The Most Beautiful Night in the World (Sekai de ichiban utsukushii yoru) [2008] • Japan

It's all here. The reason for wars and other bad things is that people are not sexually satisfied. So, create a potion that will make everyone want to have sex all the time, all the unhealthy people will die from exhaustion, and then the world will be overrun with children. The march of civilization will stop but at least so will the wars and corruption. Interesting idea, but the acting and the storytelling in this nearly three hour film are so bad it can only work by virtue of a train wreck curiosity. It may become a cult classic. It's got full frontal nudity and a fifty persons naked orgy at the end. You can't take this film seriously but it does make a case for taking pity on it. It's bad, frighteningly bad, but it's shooting for being so bad it's good, hoping to create a pathetic charm. And it succeeds, to a degree. I admit to sorta liking this film after it was over but sitting through it had many difficult moments.

Michie Itô is great as the genius girl who breaks out in an allergic rash when she gets near stupid people, and who gives birth to a girl who has no bellybutton because she was born in an egg.

It's definitely not a pink film and I even hesitate to call it weird. It's more just earnestly underachieving. There's a wholesome quality to it too. It's strangeness isn't typical of Japanese weirdness, it's more like midnight-movie camp. It's structure is that of a fifteen year old girl (the one without a belly-button) narrating the secret of why her small community has such a high fertility rate: "It all started fourteen years ago when 'that man' came to our village", and then it takes its sweet time getting to the present. There isn't really an allure that something erotic might happen, although Michie Itô's character has a way of leading you to the edge every time she shows up, but there is a continuing implication that the story might unfold in an interesting and fulfilling way.

It's not Christopher Guest weird, where everyone seems to exist in their own orbit, and it's not Satoshi Miki witty weird, it's more like Godzilla ... with animated sequences from a third-grader thrown in. NYAFF Trailer @ YouTube

★★★

Mother (Madeo) [2009] • South Korea • Bong Joon-ho

It’s too bad that because this film is ostensibly about an old lady it must be considered a "smaller" film in Bong’s oeuvre. It’s not. It is every bit as brilliant, and as large, as Memories of Murder, in my opinion.

In many ways this is the natural, and equal, follow-up to Memories of Murder. It’s every bit the caper film that one was, and, although slightly more somber in tone, the film keeps unraveling in directions you don’t expect making it much more a plot driven movie than a character study. Kim Hye-ja is, however, magnificent as the titular (gawd I hate that word but I’m using it anyway) mother. There is a scene in this film where she tells the family of the victim her son didn’t do it and her eyes are so electrically charged it made me jump back from the screen. Mother fires on all cylinders. The direction, cinematography, script, and acting are all grade A. It’s one of those films where each of the secondary characters steals the show for a brief period. How ‘bout that cop who kicks the apple from Won Bin’s mouth? Bong does a remarkable job of populating the world of this film with real people and manages to give them depth and development in a very short period of time. I confess to having a little trouble tracking the other adult female characters in the film, but no matter. There is a scene (without spoiling anything here) where Kim Hye-ja asks the other ‘retarded’ kid if he has a mother and it's one of the most complex and heart-rending scenes in cinematic history. Hyperbole notwithstanding, just freakin’ WOW! on that one when you ponder just why she is crying.

I wasn’t sure where Bong was going to end up going as a film maker. Barking Dogs Never Bite was a reasonable debut. Memories of Murder, a masterpiece. But was it a lucky shot? I’m glad I don’t have to consider the dismal Antarctic Journal a Bong film if I don’t want to. The Host was lots-o-fun, but that’s the one that worried me. Maybe he was going to start making blockbuster type films. But now, after recently seeing his contribution to Tokyo!, and now Mother, I have every reason to believe he is going to kick my butt with interesting film for a long time.

★★★★★

Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong deng long gao gao gua) [1991] • China

Four women live in separate apartments in a beautiful castle. Three of them like to eat meat, one is a vegetarian. They're all married to the same guy, the master of the castle. Whomever the master chooses to stay with on any given night gets a foot massage and gets to call the shots at dinnertime, decide the menu. Seems like an environment ripe for jealousies and fighting. Seems like a season of Dallas but it's tweaked out to 1920s Chinese concubine culture. It's a beautiful film because the castle is beautiful. Gong Li is beautiful. But it's too easy to see where things are going, and an obvious girly cat fight isn't that interesting.

Or is it a veiled allegory against Chinese communist authoritarianism, or the culture of patriarchy? If so, we have to call it good. That's the rule. Damn chicks, allegorically speaking, should have banded together and thrown off their oppressors instead of fighting each other. The film, in foreshadowing irony, is divided into "Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring ... Summer", just like Kim ki-duk's so-called masterpiece that's beautiful to look at but banal in story. I don't understand all the love for this film (or Kim's film). Yes, they are both gorgeous but both are only seemingly profound.

