TIFF gems. Films reviewed: Girl, I Swear, Cover-Up
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
TIFF, Toronto’s International Film Festival is winding down after a busy week, but there is still a lot to see, including the People’s Choice awards offering free screenings of the winning films tomorrow. So this week I’m looking at three terrific movies that premiered at TIFF but aren’t getting the degree of coverage I think they deserve. There’s a coming-of-age story about a girl in Taiwan, a biopic about a man in Scotland, and a documentary about a legendary American journalist.
Girl
Wri/Dir: Shu Qi
Lin Xiaoli (Bai Xiao-Ying) is a working class tween in middle school in Taiwan. She lives with her mom, and her domineering stepdad who terrorizes her mother and her. Xiaoli hides inside a zip-up wardrobe in her bedroom as protection from his violent outbursts. He works as a mechanic in his Uncle’s garage, and usually comes home drunk to the gills. Her Mom works in a hair salon and makes artificial flowers at home to earn extra money, but takes out her anger on her much smaller daughter. Xiaoli takes care of her younger sister, who is favoured by both her parents. At school she tries to stay unnoticed to avoid more of the violence and anxiety he gets at home.
Until she meets a vivacious girl named Li Lily (Lin Pin-Tung). Lily lived in the States for a few years but now she’s back and living with her grandparents who let her do whatever she 
wants. Though the too are complete opposites, Lily is helping Xiaoli climb out of her shell. And one day they cut class, wear makeup, smoke a cigarette, go to a video cafe, sing songs, and eventually meet a bunch teenaged boys riding motor scooters. But will this day change her life in a good way… or in a bad way?
Girl is a realistic coming-of- age drama set in the previous millennium (with no computers or cel phones) and full of poignant details. It’s a very moving story about parental abuse passed down through generations, but it’s also full of hope. It follows the points of view of all the main characters, not just 
Xiaoli. Now, I have a rule, I avoid first films at TIFF directed by actors. Why? They’re usually crap. Vanity pics, Oscar bate, self-serving vehicles or relentless navel gazing. Shu Qi is a very famous Taiwanese actress, and Girl is her first try at directing. Luckily, it’s really good. She has acted in three movies by Hou Hsiao Hsien and Girl resembles his films in both style and content, though a totally original take. It’s rough and violent in parts, which is hard to handle in a realistic movie, but there’s lots of sweet stuff, too.
Girl is an excellent first feature.
I Swear
Wri/Dir: Kirk Jones
It’s the late 1990s. John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) is a popular teenager in Galashiels, Scotland He’s starting at a new school, getting friendly with a girl he fancies, and is the prized goalie on the local boys’ football team. His Dad has even arranged for a scout to the next match. But then something unexpected happens. He starts twitching in class, just a little at first, like a nervous tic. But it soon turns to rapid movements, facial contortions, and barking sounds. Followed by spitting, random punching and the uttering of the most offensive words. He gets caned by the headmaster for acting the ckown, his mother makes him eat his meals on the floor facing the fireplace. HIs father abandons his family. His onetime girlfriend slaps his face and other kids bully him at school, But none of it is intentional; he has Tourette’s syndrome.
Decades later, John (Robert Aramayo) still lives with his mother, heavily sedated, not allowed to speak with anyone for fear of an incident. A miserable existence indeed. Until he runs into an old school friend who invites him for dinner at home. He repeatedly declines — for good reason — until his friend’s mom Dottie (Maxine Peake), a psychiatric nurse 
diagnosed with cancer, insist he come in for spaghetti dinner. The first thing he says to her is You’re dying of cancer, haha! before skulking away, mortified. But Dottie brushes it off as the most honest thing she’s heard in years. She invites him back, and tells him to stop apologizing for things that aren’t his fault. Eventually he moves in to try to live a normal life. But is that possible with Tourettes?
I Swear is a comedy/drama, based on a true story, about one man’s life with Tourette’s. The title refers to the profane and deeply offensive words that spew forth from his moth at the worst possible times. It’s mortifying but also excruciatingly funny, and the two actors who play him, Watson and Aramayo, exude sympathy and humour in every scene, despite their seemingly insurmountable problems. I laughed my ass off for most of this film (whenever I wasn’t crying out of sympathy). I Swear tells a heart-warming story, even as it educates — without lecturing — about Tourette’s.
I strongly recommend this feel-good movie.
