film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Jack Ford

  • #NYAFF 2018: An In-Depth Look At The New York Asian Film Festival

    #NYAFF 2018: An In-Depth Look At The New York Asian Film Festival

    The curtain is about to go up on one of the biggest celebrations of one of the most daring and diverse corners of the film world. For sixteen years, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) has been one of the biggest champions and promoters of Asian film in the USA and beyond, and the 2018 edition will continue the commitment to honour the continent’s best exports and bring them to wider attention.

    A June 29th showing of Dynamite Graffiti, a film of the life of notorious Japanese pornographer Akira Suei, will begin seventeen days of non-stop first-rate Asian cinema.

    Films from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are all on show at this extensive and well-curated selection of the best films from the continent. Organisers also do well to showcase films that highlight innovations and developments in Asian cinema, and also reflect the important social and political changes affecting some territories.

    One social matter prominent in this year’s program is the timely issue of female shaming and teenage bullying. This problem is explored by four films of this year’s selection: Kim Ui-seok’s harrowing After My Death, uncompromising The Hungry Lion from director Ogata Takaomi, River’s Edge from veteran Japanese director Yukisada Isao, and on the more supernatural end, Naito Eisuke’s Liverleaf.

    Carrying on the societal awareness, two selections from Malaysia evoke the change of social and political attitudes in the country. Dain Said’s genre mishmash Dukun has been banned for its scandalous content but will be screened for the first time in more than a decade at the festival, and also showing is the more contemporary Crossroads: One Two Jaga, about a cop fighting corruption in his own police force.

    On June 30th, guest of honour Dante Lam will receive the festival’s Daniel A Craft Award for Excellence in Action Directing. It comes in the wake of the huge success of his latest film, Operation Red Sea, which will be screened at the festival, along with two more of his films; the 2010 psychological crime thriller The Beast Stalker, and the martial arts drama from 2013, Unbeatable.

    This Lam triple-feature is part of the festival’s staple Hong Kong Panorama strand, showcasing the best new releases to come out of one of Asia’s most productive and diverse national film scenes. Also part of this year’s Panorama is House of the Rising Sons, the story of renowned Hong Kong rock band The Wynners, directed by the band’s drummer, Anthony Chan; phone-scam thriller The Big Call, the latest from cult director Oxide Pang; rising star of Asian action cinema Max Zhang in The Brink, which accompanies Paradox, starring veteran action star Tony Jaa; Stephy Tang-fronted modern take on the traditional kung fu film, The Empty Hands; and social comedy Men on the Dragon.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PQ5vyIpbM

    Directed by Sunny Chen and starring Francis Ng and Jennifer Yu, Men on the Dragon follows employees of a struggling company who join its dragon boat team in the hope it will keep them their jobs, and will be premiering to the world at the festival on July 12th. As such, it will be one of the main attractions of the festival this year.

    Receiving a lifetime achievement award from the festival, director/actor Masato Harada will be on hand at a screening of his latest offering, Sekigahara, a depiction of one of the most devastating battles in Japanese military history. Additional showings of his 2015 historical drama Kakekomi and crime thriller from twenty years prior, Kamikaze Taxi, will show how his long and varied career has come full circle.

    Jiang Wu and Kim Yoon-seok will both receive acting prizes from the festival: Jiang for his turn as a father searching for his missing son in Wrath of Silence, and Kim for his performance in 1987: When the Day Comes, which is centred around Korea’s June Democratic Uprising.

    Sung Hsin-yin attempts to analyse forty years of Taiwanese history in his film On Happiness Road, the only animated contingent of this year’s festival. Fans of the medium need not fret, as three live-action Manga adaptations are on show: from aforementioned Liverleaf and River’s Edge, to Inuyashiki, about an alien life form who turns a terminally ill office worker into an indestructible cyborg, and, most intriguing of all, The Scythian Lamb, where a small-town official unravels the past of six mysterious residents following the discovery of a dead body.

