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Criterion Review: ONE FALSE MOVE (4K-UHD)
Following up last year’s release of Carl Franklin’s great Devil in a Blue Dress, Criterion has gone back to the well with Franklin’s excellent debut film One False Move. That’s a hell of a pair of films for any director to have anywhere on their resume, much less at the beginning. One False Move is a movie bursting with raw energy on both sides of the camera. It’s a first-rate crime thriller unafraid to go dark places and come back with more than just shocks, but sharply observed truths about people on both sides of the law.
Following a night of murder in search of money and drugs, a trio of criminals hightail out of Los Angeles on their way to Texas to unload their loot. The three are Ray (Billy Bob Thornton), the short-tempered leader of the pack; Pluto (Michael Beach), a quiet psychopath prone to bursts of extreme violence; and Fantasia (Cynda Williams), the only one of the group with a conscience. The trio is so reckless in their crimes and plans that it feels like only a matter of time before they get themselves caught. Ray, Pluto, and Fantasia are already desperate when we meet them and that feeling only intensifies as they make more mistakes.
Also not prone to mistakes are the men tasked with catching these killers. LAPD Detectives Cole (Jim Metzler) and McFeely (Earl Billings) catch the case in LA and eventually link up with Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Bill Paxton), the police chief of Star City, Arkansas. Like Fantasia, Hurricane doesn’t quite fit in with his big city partners.
The movie is a crackling crime story, with Franklin consistently finding compelling ways to present the action. In the opening robbery scenes, there’s a harrowing shot of one of the victims, recorded earlier that night, dancing on the TV while violence unfolds in the room. Franklin doesn’t show things simply to shock viewers, but spends time showing everyone in their quieter moments so that when they resort to drastic measures, it carries real weight. You can’t call it a fall from grace exactly, it’s more like Franklin is catching these people at the moments they lose pieces of their souls.
The clarity of the characters’ actions and rationale creates a sense of inevitability to the film. Obviously, viewers know that a killers versus cops showdown is looming and will be hip to the thriller plot mechanics, but it’s hard to prepare for the emotional impact these inevitabilities will have on the characters and viewers when they happen. That’s a testament to the film’s script, written by Thornton and Tom Epperson, and Franklin’s direction.
For as frank and confrontational as the film’s violence is, the most indelible moments are often the conversations between characters. Pluto is a man of few words, and Beach brings the kind of intensity that does all the talking for the character. When he does speak, it’s often to deliver shiver-inducing lines of dialogue.
The film saves most of its best moments, however, for Hurricane. At first, he comes across as a small-town bumpkin who’s just excited to be part of the team. Paxton plays the part with the energetic chutzpah he built his career on. But as the script and Paxton peel back the layers of Hurricane, it becomes clear that he may have the most demons of all. To go back to the idea of inevitability, you could argue that Hurricane is the one who set the story in motion years before with decisions he made on the job. Paxton is absolutely incredible in the role, dare I say it’s his best work. He’s funny, charming, and entirely devastating. My favorite scene in the film is when Cole and McFeely are eating breakfast in a dinner, cracking a relentless stream of jokes about Hurricane and his aspirations, without realizing Hurricane has overheard most of what their saying. Paxton leans into the silent awkwardness of this moment, showing the hurt on Hurricane’s face to the audience while playing it straight-faced for the detectives. It’s a lovely bit of physical performance that doesn’t need any words.
Matching Paxton’s performance is Williams, who goes toe to toe with him in the film’s best moments. Fantasia may not be physically intimidating as her counterparts, but she has the fire to match their intensity. With Williams and Paxton anchoring their sides of the story, it’s no surprise their scenes together take the film to its highest heights. If Hurricane is the movie’s heart, then Fantasia is its soul.
With a storied history as a film that was once destined for a straight-to-video release before being championed by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, this underseen gem gets a worthy release from Criterion in 4K UHD and Blu-ray. The film looks and sounds better than ever. The sound design is a particular standout. Gun shots and screams are stark and unsettling, but the highlight is the ambient background sounds. The Los Angeles-set scenes capture the hustle and bustle of big city life, while the Arkansas scenes are full of crickets, dogs, and birds. These sounds are clear without being intrusive and draw you deeper into the film.
The supplemental features are a bit sparse, with an old commentary from Franklin ported over from past releases. The highlight of these features is a half-hour conversation between Franklin and Thornton that offers a deep dive into the making of the film. The most interesting part is Franklin recalling Cynda Williams’ impromptu audition in a dinner that ultimately helped her land the part of Fantasia. All in all, this release is highly recommended because the film itself is just that damn good. Hardly a groundbreaking thing to say about a Criterion release, but One False Move is the kind of film that could easily be lost to time (and it’s only 30 years old!) and benefits exponentially from entering the collection.
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FANTASIA 2023: NEW LIFE is a Intimate and Thought Provoking Genre Mashup
New Life, the feature length debut by writer/director John Rosman is an intriguing genre mashup which feels like what would have happened if Bruno Mattei made an A24 film. The film consists of three very distinct acts that somehow manage to interlock into one another, telling a story that while sub-textually feels very much like a Covid movie, has a lot more to say.
The narrative sprints off with a John Wick-esque road movie as a tactically trained female assassin Elsa Gray (Sonya Walger) with seemingly unlimited resources is tracking down a mysterious bloody woman on the run, Jessica (Hayley Erin). Or at least that’s the first act and what we are led to believe. That first act has Jessica riding in beds of trunks and evading CCTV wherever she goes on her way to Canada, where it appears the chase is no longer possible. It’s an act primarily focused on the little acts of human kindness Jessica experiences while on the run that would soon have a bleak payoff.
When we first meet Jessica she is covered in blood with a black eye, obviously from her escape. But it’s how those who encounter her view her as a possible victim of domestic abuse, gives that first act something more to chew on as Jessica ends up working as a bar back in a small remote town to earn some money. It doesn’t feel like Jessica is purposefully exploiting this, but it’s how she’s perceived by those around here that gives the story an interesting heart and subtext as we move through that first half.
The second act of this film strategically imbues both characters with a captivating humanity needed for a hard left in a third act, I would rather leave unspoiled. But we do discover the hit woman is suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS, a terminal neurological disease that slowly degenerates a person’s motor functions. While Elsa was once a skilled “Fixer” for her handlers, here we see her struggling to button up her shirt or even walk without a cane as she attempts to hunt Jessica. Elsa’s story folds out in a more contemporary context against Jessica’s, which is told in flashbacks as we see how she ended up on the run.
