Day: June 18, 2014

By Joe Bendel. Torgny Segerstedt is considered the paragon of Swedish leftist journalists, but he had no love for the Soviets. In 1924, the future critic of German National Socialist marked the death of Lenin with an editorial castigating the deceased dictator as a “curse” upon the Russian people, amongst other things. Of course, the National Socialist and Communists were allies for good portion of his career. Like a lone voice in the wilderness, Segerstedt inveighs against Hitler and Swedish “neutrality” in Jan Troell’s biographical drama, The Last Sentence, which opens this Friday in New York.

Segerstedt was a difficult person, as his publisher Axel Forssman (the original “Axel F”) could well attest. Despite their friendship and close professional ties, Segerstedt was rather openly carrying on an affair with his wife Maja, a Jewish heiress who shared Segerstedt’s editorial convictions even before the rise of Hitler. Segerstedt’s emotionally damaged wife Puste is also fully aware of his long term infidelity, but she is powerless to stop it.

When Hitler consolidates power, Segerstedt welcomes him to the world stage with an editorial so blistering it draws a protest from the German foreign ministry. Not surprisingly, this only encourages crusading editor, but thoroughly panics the new Swedish government. Soon, Segerstedt is contending with state censorship and taking meetings with the king and prime minister, who are not amused. Yet, he remains maddeningly aloof from friends and family, even including Maja Forssman. Frankly, Troell and co-screenwriter suggest his only real love was reserved for his three dogs (two black hounds and a bulldog), which would be an odd similarity between him and his favorite target for scorn.

Troell clearly tries to remind viewers the principled dissenters of the world are often self-absorbed jerk-heels, because they do not care what people think. There is no question Segerstedt advocated for just causes, including Swedish military intervention on behalf of Finland against the Soviets, but you would not want to be married to him.

Without question, Segerstedt lived a dramatic life, but there is still something unsatisfying about a film that chronicles the Winter War and WWII from the perspective of a drawing room in a neutral country. Danish Jesper Christensen plays the old Swedish newspaperman with perfect erudite severity, but viewers will often feel he is giving them a withering stare over his spectacles during an incredibly awkward editorial meeting.

In contrast, Björn Granath accentuates Axel F’s low key decency and personal pragmatism, making some sense out of his highly inequitable personal relationships. As Forssman and Puste, Pernilla August (a.k.a. Anakin’s mom, Shmi Skywalker) and Ulla Skoog are quite solid wrestling with their insecurities, but they look so much alike, his infidelity seems inexplicably reckless.

Troell and co-DP Mischa Gavrjusjov’s black-and-white cinematography is absolutely arresting, but the film in general is a cold, standoffish affair. It is a cerebral work that forthrightly asks where neutrality ends and collaboration by inaction begins, but it rarely engages on an emotional level. Mostly recommended for longtime admirers of Troell’s work (such as the finely crafted Everlasting Moments), The Last Sentence opens this Friday (6/20) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on June 18th, 2014 at 9:45pm.

By Joe Bendel. She retired in 1992, but she is still one of the biggest stars around. She brought down the house presenting the Asia Star Award to her frequent co-star-action choreographer Sammo Hung and if the producers of the proposed Expendabelles film cannot lure her into a big screen return than they simply should not bother going any further. Viewers can appreciate her power and presence in Shout Factory’s 3-DVD Angela Mao Ying Collection, which includes Jeong Chang-hwa’s Broken Oath.

Lotus Liu never knew her mother, but she inherited her drive for revenge just the same. After four turncoats murdered her father, the principled General Liu, her mother Yee-mei was consigned to the remote Wolf’s Teeth Island prison, where she dies during childbirth. Thousand Hands, Lotus’s not so rehabilitated pickpocket god-mother, raises her as her own daughter, but never reveals her birth mother’s tale of woe, in hopes of breaking the cycle of violence (in addition to her titular oath). Right, good luck with that.

Eventually, Lotus is expelled from her Buddhist nunnery, discovering her true origin story shortly thereafter. With the help one of Thousand Hands’ stealthy-fingered associate, Lotus proceeds to hunt down her father’s four betrayers one-by-one. So far, so good, but she is not quite sure what to make of the mysterious stranger, who frequently materializes to point her in the right direction.

Often cited as a fan favorite, Broken was Mao’s final film for Golden Harvest (considered the successors to the Shaw Brothers as the next great HK distributor-production house). It is easy to see why. While technically a period wuxia film, it definitely has the sensibilities of a 1970s revenge thriller. There are also the exotic Devil’s Island style prison scenes, a small army of undercover cops targeting enemy #4, and a dash of Buddhist teachings.

Most importantly, there are some spectacular fight sequences featuring Mao and her co-stars, including Hung as a featured bodyguard. Action directors Yuen Woo-ping and Hsu Hsia frequently mix martial arts styles to play to the strengths of each cast-member, but they always keep it dazzling cinematic and impressively kinetic.

Mao electrifies Broken, brooding with intensity and throwing down with authority. She is unquestionably the star, even though the big fight sequences are distributed surprisingly equitably amongst the ensemble. Wang Lai also lends the affair plenty of grace and dignity as Thousand Hands, while Ho Mei makes a strong impression in her brief but fan-serving appearance as the wronged Madame Liu.

