REPTILICUS (1961) a monstrous slice of Danish

Nice poster, but the Golden Gate Bridge doesn't appear in the movie...

REPTILICUS
(1961, Denmark/USA)

Danish version on PAL region 2 DVD (Metronome)
American version NTSC region 1 DVD (MGM/UA)

Denmark, the land of The Little Mermaid, has only ever made one giant monster movie - here's why...

I was very disappointed when I first saw Reptilicus a few years ago. But with repeated viewings, I’m growing to love it as enjoyably bad. It’s so very, very bad for a host of reasons. An object lesson in actors taking the story seriously, before seeing the special effects.

For many years, all I knew of this 1961 giant monster movie, were some fairly effective b/w stills in horror magazines. Then I got the novelisation of the story (which has a great action shot on the cover and a mention of "breasts" on every page), and a couple of brief glimpses of the monster in action, that were used as cutaways in The Monkees.

It had good credentials, beng written by Ib Melchior who wrote inventive scripts for a series of low-budget sci-fi movies, including The Angry Red Planet (1960). One of his stories was made into the awesome Roger Corman movie, Death Race 2000 (1975), so I had high hopes for Reptilicus.

The film’s main drawback is its star, a small marionette with fewer points of articulation than the average action figure. I was flabbergasted at how small the models of the buildings were – hugely unconvincing for a horror movie supposedly pitched at an adult audience! The puppet has wings that barely move, legs that don’t move - when it ‘walks’, it’s obviously being dragged!

Worse still, the film was shot in Denmark. Each scene was shot twice, with the same cast members performing each scene in English then Danish. Most of the dialogue in the US version was redubbed to sound more convincing. According to director Sid Pink, it was because the actors were talking with a strong “sing-song” accent (like the Swedish chef in The Muppet Show).

The American producers were appalled with the US version and drastically re-edited it, shot new footage, and tried to elaborate the existing monster footage, but cheaply, delaying the US release until 1963.

I first saw the US version, and have just got hold of the Danish DVD release from last year. Here’s the major differences between the two versions (for the minor differences, there's a whole book on the making of this film, Reptilicus: The Screenplay by Kip Doto. See also Video Watchdog magazine, issue 96, for a cross-analysis).

The US version has more gore - like the early close ups of chopped meat that come up in the giant drill bit. (Ah yes, the plot, some miners discover a giant, frozen disembodied tail. When it accidentally defrosts, it regenerates into a dinosaur and marches on Copenhagen - see?)

There’s more human flesh on display in the Denmark version – with several extra gratuitous beach scenes of young couples cavorting in swimsuits. How continental!

Denmark is also treated to extra scenes of Petersen, the comedy-relief lab assistant (who dresses in overalls like a hick farmer), played by Denmark’s favourite comedian Dirch Passer. With his square head and goggle-eyes, he looks like something drawn by Jack Kirby. The Danish version has been restored for DVD to be part of a collection of Passer's films, so I won't be too hard on him. Mind you, the scene where he sings the 'Tilicus' song to a sudden group of children outside the lab, is a real lowpoint... in the history of cinema. Much of Passer’s comedy schtick, and this song are missing from the US version.

The USA still left in the other embarrassing song, in what I call the 'travelogue section' of the movie. As the carefree characters explore the delights of downtown Copenhagen, oblivious to impending doom. The army officer in charge of operations takes time to call in at a bar in Tivoli pleasure gardens to hear 'Tivoli Nights', sung with gusto by the perky Birthe Wilke ("Denmark’s answer to Doris Day" according to Wikipedia). She does her best with the clunky lyrics like...

"You're all dressed up and with a smile on your face,
You look as gay as can be."

In the slow first half of the movie, the US version tries to ramp up suspense, with gory close-ups of the disembodied tail removed from the drilling excavations.

The Danish version dilutes the scary early scenes in favour of comedy, courtesy of Petersen. Then around halfway, the film gives up being coy and turns into bloody monster mayhem.

The puppet trashes some small models, but then the budget spurts and splashes out on a fullsize claw that flattens a farmhouse set, narrowly missing the farmers. A shot strangely left out of the US version, because it's not badly done.

The US also loses the fabled, wooden, flying shots of the monster. All other shots of Reptilicus, they try and enhance by zooming in (optically, making the shots look poorly composed and grainy). Some other shots are slowed down, meaning you can take your time looking at the grain on each frame. Worse still is the addition of the, ahem, green slime - optically added "acid" that seems to come out of the monster's mouth and splash over the lens, then freeze. Worst of all is the placing of what look likes a crayon drawing of a farmer, positioned over the lizard's mouth, to make it look like he’s being eaten.

The original FX may be primitive, but these additions make them laughably worse. Together with the bilingual acting, unspectacular locations, and loosely re-dubbed dialogue, makes the US version a veritable punchbag of a movie.

On a trivial note, when the monster is depth-charged by the Navy, it loses a leg, in a shot that I swear was copied and included in Steven Spielberg's monster opus, Jaws (1975).

The Danish DVD has a trailer - which wisely contains no shots of the puppet. The picture is a slightly cramped 1.33, but it may have been released this way. The print is well-presented and in good condition for 45 year-old Eastmancolour. The PAL running time is 92 mins.

The region 1 Midnight Movie DVD is no frills, a bit like the monster in the US version. It's also 1.33.

The choice is yours, optical green glop and extra gore, or half-naked Danes and the original cut.

