Check out CSB’s coverage here of a Halloween appearance by Russell from a few years back to get a full taste of Russell’s sensibilities.

The schedule is not finalized, but the preliminary list includes classic classics like Harold Lloyd’s Speedy (1928) and Elia Kazan’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), modern classics like Saturday Night Fever (1977), Do the Right Thing (1989), The French Connection (1971), Goodfellas (1989), Once Upon A Time in America (1982), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and local favorites like The Landlord (1970), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Vigilante (1983) and Smoke (1995). Special guests to be announced.

Also, check out the full-size version of the special poster created by Brooklyn artist Nathan Gelgud here:

::: BAMCinematek Brooklyn Close-Up

All the information you need is below.

::: FCCFF Schedule and Website

Tonight, October 11, the KCS will be taking a left turn into the supernatural with End of Animal (2011), an enigmatically apocalyptic film that plays like a bizarro universe version of the 2009 killer angel dud Legion - with half the budget (really more like a hundredth) but twice the brains. The film focuses on a pregnant woman dealing with a suddenly menacing world after a white flash (an electro-magnetic pulse? the Rapture?) freezes her cab in its tracks and seemingly depopulates much of the surrounding area. Throughout End of Animal plays its cards very close to its vest. While the first ten minutes are masterful, with a steady escalation from the mundane to the disturbing, the film does find itself wandering in the metaphorical wilderness along with its characters. Like another predecessor, Lost, End of Animal is a bit too much build-up and not enough conclusion – nevertheless Jo Sung-Hee’s first feature is accomplished and entertaining, showcasing a rising talent.

The special Halloween screening of Moss (2010) on October 31, on the other hand, is a more conventional crowd-pleaser. Directed by Kang Woo-Suk (of the mega-hits Silmido and Public Enemy) and starring Park Hae-Il (The Host, Memories of Murder), Moss sets up a multi-generational conspiracy and sends its protagonist on an increasingly dangerous mission as he investigates his religious father’s death and his unusual associates. Moss runs too long (163 mins.) and fails to flesh out the background of any character but the main antagonist – a terrific Jeong Jae-Young (Righteous Ties, Castaway on the Moon) spending most of the film in old age makeup – but is still great fun, immersing audiences in a baroque universe of corruption.

All screenings take place at 7:00 pm in the Tribeca Cinemas at 54 Varick Street. Seating is free and first-come, first-served (doors open at 6:30). For more information, please check out the links below:

::: Korean Cultural Service NY
::: Subway Cinema News
::: Previous CSB Coverage of Korean Cultural Service Events

In addition to a wife and child, Bill leaves behind a terrific legacy of film appreciation and restoration - without him the world’s knowledge of Turkish film would be poorer. We will all miss him.

::: CSB Interviews Bill Barounis, President of Onar Films
::: CSB Coverage of Onar Films
::: Onar Films website

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars (very good)

What a pleasant surprise this was. I am at best a casual fan of modern British comedy – familiar with basics like The Office, Spaced, and Peep Show, as well as some of the weirder outliers like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh – and had no idea that two of the supporting players from the latter two series were given their own bizarre quasi-sketch comedy show. Aired once, and left unrenewed after an all-too-brief six episode series, Snuff Box is a genuine oddity – an example of two very strange guys operating without any adult supervision.

Matt Berry (Sanchez on Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace – another show desperately in need of a US DVD release) and Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil on The Mighty Boosh) met while shooting an episode of Boosh, hit it off, and were offered a show by BBC 3 in order to fill a scheduling hole. According to the two men (and I would take everything they say with a grain of salt), they had no interest in doing a sketch show, but that was what was offered and that was what they took. The result is a bizarre hybrid – part sketch comedy in the Python tradition and part avant-garde narrative.

Berry and Fulcher play themselves – sort of. In the world of Snuff Box, “Matt Berry” and “Rich Fulcher” are hangmen by trade – many of the narrative scenes find them practicing their trade, wandering long white corridors, or relaxing in the gentleman’s club with their elderly colleagues, with periodic detours to the club’s Victorian past. These scenes have continuing threads – Berry’s constant cuckolding of Fulcher, Fulcher’s theft of Berry’s diary, and complicated familial relations – but viewers are never allowed to get too settled. Despite episode-ending “To Be Continued” markers and an illusion of plot, the show operates on dream logic only and is interspersed with unrelated sketch comedy a magnitude darker and raunchier than The Kids in the Hall, possibly the closest analogue. In an odd way, Snuff Box almost sets a precedent for the recent, brilliant Louie, which similarly mixes a intermittent narrative flow with its creator’s flights of fancy.

Much of the show’s charm lies in Berry and Fulcher’s odd couple chemistry. Berry’s greatest asset is his voice – a plummy, mellifluous, upper-crust marvel, which magnifies the humor of his every utterance and invests his characters with an authority which his conduct quickly undermines. The Berry of the show is as a suave rascal, dripping with unearned confidence - a cad and a bounder.

Fulcher’s screen persona could not be any more different. An American and an Upright Citizens Brigade alumnus, he plays himself as a desperate fish out of water, awkward and overweight, unsuited for society, practically dripping with flop sweat. In Snuff Box, Fulcher is every bit as uncomfortable, needy and gross as Berry is smug and peremptory. Berry and Fulcher constantly play with this dynamic – allowing Fulcher to get the occasional upper hand and wringing laughs out of Berry’s sudden panic when things go wrong.

The other key element of the series – and the source of its engrossing atmosphere – is the music. Composed almost entirely by Berry (with the exception of joke songs like “Rapper with a Baby” and “The F—k Song”), the soundtrack is a simple but haunting repeated motif that wouldn’t be out of place in a Kubrick film, blending frequently into an intensely catchy theme song sung by Berry. Snuff Box frequently features musical interludes – classic song-and-dance numbers with an odd twist – and throughout, Berry reintegrates new lyrics and singers into the basic theme, ending most episodes with increasingly elaborate performances of the main title and occasionally repurposing the theme entirely, for example, in Episode 2’s “The Diary.”

