8/09/2009

Bikes, Cakes and Promises

A live action trio of films is what we'll be looking at this week. First is Kamikaze Girls, a live action film based on the light novel of the same name by Novala Takemoto. Then we'll go to Korea to look at the Korean film version of the manga Antique Bakery (by Fumi Yoshinaga). And lastly, a Chinese Chen Kaige film called The Promise (Wu ji).


Kamikaze Girls:

We'll start with this absolutely delightful story of the friendship between two unlikely teenage girls. The film reminded me a lot of Amelie in terms of style, and if you've seen this amazing French film, you'll understand what I mean. Momoko is an anti-social young girl obsessed with 18th century France, wishing she had been born in the Rococo-era instead of modern day Japan. Her love for the period has resulted in a deep love for Lolita fashion, and actress Kyoko Fukada is adorable in the doll-like outfits that she wears throughout the film. Ichigo, played by the excellent Anna Tsuchiya, is the complete opposite of her frilly dressed counter-part - a bōsōzoku, a yanki in a female motorcycle gang (although Ichigo herself rides a customized Honda Lead scooter). The two meet when Momoko attempts to sell her father's left over knock off clothing (from his time as a low-class gangster) to help support her Lolita clothing purchases, and Ichigo shows up to buy a jacket. Both girls are taken by each others eccentricities, and loner Momoko is dragged into a friendship by Ichigo's incessant appearances and outlandish attitude. The movie is great fun, and is a wonderful example of the deep friendship that can be formed between girls, even girls as inherently different as Momoko and Ichigo. It's hilarious, charming, and has just the right mix of bright cheer and morbidity. The film is available with sub titles from Viz Media in America.

Antique Bakery:

I talked about the anime version of this manga last year, and this Korean version keeps the main story points, but changes the location (to Korea), and the names of the characters (to Korean names). As I only reviewed the first episode before, here's a bit more on what the story is about (with new character names). Kim Jin Hyeok (Tachibana) opens up a fancy cake shop for mysterious reasons of his own, considering he hates eating sweets. He hires Min Seon Woo (Ono), an excellent, and gay, pastry chef, who also happens to be an old classmate of Jin Hyeok's. Seon Woo, known as the gay of Demonic Charm, has been fired from all his previous jobs for causing romantic arguments with his fellow employees. Soon they hire a promising young man named Yang Ki Beom (Eiji), a former champion boxer who can no longer fight due to a serious injury. To complete the group, Jin Hyeok's klutzy childhood friend and bodyguard Nam Soo Yeong (Chikage) arrives to help watch over his master and work in the cafe. The film hits the major story points, though Ki Beom is often pushed aside as a minor character while the film focuses on Jin Hyeok and Seon Woo. It's well acted (with at least one completely gorgeous guy) and well made, with the exception of an early opening musical sequence that is bizarre and seems out of place. Also, near the end, the story becomes a little confusing regarding a character from Jin Hyeok's past; I wasn't sure if I was watching two different characters with similar looking actors, or the same character which would make things a bit off. The movie (for the sake of time) cuts out a chunk of the story where the characters attempt to garner publicity for their shop, and other than the aforementioned confusing character and cutting off some of Ki Beom's development, it's the same boy's love story that you'll get from the anime and manga.

The Promise:

I was less pleased with The Promise. The story had a lot of potential, but it fell a little flat for me. I do wonder though if this had to do with the fact that the American release of the film had 25 minutes edited out of it for some reason. In The Promise a little girl named Qingcheng survives by stealing off the bodies of corpses in a battle field. She is caught by a boy of about the same age who accuses her of stealing, and makes her promise to be his slave before releasing her. However after she is released, she hits him on the head and runs away. While crossing across some water, she meets the goddess Manshen, who offers her a deal - she will never again starve, she will wear the most beautiful clothing and eat the best food, and countless men will fall in love with her...but she will never experience true love herself, for if she finds it, she will lose it. Qingcheng agrees, and the goddess informs her that this agreement cannot be broken until snow falls in the summer and time flows backward. Many years later a battle rages between the armies led by General Guangming and Duke Wuhuan. Qingcheng, now grown, is swept up in a war between the Duke and her King's men (which the General leads), as is the mysterious servant of the General, Kunlun. The past comes back to haunt them, as the mysteries of the people from the Land of Snow are revealed, and the goddess Manshen's prophecies start coming true. This is a story of love, sacrifice, mistaken identity, loyalty and betrayal. It sounds like an excellent set up for an incredible film, but it just isn't as good as one would hope. For a film from 2005, the special effects are a bit substandard in quality. Something as simple as falling cherry blossoms look incredibly rendered, never mind the super fast running Kunlun. Fortunately the amazing costumes and combat that we've come to expect from these kinds of films are there and look great. In the end, I still think it was an interesting story that was underdeveloped (or edited out, possibly); but at least the acting (Dong-gun Jang, the beautiful Cecilia Cheung, and the very handsome and talented Nicholas Tse) is great.

