Home

  • SHOWING UP and Being Stuck

    SHOWING UP and Being Stuck

    Michelle Williams teams up again with director Kelly Reichardt, this time as an annoyed artist

    Michelle Williams in SHOWING UP. Photo by Allyson Riggs, Courtesy of A24

    Indie director Kelly Reichardt takes us from the 19th Century setting of her previous film, First Cow, to a modern Oregon art school in her new work, Showing Up. Michelle Williams stars as Lizzy, a single sculptor whose chosen medium is clay, who works for her mom Jean (stage actress Maryann Plunkett) in the school’s administrative office. Her apartment has been without hot water for weeks and her free-spirited landlady Jo (Hong Chau) — also her friend and fellow artist — is too obsessed with prepping for an upcoming show to do much about it.

    Hong Chau in SHOWING UP. Photo by Allyson Riggs, Courtesy of A24

    One gets the sense that Lizzy is just getting by in her life. The film opens with her concept sketches on a wall, and we witness her in the midst of creating pieces for her own imminent show. But as a new instructor at the school mentions that a friend and gallery owner from New York might be coming to the show, Lizzy’s response lacks real excitement or immediacy. Perhaps she’s been disappointed enough times that her optimism has run out. Williams maintains a slouched posture in her portrayal of Lizzy, and wears a wardrobe full of tans and browns. It’s as if the character doesn’t expect to garner much attention either for herself or her art.

    (L-R) Michelle Williams, Maryann Plunkett in SHOWING UP. Photo by Allyson Riggs, Courtesy of A24

    The strongest emotion Lizzy displays is outright frustration. She’s annoyed at having to be the mediator between her aging divorced parents (Judd Hirsch plays her dad, a daffy ceramics artist with selective memory), unappreciated by her unemployed brother (John Magaro, First Cow), and jealous of the success her friend Jo is experiencing within their shared profession. She leaves passive aggressive voice mail in a fit of anger; admittedly I found it far-fetched that this character with introverted tendencies wouldn’t text anyone instead of calling them.

    The two friends share caretaking of an injured pigeon that Jo finds (never mind that Lizzy’s tabby cat Ricky is the cause of the bird’s injury). This animatronic pigeon becomes the soul and symbol at the center of Showing Up. Just like Lizzy, this bird is stuck in its current situation and muddling through. But would she fly away, if given a chance?

    Showing Up opens in Austin this weekend at AFS Cinema.

    , , ,

  • RENFIELD Review: Horror-Action-Comedy Undone By Tonal Incongruities

    RENFIELD Review: Horror-Action-Comedy Undone By Tonal Incongruities

    Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult co-star in a middling horror-action-comedy

    Six years ago, Universal’s attempt to resurrect the Universal Monsters brand with the so-called “Dark Universe” (modeled after Marvel’s commercially successful, shared, interconnected universe) with a bloated, effects-heavy entry, The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise in a rare break from the Mission: Impossible franchise. Said entry famously crashed and burned with critics and audiences alike, jettisoning another franchise before it had a chance to begin. But where there’s IP, there’s always a way, a way back to another attempt to leverage familiar characters into presumably new, modern settings.

    That idea worked flawlessly with Leigh Whannell’s brilliant reimagining of H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man three years ago, so there was a small measure of hope that it’d work again with Renfield, a mediocre-to-middling, blood-splattered, gore-filled action-horror comedy that brings everybody’s favorite undead aristocrat, Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), back for another bite at novelist Bram Stoker’s most famous creation.

    Renfield opens with Dracula’s long put-upon man-servant, Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), in sad-man voiceover mode. In a few, thankfully brief strokes, Renfield recounts how he became Dracula’s housekeeper, travel agent, and food delivery driver. As expected, Renfield begins his tale with his century-old recruitment in Transylvania, his ascension to Dracula’s right-hand ghoul, and Dracula’s near-total defeat, before fast-forwarding to present-day New Orleans (the home of another, far more recent vampire, Lestat), and a self-help group for victims of narcissistic, sociopathic abusers.

    It’s there that the lonely, lonesome Renfield has found a like-minded group, though Renfield doesn’t reveal that his destructive, long-term relationship isn’t with an obsessive lover or even a horrible boss, but the master vampire himself. It’s a joke based on dramatic irony whereupon the audience knows more than the characters onscreen and director Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) wrings that idea for all its worth and then some.

    Renfield and Dracula’s co-dependent relationship — specifically Renfield’s attempts to disabuse himself from Dracula’s employ — gives Renfield: The Movie the narrative and thematic impetus for everything that follows across its 93-minute running time. As Dracula slowly recovers from his last encounter with vampire hunters, he leans hard on Renfield bringing him a fresh supply of blood, usually attached to still living, breathing, pulsing bodies, but Renfield, in apparently a renewed sense of guilt over his actions, brings Dracula only those, like the abusers of his self-help group, who truly “deserve” to be separated from their mortal coils.

    So far, so promising, at least where the core relationship is concerned, but McKay and screenwriter Ryan Ridley, expanding a story idea courtesy of Robert Kirkman (Invincible, The Walking Dead), essentially paint themselves (red) into a corner story-wise. With apparently nowhere else to go beyond the bare bones of the premise, they connect Renfield to Rebecca Quincey (Awkwafina), a New Orleans traffic cop eager to bring the crime family led by Bellafrancesca Lobo (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and her coke-fueled son, Tedward (Ben Schwartz), to justice, extrajudicial if necessary, judicial if not.

    With the NOPD brought and paid for by the Lobo family and corruption at every turn, Rebecca reluctantly agrees to ally herself with Renfield, especially after the latter inadvertently becomes a hero, saving Rebecca and a restaurant filled with unsuspecting patrons, from an undisciplined attack by a violent street gang. In a major departure from Stoker’s novel and, it should be added, an obvious nod to the revenue-generating superhero genre, Renfield gains enhanced speed, power, and reaction time when he ingests an insect. Cue dismemberment and decapitations of random henchmen in animal masks.

    The yawn-inducing, derivative plot quickly devolves into a series of semi-well-executed set pieces involving Renfield and Rebecca on one side of the ledger and everyone else on the other, with a newly rejuvenated Dracula, slightly peeved at Renfield’s newly reformed backbone and eager to return Renfield back into his subservient, cowering form, as the wildcard.

    In an unsurprising, but no less welcome, turn, Cage plays Dracula as a flamboyant scene- and neck-chewing narcissist, using every psychological trick in the Master Gaslighter’s Book to keep Renfield in the fold. Cage’s Dracula takes his cues from Bela Lugosi’s character-defining performance, adds a dollop of Christopher Lee’s feral, ravenous vampire, and switches it up just enough to make the role unmistakable his own. When Dracula’s onscreen, Renfield: The Movie is rarely dull or boring. When he’s not, especially once the crime-drama element moves into the foreground, dull and boring become apt descriptions.

    That’s through no fault of Hoult, who’s evolved into a fine comic actor, or Awkwafina, a performer who’s proven adept at handling broad comedy and subtle, character-driven drama, but it is the fault of a screenplay that repeatedly leaves them with little else to do except whatever actions are needed to advance the plot or drop one-liners that miss all too often.

    Renfield opens theatrically on Friday, April 14th, across North America.

  • RENFIELD is a Vampire Comedy Sucked Dry of Effective Humor

    RENFIELD is a Vampire Comedy Sucked Dry of Effective Humor

    Amusing, tongue-in-cheek performances by Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage can’t save this lifeless horror comedy

    A captive of the infamous Prince Dracula (Nicolas Cage) since the early 1930s, Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has dutifully done his Master’s dirty work in collecting fresh victims to ensure Dracula’s survival–enduring all sorts of mental and physical abuse from Dracula, victim, and vampire-hunter alike along the way. There are perks–where Dracula gains his powers from human lives, Renfield can use bugs to supercharge himself into committing John Wick-style feats of action. However, times are changing, including societal thoughts on toxic abusive relationships. Drawn to a support group in search of abuse victims to aid in Dracula’s latest recovery period, Renfield begins to re-evaluate his crippling role as Dracula’s servant…and tries to rehabilitate his self-worth before his Master can return to full power.

