We Feed People (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): They feed Humanity

Posted on April 29, 2023 by kaist455

Today, I happened to watch two different documentary films which are currently available on Disney+ at present, and I must tell you that it was an interesting double feature show for me because both of the main subjects of these two different documentaries are celebrity chefs who have been quite popular in US in each own way. Both of these two documentaries were informative to me in one way or another because I did not know that much about either of their respective main subjects, but David Gelb’s “Wolfgang” is a bit dissatisfying because of its rather superficial presentation of the life and career of Wolfgang Puck, while Ron Howard’s “We Feed People” is relatively more engaging as vividly presenting only José Andrés’ ongoing humanitarian activity but also his indelible personality.

In 2010, Andrés was just one of many well-known celebrity chefs in US, but there came an unexpected experience which changed his life and career forever. After Haiti was hit by a massive earthquake, he volunteered to go there just for providing food to many local people affected by this immense catastrophe, and then he was quite surprised to see them not usually being able to get decent food there. He immediately decided to find any possible way to help them eat as well as possible, and that was the beginning of his non-governmental organization World Central Kitchen.

When Puerto Rico was hit by a big hurricane in 2017, Andrés did not hesitate at all, but, like he did in Haiti, he and his colleagues had to deal with many different problems right from the very beginning. He was determined to deliver and provide food to at least 500,000 people everyday, but then he and his colleagues had to secure lots of things first, including a considerable amount of food ingredients for their big cooking process.

Not so surprisingly, this daunting circumstance put lots of stress and strain on Andrés, who had to spend a lot of money without getting any financial help for a while. At one point, he was so stressed and exhausted that he had no choice but to go back to his family home in LA for some rest, but he soon returned because he could possibly let down others around him as well as those unfortunate people in Puerto Rico.

In the end, Andrés and the members of World Central Kitchen came to help numerous people in Puerto Rico, and their hard but valuable field experiences from Puerto Rico helped them a lot as they continue to work around the world during next several years. When there was a sudden big volcano eruption in Guatemala in 2018, they were fully prepared at that time, and they did much more than simply providing food to those local people to be helped by them. Because of a little lesson he came to learn in Haiti during that time, Andrés has always cared about the qualities of the food prepared by him and his colleagues, and that was appreciated a lot by many local people, who were certainly glad to receive some decent meal from them.

In case of a big hurricane disaster in the Bahamas in 2019, the situation was a bit more challenging for Andrés and his colleagues. First, they needed to secure a kitchen safe and clean enough for their cooking, but it turned out to be quite difficult to find any suitable spot for them as many buildings were considerably ruined by the hurricane. At one point, they attempted to clean an abandoned hotel restaurant kitchen which looked like the only option for them, but their efforts eventually turned out to be futile, and this certainly frustrated them a lot, though they subsequently found a fairly good alternative to everyone’s relief.

During the COVID-19 pandemic during next several years, Andrés and his colleagues became much busier than before as millions of people in US struggled to get any decent food in the middle of the lockdown period. While constantly cautious about any possibility of infection, they went here and there for helping many desperate people out there, and Andrés also actively worked with several notable American politicians including Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden for more change and improvement.

Meanwhile, we also get to know about Andrés’ personal life. While he has been much more successful than he expected when he came from home country to US many years ago, he is your average down-to-earth family guy with lots of heart and spirit, and you can easily sense his sincere care and compassion, which have been one of the main forces behind his nongovernmental organization. As the global community is struck by much more climate disasters than before due to the ongoing climate change around the world, World Central Kitchen naturally becomes more important than ever, and Andrés and his colleagues are continuing to pursue their humanitarian cause even at this point.

On the whole, “We Feed People” is worthwhile to watch for several genuine moments of human decency and empathy, and Howard, who recently made a series of solid documentaries including “Pavarotti” (2019) whenever he was not making disposable feature films such as “Inferno” (2016), did a commendable job of presenting Andrés’ and his colleagues with enough care and respect. Although it does not show Andrés’ cooking skill as much as you might expect, you will come to admire him a lot as getting to know him a bit, and, as observing how he and his colleagues have passionately worked for years, you will also come to reflect more on the value of having a decent meal. Sure, the world will probably be far less convenient for many of us during the rest of the 21st century, but having a decent meal will still be an important human right for all of us no matter what will happen to us, right?

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Wolfgang (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): He’s still cooking…

Posted on April 29, 2023 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I do not know much about how famous Wolfgang Puck has been during last four decades, so documentary film “Wolfgang”, which is currently available on Disney+, fills my blind spot to some degree. Here is a man who has been willingly devoted himself to his craft for many years while also having a string of impressive successes beyond his expectation, and the documentary would be more interesting if it simply lets us get to know more about who he is instead of focusing too much on the rather superficial details of his professional career.

After the quick summary on how successful Puck has been since he opened his first restaurant in the late 1980s, the documentary lets Puck talk about his humble beginning in Austria. He was born to an unmarried mother who subsequently married a coal miner, and it is clear to us that he still feels hurtful about his very unhappy childhood years. His stepfather was frequently abusive to his wife and her children, and Puck was already quite determined to leave his unhappy home and then prove himself someday even when he was only 14.

Having been interested in cooking since he was very young, Puck knew he wanted to be a chef, but the first years of his professional career were not so easy to say the least. At first, he was employed as a junior employee at a hotel restaurant, but he got fired just because he did not prepare enough potatoes, and that certainly humiliated him a lot. As a matter of fact, he even considered jumping into a river at one point, but he decided not to give up at any chance in the future, and this desperate determination of his eventually led him to more opportunities during next several years.