    Other festival highlights include; pioneering and talented Filipino filmmaker Irene Villamor’s twist on the romance drama, Sid & Aya (Not A Love Story) – the twist being the female lead is calling the shots; Counters, an unfortunately timely documentary about Japan’s right-wing action groups and those who oppose them; Siwakorn Jarupongpa-helmed, karaoke-based ghost story Premika; The Handmaiden’s Kim Tae-Ri in Little Forest, a quiet drama about a woman who finds a new lease on life after moving to the country – and on the opposite end the award-winning Old Beast, where an elderly man starts living the high life as his time draws near.

    If that wasn’t enough, NYAFF’s comprehensive selection caters to all tastes, and keeps on delivering. Fans of crime films will have their fill with the fare this year’s selection has on offer: Gatao 2: Rise of the King, Neomanila, On The Job, The Third Murder, Smokin’ on the Moon and We Will Not Die Tonight.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YMgBE-H2UY

    Festival-goers who like a laugh will be right at home at the screenings of Looking for Lucky and What a Man Wants, while those looking for a little romance can seek out The Ex-File: Return of the Exes, Dude’s Manual and The Last Verse. The Age of Blood, Missing Johnny and One Cut of the Dead are a perfect fit for action fans – the latter of particular interest to attendees partial to zombies – while those who prefer films of a quieter nature are also provided for with fare like End of Summer, I Can Speak and Midnight Bus.

    The festival also makes room for two films from a genre that holds an unlikely but ardent fascination in Asia – the western. Festival favourite Tears of the Black Tiger from turn-of-the-century Thailand will serve as companion to a more recent offering from Indonesian director Mike Wiluan, Buffalo Boys.

    At the end of it all, NYAFF 2018 closes out in style with BuyBust, the most ambitious and high-octane film yet from renowned Filipino director Erik Matti, who will be on hand along with stars Anne Curtis and Brandon Vera at the showing on closing night, July 15th.

    While this is a festival more on the celebratory and inclusionary side, there is also a main competition. Competing for the top prize this year are Crossroads: One Two Jaga, Liverleaf, Men of the Dragon – already discussed – as well as Shiraishi Kazuya’s exploration of the Yazkua underground, Blood of Wolves (July 2nd); Dong Yue’s serial killer drama The Looming Storm (July 9th); Jeon Go-woon’s satire on Korean society Microhabitat (July 10th); and Respeto (July 14th), about a young, aspiring rapper who forms a relationship with an elderly former poet. The main prize will be handed out to the winning film on the last night of the festival.

    All this adds up to what will no doubt be a breathless, fascinating and, most of all, hugely entertaining fortnight-plus in New York that will not disappoint those fortunate enough to have a ticket.

  • Failed Franchises: Percy Jackson

    Failed Franchises: Percy Jackson

    For one reason or another, not every attempt at a film franchise is successful, but there is a story behind every failure.

    After Harry Potter had become a worldwide smash hit for Warner Brothers, all the other major studios went in search of a major family franchise of their own. 20th Century Fox seemed to think the key to unlocking the mega-money lay somewhere in the sub-genre of young people’s fantasy, leading to their green-lighting The Seeker and Eragon. Both failed to find Potter-sized audiences, but the studio, undeterred, then set their sights on a book series similar to the one they were trying to emulate – Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

    Rick Riordan’s books are a delightful set of tales of the young son of Poseidon, set in a hybrid of modern-day America and ancient Greece. They are well-written, witty and savvy, full of high-spirited adventures while also taking the time address real-world issues like absent parents and childhood insecurities.

    It should be said that the only real similarity to Harry Potter is around its central concept – of an an unknowing young boy who discovers he has supernatural powers and has adventures in a hidden fantasy world. In practice the two series are completely different from one another. It was enough of a Potter proxy for fox, though. They bought the rights in the mid-2000s, and the movie of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (or to give its full name, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) premiered to the world in February 2010.

    Helmed by Chris Columbus, who had previously kick-started the first of the Potter films, it featured an all-star ensemble cast including Pierce Brosnan, Rosario Dawson and a pre-Game of Thrones Sean Bean, and was buoyed by a big advertising and marketing campaign in an effort to guarantee the film would be rip-roaring global success.

