THE CITY OF VIOLENCE (2006)
August 5th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
How on mars did I ever manage to sleep on watching THE CITY OF VIOLENCE? Thanks to a fellow asian cinephile from da Bronx named mondo-curry who gave me some cliff notes & a summer list of Korean & Japanese films that I might gravitate to watch considering my taste of destruction on the Hong Kong side of my palate! Yes, I tend to be monogamous when it comes to asian cinema(Hong Kong) but, I think it’s time to revisit that buffet of pan asian style proportions of movie distortions & have an all out film orgy to appreciate the eclectic reels of flicks that we have available to us!
Today, we focus in on KO-REA & The City of Violence did a full court press on raising adrenaline levels as action after action sequence had me jumping out of my spaceship! The movie was highly predictable as it starts out with a group of friends in their teen wonder years who are young,dumb, & full of cum, but stick together as they fight through the trenches of living in a competitive suburban Korea outside of city proper. Fast forward to the present & one of the members of this ‘rat pack’ turns bad. Let’s call him the brother in law. The brother in law lets greed & power get the best of him when lucrative deals from the President of Seoul entice him to turn his suburban town into a tourist destination with plans of a flagship casino looming in on the horizon. The brother in law takes some of the funds provided by the government of Seoul to start his own crooked business of offering private loans to his fellow town members. What a thoughtful & wonderful guy, huh?! One of the toughest & eldest members of this Korean rat pack unearths the wrong doings of this monster & basically loses his own life to the hands of the brother in law. Other rat pack members converge to suburban korea to pay respects to the elder one, & one of them is a detective named Tae-su who I will call Batman. The brother of the elder one that was murdered will also play the role of ‘Robin’ to unearth the death of Wang Jae. The action & martial art sequences in The City of Violence was ‘good n plenty’! No gunplay was involved but, lots of down & dirty flying fists,kicks, & flips were witnessed as well as street knives,swords, & sushi grade ginsu blades were being slashed around! This one fight scene in the movie was something to behold when the detective, Tae-Su confronts a young punk in a pachinko arcade which then escalates onto the streets. Tae-Su is tae kwan do fighting with amazing grace while performing Jackie Chan like stunts with flips & jumps while using props on the city streets like cars, & sticks to his advantage! Tae-Su faces his 1st obstacle with breakdancers who turn city street dancing into urban dancing on his face! Next comes, the bmx freestylist who uses their bicycle as weapons! Tae-Su turns around & then comes a band of young gunners in school outfits with hockey sticks! He runs around the other corner but, a herd of school girls grasping steel tubes walk briskly to meet him! Tae-Su looks to his back & out comes a nest of young men wearing baseball uniforms wielding baseball bats confront him! What to do?! The action is fierce as fire extinguishers,neon signs,& window shattering ensues! Finally, out pops ‘Robin’, the other member of the korean rat pack to help with the mayhem! Amazing,amazing action sequence, folks! One of the best I’ve seen in a long while! The fighting wasn’t realistic of course, but the action,ebb & flow, & thrill of the moment made it seem real! The convergence of the gangs kind of reminded me of the 1970’s movie, “The Warriors” by Walter Hill! It was real intense! Can you dig it?! I also like the cinematography in the film providing plenty of birds eye view shots of the fighting! I think the birds eye shot really enhanced the view of the fighting scenes to the movie goer especially in respects to the korean fighting style because tae kwan do seems to have a lot of fast, spinning motions to their kicks & stance work. Seeing the moves from a bird’s eye allows you to see the full 360 degree motion with much fluidity & grace! The korean batman & robin soon discover that their childhood friend, the brother in law is the source of all this evil! Gut wrenching side appetizers pop up on the scene when Robin’s mom & older brother discover another fate! The ending fight scene is also a 3 course meal involving Batman,Robin,brother in law, & his band of korean inspired fighting machines! This fight scene reminded me of Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez’s taste in films! The musical score,sword play, & the set design showed droppings of the works of “Hattori Hanzo”! If “Kill Bill” & “The Warriors” had influences on THE CITY OF VIOLENCE then kudos to the director because those are great entertaining films in their own right! Don’t sleep on The City of Violence, martians! I should of known to pay closer attention to this movie because ‘Dragon Dynasty’ released this on DVD! Dragon Dynasty tends to have pretty good tastes in getting copyrights to re-release exciting asian movies like (e.g. ‘Hardboiled”,’The Killer”,”Fists of Legend”). Now, onto my mission on finding more movies like this!