8 comments:

aprilius20 said...

Whoa, sounds like someone's being having a bit of fun:)

Kamikaze was screened in a film festival a few years back, but I missed it- and I really wanted to watch it, if only for a chance to see Fukada Kyoko act:( A tale of friendship between very different girls, eh? Sounds a lot like NANA...

Antique Bakery- some of my friends urged me to watch this one recently, but I didn't know there was a LA version around... an Korean, no less. No wonder they love it- it's full of guys, and Korean guys at that. I don't think I'll ever understand these girls and their madness for them=,=;

Haha, that's funny. 'The Promise' failed to live up to it's promise. OK, enough lame jokes from me:p

Kris said...

Haha, well, it's not like I watched them all at once! I'd say I watched them over a 3-4 week period.

You should try to get your hands on Kamikaze Girls. It's really great and the girls are fantastic (and very cute).

Antique Bakery also has a live action J-drama, but they basically took out all of the homosexual themes. So...it's not really Antique Bakery anymore at that point. The Korean film follows much more closely. And yes, at least one of those guys is totally gorgeous (the character wore glasses sometimes too, and you know how I love my megane).

Hey, The Promise did fail to live up to its promise! I didn't even think of it like that. I wish I had; I would have put it into my post. :)

xJAYMANx said...

@Kris-chan: It's been ages since I've seen it (probably 2006). But yeah, "Kamikaze Girls" is definitely a gem if I actually have the DVD on my bookshelf! And "Amelie", that's a great analogy! Ah, yes, I finally found it. From my ancient Post 353 (originally LiveJournal, June 1st, 2006), I wrote:

ah, anna tsuchiya!... (fellow pisces, march 11, 1984)... hehe, my new favorite asian actress (well, half asian, half russian-american... mmm)... FUNNY how she just happens to link both the "kamikaze girls" film (from netflix) i just finished, AND the "NANA" anime episodes i just downloaded in the last couple days!... and her music video in the "kamikaze" DVD extras ain't half bad ^_~... FOUR STARS (out of five) for the "kamikaze" film!!!... vivid and eye-popping in the style of baz luhrmann (moulin rouge) and tarantino (kill bill) and amelie!... and so far, after just three episodes, the just-as-stylish "NANA" anime earns FIVE STARS, as long as the humor and conflict and compassion, and the heart-warming and heart-breaking memories continue! ^_~

Yup, "Kamikaze" was definitely a cool film! I compared it to "Amelie" as well. Plus I loved the "Nana" anime even more when I found out Anna provided the singing voice for the punkier Nana, lol. As for "The Promise" (watched it in 2007), I would tend to agree. Great effects but something lacking. Probably would've given 3 of 5 stars, possibly 4 of 5 stars, but can't remember. Ahhh, Cecilia Cheung. Loved her in the Korean film "Failan" with Choi Min-sik. He was even more amazing. I gave that film 5 of 5 stars. In case you're curious, lol.

aprilius20 said...

Never too late to chop in a few delectable words, hehe. I always regretted missing out on Kamikaze- it's too late to dowload it, and I'd rather not buy it... maybe I'll harass the local Japanese Foundation to screen it again:3

Kris said...

@jay-san:
Ah! So it wasn't just me who got a distinct Amelie vibe from the film. Anna is a pretty decent singer, and I thought she was hilarious in the film. Both girls were.

@Apri-kun:
I bet you can still find a live torrent. In fact, I think mininova has one.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1266719
Can you access sites like that where you are?

Personally, I would like to own a copy. Will have to hunt it down at some point.

xJAYMANx said...

@Kris-chan: Yeah, might have to rewatch "Kamikaze Girls" sometime. But every time I think that way, there's always another part of me that says, "Nahhh, gotta watch the unwatched anime on your list!"

xJAYMANx said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
aprilius20 said...

Yup, no problem accessing it- the only problem is bandwidth capping, which really slows things down, no matter what speed you have... but don't get me started on that:s

Thanks for the link, but I think I'll pass. Don't understand all the weird files in it- I prefer a simple AVI or MKV. Think I'll start a hunt for it.