While pretending to be a love story, SPIDER LILIES in fact is a film about damaged people. They are not damaged in a physical sense but all the protagonists are carrying heavy psychological burdens. First we have Jade (Rainie Yang), a young girl who lives in a shabby apartment with her senile grand mother. She makes her living as a web-cam girl. That means she chats and strips online for money. One day, she decides to get a tattoo, to add a little spice to her allure.
Enter Takeko (Isabella Leong), the owner of a tattoo shop. Takeko doesn't speak much and is a very introvert young woman. Jade is instantly attracted to Takeko and tries to become friends with her. She wants a tattoo of spider lilies, that reminds her of her first love, as she tells Takeko. But Takeko refuses the request. Now we discover that Takeko has exactly such a tattoo, that covers her whole left arm and we get a first glimpse that these two girls have kown each other before. Jade knew this the monent she saw Takeko, but the other woman doesn't remember - or at least acts like she doesn't.
The story of Jade and Takeko, the quite openly proclaimed love of the one girl for the other and the struggle of the other one to come to grips with her emotions, is the center of the movie. In long flashbacks we learn of their past, of the time when Jade was nine years old and Takeko about fifteen. It is a heartbreaking story, that sometimes borders on kitsch and clichee, but is very effective told. We learn of the deep hurts that are buried in the minds and souls of the two girls and that influenced their lives all these years.
Three more characters, all of them male, complete the main cast of the film: Takeko's young brother who is deeply traumatized by the same event that led to Takeko's tattoo, and acts mentally retarded, is the most important of them. The other two are a young punk who wants more and more tattoos from Takeko, to overplay his insecurities, and a cop with a bad stutter, who investigates the illegal internet firm of Jade's web-cam act. He only sees the girl on the internet and chats anonymously with her to get evidence for her illicit behavior, but falls deeply in love with the cyber-princess.
There we have it: five persons with traumas or psychological deficits, that cross paths. The story of Jade and Takeko is the core of the movie, as I said, and it is told very sensitive and with great love for the protagonists. Thankfully, the fact, that it is a lesbian love story isn't exploited or made as something out of the ordinary - the characters are interesting enough without that. This, obviously is a good thing, but it goes a bit too far. While Takeko's lesbianism is handled very matter of fact (we even see one of her earlier lovers in a flashback), Jade's sexual orientation is left a bit vague. Is she really a lesbian or is she only attracted to Takeko, because she has fond memories of her and wants to recapture the feeeling of belonging and security, the older girl gave her so many years ago?
Don't get me wrong: I don't question Jade's reasons for falling in love with Takeko. Two people can fall for each other from a multitude of reasons and all of them are legitimate and only the two concerened persons are allowed to question them. But in a film I'd like to know these reasons to feel with the characters.
Well, it's only a minor quibble of a very compelling, bittersweet and thought provoking movie. The two main actresses are doing a fine job in getting their characters across. I have seen Isabella Leong in the silly (but enjoyable) comedy BUG ME NOT and the horror spoof THE EYE 10 and thought her just another pop star that tries to make some light weight movies. But then she popped up in much more demanding roles like ISABELLA and DIARY and it became obvious that she takes her acting quite seriously - and with very rewarding results. I hope to see more of her in the future. That also goes for taiwanese pop singer Rainie Yang: She is the real star of this movie and brings a lot to her complex character. I can't say much about her, because this was the first movie I saw her in (not very astonishing since it seems to be her first real movie), but what I saw is very promising.
Saturday 21 July 2007
Tuesday 17 July 2007
Ming Ming (2006)
Zhou Xun is one of the two or three most popular young chinese actresses, the other being Zhang Ziyi and perhaps Zhao Wei. I saw her in a big supporting role in THE BANQUET and then, getting curious about her, in her earlier film A WEST LAKE MOMENT. The latter, a bitter-sweet contemplation about the modern chinese youth, made me a fan of Zhou Xun and so I was eager to see her new movie MING MING.