    While the Renfield character has been a mainstay of Dracula lore throughout the decades, Renfield marks one of the first occurrences that the supporting role has pivoted to a lead. Upon its announcement alongside the casting of Hoult and Cage, it seemed like a much-needed shot in the arm for the character in the vein of other successful vampire comedies like What We Do in the Shadows. Produced by the original home of Tod Browning’s Dracula and coming from veteran comedy director Chris McKay, there was rife potential for a film that both skewered and paid homage to a horror icon–infusing the seductive gloom of the vampire genre with an equally compelling sense of action and humor.

    Renfield quickly delivers on these expectations in its opening act, anchored by gleefully ghoulish performances by both Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage. Opening with skillful usage of the 1931 Dracula that superimposes Cage and Hoult in the place of Lugosi and Dwight Frye, it’s clear McKay and company have a degree of reverence for their source material before diving headfirst into some wonderfully gory comedy. Hoult plays up every miserable moment of Renfield’s thankless life, with all the toil and muck being the servant of a vampire acquires. In the first of the film’s novel ideas, Renfield mitigates the grim moral quandaries of his job by targeting the antagonists of those in his support group–providing Dracula with food while helping his acquaintances escape their toxic relationships. By tempering the craven Renfield with a hilarious degree of moral relativism, Hoult proves himself to be a charming lead.

    Likewise, Dracula is nearly everything one would expect from Cage’s return to vampiredom. Played a debonair air fracturing under eons of lurking in society’s shadows, Cage’s Dracula is rife with bizarre inflections and tics yet never loses his ability to command a scene. Practical makeup is given spare chances to shine as Dracula recovers from his latest encounter with vampire hunters, with chunks of flesh and sinew hanging off Cage as he feebly tries to maintain his aristocratic flair. He also firmly commits to Renfield’s positioning of Dracula as a narcissistic abuser, frequently weaponizing his seductive powers to reframe himself as the true “victim” of his relationship with Renfield.

    However, much of Renfield’s promise bleeds out over the scant 93-minute runtime as the plot kicks into gear. Awkwafina plays Rebecca, a gritty New Orleans beat cop determined to take down the Lobo crime family that played a role in her cop father’s death. However, the Lobos–headed over by imposing matriarch Bellafrancesca (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and bumbling loudmouth Teddy (Ben Schwartz)–stay out of the clutches of the law due to corruption running rampant in Rebecca’s department. Teddy Lobos’ latest ill-conceived violent rampage causes Renfield to meet Rebecca, sparking a friendship that not only puts Renfield on the path of becoming a hero but the Lobos in the direction of an unholy alliance with Dracula.

    If the above sounds like an entirely different film than what Renfield’s first act may suggest, it’s because this plot feels just as out of place throughout the rest of the film. Renfield hits its highs when focused on the toxic relationships between Hoult and Cage, especially as Renfield becomes more drawn to the idea of saving innocent lives rather than sacrificing them. However, Renfield suffers when it feels obligated to return to this half-baked retread of cop/action films–one that provides enough tread for Renfield to feebly justify its premise but buries whatever promise it may hold.

    Awkwafina has proven herself as an actress and a master of balancing comedic and dramatic tones, and Rebecca on paper has enough agency to command her own film. However, Rebecca onscreen, much like much of the film’s supporting cast, feels tonally mismatched from what Cage and Hoult are (appropriately) delivering. Rebecca’s fiery charge against the Lobos (not to mention her dedication to police work) stops and starts as is convenient for the plot. Aghdashloo makes a meal of her short screentime by providing magnetic menace to her crime leader but is frequently undercut by Schwartz’s far-too-obnoxious Teddy. While Schwartz’s bombastic brand of humor has served him well in many other roles, Teddy feels like Parks and Rec’s Jean-Ralphio by way of Scarface to the nth degree–quickly becoming an annoying weight that Renfield can’t seem to shake.

    Perhaps there’s an earlier cut that more appropriately balances Renfield’s varying tones and ideas, but myriad odd editing choices might signify a film that’s been test-screened and studio-noted to within an inch of its life. Many of Renfield’s more humorous lines from the film’s trailer have been left on the cutting room floor in favor of more expository dialogue, with even more jokes placed within the film’s truncating VoiceOver, or during shots that conveniently don’t show characters speaking onscreen. One egregious scene features Awkwafina exploring a crime scene with her partner. Either she’s delivering VO, or her delivered dialogue seemingly doesn’t match up with her silent mouth onscreen; the fact that it’s impossible to tell may speak to a hail-mary pass in the editing room to ensure that any possible viewer might buy into the threadbare logic of these particular sequences. Additional sequences make leaps and bounds of logic that wouldn’t pass muster in an episode of NCIS, let alone a major studio film.

    Much of the film’s headache-inducing action sequences are just as haphazardly cut, with rapid-fire editing and buckets of virtual blood doing their best to mask what seems like a quickly dwindling budget. If it was played for laughs that one of Renfield’s powers might be the ability to emerge from a viscera-spewing fight without a trip to the dry cleaners, it would have been one of Renfield’s more successful jokes. However, the action sequences instead feel like another aspect of McKay’s film that feels underdeveloped–and worse, a bit wholly uncommitted to. Cinematography choices that play up Argento-like clashes of color are initially intriguing and subtle as if evoking the feel of pulp horror comics and Hammer films of the 1970s. However, as the gore and fight scenes reveal their budgetary limitations, the film’s aesthetic makes for a finale that looks like it was shot in the San Francisco Armory.

    While both Cage and Hoult’s delightfully committed performances deliver on the film’s premise, the film’s haphazard, stitched-together approach in every other respect reveals just how Renfield has been bled dry of effective humor or enjoyment.

    Renfield arrives in theaters on April 14th, 2023 courtesy of Universal Pictures.

    , , , , , , , ,

  • Yasuhiko Shimizu’s Japanese CUBE Remake is a Worthy Addition to the Franchise

    Yasuhiko Shimizu’s Japanese CUBE Remake is a Worthy Addition to the Franchise

    1997’s Cube, the Canadian film about a group of ne’erdowells who wake up in a literal cube-like prison filled with booby traps, became a cult film on video after no real theatrical release here in the states. But in Japan, it was a certified rental phenomenon. This could be because the Japanese saw something familiar in the story of a group of people regulated to tiny prisons, given their less than spacious living accommodations. Or it could be because the premise is quite similar to one of the most popular tropes in Japanese media — a group of ordinary people, placed in an extraordinary circumstance and forced to fight for their lives. This immediately brings to mind both Battle Royale and Gantz and it’s a plot device that allows those affected to shed the hard coded societal norms and etiquette impressed upon them — most importantly the good of the many in favor of the needs of the individual.

    While this remake/reboot that just hit Screambox shares A LOT of DNA with that original film it’s an extremely localized take to be sure. The film starts out much like the original as a group of individuals who all appear to have a dark past wake up in a cube and slowly attempt to unravel the secrets of their prison and hopefully escape. But it’s how the interpersonal drama and tension is ratcheted up here, that marks the biggest departure from the original. Bullying is at the forefront of the trauma suffered by our protagonists, along with the expectations of their elders held over them in their former lives, wanting nothing more than to be free not only of the cube, but the older generations who expect them to maintain the same work and cultural norms.

    The cast here is pretty stacked, Masaki Suda (Kamen Rider W) plays Yuichi Goto, the lead who has a rather troubled past which is dealt out in drips and drabs throughout the film. Takumi Saitoh (Shin Ultraman/Shin Godzilla/Shin Kamen Rider) plays the game weary veteran Hiroshi Ide, and Masaki Okada (Drive My Car) rounds out the leads as a salaryman on the cusp of madness. It’s the power struggle between those three that supplies the film with much of the film’s drama as they all bring to the situation their own way of dealing with the circumstance. There is also a young boy who can’t speak, a young woman and an older man who are basically relegated to props here sadly. A good cast is key to a Cube film and they don’t disappoint.