Do you want to know more?

Judging by it's presence on the web, this film is really very popular... perhaps it's the spectacular flame-thrower sequence, perhaps it's the spectacular impromptu stunts of the Danish students hurling themselves off the cantilever bridge, perhaps it's the puppet...

More trivia, extensive reviews and good screengrabs from Eccentric Cinema and Monstershack.

German site Monstrula has an absolutely AWESOME collection of international photos and posters (and toys!) for Reptilicus and many more marvellous monster movies, mmm.

The US trailer for Reptilicus is currently here on YouTube...

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MEKHONG FULL MOON PARTY (2002) Thai Buddhist comedy

MEKHONG FULL MOON PARTY
(2002, Thailand, IMDB: Sibha kham doan sib ed)
Thai all-region PAL DVD (Mangpong)

Yet another Thai movie that has a basis in fact, like The Iron Ladies, Beautiful Boxer, and even Shutter. Apparently, every year, just after Buddhist Lent, strange fireballs shoot into the sky out of the Mekhong river. These are supposedly sent by the naga, snake-like spirits that live in the river. Likenesses of naga appear everywhere in Buddhist temples – usually as dragon-headed snakes.

The photo that appears in the movie, of a US army squad holding what looks like a gigantic water snake is an actual event cited as proof of the existence of naga . Because the naga in this case later died, it's said that the squad were cursed and many of them died soon afterwards.

So while I was expecting a film about the infamous Full Moon parties of Koh Phangan, I instead got a comedy drama about the possible causes of the fireball phenomenon. The comedy side is lightweight fare, with the members of a small town by the river having its livelihood threatened – they make their money from the tourists who flock to see the fireballs every year.

But the dramatic element worked better for me. University student Khan, played by the gorgeous Keanu lookalike Anuchit Sapanpong, usually swims and plants the fireballs in the river for the local monks. But after his hometown comes under scrutiny from the national press, Khan has a crisis of conscience. With the week of the river festival approaching, can the monks persuade Khan to plant the fireballs in time?

It’s certainly a well made film for Thailand. Lightweight comedy isn’t usually what I seek out, but I enjoyed the lush location and the likeable cast, which includes a little person playing a comedy sidekick mini-monk.

The Thai DVD is still available and includes good English subtitles.

Do you want to know more?
The actual Naga fireball phenonenon is expanded on in this website, which includes that photo of the captured naga…

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Movie magazines in Thailand - spoilt for choice

Film & Stars - a movie magazine from Thailand

When I was in Japan in 2004, I had no luck finding any magazines that concentrated on the latest in Japanese cinema, even in the largest bookstores. Their only movie magazines seem to centre around Hollywood stars.

I've since found Newtype (which is now translated into the English and republished in the US), which at least covers anime and tokusatsu (special effects heavy TV - usually superheroes or monsters) series. But does anyone know of a Japanese mag that highlights Japanese movies? Or any from south Korea? Obviously I'm really interested in offbeat films and horror movies.

I can't read Japanese, but their magazines are so beautifully produced and laid out. I love the photos and get clues about DVD and cinema releases. There's usually a little English in there somewhere.

The UK is spoilt with the wonderful NEO magazine which is going from strength to strength and ambitiously aiming to cover anime, manga, cult movies from the Far East, with an emphasis on Japanese culture. It feels a little like it's aimed at teenagers sometimes, and it's limited to covering what's available in Europe. Therefore it's at least a year behind what's happening in Japan right now.


So anyway, Thailand. A country with a far smaller, far newer film industry than Japan, but gearing up for international success. Now they know how to produce good film magazines. Umm yes, I can't speak or read Thai either, but the photos are nice to have and very useful as guides as to what looks interesting. Again, there's only a smattering of English words and captions.

Here's the mags I found in Thailand, in alphabetical order...

Bioscope magazine covers international cinema, and includes arthouse films and retrospectives of classic world cinema. Their subtitle is "moving image, moving life". About 116 thick pages.

This February 2007 issue looked at the use of design in Pedro Almodovar's Volver, the films of Satayajit Ray, the films of Chan-Wook Park as well as the latest cinema releases, mostly from America. The accent is more on artists and film-makers. Fairly text-heavy, high-quality paper but no glossy pages. Bioscope website here.

Film & Stars magazine, like MovieTime, is about 80 pages long, glossy cover, and concentrates on pushing the latest movies and DVDs. Only the first 8 pages are glossy, and these can be mostly adverts. It's photo-heavy coverage and does always have marvellous spreads of all the different posters used in current campaigns. The photos of the stars are noticeably sexier too! Good for the poster layouts and edgier coverage.
MovieTime magazine just looks at the new releases and is relatively slim at 80 pages. But it's photo-heavy coverage, with the first 20 pages on glossy paper. There's a couple of pages of Hollywood gossip, a page on every film on release in Thailand and then in-depth coverage on the major films. This issue has a well-illustrated article on King Naresuan - Part 2 at the front, coverage of Blood Diamond, Flags of Our Fathers, and Perfume, as well as a retrospective look at De Palma's Scarface and a five page spread on the films of Hilary Swank.

Good for photos. Includes a fold-out double-sided poster page.

Pulp - the movie magazine is a more in-depth look at current films. 164 pages long, but a smaller format magazine (about comic book size). It includes in-depth articles as well as reviews. This 2007 issue includes a look at the actual history behind King Naresuan, the director of Babel's other films, current movie special effects, and censorship of Thai DVD releases. Over 100 pages are glossy and the mag is about half-and-half text and photos. There's a good DVD release section with cover shots.

