This That Week In Tickets: 20 October 2014 - 26 October 2014

The plan during October: Try to see movies that start early and run short so that you can also catch a full night of playoff baseball.

... And sometimes have work run just late enough that you can't get to the ones you planned to see at all. That's what happened early in the week, with an issue arising at quarter of five scuttling the evening's plans, pushing a couple things forward a day. That meant #Stuck got seen on Tuesday (after the initial special screening I had intended to see a week and a half earlier was canceled), and The Blue Room was Wednesday's flick. They actually pair fairly well, both hitting the fractured timeline idea and relying heavily on the characters' personal perspectives, although the French mystery thriller was much better than the American romantic comedy.

The fixed point on the schedule was Thursday's Revenge of the Green Dragons at the Brattle. It was the opening film of the Boston Asian American Film Festival and had a whole ton of guests. Perhaps more than a ton, as they were in good shape but numerous. Hong Kong director Andrew Lau and his American co-director Andrew Loo were front and center, and it was kind of amusing to see them refer to each other as "Lau" and "Loo" like a Chinese comedy team.

It was back to the Brattle the next night for the first film in their William Castle series, The Whistler, which wound up being the only one I'd see because, aside from the World Series, I sort of wrestle with questions like "is the experience of seeing The Tingler in a theater rigged for Percepto worth seeing The Tingler?" I just don't love B-movies enough sometimes.

Saturday, I went for a double feature because I didn't foresee being too lazy to go far from the house on Sunday. John Wick, happily, did a pretty good job of living up to the buzz that came out of Fantastic Fest, which I had kind of worried was inflated by Keanu Reeves being a thoroughly charming guy. After that, I headed down the Green Line (well, actually, it was a nice enough day to walk, but my conception of Boston geography is T-based) to Fenway to check out Happy New Year, this Diwali's big caper movie. It's okay, but Deepika Padukone takes much too long to show up.

The Whistler

* * ¼ (out of four)
Seen 24 October 2014 in the Brattle Theatre (William Castle, 35mm)

In 1944, not only was CBS a radio network, but the "C" in "Columbia Broadcasting System" actually indicated an actual connection to the film studio and record label. It was also long enough ago that William Castle had not yet become an independent, iconoclastic film producer and director, but was still working his way up, cranking out B-movies for Columbia Pictures. In this case, it was an adaptation of a popular radio mystery program, disposable by its nature but still fairly enjoyable.

It's actually got a neat little hook: Earl C. Conrad (Richard Dix), whom the whole community has looked at accusingly since his wife disappeared under suspicious circumstances, has taken out a life insurance policy and made sure that his business would be in good hands should he pass - and then gone and hired an assassin to kill him through a cutout so that the plan cannot be traced back to him. Of course, as soon as he's done that, he's given a reason to live, and it becomes impossible to get back in contact with the middleman (Don Costello).

The Whistler himself is a narrator who lurks in the shadows, face unseen, although one whistle from him does prevent things from ending too soon. It's the sort of conceit that anthology shows on the radio (and early television, which also had a Whistler series) would use to craft an identity that carries from one week to the next. It's a bit out of place here, especially with the film playing to an audience of Castle's fans now as opposed to folks who listened to the radio show seventy years ago, but it's not intrusive, even if it is a bit odd.

Full review at EFC

John Wick

* * * ¼ (out of four)
Seen 25 October 2014 in AMC Boston Common #1 (first-run, DCP)

I prioritized John Wick low when making my choices at Fantastic Fest, and not just on the basis of "it will play regular theaters later"; it just didn't have much buzz around it, and sort of looked like something that could wind up going straight to video (on demand), much like the last movie Reeves brought to the festival. Instead, it not only hits theaters, but winds up playing the Imax screens as well. Go figure.

And it's kind of surprising, because to a certain extent I cynically expect action this good to get passed over in favor of something bigger in scale but not so well crafted in the details. And the details of this are fun, both in writer Derek Kolstad's world-building and the way directors David Leitch & Chad Stahelski shoot action with exceptional clairty. There's a sequence that has Reeves's title character slicing his way through a nightclub like a hot knife through butter, not quite a single shot but still constant, smooth motion, with Wick moving from one target to another without stopping, kind of like the gun katas in Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium. Leitch & Stahelski come from a stuntwork background, and they are dedicated to showing off that part of the movie in a way that few directors outside of Hong Kong have a vested interest in doing.