After learning a lot from a number of fine restaurants in France, Puck came to try his luck in US, but the circumstance was rather grim for him in many aspects. During that time, the American cuisine culture was far less sophisticated compared to the French one, and Puck certainly experienced lots of culture shock as trying to find any decent restaurant for him. He managed to get employed in some seemingly fancy French restaurant in LA, but he was horrified to see how this restaurant was lousy in many aspects. For example, nobody cared about getting fresh ingredients, and that surely added more bad reputation to this restaurant.

However, things got changed in the end when Puck later became the new chef after the previous one got fired due to one scathing review article on the restaurant. First, he focused on getting fresh ingredients for his cooking, and, fortunately for him, there was a nearby farm which could steadily provide him many different vegetables. In addition, he paid a lot of attention to the qualities of meat, and this also contributed a lot to the following improvement of the restaurant.

Around the time when the restaurant became much more popular and successful than before, Puck came across Barbara Lazaroff, who would marry him as constantly supporting and promoting his career. Motivated by Lazaroff’s sincere support, Puck eventually decided to walk away from the restaurant after seeing that he was not appreciated enough despite his considerable contribution to its amazing success, and he and his wife subsequently opened a restaurant of their own in West Hollywood. Although everything seemed to be messy and chaotic even on its opening day, their restaurant turned out to be quite successful right from the start, and this big breakthrough led him to much more fame and success. Via one prominent Hollywood agent who frequented his restaurant a lot, Puck began to appear on TV, and, thanks to his natural charm and charisma, he quickly became the most famous chef in US since Julia Child.

Since that point, Puck has kept going on while devoting a lot of himself to his craft and career, and he is still happily working as usual, but, as he frankly admits in the documentary, he did not pay much attention to his family life in the meantime. In case of Lazaroff, she does not have much bitterness about her husband or their eventual divorce in 2003, but she confides to us how unhappy she often was for being frequently under-appreciated during that time. Although she was crucial in many of her ex-husband’s successes, Puck was always the one who got all the attentions in public, and that inevitably caused more conflict and estrangement between them.

As entering his later years at present, Puck becomes more reflective about his life and career, and we see how he tries to make peace with his past in Austria while looking forward to the future. There is a little touching scene where he visits a family tomb along with his younger sister, and he also shows some regret on his absence at the time of his dear grandmother’s death. In addition, he interacts more with young chefs willing to learn more from him, and one of such people is one of his four children, who may have his own distinguished professional career someday.

“Wolfgang” is directed by David Gelb, who previously made “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” (2011), which is about one dedicated sushi master in Tokyo. Although it is not as good and satisfying as “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, “Wolfgang” is still fairly enjoyable mainly due to Puck’s engaging presence as well as some delicious shots of cooking and dishes, and it is rather disappointing that the documentary did not go deeper into his life and personality. I did savor its tasty moments, but it could be richer and more insightful in my trivial opinion, so I will just let you decide whether you will watch it or not.

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Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A pedestrian version from David Lowery

Posted on April 29, 2023 by kaist455

David Lowery’s latest film “Peter Pan & Wendy”, which was released on Disney+ yesterday, is surprisingly pedestrian to my surprise and disappointment. Because Lowery has impressed us a lot with a series of distinctive works such as “A Ghost Story” (2017) and “The Green Knight” (2021), we certainly had some expectation on what he could with that classic children’s story written by J. M. Barrie, but he just seems to be no more than a hired hand here instead of freely wielding his own artistic talent and creativity, and that is a big letdown to say the least.

The most disappointing thing about the movie is that it does not bring anything particularly new or refreshing to its very familiar story, which, as many of you know, has been adapted into variously different films for many years. Sure, there is always that classic Disney animation film “Peter Pan” (1953), but there are also a number of interesting variations ranging from Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” (1991) to P.J. Hogan’s “Peter Pan” (2003), and you may also appreciate Benh Zeitlin’s “Wendy” (2020) despite its flawed aspects.

Compared to these three notable movie adaptations of Barrie’s original story, “Peter Pan & Wendy” does not have much distinguish itself on the whole. Sure, Wendy in the film, played by Ever Anderson (She is the daughter of Milla Jovovich and Paul W.S. Anderson, by the way), has more pluck as a girl who will be more excited about having adventures than assuming a motherly role for the Lost Boys of Neverland, but the screenplay by Lowery and his co-writer Toby Halbrooks does not delve that deep into Wendy’s conflict about adulthood, and it duly depicts her awkward relationship with Peter Pan without any new insight to enliven these two well-known characters.

The movie also lacks freshness in case of Peter Pan. Although newcomer Alexander Molony is as likable and spirited as required by his role, his character feels more like a symbol rather than a living character in my inconsequential opinion. As poignantly reflected by Hogan’s 2003 movie, remaining young and innocent forever feels like a sad curse rather than a blessing to cherish, but Lowery’s version does not reflect on that much when Peter eventually says his goodbye to Wendy around the end of the story (This is not a spoiler to any of you, right?).

