First of all, I'd like to give a shout-out to Tim for coming out to this one and one for his friend who gave me a ride to my next screening afterwards and who's name I've already forgotten (also, I'd like to give a belated shout-out to Ringo for going to The Ten with me). This is one that will definitely hit theaters. I mean, it's got Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. If you've ever seen Robert Altman's Short Cuts you'll recognize the story of four guys who go on a fishing trip, find a body, continue their vacation and wait until they they get home to report the incident (both are based on the work of Raymond Carver). The story was a small part of the Altman film but here it's really fleshed out and the cast, directing, and pretty much everything are just great. Additionally, this movie taught me that I can't tell the difference between Aborigines and white people. Who knew?
I've got to hand it to the local guys who made this film, it is seriously disturbing. The only problem is that the story is pretty weak and might even boarder on being retarded. It also seemed to have a current of homophobia and, quite frankly, I'm surprised that it got into the festival seeing as one of the villains seemed to be sporting the same red leather pants that I think I've seen on the Executive Director of a certain film society. But if you like movies that make you wince and feel really uncomfortable, you can't go wrong with this one.
I know we're not even halfway done but I'm going to go ahead and declare The King of Kong to be the most fun documentary of the festival. It's about two middle aged men battling it out for the world's record for highest score on Donkey Kong. This movie is filled to the brim with eccentric characters, unexpected intrigue and awful haircuts.
This was my second Johnny To (the "Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong") film I've seen this festival, after Exiled and I didn't really understand what was going on in this one either. Part of my confusion is that this is a sequel to Election (not the one with Reese Witherspoon) which was supposed to be screened during the festival but got pulled at the last minute due to print availability so, obviously, I haven't seen it. But it was still cool and I learned a lot of things about Hong Kong gangs, such as:
Gangsters elect a Chairman to serve for a two-year term (the duties of a Chairman are unclear)
The Chairman is elected by the "Uncles" who, apparently, make up the board of directors for the gang
If a gangster kidnaps an important person, they will store them in a coffin with the lid screwed shut
When sealing someone in a coffin it is customary to stick one of your own henchmen (preferably the fat guy) in the coffin on top of the person to "keep an eye" on them
Just when you think that you are out they pull you back in
It is acceptable for gangsters to drink out of juice boxes (but, possibly, only if this action is immediately followed by a machete fight)
No comments:
Post a Comment