Black Coal, Thin Ice

Black Coal, Thin Ice is a detective story about a recurring crime in the industrial north of China and Zhang, the unorthodox detective, investigating it. In 1999 body parts turn up in coal at a number of factories in different towns. The police track the coal to a mine and decide that the body parts were most likely put on trucks at the weigh station. This is backed up by the disappearance of one of the weigh station staff. The arrest is bungled and an attractive young widow buries her husband's ashes. The film jumps to 2004 and we catch up with Zhang now working as a heavy drinking security guard at risk of losing this job. One day he bumps into his old boss on a stake out of same widow and Zhang decides to start investigating (stalking?) her in his free time. More body parts start turn up.

Zhang belongs to the serendipity school of detective work. One where you work on hunches, go to places previously associated with the suspect on the off chance and follow tangential leads etc. He also works alone which makes this a difficult story to follow. The standard approach to detective stories (used most notably by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) is to have either an offsider or have a pair of detectives. This device allows the main detective to explain his train of thought to the other character (and to us). Even though the pace of this movie is not fast, there are a lot of clues and I feel I need to re-see it to try and get facts straight in my head.

Neither Zhang nor Wu Zhizhen (the widow) are sympathetic characters, and the grimy, winter industrial setting and the dominance of night scenes gives this a film noir feel. In fact the director seems more interested in noir style than plain story telling, and viewers are likely to come to different conclusions about the events. This is not a picture post card China, nor a slick wire fu China. This is a China of factories, mum-and-pop dry cleaners, over crowded buses and tired dance halls. A China of robberies, murder and infidelity. A China of snow and coal.

Black Coal, Thin Ice is a surprise from China. A noir film populated by ordinary people.

Ian's rating 3/5 Anne's rating 2.5/5

Let the Bullets Fly

You know you are not in Kansas now when someone on horseback stops a train by throwing a couple of axes which embed thmeselves into the rails. From the outrageous opening scene Let the Bullets Fly attempts to out do itself in an orgy of stunts and plot twists. Set in anarchic 1920's China when a lack of strong central government left opportunities for local governers to enrich themselves, and when such governerships could be bought and sold. The story follows 3 protagonists on the wrong side of the almost non-existant law as they strive to be top dog of a small town.

Unlike many Chinese and Hong Kong movies I've seen the plot is completely coherent and no expense has been spared on the special effects, sets and the expected over the top fight scenes. You might go to this film for the fight scenes but it is the plot which twists and turns for 132 minutes which will keep you entertained.

One or two of the more sadisticly violent scenes seemed unnecessary to me. But overall Let the Bullets Fly is an amazing entertaining Chinese shaggy dog story.

Ian's rating 4/5

Red Cliff

If you are in the mood for an epic story of political struggle, armies clashing, brave leaders facing down superior forces, clever tactics, requited and unrequited love for a beautiful woman then Red Cliff might well be the film for you.

The version of Red Cliff I saw at the NZ International Film Festival was the "Readers Digest condensed" two and a half hour version, shortened down from the original two part version (which was 280 minutes long). I could not see any obvious signs that I was watching a shortened version. I didn't notice any unfinished plot lines or unexplained events that might indicate where the cuts were made.

The events in the film are historical. The Battle of Red Cliff marked the end of the Han Dynasty and the start of the era of the Three Kingdoms. But you don't need to know that. The relevant political background is simply explained at the beginning and other political relationships become clear during the film. The Imperial Chancellor Cao Cao brow beats the young Emperor into letting him embark on a military campaign south against Liu Bei (who had risen from poor beginnings to be a provincial leader) and Sun Quan (a more powerful southern leader) citing them as rebels against the Emperor. Cao Cao attacks Liu Bei first and defeats him. Liu Bei sends his military strategist Zhuge Liang to arrange an alliance with Sun Quan whose advisers are keen to avoid a war. Finally the scene is set for a showdown at Red Cliff on the Yangtze River. Zhuge Liang is the character we follow for most of the film, contrasting with the machismo of all the soldiers and generals, he moves from place to place quietly giving good advice, predicting the weather and arguing for a coalition against Cao Cao. He makes friends with Zhou Yu (the military commander on the river), and along with information from a female spy, they come up with the strategies that defeat Cao Cao.

This is apparently the most expensive film made in Asia and it shows in the scale and lavishness of the battle scenes and attention to detail in the more intimate scenes. Director John Woo is able to take the action seamlessly from mass battle scenes to individual heroics and back again. He gives us enough dialogue to let us know what is going on while leaving plenty of time for the action scenes.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

CJ7

I'm not a kid and I don't have kids so perhaps I'm not the best person to judge this film, but judging from the noise of the kids around me in the cinema I think that they enjoyed this film as much as I did. (On the other hand many professional critics hated it!)

It is a simple story: kid is teased at school, finds a way to get back at tormentors. Add an extra terrestrial in the form of a green toy dog with a white furry head, that can do magic making kids more powerful than adults and you have the ingredients for a successful family film.

Dickie is a boy who tends to get into trouble and whose day labourer, solo dad (Stephen Chow) sends him to a posh private school. Dicky is the unfortunate victim of bullying from both kids and teachers (Unlike Ben X, Stephen Chow turns some of the bullying against the bullies). He also want an expensive toy (a CJ1) his father can't afford and throws a tantrum in the toy store. While scavenging at a rubbish dump, dad finds a green rubber ball which he brings home for Dicky telling him it is a CJ7. The ball transforms into a white-headed green dog. If you are still reading you should probably go and see the film.

Useless fact from the official web site is that the 9 year old boy hero of the film, Dicky, was played by 10 year old actress Xu Jiao. I wouldn't have believed this if I hadn't read this.

