Day 2 BIFFo

Touched by the hand of God
or in my case Sion Sono
Why Don't you Play in Hell?    Hell Yeah, why not?
The prodigious filmmaker who has failed to disappoint just tops it once again.
Well the two masks of drama have one who weeps (Sono's usual) and one who laughs (Sono's strength in this film) The brutality is still there, the gore is aplenty along with buckets of blood but the humour is dished up in spades. Plus all the coincidences of life for all the characters, the looped de dos, the brilliance of what was random at the start becomes profound by the end. the absolute fucking fantastical. Fans will not be disappointed but also those who are fresh and new to the master will love this feast. It's got it all! The Yakuza gang that swaps their 'western style' dress for the more traditional Kimono, Samurai sword slashing excesses, gigantic gun battle extraordinaire, film geek 'fuck bombers' death by broken glass....in the mouth, film god homages and a really catchy toothpaste ad.

and then at the end of the film in he walked for a twenty minute Q&A. The cinema went wild!

 

as did I. My Korean failed me and my Japanese is shit but sometimes just being in the presence of a holly one is enough.

Oh yeah and I literally was touched by him when he signed my ticket.

Pretty hard to top that one

but the next stop was Hannah Espia's Transit

This was its international premier after winning best film (+ a whole lot of other awards) at the Cinemalaya 2013 'New Breed' category in the Philippines. It's the story of Filipino migrant workers in Israel and specifically their children that have been born there. In 2009 there was a law passed that did not recognise these kids as Israeli and they started deporting them to their parents country of origin. Transit follows the life of one such broken family and their vain attempts to dodge the authorities. It's about identity and dislocation, striving for a better life but staying true to your roots. Visually it captures life in Israel, the coast of Jaffa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv beautifully  but it also captures the tension and paranoia of those with something to hide. 

Hannah's background as an editor comes to the fore when she retrospectively decided to structure the film as 5 points of view of the same story. Sometimes we see the same scenario from a different view but we always get a little bit more of the story with each character. I love this sort of structure, reminiscent of of Hong Sang soo film but not quite as bold. It works very powerfully with this story and is backed up with strong performances.     

I'm used to writing about Mercedes Cabral in association with Brillante Mendoza's films but here she is as the recently arrived immigrant worker with no real permit. Very understated but great performance. A big tick to the director. But the real scene stopper is peanut, the little boy who eventually gets deported. his story is but one of five points of view of the same scenario but he is brilliant! Another stand out is Jasmine Curtis Smith as the older sister of peanut, truly a star to watch.

Jasmine Curtis Smith

Transit ticks a lot of boxes. Structure, Visuals and Performance  are all very strong and although the story is one of hopelessness you are not left at the end without hope. This is a very accomplished debut feature for the director and quite a beautiful experience to watch.

A great way to finish the day and then a very informative Q&A post film.

Hannah Espia & producer Paul Soriano

Yay this time I'm in Busan!!!

So for the last two years I've written, lamented about the Busan International film Festival. About how cool it is, the fantastic line up of films, about how far away it is and that I only read about it. This year I committed, I took the plunge and said to myself, I shall be there! No easy task, but guess what? I'm here in Busan!!!! HELL YEAH! I made the decision before the program was out but I thought it would be a safe bet. There have been no disappointments.  

outside the cinema centre

All my favourites are here. Hong Sang Soo (2 films), Sion Sono, Brillante Mendoza, Kim Ki Duk. If I see just these films I shall die happy. But there is oh so more. My pass/badge allows me 4 films per day, I'm here for 9, so the challenge is to resist just being in the cinema all day, all night. Must pace myself. You can book films up to 2 days in advance. So far it has turned out well but if you don't get in early films can be sold out.

Pascha by Seonkyoung AHN is the 1st Korean film in the account.
Love, desperation, melodrama and pussycats. I was in a bit of a delirious haze having just got in that morning but I do remeber some great scenes in this film. Like digging the frozen ground with a knife and thermos of hot water so that they could bury their cat who did not survive the surgery. Like insisting on wanting her freshly aborted fetus so that she could take it home to her boyfriend and the tension as she unwrapped the packaged for the grizzly reveal. Great performances by KIM So-hee 김소희,SUNG Ho-jun 성호준,SHIN Yeon-sook 신연숙 ranging from quite over the top but believable to sublimely understated and sharp as a knife. This was a world premier and although I was not in the best state for watching I'm glad I was there.

The intense love of Pascha

Death March by Adolfo ALIX JR is the first film from the Philippines.
This is a depiction of a brutal march of American & Filipino soldiers at the hands of their Japanese captors. A WWII POW film? you may ask. But beside the story, it is the way the film has been shot that makes it of interest. The majority is studio shot and the settings or the sets are very stylised.
In a world where we are used to our war films being 'real' this decision allows the audience to get deeper into the characters. The other decision that helps this is to present a series of vignettes of occurrence rather than a narrative arc of the main cast. These snippets are presented in a linear fashion but we jump forward and experience moments and then we jump forward to the next.
These moments are brutal, emotional and very human.