Skip to content
Singapore
Worthy winner of the First Feature Award at this festival (and also at Cannes), ILO ILO alternates between humour and pathos. Director-screenwriter Anthony Chen shows a middle-class couple trying to cope despite financial pressures and their son Jiale getting naughtier by the day. So the heavily pregnant mother hires a Filipino maid, Terry, to do the housework and keep the boy in line. But the conniving Jiale has other ideas, and it becomes a battle of wills between him and Terry. Meanwhile the husband isn’t letting on that he’s lost his job in the recession, and has secretly taken up smoking. To secure the role of Jiale, Koh Jia Ler was picked from auditions with thousands of children, and it’s clear why he got the gig. Trivia lovers might also like to know that when the expectant mother (Yann Yann Yeo) is filmed giving birth over the end titles, that is actually her own child being born. Is this perhaps a first?
Korea
With the London Korean Film Festival just around the corner, seeing some new Korean films certainly whets the appetite. LEBANON EMOTION is the impressive feature debut of director-screenwriter Jung Youngheon and, as the filmmakers are at pains to point out, it has absolutely nothing to do with Lebanon. The phrase simply sums up the feelings of emptiness and despair that can press any of us down – and this project was the director’s own cathartic way of tackling his own ‘Lebanon Emotion’. The film’s main character, Heonwoo, is still grieving for his mother and has contemplated different methods of suicide, when he’s suddenly shaken out of his introspection by a strange sequence of events. A female ex-felon, a vicious gangster, a comical fisherman and snow-covered woods find their way into Heonwoo’s existence, and he has the chance to reinvent himself as beloved hero. Youngheon is one to watch.
Having now seen a handful of Hong Sangsoo’s movies, it wasn’t a big surprise that both of his films at this year’s festival, NOBODY’S DAUGHTER HAEWON and OUR SUNHI plough exactly the same furrows as their predecessors and each other. Each revolves around one strong young woman (Haewon, Sunhi) and the men drawn to them. Both films have elements of repetition and symmetry with set-piece meetings and conversations, alcohol loosening the tongues of all the characters and making them drop their guards (in vino veritas indeed), and almost no action. Yes, these movies are sly and witty, yes, they show how manners shape behaviour, but Hong is such a fine director that I’d now love to see him try something new.
China
Something epic and something intimate from China. The first film is FOUR WAYS TO DIE IN MY HOMETOWN from director Chai Chunya, an odyssey encompassing age-old Buddhist tradition, story and myth, set on the edge of Tibet. A father prepares for death by lying in a coffin for three years, and a chorus of pipe-smoking Hardy-esque locals and shadow puppets complement the stories of Earth, Water, Fire and Wind. The traditional Chinese orchestral music throughout won’t be to everyone’s taste, but is entirely appropriate here.
The second movie is surveillance thriller TRAP STREET, the debut feature from Vivian Qu, about a young guy bewitched by a woman who gets in his way while he’s surveying the town. By day he’s digitally mapping this area, and by night he works in the black economy, putting up illicit CCTV monitors all over the place. But he dares to ask why some places don’t show up on the GPS, including LAB 203, which just happens to be where this same woman works as a research scientist. Until she disappears…
Philippines
Brillante Mendoza’s THY WOMB shows a couple just about getting by, subsistence living on the coast. He’s a fisherman, she’s a midwife, yet she is childless herself. And unlike B For Boy, she wants to find him a second wife to give him the child he craves. But will her selflessness pay off, and will this plan be fruitful?
Laos
THE ROCKET from director Kim Mordaunt, is the story of Ahlo from birth, when his twin dies and he survives. He grows up in constant hardship, with his family’s village about to be taken over by the building of a huge dam. They’re sold a bunch of lies and displaced to a non-existent new village, but young Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe) is enterprising and won’t be defeated by their situation and the injustices. He becomes Mister Fix-It until they are cast out again, and flee with their only friends to an inappropriately-named place called ‘Paradise’. But when there’s a competition to build the best rocket, Ahlo is determined to get the cash prize and transform their lives – with a little help with his friends. You can’t keep a good (young) man down.