The narrative in New Life smartly chooses to lean into performances, rather than exposition to tell its story through the actions of its dual protagonists. Both are played sympathetically and it’s these dueling stories that really deal out some rather striking emotional beats. It’s something John Rosman rather interestingly pulls off investing you in both sides of the story as we get into the film’s nerve wracking final stretch. Both actors deliver intimate takes that both have their own organic motivations. It’s rare but here both character and their respective journeys feel fully fleshed out and offer a different side of the same coin.
New Life is a moving look at two people who are forced to face their mortality and how both women grapple with that decision. While Jessica’s is due to Elsa hunting her, with Elsa’s diagnosis she has been entertaining thoughts of taking her own life. This is probably due to the fact that once your ALS symptoms start to show, you could have anywhere from 2-5 or if you’re lucky 10 years left. It’s how these two women end their journeys that offers up a rather bittersweet interpretation of the film’s title, which will stick with you long after the credits roll. New Life takes a few big swings, and unlike most sticks the landing both narratively and emotionally, in a film that is as intimate look at mortality from two very distinct yet similar viewpoints.
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SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER Blends Comedic Absurdity and Murderous Thrills
Mike Myers shines in this black comedy classic [4K-Review]
There was a time in the later 90s where Mike Myers reigned supreme. His quirky characters and offbeat comedy fueling beloved films like Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Shrek. Amidst all this was a cult favorite, on that showed a less cartoonish level of creativity, and a tilt into darker tone, So I Married an Axe Murderer. A black comedy starring Myers as Charlie MacKenzie. A jazz performance poet who is unlucky in love, but has the good fortune to eventually find someone he thinks he can spend the rest of his life with. The lady in question is Harriet (Nancy Travis), smart, witty, intelligent, and a butcher, something that becomes more concerning as he starts to suspect she might also be a serial killer. Harriet’s past seems to align closely with reports in the Weekly World News of a serial “Honeymoon Killer”, leading Charlie, along with his cop friend Tony (Anthony LaPaglia) to begin their own investigation. uncovering more indications that Harriet could be a killer, as the pair inch ever closer to the altar.
One part romantic comedy, the other an thriller/mystery feature, together, and entertaining and thoroughly charming feature. The investigative aspect largely fuels more neuroses (and subsequent entertainment) from Charlie himself, a man on a collision course with commitment, experiencing al the fears and anxiety that come with it. It’s a smart leveraging of this aspect of relationships into something as comedic and dark as a serial husband killer. Throw in a few twists and turns, red herrings and odd-ball characters, and the film is pretty satisfying, for both genres it draws from. The film is replete with tremendous supporting talents, notably a delicious turn from Amanda Plummer as Harriet’s sister Rose, and Phil Hartman stealing the whole damn movie as an Alcatraz tour guide. Myers even gets a chance to cut loose with the comical depiction of his character’s family, notably playing his own father Stuart after adopting aging makeup and a thick(er) Scottish brogue. Myers infuses his off-beat poet lead with an affable charm that pairs superbly with the natural ease of Nancy Travis. There’s a genuine spark coming from their repartee and sometimes it’s delightfully easy to get a little lost in their courting before the madcap nature of the film reasserts itself.
The Package
So often studios put out pretty run of the mill transfers when it comes to the current wave of 4K re-releases. Thankfully, this treatment of So I Married An Axe Murderer is surprisingly solid. Detail is the standout, showcasing the environments, people, and textures of the film well. Exterior sequence are most notable in this regard. Blacks are deep, contrast range is solid too. Colors are natural, with a healthy pop, with a cinematic grain preserved. It certainly freshens up the look of the film from the dingier presentation I remember on initial release, nicely done.
Extra features are limited to theatrical trailers, and the well advertised 30+ minutes of deleted scenes. Apparently never before released, and they were certainly new to me. Around 30 scenes total, ranging from 30 seconds in length, up to a few minutes long. Most have no particular significance in altering the film, mostly alternate takes, extra jokes, etc. There is an clip that shows an alternative opening that suggests a more dark/violent tone for the film was once planned though.
The Bottom Line
So I Married an Axe Murderer isn’t as well known as some of Mike Myer’s other films, but it has a devoted cult following. One well earned with its blending of romance, black comedy, absurdist moments, and focused work from Myers himself. A 4K facelift is a great reason to revisit this killer comedy, while those deleted scenes are little gems for longtime fans.
So I Married an Axe Murderer is available on 4K-UHD now
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Virginie Efira and the Soul of OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN
Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, and Callie Ferreira-Goncalves in OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN. Courtesy of Music Box Films Amongst the Sundance festival programming I was able to view this year, Other People’s Children is the narrative film that’s remained on my mind months later. As a godmother without children of my own, I found much to relate with in French writer and director Rebecca Zlotowski’s introspective film. Virginie Efira (Revoir Paris, Benedetta) stars as Rachel, a forty-something high school teacher in the heated early stage of a relationship with divorced car builder Ali (Roschdy Zem, Savages). She’s postponed having kids, but meeting and caring for Ali’s daughter Leila (an adorable young actress named Callie Ferreira-Goncalves) leads Rachel to want a child.
Other People’s Children moves quietly through seasons as it focuses on Rachel’s interior world. Efira’s facial movements tell us much, even as Rachel vocally appeases Ali or calms Leila down. Ferreira-Goncalves as Leila is so utterly charming (and this is from someone easily disappointed by child actors) that it’s perfectly understandable why Rachel would grow so close to her. Zlotowski’s screenplay centers the stepmother experience, that feeling of caring deeply for a child in a more tenuous connection. Through the film Rachel’s attachment to Leila grows, even while her relationship to Ali begins to falter.
Virginie Efira and Callie Ferreira-Goncalves in OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN. Courtesy of Music Box Films Efira is the soul of the work while we follow this year in Rachel’s life, as she comes to realize her options for pregnancy become ever more limited (in a related note: documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman plays her OB-GYN, an aptly titled Dr. Wiseman). Rachel counsels one of her troubled students, she becomes a new aunt, and she navigates her relationship with indecisive Ali and his kind ex-wife Alice (Chiara Mastroianni, Persepolis, Chicken with Plums) – even if she disagrees with some of their parenting decisions.
Zlotowski’s celebration of the stepmother figure is relatively unique to this film — not a common theme we’ve seen before — although Other People’s Children shows a refreshing appreciation for childless women in general. In this tender film, Efira delivers one of the best performances of the year so far.
Other People’s Children is now available on Blu-ray from Music Box Films. Included in the package:
- A featurette of interviews with Zlotowski, Efira and Zem. The director discusses how she came to write the screenplay during the early days of COVID, as well as her previous collaboration with Zem and desire to cast him as a romantic lead. She notes, “I’ve always loved those love stories that make us who we are.” Efira and Zem share about working with Ferreira-Goncalves and the young actress’ amazing ability to keep her real life separate from the script.
