32 Chungking Express

“Chungking Express” is the second film on the list by Wong Kar-wai.   It garnered some international attention as an Asian “Pulp Fiction” (although has no thematic or story similarities other than the multiple stories approach), somewhat exacerbated by its similar release date and the fact Quentin Tarantino has been both a very vocal admirer of the movie and that his distribution company enabled the film to get a North American release.

Remarkably, it was written and filmed in a mere two months (there was originally going to be a third storyline, which eventually became “Fallen Angels”).  However, it certainly does not feel rushed.

The story?  Part one deals with He Zhiwu (a.k.a. Cop 223, Takeshi Kaneshiro) who is struggling to deal with his breakup with his girlfriend.  Brigette Lin is on the other side of the law, attempting to tidy up a drugs smuggling operation gone wrong.  Their lives interconnect just briefly, just for one night.  Part two deals with Tony Leung’s Cop 633 who struggles to deal with the breakup with his Air Hostess Girlfriends.  Faye (Faye Wong) works at a food stall that he frequents.  She falls for him, but ends up only expressing this by secretly stealing his key, and looking after his apartment whilst he is at work.

The stories are vaguely interconnected – there are brief appearances of characters from second part in the first, and the stories do bump into each other, although only to pass the baton.  The foodstall “Midnight Express” acts as a common location for three of the characters.

Faye Wong is an oriental music superstar.  In this movie she is absolutely fantastic, even when the film is populated by some absolute giants of Hong Kong and Japanese cinema.  Yet she is the endearing image of the movie.  I challenge you not to fall in love with her character.  Even more surprising is how few film appearances she made after this.

The soundtrack is also something special.  A mix of original compositions, American classics, and Faye Wong’s own canto-pop, it really underpins the cosmopolitan nature of Hong Kong..

At its best, the film is almost documentary in style – you feel you are there with the characters, observing them in their lives.  You see how they interact with the rest of the world, you see them at their most private.  camerawork intimate, but never seems intrusive.

It is a sad movie.  Cop 223 and 633 are both dealing with the ends of their relationships.  223 does this by setting deadline for his ex-girlfriend to come back, marking it by obsessive behaviour.  633 does this by withdrawing, ignoring what is in front of his face.  Faye falls for 633, but struggles to show her feelings, eventually running away.  Brigette Lin’s character is merely trying to survive in the underworld, but appreciates a small moment of kindness.

This is a comedic movie.  Watch Tony Leung’s conversations with the household objects.  Watch 223 eat 30 cans of pineapple.  Watch Faye invade 633’s life.  Watch 223 and 633 compete for the title of Hong Kong’s worst policemen.

This is a movie about Hong Kong.  Watch how the traditional collides with the modern. Smell the markets.  Hear the closeness of the International Airport

Both stories end with a small ray of hope.  You don’t know quite what is going to happen, but you know that all the characters have a chance in their lives – whether with each other or not.

I had wanted to see this film for a very long time, and was lucky enough to watch it a few weeks ago with my Best Friend.  Then I watched it again before writing this.  And I found more and more to love.  And I know I have to watch it again and again…

Ha Ji-Won Week – The End

Well I think it is time to close the week off.  I hope you have enjoyed this little change of pace and approach to the blog.  I certainly have, and hope to repeat the exercise soon.

Over the last week we have seen Ha Ji-Won do drama, horror, comedy, disaster, be the star, be the co-star and every film i would recommend you to watch gentle reader.

This won’t be the last appearance of her on the blog mind you – so keep your eyes peeled.

I have some ideas for the next themed set of posts (and if you have any ideas that you would like me to explore, then please let me know), but for the next few weeks I have a clutch of fantastic movies I would like to explore with you.

Ha Ji-Won Week – 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant

We will end Ha Ji-won week with a comedy.  To be honest, there were a couple more things I wanted to talk about, and I suspect we will be discussing these at a later date.  However, a week is a week, and I have some non-Ha Ji-won material I want to get through.

