The Asian Cinema

The eastern world has a lot to offer. Filled with grace, beauty and dignity, it has all the delicacy of a Japanese garden under a calm day. There’s so much history to its name.

That’s why I’m going to China this coming Friday, boarding the plane in every attempt to explore the enriched beauty of the East. It’s making me a little nervous at times, but comfortable with broadening my knowledge of the things waiting out there. Even if I am getting a little antsy.

More importantly, I’m going to see my future wife Alina who has been the kindest person and loved one to me. She is like a breath of fresh air to me after having dated unsuccessfully in my area for nearly twenty years without much going for it.

She’s been a dear girl to me.

But this isn’t going to be the latest complaint about the dating arena here in my culture. Far from it. I am, however, going to venture into reviewing a couple of Asian movies covering the science fiction and horror realm. I won’t bore you with details of my happiness with my Chinese girl. That’s for me to enjoy.

I must tell you that the Asian point of view, when making genre films, are different from our own. They have a different way of looking at things. And that makes it easily more interesting than the latest foray of science fiction doofuses created by the American cinema. While the United States tend to make the special effects the center of the story, using it for eye candy, the Asian films usually center their films around people or families. And let the special effects advance the story when it needs to.

Casshern is a Japanese film filmed released in its native country in 2004 and should have taken the cinemas by storm here in this country. Instead it is more of a quiet storm. The effects in this film are a remarkable feat. It will crack your imagination. And then splinter your senses with its visual style.

It is also made on a $6 million dollar budget on a US level. What astounds me, when seeing this film, is the convincing effects that makes Casshern look like several times the actual budget. It’s an amazing thing. There are echoes of Blade Runner and The Matrix. Why spend so much money on the budget when you can find a short cut to it?

The movie stuns its viewers with its visual display.

Casshern is a story regarding the post-apocalyptic war zone that is Japan, dwindled and lost in pollution, the struggling of people against the craft of war. There’s so much of it. The biology weapons become more of a viable things in the future where mere people have become victims of war as well.

But the story really is about a family as established in the beginning of the film. It tells of Tetsuya, his fiancée Luna, her scientist father, and his mother. They have become the central idea of the story. And the film depicts the sadness of how a family is torn apart through anguish and death. And how silly the idea of war has become.

You may already know that in any eastern country that family is the most important thing. And the younger generation grows up to care for the elders. Such a simple notion becomes the central play in the story. And you understand why love and fear has become the soldiers of war.
And it is a beautiful film. The animated look and feel of this film, in its stark realism mixing with pure fantasy, has created a foreign world that is very lovely sight. The film is very sincere. And compelling.

The other one that comes to mind when seeking a film of horror content is “Memento Mori,” which is transcribed to the English language as Remember the Dead. It has been made in Korea around 1999 and has become part of the infamous girls’ school trilogy of horror. But it does transcend far more than a mere ghost story.

This story revolves around a very intimate and forbidden love between two girl students who are going through the motions of high school. They have feelings for each other, their beauty seems to hold no bounds, yet there can be some misunderstanding. Some of the other girls find it disgusting and they act out their hatred towards the lesbian couple.

This film, in many ways, perfectly captures the hardships, hurt of younger women during the testing stages of high school. That point of life is probably the cruelest and most upsetting: high school is the pre-test before going on to the real working world. The kids are often not very nice.

And it’s not very easy to find friends. And lovers.

At the same time, there is a third student played by Kim Min-Sun who has found the diary which chronicles the relationship between the loved, estranged couple. She gets visions. They are nightmarish, filled with pain. They are heartbreaking. When one of the lovers kill herself, the high school becomes a battleground full of haunting and spirits.

I do like the actress Kim Min-Sun who has been in other Korean films. She might not be considered altogether pretty by other men who may see this film, but I think there is an attractive quality about her. She’s very lovely. And a very good actress who is able to show her fear and wonder of the loved couple whose spirits of sadness rake through the high school.

“Memento Mori” isn’t really a horror film but it does have definite paintings of darkness throughout. It is like a beautiful canvas that has been poured on with blackness, sinking slowly, grinding terror that builds up to a powerful ending. A worthy item added to the Asian cinema. And one that is strips away human nature when there is a world of darkness that consumes. Again, this film is about people. Not effects that are overblown like a Jackson Pollack painting. But a quieter, subtle tone.