- The TIFF pre-screening introduction by Zlotowski and post-screening Q&A session with the director and Efira. The French actress speaks about her eagerness to work with Zlotowski after loving one of her previous films so much she bought DVDs and gave it to friends.
- trailers
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MVD Kicks Off Their 4K Rewind Slate with SWAMP THING on UHD!
This article is packed with screen captures of the film. These were pulled directly from the Blu-ray disc and are displayed at a smaller size within the article. They are illustrative and not intended to represent the quality of 4K UHD presentation.
Let’s take a minute to pause and appreciate that this movie exists. A fun, pulpy, practically-crafted, and strangely sexy science fiction movie directed by Wes Craven and starring Adrienne Barbeau, with Louis Jourdan as a smarmy villain.
We take weird comic book movies for granted now, but in the 80s studios weren’t exactly lining up to crank out comic adaptations, especially in the odder realm of fare like Swamp Thing, which despite its DC roots, is a world removed from familiar mainstream heroes like Batman and Superman. The misanthropic mutant originated in the pages of the horror and supernatural anthology series House of Secrets before moving on to his own series.
In 1981 Wes Craven was becoming known as a horror and exploitation director with The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, and Deadly Blessing all under his belt. While it still has elements of both of those descriptions, Swamp Thing, a PG-rated film based on a DC comic book, provided at least a small departure from that lineup (though not for long – he’d get right back into the horror zone in a big way with 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street).
John Carpenter’s muse, and wife at the time, Adrienne Barbeau, stars as Alice Cable, a newcomer to working on a secret government laboratory located in the middle of a remote marshland. The project is yielding some incredible breakthrough discoveries in biology thanks to its ingenious sibling duo of scientists, Alec and Linda Holland (Ray Wise and Nannette Brown). But the team is being infiltrated and surveilled by Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan), a maniacal millionaire who wants to unlock the secrets of human potential and eternal life, and is willing to hire a small army of goons to help him do it.
In an attack on the compound, Alec, who has quickly made an impression on Cable as a new friend and burgeoning love interest, is doused in chemicals and set aflame, last seen fleeing into the swamp before being left for dead.
As the goons pursue Cable, she comes into contact with a pair of allies: Jude (Reggie Batts), a local kid who runs a derelict filling station and serves up a fun sense of sidekick chemistry, and… some kind of swamp thing (Dick Durock). A huge green humanoid creature, seemingly made of moss and vines, steps in to protect her whenever the villains close in on her.
It’s no spoiler of course that this is Alec, transformed by his incident and now desperately seeking to restore his humanity. It’s here that the film finds its surprisingly tender heart, as Alex and Cable are reunited and still very fond of each other despite their misfortunes and situation. While he was precocious and even a little obnoxious as a human, Alec is notably more subdued and gentle as “Swamp Thing”, tragically humbled in his new skin.
But once it becomes known, Alec’s transformation only makes Arcane even more convinced to discover and harness the secret of this new kind of strength and power, leading to a showdown that moves from Arcane’s dungeon (he has a dungeon) to a monster-on-monster, swamp wrasslin’ sword fight with a transformed Arcane.
This must have been an immensely difficult and uncomfortable film to make. It’s very apparent that this was all shot on location in real swamp, and it’s certainly a unique production. Every time a character gets tossed into the water (which is something that happens a lot in the movie), my brain’s firing off, “This is the real deal. That guy could die if he lands on an alligator or get bitten by a water moccasin.”
The film’s surprisingly gentle love story in the midst of weird pulpy action and horror made it a bizarre TV staple (I’ve caught the end of this movie a number of times but only seen the beginning on home media), but perhaps even more interestingly, provided longevity to the character and set the course for a revival of Swamp Thing comics. A few years later, Alan Moore’s run on the character would solidify the character’s popularity, doubling down on the elements of weirdness and romance that the movie helped to establish.
Swamp Thing #34, DC Comics 
Swamp Thing #34, DC Comics The Package
Thanks to MVD, Swamp Thing is new on 4K UHD Blu-ray, and also re-released to Blu-ray in a new edition. The Blu-ray follows MVD’s usual “Rewind Collection” packaging motif and numbering, while the 4K edition (which is the version I’m reviewing) kicks off a new “4K Laservision Collection” with its own numbering (“1”) and stylized packaging modeled after vintage CED (videodisc) cartridges. A folded poster is included, and my cover came with a slipcover as well which utilizes the same art as the case art.
Impressively, this edition has managed to reel in many special features originally prepared for other editions. When Shout Factory released the movie on Blu-ray in 2013, they were unable to obtain the international or “unrated” cut of the film. It’s cool to see this kind of cooperation taking place where MVD is able to create an ultimate edition building on Shout Factory’s prior foundation.
And certainly, finally having the international cut (which has been long absent on home video) is a big win. Although on finally watching it, I think the only difference is the addition of a couple scenes extended to include nudity.
The movie looks stellar, though perhaps not what you might expect of a 4K disc. The film has an inherently nice soft look and you won’t get, at least in the modern sense, a pristine, sharp image. Instead it’s a subtler difference of finer grain and “intactness”. The Blu-ray version of the film, which is also packed in the 4K edition, also really looks great, and I don’t think I could really argue with someone if they said the difference between the Blu-ray and 4K seems negligible.
I personally ran into a technical issue while firing up the 4K disc (about half an hour in, the video started glitching), and contacted MVD who were very quick to review my concerns and perform additional QC to try to ensure that it was an isolated issue and not a wider problem.
Special Features and Extras (4K UHD)
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Wes Craven moderated by Sean Clark (Theatrical / PG Version)
• Audio Commentary with Makeup Effects Artist William Munns moderated by Michael Felsher (Theatrical / PG Version)
Special Features and Extras (Blu-ray)
The Blu-ray disc includes the commentaries on the 4K disc, plus:
• “Tales From the Swamp” (Remastered) with Adrienne Barbeau (16:56) – On working with Wes Craven, the film’s shrinking budget and compromises, an uncontracted nude scene, and the loss and recovery of a beloved ring.
• “Hey Jude” with Actor Reggie Batts (14:30) – A fun interview with Batts, who was a child actor in the film. he describes working on the movie, the friendliness of the cast, and the benefits of having a cinephile dad.
• “That Swamp Thing: A Look Back with Lein Wein” (13:19)
Swamp Thing creator Len Wein on how he became a comic creator, visiting the film set, and thoughts on the film as an adaptation of his work and Swamp Thing’s legacy.