Severin’s disc includes all six episodes of the series, run once and never renewed before picking up a second life as a cult item. The episodes blend into each other – with recurring themes, characters and sketches – such that I can’t really single out any particular episode as better than any other. Quite a few of the sketches fail, but Snuff Box understands something that Saturday Night Live does not – as long as you keep moving (and Snuff Box moves fast), and as long as the overall tone of the show is engaging, the occasional not-entirely-successful idea will only be a speed bump, not a roadblock. Snuff Box also has some weapons in its arsenal that other sketch shows lack - a fascinating creepiness, a healthy dose of swearing and breasts, and some guest star ringers, including Alan Ford (Brick Top in Snatch) as a profane vicar and Marenghi alums Richard Ayoade (Man to Man with Dean Learner) and Alice Lowe (playing a glam period David Bowie!).

Recommended? Oh yes. This is a fascinatingly weird and dark show with great rewatch value, and great DVD set – one of Severin’s best. “If I should die of small pox, put my remains in my snuff box …”

If you like this, you might like: Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace; The Mighty Boosh; Louie

DVD DETAILS

DVD Production Company: Severin
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Run Time: 168 Mins.
Extras: Featurettes, Outtakes, Commentaries on Selected Episodes; Bonus CDAs befits a recent, low-budget television show, Severin’s DVD presentation of Snuff Box looks perfectly fine and is presented in anamorphic widescreen, but will not be winning any audiovisual awards. By far the best extra is a bonus soundtrack CD, featuring multiple versions of Berry’s theme song and other musical interludes, along with viral highlights like “Rapper with a Baby” and “The F— Song.” If, like me, you find the Snuff Box theme earworming its way into your subconscious, you’ll be glad for it.

Taking Control of Your Body (32 mins.) mixes video tributes by fans of the series like Simon Pegg, Paul Rudd, Weird Al Yankovic, Rob Corrdry and Noel Fielding with some genuinely interesting background information on the creation of the series. Much of the featurette is wasted on snippets from the series and otherwise interesting people gushing about their favorite bits, but there are some great anecdotes here – for example, that Berry would wear a wig made from his own hair, and then remove it to reveal the same hair below. Testimonials (15 mins.) has some of the same comedians, along with others like Steve Agee and Janeane Garofalo, doing joke bits about the series – inessential but amusing.

Inside the Snuff Box (18 mins.) is footage from the shooting of the series, including a lengthy segment where Fulcher makes out with a giant python attached to a bemused topless woman intercut with commentary from the python’s handler. Outtakes is the usual selection of actors cracking up and breaking character, but is worth watching for a scene of Fulcher in mock-high dudgeon running through his schedule of sketches.

Much more interesting is The Score (5 mins.), a brief segment with Berry at the piano running through the building blocks of the score and performing the theme song while accompanying himself. Meanwhile, Locations Walking Tour (12 mins.) finds Berry and Fulcher wandering the London neighborhood where they filmed, identifying landmarks from the show and accosting art gallery attendees, giving Fulcher an opportunity to mortify Berry.

Berry and Fulcher have also recorded audio commentaries for Episodes 1, 2, and 6, and are joined by series director Michael Cummings on Episode 6. Your mileage for the commentaries will vary depending on how much you love Berry and Fulcher – serious fans will enjoy the opportunity to eavesdrop on largely information-free but amusing bull sessions between these guys, while casual viewers can probably dispense with the commentaries.

The one bone I have to pick is with the lack of English subtitles. With British shows, sometimes the accents and unfamiliar slang make subs essential for American viewers. Fortunately, this is less of a problem with Snuff Box than with other titles, as Fulcher is American and Berry rolls and enunciates each word to within an inch of its life.

© David Austin

Apparently, that sound you just heard was the left sneaker hitting the floor. 3D revenues are down, way down, compared to 2D screenings of the same films, and industry watchers are starting to perform a post-mortem. With that in mind, I commend to you the following Slate piece by Daniel Engber, which attempts a cogent analysis of just why the next wave of film technology is dying.

::: Who Killed 3-D?

You might also want to check out this excellent article from Roger Ebert on why 3D is a technical folly:

::: Why 3D doesn’t work and never will. Case closed.

Su Chao-Pin is one of the few filmmakers in Taiwan these days still making fun pictures. After years working completely outside the film industry – prior to his first screenplay, Su worked as a cabdriver, and then in the high-tech industry – Su broke into the industry with a pair of scripts, for The Cabbie, a comedy loosely based on Su’s own experiences working as a cabdriver, and for gangster flick A Chance to Die. Su next directed his own script for Better Than Sex, a teen sex comedy about a well-endowed but awkward boy who discovers the miracle of pornography, and his entanglements with a trio of knife-wielding dimwits and a Japanese production company. Finally on the map, Su provided scripts for increasingly high-profile and international projects, including the Tony Leung Ka-Fai and David Morse-starring supernatural thriller Double Vision and portmanteau film 3 Extremes II. Su later returned to the director’s chair with sci-fi horror film Silk.

Su, who has professed his admiration for countryman Ang Lee’s masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is now poised to catapult into international recognition with his own modern wu xia, Reign of Assassins, produced/co-directed by John Woo and starring Michelle Yeoh (see review here) as an assassin who finds love while on the run from her past. CSB’s David Austin sat down with Su at the New York Asian Film Festival, which featured Reign of Assassins and Su’s earlier films in a special sidebar, for a wide-ranging discussion about Reign of Assassins, his earlier comedies, his future projects, and the state of the Taiwanese film industry.

On The Cabbie And His Unconventional Entrance Into Filmmaking

CSB: You were a cabdriver for a number of years?

Su Chao-Pin: Yes, but just part-time. During summer and winter vacation when I was in college and high school.

CSB: Were you studying film?

Su Chao-Pin: No, I majored in mechanics and engineering. I have a masters in computer science.

CSB: So how did you turn cab driving and an engineering degree into a film career?

Su Chao-Pin: It just happened. After graduation, like every other Taiwanese man I had to take two years for military service. So by the time I got out of the army I was pretty old, around 26. Then I worked in the high-tech industry for a year and was 27. And then one day I just felt so bored. It was good money, but it was a nine-to-five job. So I told my boss that I quit. Just like that.

