Some movie reviews

Here are three newly-revised movie reviews, originally posted on my Letterboxd.

XIAO WU (1992)

Directed by Jia Zhangke

An earthy character study, Xiao Wu tells the endearing tale of a lonesome pickpocket. He is a man pursued by the authorities and disregarded by his peers. We follow him as he builds an unexpected relationship with a lowly karaoke singer. Zhangke’s seminal work paints a stark and poignant portrait of a petty criminal. The viewer observes as the old world the pickpocket once knew starts to fade and his life begins to unravel.

The film’s deliberately distanced filming of these two outsiders, living on the fringes of late ‘90s China, creates a unique, emotional atmosphere. There are parts of this film that have very dreamy, nostalgic qualities. The film employs a splashy, handheld, but subtle study of the colors green and red, making it visually stunning to look at. It channels some of the free-spirted kinetic energy of a film like Chungking Express, yet it’s also held back and reserved, favoring a more sarcastic, cynical tone than the playful melancholy of the Wong Kar Wai film.

While watching it, I was reminded of a particularly memorable scene in Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, where a Japanese businessman drunkenly sings karaoke in a bar and then immediately after, begins to play Moonlight Sonata with a quiet look of serenity. If one could imagine the feeling of that scene, stretched out into a feature, then that is how I would describe Xiao Wu. It follows in the grand naturalistic tradition of directors like Vittorio de Sica and Robert Bresson. It also features one of the best final shots in a movie I’ve seen. It’s striking and memorable, in the simplest, most authentic way possible.

4/5 stars, Nov. 15, 2020.
Original review here

TEKNOLUST (2002)

Directed by LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON

Teknolust is an unusual sci-if drama. Director Lynn Hershman Leeson comes from an experimental film/video art background, and the film’s look has that low-budget early 2000s museum installation piece feel to it. Its indie qualities are delightfully apparent. Its representation of internet technology is a charming, outdated byproduct of the time. It depicts a simpler internet. An internet still garishly fitted with Alta Vista search engines, pernicious toolbar extensions, and Flash animated e-cards. The story of the film is centered around life-like AI living inside a computer, as they develop sentience and begin to feel trapped and frustrated in their enclosed cybernetic world. Its concept is similar in philosophy to that of the ISOs from Tron or the cookies from Black Mirror.

There is an impressive manipulation of color in the set and costume design of Teknolust, and despite the film’s low budget, Hershman definitely exerts a tangible sense of style and vision. It’s a slow-moving piece, with almost no action to speak of. It’s an endless stream of eccentric dialog exchanges. It keeps the viewer engaged though, because as it progresses, you begin to understand somewhat what is happening in the narrative, though not entirely. One is compelled to watch, in the hopes that the puzzle pieces will slowly come together. By the end, we find that there are still many questions left unanswered.

It posseses a weird sense of humor and dramatic voice. What holds this film together the most is the starring performances by the marvelous Tilda Swinton. In Teknolust, she plays 4 different characters: one genius scientist, and her three artificial personas. Each character is infused with a distinct and entertaining personality, and Swinton brings each to life with aplomb. There are several great moments from Swinton here. I was particularly impressed by the choreography of the dancing sequence. Later in the film, there is a charming fish-out-of-water scene where she eats her first donut and tries to pay for it with condoms. The film is set in San Francisco, so occasionally we also get some nice city views, obligatory Golden Gate Bridge transition included.

Supporting Swinton are performances from eclectic talents like the late, great Karen Black (Five Easy Pieces), James Urbaniak (The Venture Bros.), and Josh Kornbluth (The Josh Kornbluth Show). Weaker actors would have made these cheaply produced scenes feel as amateur as they looked, but they lend a fascinating presence to the Bay Area outsider perspective of the film. I haven’t seen anything else quite like this movie, and compared to anything else that it somewhat reminds me of, this is by far the best.

3/5 stars, Oct. 25, 2020.
Original review here

Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

Directed by CIRO GUERRA

Embrace of the Serpent captures the visual splendor of Kurosawa, Bergman, Tarkovsky, Kubrick, and Herzog in a single work. It is a Heart of Darkness-like voyage into the miseries and degradations of rubber plantations and colonialist missions, viewed with a reverence for the sanctity of nature. I spent every passing minute in awe at the director's ability to maintain a rising level of artistic excellence throughout, right until the wondrous beauty of the finale.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the director’s choice to shoot the film in black and white. When you observe the detail in the picture, you can't help but imagine all those varying skin tones, breathtaking mountain tops, rippling rivers, and lush fauna looking better in color. But then you progress through the film and realize the monochromatic image adds a simplicity, a particular poignancy, to this tale of destructive imperialism. The black and white photography harkens back to those old 1930s treasure-looting serials that inspired the Indiana Jones series, with their exotic exploits in the jungles of Africa and Latin America, and their romantic Kiplingesque paternalism for an untamed frontier. Ciro Guerra beautifully emulates the feel of those films and expertly turns them on their heads.

There are many quietly devastating and spiritual scenes to behold in this film. They play out as remembrances of a largely forgotten and extinct culture. It shows how even the most will-intentioned and open-minded of unwanted visitors can devastate an ancient community and its sacred ecosystem. Much of it deals with the existential horror of watching your culture, your people, your way of life— desecrated and mangled into something hideous and unrecognizable. It dives deep into this nerve-wracking thought, this idea, of forgetting your roots and losing your identity, followed by solemn acceptance and submission to the unfeeling hands of fate. The film is a tragedy and a requiem. It is a perfect film.

5/5 stars, Oct. 13, 2020.
Original review here