July 2012 – Page 3 – LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

LFM Reviews Chen Kaige’s Sacrifice

By Joe Bendel. Generally ascribed to Yuan Dynasty playwright Ji Junxiang, The Orphan of Zhao was the first Chinese play to be translated in Europe. It was even adapted (quite liberally) for the French stage by Voltaire. Profoundly tragic and also rather violent in places, it has timeless elements that continue to appeal to audiences. Celebrated auteur Chen Kaige vividly captures both qualities in his grand big screen version, Sacrifice, which opens this Friday in New York.

General Tu Angu is not a man to take the slights of the Zhao clan lightly. Framing the patriarch and his son, General Zhao Shuo, for the murder of the ruling Duke, Tu uses the outrage as pretext for wiping out the Zhao clan. A swifter, more awe-inspiring massacre you are not likely to see on film anytime soon. However, he misses two of the Zhaos, the young General’s wife, Princess Zhuang, and her newborn baby. Sacrificing herself for her child, Zhuang entrusts the infant heir to her doctor, respected commoner Cheng Ying.

As fate would dictate, Cheng’s wife has also recently delivered. Suddenly having a newborn is dangerous business and Cheng has two. In a truly Biblical turn of events, Tu orders all the town’s babies to be collected at his palace to be duly vetted. Through a catastrophically Shakespearean turn of events, the Zhao and Cheng babies essentially trade places.

Growing up as Cheng Wu, the presumed son of Dr. Cheng, the Zhao orphan knows nothing of his birthright. However, unbeknownst to the boy, the doctor is grooming him to take wreak his vengeance at the appropriate time. To do this he plays a dangerous game, entering the service of the Tu retinue, manipulating his nemesis into serving as Cheng Wu’s godfather. Needless to say, some rather messy issues of filial loyalty arise.

Some have often knocked Chen’s films as pretty but rather bloodless historical dramas, but this is absolutely not the case with Sacrifice. While the period trappings are as richly detailed as ever, there is also plenty of blood. In fact, the first act is quite a spectacle of mayhem, segueing into a tense cat-and-mouse game, in which the fate of the city’s infants hangs in the balance. The film ultimately settles into a stone cold revenge drama.

Featuring several of Chen’s semi-regulars, Sacrifice’s talented ensemble is equally adept at the stately tragedy and the gutty action sequences. As Tu Angu, Wang Xueqi is in his element. Ruthless yet charismatic, he is the sort of villain viewers find themselves identifying with, in spite of themselves. While Ge You might be better known to American audiences for his shticky work in Let the Bullets Fly, he wrings real pathos from his performance as Dr. Cheng. While her character is not long for the world, Fan Bingbing is a typically ethereal presence as Princess Zhuang. Yet it is Mainland TV star Hai Qing who really lowers the emotional boom as Cheng’s equally ill-fated wife.

Admirers of Chen’s Chinese Opera sagas Farewell My Concubine and Forever Enthralled should still appreciate the classical elegance of Sacrifice. It is based on a play, after all. Likewise, fans of more action-driven Asian cinema should never get bored with the relentless scheming and vigorous swordplay. Indeed, Chen integrates the intimate and the epic halves quite masterfully. Highly recommended for fans of literate historicals and the wuxia genre, Sacrifice opens this Friday (7/27) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on July 23rd, 2012 at 8:37pm.

LFM Reviews Isn’t Anyone Alive? @ Japan Cuts 2012

By Joe Bendel. You might expect the end of the world would get played up more in the media. Unfortunately, they only have time to report a few train crashes before it is pretty much too late for breaking news bulletins. Indeed, the end comes swiftly but dramatically for the residents and visitors of a sleepy provincial university in Gatukyu (formerly Sogo) in Ishii’s Isn’t Anyone Alive? (trailer here), which screened over the weekend at the 2012 Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Japanese Cinema.

Adapted by playwright Shiro Maeda from his own stage drama, IAA is about as reserved as apocalyptic films ever get. The darnedest comedy of manners, it takes its time establishing a group of college students, only to start killing them off.

Evidently, this campus has two specialized fields of study: medicine and urban legends. Maki is a medical technician receiving an unwelcome visit from her ne’er do well brother. Nana is the chair of the urban legend studies association, who has been advancing the campus myth that high level military research goes on in the hospital’s third sub-basement. When people start keeling over, they naturally blame the hospital’s apocryphal black ops projects, but it is all balderdash Maki assures anyone still alive to listen.

Frankly, we never have any real idea what is going on, because nobody has enough time to determine anything. Yet, when facing the apocalypse, those still living struggle to develop a new etiquette for impending collective death, which is nonetheless ignored as often as it is observed. There is a lot of razor sharp dialogue and distinctly black humor in IAA. Frankly, it is rather a bummer when Nana is the first character to go. However, it is just as well for her. In Ishii and Maeda’s bleak world, the last one left standing is the cosmic loser.

