moribana

Batman Begins surpasses the original Superman as my favorite superhero film. While I expected it to be good, seeing the pedigree of the director and acting, this one separates itself from the pack in that it directly takes on two fundamental human concerns, fear and justice. Entertainment should be enlightening as well as well as fun, and while its not Shakespeare, Batman Begins makes a good stab at bringing fear and justice out into the open so the audience can reflect on them.

The acting was really top notch in this one, from Morgan Freeman's sly gadgeteer to Michael Caine's pitch perfect Alfred. I thought Katie Holmes was excellent as the DA as well, and I cannot quite understand why others are dissatisfied with her. I have not seen her in anything else. Perhaps others are having trouble with past images? Gary Oldman is perfect as usual. Cillian Murphy is a chilling villain with absolutely ice cold blue eyes. Then there is Liam Neeson, who is just marvelous. Very few actors can portray mature strength and intelligence with the authority he can. Such a shame he could not play Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films. He would have made an enormous difference to their stature.

Then there is Christian Bale, becoming Batman and Bruce Wayne so surely you are greatly troubled to even remember any acting is going on. Much credit must go to the excellent script as well, but overall the wonderful acting in this film is just a joy to watch.

As good as almost every element is, I have a few complaints that force me to knock off a star.

1) For some reason the abominable POV shaky action camera is used. Modern directors like to say this is more "realistic". I like to think it just saves them the trouble of choreography. Fortunately there are few melee's in this film so its not a huge detraction, but if a stable distant camera was used during the fight scenes, intelligible fighting would have been yet another notch in the belt of this great film. Instead, we have the usual modern action film foggy mush during battle.

2) Soundtrack quite mediocre and uninspired, though its not intrusive.

3)Overdone action mayhem just gets tedious in my eyes, but then this is a so called "summer blockbuster" so no doubt Chris Nolan is trying to dispel any ideas that he is some art-house outsider. Again, not too much of this, but the endless train crash comes to mind as something just in there for summer 150mill budget sake.

Overall however, a stellar effort. If you like intelligent films, your action with a hefty dose of realism, movies that explore philosophical principles, chilling noirish city scapes, great acting, tight direction, or just a good story...you won't be disappointed in Batman Begins.

The fire gives all...

This is one of film's most masterful meditations on artistry. Set in 19th century Korea it tells the story of the famous painter Ohwon, but rather than stick to saucy anecdote, melodrama, or psychological egg hunting, it portrays a series of episodes throughout his life, all of which are beautiful works of art in themselves. It gives no interpretation of these episodes, but leaves them for the viewer to ponder along with the paintings of Ohwon himself. In this way, the viewer enters into the same sort of contemplation as Ohwon, and minus his talent can "feel" their way into the inspiration of his paintings.

Part of why this is so effective is the utterly masterful evocation of 19th century Korea and the musical/artistic world that Ohwon moved in. There are so many gorgeous shots of the world outside the paintings that we get a mirror effect where we see the beautiful world inspiring Ohwon, Ohwon living and looking in that world, and the works of art he creates, all mirroring off one another.

The story is told with extreme economy. A feeling evoked is hardly ever lingered with or explained, it just appears quickly then is gone for the next one to appear. As an analogy it is a sort of Mozartian work of art (endless and quick succession of great ideas) rather than Beethovinian (Obsessive lingering on one great idea). It has a classical restraint, much like Ohwon's paintings. There is really no music hinting how to feel except a few classical Korean pieces used with great effectiveness in several scenes (and mostly played by characters in the movie). One haunting image, if I remember correctly, is of a flock of birds soaring away over the blue mountains while a female singer croons

"This life is like a dream, and only death will awaken us"

One telling line of advice in the film, from one of Ohwon's teachers, is that "the painting lies between the strokes." The film follows that attitude as there is so much matter *between* what is spoken and described in the film. I have seen it twice and it was very rewarding on the second viewing. A very terse film, with little in the way of obvert explanation, one could see how it is Im's 96th film. It is an artistic masterwork. Like Ohwon's great friend and mentor tells him in describing one of his paintings, "Not a single stroke is wasted."

I compare it to Andrei Rubylev in quality, though in style it is very different. It is much easier and more directly entertaining to watch, but classical in form where Andrei is gothic.

All in all highly recommended to almost anyone except appetite junkies. Both times I left the film I felt a wonderful spiritual renewal.

One point of Ohwon's life that intruiged me was that his mad drinking and raving began suddenly after visiting the noble who told him that "Good art can come only from great knowledge and learning." The next brief scene Ohwon was very angry, and the next blasted drunk as he often remained for the remainder of the film. I am curious why the nobles words effected him so much and drove him to the drinking that dominated the rest of his life. Or was it just a coincidence?

This film could have been fabulous, but rather weak direction and a mediocre budget drops it to the "Good" category in my book.

Its chief attraction is the wonderful world of Buddhist sorcery that it conjures up, sorcerers chanting macabre spells in contest with each other in chants of increasing tension and beauty. Central to the plot is the relationship of the enigmatic magician Abe no Seimei (Holmes) and his young "ii otoko" apprentice Minamoto no Hiromaki, strolling around Heian Kyoto solving mysterious magical crimes.

Abe no Seimei and all his graceful rituals is a joy to watch and hear. Mansai Nomura really get top acting chops here for creating a wonderfully wierd and brilliant magician with an unforgettable grin like a sly fox. His contests with the equally well acted Doson (Hiroyuki Sanada) are the heights of the film in my opinion.

There is so much wonderful magic in this film, it is hard to say why it is not totally satisfying. The costumes are brilliant, but many of the sets look a bit shoddy. The story starts out complex and mysterious but then sort of falls into one dimensional "end of the world" boredom. Nomura and Sanada are brilliant, but many of the other actors can be amateurish. Overall it was hard to put my finger on, but I blamed the direction and cinematography most. There just was so much here that could have made a masterpiece, but one left with mixed feelings.

Highly recommended though despite its flaws. If the idea of seeing 11th century Kyoto YinYang master magicians duel it out in all their occult glory fascinates you, don't miss this.