• “Swamp Screen: Designing DC’s Main Monster” (20:32)
Production Designer Rob Wilson King on his admiration for Wes Craven, designing and building sets practically on location in a real swamp, and also general thoughts on the movies – cast, crew, effects, and an especially impressive pyro stunt.
• “From Krug to Comics: How the Mainstream Shaped a Radical Genre Voice” featurette (17:34)
The always informative and entertaining Kim Newman discusses the film (one he’s “warmed up to over the years”) in the context of comic book movies and We Craven’s oeuvre.
• Posters & Lobby Cards – Photo Gallery
• Photos from the Film – Photo Gallery
• William Munns’ Behind the Scenes Pictures – Photo Gallery
• Behind the Scenes Photos by Geoffrey Rayle – Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:31)
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Trailer
A/V Out.Get it at Amazon:
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Except where noted, all 16:9 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. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.
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ENTER THE DRAGON: The Martial Arts Classic Makes a Stunning 4K Debut
Just in time for the film’s 50th anniversary and Warner’s 100th, Enter the Dragon roundhouse kicks onto 4k UHD in a new edition that focuses on presentation rather than extras, which is fine. Easily one of the most culturally significant films in the sub-genre of martial arts, the film was meant to be Lee’s Hollywood theatrical debut. After first making a name for himself in television on the Green Hornet as Kato, Lee went back east after rather infamously, losing the lead in Kung-Fu to David Carradine. Because when you think about Kung-Fu, you think of David Carradine, right? Back in Hong Kong the Jeet Kune Do master built up his bonafides as a leading man, and after a string of successes, American studios started calling him back west.
The funny part is even though Enter the Dragon was crafted for Lee specifically, the studio asked for 3 diverse leads, something they referred to as “international cast” just in case American audiences at the time couldn’t accept an Asian man leading a film. Based on the Bond films, Enter the Dragon was a showcase for Bruce who also directed and choreographed all the fight sequences in the film, which still hold their own today. Lee was 32 years old while he finished working on the film that was fast tracked by Warner to capitalize on the rising star who would die tragically months before its release which ultimately landed him in the pop-cultural zeitgeist as an icon of all things cool and badass, even to this day.
For those that have never seen Enter the Dragon, its plot is something that has become a template in the action genre and was even cribbed for a little arcade game called Mortal Kombat. A hero is invited to a martial arts tournament on a secluded island compound and tasked with taking down the villain running it. Here Lee plays, well Lee, who is after a renegade Shaolin monk Han (Shih Kien), who has brought dishonor to the Temple by trafficking in drugs and white slavery on a remote island where he also holds a martial arts tournament that also allows him to recruit new talent. If that wasn’t enough motivation, shortly after Lee is contacted by a government organization to take on the mission, he also discovers Han’s number 2 was personally responsible for the death of his sister.
It’s easy to see why Lee was on his way up, here he just effortlessly radiates cool whenever he’s on screen, and that says a lot when having to play off Jim Kelly and John Saxon as his fellow tournament participants. Kelly is just immaculate here in a role that will be imitated and parodied for years to come, next to Saxon who somehow manages to hold his own against the pair while still turning in a charismatic anti-hero. Lee is truly astounding here in fight scenes that changed how we viewed fight choreography in Kung-Fu films. There’s a rawness to his style that favored realism over safety, and watching his fights now, they haven’t lost any of their punch.
The transfer here appears to be the same as the one on the Criterion set, which isn’t a bad thing, but with the added clarity of 4K and bump in color from the HDR. This is really noticeable in the reds in the film, which are now more striking than ever. The image is bright, with some of the earlier scenes exhibiting a higher contrast than later in the film, which could be a symptom of shooting outdoors on location, as opposed to on a closed studio set.The other big difference is along with the 4k is a new Dolby Atmos mix, paired with the preexisting Dolby Digital Track and a commentary. This is definitely a more contemporary feeling mix that really highlights Lalo Schifrin’s funk infused score by pushing that base line to the sub, and filling out the room with the highs and mids. It’s most definitely a more aggressive soundmix, but it’s a fight film and that is definitely something that will give folks watching this at home more bang for their buck.
The single UHD contains both the original theatrical cut, as well as the newly edited special edition that reincorporated some of the more philosophical moments in the film that were cut shortly before release. While these moments don’t add anything substantial plot-wise, it does infuse Lee’s hunt for Han with a spirituality that adds a new dimension of complexity to the lone righteous warrior. As far as extras the film comes with the commentary I previously mentioned with Paul Heller and Michael Allin, along with an Introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell. This tracks since Criterion probably still has all the rights to the extras that have been on the previous versions and if you’re a Bruce Lee fan, you really should own that set.
Like Warner’s other 100 titles – Enter the Dragon feels simply timeless, watching it today. Lee is iconic here and it’s easy to see why even today he’s instantly recognizable to people who have probably never even seen one of his films. The rousing adventure is bittersweet in that it tragically reinforces the toll his death had on a world that was finally ready for his brand of action, and sadly had to deal with the birth of Brucesploitation, a entire genre of knock offs instead. Needless to say he will be forever missed and Warner’s exquisitely simple release only cements that legacy for the next generation of fans.
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NYAFF 2023: MISS SHAMPOO
The 22nd annual New York Asian Film Festival took place between July 14 and July 30. For more information on what you missed, click here.
I do so enjoy it when things wind up getting all Full Circle on me.
Miss Shampoo, a mostly fluffy comedy with some decidedly dark moments, has some surprisingly comprehensive cross-connections with Kai Ko’s Bad Education, the blackly comic thriller that kicked off this year’s festival for me. Which makes it, in more ways than one, a delightfully circular way for me to be closing out this years coverage. They’re two very different film in tone, in goals, and in execution, but in their own way they’re both highly effective pieces of entertainment.
Writer-director Giddens Ko was responsible for The Tenant Downstairs, the gleefully nasty and highly enjoyable closing film of my first ever NYAFF back in 2015, and even when applied to significantly lighter ends, it’s clear he’s only gotten better at playing audiences like a fiddle. With Shampoo, he’s given himself the unenviable task of finding something new and interesting to do in the fields of romantic comedy and triad crime, two genres that have been intertwined so often that even that combination has moldy tropes of its own. But rising to the challenge, Ko has crafted a raucous, laugh filled romantic comedy that find ever more inventive, ridiculous and dirty minded ways to sidestep the usual cliches. It may be only his second time up to bat for the festival, but he still knocks it out of the park.
Baseball, as it happens, is one of the passions of the energetic and (seemingly) demure Fen (Vivian Sung), the other being hairdressing. We are introduced to her as she sculpts the coiff of her trusty mannequin head, and acting as imaginary coach to pro batter Zheng Xuxiang (Bruce Ho). Fen, we will soon find, is not one of those heroines bored with her lot in life and craving danger or excitement. But it’s coming for her anyway, in the form of Tai. And as with all the best meet cutes, this one involves a murder.