The American cinema might have something to learn from the Asian viewpoint. And that makes the Asian cinema something more beautiful to behold despite their start, burning qualities of horror.

It could be a controversial movie because of its very distinct portrayal of lesbians in the movie, though more mature audiences would see it as a niche of possible love that should be accepted culturally. It’s could be a forever thing. Some viewers might find it offensive.

I’ll be in the Eastern world with the one girl that means most to me. And it’ll be a while before I return to these pages. I’ll just have to remember that my girlfriend hates horror movies.

Get Lost!

Once in a while a show on the Sci-Fi Channel can rise above the normal of average junk that pervades the television landscape. Even less often do we get a little gem of television viewing that is borderline masterpiece.

The stuff of the literary.

If you managed to catch “The Lost Room” on this particular channel that specializes in the bizarre, then you already know about the Objects, The Collectors and the Events which surround this six episode series. However, the largest impact this series has made is its idea. The concept of it is very simple.

Yet the writing takes you further down into the strange universe where things don’t seem the way they are. And the more you explore, the further you dig into the mythos, the stranger it gets. It is a crazy mix of the Twilight Zone and Ray Bradbury in disguise. And you don’t find stuff this good on the Sci-Fi channel.

If you didn’t see it on the original channel, you can also find it on the shelves of nearly any DVD rental store. It’s worth seeing where television can become a literary media.

Peter Krause plays detective Joe Miller who finds a lost room that almost acts like a black hole that cuts through different dimensions or follows snaking routes to any place in the world. It is a travel device. And the only way you can find this room is through using a motel key designated number “10” on the tag.

But he loses his daughter Anna in a middle of a custody battle, and while Joe fights some unseemly bunch of guys, when she escapes into the lost room where she vanishes forever. She becomes a ghosts that goes missing and her father must find a way to get to her. In many ways, that is the only thing which matters to him. His daughter means the world to him.

When the detective digs deeper into the mystery of the key and the room, he finds himself almost forced into another world that seems to coincide with the real world. There is a different world with objects that offers different properties. These objects somehow find their way from the motel room and don’t work like ordinary things. The key, found by the detective, can unlock the room. Along with almost any other door. Another object, such as a pen, can destroy anything by burning them up like a fiery ball. The list goes on with different objects.

There is a calmness about the detective Joe Miller as played by the dependable Krause. He maintains a balance. He doesn’t go over the edge like some of the other people who are also looking for the objects for unlimited power. Perhaps this is what sets him apart from the other people. He keeps focused on his daughter. That’s what keeps him anchored to sanity. The other people are interested simply for gaining control or power over others.

It becomes a battlefield out there for the possession of the objects. And it does get a little crazy out there. There are three splits of groups searching for the divine-inspired things: the collectors, the legion and the order. There are many theories to what the objects are. Some believe they are pieces of God that needs to be placed together to restore the supreme being. No one knows for sure.

Throughout the search, Joe does find creative ways of using the objects in his ever driven search for his daughter. And that’s all he wants. Many congratulations are in order for the actor Kevin Pollack who is best known for his many campy impersonations of William Shatner on different comedy shows. But here he is in a far more serious dramatic role. He plays a wealthy man Kreutzfeld who uses money to collect the objects and uses a variety of pawn shops to acquire such things.

He is doing this so he can bring back his son who is dying of leukemia. He isn’t a bad man because he has sincere intentions. But he lets his notions get the better of him as he becomes more reckless and disregard everything else simply so he could bring back his son to perfect health.

There’s some beautiful writing. And clever ways which Joe Miller uses things like the comb and the photo to get much closer to his daughter. There is a feeling of the literary while watching this show. And you get a thought that keeps telling you, “I can’t believe this was shown on Sci-Fi Channel.” And it was.

Also there’s a lot of nice strings or storylines involving other characters such as Dr. Martin Ruber who is played by Dennis Christopher… he can be seen as a flip-side of Joe Miller, the destructive and bad version of this good person. He wants to steal the spotlight in spite of everything including his life, money and wife. Yet, interestingly enough, the story makes a nice round off at the end when his character is designated as the prophet.