Plus, Keanu Reeves. The guy knows his strengths and weaknesses as well as any actor out there, and he's not only quite able to execute physically, but he's got a nice gravitas as Wick, mourning with a cold fury that explodes from his whole body. There's a nifty ensemble around him, all fitting into the heightened underworld that Kolstad came up with. What's particularly nifty (aside from the awesome dog whose brief time with Wick kicks everything off) is how Wick can be built up as larger than life without making him a overblown caricature of badassness.

There's not necessarily anywhere to go with Wick at the end of the movie, but I want more anyway. Kolstand came up with a neat environment, Leitch & Stahelski brought it to exciting life, and Reeves gets a part that fits him like a glove. It seldom comes together this well.

Revenge of the Green Dragons

Very glad I got to see this in a theater - as I think I mentioned before, this was originally scheduled to play the Boston Film Festival about a month ago, but during a slot when I was flying back from Austin. So, when it got pulled at the last minute and later announced as the opening night film of the Boston Asian American Film Festival, I was a happy camper.

And, hey - guests!



(For as often as I'm forced to use the "horrible photography" tag, that is some accidentally awesome composition, no?)

From left to right, that's executive producer Alan Pao, co-stars Geoff Lee, Celia Au, and Carl Li, directors Andrew Loo & Andrew Lau, co-star Shing Ka, and Devon Diep, who performed the title song. Pretty good turn-out, probably in part because the film is getting a limited theatrical release starting this weekend (it's also available on demand via DirecTV).

It's a pretty great get for BAAFF, because it's probably one of the highest-profile movies made with a primarily Asian-American cast in some time, at least since the last Harold & Kumar entry. It's pulp, but it's pretty good as pulp goes. And as much of the cast attested, that's something they don't necessarily often get the chance to do, as opposed to playing a lot of restaurant workers or grad students.

They also all mentioned that director "Andrew" Lau Wai-keung worked fast, getting one or two takes and then moving on. Lau was kind of the big draw for me; he co-directed Infernal Affairs, which got remade as The Departed, making it only fair for Martin Scorsese to executive produce this movie. It's not his first American movie - he did something called The Flock a few years back, although the American version had reshoots directed by someone else - but what I like about it is how much it feels like something from both America and Hong Kong, which is as it should be.

Also cool: He seemed to dig the Brattle Theatre; apparently the tour has had them screening Dragons in a lot of slick new venues, and he really seemed to dig playing it in a theater that was actually around during the time when this film took place. He seemed to stumble on getting it out in just that way - he seemed to be telling Creative Director Ned Hinkle that he liked the place because it's kind of old and run-down, but we can see it as him being glad the Brattle isn't trying to be something it's not and losing its personality, right?

The other interesting thing that came up was that they did a lot of open auditions in New York, and a lot of the older immigrants they talked to said that if they had it to do over again, they probably wouldn't have come to America, what with the danger, near-slavery, and prejudice they face. Something you hate to hear, but given some of what you see in the movie and can learn about elsewhere, not exactly surprising. It ties in with the short film that played before the feature (and similar ones which played during Films at the Gate), which talk about a real feeling of isolation until people find specifically Asian-American groups to connect with.

Revenge of the Green Dragons

* * ¾ (out of four)
Seen 23 October 2014 in the Brattle Theatre (Boston Asian American Film Festival, DCP)

Don't let some of the pedigree that Revenge of the Green Dragons can whip out fool you - executive producer/"presenter" Martin Scorsese and co-director Andrew Lau have made some transcendent gangster movies, but this one is more or less the sort of lurid fare its name suggests. This is not an argument against it, mind you; what better way is there to tell the story of an Asian-American street gang than by bringing some Hong Kong style to old-school grindhouse?

The Green Dragons recruited Steven Wong and his foster brother Sonny early, when they were middle-schoolers fairly fresh off the boat in 1982. Seven years later, they've moved up; Sonny (Justin Chon) is handling collections, while the more fiery Steven (Kevin Wu) brandishes a knife. It roughly parallels the gang's leaders, clean-cut Paul Wrong (Harry Shum Jr.) and his right-hand-man Chen Chung (Leonard Wu), who know that if they keep things relatively clean, the NYPD will mostly assign rookie cops, even if one guy at the FBI (Ray Liotta) is starting to sniff around due to a general belief that immigration is a ticking time bomb.

The film is based upon actual people and events, but it doesn't really need to be; while it may not follow the gangster-movie template exactly, there is not a lot to the movie that audiences have not seen before. If anything, the screenplay by Michael Di Jiacomo and co-director Andrew Loo primarily distinguishes itself via exceptional cynicism: There is never much effort made to build the Green Dragons or other gangs up as social structures offering some sort of honor, unity, or camaraderie; they are assemblies of thugs from minute one, appealing mainly because the alternative seems to be exploitation that is tantamount to slavery.