“Annyong ha saeyo!”
–Mr. C
Tags: city of violence, dragon dynasty, Jae-mo Ahn, Kil-Kang Ahn, korean action, Seung-wan Ryoo, the city of violence
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27th Annual Roots of American Music at Lincoln Center 8/1/10
August 4th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
Rod Harrison as Lord Buckley
Melvin Van Peebles
The Pontani Sisters with some burlesque!
Steve Cuiffo as Lenny Bruce
David Johansen (New York Dolls)
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard as Lady Gaga
–pics by Mr. C
Tags: david johansen, lenny bruce, lincoln center, lord buckley, melvin van peebles, rod harrison, roots of american music, sandra bernhard
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L.A. STREETFIGHTERS (1985)
August 2nd, 2010 by Planet Chocko
I finally had a chance to watch L.A. Streetfighters again & boy, she didn’t disappoint! The last time I viewed L.A. Streetfighters was from a crummy ‘previously viewed’ VHS copy that I bought from Tower Clearance on 4th & Lafayette by NYU in the early 1990’s. I remembered being inspired by this movie with its chock full of chop socky, sweep the leg, no mercy type of goodness! The cast of characters that resembled something of my skin complexion also added to the win win situation! The 2010 New York Asian film festival had jarred some forgotten memories of L.A. Streetfighters for me since they were screening this film in their arsenal of B rated weapons of mass destruction at the midnight showing in IFC. I didn’t get a chance to see this film on the big screen at the festival, but I did have it marked on my netflix queue! Seeing this film for the 3rd time almost 20 years later, I was curious to see what my reaction was when lightly armed with my new found sophisticated form of movie reviewing!(WTF!). The verdict was an enthusiastic double jump kick followed by a clothes line! The story was a bit wacky, & not focused. The dialogue was a bit choppy & disorienting which created instant cult status on the imperfect level of cinema! Did I say i liked this movie? L.A. Streetfighers is about 2 main characters, Young who is a Korean immigrant & Tony, who is a Korean-American. They both have run ins with local gangs & thugs in their high school led by the formidable, James Lew. The first thing you notice in the movie which made you chuckle was that boy, these high school students look mighty damn old with these mustaches, chiseled physiques, & goatee’s plastered onto their face! That made Dustin Nguyen who played “ioki” in 21 Jump Street look believable! Young & Tony squashed these gangbangers like they were some 2nd rate throwaway kimchi being rejected at bon chon. Jun Chung & Phillip Rhee(Young & Tony) displayed their fine art of Tae Kwan Do on the big screen like it’s meant to be used on the streets! The rest of the story centered on Young,Tony, & a few rag tag friends who earned instant street cred which led them to security gigs at parties & clubs! Show me the money, MOFO’s! Other dashes of MSG & salt added to the wound include Young’s drunk mother, Tony’s thirst for James Lews’ sister, Young’s quench for dirty money, & some brothers hanging out at the liquor store! All jokes,dialogues, & stories aside, L.A Streetfighers was surely entertaining! Maybe, I look at martial arts inspired films differently, but the fighting sequences in this movie were nearly off the meat rack which was good enough for some light grill marks on the bias! The ending of the movie was tragic,though. The display of tae kwan do by Phillip Rhee, Jun Chung, & the hybrid kung fu style displayed by James Lew were something to behold on the screen! You can tell the actors in this film were truly martial artists as opposed to actors trying to learn movements for the movie. The martial arts choreography in this film looked to be carefully crafted as to leave the traditional stances, unnecessary movements, & the formal look of traditional asian martial arts held to a bare minimum while adapting fight movements to cater to the streets. We witnessed feints,leg sweeps,boxing, & great execution with TKD kicks! Great!, more realistic martial arts eye candy for us! Some evidence of traditional weapons did peek through & showed up at the crime scene at the end with a vicious fight between Jun Chung & the samarai yielding his weapon of choice with Jun Chung’s Sai. Bill “Superfoot” Wallace plays his normal villain character along with his badass kickboxing self! All in all, L.A. Streetfighters is a low budget film with an attention deficit disorder type of story bounded by an all star studded cast of martial arts wizards delivering pre-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Power Rangers action in a naked version of “Big Trouble in Little China” with KO-rean flare, don’t gimme that stare…you suckas! Show & prove, mofo’s!