It gives the idea that perhaps they may make a second part of stories involving the Lost Room. Because the series does leave an open ending. And it does let you question more rather than find any answers. It’s like a book without a final chapter in which you have to write. Perhaps there will be more stories involving Ruber’s ascendency to Godhood. It could make for some interesting sequel. Then again this is a series that is an enigma. It might just leave it at that.

This is a remarkably inventive series that breaks some new grounds with television. What starts as a simple idea such as a lost room becomes a complex tale of deceit and ambiguity. Of good and evil. There are balances and oppositions. But in the heart of it all is a maze where people can go through to find their true selves. Joe Miller managed to reach his goal without becoming involved with the cosmic war of objects.

For the others, they should beware. Some things are better left untouched.

Animals Abound!

The nice thing about going to a place like Family Video is heading straight to the kid's section where there are a host of Disney films and cartoon series. All of them for free rental. That means I don't have to slap down a dollar for the family titles.

What I find, however, is something that doesn't see much running time on television except for a few select PBS stations. But they have copies of it over at Family Video and I manage to see the Redwall series... at least the first season in its entirety.

These are based on the books written by Brian Jacques which chronicles the rise of a hero during a time when he is needed most and accounts the time of tyranny that has run rampant throughout the forest where the action takes place.

If you like animals, then this is the series for you. There is a constant struggle of classes between the mice and rats.. the mice represent the commoner while the rats look to climb the social ladder in their attempt to gain power over others. There are also bunny rabbits, skunks, birds and other sorts of creatures you might see in the forest... including a very poisonous snake.

If you like animals, I say again, then this is the series for you.

If you also like action and adventure set in a Camelot period filled with knights of shining armor, again this is series for you.

Produced by companies in Canada and France, this series sets itself apart from most other series. There is a storyline that runs through all of the thirteen episodes. The stories tend to be simple with plots for children to understand and follow. And that is probably the intended audience... children. Though adults who appreciate animated series could enjoy this as well.

If this series has been produced in the United States, it might have been different. Several characters in "Redwall" do get killed off and there is a thread of death running through the course of the series.

The story revolves around Mathias, a simple mouse from humble beginnings who is attacked by a rat named Cluny who ravages the entire countryside with his tyranny. This partuclar rat killed whatever remaining family Mathias has including his sister who did not survive the jounrey they set out on. While growing up, Mathias is forever tortured by the images of Cluny the rat and wishes to bring justice to him.

Mathias is saved by several holy figures from the Redwall abbey. They are non-violent people with no taste of fighting in their blood. They are meek and continue their lives under the blessed daylight. They do not feel they need to be threatened by outside forces. They are soon proven wrong.

During this time, Mathias learns of his real role in life as he becomes the heir to Martin, the original protector and knight of Redwall. Mathias must lead the attack of the poeple in the abbey as the tide of war would soon engulf them. It is inevitable that Cluny the scourage would soon try to take over their castle and demoilish morale between them. But Mathias' spirit remains strong despite everything.

It's a tough sell for this series. There are no familiar voices in the first season of Redwall and a few of the adult themes going through the children's episodic show, such as the death of some characters, might put off some of the viewers. But the animation is pretty well done. And the series does follow the books well enough with a couple of detours from the story,line. One of the episodes Cluny's Clowns is not in the books and written specifically for the series. However, the theme of the stories remain intact.

There are fantasy elements such as the brazen tapestry unfolding over the inner Redwall structure which tells of many historical points of history. The tapestry does have a certain power which can influence others like some kind of holy spirit. The guidance of its presence is twofold. It can bring goodness to someone like Mathias or nightmares to one such as Cluny who is interested only in power.

This series might be one for those who enjoyed the Lord of the Ring movies with its fantastical elements and mystical surroundings. The combination of knights and spirits give this series a certain mystique of its own. Especially concerning the tapestry which connects every single episode of the series with its storytelling. This isn't a bad series and worth venturing into the video store for.

Children may enjoy it for the number of different, colorful characters such as the Basil the Stag Hare who has a very odd British accent. The characters are very memorable. The older viewers may be captivated by the simplicity of its tale of good and evil. It may be a cartoon that would be able to bring together the whole family.