supernova88
Joined May 2000
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Reviews9
supernova88's rating
I thought Durian Durian was an exceptionally charming film. I believe that in this film Fruit Chan has done what lots of movies fail to do, which is to take on a stereotype character, deal with it and then present its flip side in such a humanising and tender way.
The film is largely about a Chinese call girl in HK, and her exploits are seen through the eyes of a little girl living in the back lanes where the call girl works. while this makes for a half-decent premise, Chan takes the film on an arc midway, just as one begins to settle into the setting and characters, and the film begins to explore a richer, subtler and charming side to this girl's life.
The film starts off feeling very urban - the camera is often hand-held, its movements rapid and its compositions documentary like and voyeuristic. however, as the characters unfold and become more and more well-rounded, so too does Chan's visual style. the cinema verity feel is replaced with a measured, elegant style. stillness and lush winter photography dominate, and by the time the picture ends, one has the feeling of being transported to an entirely different place, seeing before one, an entirely different character.
I enjoyed this film, very, very much. the manner in which it handled the character of the sympathetic prostitute reminds me very much of Jean-luc Godard's treatment of Nana Kleinfrankenheim in Vivre Sa Vie - it was measured, not sappy, in some ways magical, in other ways thoroughly real.
Trust me. this is a good, good film.
The film is largely about a Chinese call girl in HK, and her exploits are seen through the eyes of a little girl living in the back lanes where the call girl works. while this makes for a half-decent premise, Chan takes the film on an arc midway, just as one begins to settle into the setting and characters, and the film begins to explore a richer, subtler and charming side to this girl's life.
The film starts off feeling very urban - the camera is often hand-held, its movements rapid and its compositions documentary like and voyeuristic. however, as the characters unfold and become more and more well-rounded, so too does Chan's visual style. the cinema verity feel is replaced with a measured, elegant style. stillness and lush winter photography dominate, and by the time the picture ends, one has the feeling of being transported to an entirely different place, seeing before one, an entirely different character.
I enjoyed this film, very, very much. the manner in which it handled the character of the sympathetic prostitute reminds me very much of Jean-luc Godard's treatment of Nana Kleinfrankenheim in Vivre Sa Vie - it was measured, not sappy, in some ways magical, in other ways thoroughly real.
Trust me. this is a good, good film.
i was disappointed. i very much wanted to like this film as i'd like to hope high for Malaysian films. first the good - m nasir was very good. he met my expectation and handled a tedious script to his very best. sofia jane was excellent. if the stories that jaquelina instructed the removal of lots of jane's scenes are true (to take out screen "competition"... jaquelina co-produced this with her husband) then it is regrettable. it's just a rumor, but one does wonder why an excellent performer and performance ended up so maligned. moving on, the production values are all excellent. great set, nice cinematography, nice costumes... editing style was fine, though the decision to drag it out to 145 minutes was certainly ill-chosen.
now the bad. tiara jaquelina was really not fit to play this role. she is so limited, so one-dimensional and so wooden. she doesn't exude the grace nor the natural beauty demanded of the role, nor does she poses a voice (a bit croaky, isn't it?) to perform lengthy verses of spoken word poetry kinda dialogue and voice over. inevitable that she was the lead actress but deeply, deeply flawed decision for the film.
poor characterisation. didn't feel for them all. m nasir tries and succeeds somewhat to elicit a response from me but the rest of the leading cast are all cardboards. i'll blame the scriptwriter for this. just too much screen time for everyone but the film doesn't work hard enough to develop character, narrative and a love for the world. it's so easy already because everything's in place: great set, great story, great characters. in the end it just became a bad tiara star vehicle.
that's why i'm so disappointed.
now the bad. tiara jaquelina was really not fit to play this role. she is so limited, so one-dimensional and so wooden. she doesn't exude the grace nor the natural beauty demanded of the role, nor does she poses a voice (a bit croaky, isn't it?) to perform lengthy verses of spoken word poetry kinda dialogue and voice over. inevitable that she was the lead actress but deeply, deeply flawed decision for the film.
poor characterisation. didn't feel for them all. m nasir tries and succeeds somewhat to elicit a response from me but the rest of the leading cast are all cardboards. i'll blame the scriptwriter for this. just too much screen time for everyone but the film doesn't work hard enough to develop character, narrative and a love for the world. it's so easy already because everything's in place: great set, great story, great characters. in the end it just became a bad tiara star vehicle.
that's why i'm so disappointed.
