film style that made me think it was nothing short of amazing, while the Thai film BKO was entertaining in the action and conceptual scenes despite some of the worst acting I've seen in a long while.
So in a top 5, I suppose I would rank them:
1. Ocean Heaven
2. Buddha Mountain
3. Milocrurze
4. Punished
5. Haunters
The strange thing about this though is that I am rating them for entirely different things each. Also, although I know The Chaser is going to be redone for the states, I can see Ocean Heaven and Haunters also getting the same treatment, the former for an academy award, the latter just to fill out someone's wet dream of becoming the next summer blockbuster star.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogram.
An escaped convict, a group of mobsters, a forest that leads to the gate of hell, and zombies. Plenty of zombies.
Bringing the grindhouse out of Japan, the film still manages to capture some great visuals that come from shooting in the woods. There is a missing level of creativity that I thought could be found in the film, but it has some great fight scenes and tries to hit as many bad cliches as possible. This isn't to say it's bad: if you're a grindhouse fan, this is actually a great movie to add to your collection. Personally, I was kind of nonplussed towards the film, but I can understand why this is a cult film to begin with.
TROUBLESHOOTER
An ex-cop gone freelance suddenly finds himself part of a huge frameup operation where he is used as the primer for a bigger operation. Who can he trust? What can he do?
The film has its entertaining moments for sheer sake of stunts, and the plot has a layering to it that does seem complicated (perhaps even too complicated for this kind of film), but it seems to be laced with too little dimension for my liking and too much camp. The protagonist is somewhere between daring and goofy, while some of the people portrayed in the film run themselves as too stupid, while villainous characters seem to become too obvious coupled with an ending that feels less like a climatic fight and more like a schoolroom brawl.
The one thing I did find amusing about this film is that it was directed by someone who worked under the director of THE UNJUST. Perhaps more amusing is that one of the scenes was revealed to be filmed a few blocks away from where his mentor was filming that movie.
YAKUZA WEAPON
The yakuza of ages past has changed quite a bit for an exiled son of a yakuza syndicate. When his father is killed by a geeky businessman with an obsession for his tsundere love interest, he returns to settle the score and soon finds himself de-limbed. The government takes him and replaces his arm with a minigun and his leg with a rocket launcher. The story makes less sense along the way.
As the trailer suggests, it's based on a manga that has been followed faithfully based on the late manga creator's son. The film is so over-the-top crazy from the beginning to the end that it is hilariously funny. From the AK-47 toting bar owner who serves melon soda and ketchup spaghetti, to the aforementioned love interest that greets the main character with a pair of uzis, to the antagonist's obsession with her in a school uniform? One of the more amazing feats includes a 15 minute fight scene that is best seen to be believed. Again, another good choice for the grindhouse fan.
THE CHASER
A cynical detective gone pimp is having issues finding out where his prostitutes are going. When he catches a random person who manages to have something from one of his previous women, he inadvertently admits that he is a serial murderer of women. Between the protagonist's inability to accept him as a killer, and the police's attempt to convict the man of the crime, there is one of his last whores whom he sent the killer's way and her fate...
A film set along the longest night possible, the bleakness of the film is set to ugly tungsten lamps and underlit corridors to provide the beauty of its gritty bleakness and even when the longest night ends, the day is equally greasy and colorless. The acting from the prostitute's daughter is second-to-none, but the rest of the film is downright genius. I would add this one as one to view unless you can't handle the grisliness of this topic (I'll add that it was inspired by a serial killer who was murdering young women in Korea a few years ago).
BATTLEFIELD HEROES
War breaks out between two sides of Korean kingdoms over the insults of foppish nobles. As a result, a group of soldiers conscripted from their farms are brought to battle an impenetrable fortress. Between them, the Chinese forces allied to the attackers try to find the strongest way to get through as the Koreans who fight with them try to find ways to make them waste time and delay the assault by trying to find solutions that put the Chinese in the way of hurting themselves. Between this, one of the farmers-turned soldiers turns from soldier to hero along the way.
There's a lot of strange things going on with this film. During the after film party, the director admitted it was a criticism on Imperialism and his disdain over it and reminded viewers that it was researched on an actual event in Korean history. How much of it is true is anyone's guess, but between the raunchy comedy of songs about rice, catapults filled with animals, and the generally dimwitted nature of the soldiers and the nobles that instigated this fight; the chicanery inherent in the political side is strangely concise through the feigned stupidity. There is a very real reminder of how diplomacy works in the film that seems subtly veiled through the winks and gestures that makes this a film to think over. Wasn't a fan of the ending, but I would watch it again if it was on TV.
VERDICT!!
Out of all the films I saw, I guess I would have to say that China's fare came out on top. Ocean Heaven and Buddha Mountain are just so good at touching me that I couldn't accept any other film, and Punished was just a solid production from beginning to end. That's not to disregard some of the gems I've seen along the way, such as Milocrurze's unconventional film style that made me think it was nothing short of amazing, while the Thai film BKO was entertaining in the action and conceptual scenes despite some of the worst acting I've seen in a long while.
So in a top 5, I suppose I would rank them:
1. Ocean Heaven
2. Buddha Mountain
3. Milocrurze
4. Punished
5. Haunters
The strange thing about this though is that I am rating them for entirely different things each. Also, although I know The Chaser is going to be redone for the states, I can see Ocean Heaven and Haunters also getting the same treatment, the former for an academy award, the latter just to fill out someone's wet dream of becoming the next summer blockbuster star.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogram.
