Scud Comes Up With A Dud
16 發光的城市 A R O U N D T O W N
F R I D A Y , J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 0 9 • T A I P E I T I M E S
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cOmPiLed bY Martin WilliaMS
The Hangover
Scud comes up By all reliable critics’ accounts
this is a must-see comedy about
a bunch of buddies for whom a
bachelor party in Las Vegas goes
seriously belly-up. Raunchy and
smart, it also defies this Michael
with a dud Bay era of non-existent characterization by putting genuinely
interesting, funny, perverse and sympathetic characters in a
world of pain (not just hangovers), starting with a missing
groom, a mystery baby and a tiger in the hotel room. Features
a cameo by Mike Tyson. These gentlemen, as lovable as they
are, are surely fortunate they didn’t star in . .
Teeth
There are two posters for this
envelope-pushing and gory
horror comedy. The more
subtle one shows a teenage
girl’s head peering out of a
bubble bath, while the other
is a remarkably literal X-ray capture of this film’s central
conceit: the nice young woman hides dangerous dentures
where men would like them the least. And they come
in useful, too, as award-winning actress Jess Weixler
protects her virginal self from a range of gentlemen who
might just get what they deserve. This film took more
than two years to get a release here, and was directed by
Mitchell Lichtenstein (Roy’s son), who many moons ago
‘Permanent
played the white gay lover in Ang Lee’s (李安) The Wedding
Permanent Residence holds a mirror up to its
Banquet. See it with someone you’d love to be docked.
director’s soul.
Photos: courtesy of nan fang film
Residence’ would have A fter sharing directorial credits with Lawrence homoerotic utopia.
Lau (劉國昌) for last year’s City Without
The gay never-never land is effectively contrasted
Baseball (無野之城), a movie about Hong
with the confining world of social norms that force
Kong’s only amateur baseball team that featured a
Windson to stay with a woman who expects wedded
been a much more
Blood: The Last Vampire
fair amount of full frontal nudity, Scud (雲翔) returns
bliss. The familiar torments of coming out will strike a
with Permanent Residence (
This is a live-action remake
永久居留). The semi-
chord with many Asian audience members.
enjoyable gay flick autobiographical movie traces the life of its protagonist Its honest, well-intended portrait of gay/straight
of the heavily touted manga
if the audience were from his birth in the 1960s to his death some 80
relationships is the film’s only saving grace. Alternating
from 2000, this time with
years later and deals with homosexual awakening,
between homoerotica and existential contemplations
French director Chris Nahon
spared the feeling that unrequited love and musings on life and death.
on life and death, the film is stylistically inconsistent,
at the helm. A centuries-old
the film was not based
It is an honest and affected gay drama, but the
which shows that director Scud still has a lot to learn.
semi-vampire in the guise of a
film’s unbridled self-indulgence may be its undoing.
Permanent Residence tries to blend together too
Japanese girl has a score to settle with a swathe of demon-
on the director’s life
Ivan (Sean Li,
like creatures, the apparent leader of which dispatched her
李家濠) is an IT professional who
many subjects — love, relationships, identity and
works hard and has no time for dating. The young man family — but none of them is fully explored. The
father. There’s no shortage of bloody combat to be found,
and the trailer is attractive enough, but there are rumblings
By Ho YI
is forced to come face-to-face with his sexuality when
movie flits from China to Japan, Israel to Thailand,
out there about below-par special effects and fight
Staff reporter
Josh (Jackie Chow, 周德邦) from Israel asks if he is
to Australia, but instead of conveying philosophical
gay during a television talk show in which the two are undertones, the backdrops merely serve the purpose
sequences. In the end, it might come down to whether you
guest speakers and a life-long friendship begins.
of vain embellishment and are superfluous.
prefer your carnage inflicted by a brooding, muscle-flexing
After entering the gay world, Ivan meets Windson
The unexpected coda exudes a sci-fi, futuristic
male or a Japanese schoolgirl (OK, OK, so the actress is
(Osman Hung,
Korean). Tarantino fans will obviously go for the latter.
洪智傑), who professes to be straight.
charm and provides entertainment value with its
A curious friendship blossoms between the two
artlessness and stylistic oddity.
Permanent
involving many episodes of nude wrestling, swimming,
What is a real turn-off, however, is the unbridled
residence (永久居留)
Paris 36
embracing and sharing a bed. Though apparently
narcissism acutely felt throughout the movie.
attracted to the free-spirited Ivan, Windson insists on
Filmmakers often mine their personal experiences,
The trials and tribulations of
limiting their relationship to nothing more than kisses
but in this case the results are overbearing.
DIRECTED BY: scud (雲翔)
a 1930s music hall in Paris
and fondling.
