One More Time, Rose

Rose is back.

The very words bring back the memories of old. And something new. But it must be the same Rose who had travelled through time and space with the Doctor just well over a couple years ago.

Only she's hardend by recent experiences. She's older, perhaps angry. Behind those soft blue eyes, the flitter of life, is a calm of the storm. It is like a hurricane rushing towards us in spades. And Rose is right in the middle of it.

And so it tightens the plotlight even further since the very first episode of the fourth season of Doctor Who running with "Partners in Crime" when we hear with a shudder the mention of the Shadow Proclamation. Such an organization has stayed hidden in the background throughout the series as some passing references were made. And there is Rose stating something important, "The darkness is coming."

Plus an overall arc that's been going ever since the very first episode of the Doctor Who series in 2005 concerning the shadows.

"Left Turn" offers us a little rose. But she isn't the focus of the story. Neither is the Doctor who appears in the episode in but a few scenes in both the beginning and the end. The center stage is shifted, once again, and unexpectedly, to a new player in the ever expanding Doctor Who universe. Donna Noble.

The whole idea is that some moments of our lives can be determined by a single choice made by someone or yourself. Such a random choosing could lead to a lifetime of repercussions. What would have happened had some history detoured like a broken arrow? In this episode, the writer Russell T. Davies asks what would happen if Donna turned right instead of left like she should have.

Plenty does happen. And it's a life of Donna without the Doctor. She might not be an important person in the everday scheme of things. She loses her jobs, remains unoccupied despite attempts, mouths off to her employers. Then the cosmic contastrophes begin to happen around her such as alien invasions taking over the earth. Without a Doctor to intercede.

I have always liked Donna Noble and the actress Catherine Tate who played her ever since the beginning of this year. She gives hefty perfomances that gives the complexity of her character without going overboard. Yet she is able to indulge in her comedic routines every now and then. But it is her dramtic scenes which brings out those moments of humanity. It's great to see Bernard Cribbins get more scenes in "Turn Left" as he explands the grandfatherly character who is memorial as he is funny. Even Donna's mother figures into the episode more prominently. It's an interesting, close-knitted family.

This is an incredibly good episode as it is a well written from every angle. The desperate postulation that offers a different viewpoint... what would life be without the Doctor? That must be something that's been on everyone's mind. He is a central figure in the story without being seen too much. There are written scenes such as the grandfather looking out the window to see the destruction of London with the fear setting in his eyes or Donna's great outburts in the work office as she tells her boss to stuff it. These are great, boxed-in tidbits that play alongside a much grandiose storyline.

Donna Noble is an imporant person in the midst of things. She probably doesn't even know it. But she is the new anchor to the Doctor's roaming travels. She is his reason and conciousiness when things get to out of hand. She gives a peaceful moment of humanity when the Doctor feels a loneliness drowning him out. There are times when he feels very much like destroying himself just to step out of his long-winded, tired existence, growing bored of his godhood.

But Donna is there to bring him back. She's got enough guts to stand up for herself against the Doctor's many platitudes of destruction and gets her points across to him if need be. Donna remains his constant.

Then there is Rose.

She seems abandoned, cut off from her own. There are times when she seems neglected, oblivous, like a lost girl trying to regain her immortality. This is shown as she recreates her Bad Wolf messages out of existence once again. She is a messenger from the stars to the Doctor. Her continued warnings of the approaching darkness has finally come to a fixed point.

In the same way as the plot device seen in a film like Slaughterhouse Five, the character of Rose is seeing traveling back and forth in time. She is unstuck in the time. That would explain some of her disappearing acts in the first episode of season four "Partners in Crime" when she vanishes like a ghost. Perhaps a figment of imagination. However, due to the Doctor's absense, she has managed to find a way of tapping into the time travelling machine's energies. Along with the help of the military orgainzation UNIT, she could retool the machine into sending her back and forth through space. And time. Just like the Doctor.

Which is interesting. Rose has become something more than just a companion. She has become something of an equal. She is the Doctor's balance. The axis of her powers is something extraoridinary. That may be how she is able to send messages throughout the entire fourth season: glimpses of her seen through the TV screens all over the place. She is like a ghost in the machine trying to reach the Doctor. There's even a moment when she blasts away a Dalek with a high tech bazooka. She's not anyone to mess around anymore.

In some ways, she still loves him. It might not be evident here. But she still have thoughts of going on that cosmic honeymoon with the Doctor in the time travelling Police Box carrying them into a star-studded romance. That could never happen. Yet she still plays with the idea.

Rose is coming back with a vengeance for the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to know how changed she is. And what scars she might have since her wounded departure on those lofty sandy beaches where she last saw the images of the solitary man who is the love of her life.

She'll continue to catch up with the Doctor no matter what. She'll try to prove to him that she is someone not to be left behind. Perhaps she might even sacrifice herself to make peace with her long-lost loved one.