A wounded Tai (Daniel Hong) stumbles into the salon, having barely escaped the attack that took the life of his Triad boss, Hsing. Letting him hide out and throwing his would-be assassins off the trail, Fen assumes that will be that. But Tai, being the honorable type, wants to repay her kindness. And now has the power to do so; with the death of Hsing, Tai finds himself promoted to leader of the gang. Which means the responsibility of tracking down the people who ordered the hit and exacting bloody retribution falls to him.
Though in a twist that people expecting more of a plot than they’re going to get might find deflating, the movie is nearly as disinterested in solving this little mystery as Tai himself seems to be; he’s unabashedly smitten with Fen, and almost from the moment their eyes meet, he becomes her number one priority.
Comedy, and some downright ridiculous hairstyling decisions, ensue.
There’s a very amusing meta layer to all this, of course… our leading man want to be in a romantic comedy, while half the cast keeps trying to drag them into a crime drama. And the leading lady would just looooove to be in a romantic comedy, but has a better sense than our hero that gangsters can only pretend they’re not in a gangster movie for so long until the genre comes looking for them.
(And as for the rest? Well, they’re all just trying to get laid)
Mind you it’s hard to argue that Tai and Fen don’t have the right idea, seeing as how the plot, a bunch of jibber-jabber concerning land deals and inner circle conflicts that the movie can’t even pretend to give much of a fig about for more than a couple minutes at a time… not when there are dick jokes to get back to. Ko and the cast commit fully to embracing a sense of silliness. From the visual humor of Tai’s increasingly goofy hairstyles, to a series of introductions that turns into a rake gag extraordinaire, to the films’ hilarious sex obsession, which stays just on the right side of juvenile (if only just), the movie is shameless in its eagerness to show the audience a good time, but never makes the mistake so many movies that try for this brand of humor make: it might have some fun at the characters expenses, but it also has a great deal of affection and kindness towards them. The joke might be on them, but it’s rarely at their expense. And that small but vital distinction allows them to get away with absolute murder.
Not every movie can manage to make the line “I swear on my dick” seem like the most romantic statement in the world.
Few movies would even try, the cowards.
It’s not until roughly the final twenty minutes that the gangster plot really takes precedence, at which point we are treated to some last stage revelations that reframe Tai’s reluctance, and lead us pretty directly into a tense, violent finale. It’s an inevitable confrontation, but all the more effective for spending so much time making the characters out to be such endearing goofs; less than any ideas of grand retribution (Hell, the audience barely even knew Hsing), we simply want the heroes to make it out alive. Which, as anybody who has spent much time in the tonally helter skelter world of Asian genre cinema knows, is far from guaranteed.
There is no discussion worth having about Miss Shampoo that doesn’t focus the bulk of said discussion on the exemplary cast, starting with the leads. Daniel Hong has the look of a typical genre protagonist, which makes it all the more fun to see the ways in which he is willing to look and act like an absolute goof. His delivery on the various sex speeches he gives alone make his casting worth it. And he plays off of Fen divinely.
So frequently, the female half of this kind of mash-up can get short shrift, but as written and as performed, Fen is a more than capable match for all the antics around her. Giddy whenever possible, but grounded when absolutely necessary, Sung sells the role with ease. Never before, and perhaps never again, will the words “Very fake ejaculation” be used as such a profound expression of eternal love and commitment. And it’s hard to imagine all that many actresses convincingly swooning upon hearing it. Such is the skill of Vivian Sung.
The chemistry is so on point from almost the very start that it comes as rather a surprise to both Tai and the audience alike to learn that Fen already has a boyfriend (a juicy cameo by Kent Tsai, de facto lead of the aforementioned Bad Education). But even this is less an actual complication than an excuse for Hong a hilariously overextended stunned reaction that seems to last several weeks worth of screen time.
But while Tai and Fen are undeniably the star attractions here it’s a very generous movie, acting-wise: the entire supporting cast seems to have a contest going to see who can steal the most scenes with the least screen time, and all seem equally delighted when the scene gets stolen out from under them. Indeed, the majority of members on the mob side of the story has less to do by virtue, but, to a man, make a meal of what they get.
Most prominent would be Long Legs (played by Kai Ko from, well…. you know), Tai’s right hand man and the member of the crew who seems most put out by the romance. He seems miffed at not being crowned leader by Hsing, or at least he’s increasingly annoyed at Tai’s seeming ambivalence towards the whole vengeance thing. But while you might think you know where this plotline is going, it takes a number of unexpected, refreshing, occasionally discursive seeming swerves that keep it interesting, not the least of which is a subplot where he gets really into crypto with a NFT-loving douchebro working for one of the other bosses.
If nothing else, there’s an interesting metatextual element in the idea of Ko playing a character that seems to long to be in charge, right before going on to make his own project.
(Who knows which endeavor came first, but Giddens Ko is an executive producer on Bad Education, and it’s not hard to imagine Ko The Younger not having learned a thing or two about balancing tones from his similarly monikered director here)
As the two other main members of Tai’s gang, Emerson Tai and Ying Long-Feng are less prominent, but like everyone else, score major laughs with their antics. In fact, Tai’s flirtation with Guan (Bai Bai), one of Fens’ co-workers at the salon, kind of leads me into my only complaint: there’s not nearly enough of it. Giving off, of all things, an early Yeardley Smith vibe, she pulls a truly impressive amount of laughs with nothing more than a look. She disappears from the movie roughly halfway through, and though there are plenty of laughs to compensate, her offbeat presence and endlessly expressive, endlessly watchable face are sorely missed.
It’s just an embarrassment of riches. Hell, there’s an entire article I could write just on Fen’s family alone. But I’m already running a bit long here.
(Though in keeping with the “full circle” of it all, special shout-out to McFly Wu, last seen as the hilariously baffled gangster in Bad Education, has a small cameo as a cheating gambler who suffers through both bad math and terrible consequences, in roughly that order. Both because it’s a fun little bit and because I’ll take any excuse I can to get to type the words McFly Wu again)
In the end, it is perhaps a strange thing that I’ve written so many words on such a fluffy bit of fun as Miss Shampoo. As the wonderfully meta final line of the film makes clear, it’s a film with little on its mind more than making sure its audience has a good time for two hours. And yet, how many films try to do exactly that, and fall flat on their face? In its success, and in its minor yet personally significant ties to other films that I’ve seen both this year, and starting all the way at the start of my journey in 2015, it is the perfect representation of why I love this festival so much, and why I keep coming back, over and over again. And thus, a perfect note on which to close out another excellent NYAFF.