Japan
Yuya Ishii is one of my favourite quirky directors, having made both Sawako Decides and Mitsuko Delivers. Now, with THE GREAT PASSAGE (right), Yuya moves seamlessly into the mainstream with a comedy drama about the making of… a new dictionary. When the respected dictionary editor is about to retire and needs to find a replacement, he selects an unlikely individual, the tongue-tied, almost mute Mitsuya Majime. The ambitious, living dictionary that his team are about to embark on, ‘The Great Passage’, is an uphill battle that takes years. Meanwhile, Mitsuya is rendered a hopeless romantic as he falls in love with his landlady’s granddaughter, struggling to find the right words to express his passion for the knife-wielding sushi chef. But despite many setbacks, his romantic and professional exploits continue. Utterly beguiling.
Mexico
THE GOLDEN DREAM from Diego Quemada-Diez follows a group of Guatemalan kids – including one indigenous Indian – trying to get to the US via Mexico. It’s a big adventure and starts out like Stand By Me, but quickly gets darker and crammed with jeopardy. Their ordeal becomes more horrific as their journey progresses, especially when violent bandits discover that one of the boys is actually a girl in disguise. No spoilers here, but there’s a growing feeling of attrition and disappointment, despite the initial optimism as they head towards their golden dream.
Venezuela
Revolving around 9-year-old Junior (the superb Samuel Lange) and his stressed mother, director Mariana Rondón’s BAD HAIR shows this afro-haired boy craving affection and approval, which he thinks he’ll get if he has straight hair. His ambitious granny, Carmen, has other plans for him though, aiming to turn him into a huge singing sensation. But will Junior’s flamboyant individuality be hammered out of him, just as his hair is straightened to conform?
Argentina
THE PARROT AND THE SWAN – like My Class and The Wishful Thinkers – is a film within a film about being filmed. All very meta and witty from director Alejo Moguillansky. It revolves around a sound recordist (‘Parrot’) who is hopelessly romantic and has been dumped in the middle of filming. Dry comic characters punctuate the heightened yet slowly unfolding situation, with the flirty crew documenting ballet dancers performing. Filmmaker in-jokes include no sound for the audience when Parrot isn’t switched on, as he’s recording for the film, as well as the film within the film. Clever clogs.
LA PAZ from director Santiago Loza, starts with pampered Liso (Lisandro Rodríguez) leaving a psychiatric hospital, but still on meds. His suffocating, over-doting mother and father spoil him, but his grandmother and the family’s loyal maid, Sonia, are more pragmatic and try to help him reconstruct and restructure his life. His ex-girlfriends seem justifiably wary, and viewers must read between the lines. But with Sonia’s help, might there be a form of redemption and renewal for him?
Chile
With its irrepressible middle-aged heroine and thumping disco and Latin soundtrack, GLORIA, from director Sebastián Lelio is not your typical South American film drama. In fact, on the surface it sounds more like a telenovela soap opera, but it’s far from it. Gloria (Paulina García) hits the singles bars and clubs with verve, until she falls for Rodolfo, a divorced, older guy who runs a paintball and bungee jumping theme park.
The attraction is instant and she is willing to commit to him, even introducing him at a family gathering. But he doesn’t seem to be quite as divorced as he claims, frequently disappearing altogether, then popping up again and relying on Gloria’s intoxication with the idea of romance as much as with him. She sees her kids moving on and moving away, her neighbours are distressing, and she craves a fresh start. But he can’t let go of his past – whatever that is – and she seems stuck in denial. Garcia, who is a revelation in the title role, and has starred in many TV series, won the Best Actress award at Berlin. And she makes you cheer her on throughout, even as the final credits are rolling and Umberto Tozzi’s anthemic song, Gloria, is playing.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.