The first lesser-known-Kurosawa film I saw was 1997's 'Cure', an
interesting psychological thriller about a detective trying to solve a series
of murders. It worked well and didn't fall into any traps that can so regularly
happen with films such as this, keeping the focus on the psychological aspects
rather than becoming too horrific.
I've since seen a number of his films, including 2008's
mini-masterpiece 'Tokyo Sonata', gaining him greater international acclaim,
particularly on the festival circuit, and as such his films are met with
expectation, though perhaps mixed reviews.
'Creepy' is very much a film of two halves. It pains me to say that this
is 'Cure' meets the Shia LaBeouf-driven 'Disturbia; largely for two reasons:
for one, I've reviewed a film as 'X' meets 'Y'; and secondly the admission that
I have seen the Shia LaBeouf-driven toss bag.
The first half is something like the vein of 'Cure': a former homicide
detective and expert in criminal psychology takes a role as a lecturer
following an attack by one of his suspects. Soon realising - on what appears to
be his first day - that the life of an academic isn't quite as fast-paced, he
starts to look at an unsolved case, from a purely research perspective, he
tells his wife.
It is here he uncovers a mysterious story of a family that disappears,
leaving only the daughter behind; a daughter that can't remember nothing. All
this is being played alongside the middle-aging Takakura and his wife moving to
a new neighbourhood, next to one neighbour that makes it very clear they couldn't
give a damn about you; the other, the slightly odd Nishino, played by
strange-faced Teruyuki Kagawa.
Gradually, as Takakura suspects, the two stories start to merge, with
Nishino all that he seems on the surface in the head department as well. The
revelation, however, sees the film take a turn for the worse. Much like
LaBeouf's neighbour in 'Disturbia', Nishino's strange, homemade death dungeon,
that seems implausibly dank in a typically suburban household, is uncovered,
with all the psychological images you'd formed in your mind now shown to you on
the screen.
In the second half of the film, Kiyoshi Kurosawa decides against the
psychological, focusing more on showing the crimes in facto (Latin), which
takes away all the first half might have been building. The more that is shown,
the less 'creepy' it becomes. This is a disappointment from a director that has
worked to create such good psychological pieces in the past.
The mystery is too easily solved, and the suspense is lost, feeling
more like an out-and-out horror, that isn't particularly, well, creepy.
What I like when I go to a cinema is to pay West End prices and have
the projectionist take three attempts to show the correct subtitles on a film. Well
done the Price Charles Cinema! It's not the first time I've had failings of the
digital age - DJs have had their over-reliance on their MacBooks exposed when
they crash, lost with little to do except try and re-boot as soon as possible.
While it just takes a moment's patience from the audience, it doesn't put you
in the best of moods to start a film.
I, therefore, got three attempts to view the start of the opening
short, 'Extras' as part of the five short stories that make up 'Ten Years'.
'Happy Together' by Wong Kar-wai is one of my favourite films, an allegory
of two gay men from Hong Kong travelling across Argentina, seemingly exiled from
home. A film made just before the UK's hand-over of Hong Kong in 1997, the
anxieties of what will become of Hong Kong over the next fifty years have been
something looked at in the arts, as well as played out in the real-life streets
of the SAR.
'Ten Years' is five shorts set in and around the year 2025, ten years
after the film was made: in 2015, Maths fans. Each take a more-than-slightly
controversial look at various aspects of life and how they could be changed in
the future, as China's influence grows. I'm sure China took kindly to it.
'Extras', the opening tale, is regarding two Triads, chosen to be pawns
in a political chess game with public opinion. The National Security chiefs
feel that their role will be undermined, with little fear among the populace.
Therefore, the two hapless Triads are offered big money to shoot at two
politicians, creating public fear, highlighting the need for Security Forces. An
inside act of terror, this is one for conspiracy theorists all over. The short
itself, however, is fairly simplistic and feels a little amateurish in
execution. It's probably best that this one flies by at the start.
The second is by far the strangest
of the quintet, and left me feeling even the actors don't really know what is
going on. A couple of 'specimen collectors' go about their 'research' in an
abandoned building, but little is really clear as to what exactly they are
doing, or why. With parts that remind of György
Pálfi's 'Taxidermia' and others 'The Shining', this is a random collection of 'specimens'
of scenes, thrown together with little coherent story to speak of.
The first two a
bit weak, thankfully the third picks up the pace greatly. A taxi driver
struggles with the new policy that all drivers must speak Putonghua instead of
Cantonese to be able to pick up certain fares. This leads to comedy
moments as he tries to learn pronunciations of words, such as 'David Beckham.'
