Pneumatised!

MM,

The Film Festival has now come and gone and I finally have some time to review the movies I saw.

First was the Korean movie, Hyung-sa (The Duelist) directed by Lee Myung-se. The movie is superficially a tale of two detectives who are assigned to investigate a case involving counterfeit money. Underneath the pretense of trying to solve the case, the major story revolves around the female detective, Namsoon, and a mysterious stranger who is somehow connected to the case and to whom Namsoon is unexplicably drawn.

The movie is filmed excellently and in such a way that the viewer is meant to lose track of the story and the case. The movie is described in the Film Festival guide as “A lavish dance of images swaying to the steady beat of an action romance… ” (See above link to the movie.) The two main characters, Namsoon and the mysterious stranger (best referred to as “the Duelist” – yes, the name of the movie), are completely fascinating as is their interaction with each other. Namsoon is loud, forceful, agressive and an excellent “tough cop”, the opposite of everything a young women should be in long-ago Korea and the Duelist is extremely graceful yet solidly strong in his often silent appearances. It is perhaps these opposite personalities that make each encounter between these two characters so intriguing – not to mention the frustration Namsoon feels at the elusiveness of the Duelist.

Throughout all this we are constantly brought back to the reality of the case that Namsoon is investigating and eventually the final conflict and climax of the movie is reached. However, there is still one more twist to the story. Against all the odds, Namsoon and the Duelist share one more encounter together. This time it is a remarkable sparring/dance scene outside in the falling snow under a moonlit sky. The scene is so wonderfully shot, that the only words to come to my mind was “This is what love should feel like…” – playfully sparring all the while expressing passion and love for each other. Then soon enough the scene is finished and we are once again brought back to reality, still not sure what happened to the Duelist. A movie worth watching again and again, especially for the last sparring/dance scene.

Yôkai Daisensô (The Great Yokai War) directed by Takashi Miike brings to the big screen the spirits of Japanese mythology and folklore. It is the stuff of Japanese children’s nightmares.

The main character of the story is Tadashi, a young boy who during a local village festival is picked to be the Kirin Rider of Japanese myth. As the Kirin Rider, Tadashi is supposed to reclaim a legendary sword from the Great Goblin to be found in a local mountain. School lets out for vacation time and out of curiousity, Tadashi heads into the mountains but is frightened away and heads home on a passing bus. On the bus trip, Tadashi meets who is to become the equivalent of Lewis Carroll’s white rabbit, a small cat-like spirit creature (a Yokai) Tadashi finds out is called Sunekosuri. Eventually, Tadashi is led back into the mountains again and becomes involved in the Great Yokai War, a battle against the evil wizard, Kato.

Miike has so far already established himself a cult following for his movies and that alone assures the success of this movie. This was however my first Miike film and even a few days later, I still wasn’t sure what to make of his movie. It has been called by some “Japan’s answer to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings“, though I it didn’t quite have the quest element. It was probably much closer to Harry Potter, though Tadashi flew with a sword and not a broom. Other parallels can be made with Alice in Wonderland. As mentioned, Sunekosuri was like the white rabbit, though admittedly much cuter with its little cat-like squeak noises and teddy bear-like movements (not to mention that for a tiny little thing it was quite courageous). In addition, the plethora of different characters (Yokai) that Tadashi meets on his adventure seem to match (even outdo) the characters in Carroll’s story. There’s just so many of them.

Overall, I think the movie was enjoyable. It was definitely amusing (I still can’t forget Sunekosuri!), but the story was not remarkable. Perhaps the only remarkable thing is that the story is told in a different setting and in a different culture. Perhaps though that is a good thing, it shows us the commonalities we have with other cultures. Every one seems to have fairy tales for children to grow up on.

If you like fairy tales and children’s fantasy stories, I guess this is the movie for you. If not, at the very least, you’ll get a few good laughs if you have some time to watch it.

Some more reviews of this movie can be found at:

http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003089.html

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/features/film2005/ff20050831a3.htm

I’ll be back later with some more movie reviews.

BB,
Cassandrah
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