Starpics, the February 2006 issue

Starpics magazine covers all the latest releases, with a better accent on Thai-produced cinema. About 164 pages. Interviews with cast and crew are well-illustrated and half the magazine is printed on glossy paper, providing good reproduction of stills, posters and one-page adverts for Thai, Japanese and other SE Asian releases. There is a whole section looking at Thai DVD releases, with useful cover shots. They extensively cover Thai film awards and the Bangkok International Film Festival.

Not as text-heavy as Bioscope, the 80 glossy pages are a big plus. Good for current poster art. Includes a fold-out double-sided poster page. Thick-carded cover, like Bioscope. Starpics website is here.

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KING NARESUAN - the merchandise

Besides the mugs, the pencil cases and the baseball caps, there are some more substantial King Naresuan goodies to be found.

There’s an excellent value souvenir magazine, titled All Exclusive, which is all in Thai, but filled with colour stills, behind the scenes photos, with several pages of glossy, high quality colour in the pages inside both covers.

Far rarer is the book of the making of the film. 176 pages long, with 14 full pages in English, summarising the lengthy production process of the trilogy, it’s full of fantastic photos of the action, the costumes and sets. Throughout the book, the project is referred to as The Legend of Naresuan, while the cover of the book is King Naresuan, as is the film’s website. This information, probably now superceded by the marketing machine, also refers to the three films' titles as Part 1 - The End of Freedom, Part 2 - The Price of Freedom and Part 3 - The Price of Keeping Freedom.

You can still get the book in softcover or hardcover online here from eThaiCD.

The project has been filming for three years, with four years of research before that. The director, M.C. Chatreechalerm Yukol, has created the films for the current King and Queen of Thailand on their request, to specifically give the people of Thailand a deeper understanding of their country’s history. What a spectacular way of doing it!

Incidentally, IMDB has some marvellous trivia about Yukol, the director: he went to the U.S. in the 1960s to study geology (!) and film at UCLA, sharing classes with Francis Ford Coppola (who recently supervised a version of Legend of Suriyothai for U.S. release). Yukol then went on to work as an intern for Merian C. Cooper, the producer of the original King Kong! Presumably his autobiography will be titled From King Kong to the King of Khong.

The Making of the Film is available everywhere on VCD. This VideoCD is region-free and playable on most DVD players that can handle the PAL TV system. The format is still more popular than DVD in Thailand and is very cheap, retailing at under £1 ($2 USD).

The disc starts with a trailer and leads into a 65 minute documentary about the making of the first two films. Again all in Thai, it’s a very visual account of the making of the film. The director is shown researching the existing historical sites from the period, by flying around to see the remaining buildings and ruins in Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

His team’s biggest job is to recreate the city of Hongsawardee with a full-size reconstruction… The site, near Bangkok, has to be levelled and a moat dynamited around it. The buildings, palaces and temples, together with the iconic giant lions at the palace entrance is an awesome undertaking.

Extras on the set of Naresuan spend a lot of time hanging around

The actors are cast, and trained to fight with their respective weapons. They have to learn to ride hands-free, steering their horses with their knees. The extras, partly boosted by actual soldiers, have to be drilled like an actual army.

Horses are trained to fall over on command, to portray being blown over by cannon fire. It’s a stunt that the horses can do, by leaning forward and folding under a front leg, until they roll over onto soft sand. It’s a far cry from the trip wires (now outlawed) that were used to achieve the same stunt in past westerns and historical epics.

We get a glimpse of the special effects – on the set, the explosives are set off to mimic cannon fire. In post-production, we see digital compositing before-and-afters.

Finally, there's a little English as British composer Richard Harvey talks about the music and the huge orchestra used for the soundtrack. Harvey has spent much of his career working on music for television (Gerry Anderson’s Terrahawks (1983) being an early credit!). But obviously his work on The Legend of Suriyothai impressed the director to allow him onto this even bigger gig.

Not that I can find the Naresuan soundtrack on CD anywhere...

...but I did get the postcard set.

Presumably, much of the footage from this documentary will make its way onto the forthcoming DVDs of the first two movies - these may be released in Thailand as early as April.

Or you can get the VCD here from eThaiCD.

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KING NARESUAN - PART 2 (2007) the epic battles on

KING NARESUAN - PART 2

(Thailand, 2007)

My memories of this holiday in Thailand already feel like a dream. Watching a movie on holiday feels like a dream within a dream.

But I saw Part 2 of the King Naresuan trilogy during the opening weekend. It was released in Thailand cinemas on February 15th for the Chinese New Year holiday weekend. (My Part 1 review is linked here). Part 2 is 150 minutes long, but doesn't feel like it.

About 10 years have passed since Part 1 of the story. Prince Naresuan is now a young adult. With King Bayinnaung of Hongsa (Burma) dead, the alliances he worked hard to maintain quickly start to fragment under the war-mongering rule of his son. But the King was well-prepared, ensuring that Prince Naresuan, good at both warfare and wisdom, is still set to inherit the throne of Siam (now Thailand), hoping that he may be able to bring peace to the whole region.

As the power game continues, now using brute force, it’s kingdom against kingdom. A simple insult can spark all-out war between territories. As the uneasy Hongsa alliance closes in on the mountain fortress of the rebellious King of Khong, Naresuan is unaware that some of his allies want him dead. As he joins battle for the alliance, his real intent is on freeing his people from Hongsa rule and returning them to their homeland.

