4. Joe Bendel – Page 286 – LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

Thai Bikini Zombie Attack: LFM Reviews Dead Bite @ The 2012 New York Asian Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. If a group of bikini-clad women are attacked by marauding zombies, you are apt to see a lot of bikini-clad zombies before long. That inescapable logic is pretty much the guiding principle for Joey Boy’s Dead Bite (trailer here), which screens with authority during the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival.

Joey Boy is a Thai rapper, who convinced his group, Gankor Club, to play themselves in his scrappily independent zombie-mermaid religious cult movie, probably with the help of their co-stars’ wardrobe. Due to the framing device, we know Gankor Club’s latest gig went profoundly wrong. Basically, it was supposed to be the old three hour cruise, shooting promotional videos while partying with some gorgeous women. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong isle: Mermaid Island.

The first clue would be the marine zombies shambling out of the waves. Trying to take refuge inland, they run smack into the Forest Goddess, who rules her Mermaid sect through fear and sexual tension. Of course, Joey Boy and his mates had no idea what they were stumbling into. Yet, for some reason inexplicably connected to WWII, Japanese tourist Miyuki intentionally came to Mermaid Island to plunder a mermaid mummy. It might hold the secret of immortality or something. Meanwhile, the Gankor dudes are dying like flies and then popping up again as the undead.

Dead Bite is sort of like a Piranha 3D, except it is 2D and Thai, both of which make it way cooler. Evidently, Joey Boy and Gankor Club are the real deal in Thailand and also have major cred with their American counterparts. As actors they certainly do not seem very self-conscious, throwing themselves into their Scooby and Shaggy roles with admirable energy.

As an auteur, Joey Boy keeps it all quite snappy. There is also a strange postmodern aspect to his self-referential story that might be purely accidental. Of course, Dead Bite would not be possible without its game supporting cast of attractive women, including Kumiko Sugaho and Lakana Wattanawongsiri as Miyuki and the Forest Goddess, respectively, whose contributions are obvious. Despite all the lunacy and ogling, they more or less maintain their dignity throughout. Surely their next stop will be Cannes with Joe “Uncle Boonmee” Weerasethakul.

It is nice to see a director’s vision up on-screen, knowing he made exactly the film he intended. Gleefully manic and unabashedly randy (in a PG-13 sort of way), Dead Bite is everything a zombie beach movie ought to be. Just good, clean, blood-splattered fun, it is highly recommended for fans of a wide array of B-movies when it screens next Friday (7/6) and the following Wednesday (7/11) as this year’s NYAFF continues at the Walter Reade Theater.

Posted on July 2nd, 2012 at 1:29pm.

LFM Reviews The King of Pigs @ The 2012 New York Asian Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. If the professional worrywarts really wanted to end bullying, they would start subsidizing karate lessons for the small and less assertive, but it seems they’d rather wring their hands—on national TV. Yes, it is a problem in many cases, but the peculiarly American disinclination toward hierarchy is a positive countervailing influence. This is not necessarily the case in Korea. What we might call bullying is the institutionalized order of things in Yeun Sang-ho’s thematically mature animated feature, The King of Pigs (trailer here), which screens during this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

As King opens, it appears safe to say two formerly bullied grown adults have not broken the chain of abuse. Both Hwang Kung-min and Jung Jong-suk are having bad days—lives might be more accurate. Finding himself at a particularly low point, Hwang reaches out to Jung, whom he has not talked to in years. Eventually, we will learn why they drifted apart.

Hwang wants to talk about Kim Chul, the mysterious transfer student they befriended in their middle school years. Though they came from different backgrounds, Hwang and Jung were both “Pigs,” the proles of their school, who were merciless picked on by the ruling “Dogs,” by virtue of their superior social status or brute strength. An outsider in every sense, Kim threatens their established order like a violently rage-stoked James Dean.

King of Pigs 2 — From "The King of Pigs."

For obvious reasons, Hwang and Jung fall under the spell of their rebellious protector. However, the deck is stacked against Kim by the Dogs and their enablers. As he realizes the futility of his position, Kim really starts to get dark and stormy.

This is no after school special. King easily features some of the festival’s most brutal beatdowns. Playing the Battle Royale would be like a reprieve for these kids. Yet, as surely exaggerated as it must be, one cannot help but feel that Yeun is tapping into something very real and deep in his countrymen’s collective psyche.

While at times hallucinatory, Yeun’s animation is mostly straight forward and in the viewer’s face, keeping the film rooted in a sense of urgency. His characters are profoundly flawed and painfully human. Actions have consequences that ripple outward, impacting others, years after the fact. There is also no small degree of class warfare at play, notwithstanding Hwang’s relatively well-to-do, but socially shunned Karaoke owning family. Yet viewers can also see how Jung’s class envy metastasizes into something quite ugly and anti-social.