Moreover, Neverland in the film does not look that wondrous while feeling deficient in magic and wonder. You may enjoy a brief moment showing a bunch of mermaids with tentacles who look like much more glamorous cousins of Ursula in Disney animation film “The Little Mermaid” (1989), but, sadly, they do not appear again in the film. I also like the nearly wordless acting of Yara Shahidi, who easily steals the show from Anderson and Molony during her several key moments in the film. In addition, it is certainly nice to see Tiger Lily being played by Native American actress Alyssa Wapanatâhk, but this striking supporting character remains a mere plot element to the end, and that is another disappointment, though casting Wapanatâhk is much better than that criticized casting in Joe Wright’s “Pan” (2015).

In case of the Lost Boys, I am rather depressed to report to you that they are usually no less than background details just like Wendy’s two younger brothers, and that makes me a bit nostalgic about “Hook”. Yes, that film is still a bit too flawed for me to recommend, but it does not lack anything in case of those good child performers in the film, who are relatively more colorful in terms of appearance and personality.

Not so surprisingly, the most fun in the film comes from Captain Hook, and Jude Law, who incidentally has more hair on his head than usual, plays his petty but memorable villain character with campy gusto while also bringing extra gravitas to the story as demanded by a little more complex relationship between his character and Peter. Steadily standing by Law, Jim Gaffigan, who has been mainly known for his comic performances but has also shown more serious sides of his talent during last several years, brings an ample amount of humor and personality to his equally well-known supporting role like late Bob Hoskins did in “Hook”, and his solid acting here in the film confirms to me again that he is now one of those ever-reliable character actors to welcome in any kind of film.

Anyway, “Peter Pan & Wendy” is not a lousy product at all, and I enjoy its technical aspects including the jubilant score by Lowery’s frequent collaborator Daniel Hart, but, if you have admired Lowery’s previous works as much as I have, you will also observe that he could do better than this. After all, he already collaborated with Disney in “Pete’s Dragon” (2016), and his own distinctive cinematic style was not inhibited at all in that enjoyable film, which is also friendly and gentle enough for young audiences and their parents.

To be frank with you, I even doubt whether young audiences will really enjoy “Peter Pan & Wendy”, considering that it has several moments which may be a little too grim and intense for them. Because the kids are usually tougher than expected, my small concern is probably unnecessary, and I guess it is likelier that they will be more disappointed with the lack of unadulterated fun and excitement in the film, so I will gladly recommend them to watch Hogan’s 2003 version or “Pete’s Dragon” instead.

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Boston Strangler (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A dry, middling true crime drama

Posted on April 29, 2023 by kaist455

“Boston Stranger”, which is currently available on Disney+, is a dry, middling true crime drama which does not distinguish itself much in its growing genre territory. While surely reminiscent of not only “Spotlight” (2015) but also “Zodiac” (2007), the movie somehow fails to generate enough interest for us despite its undeniably compelling (and chilling) real-life story, and you can only appreciate some good efforts on and behind the screen.

Keira Knightley plays Loretta McLaughlin, a young married woman who also worked as a reporter of Boston Record American in 1962. Although she and her husband already have three kids to raise at their suburban residence, that does not stop her at all, but she often gets frustrated because her chief editor Jack MacLaine (Chris Cooper) still does not allow her to do what she really wants to do as a reporter. She is eager to cover those criminal cases out there, but, not so surprisingly, she is usually instructed to handle the articles for housewives just because of the gender prejudice against her, and she certainly envies how Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), another female reporter at her workplace, is allowed to work outside with considerable success.

On one day, something happens to draw McLaughlin’s attention. She comes to notice that there are at least three murder cases which share a suspiciously similar pattern, so she decides to investigate these murder cases more, and, what do you know, she soon comes to realize the possibility of a serial killer prowling somewhere in the city. Although her chief editor is rather skeptical at first, he decides to publish her article about the serial killer anyway, and, what do you know, that turns out to be her first big break as drawing lots of attention from the public.

The situation becomes all the more serious as the Boston Police, who are incidentally not so pleased about McLaughlin’s reporting, start to be more active in the ongoing investigation, and McLaughlin is soon partnered with Cole, who turns out to be more helpful than expected as a seasoned professional who can easily access to off-the-record sources if that is necessary for their big task. While the serial killer, who is eventually named “the Boston Strangler”, continues to kill more women, both McLaughlin and Cole become more passionate about their job, and they even find themselves becoming considerable public figures because their newspaper subsequently promotes them as its two star reporters.

However, the more McLaughlin and Cole become involved with the case, the more they become frustrated and exasperated. The Boston Police turn out to be quite incompetent in their investigation to say the least, and McLaughlin later comes to learn that they even overlooked someone who can be the prime suspect just because they were not so eager to cooperate much with other police departments outside the city. Once McLaughlin delves more into this matter, the Boston Police eventually arrests that prime suspect in question, but there are still many things remaining unresolved or unanswered, and McLaughlin becomes more determined to get to the bottom of the case, though even Cole is not so willing to help or support her on that.

As McLaughlin continues to do more reporting by herself alone, director/writer Matt Ruskin’s screenplay gradually reveals how complicated the case actually was behind its supposedly clean-cut ending with the incarceration of that prime suspect. Although that prime suspect later turned out to be linked with the DNA evidence from the last victim, the movie suggests that the truth may be quite stranger than fiction, and we are chilled by how willing both the public and the Boston Police were to ignore many questions and problems just for getting the closure for the case as soon as possible.

This is certainly a fascinating true crime story, but the movie frequently gets itself compared with “Zodiac” and other true crime drama stuffs out there. Although Ruskin and his cinematographer Ben Kutchins did a good job of injecting a gloomy sense of anxiety and confusion into the screen, the result is no more than a pale imitation of what was so wonderfully achieved in “Zodiac”, and it also fails to reach to the sublime level of “Spotlight”, which is more restrained but much more powerful as it patiently and masterfully observes its main characters’ investigative reporting process.