Most of Part 2 is warfare, 16th Century-style. There are occasional flashbacks to pivotal moments in Part 1, and enough room for an unlikely romance, but it’s mostly preparation for war and epic battles. Swords, muskets and cannons are the weapons of the day. Burning oil and arrows are optional.

As an action film from the Far East, this is very different from what we’re used to seeing. It’s not like the flashy Chinese epics, where warriors have perfected their martial arts to the point of weightlessness, it’s just people fighting. There are no fighting styles, it’s just wading in with swords and trying to incapicitate the enemy. It’s more like the Japanese Kurosawa epics, where we see the force of numbers and the importance of strategy. Even so, there are no superhuman samurai here. There are a few warriors who can handle two swords simultaneously, but generally it’s bravery, tactics and the accuracy of the cannons that win.

It doesn’t compete with the high-excitement of Hollywood action movies – the fight choreography and the stuntwork are solid but unexceptional, but this all makes it look more realistic. The importance here is the drive of the story and what happens to the characters. Having said that, the carnage of the cannon blasts was something that I’d not seen in a movie before – people and horses are sent flying in all directions.

In short, this looks like an epic. Epic in scale and numbers, but without Hollywood’s reliance on far-fetched stunts and CGI. Just because you can paint a picture of an epic in a computer, doesn’t mean to say that you’ve made one. Epics are mounted. With large numbers of people, huge outdoor sets – I’ve not seen one so impressive since the 1960s.

The sparse use of CGI makes this more convincing. The establishing shots have been extended in the computer, like traditional matte paintings, where real action is at the centre of frame. Digital compositing boosts the numbers of soldiers. The important thing here is that all the people you see are real - what you don’t get is unconvincing CGI people running around. Up close, buildings have been built full-size from scratch – there are no swooping shots around non-existent fake-looking structures. Mostly, the sets, the people (and the elephants) are all real. It looks fantastic.

The character of the Prince starts off being boringly accurate in his battle strategies in the early part of the film. But even he starts showing cracks, like when his sister defies him. Thankfully, good advice is still available from his mentor the Head Monk, one of the best characters from Part 1.

The adult Naresuan is played by Wanchana Sawatdee, actually an officer in Thailand’s royal cavalry! The director wanted an unknown to personify the legendary Prince, and a real-life actual soldier who could effortlessly ride a horse isn’t a bad choice. Like the three central children in Part 1, he's a newcomer to acting, but still convincing. Many other established actors had to learn to ride and fight (simultaneously!) and underwent extensive training, as did the extras.

Whereas, the first film laid on thick the necessity for the Siamese bloodline to continue, the second film shows that the allies are made up of all different races, from Africa to Portugal. When the baddies need silent assassins, they even bring in headhunters, whose methods are far from subtle…

The violence is fairly family-friendly in tone, apart from some capital punishment dealt out to traitors (the hanging seen in some trailers), and one fight where blood sprays and heads come off - rather out of tone with the rest of the movie.



Both entertaining and fascinating, the films breathe life into the roots of Thailand’s culture. The scale of these films are new highpoints in Thai cinema. Once more, I hope that they'll find a wider audience. They are the most expensive Thai films to date. I’m just worried that audiences will be put off by the lack of action in Part 1 and might then miss out on Part 2.


Do you want to know more?

The Bangkok Post review is here, but full of spoilers.

Part 1 reviewed here.

UPDATE June 2007 - Parts 1 and 2 released on DVD and blu-ray in the US.

KING NARESUAN - PART 1 (2007) a true epic

KING NARESUAN - PART 1

(2007, Thailand)

KING NARESUAN - Part 1

'Hostage of Hongsawadi' (180 mins)

War is usually declared when diplomacy breaks down. This is the case with the story of King Naresuan. Part 1 is all about diplomacy, it’s not until Part 2 that the fighting really begins. The viewer has a choice. If you want to know what’s going on in the all-action Part 2, you have to see Part 1. Also, bear in mind that despite the title, Naresuan doesn’t become King in the first two films…

Part 1 premiered in Thailand on January 18th and at three hours duration, it’s quite a history lesson. It has to introduce a tangle of players and future players in the palaces of enemy Kings - in Siam (now Thailand) and neighbouring Burma (now Myanmar).

While the story of the consolidation of Siam is mainly of interest to the Thai people, this is also a sumptuous recreation of a 16th century far east, quite different to the Chinese and Japanese cultures. It looks very different in terms of clothing and architecture, and the tropical climate provides a very different backdrop than previous oriental epics. For anyone who’s visited the country, there are familiar temples, elephants, even tattoos, and the fire-jugglers still seen on the country’s beaches.

Another flyer, showing the young Prince (Pratcha Sananwatananont)

and Head Monk (Sorapong Chatree)

The story centres on the young Prince Naresuan as he is taken hostage away from his family, to the Burmese capital of Hongsawardee, by King Bayinnaung (Sampob Benjatikul) who pretty much adopts him and raises him as a new hope. Despite keeping him prisoner, he still respects the Prince as royalty and has him tutored by the Head Buddhist Monk, who is extremely wise (to an almost Jedi standard) and an expert in the art of fighting - Mahathera Kanchong is one of the few familiar faces in the cast, and is played by Sorapong Chatree.