But for the driver that previously had to learn English to get work now
struggles with another language being forced upon him, potentially taking his
livelihood as a result.
The fourth is probably the most controversial, a mockumentary about
someone self-immolating themselves outside the British Consulate. Speaking with
various academics and writers on the subject of protest movements, it tells the
story of a young student whose imprisonment inspired others, as they try to
identify the silent protester. It speaks of many subjects, relevant in light of
recent movements in Hong Kong, and how these could tragically develop as the
years pass.
The fifth and final story is of a vendor whose son, along with all
other children, has to take part in activities on behalf of the government,
keeping surveillance on all shops and points of sale. The smallest of things
will be noted, with common sense forgotten as the young children blindly follow
orders. Picked up for advertising 'local eggs', when the approved 'Hong Kong
eggs' should be used, he questions his son as to what it is he is doing in his
role, concerned that his son is becoming a brainwashed trooper for the secret
police. But soon he learns that his son has been assisting some of the shops he
is sent to keep an eye on, showing that independent thought and protest are
still alive and well in the future's youth.
These five Orwellian visions of what may become of Hong Kong are varied
in quality, but all raise interesting anxieties present among a people as to
what the future may hold. Well, maybe not 'Season of the End'. As a UK
resident, while different in their circumstances, the situation in Hong Kong reflects
the uncertainty that surrounds the UK's political future and what impacts, with
various doomsday scenarios playing out in the minds of all concerned, if you're
bothered, that is.
It could prove that there is little change afoot, but the human mind
cannot cope with uncertainty, and Hong Kong has another thirty years of anxiety
ahead of it before anyone's ideas can be founded.
Usually, I gleefully await the arrival of my BFI London Film Festival
programme in the post, highlighting all the films I would like to see before
whittling them down to a good seven or eight titles that I will actually watch,
work, money and being a single entity that can't be in two places at once
allowing. But given that I've recently become a father, I can no longer make
such selfish journeys to as many films as I may wish.
So, this year, I'm a little limited in the selections I've made,
choosing films I definitely want to see, with the exception of Kore-eda
Hirokazu's 'After the Storm', as I can't purchase sold out tickets. My first
choice ended up being the Hungarian (my son's mother-tongue) film 'Kills on
Wheels' (or 'Tiszta szívvel'
if you're my wife - translating along the lines of something more like 'Pure
Heart').
The English title
is a bit simplistic and attempts to dumb down the film to make it more
attractive for popcorn fodder. And, yes, while this is a film that involves
people in wheelchairs that may or may not take the lives of some of Hungary's,
and Serbia's, less law-abiding citizens, there is a bit more going on here than
just that.
Rupaszov is a
disabled former fireman, recently freed from prison for shooting a police officer
when losing his way after an accident that left him paralysed from the waist
down. Randomly, he befriends young Zolika and Barba, two disabled youths living
in a care home. Taking them to a club to get drunk, he uses them as his assistants
in his deeds for Serbian drug baron, Rados, under the belief that nobody would
suspect a cripple.
Soon, Rupaszov's
talent for picking-off Rados' enemies gains him a nice income and the Serbian
offers him big money to take out his key rivals. But, on learning that his seated
hitman has been using accomplices, Rados soon sets about making sure all three
are 'taken care of.'
On the face of
it, the premise is that of a low-level gangster movie, with the disabled
element adding something of a twist. But with writer-director Atilla Till
having volunteered in care homes; and with some of the leads and most of the
extras disabled themselves, this is more a film about the lives of two young
kids with disability trying to find their place in the world. Much like we all
do at their age.
Zolika struggles
to accept his estranged father's payment for his potentially life-saving
operation, believing his disability is the cause of his parent's divorce. This
leads to some quite personal scenes of novice actor Zoltan Fenyvesi. Rupaszov's
physiotherapy is always accompanied by various disabled extras demonstrating rehabilitation
methods in the background. But these physical challenges are played alongside
more comical ones: Barba struggling to input the correct number at a vending
machine; and Rupaszov unable to even flinch at being stabbed in the leg.
The true story of
the film is Zolika and Barba's regular attendance at conventions in attempts to
get the comic book they are working on published, as Zolika tries to come to
terms with his situation. The English title looks at the more face-value
aspects of the film, whereas the original Hungarian title fits much better
thematically.
The Hungarian
film I viewed at the London Film Festival last year, 'Son of Saul', was
nominated, and went on to win, the Oscar for best foreign language film. 'Tiszta szívvel' is the Hungarian
entry this time around, and probably won't reach the same heights, but is a
strong offering tackling difficult subject matter.