Full review at EFC.

Boston Asian-American Film Festival: Almost Perfect and One Big Hapa Family

Hopefully the other programs at the Boston Asian-American Film Festival were good; I couldn't commit to the whole festival, but it seems to be run by good people who were able to get filmmakers present for every screening. The films I saw were solid enough, although I don't know if I'd necessarily see either of them without this sort of push.

It's kind of a shame, though, that it's sometimes hard to see these movies outside of this festival setting. Almost Perfect, for instance, is a fairly typical indie drama, with the fact that this family is Chinese/hapa not trivial, but certainly not the driving force behind the characters' actions. It seems that, even on television, there are fewer shows with "visible minority" leads and supporting casts (is it really just Fox's The Cleveland Show, whose title character is voiced by a white guy?). It shouldn't be like this; there should be something like The Cosby Show with an Asian-American family and, really, there should be at least one Asian-American movie star in Hollywood. Just one.

Heck, a few years ago, there was hope that Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle would be a sort of breakthrough, but the main result seems to be a career boost for the white co-star, and the leads getting to be cool in supporting roles in Star Trek and House. I've got no desire for progress to put things like the BAAFF out of business (things like One Big Hapa Family will always need events dedicated to their niche), but even as white as I am... I doesn't have to be all about me, Hollywood.

Almost Perfect

* * ¾ (out of four)
Seen 10 November 2011 in the Brattle Theatre (Boston Asian-American Film Festival)

It's not an insult to say that Almost Perfect is a decent movie that would probably make a pretty good TV series. It's more a case that Bertha Bay-sa Pan's film feels less like a crisis point than a somewhat larger example of the issues its characters deal with on a regular basis; it could be extended without much trouble. It's not a bad family drama, just not a big one.

The "almost perfect" daughter of the title is Vanessa Lee (Kelly Hu); an attractive single New Yorker in her mid-thirties, she runs the family business's philanthropic foundation, and is the one that the rest of the family leans on. That family includes recently-retired father Kai (Roger Rees); mother Sandra (Tina Chen), a much-respected professor of architecture; fashion-designer sister Charlene (Christina Chang); and younger brother Andy (Edison Chen), who is hiding out on Vanessa's couch to avoid the troubles in his marriage. An old college friend of Andy's, Dwayne Sung (Ivan Shaw), shows up at one of Vanessa's charitable events, and quite enjoy reconnecting, even if Vanessa's needy and difficult family keeps getting in the way.

Movies like this, about the drama and comedy of family life, demand a well-rounded cast, and this one is pretty good. It's a group whose members are each a little familiar from previous parts in various ensembles, and that experience works to the movie's advantage: We get what's going on with each character quickly, without a lot of exposition, and they can move in and out of the background without seeming to be trying to claim screen time or going the other way and just feeling like place-holder characters. Tina Chen is especially good; while all of Vanessa's family members are designed to be somewhat unreasonable and demanding, Chen is the one that takes the best advantage of the room they're given to make them somewhat sympathetic individuals as well.

Full review at EFC.

One Big Hapa Family

* * ½ (out of four)
Seen 12 November 2011 in the Paramount Theater's Bright Family Screening Room (Boston Asian-American Film Festival)

There's an interesting idea at the center of One Big Hapa Family - investigating the astonishingly high rate of "mixed marriages" among ethnically Japanese Canadians - and director Jeff Chiba Stearns is enthusiastic about pursuing it and occasionally ingenious in presenting it to the audience. I'm not sure that there's a feature-length movie to it, though, even if his using his own family as a sort of lens isn't as limiting as one might think.

The idea for the movie came from the 2006 Koga family reunion he attended in Kelowna, British Columbia. Amid all the seeing near and distant relatives, playing silly games, and the like, he notices that every married couple there younger than his grandparents is mixed, leading to a couple generation's worth of "hapa" kids running around. This isn't the case with other visible minorities - though such marriages are the majority among Japanese-Canadians, they are relatively rare among those of South Asian descent, for instance - and he set out to find out why this was.

The short answer, it turns out, is that it goes back to World War II; not only were many Canadians of Japanese descent placed in internment camps, but laws were passed preventing them from living near the western coast. Spread thin and disparaged, intermarriage was inevitable. The section of the movie devoted to this information is intriguing, especially when Stearns visits the New Denver Camp on Vancouver Island and speaks to caretaker Sakaye Hashimoto, a man interned there as a child. The potential is there for a movie or two on this subject alone.

Full review at EFC.