Venice Film Festival 2001

[rgatto@club-internet.fr]

Dear Kinejapaners

As you know, the Venice Film Festival ended a short while ago, so I'd like to tell you a little bit more about the asian films that were screened there.

There were 10 asian films in the sections of the festival, with 3 japanese films (much less than in Cannes)

Pistol Opera was Suzuki Seijun's latest oeuvre after a long hiatus. Pistol Opera is probably his most colourful film and might be deemed his artistic testament - but we hope he'll be making many more films, indeed
The film is a feminized version of Branded to Kill, with lots of theatrical conventions, surreal imageries, typical Japanese folklore, and a big load of irony - just watch Makiko Esumi fight a killer in a sports wheelchair, or a lazy killer played with gusto by Masatoshi Nagase!
Fans of Suzuki will probably love it - others might be disappointed by the excess of style over emotion or any powerful narrative
I just left the screening amused but not touched deep inside

Akihiko Shiota's Gaichu takes up the thematic of Dokomademo Ikou : how the world of adults can be dangerous for young adolescents
The way teenagers are sexually threatened by adults is simply chilling in this film
Nothing like the gloss of Masato Harada's Bounce Kogals
But Gaichu is a wee bit too experimental for its own sake
It follows the track set by films like Kurosawa's Barren Illusions - a student authored the script of Gaichu
Again, style and experimentation (especially with sounds) overwhelm the emotional content of the film, but its chilling power is simply amazing
Moreover, actress Ryo is stunning as a suicidal mother

Eiji Okuda's Shoujyo (An Adolescent) was by far the most enjoyable film of the lot - but I know not everybody will agree with me
Eiji Okuda has wrapped a great, great age gap love story in typical Japanese suburbia, with deeply empathetical characters and a powerful ending involving the tattoing of a highly symbolical phoenix bird on the adolescent's back 
The film didn't win any award but got one additional screening at the end of the screening due to the sympathy it generated
It got a very warm response from the audience at the screening I attended
Purists might say this film is filled with grotesque emotions or is too much of an ego trip for Okuda
Others will appreciate Eiji Okuda's courage in laying himself bare physically and emotionally in this film - he's simply at one with the story he tells

A word about other asian films

Kim Ki-duk's Address Unknown is much less aesthetic than The Isle
It's about the director's own youth - and still a painful Korean present - and the style is much more restrained
Yet, characters are again defined by their violent impulses and the narrative is gradually overwhelmed by a sense of doom
the depiction of the American soldier in the film is pleasantly nuanced, showing also his psychological dejection

The Chinese prize-winning film of the festival was Zhu Wen's Seafood
It's a kind of Chinese Bad Lieutenant, made underground and confidentially sent to Venice
The story pits a suicidal prostitute against a corrupt cop
Interestingly enough, this cop works in a seaside resort where all party officials come when important political decisions have to be made
Highly symbolical, but Zhu Wen shows that the cop's power is more self destructive than anything else, and the prostitute, though mistreated by life, has more strength in store than expected
A nice message of hope in a rather sombre and cold film

Interviews with Japanese directors will be added to the Filmfestivals.com site before the end of the year, notably Akihiko Shiota, Eiji Okuda, Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Shinji Aoyama and Nobuhiro Suwa
Watch out also for Tom Mes's interview with Seijun Suzuki on Midnighteye.com - this one is set to be great
Unfortunately, my own interview schedule with Suzuki had to be cancelled - a pity since I wanted to put video footage with Mr Suzuki on line
Interviews with Kim Ki-duk and Zhu Wen are already on line
A funny interview with Fruit Chan will probably be added soon 

Feel free to ask any questions about the Asian films of Venice 2001

Cheerio

Robin Gatto

http://www.filmfestivals.com