Category: Narrative

By Joe Bendel. When they became sister cities, Verona and Ningbo (in east Zhejiang province) exchanged statues of Romeo & Juliet and Zhu Yanzhi & Liang Zhongshan, popularly known as the Butterfly Lovers. While the comparison between the two star-crossed couples was always apt, Jingle Ma cranks up the Shakespearean elements in The Assassin’s Blade, his romantic adaptation of Butterfly Lovers legend, which releases today on DVD and Blu-ray from Well Go USA.

Zhu has always led a sheltered life, but she longs to see the world. Suddenly she will have a bit of an opportunity. She is to study with the Soul Ease martial arts clan in a retreat high in the mountains. The order does not accept women, so she will have to pass as a man. Only her father’s old friend, Soul Ease’s healing practitioner, Herbal Head, knows her secret. Although they start off on the wrong foot, she soon forms a close bond with “Big Brother” Liang, the master’s top student.

It is all particularly confusing for him, given his inability to see through her clever disguise. Yet, viewers fully realize that they are predestined for each other, having appeared in each other dreams for years (though always seen from behind and slightly out of focus). Just when they start to get somewhere, her childhood friend “Brother” Ma Wencai appears to take Zhu home where news of their arranged marriage awaits. That’s just not going to work, especially considering Ma’s rather ruthless approach to love and war.

The first half of Blade channels Shakespeare’s comedies, particularly Twelfth Night’s cross-dressing romance. The pendulum swings to tragedy during the second half, directly invoking Romeo & Juliet. There is even a mysterious little McGuffin causing no end of complications. There was a time when Hollywood had a golden touch with romantic weepers, but these days Hong Kong and Chinese wuxia epics hold the overwhelming competitive advantage. Blade is a perfect example. Though viewers will suspect how it all must end, the film keeps us hoping otherwise – and audiences will likely be thoroughly satisfied by the poetic closing. It also delivers some pretty impressive swordplay, emphasizing the human weaknesses of the combatants -instead of making them nearly invulnerable supermen.

It is darn hard to believe that anyone could confuse Charlene Choi with a man. Regardless, as Zhu she is both vivacious and sincere. Wu Chun broods like mad opposite her and brings sufficient credibility to his action duties. Unfortunately, Hu Ge’s Brother Ma’s in-betweenness makes him too merciless to identify with, but too pathetic to cheer for his downfall.

While director Ma (perhaps best known as the cinematographer on some of Jackie Chan’s best known films) emphasizes the tale’s high literary tragedy, he keeps the pacing brisk and the action muscular. It all has a classy look in the tradition of Zhang Yimou epics that should appeal to fans of historical romance as much as martial arts fanatics. Recommended to general audiences as a thin edge of the wuxia wedge, The Assassin’s Blade (a.k.a. The Butterfly Lovers) is now available for home viewing from Well Go USA.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 2:16pm.

By Joe Bendel. A film ought to be just long enough to tell its story. While Hollywood has not conditioned audiences to think of short films as star vehicles, the better ones have much more power than a padded feature. In fact, several big name filmmakers found twenty minutes was about the right length to tell some important stories. As a result, those who follow the international festival scene will be particularly interested in a number of the short films selected for the 2013 Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York.

As an Academy Award winner, Danis Tanović is truly a filmmaker of international stature. A past alumnus of the festival with Cirkus Columbia, Tanović again revisits the Bosnian War and its painful aftermath. Amir survived the war, ultimately settling in Scandinavia. He has returned to Bosnia hoping to recover his parents’ remains, but sadly, reports of their discovery prove false. Revisiting his former hometown, he comes face to face with the war’s flesh-and-blood ghosts.

Not only is Baggage is more visually dynamic than Cirkus (thanks in part to cinematographer Erol Zubcevic’s stylish work), it taps into far deeper emotions. Despite his grim subject matter, Tanović portrays both sides of human nature, producing an unusually resonant film (that might just overshadow the feature it precedes).

The man known to friends as Zizi is no celebrity. He is a good-natured everyman, whose nickname is untranslatable in a family outlet such as this. Director Nedžad Begović however, also made the international festival rounds with Jasmina, another past BHFF selection. His simply but aptly titled documentary profile Zizi allows his subject to tell his story, through his own words and anecdotes. Zizi proudly proclaims his love for Italy, where he was sheltered as a teenager, but he returned to help forge a new Bosnia. Even more than Baggage, Zizi is a hopeful film—a quality that has sometimes been in short supply at previous festivals, for understandable reasons.

Ante Novaković has certainly worked behind the scenes of dozens of films viewers know quite well. For The Fix he also recruited a familiar face, Armand Assante, who portrays Vincent, a gangster kingpin nobody wants to have a sit-down with. Unfortunately, two incompetent thugs will have to have the big talk. Fix is not a groundbreaker, but it is entertaining. It is especially nice to see that Assante, Mike Hammer in 1982’s I, the Jury, can still bring his tough guy thing.