Broken Oath seriously delivers the goods for martial arts connoisseurs in general and Angela Mao Ying fans in particular. It is a perfect opener for Shout Factory’s highly recommended collection, now available on DVD. More coverage to come.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 18th, 2014 at 9:40pm.

By Joe Bendel. As a hitman for the mob, Gon is sure to have mother issues. He is also living with a case of soul-crushing guilt. Not surprisingly, he acts somewhat erratically on his latest job. In fact, he starts protecting the woman he is supposed to kill. It turns out they have been tragically linked by fate in Lee Jeong-beom’s No Tears for the Dead, which opens this Friday in New York.

When a crooked investment banker tries to sell the Chinese Triad’s offshore banking information to the Russian mob, Gon is dispatched by their Korean allies to kill everyone involved. Unfortunately, there were two very awkward complications. Gon accidentally killed the banker’s young daughter, but he failed to recover the flashdrive in question. He and his boss have very different opinions regarding which is more important.

Gon would prefer to sink into oblivion, but the boss insists he travel home from America to finish the job. Unbeknownst to her, the little girl’s grieving mother Mo-gyeong will soon have possession of the Macguffin, but of course she will not recognize it for what it is. The Korean mob and the crooked cops they have bought and paid for are determined to make her disappear, but they did not anticipate Gon going rogue. However, he will have to be a bit cagey when Mo-gyeong asks just who is he and what is it all to him?

There is just no getting around the depressing nature of the first half of Tears. Nevertheless, the mayhem gets pretty spectacular when the bullets start flying.  Although the climax is highly reminiscent of the original Die Hard, the shootouts and beatdowns are staged with admirable bravado. Brian Tee (recognizable from The Wolverine and Tokyo Drift) also makes quite a charismatic villain, calling out Gon as his sworn brother Chaoz.

Superstar Jang Dong-gun seethes and broods like mad, while showing off first class action chops. Kim Min-hee is frighteningly credible portraying Mo-gyeong on the way down, but she does not sell her rage-to-live nearly as convincingly. It is also worth noting that the little girl playing the little girl is so expressive, it is like a knife to the gut.

Frankly, the first half is downright morose and angsty, but the second half delivers with all guns blazing (literally). Fans of Lee’s breakout hit The Man from Nowhere will be happy to see him further refining his formula mixing dark, emotionally resonant drama and adrenaline-charged, up-close-and-personal melee. Recommended for genre fans with a taste for the existential, No Tears for the Dead opens this Friday (6/20) in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on June 18th, 2014 at 9:35pm.

By Joe Bendel. It is sort of like Fincher’s The Game, with the economic sensibilities of Glengarry Glen Ross. Supposedly its origins trace back to ancient Rome, but savvy Asian film fans will recognize its first cinematic manifestation came in Chukiat Sakveerakul’s 13: Game of Death. Daniel Stamm re-conceives the macabre Thai thriller in New Orleans, where the desperate will still be tempted to commit the most heinous crimes throughout 13 Sins, which has just been released on DVD.

Elliot Brindle would agree with Alec Baldwin, sales is a “tough racket.” Recently fired from his firm for not being sufficiently predatory, Brindle is already drowning in debt. In addition to his pending wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Brindle suddenly must also cover his developmentally disabled brother’s outpatient treatment and care for his ailing racist father.

Things are looking pretty depressed for Brindle, but from out of the blue, a mystery caller offers him one thousand baht (sorry, make that dollars) to kill the fly buzzing around his car. Yes, their apparent surveillance is a little disconcerting, but he does it anyway and the money is immediately deposited in his account. The voice of character actor George Coe then offers him more money to eat the fly, which he does, knowing it is just protein. Those were the first two challenges out of thirteen. Of course, they escalate in severity, but Brindle is already hooked. Failure will result in the forfeiture of his winnings, but all the felonies he is about to commit will be wiped clean with ultimate victory.

Stamm and co-adapter David Birke cleverly devise challenges that are graphic and game-worthy, but not so repellent they irreparably sabotage our rooting interest in Brindle. There are some okay twists to the tale, but the big one stretches credibility. For the most part, Stamm keeps the film humming along slick and tight, without belaboring the class warfare undercurrent.

13 Sins also benefits from ever-watchable genre vets Ron Perlman and Pruitt Taylor Vince as the tight-lipped Det. Chilcoat and the twitchy conspiracy theorist Vogler, respectively. Stamm has them standing around more than he should, but they each deliver one of the film’s two best lines in perfect deadpan style.

In contrast, Mark Webber is a rather weak lead, but he is still convincingly earnest and put-upon as poor Brindle. Frankly, Tom Bower frequently up-stages him as his snarling old man. On the down side, Devon Graye’s performance as brother Michael is just problematic on multiple levels.

By thriller standards, 13 Sins is serviceable enough, but it never fully captures the flavor of its NOLA setting. Frankly, that was a lost opportunity to give the film a more distinctive identity. A professional return to familiar territory, 13 Sins is passable but not essential viewing for fans of dark thrillers with a dash of horror seasoning. It is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Anchor Bay and Radius TWC.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on June 18th, 2014 at 9:30pm.