Edinburgh International Film Festival – Day 2

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The Red Machine: This low-budget 1930’s period piece lends something from Michael Mann’s Public Enemies in the use of digital video to create a ‘you-are-there’ immediacy to the proceedings, but I suspect this aesthetic choice was done more out of monetary rather than artistic concerns. The plot focuses on the buddy relationship between a jailed career thief and a naval officer who are assigned to work together to steal the code from a Japanese code making machine during the years leading up to World War II. Supposedly this is based on a real event, although filmmakers Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm confessed during the post-film interview that inspiration came entirely from a single-sentence footnote in a history book, which sounded like a good premise for a caper film to them so they expanded upon it. In terms of recreating the genre they do a competent job, obviously employing a 30’s gangster slang dictionary for the parts that needed it and generally being attentive to detail on the sets, although in terms of providing anything new to the genre then it’s quite redundant. A few moments of real tension are generated, and the buddy dynamic between the two leads coming from opposite ends of the social spectrum works well, but it also becomes weighted down in melodramatics involving the officer’s troubled past link the ambassador’s wife. A constant background hum from whirring digital equipment doesn’t work in the film’s favor, either. The shine of an idea is there, but unfortunately it still needed a lot more polish before it would be able to come through.

Fog (Wu): Set during the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s reunification with China, the story focuses on twenty-something Wai, a man who suffers from a total and unexplained memory loss, and finds he must start his life over. His friends and family of course remember who he was before the incident, and as they work to help him recall his identity they continue to make assertions about what type of person he is, which only serves to confuse the now-reticent and reserved Wai over what role he should attempt to be playing to preserve these relationships others claim he has with them. Most troubling is the discovery that he also has an ex-wife, and that she has their young daughter. Wai attempts to make amends with his ex-wife whom he apparently deeply wrong, who is envious of his ability to erase the past and start over as if nothing happened. The moral complexities and existential implications of the problem run deep: should Wai be forgiven, as her descriptions of his actions in a previous life seem as foreign as if she were describing a stranger he’s never met? But forgiveness is a reflection of the person who was wronged, not of the wrong-doer, and it seems painfully unjust for her to be expected to make that emotional commitment to forgive a situation she otherwise never could, simply due to Wai’s lucky circumstances in which he can no longer feel guilt for the situation. Director Kit Hui takes a distanced, contemplative approach to the story, recalling the works of Ozu or Antonioni set in the computer age of modern China. While this does allow for a large degree of freedom for the viewer to make their own interpretations, during the post-film interview she may have sold her film a bit short by commenting how to her it was interesting to look at a person that doesn’t know the proper social protocol for a given situation, which turns a simple problem such as his daughter’s nosebleed while visiting Hong Kong’s Ocean Park together into a tremendously difficult ordeal for Wai. All told, this is a very promising debut from a new directorial talent, and I look forward to following what her next projects might be.

Two Eyes Staring: This well-crafted Dutch horror film from director Elbert van Strien may seem familiar enough to anyone even remotely familiar with the genre: a couple with a young daughter inherit a old, creaky home in the country, they move in and try to make the best of a new life but soon find they are terrorized by the restless ghost from a horrible past trauma. Where this film manages to succeed above the rest is an intelligent treatment of the genre conventions which makes it more a story about guilt, jealousy and revenge, especially in how these elements interplay in family dynamics. But yes, there is a ghost that only their child can see. And this ghost begins encouraging their daughter to start committing some awful deeds. Is this just a ploy to terrorize this otherwise innocent family? Not really. As the ghost explains, she is actually her mother’s dead twin sister, killed by her mother when they were young and her mother jealous of the attention she had to share with her doppelganger. At first their daughter tries to stay clear of this bothersome spirit (who occasionally becomes a tad violent in trying to communicate her message) but soon decides it might be a good idea to ask a few questions to find out a bit more of their family history. This is where the real horror comes in: the object to be feared is not any supernatural ghosts, but her own living mother, whom she not only begins to suspect may be guilty as charged, but that hidden beneath her veneer as caring wife and mom, her vicious streak still remains, and may go to extreme measures to silence anything that may uncover her dark past. Several more twists still remain (as is a requirement for the genre), and a morally-ambiguous ending is as horrific as it is heart-wrenching, because we don’t know- mother, daughter or spirit- who to trust or who to fear any more. Highly recommended for fans of the genre looking for something fresh yet familiar, and with more intelligence than the combined total of ten Hollywood remakes.

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