Curse Of The Golden Flower Director: Zhang Yi Mou 114 minutes 2.39:1
One word that describes the Curse Of The Golden Flower: sumptuous.
It is films like this that makes you appreciate this art form. The language is not important so long as the message is clear. Like other delicate art, the message is not quite spelled out. It means different things to different people. Just like how differently festivals are celebrated and valued.
The story starts as the Chong Yang Festival nears. The Emperor arrives in the Palace after a battle to defeat the rebels. He is accompanied by Prince Jai who had served in the military for three years. Their homecoming is met with open arms by the Crown Prince Wan and Prince Yu, but the Empress is besotted by dizzy spells. Inspite of this, the royal family prepares to celebrate the festival. It is during these last few days that secrets are unearthed and elaborate plans are revealed. Family unity and love is stretched to the limits as the irony of the meaning of the festival hits home.
The similarity between Riding Alone For A Thousand Miles and the Curse Of The Golden Flower is that Zhang Yimou likes to paint on a huge canvas while telling a small story. Of course, that is the only similarity of the two films. Flower bitchslaps you with intoxicating eye candy the moment the opening credit ends, which is just under a minute away. Credit for the delirious visuals must be given to production designer Huo Tingxio, costume designer Yee Chung Man, and director of photography Zhao Xiaoding. Kudos also for editor Cheng Long who had to piece it all together coherently.
The visuals however must be supported by a great story. Writers Wu Nan, Bian Zhihong and Yimou himself, along with story consultant Wang Bin have crafted a simple story that is best described as Thanksgiving with swords. The tension they build is not just from the layers and facade each character puts up but also from the royal rule of knowing your place within the palace. By the time they place the last piece, all the audience can do is watch the dominoes fall.
The performance of the cast is generally excellent. Gong Li is particularly impressive as the ice-cold Empress whose moments of despair and pain are heartbreaking. Chow Yun Fat is compelling to watch as the iron-fisted leader of the family who somehow manages to insert glimpses of a moral being in his performance. Jay Chou as Prince Jai fumbles into modern expressions in a few scenes but otherwise gives a commendable effort. Liu Yu as the Crown Prince, Chen Jin as the Imperial Doctor's wife, Ni Dahong as the Imperial Doctor, Li Man as Ni's daughter Chan, and Qin Junjie as Prince Yu give great performances as supporting cast who had to match the fine expressiveness of the main actors.
Unlike Chinese costume dramas of yore, this movie benefits greatly from modern filmmaking techniques. Composer Shigeru Umebayashi is an interesting choice for a Chinese movie. His score enhances each scenes that unfold. Sound supervisor Tao Jing impresses again with his aural work here. Sounds that are delicate and forceful are presented across the wide soundfield. Visual effects supervisor Frankie Chung Chi Hang do a marvellous job at enhancing the action, even though in some scenes the effects are apparent. Finally, action director Tony Ching Siu Tung made most of the fight sequences a fresh experience to watch, even if a few are clearly done with wires.
The Curse Of The Golden Flower is a must watch. The many beautiful metaphors in the movie points to its numerous messages. Zhang Yimou has crafted another gem.
One thing that must be made clear to Malaysian audiences is that for Malaysia, the Curse Of The Golden Flower has been dubbed completely to Cantonese! According to the film's distributor here Malaysia is the only country in the world that will have the film's language dubbed to Cantonese. Even Hong Kong and Singapore get the original Mandarin. Dubbing robs audiences the full performances of the actors. It is regretful that Malaysians have to endure this blatant theft. If the original language of the film is not available, the film distributors must clearly inform audiences of this on their movie posters.
Sinking Of Japan Director: Shinji Higuchi 96 minutes 2.39:1
Malaysia is a country where the worst natural disasters are land slides, flooding and toll hikes. They don't quite compare to what Japan can endure from just the movements of Earth's tectonic plates: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Sinking Of Japan details all three disasters in one movie.
Reiko Abe, played by rising actress Kou Shibasaki, rescues Toshio Onodera, played by Japanese pop star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, from a fireball that was a result of the latest series of earthquakes in Japan. Soon, an American geologist briefed the Prime Minister of an impending disaster: Japan will completely disappear off the face of the planet in 50 years. Saori Takamori, played by Mao Daichi, who is the Minister of Crisis Management and Disaster Prevention seeks confirmation of this theory by consulting a geoscientist, Yusuke Tadokoro, played by Etsushi Toyokawa. Yusuke, who happens to be Saori's ex-husband, soon discovers that the series of earthquakes Japan is experiencing will culminate in the country sinking in less than a year.
So why is it fair and unfair to describe Sinking Of Japan as a disaster movie? It fairly describes it because by design the centerpieces of disaster movies are their special effects sequences. But it is unfair to describe this movie as just another disaster movie because most of the expositional scenes have emotional resonance, making them fairly important to the success of the film's climactic end.