Ivan lives his childhood years in China and
is given the melodramatic
When Windson announces he plans to wed his
becomes an IT success in Hong Kong. Same with
STARRING: sean Li (李家濠) as ivan,
effort that reminds one of
long-time girlfriend, Ivan is devastated and sets off on
Scud. Ivan moves to Australia and returns to Hong
Osman Hung (洪智傑) as WindsOn,
Cinema Paradiso. Unlike
a journey of discovery that takes him from Israel to
Kong to make a baseball movie. Ditto Scud. Egocen-
Jackie cHOW (周德邦) as JOsH
that sentimental favorite,
Thailand to Australia and finally back to Hong Kong.
tric in the extreme, Permanent Residence contains
however, most reviewers did not get on side with this one,
LANGuAGE: in cantOnese, engLisH
Permanent Residence is flamboyantly out. With
many moments of self-promotion, including a scene in
complaining of shallowness, tedium and generic elements
and mandarin WitH cHinese and
the bodies of avid gym-goers, both leads take delight
which Ivan’s brother urges him to reproduce because
as the music hall operators contend with ominous political
engLisH subtitLes
in celebrating their naked, muscular flesh for the
he’s just too talented not to pass on his genes.
developments, a lack of custom and criminal intrigue. But
audience’s viewing pleasure. They drop their towels
Final verdict: the former IT whiz kid-turned-
RuNNING TIME: 116 minutes
it’s pretty, with lots of music. Original title: Faubourg 36.
and fly kick for no apparent reason, frolic on the
director may live an interesting life and have lots of
beach, skinny-dip in the ocean, hold hands and
stories to tell. But before Scud can make his own 8
TAIWAN RELEASE: tOdaY
Children of Glory
share their secrets and longings in what feels like a
1/2, he needs to master self-restraint.
A 2006 Hungarian production
co-written by Joe Eszterhas
(Basic Instinct, Showgirls),
Every movie involves two realities,
John Travolta stars in The Taking of the had to remind myself that this
the story moves between two
the one onscreen and the one
Pelham 1 2 3.
Photo courtesy of sony Pictures
was Travolta. He takes a baseline
infamous water polo matches
1974 in the theater, and the interplay
pretty-good movie and, through
between the Soviet Union and
between the two is sometimes
— and this new Pelham might
sheer conviction, makes it a little
Hungary and the actions of a young freedom fighter and her
dynamic. The Taking of Pelham
have gotten some extra juice had it
better than that.
water polo-playing boyfriend during the infamous Soviet
all over again 1 2 3 has all the usual virtues of a
tapped into those. But the remake
So does Denzel Washington. He
crackdown that followed the Hungarian uprising of 1956.
good action suspense drama, but it
eschews the social context that
plays the transit officer manning the
Critics were divided, calling it overbearing, affecting and
lacks that extra something — that
made the original so compelling.
controls for that sector of the New
sincere by turns, and Eszterhas hasn’t had a screenplay
By MIck lASAllE
context, that vital interchange —
happen, sooner or later, because
Instead of a terrorist for a villain,
York subway system, who’s the first
filmed since. But sports fans intrigued by the politics behind
ny tiMeS neWS Service, San franciSco
that made the original The Taking
everything was falling apart. You
or someone equally mysterious, the to make contact with the hijacker
sporting contests should find this fascinating, especially the
of Pelham 1 2 3 such a memorable know the litany: Vietnam. Then
movie gives us a lone nut and his
(Travolta). Washington lends the
brutal Melbourne Olympics climax.
experience in 1974.
Watergate. New York City was
small band of thugs.
character a specifically New York
So, an evil mastermind decides
going broke. Just getting into a
Still, despite some odd choices type of working man’s diffidence
to hijack a subway train and hold
subway car was dangerous, even
on the part of the filmmakers, this — he’s a regular guy in way over his
Speeding Scandal
tHe taking OF PeLHam 123 up the city of New York for an
without kidnapers or hostage
remake works out better than
head, forced to improvise — and we
A box office smash in South
enormous ransom. Today, we
takers. Back then, civilization
one might expect. For example,
watch him grow, not in confidence
Korea last year, this is a romantic
DIRECTED BY: tOnY scOtt
watch and think, sure, that could
seemed to be heading off a cliff, and picture John Travolta playing a
but in moral authority. This is
comedy in which a has-been pop
STARRING: denZeL WasHingtOn
happen. There are bad people in
New York, always on the cutting
mentally unbalanced, emotionally strong, convincing character work.
musician and radio disc jockey
(WaLter garber), JOHn travOLta
the world, and anybody could
edge of fashion, looked destined to
erratic homicidal maniac. Then
Credit some of that to Tony
suddenly finds his plans for a
(rYder), Luis guZman (PHiL ramOs),
become the victim of some random, hit bottom first. Thus, The Taking
go to The Taking of Pelham 1
Scott. He’s a director known for
comeback hitting the wall when
victOr gOJcaJ (basHkim), JOHn
senseless act of violence.
of Pelham 1 2 3 was more than a
2 3 and be surprised. Travolta
his bombast, and rightly so, but
a teenager shows up at his home claiming to be his daughter
turturrO (camOnetti)
But in 1974, this premise was
suspense drama in 1974; it was a
does not go into his charming
unlike the overbearing generation
— with his “grandson” in tow, to boot. Initial suspicion and
received in a much different way,
vision of urban apocalypse.