Moreover, many of main characters in the film feel rather flat on the whole, and that often hinders the solid performances from some of them. While Knightley diligently carries the film as required, Carrie Coon, who has been one of the most dependable character actresses working in Hollywood since she drew the attention from me and others via her scene-stealing supporting turn in “Gone Girl” (2014), ably supports Knightley whenever that is necessary, and Alessandro Nivola manages to acquit himself well although he is stuck in a thankless supporting role like Bill Camp, Morgan Spector, David Dastmalchian, and Chris Cooper.

In conclusion, “Boston Stranger” is not a total waste of time at all, but it does not delve enough into its main subject, and I wonder whether its complex real-life story could be explored much more as it were a TV miniseries instead of a feature film. It surely tries to go further than “The Boston Stranger” (1967), and I admire that to some degree, but I doubt whether it will be remembered more than that little classic film which is actually a heavily fictional presentation of the case. Despite its questionable sensationalism, “The Boston Strangler” will linger on your mind longer than its colorless junior for good reasons, and maybe you should check it out first.

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The Harvest (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A Hmong family with issues

Posted on April 28, 2023 by kaist455

Caylee So’s “The Harvest” is another recent American independent film intended as a modest but realistic slice of Asian American immigrant life. Although it is a bit too generic in terms of story and character, the movie mostly works as a window to the lives of the people of specific cultural/ethnical background, and I just wish it could go deeper while dealing with that familiar generation conflict problem among Asian immigrant parents and their American kids. 

Doua Moua, who also wrote the screenplay besides serving as one of the producers of the film, plays Thai, a young Asian American man of Hmong descent. If you have ever watched Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” (2008), you probably remember a bit about who Hmong people are and how many of them came to emigrate from Indochina to US around the time of the Vietnam War, and Moua actually played one of the Hmong characters in that film.

After the prologue scene where Thai’s calm narration tells a bit about how he was born, the film succinctly establishes his current family issue. While he has been living in San Francisco during last several years, he returns to his family home mainly because his father Cher (Perry Yung) is seriously ill due to his worsening kidney failure, and it is clear that Cher does not regard his son that highly as your typical stern Asian father.

While his mother Youa (Ying Yuen) is often busy with supporting the family instead of her husband, Thai comes to spend more time with his father as accompanying his routine visit to a local clinic for kidney dialysis, but, like his other family members, he soon gets frustrated with how his father refuses to accept the changes in his daily life due to his current illness. Apparently feeling less proud than before just because he is not healthy enough to support his family, Cher does not interact much with his son or his wife while behaving as if everything was still all right for him and his family as before, and he also quite distant to his adolescent daughter Sue (Chrisna Chhor), who has incidentally been hiding her private relationship with some black guy.

Because Thai is still unmarried, he is naturally asked about whether he has a girlfriend now when he and his family have a dinner together at one point. As an unmarried dude of Asian descent, I surely know and understand well how awkward and uncomfortable he feels about the question; I get similar questions whenever I happen to be around my family and relatives during the traditional holiday seasons, and I always respond to their nagging questions with a considerable degree of courteous vagueness.

As Thai continues to stay in his family house, the movie gradually presents the lives of others around him. At one evening party where he and his several old friends celebrate the upcoming marriage of a female friend of his, he and that young woman talk a bit with each other, and we come to sense something between them as observing their gentle interaction. When Thai and his father subsequently attend the following wedding, we get a glimpse into the cultural background of Thai and other Hmong people in his neighborhood, and there is a little interesting moment where Cher meets a bunch of elders for some conversation. As listening to them, you can feel those old traditions and values are still living inside them, though their next generations do not care that much in comparison.

Not so surprisingly, Cher expects his son to move to their family home as a dutiful son, but Thai is reluctant to say the least for good reasons. He still cares about his father despite their long estrangement, but he has a plan for his own life in San Francisco, and that makes him all the more conflicted. Besides, his younger sister will probably leave for college education once she gets graduated from her high school, and that means his father will be left alone by himself whenever his mother works outside.

The situation becomes more complicated as more issues come out among Thai and his family members. Now quite worried about his daughter’s future, Cher suddenly attempts a matchmaking for her without asking to Sue or Youa at all from the beginning, and that certainly makes both Sue and Youa quite frustrated and exasperated. It also turns out that Youa has her own issues behind her frequently cheerful façade, and we can only imagine how much she has tried to accept and tolerate her husband for years.

During its last act, Moua’s screenplay becomes rather contrived and blatant as throwing a series of jarring melodramatic moments which spell out its main characters’ feelings and thought a little too much, and that is where the movie stumbles more than once, but the main cast members of the film continue to hold the film together. With Moua diligently holding the center as required, Perry Yung, Ying Yuen, and Chrisna Chhor are believable in their respective supporting roles, and Yung is particularly good as ably embodying his character’s complex human aspects.

“The Harvest” is the second feature film of director Cayless So, who previous made a feature film debut in “In the Life of Music” (2018) before making several short films. I have not seen “In the Life of Music” yet, but she demonstrates here that she is a good filmmaker who knows how to handle story and characters thoughtfully and sensitively, and you can clearly discern how sincere and passionate she and Moua are about their film. Anyway, I am glad that Moua approached to me for giving a chance to watch the film several weeks ago, and, though I am not satisfied enough for recommendation, but I wish good luck on both him and So.

