Sunday, November 30, 2008

Movie Review

Cape No. 7 (海角七號) is a Taiwanese romance, comedy and music-drama all rolled into one. Filmed, written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng, it garnered 3 awards at the 2008 Taipei Film Festival as well as being its opening film. The film contains lines spoken in Mandarin Chinese, native Taiwanese and Japanese showcasing the backdrop of Heng Chun, Taiwan with its richness in contrasts: mountains along with beaches; the old towns near the modern resort hotels, the aging population with the young working in Taipei, the diversified demographics with Hoklo, Hakka, Mainlanders and Taiwanese aborigines, the weather variation between the tropical southern Taiwan and the snow-laden Japan.
Prior to this film, the two leading actors Van Fan (范逸臣) and Chie Tanaka (田中千絵) (stayed in Taiwan for 15 months to study Chinese) only had minor acting roles but they have done justice to the film and themselves, turning in a credible performance. Even without a strong promotional campaign (tight budget I might add), this movie has become so popular in Taiwan that it became the 2nd highest grossing film in the island's cinematic history, behind the all-time tearjerker, The Titanic. Naturally, it came as no surprise when the film was nominated for 9 awards in the 2008 Golden Horse Award and competing in the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as Taiwan’s representative.
On his trusty motorbike and his back on Taipei, Aga (Van Fan) journeys back to his hometown in Heng Chun after failing to make his mark as a rock band singer. On his return, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arm-twisted a position for him as a postman, replacing Uncle Mao (Johnny C.J. Lin) after an accident broke his leg. On his first day, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the post office (the daughter of the now deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them, 60 years later). The rebel Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to uncover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture could no longer be found. Ever so slowly, contents of the 7 love letters will be individually narrated throughout the movie, bridging the gaps of the characters and unraveling the final piece of the puzzle.
In the meanwhile, a local resort hotel is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari. Putting his official position to good use, Aga’s step father bullied his way into insisting a local band opens the concert. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Heng Chun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather unorthodox backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly begin a love relationship which is flawed in the way it is handled, expressed and presented (focus on their romantic link-up is weak). With some assistance from hotel chambermaid Ming Chu (Shino Lin), Tomoko helps Aga find the aged Kojima Tomoko, the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Aga then returns to the beach resort and performs a highly successful concert with this local band and Kousuke Atari.
In the final ending of the movie, it is revealed that in 1940s when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, a Japanese teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to the southernmost town of Heng Chun fell in love with a local girl with the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko. After the Surrender of Japan, he was forced to return to his home country. On his trip home, he penned seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Tomoko, who originally planned to elope with him to Japan.
Watch because you have love for the film industry and at the same time, take in the wonderful sceneries of Taiwan. I give it 4 stars out of 5, very funny and heart-warming at the same time.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Movie Review

007: Quantum of Solace is the highly anticipated sequel to the successful Casino Royale, directed by Marc Forster and features a muscled-toned Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria. In this latest installment, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of an evil organization who poses as an environmentalist while staging a plan to take control of Bolivia. Bond is joined by Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), a former Bolivian secret agent, hell-bent on revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd and General Medrano, respectively.

Continuing from where Casino Royale left off, Bond is behind the wheel of an Aston Martin attacked by a chasing car from Lake Como to Siena, Italy with the captured Mr. White in the boot of his car. After skillfully evading his pursuers, Bond and M, interrogate White regarding a mysterious organization called Quantum but he escaped after being double-crossed by M’s trusted bodyguard Mitchell. Bond chased Mitchell on foot across the streets/ roof of Siena, a fierce tussle ensued and kills him. Through tracked banknotes, Bond heads to Haiti to find Mitchell's contact, Edmund Slate and kills him in cold blood. Posing as Slate, Bond learnt that Slate was sent to kill Camille under orders from her bed partner, Dominic Greene, the ruthless chairman of Greene Planet and a member of Quantum. Bond pursues her by motorbike and watches her meet with Greene, learning the businessman is helping General Medrano, murderer of Camille's family in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert wasteland.

As the story unfolds, Bond reunites with his old ally René Mathis, who now lives in a hilltop villa awarded to him by MI6. In La Paz, Bolivia, they are greeted by Strawberry Fields, sent by M from the local British Consulate. Although she explains Bond must return to the UK on the next available flight, he disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite. That night, they attend a fund raiser being held by Greene, where Camille reappears to dampen his night. Bond and Camille drive to the location of Greene's intended land acquisition, surveying the area in a Douglas DC-3 propeller plane but were intercepted by a chopper and a fighter plane sent by Medrano. Crash-landing, both Bond and Camille jump from the crippled plane and then freefall-parachute into a sink hole. There, they discover Greene is not interested in oil but has been blockading supplies of fresh water, hidden in underground rivers.

Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter at a local bar, who informs Bond of where Greene is set to complete his deal with Medrano and flees when other CIA agents arrive to kill him. Bond and Camille go to an eco-hotel powered by hydrogen fuel cells, located in the Bolivian desert, where Greene is finalizing the coup. As the various parties depart, Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis and sets off a chain of explosions when a hydrogen fuel tank is destroyed. Camille finally kills Medrano and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of oil, payback for what he did to agent Fields. Bond and Camille drive to a train station, where they finally kiss before she departs.

Bond goes to Kazan, Russia where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former boyfriend, Yusef for some form of closure. Yusef is a Quantum henchman who specializes in seducing high-ranking women to get them to give up government assets and is doing the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau. Leaving Yusef's apartment, Bond is confronted by M who is surprised that he did not kill Yusef. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA, and Greene was found in the desert shot dead with motor oil in his stomach. Bond sets out into the cold night, aware that Mr. White is still on the loose, throws Vesper's necklace in the snow.
Ratings: 4 out 5

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