“100 Days With Mr. Arrogant” is a fun little romp.  Ha-yeong (Ha Ji -Won) is a schoolgirl, who by accident damages the car of an older guy, Hyeong-jun (Jae-Won Kim).  Now Hyeong-jun is indeed the Mr. Arrogant of the title, a rich, good looking, rather self confident chap.  To make her pay for the damage, he forces her to sign up to be his slave for 100 days.  (Now 100 days seems to be an important event in young Korean dating, as it seems to be a significant anniversary).  You know what happens from here – they fall for each other, struggle a bit, and well, for once there IS a happy ending.

The Comedy a bit uneven – there are two moments of gross out comedy that the Farrally Brothers would be proud of.  There is a bit of slapstick, a bit of fish out of water, pretty much all the comedy tropes are experienced.  Of course, the comedy is put to the side for the dénouement.

Ha Ji-won’s performance may or may not endear you to her – she plays up a lot to the camera (mugging is the phrase I have seen a couple of times) – but I did not mind that in this kind of film – this is not a realistic film, and personally I find her rather fun.  As a twenty-something playing a schoolgirl, I found her utterly convincing, and her character’s jump into maturity was performed well.

The romance does seem to pop out of nowhere, but once it has been unleashed, it is dealt with in an interesting way.

If I have a criticism, then the final scene is maybe a little bit of a mis-step – Ha-yeong has become rather unlikeable with the introduction of money in her life – which to my mind undoes all the growth that her character undertook in the final third of the movie.

In conclusion – this film will not change your life.  But it is certainly very enjoyable and rewatchable.  More importantly it shows another side of an actress that I enjoy immensely. 

Ha Ji-Won Week – Haeundae (Tidal Wave)

This was the movie that gave me the idea for Ha Ji-won week.  It surprisingly has been given a rushed (although well publicised) DVD release as “Tidal Wave”, so could be many peoples experience of Korean, if not Asian cinema.  Unfortunately, the television advertising does kind of miss out this is a foreign,  subtitled movie – and i have seen a few comments on places like Amazon.co.uk complaining about this.

“Haeundae” is Korea’s most expensive film to date – around $11 million US.  Which of course is peanuts for a Hollywood film – but quite amazing for a Korean movie.  It is also the first Disaster movie out of Korea that I am aware of.  It really harks back to the disaster movies of the 1970’s (Towering Inferno, Earthquake), telling multiple stories of a large cast – which are then combined by the impact of a mega-tsunami on the seaside resort of Haeundae.

As an aside, I was surprised to see the subject of Tsunami used as the basis for a popcorn flick  - I was able to visit an island off the coast of Thailand after the 2004 Tsunami, and the devastation to life was quite heart-breaking.  But to be fair, I don’t think the film treats the subject with any disrespect.

I enjoyed the movie to be honest.  It is not high-art, but then I would not expect that from the genre – and the science is a bit umm “iffy”

Some of the stories worked, some didn’t.  There was possibly one sub-plot too many, but I find that happens quite often in Korean films.  I don’t think too many viewers will be surprised how each of the subplots turn out – some live, some die.  It does repeat that awful trick of all but killing one character, saving them, and then killing them off only 10 minutes later (see: Windstruck).  Only one story excels – that of Dong-choon (Kim In-kwon)– a bit of a waster, that even though he ends up a hero (although actually he might have been responsible for a lot of deaths), realises that his actions have led to the death of his mother.

The performances as a whole are fine – our friend Ha Ji-won puts in a pretty good display, but she really could do with a lot more screen time.

I felt the disaster was actually left a little too late in the movie, which did not give us time to assess the after-effects.  In fact I wonder if an extra 20 minutes would not have gone amiss here.

The film is directed pretty well by Yun Je-gyun, nothing spectacular, but you will never get lost – and some of the special effects were quite brilliant, such as on the bridge when the Containment trucks were raining down.  It does struggle a bit in the scenes containing lots of water – but that is a problem for all films that give themselves a water setting – the physics of water never works quite right in water tanks.  CGI water has improved things a lot mind you.