    Given this film is probably shot on a singular cube set, that set is still however rather impressive . The cube here appears to be a bit newer, or cleaner, and the use of LEDs in the set design to light the individual panels is also a nice touch to portray mood and signify traps. The cinematography manages to keep the space as open as could be expected, while not feeling too claustrophobic in how it portrays the action and dialog on screen. One thing I really thought stood out was the soundtrack by Yutaka Yamada who is probably best known for his work on the anime Tokyo Ghoul, its techno franticness only helps ratchet up certain sequences. While his score doesn’t overburden the visuals it does manage to add some interesting flourishes to the action and drama that do a great job at accentuating the camera work by Yasuhiko Shimizu.

    What Yasuhiko Shimizu has done with Cube is take just enough liberties with the source to make it his own while still keeping it recognizable to fans. Director Yasuhiko Shimizu definitely has a very specific message he is trying to convey about being a young man in Japan in this generation and their struggle to free themselves of the previous self imposed imprisonment. As a fan of the original myself I thoroughly enjoy this fresh perspective, it’s just different enough from the original while keeping the original spirit in mind, with a few new twists in there for good measure.

    Like all Cube films its the cast the really brings the drama to life and the cast here paired with its updated take works flawlessly and it makes me hopeful we will get a sequel.

  • The 10th Annual Old School Kung Fu Fest: Swordfighting Heroes Edition Takes NY!

    The 10th Annual Old School Kung Fu Fest: Swordfighting Heroes Edition Takes NY!

    One of New York’s best throwback fests to the days of 42nd street has returned for yet another year!

    The Old School Kung Fu Fest is back, April 21st thru the 30th, this year at the Metrograph, for twelve In-Person Screenings, and three more virtual ones for those that can’t make it to the Big Apple. This year the fest is focusing on Wuxia films, or films that combine martial arts with sword play and specifically Taiwanese wuxia (sword fighting hero). The program this year promises the biggest retrospective of Taiwanese wuxia movies ever seen in New York City.

    From the press release:

    “Wuxia movies have a long history in Chinese cinema, but when King Hu’s Dragon Inn premiered in 1967, it kicked off a wuxia revival that reinvented action movies, so we’ve decided to celebrate the wuxia movies from King Hu’s homeland of Taiwan by going big or going home!”

    The fest presented by Metrograph and Subway Cinema, in association with Taipei Cultural Center in New York, Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan), promises:

    – The US premiere of The King of Wuxia, an epic documentary about King Hu, the revolutionary filmmaker who re-invented wuxia movies and turned them into high art, plus three of his best films — the monumental and unmissable A Touch of Zen, and two of his most action-packed flicks, The Valiant Ones and The Fate of Lee Khan.

    – All three movies in the essential Tsai Ying-jie Trilogy: Joseph Kuo’s The Swordsman of All Swordsman (US premiere of the new digital restoration), The Bravest Revenge (online only), and the wild and wooly Ghost Hill.

    – So many sword-slinging heroines! We’ve got four films starring actress Hsu Feng (A Touch of Zen, The Fate of Lee Khan, The Valiant Ones, A City Called Dragon), four starring Polly Shang-kuan (Swordsman of All Swordsmen, Ghost Hill, Grand Passion, The Bravest Revenge), and one starring the massive movie star, Josephine Siao Fong-fong (The Daring Gang of Nineteen From Verdun City) in which she’s only 12 years old.

    – So many discoveries, from the three female Chinese opera stars, Yang Li-hua, Liu Ching, and Chin Mei playing the heroic sisters of Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters, a 1968 movie that feels like the French New Wave doing wuxia; to megastar Brigitte Lin in the underseen Night Orchid, a 1983 Taiwanese feature film remake of a wildly popular Hong Kong TV series.

    – So many puppets in The Legend of the Sacred Stone, the all-puppet wuxia from the Huang family, master puppeteers who owned Taiwanese airwaves with their po-te-hi puppet storytelling in the 1980s.

    – Shu Qi starring in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 2015 deconstruction of the wuxia genre The Assassin, which is also his loving tribute to the movies he grew up on.

    Get more info at https://metrograph.com/category/oldschool-kungfufest/

    Full Program Below:

    THE KING OF WUXIA (2022)
    US Premiere
    Directed by: Lin Jing-jie

    The most important thing to know about a 3.5 hour documentary about King Hu is that it’s not long enough. King Hu appeared in 1966 with Come Drink with Me and absolutely revolutionized Chinese filmmaking, action choreography, editing, and storytelling. The seven movies he made between 1966 and 1979 are stone cold classics that influenced a generation and then…heartbreak and tragedy struck as Hu’s uncompromising artistic vision met hard economic realities.

    Hu worked with absolutely everyone over the course of his career and The King of Wuxia features interviews with friends and collaborators like John Woo, Sammo Hung, and his favorite actor, Shih Chun (A Touch of Zen, A City Called Dragon). They take us to the locations where he shot his films, Chinese opera performers demonstrate how Hu created his stunts, there’s rare footage of Hu from his acting days before he became a director, and dozens of emotional stories that have never been heard before. This is a testament to greatness, a documentary that’ll make you want to walk out of the theater when it’s over, pick up a sword (or a camera), and forge your own path in the world.

    A TOUCH OF ZEN (1971)
    Directed by: King Hu
    Starring: Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, Pai Ying, Tien Peng, Tsao Chien, Roy Chiao, Sammo Hung

    Astonishing is the only word for it. Running three ecstatic hours, A Touch of Zen is the kind of movie you surrender to, and you’ll walk out of the theater with your soul in better shape than when you came in. Butchered on release, it died at the box office and killed King Hu’s career until the three-hour cut played at the Cannes Film Festival three years later and received the Technical Grand Prize and almost took home the Palme d’Or. Ever since, it’s been considered one of the greatest Chinese movies ever made.

    Starting as a ghost story, it slowly spins a web as a scholar (Shih Chun) living next door to a haunted house, falls for the woman warrior he first mistakes for a ghost (Hsu Feng). By the time he finds out she’s on the run from the government, he’s caught in her grip, and so is the audience, as this movie delivers bamboo forest fights, martial arts transcendence, and Zen Buddhism. Zen made Hsu Feng’s ferocious swordswoman a major star, and established that King Hu had more on his mind than mere swordplay. Spending 25 days shooting scenes that take up 10 minutes of screentime, Zen made it clear that for King Hu, making movies was a way of life.

    THE FATE OF LEE KHAN (1973)
    Directed by: King Hu
    Starring: Tien Feng, Hsu Feng, Roy Chiao, Pai Ying, Han Ying-chieh, Angela Mao

    King Hu’s most ferocious statement of feminist principles, this flick features five actresses throwing flying fists (Hu Chin, Helen Ma, Angela Mao, Hsu Feng, and Li Li-hua). The first half of the movie is all set-up, as rebels, spies, and government officials in disguise descend on a remote inn looking for a pivotal MacGuffin (a battle map). The second half of the movie sees all hell break loose as identities are revealed, loyalties are betrayed, and all the furniture gets bashed, crashed, and thoroughly smashed. Think of it as The Hateful Eight but with women wielding swords.

    This is also the movie where King Hu, the great action innovator, met the next step in the evolution of the action movie, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan’s “Big Brother,” who does the action choreography in this movie (and in Hu’s next, The Valiant Ones). Sammo isn’t fooling around, and his approach challenges and elevates Hu’s vision, making the action feel rougher, rowdier, and harder-hitting than the elegant ballet of previous King Hu films.

    THE VALIANT ONES (1975)
    Directed by: King Hu
    Starring: Roy Chiao, Hsu Feng, Sammo Hung, Han Ying-chieh

    For a small story told like an epic, the tale couldn’t be tinier. Corrupt Ming officials have taken bribes and allowed a band of Japanese pirates to terrorize the South China coast. The government dispatches a small band of fighters, anchored by a husband-and-wife team, to take care of them. Outnumbered, they have to rely on guile, cunning, and clever strategy to take down their opponents. What follows is almost non-stop action courtesy of fight choreographer Sammo Hung and director King Hu, who deliver some of their greatest set pieces, including a chess battle that has to be seen to be believed.

