Sabu

One fine day, in ISI or maybe in home in bbsr, I turned on the TV to see this new channel, UTV World Movies. I don't depend much on TV for movies, so had no idea about this channel, but this was a welcome surprise to see a japanese movie on TV. The movie, I later was to learn, was Hiroyuki Tanaka or as he is better known, Sabu's Monday. The story was about a sarariman, waking up in a hotel room on Monday, with no recollection of the weekend that had just passed. The story starts then absolutely rockets, with some absolutely spiffing music and awesome dance scenes, featuring a morose yakuza, his delectable girlfriend, and many more similarly zany characters. There are plenty of implied commentary on the contemporary japanese society, apparently. But the comedy is pretty universal.

Later, I watched Postman Blues, which also stars the director, and very recently (ie in the last hour, ahem) watched Drive. Both star Shinichi Tsutsumi, who also starred in Monday. If anything made Monday leave such a mark on me, it was his superlative acting. Besides he has given the most convincing potrayal of a mathematician, that I have seen, in Suspect X, one of the best battle of wits movie that I have seen, alongwith Death Note.

The tragi-comic aspects of his movies are just too special. For example, Drive features a scene in which the Tsutsumi uses a samurai sword to slice his aunt, done in a way, which forces you to laugh out. Similarly, Postman Blues is amazing cocktail of pessimism and optimism.


Sabu is also an actor and was in Ichi the killer, Takeshi Miike's gorefest. Miike regularly casts directors in his movies, as he says that they bring a very unique perspective, being intimately connected with movies, but are not professional actors. For more gems from Miike, do check out his interviews in youtube.

Let me end with this funny anecdote about Sabu. Apparently, after one of his movie showings, someone asked him, is it true that making movies in Japan is getting more difficult, due to lack of funds. Sabu cocked his head and said totally matter of factly, probably yeah, most people find it difficult to find money for movies, but I am amazing, so I don't have any problems!!

Photos are from top to bottom, poster of Monday, a scene from Postman Blues, and a poster of Suspect X.

Taiwan+Movies

I haven't watched very many Taiwanese movies (lets see, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is the only one coming to mind, only one! my god!). So yeah, maybe I should be correcting this. I watched Monga recently, a gangster movie, that was a big hit in Taiwan.
The story is set in Monga, a neighborhood in Taipei, which being an old major business center, is a gold mine for gangsters. It is controlled by 2 gangs, the Temple Front gang and the Back Alley gang. The story is about a young fellow, bullied relentlessly since his childhood, who befriends the son of the boss of the Temple Front gang and his 3 acolytes. The become sworn brothers, etc etc, the movie being mostly about friendship, betrayal, coming of age, the normal stuff.
Story-wise Monga doesn't offer anything new. Its still fun to watch though, the direction and cinematography being nice, with shades of city of gods in it. Starts off with a bang, that was a nice touch. The director also stars in the movie as the boss of a gang from the Mainland, who wants a piece of the action in Monga.
Here I must mention 2 movies which feature Taiwan quite majorly, Takeshi Miike's Shinjuku Triad Society (1995) and Rainy Dog (1997). They are the first 2 movies of his black society trilogy. The third movie is Ley Lines (1999). The stories are not related and only one actor appears in all three movies, Tomorowo Taguchi, a spectacular actor if there ever was one. The story matter of the 3 movies are similar though, as is the styling. They are not an easy watch though especially the first one. The reason I mention them is that they feature some totally awesome shots of Taipei and Taiwanese countryside. That scene with Taguchi pissing on Taipei and shouting "Taipeiiiiiiii" is hair raising. Those shots of Taiwan, brought to mind Wong kar Wai's Days of being Wild, which had some exquisite shots of Philippines.
The photos are from top to bottom, shot of Taiwanese countryside from Shinjuku Triad Society, Taguchi in Rainy Dog, right after the pissing scene, posters of Shinjuku Triad Society and Rainy Dog, Miike regular Sho Aikawa (famous for Gozu and Dead or Alive) in Rainy Dog, a poster of Monga.

Bong Joon Ho

The first movie that I watched in Chennai was Bong Joon Ho's Mother (Madeo in Korean) at the South Indian Film Chamber here in Anna Salai, in a Korean movie festival. A superb and moving film, it is about a mother whose mentally challenged son is accused of murder, driving her to prove it false, in whatever manner possible.
The first Bong Joon ho movie that I had watched was Memories of Murder, certainly the best movie that I have seen, made in this decade. This was only his second feature film. No doubt that he is a special moviemaker.
Here I am posting 4 of his shorts here, here, here and here, made in his student times and a nice commentary on his work that I had come across.
A nice thing about both Mother and Memories of Murder were that first and the last scenes. The first scene in Memories of Murder (which I was watching in my ISI days, when I wasn't very aware of directors, etc etc, like the whole baggage that comes with a movie) assured me that I was in for a super ride. In case of Mother, I was already aware of Bong Joon Ho, so the first scene in this case merely reiterated that it will be something. Now the last scene in both the movies is totally absolutely mind blowing, and I dont mean like a twist or anything, there were twists, no doubt, but its something else about those scenes, like the haunting look on Song Kang-ho's face, straight into the camera and the spectacular sun-through-the bus scenes in the last scene of Mother. Special!

No Mercy

No Mercy is yet another korean police/revenge movie. Its quite well made, with exquisite camera work, as with most korean movies that I get to see. Probably a rung below Memories of Murder, Mother and the Revenge Trilogy of Park-Chan Wook, it nonetheless is a gripping movie with a stunning revelation at the end.
The movie starts with a dismembered corpse of a girl and a forensic pathologist performs autopsy on the body. The killer is soon caught, a crippled fanatic environmentalist who seemed to be making a point by cutting the body into 6 pieces. But then it all turns personal, hurtling inevitably towards an absolutely breathtaking end.
(I thought) I didnt know any of the actors, imdb informs me that the main antagonist starred in Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (one of the best revenge movies made, ever!), as the retarded boy by the river! I do remember that scene, it was quite special, but dont remember the face sadly! Also, he was the lead in Arahan, another movie I had watched quite a while back, so total blank as far as faces are concerned.
Acting is quite good in the movie and music is ok. There are plenty of (tastefully done) gruesome scenes, its certainly not for the lily-livered. Apparently this is the directors first movie, its certainly a commendable effort.