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]"...

A Review: 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival

The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival is now over and done with, so now it is appropriate to take a look back on the event. I see that indieWire News already wrote a overview piece here, but having talked to about a dozen or more festival goers in some detail, I hope that I can give a more ground up perspective/review regarding the festival. I will review the films as I write them this week, however, this post will be just the festival in general. (Note: Unless an official website is available, the following links are links to IMDB by default)

An Overview
In general, I really enjoyed my time at the 2010 LAFF. It was my first time spending any extended length of time in downtown LA and it was surprisingly a lively and fun experience. It definitely helped that I stayed nearby and that my naturally curious mind helped me explore downtown LA a little bit more. The staff and volunteers were very nice and helpful in general. The only real issue I noticed was that early in the week there seemed to be some confusion and mild frustration regarding the ticketing process. I myself had to go between the ticketing tent at the parking lot and the ticketing counter at Regal Cinemas a number of times to clear up an issue I had with my film pass. I also witnessed a number of festival-goers express some frustration at both the ticketing tent and the Regal counters, having been told they were in the wrong location. However, it seemed as the week went by things got a little bit smoother. I think this issue may be attributed to being at LA downtown for the first year, with many operational kinks still being discovered with a new location.

I don't know if this is related since I haven't been to previous year's LAFF but I was a little bit surprised by the emptiness of some of the screenings and relatively small crowd. I estimate maybe 40-50 for the first 4 films I saw, 3 of which were on the weekend. For "Marwencol" and "Dog Sweat", perhaps having caught some quick buzz, had significantly more and filled out the theater a little better. Honestly, I thought it was okay, as someone else noted, since it helped with what could've been potential crowding at the theater. I was also a little bit disappointed I didn't have any Q&A's till the last day I was there with "Marwencol" and "Dog Sweat"...however, I considered my last day my lucky day since I did get two Q&A's. I thought it was pretty cool that they opened their Live.Create Zone Perfect Lounge to the public during the day (before 4pm) for people to escape the heat, enjoy some live music, do some communal painting, surf the web and chat with other film-goers.

Overall, the festival seemed well-run and organized, minus the ticketing issues. I think having a year under their belt at this venue will help with the flow of things in years to come.

Films I saw: Orly, dir. Angela Schanelec FRANCE; Judge (Touxi), dir. Jie Liu CHINA; Street Days, dir. Levan Koguashvili GEORGIA; Café Noir, dir. Jung Sung-il S. KOREA; Dog Sweat dir. Hossein Keshavarz IRAN; Marwencol dir. Jeff Malmberg USA.

Films I wished I saw: Mr. Okra, dir. T.G. Herrington (Short), Parade, dir. Isao Yukisada JAPAN; Four Lions dir. Christopher Morris UK; Centurion, dir. Neil Marshall UK; and the premiere of Despicable Me (Ok, so that's not an indie film but oh well)

Stand-out survey (panel of 12): Greg and Cindy from Minnesota gave big props to "Animal Kingdom" and also commended "The New Year" and "The Kids Are Alright"... Tina and Greg, who claimed to have watched about 3 films/day at 2010 LAFF had much praise for "Marwencol", "Hello, Lonesome" and "Madagascar" (Short), which appeared before "Camera, Camera"... Ed claimed his favorite was "Parade" (in japanese), which Tina had said she also liked.... Mindy and Steve (avid cinephiles) from LA gave big props to "Waiting for Superman" and "A Family"... Other individuals didn't specify anything that stood out... I had asked Tina if she had caught any "uplifting" films (since I didn't in my choices), she said "no" in general, but said "New Year" had the "possibility of hope" but that it wasn't "necessarily uplifting".

Festival takes: Tina said "it works well logistically", claiming the parking is better and the central location of the screenings helped in comparison with Westwood (the previous location), she said, however, there wasn't much food for the budget-conscious and she started packing her own lunch (which I think is smart, regardless)... Greg and Cindy said that they've so far enjoyed their experience (and first time in California) and that "everyone [was] very nice" at the festival... Mindy said the festival was less "intensive" since she is not traveling to the festival but she did mention that parking is expensive downtown... one other individual I didn't get the name of who went to previous LAFF's stated the new location made it somewhat difficult since he now had to travel to this new location... One individual had told me he though the festival seemed well-run, he was thoroughly "disappointed" by the quality of the films in this year's festival...There seems to have been some pointed discussion regarding attaching both the premiere of "Twilight: Eclipse" and "Despicable Me" to the official festival program, one side which says it helps draw new audiences that would've not known about LAFF otherwise and one side which says it muddles the festival's identity as a voice for indie film (as FIND is a LAFF supporter)...

Film Reviews: I will be writing a number of reviews of the films I watched during the 2010 LAFF. In addition, I will hope to incorporate the opinions and reactions of the audiences at the screening, giving a multi-layered perspective to the review. They will be coming out in the days and weeks to come (hopefully not too many weeks). I look forward to reading your responses to these films as well.

Stay Tuned! Thanks for reading this!

Okay, sorry

I tried to export from one e-mail account to another, but unfortunately my previous e-mail account has the domain "refinefilms" so I have to wait 3 months before it clears Google's systems. This will be the temporary address until I can get that one back.

Thanks. I look forward to updating this throughout LA Film Festival.

I RSVP'd to Shorts Program 3 (esp. "Mr. Okra") and Judge (CHN, Jie Liu), and I'm still deciding the schedule for the other films. Maybe I'll score an interview! I will be there Friday and Saturday all day, not sure about the other days. Trying to maximize the time there so I don't have to buy too many parking passes.

Anyways, a lot of things to prepare before I go to LA.

See ya soon!