Examination by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre, January 27, 2005
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Envisioned by Brad Siberling
Conjured by Robert Gordon
Teleported from the book series by Daniel Handler
Dramsatised by Jim Carrey, Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Kara Hoffman, Shelby Hoffman
GP / 107 minutes
Nickelodeon Movies/ Dreamworks Pictures/ Paramount Pictures
Opens February 23
Dear reader, I regret to inform you that this review is marked by unhappy words. Unhappy here means this is not about a movie about a happy little elf, nor of happy beginnings or happy endings. Lemony Snicket says so himself. You are wickedly warned.
This is the story of the Baudelaire children who, one miserable day, receive the most tragic news that their parents have died in a mysterious fire that razed their beautiful home. Instantly orphaned, the family banker sends the unfortunate children –14-year old Violet the inventor, 12-year old Klaus the bookworm and Sunny, the baby – to the decaying abode of their (geographically) nearest relative, Count Olaf. Relative here means a self-centered and pompous person.
Now Count Olaf is a seemingly kind kin, who promises to take care of the orphans “as if they’re wanted.” But soon the kids find out that the Count has diabolical intentions on the Baudelaire fortunes. The orphans must now trust their wits, their knowledge and their teeth to be able to combat their narcissistic uncle, stop a speeding locomotive, survive carnivorous leeches and, well, sharpen their English grammar. All these while trying to uncover the mystery behind their parents’ deaths. Unless you’re interested how the Baudelaires foil Count Olaf’s devious plot, you are advised to see a different movie starring baboons.
Transposed from the page to the screen, A Series of Unfortunate Events the movie is based on the first three books of the 13-book children’s bestseller by Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler, voiced in the film by the talented Mr. Jude Law). It’s the first book series to knock off the Potter series from the no. 1 slot of the New York Times children’s list.
Two-time Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey makes multiple appearances invariably as the overacting dramatist Count Olaf and several cartoonish disguises. His Count Olaf is part Grinch, part Nosferatu and expectedly overdone. It’s not the first time he displays multiple personalities onscreen, as he did in 2000 with Me, Myself and Irene (though he almost always does so in each movie he appears in, whatever the character.) The children, especially Emily Browning who plays Violet, are absolutely charming. A pleasant surprise is the appearance of a quirky Meryl Streep as the ultra- paranoid Aunt Josephine. Ultra-paranoid here is synonymous to Baguio praningo.
Production Designer Rick Heinrichs, who won an Oscar for the design of Sleepy Hollow, conspired with Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Y tu mama tambien) to recreate the timeless and creepy world of Lemony Snicket onscreen. The movie has a Tim Burton-esque feel all throughout in mood, color and look including the costumes by Coleen Atwood although maybe that allusion is unwarranted. The closing credits is a short feature by itself. Further depressing the movie’s dark mood is the foreboding music by composer Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Six Feet Under.) Unfortunate Events is a wickedly fun movie out to prove the cleverness of kids.
Beyond all the disguises, the secret messages and the use of colorful terms, the movie and the books are about the search for the ultimate truth permanently hidden beneath the layers of what always SEEM. What seems to be wrong grammar is in fact coded message. What seems to be an Italian scientist is actually an impostor. What seems to be an ordinary thing may turn out to be something special. And as the Boudelaire parents wrote their children, what seems to be a series of unfortunate events might in fact be the start of a new journey.
What is important is to keep on figuring them out.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Asian invasion
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre
January 4, 2005
Gong Fu/ Kung Fu Hustle
Written, Directed and Produced by Stephen Chow
Starring Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Leung Siu Lung, Yuen Qiu
PG 13 / 95 minutes
Columbia Pictures/ Beijing Film Studio/ The Star Overseas
Opens January 6
A few years ago, Hong Kong submitted The Touch to the 2003 Oscar Awards Foreign Language category. Expectedly, the unexciting adventure film didn’t make it to the nominations list, quite a statement to the sorry shape of Hong Kong (and Asian) cinema then. But things are slowly returning to the golden days.
