Father Geek here with Darius25 and this Thursday's edition of Asia-AICN. It was a slow news week for our reporter/spies in the Far East, but Films from the region are being haled by film lovers around the globe, soooooo ol' Father Geek has decided to throw in some of the reviews he has received here at Geek Headquarters to flush-out the column this week. These were sent in by TekSmurf from Rotterdam...

Ichi The Killer

(Miike Takashi, 2001)

Tuesday evening i went to see this movie and ohh what a treat. The press had been all over this one and it showed. Predominantly twenty-something people crowded the theater just itching to see if the press had exaggerated about the gore and depravity of this movie, myself included. I don't know what it is, but something inside us makes us respond favorably to a movie that is made out to be viciously violent, bloody to the extent of being just plain 'evil'. Or is it just us warped-minded movie freaks? In any case this sort of 'anti-hype', where the press is urging the public to stay away from it on account of its unspeakable dark and violent nature works like a charm to bring them in. Perhaps this could be a nice marketing tactic? After everyone had settled in and the local dutch celebrities took their prime reserved seats (baaastaaards) it was time to start the movie, or was it. Nay! In walks Miike Takashi and Asano Tadanobu, the movie's director and lead actor. The crowd went wild. It was decided to give these two an introduction before the movie as well as do a short Q&A with them. First up was Tadanobu, a very gentile sort of fellow, soft spoken, constantly bowing. His character in the movie is that of an ultimate masochist in search for an equally perverted sadist, but likes to dish it out all the same to enjoy himself while he's searching for this sadist. He was asked if he had any trouble wearing metal rings in his face (part of the character) for this movie, to which he answered that the rings were no bother, instead he was worried about the local yakuza of the town they were shooting in. When asked how much of himself he put into his character, which is a fun question considering his character, he answered: "100 %" Applause. Then it was time to talk to Miike Takashi. This man invented the concept of cool. If Sam Jackson is America's coolest guy, then Miike Takashi is Japans'. Barely 5 feet, shaved head, Lennon sunglasses, hands in pockets he simply aired coolness. When he spoke, he did so in a low japanese voice, the kind that makes you think of old samurai movies. He voiced some 'concerns' about half the people leaving the theater before the movie was finished. Applause. Translation into English. Applause. It was a hoot! One last thing was asked of him, why he had chosen to leave Yamamoto Hideo's manga more or less intact, since he is well known for taking a work of literature and completely fubarring it upon translation to the big screen. Apparently he is a big fan of Yamamoto's work and to put that through the blender would be disrespectful. Applause, bowing.

On to the movie. Well the press was not exaggerating. And it was. Huh? Yea, the movie 'is' dark, extremely violent and depraved. Women are raped, beaten to death, tortured. Flesh hooks, burning hot oil, ripped limbs and so on. Basically what one would expect from any manga. But!! It was fun, it really was. Now i have read reviews claiming you would have to be a twisted sick bastard to enjoy this kind of movie. Not true. People, myself included, were down right giddy at the prospect of some extreme slashing. In short the movie is about two rival yakuza gangs being manipulated by a trio of criminals who use Ichi as their executioner. Ichi is a bit messed up in the head. Exactly why and how, we never learn for sure, but he believes that he has been bullied all through his childhood which left such a trauma that whenever he gets bullied again or told by the leader of the trio which people are bullies, he starts to lose it until a dam breaks and he starts crying, which means he starts slashing with his razor blade equipped shoes. Ichi, howver is not the main character. That is Kakihara (Tadanobu). This has to be the weirdest Japanese to ever walk on that funny island. Blond hair, dresses like a 70's pimp, face scarred all over, which includes two five centimeter incisions on either side of his mouth. His mouth is kept together with two metal rings. Cool thing about that is that when he leaves the rings in he can blow smoke through his cheeks and when he takes them out he can lower his jaw onto his chest!! Look for one scene where he uses that little oral power. With the death of his yakuza boss (who also served as his sadist master) he eventually sets out to find Ichi, whom he believes to be a perfect emotionless sadist. And along the way he shows some sadist tendencies of his own....hilarious.

