Day: May 28, 2013

MoMA’s Chinese Realities Series: LFM Reviews The Questioning

From "The Questioning."

By Joe Bendel. When these cops show up to “inspect” your hotel room, it is a case of pure intimidation. It is also something of a badge of honor in today’s China. Film producer and festival impresario Zhu Rikun was the target of such a police roust, but he had the presence of mind to keep his camera rolling. His resulting short documentary The Questioning screens with Ai Weiwei’s thematically similar Disturbing the Peace as part of MoMA’s continuing Chinese Realities/Documentary Visions film series.

Evidently, it takes six cops to ask for Zhu’s papers. Surely being familiar with Teacher Ai’s experience, Zhu handles himself masterfully. He is distinctly uncooperative, but never gives them anything they could describe as provocative. The entire episode degenerates into absurdist theater, with Zhu refusing to answers basic questions, instead referring his interrogators to the very documents they hold in their hands. Viewers can well imagine the flustered enforcers reassuring themselves how badly they shook up Zhu once they retreat from his room.

Indeed, Questioning plays like a revised scene from the ill fated Chengdu trip in Disturbing, but unfortunately, Ai Weiwei and his team were not so deft at handling their harassers. Teacher Wei would take a shot to the head, which would eventually lead to a serious medical crisis, and his assistant would be held incommunicado in gross violation of China’s (ostensible) law.

Filmmaker Zhu Rikun.

In her insightful post-screening Q&A, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry director Alison Klayman really put her finger on the phenomenon both films document. Both Zhu and Teacher Ai could be so assertive in confrontations with authority figures because there is no rule of law to govern such encounters. As a result, the strongest personality has an advantage. Ironically, that gives Teacher Ai the advantage. And Zhu is certainly no shrinking violet, either.

Disturbing the Peace is a film everyone should watch to understand contemporary China. Zhu’s The Questioning is also quite valuable. It is short, but extremely telling. One could argue he does not do much directing, per se, merely turning on the stationary camera his surprise guests never notice -but as a cinematic journalist, he is incredibly gutsy. (However, one might say that his overly large cast is lousy at taking direction.) Both highly recommended films screen together again (sans Klayman) this coming Saturday (6/1), concluding Chinese Realities at MoMA.

Posted on May 28th, 2013 at 12:33pm.

LFM Reviews Black Out @ The 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Those idiots from the Hangover franchise have nothing on Jos Vreeswijk, who is about to wake up next to a dead body, a smoking gun, and no memory of the last twenty four hours. He has one day to get it all sorted if he wants to make it to the church in time for his wedding in Arne Toonen’s Black Out, which screens during the 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival.

Vreeswijk was once a criminal, but he went straight. It seemed to take, up until the point he woke up with a corpse in his bed. His fiancée Caroline knows he has a shady past, but she accepts him nonetheless. His prospective father-in-law is less understanding, but he seems to be up to his eyeballs in the mess enveloping Vreeswijk. Evidently it involves twenty kilos of cocaine two rival gang lords think he owes them. To get back to the straight-and-narrow, Vreeswijk will have to boost somebody else’s coke. There seems to be plenty around, but holding onto it is a trickier proposition.

Black Out is a darkly comic, slightly cartoony criminal caper which hums along quite energetically. You have your ballet dancers-turned Russian mobsters, psycho baby doll enforcers, malevolent grandpas, and out of their depth dog groomers all getting in on the action. Yet, it is the steely Robert Conrad-esque Raymond Thirry who anchors the bedlam quite effectively as the reformed everyman, Vreeswijk. Despite all the betrayal and confusion exploding around him, he is always manly and never whiny.

From "Black Out."

Likewise, Kim van Kooten is pleasantly down to earth and pragmatic as the innocent Caroline. All the crazy acting out is left to the rest of the cast, who gorge on scenery like a Bonanza buffet. Arguably the subtlest, most intriguing supporting character is Renee Fokker’s Inez, the “Connoisseur of Coke” and formerly Vreeswijk’s close associate.

Tonnen is obviously influenced by Tarantino and the recent bumper crop of Scandinavian noirs, but even if he never reinvents the wheel, he keeps things punchy and pacey. Violence and eccentricity are liberally mixed together, but Black Out still feels fresh thanks to Thirry’s grounded center. A slickly entertaining one-darned-thing-after-another gangster romance-beatdown, Black Out is recommended pretty enthusiastically for genre fans when it screens this coming Sunday (6/2) and Monday (6/3) at Windmill Studios, as part of the 2013 Brooklyn Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on May 28th, 2013 at 12:31pm.

LFM Reviews Sunny @ New York’s Korean Movie Night

By Joe Bendel. If Rizzo were dying of cancer, surely Frenchie would reunite the Pink Ladies. Such is the position married and well-to-do Im Na-mi finds herself in. Some members of the girl gang are happy to get back together, but others are harder to find in Kang Hyeong-chul’s monster hit Sunny, which screens tonight as part of the Korean Cultural Service’s free Korean Movie Night in New York.

