Category: Narrative

By Joe Bendel. He is not exactly a budding Walter White. His partner is more daring, but her willingness to sample their goods does not bode well. Thanks to Burma’s economic stagnation, the young protagonists are willing make some very problematic choices in Midi Z’s Ice Poison, which screens during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

When we first meet the former farmer, he is so poor, Midi Z’s screenplay does not even grant him a proper name. With prices for their vegetables tumbling, the man and his father hock the family cow to buy a scooter. The old man seems to think there is good money to be made shuttling people home from the local bus depot, but proper cabs take most of that business. His surly son can only scuffle odd delivery jobs. However, that might be just what Sanmei needs.

Tricked into an involuntary marriage in China, Sanmei has been granted leave to bury her failing grandfather. Even though she left behind a child in Yunnan, she has no intention of returning. Determined to make some real money, she gets involved with her drug dealing cousin. Her deal with the scooter driver is simple. If he does the driving, she will handle all the exchanges, giving him a healthy cut for his efforts. They might not be Bonnie and Clyde, but we can all assume they are headed in a similar direction. Yet despite their reckless behavior, Midi Z would not have us judge them harshly. After all, they have taken some pretty drastic steps to secure legitimate work, only to be disappointed at every step.

Arguably, Ice is an unusually ambitious film, grappling with at least two and a half hot button issues. Obviously, Midi Z shines a light on Burma’s drug related social pathologies. He also directly addresses the plight of migrant workers, particularly with respects to bait-and-switch white slavery. Finally, Poison drops intriguing, if under-developed, hints regarding the extent secular modernity has challenged cultural and religious traditions. As a case in point, Sanmei’s return from China was delayed so she could retrieve her grandfather’s burial clothes, which had to be secretly buried themselves to survive the Cultural Revolution.

The Burma-born, Taiwan-based Midi Z is almost a one-man dynamo for the nascent Burmese film business (and they do call their nation Burma, rather than “Myanmar”). His eye for visuals has sharpened considerably since Return to Burma. However, the narrative balance is a bit out of whack. He spends considerably more time establishing the crumminess of the two protagonists’ lives than building suspense around their illicit trade. Still, the closing scene will knock the wind out of audiences, vividly reminding us just who the biggest loser is amidst this tale of woe.

Given her frequent collaborations with Midi Z, Wu Ke-xi probably qualifies as the first lady of Burmese cinema. In a chilling performance, she conveys both desperate vulnerability as well as nihilistic inclinations. In contrast, Wang Shin-hong is almost too reserved as the scooter-driver, even making it rather tricky to discern when he is stoned. Nevertheless, when he loses it down the stretch, it is something fierce to behold.

Ice Poison is not a perfect film, but it is significant, both as a symbol of Burma’s cinematic potential and a documentary like exercise in holding a mirror up to nature. It is a bit slack at times, but the stakes are about as serious as could be. Recommended who those who appreciate challenging social dramas, Ice Poison screened again tonight (4/22) during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 22nd, 2014 at 11:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. China’s working poor are regularly ignored and exploited, but from their ranks will emerge an unlikely black widow that even James Cain would appreciate. Wu Zhizhen toils thanklessly in a provincial dry cleaner, but the last three men to be romantically linked to her met with early demises. Her suspicious misfortune attracts the attention of a disgraced ex-cop in Diao Yinan’s Black Coal, Thin Ice, which screens during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

In 1999, hard boozing Det. Zhang Zili is called to investigate the discovery of multiple body parts at the local coal processing plant. Learning other pieces have turned up at other facilities, Zhang connects the dots to the Liu brothers, two drivers with a sketchy past. However, his routine inquiry goes spectacularly bad. The case is presumed solved, but that will not save his career.

Five years later, an old colleague comes to Zhang for an off the books consultation. The widow of the dismembered coal corpse has just lost her third significant other to foul play. The two more recent bodies were both found wearing ice skates, suggesting an obvious pattern. Seeking some sort of personal satisfaction, Zhang starts following Wu, but she is neither careless nor easily intimidated. However, as she gets used to his presence, she starts to entertain his overtures.

Like a Taiwanese Bette Davis, Gwei Lun Mei is a deceptively innocent looking femme fatale, but still a powerfully seductive screen presence. Well suited for Wu, she keeps audience sympathies sharply divided and expectations off-balance throughout Coal. She is also probably the biggest international movie star gracing Tribeca screens this year.

Conversely, Liao Fan revels in Zhang’s anti-heroics and degenerate binging. In fact, his flaws run so deep he had to be cashiered out of the police force to satisfy the Chinese censorship board. Intriguingly off-kilter in a hardnosed kind of way, Liao deservedly won the Silver Bear at Berlin for his work.

In a way, Coal bridges the gap between Chinese “indie films” and commercial releases to a surprising extent. Everything that goes down in Diao’s narrative is ultimately attributable to systemic injustice and inequity. Wu may very well be involved in something nefarious, but it is impossible to judge her harshly. Yet, this pointed social commentary proved to be a monster hit at the Chinese box office.

Coal could be considered a Chinese noir in the tradition of Fargo. The weather is cold, the landscape is grim, and people often behave in a dark and unpredictable manner. It is all definitely good stuff. Highly recommended, Black Coal, Thin Ice is a head-and-shoulders stand-out at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, where it screens again tomorrow (4/22), Thursday (4/24), and Saturday (4/26).

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 21st, 2014 at 9:03pm.

By Joe Bendel. Pilgrimages are supposed to be slow and arduous. That also seems to be the case for experimental cinema. Xuanzang, the iconic monk protagonist of Wu Cheng’en’s classic Ming-Era novel, led quite the adventurous life – but Tsai Ming-liang slows it down dramatically for his avant-garde contemporary riff, Journey to the West, which screens during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Tsai regular Lee Kang-sheng returns as ambling focal character from the director’s recent short, The Walker, but given the loaded title, we can also think of him as the second coming of fictional Xuanzang (or the historical Xuanzang on whom he was based). There will be no Monkey Kings for him to battle, but Denis Lavant will literally follow in his footsteps through the streets of Marseilles.

Tsai’s sense of composition is often slyly witty and cinematographer Antoine Heberle gives each frame the luster of Renaissance Old Masters, but there is no denying its static nature. This Journey is best considered in the tradition of film installations, such as Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves (soon to grace the San Francisco International Film Festival). However, the British filmmaker’s ode to Chinese goddesses is considerably more cinematic thanks to the spectacle of Maggie Cheung hovering above the Shanghai skyline in the guise of the goddess Mazu and Zhao Tao’s eerie recreation of scenes from tragic actress Ruan Lingyu’s definitive film, The Goddess.

Let’s be honest, extreme close-ups of Zhao and Cheung make much more sense than Lavant’s haggard countenance. Lee’s physical discipline is commendable and his featured calligraphy is quite elegant. It also just nice to see he and Tsai still share their close collaborative bond, but that is something one can glean from the festival write-up.

Frankly, it is mind-boggling to think the same source novel kind of-sort of inspired Tsai’s fifty-six minute Journey to the West and Stephen Chow’s breakneck apocalyptic smackdown of the same name. More interesting on paper than on screen, this is the sort of film you can duck into for a few minutes and pretty fully get its gist (whereas Waves genuinely sucks viewers in). Festival goers will have a chance to do exactly that when the Tribeca Film Festival presents Tsai’s Journey free of charge at MoMA PS1, playing continuously from noon to 6:00 this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (4/24-4/26). It also screens conventionally this Tuesday (4/22) at the SVA Theater, but only those who deem plot and characterization optional should consider it.

Posted on April 21st, 2014 at 8:55pm.