Holding the distinction of being the first Korean animated feature to screen at Cannes, the angry but cinematic King is absolutely not for children. It lands a heck of a punch though. Despite the somewhat inconsistent pacing, it is viscerally effective. Recommended for hardy animation fans, The King of Pigs screens as part of the 2012 NYAFF this coming Saturday (7/7) and Sunday (7/8), with screenwriter-director Yeun in attendance both dates.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on July 2nd, 2012 at 1:25pm.

LFM Reviews War of the Arrows @ The 2012 New York Asian Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Sure China invaded Korea, but it was all for the sake of greater regional stability. The year is 1636 and only an unemployable archer with an attitude problem stands between Joseon and an army of Manchurian invaders in Kim Han-min’s War of the Arrows, which screens tomorrow during the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival.

Choi Nam-yi and his sister Ja-in should not be alive. When their father is wrongfully branded a traitor, they barely escape to the home of his lifelong friend, who raises them in secret. Unable to live a productive public life, the grown Choi becomes a sullen slacker, wasting his life with his Falstaffian cronies. He only excels at one thing: archery.

In contrast, his sister has fallen in love with Kim Seo-goon, the son of their protector. Believing they can lead a normal existence together, Kim has convinced his parents to allow their marriage. Unfortunately, the Qing army happens to choose their wedding day for their invasion. They only make one mistake, scooping up Choi’s sister and new brother-in-law along with the rest of their prisoners. Somewhat put out by this, Choi dogs the returning Qing forces, becoming a guerrilla army of one. Of course, the trail of arrow-impaled bodies he leaves in his wake attracts the attention of an elite company of archers led by the seriously hardnosed Jyushinta.

A commanding screen presence, Ryoo Syeung-ryong makes quite the villain as the relentless Jyushinta. He seethes with authority and projects a quiet sense of menace perfect for his role as the Qing commando leader. While Park Hae-il’s Choi lacks a similar gravitas, he is a convincing action figure, letting the arrows fly as he careens through the forest.

War is one fierce archery film. Those who considered Hawkeye the biggest take-away from The Avengers are in for a treat. This is warfighting at its most personal level. Though already available on DVD, War of the Arrows is the sort of film that should be a blast to watch with an appreciative NYAFF audience when it finally gets an overdue New York ovation tomorrow. Well worth seeing on a big screen, it would have also made a good 3-D fixer-upper (unlike say, Clash of the Titans), considering how many projectiles come flying out towards the audience. Like the best action historicals, War of the Arrows is both high tragedy and a total blast. Enthusiastically recommended, it screens Friday night (6/29) at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the intrepid 2012 NYAFF.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 28th, 2012 at 3:21pm.

The Young Inspector Morse: LFM Reviews Endeavour

By Joe Bendel. Consider it a portrait of the curmudgeon as a young man. Inspector Morse would make a name for himself as the prickly but refined Chief Inspector with a taste for opera and poetry. However, in 1965, Endeavour Morse was an Oxford drop-out just hoping to catch on with the Thames Valley force after a stint in the military. His first case will be difficult, bringing him back to his former college in Endeavour, the one-off Inspector Morse prequel, premiering this coming Sunday on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery.

Mary Tremlett, a local school girl, has been murdered and her former lover, an Oxford student, has committed suicide. It is supposed to look like an open-and-shut affair, but the details do not quite fit. Constable Morse’s inquiry leads him to the faculty member tutoring Tremlett (under questionable circumstances), who happens to be married to Morse’s favorite opera diva.

Though preoccupied on several fronts, Morse doggedly follows the clues leading to sleazy car dealer with half the force in his pocket. To proceed, he will need the career-risking assistance of his prospective mentor, the somewhat Morse-like Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, who drives a Jaguar and has little patience for his colleagues’ corruption.

For a television mystery, Endeavour is fairly successful at misdirecting viewers, despite dropping some fairly obvious clues. It also comes fully approved and vouched for, featuring a cameo appearance from Morse author Colin Dexter, as well as Abigail Thaw, the daughter of the late John Thaw (the star of the original Morse series), appearing briefly as the editor of the Oxford newspaper. Frankly, it seems strange that Endeavour was initially produced as a one-shot, much like the Morse spin-off, Inspector Lewis, but in each case the viewers have clearly spoken. A full four episode season of Endeavour is reportedly already in the works.

Endeavor2 — Shaun Evans as Endeavour Morse.

In his eponymous first outing, Shaun Evans looks appropriately awkward and earnest as Constable Morse, but it will be interesting to see how the character and his performance evolve over time. Indeed, it is easy to understand how this early case would appreciably contribute to his disillusionment. Fortunately, Roger Allam (who once played a suspect on the flagship Inspector Morse) provides plenty of color as the flamboyant but principled DI Friday. The only real weaknesses on Constable Morse’s maiden voyage are his suspects, who are a rather bland lot, in an English upper crust sort of way.

Sure to please the preexisting base, Endeavour should also appeal to viewers of PBS period dramas. There is definitely a sense of nostalgia here that should help the prequel series establish its own discrete identity. An entertaining feature length murder mystery that has plenty of potential for growth (again, much like Lewis before it), Endeavour is easily recommended for Brit TV fans when it airs this Sunday (7/1) on most PBS stations nationwide.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on June 28th, 2012 at 3:19pm.