So in conclusion – this is a film well worth seeing – enjoy it on its’ merits – but remember this is a Disaster movie….

Ha Ji-Won Week - Duelist

“Duelist” is probably going to be the most difficult film of Ha Ji-won week (and probably in this authors existence).  Not difficult because it is bad, but rather because I am not sure I completely understood it.  What I do know is that I love it.

“Duelist” tells the story of Namsoon (Ha Ji-won), a female swordsperson/undercover policewoman, during the Joseon Dynasty.  Along with her partner, Ahn (Ahn Sung-kee), they hunt down a plot to flood the economy with counterfeit money.  The plot is masterminded by the Minister of Defence and he is assisted by Sad Eyes (Kang Dong-won).  Wacky hi-jinks ensue.

The thing about this film is that I think you will either detest it or adore it.  I am not sure that there can be any middle ground at all.

It is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.  Every scene is composed with such care.  The colours are vibrant, every frame composed to perfection.  Lee Myung-se does not make many films, but you could never argue with the care he puts into them.  I could happily watch the film with the sound turned down and the subtitles off.

Additionally, you have to be prepared for every scene to be performed in a different style.  There is comedy (both subtle and playful, and also a quite unexpected speeded-up ‘Benny Hill’ moment), action, highly stylised swordplay, a most wonderful crowd action scene done in slow-motion).  It really is all over the place – BUT – each style works absolutely perfectly for the scene it is used in.  This makes it sounds like a patchwork quilt of a movie, but that quilt is warm and comforting.  It is hard for me not just to list every scene and gush over it.

The film plays a lot with Gender – Namsoon has masculine traits, Sad Eyes feminine ones.  There is a delicious moment early on where the oft played idea of a woman dressing up as a young boy is lampooned.  And then sublimely, she is forced to play a concubine, where she is so uncomfortable it is hilarious.  In fact I think this is my favourite performance by Ha Ji-won – she has to display a lot of very complex acting talents, and this one film alone shows she is no one-trick pony (she was known a a bit or a horror film queen).

However, here’s the thing.  There are two things going on here.  There is the straightforward story I mentioned up in the synopsis.  And then there is the story of the relationship between Namsoon and Sad Eyes.  Enemies?  Friends?  Lovers?  Are they the same person?  Are they alive or dead?  Is it all a big tall tale by our unreliable narrator?

I don’t know.

But I don’t care.

Watching this movie is a brilliant experience.  Does it talk to my heart and soul like some other movies I have written about?  I am not sure about that.  But entertain me?  Absolutely.

Ha Ji-Won Week - Ditto

This one is a bit of a cheat, as our lady of the week is only a secondary player in the movie, but it was going to get spoken about anyway…

“Ditto” is another one of those romance films from Korea that has a little dash of science-fiction sprinkled over it.  Except the romance does not go quite the way you would expect.

One of the things I have noticed in modern Korean movies is that they love to use technology in natural and realistic ways – mobile phones, txting, the internet.  This one uses something a bit older – HAM radio.  I have to confess, I had a little flirtation with HAM radio a long long time ago, and I guess it can be seen as a forerunner to internet chat rooms – speaking to strangers around the world anonymously.

The same year “Il Mare” was also released, telling a love story across time, but although I adore both movies, there is very little similarity.

The story is as follows: So-Eun (Kim Ha-Neul) is a young girl who has obviously been pursuing a fellow student Dong-hee (Park Yong-woo) for quite some time.  Her best friend (Kim Min-joo) is recovering in hospital from a broken leg.  Events transpire that deliver an old HAM Radio into her possession, and mysteriously she starts communicating with a student at her school, In (Yu Ji-tae).  They arrange to meet – but it turns out however that she is in 1979 and he is in the year 2000.

Additionally, his best friend, Hyeon-Ji (Ha Ji-won) is obviously deeply in love with him, and over the film has a very interesting subplot involving her ongoing dependence on alcohol).

Now I read a few marketing blurbs about the film, and it suggests that the film is about how these two fall in love but fail to meet up.  This happens exactly once in the movie.  They very quickly work out what is going wrong, and actually the two timelines are kept quite separate, following the romantic stories in the different eras.

