On the subject of Rotterdam... STRIPPED VIRGINS

[Stephen Cremin]

Well, main difficulty in distributing THE VIRGIN STRIPPED BARE BY HER
BACHELORS internationally is that its in black and white.  And TV
broadcasters don't like that, thinking viewers switch channels in a matter
of seconds before getting into the film.  Distribution in Japan is likely,
since PEPPERMINT CANDY - another structurally experimental film - came out
there and director's previous THE DAY THE PIG FELL INTO A WELL was
critically acclaimed on release in Japan, if not a performer at the box
office.

But DVD is booming now in Korea, with many new films now coming out with
English subtitles, including same production company's IL MARE.  Warning:
may be pan-and-scanned.  You can track what is and what is not available at
Darcy Paquet's excellent Korean film website - http://www.koreanfilm.org/ -
which also reviews the film.  By the way, award-winning lead actress Lee
Eun-joo has her first film out since VIRGIN this weekend: BUNGEE JUMPING. 
Trailer: http:///www.gobungee.co.kr/.

Stephen


UK news: ICA in London has a week-long animation festival in the last week
of February; they're also planning a Masumura season later this year. I
guess this comes from the season held during Tokyo IFF last year.  Miike's
AUDITON is about to come out, with same distributors handling Korean film
THE ISLE too.  Well, that's pretty much 2001 covered in the UK.  Oh, Suzuki
Seijun's GATE OF FLESH is about to come out on DVD; somehow passing the Brit
censors uncut.



----------
>From: Jasper Sharp <j.sharp at publitec.vnu.com>
>To: "'KineJapan Film Mailing List'" <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>Subject: On the subject of Rotterdam...
>Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 10:03:15 +0100 
>

>Just got back to work from a week of to-ing and fro-ing between Rotterdam
>and Amsterdam. You can see the upshot of all this activity on the
><http://www.projecta.net/> www.projecta.net website, with capsule reviews of
>all films seen by me and a couple of others.
>
>I was surprised by the large amount of Asian films screened this year. This
>normally wouldn't have been a problem, but I did feel the need for a change
>of pace about midway through the week, and there was very little European
>stuff playing for example. (I did notice a fare proportion of Dutch films
>with French titles, presumably to trick people into going to see Dutch
>films!)
>
>So I'm now finally a little more qualified to add my voice to the BATTLE
>ROYALE debate, and personally I really liked it. I found it fast moving and
>entertaining, and far too easily dismissed as mindless violence with no
>redeeming features (even Tony Rayns voiced this opinion in the recent issue
>of Sight and Sound). It may not have the intellectual depths it purports to
>have, but compare it with any of the mindless teen horrors being churned out
>by the Americans at the moment and it stands head and shoulders above. It is
>incredibly well made and tightly scripted, and I really hope it gets a
>better release over here subsequent to the festival. 
>
>Another festival favourite was Naomi Kawase's HOTARU. I heard that this was
>not particularly well received by the Japanese critics (it has been released
>in Japan already hasn't it? The director told me it was coming out in March,
>whereas other people gave me the impression it was already out), though I
>found it to be very emotionally powerful, if a little overlong.
>
>Sogo Ishii's ELECTRIC DRAGON BOY 80,000V was a welcome jolt of adrenaline
>after a heavy day of film watching last Saturday, and even more impressive
>was his relaxing short, THE MASTER OF SHIATSU which played before it.
>
>And the only other Japanese film I saw (aside from Aoyama's 50 minute piece
>of self-indulgence, ROJI-E, the less said about the better) was the
>ever-reliable Miike Takashi's HAZARD CITY, or CITY OF LOST SOULS as it
>played under in Rotterdam. This was the first film I saw of the festival,
>and a great way to get into the flow of things. Maybe not his strongest
>film, but an enjoyable diversion nonetheless.
>
>Finally, can I just turn the subject towards Korea? Did anyone see a film
>called VIRGIN STRIPPED BARE BY HER BACHELORS, Korean title OH! SOO JUNG ?
>This was my surprise find of the festival, a weird romantic comedy shot in
>monochrome and adopting the RASHOMAN / ALEXANDRIA QUARTET approach to the
>narrative. I thought this was hilarious and I'm wondering if I'll ever get a
>chance to see it again. Can anyone help?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Jasper Sharp
>