Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the newest reviews from Albert Lanier from Hawaii. He reviews the New Zealand flick THE RIVER QUEEN (I want to see it real bad) and THE MATADOR starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear (I've seen it, review coming soon). As a bonus the lovely Moon Yun gives us more detail on her encounter with the one and only Sonny Chiba! Lucky woman! Viva... Chiba! Vi-va, Chi-ba!
Moon Yun signing in ... Yes, Quint, I did meet charismatic Sonny Chiba, and like you said in my last article, I left out details. Not wanting to be an ain't it cooler who kisses and tell... What can I say, our eyes locked, sparks flew and we couldn't let go of each other's hand. Actually, Sonny (we're on first name basis now) was very warm and gracious when I introduced myself at the Governor's ball. For such an iconic martial arts figure, I couldn't believe how affectionate he was when he held on to my hand while someone took our photo. He didn't speak English and communicated via a Japanese interpreter but his body language spoke volumes. He was receptive, friendly and all smiles. He instantaneously drew a crowd at the Governor's ball. Budding filmmakers who were trying to keep their cool couldn't help asking to have their pictures taken with him. He was that evening's Santa Claus. Later in the week, he picked up his Maverick Award, HIFF's first such award given to individuals with unique and varied careers in international cinema. Did I mention he held my hand...
Now on to Albert's reviews of THE MATADOR and RIVER QUEEN
THE MATADOR: AN ENJOYABLE TAKE ON HIT MEN
Julian Noble is dark-haired man who wears a black mustache and sports a gold chain around his neck.
Julian enjoys getting laid on a constant basis, traveling around the world and killing people.
Actually, it's probably unfair to say that Julian enjoys killing people-its just his job.
Yes, I know what you film geeks staring at computer screens across the planet are thinking: Julian Noble is an assassin, a hit man.
First of all, don't call Julian a hit man. He doesn't care for that label-too cheap and pejorative-so you should call him a "facilitator of fatalities" and don't say that Julian shoots people in the head with a high powered rifle (even though he does shoot people in the head with a high powered rifle) or just murders people for a living-he "delivers portfolios".
Words like "facilitator" and "portfolios" make Julian sound like he is stock broker or investment banker rather than a killer for hire.
Actually, Julian is in business-the assassination business. He has a supervisor-his handler Mr. Randy-and unseen superiors.
In Mexico City on a "business trip", Julian-a poor excuse for an English subject if ever there was one-runs into American businessman Danny Wright at the bar of a hotel.
Danny is in Mexico on legitimate business-making a sales pitch and presentation to a Mexican company in order to secure a deal-and winds up talking to Julian at the bar.
Well, the conversation takes a few offbeat detours: Julian responds to Danny's observation about how marguerites go down well in Mexico by adding that cock does as well (to Danny's surprise and unease) and when Danny later opens up about the death of his young son in a car accident, Julian tries to change the subject by telling a dick joke.
Danny sees a colleague off in front of the hotel, telling his co-worker he will be spending a few more days in Mexico. Julian happens to be out front as well, telling Danny he just overheard his conversation (and again irritating Danny who asks Julian if eavesdropping on other people's chatter is something he does on a regular basis).
Julian tells Danny he has tickets to a bullfight. Would he like to go? Obviously, the answer is yes as the film cuts to overhead shots (ala helicopter) of Mexico City as camera scours the rooftops finally arriving at a bowl shaped stadium where bullfights are taking place and the film cuts to Danny and Julian on bleachers.
While chatting, Danny tries to nail down what Julian does for a living. Julian is a bit gun-shy (no pun intended) at first about discussing his career field but eventually relents insisting he be called a "facilitator" not a hit man.
It is really from the bullfight scenes that the plotting of THE MATADOR really begins to kick into action and Julian teaches a sort of improvised master-class-in-motion to Danny on how to deliver a portfolio at bullfight stadium.
These scenes are important because several months later at Christmas, Julian shows up at Danny's house in Denver.
Julian tells Danny and his horny wife Bean (who has heard all about Julian from her husband) that he is marked man because of inability to deliver a portfolio or two effectively makes him the hit man equivalent of a lame horse.
And like a lame horse, Julian is set to be put down unless he comes through with one successful hit. To complete the job, he needs Danny's help.