After watching it, I'm still very much in awe of her as an actress, but the film wasn't sadly not as godd as I had hoped.
Xun plays a double role as Ming Ming - a fabulous martial artist and clever crook - and as Nana, her unwitting look-alike. Ming Ming is a black clad, black haired crook who fell in love with the mysterious D (Daniel Wu). He promises his undying love (or something like this) for 5 Mio. Dollars and a trip to Harbin. Well, Ming Ming gets that money from her gangster boss Cat, who is more or less willing to give it to her. But then she also robs a mysterious locked wooden box, and Cat is desperate to get it back. Ming Ming flees and gives the money to her admirer Ah Tu (Tony Yang) with the instructions to go to Shanghai, where she expects to find D. On his flight Tu meets a girl, he thinks is Ming Ming, even so her hair is red. This is Nana who is flabbergasted at first, but she doesn't confess to Tu that she isn't Ming Ming, for she realizes, that the girl she is mistaken for, is following D. and D is also Nana's lover.
While Nana and Tu travel to Shanghai, followed by Cat's henchmen, Ming Ming stays in the shadows, observes the proceedings and helps secretly, when the gangsters get to near to the fleeing couple.
MING MING is a potpourri of a different genres, styles and intentions. The first twenty minutes of the movie, including a long fight scene between Ming Ming and Cat's gang, is overly stylized and annoyed my with its pretentiosness enormously. Fortunately, director Susie Au gets a lot more down to earth later in the film, and there are a lot of fine moments between Nana and Tu. Despite the title, it is mostly their story that the movie narrates. And here Zhou Xun shows her strength as an actress. The scenes with Ming Ming and with the elusive D are important for the plot but struck me mostly as a sort of macguffin. They are a sort of main motive that is equally overly pretentious filmed and themed, so that the story of Nana and Tu can enfold.
This all may sound a bit vague, but i don't want to get to deep into the plot, that contains one or two mysteries and revelations I won't spoil. In the whole the movie is only partly successful. Is has a nice road movie element with good character parts for Xun (as Nana) and Toiny Yang. Then there is a very pretentious and nearly ludicrous plotline about D and Ming Ming, that is filled with losts of wire- and CGI-fu, hectic cutting and some weird visual ideas. Well, it is Susie Au's first movie and she obviously enjoys playing with all her new bright toys. Xun's role as Ming Ming consists mainly of brooding in the semi-dark, looking cool and do some crazy fights - nothing to stretch her artistic muscles overly. The same can be said about Daniel Wu. Someone called Wu Hong Kong's Keanu Reeves, and that comparison (even if it sounds a little harsh) isn't so bad: Both are very handsome and their good looks often stands in the way of good roles and even good performances. But Daniel Wu has, in my opinion, made more effort - and with better results - to get past his beefcake image. In this movie, however, he isn't more than just okay in a role that is not much more than decorative.
After watching it, I'm still very much in awe of her as an actress, but the film wasn't sadly not as godd as I had hoped.
Xun plays a double role as Ming Ming - a fabulous martial artist and clever crook - and as Nana, her unwitting look-alike. Ming Ming is a black clad, black haired crook who fell in love with the mysterious D (Daniel Wu). He promises his undying love (or something like this) for 5 Mio. Dollars and a trip to Harbin. Well, Ming Ming gets that money from her gangster boss Cat, who is more or less willing to give it to her. But then she also robs a mysterious locked wooden box, and Cat is desperate to get it back. Ming Ming flees and gives the money to her admirer Ah Tu (Tony Yang) with the instructions to go to Shanghai, where she expects to find D. On his flight Tu meets a girl, he thinks is Ming Ming, even so her hair is red. This is Nana who is flabbergasted at first, but she doesn't confess to Tu that she isn't Ming Ming, for she realizes, that the girl she is mistaken for, is following D. and D is also Nana's lover.