CSB: Had you already drafted your first script or did you start writing after you quit?

Su Chao-Pin: After that I spent two years in Taipei. I had never lived in the city before. One day in Taipei, I got a call from someone who had a friend who needed a screenplay. He had money and wanted to make a movie. He asked me if I could write a screenplay. I had never written a screenplay before but I said, “Yes, I can.” So I came home, locked myself in, and after two weeks it was done.

CSB: Was that first screenplay The Cabbie? How much of The Cabbie was based on your personal experiences driving a cab?

Su Chao-Pin: That was my first screenplay. I would say maybe 70% was based on personal experience. Except for the romance part, the female policewoman. That was not real (laughs). Also, my mother was not in the forensic unit. Other than that, and especially for the parts about a cabbie’s life, it was pretty much the same as real life.

CSB: So you never really had a romance on the job?

Su Chao-Pin: No, that was just a fantasy about a policewoman in uniform (laughs).

On Better Than Sex And His Unconventional Entrance Into Filmmaking

CSB: So after transitioning from working in the high-tech industry to writing screenplays, how did you move from writing to directing?

Su Chao-Pin: The Cabbie got me some attention, because it was different from the typical Taiwanese film. If you know Taiwanese films, you will have noticed that over the last decade or so they have all become quite similar. All arthouse movies. Then Columbia Pictures came to me. They wanted me to write a film. At that time I had a reputation as not the best screenplay writer. So I wrote Better Than Sex. I think that was my most passionate, my most creative work so far. And I did not have the desire to be a director. I was just happy to be working in the film industry. Then I showed it to some directors and nobody wanted to do it. They said it was too dirty, too low, not serious. I did not agree. I saw the screenplay in a different way. So, because we had a government subsidy of about $300,000 U.S. dollars, I just did it myself. I directed it.

CSB: Is there any tradition of this kind of teenage sex comedy in Taiwan, the way there is in Japan or the U.S.?

Su Chao-Pin: No. Not as I can recall. I think it was really the first of its kind in Taiwan. Before that we treated teen sex only as a very serious matter – teenage pregnancies and babies and so on.

CSB: In Better Than Sex, the protagonist comes under the wing of Boss Cheng, an underground dirty book vendor, and a lot of the film deals with hidden pornography. Is this based on a real situation or character?

Su Chao-Pin: I think it is a fair representation of Taiwan’s attitude of porn books, because they are banned in Taiwan. They are illegal. If I bought a Playboy at the airport here in New York, it would be confiscated when I got back to Taiwan. So the books have to be small, so you can hide them and carry them.

CSB: Did that lead to any problems with censorship or community outrage when the film was released?

Su Chao-Pin: Well, as I mentioned the film was subsidized by the government. So when the film came out, they called me into the office. I had to stand there while they lectured me: “How can you make a movie like this? What were you thinking? How can you objectify women?” I don’t think I ever did that. I think I had a lot of respect for women in this movie. But in the end, it was the only Restricted movie for that year, they gave me a Restricted rating [ed. - blocking viewers under the age of 18].

CSB: So when that movie came out and you were being yelled at, did you ever think that years later you would be standing in New York being celebrated by the Taipei Economic and Trade Office at a film festival?

Su Chao-Pin: (laughs) You’re right. It’s so ironic. I never thought it would happen.

CSB: You had Japanese actors and actresses, and a Japanese angle in the film. Were you able to sell it overseas in Japan?

Su Chao-Pin: Yes. I think it has something of a cult following in Japan.

On The Rise Of Arthouse In Taiwan And The Current State Of The National Industry

CSB: Going back to what you were saying about the similarity of modern films in Taiwan, back in the day, there was a real tradition of fun action and martial arts films being shot in Taiwan inexpensively, as an alternative to Hong Kong. How did that turn into an industry that only creates arthouse films by directors like Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-Liang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien? How did the one segment of the industry die and the other segment become completely predominant?

Su Chao-Pin: There used to be a lot of martial arts films and a lot of romances. There was a time when there were a lot of romances in the market. In the sixties and seventies, they were very successful. But during the eighties, some young filmmakers said, “We don’t want to make this kind of film anymore.” Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-Hsien. These filmmakers were allied with some of the film critics, and they started a kind of revolution. The turning point was Hou’s City of Sadness [1989], which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. That changed the whole thing. Before that, we did not have confidence in our own movies. But when a Chinese language film won one of the biggest prizes in the international film community, the government rewarded Hou with a lot of money. Since then, everyone is trying to make movies like that.

CSB: Obviously those movies are very popular with the critical establishment and the foreign film, arthouse crowd abroad. Are they also popular in the actual Taiwanese market? Do everyday Taiwanese people watch those films?

Su Chao-Pin: For City of Sadness, they did. People thought it was art. I will tell you the truth – before that I did not even know there was such a thing as an arthouse film. This was the first time I watched a film and said, “Oh, that is art.” Everybody liked it because it was historical, even though the tempo was sort of slow. But everybody had to see it because it won the big award. But after five years, I think everybody got bored.

CSB: So what does the average viewer in Taiwan watch now? Are they watching those films or are they just watching imported films?

Su Chao-Pin: Just the imports. Taiwanese audiences respect the arthouse movies, they say, “That is art. I am not good enough to understand art, so let’s go watch Transformers.” (laughs)

CSB: You have bucked that trend by creating much more crowd-pleasing films and genre films. Does that make you some sort of counter-revolutionary?

Su Chao-Pin: I think so. Counter? I don’t know. Screenwriting is a craft. Not only do you need to be talented, you need to have learned the craft. I must say that when I was watching The Cabbie here the other day after ten years, I was like, “Oh my god, what was I doing?” I was so embarrassed. It was obvious I did not know anything about writing for film at that time. All I had was a passion. I don’t know if I am counter-revolutionary – I just do what I like. One thing about me is that I don’t really have a mentor in the Taiwanese film business because I came to this business in a very different way than most, so I just do what I like.

CSB: So what has been the reaction of the Taiwanese critical establishment to your films, which are so different from the Hou Hsiao-Hsien model?