BHFF has a strong track record for programming shorts, but this year’s slate is especially notable. Very highly recommended, Tanović’s Baggage screens this Friday (5/10) with Krivina (a bit of a tougher sell) as part of Block #3. Upbeat and likable, Zizi screens later that same evening, as part of block #4. Perhaps the most commercial and accessible selection of any length, The Fix screens this Thursday (5/9) as part of Block #2. As always, BHFF is always one of the City’s friendliest and most welcoming festivals, showcasing some of the most serious and sensitively rendered films. Recommended as the cure for a Tribeca hangover, this year’s edition gets underway Thursday at the Tribeca Cinemas.

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 2:13pm.

By Joe Bendel. The cultural elite sure can get randy. Some of England’s greatest opera stars have come to perform in a high paying vanity production of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, but the real action happens after rehearsals in Christopher Menaul’s 1st Night, which opened yesterday in New York.

The fabulously wealthy Adam plans to show his shallow social circle he can truly sing opera with a special command performance at his country estate. Secretly, though, he really intends to use the production as a means of wooing Celia, a conductor he has long carried a torch for. Naturally, through a contrived misunderstanding, he concludes she is not as available as he hoped. In a sour mood, he makes a caddish bet with the social climbing tenor Tom regarding the soprano, Nicoletta. Of course, when the leads start falling for each other, the bet hangs over their romance like Damocles sword.

Meanwhile, fellow diva Tamsin is having dysfunctional issues with her husband, the director – while Debbie, a budding star, goes all D.H. Lawrence, toying with the earnest young groundskeeper’s affections. There will be assignations in the forest and all kinds of comedy of errors, but don’t worry, the show will go on.

After Luciano Pavarotti’s notorious Yes, Giorgio, it took almost thirty years for someone to cast another opera singer in a musical comedy. Some purists might say Sarah is too crossover-pop, but it seems strange regardless to watch her in a largely non-singing part. Still, she is reasonably spirited scolding and flirting with Richard E. Grant’s Adam. Grant basically falls back on his standard British Fraser Crane tool kit, but there is a reason that persona has worked so well for him.

Poor Emma Williams endures numerous embarrassments as Tamsin, while Oliver Dimsdale fares little better as her predictably problematic husband. For their part, Mia Maestro and Julien Ovenden look distinctly uncomfortable trying to pull off Nicoletta and Tom’s Moonlighting style courtship. At least Susannah Fielding adds some decorative value as Debbie and Nigel Lindsay exudes likability as the gay featured tenor Martin, which is frankly what 1st Night most aspires to.

1st Night (formerly First Night) is not terribly ambitious, largely content to parade some lovely scenery and an attractive cast past viewers. Of course, the music is great too, even if the singing is conspicuously dubbed. In a way, it is a lot like Quartet, except its characters are all hale and hearty (which precludes any cheap heart-string tugging). A distracting trifle, 1st Night opened yesterday (5/3) in New York at the Quad Cinema and is also available of VOD platforms.

LFM GRADE: C

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 12:46pm.

By Joe Bendel. A sailor is never particularly comfortable on land, even under the best circumstances. As a result, they are decidedly unsuited to dealing with system-rigging gangsters, or at least such was the case for one boy’s father in the hybrid short film A Grand Canal, which screens during the 2013 Columbia University Film Festival, an annual showcase for Columbia MFA students’ thesis films and screenplays.

The narrator tells us his father resembled and sounded like Chinese pop singer Liu Huan. Singing Liu’s signature tunes was one of the captain’s few pleasures that did not involve navigating the rivers and canals near their provincial port town. Largely an absentee father, his young son still idolizes him. Unfortunately, when the local “boss” refuses to pay an invoice, it jeopardizes his father’s small fleet.

One of the biggest surprises of Canal is the way it becomes a meditation on the healing potential of art (especially cinema). Ma frequently upends audience expectations, playing ironic games with the flashback structure. Yet, it never feels showy or excessively hipsterish. In fact, it is quite touching, in good measure due to a remarkable lead performance from Mei Song Shun, who delivers dignity and gravitas in spades. He can also sing.

Although Canal is set some twenty or so years in the past, its story remains quite timely as China struggles with increasingly predatory manifestations of crony-capitalism (within an avowed socialist system, which is quite the trick). It is quite an impressive looking production and a completely absorbing film. Highly recommended, A Grand Canal will doubtlessly intrigue China watchers but also resonate as a paternal drama. It screens tomorrow (5/4) at the Walter Reade Theater as part of Program C at this year’s Columbia University Film Festival. Southern Californians should also note details on the 2013 Los Angeles edition of the fest will be announced shortly.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 12:46pm.