    It wasn’t.

    Behind the sheen of The Lightning Thief is a shallow, anonymous and bland action delivery system. The film skimps on the detail that made the book series work and instead tries too hard to establish itself and appear magical and wondrous. The latter feels forced, as does its attempts to win over young audiences with its elements of pop culture. Audiences were definitely not fooled, seeing it as the attempt to mirror Harry Potter that it was, and reaction to the film was far from the phenomenon Fox was hoping for.

    As a foot note, one thing The Lightning Thief serves as proof of is that its director is more suited to the role of producer. Columbus can assemble the best craftspeople and technicians in the business, and persuade an A-list cast to dress in togas, but his own storytelling abilities fall far short. Further case in point: the next film he directed after The Lightning Thief was the 2015 sci-fi actioner Pixels, considered to be one of the worst films of that year. In the same year he executive-produced the horror film The Witch, said to be one of the best of 2015.

    Of the very many changes made transitioning Percy Jackson from page to screen, one of the least sensical was the decision to age the characters. In the book, lead characters Percy and Annabeth Chase are twelve years old, while in the film they are both said to be sixteen. In reality, though, the characters were respectively played by nineteen-year-old Logan Lerman and twenty-three year-old Alexandra Daddario. It begs the question who the intended audience is – the presence of young adults makes it inaccessible to children, while the film itself is too childish for young adults.

    The age issue was worse in the sequel, Sea of Monsters – Brandon T. Jackson, for one, was pushing thirty when he played Grover Underwood (the Ron Weasley to Percy’s Harry) for a second time.

    Released in 2013, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is a strange curio. For a start, it’s strange it was even made given the first film barely succeeded at the box office. Another is how amateurish it looks compared to its predecessor. For all its flaws, The Lightning Thief was technically sound, while the sequel looks rough, rushed and far below the standard of general Hollywood fare.

    The series continued to divorce itself from its source material, omitting large set pieces from the second novel and leaving us with a really thin screen story. In addition, they couldn’t even persuade the original cast to return: Pierce Brosnan’s part was re-cast, Brandon T. Jackson disappears for most of the running time, and those left seem uncomfortable and unenthusiastic. All of this just added to the feeling that Sea of Monsters was a throw of the dice that everyone already knew was not going to come up good.

    Despite all this, the film is actually a far less cynical, more earnest and strangely watchable effort. It doesn’t feel as confined by studio interference and has more room to be itself, there are more practical effects (though there’s still plenty of CGI) that go a long way toward grounding the fantasy in reality and, crucially, it also adds much-needed depth to Percy’s world. The strangest thing about Sea of Monsters is how much fun can be had with it.

    That being said, it’s still far from being ‘good’ – it’s dull at times, there are some truly jaw-dropping decisions and the climactic battle is woeful and diminishes the big villain of the series. There are moments of genuine emotion and excitement, but they are gold kernels in a large barrel of coal. The stand-out being Percy’s meeting with the Oracle of Delphi – a framing device for exposition that’s been done before, but is nonetheless well constructed and and memorable. (It’s also worth checking out test footage of this sequence from Studio ADI, the company that created the film’s practical effects.)

    Ultimately, Sea of Monsters could not completely redeem itself to save the franchise. It had a quiet theatrical run, at the end of which it did not garner a big enough return to merit a third outing. The series was quietly shelved.

    It’s a shame, as the Jackson books could easily and successfully translate to the big screen, so long as the right people were behind them. One person who springs to mind as the ideal steward is Guillermo del Toro. His well-established blend of fantasy and reality, as well as his insight, ability to build mythologies and knowledge of myths and legends would make him a perfect fit. If any producer’s still interested in this property, get a hold of Guillermo!

    The biggest reason for the failure of the Percy Jackson series was that no one involved truly believed in it. No one wanted to make these films because they wanted to bring what they loved on the page to the big screen. Instead, an apathetic studio was just squandering this promising property in the pursuit of a quick buck – the final irony being is they didn’t make a lot of money on it. The final result was two second-rate films that did nothing to alleviate comparisons of Percy Jackson to Harry Potter (not even in this article – oops).

