Grimmyhk

I used to attend the SFIFF yearly, but now that I'm stuck in the SARS-filled HKSAR, I'm attending this year's HKIFF instead. Surprisingly, quite a few films overlap this year. As such, if you're going to either, please put down what you are seeing, and any updates on the films as you see them.

My list:

04/08/03 The Twilight Samurai - Yoji Yamada Japan
04/09/03 Dolls - Takeshi Kitano Japan
04/10/03 City of God - Fernando Meirelles Brazil
04/11/03 Friday Night - Claire Denis France
04/11/03 The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Belgium
04/12/03 Seaside - Julie Lopes-Curval France
04/12/03 Hukkle - Gyorgy Plfi Hungary
04/12/03 Public Toilet - Fruit Chan Hong Kong
04/13/03 My Mother's Smile - Marco Bellocchio Italy
04/13/03 Divine Intervention - Elia Suleiman Palestine
04/14/03 Ten - Abbas Kiarostami Iran
04/14/03 Russian Ark - Aleksandr Sokurov Russia
04/15/03 Blind Shaft - Li Yang China
04/16/03 Unknown Pleasures - Jia Zhang Ke China
04/18/03 Japon - Carlos Reygadas Mexico
04/18/03 The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan United Kingdom
04/19/03 Mysterious Object at Noon - Apichatpong Weerasethakul Thailand
04/19/03 Lilja 4-Eva - Lukas Moodysson Sweden
04/19/03 In My Skin - Marina de Van France
04/20/03 Waiting for Happiness - Abderrahmane Sissako Mauritania
04/21/03 The Best of Times - Chang Tso-chi Taiwan
04/21/03 The Uncertainty Principle - Manoel de Oliveira Portugal
04/22/03 Respiro - Emanuele Crialese Italy
04/22/03 Sweet Sixteen - Ken Loach United Kingdom
04/22/03 Auto Focus - Paul Schrader USA
04/23/03 Spider - David Cronenberg Canada
04/23/03 Dirty Pretty Things - Stephen Frears United Kingdom

MrN

A lot of good films this year at SFIFF, and I'll be attending many more screenings than I did last year (in part due to the poor selection at the San Jose festival this year.)

My confirmed schedule so far:

4/19
7:00 Ten
9:15 Fear and Trembling

4/20
12:15 Clement
3:00 Decay of Fiction
6:15 Blissfully Yours
9:30 Woman of Water

4/23
1:00 Eat, Sleep, No Women
4:00 His Brother
6:45 Bus 174

4/26
3:45 Hukkle
6:00 Piedras
10:00 Best of Times

4/28 (in Palo Alto)
9:45 La Turbulence des Fluides

I'm passing on Man without a past, Man on a Train, Respirio, In my Skin and Together because they appear to be getting a release around here.

A couple I wish I could see but they were sold out, or my schedule doesn't permit: Friday Night, Sex is Comedy.

I'll post mini-reviews as the festival progresses.

Grimmyhk

Update:

The Twilight Samurai (Yoji Yamada) ****
Dolls (Takeshi Kitano) *

Dolls is absolutely horrid. I can't believe how far Kitano has fallen. I've seen better scripting and characterizations in soap operas! He should learn something from Yamada, who has created a mnior masterpiece with The Twilight Samurai. It's everything Dolls isn't - perfectly paced, wonderfully acted, nuanced and genuine in its warmth. Oh, and it's nowhere near as self-conscious and indulgent.

A more extensive review on my website

joeydaninja

I was going to go to the Hong Kong Film Festival, but the SARS virus kept me at home.

Sigh. I was hoping they would postpone it.

Anyway, enjoy Grimmy, and what's with the new nick?