While Nana and Tu travel to Shanghai, followed by Cat's henchmen, Ming Ming stays in the shadows, observes the proceedings and helps secretly, when the gangsters get to near to the fleeing couple.
MING MING is a potpourri of a different genres, styles and intentions. The first twenty minutes of the movie, including a long fight scene between Ming Ming and Cat's gang, is overly stylized and annoyed my with its pretentiosness enormously. Fortunately, director Susie Au gets a lot more down to earth later in the film, and there are a lot of fine moments between Nana and Tu. Despite the title, it is mostly their story that the movie narrates. And here Zhou Xun shows her strength as an actress. The scenes with Ming Ming and with the elusive D are important for the plot but struck me mostly as a sort of macguffin. They are a sort of main motive that is equally overly pretentious filmed and themed, so that the story of Nana and Tu can enfold.
This all may sound a bit vague, but i don't want to get to deep into the plot, that contains one or two mysteries and revelations I won't spoil. In the whole the movie is only partly successful. Is has a nice road movie element with good character parts for Xun (as Nana) and Toiny Yang. Then there is a very pretentious and nearly ludicrous plotline about D and Ming Ming, that is filled with losts of wire- and CGI-fu, hectic cutting and some weird visual ideas. Well, it is Susie Au's first movie and she obviously enjoys playing with all her new bright toys. Xun's role as Ming Ming consists mainly of brooding in the semi-dark, looking cool and do some crazy fights - nothing to stretch her artistic muscles overly. The same can be said about Daniel Wu. Someone called Wu Hong Kong's Keanu Reeves, and that comparison (even if it sounds a little harsh) isn't so bad: Both are very handsome and their good looks often stands in the way of good roles and even good performances. But Daniel Wu has, in my opinion, made more effort - and with better results - to get past his beefcake image. In this movie, however, he isn't more than just okay in a role that is not much more than decorative.
Monday 9 July 2007
I'm a Cyborg but That's OK (2006)
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS blew me away, when I saw it three years ago. It is - hands down - the most exciting and scary korean horror thriller i've yet seen. And main actress Lim Su-jeong was so good I tried to follow her career. But, alas, somehow she fell beneath my radar with movies like …ING and SAD MOVIE, that just weren't my cup of coffee. So it was quite a revelation to find her in Park Chan-wook's new movie, playing a mentally ill girl who thinks, she's a cyborg. But that's OK, because she's the best cyborg (or nutcase) I've seen for a long time.
The movie's title contains most of the premise of the tale, Park Chan-wook tells: The young girl Young-goon is checked into a mental ward, after she tries to connect herself with an electricity cable. There she won't eat anything but only licks at batteries, because, you see, she's a cyborg, and cyborg don't eat but get charged by electricity. Sadly she is slowly starving to death in this way....
The ward is filled with excentric and colourful nutcases - probably not very realistically but funny and interesting to look at. There's a guy who is so humble that he only walks backward (protocol at the royal court, someone explains) and then there's a woman who views her surroundings only via a mirror and who likes to sing folk music from the swiss alps (including yodeling). And then there's a young man (played by K-Pop star Rain) who mostly wears a bunny mask and who is considered a thief by all the patients. But he not only steals things but also skills and characteristics. For instance he steals the humble behaviour of the above mentioned patient, who becomes very forward until he gets his stolen attributes back. Il-soon, the thief, is fascinated with our cyborg girl who speaks to electric appliances, while wearing the dentures of her granny. And Young-goon is attracted by the thief because she wants him to steal her sympathy and compassion. For Young-goon wants to kill all "white 'uns", all doctors and nurses, because they put her granny into a mental ward. And she will kill them with the machine guns that are built into her finger tips, as soon as she can fully charge herself with electricity.
Hm, nearly sounds like another entry in Park's "Vengeance"-Series, doesn't is?