By Joe Bendel. This must have been a hard pitch. One would suspect Henry James’ novel of narcissistic, self absorbed parents of privilege would hit close to home for many decision-makers working in the movie business (studio or indie, it hardly matters anymore). Yet somehow, the poor little rich girl will indeed wrestle with her parental issues in Scott McGehee & David Siegel’s What Maisie Knew, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Beale and Susanna are Maisie’s parents, if we can really use that word. He is a dodgy art dealer and she is an over-the-hill rock star angling for a comeback. Both are more interested in their careers than their daughter. When they think of Maisie, it is mostly as a potential club to bludgeon each other with during their divorce proceedings.

Since he is able to present a more stable front, Beale wins considerable custody rights. However, this is not all bad. He is also taking her nanny Margo as his trophy wife. She actually cares about Maisie, willingly giving her the time and attention she cannot get from her parents. Meanwhile, Susanna marries the working class Lincoln, apparently to have a live-in sitter for Maisie. Like Margo, he quickly develops a paternal affection for his step-daughter that the ragingly insecure Susanna perversely resents. Hmm, does anybody see the potential building blocks of a more functional family unit in here somewhere?

Poor Mrs. Wix. Maisie’s frumpy second nanny really gets the shaft from screenwriters Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright’s adaptation. While the James novel rebukes the shallow indulgence he considered endemic in society, McGehee and Siegel’s WMK seems to suggest blonds make better parents. The proceedings are also marked by a heightened class consciousness, with the nanny and bartender showing superior character than Maisie’s privileged biological parents.

Regardless of what James might think of his novel modernized and transported to New York, McGehee and Siegel have an unbeatable trump card in their young lead. As Maisie, Onata Aprile is completely unaffected and wholly engaging. She covers a wide emotional spectrum, carrying the audience every step of the way.

Likewise, Joanna Vanderham is charismatic and surprisingly vulnerable as Margo, while Alexander Skarsgård’s understated nice guy Lincoln is likable enough. Julianne Moore labors valiantly to humanize the self-centered and psychologically erratic Susanna, but Steve Coogan is largely stuck playing a caricatured straw-man as the arrogant Beale.

Maisie’s cast and co-director definitely stack the deck, but at least they do it thoroughly and compellingly. Viewers will absolutely care about the bright and precociously self-aware Maisie, which is the acid test for any film focused on a young protagonist. The upscale New York locations also add a dash of élan. Anchored by several well turned performances, What Maisie Knew is surprisingly satisfying. Recommended kind of affectionately for fans of literary melodrama, it opens tomorrow (5/3) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on May 2nd, 2013 at 11:31am.

By Joe Bendel. If you can’t afford the local wannabe Bates Motel, you can probably get hacked up for less at a bed & breakfast. B&B’s are homier and more personal. That’s why we stay in hotels. One quarreling Brooklyn couple checks into a Hudson Valley B&B largely out of spite and passive aggression. It would have been a terrible weekend anyway, but things take a deadly turn in screenwriter-director D.W. Young’s horror movie send-up The Happy House, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Hildie and her son Skip run the Happy House B&B with a strict set of rules their guests must abide by. Wendy would not be inclined to follow them even under the best of circumstances. Barely on speaking terms with her slacker boyfriend Joe (who had the bright idea to take this trip in the first place), she will be a somewhat difficult guest. Hildie will not appreciate that, not one little bit. She duly warns the couple that there are consequences for amassing “three strikes.”

Decidedly slow out of the blocks, Happy mostly forces its early attempts at laughs, but it makes an interesting pivot about halfway through. The red district (you can’t say “red state” in New York), gun-owning, God fearing rubes might not be as crazy as Wendy and Joe had first thought. Odder still, the film essentially evolves into what it had previously mocked, becoming a surprisingly presentable And then There were None style cat and mouse game.

Happy was shot within a functioning B&B in a region of New York State that had just been pummeled by Hurricane Irene, so it earns good karma for bringing some business to town. Indeed, the Happy House looks authentic and lived-in, because it was (Young and his co-leads even stayed there as guests during filming). The cuckoo clocks are also a nice touch, but it seems like there ought to be more taxidermy.

It is a bit overstuffed with colorful characters, though. Marceline Hugot brings considerable depth and nuance to the seemingly authoritarian Hildie. Likewise, Kathleen McNenny is a stitch as Linda, her leftwing English professor sister. However, Happy lays it on a bit thick with the absent-minded Swedish lepidopterist staying at the fateful B&B in hopes of finding a rare butterfly. Perhaps more problematically, Khan Baykal and Aya Cash just make a boring couple as Joe and Wendy.

In terms of execution, Happy is a dramatically mixed bag. The DIY look does not help much, either. Still, Young incorporates some interesting ideas, consistently avoiding or subverting clichés. It will not be a breakout film, but horror movie fans might enjoy the ways it tweaks genre conventions, especially an inspired bit at the climax. For the intrigued, The Happy House opens tomorrow (5/3) in New York at the Cinema Village.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on May 2nd, 2013 at 11:30am.