Su Chao-Pin: Not very good (laughs). Actually, the reaction is, “That is not a good movie, just one you can have fun at.” That’s normal because people want to write something serious. They want movies to have a meaning. But having fun is good enough.

On Reign Of Assassins And Working With John Woo

CSB: Was Reign of Assassins based on an original script or on a martial arts novel or comic book? It has a very comic book feeling, especially in the beginning with the credits.

Su Chao-Pin: It was an original story. The concept in the beginning was very simple. It was going to be a martial arts film and I was going to throw in all the clichés from martial arts films, and then try to turn them into something different. For example, men wanting to become the most powerful in the martial arts world, marrying someone who killed your father, all the clichés are in there. So that was my purpose, to make something new out of very old stuff.

CSB: You were able to get a lot of comedic mileage out of the idea of Michelle Yeoh leading a domestic life. How were you able to get Michelle involved in the project?

Su Chao-Pin: That was the easiest part. I showed her the screenplay and asked her if she wanted to do it. And she said yes. Because this is a female-oriented wu xia film, which is very rare in Chinese wu xia movies. Usually they are all about men killing other men.

CSB: Certainly recently. I feel like there used to be more.

Su Chao-Pin: So I told her that the lead character is a woman and that I thought she was the only one who is capable of doing it right. She gave me a lot of help in developing the screenplay. Because I am not a woman, after all. When I needed certain psychological details, I would ask Michelle.

CSB: How did John Woo get involved with the film?

Su Chao-Pin: I think John liked Silk a lot. So one time I was visiting John on set when he was shooting Red Cliff and he talked to me. He said that if I had a project, we should work together.

CSB: What was his role? You credited him as a co-director, but was he involved in the script or in the actual directing?

Su Chao-Pin: Mostly in the production. He allowed me to do what I wanted to do, especially with regard to script and direction. But the one scene that he actually directed was the first action sequence in the film. In that scene, John’s daughter played a female assassin, a killer. And because that character died in the end of the scene, nobody wanted to direct the scene, since it was John Woo’s daughter. So I asked John, “Hey John, can you give me a hand? I am so busy, because we are behind schedule and I have to take care of something else, can you do this scene for me?” And he said, “Oh, oh really, of course.” He was happy to help out.

CSB: Be careful you don’t turn him into a Dario Argento. Who handled the action choreography for Reign of Assassins?

Su Chao-Pin: Stephen Wei Tung. The same man who handled Seven Swords [ed. - and who has worked in everything from Enter the Dragon to Hard Boiled].

CSB: How much of the shooting time was spent on the action choreography?

Su Chao-Pin: Ah, like all of it (laughs). The fighting sequences were very difficult. We had about 100 shooting days and we spent about 70 of those days on the fighting sequences.

CSB: The scene where Michelle Yeoh and Jung Woo-Sung are in a bank, and there is essentially a bank robbery – I think that is the first time I have ever seen part of a wu xia scene staged like a classic Hollywood bank robbery. How did you come up with the idea of staging it that way?

Su Chao-Pin: I just wanted to have a bank robbery in ancient China. Because it had never been done that way before. I thought an ancient bank would be a fantastic place to do it. I had a lot of ideas in my imagination about what to do with the ancient bank. That scene was in my head even when I started writing the screenplay, so I had to put it in there.

CSB: You have a background in comedy, with The Cabbie and Better Than Sex. Was it hard to balance the need for serious action and for comedy when doing Reign of Assassins?

Su Chao-Pin: Oh, it was very difficult. I always want things to be funny, but this is a serious movie, you can’t make people laugh all the time. So whenever I could, I tried to add some comedic element and tried to make people laugh during Reign of Assassins, if just for a few moments.

CSB: It seems that everyone in Reign of Assassins is leading a double life, something that has a base especially in the wu xia stories of Gu Long where everyone is a mystery. What is it about that theme that interested you?

Su Chao-Pin: You have already pointed it out. In this movie, everyone wants to have a second chance. But the only thing that can lead you to a second chance, to peace of mind, is that you have to let go. [SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF THE NEXT QUESTION AND ANSWER] That is why in the conventional wisdom of a wu xia novel, Michelle Yeoh’s character must die in the end. Because she killed so many people, she killed her husband’s father, she must die. It is impossible that she not die in the end. So, I think, okay, she must live. Because she truly let go, she truly regrets what she did in the past, she deserves a second chance. So I gave her a second chance.

CSB: Personally, I was shocked because it went so counter to the established tradition. It was a pleasant surprise to see Michelle walk away with the man in the end. Do you think the audience had trouble adjusting to that change?

Su Chao-Pin: Yes, yes. Actually, after the screening yesterday, a middle-aged American woman came up to and shook my hand, and said, “Thank you, for letting her live. Thank you.” (laughs) It’s a modern mindset, I guess. But in martial arts movies, it is not allowed to happen. [END SPOILERS]

CSB: Your lead actor, Jung Woo-Sung, is Korean. Did you have any language issues on the set?

Su Chao-Pin: The language issues on the set were very difficult. Because Cantonese is very different from Mandarin, two different languages. And Michelle cannot read Chinese, and the Korean lead could not speak Chinese, he needed an interpreter. We had so many languages being spoken on the set. Japanese, Korean, English, Mandarin, Cantonese. Sometimes I would get confused but it turned out all right.

CSB: I heard that there is a longer cut and a shorter cut of the film. Is that correct and which do you prefer?

Su Chao-Pin: What we are showing here at the NYAFF is the so-called international version. It is more linear than the longer version, and I think I prefer this version. We have an even shorter version in China. And, because the film was acquired by the Weinsteins for North America, I think the Weinsteins will have another, shorter version (laughs).

CSB: They certainly are famous for cutting. What are the differences between the versions? Are there specific subplots that are cut out?

Su Chao-Pin: They just made it faster, I think (laughs).

CSB: So the film will get a U.S. theatrical release?

Su Chao-Pin: Yes, I think so. They told me it should come out in August. Maybe after the summer, because there is too much competition in the summer.

CSB: How was the film received?

Su Chao-Pin: It was okay, but the box office was not great because these days piracy is a very serious problem in China. By the second day that the film was released in China, I had a DVD, of very good quality, of Reign of Assassins. It had clearly leaked from a theater that had the original materials.

