Ninja Assassin

Ninja Assassin (James McTeigue, 2009)

I've read a few reviews where this film received a standing ovation from their audiences. I'm trying to imagine why. Maybe its the one mainstream ninja film to be released in awhile -- and people love seeing ninjas? Or maybe the audiences were Korean, applauding their own Korean superstar lol.

I was a bit surprised by the amount of marketing the movie got. Lot's and lot's of TV spots. Usually films with unproven actors -- and I mean unproven (unknown) to many Western audiences -- don't receive much hype. And the title is Ninja Assassin. I shouldn't be surprised though. One of the biggest and successful stars from Korea, Rain, playing the lead. The Wachowski Bros. (siblings, whatever you call them now) as producers. Director, James McTeigue of V for Vendetta. And ninjas!

Rain plays a ninja assassin named Raizo (sounds so lame when I heard it, so I'll use Rain instead). He grew up in an orphanage that trains orphans to become deadly ninja assassins. But no one gets tortured more during training than Rain, by the clan's leader -- Master Ozuno (Sho Kosugi, famous for his 1980's ninja flicks). Ozuno sees more promise in Rain than any of the other orphans. Here are the scars to prove it......

although these might just be wounds from his final battle, but something like this.

After seeing a failed escape from the clan by his lady ninja friend -- and killed for betrayal -- Rain also betrays the clan. Out in the "real world", Rain protects Mika (Naomie Harris) -- a researcher -- from the ninjas, knowing she's close to uncovering the clan's secrets and history.

The rest of the film plays like a video game. You are Rain. You're running away from your ex-ninja friends, while protecting a girl. And you wield a couple of weapons. And lots of violence, blood, and severed limbs. And lame dialogue.

I didn't come to see the lame story (btw, the script was rewritten in 53 hrs). Yes, I wanted to see violence and blood, and cool ninja action lol. It delivered that much, but it got really tiresome after awhile. What worked? Rain seemed believable enough as a trained martial artist/ninja... and scenes of ninjas appearing and disappearing within the shadows.

4.5/10

Love Exposure

Love Exposure (Sion Sono, 2008)

**note: this write-up may seem really sloppy towards the end, sorry.

My last time watching a film pass the two and a half hour mark was Edward Yang's Yi Yi. That film was close to three hours. How about a four hour film? Sion Sono's Love Exposure is a four hour eccentric ride into religion, cults, family, love, and voyeurism. But his only film I've seen is Suicide Circle.

Yu (Takahiro Nishijima) -- the film's main protagonist -- is a high school student. His mother passed away when he was at a young age. Devout Catholics Yu's parents are, his father, Tetsu (Atsuro Watabe), decides to become a priest after her death. But before the passing of Yu's mother, she hands him a statue of the Virgin Mary. She tells him along the lines of, "promise me when you find your Maria, you'll introduce me to her." His Maria being the love he hopes to find.

Love Exposue carries many story arcs, dealing with multiple character storylines, themes, and intricacies. Sono manages to package all that into the four hour runtime. A package worthy of opening and discovering each layer of Sono's masterwork.

There is the relationship between Yu and his father. A relationship starting off strong and simmering into a broken down mess. Yu's narration -- where he narrates quite frequently in the first half of the film -- points to the visit of a sobbing Saori (Makiko Watanabe) during one of Tetsu's sermons. A visit that Yu hoped never happened. It's where, according to Yu, life goes downhill. With an up and down secret affair between Tetsu and Saori soon after, Yu's life spirals into a realm of sinning.

What better way to displease the Catholic Church -- especially his father who squeezes out every ounce of sin in Yu's forced daily confessions -- then a life of voyeurism and perversion. Hentai as they call in Japanese. Sono fuses a mix of hilarity to offset the subject matter at hand. The result is offbeat and over-the-top scenarios with Yu in acts of picture-taking up women's skirts, and sexual connotations. The humour is pulled off effectively from Sono's direction and Nishijima's dynamic performance.

The film's other protagonist is Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima). Another high school girl who can't seem to find stable ground within a family structure, caused by an unstable past relationship with her abusive and perverse father. She's tough, independent, and yet, struggles with a self-identity relating to love and her sexuality. She can't seem to fathom being with any guy. But she becomes the focal point of Yu's "Maria".

You can say Love Exposure can break in two parts, due to the different pacing and feel of each part. The first part being frantic and "stylish" -- stylish in the sense in the film-making -- while the second half conjures a more dramatic feel, but still manages to keep most of the elements found in the first half. It is in the second part of the film where we see the tension and rocky relationship build-up between Yu and Yoko.

