LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

By Joe Bendel. It is like a Joseon era Downton Abbey, except bloodier. The Dowager Queen openly schemes against her “grandson,” the king, as the palace servants furtively choose up sides. The drama all builds towards the infamous 1777 assassination attempt in Lee Jae-kyoo’s The Fatal Encounter, which opens this Friday in New York.

Things get complicated in the palace. Reluctantly, King Jeong-jo’s mother and grandfather sacrificed his father, the crown prince and heir to the throne, to placate the Noson faction, led by his “Grandmamma,” his grandfather’s Queen-consort. They did it solely for his sake. However, now that he has ascended to the throne, the Dowager Queen has grown tired of his independent inclinations.

When deciding to assassinate the king, the Noson conspirators assume they are holding all the cards, including key allies in the military and sleeper assassins planted deep within the palace. As a trump card, they also retain the services of Eul-soo, a hired killer who was once the sworn brother of the King’s private clerk, Gap-soo. However, many of the hidden assassins have concluded King Jeong-jo’s personal discipline and concern for the common people make him better suited to reign than their masters. Betrayals come fast and furious as the twenty-four hour countdown to the palace assault ticks down.

Fatal might just be the ultimate film for laundry intrigue, largely due to the important role played by Wol-hye, a senior maid and royal laundress with divided loyalties. Remember, they didn’t let just anyone scrub the King’s undies. While the focus is squarely on political maneuvering, there are also a few nicely staged action sequences. Viewers will not feel let down when the assassins finally arrive.

Domestically, the big story regarding Fatal was television megastar Hyun Bin’s return to acting after his compulsory military service. He provides a perfectly fine model of strong, silent rectitude, but international audiences will be more taken with the supporting cast. Living up to his chameleon-like reputation, Jung Jae-young (known for Broken, Confession of Murder, and Moss) again transforms himself, fully bringing to life the conflicted and guilt-ridden Gap-soo. Likewise, emerging star Jung Eun-chae anchors the film as Wol-hye, neatly playing off and with nearly the entire ensemble as her numerous secret relationships come to light.

Han Ji-min (who majored in social work according to Asianwiki) is also appropriately hiss-able as the cold-blooded Dowager Queen. Sensitive viewers should be warned Fatal features several young characters in various stages of distress, but Yoo Eun-mi is particularly impressive as Bok-bing, a seven year-old apprentice maid caught between the competing factions.

Fatal provides sufficient skullduggeries to keep a steady string of shoes dropping, without getting bogged down in its own complications. It is a nicely crafted period production, with enough tragedy to keep the Korea box office satisfied, but should still appeal to most American filmgoers’ tastes. Recommended for fans of grand historicals, The Fatal Encounter opens this Friday (5/23) in New York at the AMC Empire and is now playing at the CGV Cinemas in Los Angeles.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on May 19th, 2014 at 12:02pm.

By Joe Bendel. There is a Prime Directive applied to earthlings on this foreign world, but it is much less rigid than the version in Star Trek. Killing the locals is strictly prohibited, but a little gentle development guidance is encouraged. Unfortunately, the home-worlders have collectively turned their backs on intellectual enlightenment in the late Aleksey Yuryevich German’s science fiction-in-name-only magnum opus, Hard to be a God, which screens during the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival.

You should really fortify yourself for this one. Over a decade in the making, including some six years of principle shooting, German’s adaptation of the Strugatsky Brothers’ novel is not for the faint of heart or the short of attention span. Since Stalker was also based on a Strugatsky novel, Tarkovsky is often suggested as a comparison, but the dream-like vibe and highly composed black-and-white visuals are also somewhat akin to Guy Maddin at his most self-indulgent.

Let’s be clear: if you require a strong narrative through-line then stop right here. Throughout Hard German is far more interested in setting the scene and rubbing our noses in it than telling us what happens next. In the future, supposedly intelligent humanoid life is discovered on the planet Arkanar. Yet, just when its Renaissance period should have started, the state initiated a campaign against so-called “wise-guys.” Secretly integrating themselves into society as powerful noblemen, thirty scientists try to do what they can to protect the beleaguered intellectual class against the forces of the “Greys,” but Arkanar just does not want to be helped.

German focuses on Don Rumata, a rather rakish Earthling in disguise, as he ostensibly seeks out the hunted Dr. Budakh. However, he spends an awful lot of time farting around with his servants. From time to time, he will also do a solid for the Falstaffian Baron Pampa, while sparring with the Greys. Frankly, this probably makes Hard sound more plotty than it really is. Think large, festering set pieces rather than fights and chases.