If you like the 70’s,80’s street gang type of movies casted with A rated martial artists styled with asian fro’s & mullet hairdo’s then this my friend will win you a trip to that asian inspired buffet that you’ve always dreamed of! Enjoy!
–Mr. C
Tags: 1985, bill superfoot wallace, james lew, jun chung, l.a. streetfighers, la streetfighers, phillip rhee, tae kwan do
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THE KING OF MASKS (1999)
July 23rd, 2010 by Planet Chocko
The King of Masks sounds like a high flying, kung fu fighting, revenge seeking type of movie similiar to the Masked Avengers by the Shaw Brothers, but slam on your brakes & abort this mission if you expect it to be because it’s not! The King of Masks was a refreshing & beautiful tale about an aging street performer who specializes in the slight of hand with changing masks on his face with dramatic body movements & expressions! The old man lives on a junk boat with his partner in crime, a monkey! They both perform on the streets of 1930’s china to make a living. One day the Mask King was being admired by another famous Peking Opera performer, Master Liang. Liang engages the Mask King about his extraordinary magic skills & proposes that he should not let his art die when he DIES by passing it on to the next generation. The mask king takes a cold hard stare in the mirror & so begins a quest on his mission to adopt a grandson who he can pass on his magic skills to! The magic man’s first disappointment is when he adopts a 8 year old boy only to find out that he has a teapot of a secret! The trials & tribulations continue to flourish between the old man’s relationship with the young boy & his journey to pass on his treasured art. He soon realizes that his real heir has been right under his nose the whole time! I wasn’t familiar with the cast of characters or the director of this film, Tian Ming Wu but this movie was a pleasant surprise! It told a good tale, the acting was superb, & the story was told in a minimalist type of setting with no distracting props or fancy stage sets. Who says chinese films are largely based on the Joy Luck Club stories, kung fu kicking comedies, epic warlord tales, or a triad themed hot mess? Checky..this flicky..I’m outty!
–Mr. C
Tags: Renying Zhou, the king of masks, Tian-Ming Wu, Xu Zhu, Zhigang Zhang, Zhigang Zhao
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MERANTAU: Film screening at NYAFF 2010
July 20th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
The screening of Merantau at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival was much anticipated by…me! For one, it was the last day of the festival and secondly, I was yearning for a good old thrashing & bashing of a martial arts movie after watching a few dramatic films like Golden Slumber & Castaway on the Moon! This would of counter balanced or perhaps teetered me towards the scale of action packed goodness that I usually crave for. However, I was severely let down at first glance, but the movie slowly warmed up to to the task at hand when the fists started to fly! I think I was expecting way too much from this film as flashes of Tony Jaa & “Ong Bak”, the Thai warrior crossed my mind. The story was much in the line of Ong Bak, a young country boy who goes out in the big bad city to experience life, but unfortunately learns that a cruel & harsh world in the urban jungle would exist. Merantau was an Indonesian poormans version of Ong Bak & a homeless mans version of “Kiss of the Dragon” from Jet li. The story & plot was purely one dimensional and the acting was suspect in my opinion. The story & cast however, did have an innocent charm & appeal to them, though. Merantau was about a teenage boy played by Iko Uwais from the rural area of Indonesia who takes a journey or Merantau into the city life of Jakarta to teach his martial art style of Silat ,but runs into misfortunes with local pimps, eurotrash, slaves destined for prostitution, & being homeless. The most refreshing part of this film lies in the raw action & fighting choreography! Some of the stunts & fight sequences displayed in this movie ranged from being downright furious to outright amazing! The stunts & raw footage of Merantau got me real excited which reminded me of some of the early works of Hong Kong action when actors & stuntmen/women would perform amazing acts of physical glory to make the scenes look realistic! The fight scene in the elevator, action sequences with the gang in the club, the sequence on the pedestrian bridge, & the fight with the Harry Potter lookalikes at the end where pretty enthralling! The cinematography was also something to behold! It was also a privilege for me to see the Indonesian fighting art of Pencak Silat onscreen for the 1st time! That alone was worth the price of admission in my mind! Silat movements seemed to involve low center of gravity stances & movements often involving claw like strikes, grabs, elbows, & throws! Moving side to side to parry & deflect blows seem to be a trademark of their art. Handling & defending against knives looks to be another specialialty in Silat as well! Overall, I wasn’t too thrilled with the vanilla story & acting in the film, but the stunts, fight sequences, & the display of Pencak Silat was refreshing. This was only the 2nd martial art movie from Indonesia in quite a number of years so this is promising start! The main actor of the film didn’t look too convincing as an academy award winner, but his unique fighting skills onscreen were something to behold! Acting can be learned right? From the looks of the conclusion of the film, Merantau 2 wouldn’t be too far fetched!