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Hidden Blade (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Too convoluted to care

Posted on April 27, 2023 by kaist455

I often felt frustrated and exhausted as watching Chinese spy noir thriller film “Hidden Blade”, which was released in South Korea yesterday. Although I enjoyed its period mood and details to some degree, I did not get much fun or entertainment while my mind constantly and busily struggled to make sense of its heavily convoluted narrative filled with various kinds of deception and manipulation, and I eventually became rather distant and bored as dully observing the movie trudging from one elusive conversation scene from another without much sense of focus or direction.

This is rather odd because the movie has Tony Leung, a great Hong Kong actor who can suggest many different things at once via his distinctive mix of natural charisma and subtle acting. Again, he instantly draws our attention right from his very first scene in the film, but he is usually one of mere plot elements here just like all of the other main cast members in the movie, and it is a shame that the movie seldom lets him function as the human center to hold for us amid lots of confusion and disorientation in the story.

Leung’s character, Director Ha, is the head of the Political Security Department in Shanghai for the puppet regime under the control of the Japanese Army in the middle of the World War II. Along with his right-hand guy Mr. Ye (Wang Yibo), Director Ha has successfully arrested a bunch of enemy agents, and that is why they are the members of a political inner circle led by Officer Watanabe (Hiroyuki Mori), who is charged with overseeing their department on behalf of the Japanese Army.

It looks like things will eventually work out well for the Japanese Army as well as Director Ha and other Chinese collaborators in Shanghai, but the situation becomes much more alarming after the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941, and then there come two unexpected incidents. On one hand, a group of Japanese soldiers are ambushed and then killed at one night for a certain atrocious deed of theirs, and Director Ha and his subordinates must find and then eliminate whoever is behind this incident. On the other hand, a certain prominent enemy agent approaches for defection, and this agent reveals that there is a hidden spy around the top of the Political Security Department in Shanghai. Naturally, both Director Ha and Mr. Ye become all the more discreet than before, and we accordingly get a series of dry but tense conversation scenes where they and several other main characters are flatly talking about one thing but also seem to imply some other thing to each other while overseen by Officer Watanabe, who has nothing much to hide in contrast as often wearing his jaded imperialist heart on his sleeve.

The screenplay by director/writer Cheng Er brings more confusion via its non-chronological plot structure. As the story frequently flashes forward or backward throughout the film, the movie gets bogged down more by its increasingly convoluted storytelling, and we become more distant and disinterested as a result. The movie actually presents several certain key moments more than once, and we are supposed to regard them differently with more information revealed along the story, but they are no more than repetitive bookmarks for us because the movie merely replays them without much difference.

In technical aspects, the movie certainly spends its production budget well. Its period atmosphere and details are as fine as many other similar films ranging from Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution” (2007) to Zhang Yimou’s “Cliff Walkers” (2021), and its only distracting element is the score which often feels quite heavy-handed while being influenced too much by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s score for “Dark Knight” (2008). Whenever any main character seems to look suspicious at any chance, the score becomes overpoweringly intense and brooding, and that goes on and on to our annoyance.

And Leung comes and goes with grace and authority as we can expect from him. While he rarely seems to be signifying anything, Leung ably conveys to us whatever is lurking beneath his phlegmatic poker face in the film, and he is particularly good when his character has a little private interview with the aforementioned defector. As supposedly looking casual and courteous on the surface, his character corners his interviewee bit by bit to our discomfort and amusement, and you can see that Leung can easily play Christoph Waltz’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) if its Chinese remake version is ever planned.

In case of several other main cast members in the film, they dutifully fill their spots in the story. While Wang Yibo, Da Peng, and Erik Wang are solid in their respective parts, Zhou Xun, Jiang Shuying, and Zhang Jingyi are mostly stuck with their flat supporting roles, and Hiroyuki Mori has some fun with his haughty Japanese officer character.

In conclusion, “Hidden Blade” is a ponderous genre exercise whose flaws cannot be wholly compensated by its good elements including Leung’s invaluable presence. Because I feel like not processing and understanding everything in the film, I may have to give it another chance someday, but I also remember well how frustrated and distant I was to its story and characters without much emotional involvement, and I must confess that it is already being faded in my mind. Yes, it is surely better than “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in comparison, but I would rather recommend “Lust, Caution” or “Cliff Walkers” instead, and I assure you that you will have a more productive time with either of them.

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Piggy (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The butcher girl

Posted on April 27, 2023 by kaist455

“Piggy” is a little movie which will make you deeply uncomfortable from its very beginning. Dryly but chillingly illustrating its unforgettable adolescent heroine’s anger, fear, confusion, and frustration along the story, the movie will often unnerve you a lot for good reasons, and its compelling juxtaposition of its specific coming-of-age tale and familiar genre elements will leave a lasting impression on your mind.

At the beginning, the movie shows us another miserable day of its heroine. Sara (Laura Galán) is the daughter of a butcher couple living in some rural Spanish village, and we come to gather that she has been a social outcast to other local kids around her age due to her overweight appearance. When some good-looking boy happens to hang around with several girls outside her parent’s shop, she cannot help but look at them from the distance, and then she soon becomes a target for mean ridicule when three of these girls enter the shop. To make matters worse, her callous parents are totally oblivious to what is going on, and that makes Sara all the more frustrated and exasperated.