On The Importance Of The Mainland Chinese Market

CSB: Can you make a big budget Chinese language movie now without, to some extent, playing to the mainland audience? Is it possible to aim a film only at Hong Kong or only at Taiwan and make enough money to justify the investment?

Su Chao-Pin: It is difficult, but some people have done it. Like Cape No. 7 [ed. - which played at NYAFF 2009]. It is a local Taiwanese movie, and the producers spent a lot of money but they got it back, only from Taiwan. And the director [ed. - Wei Te-Sheng], now he is working on a movie called Seediq Bale [ed. - about a Taiwanese indigenous tribe that fought the Japanese during the colonial period]. And that is an even bigger movie, the biggest movie of all time, like $23 million dollars, and only for the Taiwanese market. But that guy is crazy. I know him personally, but that guy is crazy. Usually it is very difficult to get financing if your movie does not aim at the China market. At least, if you want to make a big budget movie.

On Jin Yong and Future Projects

CSB: In creating your first wu xia film, were you inspired by some of the more prominent martial arts writers, like Jin Yong [Louis Cha] and Gu Long?

Su Chao-Pin: Definitely. Especially Jin Yong. He is my hero. I don’t think anyone will do better than Jin Yong in the next hundred years.

CSB: Have you thought about adapting any Jin Yong stories?

Su Chao-Pin: Yes. There is a book called Yitian Tulong Ji. In English, Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber [ed. - source of the ridiculously fun 1993 Jet Li film Kung Fu Cult Master, among other adaptations]. Whoever possesses these two weapons can rule the world. I want to make a film of that story. I would like to pay Jin Yong a visit in the coming months and discuss it with him.

CSB: So you’ve done comedies, and you’ve done horror, and wu xia. What is next? Any genre you want to tackle?

Su Chao-Pin: Aliens (laughs). I am working on a film with aliens now. I am in the writing phase, but I think I will make it my next movie.

CSB: Can you give me a broad hint about the plot?

Su Chao-Pin: Did you see Cowboys vs. Aliens? Not that way, but with a lot of fighting and kung fu sequences. It is both comedic and serious.

CSB: With Reign of Assassins about to get a U.S. theatrical release, and raising your profile in the U.S., is there a chance that films like The Cabbie and Better Than Sex could see a U.S. or international DVD release? Because they are very hard to find here.

Su Chao-Pin: I don’t think so. It is very difficult for Taiwanese films to get released in the U.S., especially commercial films. If you are an arthouse director, it is much easier. Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s films, sure they are difficult to find, but people buy them. But Taiwanese commercial films are different. Because America produces so many commercial films, they don’t need commercial films from a different country. And there are cultural issues, some things do not travel well. Sometimes I wonder if people outside of Taiwan understand the humor in Better Than Sex and The Cabbie. Better Than Sex is shot in Mandarin, and it can be a problem with audiences looking for Cantonese comedy.

Thanks to Subway Cinema for arranging this interview.

© David Austin

NYAFF 2011 may be over, but coverage continues. Look for my interview with Su Chao-Pin later this week, but today we have reviews of two big-budget, Chinese-language action films and two very unconventional Korean romances. Meanwhile, get over to the Japan Society – there is still a lot to see at the Japan Cuts festival.

Reign of Assassins
AKA: Jianyu
Dir. Su Chao-pin and John Woo (Japan 2010)
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars (Good)

Reign of Assassins is one of the best wu xia films of the past few years, marrying old school pleasures with comic book aesthetics and inventive action instead of relying on the grim seriousness mandated by the Hero model. Characterization is often a weak point in the genre but director Su makes it a strength, casting a combination of reliable warhorses and talented new faces who imbue even minor parts with dignity and depth. Particularly fine is Michelle Yeoh, in one of her best leading roles (even though she shares her character with Kelly Lin in the beginning of the film) as a deadly assassin turned small town romantic. Yeoh gets to mix domestic comedy into her usual repertoire of steely determination and fatal strikes, and carries the film with her charm and charisma. Shawn Yue, Barbie Hsu, and Wang Xueqi also shine in supporting roles as her assassins’ guild colleagues, with Hsu breaking out as Turquoise, a venomous ball of minx-like cunning and seduction.

Throughout, Su plays with audience expectations, introducing clichés and subverting them lightheartedly. Reign of Assassins also features what must be a first – a Chinese period piece bank robbery staged in the classic Hollywood manner, only with swords and fists substituting for guns.

While Reign of Assassins may not quite live up to the standard of excellence set for 2010 by Detective Dee, it is a very good time at the movies and a harbinger of great things to come from director Su Chao-Pin. Look for a U.S. theatrical release through the Weinstein Company later this year and for my in-depth interview with Su in the next week.

Foxy Festival
AKA: Peseutibal; Festival
Dir. Kim Min-Suk (South Korea 2010)
Rating: 3 ½ out of 4 Stars (Very Good)

One of the most pleasurable films at the festival this year, Foxy Festival is frothy blend of raunchy comedy and genuine sex appeal. There is no real plot to speak of; rather the film follows a group of loosely interrelated neighbors as they learn to embrace their own kinks and those of others, including a buttoned-down seamstress intrigued by BDSM, a transvestite teacher and, in what is turning into a mini-trend, a real doll fetishist (are these things really so prevalent, or are they just irresistible as a comic premise?). The most overtly humorous performance comes from Shin Ha-Kyun (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Save the Green Planet) as a supremely macho police officer undergoing a crisis of confidence after discovering his sexy girlfriend (Uhm Ji-Won) prefers mechanical assistance to his attentions, but Shim Hye-Jin is best as the tentative dominatrix whose transformation provides the film’s most satisfying through-line.

There’s nothing really groundbreaking about the film – the pleasures are in the execution, not the premise – except in one respect. A recent internet discussion focused on the fact that sexual kinks are almost universally treated as a negative or destructive force in popular cinema. Foxy Festival turns this paradigm on its head.