–Mr. C
Tags: Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam, Iko Uwais, indonesian film, Mads Koudal, merantau, new york asian film festival, Pencak Silat, silat, Sisca Jessica
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Murder City Devils, Obits, JEFF The Brotherhood and Silverghost at the Pool Party in Brooklyn
July 19th, 2010 by planetchocko
Another summer in Brooklyn can’t be complete without the FREE Jelly Pool Parties which happen every Sunday for the next couple of weeks at the Williamsburg Waterfront. All the bands that played the second of seven freebie shows were excellent. Silverghost (a duo from Detroit on keyboards and guitar) started the day followed by an evidently subdued JEFF The Brotherhood, with Jake being sick and all. They canceled a show the night before in Philly, so it was good to see the boys come through with the NYC show. They still rocked. I’m sure we’ll see them again in our neck of the woods soon. Obits played next, but it was Murder City Devils that owned. The crowd came alive with the fists pumping, hands clapping and the crowd surfing. I hear a lot of people complaining about this year’s Pool lineup…but what’s to complain about? It’s free and if you don’t like the lineup don’t show up. But if you don’t show up…you’ll miss out on all the free energy drinks, free silk screened shirts from Vans, dodgeball (who doesn’t like that?), the best people watching spot in all of hipster land and a beautiful view of Manhattan. Enjoy it while you can, because it feels like summer is flying by. So, grab your sunblock and see you next week at the Pool Party.
-chocko
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NAOMI SHELTON & the GOSPEL QUEENS
July 17th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
Naomi Shelton, a sixties something Alabama native now Brooklyn nubian Queen lit up the platform with her funky soul & raspy vocals on the Stuytown stage in the Peter Cooper Village complexes of lower Manhattan in NYC! Miss Shelton’s mouth was glowing like the “Lopan” character from ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ when she sang! Also,her gold hat & her gold shoes blinged like an angel from heaven! Miss Naomi’s movements on stage were docile but her voice was volatile like an aggressive tigress waiting to prance on the movements of spreading the gospel. This martian had never cracked open the holy bible, but every word that Naomi put forth on the microphone reverberated spirit, hope, love thyself, & your fellow brothers & sisters! Her performance was truly inspirational & uplifting!
Her album, “What have you done, my Brother?” from Indie label, Dap Tone Records is a nitty-gritty, gospel piece of art that pulls no punches & then, slaps you in the face to make you take a cold hard look in the mirror at yourself & your soul! I’m not a man or martian of the church but I’m starting to believe…when I blare Miss Shelton’s music on my boombox hoisted on my shoulder! In all seriousness & before I get struck down with lightning, Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens make some furious soulful music that lingers in your heart & heals many wounds. Her 1st official album, “What have you done, My Brother” with the help of her accomplices, the Gospel Queens is worth an investigation ,interrogation, & investment for yourself! Miss Shelton’s music started to make my hips & legs shift from side to side, my neck started to break out into the snake, my hands started to clap, & then rhythmically I started to add a stomp to that shift! My favorite songs in her album include ‘What have you done’, ‘Lift my burdens’ & Sam Cooke’s ‘A change is gonna come’. Check it, check it out, y’all! By the way, Daptone Records houses two other martian favorites on their label, Sharon Jones & the Dapkings and The Budos Band! Planet Chocko is adding fever to your flavor in your ear, ya heard?