Cover-Up
Wri/Dir: Laura Poitras (All The Beauty and the Bloodshed)
and Mark Obenhaus
It’s the 1960s and America is at war. Sy Hersh, a freelance reporter, hears a rumour of mass murder in Vietnam by American troops. He speaks with GIs on base and the soldiers accused of these crimes. He also got a hold of a secret military investigation the massacre. And the facts he finds are horrifying. There include synchronized sexual assaults and murders of hundreds of women, men and children, and even babies, by American soldiers. Hersh blames My Lai on General Westmoreland and others who ordered the mass killings — which happened in a number of places on the same day — solely for the purpose of raising the body count. They needed more dead bodies to prove they were winning the war. The story has major repercussions all the way to the top — Nixon and Kissinger were recorded calling Hersh a son of a bitch — and played a role in turning public sentiment away from the war. For Hersh, My Lai is the first of many crucial stories he breaks in the decades to come. He becomes the NY Times daily reporter on the Watergate scandal. He uncovers US involvement in Pinochet’s bloody coup in Chile and the assassination of 
Allende; illegal CIA infiltration of anti-war groups, the secret bombing of Cambodia, the invasion of Gaza (ongoing), and the abuse and torture of Iraqis by American soldiers during the Gulf War at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
Cover-Up is a journalistic documentary about journalism itself. It features historical documents and period photos and film — many very disturbing — new interviews with people involved in the stories, and extended talks with Sy Hersh, who at the age of 88 is still a full-time journalist. You get to see 
him see at work talking to anonymous sources and vetting incoming photos and leaks. He’s a bit prickly about protecting his sources even from the documentary makers (who take care never to reveal anyone still alive), because it’s that core of consciences bureaucrats, soldiers, and spies who still uphold the constitution and flout illegal coverups. They’re the sources who keep freedom of the press alive.
After the TIFF screening, Hersh said that American journalism is in a bad state with reporters running scared. How many important stories are being gagged or stifled now — or in the past — under White House pressure? It shows how badly we need more adversarial journalists who question the powers that be and uncover what they’re hiding.
And that’s what Cover-Up is all about.
I Swear, Girl and Cover-Up all played at TIFF and should be released over the next few months. This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
East Asia. Movies reviewed: The Assassin, Miss Hokusai, Port of Call
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto’s fall film festival season continues in November. 
Rendezvous with Madness opens tonight, featuring films and documentaries made by or about people with mental health or addiction issues. Each screening is followed by a 
panel discussion. And don’t miss the ReelAsian International Film Festival which started last night. I find movies from East Asia doubly interesting, not just for the story, acting and cinematography, but also for the cultural insights. This week, I’m looking at three Asian movies: a true crime drama set in contemporary Hong Kong, a martial arts epic set in Tang dynasty China, and Japanese anime set in 19th Century Edo.
The Assassin
Dir: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) is a young woman in Tang dynasty China born into high-ranked family. As children, she and Tian Ji’an – a first cousin (Chang Chen) — are given matching disks carved from yellow jade, as a symbol of their future marriage. But destinies change. So to save her life, her mother sends the 10-year-old away to study with a Taoist nun.
But what does she study? She leaves there with a moral drive to defend the empire against all foes, both inside and at its fringes. With her long black 
hair hanging down, the beautiful Nie Yinniang now dresses in black robes to remain unseen, a veritable Chinese ninja. She can handle a sword like none other. Her profession? Assassin. The kind who can take down an official on horseback in the midst of a royal retinue and disappear a second later.
But does she have the mental toughness to kill on command? She refuses to kill a target when she sees him protecting his child. The nun says “to be 
a true assassin, first kill the one that victim loves, then the victim himself.” And she sends her back to her beginnings with a mission. Kill the one she loves most — Tian Ji’An!
This sounds like just another martial arts movie, and it does have some excellent sword fights, battles and chase scenes. But don’t go to this movie expecting an ordinary action film. Cause it ain’t. It’s by renowned Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, known for his stunning visual and musical style, cultural sensitivity… and sloooow pace. Cloak and dagger politics, sumptuous costumes, stilted language, they’re all there, but without the driving music and non-stop action of most Wushu movies. This is suitable for Hou Hsiao-hsien fans, but anyone looking for a crouching tiger or a hidden dragon will search in vain.
Miss Hokusai
Dir: Hara Keiichi
Based on the manga Sarusuberi by Sugiura Hinako
O-ei is an accomplished painter in 19th century Edo (now called Tokyo), known for her scary images of hell, and erotic portraits of women. She spends her days painting in her father’s studio, or trolling the lanes of Yoshiwara, the red light district. She lives in the floating world of actors, sex workers, geisha, samurai and nouveau-riche merchants. And she visits her blind little sister, sent away by their dad who doesn’t like being near disabled people. The movie follows episodes from her life, both realistic and fantastical: painting her first 
dragon (the spirit has to possess you), seeing demons, even witnessing a long-necked geisha’s out-of-body experience. And her first sexual experience with a man, an onna-gata kabuki actor, who spends his life dressed as a woman.