Grimmyhk

I changed my Grimfarrow profile with a new email address, but something went wrong and now I'm unable to use my old nick! So now I'm Grimmyhk

SARS is possibly the most overhyped virus ever. I have a much higher chance of getting killed by a car or dying from a plane crash than a disease which affects less than 1% of people and kills less than 4% of those affected. And people are running around as if the world is ending. Idiots.

joeydaninja

i know it's overhyped. but my family will ostracize me for seven days, if i go. besides, they were footing the bill

sundog

Some comments on the films listed:

City of God
Enjoyed it, but not as much as some here. I just thought of it as a well done gangster film.

The Son
Outstanding.

Hukkle
Cute movie, but the concept of no dialogue, using only distinctive sounds wears thin.

Divine Intervention
Opens in Chicago in two or three weeks. I'm looking forward to it.

Ten
Opens tomorrow! One of my most highly anticipated releases this year.

Russian Ark
One of my favorites from last year. Saw it four times, each time revealing new intricacies.

Unknown Pleasures
I liked this, and you may too Grim. But I don't know, it just didn't linger in my head for too long.

Mysterious Object at Noon
Another of my favorites from last year. It's just a joy to be taken along on the ride. I met the director at the screening I went to. He was pretty cool, very low-key.

Lilja 4-Ever
Very good, sad, and joyful. With an excellent performance by the lead actress.

Auto Focus
Kinnear and Defoe do what they can to overcome Schrader's blah direction.

Spider
So far, my favorite new release this year.

And I'm very jealous that you're going to see Blissfully Yours MrN. I don't know when it's going to make it to Chicago. Since Apichatpong Weerasethakul has ties to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I have high hopes it'll play at the school's Film Center well before it assuredly shows up at the Chicago International Film Festival in the fall.

Giles

Sweet Sixteen - saw this last year, and was struck by simplicity of the story, the acting of the lead character and utter sadness the story on the whole is conveyed through Ken Loach's impecible directing.

Magadelene Sisters - the notority of this true account of ths little known facet of Ireland's 20th century history really compelled and fascinated me. Great performances from the woman actors. The scandousely protrayel of the Catholic Church, at that time, is powerful as well as vicious.

Grimmyhk

Update:

City of God ***1/2. Entertaining and well-done, but not exactly that far-removed from all the other favela films.

I'm starting to regret not being able to see "Bokuchi", "A Snake of June", and "Blissfully Yours" at the HKIFF. Read some excellent reviews of all films. But my schedule is overloaded - arrrgggghhh!

Good thing Chen Kaige's "Together" is pushed back till May 1st. Whew!

Now tomorrow...my two most anticipated films of the Festival - "Vendredi Soir" et "Le Fils". Yay!

Grimmyhk

Complete catch-up so far of the HKIFF:

Public Toilet - ****
The Twilight Samurai - ****
Friday Night - ****
The Son - ****
Divine Intervention - ****
My Mother's Smile - ***1/2
City of God - ***1/2
Hukkle - **1/2
Seaside - **
Dolls - *

After 10 films, I have to say that I am enjoying this film festival very much. No less than 5 films were excellent so far (though no actual "masterpieces" yet). Two clunkers, but that has not dampened my overall enthusiasm. I was even tempted to squeeze in another film today, until I realize I need to do my laundry

MrN

The SFIFF is officially underway with the screening of the opening film, Alan Rudolph's Secret lives of Dentists.

I already had a dream that I went to my first showing and forgot my tickets - I guess I'm a little anxious....

Grimmyhk

Update since then:

In My Skin - ***
Lilja 4-Ever - ***1/2
Mysterious Object at Noon - ***
The Magdalene Sisters - ***1/2
Japon - ***
Unknown Pleasures - ***
Bliond Shaft - ***
Russian Ark - ***1/2
Divine Intervention - ****
Ten - ****1/2
My Mother's Smile - ***1/2

Enjoy the film fest !

Giles

I could kick myself for not seeing "Le Fils" (The Son) when it was shown at the European Union Film Festival last Fall here in DC.