Like Deep Impact by Mimi Leder, Shinji Higuchi has crafted a fairly entertaining and educational film about what would happen if such a catostrophic event occur. Shinji, who only has directed one feature film before this, and screenwriter Masato Kato had to write the script based on Sakyo Komatsu's popular sci-fi novel from 1973, the movie adaptation of the book and modern scientific findings. Reportedly the first adaptation had more depth when compared to the book than the updated version. Still, Shinji ably uses the four main casts and several supporting characters while keeping his eye focused on the big picture which is to stress the impact these events have on this small group of people.
The cast for the most part did their job well. Etsushi as the scientist didn't have much to do but worry about the effect of the tectonic movements. Mao on the other hand has a more commanding role that examplifies the changing dynamics of Japanese political office as the landscape itself is being reshaped. The love story between Kou and Tsuyoshi is underdeveloped. This is highlighted even more when their story reached its pinnacle in the movie. It would have been more interesting if director Shinji shows the contrast between the four actors' relationships. The rest of the casts shows the flexibility of the Japanese, or for that matter any nationality, in making the best of the worst kind of a situation.
The cinematography is striking, showing the beauty of Japan and the beautiful disaster that strikes later. Some of the more beautiful shots are the destruction of Japan as seen from space. Credit must be given to all the special, practical and visual effects technicians who made this film exciting. Pulling all of this off with a budget of just US$20 million, it is clear that shooting with High Definition cameras instead of film has its financial advantages.
The score by Taro Iwadai is minimalistic though there is a theme music running throughout the film. The sound design and mixing is very good though its quality can't be assessed due to drop-outs in the digital sound during the press screening. It could be caused by either a dirty or damaged film print, or improper projector maintenance.
If there was such an event occuring, other countries will also be affected by the movement of the tectonic plates or the measures the Japanese took to save their country. However, this movie is not about Japan saving the world so a worldwide view would be irrelevant. Sinking Of Japan succeeds as a reminder and as an escapist entertainment.
Sinking Of Japan has been recut for Malaysia! According to the film's distributor here, the running time is only 96 minutes. The Japanese cut is 136 minutes, a full 40 minutes longer which is an equivalent of two reels and a half. So there was indeed a substantial amount of story that was omitted. While this move is not censorship, it feels like one. Malaysian audiences are cheated of the full Japanese cut. The film distributor must take responsibility in informing audiences that this is the 96 minute version of the movie on its posters.
Two words that should not be associated with this movie: exciting and scary. Asian cinema was seen as the antidote to Hollywood's by-the-numbers movie making in the late 90s and early 2000s. This cinematic beacon of hope however has been proven to be just another flicker in the dark. Like their more expensive cousins, the quality of Asian movies vary from very good to very bad. One consistent style that emerges from contemporary Asian cinema is the depiction of ghosts in its horror movies. However, consistent style + the horror genre = stale.
Seed Of Darkness tells the tale of Yan who has just moved in to an apartment. The apartment complex is a little bit run-down and secluded, but that doesn't stop her from moving in with her daughter, Ying Ying. Soon after the big move, Yan begins to notice her daughter behaving strangely. Yan gets more stressed out when she senses that they are not alone in the apartment.
If the above synopsis got you excited, let it be your only exposure to this movie. Don't spend your hard-earned cash on a ticket because the movie is a total mess. Let's start at the beginning: the script. Like other movies, horror movies must have its rules and logic so that the arc of the story is complete. It is also important because if the rules and logic don't hold up upon the first viewing, people are more disinclined to see it again. Seed Of Darkness failed this test not because it doesn't have its rules and logic but because they weren't shown or narrated on the screen. In fact, it doesn't even feel that the movie have much of a plot either! Specifically, the ending was designed so that audience would be compelled to see the movie again to watch for clues they may have missed throughout the movie. However, the breadcrumbs the filmmakers left were so few. So instead of keeping the audience guessing as to how the film will end, the guessing was about if the end will come at all. To that end, the faults lay with director Michael Chuah, who also co-wrote the movie with Khee Mei Chyn and Oliver Lee. He failed to keep track of the clues he should have dropped. He also allowed the film to have too many fade-ins and fade-outs which segmented the film into episodes that slowed down the momentum of its supernatural core.
The disjointed effect of the film is further exacerbated by some pretty awful performances. Wong Sze Sen as Yan can't overcome the limitations of the script and rise above it. Instead of becoming a mother pushed to the brink of insanity, her Yan is a mother pushed to the brink of numbness. Another key performance that needed to be great is Ying Ying but the child actor's performance is mundane. Her role is deemed irrelevant enough that she is not even credited on the production notes or on the film's website. The worst performance of the cast is Amber Chia who played Dr. Chen, the psychiatrist who is treating Yan. What little lines she had to say is said with blandness, but what made her performance the worst is that she looked like a model pretending to be a shrink.