A Taste of Asian

Many blogs ago, I made a few complaints about Japanese horror films becoming a self-parody of itself. It’s no secret that many of them, along with Korean horror films, give away the tired routine of ghostly girl with fine dark hair running over her shoulders like an overflowing river. And it’s a ghost on a bad streak.

I guess some dead folks have bad days too. Much of it began with the advent of the film “The Ringu” which is pretty good on its own standing. But, like a fad gone wild, the Japanese horror genre became too self-evident. And reliant on the same tricks.

However, I shouldn’t have been so critical. There are some exceptions if you do a little digging through the junk piles of film entertainment. You might find a true gem under all the flopside of garbage that’s been left clinging to the shelves. For every crappy “Cursed” film, there’s a true inspiration to the rule.

One of those small discoveries is “3 Extremes.”

Three of everything. You get three directors, three stories and a linear narration that goes through the entire collection in a final knot. Three times the gore, I suppose.
Nothing wrong with that.

This film does offer an intelligent treatment on themes and runs away with a number of interesting ideas that might either intrigue or disgust you. Depending on the mood you are in. But the film never does insult your well-being as a viewer. Instead it takes you on an uneasy journey to the darkest corners of humanity. There is a horror story around every corner.

The first segment “Dumplings” gives the notion that beauty can’t be with us always. It’s not around forever. Those youthful models getting their snapshots taken know that someday the old age will catch up with them. And their youthful looks will leave them eventually.

You couldn’t rely on beauty forever. That is why the likes of Marilyn Monroe or Jane Mansfield seems like a starlets destined for eternity. She died at a younger age. Therefore our memory of them are imprinted into our thoughts, the sweetness of their songs fill our thoughts for a long time. Perhaps forever.

Youth can be captured. But at a cost. Both women lost their lives due fateful circumstances. “Dumplings” takes the idea much further with an aging actress looking for any way to stop herself from growing older. What will she do to preserve her own beauty in this way? Some of the things she does are very unhealthy for dieting.

Fruit Chan is a very established director from China with a number of credits to his name including the Prostitute Trilogy. His segment may seem very mild. Almost mundane. But there’s an uncomfortable thread that runs beneath his themes which makes his short film very focused, uncanny. It is like seeing another side of a person you do not wish to. And you’re not sure if you should feel sorry for the actress that falls into her own trap of recapturing beauty.

I do think the Asian cinema, in many ways, outweighs the American films in terms of being subtle. They have an interesting perception of the going-ons in life. Now the next segment is going the other deep end provided by one of my own favorite directors Park Chan-Wook of South Korea who created one of my all times movies “Oldboy” being part of his famous Vengeance trilogy. He has a deep sense of irony in his films, very stark, a genuine sickness that bleeds through his films. Yet there’s a certain quality of beauty in his works. Some of the set designs used in his short work is mesmerizing with the interesting chess board patterns covering the floor soon to be covered with so much blood you couldn’t mop to get rid of it.

His short film “Cut” is filled with tension, gore, and plenty of missing fingers. But beneath the stylish violence that cuts you deep is a certain theme that is pure and simple. The idea of neglect. No one likes to be abandoned. No one cares to be pushed to one side in the forgotten land of cinema. And this is what happens here. An arrogant director is riding the winds of his success. He drums the tides of his triumphs while an actor schemes to reap vengeance.

This guy is nothing more than a mere extra. A mister nobody. Compared to the successful director, he’s nothing. Yet he garners a game of his own realization: he kidnaps the director and his wife in a cruel game where the wife’s fingers are chopped off for every mistake made.

Despite the sickness of the ordeal and the grueling tactics of the film, the theme of loss and neglect floods the short film like a bucket of blood. You couldn’t get away from the gore in this one. It stays with you. With every hatchet scene. But Chan-Wook gives the story enough sense of style that it’s also funny as well as disgusting. It's a really good cut.

The final segment is from probably the most well known director stemming from Japan named Tashaki Miike. He’s known for his incisive violence and over the top gore that has been the mainstay of his previous works. He’s not for everyone. And he makes those with the strong stomach squeamish like a girl.

Yet, surprisingly enough, we get a very mild, if sulky, Miike here for the short film “Box.” Basically his central idea is being trapped. The feeling of loneliness that ensnares us all. But the feeling of closed detachment could lead to total darkness. And the soul being buried. The young woman in the film experiences horrible nightmares about being trapped in water.

She learns that there is more to her long-lost sister than this. And the connection between the two grows into a very lonely, sinister thing.

Those expecting true gore from Miike will be disappointed here… he’s mild here, considerably so, more than his previous outings such as the nail-inducing “Imprint” from the Masters of Horror series. Instead he opts to explore themes and connections instead. He does so with a masterful approach, but some of us wish he would just cut loose with the bloody intent.