Having said all that, we still haven't mentioned one of the film's major themes -- religion and morals. I agree with one reviewer who mentioned, leave your morals and what you know about Christianity or religion in general behind. Sono tackles Catholicism and brings it into a controversial limelight. A priest with an affair. A dark look at sinning and confession.

Within its religious themes, comes the Zero Church. A religious cult known for abducting family members and brainwashing them. They'll do whatever it takes to recruit new members. Koike (Sakura Ando), one of the cult leaders manages to infiltrate and break apart Yu's family. Once his family, including Yoko, is recruited into the Zero Church, Yu must find a way to free them from their clutches.

With a four hour film, its difficult to write about everything, while keeping it short. But one other thing I should mention is the great musical score that accompanies the film. I would even say the score helps elevate this film -- and I will say this -- into a near masterpiece.

9 out of 10

Viewing Log -- Part 2

New viewing log. View previous viewing log here.

**note: (r.) indicates repeat viewing

2010 movie log

September 17th, 2010
@ Ryerson Theatre -- TIFF2010
Confessions -- Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010 -- 9.5/10

September 14th, 2010
@ Winter Garden Theatre -- TIFF2010
I Saw The Devil -- Kim Ji-woon, 2010 -- 8.5/10

September 12th, 2010
@ AMC Dundas -- TIFF2010
Cold Fish -- Sion Sono, 2010 -- 7/10

September 11th, 2010
Ip Man 2 -- Wilson Yip, 2010 -- 7.5/10

August 25th, 2010
The Prince of Egypt -- Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner & Simon Wells, 1998 -- 6.5/10

August 15th, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
The Expendables -- Sylvester Stallone, 2010 -- 7.5/10

July 25th, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Inception -- Christopher Nolan, 2010 -- 8/10

July 18th, 2010
Hanging Garden -- Toshiaki Toyoda, 2005 -- 7.5

July 17th, 2010
Au Revoir Taipei -- Arvin Chen, 2010 -- 7.5/10

July 3rd, 2010
Assault Girls -- Mamoru Oshii, 2009 -- 4.5/10

July 1st, 2010
@
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse -- David Slade, 2010 -- 4/10

June 27th, 2010
Summer Wars -- Mamoru Hosoda, 2009 -- 8.5/10

June 19th, 2010
Toy Story 3 -- Lee Unkrich, 2010 -- 9/10

June 12th, 2010
@ AMC Winston Churchill 24
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo -- Niels Arden Oplev, 2009 -- 6.5/10

June 4th, 2010
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- Mike Newell, 2010 -- fell asleep/10

May 24th, 2010
Oishii Man -- Kim Jeong Jung, 2008 -- 8.5/10

May 15th, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Iron Man 2 -- Jon Favreau, 2010 -- 6.5/10

May 12th, 2010
True Legend -- Woo-ping Yuen, 2010 -- 6/10

May 11th, 2010
Sepet -- Yasmin Ahmad, 2004 -- 6.5/10

May 1st, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Date Night -- Shawn Levy, 2010 -- 7/10

April 22nd, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga, IMAX 3D
How To Train Your Dragon -- Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders, 2010 -- 8/10

April 11th, 2010
Ong Bak 2 -- Tony Jaa & Panna Rittikrai, 2008 -- 5.5/10

April 10th, 2010
Hearty Paws -- Eun-hyung Park, 2006 -- 6/10

April 6th, 2010
The Cove -- Louie Psihoyos, 2009 -- 9/10

March 19th, 2010
Instant Swamp -- Satoshi Miki, 2009 -- 6.5/10

March 11th, 2010
(r.) Breathless -- Yang Ik-Joon, 2009 -- 10/10

March 6th, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Alice In Wonderland -- Tim Burton, 2010 -- 8.5/10

March 4th, 2010
Little Note -- Royston Tan, 2009 -- 6/10

March 2nd, 2010
Classmates -- Yoshihiro Fukagawa, 2008 -- 7/10

February 20th, 2010
The Hangover -- Todd Phillips, 2009 -- 7/10

January 31st, 2010
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Avatar 3D -- James Cameron, 2009 -- 7/10

January 24th, 2010
My Dear Enemy -- Yoon-ki Lee, 2008 -- 7.5/10

January 20th, 2010
Speed Scandal -- Hyeong-Cheol Kang, 2008 -- 8/10

January 16th, 2010
Tokyo Sonata -- Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008 -- 8.5/10

January 9th, 2010
Breathless -- Yang Ik-Joon, 2009 -- 10/10

January 7th, 2010
Castaway on the Moon -- Hae-jun Lee, 2009 -- 8/10

January 5th, 2010
Oto-na-ri -- Naoto Kumazawa, 2009 -- 9/10

January 4th, 2010
(r.) Heavenly Forest (Tada, kimi wo aishiteru) -- Takehiko Shinjo, 2006 -- 10/10

