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Hi
out there! It’s my first time covering a festival
for Kung Fu Cult Cinema, so I’ll try to do my
best, but please keep your swords sheeted till the
end. Like every year, Sitges Fantastic Cinema Festival
has taken place in the beautiful town of Sitges, in
the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona, Spain. The
main focus of the festival is the genre of fantastic
and horror movies, but in the last few years, has
broadened its view towards other genres and, specially,
Asian cinema. So this year, the amount of movies coming
from the East was huge, with plenty of good stuff,
and the presence of some honour guests. Among all
of them, one man shining above others, the master
itself: Takashi Miike. But let’s start from
the beginning, welcome to the 36th edition of Sitges
Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya, hope
you like it!
A
well-known title screen appears to immerse us in the
world of Japanese horror: Ju-on: the Grudge
2. After disturbing us with the previous
three Ju-on movies (two V-cinema movies and the previous
theatre film), Takashi Shimizu strikes back with another
dose of the harrowing adventures of the “irate
ghosts” (the ju-on) of Kayako, a woman killed
by her husband, and her son Toshio, who this time
around torment a horror-movie actress, unlucky enough
to have to shoot a TV show in Kayako’s house.
Scary as ever, this new sequel keeps succeeding in
creating a wonderful horror atmosphere, and won’t
deceive neither its followers nor the newcomers to
the Ju-on saga.
And
that piece was 1-Ichi, the prequel
of the acclaimed Miike’s Ichi the Killer. This
time, the movie is directed by Masato Tanno, and Nao
Tomori reprise his role as the perturbed Ichi. This
movie is based in the homonymous manga by Hideo Yamamoto,
which is about Ichi’s high school years. A surprisingly
good and entertaining movie, with minimal budget and
resources, but a must see for all Ichi fans who want
to know more about his…mmhh…hero?
film
won’t be released until January 2004, so we
were all pretty excited about this movie. And hell,
it was as good as I expected, maybe even better! As
a long time fan of Tarantino and Asian cinema, this
one was obviously a long awaited film, and I was completely
delighted! A good script (as expected from Tarantino),
brilliant fight scenes (oh my god! Look and learn,
Watchowskys!), and a superb performance from Uma Thurman,
who delivers her best to bring the killer bride to
life onscreen. Only one negative point: now we’ll
have to wait till the second instalment of the series!
Chan’s
best stunts with the most shocking and powerful muay
thay fight scenes, and probably you’ll catch
a glimpse of this awesome experience directed by Prachya
Pinkaew. And don’t forget the main star name:
Panem Yeerum. This man sure knows how to kick asses,
and I’m sure we’ll hear about him very
soon, as he has a very promising future as a martial
artist. If don’t already noticed, you mustn’t
miss this movie! Ops, I almost forgot: this movie
won the Best Movie Award in the Orient Express section
of the festival.
wasn’t.
Aragami, the last movie from Ryuhei
Kitamura, the man behind Versus. As solemn as it is
spectacular, Aragami describes the riveting combat
between a samurai and the demonic Tengu, who looks
normal enough but feeds on human flesh. A movie with
only three characters and one location, with a lot
of dialogue and some spectacular fight scenes Kitamura’s
style, may seem a little boring at first, but it surely
isn’t. I really 100% enjoyable, and it surely
deserves a look.
And
after that, the first of the many Korean movies that
were shown on the festival: Into the mirror.
In his debut as director, Kim Sung-ho, who presented
the screening himself, offers us a visually sophisticated
thriller where the action drifts towards the supernatural.
A story about a cop fallen from grace who now works
as a security guard and starts investigating a strange
series of murders in the warehouse where he works.
A good movie, with the usual Korean faultless technical
aspect, but it surely won’t become a classic.
realism,
the awful, true story of the investigation carried
out over six long years by two detectives. One from
the country and the other from the city, they were
trying to track down a serial killer who murdered
ten women between 1986 and 1991, and leaving the police
on the ropes. A beautiful photography, an splendid
acting and a brilliant script make this movie absolutely
wonderful. Hell, I don’t know what’s going
on with the Korean cinema, but I hope it’s going
to last for a long long time!
And
right after the screening, the awaited moment: the
press conference from the man himself. Miike spoke
about his working schedule, about which he says he
“need this feeling of chaos and pressure
for obtaining a better result in my movies”.
He also likes to remind that he “don’t
like the violence. If original manga is violent (Ichi
the Killer), then the movie has to reflect this”,
and remarked that although he is more famous among
western audiences for his violent movies, 
he
also has made a lot of other genres, including drama,
comedy, and thriller. I asked him about which one
of his movies is his favourite: “If I have
to choose one, I’d probably choose Gozu. I’ve
put in this movie all I have inside, and now I feel
like I’m starting anew, like I’m making
my first film again”. Besides from his
tough guy look, he turned to be a very nice person,
who fulfilled all the fans requests of autographs
and photos (I’ve got my photos and autographs
too!), and a humble and hard working man.