I wouldn't call this good clean family fun, but fun nonetheless. The end of this movie will leave some questions, but if you think about you'll figure it out.

Then, there's this one which is a favorite here at Geek Headquarters in Austin...

Avalon

(Oshii Mamoru, 2001)

There i was sitting in the middle of the middle of 'Pathe one', the very best theater I have ever been in, picture, sound and seating is near perfect there, eagerly awaiting the start of Avalon. I had taken extra care not to get informed about this movie. There's something special about watching a movie you know nothing about, no preconceptions, no expectations. Surprise me! The first thing i see when the movie begins is a graphic display of what looks like a targeting computer. 80's style graphics! This is promising, to have old-school effects in the age of the Matrix. Why you ask? Because this implies a conscious choice of the director rather than having pretentious low budget effects. These 80's graphics remind us geeks of the old times, when we refer to them we do so in the fashion of modern soldiers referring to WWII weaponry, with a sense of awe and respect. Quickly we are plummeted into a warzone, one female uber warrior against many lowly wannabe's. She rules, no doubt in our minds. Every guy she takes down explodes into a thousands polygonal pieces. Explosions look 3D but as soon as the camera moves around we see them for what they are, stacked 2D images, how cool is that? She moves through the warzone with ease, killing left and right and ends by shooting a helicopter out of the air. Then all falls silent....high in the sky we see those magical words: "Mission Complete". Yes!!! We are off to a good start.

Our heroine is called Ash (Malgorzata Foremniak). She lives in a dismal world where simply everything is made out to be boring, accentuated by the colors this movie is shot in, brown and yellow, it almost reminded me of 1984. Five minutes in her world and i would kill myself. Oshii Mamoru uses long silent and repetitive scenes to show this world to be a hell for anyone with a hint of spirit. But all is not lost! There is a game called Avalon. Virtual reality in nature, very real, very addictive and very dangerous. People get killed while inside, or simply get lost, leaving their bodies as mindless veggies. And there is money to be made, enough to make a sweet living. Already i have decided i want to play this game too....sure you can get killed, but everything has its downside. I can picture it now, running down the street with my high powered sniper rifle, chased by a gang of thugs. But i'm not worried, merely focused. I quickly lose them, double back, find a high point and start taking them down one by one...muhahaha...argh. Got to get a grip here.

What works for me about this movie is that it was shot in Poland and is in fact in Polish. This gives the whole thing a very eastern European feel to it, think east Berlin, grayish, depressing even oppressing. Not only does Oshii Mamoru use colors to show this but uses them as well to differentiate between realities. There's Ash's reality (brown/yellowish and grayish skin tones), the virtual game reality (more prominently yellow) and virtual reality number two (real life colors). It is this second VR which is legendary among Avalon players. Everyone who sets out to find it does not come back. As legend has it, the only way in is by following a glitch in the game, manifested by a young ghost girl, who only appears under specific conditions. Needless to say Ash is intrigued by this. How the story actually plays out i'll leave for you to find out yourself. The fun of it is though that at the end of this movie you'll think you get it, but right there at that moment the truth as you think you know it starts to walk away from you, leaving you with nothing but a bunch of 'but how's and a bag of 'what if's. Gotta love that...and if you don't....well there's always Armageddon.

Annnnnnd on that note Father Geek will turn you over to Darius for the regular report from...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, hope you’ve have had a good week. It’s been slow week in terms of Asian film news but I still managed to find some Bollywood info and review the latest Sunny Deol starrer. We also have a link to a really cool VISA commercial with Zhang Ziyi. Now here’s the latest from Bollywood.

INDIA

- Director Farhan Akhtar has almost finished the script of his next film and it will again be a three-hero project. Although this time the cast is rumoured to be much bigger – Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi. Nothing is set yet but Hrithik is “most-likely” to do the project (since he regretted turning down Saif Ali Khan’s role in “Dil Chahta Hai – Desires of the Heart”) while Vivek is almost confirmed. SRK is the wildcard but with no MAJOR releases set for 2003, we think he might also take the role.

