Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity: Truth or fiction? See it to believe it....

A couple plagued by mysterious hauntings in their comfortable two-storey home in San Diego, California, decide to record their experiences on a digital video camera.

Unlike most videos shot by paranormal investigators, their documentary effort actually does strike gold, revealing a whole plethora of creepy and unexplained happenings that occur even while the couple sleep.

Steven Spielberg apparently got spooked while watching the 'video recording' because his bedroom doors inexplicably locked by themselves minutes into the show, and he had to call a locksmith to get himself out.

If this is the first you have heard of Paranormal Activity, the documentary style horror film that has taken America by storm, then read no further, put everything down and go watch it - Paranormal Activity will freak you out.

Much of the action takes place in the couple's bedroom - but did they really have to leave the door open? Spooky....

Katie Featherston is the girlfriend haunted by a demonic presence since childhood. Micah Sloat plays the skeptical boyfriend.

Audiences being scared silly during a screening.

But if you have heard of it and know what it is, then there might be a problem.

Following on the documentary shooting style of such classics like Cannibal Holocaust and Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity thus suffers from the same problem that plagues such films - it is all FICTION.

But while Cannibal Holocaust and Blair Witch Project are genuinely frightening to watch, Paranormal Activity features more of the mundane lifestyles of the two lead characters, punctuated by a series of weird and unexplained occurrences that only slowly escalate to a chilling conclusion.

Needless to say, it is no Exorcist or Haunting in Connecticut (which is after all based on a true story).

You need to truly believe it is real. You need to recognize that a perfectly normal person who stands motionless in front of her bed for hours into the night is a genuinely creepy thing.

But if you do believe, or can make yourself believe - then there you have a winner.

Because Paranormal Activity is every paranormal investigator's dream, to actually record tangible supernatural events in a haunted house.

It is like seeing with your very own eyes the final conclusive evidence - that spooks indeed do exist.

It all boils down to how one views the film. Those built on a staple of slasher flicks and Asian horror may not be too thrilled with Paranormal Activity.

But credit where credit's due - rookie director Oren Peli has scored a home run on a measly shoestring budget of just USD15k, with the film breaking records as the most profitable independent film ever.

Now that is one accolade you cannot argue with.

Moometer Reading:

Moo-o...?!!

Exclamations for:

! Outstanding New Idea: A novel idea that has gripped nationwide attention; a film that is now the most profitable independent film ever - director Oren Peli has certainly hurled himself into the limelight with this low budget offering.

! Non Shaky Camera Work: After Blair Witch and Cloverfield, Moovy Revue is just thankful that the director figured out how to avoid the nausea inducing shaky scenes that have plagued similar documentary style films - by shooting most scenes on a standard tripod. Duh.

Query For:

? Being Fiction: It is a pity then for this non-fiction wannabe that there will always be those who will not be impressed by the understandable lack of pacing and the 'plodding' scares that cannot quite rival the normal fictional horror films - not every American haunting has to be an Amityville Horror here.

Antichrist

Antichrist: A surrealistic sexual mayhem....

The idea of female castration just never seemed plausible until Lars Von Trier shows us how - in his controversial 2009 film Antichrist.

That, plus a bloody handjob; a dangling dead fawn; a bolted leg; and a falling baby, are but some of the disturbing images that haunt Von Trier's latest outing.

A couple struggling to cope with the loss of their infant baby (circa copulation no less) retreat to a cabin in the woods to help dissipate their grief.

The husband (Willem Dafoe) plays therapist while the wife (Charlotte Gainsburg) recollects her thesis on gynocide and the antichrist that she previously wrote in that same cabin.

But nothing is quite what it seems out in the lush, quiet forest. Husband and wife soon descend into an irresistible orgy of explicit sex and violence that will consume perhaps their very lives and souls....

Carnal sexuality somehow minus the love - though the chemistry is great between Dafoe and Gainsburg.

Willem Dafoe in a feast of visual and sound, though the actor does seem a tad Hollywoody in an arthouse flick....

An amazing if disturbing performance from Charlotte Gainsburg. The film is accused of misogyny, so don't expect her to play the heroine.

Beautifully shot on digital video and boasting some 80 shots of computer-generated imagery, Antichrist more than delivers on the shock value, but otherwise struggles to actually make its point felt.