–Mr. C (pics & video courtesy of C from Planetchocko)
Tags: daptone records, gospel, gospel queens, naomi shelton, r&b, soul, what have you done, what have you done my brother
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Zola Jesus played Other Music
July 14th, 2010 by planetchocko
The first impression I got when coming across Nika Danilova from Madison, Wisconsin a.k.a. Zola Jesus was…wow, this blonde goth girl is so young and tiny. All that gets thrown aside once I heard her powerful voice which sounds beautiful, confident and haunting all at the same time. The girl is no joke. At her recent performance at Other Music (15 E. 4th St. in New York City) Zola Jesus was accompanied by a guitarist and sometimes stood on a milk crate to perhaps get a better look at the crowd that came to see her. She belted out about half a dozen of her doom and gloom songs which showcased her visceral voice amidst a wave of synthesizers, fuzzed out guitars and loud beats. There was little stage banter, if any…she was down to business. During her last song she walked into the crowd and eventually ended up on top of the counter by the cash register and ended her set with a loud shriek. I shouldn’t have been standing so close to the speakers. After her performance, she stuck around…happily chatting with friends and fans.
Her recent EP titled “Stidulum” on Sacred Bones Records is a decent serving of dark, lo-fi songs about love and heartbreak. At first listen, it was a little hard to differentiate between the tracks. They’re all similar sounding, but that isn’t a bad thing…all the songs blend well together as a whole. My favorite track is “trust me” and there is no doubt Zola Jesus has a lot more to offer and I look forward to what she does next.
-chocko
Tags: in-store, live performance, nika danilova, other music, sacred bones records, stridulum ep, zola jesus
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GALLANTS
July 12th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
The screening of Gallants at the New York Asian Film festival on 7/8, the 2nd to last film of the event brought me tremendous happiness & sadness at the same time because we all knew it was near the end of the festival. The attendance of Bruce Leung & MC Jin at the Gallants showing was fun,fun,fun! Bruce Leung signed my program & I got a photo taken with him as well! I also spoke briefly with MC Jin to congratulate him on a job well done acting in his 1st HK movie & to give him props for his new mix tape called “Say Something”! MC Jin played in a role in “2 Fast 2 Furious” some years ago as well.
After reading a brief synopsis of the movie before watching it that night, I kept on hearing a reoccurring theme of old school & throwback being used to describe this film. I’m not quite sure if that description gives the movie it’s due justice,though. The fighting choreography was not akin to old school or shaw brother studio-esq nor did the plot of the movie take me back to memory lane of the movies from the 70’s or 80’s. In my estimation, the only thing old school were the gem of veteran actors that were served on a platter for our viewing pleasures! The overall theme for this movie was not about fighting,martial arts, or stunts. The message of the film was about BROTHERHOOD & the undying LOVE for their master & the 30 years of hardship that they endured while waiting for their teacher to awake from his coma. Shaw Brother great, Chan Koon Tai, Bruce Leung, Law Mong (Shaw Brother fixture), Teddy Robin, & Chan Wai Man round out the proven all stars selected to tell us about this wonderful tale. I got goosebumps & chills when they introduced the characters in the film with a millisecond freeze frame & caption with the name of the actor & the role that they played! The theater roared & clapped their hands when all the veteran actors of yesteryear were introduced to us in one by one fashion! I know I did my part in hootin’ & hollerin’! I doubt that this film got this same type of attention & love in their home city of Hong Kong! Nobody in Hong Kong seems to notice or care about these seasoned kick ass(literally) actors & actresses anymore. Proof? I asked my family who acknowledged