The Returner rips off the Matrix from the very first frame to the last. Everything from leather trench coats to stylish hail of bullets, dark glasses, flying shootouts, and of course, bullet-time has been duly burgled from its all too evident hero of a film. In fact, the style of the film is so closely linked to the Matrix that one wonders why the filmmakers even bother. The Returner succeeds most when the lead character played by Takeshi Kaneshiro displays his uncool sides: he's a bit of a whiner, embarrassed of his accomplice, and at times, almost a loser/antihero. This, however, is incongruent when matched against scenes of heroic gunfire, dodging bullets (yes) and all-too-cool turn-and-shoot fight choreography.
The story-line is as simple as it is predictable: a girl returns from the future with the knowledge of alien-wars that are to come. She arrives in October 2002 with the mission of nipping the alien invasion in the bud, and enlists criminal-with-a-heart Takeshi Kaneshiro. Much of the film relies on highly improbable scientific situations that really stretch the believability and credibility of the sci-fi aspect of the film. In one scene a baby alien is held captive by Korean authorities (now that's a foreseeable prospect!) under such insecure conditions that the villain, being shown the creature for the first time, actually gets to strangle the poor thing and shoot at it. The girl from the future has a device that gives the wearer limited-time high-speed movements, yet one wonders why a tool like this isn't more often deployed in situations of massive gunfire (after wondering, one arrives at the conclusion that the device is merely a weak excuse for Matrix-like bullet-time scenes). In another instance, the scruffy girl with a 72 hour mission gets a makeover at a stylish boutique. and later laments failing in her mission by a matter of seconds. The logic is always a several pounds too weak.
Kaneshiro, in all fairness, looks completely the part. He can be cool when he needs to be, and foolish yet likeable as well. If only the cool parts didn't demand such proximity to Neo, Kaneshiro could have been a cool hero on his own terms. In the end, this is a film with a lot of flash but absolutely nothing to bite into. With the releases of Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions on the horizon, be ready for many years more of this unhealthy trend. Hollow style. hollow unoriginal style.
1½ Stars
The story-line is as simple as it is predictable: a girl returns from the future with the knowledge of alien-wars that are to come. She arrives in October 2002 with the mission of nipping the alien invasion in the bud, and enlists criminal-with-a-heart Takeshi Kaneshiro. Much of the film relies on highly improbable scientific situations that really stretch the believability and credibility of the sci-fi aspect of the film. In one scene a baby alien is held captive by Korean authorities (now that's a foreseeable prospect!) under such insecure conditions that the villain, being shown the creature for the first time, actually gets to strangle the poor thing and shoot at it. The girl from the future has a device that gives the wearer limited-time high-speed movements, yet one wonders why a tool like this isn't more often deployed in situations of massive gunfire (after wondering, one arrives at the conclusion that the device is merely a weak excuse for Matrix-like bullet-time scenes). In another instance, the scruffy girl with a 72 hour mission gets a makeover at a stylish boutique. and later laments failing in her mission by a matter of seconds. The logic is always a several pounds too weak.
Kaneshiro, in all fairness, looks completely the part. He can be cool when he needs to be, and foolish yet likeable as well. If only the cool parts didn't demand such proximity to Neo, Kaneshiro could have been a cool hero on his own terms. In the end, this is a film with a lot of flash but absolutely nothing to bite into. With the releases of Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions on the horizon, be ready for many years more of this unhealthy trend. Hollow style. hollow unoriginal style.
1½ Stars