Actually, what is the point? There is none, unless it is a study into the deepest and carnal recesses of the human soul.

The film has certainly split opinion however, with the film accused of misogyny and even receiving an 'anti-award' from the ecumenical jury at the 2009 Cannes Festival.

But Von Trier is no stranger to controversy, and he has his share of both the critics and plaudits.

Antichrist is certainly worth a view for its graphic and visual content, which is at times splendid and other times stark (but powerful). But you are warned - give it a skip if you cannot stomach explicit sex and especially violence.

Moometer Reading:

Moo-o.!!?

Exclamations for:

! Outstanding Actress: French Actrice Charlotte Gainsburg certainly looks the real deal as the aggrieved and disturbed wife, easily shifting between sensual to spaced out to deranged with convincing intensity.

! Outstanding Visuals: The visuals are not simply just graphic or explicit. The imagery is disturbing - yes - but that is coupled with visuals of the dark forest and the slow motion hail of falling acorns. The mood is mostly sombre, but stark and frightening when its needed. Lovely in a sick way....

Query for:

? Pointless Plot: Von Trier had been deeply depressed while shooting the film, which may explain the seeming pointlessness of the film. Perhaps Antichrist is more of a personal look into Von Trier's state of mind and being at the time?

City of Life and Death - A sanitised telling of the Nanking Massacre

City of Life and Death aka Nanking! Nanking!

I must be getting jaded.

City of Life and Death is not an easy film to watch. Not because of the tragedy involved but rather and strangely enough, precisely due to the lack of it.

Let me explain. The death, devastation, looting and rape are all there; but somehow the portrayal of these crimes seem sanitised - as though the producers were withholding the whole truth behind the Nanking Massacre.

Considering that the film was quite beautifully shot in stark black and white, City of Life and Death should have had all the right ingredients and elements to rival the likes Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

Instead, the film somehow falls well short of greatness.

Mind you, I'm not saying that it is a bad film. It is good, and for a regular audience, possibly superb even. But it can be so much better. City of Life and Death just seemed to be missing a certain something.

Hideo Nakaizumi plays the sympathetic Japanese soldier.

Gao Yuanyuan gives a stirring performance as an administrator giving her all to protect civilians in the Nanking Safety Zone.

A limited but nonetheless memorable appearance by Liu Ye.

Jiang Yiyan as the prostitute who volunteers to be a comfort woman for the Japanese.

Fan Wei plays John Rabe's secretary; Qin Lan plays his wife; and John Paisley in a strangely small role as John Rabe - the Schindler of Nanking.

So what I did was to obtain a copy of Nanking, a documentary on the tragedy - notably made by non-Chinese.

What I saw blew me away. Not because of a higher production value - it was nowhere near that of City's - but because it pulled no punches. It revealed pictures that showed the full atrocity committed by the Japanese.

And just one single eye-witness account from the documentary beats the entire film - hands down.

Comfort women being carted away after 'use' in the film - it is not shown how they died after supposedly just three days.

The real faces of the Nanking Massacre - not what you get to see in City of Life and Death.

For the uninitiated (and those from outer space), City of Life and Death tells a story of the period of several weeks immediately after the Japanese occupation of Nanjing in 1937, the then capital of the Republic of China. The events of that period had since come to be known infamously as the Nanjing (or Nanking) Massacre.

One of the major criticisms of the film directed by Lu Chuan is the over sympathetic portrayal of the Japanese soldiers in the film.

While I had no problem with the character Kadokawa (Hideo Nakaizumi), a Japanese soldier who sympathises with the plight of the Chinese (ironically, Hideo pretty much plays the main lead, though the Chinese are loathe to admit it), I do take issue with how the rest of the Japanese are portrayed more like spoilt kids fighting over cookies (which in this case refers to the women of Nanjing).

The Japanese in this film might be cruel or sadistic (as children can be), but one word that cannot be used to describe them is 'vicious'. I can barely remember any moments in the film where a Japanese soldier was actually vicious. The producers have somehow contrived to take the 'viciousness' out of the film.

The problem I suspect is that the film has the 'Made in China' label attached to it.