However, this turns out to be nothing compared to what she suffers later. When she is about to do some swimming alone at a pool outside the village, Sara is approached by those three girls, who commit something as vicious and cruel as what Carrie White suffers during the opening scene of “Carrie” (1976). In the end, Sara has no choice but to walk back to her village while only wearing her swimming suit, and that certainly adds more humiliation to this terrible and infuriating situation of hers.

And then something quite more shocking happens. When Sara was cruelly tormented by those three girls, there was a man in the pool, but he simply left by his shabby van without helping her at all. We already know how dangerous he actually is, because his first scene in the film shows him targeting two certain persons when the pool is much more crowded before Sara’ routine swimming time. When Sara comes to meet him again, he happens to be doing something horrible to one of those three girls, but Sara chooses to do nothing while certainly terrified by this stranger, who leaves Sara alone then shows a bit of kindness before eventually driving to somewhere.

Sara does not say anything about her disturbing incident to anyone around her, but her village is soon disturbed by the stranger’s horrible deeds. After a body is found in the pool, the parents of those three girls are all the more anxious because their daughters still do not return, but Sara still tells nothing, even when a young local police officer instantly senses that there is something fishy about her.

Once she belatedly realizes that there is something which will incriminate her in one way or another, Sara gets herself more involved in the case, and that is how she comes across the stranger again later in the story. During their little tense moment, both she and the stranger begin to feel something mutual between them, and her following awakening as a woman makes her aware a lot more of how frustrating it is for her to live with her annoying parents.

Now the movie feels like a morbidly twisted variation of Beauty and the Beast, but the screenplay by director/writer Carlota Pereda, which is developed on the 2018 short film of hers, wisely does not spell out its heroine’s gradual emotional growth and development along the story. Still not knowing or understanding her emotional need that much, Sara unwisely lets herself drawn more to the stranger, and, of course, the stranger turns out to be much more monstrous than expected, though he seems to be really attracted to Sara like she is to him.

During the last act, the movie drives its deeply confused heroine further into the dark and unpleasant realm of horror and cruelty. Although this part lasts a bit too long in my trivial opinion, the movie keeps holding our attention as its heroine eventually finds herself on the verge of embracing the darkness of her potential lover, and we are surely served with a series of gruesome moments to make us wince more than once.

Regardless of whether you like the movie or not, you will never forget the fearless lead performance by Laura Galán. Yes, her overweight appearance is certainly the first thing to draw your attention, but Galán impresses us much more while never hesitating to delve into not only Sara’s vulnerability but also the deep anger and confusion behind her passive appearance. Although the movie firmly maintains its detached attitude to Sara throughout most of its running time, Pereda and her cinematographer Rita Noriega further accentuates Sara’s emotional isolation and frustration via deftly utilizing the screen ratio of 1.33:1, and that is one of the main reasons why the movie can constantly have us on edge while also letting us understand more of Sara’s emotional confusion.

On the whole, “Piggy” is definitely not something you can watch on Sunday afternoon, but it is worthwhile to watch as a competent genre film which strikes us hard with its strong mix of adolescent character drama and horror thriller. It is not entirely flawless (Many of supporting characters in the film including Sara’s parents are a bit too superficial to care, for example), but what Pereda and Galán achieve here is quite indelible to say the least, and I sincerely hope that both of them will keep going after this interesting breakout of theirs.

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Renfield (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Now he gets sick of serving his master

Posted on April 23, 2023 by kaist455

“Renfield” is an amusing horror comedy film inspired by one of the most famous horror stories of all time: Bram Stocker’s “Dracula”. Instead of that infamous blood-sucking count, the movie focuses more on his daunted servant’s toxic relationship with the count, and it generates some nice bloody laughs as its long-suffering hero struggles for self-esteem as well as redemption.

The opening part of the film, which hilariously utilizes several scenes from Tod Browning’s “Dracula” (1931), quickly establishes our titular hero’s long relationship with his master. Since he became the servant of Dracula (Nicholas Cage) in the late 19th century, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has dutifully served his master as much as possible, but he has not been appreciated much by his master, who usually cares more about following his insatiable urge for more blood. Even when he and Renfield have to hide in an abandoned hospital building in New Orleans, Louisiana after he gets burned quite seriously in the middle of his latest peril, Dracula still demands a lot from his servant without showing any gratitude or appreciation at all, and Renfield has no choice but to try to obey to his master despite his longtime misery and unhappiness.

For getting any possible victim to be served to his master, Renfield joins a local support group consisting of people struggling with each own toxic relationship, and that is where he comes to have a sort of revelation while listening to those support group members and their sincere counselor. As seeing that he is not alone at all in case of dealing with problematic relationship, he feels a bit better than before, and he also begins to consider whether he can actually get himself freed from his master, though his master is certainly not so pleased when he senses that his servant is not as loyal and obedient as he had been for years.

Meanwhile, Renfield also gets himself into a big local trouble. While he is looking for any victim as fresh and innocent as his master desires, he happens to come across a local police officer named Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina). For many years, this plucky female police officer has been quite determined to avenge her cop father’s death by a powerful drug organization, so she willingly goes all the way for justice when a good chance comes to her by coincidence, and that drug organization naturally attempts to eliminate her by any means necessary. Thanks to his superpower activated via eating bugs, Renfield saves not only Rebecca but also several innocent bystanders around him, and his violent but righteous act makes him all the more determined to get his own life outside Dracula’s toxic influence than before.

