ROTTERDAM Film Festival part ONE (29th Jan) ‘Casshern’ & ‘Three… Extremes’

Published on: February 20th, 2005

official site : www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

CASSHERN : [6/10] : Japan 2004 : KIRIYA Kazuaki : 142 mins

Watching the deliriously loopy, relentlessly eyepopping sci-fi epic Casshern explode across the screen, it's hard to believe the budget was only six million dollars – a relatively measly figure today, but a sum which seemed astronomical when applied to the rebuilding of Steve Austin three decades ago. Lee Major's Six Million Dollar Man was, of course, by no means the only body-modified 1970s TV superhero. Our far-eastern cousins had a positive pantheon of bizarrely-clad do-gooders around that time, among them a  'neo-roid' named Kiyashan (or  'Casshan'). Previously known only to hardcore devotees of  'anime', Kiyashan has now been dusted off and used as the (unlikely) template for Kiriya's wildly ambitious – and often very heavy-handed – anti-war parable.

The action (and there's plenty of it) takes place in an alternative near-future where Asia is ruled by a quasi-fascist gerontocracy. Scientist Azumi (Terao Akira) is a government-funded pioneering scientist whose   'neo-cells' can regenerate damaged bodies. When his idealistic son Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya) is killed on the battlefront after enlisting in the state's ongoing (and topical)  'war against terror', Azumi's breakthroughs enable the youth to be reborn as the near-indestructible warrior Casshern. Our conflicted, white-costumed hero immediately faces a daunting foe in the form of fellow neo-roid Brai (Toshiaki Karasawa), a Shakespearean villain who has harnessed an army of giant robots to vanquish mankind…

In case that  'army of giant robots' sounds familiar, you perhaps encountered same in last year's retrofuturistic flop Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow  ­- a film which, just like Casshern, kept its budget to non-apocalyptic levels via  'green screen' technology in which special-effects and backdrops are filled in by computers behind the "live" actors. The breathtaking visuals are very much Casshern's strong suit – as you'd expect from a director with such experience of pop videos as US-based Kiriya. Unfortunately, it's also no surprise to find his script such a cobbled-together series of contrivances, plot holes and loose ends – a major problem when the running-time is a punishing 145 minutes.

Neil Young
14th February, 2005 (shown at Luxor cinema, Rotterdam, 29/1/05)

click here for a feature-length version of this review

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THREE … EXTREMES : [5/10] : Utsukushii Yoru Zankoku na Asa : 2004 : 125 mins

(1) Dumplings : [6/10] : China/HK : Fruit CHAN : stars Miriam Yeung, Bai Ling
(2) Cut : [4/10] South Korea : PARK Chan-Wook : stars Lee Byung-Hun, Lim Won-Hee
(3) Box : [5?/10] Japan : MIIKE Takashi : stars Kyoko Hasegawa, Atsuro Watabe

Miike Takashi (Audition, Ichi the Killer) and Park Chan-Wook (OLDBOY, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance) are two of the most prominent, acclaimed and uncompromising horror/thriller directors working in the far-east today. Which guarantees that Three… Extremes – a portmanteau chiller featuring short (approx 40min) films by both directors, plus one by Hong Kong's Fruit Chan – will be a must-see among those with an interest in  'Asian extreme' cinema. Unfortunately, Miike and Park fans are in for a disappointing shock – their Box and Cut are, by their own high standards, severe misfires.

The only one of the triumvirate to enhance his reputation is, surprisingly, Chan (born  'Chan Kuo' in Guangdong), none of whose films (which include 2000's Durian Durian and 2002's Public Toilet) have obtained UK distribution. His enjoyably nasty Roald Dahl-style, nimbly allegorical  'tale of the unexpected' arguably aims lowest of the three Extremes, but nevertheless comes closest to hitting the target. Dumplings benefits from camerawork by living-legend cinematographer Christopher Doyle, but this isn't the only aspect which lifts it above Park and Miike's offerings. The script, by Lilian Lee (based on her own novella) is a tight, straightforward, economic affair, chronicling how ageing actress Qing (Yeung) finds an unorthodox remedy for wrinkles in the form of the dumplings prepared by ex-abortionist Mei (Ling).

There isn't much suspense in this slow-burning tale – we find out very early on the nature of the special ingredient in Mei's delicacies – but Chan builds a pleasantly sinister ambience, with unusual score flavours  (by Chan Kwong-Wing) and mordant flecks of humour (the  'tissue-paper offer' is a belly-laugh highlight) to make the gruesome recipe more palatable. It's no surprise to discover that Chan has also extended Dumplings into a stand-alone feature – but only masochists would hope for the same from either Cut or Box.

In Cut, conceited youngish film-director Ryu (bland Lee) returns home from his latest opus to find his wife (Gang Hye-Jung) being held hostage by a wisecracking psychopath (watchably energetic Lim). The intruder plays a series of cruel games on Ryu – motivated by a burning desire for vengeance which seems to have become Park's idee fixe. There are promising ideas here, and while the segment looks slick enough (cinematography by Chung Chung-Hoon), the execution of both script and direction feels sloppy and slapdash: the copious amounts of blood on the floor aren't the only way this chapter is off-puttingly messy: the story's coherence (not to mention plausibility) goes to pieces at around the same time as its villain's sanity, and even at forty minutes this doesn't feel like a very short Cut at all.

It's recognisably the work of Park, however – Miike's Box, on the other hand, bears few of this erratic genius's fingerprints. A striking departure from his usual rambunctious rag-bags, the austere, dialogue-light ominousness is much more reminiscent of his compatriots Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse) and Hideo Nakata (Dark Water, Ring). Thirtyish novelist Kyoko (Hasegawa) has become plagued by nightmares which point to a severe childhood trauma. In flashbacks, we see Kyoko (Mai Suzuki) as a child, rehearsing a magic-act-cum-dance-routine with her twin sister Shoko (Yuu Suzuki) under the harsh instruction of their father Hikita (Atsuro Watabe) – and culminating in a shattering tragedy. But nothing is what it seems…

While Miike is to be commended for seeking out new turf, he's blundered into unfortunate terrain this time: Box combines a glacial pace with an obtuse pretentiousness with nebulous results – it's a fair bet that the final twist will leave more than half of viewers completely baffled. It doesn't help that Box also begins on such a discombobulating note – the transition between the second and third episodes is so confusing you may suspect the projectionist has jumbled up the reels. The film's producers would surely have been better advised to come up with some linking device, as has traditionally been the norm for portmanteau horrors. Indeed, in many of the sub-genre's entries from its early-70s golden-age (most notably Asylum), the elaborate frame was rather more interesting than the variable vignettes encased within.

Neil Young
20th February, 2005 (seen at Cinerama cinema – press show)

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click here for reviews of Rotterdam films seen next day (30th January)

click here for full alphabetical list of features seen at Rotterdam '05

official site: www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com