Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Fall Film Festival Season continues in Toronto in November with ReelAsian celebrating its 30th anniversary bringing fantastic, cutting-edge cinema from Asia and its diaspora to this city. It’s running from November 11th – 21st, followed by online screenings till the end of the month.

And check out an intriguing new doc by Joe Kowalski called Micronations, about the kings, queens, and self-declared heads of state popping up around the world. Don’t miss this free screening and Q&A at Innis College Town Hall at 7 pm on Monday.

But this week, I’m looking at three new movies about distrust in governments. There are giant monsters in Tokyo, corruption in Paris, and a coup d’état in Chile.

Godzilla: Minus Zero

Wri/Dir: Takashi Yamazaki

It’s post-WWII in US-occupied Japan. Koichi Shikishima (Ryûnosuke Kamiki), a former Kamikaze pilot in WWII is pulling his family together after a horrible monster attack in Ginza two years earlier. His wife  

Noriko Ôishi (Minami Hamabe) and their young daughter Akiko were wounded but somehow survived. Noriko still wears a white patch over one of her eyes. But there’s a new monster out there, the enormous and dangerous Ghidorah, who, like a dragon, can fly and breathe fire. He is crushing villages all along the coast. So a new government agency pops up in Tokyo to confront the new menace. It’s headed by Noda, a naval engineer who has fought past monsters; Aoyama, a top meteorologist who says she can predict the exact movement of sea creatures; and Prof Murakami (Min Tanaka) an elderly scientist who has witnessed the wrath of Ghidorah first hand (and who seethes deep inside with an urge for vengeance.) 

They put together a plan to obliterate this new menace, using a team of crack pilots to bomb the hell out of it. And who do they ask to train them? Shikishima, of course, the only pilot alive who has fought Godzilla and survived. 

Easier said than done.

In the course of their battles they somehow, unwittingly, reawaken the big kahuna himself — Godzilla. How is that possible? They obliterated him two years ago. It seems these giant creatures can regenerate themselves, so now they’re facing two Kaiju, not just one, wreaking havoc across Japan. Can they get Shikishima — who has sworn never to go near Godzilla again — to participate in a battle royale? And who will triumph in the end?

Godzilla: Minus Zero is the latest episode in a contemporary retelling of the classic kaiju movie series. It’s about these ancient beings reawakened by atomic blasts and the radiation they release. I haven’t seen the previous one, so I didn’t know the backgrounds of many of the characters but it was fairly easy to pickup. It’s a bit corny at times, but generally a pretty good story. And I really got into the awe of witnessing the wholesale destruction on a mammoth scale that these monsters inflict on everything around them. Its cathartic. It didn’t hurt seeing it on an IMAX screen where the images of Godzilla approach their actual size. 

If you’re into Japanese kaiju movies, Godzilla Minus Zero will provide everything you want. 

Une affaire turque

Dir: Hüseyin Aydin Gürsoy

Mathieu Duman (Lionel Erdogan) is an ambitious young lawyer in Paris. He’s known for his uncanny ability to parse corporate contracts down to their crucial details.  He works for a small law firm, under partner Claude Delval (Charles Berling). With Matthieu’s analytical mind, creative nature and movie-star good looks he’s heading for the top, promised a partnership if he can rescue a crucial deal involving an AI firm. The only thing holding him back is his middle name: Mustafa, that betrays his roots. He grew up in a working-class neighbourhood with Muslim immigrant parents from Turkey. And on a visit to his family (an hour outside of Paris) his sister asks him a favour. Can he give some legal advice to a family friend named Abdullah (Metehan Aygun)? A taxi driver, Abdullah was violently attacked by a racist passenger that left him partially blind and without a job. But Matthieu discovers the passenger is “untouchable”, a powerful figure in the French government temporarily seconded to an EU member of parliament. So Matthieu parlays this case together with his AI negotiations within the EU. It seems perfect — Abdullah drops his charges in exchange for a  generous settlement, and the EU politician agrees to postpone crucial legislations affecting Matthieu’s new AI client. Until… Abdullah threatens to the return the money and blow the whistle on the whole affair. And suddenly it looks like Matthieu’s career is headed for disaster.

Une affaire turque is a very dark political thriller about corruption in finance, law and government. It’s also examines the dichotomy facing second generation immigrants: total assimilation in order to enter elite society, or holding onto your heritage and stuck forever at the bottom. It also paints a multifaceted view of the diverse Turkish community within France; the director is from Turkey and Lionel Erdogan — like much of the cast — is of Kurdish/Turkish background.) And I love the way it keeps you guessing as to who are the good guys and who are the villains till the end. Good movie.

Wild Horse Nine

Wri/Dir: Martin McDonagh

It’s 1973 in Santiago, Chile. Chris and Lee (John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell) are old buddies about to take a much-needed vacation. They’re heading to Easter Island, a place Chris has long wanted to visit, accompanied by Lee, all payed for by their corporation. You see, they’re both longtime operatives for the CIA, and have assassinated countless politicians and sparked coups d’état around the globe. So this is Chris’s last hurrah, a chance to relax amongst the ancient statues and wild horses of Rapa Nui before he retires. They can chat, bicker, tell stories from way back and get drunk. They even meet two young women at the airport who Chris desperately wants to make friends with (his marriage back home having collapsed.)

The problem is Chris has a big mouth (partially due to dementia). The CIA is about to foment a bloody military coup to overthrow Allende and install a dictator in his place. And their supervisor MJ (Steve Buscemi) doesn’t want him messing it up. He also wants Lee to get a hold of all of Chris’s secret records, before he retires. But what will happen during their week in paradise?

Wild Horse Nine is a dark comedy/thriller about friendship in wartime. It’s fairly funny and politically well-informed. Rockwell, Malkovich and Buscemi  form a great team of guys you don’t want to be alone with. And I love the soundtrack and the lovely cinematography. My only problem is, you know how some directors like to leave trademarks in their films? (Like Hitchcock appearing in all his movies). Well this one — with its bickering middle-aged guys getting drunk on a deserted island amongst adorable nodding horses, while war rages across the water — seems like a remake of The Banshees of Inisherin, just 4 years ago. Yes, Wild Horse Nine is very entertaining, I just wish McDonagh would find a new outline.

Godzilla: Minus Zero and Wild Horse Nine both all opening this weekend; check your local listings, and Une affaire turque is one of many great movies playing at the Cinefranco film fest.

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website  culturalmining.com