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NYAFF 2023: Interview With Anshul Chauhan, Director of DECEMBER
The 22nd annual New York Asian Film Festival took place between July 14 an July 30. For more information on what you missed, click here.
Among the many great movies I watched during this years’ New York Asian Film Festival was December, an emotionally charged courtroom drama telling the story of Katsu (SHOGEN) and Sumiko (MEGUMI), a formerly married couple living in the aftermath of their daughters’ murder. Katsu, a walking wound of a man, refuses to let go of his anger, threatening Sumikos’ hard-won sense of stability and balance. Try as she might to move on, she finds herself inexorably trapped in old cycles of pain as an obsessive Katsu does everything in his power to make sure the murderer of their daughter, a young girl named Kana (RYO MATSUURA), stays behind bars. It is a gripping, well-acted story of guilt, grief, repentance, and acceptance, and I was lucky enough to be able to conduct a brief interview with the films’ director, Anshul Chauhan.
Mild spoilers may follow.
What attracted you to this script?
You know, the story is about a retrial drama. When I first received the initial draft from my friend Rand Colter, I saw it mainly as a courtroom drama. I thought it might not be suitable for me, or it could be too challenging to find funding for such a project. However, during the Covid, I revisited the script and looked at it with a fresh perspective. I discovered that it also has a significant human drama aspect, which caught my attention. Instead of focusing solely on the court procedures, I decided to emphasize the human elements in the story, and that’s what made me interested in the script. The most attractive part for me was finding characters with both good and bad sides.
There was a credit for “Japanese dialogues”; what was the reason for that and what was process of collaborating with Mina Moteki?
Mina plays a significant role in my filmmaking because I’m not a native Japanese speaker. Sometimes, I struggle to understand the deeper meaning of certain scenes. That’s where Mina comes in to help. She translates the script from English to Japanese, but it’s not just a simple translation. We work together to do research and understand the context and character behaviors etc. For example, when we were working on DECEMBER, we visited real high court sessions in Tokyo multiple times. We took notes and then worked on the script. Translating the Japanese dialogues was particularly challenging in DECEMBER because the courtroom has its own language style. Mina consulted with lawyers and studied how they speak in court to accurately translate the script. In addition to her translation work, Mina is also one of the producers, along with Takahiro Yamashita. We both run Kowatanda Films together since 2016.
Kana is a very layered, very complicated character that is key to everything that happens in the film, and Ryo Matsuura does an excellent job. Was it difficult finding the right actress to play such a complex role?
It wasn’t difficult at all. I actually met Ryo during the screening of my second film, KONTORA, in March 2021. She came to watch the film, and we met outside the theater. I was really impressed by her appearance, especially her eyes. Six months later, when I started reworking on the script, I couldn’t stop thinking about her for the role of KANA. Since she mainly works as a model, I was unsure about her acting skills. So, I auditioned her along with ten other girls. However, I wasn’t fully satisfied, so I auditioned her two more times to be sure she was the right fit. One day, Mina and I took her out for coffee, and she finally opened up, and we had detailed discussions about her life. In the final audition, she nailed it, and we offered her the role. But what surprised me even more was when I saw her acting on the set on the first day. She was extremely well-prepared and had the fewest retakes on any scene.
What was the thinking in making Naoki also have a lost child in his past?
The main reason was to establish a connection between Sumiko and Naoki and give them a shared background of suffering. As mentioned in the film, they both met in the grief support group for the lost kids, which was the best choice for the script. Both characters experience similar pain, but one is able to move on while the other remains stuck in the past. This basically creates a good drama with conflicts and tensions.
Was there a particular reason that Katsu’s old job was as a novelist?
I suppose it was just so I can have a stronger connection with the character, given my background in writing. Although I’m not a novelist myself, I do write extensively. Additionally, I have some friends who are novelists, and I know they enjoy their fair share of drinking, haha.
We get glimpses of Emi in Kana’s flashbacks and in the later scenes with Katsu. But was there ever any thought given to having Emi be more of a presence throughout the film?
During the shooting, I considered it, but ultimately, I decided against it. My main focus was on the three central characters. If the film had centered around the first trial, which was more evidence-based, I would have undoubtedly given more attention to Emi’s character.
What scene in the film proved the most difficult to film?
From a technical perspective, shooting most of the scenes was quite challenging due to limited time and budget. Courtroom dramas usually have multiple cameras, but we managed with just one. Our team was small, with only six people, and everyone had to handle multiple tasks. Despite these difficulties, the shoot was enjoyable overall.
One thing I had to be careful about was capturing the first meetings between Kana and her parents. They hadn’t looked at each other before in the film or on set, so we kept them in separate rooms while shooting and made sure to get the first take right.
The school bullying scenes were also tough because we wanted to depict them authentically, and the actors got very serious, Kanon who played Emi was really bullying Ryo and both got into serious fights many times.
The hardest shot was the one with blood and fist with Katsu. Getting the blood out of the fist on the right time and place was the most difficult shot I guess. And the glass piece in the river was a challenge due to the intense sunlight, so we ended up using VFX for that particular shot.
Given the subject matter of the movie, there was a strong potential for it to be a more sensationalistic type of film, but it always stays very grounded. How difficult was it to find the right tone with which to tell this story?
As I mentioned earlier, my main focus was on the human drama outside the courtroom in the story. This decision helped the film to feel more real and connected to everyday life. If I had focused more on the trial and prison system, the film would have turned out differently.
During the shooting, I often deviated from the script, except for the court scenes. I made changes based on the performances of the actors and the locations we found. This creative process helped shape the story into what it is today. I removed anything that didn’t feel genuine while shooting and stayed true to the characters.
I receive many questions about why I didn’t show more about the first trial or add media perspective etc. But I believe that by staying authentic to the characters and their journey and only focusing on the retrial drama, the film became more compelling. In the editing process, I also removed some scenes that we had shot, as they would have taken the film in a different direction.
Expanding on that last question, I wonder if you could describe how you figured out the structure of the film in terms of when in the story to reveal certain plot elements?
Since I do my own editing and enjoy it a lot, I like to try different things and be experimental. When I edit, I approach it with an open mind and don’t think about the plot or structure right away. Editing is like writing the final version of the script for me.
I did many tests and experiments with different editing styles and perspectives to see what works best for the film. Eventually, through these tests, I found the final version of the film. I don’t follow the script order while editing; instead, I rediscover the characters and follow their body language to shape the story. Just a joke but at one point Sato looked like the main character from the way I was editing, he still has more screen time than Kana actually but it doesn’t feel like that, just because of the way he was placed in the final edit.