January 3rd, 2010
Fatal Contact -- Dennis Law, 2006 -- 6/10

January 2nd, 2010
Vengeance -- Johnnie To, 2009 -- 6/10

---------------

2009 movie log (continued)

December 29th, 2009
Goemon -- Kazuaki Kiriya, 2009 -- 7.5/10

December 28th, 2009
Raging Phoenix -- Rashane Limtrakul, 2009 -- 5/10

December 27th, 2009
Yatterman -- Takashi Miike, 2009 -- 6.5/10

December 17th, 2009
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Brothers -- Jim Sheridan, 2009 -- 6.5/10

December 6th, 2009
@ Coliseum Mississauga *
*Fantastic Mr. Fox -- Wes Anderson, 2009 -- 7/10
*Ninja Assassin -- James McTeigue, 2009 -- 4.5/10

October 15th, 2009
Blood: The Last Vampire -- Chris Nahon, 2009 -- 4/10

October 14th, 2009
Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi) -- Sion Sono, 2008 -- 9/10

October 10th, 2009
@ AMC Winston Churchill 24
The Proposal -- Anne Fletcher, 2009 -- 6.5/10

October 4th, 2009
@ Coliseum Mississauga
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 3D -- Phil Lord & Chris Miller, 2009 -- 7.5/10

October 3rd, 2009
The Shonen Merikensack -- Kankurô Kudô, 2008 -- 7.5/10

October 2nd, 2009
@ AMC Winston Churchill 24 *
*The Time Traveler's Wife -- Robert Schwentke, 2009 -- 6/10
Mother (Madeo) -- Bong Joon-Ho, 2009 -- 7/10

September 13th, 2009
@ the Toronto International Film Festival (Scotiabank Theatre)
Air Doll (Kûki ningyô) -- Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2009 -- 8.5/10

Air Doll

Air Doll -- Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2009

What does it mean to develop a soul and heart? Being free from emptiness. Knowing the feeling of emptiness and isolation. Developing a heart and having it broken.

Toronto "officially" received the "World Premiere" for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll at TIFF '09. That was according to the director himself -- who proclaimed during the Q&A session -- that after the Cannes festival screening, some two hundred or so shots were edited. Based on a manga, Air Doll is Kore-eda's latest film from an already impressive resume of quality film-making.

In most of his previous films, Kore-eda's direction looks into the everyday lives and struggles of individuals or families. In Nobody Knows and Still Walking, we glimpse into family structures that are breaking or have broken. Films like Maborosi and Hana focus on individual struggles. Note: I've only seen those four Kore-eda films previous to Air Doll.

Air Doll revolves around the idea of individual struggles, but with fantasy elements -- in partiular, about a doll coming to life. Nozomi is a blow up doll. Made of plastic, and filled with air. She lives with Hideo (Itsuji Itao), a middle-aged man living with no one but his doll. One morning, Nozomi develops a soul while Hideo routinely scampers to work. Bae Du-Na (The Host, Linda Linda Linda) plays Nozomi, inhibiting the plastic doll character with a life-size transformation and embodying the physical features of a human being. Real flesh, real hair, real eyes...... a real soul.

Like a new born, she becomes a new entity into the world, without fully understanding the world around her. Discovering the world through people, she slowly learns more about the world. Embracing the world. The vision of an innocent, like a new born.

Nozomi wanders through the streets of the small town she lives in. Garbage piles, run-downed houses, an empty playground, and a small green grass patch where an old man visits daily. The old man, perched on a bench -- with a respiratory tube connected to him -- is one of a few characters Nozomi encounters, and one of a few characters who portray emptiness.

A local video rental store stands on a street corner -- bright lights illuminate the store sign. A young store clerk, Junichi (played by ARATA), becomes Nozomi's love interest. And is hired to work in the same video rental store, even without an understanding of films. From this point, Nozomi's soul learns to love. They embrace each other's company. He sees her for her innocence, or maybe as a replacement for a lost love. She learns the meaning of celebrating a birthday -- the celebration of life.

Air Doll delves into the state of emptiness and isolation amoung its characters. When Nozomi meets the old man, she asks why people around here feel empty. The old man, taking a deep breathe, responds that people who live in this kind of town feel empty. Whether you are an old man with no one looking after you. A young video store clerk losing a loved one. A middle-aged woman with an identity crisis. A middle-age man living alone. A depressed teenager addicted to junk food to temporarily relieve anxieties. An air doll that is literally empty -- filled with air.