Bunthing, Manechan and Naresuan as they appear in Part 1

Now a monk himself, the prince befriends two orphans, Manechan and Bunthing, who are also to become important to the story. Manechan lives at the temple, but doesn’t know how important she really is, and Bunthing, despite being a renegade thief rather than a noble, is also learning to be a great warrior as the Prince’s sparring partner.

But with three children as the central characters, the story alternates between infantile hi-jinks and the high-powered diplomacy unfolding around them, as the Burmese King attempts to peacefully manipulate the local kingdoms together. He knows that his country cannot make any progress if they are at war. The King fears that his son and heir will make a better warrior than a King and that the fragile peace will only last as long as he stays alive...

To boil the history and all the legends about historical characters down to a more manageable size, obviously some of the events and characters. Part 1 maybe easy for the people of Thailand who already know something about Naresuan, it was a little hard for me to follow all the long character names and who they were. Not to mention the geography of the area as it was 400 years ago. For instance Thailand was then called Siam, Burma (now Myanmar) was then Hongsa, or Hongsawardee.

Also Thailand is probably keen to see the exploits of the young hero brought to life, but for the rest of us, it’s just a historical drama. If you can follow it, the hours of diplomatic strategy are intriguing, particularly the work of King Bayinnaung, but they only becomes relevant when you’re watching Part 2. I could argue that the director could have spiced it up more to make it more of an entertainment, but it’s difficult in a country that respects its royalty so much. I believe the director is actually a Prince himself!

Director Pratcha Sananwatananont on the set of the King of Hongsa

The film has an epic feel, due to the complete recreation of the Burmese capital as it was in the late 16th century - a huge outdoor set that was built full-size from scratch (see my later entry about the 'making-of' documentary). The palace sets are lushly recreated, the streets are full of people and most of the simple dialogue scenes are in front of windows that display action stretching into the distance. As an evocation of past events, the film succeeds completely.

The temptation might be to start with Part 2, then watch Part 1 as a huge flashback. But it worked for me in sequence, particularly watching them on consecutive days. Treat Parts 1 and 2 as one huge film, then the action in Part 2 will compensate for the long build-up in Part 1.

Do you want to know more?

ThaiCinemaOrg has a good selection of photos of the main cast.

Bangkok Post has a lengthy interview with the director.

See also my posts on King Naresuan Part 2 and the making of the trilogy.


UPDATE June 2007 - released on DVD and blu-ray in the US.

The biggest movies in Thailand at the moment are the first two parts of an epic trilogy. The story of the King who fought to unite and defend the nation of Siam. The director even sought advice from Peter Jackson in planning such a large scale project and started production over three years ago. Like Lord of the Rings, the running time of all three films should approach a total of nine hours.

They are all directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol, who made the epic Legend of Suriyothai (2001), the events of which also lead into the story of King Naresuan.

The huge advertising hoardings, posters and trailers, cannily work for both of the first two films, using the image of adult King, even though he doesn’t appear until the second film. Released within weeks of each other, Part 1 and Part 2 complement each other. The third film won’t be released until December 5th 2007, in order to coincide with the present King of Thailand’s 80th birthday.

To mark the event, there’s been a merchandising and publicity blitz across the country. Movie props adorn the major cinemas – we saw a larger-than-life prop statue of Buddha, costumes and weapons from the film, in the Paragon Cineplex atop the Siam Centre in Bangkok, where we saw the films. Thankfully, there were plenty of screenings subtitled in English.

Every 7/11 store in the country has a King Naresuan stand, selling t-shirts, caps, keyrings, postcards and storybooks, with magazines and a VCD on the making of the film. In Bangkok we even saw a King Naresuan action figure and a large 'making of' book. I'll showcase the merchandise and the VCD is a later entry. But first the film...

HOTEL (2004) - Lynchian German mystery

HOTEL
(2004, Austria/Germany)

Reviewed from the Thai PAL DVD (Mangpong)

(UPDATE July 2010 - Hotel is now out on region 2 DVD in the UK)

Note that this is not the 2001 Mike Figgis comedy, starring Max Beesley!

Once again I was drawn to a film by the TwitchFilm website, which teased me with the poster. I found it on DVD in Thailand, one of the few countries it’s been released in. I went into the film knowing nothing more about it than the cover art and the images in the DVD menus.

Young, blonde Irene (Franziska Weisz) starts a new job at a large hotel deep in a German forest. As she slowly gets to know the other staff, she discovers that her predecessor has disappeared and the police are still investigating. Is there a murderer in the hotel, or is the answer connected to the local legend of a witch who lived in the nearby Devil’s Cave?

The many worrying shots of pitch blackness in the surrounding woods and in the cave brought to mind The Blair Witch Project, which could just be the mental trap that the director, Jessica Hausner, wanted to lead viewers towards. The disconcerting sound design adds a layer of tension to almost every scene, reminded me of Eraserhead. Not something that happens very often, as that David Lynch film is pretty unique. The awkward and cold characters who also work at the hotel added to the Lynchian feeling.

The film’s theme could easily be darkness. The hotel manager likes to keep unneeded lights turned off. The outside of the hotel is kept dark, thick curtains keep light in, meaning that once anyone steps outside the hotel, they’re standing in almost pitch blackness. Strangely, characters walk into the woods and enter the Devil’s Cave without even using a torch. Irene keeps walking into darkened corridors… They all seem to welcome the dark.