I faced some challenges with the flashback scenes because they were improvised during the shooting and not written in the script. Placing them properly in the film was a big challenge. We actually had a lot of footage and coverage from the shoot, which gave me the freedom to experiment and shape the story the way It is today.
I’m interested in the performance of Toru Kizu as Sato, because sometimes it was difficult to tell what his intentions were in taking this case and it wasn’t always clear whether or not he was being intentionally manipulative, which lent an interesting ambiguity to his character. Was Kizus’ interpretation of the character different from what was on the page, and if so, how?
Every lawyer wants to win the case, and Sato was no different. However, he did have some inner conflict at times because he felt a connection to Kana and was pushing her hard to confess. We had discussions about his interpretation of the character, but it mostly had to do with the difference in acting styles between senior Japanese actors and newer ones. It can be challenging to manage or control their style on set. Personally, I find it difficult to ask them to change their style or to encourage experimentation and improvisation which Ryo wanted to do.
Despite any misunderstandings about his intentions, he is a fantastic actor, and I enjoyed working with him. If you or the audience didn’t fully grasp his character’s intentions, I take responsibility for the way I presented him in the film.
Did you know how the judge was ultimately going to rule when you started writing, or did that decision come later in the process?
The decision was made during the writing stage and remained unchanged since Rand first wrote the script. However, we did make some adjustments to the language used in the Japanese court scenes, as parole works a bit differently in Japan. In Japanese, it’s not exactly the same as what you read in the subtitles. In Japan, juvenile parolees are assigned special probation officers, and the legally prescribed maximum period of supervision is until the probationer’s twentieth birthday or at least two years from the date of the decision by the family court, whichever is longer. In Kana’s case, she was seventeen, so it was three years. I hope this makes sense.
Our thanks to Anshul Chauhan for joining us for an interview!
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NYAFF 2023: BACK HOME
The 22nd annual New York Asian Film Festival took place between July 14 and July 30. For more information on what you missed, click here.
In my review of Kitty The Killer from earlier in the festival, I made note of how action movies get a certain amount of leeway that other genre fare doesn’t get.
I was not expecting such an immediate validation of my whole thesis.
Nate Ki’s directorial debut Back Home is a horror movie that, while ultimately too muddled to be a full success, has its fair share of very effective unnerving moments… as well as some would-be spooky scenes that feel overly familiar, which can be the kiss of death when it comes to the horror genre.
The story is set up with a welcome efficiency in its opening moments: Wing Lai (Sean Wong as a child, Anson Kong as an adult), a Chinese expatriate living in Canada, returns to his home country when he receives word that his mother Tang Wai-Lin (Bai Ling, either unrecognizable or I’ve gone face blind) attempted suicide and languishes in a coma. It’s not a happy homecoming, as he has very painful memories related to his upbringing, as definitively demonstrated in the very first scene, a POV shot that places the viewer in his shoes as his mother repeatedly tries to slap the third eye out of him.
The third eye being the one that allows him to see ghosts. He says he’s gotten over it, but the vision he had of his mother sitting on his couch in a cocktail dress with her tongue removed right before receiving the call about her condition somewhat puts the lie to his claims.
That his comatose mother is also missing her tongue isn’t a particularly great portent, either.
Settling into his mom’s apartment, he meets the neighbors, prominent among them a friendly elderly couple who claim to have known him as a child (Tai Bo and Helen Chan as Uncle and Grandma Chung), and Yu (Wesley Wong) a young boy who, it soon becomes clear, shares with Wing the ability to see ghosts. Though he shows little interest in solving the mystery of what happened to his mom, a rash of attempted suicides in the building and a lurking mystery about the abandoned seventh floor draw him in to the kind of supernatural conspiracy that defies all logic and reason… both in the world of the film and for audiences alike.
The thing that Back Home does as well as, if not better than, any other horror movie I’ve seen in quite some time is make the layer between fantasy and reality gossamer thin. So many horror movies, favoring shock over atmosphere, make the tactical error of having clear delineations; how many times have we seen a scene that ends with the protagonist waking up from a horrible moment? It’s a quick fix of endorphin rush, when creating a consistent sense of disorientation and dread without the comfort of that release would be so much more effective.
Here, strange beings lurk in the background, uncanny and unacknowledged, the dead seem to briefly return to life in a crowded room and people staring right at the body don’t seem to notice. Even the ostensibly normal people have a habit of sticking around just a beat longer than is comfortable, as if their systems are ever so briefly glitching out. It builds an undercurrent where the viewer finds themselves just as unmoored.
So its a pity that the film doesn’t have the will to stay in that space for longer. About halfway through, we start getting more of the conventional scares: ghosts poking their heads in through cracked doors, a spectral presence in an incongruous form (in this case, geisha gear), taking the authorities to the spot where they saw the thing, only to reveal nothing, making the protagonist seem crazy… we’ve seen it all before, and while it looks better than 90% of case (Director of Photography Rick Lau and the Art Direction from Ceci Pak Pur Sze and Cheung Bing create some undeniably gorgeous imagery), there’s no escaping the mold permeating all those moments where the movie is supposed to be at its most horrifying.
For all the attempts to wring scares out of old saws like ghosts singing nursery rhymes and haunted elevators, the most visceral moments come in much smaller moments, like an unnerving lingering shot of the passengers in a toy car (all credit to the deft, restrained sense of when to cut and not cut from editor Barfuss Hui) and the deliciously wince inducing punchline to a runner about Wing clicking his thumbnail when he’s agitated (all credit to Lau Chi Hung’s exquisite sound design)
The cast is very good, which helps. But the further into the movie we get, the more I had to question some of their choices. The flashbacks that provide insight into Wings traumatic past plant an interesting seed in the idea of exploring the strain of having a child so connected to the supernatural, a sort of dark mirror to The Sixth Sense. But as it plays out, Bai Ling only has a couple of moments of maternal affection and the rest of the time she’s just a loon crowing about how he drove his father away (plus one particularly tasteless and unnecessary scene of sexual assault thrown in for little gain). Watching the slow collapse of Tang, and how Wing might have difficulty reconciling his abuse at her hands with a misplaced sense of guilt that his abilities might have driven her to it, just plain would have made for a stronger connection to the themes the film seems to be toying with.
Without question, she’s very, very good at the loon stuff. But… to what end?