Shaolin
Dir. Benny Chan (China/Hong Kong 2011)
Rating: 2 out of 4 Stars (Average)

Shaolin is … what you would expect from a big budget Benny Chan movie about the destruction of the Shaolin Temple during the warlord era following the Chinese revolution. The sets are enormous and beautiful. Andy Lau is Andy Lau, and the rest of the cast does a solid job (though the child acting leaves a little to be desired). Clearly no expense has been spared, as befits a prestige project.

The problem is that Benny Chan, like fellow crowd-pleasing, action director Michael Bay, shoots any scene not involving exploding buildings as if it were a necessary evil – perfunctorily and without any nuance or originality. The main story – about Andy Lau’s fall from grace as a warlord and rise as a Shaolin monk – is paint-by-numbers. We’re shown Andy committing dastardly deeds, we’re shown his family to humanize him somewhat, we meet the underling who is so obviously trouble. In the meantime, we spend a little – just enough, really – time with some of the individual monks so that when they tragically fall in battle they are not an entirely indefinite mob of bald heads and grey woolens (though aside from Jackie Chan’s fun supporting role as the head chef, none of the performances stand out). Andy’s conversion to the light, when it comes, is just a little too facile.

In compensation, the action, when it comes (and it comes frequently), is good, though Chan is limited by the abilities of stars Lau and pretty boy Nic Tse, neither of whom are true martial artists. Still, Shaolin, like many a Benny Chan film, never rises above Good Enough.

The Recipe
Dir. Lee Seo-Goon (South Korea 2010)
Rating: 2 out of 4 Stars (Average)

The Recipe starts promisingly, and boasts a fun premise, but all too frequently gets bogged down in treacle, particularly in the love story-heavy back half. The film does have one terrific performance in Ryu Seung-Ryong, who plays a smarmy reporter who becomes obsessed with discovering the secret recipe for a bowl of stew so good that a fearsome serial killer allowed himself to be captured rather than forgo a spoonful. As Choi Yu-Jin, Ryu is in turns manic and imperious, injecting life into an otherwise turgid screenplay. Unfortunately, flashback scenes involving the stew’s chef (a radiant Lee Yu-Won) are less compelling, and the director over relies on musical cues to tug at the heartstrings. The Recipe is nevertheless sweet, achingly sincere, and never less than enjoyable – I would not be surprised to see an American remake working its way down the pike in a year or two.

NYAFF 2011 is officially over (though I will be posting additional reviews and interviews over the next week or two), but Japan Cuts 2011 rolls on until July 22, with lots of good stuff still to come, including thrillers (A Night in Nude: Salvation, Into the White Night and A Liar and a Broken Girl), quirky comedies (Toilet, The Seaside Motel, Vengeance Can Wait), and sexy, sexy dramas (Love and Treachery, The Knot). The full schedule can be found here.

We’ve already covered Ringing in their Ears, Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano, Ninja Kids!!!, and Milocrorze in earlier reports (see here), but today we will tackle one of my favorite films in the series, A Night in Nude: Salvation, along with stolid samurai drama Sword of Desperation and centerpiece presentation Three☆Points.

A Night in Nude: Salvation
AKA: Nûdo no yoru: Ai wa oshiminaku ubau
Dir. Takashi Ishii (Japan 2010)
Rating: 3 ½ out of 4 Stars (Very Good)

A Night in Nude: Salvation finds Takashi Ishii solidly in noir territory. Within the first few minutes, Ishii deploys all the hallmarks of the genre – rainy streets, deep shadows, neon lights, femmes fatales, hard-boiled voiceovers, and a world-weary private dick who just can’t stop digging into a seemingly endless well of human misery and degradation. Perhaps calling the film a modern noir is not evocative enough – ANINS is pitch black both in lighting and sentiment, with the predominant human feelings on display being avarice, despair and humiliation. Fortunately, Ishii backs up his usual stylistic flair with solid character work and plotting, creating a powerful emotional grounding for his atmospherics.

Our protagonist (hero is too strong a term) is Jiro Kurenai, an odd-job man who finds himself cast in the role of Chandlerian detective unable to resist the wiles of a trio of black widows working a murder-for-insurance scheme. Jiro is played brilliantly by Naoto Takenaka (one of those actors who always looks familiar without being immediately recognizable – trying to place him I realized I have seen 20-30 of his movies over the years) as a sad sack with a strong inner moral sense. Of course, he still cannot resist the pleas of Ren (actress/singer/model Hiroko Sato), a sympathetic beauty with a doll’s face and an stunning body that captivates Ishii’s camera just as much as it does Jiro, leading him and the audience along to a truly hysterical (in the classical sense) denouement.

Ishii’s output has been mixed in the past, but here, taking on his first directorial role in some years following the elaborate perversions of films like Freeze Me and Flower & Snake, he outdoes himself, making ANINS one of the best films of the festival. Sharp audience members should also look for legend Jo Shishido in a memorably sleazy role. Oh, and the awkward title apparently references an obscure 1993 Ishii film, A Night in Nude. I am not sure what connection, if any, exists between the two movies, but aside from Hiroko Sato’s copious nudity, the title is not particularly apropos and gives the wrong impression of a very good film.

Sword of Desperation
AKA: Hisshiken torisashi
Dir. Hideyuki Hirayama (Japan 2010)
Rating: 2 1/2 out of 4 Stars (Above Average)

Sword of Desperation is a deeply traditional samurai film with its roots superficially in the recent revival started by Twilight Samurai. The film begins in media res as samurai Kanemi Sanzaemon (Etsushi Toyokawa) carries out the startling but almost bloodless public assassination of his lord’s chief concubine at a Noh performance put on for the chief retainers of the clan. Unexpectedly condemned to a year in confinement instead of execution, Sanzaemon languishes, reflecting on his reasons for the killing in extended flashbacks. Upon his release, Sanzaemon is caught up in the chess-like machinations of the clan, reduced to a pawn after his bold foray as an unpredictable knight.

Sword of Desperation hints at a more interesting plot than it actually delivers. Constant, subtle suggestions that Sanzaemon’s execution of Lady Renko may have been unjustified are left in narrative limbo (if not actively refuted) in favor of a more obvious resolution. Nevertheless, the film’s measured performances, stately pace and elegant production values are their own virtues, and will be balm to the soul of samurai cinema enthusiasts.