Also note that the non-Cantonese speaking film goers will need to be able to read subtitles to enjoy this film.

Ian's rating 4/5

Ashes of Time Redux

This is a review by our guest reviewer, John.

Magnificent, a wonderful experience. The programme quotes someone as having said of this movie "Memories should be made of this" and that is a good description.

Although not easy to follow the movie spans a year in the life of an agent providing mercenary/assassin services, and delves into the past lives and experiences of the agent, the agents customers (there are two, and these are the same person, who presumably is psychotic) the past lover of one these personalities who is the agent's brother (and a swordsman), his brother's wife, whom the agent also loved in his younger days when he too was a swordsman, and whom the agent asked to elope with him - on her wedding night.

A young poor woman (ie without the money to pay for mercenary services) whose brother has been murdered by local militia, another swordsman & his wife also feature, as does a sizable gang of bandits & said local militia.

There are a couple of fight scenes in the movie, when first the bandits then the militia are eliminated, but these scenes aren't really action, but rather are simply part of the story, and furthermore are shown as a graphic mish-mash of shots & short scenes (with perfect (for the lack of it) lighting) and feels much as it might for a participant rather than being shown to the viewer as an evidently
choreographed hollywood blockbuster might be.

However the strengths of the movie are its insights - a couple of episodes focussing of the thoughts / admissions of its participants about their lives and reactions to other happenings, combined with the richness of the movie's tapestry - music, camera, effects and acting are all profound. Direction is pretty good as well and overall the movie is fantastic.

4 1/2 *'s (+). Unmissable. I would happily pay to see this movie again and would recommend it to anyone mature.

Ian's view in the comment

Lust, Caution

It is the second world war and a pretty young woman uses her sexual attraction to get close to a senior enemy official in order to aid the resistance. This synopsis will be familiar to those who saw Black Book.

In Ang Lee's film the setting is Shanghai under Japanese occupation and being run by the Nanjing regime. The resistance are the Chinese Nationalists -- who later became the government of Taiwan (Ang Lee's homeland). Unlike Black Book, this film explores the delicate process of seducing a highly suspicious, aloof and dangerous married man. To this end the pace of the film is very slow and somewhat non-chronological. The heroine, Chia Chi, is initially a university student and member of a drama club which decides en mass to join the resistance. Their strategy is suitably dramatic, use Chai Chi to infiltrate the Yee household and lure Mr Yee to a place where he can be assassinated.

This is basically a Chinese film, the Japanese are a foreign and menacing presence, and white people are refugees queuing in the streets. I don't know what 1940's Shanghai looked like but the interior shots in the film are often very lush. Understandably the exterior shots look more like sets, some long shots look very fake and 1970s London taxis are substituted for period cars in a couple of places. But I was willing to overlook these things in what was basically character driven film.

What is more difficult to get my head around was the love story. Was it love, lust, acting or sexual relief from the suffocating social environment of occupied Shanghai? Did they both feel the same way about each other? The slow build up of the relationship in Lust, Warning contracts with the instant love affair in Black Book, and general paranoia makes for a more realistic feel.

There is a bit of hype around the sex scenes and whether they were simulated or real. Let me burst some bubbles here: there are about 10 minutes of sex in 2.5 hours of film, it doesn't look any more real than other mainstream movies, there is one violent sex scene (which might account for the R18 rating) and there is more nudity in a British comedy like Death at Funeral than here.

Ian's rating 4.5/5

Kung Fu Hustle

Ah, the pressure! We're only on day 4 and we're behind with the write-ups already. Kung Fu Hustle is light entertainment. If you haven't been to a Kung Fu movie you need to know that the stunts and special effects are very sophisticated and the dialogue and plot are not. Think Christmas pantomime for their equivalent and you'll have it about right.

Taking a distinctive characteristic and exaggerating it until funny is a standard comic technique for lampooning. Film-making includes many conventions which are ridiculous under a magnifying glass. 'KFH' does for HK martial arts films and the current obsession with CGI what "Last Action Hero" did for American action flicks. It has spectacular stunts. It out-sillies silly. It makes jokes about homosexuals and fat people. It even makes jokes about spectacle wearers which for a movie made in a country with as many myopes as China is amazing.

For pure escapist entertainment you can't go past this film. Best seen on the big screen, we think.

Ian's rating 5/5 Anne's rating 3/5

Dumplings

Our first festival outing had a definite "ick" factor, which wasn't all to do with the film. The woman next to us kicked over her beer, which she had left on the floor, shortly after she arrived. The usher, who came to mop up the mess, commented cheerfully that she had cleaned up much worse - film patrons seem to have a tendency to vomit, and if its a late night showing, wet their seats. This could make a person resolve only to watch movies on DVD in the comfort of their own homes, but since we've paid for all our tickets we will just have to soldier on, bravely. I'm wondering about suggesting a pocket in the seat in front of you for sick bags and absorbent cloths - and maybe disposable seat covers. Anyhow, back to the film.

Dumplings is not for the faint-hearted, or people who think that cannibalism is not suitable material for a movie. I liked it more than other films that have touched on this topic - for example "Titus" and "The Cook,the thief, his wife and her lover". It had quite a high walk-out rate - about 10 people left during the film. It had definite overtones of the TV programme Fear Factor where the contestants have to eat repulsive things to try and win $100,000 but the characters in the film weren't after money. They wanted less achievable things like fecundity and eternal youth. For a Hong Kong movie it had a remarkably coherent plot, and was a rather sad little story which gave you plenty to think about afterwards.

Anne's rating: 3/5 Ian's rating: 3/5