Movie review + Reel Asian Nov.16

BARACK'S LIES - SIZED SPOILER WARNING!

Gah, my internet connection last night was all messed up. Turns out a simple reboot fixed everything. Perhaps I should reboot my computer more frequently than once a month :S

1) Quantum of Solace. Prediction = $62.8 million. Result = $67.5 million.

KA-CHING!! Finally a prediction where i'm not off by $50 million. Looks like it'll do fairly well, ensuring more Daniel Craig Bond's in the future. However there is a part of me hoping that this crash and burned. Word on the street is that Paul Haggis hurried to finish the script before the Writer's Strike began. Further word on the street is that the writing is extremely clunky and unnecessarily complicated. Having a film like this turn into a huge hit only needlessly encourages Hollywood to put profit before quality :-(



The 12th Annual Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend, and oh-my-god did it redeem itself. Hot volunteers (guys/girls/ladyboys alike) and great movies made it all end on a happy high note. Coming into this the festival was 0-2 for feature length films, but now it ends with a score of 3-2. And having seen 3 great films back-to-back only makes it better (thus a final tally of 10-2) (like every Leaf's game!) (where they lose duh).

1) First up at centre ice is Santa Mesa. I think it's a Philipino film. It's that sort of culture where they're sorta brown, maybe a tiny bit Asian, live in slums, sorta like Malaysia. Somewhere in that region, the language doesn't sound funny to the ears. The film has an extremely strong start, very reminiscent of Crash (the Paul Haggis version) (no Cronenberg-style Crash here unfortunately) which sucks you in immediately. Too bad that grip turns into a flimsy effeminate limp wrist of a homosexual male near the first quarter. The lead adult male character has either crappy acting skills, or is dealing with a crappy script, or a combination of both. Either way my high hopes from the start crashed and burned like the Twin Towers (too soon?) and I slowly leaned further down into my seat, preparing myself with a nap-friendly position. The film plods on until the last third where it picks up momentum again and doesn't let go. The final scenes makes the middle dreck more than worthwhile to withstand. Brilliant social commentary on clashing cultures, the essence of family, and the foundations of love itself.

2) Next up at bat was Tiger Spirit. A fantastic documentary not only for it's subject matter, but the personal journey the director herself goes on. She originally sets out on a journey to find whether tigers are extinct in Korea. In doing so, the more she learns about tigers the more allusions she finds to Korean culture (Tiger Balm anyone?). Her quest for tigers becomes a beautiful quest for the Korean spirit which leads to the perfect subject matter of the North and South Koreas. As Allah would have it, destiny struck down from the heavens and she becomes unswirled into peace talks and family reunification meetings between the two countries. An amazing emotional adventure for anyone who was raised on sniffing Tiger Balm and staring at the funny packaging.

3) The last act of the night was the closing gala itself, and a perfect summary for the festival: Adrift In Tokyo. A very hot theme lately in independent films has been a simplification on the traditional Hero's Quest storyline into a 'Quest of Self-Discovery'. This has been handled by white people in the form of Real Time (one of the best trailers this year / heard it's also one of the worst movies). Their yellow counterparts now play their hand with Adrift In Tokyo. While I haven't seen the trailer for this, i'm guessing that this turns Real Time into chop suey (get it? chop suey is asian, haha). Very simple concept but brilliant execution. Great relaxed bantering dialogue between the two leads on their journey as they encounter fascinating characters that not only show internal character development, but also PUSH THE STORY ALONG (a rarity for side-quests in a RPG). Intensely rediculously hilarious moments and a very beautiful ending, this film speaks to the journey we as adults have all embarked on (when we found hair in weird places).

My time at the Reel Asian Film Fest was alot like a journey through Tokyo. It started off very bumpy, not being able to see a movie that I was looking forward to (Monday). It then became moderately enjoyable, having seen a shitty film but equalized it with seeing the best shorts lineup of my entire life. But then it became worserest than before with me not seeing the OTHER film that I was looking forward to (West 32nd).

Wait, now that I think about it, I didn't see ANY of the films that I really wanted to see. I can't believe I just got screwed over again. And while i'm in my captivity of negativity (name that TV show!) the way they gave out prizes was also a total sham. As it's the Year of the Rat, they had a little rat teddy bear that they'd throw out into the crowd. Whoever caught it won a prize! Problems:
1) Rat was always thrown out by absolutely gorgeous Reel Asian reps (nice mix of guys, girls, and ladyboys) (wait, this is actually a benefit)
2) I will counteract #1 by saying that the Rat only reached halfway into the crowd at Innis, and maybe a few meters out from the stage at the Bloor (not to mention the 2nd level seating of course).
3) Vast majority of the prizes were for chicks/ladyboys, consisting primarily of Chanel products.
A conventional prize system of 'ticket number 444 wins!' would've been much more sensible. To give it some charm, a Rat teddy bear would've been good too. People often thought they'd be able to keep the teddy bear and were a bit disappointed that they couldn't. (and to think of the # of people who touched it...)

More complaining: the showtimes listed did NOT mean the time at which the actual presentation (preamble + prizes + speeches + screening) would begin. The time was actually when people would be let into the theatre. E.g. if a showtime was scheduled for a 5 PM start, that'd mean either the VIP or normal people line would be let into the theatre at that time. For the Closing Gala, the showtime was 8:30, the peons (normal people) weren't let in until a bit past that. Very annoying since I thought it'd be fun to line up with the improverished folk (and I got there 30 minutes beforehand). Hope that they better organize the festival in general for next year.

Speaking of next year, this now makes me think of one more thing. Next year is going to be their 13th Festival. Will they actually mention that? Will it be good or will it suddenly be a disaster? How many people died at their fourth festival? What do other Asian festivals do in terms of numbering?

... and I think that's why this year's festival was alot like a drift through Tokyo. It's a turmoil of emotions, but because you're a foreigner you end up with alot of questions.


And much like a drift through Tokyo, you gotta give big-ups to the people who sent you there (assuming it was a trip on good terms). Show some love for VKPR for hooking me up with a press pass, and Reel Asian for letting me leave litter after all the screenings. While waiting in line I would always be reading something, usually the Toronto Star. So I'd bring it into the theatre with me as well to read while I waited for everything to begin. Once the film started, I'd put the newspaper under my seat WITH THE INTENTION of putting it into the garbage afterwards (for the record). I usually forgot lol. And when I went back into the theatre for the screening directly after, there'd be no newspaper under the seat (usually had the same seat). So thanks Reel Asian for letting my forgetfulness litter while attending your screening.

The biggest joke of all is possibly that I got a press pass to begin with. Willing to bet $50 right now that VKPR takes me off their mailing list (make that double or nothing that I get banned from Reel Asian). All proceeds will go towards a fund to get myself on the donor list for the Canadian Film Centre (and gorge myself at their annual barbeque in front of a disgusted Norman Jewison and a drunk Sidney Poiter).