To reveal more details would ruin the fun of Director Richard Shepard's THE MATADOR which had a gala screening on Wednesday, October 26th during this year's Hawaii International Film Festival.
THE MATADOR has been described elsewhere as a "dark comedy"but I don't think that's accurate. This film actually has at the core of its story and its characters a zest for life and for enjoyment.
Julian certainly likes his fun (although that fun largely consists of generous portions of intercourse with a certain special body) and even Danny-who seems slightly like a uptight stick in the mud-is searching for a little more excitement in his life as well.
THE MATADOR works in part because of the fine performances from a top notch cast.
Pierce Brosnan is in top form here as Julian. Filmgoers who think Brosnan is Johnny One-Note because of his portrayal of James Bond in past years should see this movie and rethink their position.
Brosnan takes the character's greasy features and crude observations and runs with it all the way.
In the process, Brosnan turns in one of the best performances of his career. Julian is an aging hit man, a man without friends or family who travels around the world, meets interesting people and kills some of them.
What Brosnan is able to do effectively here is to show Julian as a effective assassin but a stumbling, fumbling human being. It is when these two factors collide that Julian gets in big trouble.
Greg Kinnear is in fine form as well as Danny. Kinnear has to take a role that could easily be one dimensional and show the hidden springs of desire and pain within the character that allow him to get involved with Julian's plan.
Hope Davis and Philip Baker Hall give enjoyable performances as Danny's wife Bean and Julian's handler Mr Randy respectively.
Davis plays Bean as a woman with passions (mostly sexually)of her own and a more than usual sense of curiosity about Julian and his line of work.
Philip Baker Hall is no-nonsense as Julian's handler, a gruff old taskmaster who only cares that portfolios are delivered and schedules maintained otherwise there will be hell to pay.
The actors are helped by Shepard's funny and often touching script often consisting of Julian's profane wit ("I feel like a Bangkok Hooker on a Sunday morning").
The script also serves as demolition job of sorts to the hit men stereotypes, archetypes and just plain character types we've seen in movies who are normally slick and well dressed or quiet and anti-social but get the job done.
Not Julian. He is loud not quiet, prefers bright colors in his shirts and eschews tailor made suits. Instead of looking like the stylish Chow Yun Fat in THE KILLER, he seems like some crass bloke who wondered out of SEXY BEAST.
Essentially what THE MATADOR does so well is reduce the hired killer to the status of an unappealing lower level employee so that we can see that type of person as warts and all individual as opposed to some shadowy, elusive killer.
Julian is getting old. His eyes start getting hazy when he lines up an intended target in his rifle sights and he can't carry out the hit.
Julian has always been a top-flight assassin but times are changing and he has to find a way to keep his head above water or risk being pulled down by the current.
In THE MATADOR then, we find not indestructible supermen but people brought down several notches to the flesh and blood level looking to get through life one portfolio at a time.
RIVER QUEEN: VISUALLY POWERFUL DRAMA CLOSES FILM FESTIVAL
RIVER QUEEN-the latest film from the visually distinctive filmmaker Vincent Ward-was screened as the closing night film of the 25th annual Hawaii International Film Festival on Saturday, October 29.
The screening was touted as a U.S. Premiere.
The films opens and closes with tight shots of what appears be letters or pages bobbing up in down under a transparent sheath of water.
Cut to a woman in a blue dress. She is flinging some pages and then a book into the waves of the sea in front of her. Her backside is facing the camera.
That scene is also book ended at the conclusion of RIVER QUEEN. Of course, one begins to understand why this woman is flinging a book into the sea.
The woman in question is named Sarah. Sarah is the daughter of an Irish surgeon living at an English colonial settlement on the banks of a river in New Zealand.
Actually, settlement sound a bit too genteel a word to use in this case-perhaps post would be a better word.
A decrepit post with a couple of small wooden houses, a broken down steamboat lying at an angle on the shore next to waters of the river itself and a Union Jack fluttering in the air. It looks like the kind of place you pass if you were steaming along the river, visually represented as a kind of bastard child of Werner Herzog's FITZCARRALDO and Francis Ford Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW.
We learn through voice over narration of Sarah- narration that flows through this film like the waters of the great river stretches alongside mountains and settlements-of her love for a young Maori man who winds up dying of influenza and leaves her pregnant with a son she names "Boy."