Interestingly enough, the better performances came from the male leads. Vick Teo as Kit, Yan's protective brother, is believable enough in the few scenes that he is in. Alvin Wong makes the most of his small role as Sang, the sympathetic neighbor. His performance is the most nuanced of the cast.
The movie is also marred by bad editing, foley effects, sound design and mixing. There are several instances where an extra half a second could have been cut from the top of the scenes to speed up the flow of the narrative. The bad editing is also evident in the "car park" sequences where Yan's running speed varies from cut to cut. She goes from fast to slow to fast again within the scene. This created havoc for the foley artist who had to match her steps. Not only that, the "car park" sequences sounded like she is running on a wet, muddy field instead of a wet cement floor. Lastly, the dialog volume level fluctuates between normal to high with each scene, causing an unintended "scare" and perhaps puncturing an eardrum or two.
Thankfully, the film does not feature "the hunchback female ghost with long hair" that much even though it tries to immitate the atmospheric syle from Ringu. However, there is little to praise here. Seed Of Darkness is not going to be a good Malaysian cinematic import. The only bounty it will sow are seeds of disdain.
Eragon Directed by Stefen Fangmeier 104 minutes 2.39:1
Two words that describe this movie succinctly: plodding and uninvolving.
You can't really screw up with a movie about dragons. Either with a wise ol' dragon like Draco in Dragonheart or the many ferocious dragons in Reign Of Fire, the flying sequences alone are enough to get movie audiences excited. But something is amiss when even those sequences made by the top effects houses in the world cannot save the movie.
The movie is a coming of age story. Eragon is a teenage boy who found a blue rock on a hunting trip in a forbidden forest. The rock, obviously, is not a rock but a dragon egg. Before he can even enjoy his new found pet, he is thrusted into a decades-long war that only he could end.
Based on a best-selling children's novel by Christopher Paolini, the movie failed to engage the audience within its first 15 minutes. Even Wikipedia's synopsis of the book, which is three paragraphs long, was a far more engrossing read than the movie. The blame for the failure of this adaptation rests on several people but high on the list are producers John Davis and Wyck Godfrey for allowing the production to proceed without an emotionally satisfying script. Screenwriter Peter Buchman also shares the blame for not injecting enough history of Alagaësia, the world where the story takes place. Even Eragon's past is not well told.
Director Stefen Fangmeier can be blamed for not sticking to the book and for the awful performances he inspired from his actors. Unlike Tilda Swinton, whose nuanced performance as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia gave us a frigid example of an ice queen, John Malkovich as King Galbatorix overacts on his throne, delivering his lines as if he is a contemporary power-hungry warlord. Robert Carlyle played his role as Durza just enough to stand out but not enough to inform the audience of his subservience to Galbatorix.
Just like Malkovich and Carlyle, Jeremy Irons is wasted as Brom but at least he acts and sounds like a has-been warrior. The one performance that could have saved this film through sheer brilliance of acting and charisma was Edward Speelers as Eragon. Unfortunately, he couldn't. He shouldn't be blamed for not being able to carry this film on his own as he is making his feature debut here.
Costumes by Kym Barrett for the most part work. However on several female character like Angela the fortune teller or the high ranking women of the Varden, the costumes were too beady to be practical, believable attires. The original score by Patrick Doyle also failed to connect instinctively with the film. It is merely adequate but not memorable.
On location cinematography by Hugh Johnson for the most part is excellent. Shot in Hungary and helped by visual effects enhancements, his sweeping shots paint a beautiful view of Alagaësia. The Academy Award winning Randy Thom did a great job as sound designer and supervising sound editor, enveloping the audience with immersive audio cues. Finally, congratulations on a job well done for ILM and Weta Digital, two visual effects houses that provided much of the dragon eye-candy.
It doesn't bode well for 20th Century Fox that the first installment in the Inheritance trilogy is not off to a flying start. But this is a tentpole movie for Fox. Whether they will green-light the sequel, Eldest, and the as yet-unnamed and unreleased third book, will be determined by Eragon's box office performance.
The similarity between Riding Alone For A Thousand Miles and the Curse Of The Golden Flower is that Zhang Yimou likes to paint on a huge canvas while telling a small story. Of course, that is the only similarity of the two films. Flower bitchslaps you with intoxicating eye candy the moment the opening credit ends, which is just under a minute away. Credit for the delirious visuals must be given to production designer Huo Tingxio, costume designer Yee Chung Man, and director of photography Zhao Xiaoding. Kudos also for editor Cheng Long who had to piece it all together coherently.