bag of tricks. He doesn’t smile
of Tony Scott imitators that have
hostility in our professionally challenged hero gives way to
RuNNING TIME: 106 minutes
not as an outlandish scenario that
Today we have our own visions
or laugh (or even scowl like the
taken root in the past 20 years,
something rather more heartwarming in this Baixue theater
TAIWAN RELEASE: tOdaY
could happen, but as a variety
of the apocalypse — terrorism, civic guy in Pulp Fiction.) In fact, on
this director never forgets the
offering in Ximending. It helps that the kid is sweet — and that
of madness that probably would
catastrophe, economic collapse
three occasions watching him I
human element.
the media are lying in wait for any slip-up by the DJ.
United by blood, divided by murder
son — her husband Luc (Serge
Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
succession. It is peopled with
Kristin Scott Thomas Hazanavicius) is less than amused. In I’ve Loved You So Long, she
wonderful minor characters such
shines as brightly
A firm believer in the payment of
casts off the silk scarves, party
as Papy Paul (Jean-Claude Arnaud),
one’s debt to society, Luc is only
hats, jodhpurs and riding boots and
i’ve LOved YOu sO LOng Juliette’s grandfather whose
as ever in ‘I’ve
barely able to overcome his distaste replaces them with a much drabber
stroke-induced muteness reflects
Loved You So Long’
(iL Y a LOngtemPs que Je t’aime)
for the convicted murderess living
wardrobe accompanied by a visage
her own silence, and Monsieur
under his roof. Lea, on the other
bleached of color. She nevertheless
DIRECTED BY: PHiLiPPe cLaudeL
Lucien (Gerard Barbonnet), an
By IAN BARTHoloMEw
hand, is deeply curious about the
shines as brightly as ever, albeit
elderly rogue persistently trying
STARRING: kristin scOtt
Staff reporter
reasons behind her sister’s actions,
with a different light, hinting at the
his luck with the ladies at the
tHOmas (JuLiette FOntaine),
I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a
which influenced her own decision
great passion beneath her calm and
community swimming pool. No
eLsa ZYLberstein (Lea), serge
Longtemps que Je T’Aime) is
to adopt. Yet Juliette remains
apparently resigned exterior.
HaZanavicius (Luc), Laurent
more than spots and splashes
a small and delicately crafted
stubbornly silent, having retreated
Thomas’ character plays
greviLL (micHeL), Frederic PierrOt across the canvas, these characters
drama about a woman adapting to
deep inside herself, and only
brilliantly in concert with
(caPitaine Faure)
nevertheless enrich the film,
ordinary life after spending 15 years sporadically explodes with emotion, Zylberstein’s Lea, a literature
evoking the everyday needs and
in prison for murder. The film is
in one case against a prying social
teacher who desperately wants to
LANGuAGE: in FrencH WitH
common misfortunes against which
anchored on a brilliant performance worker. The magic of I’ve Loved
understand or at least nurture her
cHinese subtitLes
Juliette’s own tragedy is framed.
by Kristin Scott Thomas as Juliette
You So Long is the manner in which sister whose damaged soul has
Although a film that is about
RuNNING TIME: 117 minutes
Fontaine, a former doctor recently
Scott Thomas is able to provide
come under care. Juliette, who
When Kristin Scott Thomas’ character, far left, is released from prison after serving 15
death and the need to carry on in
released from prison who finds a
occasional glimpses into the fiercely has clearly always fought her own
years for killing her child, not all her family can forgive or forget.
Photo courtesy of ifilm
TAIWAN RELEASE: tOdaY
the absence loved ones, I’ve Loved
mixed reception at the home of her guarded interior of Juliette.
battles, is disinclined to give her
You So Long never becomes
sister, Lea (Elsa Zylberstein).
Thomas, a noted beauty, is
sister the satisfaction of playing
Juliette’s strength is sustained in they cannot understand, and
as a cry for help from an inner
depressing or maudlin. It is full
Although Lea is somewhat
best known for glamorous roles
savior and thus keeps Lea at arm’s part by the self-belief of a survivor.
sympathetic to those like her parole world of loneliness and despair.
of the small things that make life
bemused by the crime for which
such as that of Katharine Clifton in length. The relationship is prickly, This makes her sometimes
officer Capitaine Faure (Frederic
The film progresses through
good, and its wry humor, like
Juliette was imprisoned — the
Anthony Minghella’s The English
though not without kindness and
disdainful of people like Lea,
Pierrot), whose inconsequential
little revelations that follow
Juliette’s slightly lopsided smile, is
murder of her own six-year-old
Patient (1995) and Fiona in Four
good intentions on both sides.
ignorant observers of a tragedy
banter to put her at ease emerges
one after the other in effortless
both charming and intriguing.
TT-980612-P16-IB.indd 1
2009/6/11 10:10:34