There are other films like “Abnormal Beauty” or “Wishing Stairs” in the always wonderful Extreme Asia cinema line where they go away from the usual Japanese horror often painted across the cinema. Films like “3 Extremes” show that there are other horror stories that do not need to go back to the Japanese ghost story bent on havoc, crawling into reality, catching up with us. Instead there are films that can explore other attitudes of horror, different themes while still maintaining the perfect dose of fear.

You should try the Asian horror flicks before knocking them down. There is something perfectly chilling about the Asian cinema that makes us look inward into our own humanity and finding something else we might not like.

It's Not Easy Being Green

The jolly green giant returns in another full-fledged movie with stronger, more convincing effects and a more central story that gives the feeling of a solid punch to the gut.

Hulk smash.

You can never get tired of that little turn of phrase. Even if the grammar is pretty bad. But it wouldn’t be any surprise if young kids are using that line when playing in their yard.

The Incredible Hulk, as it is titled, is a smashingly good film. Much of it relies on the linear narration that gives the story more flow than its predecessor does. This film feels darker, less comic-book oriented as if it is grittier. As if the entire film is shot on location. It has that kind of feeling.

There’s another kind of feeling. The one where you are about to get angry as you get a knot in your gut that’s ready to bust wide open. It’s hundredfold worse when your buttons start to pop off and your arms take on an emerald polish look. Then you realize you’re pretty ugly on the inside. The idea of the Hulk is a reworking of the Mr. Hyde story where the worst of humanity is trapped inside one’s soul before it is unleashed in a monstrosity form.

The film takes on this idea as center stage. The notion that the inner being can be provoked through anger, tapping into the most primal, ancient emotions. Thanks to a huge dose of radioactive gamma rays, scientist Bruce Banner gets a few random shots of this. Those moments are called “incident” according to the film.

The only thing well missed, for myself, is the central idea of the family which was a huge hook for me in the previous film. The notion of the daughter, her father General Ross and Bruce Banner forms a kind of soap opera triangle which really works for me. The film didn’t spare enough time for this central idea. Such a pity. It makes for a good opportunity to explore new emotions between three souls who are all suffering in their own miserable ways. Bruce Banner and his loneliness. The daughter who felt the desire for the only man she loved. And her father who is a military brute who wishes to take back his stolen secrets.

But it’s a trivial flaw that doesn’t depart from the entire narration of the film.

And what of the rest of the film?

Hulk done good.

It is very fast moving with plenty of snapping, quirky turns of dialogue by writer Zak Penn. There isn’t so much of the comic book overtones here. It feels more like an action thriller than the last one. It has a sure-fire pacing from director Louis Leterrier (who hated the first film version) that makes it feel shorter than the actual length is at one hour and fifty minutes.

Much of it contributes to the enormous acting talents of the trio of main characters: Ed Norton who gives a sympathetic portrayal of a doomed man looking for a way to destroy the monster in him. Norton is brooding, funny and has a sliver of desperation about him that makes him a pretty good Bruce Banner.

Also deserving of notion is the lovely Liv Tyler who lends a sympathetic ear to Banner and the awful soul that lingers inside him like a fiery blackness. She knows loving this man could send her down to a bottomless pit of hurt. Yet she does so. I don’t know what it is about her. She has a foreign beauty about her that is both exotic and exciting. She is a joy to watch.

Many nods to William Hurt who has transformed himself a military force who is both stubborn and relentless, recalling the reckless behavior of the Bush administration. You can either hate or love Hurt in this role. His piercing eyes hide much pain also as he plows through the film with a great presence. Also there’s a great appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as his alter ego Iron Man who sets up very nearly another possible movie. He breathes so much new life into the film with his easy charm. He suggests to sit down, shut up and listen.

“I’ve heard you got a little problem and I’d like to help,” Iron Man says towards the end of the film. It’s a great lead-in, leaving audiences another discovery: that some movies can have a shared universe. I’m surprised no one has used Tobey McGuire as Peter Parker in some of these movies.

The only thing lacking for it is the monster fight another monster in a Godzilla styled trade-off in the film’s finale. It’s not bad. But it feels a little forced and a bit silly. But none of it lowers the credibility of film’s basic notion. That a lone man travels on his own road that could lead to either salvation or destruction. Most likely the latter.

Something like this could only get worse.

It’s good to know that the Hulk is now in capable hands. And it doesn’t go away with such high-headedness that you forget those who have come before. If you look quickly, you can see cameos made by Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby from the original series created by Kenneth Johnson in the late seventies. Even the appearance of Stan Lee somehow figures into the plotline.

Venture further into the darkest part of the human heart if you care to. Such a discovery of self-conflict remains the key to Banner’s most complex personality. Peeling away the layers of his humanity leaves open the raw, dangerous mechanisms for anger. And that anger could explode at any passionate moment.

It's something most people can relate to in their daily lives. But the film points further that there’s always a way to control it. And that is something Banner hopes to find in his own lifetime.