Martial arts filmmaker Stephen Chow presents another smashing action comedy in Kung Fu Hustle, a follow up to the boxoffice hit Shaolin Soccer (Siu Lam Juk Kau). Chow plays Sing, a small time thief who aspires to join the notorious crime syndicate Axe Gang. Sing’s vain attempts to extort money from a small apartment complex inadvertently attract the attention of the Axe Gang. Residents of the complex do all they can to defend their turf, in turn revealing the hidden identities of some legendary kung-fu masters in the area.
Kung Fu Hustle is set in 1940s Hong Kong at the height of the Chinese revolution. The period set pieces look great, and the overall look of the film harks back to the classic Hong Kong martial arts movies. But foremost it is a side-splitting comedy, including toilet humor. Kung Fu Hustle is a huge improvement over Shaolin Soccer in terms of filmmaking, story, concept, action choreography and CG effects – it is by any means at par with anything from Hollywood. Yuen Wo Ping choreographs intense action sequences and even makes a Chinese version of The Matrix Reloaded’s Burly Brawl. Hustle is replete with movie references anywhere from Chinese Connection to Superman to Crouching Tiger to The Matrix, one is reminded how far Hong Kong cinema has contributed to movies today.
Recognizing his past influences as well as using present techniques to create a cutting-edge stylistic movie, Chow pays tribute to his screen idols by including in the cast some legendary figures in Hong Kong cinema. Wah Yuen who plays Landlord, is a veteran of Chinese martial arts films, playing opposite Bruce Lee in The Chinese Connection. Yuen Qiu, who appeared as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, came out of a 28-year retirement to play the role of Landlady. Leung Siu Lung (The Beast), was once part of the “Three Dragons” along with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Chiu Chi Ling who plays the fairy Tailor is a master of Hung Ga kung fu and is also a veteran of kung fu movies including Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.
Kung Fu Hustle is a veritable homage to the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts movies of the ‘70s as much as it is an Asian cultural statement on Hollywood’s grip on world pop cinema. Now there’s something no tsunami can erase.
Inquirer Libre
January 4, 2005
Gong Fu/ Kung Fu Hustle
Written, Directed and Produced by Stephen Chow
Starring Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Leung Siu Lung, Yuen Qiu
PG 13 / 95 minutes
Columbia Pictures/ Beijing Film Studio/ The Star Overseas
Opens January 6
A few years ago, Hong Kong submitted The Touch to the 2003 Oscar Awards Foreign Language category. Expectedly, the unexciting adventure film didn’t make it to the nominations list, quite a statement to the sorry shape of Hong Kong (and Asian) cinema then. But things are slowly returning to the golden days.
Martial arts filmmaker Stephen Chow presents another smashing action comedy in Kung Fu Hustle, a follow up to the boxoffice hit Shaolin Soccer (Siu Lam Juk Kau). Chow plays Sing, a small time thief who aspires to join the notorious crime syndicate Axe Gang. Sing’s vain attempts to extort money from a small apartment complex inadvertently attract the attention of the Axe Gang. Residents of the complex do all they can to defend their turf, in turn revealing the hidden identities of some legendary kung-fu masters in the area.
Kung Fu Hustle is set in 1940s Hong Kong at the height of the Chinese revolution. The period set pieces look great, and the overall look of the film harks back to the classic Hong Kong martial arts movies. But foremost it is a side-splitting comedy, including toilet humor. Kung Fu Hustle is a huge improvement over Shaolin Soccer in terms of filmmaking, story, concept, action choreography and CG effects – it is by any means at par with anything from Hollywood. Yuen Wo Ping choreographs intense action sequences and even makes a Chinese version of The Matrix Reloaded’s Burly Brawl. Hustle is replete with movie references anywhere from Chinese Connection to Superman to Crouching Tiger to The Matrix, one is reminded how far Hong Kong cinema has contributed to movies today.