The mood is also generated by the intensely colourful and contrasty cinematography, with some disconcerting handheld camerawork and the occasional dizzying, swooping tracking move to keep the viewer off-balance. Even though we see most of the film through Irene, it’s not as if we get to know her terribly well. Even when she literally lets her hair down at the local pub (which plays deafening techno music), she’s still looks pretty reserved. We get clues about her and what’s going on all through the film, and then… 

After watching it, I was scrabbling around to work out “what just happened?”. I looked to the trailer and thought I found a few more clues, or were they red herrings? The film is far more subtle than I’d anticipated, offering a very Lynchian film which you can carefully analyse for answers, or just enjoy the ride, which I did. The whole film constantly keeps you in suspense, from almost the very start. It’s ultimately enjoyable as a moody experience, rather than a story, despite making you think it might have one.

Tantalisingly, this film was cut by the director by around 7 minutes (after it’s initial festival screenings) – I’d like to see these missing scenes for more clues. But next time I’ll be ready for the ending. 3am would be a good time to watch this film – for it’s downbeat setting and mood. Then you’d think that you had succumbed to sleep and missed the end of the story.

Apparently the Hong Kong DVD of Hotel is only in Stereo, while my Thai DVD has the German soundtrack in 5.1 surround, which really added to the experience. The picture is non-anamorphic widescreen, with good English subtitles. You can get one here from eThaiCD.

BASTARDS (2006) teenage Russian DIRTY DOZEN

BASTARDS (2006, Russia, Svolochi)
Region 5 Russian PAL DVD (Paradise)

The cover artwork for this made me think this was going to be a Russian Lord of the Flies, but where in Russia are there islands hot enough to walk around half naked? An advanced news article on the TwitchFilm site (which includes a link for the trailer) slightly misdirected me into thinking the plot was more of a Battle Royale scenario.

But this is actually a gritty wartime drama set in Russia in 1943. Young orphans turn to crime and kill for food. A few are caught by the police after a fierce and bloody struggle.

Teen and pre-teen crime is getting so bad that the authorities now treat all criminals equally. The boys are no longer protected from the death penalty by their age. Instead of being executed, some are given a chance to join a special operations Army squad.

The main story is the gang of boys going through arduous training in a remote mountain camp. They try to break the rules, escape, shirk, but at least they are alive. The finale is the special mission itself...

This teen Dirty Dozen was gripping enough, though it was severely let down by sub-standard visual effects at the climax - Night Watch this isn't. It looked like the animatic storyboards had been left in!

I was quite impressed with the film until I read here on KinoKultura that it most probably wasn't a true story at all. There had been a huge fuss in Russia about the country being portrayed as using children in the army in WW2.

What's left is an insubstantial story that recounts events that never happened, as if they had. As a fictional allegory about using children as soldiers, it's insubstantial.

Still, the sweeping location photography is very impressive, as is the acting and the soundtrack.

The final mission looks way too easy, and didn't really need children to do it at all, severely compromising the premise. The writers should have watched a few episodes of Joe 90 and thought of a more convincing mission. After a great start, it runs out of steam.

This Russian DVD has good English subtitles for the dialogue, but many location captions are not translated, including the opening blurb that originally claimed that the story is based on truth.

The 16:9 anamorphic picture is crisp, showing off the locations nicely. However, the aspect ratio in the trailer and documentary clips is framed tighter vertically, inferring that the theatrical release was cropped closer to 1:2.0.

The extras include an extended look at the production - but aren't translated, rendering the many interviews useless. However, the behind-the-scenes footage shows off the location stuntwork - where they were using cardboard boxes instead of airbags to cushion the stuntman's high falls - a noticeably low tech, low budget method. The remote camera crane is also a nuts-and-bolts contraption, but it works beautifully.

I bought my DVD here on AllDVD, (a great tip from Twitch - it's hard to find good Russian sites). Make sure you order the version with English subtitles.

Do you want to know more?
Loads more stills from the film here.

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BEAUTIFUL BOXER (2003) serious transsexual kickboxing

BEAUTIFUL BOXER (2003, Thailand)
Hong Kong region 3 NTSC special edition (Panasia)

Based on a true story...

The spectacular sport of kickboxing is usually elevated to all-action plots like Tony Jaa in Ong Bak or even the Jean-Claude Van Damme series, but it could easily be the basis of a more serious study. Beautiful Boxer is certainly serious, but highlights the plight of Thai transsexuals more than the sport.

With an American character leading us into the story, and English narration throughout, this seemed to be aimed at an international market, with an admirable budget to match.

A reporter tracks down 'Nong Toom' in Bangkok, who proceeds to tell us the story of her life. In a movie-length flashback, we see how the young boy is attracted to cross-dressing, to the annoyance of his father, and despite a period as a Buddhist monk, finds that his kickboxing skills could support his poverty-stricken family and maybe even finance a sex-change operation...

This is a lavish production, with locations all over Thailand and even a trip to Tokyo, where kickboxing is also popular.

The story is a straightforward one, making Nong Toom's journey look rather easy - he seems to get lucky in every situation: his priest is supportive, his trainer is supportive, his family, his promoter - there never seem to be any major barriers. We rarely see him getting bullied, even at kickboxing school, where he begins wearing make-up publicly. He also seems to have little problem winning his fights and gaining national recognition.

It's a rather earnest film, hoping to earn sympathy from the audience through an emotional plea, rather than explaining his case. Despite the apparent paradox of his character, we crucially don't see him transform from his fey everyday persona into the aggressive fighting machine. The movie also dodges the controversial issue of who he is sexually attracted to, making this suitable for a family audience.

