2010 LAFF Screen Report and Reaction: Street Days, dir. Levan Koguashvili GEORGIA (warning: spoiler in the Reaction portion)
Screen Report
When I first saw on the official program a film from Georgia, I wondered when film festivals started listing the state in which the film was produced. It was shortly after Street Days began I learned that it was the country of Georgia from which this film came. I’m just kidding, of course, but I think most of the audience at the screener knew little about Georgia (minus that whole spat with Russia) and probably even fewer have been to Georgia or watched a film from there. That being said, I must’ve heard a couple of wow’s when the credits appeared in the very first frame, which was written in Kartuli, the native script of Georgians. It looked like something out of Lord of the Rings and right then and there most of the audience probably realized they were in for a voyage to a new world that seems as distant as Middle-Earth.
That journey that transpired on the screen was much less a drive through the countryside and more of a roller coaster of emotions, varying with unexpected speed and intensity. It is a style that is reflected throughout the film, with (dark) humor quickly turning into tragedy and prodding conversation flipping at once to physical violence. We see this as well in the film’s bigger picture, as dir. Koguashvili guides us through this small corner of the world called Georgia, two thoughts become apparent: This is a film where the nuances and sensibilities of both culture and language, of history and perspective, will make it hard for audiences to fully understand. That was certainly a prevailing thought as I watched this film, that I’m missing the subtleties that someone familiar with Georgia or is Georgian would understand. Far from being a deterrent to the film, though, I found this handicap rather as a point of positive engagement and watched with a genuine curiosity much like an outsider looking in. This film isn’t entirely indecipherable, however. The social issues and consequences of drugs, gangs, corruption and social stagnation that travels along with our main protagonist Checkie (Guga Kotetishvili) are certainly understandable and digestible. In addition, the film is interesting for the mere fact that, in my opinion, even the well-versed Western film critic becomes a typical tourist; in other words, it’s a pioneering journey of a new experience for all who wish to travel, leaving behind any preconceived notion (if there could be any) of a world like this.
On screen, Street Days is inherently bleak and almost every way depressing. Soviet-era architecture and design are evident in the buildings but there is nothing redeeming either in the building or in the street. The dilapidated roads, sidewalks and walls are pock-marked and the trees that line the roads are stripped of any signs of life. Add these drab images with the winter-clothed characters of the film and the screen image might as well have been monochrome instead of Technicolor. The characters themselves, of course, are a reflection of their surrounding aesthetics, middle-aged men hanging around, in front of the school no less, all day long jonesing for a hit of heroine. It is indeed a sad picture and certainly mirrors the image of Russia’s “lost generation” as we witness this slice of life in a former Soviet-bloc member.
One can’t help reacting to the film with sad and solemn feelings, a heavy heart that wonders how a world wrapped in that kind of social turmoil can find hope. In the ending scene with Checkie and Ika (Irakli Ramishvili), Dir. Koguashvili gives us a glimmer of hope, a small notion that there still exists goodness and a moral conscience, embodied within our main protagonist. However, this is not without a great price and a sobering realization that any hope is still not within the realistic imagination. As the film ends, dir. Koguashvili brings us to the classroom of singing children, prodding audiences to take note of the next generation and to ask the question “who is next?” Is there hope or will the vicious cycle continue?
Screen Reaction
Heard around the theater: "great, liked it"..."interesting character with moral conscience"..."didn't understand whether that school was a good school...why was the wealthy son at that school? and what about the rich girl?"..."bleak scenery but there were moments of compassion"..."slow in the beginning but picked up in the middle"..."when the father jumped out, very powerful and there was a run of emotions in that moment"
Showing posts with label SRR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SRR. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
2010 LAFF SRR: Judge (Touxi), dir. Jie Liu
2010 LAFF Screen Report and Reaction: Judge (Touxi), dir. Jie Liu CHINA (warning: there may be spoilers)
Screen Report
At first glance, it would be easy for Western audiences watching a film about China and its wrestling of jurisprudence and say that the means to the end were obviously justified. Judge is, after all, more a film of social commentary; pure entertainment it was not. Even as someone who has some sense of Chinese sensibilities, I found myself surprised at how formally Chinese law was being acknowledged (at least in the way it was being presented), having been inundated my entire life about China's corruption and the wide-spread fraud in the legal system. And certainly that is somewhat on display here in this film, with the lawyer of a wealthy businessman dealing in the illegal transaction of human organs for money. However, this film is far more complicated and complex than meets the eye, reflecting Chinese society and its tension for place in a modern world and the perspective in which the world views China.
The mise-en-scène and the way cinematographer Ryuji Otsuka shot the film reflected this tension. Most of the film was shot in the shadows, with Director Jie Liu perfectly fine with characters moving in and out of it. Most of the light came from the natural motivation of windows and there was very little attempt to light specifically for the faces, with the noticeable exception of the vignette involving the wealthy businessman. This was especially affective in the hallways that the judges walked and the prison cell where inmates shuffled, exemplifying the tension of law and corruption, light and shadow, as the characters move in and out of visibility. In addition, the general bluish/greyish-hue of the frame created a drab and somewhat dreary picture that certainly helped underline the emotions of each vignette. The visual impact is further underscored by the audio choices that were made, namely the lack of musical score and presence of ambient noise/silence. The decision not have a music score is in line with other Chinese films of this type (e.g. "Still Life", dir. Zhang Ke Jia CHINA) and it certainly is a good decision. In it's place is the shifting between bleak silence to piercing noise; the most poignant being the ankle chains of the main inmate (Dao Qi), shuffling along the cell floor, reminding the audience of the dreadfulness of his circumstance and the harshness of a legal system being obeyed.
