Weekly Media – Oriental Movies
I haven’t written in a while- the reasons are too dull to be detailed here. This week I’ve decided to review two largely ignored Oriental films. There is something I like about Oriental films in general; horror is generally more intense, action usually better choreographed, any quirkiness just quirkier. My preference is not influenced solely by racial bias’¦
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
A remake/mutation of the already bizarre ‘The Quiet Family’, Mike Takashi’s ‘The Happiness of the Katakuris’ is most definitely the quirkiest black comedy I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Simultaneously morbid and irrepressibly cheerful, it documents the plight of downsized urbanite Katakuri Masao who optimistically stakes his family’s livelihood on restoring a country inn in a remote location. Having shifted sweet wife Terue, senile father Jinpei, divorced daughter Shizue, troubled son Masayuki and inscrutable toddler granddaughter Utanômi to the bizarrely named ‘White Lovers’ Inn’, he waits for the construction of a major road nearby and the floods of customers which should follow. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that the anticipated road just isn’t going to materialise and the only customers that check in are of the sort that have an irritating habit of dying during their stay. Desperate to ensure the success of their business, the Katakuris persevere as a family and do their best to keep the deaths quiet, resorting to burying the bodies in the forest behind the house.
In addition to having a totally bizarre plot, ‘The Happiness of the Katakuris’ encompasses four different genres of film: Opening with a rather disturbing claymation of an unidentifiable angel/demon tearing out the uvula of a girl in a restaurant, Takashi incorporates horror and comedy elements with surreal musical interludes in between. The sight of a somewhat mild-mannered Japanese family reacting to their discovery of a gruesome death by bursting into song has to be seen to be properly appreciated and a scene involving their admirably vigorous attempt to dispose the corpse of an enormous sumo wrestler had me howling with laughter.
However, those who have appreciated Takashi’s previous works such as ‘Ichi the Killer’ and ‘Audition’ may find this film to be disappointing. Though the subject matter is undeniably morbid, perhaps as a result of the presence of a small child in the picture, Takashi has curbed his twisted imagination somewhat. The sometimes overlong musical numbers often take the edge off some of the gruesome imagery and the comical presentation of the scenarios prevent any sense of horror from developing. In fact, taken apart, each genre element is lacking in some way: the horror isn’t frightening; apart from the odd inspired one, the musical numbers are pretty forgettable; the claymation is at times used to mask low production values and the comedy, though sporadically hilarious, can border on the farcical. Thrown randomly together, however, these elements contribute towards making such a surreal hotchpotch, it’s easy to ignore some of the film’s more obvious flaws. Though if the unusual storyline alone appeals to you, I’d recommend watching the Korean original over this frantic, if very memorable, nonsense.
So Close (2002)
We have Asian directors such as Kar wai Wong, Yimou Zhang and Ang Lee to thank for the Western perception of modern far-eastern cinema. The entrance of some admittedly lovely films into our mainstream (Hero, Crouching Tiger, 2046 et al) seems to have created the impression that the Far East has the ability to churn out a range of invariably semi-highbrow, interestingly exotic flicks at an admirable rate. I am personally thankful that Cory Yuen’s ‘So Close’ never made a general cinematic release in the West since such an event would have shattered this illusion forever.
‘So Close’? is basically an Asian clone of the modern Charlie’s Angels films with added gore, better choreographed fight sequences and shameless Sapphic overtones. The plot involves two female assassins protecting their late father’s invention- technology that can infiltrate every closed-circuit monitoring system in the world- from gun-toting gangsters. It is as preposterous to watch as it sounds, a mere excuse for a succession of wire-aided martial arts fights interspersed with some mawkish Chinese soap opera-style drama in between.
Though it is unlikely to appeal to the high-minded, ‘So Close’? is unpretentious and at times, entertaining. The opening sequence is close to being inspired: a beautiful assassin enters a shiny high-rise and proceeds to calmly eviscerate an army of bad guys to the strains of The Carpenters’ ‘Close to you’. The closing three-way brawl featuring guns, knives and bamboo is pretty visceral and more imaginatively choreographed than most Hollywood fodder. A twist that occurs in the middle of the film is genuinely unexpected and things improve dramatically as a result afterwards (clue: a really irritating main character dies a painful death).
However, some major issues render ‘So Close’ almost unwatchable at times. The dialogue is gut-wrenchingly dreadful which certainly isn’t helped by the extremely mixed acting quality. The tinny soundtrack is invariably appalling- though the semi-titular ‘Close to you’ provides an interesting contrast to the gory action at the start of the film, Yuen insists on shoehorning it into every other scene of the film which kills its novelty value somewhat. Lastly, the aforementioned lesbianism: though some form of cheap titillation is inevitable in female ‘superhero’ movies, here the lack of subtlety is so shameless, it can be jarring. At the risk of sounding prudish, a scene involving two sisters engaging in a ‘playful’ post-bathtime wrestling match made me feel uncomfortably voyeuristic; a feeling that was only heightened by the fact that I was unfortunately watching this film with my father. Yuen’s attempts to develop sexual tension between Hentai schoolgirl-type Vicki and tough-as-nails cop Hong is clumsy and contrived. Unlike the quietly impressive ‘My Summer of Love’, ‘So Close’ is not a film intelligent enough to handle such themes without getting crude. Considering the plot of ‘So Close’ involves girls kicking the shit out of big, scary guys, the film certainly doesn’t come across as being very female-empowering. Women should therefore steer clear. Highly recommended for those with Asian girl fetishes though.
“Hentai schoolgirl-type”?!?!? Waaaaaah. I’ll stick with Shogun Assassin and The Defender, thank you very much (OK so I’ll stick with a great many more than that, but a list would be effortful).