these names from the depths of the wonder years, but they all asked me why do you watch these geriatric folks that are not current anymore? Why? Because they influenced & paved the path for these new young guns. To be honest, I enjoy & relate to most of these old time actors more than I do the current ones. An ounce of passion from these veteran stars would deflect a thousand pounds of Hong Kong canto-pop ,anyday! Original gangster actors & their skills in martial arts are lost at sea to the new generation of acting droids. I’m real proud of us fans in the USA for showing love & appreciating the skills of acting & fighting on screen from these studded all stars from the 70’s & 80’s! For me, seeing these great actors again is similiar to fantasizing about your favorite retired boxer like Joe Frazier,Muhammad Ali,Larry Holmes, & Mike Tyson step back in the ring again. You know they can never step in the ring again to duplicate their moves like they once did, but you still highly respect them for being the old tigers they are! Enough with talking around the movie! Let’s talk about the movie! Forget the nostalgia! This film was a hilarious feel good story with a comic book style way of telling it! In a nutshell, this film is about an officespace worker who gets shitted on by all his co-workers & boss. He gets assigned the crap duty in the boondocks of Hong Kong to help real estate management evict a tea house tenant leased by Master Law(teddy robin) & managed by 2 of his best kung fu students, Tiger(Bruce leung) & Dragon(Chan Koon Tai). The Tea house was formerly a martial art temple, but was converted to a restaurant while master law remained in a 30 year old coma from an epic battle with the big bad foes. It’s a classic tale between the forces of good & evil when “The gates of Law” martial arts defend their tea house against the evil of Law Mong & MC Jin. MC Jin, a real life hip hop artist from Queens,NY did a great job in his 1st ever movie role produced in Hong Kong. It was seriously hilarious when Master Law awakes from his coma & goes about his life like it was 30 years ago. He instantly asks for his smelly aged,dry duck, inquires about his deceased wife, & his 2 young studded students, Dragon & Tiger who are now fighting the clutches of father time! Dragon & Tiger show glimpses of their fighting glory ,but their skills are definitely a corpse of what they once were. Teddy Robin does a tremendous job playing the role of Master Law! He is a kung fu master full of shits & giggles,all 4 ft tall of him! Times get tough when Master Law suddenly dies. Law passes the seed to his students with the message of “If you want to win, then don’t fight, but if you fight, you MUST win!” This message will come in play when they enter a martial arts tournament. Tiger takes this message to heart when he battles a younger foe in honor of his teacher & the “gates of law” kung fu! the old lions in this movie really show that they still have the moves! The real message of the movie is not about winning or losing, but to always try your best with the utmost passion till the very end! Law Mong, Bruce Leung, Chan Koon Tai, & Chan Wai Man are my Joe Frazier’s,Mike Tyson’s, & Larry Holmes of the kung fu movie world! Thumbs up to this movie for the comedic relief, nostalgic actors, & flashes of kung fu glory! The soundtrack for the film was dope as all hell, too! It made me want to train & sit in a horse stance for quite some time till my legs started to quiver! Something of note, Chan Koon Tai plays the role of Dragon who manages the Tea House. In 1974, Chan Koon Tai starred in the “The Tea House” that he also managed in. In the 1970’s, Chan Koon Tai took no prisoners because he was a real martial arts champion in the ring before jumping into films!
Bruce Leung & MC Jin were in attendance at the screening of Gallants & they were touched by the standing ovation that we gave them! Gallants’ movie theme & casting screamed “underdog” & we love to root for underdogs! Subway cinema announced that Gallants & Castaway on the Moon were winners for the audience favorite awards from the festival! It’s no surprise to me because I really enjoyed both of those movies!