The screenplay by Ryan Ridley, which is developed from the story by co-producer Robert Kirkman, has some naughty absurd fun from Renfield’s attempt toward normal life. Nicholas Hoult, who has been usually good at playing quirky comic characters, willingly hurls himself into lots of absurdity, but he also plays his character as straight as possible for bringing some gravitas to the story as well as his character. We often laugh for his character’s comic struggles along the story, but we also come to root for him more than expected, and Hoult’s effective deadpan performance carries the film to the end even when it comes to lose some of its narrative momentum during its clumsy last act.

As Hoult’s grand evil counterpart, Nicholas Cage, who once appeared with Hoult in Gore Verbinski’s “The Weather Man” (2005), surely has a lot of bloody fun with his diabolically baroque character. As he did memorably in several other movies such as David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” (1990), Cage goes for his own full-throttle mode to our delight and entertainment, but he also looks quite committed as usual, and you will admire how he takes a risk without not being afraid at all of looking as hammy as Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee. In addition, you will be all the amused if you remember that he once appeared in a little movie called “Vampire’s Kiss” (1988) and later produced “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000), where he could have played the titular vampire but stepped aside for Willem Dafoe instead.

It is a shame that the movie does not bring much substance to the rest of the story, and many of its supporting performers are often not utilized well on the whole. While Awkwafina manages to fill her thankless supporting character with her own presence, Ben Schwartz tries to chew his scenes as much as Cage as one of the secondary villains in the film, but his result feels inconsequential compared to Cage’s dedicated overacting. In contrast, Shohreh Aghdashloo, a wonderful Iranian actress who has always been reliable since her unforgettable Oscar-nominated supporting turn in Vadim Perelman’s “House of Sand and Fog” (2003), handles her ruthless crime boss character with gusto, and you may wish that the movie utilized more of her talent.

Directed by Chris McKay, “Renfield” is a fairly enjoyable one-joke comedy horror film, but I must confess that I cannot help but think of several alternatives right now. If you are not so satisfied with how New Orleans does not look that vivid or colorful in the movie, I suggest you that you should check out Ana Lily Amirpour’s latest film “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon” (2021), which does a far better of job of presenting New Orleans with palpably colorful mood and details. If you look for a truly hilarious movie about vampire, I instantly recommend Taika Waititi’s “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014), and I also urge you to check out the acclaimed TV sitcom series developed from this very funny comedy horror movie.

Nonetheless, I also must admit that I was amused enough when I watched “Renfield” today. Right before watching it, I had to endure the sheer mediocrity of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023), so I was certainly in the need of watching anything funny enough for me, and “Renfield” worked for me despite its several weak aspects. Yes, this is not exactly original, but I assure you that Cage and Hoult will not disappoint you at least.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) ☆☆(2/4): Bland and uninspired to say the least

Posted on April 23, 2023 by kaist455

I report to you now that animation film “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is not as horrible as I feared, but, alas, that is the only good thing I can possibly say about it. To be frank with you, I did not have much interest in Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise even when I was young and wild, but I understand how it has been so popular since it came out in the 1980s, so I actually kept my mind open a bit before watching the film itself. Unfortunately, the overall result is so bland and inspired to say the least that I could only have a bit of amusement from its few comic saving graces.

One of the biggest problems in the film is that it spends more of than its rather short running time (92 minutes) on building its fantasy world without much fun or style. Sure, it is nice to see that fantasy world of the Mario video game franchise recreated on the screen via computer animation, but the film lacks any sense of wit or intelligence even compared to that old TV animation series based on the Mario video game franchise. At that time when I watched that TV animation series on a foreign satellite channel, I was too young to understand English, but I had some fun with it as far as I remember, and it was certainly much better than that disastrous live-action version film made in 1993 (Even I could discern that it was really, really, really awful, despite being no more than 10 years old, by the way).

In case of our struggling Brooklyn plumbers Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day), they do not show much personality beyond what we have been familiar with for many years. While the film makes a fun on their Italian American background via their ridiculously heavy-handed commercial, the brief laugh from that moment is quickly evaporated mainly because the performers behind their characters are curiously bland and colorless in their voice acting. While Chris Pratt, who is no stranger to comedy, is surprisingly much less spirited that usual, Charlie Day, who can be quite hilariously manic and if that is necessary, seems to be content with merely earning his paycheck, and, to make matters worse, there is not much chemistry between these two usually reliable comedy veterans.

Anyway, let’s talk a bit about the nearly barebone plot of the screenplay by Matthew Fogel. When an inexplicable big plumbing problem happens in the middle of Brooklyn during one evening, Mario and Luigi quickly go to the spot for proving and promoting their worth, but, what do you know, they accidentally come across a magical portal while trying to fix that plumbing problem. They soon get themselves sucked into that portal, and, after getting separated from Luigi, Mario finds himself landing on the Mushroom Kingdom led by Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy).

For finding and saving Luigi, Mario goes to the palace where Princess Peach lives, and he comes to learn that Luigi was sent to a dark and barren region belonging to an evil turtle king named Bowser (voiced by Jack Black). Besides saving Luigi from Bowser, Mario must stop Bowser before Bowser conquers the Mushroom Kingdom and then tries to marry, yes, Princess Peach, so, along with Prince Peach and a mushroom guy named Toad (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), he goes to the Jungle Kingdom for getting some military support from its gorilla king and his son.

What follows next is a string of action sequences packed with various stuffs to be recognized by the fans of the Mario video game franchise, but these action sequences mostly feel rather pedestrian on the whole. While often boosted by Brian Tyler’s overachieving score which frequently quotes the theme song of the Mario video game franchise as required, these action sequences are inherently deficient without any genuine sense of fun or entertainment, and you may want to play your Mario video game instead of enduring this dull and tedious mediocrity.