We see them playing hide and seek amongst trees and nearby woods near the river which is sandwiched by two huge craggy formations- covered in places with lush greenery.
But this is the 1860's and in RIVER QUEEN, the characters don't seem to spend much time admire the foliage covering the sides of the formations or local flora and fauna.
That's because there is a war going on between Maori tribes resisting European colonists and settlers and the English armed forces and their Maori accomplices who are seeking to contain the Maoris once and for all.
That makes RIVER QUEEN sound like a musty, old history lesson with lots of cinematic didacticism and ponderous exposition.
However, RIVER QUEEN is not a historical lecture but a visually accomplished drama with any number of highly potent and fascinating images.
The main story of RIVER QUEEN is not as interesting: Sarah's son is kidnapped by his Maori grandfather and for seven years, Sarah searches the length and breadth of the landmass through which the river stretches.
Sarah's father and sister have already left, not willing to remain under fire. Sarah remains searching, hoping.
She has an admirer in Private Doyle, a Irish soldier fighting in an English Army regiment but as her voiceover narration inform us there is only room in her heart for her son.
Sarah meets up with Wiremu, a Maori serving with the English armed forces. After a Maori village is torched and Boy's grandfather is shot before he can tell Sarah any information about her son, Sarah returns with the soldiers to their base of operations.
Wiremu comes into her tent and asks her if she can come with to help care for the leader of the rebel tribes who is ailing and in need of treatment.
Sarah will come along if he will help her find her son.
And so Sarah is blindfolded (so as not to reveal the rebel Maori tribes hideout) and is transported upriver to see the chief Te Kai Po. She treats him with what appears to be a poultice of sorts. His condition improves and he is fully restored.
Of course-shock of shocks-Sarah also finally gets to see her son though it is not the reunion she hoped for.
More is to come in RIVER QUEEN:Maoris and English shooting at and killing each other and Sarah attempting to bond with her long lost son among other developments.
RIVER QUEEN has the feel of chaos, of confusion. Maybe this is art imitating life: a number of problems plagued the production of the film.
Still the overall sense of groping and desperation seems to suit the film.
Whether it suited the audience which watched the film it is another matter. From what little I gleaned that night, audience members seemed split on the film: some people appreciated the more image-laden storytelling approach, others found it odd or maybe confusing.
I found RIVER QUEEN to be a visually sumptuous film, rich in imagery and always fascinating to look at.
Story wise, RIVER QUEEN is another rehash of John Ford's THE SEARCHERS with perhaps a few dashes and sprinkles of Jim Jarmusch's DEAD MAN blended in the mix. The resulting concoction is a script with characters that are mere chess pieces moved about to serve the dictates of the plot than chess layers capable of independent though and action.
However, I think that RIVER QUEEN's story is largely a hook to propel the viewer through its grand images which include terrific overhead shots of the houses and woods along the film's river as its snakes its way ever onward and contrasting scenes of Maori doing their fierce dance on a formation on one side of the river while English soldiers sing songs and melodies on the opposite.
RIVER QUEEN is also helped by its cast in particular Samantha Morton who helps hold the dramatic core of the film together as main protagonist Sarah.
In this film, Morton's character is an amalgam of soft and appealing femininity and fierce determination and persistence and she does an fine job of balancing these qualities as she fills out the role of Sarah.
Cliff Curtis turns in good work as Wiremu as a Maori who like Sarah is straddling both sides of cultural and racial divide.
Perhaps the most intriguing performance of belongs to Temuera Morrison as the rebel chieftain who gives off an air of nonchalance and is actually more pragmatic and realistic in his mindset than one might imagine.
Kiefer Sutherland has a relatively minor supporting performance as Private Doyle, a character that seems curiously underwritten and lacking dimensions. Still, its to Sutherland's credit that he keeps one interested in the character despite the paucity of the role.
Even Steven Rea in what essentially amounts to a cameo of sorts seems absolutely wasted as Sarah's father. I wonder if this part was trimmed back in the editing room.
To his credit as a Director, Ward manages to pull together a film that if its script (which he wrote with Toa Fraser) was as good as its camera work would be a four star effort.
Instead, RIVER QUEEN is a three star film. Good but not much more.
RIVER QUEEN is a not so much a story as it is an experience. You either enjoy the ride or you don't and I have to say I did enjoy the ride.
That doesn't mean I want to get on again.
Albert signing out...
