HKIFF Heats Up

Zhang Yuqi plays a sexually
adventurous woman trapped
in a shifting society in Wang
Quan’an’s historical epic.
The point of view changes an
hour into the film as Xiao’e takes
center stage. Young Yuqi has the
riveting beauty of a Wong Kar-wai
heroine and here, too, her sexual
mores are constantly under
scrutiny as she runs through an
impressive series of men, mostly
tragically Jiaxuan’s own son
(Cheng Taisheng). Victim, devil
or just a woman in love? Each
man feels entitled to his own opinion,
leaving the question uneasily
open. Though visuals are tame by
Western standards and nudity is
quite limited, the language used
in the seduction and rape scenes
leaves little to the imagination in
terms of exotic sexual practices.
But this fits in with the earthy, at
times humorous, dialogue used by
the peasants.
Though the whole cast is
strong and efficient throughout
and though there’s no
shortage of action, the film
is oddly devoid of emotional
involvement. It seems to lack
the screen time for narrative
buildup, which a longer miniseries,
for example, might have
provided. As stirring as the
actors are the magnificent landscapes
of the vast rolling plain
covered with a sea of wheat,
photographed at sunrise and
sunset and across the seasons by
the director’s regular cinematographer
Lutz Reitemeier.
Production companies Bai Lu
Yuan Film Company in association
with Lightshades Film
Productions, Xi’an Movie and
Television Production, Western
Film Group Corporation
Sales Distribution Workshop
(H.K.) No rating, 178 minutes
Cast Zhang Yuqi, Wu Gang,
Duan Yihong, Cheng Taisheng,
Liu Wei, Guo Tao
Director Wang Quan'an
Screenwriter Wang Quan'an,
based on a novel by Chen
Zhongshi
Producer Zhang Xiaoke
never forsakes audience sympathy completely. As Pusher turns into an
actors’ showcase, the actors’ initial theatrical delivery becomes more
natural and involving farther along in the story.
Also very fine is top model Agness Deyn, previously seen as Aphrodite
in Clash of the Titans. She has a graceful fragility that offers a new
take on the good bad girl who wants out, though one wonders why
someone with Flo’s looks doesn’t try modelling. When she’s accosted
at a party as a prostitute, her wounded feelings are genuinely moving
and prepare for the film’s final cruel twist.
Cinematopher Simon Dennis and production designer Sarah
Webster give the film a stylish DV retro look in all the expected locations
– deserted warehouses, grubby apartments and glittering night
clubs, meetings in a Turkish bath and in Milo’s office, incongruously
stuffed with wedding dresses and a machine gun in the fridge. The not
unpleasant disco beat on the soundtrack is furnished courtesy of
British electronic band Orbital.
Production companies Vertigo Films in association
with Embargo Films
Cast Richard Coyle, Agyness Deyn, Bronson Webb, Mem Ferda,
Zlatko Buric, Paul Kaye
Director Luis Prieto
Screenwriter Matthew Read
Producers Rupert Preston, Christopher Simon, Felix Vossen,
Huberta von Liel
11
hong kong in brief
Dancing Quieen
dancing queen
South Korea, Sales CJ Entertainment
In the intensely Korean comedydrama
Dancing Queen, Uhm Junghwa
plays Jeong-hwa, a housewife
that chooses to rekindle her dormant
pop star aspirations by entering an
American Idol-style contest just as her
husband, Jeong-min (Hwang Jungmin),
becomes an accidental mayoral
candidate. The film benefits from
extreme currency, hence its domestic
box office success, but the enduring
appeal of all things K-Pop in the region
could result in moderate success in
Asia and for targeted festivals and
distributors overseas. Director Lee
Seok-hoon juggles comedy with heady
issues ranging from sex to age discrimination,
and tackles Korea’s subtle
regionalism and hierarchical nature
along with new policies encouraging
people to have babies. Dancing Queen
is polished entertainment with a subtle
message, anchored by an engaging
(if physically awkward) performance
by Uhm as Bruni to Hwang’s Sarkozy
and a suitably pulsating empowerment
anthem.
Zombie 108
zombie 108
Taiwan, Sales co., Sales Film Asia Ent
Group Co., Ltd
Mesmerizing for all the wrong reasons,
Zombie 108 bills itself as the first ever
Chinese zombie apocalypse film. Set
in Taipei when a tsunami unleashes
a virus that decimates the city, the
“story” follows a handful of incompetent
SWAT cops, some gangsters and
an isolated pervert as they battle the
undead hordes. Metaphor-free (unless
decadence is punishable by death) and
with a dash of degradation as a bonus,
the film initially recalls superior fare like
The Walking Dead before settling comfortably
into abject ineptitude. Judging
from the near-capacity Filmart screening,
interest is high and there’s clearly
still a devoted market for this kind of
gross-out schlock. Admittedly the film is
ideal for VOD, download, DVD, most
alternative distribution outlets and
the genre circuit.
tall man
France/Canada, Sales SND Groupe M6
If you spliced the DNA from any entry
in the recent Gallic horror wave
with the Fox/CW Pacific Northwest
school of aesthetics you might get
something resembling The Tall
Man, a twisting horror-thriller set in
depressed and depressing mining
town Cold Rock where 18 children
have vanished. Executive producer
Jessica Biel plays nurse Julia Denning,
whose son David is the latest
victim. Pascal Laugier created a stir
with his divisive psychological horror
Martyrs in 2008 and audiences and
Tall Man
distributors looking for more of the
same in The Tall Man will be equally
thrilled and disappointed. Laugier
taps into a similar conspiracy story
but without the earlier film’s graphic
violence. And once again Laugier
shows off a knack for arresting
images but a leaden touch when it
comes to narrative.
people mountain people sea
China, Production company: Sunrise
Media Corporation Limited
A mythic revenge quest in which
the result is less important than
the journey itself, People Mountain
People Sea is a Chinese puzzle whose
sophisticated filmmaking fascinates,
even while the perversely indecipherable
ending is a great narrative
disappointment. Following his prize
winning 2007 debut The Red Awn,
writer-director Cai Shangjun’s second
feature crisscrosses southwest China
from one amazing location to another
until the narrative simply implodes
in the final key scenes, severely
limiting the appeal of this intriguing
work beyond the tolerant curiosity of
festival audiences.
People Mountain People Sea