Well, it isn't. Instead it is a sweet, disturbing, funny touching movie about the relationship of two mentally ill people. While it isn't very realistic in it's description of mental illness and the causes of the defects of the protagonists, it depicts them and their very own world(s) very detailled and without discrimination. Il-soon's character was the most fascinating for me: He knows that Young-goon is loony and tries to help her. But at the same time he is able to accept her loony world and can see with her eyes.
The concept of reality and the very subjective and personal understanding of it by different people seems to be the main interest for Park Chan-wook in this movie. And he obvioulsy enjoys very much to show us the realities of his protagonists in bizarre and totally over the top scenes that only happen in the heads of Young-goon and Il-soon. There are no thriller elements in this story, like you would expect them from the director of JSA and OLD BOY, but the movie does have it's scary and even bloody moments, and they are an important part of the story. But the core of the film are Young-goon's and Il-soon's reception of the world and their tentative opening up to each other.
A last word about the actors: Rain does a very credible job (his popstar charisma fits perfectly with his likable character) and the other patients are fabilous as well. But Lim Su-jeong just owns this movie with her tour de force performanc. She is absolutely perfect and you can't help falling in love with her character. I'm very happy to have "found" the girl from A TALE OF TWO SISTERS again, and I hope I will see much for of her in the future.
The movie's title contains most of the premise of the tale, Park Chan-wook tells: The young girl Young-goon is checked into a mental ward, after she tries to connect herself with an electricity cable. There she won't eat anything but only licks at batteries, because, you see, she's a cyborg, and cyborg don't eat but get charged by electricity. Sadly she is slowly starving to death in this way....
The ward is filled with excentric and colourful nutcases - probably not very realistically but funny and interesting to look at. There's a guy who is so humble that he only walks backward (protocol at the royal court, someone explains) and then there's a woman who views her surroundings only via a mirror and who likes to sing folk music from the swiss alps (including yodeling). And then there's a young man (played by K-Pop star Rain) who mostly wears a bunny mask and who is considered a thief by all the patients. But he not only steals things but also skills and characteristics. For instance he steals the humble behaviour of the above mentioned patient, who becomes very forward until he gets his stolen attributes back. Il-soon, the thief, is fascinated with our cyborg girl who speaks to electric appliances, while wearing the dentures of her granny. And Young-goon is attracted by the thief because she wants him to steal her sympathy and compassion. For Young-goon wants to kill all "white 'uns", all doctors and nurses, because they put her granny into a mental ward. And she will kill them with the machine guns that are built into her finger tips, as soon as she can fully charge herself with electricity.
Hm, nearly sounds like another entry in Park's "Vengeance"-Series, doesn't is?
Well, it isn't. Instead it is a sweet, disturbing, funny touching movie about the relationship of two mentally ill people. While it isn't very realistic in it's description of mental illness and the causes of the defects of the protagonists, it depicts them and their very own world(s) very detailled and without discrimination. Il-soon's character was the most fascinating for me: He knows that Young-goon is loony and tries to help her. But at the same time he is able to accept her loony world and can see with her eyes.
The concept of reality and the very subjective and personal understanding of it by different people seems to be the main interest for Park Chan-wook in this movie. And he obvioulsy enjoys very much to show us the realities of his protagonists in bizarre and totally over the top scenes that only happen in the heads of Young-goon and Il-soon. There are no thriller elements in this story, like you would expect them from the director of JSA and OLD BOY, but the movie does have it's scary and even bloody moments, and they are an important part of the story. But the core of the film are Young-goon's and Il-soon's reception of the world and their tentative opening up to each other.
A last word about the actors: Rain does a very credible job (his popstar charisma fits perfectly with his likable character) and the other patients are fabilous as well. But Lim Su-jeong just owns this movie with her tour de force performanc. She is absolutely perfect and you can't help falling in love with her character. I'm very happy to have "found" the girl from A TALE OF TWO SISTERS again, and I hope I will see much for of her in the future.
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