IsntAnyoneAlive2 — From "Isn't Anyone Alive?"

As Nana, Mai Takahashi exhibits an upbeat screen presence that would ordinarily mark her as the leading candidate to survive a conventional horror movie. Rin Takanashi, Hakka Shiraishi, and Asato Iida also hilariously play out one of the unlikeliest love triangles, as the world burns unbeknownst to them. Yet it is Shota Sometani who nicely turns IAA’s defining scenes as the decent work-study café employee Keisuke, through whose eyes the audience ultimately sees the totality of it all.

IAA is one of the oddest end-of-the-world movies you are likely to see. Yet cinematographer Yoshiyuki Matsumoto makes it look eerily believable, slowly but surely transforming a sunny afternoon into an ominous Judgment Day. For those who enjoy their cinema dark and slightly off-kilter, it is definitely worth taking a gander at when it plays at this year’s Fantasia Festival (7/31 & 8/3), but naturally Japan Cuts screened it first, presenting the North American premiere this past weekend.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on July 23rd, 2012 at 8:35pm.

LFM Reviews Rent-a-Cat @ Japan Cuts 2012

By Joe Bendel. It is not much of a business, but at least the inventory is cheap. In fact, Sayoko attracts stray cats like a magnet. Profits really are not the point anyway. She is out to fill the holes in people’s hearts, perhaps even including her own in Naoko Ogigami’s Rent-a-Cat (trailer here), which screens as part of the 2012 edition of Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Japanese Cinema.

In a sleepy corner of Tokyo, Sayoko lives in the picturesque Minka-esque house she once shared with her beloved late grandmother, along with a dozen or so cats. The woman has become a crazy cat lady at a young age, but there is a method to her madness. Most days, she pulls her cart through the neighborhood, hawking cats for rent. Of course, she will not rent to just anyone. A home inspection is required.

Intentionally episodic, we watch Sayoko repeat the cat rental ritual with several customers, each with a hole to fill in their lives. For an elderly widow reluctant to buy a new cat knowing her time is short, Sayoko’s service is a godsend. However, some clients take a bit of convincing, like the desperately unfulfilled car rental agency manager. Yet the most intriguing potential client-story arc involves Yoshizawa, the former delinquent middle school classmate Sayoko initially wants nothing to do with.

Rent-a-Cat is a quiet film, chocked full of feline adorableness. It wears its sentimental heart on its sleeve, deriving gentle laughs from its characters quirks (to use a loaded word). However, it is more bittersweet than compulsively cute, particularly during Sayoko’s smartly ambiguous encounter with Yoshizawa.

As Sayoko, Mikako Ichikawa blends goofy awkwardness and sincere sensitivity quite touchingly. Indeed, it is a very humane performance, displaying real on-screen chemistry with her animal co-stars and Kei Tanaka’s Yoshizawa.

There might not be a lot of surprises in the unhurried Rent-a-Cat, but Ogigami infuses the proceedings with a wistful atmosphere that is quite beguiling. Essentially, it is an animal lovers’ indie that well reflects traditional Japanese aesthetics of elegant simplicity. An effective mood piece featuring several nice turns from its small human ensemble, Rent-a-Cat is recommended surprisingly highly for those who suspect they might appreciate its discreet charms. It screens this coming Wednesday (7/25) at the Japan Society, as this year’s Japan Cuts continues.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on July 21st, 2012 at 10:42am.

LFM Reviews The Woodsman and the Rain @ Japan Cuts 2012

the-woodsman-and-the-rain-still06 — From "The Woodsman and the Rain."

By Joe Bendel. If you’re wondering where Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones’ fifty-plus mojo went, it’s been in Japan with Kôji Yakusho. While American audiences might know him best as the salaryman who cuts a rug in Shall We Dance?, nobody working in film today is more credible as a middle-aged man you do not want to mess with. His hardnosed everyman charm is also perfectly suited to the gently humanistic comedy of Shȗichi Okita’s The Woodsman and the Rain (trailer here), which screens as the centerpiece of this year’s Japan Cuts and a key selection of their Focus on Kôji Yakusho retrospective sidebar.

If you have seen Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins, you know what a dynamic presence Yakusho can be in an action-driven film. If you haven’t, the Japan Society will give you an opportunity this Saturday. It’s kind of awesome, but Woodsman is too, in a very different way. Here Yakusho plays a sixty year-old lumberjack and you would not want to be a tree in his sites. He is not a superhero, though. Having survived a health scare, Yatsuhiko Kishi (Yatsu-san) can no longer eat sweets. The widower’s relationship with his slacker son Koichi is strained at best. However, he can now predict precipitation with uncanny accuracy. Given the title, this ability will obviously come into play at some point, but wisely nobody in the film belabors it.

