A taste of Asia
This week, I recommend two distinctly different masterpieces of modern Asian cinema.
Apologies for missing the last scheduled post. I was busy with work and forgot. I have updated my alerts to help prevent that from happening again. I am very excited by this week’s recommendation. It is two movies from Asia that both capture, in very different ways, the blend of the modern and traditional, the myth and magical, and the visceral and the human that Asian cinema does so well.
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Perfect Days 2023
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This winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes 2023. A prize to: "honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes.” follows the daily routine of a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. It provides many questions and no easy answers as it mediates on being alive. The genius of Perfect Days, co-scripted by Takuma Takasaki and director Wim Wenders, is that it does not ask loud questions or provide big answers. We follow Hirayama (Kiōji Yakusho) as he gets up, goes to work, does his arguably menial job with scrupulous diligence, goes home, reads and goes to sleep. As the movie progresses, we see more of Hirayama's routines: going to the bathhouse, buying new film for his camera, doing laundry, and eating out. We do not learn a great deal about Hirayama, but we understand he is not trapped in a life cleaning toilets. I spent most of the movie wondering if this is what contentment looks like and feeling a bit jealous. Wenders perfectly balances maintaining the routine and not boring the viewer with its natural repetition. Tokyo is unusually presented as active but without the blazing neon and vast crowds, which is the city’s most common visual persona in movies. The city is so unfamiliar to someone like me who really only knows it from Western cinema that I would not have known it was Tokyo if Hirayama’s uniform did not say so. The portrait of the city is one of many deft touches that make this a masterpiece. The movie, co-written by a native Japanese who also produced and a German filmmaker who also directed Perfect Days, contains Japanese dialogue and English songs. It has universal quality. Little touches, the lost boy, the mentally delayed teen, the homeless man, and the vintage record store add to a universal feeling for viewers like myself who don’t use a bathhouse or a laundromat or drink canned coffee from a vending machine. Is this a real side of Tokyo rarely shown in movies, or is Wenders purposefully filming a slowed down dream version? This very movie has dream like qualities. Lyrical is how I would describe it. Beautiful moments include a series of black and white sequences, a blend of memory and dream, that regularly appear. Wenders used a separate crew to film these scenes. Equally compelling are many could have been mundane shots of Hirayama going about his daily routine, of light dappling through trees and POV shots of driving Tokyo streets, each of which has an almost meditative quality. Together, cinematographer Franz Lustig, editor Toni Froschhammer, and Wenders have created a perfectly paced movie you could be content rewatching without the dialogue. Other people come into Hirayama’s daily routine, like distractions. Some welcome, some unwelcome, some tolerated. Hirayama’s cleaning partner Takashi (Tokio Emoto), a lazy, love-lorn millennial, is the latter. Hirayama rarely speaks to Takashi, even when directly addressed, yet shows indulgent affection for him. At one point, Hirayama allows Takashi to pull him away from his ritualistic routine. Over the course of the movie, you conclude that they work together every day. Yet Takashi’s appearances are sporadically woven in and out, highlighting that his presence is supplemental to Hirayama's daily routine. Actress Aoi Yamada gives an emotionally compelling performance, my favorite after Yakusho’s as Aya, Takashi’s would be girlfriend. Aya speaks almost as little as Hirayama, but Yamada gives emotional weight to her scenes, particularly when she listens to and connects with Hirayama’s cassette tapes. Those cassette tapes almost become a character in the way they provide a sense of emotional connection for the characters. Hirayama and Aya feel like souls connected by a similar weight. I was thrilled when Aya was allowed to wander from Hirayama’s life without a forced explanation. Choices like this are another piece of this tapestry of greatness. Wenders forgoing a traditional soundtrack is another. Instead, we get the quiet sounds of the city as Hirayama goes about his days. The significant concession to having a soundtrack is that Hirayama plays cassette tapes of popular Western music from the 60s and 70s when he drives. The song choices are brilliant, punctuating their scenes perfectly and often summarizing the events or emotions of the day. Especially good is the scene where Nina Simone’s achingly beautiful “Feeling Good” plays over a long close-up of Hirayama's face. It is arguably the best scene in the movie. The most detailed interruption to Hirayama’s daily routine is the sudden appearance of Niko (Arisa Nakano), a niece he has not seen in so long; he does not recognize her when she shows up on his doorstep. Nakano gives a good performance, but how she and Yakusho play off each other creates many of the best scenes. In one, they ride bikes and repeat a mantra back and forth in sing-song voices. As Hirayama and Niko ride off into the fading light, it is so intimate you know you have just witnessed a perfect day of the title. I felt the desire to freeze time and live right in that moment, at least for a little while. It takes a great movie to transport a viewer to such a place. Niko's arrival and departure start the final act of the movie. Like ripples in a pond from a dropped rock, further little disruptions echo into Hirayama's routine until we come to a brilliant penultimate scene that challenges the viewer to deeply consider what has come before. Hirayama Is not just the center of the movie. He is the whole thing, which is never more evident than in this scene. Yakusho gives an astonishing lead performance. He won best actor at Cannes in 2023. Early on, it is easy to see why, but for me, he could have won for this scene alone. It is one of the most powerful pieces of acting I have seen. Wender's choice not to fade to black from Yakusho’s face but to add a final shot of a literal ray of sunshine initially surprised me, and in the moment, I was a little disappointed. Upon reflection, I think Wenders made a good choice. The fade to black I was looking for would have completely changed the movie's tone, and upon reflection, I prefer it just how it is.