★★★

If You Are the One (Fei Cheng Wu Rao) [2008] • China

This is [Edit: was] the highest grossing film of all time in China. Hard to believe, as it's not really a remarkable film, except for Shu Qi, she's remarkable. When she asks her date if he believes in love at first sight he responds "I loved the first sight of you!" It's a very pleasant film. Funny, slightly quirky, it's an intimate study of two people's vulnerability, and thoroughly Chinese. I'm sure some of the humor was lost on me due to the fact I don't speak Mandarin. And Ge You's Mandarin accent is as thick as syrup! He does a great job playing a forty-something guy who's made his lot in life selling zany inventions and now has a very specific set of criteria he's looking for in a mate to settle down with. This is a great 'date' movie.

★★★★

The Road Home (Wo de fu qin mu qin) [2000] • China

A simple story carved from Chinese culture. Traditions and history are on display here as much as the inner and outer lives of the characters. The visual embellishments are mostly restrained but you can see them waiting, wanting to burst out. This is Zhang Ziyi's feature film debut and she is lovely to behold, dressed in her fuschia red coat against the sprawling rural landscapes, flapping her arms like a child when she runs, but she has an oddly shaped head. I found this feature of hers a little weird, kept wondering where the back of her head ran off to. All said and done, a minor distraction in what is another touching and very human tale from director Zhang Yimou befrore he went all wuxia on us. I love the way the love is grounded, given foundation, in the schoolhouse the father helped build and his legacy helped rebuild. Sad though, that the mother remained illiterate.

★★★★

Close to Eden (Urga) Territory of Love [1991] France, Soviet Union

If you've ever wanted to visit the steppes of Mongolia but were afraid to ask, this film will take you there. The gorgeous landscapes almost pale in comparison to the beauty of the sheperding family of five--plus grandma--who live there in a yurt. Life is simple and slowly paced, but different. Imagine watching a five year old boy help his dad kill and gut a lamb for dinner and finding it moving and gentle rather than creepy and gross. The husband is pure country but the wife is from the city so she knows about things like television and birth control. In Mongolia families are allowed to have three children, not just one as in mainland China. The man enjoys intimate activities with his beautiful wife but she is concerned about having another child. The film detours a bit when the husband goes to the nearest town to buy a television and some contraceptives. I would have been happier if the film had remained a simple portrait of family life on the Mongolia steppes rather than presenting a story about the onslaught of civilization represented by a Russian highway builder whose truck breaks down near the family's home. But that story is part and parcel of the family's portrait today. A drunken Russian brings some harsh to their mellow and the film drifts out of focus ... but I guess that's the point.

An urga is a lasso of sorts attached to a very long stick and is used to capture animals. It is also stuck into the ground as a signal that someone is engaging in amorous relations and they don't want to be disturbed. The final shot shows a smokestack instead of an urga rising from the horizon.

★★★★

A West Lake Moment (Yuan yang hu die) [2004] • China

This is a ONE STAR film without Zhou Xun. She is a joy to watch even with a co-star (Kun Chen) who is frighteningly bad here. He doesn't act as much as mug his way through the film like his appearance is a gift. The direction is silly at times with meaningless repetitive jump cuts and other random shenanigans. The script is immature and, frankly, stupid. The story sets up a charming and beautiful woman with an adorable best (male) friend (Yim Linq) who desires her and is good to her but she won't reciprocate because he's a few years younger than she is and she's got the hots for some pig of a selfish man (Chen). That's what his character is supposed to be, though, I'm not just dumping on the guy. This film not only resolves with the woman and the jerk getting together--without redeeming the jerkball at all--it also kills off the good guy! This is one gross male fantasy. Whoever wrote this movie is not someone I would like to meet.

The cinematography is beautiful at times and the location of the tea house is somewhere I'd like to sit and have tea but it's difficult to get behind such a disrespectful script.

★★

Antichrist [2009] • Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Poland

I didn't get, or like, the ending, but I don't know what else could have been done. I also don't know if the ending was supposed to be the natural, or predisposed, outcome of all the symbolism and allegory that lead up to it—which I couldn't completely process either. The film appears to have a vision, as if it's following a story that's already been told. It's gorgeously composed and photographed but it evaded my full comprehension. There's grief with rational and emotional responses to it. There's nature, green and essential, history, symbolically surreal animals, and genital mutilation which is poignant to the story, but yikes! The film is never boring, it's beautiful to look at, Charlotte Gainsbourg is magnificent, but it's a little hard to endure. I imagine this was Lars von Trier's goal and he made it loose enough for those so inclined to spend time decoding it. I'm not so inclined but it's one of the best movies I've seen this year.

★★★★★

Suzhou River (Suzhou he) [2000] • China • Lou Ye

Sometimes these "Look at me, I'm indie" projects deliberately frustrate so they don't accidentally get mistaken for commercial fare. Dirty locations, slow pace, downplaying of events should they happen to occur, and dizzying handheld camerawork all combine to give us the real world. Love must be lost, memories muddled, but hope will hang on by a thin thread. Zhou Xun is captivating as usual but her story is designed to disappoint rather than engage. This is a quality film to keep your street cred intact but not very pleasant to experience even if you do want alternative. It has a lot of great moments when it focuses itself enough for you to enjoy them. A director shouldn't have to jiggle and whip the camera around all the time to create an effect of intimacy or collusion with the viewer. Lou Ye overdid it with this one.

★★★