The kickboxing bouts are brief and often bloody - the sport is all the more dangerous because, despite the gloves, contact can be made with knees, feet and, deadliest of all, elbows. I was more impressed with the 'Muay Thai' side of the movie. Certainly it demonstrates how transvestites and transsexuals can positively channel their oppression! I'd still love to see a dramatic movie that concentrates on kickboxing itself, maybe Rocky-style. But this is an excellent introduction to the sport and the country.

There are better gay movies from Thailand, for instance Formula 17 confronts and celebrates the gay lifestyle in a relaxed and humorous way, certainly much better than the recent downbeat and simplistic Boys Love that's just come out in Japan.

There are of course many other 'ladyboy' movies from Thailand, mostly comedies, but while none are as well made as Beautiful Boxer, some are more fun. The Iron Ladies with its similar true-life story of a transvestite volleyball team was very low-budget, very frivolous, but fun. (There was also a pretty bad sequel). The zero-budget Miss Ladyboy, about the national cross-dressing competition is definitely worth a miss. Saving Private Tootsie starts funny but gets serious, and I'll watch it soon.

The Hong Kong DVD special edition of Beautiful Boxer has good subtitles on the main feature, but has a slightly soft picture throughout. There's a DTS soundtrack option.

The real Nong Toom together with actor Asanee Suwan

The disc of extras are mostly translated and give a fascinating look at the story of the actual 'Nong Toom', a nickname for Parinya Charoenphol, who advised and publicised the film. To play her, the director found Asanee Suwan, an actual kickboxer and veteran of over a hundred bouts, to bravely accept the challenging role. Suwan had also been born in Chiang Mai and met the real Nong Toom at one of his matches. The young kickboxer then had to learn how to walk convincingly like a woman, sing, dance and of course act! It's an impressive performance.

The film is also available in region 1 NTSC, and region 2 PAL editions.

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Live-action TINTIN movie at the NFT in March

Jean-Pierre Talbot as Tintin and Georges Wilson as Captain Haddock

A rare chance to see the English-language version of the spectacular live-action 1961 Tintin movie happens in March at London's National Film Theatre.

To launch The Flipside, a showcase of 'unlikely' cinema and associated short films and extras, there will be a 'Great Snakes Snowy, It's Tintin Night' at the NFT on March 5th at 6.30pm.

Included in the programme are rare short documentaries about Tintin's creator Herge, but the jewel of the evening is a screening of Tintin and the Golden Treasure, the English release title of Tintin et le Mystere de la Toison D'Or. I reviewed both Tintin movies (link here) when they were released on French DVD last year, but crucially without any subtitles. Golden Treasure must have been the version that I remembered seeing in English on British TV back in the 1970's.

In other news, BBC4 broadcast the excellent "Tintin and Me" (2003), an in-depth documentary about Tintin's Belgian creator Herge, based on a lengthy (taped) interview from 1971. Directed by Danish director Anders Ostergaard, the revelations about the creation of some of Tintin's original adventures are surprisingly controversial, written as they were during WW2 in Nazi-occupied Belgium.

The film-maker also unearthed rare interview footage and photographs and added new depth to some of the Tintin books' most famous illustrations, using computer animation.

For adult Tintin fans, this is a fascinating look at the character's roots and the life of his creator. As the conversation continues, the usually reserved and publicity-shy Herge opens up, as the interviewer increasingly feels he is being used as an analyst or a confessional.

The BBC broadcast version was under an hour, but the full-length film is available on DVD from Anchor Bay UK, though I had no luck finding it on Amazon's websites.

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THE SUBMERSION OF JAPAN (1973) a disasters movie

THE SUBMERSION OF JAPAN
(1973, Japan, Nippon Chinbotsu)
a.k.a. TIDAL WAVE (US version)
a.k.a. JAPAN SINKS

Region 3 Hong Kong NTSC DVD (CN Entertainment)

Tokyo is the first to go

A spectacular disaster movie that was made in Japan, before the disaster movie cycle was underway in the USA. This has several disasters in one: volcanoes, tidal waves, earthquakes, and a crack in the world that’s opening up beneath the entire country…

Based on a Japanese bestseller, this looks like a Godzilla movie, but without the giant monsters. There are many characters, many meetings, and plenty of modelwork to show the destruction of various cities around Japan.

It’s not influenced by the American disaster movies, and sets the tone for the sombre Japanese catastrophe cinema of the 1970's. The Last Days of Planet Earth (1974) envisaged the bleak, catastrophic prophecies of Nostradamus, and even a simple runaway train thriller like The Bullet Train (1975) became a long-winded and downbeat thriller.

Unlike the jaunty action-packed American disaster films Earthquake (1974) and The Towering Inferno (1974), there are too few characters 'on the receiving end' to identify with. The focus is mostly on the authorities and how they cope with the impending disaster. The Prime Minister takes centre stage as he decides the fate of the Japanese race, aided by a stressed-out scientist Tadokoro (Keiju Kobayashi) and a young, daring oceanologist, Toshio (Hiroshi Fujioka).

The Japanese DVD cover for the 1973 version (no English subtitles)
shows Professor Tadokoro submerged in his work

Mind you, there are a few shots that look familiar – the Tokyo earthquake shows a woman with glass sticking out of her face, in a similar shot to one in Earthquake the following year.