I LOVE the way the film does NOT progress the way you think.  And then something happens that makes you think a different conclusion is going to be reached (one that could be a little disturbing), and then finally delivers us down a path of both heartbreak and happiness.  I try not to care about spoilers with 9 year old films usually, but I think the clever twist in this one deserves to be discovered rather than ruined by me.

It is beautifully played all round. I have not seen anything with Kim Ha-Nuel before, but I will certainly try and discover more.

There is much more going on in the movie than the romance – it explores the change in South Korea between 1979 and 2000 – politics, culture, social mores…

In fact I think this is what I love so much about this film.  There is a lot going on, and pretty much all the little subplots are given time to breathe.

It should be mentioned that the film is contemporaneous with the US movie “Frequency” – which has a similar idea about people being in contact via radio in different time zones.  What is delivered is so different though.

And you know what – never really explored or stated – but it might just be the same radio that they are communicating over…

Be warned – the film has that Korean bittersweet ending – not everyone leaves this story fulfilled – but highly recommended.

Ha Ji-Won Week - Phone

I thought I would start here, as it was actually the first Korean movie I ever purchased.  A pretty grim VCD purchased on the streets of Bangkok.  Moreover, I watched it on Halloween night!

At the time, the “Phone” was given pretty short shrift, as it on the surface appears to be a “Ringu”-influenced horror story.  But my more recent reappraisal shows something much more interesting going on here.

Yes there is a lot of “Ringu” to be found here.  Scary young girls, long hair, lots of water and a technology-based supernatural threat.

Ha Ji-Won plays Ji-Won (yes, not much of a stretch there), an investigative reporter, who is currently wrapping up a story into an under-age sex scandal.  She is being threatened by some of the people she is investigating, and goes into hiding.  She also changes here mobile phone number.

She hides in a house belonging to her friend (or it might be her sister, to be honest the relationship is unclear), but begins to suffer various scares related to her phone, and the case she was working on.  This bit of the film is solid enough, shocks a-plenty are shown, and to be honest it would be a fun little movie if it stayed at that.

However, as the story unfolds, it becomes rather more interesting.  It becomes more of a mystery thriller, involving her friend/sister, her husband and their child (and even finds time to include a strange link between Ji-won and her “niece”).

I won’t say more, as I think the film is well worth seeing.

Ha Ji-won is not spectacular in the film, although the character she plays is pleasantly strong, and does not fall into the usual trap of becoming a pathetic scream-queen.

The highlight is the little girl, Yeong-ju (Eun Seo-woo).  She is amazing – managing to be cute, precocious, threatening and downright scary.  Not giving too much away, but when she is possessed, she is as good as any child actor I have ever seen.  The only disappointment is that she is whisked away for the denouement.

Ahn Byeong-ki is an experienced horror director and has produced a super little film here.  There are flaws – one subplot is forgotten about entirely (although it does provide a thematic link to the second half of the story), and to be honest the Ghost Hitchhiker Urban Legend is rather hackneyed and adds nothing here.

I note also that the film is to get a Hollywood remake next year, which is always a worry, but the signs are that it will remain set in Korea, so there is always hope.

Welcome to Ha Ji-Won Week

This is the first of an irregular themed set of postings, where I will concentrate on a specific actor or actress, or maybe a connected set of movies.

The first subject is the immensely talented Korean star Ha Ji-Won.   There are two reasons for starting with her.  Firstly, synchronicity has landed a number of films that I have been watching on my screen that all star or co-star her.  Secondly, I realised she was the star of the first Korean movie I have purchased.  Seems like a sensible way to start?

I call this Ha Ji-Won week, but that is merely for titling – I suspect this will go on for a little while.

Ha Ji-won is a great actress, but I think her greatest asset is her versatility.  As you will see in the next few postings, she has succeeded in multiple genres – Horror, Comedy, Drama and Epic.

She won’t necessarily be the “star” of all the films I talk about next, but she will always be an important component.