Three☆Points
AKA: Suri pointo
Dir. Masashi Yamamoto (Japan 2011)
Rating: 2 ½ out of 4 Stars (Above Average)

Three☆Points is one of the most schizophrenic films I have ever seen - I am not even sure what to make of it. The first hour feels like two different films that were edited together haphazardly. One strand features an indifferently acted and shot series of vignettes about wannabe rappers in Kyoto - hanging out with their girlfriends, killing time with their friends, and performing. The other is a documentary about the American presence in Okinawa, though given the fictional nature of the rest of the film, I cannot say with 100% certitude that the interviews are real. The second, and more engaging, hour (essentially a short film grafted onto the preceding hour) is a quirky indie drama starring Jun Murakami and It Girl Sora Aoi as two needy Tokyoites who bounce off each other after an accidental encounter. The section has the feel of a Ryuichi Hiroki film (appropriately, as Murakami has worked for that director a number of times) and comes the closest to being a conventional film.

I honestly have no idea whether the director, Masashi Yamamoto, originally conceived of the film in this manner or just decided to cut three unrelated projects together. The result paints an intriguing portrait of lifestyles well outside the usual margins of Japanese society, but never really coheres as a film. Despite that, though the Kyoto segments failed to hold my attention, the Tokyo and Okinawa segments are engaging.

Tsui Hark should hardly needs an introduction in these parts. If you’ve seen any Hong Kong films in the last 25 years, chances are they were influenced in one way or another by Tsui. In the 80s and the early 90s, he redefined Hong Kong cinema, ushering in the New Wave, introducing modern special effects with Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, and producing massively influential films like John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow, while helping to make stars out of Jet Li, Brigitte Lin and other luminaries. Even a partial filmography as director includes many of the greatest Hong Kong films ever to grace the screen, like Zu, Swordsman, Green Snake, The Blade, Peking Opera Blues, and the Once Upon a Time in China series, while, in close collaboration with director Ching Siu-Tung, he created A Chinese Ghost Story and New Dragon Gate Inn.

Last weekend, CSB’s David Austin had the opportunity to sit down with Tsui, in town for the New York Asian Film Festival, to talk about his latest film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. The film - starring Andy Lau as the late seventh century detective investigating mysterious deaths by spontaneous combustion at the behest of Empress Wu (Carina Lau) - is a crowd-pleasing return to form and the voluble Tsui had a lot to say about future projects, the rigors of shooting the film, working with Sammo Hung, and why Empress Wu has gotten a raw deal.

CSB: Detective Dee is a historic figure who has been the subject of many legends. Was the screenplay based on a specific story or did you develop it from scratch?

Tsui Hark: There have been many Detective Dee novels and television series before. Ten years ago, I started writing my own Detective Dee story. Actually, I had my own Dee story and [writer/producer/director] Chen Guofu had his own Dee story. What we were trying to do was establish something different from what had been seen before, to create a world for Dee. Every detective has his own world. Like The X-Files. The X-Files would have Twilight Zone-style material or weird science fiction discoveries. You open up a dimension or a world for the character, and you take the audience into that world. We wanted to create a world for Detective Dee, because the world defines the detective. If a detective does not have a unique world, he will be like any other detective that we have seen. So we wanted to create something like that for Dee.

And it was not difficult, because the seventh century in China had the largest number of poets of any dynasty in China. There was so much creativity in that arena because China during that period was a mixture of different cultures. We had Italian, we had Indian, we had Turkish, people from Japan, Korea, Russia. It was a mix that resulted in a very unique culture of music, art, dance and performance, fashion and philosophy. Open thinking. You can tell by the way people dressed during that period, it was even bolder than what we have nowadays. Their thinking was freer, compared to now. It is odd to compare sixth century, seventh century China to nowadays. The people were more liberal and open-minded. From the seventh century to the 21st century, there has been a long period during which conservative forces have tried to move things away from what we had in the seventh century. After that dynasty, society became more conservative, perhaps because society had become too open, too liberal, perhaps because some thought society had become too complicated and needed to be simplified. The 14th Century had that kind of philosophical restriction. So to create a world for Dee uniquely in contrast to what we have now and in contrast to what we have seen before, was not difficult.

Dee was also connected to some very legendary figures in history. Empress Wu was the one and only reigning empress China has ever had, and she has been a controversial figure over the long run of history. A lot of people think she was really bad, a dictator. Some people think she was very great. The controversy around her has never settled down. But she did fantastic things, and she was an icon, leaving a wide historical record. She established a tombstone, very large, with no words, so that future generations could evaluate her from the perspective of a future world. This was something no emperor or empress had done before. After this female ruler died, we never had a second one. Perhaps the threat of power in the hands of a woman was a serious issue for the rest of the Chinese kingdom, and they became very careful about allowing authority to switch to the opposite sex. This was a big element of the world we created for Dee.

Another thing I thought was important was to have a special case for Dee each time. There are a lot of famous detectives, Sherlock Holmes for example. They always crack a case involving a murder, or a mysterious killer, or strange phenomena in London, or people dying in strange ways. For Dee, we wanted to create a world that was different. Dee was a real person and already had an authentic background. We wanted to blend it into a surreal background, to make Dee an interesting detective when stacked up against the other detectives on the same level. We wanted to create a case that was on a bigger scale than we had seen before. So we had the conspiracy to kill Empress Wu with the enormous statue of Buddha, and at the same time we had people spontaneously combusting. We wanted visuals that would be different than what we had seen before.

So Chen Guofu and I were both writing and exchanging ideas on and off. We talked about a meteor flying through the air and hitting the palace, and then a big hose, and then I had an idea where Dee was searching for a strange kind of phoenix that was killing people. With all of these elements, we were looking for some kind of X-File for Detective Dee, something with iconic elements. Four years ago, Chen Guofu asked if I would be interested in filming his script. Because, in my view, we should not have two Dees. The best thing was to collaborate and make one film, presenting Detective Dee in a way that would combine all of the elements from both of our scripts together to make it work on the screen. Instead of having two Dees, and possibly doing the same thing but with a result not as good as what we could achieve together.