While not exactly a life of quiet desperation, Im leads a sheltered existence that is not wholly fulfilling. Since her husband and daughter are too busy to visit her mother-in-law in the hospital, she upholds their obligations. During one such visit, she chances across the room of Ha Chun-hwa, the leader of the clique dubbed “Sunny.” When Im’s family moved to Seoul from the countryside, Ha took the shy teen under her wing. As we watch in flashbacks, most of Sunny quickly fell in line, but not Jung Su-ji, the moody prospective model.

When not rumbling with other girl gangs, Sunny practiced their choreography. However, they were never able to perform their big number, for reasons that will eventually be revealed. Hmm, anyone smell some unfinished business here?

In a Korean film, when a character is introduced with a fatal illness in the first act, it is a cinch there will be an emotional funeral coming down the pike. This goes way beyond Chekhov’s gun. Without a big weepy payoff, audiences would want their money back. Not to be spoilery, but Sunny delivers the goods.

Yes, this is a chick flick, but it is an admittedly well crafted film. Employing some surprisingly striking transitions for each temporal shift, Sunny is more visually stylish than it probably needed to be. In fact, Nam Na-yeoung won the best editing honors at Daejong Film Awards for good reason. As the narrative unfolds, it pulls you in – despite viewers’ macho or hipster resistances.

From "Sunny."

Yoo Ho-jeong plays grown-up Im with admirable restraint, never overplaying the gilded cage empowerment card. Likewise, Shim Eun-kyung is earnest and awkward as teenaged Im. Yet both Jin Hee-kyung and Kang Sora really outshine the ensemble as the ailing adult and fearless teenaged, Ha, respectively. Although hardly a teen herself, singer Min Hyo-rin has her moments as the high school ice queen, Jung. As for her adult counterpart, that is really the question driving Sunny’s third act.

If Cyndi Lauper floats your boat and you prefer Boney M’s version of the title song over Bobby Hebb’s original, than Sunny’s unabashedly 1980’s soundtrack will be your catnip. The ways screenwriter-director Kang interjects and darts around the May 1980 democracy protests also gives the film a bit of seasoning. He certainly conveys his point of view, without waving the bloody shirt. Sunny is shamelessly manipulative and sentimental, but it does exactly what it sets out to do. Recommended for those looking to celebrate sisterhood, it screens tonight (5/28) at the Tribeca Cinemas—free of charge, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on May 28th, 2013 at 12:30pm.

The Irish Rep Revives The Weir

By Joe Bendel. Is it the booze or is it the blarney? The two go together for the patrons of a remote Irish pub. However, their ghostly tall tales take an unexpectedly serious turn in the Irish Repertory Theatre’s revival of Conor McPherson’s The Weir, which officially opened last Thursday night in New York.

Brenden’s pub is a quiet, out-of-the-way spot, aside from the dreaded nights when busloads of German tourists descend on the barkeep like locusts. Jack, the pugnacious mechanic, and the morose mother’s boy Jim have come to spy on Finbar Mack, the local wheeler-dealer as he attempts to charm the village’s newest resident. Valerie is a woman and therefore of interest to everyone present.

The former Dubliner seems genuinely interested in the history of the area and the legendary fairy road that supposedly runs through Brenden’s public house, opening the door for a series of ghost stories. Initially they seem like campfire fare, but they have a profound effect on her. It seems she has her own deeply tragic story to tell that will echo and amplify the uncanny elements of their prior anecdotes.

McPherson is a great writer, with a flair for dialogue and a wonderfully sly approach to the telling of a tale. His mature, humanistic handling of supernatural themes comes as a welcome antidote to the adolescent angst of Twilight and the like. McPherson’s dramas, most certainly including the Olivier award winning The Weir, are also Irish to the bone, making them perfect vehicles for the Irish Rep. Indeed, The Weir boasts some wickedly droll “pub” humor. Yet, despite the heavy portents, it is shockingly endearing. While there are definitely spooky components, at its core The Weir speaks to the therapeutic benefits of getting pie-face hammered and talking malarkey.

From "The Weir."

The Weir is a true ensemble piece, but Jack the diehard Guinness man gets the big, climatic monologue and Dan Butler (probably best known as Bulldog on the Frasier show) absolutely kills with it. He masterfully expresses all of Jack’s bluster and his deepest regrets. In contrast, the hospitable Brenden might be the least showy role, because he is the only character who does not have his own personal yarn to spin (remember, it is a bartender’s job to listen). Still, he gets most of the funny bits, which Billy Carter makes the most of. He also develops some subtle-as-a-dew-drop chemistry with Tessa Klein’s Valerie.

A strong five-handed cast all around, John Keating and Sean Gormley add earthy color and character as Jim and Mack, respectively. Listening to their eerie camaraderie is a finely staged pleasure.  Director and Irish Rep co-founder Ciarán O’Reilly seamlessly guides the memorable production through McPherson’s subtle tonal shifts. Patrons should know coming in it runs straight through without an intermission, but ushers will remind you about a thousand times before it starts. Highly recommended, The Weir runs through July 7th as part of the Irish Repertory Theatre’s 25th anniversary season.

Posted on May 28th, 2013 at 12:29pm.