.jpg)
The
exclusively Korean movies day for me began with Acacia.
Directed by Park Ki-Hyung, who was in the festival
for presenting his movie, this story about a young
couple who adopt a strange tree-lover boy, surely
deserves a view. Horror made in Korea with a beautiful
and sometimes disturbing photography, and some nice
editing tricks.
.jpg)
film
coming out of South Korea. Jung-won is an interior
decorator who stumbles upon beings from the beyond
in his new home. He meets Yun, a girl who suffers
from narcolepsy but is in some war open to the world
of supernatural, and through her, Jung-won will confront
a series of supernatural encounters that will end
up pitting him against endless horrors. A very good
movie that ends being not what it seemed to be. Watch
out for this one!
For
closing a perfect day of good cinema, nothing better
than a forum with two of the top Japanese directors:
Takashi Miike and Jôji Iida, who came to Sitges
with his latest movie: Dragonhead (which I couldn’t
see, damn! It’s so difficult the arrange schedules…).
A very interesting chat about their vision of the
cinema, an a perfect opportunity for the fans to ask
all they willing to ask but never were able to do.
Once again, the most of the attention was for Miike,
who gladly received the love of his followers. They
also talked about Hollywood’s lack of ideas
and “remake” fever, and stated the good
health of Japanese cinema.
movies. This incursion into horror genre has a starting
point slightly similar to The Ring: a girl
receives a disturbing phone call, it’s her own
terrified voice from three days in the future. Probably
one of his movies with more budget, the plot is something
like a mix of The Ring and Phone,
but Miike proves himself as a consummate master of
the genre, and builds a movie which’ll surely
make people think it twice before answering the phone.
.jpg)
Well,
finally the last day of the festival came, so let’s
shoot the final round! And the first one was of Korea’s
latest blockbuster: A Tale of Two Sisters.
Kim Jae-woon is the author of this horror story based
on a local legend, about two sisters who end up living
in the new house their widowed father shares with
his new wife. A frightening atmosphere and a good
pack of sudden shock scenes, altogether mixed with
a wonderful cast, in a movie where everything is not
what it seems to be. Its director and writer, Kim
Jae-woon, was also in Sitges presenting the movie.
100% Hong-Kong modern style martial arts film, with
the famous HK pop singers Twins and Ekin “I’m
so cool” Cheng in the starring roles, the film
has been a box office smash in its country. The plot
narrates the adventures of a vampire hunter, together
with his new female assistant as they try to foil
a vampire’s plans for world conquest. Lots of
wired-action scenes, cool fights, and special appearances
of Jackie Chan and Karen Mok among others, this movie
won’t disappoint the Hong Kong movies fans.
More than an hour and a half of pure entertainment!
biggest hit, a movie that generated so many controversy
and excitement. This time, the story takes place three
years after the first film: juvenile terrorists opposed
to Battle Royale are laying waste to the nation and
have declared war to adults, and now the students
selected for BR Act are forced to confront the terrorists.
The opening first half strongly reminds of BRI, but
in a more frenzy and psychotic style, thanks in part
to Riki Takeuchi, who takes the role of the teacher
this time. While it has scenes of frenetic action
(and an arrival to the terrorists’ island taken
directly from Saving Private Ryan’s Normandy
landing), it also has a lot of dialogue scenes to
present the
moral dilemmas of Nanahara, the terrorists’
leader. Full of clear references against USA’s
politics after 11/9 attacks (the movie starts with
two skyscrapers being bombed to pieces), its moral
message it’s confusing, as in the end mixes
up terrorism with a nation’s justified resistance
against oppression. Well, it surely won’t leave
you indifferent! Political issues apart, the movie
sure offers a lot of good teenager’s kicking-ass
action, and you know…this time it’s war!
other than Zatoichi, the latest work
from Takeshi Kitano. Winner of the Best Director award
at the Venice Festival, this film is the filmmaker’s
first period film as well as being the first time
the movie didn’t come from a personal project.
Zatoichi is a blind tramp in the nineteenth century
whose walking stick hides a sword, which he uses in
the cause of justice against a gang of tyrannical
samurais. An offbeat film, with an unusual treatment
of violence, and spiced with unexpected musical numbers.
And I must say, I love this man! Kitano succeeded
in bringing us the classic flavour of Zatoichi films
but with his own personal and magic touch. Fantastic
fight scenes, beautiful photography, and the exact
amount of comedy at the.jpg)
appropriate time. Tadanobu Asano, who also was in
Sitges and presented the movie himself to the audience,
takes the role of a fallen samurai who must work as
bodyguard for maintaining his wife medical treatment.
As a long-time fan of Takeshi Kitano, I may not seem
objective, but this is really a great film, made for
entertaining, and I can assure you it accomplish its
goal. Besides, the film didn’t leave Sitges
empty-handed: Best Movie award, Best Original Soundtrack
(by Keitchi Suzuki) and was also elected Best Movie
for people’s choice.