–Mr. C (Pics & video courtesy of Planetchocko & mr. c)
Tags: andy lau, bruce leung, chan koon tai, chan wai man, gallants, hong kong, jin, lau tak wah, law mong, mc jin, new york asian film festival, nyaff, teddy robin
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GOLDEN SLUMBER
July 8th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
Golden Slumber, a mystery-thriller movie with hints of comedy & action was a nice introduction back into Japanese cinema for this neophyte! I thoroughly enjoyed the film with the few twists & turns offered into the plot even if it was mere fantasy than believable! I can’t wait to watch Yoshihiro Nakamura’s(Director of the movie) previous film, FISH STORY! Golden Slumber shares its name with one of the Beatles’ famous songs from the 1969 album “Abbey Road”. There were quite a few references to the Beatles in the film with the common theme of finding a way back home for the main character! The skinny of the movie is about a 30 year old delivery man who is framed for the assassination of the Prime Minister of Japan, & his elusive tribulations in disappearing into the Sendai community with the help of old friends from school, a fireworks maven, his supportive parents, & an old school original gangsta boss recovering or falsely recovering in a hospital?! The film starts off with a scene that is really the finale of the movie ala Quentin Tarantino style. Aoyagi, the main protaganist in the movie is a delivery boy who is publicly known because he thwarted a robbery attempt of a famous pop songstress! He went from being zero to hero in a quick whim of a judo leg takedown! The meat of the story begins with the reunion of Aoyagi’s old buddy, Morita going on a supposed fishing trip together. Aoyagi & Morita end up having lunch in their car parked close to the parade that the Japanese Prime Minister will march in & end up losing his life at. A primary bomb is setoff by a remote control helicopter which takes the life of the Prime minister. A second bomb would go off in Morita’s car with Aoyagi escaping the grasp of death that would link the 2 stories together. So, begins the tale of an innocent 30 year old happy go lucky japanese man who is framed by the CIA for the assassination of their prime minister. Stories of remote control helicopters, Aoyogi’s friends who are coerced by law enforcement to set him up, a plastic surgeon who performs surgery on the imposter that shows up on the video evidence, & a young killer in a hood who helps aoyogi, starts to surface! The movie had their fair share of quirky characters in the movie like the cold stoned killer with the shotgun at hand with his sensitive ears, the old man river gangster in a wheelchair, the death note like killer in a hoody, the father who beat up men that groped children on the train, & the ex-girlfriend who buys a battery for Aoyogi’s Toyota Corolla & manages to elude law enforcement with her young daughter by her side as an accomplice in order for her to install the car battery. More peculiar, but entertaining nooks & crannies develop when Aoyogi goes underground in the sewer system to hide like the Ninja Turtles without the special martial art powers with the help of the old gangster navigating the underground. The live TV broadcast of Aoyogi’s plea for innocence & the help of Aoyogi’s IPOD would soon come into play! A smattering of fireworks would be setup in a professional pyrotechnic manner that would aid in the escape of the young delivery boy! Aoyogi’s, Golden Slumber in the Beatles variety would soon be realized, but the question remains to Aoyogi, SO DID YOU DO IT? Did you sex up the pop star when you saved her life from the clutches of the robber? Film goers of GOLDEN SLUMBER will chuckle at this question!
–Mr. C
Tags: aoyogi, fish story, golden slumber, new york asian film festival, subway cinema, yoshihiro nakamura
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Berlin Street Art
July 6th, 2010 by planetchocko
most of these photos were taken in the Hackescher Market and Kreuzberg sections of Berlin and also by the East Side Gallery which is about a mile long stretch of what remains of the Berlin Wall.
-chocko
Tags: berlin, germany, graff, graffiti, greenpoint, kreuzberg, street art
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CASTAWAY ON THE MOON
July 5th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
I was stoked as all hell to check out “Castaway on the Moon” at the New York Asian Film festival on the 4th of July partly because I wanted to get a tasting of Korean cinema,partly because the synopsis of the movie sounded promising, & the rest of the the remaining “partly pie” was because I wanted to get out of the heat in the concrete jungle of NYC into the cool arms of Walter Reade Theatre! Up till this point, I’ve been getting plump on Hong Kong film madness & I was truly salivating for some bulgogi, bibimbap, or the ultimate…noodles with black bean sauce, korean style! I’ll get to the explanation of this metaphor in a bit!
