International Eye Candy
January 21st, 2009

Yes, kids, Obama day has come and gone and in the new global spirit of peace and cooperation - not to mention the post-Sundance lull - it's been a fairly quiet week in the world of film. But quiet is not silent! Oh, no! and we've still got a solid dozen new slices of international cinematic goodness with which to dazzle your eyeballs. Yes, indeed! We've got giant robots! We've got tiny kaiju! We've got Jackie Chan and real life art-punk criminals and rock-and-roll Dolph! We've got Brit superheroes and Japanese school girls in short skirts kicking things high above their heads! This can mean only one thing: it's Todd from Twitch here with another edition of International Eye Candy!

The fine lads at Hong Kongs Imagi animation studios have got a serious lust thing for classic Japanese anime, apparently. These are the people behind the upcoming feature version of ASTRO BOY, they're already hard at work on a feature version of GATCHAMAN (or G FORCE or BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, depending on your age and location) and now they've set their sites on TETSUJIN 28, the classic boy-with-giant-robot story that is better known on these shores as GIGANTOR. Now, Imagi may not have the funding in place to make a feature of this one yet but that aint stopping them from making a serious play for it by putting together one seriously kick ass trailer to show off what they can do if given the chance. Love the look and feel of this thing.

Check out the TETSUJIN 28 trailer here

From the Very Big to the Supposed-To-Be-Very-Big-But-Actually-Quite-Small we move to one of the most brilliant little pieces of advertising I've seen in ages. Yes, it's an ad, which normally means I wouldn't look twice at it, but THIS ad happens to be built around classic cult kaiju creature Guilala (THE X FROM OUTER SPACE). This is just brilliant, funny stuff by people who obviously know and love their men in suits. Somebody should give these guys the money to make this into a feature.

Say hello to Baby Guilala here

Okay, time for a film that actually exists: Nicolas Winding Refn's BRONSON. Now, anybody who knows me knows that I absolutely adore Refn and think his trilogy of PUSHER films is the greatest series of crime films ever made. His latest - loosely based on the real life of notorious real life British criminal Charles Bronson - was a quicky for-hire job put together while Refn prepared his viking epic VALHALLA RISING but where most director's for-hire jobs fade deservedly into the background and are forgotten Refn's has just premiered to a good amount of love at Sundance. Yeah, he's good. And, yeah, the full trailer for this is simply stunning. Oh ... and, believe it or not, the big guy playing Bronson himself and looking scary in that image there? That's Tom Hardy who just played Handsome Bob in Guy Ritchie's ROCK N ROLLA. Hardy's a big-time chameleon.

Check out the BRONSON trailer here

We'll stick with the UK for a little longer, now, and take a look at the trailer for dark, noir tinted superhero picture FRANKLYN. The WATCHMEN vibe is pretty obvious on this one, with maybe a dash of DARK CITY thrown in for good measure and it's kind of hard to believe that something that looks this good hasn't been picked up for US distribution yet. But it hasn't been. I kind of wish they'd stuck with the originally announced older cast but if you've got to go young and pretty including the kid from CONTROL and the best Bond girl of recent years aint a half bad way to do it. You could do much worse and get someone like Ryan Phillippe. Oh, my mistake. They got him, too.

Find the FRANKLYN trailer here

Yeah, I'm getting kind of tired of the whole wire-fu wuxia epics, too, but CHASING SHADOWS is one that I'm more than willing to make an exception for. Why? It's the directorial debut of Francis Ng and if Ng proves to be only half as good a director as he is an actor he'll still be one of the best in all of Asia. That he's been openly referencing early classics like DRAGON INN along the way doesn't hurt at all, either, nor does the fact that he's got the producers of stellar high end stuff like Feng Xiageng's THE ASSEMBLY and THE BANQUET behind him. The first teaser has just arrived and while it doesn't show much what it does show is looking goooood.