Based on a true story, you may be wondering how come you’ve never heard of her? The answer is simple: she lived under the shadow of one of 
the most famous Japanese artists of all time, Hokusai. His ukiyo-e block prints of mount Fuji and his big blue cresting wave are still ubiquitous images when you think of Japan. He was quite the showman, creating the world’s largest brush painting of Zen Buddhist monk Daruma, using a brush bigger than he was.
Miss Hokusai is both faithful to, and a victim of, Japanese anime based on manga. It follows the winding pace and endless variations of Japanese manga, not the neat beginning/middle/end of a western graphic novel. I like its non-judgemental view of the pre-Meiji demi-monde, and it’s all-around Japaneseness. Just wish it had a more linear plot.
Port of Call
Dir: Philipp Yung
Wang Jiamei (Jessie Li) is a student at a Catholic high school in Hong Kong. Originally from Hunan on the mainland, she arrived with her ambitious divorced mom and her innocent little sister. Her dad is a layabout gambler who makes his money whenever Manchester United loses a game. She picks up the local language but can’t fit in. She feels cold and detached inside, alienated. When a girl at the next desk slits her wrist in class, she doesn’t even blink. She drops out and drifts from job to job. A modelling agency sends her to one gig – she becomes the poster girl – literally – in an ad warning about domestic violence. Prophetic.
Ting (Michael Ning) is a friendless, chubby boy whose mother was killed in
a truck accident when he was a kid. After online chatting, he had hired Kama (Jiamei’s name she uses as an escort.) But their meeting leads to a series of horrific events. And when she completely disappears her mother calls the cops to investigate. Detective Chong (Aaron Kwok) quickly determines she’s not missing, she’s dead. But her body is nowhere to be found. Until Ting walks into a police station and confesses all.
Through a series of flashbacks and courtroom testimony, the three 
characters – the murderer, the relentless detective and the dead victim – all reveal their secrets, feelings, histories and surprising motivations. What starts out as a simple police procedural turns into a moving — and at times shocking – drama of a case that had Hong Kongers glued to the tabloids just a few years ago.
Port of Call is a bit long and has some truly disgusting scenes. But it captures a feeling unique to parts of Hong Kong: gritty, grimy, cramped and crowded. The great performances by two unknown actors (plus veteran singer/star Aaron Kwok), its indie soundtrack, the unmistakable images of HK cinematographer Christopher Doyle, plus a surprise ending, all place this film a step above most true crime movies.
The Assassin is playing now in Toronto at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and you can catch Miss Hokusai and Port of Call at the ReelAsian Film Festival. This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Sons of Women. Films reviewed: Good Men, Good Women: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien, The Boys from Fengkuei, Flowers of Shanghai, PLUS Seventh Son
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien was born in Canton, China in 1947. His family fled to Taiwan with the Nationalists when he was just an infant. Since then he has emerged as one of postwar Taiwan’s most famous directors (along with Ang Lee and Tsai Mingliang).
His movies tell a fragmented history of his country, one story at a time. He deals with ordinary, working-class people, often dislocated and trying to make their way. His characters struggle with differences of 
language, status, age, class and money. But his films also includes love, sex, jealousy, conformity and insecurity.
Most of his films take place in Taiwan, though there are some exceptions, such as Flight of the Red Balloon (France) or Café Lumière (Japan). The times range from the 19th Century (Flowers of Shanghai), to the 1940s (City of Sadness), to the present day, or even in three eras simultaneously (Three Times).
Some critics call him one of the most important and influential 
directors, anywhere, comparing the style he helped pioneer – the Taiwanese New Wave — to movements like the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism. He’s known for his minimalism, slow pace, long takes and an avoidance of quick editing and obvious special effects.
More often than not, he sets up a nicely-arranged tableau and lets the action take place within that frame. Sort of like a stage play but within a shifting proscenium arch.
Well, there’s a retrospective playing this month in Toronto called Good Men, Good Women: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien. It was put together by Richard I. Suchenski, Amber Wu and Teresa Huang and is on a world tour. The series projects pristine prints, rarely seen.
This week I’m looking at two of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s movies. One’s an early film about good men, the other a later film about good women. And, in keeping with my commitment to highbrow/ lowbrow films, I’m also reviewing a fantasy-drama about a medieval guy who hunts for witches… but ends up falling in love with one.