LFM Reviews Nameless Gangster @ The 2012 New York Asian Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Though still a young democracy, by the early 1990’s the South Korean government had run out of patience with the unchecked lawlessness of organized crime. Choi Ik-hyun became one of their top targets. He did not look like much of a criminal, but he was very organized. It is time to get your gangland beatdowns on as the New York Asian Film Festival comes roaring in with a whole new slate of fresh selections. Yun Jong-bin’s Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time will deliver plenty of said when it screens at the 2012 festival this Saturday.

Choi is a low level customs inspector, corrupt in the pettiest of ways. His family was once wealthy and respected, but their fortunes have fallen. However, he remains hyper-connected amongst the larger Choi clan hierarchy. Stumbling across a shipment of heroin, Choi parlays it and his surname into a business relationship with the Busan mob’s top gun, Choi Hyung-bae.

This Choi looks the part of a gangster. Though initially skeptical of the doughier Choi, the steely cool gangster comes to appreciate the value of the older man’s connections and his skill at exploiting them. For a while, they become a very profitable team. However, Choi Ik-hyun’s greed and vanity will lead him to flirt with his “god-son’s” chief rival, Kim Pan-ho, destabilizing their alliance. Gangsters always do that kind of thing.

Nameless is far broader in scope than a mere series of gangland rumbles. Nonetheless, when the Choi and Kim factions start bashing each other fifty shades of black and blue, it is quite impressively cinematic. Still, Yun is more concerned with the zeitgeist of the time, the ROK’s years of transitional democracy, while depicting the base cunning of a wanna-be consigliere.

Indeed, special festival guest Choi Min-sik is quite compelling as his slovenly namesake. It might sound like a role quite removed from the ferocious serial killer he played in I Saw the Devil. Yet both characters are small men who react desperately when their method of empowerment is threatened. However, it is Ha Jung-woo who really makes a lasting impression. Icily fatalistic, but not without the capacity for explosive rage, his Choi Hyung-bae is exactly the sort of performance that makes great gangster films tick. Likewise, Kim Seong-gyoon has a nice flair for ruthless and reckless villainy as the younger’s Choi’s lead enforcer.

It’s been a while since there was a mob movie with the sweep and ambition of Nameless. It certainly is good to have another one. Despite the wider historical context, Yun keeps the action gritty and violent. It is a big picture, but it has a tight focus. Enthusiastically recommended, it screens this Saturday (6/30) and next Tuesday (7/3) as part of the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on June 25th, 2012 at 11:40pm.

LFM Reviews Unforgivable

By Joe Bendel. Evidently Venice is a lot like New York. You will find a lot of writers and realtors there. One fateful day, a French mystery novelist walks into a former fashion model’s real estate agency. It will be the start of a very complicated relationship for the lead characters in André Téchiné’s latest pseudo-thriller, Unforgivable, which opens this Friday in New York.

There seems to be an inverse relationship between Francis’s creative productivity and his domestic happiness. He came to Venice to write in seclusion, but took up with Judith instead. At least she had the perfect rental for him: a secluded old villa on the island of Sant’Erasmo. Happy with his new home and lover, Francis has not written a word in months. Fortunately or unfortunately, that will all change when his ostensibly grown daughter Alice comes to visit.

Either to get back at Francis or her vastly more responsible ex, Alice disappears without warning, apparently taking up with a penniless aristocratic drug dealer. Not inclined to let things be, Francis hires the half-retired private detective Anna Maria, Judith’s former lover turned awkward platonic friend, to shadow his daughter across the continent. As Francis’s escalating emotional neediness turns to jealousy, he hires Anna Maria’s delinquent son to shadow Judith in turn.

Based on Philippe Djian’s novel, Unforgivable is a perfect example of Téchiné’s knack for skirting the boundaries of the thriller genre without fully crossing over. He toys with plenty of noir conventions, such as a mysterious disappearance, a smarmy underworld figure, and a whole lot of skulking about the streets of Venice. Yet Téchiné is more concerned with his characters’ extreme emotions—the passion, jealousy, and contempt driving their actions.

Perfectly cast as Francis, André Dussollier projects the appropriate sophistication, arrogance, and insecurity, while still connecting with something fundamentally human and sympathetic about the character. However, the real pleasure of Unforgivable is seeing Carole Bouquet (the most under-appreciated “Bond Girl” ever, from the pinnacle film of the Roger Moore era, For Your Eyes Only) as Judith, the mature femme fatale. Indeed, it is a smart, delicately calibrated performance.

Capitalizing on the mysterious Venetian backdrop, Unforgivable is like a film noir for those who avoid on-screen violence and cynicism. It is literate and worldly, yet compassionately forgiving of its characters’ self-defeating foibles (title notwithstanding). Highly recommended for French film connoisseurs, it opens this Friday (6/29) in New York at the IFC Center downtown and the Beekman Theatre uptown.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 25th, 2012 at 11:39pm.