Hard clocks in just under the three hour mark and German makes the audience feel the passing of each and every minute. He also supplies several years’ worth of the hardiest moviegoer’s cinematic quota for pee, poop, and snot. His vision (completed by his filmmaker son Aleksey Jr. and co-screenwriter wife Svetlana Karmalita) allows us no illusions regarding just what the Dark Ages entailed.

Nevertheless, cinematographers Vladimir Ilyin and Yuri Klimenko make it all look absolutely breathtaking, often in the manner of a Brueghel painting. (Ironically though, Lech Majewski’s The Mill and the Cross, an attempt to render a Brueghel canvas on film is somehow less static and more accessible than German’s world-building.) Yet, somehow lead actor Leonid Yarmolnik never wilts under the exhausting force of German’s mise-en-scéne. As Rumata, he is unflaggingly intense and roguishly charismatic, even when literally wallowing in the muck and mire.

This is an unusually redolent film. At times, you can practically smell the mud—at least we’ll call it mud for now. On the other hand, if you are waiting for a rocket ship or a ray gun then good luck to you. Although German passed away in early 2013, it is rather eerie watching Hard at a time when Putin also seems to be choosing militarism and barbarism. Indeed, the linkage between ignorance and state power is intentional and directly informed by the Soviet experience, but viewers still have to dig for it. Ultimately, Hard to be a God is a fascinating and often punishing film to experience. Recommended for those who want to be able to say they have seen it for themselves, it screens today (5/16), tomorrow (5/17) and the following Saturday (5/24) during this year’s SIFF.

Posted on May 16th, 2014 at 10:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. In her bestseller Londonistan, British journalist Melanie Phillips argues that Britain’s pluralistic liberal values are steadily eroding due to the rise of Islamist ideology from within. At one point, Mona’s brother makes a similar point, but he brazenly considers himself part of the process. Kasim happens to be a police officer, who is determined to murder his sister out of a perverse sense of family duty in Shan Khan’s simply but evocatively titled Honour, which launches today on VOD.

Mona scandalized her Muslim Pakistani family by pursuing romance with a Punjabi Hindu colleague. For that, she must die. However, she proves to be unexpectedly elusive for the severe Kasim and his somewhat reluctant younger brother, Adel, so they enlist a specialist. Ever since his release from prison, the unnamed bounty hunter has carved out a niche for himself, based on referrals from the imam he served time with. Just how the heavily tattooed white supremacist formed an alliance with the devout Muslim remains unspoken, but one can easily assume they bonded over targets of mutual hate.

Nevertheless, the nameless thug-for-hire is starting to develop a conscience, especially after witnessing the savage treatment of his last highly pregnant target. It will be ironic if the former Aryan gang member teaches Mona’s family a lesson in real honor, but in all honesty, Kasim and his cold-blooded mother set the bar awfully low.

As usual, Paddy Considine is totally money-in-the-bank as the bounty hunter. It is a gritty punch-to-the-gut portrayal of soul-sickness and redemption, yet it is not really his movie. Instead, Atlantis co-star Aiysha Hart shoulders a disproportionate share of the film’s load, acquitting herself rather well. In fact, she seems to get stronger as the film progresses, vividly expressing understandable feelings of fear, pain, and betrayal. While the ad-hoc alliance between her and Considine’s grim brooder might strike some viewers as a bit too pat, their rapport helps considerably to sell it on-screen.

Hard to pigeon-hole, Honour rather effectively straddles the border between thrillers and social issue dramas. Arguably, Khan’s out-of-sequence temporal narrative gets a little too cute for its own good, but it does accentuate the suspense at several key junctures. More importantly, he masterfully maintains the tension, conveying a visceral sense of Mona’s bereft alienation.

Honour is not pitch-perfect, but it certainly pulls the audience in and keeps us hooked. It is also quite a bold film. Keep in mind, this all takes place in London (or rather a Glasgow doubling for London)—the financial capitol of Europe and beacon of freedom during two world wars—not some mountain hamlet in Afghanistan. Recommended as a film and as well a social critique, Honour is now available through VOD platforms, with a theatrical release to be announced sometime in the summer.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on May 15th, 2014 at 1:12pm.

By Joe Bendel. The interconnected group of friends and lovers from Cédric Klapisch’s L’Auberge Espagnole and Russian Dolls represent a European microcosm, but to pursue their second chances at life and love they appropriately congregate in Lower Manhattan. Chinatown will see an influx of Francophone expats in Klapisch’s Chinese Puzzle, which opens this Friday in New York.