Kishi is pretty set in his routine, until a film crew comes to town. Much to his own surprise, he finds himself shuttling about a nervous assistant director and a socially awkward twenty-something in search of locations for their zombie film. That quiet kid turns out to be Koichi Tanabe, the first time director with massive confidence issues. Yes, he has the same first name as Kishi’s son, but Okita never overplays that card either.

woodsman2 — From "The Woodsman and the Rain."

Before you know it, Kishi is deeply involved in the shooting of Tanabe’s dubious b-movie. Many of these scenes are essentially played for laughs, but in an earthy, understated way. Still, for genre film fans, how can you resist a film about lumberjacks and movie-zombies?

Woodsman is a perfect film to anchor the Yakusho showcase. His performance is rich, nuanced, and deeply felt. He is a good sport, willing to look slightly ridiculous at times, yet he always maintains his dignified bearing. As the Koichis, both Shun Oguri and Kengo Kora grow on viewers, subtly but convincingly showing their characters grow up as the film progresses.

Not exactly bittersweet, but certainly not compulsively cheerful either, Woodsman is ultimately wholly satisfying, in a rugged, down-to-earth way. It is a great example of Yakusho’s powerful screen presence, as well as a wistfully wise bit of storytelling. Very highly recommended, The Woodsman and the Rain screens this Saturday at the Japan Society as this year’s Japan Cuts centerpiece (featuring an intro and Q&A with the man himself), but good luck getting in. It is already sold out, so if you do not have your ticket booked, you’re flying stand-by. Also very highly recommended, tickets for 13 Assassins and Shall We Dance? are currently available on Saturday (7/21).

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on July 21st, 2012 at 10:41am.

LFM’s Jason Apuzzo & Govindini Murty at The Huffington Post and AOL-Moviefone: Basketball Diplomacy: An American Point Guard Becomes a Symbol of Freedom in The Iran Job

[Editor’s Note: the post below appears today at The Huffington Post and at AOL-Moviefone.]

By Jason Apuzzo & Govindini Murty. NBA fans know that two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash recently joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Fans are buzzing, because the addition of Nash could soon result in a return to championship glory for the league’s most glamorous franchise. As big as Nash’s impact on the Lakers might be, however, it can’t possibly match the impact that flashy point guard Kevin Sheppard — the former Jacksonville University star and Virgin Islands native — had in 2008 on A.S. Shiraz, a professional basketball team in Iran’s Super League.

The reasons for this go beyond sports, however, because over the course of one gripping and emotional season — a season documented by director Till Schauder and producer Sara Nodjoumi in their extraordinary new documentary, The Iran Job — Sheppard becomes one of Iran’s most popular athletes, and brings a ray of hope into an increasingly repressive and isolated society.

The Iran Job screened last week in Washington, D.C., and had its world premiere recently at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where we had the chance to talk to the film’s creators.

As depicted in the film, Kevin Sheppard’s Iranian odyssey begins in the fall of 2008, when he’s offered a spot on A.S. Shiraz’s roster. Having already played professional basketball in South America, Europe, China and Israel, the voluble Sheppard is unfazed by the prospect of playing overseas — but is understandably nervous as an American traveling to Iran. Coming in the midst of a 2008 election in which Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all had sharp words for Iran and its nuclear program, Sheppard nonetheless decides to take the plunge out of a spirit of professionalism.

It was a decision that would change his life, as well as the lives of everyday Iranians — and in particular, those of three young Iranian women.

One of the most compelling aspects of The Iran Job is the way it captures the casual details of life in today’s Iran — a closed society that clearly harbors some unusual stereotypes about the outside world. So for example, the moment Sheppard arrives in Iran and meets up with his Serbian roommate (the team’s 7-foot center, and the only other non-Iranian allowed on the squad), Sheppard learns that his cable TV has been custom-provided with hundreds of pornographic channels — the assumption being that because he is an American, he must be sex-obsessed. The irony that such programming is even available in a “strict” Islamic society, of course, is not lost on Sheppard — who can’t help but laugh at Iranian officialdom’s awkward notions of diplomatic courtesy.

Such ticklish moments aside, however, Sheppard immediately begins bonding with average Iranians. A natural show-off with a wicked sense of humor, Sheppard dazzles everyone around him — even when they barely speak English, and are only able to respond to his warm smile and playfulness. The camera follows him early on as he goes out to grab dinner, and we see regular Iranians high-fiving him and snapping pictures with him before he’s even picked up a basketball. His enthusiasm and dynamic personality ignite smiles everywhere.