- Ok this one’s a really wild rumour – but it sounds extremely cool. Apparently, Sunny Deol has roped in Sanjay Dutt for his next home production – the Shaheed Bhagat Singh bio-pic. The two macho heroes have been in several films during the ‘80s and early 90s and this will mark their first pairing since their emergence as Bollywood’s top action stars. Dutt will probably have a supporting role while Sunny plays the role of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad and Bobby Deol portrays the titular role. The film will tell the life story of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who went on several campaigns against the British prior to the Indian independence. Guddu Dhanoa, who has worked with Sunny on his earlier action hits, is set to direct.

- Producer Bunty Soorma will make his directorial debut with “Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai (We Love You)”. The film stars Bobby Deol, Arjun Rampal and Amisha Patel in the leading roles. Principal photography began last week and the film is set to release this winter.

- Lucky Star Entertainment launched their latest film last week, this time directed by Chandra Prakash. Titled “Pinjar (Cage)”, the film stars Manoj Bajpai, Urmila Matondkar, Priyanshu, Sandali Sinha, and Isha Koppikar. It is scheduled to release sometime in the fall.

- Last week’s new release was Sunny Deol’s much-anticipated film, “Maa Tujhe Salaam (A Salute to Mother)”, co-starring Tabu, Arbaaz Khan and Tinu Verma. Verma, a much-praised action director who has worked with Sunny on almost all his recent hits, makes his directorial debut here with somewhat mixed results.

First the good news – Sunny Deol’s role is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT while the action scenes are totally KICK ASS!!! Ok, sorry for losing my control here, but in a time like this we need a Rambo-like figure who gets to kill a million terrorists with unlimited bullets while surviving dozens of bullets (even one to the head!!).

Yeah it’s not PC and at times, quite biased, but taken at face value, this is one hero that almost any one can cheer for. HOWEVER – this is NOT Sunny’s film. I mean while he is given top billing and features in all the action scenes (including the SLAMBANG finale lasting for nearly 30 mins), the leading role is really given to Arbaaz Khan.

Here he (Khan) plays an innocent villager (Albaksh) who’s mistakenly running arms for a terrorist (Verma himself) in Kashmir. He’s loyal to his boss until the point when he actually realizes the true motivations of the bad guy. Eventually he rebels and teams up with Major Pratap Singh (Deol) in defeating the terrorists’ plot to infiltrate India.

The acting??? Well, Arbaaz Khan is ok in the role – he’s mainly given the dramatic scenes and doesn’t really disappoint. He’s ok action wise but it’s really Sunny’s show in that department. Tinu Verma is ok as the villain while Tabu is wasted in the usual-supporting role (She looks really nice though).

The cinematography is just plain gorgeous filled with awesome visuals of the Kashmir Mountains. The songs are off the filler material, but aren’t too bad and don’t distract. The pacing is just right with just enough action scenes peppered in between to fill you over till the big finale. All in all, the film’s main action scenes (particularly the climax) are its main highlights and action director Tinu Verma doesn’t disappoint with his directorial debut. Even though Sunny Deol doesn’t have a major role, NONE of his fans will be disappointed with this film.

Sunny Deol “redefines” flag-waving (ie. the final scene of the movie – pity you can’t see the hundreds of dead bodies laying around!!): See The Shot Here

Arbaaz Khan and Sunny: They're Here Now

Sexy Malaika Arora in a special appearance: Check Her Out Here

Setting up the climax: Sunny with Tabu: Just Click Right Here

HK / CHINA

I know it’s a slow week but you guys can still check out this really cool VISA commercial with Zhang Ziyi. Of course it’s been Americanized (with the obligatory fast cuts and close ups), but it’s nice to know that Ziyi is expanding her English vocabulary.

Click here to download the commercial: See Her In Action Now !!!

We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@home.com. See you all next week.

Darius25