    Sammo had a small role in A Touch of Zen, but he and Hu had just worked together for the first time on The Fate of Lee Khan, and now, in their second teaming up, they meld into a single brutal beast delivering intense onscreen beatdowns. Sammo’s action is aggressive, and features more kung fu than Hu’s other films, which relied mostly on swordplay. Hu edits to Sammo’s strengths, delivering a movie that feels like the future of Hong Kong moviemaking: hard-hitting, fast-moving, and out-of-this-world.

    VENGEANCE OF THE PHOENIX SISTERS (1968)
    New York Premiere of the Digital Restoration
    Directed by: Chen Hung-min
    Starring: Yang Li-hua, Liu Ching, Chin Mei

    Where has this movie been all our lives? A black-and-white tornado that sometimes feels like the French New Wave doing wuxia, its opening half-hour will leave you breathless as it beats your eyeballs into submission with its muscular handheld camerawork, savage swish pans, and kinetic editing. Its score, on the other hand, feels like Ennio Morricone and Bernard Herrman weaving a tapestry of Chinese opera music. It’s all the work of first-time director Chen Hung-min, who had already edited a host of movies including King Hu’s Dragon Inn.

    Stars of Chinese opera and the silver screen, Yang Li-hua, Liu Ching, and Chin Mei, play the titular Phoenix Sisters, separated as children in a brutal massacre. 15 years later, they cross paths again: oldest sister Xiufeng (Yang) an accomplished swordswoman who lives disguised as a man; middle sister, Qingfeng (Liu) doling out justice wearing a mask; and spunky youngest sister, Zhifeng (Chin) who loses her adoptive family in another attack. These three separated siblings ultimately reunite to remind audiences that the greatest wuxia family value is revenge.

    THE SWORDSMAN OF ALL SWORDSMEN (1968)
    US Premiere of the Digital Restoration
    Directed by: Joseph Kuo
    Starring: Tien Peng, Polly Shang-kuan, Chiang Nan

    Taiwan’s Joseph Kuo owned the ’70s kung fu movie to such an extent that we devoted 2021’s Old School Kung Fu Fest to his films (like 18 Bronzemen and Mystery of Chess Boxing). But before he dominated kung fu, Kuo made sword-slinging wuxia and they’re some of the best films in the genre. Released 55 years ago, Swordsman of All Swordsmen is newly digitally restored and it’s been the centerpiece of this retrospective as it plays around the world because it’s just that good.

    Running a breakneck 85 minutes, the film begins with Tsai Ying-jie (Tien Peng) setting out to kill the 5 martial arts masters who murdered his parents. He’s spent 20 years preparing for this moment, so he’s understandably bummed when things go awry almost immediately and he winds up owing his life to Flying Swallow (Polly Shang-kuan) whose father orchestrated the murder of his parents, and Black Dragon (Chiang Nan) who tells Tsai that he owes him a duel to the death once vengeance is served.

    Bloody, brutal, and full of thorny moral conundrums that can only be solved by killer chopsticks and razor-blade-lined hats, this flick was such a huge hit it spawned two sequels featuring the Tsai Ying-jie character and we’re showing both (The Bravest Revenge is screening online only but the crazy climax to the trilogy, The Ghost Hill, screens live).

    THE GHOST HILL (1971)
    Directed by: Ting Shan-hsi
    Starring: Tien Peng, Polly Shang-kuan, David Tang Wei

    The final installment in the Swordsman of All Swordsmen trilogy, no familiarity with the other two movies is required to have a blast. Polly Shang-kuan reprises her Flying Swallow character, alongside Tien Peng’s Tsai Ying-jie, and this time they decide to storm Hell itself in revenge for the death of Flying Swallow’s dad. After all, when life is this cruel, you want to speak to a supervisor.

    Lord Chin, the Ruler of Hell, likes to bathe in boiling oil and he’s guarded by the Left & Right Judges, the Ox Head Demon, the Black & White Wuchangs, the Murdering Wonder Child, and Soul Hunter Yaksha, so this won’t be easy. Fortunately, Flying Swallow and Tsai have a just cause and an entire hobo army to help them crash through the styrofoam caves of doom and chop necks under multicolored disco lights. Shot by a cinematographer who films fight scenes like he’s storming the beach at Normandy, the visuals come flying at your eyes fast and furious in this delirious, blood-soaked fantasia. Will you be able to describe the plot or map the character arcs? Probably not. Will you see a flying head biting people? Guaranteed.

    A CITY CALLED DRAGON (1970)
    Directed by: Larry Tu Chong-hsun
    Starring: Hsu Feng, Shih Chun

    Hsu Feng debuted in a small part in King Hu’s Dragon Inn and almost immediately Hu tapped her to star in A Touch of Zen alongside Shih Chun. But Zen was a massive production that seemed to drag on forever, so during the downtime Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, and most of the Zen cast and crew teamed up with Hu’s assistant director, Larry Tu Chong-hsun, to make A City Called Dragon. Hsu’s performance in this flick is so hardcore that it won her “Most Promising Newcomer” at the Golden Horse Awards before A Touch of Zen even came out!

    Hsu plays a rebel infiltrating Dragon City to get battle plans which will help overthrow the Northern Manchus. Her contact gets beheaded by the Governor (played by Shih Chun, being the bad guy this time) who then locks down the city, leaving Hsu with three missions: find those plans, take righteous revenge, and don’t get murdered. That last one’s harder than it sounds because Dragon City is crawling with spies and assassins and they’re all looking for her. Sporting as much intrigue as action, Hsu Feng is a righteous sword of holy vengeance in this shadowy flick that’s like what would happen if John LeCarre’ decided to put down his pen and pick up a sword.

    THE GRAND PASSION (1970)
    Directed by: Yang Shih-ching
    Starring: Polly Shang-kuan, Pai Ying, Tsao Chien, Shih Chun

    Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. King Hu’s A Touch of Zen was such a massive production that seemed to drag on forever, that during the downtime his cast and crew went off to make another movie. This time, it was his production manager, Yang Shih-ching, who picked up a camera, and he tapped Hu’s other major female discovery to headline the cast, Polly Shang-kuan. Dragon Inn may have put Hsu Feng on the road to stardom, but the intense Polly Shang-kuan was the actual lead swordslinger in that movie, and this hardcore flick is a showcase for what she can do.

    Like A City Called Dragon, it’s also about rebels trying to deliver a MacGuffin (a list of names) but this time Polly Shang-kuan and Pai Ying are siblings as well as part of a secret spy network, and they need to take the list to a middleman at the local teahouse. Standing in their way, of course, is the government’s torture-loving General, and numerous creeps who start coming out of the woodwork who may be friends or may be foes. Eschewing the occasional silliness of the genre, this one is an intense drama with gorgeous production design and a sense of realism that grounds the action and makes the twists feel real. Polly Shang-kuan would go on to be one of Taiwan’s biggest action stars, and Director Yang Shih-chung would make two more movies with her after this one.

    NIGHT ORCHID (1983)
    US Premiere of the 2K Remaster
    Directed by: Chang Peng-I
    Starring: Brigitte Lin, Adam Cheng, Don Wong Tao, Eddy Ko, Fung Hak-on

    Movies don’t come more star-studded than this hothouse flower. Based on a zeitgeist-changing megahit TV series, and written by Gu Long himself (considered one of the greatest wuxia novelists of all time), this posh flick stars Brigitte Lin, one of Taiwan’s biggest actresses who was soon to find fame in Hong Kong movies, and Adam Cheng, a major Hong Kong pop star and actor.

    Cheng plays Chu Liu-xiang, one of Gu Long’s most popular characters and the star of a series of novels. He’s a fun-loving, hard-drinking Robin Hood who refuses to kill his enemies and has a knack for the ladies. Cheng first played Chu (whose name literally translates as “lingering scent”) in an 65-episode TV series that was broadcast in Taiwan in 1982, and it proved to be so popular that producers invited him over to co-star with Brigitte Lin in this movie written by Long.

    It moves a mile-a-minute, characters come and go with alarming frequency, and the whole thing culminates in a booby-trapped temple of wildly outlandish doom. Come for Brigitte Lin, stay for the kung-fu fighting tiger and leopard-men, the murderous, caped little girl who pops in and out from beneath the sand, and an enemy in white nylon who can flatten himself into a two-dimensional sheet and vaporize.