MrN

Apr. 19:

10 - Visually simplistic, but Kiarostami makes up for it by making the characters more human - the dialogue is actually funny at times! Yet the film tackles the issues of today in Iran. I think its a step in the right direction, after the almost mythic somberness of 'A Taste of Cherry' et al. 9/10

Fear and Trembling - The clash of cultures as shown here just seems like another version of 'Office Space.' Its a bad sign when a film goes out of its way to explain its metaphor by directly referencing a metaphor from another film. 5/10.

MrN

Apr. 20

Clement - A 30 year old woman falls in love with a 13 year old boy. Unfortunately, I didn't really feel any sympathy for either party - just embarassment. Not bad for a first feature but the film-school influence still shows - some useless scenes for exposition, too much hand-held. 6/10

Decay of Fiction - The Ambassador Hotel is haunted by ghosts and demons of LA past. Pat O'Neill's most accessible work, but since there is no real narrative for the most part, don't expect to see it in any regular theatre. I liked the effects but it seemed very repetitious. 7/10

Blissfully Yours - Reminiscent of Tarkovsky, Hou, 'Rashomon' and maybe 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' - but even film festivals audiences seemed to be unprepared for the slowing down of the plot - possibly because the film starts off with a narrative but this is seemingly abandoned. 7/10

Woman of Water - While well directed and visually interesting, the story just didn't do anything for me. It seems like the mysticism associated with the characters didn't lead anywhere and might have possibly been only included to make things more 'artsy.' 6/10

Grimmyhk

My updates:

Waiting for Happiness - ***
The Best of Times - ***
The Uncertainty Principle - *1/2

5 more films to go!

joeydaninja

how'z the SARS epidemic over there Grimmy, still all hype?

Grimmyhk

It's actually getting better - people were out in droves this Easter holiday - the streets were PACKED. I think people finally got sick of staying at home and took advantage of the excellent weather and holiday to go out again.

Despite the deaths, the actual number of people infected everyday is getting less, and the amount of people recovered everyday is more.

I'm just glad the Film Festival is nearly over with - I'm rather burnt-out

Grimmyhk

YAY! The film festival is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last five films:

Respiro - ***1/2
Sweet Sixteen - ***1/2
Auto Focus - ***1/2
Spider - ***1/2
Diry Pretty Things - ***1/2

Alas, nothing outstanding near the end. But overall I definitely enjoyed the festival alot (though I did get a bit burnt out near the end).

Next: Rabbit-Proof Fence, Together, and a load of OZu retrospectives and French classic retrospectives. Oi - the films just never stop!

MrN

Apr. 23

Eat, Sleep, No Women - This documentary traces the lives of select people across the globe on Oct. 10, 2001 - the day the war against the Taliban started. Unfortunately its easy to see that most of the film is staged, and the director freely admitted to it in the Q&A - he's telling the story he wants to tell using real people. Didn't quite work for me - some of the ideas are really underdeveloped, especially his theory that its all the women's fault. 6/10

His Brother - Patrice Cheareau described it as a quickie project (and it shows.) The plot is basically a movie of the week, but well acted and directed. Two brother reunite when one takes very ill. Very emotional and at times explicit to a fault in showing the various stages of sickness. The 'sickness becomes a cure' for the brothers' relationship. 8/10

Bus 174 - 'City of God' without the flashy gimmicks. 'Dog Day Afternoon', but better developed characters. And its all real, making it that much more powerful and suspenseful. They might have over-reached with the dramatics at the end and I found the scoring annoying at points, but it packs an emotional punch. Works on both a documentary and a film level. 8/10

Grimmyhk

Whew! After 30 films in 16 days, I can positively say that I am rather burnt out. But luckily, this year's HKIFF bought some excellent films, and overall I was very happy with what I saw.

So here is an arbitrarily assigned list of what I thought of the films seen at the festival. They exclude the 3 Ozu films I saw though.

1. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami) 9/10
2. Friday Night (Claire Denis) 8/10
3. Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman) 8/10
4. Public Toilet (Fruit Chan) 8/10
5. The Twilight Samurai (Yoji Yamada) 8/10
6. The Son (Dardennes Brothers) 8/10
7. Russian Ark (Aleksadr Sokurov) 7/10
8. Spider (David Cronenberg) 7/10
9. My Mother's Smile (Marco Bellocio) 7/10
10. Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach) 7/10
11. The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan) 7/10
12. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears) 7/10
13. Lilja 4-Ever (Lukas Moodysson) 7/10
14. City of God (Fernando Meirelles) 7/10
15. Auto Focus (Paul Schrader) 7/10
16. Respiro (Emanuele Crialese) 7/10
17. Japon (Carlos Reygadas) 6/10
18. In My Skin (Marina de Van) 6/10
19. Blind Shaft (Li Yang) 6/10
20. Waiting for Happiness (Abderrahmane Sissako) 6/10
21. The Best of Times (Chang Tso-Chi) 6/10
22. Mysterious Object at Noon (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 6/10
23. Unknown Pleasures (Jia ZhangKe) 6/10
24. Hukkle (Gy¨_rgy P¨˘lfi) 5/10
25. Seaside (Julie Lopes-Curval) 4/10
26. The Uncertainty Principle (Manoel de Oliveira) 3/10
27. Dolls (Takeshi Kitano) 2/10

Interesting films I missed:

Hako (The Box)
Blissfully Yours
Chicken Poets
A Snake of June
The Longing

As for the Ozus, so far:

1. Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family ***1/2
2. Record of a Tenement Gentleman ***1/2
3. A Hen in the Wind *1/2

Coming up in my Ozu retrospective:

Equinox Flower
A Straightforward Boy (short)
That Night's Wife
The Only Son
Late Spring
Early Summer
Late Autumn
Tokyo Twilight
Floating Weeds

Le French May film festival:

The Earring of Madame D...
Belle du Jour
The Queen Margot

MrN

Well, I think I'm finally getting burned out on the Festival (12 films on 4 days will do that I guess), so I might be a little more harsh on these reviews...

Apr. 26

Hukkle - Interesting experiment - a near wordless observation of nature and life in a small village. The mystery is either underdeveloped or out of place though. In the end there seems to be no cohesive point. 6/10

Piedras - Take a bit bite of Almodavar and sprinkle some Bunuel on top. Its a story of 6 women in Madrid and their intertwined romantic foibles. I didn't think there was anything daring or new here, yet the film is well made. The curious thing was that even with all the leads being female, there is no one strong female relationship in the whole picture. 6/10

Best of Times - Starts like a film by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, becomes more like 'Beijing Bicycle' - but is ultimately redeemed by an ending that is worthy of discussion. Tragic yet containing some very funny warm characters - of course that probably makes them even more tragic. 7/10

Krug

Saw A Snake of June and it's quite good though it resuses several of Shinya's elements from previous movies. Worth checking out.

MrN

Apr. 27

Hard Goodbyes: My Father - this Greek film is deceptively simple. A young boy loses his father and cannot seem to accept it. Very powerful without being overly emotional. 7/10

Our Times - A documentary set in the 2001 Iranian presidential elections, but becomes more about a candidate, a single mother facing the challenge of survival in a harsh reality. 7/10

So Close - Ok, this was a last minute addition to my schedule and I knew it was going to be a campy HK Charlie's Angels, but damn, that plot twist makes it well worth sitting through the same plot. A must-see for Shu Qi fans. 5/10

MrN

And then there were none.

Apr. 28

La Turbulence des Fluides - Pretty interesting plot. A seismologist returns to her hometown to investigate the mysterious cessation of tides. Lots of interesting themes and visuals motifs but I think it fails when it tries to tie it all up in the end. 6/10

So, 16 films in all. My favorite was definately Ten, but it was also my most anticipated one in this festival. Honorable mentions go to Blissfully Yours, His Brother and the documentary Bus 174.

A side benefit of the festival - met a couple of film fans who I can hopefully keep in touch with and will be staying in country.
I'll try not to talk their ears off.

Up next for me - a test screening (my first) of House of Sand and Fog, Man without a Past and X2.