  • The Daily Show Spinoff Not In The UK

    The Daily Show Spinoff Not In The UK

    It’s fair to say The Daily Show had a difficult rebirth when Trevor Noah took over hosting duties in 2015. Audiences and critics were both polarised as the show began to find a new identity. Though following on from a long-serving comic genius like Jon Stewart was no easy task.

    Teething problems now over, Noah is now doing a respectable job as host of the long-running satire. His commentaries on current events continue to be both thoughtful and amusing. Despite this, the show doesn’t have the same bite or hit the same heights of hilarity it used to. It’s still shown here in the UK by Comedy Central, so it’s obviously still resonating with audiences worldwide. On that note, though, it’s a shame Comedy Central haven’t also picked up it’s new spin-off show, The Opposition. Not just for completist reasons, either – it’s the superior programme.

    The Opposition is hosted by Jordan Klepper, who joined The Daily Show late into Stewart’s tenure. It can be described as spiritual successor to The Colbert Report. A comparison that extends to both being broadcast at the same time, immediately after The Daily Show. After Larry Wilmore made an ill-fated attempt to take the show in a new direction, Klepper stepped into the breach.

    As host, Klepper adopts the persona of an alt-conservative. He is scathing about the left wing while he defends all questionable choices by the executive office – and softly defending radical groups. Not really, though, it’s all satire, but the uninformed could be easily fooled. Klepper’s embodiment of a Fox News anchor is quite uncanny. He also cites incendiary American TV and radio personality Alex Jones as an inspiration for his persona on The Opposition. He spends half an hour putting a ludicrous (yet unfortunately believable) right-wing spin on current events. Or presenting news items from genuine conservative outlets and revelling in their insanity.

    It’s not just the premise that makes The Opposition the better show, though. Of the two, it’s more focused, better written and not afraid to be funny. There’s also no issues with identity or waffling. Under Noah, The Daily Show keeps flipping back and forth between a news magazine, a late-night talk show and a Youtube vodcast, and there isn’t really a consistent viewpoint. In contrast, The Opposition knows what it’s trying to be, has a more concise range of targets and a more exacting agenda.

    As with all shows in Comedy Central’s format, Klepper is joined by a team of correspondents. Referred to as ‘citizen journalists’ – highlighting increasing distrust in the mainstream media – they join the host and affect alt-right identities. Like real-world news anchors have done before, Klepper here uses his correspondents to validate his extreme views. Their gender and ethnic diversity also aids the effect of these actual journalists who uses such pundits to deflect accusations of bigotry.

    The Opposition even manages to inject new life into what has long been the format’s weakest and most criticised segment, the guest interview. Klepper goes a different route with interviews, first by introducing his guest, almost always someone of a liberal viewpoint, as his ‘opponent.’ He then, in the style of an actual conservative journalist, jokingly disregards his guests on all matters they disagree on. In doing so, this shines light on the closed-mindedness of populist journalism, while at the same time giving greater credence to what his guests are saying.

    In taking on the persona of the populist right, The Opposition is able to expose the absurdity and deep-ingrained intolerance of this increasingly influential movement. Best of all, though, is that it’s funny as hell:

    Comedy Central UK’s continued commitment to The Daily Show is laudable. Surely, though, there’s room enough on the channel for two quality topical shows. Clips of the show are available online, but it would be better viewed as a whole and on the medium it was created for. We shouldn’t be held back from seeing great comedy – and there’s a lot we here are missing out on.

  • The Silent Child: Review

    The Silent Child: Review

    From the start, it’s not immediately obvious what The Silent Child is about. It opens with a woman riding a bike down country lanes to a slow and mysterious piece of music, which immediately creates a sense of unease. Is that an indication of what’s to come? (In short, no.)