Recognizing his past influences as well as using present techniques to create a cutting-edge stylistic movie, Chow pays tribute to his screen idols by including in the cast some legendary figures in Hong Kong cinema. Wah Yuen who plays Landlord, is a veteran of Chinese martial arts films, playing opposite Bruce Lee in The Chinese Connection. Yuen Qiu, who appeared as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, came out of a 28-year retirement to play the role of Landlady. Leung Siu Lung (The Beast), was once part of the “Three Dragons” along with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Chiu Chi Ling who plays the fairy Tailor is a master of Hung Ga kung fu and is also a veteran of kung fu movies including Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.
Kung Fu Hustle is a veritable homage to the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts movies of the ‘70s as much as it is an Asian cultural statement on Hollywood’s grip on world pop cinema. Now there’s something no tsunami can erase.
Misty Watercolor
(I'm posting this old review as a pre-Oscars thing. Eternal Sunshine gets my vote for Best Original Screenplay)
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry
Written by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth
Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst
R13 / 108 minutes
Focus Features
Memories in the corner of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were
- Barbara Streisand, “The Way We Were” (1973)
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
-- Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard" (1717)
There are times when it much more coherent to be illogical, or to make sense out of nothing rational. Eternal Sunshine is as much a conceptual love story as it is an unconventional exploration of the complexities of the human mind.
In Eternal Sunshine, Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) enlists the special aid of a medical clinic to erase former lover Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) from the depths of his mind after things get terribly sour. Unbeknownst to Joel, Clementine had the same procedure done to her, so she can forget about her bitter relationship with Joel. Something like a computer-aided lobotomy for the romantically insolvent.
Unconventional is a mild term to describe this movie. French Director Gondry exploits the audience’s patience in exposing the film’s narrative by shifting use of film and theater techniques. Carrey displays a very laid-back performance and yet manages to draw out the intensities of his character’s brain.
What is Eternal Sunshine all about? It is a love story primarily, but told without the linearity of standard Hollywood fare. But beyond that, Eternal Sunshine is an exploration of the workings of the human conscious- and sub-consciousness. The story unravels the way dreams spin in our heads, more than half of the time it’s like watching somebody’s twisted brain regurgitate.
At the end of the film, Joel tries to reestablish relations with Clementine. He reassures her, and tells her it’s going to be okay. That’s what this film is all about – it’s about getting rid of all the negativity inside. It’s the same as achieving enlightenment through meditation, or attaining peace through prayer. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
What the film really says is that we really can’t exist without our memories. In a word, this movie is unforgettable.
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry
Written by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth
Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst
R13 / 108 minutes
Focus Features
Memories in the corner of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were
- Barbara Streisand, “The Way We Were” (1973)
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
-- Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard" (1717)
There are times when it much more coherent to be illogical, or to make sense out of nothing rational. Eternal Sunshine is as much a conceptual love story as it is an unconventional exploration of the complexities of the human mind.
In Eternal Sunshine, Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) enlists the special aid of a medical clinic to erase former lover Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) from the depths of his mind after things get terribly sour. Unbeknownst to Joel, Clementine had the same procedure done to her, so she can forget about her bitter relationship with Joel. Something like a computer-aided lobotomy for the romantically insolvent.
Unconventional is a mild term to describe this movie. French Director Gondry exploits the audience’s patience in exposing the film’s narrative by shifting use of film and theater techniques. Carrey displays a very laid-back performance and yet manages to draw out the intensities of his character’s brain.
What is Eternal Sunshine all about? It is a love story primarily, but told without the linearity of standard Hollywood fare. But beyond that, Eternal Sunshine is an exploration of the workings of the human conscious- and sub-consciousness. The story unravels the way dreams spin in our heads, more than half of the time it’s like watching somebody’s twisted brain regurgitate.
At the end of the film, Joel tries to reestablish relations with Clementine. He reassures her, and tells her it’s going to be okay. That’s what this film is all about – it’s about getting rid of all the negativity inside. It’s the same as achieving enlightenment through meditation, or attaining peace through prayer. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
What the film really says is that we really can’t exist without our memories. In a word, this movie is unforgettable.
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