The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)
Three small-town boys — Ah Ching and his two friends — live in a tiny windswept island off the coast of Taiwan. They should be doing their homework but they’d rather be outside gambling and carousing. But after a big fight goes wrong they flee to an abandoned seaside shack. They make their way to Kaohsiung, a big city on the main island. But they soon find life in the big city is not what they expected. They get poorly paid jobs, and their money making ventures – like selling tapes on the street – don’t earn them much money. Their parents expect them to return home to work at an easy factory job. And they soon find themselves victims of conmen, gangsters and sophisticated city folk. But can they find true love in the big city?
I found this movie fascinating, not just because of its realistic coming-of-age portrait of life in Taiwan. It also goes against what I thought was Hou Hsiao-hsien’s directing style: slow, stationary, and dominated by long takes of seated conversations. This movie has fights and chase scenes, crowds and a lot of movement. As programmer Richard I. Suchenski pointed out in his introductory lecture on Hou (Jan 29, 2015), The Boys of Fengkuei fits closely within his oeuvre. It shares the long takes, carefully composed scenes and the stationary, framed shots of his later films.
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
It’s late 19th century Shanghai. Rich men hang out in the entertainment parlours, gambling, drinking, smoking opium and courting the courtesans there. These entertainers the so-called flowers of Shanghai. are known for their beauty and poise. They are carefully trained from an early age, brought up inside the houses. They have their own servants, and answer to the middle aged “auntie” the Madams who rule the business. They cultivate relationships with the rich men who visit them gradually saving up the money they earn. Eventually, they either marry their favourite boyfriend or purchase their independence outright and set up their own businesses. This line of work was one of the few allowing girls to advance from penniless orphan to rich, powerful and socially advanced woman.
The scenes alternate from the men all drinking and dining at a common table to the interiors of the individual houses and the women behind closed doors. The stories are simple: women in rival houses competing for the lovesick but fickle male patrons; discussions of their worth and wealth — both the businessmen and the women; and anger over arranged marriages and love.
In this movie the camera slowly pans back and forth but almost never cuts away from the scene in each brothel. The lighting has a golden glow, generated from the oil lamps on set (portraying scenes without electric lighting). What I found most fascinating was the language – you rarely get to hear dialogue spoken in Shanghainese – another example of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s commitment to realism. This is a beautiful film but like many if his movies, one that requires concentration and commitment to appreciate.
And on a entirely different note…
The Seventh Son
Dir: Sergei Bodrov
It’s the dark ages in Europe, a time of dragons, knights and witches. Tom (Ben Barnes) is a young man who slops the pigs at his remote family farm. There’s gotta be something better than this, he thinks. So when Gregory – an odd man with a pointy yellow beard – comes by seeking an apprentice, Tom jumps at the chance. Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight and (like Tom) is the seventh son of a seventh son which gives him special powers and a sense of commitment. He’s an arrogant, foul-mouthed alcoholic. He’s also a Spook, a man who fights the creatures of darkness. He promises to teach Tom how to fight these demons and witches. Tom can’t wait. But before he leaves, his mother places a special charm around his neck
that she says will protect him from evil.
The first witch he encounters is Alice (Swedish actress Alicia Vikander) – a beautiful young woman. And when they first hold hands sparks fly… literally! A blue flame shoots out from their hands. Hmmm… But what he doesn’t know is she works as a spy for Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). Mother Malkin is the evil queen a witch who can turn herself into a dragon. And when the red moon rises, something that happens only once a century, she and her evil cronies plan to take over the world. Will the knights beat the witches and slay the dragons? Or will Tom be slain like all the other apprentices that proceeded him? And what about Alice… is she a good witch or a bad witch?
The Seventh Son is an OK fantasy with a very predictable plot too much CGIs, very long battle scenes, and bad Twilight-style romantic element. There are at least four cliffhangers in this movie – and I mean people literally hanging onto or falling off of cliffs. I guess that’s what you get with 3D and IMAX as the main attractions. Jeff Bridges emotes wildly, Julianne Moore is wonderful as the evil queen, while Ben Barnes is a dull leading man. Most interesting thing is the sets. The women (a.k.a. the evil 
witches) live in a celebration of Orientalism, replete with Persian rugs, lapis lazuli tiling, and geometric screens. They recline on pillows beside incense burners. The men all dress in rough-hewn burlap and carry rusty swords. The battle of the sexes told in 100 minutes in 3-D.
Seventh Son opens today in Toronto—check your local listings; and the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien: Good Men, Good Women continue all this month at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Go to tiff.net for times.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com
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