We asked Sheppard about the rock-star treatment he received from average Iranians:

“The funny thing about it is, once I got over there — people really love America. The government would say, ‘Down with America.’ They have all kinds of signs — ‘America is the Devil,’ ‘Down with the U.S.A.’ — but once you get to the people, they love American culture, they know everything about America, they love all the American sports. So it was a little bit ironic and crazy for me at first. I was like, how can you have all these signs around? But yet, when you speak to the people it’s totally different. So I know it [hostility toward America] was not coming from the mass of the people in general. This was all pushed upon them by the government.”

As The Iran Job proceeds, however, Sheppard’s innate enthusiasm is challenged by his lackluster basketball team, A.S. Shiraz a new and untested squad in Iran’s Super League, and a team sorely lacking in the kind of talent or winning attitude to which Sheppard is accustomed. Viewers basically get the sense that Sheppard has just joined The Bad News Bears of Iranian basketball, and his first task will be to shake up the underwhelming squad.

It’s worth noting here that The Iran Job follows the usual parameters of sports documentaries in depicting how one inspirational player can turn the fortunes of a franchise around by getting his teammates to believe they can win. That’s precisely what Sheppard does, due in part to his on-court heroics (we watch him win several games with buzzer-beating shots), but mostly due to his cocky swagger and high standards. The intense, demanding point guard simply hates to lose — and refuses to let his teammates ever be comfortable accepting defeat. Continue reading LFM’s Jason Apuzzo & Govindini Murty at The Huffington Post and AOL-Moviefone: Basketball Diplomacy: An American Point Guard Becomes a Symbol of Freedom in The Iran Job

LFM Reviews Matraga @ Premiere Brazil

By Joe Bendel. Those who know their Brazilian cinema and literature will know Augusto Esteves, a.k.a. Matraga, is one bad cat. The protagonist of João Guimarães Rosa’s short story, adapted for the screen in 1965 by Roberto Santos, made a triumphant return, sweeping most of the prizes at the 2011 Rio International Film Festival, proving Brazilians appreciate a rugged convert. Once again, he sees the light in Vinícius Coimbra’s Matraga, which screens as part of the 2012 edition of Premiere Brazil!, now underway at MoMA.

Better at drinking and whoring than farming, Esteves has made his share of enemies, most definitely including Major Consilva. Eleven of the local land baron’s gunslingers got the jump on him out in the wild grasslands. It was a decent idea, but they did not bring enough men. They will learn from this mistake. Using the incident as a pretext to banish his wife and child, Esteves continues his reckless hedonism, pressing his luck. Beaten and branded, Esteves is left for dead after pitching head first into a rocky gorge. However, a devout elderly couple nurses his broken body back to health and puts his spirit on the path of righteous.

Though sometimes tempted to give into his inner demons, Esteves holds to the Christian faith of his adopted parents, living with them in anonymous isolation. Eventually, the powerful landlord Joaozinho Bem-Bem and his extra-legal posse of enforcers ride into Esteves’ village, like a Brazilian John Tunstall and the Regulators, hoping to skirt a company of legitimate government troops. Much to their surprise, Matraga receives them in the spirit of Christian hospitality, welcoming them into his home. Recognizing a kindred spirit beneath Esteves’ pious exterior, Bem-Bem feels an instant rapport with the reformed killer. Indeed, their fates will be intertwined.

Matraga is often billed as a Brazilian spaghetti western, and that is fair to an extent. Yet Esteves is as much Paul on the Road to Damascus as the Man with No Name. In truth, it is quite a solid film, but it will be tricky finding the right audience for it beyond Brazilian cinema showcases, such as MoMA’s Premiere. This is a brooding film that treats issues of faith with deadly seriousness. Still, when its go time, everyone gets down to business as the bullets fly.

Glowering impressively, João is convincingly fierce and conflicted as Esteves. He handles the fight scenes quite credibly, but most importantly his depiction of the character’s hard won new faith is grittily realistic and in no way caricatured. Nonetheless, José Wilker earns most of the film’s style points as the smoothly lethal Bem-Bem.

Clearly, Coimbra and cinematographer Lula Carvalho were taken with the wide open vistas of the Minais Gerais countryside, giving it the full John Ford treatment. Yet what is most notable is the manner the film stays true to the expectations of the western genre and the integrity of Esteves’ post-conversion character. That is quite a trick. Partly a moody, unhurried art film and partly a violent western shootout, it is recommended fairly strongly for patrons of Brazilian cinema and those drawn to dark morality tales when it screens Tuesday (7/17) and the following Sunday (7/22) as part of the tenth annual Premiere Brazil! at MoMA.

Posted on July 17th, 2012 at 2:36pm.