Where to watch
Not available for streaming. Rent from the usual suspects: Amazon, Apple, and YouTube.
Thoughts? Please weigh in!
Old Boy 2003
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If you look up visceral in the dictionary, you will find South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy. It is a heady trip of a movie that is spectacularly all over the place emotionally and visually. After an abrupt and exciting opening, we meet Oh De-sue (Choi Min-sik), who is drunkenly raving around a police station. Choi plays it so over the top that I wasn’t sure if the audience is supposed to laugh, especially when the scene goes on so long it gets awkward. By the time it’s over, we have a strong impression that De-sue is not a great dad and maybe a loser. He is certainly not the bold protagonist we witnessed in the opening scene. This begs the question, what happened to turn one version of the man into the other? The answer starts when suddenly and without explanation, De-sue finds himself locked in what looks like a plain hotel room with some very creative amenities geared towards keeping him right where he is. One of the movie’s strengths is that almost everything seems unbelievable initially, but it is taken seriously, so the audience takes it seriously. Then, upon further reflection, you realize that everything is horrifyingly plausible. We stay with De-sue as he is kept in the same room for 15 years and then suddenly released. It soon becomes clear that he is no more free than a rat released from a cage into a maze. A rat is a perfect metaphor because, during his captivity, De-sue becomes feral and determined to find out who locked him in a room for 15 years and why. This is where the fun begins but it is a distinctly dark kind of fun. There are memorable moments, scenes and villains. There is violence. Not a lot of the violence is over the top, but during one scene, I actually covered my eyes. Another time, I wish I could have covered my eyes, but the violence is off-screen, and now I am haunted by a sound no one who sees this film will soon forget. My response speaks to the visceral nature of the movie, and it is not just the violence. What Park has to say is equally challenging. Why De-sue was imprisoned is a two-part answer; it is a one-two punch to the gut that gets more shocking the more I think about it. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Director Park and his crew give the whole thing a virtuoso style and a visual flair that, at times, make the movie look like a real life nightmare playing out in a fairytale land. The see-saw of real and unreal does a lot to disbalance the viewer. It gives this nervy movie an edge. One is uses to slip into the psyche more than most manage. Choy’s brilliant performance is essential to the success of everything. From his first drunken scene through the five stages of grief, he processes well in confinement; he is excellent, but once he is out, he is fabulous. From his crazy hair down, De-sue looks and acts feral, practically howling at the screen and snapping at everything and everyone that comes near him. He is exactly like a trapped, frightened animal. You Ji-tae, who plays the villain, is equally good. Calm, cool and collected, he is a perfect counterpoint, and once you hear his side of things, you are forced to empathize even if you still think he is a monster. Monsters Park shows us, have feelings too. Trapped in the middle is Kang Hye-jung as Mi-Do, the lovely young woman who comes to De-sue’s aid and, of course, comes to love him. The film is engaging from the get go, but in the early stages, I did wonder if it would all collapse under the weight of over the top performances and a script filled with improbability, coincidence, and crazy moments. The performances prove more stable than they first appear, and the script, which was more puzzle than mystery, puts all the pieces together cleverly. Park keeps it right on the edge of out of control without going over. The end result is A Tour De Force not just of filmmaking but of humanity. Don’t let the subtitles deter you. This is a must watch for fans of awesome movies.
A note on the remake
I saw the same titled 2013 remake first. I did not know it was a remake. Like most Hollywood remakes, it was unnecessary. It is essentially the same movie with a less radical approach and toned-down moments, including an ending that is interesting but not nearly as bold. It is also worth noting that director Spike Lee and star Josh Brolin both criticized the final result, which the studio cut from Lee’s original edit. Had I known what I know now I never would have watched it. To be fair, I did enjoy the 2013 remake, but had I watched the original first, I would have been disappointed. The best thing about the remake is the revelation and it is the same one here. Not only does the revelation deserve to be seen in the original film, but it is handled much better in the original. There is no reason not to watch this superior in every way version.
Where to watch
Streaming on Crave. Rent from the usual suspects: Amazon, Apple, and YouTube.