Novelist Xavier Rousseau is way behind on his latest deadline. He has been a bit distracted by the dissolution of his marriage to the British Wendy. Following his soon to be ex-wife to New York for the sake of his kids, Rousseau kind of-sort of experiences fatherhood again as the sperm-donator for his best pal Isabelle and her Chinese-American partner Ju. With little money and fewer prospects, Rousseau crashes in Ju’s hipster-friendly Chinatown apartment. It will become quite homey when he hosts his former lover Martine and her two children during their New York vacation.

Will sudden proximity rekindle their relationship? Fortunately she is rather understanding of his green card marriage to a second generation Chinatown New Yorker, but keeping up appearances for immigration will lead to a lot of door slamming and mad dashing about. Yet, somehow it all still represents the mature phase of his life.

Although Puzzle is the concluding film of what Klapisch calls “The Trilogy of Xavier’s Travels” (picture that on the DVD boxed set), it easily stands alone. However, those who are emotionally invested in the prior two installments will take great satisfaction from the nontraditional familial bonds that develop between the characters. In fact, it might be the most unabashedly optimistic and upbeat film for all concerned, propelled along by Loïk Dury and Christophe “Disco” Minck’s infectiously peppy Cesar Award nominated score.

Like a comfortable old shoe, Romain Duris exudes loser likability as Rousseau. He also shares some pleasant (if not exactly scorching) screen chemistry with Audrey Tautou’s Martine. In a nice change of pace following films like The Kid with the Bike and Hereafter, Cécile de France shows a keen facility for slightly naughty physical comedy as the Belgian Isabelle. Strangely, the American marketing campaign is not playing up House of Cards’ Sandrine Holt as Ju, but she adds some class and dignity to the proceedings.

Puzzle is a breezy and buoyant film, but it is not utterly vacuous. It clearly celebrates family and friendship, suggesting that playing the cards one has been dealt might just turn out to be a blessing. That it is an unusually attractive cast of characters grappling with impending middle age just makes it all the more cinematic. A can’t miss for fans of Xavier’s previous travels, Chinese Puzzle is recommended for Francophiles and international rom-com audiences when it opens this Friday (5/16) in New York at the Angelika Film Center downtown and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema uptown.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on May 15th, 2014 at 1:07pm.

By Joe Bendel. Could you ever fall in love with a zombie? Don’t answer too quickly. The point at which humanity ends is open to debate in Sabu’s intimately stripped down Miss Zombie, which screens during the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival.

In the very near future, zombies are a fact of life, but Dr. Teramoto is still rather surprised when an old colleague ships him one for safe-keeping. As long as they do not feed Shara meat, she should remain docile, but her instructions come with a handy pistol, just in case (hello Chekhov). In spite of the neighbors’ protests, Shara soon settles into a Sisyphean existence scrubbing the Teramotos’ flagstone veranda.

However, Shara seems to inspire very human-like responses from those around her. Teramoto’s wife Shizuko feels pity for her, while their son Kenichi is fascinated by her mysterious presence. Unfortunately, the doctor’s lecherous groundskeepers act on their vilest impulses towards her, with his silent acquiescence. When tragedy unexpectedly strikes, Shara’s relationship with the family will become far more complex.

Miss Zombie has the general sensibilities of the zombie film Joseph Losey never made. To a large extent, the human exploitation of zombies represents more conventional class and gender conflicts (which are present too, barely contained beneath the film’s surface). It also directly explores notions of human sentiency, hinting at lingering sense memories from Shara’s previous life.

Without question, Ayaka Komatsu gives the finest zombie performance probably ever. She is the film’s lynchpin, anchor, and all-around MVP. Watching her so subtly yet so vividly project her stirrings of memory and consciousness is absolutely heartbreaking. Bub from Day of the Dead simply cannot hold a candle to her. She also gets some key support from Makoto Togashi and young Riku Onishi, as Shizuko and Kenichi Teramoto, who figure prominently in the emotionally heavy third act.

Fortunately, Sabu’s relatively simple but deep-as-the-ocean story is worthy of her efforts. For a genre film, Miss Zombie packs a shocking wallop of a punch. Daisuke Sôma’s mostly black-and-white cinematography is also unusually stylish, conveying a vibe that is part old school Romero and part Cassavetes.

With Miss Zombie, Sabu really raises the stakes for zombie films. The same old shuffling hordes simply will not cut it anymore. It ranks alongside the original Night of the Living Dead, but takes viewers to a very different place. Highly recommended for genre fans and those who appreciate social allegories of any stripe, Miss Zombie screens Friday (5/16), Saturday (5/24) and Sunday (5/25) during this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on May 15th, 2014 at 12:59pm.