    THE LEGEND OF THE SACRED STONE (2000)
    Directed by: Chris Huang
    Starring: a bunch of hand puppets

    In 1984, the wuxia series, Pili, debuted in Taiwan and became one of the most popular television shows of the ’80s. In 2000, the series spun off into this feature film which has almost never before been available in an unmutilated version overseas. Here at last is the full, uncut, puppet wuxia of your dreams, presented with all its wildness and beauty intact. The story is straightforward: an evil martial arts master is out to destroy the world and an army of heroes assemble to stop him. So what?

    Here’s what. It’s all done with hand puppets, based on the centuries old po-te-hi style of puppet-based storytelling famous in China and brought to Taiwan by the Huang family. Director Chris Huang (called “Ten Carts of Books” by fans for his vast knowledge) is a fourth generation puppeteer and his relative, Vincent Huang (known as the “Eight Tone Genius”), does all the voices. Shot on a 36,000 square foot soundstage, with energetic, lo-fi CGI deployed at breakneck speed on vast puppet sets, Legend of the Sacred Stone feels like an amped-up version of Tsui Hark’s Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, only it’s all done with puppets. Delivered with total sincerity and dramatic depth, after you see it, you’ll never look at puppets in quite the same way again.

    THE ASSASSIN (2015)
    Directed by: Hou Hsiao-hsien
    Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yun

    No one saw this coming. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan’s great arthouse director and master of the long take, decided that he wanted to make his very own wuxia movie to pay tribute to the ones he saw growing up in Taiwan (just like the ones featured in this retrospective). The movie he delivers fits comfortably in this line-up, but the way he tells it makes it feel unlike anything else we’re screening. It won “Best Director” at Cannes, “Best Film” and “Best Director” at the Golden Horse Awards, and it stands as a labor of love that’s deeply respectful of the genre’s conventions even as it deconstructs them.

    Shu Qi, a longtime veteran of the Hong Kong film industry, plays a veteran assassin towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, less than a single human lifetime away from when the grandeur of that dynasty will disappear, taking all its elegant refinements with it. She’s been trained from birth to kill for her masters, but now a sense of justice and mercy is beginning to compromise her kill count, making her wonder if the people who polish mirrors and repair robes might be more deserving of justice and mercy than the rich people who order her around. Made with meticulous attention to realism in its combat, clothes, and furniture, this is a gem of a movie, crafted, refined, and polished until it gleams.

    SCREENING AT METROGRAPH AT HOME (SVOD)
    VIRTUAL SCREENINGS ONLY

    THE DARING GANG OF NINETEEN FROM VERDUN CITY (1959)
    Directed by: Tu Kuang-chi
    Starring: Josephine Siao Fong-fong

    Fans of martial arts movies most likely know Josephine Siao Fong-fong best as Jet Li’s kickass mom in Fong Sai Yuk (1993) but she was famous for decades before that movie rebooted her career at 47 years old. Starting in movies when she was seven, and appearing opposite a 14 year-old Bruce Lee a year later in An Orphan’s Tragedy (1955), she got her first role as an action heroine in this flick when she was only 12. Essential viewing for her fans, in Daring Gang, Siao Fong-fong plays a child raised from birth to take revenge on the Evil-Doer (that’s literally how he’s credited) but she’s never told why. It’s not until they meet that she learns the reasons why she’s had to devote her entire young life to killing this man she doesn’t know. Complications ensue.

    IRON MISTRESS (1969)
    Directed by: Sung Tsun-shou
    Starring: Han Hsiang-chin, Pai Ying, Tsao Chien

    A wuxia programmer about a group of rebels taking on the Jin invaders during the Southern Song Dynasty, Han Hsiang-chin plays the Iron Mistress herself, leading a band of feisty fighters in guerilla warfare. Fighting by her side is Pai Ying (A Touch of Zen, The Fate of Lee Khan, Grand Passion), who loves her. When another rebel leader (played by Tsao Chien) tries to team up, he immediately arouses Pai Ying’s suspicions that he could be a Jin spy or — even worse — a rival for the Iron Mistress’s hardassed heart. Filled with characters based on real-life historical figures, this flick really comes alive in its action scenes that are full of flashing blades.

    THE BRAVEST REVENGE (1971)
    Directed by: Chien Lung
    Starring: Polly Shang-kuan, Tien Peng

    The second movie in the Swordsman of All Swordsmen trilogy, this time the focus is on Polly Shang-kuan as a daughter who must avenge the murder of her father with the main character in Swordsman of All Swordsmen Part 1, Tsia Ying-chieh (played again by Tien Peng). After their dad is chopped up, Polly and her three brothers train for five years under five different masters to develop the martial skills they need to kill the bastard who killed their daddy. However, even after all that work they’re STILL not good enough. Fortunately, Tsia Ying-chieh comes along and decides to help. Might the three brothers, one sister, and one heroic stranger be ready to take on the evil slayer of fathers? Not quite. First they must battle 100 conscripts, as they fight their way through the Hall of Poison and Hall of Fire, before they can even face almost certain death at the hands of the Big Baddie. It’s a movie stuffed with non-stop action, climaxing in a final half hour that’s a bruising throwdown, making this the ultimate matinee flick.

    ,

  • 65 Review: Prehistoric in More Ways Than One

    65 Review: Prehistoric in More Ways Than One

    Adam Driver vs. dinosaurs isn’t quite the match-up we expected

    Adam Driver might just be one of the most versatile actors working today. He’s certainly one of the most exciting. There’s little he can’t do and, it turns out, little he won’t do. Essaying roles as diverse as his breakout role in Girls a decade ago as an egocentric, unambitious hipster to the ill-fated, hot-tempered grandson of Darth Vader in the recently concluded Star Wars sequel trilogy to the Italian-accented, short-lived heir to the Gucci luxury goods fortune in House of Gucci, Driver is never less than persuasive or believable, committing himself with an intensity, forcefulness, and dedication rare among his contemporaries. What Driver can’t do, however, is save his latest starring effort, 65, a high-concept sci-fi/adventure film that pits Driver’s singularly named space pilot, Mills, against a limited variety of Cretaceous-era dinosaurs.

    The premise literally deposits Mills, piloting a spacecraft on a two-year space mission to deliver human cargo to an unspecified destination, and Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), a preteen orphan on a prehistoric Earth when, as the saying goes (and went), “Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.” Mills and the newly awakened Koa, however, have a literal communication problem. Koa and Mills might be from the same world, but they speak different languages. And with the equivalent of a universal translator conveniently broken, they have to learn to “talk” to each other. With little hope of rescue and staying in the remains of the ship an increasingly unlikely option, Mills decides he and Koa must venture across a swampy jungle, and up a nearby mountain to find the still extant, hopefully undamaged escape shuttle.

    As it stands (and sits), 65 unfolds as a basic, sometimes too basic, survival tale, with the overmatched protagonists forced into typical life-or-death situations, most, if not all, involving the ravenous wildlife eager to make a quick meal or snack out of Mills and Koa before they reach their final destination. Along the way, Mills and Koa haltingly work out the rudiments of communication while Mills, suffering from a bad guilt trip involving the sick daughter, Nevine (Chloe Coleman), he left back home, tries to keep vital information from Koa about her still missing parents. That, in a totally rudimentary way, sets up a not unexpected revelation meant to test the fragile bonds between Mills and Koa.

    Co-writers and co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (the upcoming Boogeyman, Haunt, A Quiet Place) take few risks, imaginative or otherwise, with the material, instead letting the exigencies inherent in the premise play out in predictable fashion. Aside from Mills and Koa’s inability to communicate clearly or fully, there’s little else that could be called original or new. All of the usual — and, after two Jurassic Park-related trilogies, far too familiar — dinosaurs appear in 65, from snarling, roaring T-Rexes to hyper-intelligent, human-sized raptors and everything in between, delivering a presumably unintended sense of deja vu over the course of 65’s compact running time (92 total minutes, including credits).