Outside of the film's main arc are some well-versed moral concerns and tragedy, identifiable to the outside world: the judge (Dahong Ni) losing his one child and coming home to a distant wife, the judge losing his cat (alluding to his remaining "child") to a benign law and the frustration of being given a taste of his own medicine by the local policeman, the pain of the wealthy businessman and his girlfriend frantically looking for a kidney transplant. It's a hodgepodge of concerns both old and new and their connection to each other again reflects the complexity of the law and the human life which they are set up against. Ultimately, in a progressive way and a perhaps a giving in to a mainstream audience's desire for proper resolution, director Jie Liu ends up giving the audience most of what it wants.
However, when the inmate is taken out to the field to receive his sentence of execution by firing squad, the hope of progression is still in serious doubt. In the moment of truth, the shot in the field is powerful and well-composed: a long and wide shot of the field and hill of the execution "stage", all the players are shown, the prisoner in the foreground, knelt down, while all around the shallow hill are officials of law, an ambulance with nurses ready to transport the body to the hospital for transplant, and our judge who the audience is looking to be the hero. All of this, in a scene that is finally out in the light, is the final culmination of that that has occurred in the shadows and this extended cut captures the whole sense of Chinese society and law; there is progress before us but not without tension. The pay-off is in this scene and it is powerfully played, but even as we come to the film's narrative resolution, the film returns to the shadows and drab and once again reminds the (Western) audience about the pace of progress here in the East.
Overall, Judge is a solid look into China and the issues it faces. It isn't much for entertainment or even the (sometimes humorous) irony in the work of Zhang Ke Jia, but in it's own right should suffice as good study in East Asian film studies and Chinese-West discourse.
Screen Reaction
Heard around the theater: "plot and acting good"..."slow progress, but well-conveyed and good interaction with faces"..."liked it, needed to be slow because the guy was depressed"..."good energy, progress, life was restored [at the end]"...
Screen Report
At first glance, it would be easy for Western audiences watching a film about China and its wrestling of jurisprudence and say that the means to the end were obviously justified. Judge is, after all, more a film of social commentary; pure entertainment it was not. Even as someone who has some sense of Chinese sensibilities, I found myself surprised at how formally Chinese law was being acknowledged (at least in the way it was being presented), having been inundated my entire life about China's corruption and the wide-spread fraud in the legal system. And certainly that is somewhat on display here in this film, with the lawyer of a wealthy businessman dealing in the illegal transaction of human organs for money. However, this film is far more complicated and complex than meets the eye, reflecting Chinese society and its tension for place in a modern world and the perspective in which the world views China.
The mise-en-scène and the way cinematographer Ryuji Otsuka shot the film reflected this tension. Most of the film was shot in the shadows, with Director Jie Liu perfectly fine with characters moving in and out of it. Most of the light came from the natural motivation of windows and there was very little attempt to light specifically for the faces, with the noticeable exception of the vignette involving the wealthy businessman. This was especially affective in the hallways that the judges walked and the prison cell where inmates shuffled, exemplifying the tension of law and corruption, light and shadow, as the characters move in and out of visibility. In addition, the general bluish/greyish-hue of the frame created a drab and somewhat dreary picture that certainly helped underline the emotions of each vignette. The visual impact is further underscored by the audio choices that were made, namely the lack of musical score and presence of ambient noise/silence. The decision not have a music score is in line with other Chinese films of this type (e.g. "Still Life", dir. Zhang Ke Jia CHINA) and it certainly is a good decision. In it's place is the shifting between bleak silence to piercing noise; the most poignant being the ankle chains of the main inmate (Dao Qi), shuffling along the cell floor, reminding the audience of the dreadfulness of his circumstance and the harshness of a legal system being obeyed.
Outside of the film's main arc are some well-versed moral concerns and tragedy, identifiable to the outside world: the judge (Dahong Ni) losing his one child and coming home to a distant wife, the judge losing his cat (alluding to his remaining "child") to a benign law and the frustration of being given a taste of his own medicine by the local policeman, the pain of the wealthy businessman and his girlfriend frantically looking for a kidney transplant. It's a hodgepodge of concerns both old and new and their connection to each other again reflects the complexity of the law and the human life which they are set up against. Ultimately, in a progressive way and a perhaps a giving in to a mainstream audience's desire for proper resolution, director Jie Liu ends up giving the audience most of what it wants.
However, when the inmate is taken out to the field to receive his sentence of execution by firing squad, the hope of progression is still in serious doubt. In the moment of truth, the shot in the field is powerful and well-composed: a long and wide shot of the field and hill of the execution "stage", all the players are shown, the prisoner in the foreground, knelt down, while all around the shallow hill are officials of law, an ambulance with nurses ready to transport the body to the hospital for transplant, and our judge who the audience is looking to be the hero. All of this, in a scene that is finally out in the light, is the final culmination of that that has occurred in the shadows and this extended cut captures the whole sense of Chinese society and law; there is progress before us but not without tension. The pay-off is in this scene and it is powerfully played, but even as we come to the film's narrative resolution, the film returns to the shadows and drab and once again reminds the (Western) audience about the pace of progress here in the East.
Overall, Judge is a solid look into China and the issues it faces. It isn't much for entertainment or even the (sometimes humorous) irony in the work of Zhang Ke Jia, but in it's own right should suffice as good study in East Asian film studies and Chinese-West discourse.
Screen Reaction
Heard around the theater: "plot and acting good"..."slow progress, but well-conveyed and good interaction with faces"..."liked it, needed to be slow because the guy was depressed"..."good energy, progress, life was restored [at the end]"...
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