Nozomi may represent a side of emptiness, but on the other side, she helps fill the void of isolation for those around her. Although filling that void may be temporal. She fulfills that sexual desire for Hideo as a sex object. Fulfills a lost love for Junichi. Becomes a caretaker for a lonely old man. In return, she gains an understanding of obtaining a heart and soul. Nozomi's relationship with Junichi breathes life into her physically and metaphorically. Physically, when Juichi inflates Nozomi. In one scene, the act of inflating between Junichi and Nozomi is seen as lovemaking. And metaphorically, she embraces a found heart. A found heart -- according to Nozomi -- can lead to a broken heart.

From Kore-eda's message of emptiness to his technical direction, Kore-eda moves in a new direction from his previous films. The cinematography -- with cinematographer Mark Lee, who worked on Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love -- comes off as Kore-eda's most visually striking piece. The use of a musical score -- composed by Katsuhiko Maeda (World's End Girlfriend) -- plays well to its appropriate scenes. The playful score we hear when Nozomi discovers the world around her coincides with the innocence and playfulness of her character. Being a love story, as Kore-eda put, the addition of music added to the mood. We also view a darker side from Kore-eda, as the film changes from one mood to a mood-altering turn.

Air Doll places another successful chapter into Kore-eda's filmography. Will he continue with this direction, or back to a more subtle approach? It would not hurt to see more of this approach like Air Doll, but either way, we always anticipate whatever new projects he accomplishes.

8.5 out of 10

Air Doll: 2009 TIFF -- Kôji-saaaan!!

For the second year, I attended a screening at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Last year's TIFF screening of The Good, The Bad, and The Weird became the best theatrical experience. I cannot imagine any screening coming close in topping last year. Last night's screening -- of Hirokazu Kore-eda's lastest, Air Doll, at the Scotia Bank Theatre -- may not have matched the same level TGTBATW generated. But the quality of Air Doll and the presence of Kore-eda -- amongst a few notable surprise guests (will mention later) on stage and in the audience -- made this screening almost as good.

-- Ticket for Air Doll --

We squeezed through and cued into the opening of the Air Doll line (around 7:30pm), amid a relatively small group of film goers for the screening. The time leading to 9pm produced a rush of film-goers sprinting and weaving through large crowds cued for various screenings.

We finally walked inside theatre 2, and side-stepped through a row with reserved signs plastered on the back seating of the first six cushioned seats. We grabbed a couple of seats seated beside the "reserved" seating. A few seats near the front had the same reserved signs stuck on them.

As the theatre lights dimmed, while gazing at the bottom stairwell, a familiar face in Japanese cinema appeared. The sad thing...... we couldn't remember his name. But his slightly frizzled and slightly unkempt hair -- his distinctive trademark, it seems -- made him recognizeable under the dimmed lighting.

There was a reason we chose these seats. These seats beside the reserved seating. Kôji Yakusho (Tokyo Sonata, Kairo, and a few other films I realized I've seen him in), the Japanese born actor -- a regular in most Kiyoshi Kurosawa pictures -- climbed eight stairs, strayed left into our row, and quietly picked a reserved seat beside ours. Beside Mr. Yakusho, sat another familiar face, a face we still can't place a name to and what films he appeared in. Mr. Yakusho was in Toronto to promote his directorial debut, Toad's Oil. The film also screens at TIFF.

-- Jô Odagiri and Hirokazu Kore-eda speaking to the audience (shitty pic I took and the only 'good' one T_T) --

On stage, on a black platform, stood a fairly short Kore-eda. A microphone in his hand, and a translator on his right, he addressed the audience in Japanese. Moments after, Kore-eda made a surprise introduction to one of the most successful and talented actors working in Japan today...... Jô Odagiri. Dressed in all black, with a black top hat, and what seemed like black knee-high boots.

A question and answer period commenced after the film's end. Before that, during the rolling credits, we walked down to the stairwell for the exit. Yakusho made a quick exit before we stood from our seats. We strolled pass Kore-eda lined against the wall, waiting for his second appearance (as he mentioned before the film started "I will be back"). We paused halfway towards the exit, contemplating on shaking his hand. No pictures or autographs. A thank you and a handshake would be fine.

Kore-eda approached the stage once the rolling credits rolled. We inched forward and lined ourselves against the wall. The theatre doors swung open, and Kôji Yakusho and his still unnamed friend took to a wall right beside us again. We listened intently to Kore-eda's answers to audience questions on isolation (the film's central theme), role of women in Japanese society, the film's score, and others.

With the last question answered, the space around us crowded with film-goers and fans surrounding Yakusho. While in front, Kore-eda too was surrounded by photographers and audience members. A few autographs scribbled on ticket stubs, a couple pictures taken, and Yakusho calmly strolled for the exit. We exited theatre 2 thereafter, down the escalator, and outside through a small crowd of screaming Japanese girls wanting an autograph, a picture, and a glance at their own celebrity...... Kôji Yakusho.

*A review of Air Doll will be posted soon.