    To be fair, Beck and Woods do introduce one intriguing element early on, the U.S.-style healthcare present on Mills’s world that doesn’t cover the costs of medical treatment for Mills’s daughter. Beck and Woods might have thought it through, using this element as spur Mills to take the two-year gig and later, form a surrogate father-daughter relationship with the newly orphaned Koa, but it also suggests that corporate capitalism as we’ve experienced over the last century functions as an immutable constant across time and across worlds. Intentionally or not, it’s a bleak, even depressing idea to contemplate for more than a minute or two, far scarier than a rampaging, carnivorous dinosaur attempting to make you its next snack or meal.

    65 is available to rent or purchase via Amazon “Primal” Video.

    Watch it on Amazon: If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.

    https://amzn.to/3KO98FA

  • Tokusatsu Talk: KAMEN RIDER BLACK SUN is a “Woke” Rubber Suited Masterwork

    Tokusatsu Talk: KAMEN RIDER BLACK SUN is a “Woke” Rubber Suited Masterwork

    A lot of far right leaning American genre fans like to complain about the “false construct” of “wokeness” these days invading the media as if it’s some new creation of the left to ruin their film and television. But these properties are usually not simply being “woke”, but attempting to use these sci-fi and horror vehicles and tropes to explore or deconstruct things that would be nearly impossible if the filmmakers just made the film about what they were trying to, and probably would be a whole lot less entertaining. Some also like to think this is simply an American thing, but after closing out Kamen Rider Black Sun I have to say it’s most definitely not, and if you know how to read the subtext it’s a pretty normal thing in genre no matter where you go. I just didn’t expect it to be quite as on the nose as Black is in its take down of Japanese society.

    Firstly let’s start with the premise that we have these creatures that are called Kaijin, who are essentially humans that can transform into humanoid animals, some with powers, some without. They are discriminated against in Japanese society and treated like second class citizens. You can take that as face value, as them simply being different and that is the reason for their prejudice, but if you know a few things about Japanese culture, this is very much a metaphor for the way the xenophobic conformist society deals with foreigners. Even the word “Kaijin” seems a thinly veiled variant of “gaijin”, a word used disparagingly to label foreigners as outsiders. Take for example a scene where a Kaijin is turned away from a cafe because it doesn’t serve Kaijin, there are various establishments in Japan that have signs posted that they do not serve or allow foreigners in. You could be completely foreign looking and a Japanese resident with a passport, speak perfect Japanese and based on your looks alone you would be turned away or be discriminated against.

    That’s simply the first layer, and you could argue that’s just a superficial coincidence, but as the show goes on we discover that the Japanese government is experimenting on humans to not only create Kaijin, but weaponize them. One of the most tragic and terrifying war atrocities to happen during World War 2 opposite the Nazis, was possibly committed by the Japanese who were experimenting on “foreigners” — Chinese and Korean prisoners doing some horrific things all in the name of science, this was something documented in the film series Men Behind the Sun. In Black Sun we also see people who are on welfare and the poor, killed, ground up and used as food for the Kaijin because they would not be missed. It’s dark and says a lot about the current classism of Japanese society, and could be simply written off by those just superficially trying to enjoy some gritty monster suited drama, but it’s there for those looking for something a bit more tough to chew on.

    See being “woke” is to attempt to be fully “aware”, or awake if you will of the impact of repercussions of something outside of your own personal beliefs or demographic. Simply put, it’s being conscious and considerate of others and their points of view, and that is not a bad thing. Now those who have a problem with this concept usually have something to gain or to protect by keeping the current narrative, since exploring other points of view will often cause one to question, or completely invalidate beliefs by confronting them; think Christopher Columbus. Of course here in America conservatives are against this idea, because that echo chamber is so paper thin, that nearly any media that could lead to one realizing these organizations and systems that govern our society are only there for profit and maintaining the status quo could tear right through it.

    In Kamen Rider: Black Sun this wokeness is leveraging this story of a rubber suited masked rider created by experimentation of a secret government organization to explore the country’s issues with racism and inequality. If you think this is simply an American thing invented by the “liberal media”, think again. I mean this is a super violent and somewhat cheesy Japanese Tokusatsu show and it’s extremely woke trafficking in some heavy ideas, you just have to know the geo-socio/political issues to unlock it. My point is art that is challenging the status quo and makes you ponder what is and what could be, is universal and you should be really suspicious of anyone who is against art that makes you question your reality. By showing you the world through different perspectives whether it be different races or sexual orientations, you’re able to understand and empathize those with beliefs that are not your own and understand your fellow man or rubber suited bird monster.

    , , ,

  • THE MALTESE FALCON [4K UHD Review]

    THE MALTESE FALCON [4K UHD Review]

    The 4K restoration of this iconic film noir is “the stuff that dreams are made of”

    Except where noted, all screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system.

    Picked up by Warner Brothers shortly after its serialization in Black Mask in 1930, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon proved to have as much of an irresistible draw to the production company as the titular MacGuffin itself. The studio attempted two adaptations over the following six years, each of which ranged in debatable quality as they tackled the gritty, hardboiled detective novel with out-of-place amounts of lewd humor and slapstick (despite featuring stars like Ricardo Cortez and Bette Davis). It wasn’t until 1941’s attempt, helmed by debut filmmaker John Huston, that Hammett’s cynical yet charismatic worldview was finally brought to life by actors Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet, all turning in roles that would come to define the rest of their careers.

    An attempt to track down the sister of Ruth Wonderly (Mary Astor) leads to the death of private detective Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan); his partner, Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), is determined to discover who truly killed Miles and why. Sam links Miles’ death to that of Floyd Thursby, who Miles was ostensibly tracking down on Ruth’s behalf. After Sam is fingered for both Miles and Thursby’s deaths, and stalked by creepy henchmen Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.), Sam tracks down Ruth to get the straight story. Only Ruth isn’t Ruth at all: she’s actually Brigid O’Shaughnessy, who’s at the end of a worldwide search for the elusive Maltese Falcon. A black-enameled bird rumored to contain the riches of the Knights Templar, Brigid, Cairo, and the mysterious Fat Man (Sydney Greenstreet) will all stop at nothing to track down the bird…including murdering anyone who crosses their path. To clear his name, Sam must join their double-crossing quest to find the bird–and will discover the true culprit for the grisly murders along the way.

    A rapid-fire mystery that birthed a vast amount of film noir tropes and countless imitators, The Maltese Falcon remains as thrilling and engaging as it must have been eight decades ago. The film’s drenched in inky-black shadows echoing with one iconic line of dialogue after another (“You always have a very smooth explanation ready.” / “What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”). The quartet ensemble is addictively vile, swapping verbal jabs and stinging slaps, plumbing the depths of corrupt humanity with popcorn-crunching glee. Unlike other detective films, there are no qualms about establishing any character on opposing sides of “good” or “evil”–everyone in The Maltese Falcon has an agenda, one that’s easily prized over the cost of others’ lives and livelihoods. Emotions are an easily-swapped currency, with alliances lasting as long as a single beat of a scene before being sacrificed in another shrewd move. Riddled with a dizzying amount of betrayals and plot twists, The Maltese Falcon is a classic noir par excellence–one that would put an end to future adaptations of Hammett’s novel.

    In celebration of Warner Brothers’ centennial anniversary this year, Warner Brothers has lovingly restored many of its beloved catalog titles in 4K for individual release as well as a gigantic box set. Joining fellow restorations of Rebel Without a Cause and Cool Hand Luke, The Maltese Falcon makes a long-awaited debut on UHD, in a stellar transfer that makes previous incarnations comparable to the real Maltese Falcon and its dazzling yet leaden imitators.

    Video/Audio

    Blu-ray vs. 4K UHD

    Warner Brothers presents The Maltese Falcon in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio across both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray Discs. The UHD is encoded with HEVC in 2160p, while the Blu-ray Disc is presented in 1080p HD. Of note, the included Blu-ray Disc is identical to Warner Brothers’ previously released Blu-ray from 2010–as such, it unfortunately doesn’t include a downgraded version of the new 4K transfer like recent WB UHD releases. However, the accompanying MoviesAnywhere code does deliver a 4K digital copy in addition to the Blu-ray’s special features.

