Public Enemies

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
Director: Michael Mann

John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) made a very interesting gangster. He robbed banks, lots of banks, and revealed his occupation straight to the girl he was trying to court on their first encounter. A criminal who doesn't lie? Interesting.

He is a man of principle, living by his code of ethics. He took the bankers money but turned away a frightened bank customer who handed him his money. 'I hate kidnapping, the public hate kidnapping'. A bank robber who cares about his public image? Interesting.

He is a man of his words, especially to his lady. He promised Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) that he will take care of her, and kept his words, even if that meant he had to come right into a troop of federal agents led by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in order to get her away. A romantic gangster? Interesting.

All the above, are apparently based on facts, not sensationalized. Yes, Michael Mann's 'Public Enemies' is a faithful adaptation of the book 'Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34' by Bryab Burrough, which chronicles the 13 months between the day Dillinger escaped from the prison and the day he was shot dead, a period he mainly spent robbing banks. So faithful that Mann did not try to pretend that he knows what was driving Dillinger to his bank-robbing spree. The fact is, nobody knows, and probably nobody ever will.

Mann stubbornly stayed true to that, refusing to dramatize Dillinger's criminal life by providing an explanation on why he did that.

Being honest and sincere is often seen as a virtue in film making. But for once, it felt like a handicap in Mann's 'Public Enemies'. I tried to understand why; perhaps it is because an incredible feat like a 13-year bank robbing spree does need a subtext in order to be convincingly told.

In Mann's 'Collateral', a much better film, Mann too gave us something similar; a cold-blooded professional hit man played by Tom Cruise, who get the job done with no remorse. In that film too, little subtext was given to explain what's driving the hit man all along. However, the lack of subtext was hardly a problem in that film, because the film basically told what happened within that night, a much limited time scope as compare to a 13-year period, so we just ride along witnessing the event unfold on that night.

For once, I wish for the filmmaker to embrace the artistic liberty to dramatize actual fact in order to provide an emotional core to the film, even if that means hypothesizing a theory on what's driving Dillinger all along.

So, ironically, Mann's deliberate choice to stay faithful and honest has somewhat limit this otherwise technically impressive gangster flick. It lacks an emotional core.

Other than that, Mann's 'Public Enemies' is a great-looking period piece. Impressively shot by Mann, with awesome shoot-up scenes, and a stellar casts who gave fine acting performances, all set amidst a stunning art direction that brought depression era America back to life.

It may lack a heart, but visually and technically, it is worth the time and ticket price.

My Tribute to Yasmin Ahmad

It is with deep sorrow that, when I was writing this, acclaimed Malaysian film director, Yasmin Ahmad, had left us forever. She suffered a stroke and passed away on 11.25 pm Saturday, 25th July 2009

Yasmin was one of the finest filmmakers Malaysia has ever produced. Her films include Rabun (2003), Sepet (2004), Gubra (2006), Mukhsin (2006), Muallaf (2008) and Talentime (2009). She won a couple of international awards for her films.

Yasmin's films are a delight to watch. She was arguably the first Malaysian filmmaker who is bold enough to paint a honest and sincere portrayal of the multi-racial Malaysian society, something which had been deemed too sensitive all this while.

She exhibited a sharp observation on humanity, the way human talk and interact. In her films, her characters will talk and interact just in a way they will talk in real life, a level of honesty and sincerity that is rarely seen in Malaysian films. She also injected a sense of humour that is heart warming to watch, and made her characters extremely likable and believable.

Her films are often exquisite portraits of love and sentimentality. Her films reminded us that true religious faith is about compassion and tolerance, rather than deviating religious faith to a level of hypocrisy, as certain quarters have done.

Her 'Gubra' is one of my all time favourite, one of the best film I have seen.

On May 2009, much to my surprise and honour, Yasmin joined this blog as a follower.

Losing her is painful.

Always cheerful and optimistic, Yasmin would not be happy to see us grieved over her departures. Yasmin loves films, let's move on and continue making, watching, supporting and discussing about films, we would be continuing and championing her passion in that way.

Kak Yasmin, your spirit will live on!

Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen

Rating: * (out of 4)
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro
Director: Michael Bay

With 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen', Michael Bay out-done his trademark excessiveness to a new level; excessive length (149 minutes), excessive number of robots, excessive battles, excessive noise, excessive explosion. It wouldn't be a problem if they are in the film for a reason, but unfortunately they don't. All the excessiveness only added confusion and made much of the film incomprehensible.

Incomprehensible, so many aspects of it.

The battles; with movement so frantic and chaotic that I did not get a visual sense of what's going on for much of the time. I didn't get a sense of who's fighting who, and what eventually killed the good robot, or the bad robot, or whoever.

The robots; so many of them, are bewildering. I never got to know who's the no. 1 bad robot. Aren't the bad robot all look the same? Oh yeah, I do know Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee, the good robots, and Prime provided the only thin emotional core that prevent me from falling asleep, when he was killed and then subsequently resurrected.

The human characters exists mainly so that someone will be there to run slow-mo from explosions, and to provide corny dialogue that is unintentionally funny, or intentionally funny moments that is more annoying than funny.

Prime: 'Any last words?' (Pointing a gun to bad robot's head)
Bad Robot: '......The fallen will rise!'
Soldier (in a awkwardly serious expression): 'Oh no, that doesn't sound good'
I burst out laughing. Sorry, I know it is not supposed to be funny, but I can't help it.

There will be people who say that I don't get it. 'It's all about sensory entertainment' They say.

No, that's not entertainment. That's sensory overkill, a torturing experience that numbed my sensor. Special effects will only be entertaining if they come with a context, or at the very least comprehensible. How can I be entertained when I can't even have a visual sense on what's happening on screen?