Castaway on the Moon is a lighthearted hybrid drama of the comedy & romance variety. I really,really wanted to like this film especially when the director, Lee Hey-Jun came out to introduce the movie before the screening. He seemed like a real down to earth,honest, & charming director. He also mentioned that this movie bombed at the box office in Korea! Wow! Talk about being funny & honest! (Check out the video that I took of the director introducing his film before the screening above). After watching the movie, I really,really did like it! It was entertaining & offered up a slice of normalcy for the agoraphobiacs of the world! The movie starts off with Mr. Lee, a man who cannot stand the pressures of his everyday corporate life which results in him jumping off a bridge into the Han River in Seoul, Korea in a feeble attempt to erradicate himself & his financial woes. Unfortunately/fortunately for him, he somehow survives the ordeal & ends up on a deserted island not too far away from the city, but far enough so that he cannot swim to reach civilization. He curses at himself for not doing anything right including committing suicide & steadily curses at society & Building 63(his workplace) for his misfortunes with his pants pulled down to his knees! Mr. Lee flashes back to his childhood in the pool when his father forces him to learn how to swim, but he fails to keep afloat. In the same flashback scene, he suddenly is an adult in the pool & he struggles to keep afloat when his girlfriend decides to end their relationship. Thoughts of suicide still lingered in his mind, but he fights the temptation when he suddenly realizes that living on this deserted island can be a blessing in disguise. He is living in his own world & controlling his own destiny. He even has a place to call his own when he finds a Duck boat to inhabit in unlike the 7 years that he’s been trying to save to buy a home located across the river in the “real world”. His calls for H.E.L.P inscribed in sand is turned into the words H.E.L.L.O. He manages to teach himself how to catch fish by killing them inadvertently by washing himself with detergent in the han river. He then discovers how to catch birds by having the birds eat his poisoned fish resulting in their death. Mr. Lee finds an old wrapper of noodles with black bean sauce with just the sauce contents left behind. He begins to fantasize what noodles with black bean sauce tasted like as he remembers his past of rejecting this dish! His quest in his new life now is to find a way how to make fresh noodles to fulfill his dream of tasting this dish. Making pasta from plants ends in failure until his concoction of farming bird droppings will result in harvesting corn! The symbolism of finding a way to make this fresh pasta on the island is akin to him finding his own soul & purpose in life.
Meanwhile in Seoul, there is a parallel story about a young lady who lives inside her bubble. She suffers from agoraphobia & cannot deal with society. She cannot be seen & literally lives inside her room. Her only solace is taking photos of the moon & literally floats in air when she is in her zone of solitude! She happens on Mr. Lee one day on that deserted island when viewing through her telephoto lens. This young lady begins to take notice of his actions & basically begins to fall in love with him because of his passion to LIVE & his LOVE of trying to farm a crop to make fresh noodles for his instant black bean sauce. She begins to break out of her shell when she communicates with him with messages in a bottle tossed into the han river! Mr. Lee begins to communicate with her by inscribing messages on the sand as well. They both seem to be intrigued with each other until the young lady decides to have fresh noodles with black bean sauce delivered to the island for him as a gift which he takes as an insult. Making fresh noodles from scratch with his own ingenuity in this new world of his was a symbol of hope & self discovery of himself. He realizes that you cannot “buy” hope or self dignity. Mr. Lee soon realizes his dream as he makes his “Noodles with black bean sauce” from kernels of goodness with his harvested corn. The young lady sees all this from her viewfinder. She also sees Mr. Lee’s life on this deserted island come to a quick end when he gets deported back to the city by the local conservation group. In a whim, she desperately leaves the comforts of her bubble wrap to meet the man she honestly adores. Will they live out their fantasy together in the solitude of their own bubble wrap & styrofoam?!
Castaway on the Moon was an entertaining, cute, & insightful look into our own minds when stripping down the insecurities of oneself & analyzing the basics of understanding who you really are as a person in order to become comfortable in your own shell!
I think Lee Hey Jun, the director should of gotten praise for this movie but instead, box office sales slated this as a failure. In the eyes of the beholder of this movie, many of us ‘switchbladed’ this unique gem as a success to entertain the soul or should I say Seoul?!
Check out the Question/Answer session with the director of Castaway on the Moon, Lee Hey Jun that I captured on video below & his introduction of the film at the top of this aricle!
–Mr. C (7out 10 jajiang miens or noodles in black bean sauce for Castaway on the Moon)
(article, & video courtesy of Mr. C @planetchocko.com)
Tags: castaway on the moon, korean cinema, lee hey jun, new york asian film festival, subway cinema
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