    While the transfer on the Blu-ray still holds up 13 years later, the new 4K restoration on the new UHD is strikingly rich and full of more nuanced contrast. Textures like leather, neon signs, hairstyles, and suit jackets feature further definition than previous masters. Picture quality is strikingly clear of scratches and other imperfections while still retaining a healthy amount of grain, making the 82-year-old film appear fresh from the print lab.

    Both transfers utilize DTS-HD Master Audio tracks for their main audio presentations–however, the UHD track is in 2-channel Mono. Like its visual restoration, the audio on the UHD is cleaned up to further pristine quality, further removing clicks and hisses more noticeable on the 2010 Blu-ray. Expanding the mono channel across two front channel speakers helps lend the track an audible sense of drive and timbre, greatly benefiting the crackling dialogue of Huston’s screenplay.

    Like other Warner Brothers releases, there are a wide variety of subtitles available on the Feature film and Special Features, minus Eric Lax’s commentary. A breakdown of included languages is below.

    4K:

    Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono, German Dolby Digital 1.0, Italian Dolby Digital 1.0, Spanish (Castilian) Dolby Digital 1.0, Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 1.0

    Subtitles: English HoH, French, German HoH, Italian HoH, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin), Dutch

    Blu-ray:

    Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0, German Dolby Digital 1.0, Portuguese (Brazilian) Dolby Digital 1.0, Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 1.0

    Subtitles: Danish, English HoH, Finnish, French, German HoH, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (European), Spanish (Latin), Swedish

    Special Features

    While Eric Lax’s informative commentary track is ported over to the new 4K UHD, the rest of the film’s special features are contained on the legacy 2010 disc. Notably not included in the film’s 2010 release as well as this one are The Maltese Falcon’s two previous adaptations, 1931’s The Maltese Falcon and 1936’s Satan Met a Lady, which were included on the 3-disc DVD release back in 2006.

    • Commentary by Eric Lax: Bogart biographer Lax provides an entertaining glimpse at behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the making of the film and beyond, including the life of author Dashiell Hammett, the founding of Warner Brothers, the challenges director Huston faced in what could/couldn’t be depicted in the latest adaptation of Hammett’s novel, versus its various other pre-code versions, the careers of stars Bogart, Astor, Lorre, and Greenstreet, the subtext of Cairo and Gutman’s relationship, and more.
    • Warner Night at the Movies: Designed to replicate the feel of a classic night at the movies back in 1941, this feature allows viewers to pull from assorted bits of Warner Brothers archival–shorts, newsreels, and cartoons–before settling into the feature film. Included is a trailer for Sergeant York, a newsreel of the Roosevelt/Churchill Parley, Oscar-nominated ballet short The Gay Parisian, the propaganda cartoon Meet John Doughboy, and Merrie Melodies cartoon Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt.
    • The Maltese Falcon–One Magnificent Bird: A 2006 archival documentary examining the legacy of John Huston’s film spanning The Maltese Falcon’s 2 predecessors in adapting Hammett’s novel, the production, and impact of the film. A surprisingly diverse breadth of interviewees is featured, from Bogart and Warner Bros biographers, Hammett descendants, writer-director Peter Bogdanovich, comic artist Frank Miller, and actors Michael Madsen, James Cromwell, and more.
    • Becoming Attractions–The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart: TCM host Robert Osborne guides viewers through classic reels teasing Humphrey Bogart films in order to analyze how Warner Bros molded him into a top-billing star in this 1997 archival episode.
    • Breakdowns of 1941: A humorous compilation of bloopers from Warner Brothers’ 1941 releases. Especially worth it to hear major stars like Jimmy Stewart flub or Andy Devine swear up a storm.
    • Make-up Tests: Just over a minute of silent makeup tests on actor Mary Astor in various costumes from the film.
    • Radio Adaptations: Three audio-only radio adaptations of Hammett’s novel are included, from the Lux Radio Theater (February 1943), the Screen Guild Theater (September 1943), and the Academy Award Theater (July 1946).
    • Trailers for The Maltese Falcon and its 1936 predecessor, Satan Met a Lady.

    The Maltese Falcon is now available on 4KUHD courtesy of Warner Brothers.

    , , , , , , , , ,

  • Words of the Condor: A conversation with martial arts star Marko Zaror

    Words of the Condor: A conversation with martial arts star Marko Zaror

    The Latin martial artist talks about his latest film Fist of the Condor!

    Photo courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

    As audiences turned out in droves for the release of John Wick Chapter 4 to see Keanu Reeves share the screen with international action legends Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Scott Adkins, many were introduced to one of the best-kept secrets in all of action cinema — actor, stuntman, and martial artist Marko Zaror. The towering Chilean export plays the main henchman to Bill Skarsgård’s villainous Marquis Vincent de Gramont. Zaror pops up throughout the film as a constant thorn in the hero’s side and in the process showcases the impeccable martial arts skill and smoldering intensity that led to him stealing the show as the bad guy in direct-to-video beat ’em up fan favorites such as Undisputed 3: Redemption and Savage Dog.

    Action enthusiasts will point to those films as examples of just how good he is as a featured player. But the hardcore among them know that for years Zaror has been producing films in his native country of Chile (alongside writer/director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza) with a uniquely Latin perspective on genre tropes like costumed vigilantes (Mirageman), super spies (Mandrill), street fighters (Kiltro), and guilt-ridden hitmen (Redeemer) that fully illustrate what the impossibly agile screen fighter is capable of as a leading man. Now, the filmmaking pair are back with a new film. And, due to the success of the latest entry in the John Wick franchise, the duo’s cinematic efforts are no longer flying under the radar.

    Their latest collaboration is Fist of the Condor, a pulpy tale of twin brothers locked in a blood feud over an ancient martial arts tome that contains a secret, deadly fighting technique. The film is a loving ode to not only traditional martial arts stories (with its duels to the death, slain masters to be avenged, and copious amounts of training montages) but also the beautiful physicality of its practitioners and the captivating Chilean coastal landscape. With an exclusive release on the Hi-Yah! streaming service (and a forthcoming physical media release from parent company Well Go USA), it won’t be long before more action fans learn about Zaror and realize he is a screen legend in his own right.

    I recently had a chance to sit down with Marko Zaror and talk with him about Fist of the Condor, fight choreography, making movies in Chile, and more.

    What was the genesis for Fist of the Condor?

    Fist of the Condor happened in the middle of quarantine because I got trapped in Chile. I was living in L.A., went back to Chile, and ended up staying in a friend’s house at the beach because it was pretty empty and I didn’t have a place. So, I find myself in this town in the south of Chile, called Pichilemu. And I kind of built a little gym, just basic stuff to stay training and meditating. I was there every day alone and kind of thinking, “What I’m going to do with my life? Is [this] the end of the world? The movie industry is done. What I’m going to do?” After a lot of meditation, I realized even if it is the last thing I am going to do, I need to do a movie here [in this place] and express myself fully as a martial artist, and share it with the people that follow me– my journey, my notes [on] nutrition, training, and philosophy.

    I gave those notes to my close friend, Ernesto Diaz, the director. He put together the script and we just shot it. We did it very independently in the middle of quarantine. The landscape of Chile, it was our main character. We wanted to do something like a love letter to the genre from a Latino martial artist. That was where it came from. And then things start opening up [again after the pandemic] and I arrived in L.A. I forwarded the [film’s] trailer to some friends and then I got a call from Chad [Stahelski] like, “Hey Marko, I have a role for you in [John Wick Chapter 4].” That was just, I didn’t see that coming, trust me. [laughs]

    Such a great opportunity to have the releases of John Wick Chapter 4 and Fist of the Condor happen so close together. It’s a big time for you and your career!

    Yeah, man. You can imagine! I’m so happy and so grateful, man.

    Photo courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

    You mentioned the landscapes being the main character of Fist of the Condor. That comes through beautifully in the film. The scenery is often breathtaking. I do want to ask about the other big aspect of the film though: the fight choreography. How did you go about designing the action and the “Condor” fighting style?