Check out the CHASING SHADOWS teaser here

Now, even though I still consider myself a total neophyte when it comes to the world of Indian film - there's just WAY too much to keep up with there - I will say that I have learned that if you want to find the really over the top stuff your best bet is to ignore Bollywood and look to the Tamil films. Films like PADIKATHAVAN. Whie I have no idea what this film is actually about I do know that they have jammed more stuff into the thirty second teaser than should be legally allowed. You've got kung fu, big explosions, bad hair, motorcycle stunts and well-nigh every major action-film cliche known to man. It's glorious.

Check the PADIKATHAVAN trailer here

Full contact, no rules, to-the-death, muay thai basketball. That's the concept behind the upcoming Thai effort FIREBALL and if you know what's good for you you won't say anything bad about it or someone from the film will comes and knee you in the face. Owie. FIREBALL has made the IEC before and it's back now thanks to a lengthy - as in almost seven minutes - promo reel made up of equal parts finished footage and interview segments. I'm not sure whether this one skews more to the 'guilty' or 'pleasure' end of the 'guilty pleasure' spectrum.

Check the FIREBALL promo and trailer here

Now, support role in Stallone's THE EXPENDABLES notwithstanding I seriously doubt Dolph Lundgren has the sort of career resurgence in his future that Stallone has been enjoying recently. I mean even in his prime Lundgren was never treated as a leading man in his own right, but golly his self-directed DIE-HARD-at-a-rock-concert film COMMAND PERFORMANCE is looking like big, stupid fun. Unfortunately the band Lundgren is drumming for in this thing is blanding me to death but once the killing begins it's very pleasing in an 80s beefcake sort of way. This one's made the IEC before, too, and it returns thanks to a lengthy new promo reel.

Check the COMMAND PERFORMANCE promo and original teaser here

I've heard mixed reports on this one from people who have actually seen it but I've got to say that I absolutely love the trailer for upcoming Spanish teen-noir - think Rian Johnson's BRICK - EL JUEGO DEL AHORCADO. The thing's got a sort of raw energy to it coupled with this dreamy quality that hints at layers upon layers of meaning and I'm determined to see more as soon as possible.

Check out the EL JUEGO trailer here

Did I mention guilty pleasures a while back? Because I think HIGH KICK GIRL definitely qualifies. You know the drill: Japanese high school girl who is also a karate master is drawn into a fight with local gangs and proceeds to kick much ass. We wrote about this one back when the first (very short) teaser arrived and now it's back with a much longer promo. Word is out there that some in the Japanese stunt community aren't looking particularly kindly on this one since the director's insistence on accuracy in the fight sequences has been leading to on-set injuries but, hey - it aint my face getting kicked and real contact makes for real entertainment in my book.

find the HIGH KICK GIRL promo here

As we draw near the end, now, we move to Denamrk and ORIGINAL, the debut feature from a writer-director combo who look to be staking a claim as that region's answer to the Coen Brothers. Slyly absurd humor and fantastic, just slightly off-kilter, production design make this very much one to watch. And for those who like to watch we've got both the first teaser for the picture and a rough cut of an extended clip featuring Tuva Novotny as an art-punk stripper with an anger management problem.

Check out the ORIGINAL trailer and clip here

To wrap things up we turn to Hong Kong and the erstwhile Jackie Chan. Jackie's star doesn't burn as bright these days as it used to and, knowing that he's lost a step and needs to cultivate a persona outside of his normal comedy-stunt man shtick, to change things up a bit he's teamed up with ONE NIGHT IN MONGKOK director Derek Yee to tackle a purely dramatic role in THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT. No, Jackie does none of his trademark martial arts or stunt work in this one, instead playing a character named Steelhead - an illegal Chinese immigrant in Tokyo who is drawn into a conflict with the local crime lords. The content of the picture has already led to the Chinese government blocking its release in the mainland but Yee is sticking to his guns and refusing to alter anything to appease censors. Without the Chinese box office in play this is almost certainly going to fail miserably - it was hugely expensive by Hong Kong standards - but at least we'll get to see it as intended.

Find the SHINJUKU INCIDENT trailer here