Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Saw three SIFF films today, which pretty much used up the entire day (and involved lots of sitting in traffic, standing in line, etc.). Here’s the mini-report:
Pistol Opera - Seijun Suzuki’s “sequel” (35 years later) of his classic Branded to Kill. This was possibly the most confusing movie I’ve ever seen, though it certainly was beautiful to look at. It had all of the eccentricities of the earlier film, without any of the coherence, and was shot in brilliant technicolor (Branded was black and white). A nice performance from ESUMI Makiko as the hardboiled assassin-protagonist chica. (5/10)
Monkey Love - a charming indie romantic comedy, shot in digital. The projection left a little to be desired, with blocky, low resolution NTSC (converted from a PAL master), but after awhile it was easy to tune it out and just enjoy the story. Well-acted, well-written, and very entertaining. matter eater lad, Valerie and Klar all agreed. Afterwards, there was a short Q&A with some of the cast and crew. I love SIFF. (8/10)
Hi, Dharma - A fun, fun fish-out-of-water comedy from South Korea, involving a group of gangsters who hide out in a mountain monastery. Most of the film deals with the friction between the monks and the hoodlums, both groups having a hard time dealing with the situation they’ve fallen into. A good natured, hilarious flick (with some action thrown in too). (8/10)
No more movies until Friday. Phew!
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