And it’s even odder that they don’t really connect Wing’s past to Yu’s present, except in the broadest of strokes. The way the film resolves, it doesn’t even seem necessary for Yu to have been able to see ghosts in the first place, except as an excuse to throw in more cheap scares. And it all culminates in the reveal of a conspiracy that really could have landed if they’d just cut out a few of those aforementioned cheap scares for a bit more thematic development. Wing is made an offer that should have been tempting, but since we got a snootful of his trauma and none of his life outside it, we’re not given any reason to think what’s on offer is a thing he would even want. It simply doesn’t land
But whatever the failings of Back Home, it feels they could very easily be chalked up to the sort of rookie mistakes that befall any overly ambitious first timer; if lacking in focus, Nate Ki absolutely displays an impressive level of skill for a debut feature. Back Home may not have entirely worked for me, but it’s got more than enough goos qualities to make me eager to see where he goes from here.
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NYAFF 2023: MAD FATE
The 22nd annual New York Asian Film Festival took place between July 14 and July 30. For more information on what you missed, click here.
I have spent well over thirty minutes just trying to come up with an opening sentence to lead into my review of Soi Cheung’s Mad Fate, something a little bit more articulate than ‘that was… deeply, deeply insane’, but I keep coming up short.
Probably because the movie is deeply, deeply insane.
Now, it’s a Milky Way Production, so we already know that at bare minimum it’s going to be a high-end bout of insanity, but regardless, there’s no way around the fact that this movie is unhinged in ways that mostly work for it, and a few that work against it.
And its that way from the very start: the opening set piece involves an attempt by The Master (Lam Ka Tung) to save the life of May (Wong Ching Yan Birdy), whose star chart portends doom in the next couple of hours unless The Master can perform a special ritual to change her fate. That the ritual involves a (fake) burial is… well, just par for the course, apparently. But a sudden torrential downpour almost turns the fake burial into a real one and May rightly flips out and leaves before the ritual is complete.
Determined to save her life, The Master follows her back to her apartment where the first of many, many unexpected events occurs: upon returning to her apartment, May is set upon by a serial killer who, despite being interrupted by Siu Tung (Lokman Wong), a delivery boy with the wrong address, manages to slice her to absolute ribbons.
The Master arrives too late to save May, and in the second of the unexpected events, the cops arrive and give chase to the actual killer (a.k.a. The Murderer, as played by the impeccably named Chan Charm Man Peter), cutting off at the knees my assumption that The Master or the delivery boy would be mistaken for the killer.
The third, and perhaps least expected of all the moments in this opening act, was the moment where the delivery boy goes into a trance and starts splashing around in a pool of May’s blood like Gene Kelly in a rainstorm.
Taken in for questioning by one of the cops (Berg Ng, credited only as The Veteran), The Master senses a potential for evil in Siu Tung and vows to combat fate itself by
At this point, it is probably worth noting that The Master considers Fate to be a manifestation of God on Earth.
So, yeah: this is a buddy film about a potential murderer and a mystic who team up explicitly to spite God.
Like I said: deeply, deeply insane.
The script by Melvin Li and Yau Noi Hoi (with a credit for Chan Siu Hei as ‘assistant screenwriter’) benefits from a heedless pace and a bold, almost reckless approach to its big ideas. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly quite rare that a film is so top heavy with conceptual brush strokes that an actual serial killer becomes little more than a Macguffin. But it makes for interesting viewing.
Adding to the bewildering nature of the film, is the tone. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Asia has a different philosophy and intellectual approach to matters of the supernatural and the afterlife. And as always, I have to allow for the possibility of the western disconnect; there are concepts here that might come naturally to its local target audiences, the nuances of which would be entirely lost on less informed outsiders. But while the movie traffics unrepentantly in absurdity, the thing that might be most disorienting to western audiences is just how seriously the film seems to take all of this. The opening scene read as almost slapstick in its convolutions, so when the tone turned grim, it was a bit disorienting to adjust. While I would never call the film in any way dour or humorless (there are any number of unexpected, fully intentional laughs), the concepts it delves into the deepest are the ones that we’re less inclined to take quite so seriously here. But then, with a protagonist like The Master, it’s unclear just how seriously we’re meant to take all the talk of stars and signs in the first place. Which is as good an excuse as any to transition to talking about an aspect of the film that might be polarizing: the performances.
As a buddy film, much of the overall success for audiences will rest on the chemistry of the two leads, the ways in which they bounce off of one another. And these are two characters who, to put it mildly, don’t fall into the usual buddy dynamics.
Siu Tung would be a tricky character to pull off even in a more conventional film: a character who is capable of terrible things and only barely motivated to not do those terrible things, but is also (allegedly) the victim of cosmic forces beyond comprehension. Yeung does frankly impressive work marking out a character who the audience roots for, without making him in any way likable, and only sympathetic in a very abstract (some might say, cosmic) sense.
And his reactions to The Master are extremely well calibrated; not as easy an ask as it might sound, because Lam Ka-Tung is doing a lot.
It’s strange to think that his opening scene with May is him at his most subdued, because for any other actor, I might put that at an 8. But after that understandably intense set piece, when Ka-Tung starts interacting with other characters, he’s so twitchy and high-strung that it became a bit off-putting; this is the de facto protagonist of your film. Are you sure this is what you wanted?
Turns out there’s a method to the madness, and when we find out what it is about 45 minutes into the proceedings, it both explains everything and gives Ka-Tung license to go ever further over the top, until eventually the Earth itself is merely a cosmic speck, spinning in the void.
It’s… an acquired taste of a performance. But perfectly in line with the films aggressively offbeat agenda.
There are lots of things I could go on to mention, like the inexplicable use of maritime and classical music pieces as comical counterpoints, or the satisfying way most of the characters are credited by their professions or affiliations (or in the case of The Murderer, their hobbies): besides The Master and The Veteran, we have Prostitute May, Prostitute Jo, and The Master’s Ex-Girlfriend (an extremely brief cameo by Zhao Yiyi who, weirdly enough, always made a brief cameo as an ex in Everyphone Everywhere. Curious bit of typecasting, that). Or the deceptively innocuous way The Murderer re-enters the picture after having gone missing for like an hour of screentime. Or the incident that takes place in the morgue near the end of the movie. Or the visual metaphor of an ant in a puddle, which lands way better than it has any right to. Or the incredibly impressive cat puppets which might require a trigger earning for animal lovers. Or this film’s truly deranged take on the concept of a happy ending.
Or this, or that, or the other.
The point being this: even if you don’t like Mad Fate (and as it happens, I rather did), it still leaves even the most jaded viewer with gobs and gobs of stuff to talk about afterwards.
In that sense, it seems impossible not to respect the sheer audacity of Soi Cheang. This isn’t just another genre exercise that plays the hits. It’s ambitious, unpredictable and entirely dancing to its own tune. You will not guess how this movie ends from where it starts, and that’s a rare enough phenomenon that it deserves all the attention it can get, and then some.