In case of comedy, the movie continues to underwhelm us in more than once. As the main villain character of the film, Jack Black surely has several moments to chew, but, like Day or Pratt, he does not seem to have much fun with his voice acting, and that deliberately horrible torch song performed by him in the middle of the film just sounds merely atrocious with generating much laugh for us. As a matter of fact, I winced more when it was performed again in the middle of the end credits.

At least, some other notable voice performers in the film manage to distinguish themselves a bit more in comparison, though they are also limited by their cardboard supporting roles. While Anya Taylor-Joy brings some pluck to her character, Keegan-Michael Key is frequently amusing in his deft delivery of silly comic lines, and the same thing can be said about Seth Rogen, who manages to energize the middle act of the film to some degree as the aggressively arrogant son of the ruler of the Jungle Kingdom.

In conclusion, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, which is directed by Aaron Horvth and Michael Jelenic, does not reach to the bottom represented by that 1993 live-action film version, but it ends up being more or less than a pointless teaser for whatever will come next in the future. Considering that it has had a considerable box office success since it was released in US a few weeks ago, I am sure that there will probably be a couple of sequels at least, and I can only wish that there will be some improvement in those possible sequels in the future. That will not be that difficult in my humble opinion, but who knows?

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Riceboy Sleeps (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A Korean immigrant mother and her son

Posted on April 23, 2023 by kaist455

“Riceboy Sleeps”, which won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in last year, is a simple but sensitive drama about a Korean immigrant mother and her son. Calmly and thoughtfully following their little personal story, the movie gradually builds up its two main characters via a number of small but undeniably intimate moments to be appreciated, and it surely earns all the human emotions unfolded onto its rather melodramatic last act.

At the beginning, the movie succinctly establishes the life background of a young South Korean woman named So-young (Choi Seung-yoon) and her little son. Although she was abandoned when she was very young, So-young managed to survive as being moved from one orphanage to another during next several years. Around the time she entered adulthood, she met some college student while working at a diner, and she and that lad were supposed to marry sooner or later, but, alas, due to his mental illness, he eventually committed suicide at a hospital not long after their son was born.

Because of her disadvantaged status as an unmarried mother, So-young decided to immigrate to Canada, where she came to work at some factory while raising her little son. When he becomes 6 years old in 1990, So-young takes him to a local elementary school, but Dong-hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang) is understandably afraid of being separated from his mother, and he certainly feels quite awkward as the only Asian kid in his classroom.

At least, he feels comfortable again when he is back at home with his mother, but Dong-hyun continues to struggle as often ridiculed and ostracized by his schoolmates. Not so surprisingly, he inadvertently gets himself into a trouble on one day, and his mother is naturally quite frustrated with how her son is unfairly treated by even those schoolteachers, who regard So-young and her son with condescension mixed with racial prejudice.

Nevertheless, So-young and her son keep going on during next several years, and the second act of the film, which is set in 1999, shows how things have been a bit better for them than before. While So-young is still working in the same factory, she has been quite close to a gentle employee who is incidentally a Korean adoptee, and it looks like they can live together someday if Dong-hyun, who is now played by Ethan Hwang, does not mind this at all.

As he grows up to become your average rebellious teenager, Dong-hyun has been rather distant to his mother while spending more time with his schoolmates, but he also becomes more aware of his racial identity and heritage than before. When he and his classmates are tasked with a presentation on each own family background, he naturally feels more curious about his father than before, but his mother still does not tell anything to him because she has been through with her life in South Korea for years.

However, there comes an unexpected matter which shakes her up to considerable degree, and this certainly affects her relationship with Dong-hyun. After she reveals her bad news to her son later, he struggles to process this bad news while causing another trouble at his school, and that consequently puts more distance between him and his mother.

Now this is surely a familiar setup for more melodrama to come, but the screenplay by director/writer/editor Andrew Shim, which is partially based on his own immigrant experience in Canada, patiently builds up its emotional momentum via a series of sincere human moments to cherish. In case of one particular scene between So-young and the aforementioned Korean employee who eventually proposes to her, it feels a bit too symbolic when So-young tells him a certain old folk tale, but her storytelling moment is accompanied with the genuine emotions from her serene face, and we are touched more by how this scene later resonates with the last scene between her and her son.

Shim and his cinematographer Christopher Lew shot the film on 16mm film, and the resulting grainy visual quality of the film effectively accentuates its period background. Presenting most of his film in 1:33 screen ratio, Shim often focuses more on his performers’ expressive faces, and his three main performers are all convincing in their respective roles. While Choi Seung-yoon’s understated performance gracefully carries the film along with small details and nuances to be observed, Dohyun Noel Hwang and Ethan Hwang are flawlessly connected with each other in their acting, and both of them respectively complement Choi well on the whole.

In conclusion, “Riceboy Sleep” is a slow but rewarding experience which can function as a window to a specific immigrant experience which comes to reveal more universal aspects than expected, and it is surely another interesting Asian immigrant drama film to be compared with Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” (2020), which is incidentally about a Korean immigrant family trying to settle in a remote area of Arkansas. Although this is only the second feature film after his small debut feature film “Daughter” (2019), Shim demonstrates here that he is a promising filmmaker with considerable potential, and it will be interesting to see what may come from him during next several years.

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