    Well, the thing is… that for me was the biggest challenge of the movie. [What I wanted] was to create a movie that feels classic, but it can’t be, because we are from Latin America and we don’t have the history of martial arts movies. So, we needed to create this old world and this style and this myth and all this. It was based on my notes about my journey as a martial artist because I’ve been doing many different styles throughout my whole life. And lately, I’ve been experimenting with mobility and “animal” flow, animal movements, but not in a traditional way like the kung fu style movements. It’s different. [The] Condor is the animal on our flag in Chile, our national animal, right?

    It’s a symbol. So, I was like, “Okay, I’m going to experiment [with moving] like a condor.” So then all the open hands start happening, and then I start exploring mobility with these positions. And then, of course, bringing in my version of the wooden [sparring] dummy. I built my own wooden dummy that is based on and inspired by the Wing Chun wooden dummy, but I added the attacks on the top like MMA, because part of my journey was to train MMA. Then I start incorporating elements of my journey as a martial artist inspired by the traditional movies and kung fu styles and all that we’ve seen in the classics. That was a big challenge for us because we wanted to feel real. We wanted it to feel like an homage, but at the same time, we wanted it to feel very original– that it’s coming from us and it’s not just copying or doing a mimic of classic kung fu movies. The style of the condor kind of is a mix of all my journeys as a martial artist. There’s animal flow, there’s Tae Kwon Do, there’s a little bit of boxing, MMA– it’s a mix of a lot of things.

    Photo courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

    The thing that really stayed with me about the film, is how all that wonderful physicality is captured on-screen. Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s direction complimented your hard work so well. What is your working relationship with him like after all your collaborations together?

    Ernesto, we have been friends since high school. We grew up together. He was always the guy with the camera and we were always trying to play and doing videos, stuff like that. I was the “crazy guy,” kicking around. We connect through that, and then we started with Kiltro and then we did Mirageman and all that. For me, it’s like here are these two friends sharing the passion of our lives. He’s my brother on this journey. I always would like to continue doing stuff with him because I feel we know each other very deeply. And then that’s how you can, in the end, create content that has something to say.

    I truthfully am a big fan of the work you two do together. It’s been too long since the last one.

    Yeah, Redeemer, our last one, but this one, if you see all our other movies, I feel this one, at least for me, is the one that really represents me. It’s very honest. They were all honest, but this one is, you can see how we have matured as human beings. It’s a very mature movie. And I’m happy to continue and I want to keep learning and keep improving and communicating as much as possible.

    Fist of the Condor does feel very personal. So, it’s fitting that your teacher in the film is played by your actual mother, Gina Aguad. What was it like working with her in that position of her portraying your on-screen sifu?

    She was my real sifu [growing up]. She was the one that inspired and support my martial arts career. She was the one that took me to my first martial arts school. She’s a real black belt in karate. She trains, and she serves in a Buddhist temple. She’s very into martial arts. Her dream was always to be an actress and she couldn’t because of life. So for me, it was a very nice moment to be able to give her that opportunity to express herself. So, it was great and I think she did a great job.

    Photo courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

    That’s a very heartwarming thing for you to do. And I agree, she is excellent in the role. That actually leads me to my next question. I wanted to ask you about martial arts in Chile. It’s not a place known for that but you’ve really given a platform to other martial artists from that area. How has your film work affected the martial arts scene there?

    When we started there, the genre didn’t exist in Latin America. We had to start from scratch: creating a stunt team and then teaching the martial artists how to do screen fighting. I don’t know, it’s all just an honest expression from a Chilean martial artist guy that loved this and went against all the people saying, “Hey, how are you going to do a martial arts movie in Chile? This is not even possible.” So, it’s just that. For me, I’m really grateful to have this opportunity to think outside of the box and show people that, “Look, when you have passion and when you follow through and you stay consistent and you work hard, great things can happen.”

    I’ve been able to work with great martial artists from Chile. And in Chile, we love martial arts too. There’s a big community of martial artists there. Martial arts is a universal thing. I think martial arts unites the whole world. In every country, you’ll find martial artists and I feel every country I go to, [when] I walk into a martial arts school– I feel at home.

    Photo courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

    As someone who has established a martial arts film scene in a place where there was not one and turned that into a career within Hollywood, what advice would you give to aspiring martial artists who want to break into film and T.V.?

    Well, first they need to train really hard. And I recommend to start trying, not just martial arts, but also explore mobility, and don’t just stick to one style. Because in a movie, if you want to be a stuntman, stunt work is not only [being] a martial artist. My first work as a stuntman was tumbling down a hill when I doubled The Rock on the movie The Rundown. Use your ability of self-awareness and agility that you learn in martial arts to do other things. And then just do videos, work with your friends, use your cell phone, shoot yourself, make short videos, and experiment. Now you have so many opportunities to do that; before we didn’t have that. So, don’t wait for the ideal scenario, just do it. Create and do action. Do it, shoot it yourself, try to do some fight scenes, put them on YouTube, and then get yourself out there. Then, little by little, life will guide you. If you follow that path and you follow your intuition, you’ll see the signs, and life is going to guide you in the right direction.

    That’s great advice and I know you are an inspiration to a lot of aspiring martial artists out there. As we wrap up, do you know when we might see the next installment of Fist of the Condor?

    It depends on you guys. If you support the movie, if you like it. I’m lucky that we’re partnered up with, WellGo and Hi-Yah! So, if guys are able to see this movie, support it. Show your love if you like the movie. And then we’re going to be working soon on “Part 2.” It’s important that you guys get the disc [when it is released] and support the film because that’s how we can finance the second installment. I can’t wait to continue the story. It depends on you guys and I really appreciate you.

    And we appreciate you, Marko. Congratulations on the film’s release and all your recent success! It’s well deserved.

    Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it, man.

    Image courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

    Fist of the Condor is currently available to stream through Hi-Yah! with a physical media release date T.B.A.

    ,

  • Jackie Chan Documentary THE GOLDEN BOY Explores His Rise to International Fame

    Jackie Chan Documentary THE GOLDEN BOY Explores His Rise to International Fame

    Feature-length doc heads up the extras on Shout Factory’s Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1

    It’s a wild time to be a fan of Hong Kong and martial arts cinema. Between Arrow Video, 88 Films, Shout Factory, and other distributors, the floodgates to libraries of classic films suddenly seem to be flung open again as if to match the height of DVD era. Films are arriving on Blu-ray, both individually and in collections — sometimes for the first time on American home video.

    Shout Factory’s Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1, which we’ve previously discussed and unboxed on the site, collects seven of the star’s older films from before the height of his fame as a star and performer, as well as a number of extras.

    List of extras from the back cover of Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1; Shout Factory

    Most interesting to me is the new feature length documentary that’s exclusive to this set, entitled The Golden Boy: Harvesting a Major New Martial Arts Maverick.

    This documentary is included on the Battle Creek Brawl disc of the set, which seems thematically fitting to its theme. The documentary chronicles Lee’s early career leading up to his stardom and moving into the international spotlight. Andre Morgan, an executive producer on that film, is among the many interviewees.

    Toward the later 70s, Chan’s clout was rapidly rising with a string of hits, and many considered him the most likely “next Bruce Lee” to fill the void left by the international superstar.

    Chan had worked with Lee and appears briefly in Enter the Dragon, Lee’s smash hit American production directed by Robert Clouse. So a few years later when Chan set out to similarly make a name for himself in the west, Clouse was brought on for Battle Creek Brawl. This was to be Chan’s first attempt at tapping into Hollywood as a leading man, starring opposite adult film star and Playboy model Kristine DeBell, whose disarming girl-next-door demeanor made for a charming pairing.

    The documentary features DeBell as well as other figures from the era — director “Charlie” Chen Chi-Hwa and actor Lin Kuang-Yung, both of whom have worked on several films with Chan.

    Also tapped are a number of modern critics and historians who discuss Chan’s early history and influence from a modern perspective.

    Unfortunately Jackie himself isn’t among the many voices that fill out this documentary, and that’s probably the most palpable shortcoming, but nonetheless it’s a nice look at the actor’s early career.

    Jackie’s super fans may not learn much new from this documentary, but it’s a great assemblage of experts and certainly an insightful look at his evolution.

    Get it at Amazon: If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.

    From Jackie Chan Collection Volume 1: https://amzn.to/3MrNNmC