The Chinese film industry is still at a fledgeling stage (not counting Hong Kong and Taiwan). The rating system in China, or lack thereof, means that censorship is a major issue to contend with. A film like Schindler's List (gas chamber scene) would never have passed the Chinese censors.

Perhaps it would be better to allow someone outside China to make the film instead.

Now that would have been a spectacle.



Moometer Reading:
Moo-oo...

ANALYSIS: Red Cliff 1 & 2 - Epic commercial blockbuster or unqualified historical disaster?

Red Cliff: An epic of commercial proportions?

The following is an analysis of both Red Cliff instalments as released in Asia.

I would not normally like to touch on movies that I do not like, but there are some that are so awful that it rankles, and I feel the need to make a statement even if everyone else seems to think differently.

As a film critic and producer/director/writer wannabe, there are certain rules that one has to generally accept when reviewing a film.

The first is that movies are inherently flawed. Even with all the attention to detail and continuity, the film is bound to miss a beat somewhere. Then there is the artistic license to change the storyline and plot details to improve viewing pleasure and dramatic impact.

There is no point in scrutinising every little thing just to see if the movie makes sense. If that's what you want, you can visit online forums on the movie or just watch Mythbuster.

The other thing is that film adaptations are generally not as good as the original yarn. As such, it is common for fans and readers of a novel, manga or otherwise to find fault with their respective film adaptations.

The historical epic Red Cliff, directed by John Woo no less, is essentially such an adaptation of the Three Kingdoms' Battle of Red Cliffs.

I'm not going to mince my words. I grew up on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and I don't like John Woo's version, but that's not the reason I'm breaking the silence.

My beef is with the incredibly flippant motivations and excuses, given by the producers of the two films, for various events written into the storyline.

First they announced that the films would adhere more closely to true historical events - a poorly disguised attempt to give Tony Leung star billing, as if he really needed that (see how well he did in Lust, Caution).

Next they threw in Romance legends of Kong Ming 'borrowing arrows' - a bona fide Mythbuster 'candidate' - effectively making that announcement moot.

Nevermind that.

They needed a stronger female presence, so they threw the beautiful Xiao Qiao (Lin Chiling) right smack into the final confrontation between Cao Cao and the allied forces.

Do we really need to insult the history of Three Kingdoms like that? I can think up a possible dozen extra appearances for Lin Chiling without her having to take centrestage and ruining one of history's great literatures, or records for that matter.

Much ado about Tony: Suddenly the role of Chou Yu takes on a higher plane of importance; though to be fair, Tony Leung plays the part excellently.

They say she can't act: In honesty, she's beautiful enough that she doesn't really need to; but then they made her act the heroine....

Worthy adversary or loyal ally? The chemistry between Takeshi Kaneshiro's Kong Ming and Chou Yu seems a little suspect and sometimes a little contrived.

Fallen at the hands of a woman: Zhang Fengyi plays a lecherous Cao Cao who allows a woman to ruin his plans.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is originally a tale about brotherhood. In that respect, getting John Woo of Bullet in the Head fame to helm Red Cliff seems an inspirational and foolproof choice.

Which is why I find inexplicable that the roles for Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are so muted, while the best lines seem to fall to Tony Leung's Chou Yu and Takeshi Kaneshiro's Kong Ming.

And it is a two-part epic mind you. No excuses for underdeveloped key characters and storylines.

Chou Yu even gets to be the one to graciously let Cao Cao go scot free. Guan Yu and Kong Ming must be turning in their graves - since it is the former who does so in Romance, while the latter wanted to execute the man who allowed Cao Cao to fight another day.

And finally, though this has more to do with production issues, I would have thought the Chinese had learnt from the failures of Chen Kaige's The Promise and Tsui Hark's The Legend of Zu. Bad CGI just don't cut it in modern blockbusters.

On an added note, wire-fu - especially bad wire-fu - need to be kept off non-wuxia films.

Red Cliff was made with the sole intention to sell popcorn, not to honour the history and tradition of The Three Kingdoms - and a lot of popcorn it did sell.

However, the discerning audience needs to recognise that The Three Kingdoms (Chronicles or Romance) is in itself an epic tale, and the film makers borrowed on that to create a predictably epic and successful two-part movie.