CSB: Why has Empress Wu remained such a controversial figure? And what made you think of Carina Lau for that role?

Tsui Hark: Empress Wu is controversial because, according to the historical record, she used a lot of very harsh methods to fight her political opponents. So people take a very negative attitude towards her. But others have noted that we always condemn this female ruler for using very cruel methods, but we praise so many male emperors that used the same methods. Why are we discriminating against Empress Wu? Is it because she is a woman? Is it because she was not supposed to rule that when she uses the same methods against her opponents we point our fingers? But, on the other hand, at the end of the day, using such cruel methods is an offense against human dignity.

So the issue circles back to a basic question of human rights – can we look back into history, understand the historical background, see people who were fighting a battle and using the strategies that were considered necessary at the time to win, and not interpret those actions through a modern viewpoint as if they were happening now? This debate has become everlasting in the context of Empress Wu because she was the only female ruler China had in history, and there were a lot of good and bad things about her. Empress Wu has become an iconic figure in our daily life. When we call some woman “Empress Wu,” it means she is a dictator. Like Cleopatra means something, implies something when used as a reference.

So, Carina Lau, this character was very difficult to cast. To my mind, the character needs someone with that kind of charisma in real life. A person with that kind of connection to the audience, so you will believe that actress and the actress will have the aura of Empress Wu. Carina Lau is the only actress left on that level that I could cast as Empress Wu. Before I cast Carina Lau, there was a lot of talk about casting Brigitte Lin. But Brigitte Lin is leading a very comfortable life, with her daughters and family. Playing Empress Wu was a very difficult task. In temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius … well, maybe not that high but very close … Carina was wearing this big headdress, thick makeup and many layers of costume, it was really hot. Really an ordeal for the actress. We were not really aware of the temperature until one day we had a scene with horses in a square. Carina Lau had her first appearance in the film and what happened was a horse got sunstroke and fainted, collapsed on the set. Then we realized how hot it was. And Carina was on horseback. It was really a tough job. Also, the character was so controversial that anybody who played her had to have enough charisma to overcome audience preconceptions.

CSB: I know you had Sammo Hung handling the choreography and there were a lot of elaborate fight scenes. Did you have any difficulties shooting the fight scenes? And did you consider putting Sammo in front of the camera, instead of just behind the scenes?

Tsui Hark: I was very tempted to use Sammo, because he is a great actor. Once, someone asked me who I thought were the greatest actors and actresses. I said Sammo is one of the greatest, he would have added something to the movie. But Phantom Flame was a very complicated production, so I was really tempted to use him as an actor but I was afraid. His health is not very good. I was really scared about what would happen if he collapsed in the middle of production. So I was being very careful and cautious about his health during production.

And the action was so complicated. Talking about the giant Buddha set, how the actors would fight from here to there. Figuring out how were we going to move from top to bottom and get out of the Buddha and into the palace in the 20 minutes before the sun rises. And how to hide Andy Lau from the sun in the shadow, how to design all these things in a way that we could get them into production. Sometimes it is easier to talk about something and design it, but during the actual production it can be very difficult. For example, six horses running is not something you can do in a very short time, especially when the sun has to be precisely in the middle of the sky so you can get the shadows exactly right. The schedule and the budget were all very demanding. So I would talk with Sammo about this – we were very lucky to get Sammo because he has so much experience – and he could handle things both in terms of action and acting, because sometimes, at the end of production, we would separate into an A unit and a B unit. I was shooting one of the units and he was shooting one of the units. So we had to commit that Dee would be doing a certain thing and his personality would be a certain way. I was lucky to have Sammo so we could share the production together.

CSB: Since you have done so much research, and you and Chen have both been writing for so long, do you think you have enough material to tell additional Dee stories?

Tsui Hark: Definitely. We have more than two stories. Actually, we are planning a prequel. The reason we want to do a prequel is because when we talk about Phantom Flame, we always end up talking about why Detective Dee ends up in prison [where he begins the film]. How did he get into the business of being a judge or detective? Why does Empress Wu take such precautions with Dee? So we wanted to go back and see how we got to where we are at the beginning of Phantom Flame.

But maybe this is only our concern - a lot of people are asking about the sequel. What happens in part two? (laughs) People ask if we have a follow-up to Phantom Flame and I saw we do, a prequel, and they say, “We want a sequel!” The reason we are doing a prequel is that we thought of so many things we want to show about Dee as a person in the earlier part of his career, his life. And we do have a story, it is quite interesting, about how he learned all of his detective skills and about his involvement in the judicial department in the early stage of his life.

CSB: Would you use Andy Lau and Carina Lau again or younger actors?

Tsui Hark: This project is still in the thinking stages. If we’re talking about ten years earlier, we will probably need younger actors, but we are not yet sure. We are trying to work it out.

CSB: You previously shot your own reinterpretation of King Hu’s Dragon Inn as New Dragon Gate Inn, and Chang Cheh’s The One-Armed Swordsman as The Blade, and I understand that you are currently shooting a new version of Dragon Inn. I am curious what you have planned for the new version and if there are any other classic stories or wu xia films that you are interested in revisiting?

Tsui Hark: Actually, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is not a remake. It is a continuation of the story from the first film. It is really a pity when a new film replaces an earlier film, because if you have done the first film, why replace it with a new one? So Flying Swords is a continuation of the story from the first film, picking up three years later and showing what happened at that time. I had this idea in mind for quite a while, before finally starting the project. It is a very different kind of story than we had before.

Actually, I am not much in favor of remaking films, unless I find something interesting to remake. For example, in The Blade, I wanted to try a documentary style. The film was not very successful but I did try. I wanted to make it different from the kind of action films that had been seen before. Currently, I am thinking about doing another Once Upon A Time In China story. But a different attempt.

CSB: Returning to the Wong Fei-Hung story?

Tsui Hark: Yes, because one day I was sitting there and came up with a great idea for Once Upon A Time In China. But then I thought, how am I going to do it? So I am accumulating the elements and the people who can eventually create this Once Upon A Time In China world again. So I am thinking about it.

Thanks to Subway Cinema for arranging this interview.

© David Austin