The Far East Film Festival (FEFF) 2006 was my first contact to this film festival. My experience of Asian movies was limited to Animation, Kurosawa, Kitano, Wong Kar Wai as directors and a few other movies. Although I only spent one week-end in Udine, I have seen some movies that awoke my perception of Asian movies and of cinema in general.
On Saturday evening: Shinobi. I started with a classical Asian Epic movie. A style similar to Tiger and Dragon and you are already in another esthetical world. Away from the Western rationalism. For a love story within ninjas of different societies, the directing and special effects have been taken seriously. The maturity of the movie does not compensate totally the simple plot. Nevertheless it is a pleasure for the eyes, especially for those who like the esthetics of Tiger and Dragon.
After a short break drinking a Spritz Aperol or an Amaro Montenegro, we went to a movie that is actually a UFO: Bangkok Loco. From the right beginning the story shows an amazing energy in the soundtrack (we follow a story of drummers), in the picture (firework of colours) and in the text (word-playing). The spirit of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the magic realism is turned into cinema. The movie is a massive attack of pictural creativity that I experienced like a bomb at that time. After years of Asian movies experience, I can say today that it is still a very good movie even if I notice now some weaknesses as well. At a time when the only creative cinema was in Mexico and Argentina, I discovered a fountain of creativity that I will share with you in the next articles about the other FEFF.
On Sunday before coming back home, I watched another Japanese movie: Always РSunset on third street. This is an Epo on the Tokyo after the second world war and we follow one family and their neighbours. The story is full of poetic charm by focusing on people as Le fabuleux destin d'Am̩lie Poulain. This changes from the rough and stylised of Kurosawa.
After this short stay in Udine where we could also appreciate the Italian Spring several weeks before the German Spring we decided to come back again.
The next episode is Far East Film Festival 2007 !
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| The beautiful 2006 catalog |
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| The Visionario where retrospectives are shown |
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| The chill-out area in the entrance of the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine |
Great article! I have added a few pictures to it. Now I really want to go back to the FEFF this year after 3 years of absence.
ReplyDeleteThe three movies you quote are indeed excellent memories of that festival.
I would also add that I discovered movies from the Philippines that year with the cheap horror flick The Aquarium and the Fantasy big production Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom.
I was not really impressed by the Korean movie that won the vote of the public: Welcome to Dongmakgol, but then I learned to live with that feeling every year.
After already a good year 2005, I continued to like more and more Thai movies, with Bangkok Loco already mentionned, but also Ghost of Valentine (little horror movie about a local ghost story) and the comedies Hello Yasothorn and especially M.A.I.D. and its secret agent maids. I have been trying to find it in DVD ever since (wait, I just found it!).
I had always found Japanese movies too long and badly played, but that year I liked Always, the girly movies Linda Linda Linda and Nana, the thriller Rampo Noir, the horrific comedy Tokyo Zombie and the hilarious Japano-Finnish mockumentary Ski Jumping Pairs.
Although they should be good at that, I don't remember any particularly good Hong-Kong polar.
I have watched only one movie in the retrospective A Survey of Asian Musical Films: Songs of the Peach Blossom River from 1955, and it was interesting.
I remember one of our friends being shocked by the horrible Art of the Devil 2 and by Takashi Miike's Imprint.