I feel deeply disappointed that an epic story on brotherhood bonds could be so badly reinterpreted by a director like John Woo, who once made his name precisely on films that featured such themes of brotherhood.

MooMeter Reading:
Moo-o..

FEATURE: Serbis - An explicit view into Filipino cinema

Serbis: Literally an explicit view into Filipino cinema.

What's a day like in a seedy family-run cinema in the Philippines?

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Serbis offers precisely this, sometimes all too explicit glimpse into the life of such a family theatre.

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We know it is a family theatre because of the big capital letters that line vertically outside the cinema - 'FAMILY'. But the only thing that connotes any kind of kinship in this sleazy joint is the family that runs it.

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For hidden within the dark confines of the theatre are a host of activities and characters that are definitely not suitable for the eyes of children.

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Run by the Pineda family, all in the name of making a living, the cinema features a glitz of romantic or pornographic films that attract not only prostitutes but also gay young men ready to offer a special "service" to older men.

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"Serbis" by the way, means "service" in Tagalog - a byword for the boys hawking their sexual services within the theatre.

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Coco Martin as Alan, who is about to get a shock. Let's just say the sex is very real and much more explicit....

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Strong performances from Jacky Jose and Gina Pareno as the matriarchs of the family.

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The only thing 'Family' about this cinema is the family that runs it.

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Those familiar with Filipino film may not be overawed by the live sex scenes that feature all too readily in Serbis. Others however, may find it a little hard to stomach.

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But Serbis is not simply a film about the gay culture in the Philippines. It is also a story of the Pineda family that owns the rundown theatre.

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But it is not exactly a story either, but rather "a day in the life of"... a revealing look into the various characters that come and go within the dirty, dank halls of the cinema (including a runaway goat no less).

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Such films are not easy to appreciate. One does not expect earth-shattering events to occur in the space of a single day. Nor would one expect any suitable conclusions to issues explored within the film.

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Instead, Serbis steams along to a slow boil, exposing the lives in detail of a fairly strong ensemble cast.

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A matriarchal grandmother (Gina Pareno) breaks her daily routine for a trip to court after suing her estranged husband for bigamy. She leaves her daughter and mother of the family, Nayda (Jacky Jose) to man the theatre in her absence.

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Little son Jonas peeps unabashedly at his sister changing. One assumes he would have seen much more in the theatre halls where he seemingly has free rein.

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Another son and cinema janitor, Alan (Coco Martin) goes about his daily chores with quiet stoicism, painting murals of nude ladies and clearing choked (and extremely dirty) toilets. He meets with his girlfriend for sex, then warms to the revelation of her unwanted pregnancy.

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Nayda's husband Lando (Julio Diaz), who runs a little eatery downstairs, tries to deal with a customer who has shortchanged him.

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Meanwhile, cousin Ronald and cinema projectionist (Kristopher King), receives a very visual blowjob from a resident prostitute, then makes eyes at Nayda in a sudden, perhaps incestuous turn....

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As a film that offers an unadulterated view into the several seedy cinemas found in the Philippines, Serbis certainly leaves almost nothing to the imagination.

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On the other hand, as a drama depicting the lives of people who frequent sleazy settings such as in this cinema, the film is a very frank and thoughtful portrayal. Akira Kurosawa's The Lower Depths this is not, but Serbis does make a decent shout for its sense of realism.

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MooMeter Reading:

Moo-oo?!!

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Exclaimations for:

! Outstanding Set Design: Carlo Tabije and Benjamin Padero breathe life into the rundown and dilapidated cinema where most of the action takes place. From the lively stairwell filled with wannabe prostitutes whiling their time away in the day, the murky toilet where grandma takes her bath, to the darker interiors of the cinema where a serbis boy jacks off a customer, these scenes make Serbis as much a story about the theatre as it is the about the people who run it.

! Outstanding Cast: Gina Pareno and Jacky Jose deliver very strong performances as the matriarchs of the family. Special mention also for upcoming actor Coco Martin who conveys volumes despite saying very little at all.

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Query for:

? Poor Sound Quality: While it is acknowledged that Serbis is a low budget independent arthouse film, and shaky camerawork aside, it is the often overwhelming background noise of traffic that jars the ears rather than to lend a gritty feel to the overall cinematography.