For the record, I did enjoy the 'Transformers I'. At the very least, it has a serviceable plot, a fresh 'ooh...ahh' sensory effect, and excessiveness (moderate by comparison) which does not add much to confusion. It is an example of a 'dumb, but fun' pop corn movie. 'Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen' is dumber, not fun, and confusing.

Am I regret seeing this film? Yes...err no. Bad film like this does serve a purpose. It makes recent great film like 'Departures' looks all the more outstanding by comparison.

Forever Enthralled (梅兰芳)

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Leon Lai, Zhang Zhiyi
In Mandarin with English subtitle


Chen Kaige has not made a good film for a long time.

In 1993, his 'Farewell My Concubine' (霸王别姬) won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It is arguably one of the pinnacle achievement in Chinese cinema.

Since then, his films has been uneven, ranging from the middle road, odd, to simply awful. His 1996 'Temptress Moon' (风月) is visually beautiful, but saddled with baffling relationship between its characters. Year 2005's 'The Promise' (无极) is simply awful; a messy and laughable attempt at fantasy epic.

'Forever Enthralled' is a revisiting old material of sort, its subject matter, a biopic of Peking Opera performer Mei Lanfang,
is bound to beg comparison to the masterful 'Farewell My Concubine'. It is on this familiar ground that Chen Kaige rediscovered his form.

I see 'Forever Enthralled' as Chen's homage to artists who have given their life for the art, their sacrifice, their single-minded obsession, the risk they took for artistic innovation, their giving up of true love for career sake.

Indeed, fame comes with a price. 'Mei Lanfang does not belong to you, he does not belong to me either. He belongs to the audience' said Fu Zhifang, Mei's wife, to Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Zhiyi), Mei's lover.

Chen Kaige's homage to artistic sacrifice is told through the eyes of Mei Lanfang, his wife Fu Zhifang and Qiu Rubai, a high ranking government legal officer, who gives up his legal career to become Mei's manager, for the love of Mei's art. Qiu the manager will stop at nothing to protect Mei's artistic career, a symbol that represents obsession to the art.

The first act tells the story of the younger Mei, who launched a painful artistic duel with an old Peking Opera master he admired. Mei took bold risk to reinvent the art, and as a result defeated the old master in the duel to become the new king of the art.

Leon Lai plays the older Mei Lanfang in the next act. Now an established star, he met Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Zhiyi), a lover he eventually had to painfully leave behind for the sake of the art, as she is seen as a distraction to Mei's career. Their affair feels a tad forced and is probably a weaker link in the film.

As in 'Farewell My Concubine', this film crosses decades and plays at the backdrop of major historical events. While 'Farewell My Concubine' made a substantial historical statement with its climatic scenes set at the period of The Cultural Revolution, 'Forever Enthralled', lighter in its political tone, sets its final act during the days of the Japanese occupation of China, focusing on Mei's refusal to perform for the Japanese army.

'Forever Enthralled' is Chen Kaige's tribute to the sacrifice of artists, a fascinating and effective one at that.

* 'Forever Enthralled' is an official selection (in competition) for the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival.

Departures (Okuribito)

Rating: **** (out of 4)
Director: Yojiro Takita
Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kimiko Yo
Language: In Japanese with English subtitle


What a beautiful film. Watching it, I smiled, I shed tears. Who would have thought that a story about a 'encoffineer', a type of professional who prepares deceased bodies before burial in a traditional Japanese funeral ritual, would be this emotionally involving? The film is sentimental, yet never melodramatic. Its bittersweet story is told in a subtle, sincere and down-to-earth way.

Daigo Kobayashi(Masahiro Motoki) was a aspiring classical musician playing cello in an orchestra in Tokyo. One day, out of a sudden, he found himself out of job as the orchestra was disbanded. Dejected, he decided to leave Tokyo to go back to his hometown. Thank God, he has his loyal, lovely wife Mika(Ryoko Hirosue), who cheerfully ride alongside with him, over this depressing ordeal.

Desperate for a job, Daigo came across a classified ad hiring for 'departures'. Thinking that it may be a travel agency, Daigo promptly turned up for interview at the company. The boss, Mr. Sasaki, wryly pointed out that the Ad is a misprint, it should read as 'The departed', and explained that the job deals with corpses. Before Daigo could reach for the door, Sasaki stuffed a generous sum of salary advance to Daigo. Daigo relented.

Despite a difficult beginning, Daigo grew steadily in his new career. He gradually saw the dignity of his new job, as the family of the deceased were grateful to his trade. However, his friends looked down at him, for doing a job nobody else want to do. Even his wife, Mika, disapproved of his strange job.

The director, Yojiro Takita, made a life affirming statement, ironically through a story dealing a lot with death. Death, as visualized in this film, is inevitable. Through the meticulously executed ritual of 'encoffinment', death looked dignified, as opposed to our common perception of horror and fear. If you are not dead, then you are living the life, with its ups and downs, with its unpredictability, and you should live it with dignity as well.

As a comparison, David Fincher's 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', too, is a film dealing with the subject of life and death, but I found it gimmicky with its premise. 'Departures' is a sincere counterpart to that, and it is masterfully crafted, lending it with a mood and tone that is touching and engaging. Even when Takita risked sentimentality to extreme level, such as the scene having Daigo playing the cello in a lush paddy field countryside, it felt so appropriate.

Some may have criticized the predictability in its story. Indeed. With a story this plain, simple and predictable, it affects us emotionally, it moves us to tears, it brings out the smiles from our heart. Isn't that incredible?

* 'Departures' won the best foreign language film Oscar in the 2009 Academy Awards