    It transpires the cyclist, Jo (Rachel Shenton, who also wrote the film), is travelling to the family home of three-year-old Libby (Maisie Sly), who is deaf. Jo is there to assess Libby’s needs and begin teaching her sign language ahead of her starting school. While normally quite inanimate and stoic because of her inability to communicate, Libby’s personality changes dramatically as she gets to grips with fingerspelling, and at the same time she starts to form a close bond with Jo.

    As she does, however, her mum (Rachel Fielding) starts growing concerned. She wants to wean Libby off sign language and get her used to lip-reading, but with no obvious reason for doing so. Maybe she feels her position is being threatened, maybe she doesn’t like the stigma of being seen fingerspelling. Whatever the reason, her increasing hostility to accept that her daughter needs help makes her highly resistant to Jo and her

    The film does well to portray the isolation of deafness and how a disability in a family can cause friction – which will resonate to anyone with any experience of this – but unfortunately its ending lets it down. While it’s the most realistic conclusion to events, the tone of the film hints that something more unexpected is coming, and it’s somewhat disappointing when it doesn’t.

    Also, there are other plot elements introduced – Libby’s real parentage, tension in the family caused by Jo’s presence – that would be worth exploring but are ultimately ignored, which makes you wonder why they were introduced to begin with.

    On a technical level, The Silent Child is very well photographed by Ali Farahani, whose crisp visuals help to convey the realism of the film as well as drawing us in. At the same time, a convicted and anchoring performance from Shenton adds much integrity and earnestness to the film. It’s obvious, from her performance and her script, that this is subject matter very important to her, and she’s giving it her all.

    Against the film, however, is Amir Konjani’s score, which feels out of place. The Silent Child is in essence a quiet true-to-life drama with a dark undertone, but it has the accompanying music of a thriller. It’s easy to get the wrong idea of what to think and expect from the film from its score.

    The film ends with the startling statistic that more than three-quarters of deaf children have no support at school, and it’s admirable of the film to try and bring attention to a worthwhile cause. The Silent Child has heart and is thought-provoking, which is enough to transcend its imperfections and make a viewing more than worthwhile.

  • Review: The Photographer

    Review: The Photographer

    In the midst of The Photographer’s opening crowd shot, the titular lensman (Javan Hirst) and central character of the short, emerges, snapping away. Following which, we see him in a flat, looking at a selection of his photos he has stuck to the wall, and it’s not too long before we start to realise something less innocent is going on.

    Only a minute into the film and he has said the line: “I go out looking, but in the end I don’t choose my subjects. They choose me.” With that he bumps into a woman (Sophia DiMartino), and then watches her intently as she walks away. That’s how his subjects ‘choose’ him.

    All dialogue is incidental, with the photographer addressing the audience by use of voice over, in which he relays the deep and unconventional personal beliefs and ideology he lives by. What this does is rob the character of much mystery. If the filmmakers had approached the character cold and slowly allowed us to gain a better idea of who he is through simple observation, it would have been a more interesting approach to the character rather than have him essentially tell us who he is up front.

    As he begins to pursue his new ‘subject’ out in the street, to her place of work, and while she meets with friends, he speaks of his strict ‘rules’ for his practice. One of them is to maintain a distance and have no contact with the people he is following, which he does here. All the photos he takes of his new subject are from a distance and without her knowing.

    However, when he believes he has uncovered evidence that she may be in danger, he feels prepared to break this rule and warn her. It’s not adequately explained why he suddenly wants to help this woman – whether he’s developed feelings for her, if he wants the opportunity to be the hero, or if he doesn’t step in it will bring his pursuit to an end. Whatever the reason, he knows he has to step in.

    The Photographer is not bad, there’s just not much in it that’s unique or original. It’s clearly inspired by One Hour Photo, also about someone isolated from society forming an attachment to a stranger from the sanctity of still photographs, while bearing a thematic resemblance to Christopher Nolan’s Following and taking style cues from Sherlock.

    The finale of the film is effective, if a little obvious and not entirely credible, and the final line seems directed at the audience, framing the whole film as a warning about the dangers of invading people’s privacies. It’s a prescient point, given it is now far easier to do than ever before, and while this does not redeem the film, it’s an effective note to end on.