But the disasters in this film happen to mostly faceless crowds of people who’ve not been introduced, making the action scenes uninvolving, and more like news footage.

The scenes are a mix of large-scale model work and real-life volcano footage. Occasionally it’s hard to tell the two apart. The FX team are challenged by having to show such large scale destruction, often from very high altitudes in order to show Japan’s changing geography! There are some FX stills here, together with the US poster (as Tidal Wave). There's also marvellous Japanese poster artwork here on Toho Kingdom.

The film takes a long while to get underway, with a long first act involving a science team snooping around in a research submarine, trying to figure out why a small island sank near the coast of Japan. This is followed by some geology lessons about plate tectonics that you really should already know if you’d attended your geography lessons. The movement of the Earth’s mantle, like the plot, is very, very slow. The action kicked in just before I (continentally) drifted off.

The cast keep the film afloat, with Tetsuro Tamba as the Prime Minister you’d want in charge on such a day. The scene where he is presented with the possible outcomes facing the Japanese people is done almost in one shot, and very emotionally. The veteran actor also appeared in the 2006 remake (based on the same book) shortly before he passed away.

Hiroshi Fujioka and Englebert Humperdinck

Though he doesn’t really have any action scenes, Hiroshi Fujioka is a dynamic presence, no doubt adrenalised by playing the first Kamen Rider in 1971 (Toei Studios' answer to Ultraman). With his wall to wall hair and mega sideburns, he looks like Japan’s answer to pop star Englebert Humperdinck. It’s no coincidence that the actor also appears in the 2006 Japanese genre spoof Everyone But Japan Sinks, (from the makers of The Calamari Wrestler). This is also available now on region 3 DVD.

A scene that's NOT in the Hong Kong DVD version

The Submersion of Japan DVD seems to be an international version aimed at the rest of the Asian market, and is shorter than the 143 minute Japanese original. It runs close to 110 minutes, whereas the rejigged USA cut (Tidal Wave) was only 82 minutes long, which also included extra scenes with Lorne Green as the US President. The tsunami is only a short sequence in the original, but I’ve not seen the US version.

Fans of Godzilla movie music may be familiar with the music of Masaru Satô. You can almost hear strains of Ebirah - Horror of the Deep (1966) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) in the soundtrack.

The region 3 DVD of this 1973 film (cover art at top) is 2.35 anamorphic widescreen, but the visual detail is quite soft. But the audio is the main drawback - the 5.1 and stereo Japanese audio tracks are prone to loud background hiss, which gets louder whenever there’s not much level. It sounds like an automatic gain keeps pushing up the sound of silence. This is annoying during the quieter early scenes. The English subtitles are well-translated and well-timed. The DVD has no extras on it.

A poster for the 2006 remake

Japan’s biggest film of Summer 2006 was called The Sinking of Japan and is out on region 3 DVD now. There’s also a very long TV series available from CDJapan, (in a 9 DVD boxset) without subtitles. I thought the film was long, but 1226 minutes is ridiculous.

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MAIL (2004) cheap thrills with Chiaki Kuriyama

MAIL
(2004, Japan)

Region 1 NTSC DVD (Genius Entertainment)

Manga artist/writer Housui Yamazaki has two manga being translated into English at the moment, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and Mail. The latter has already had a low-budget live-action adaption in Japan.

MAIL is an almost zero-budget shot-on-video version of Constantine, as our hero, Private Investigator Reiji Akiba, vanquishes spirits with a bullet from his Holy Pistol! How does he know about the ghosts? Well people mail him about them! Catchy, eh!

The action starts immediately, but with some very poorly realised video FX and a silly Sadako-type ghost on the crawl. Akiba turns up in the nick of time, shoots the ghost, that's it – end of case. This ridiculously simple solution, together with the fact that he’s psychic enough to 'see dead people' is neither fresh nor gripping.

Things pick up as a schoolgirl is saved from the ghost in her painting, (a familiar subplot also seen in the recent series Garo and Portrait de Petit Cossette). She decides to join him as an assistant (another overused ploy to sneak a schoolgirl into the series, just like in the manga and anime Ghost Hunt).

Luckily for us it’s Chiaki Kuriyama, though she’s not in that many scenes, and only has a chirpy schoolgirl character – hardly a stretch for her or any other young Japanese actress.

After a daft segment about a haunted sat-nav (hopefully that idea won’t be reworked as a feature), the plot thickens as we learn more about Akiba’s first job and how he got into this line of work. This segment benefits from not having cheesy FX and works on the basis of the performances and moody lighting. Though the story is rather reminiscent of The Eye.

I warmed to this having persevered with the opening half hour. Even the FX got better (in a Charmed sort of way) and the story achieves a poignant sort of closure. It’s more spirits than scares, a supernatural drama, rather than horror. Highly derivative but earnestly done, and saved from total oblivion by Chiaki’s presence.

The US DVD (pictured at the top) has English subtitles and is widescreen but non-anamorphic. The widescreen aspect infers that it was a v-cinema project, but the episodic structure and onscreen chapter titles make it look more like a short TV series. The running time is actually 110 minutes and not 150 mins as listed in many of the online DVD stores (because of inaccurate info on the DVD back cover).

Strangely the Japanese release - on 2 DVDs (with no English on them) - add up to 160 minutes, so we've lost 40 minutes somewhere, but this is long enough already.

It’s yet another project only really worth watching for Chiaki Kuriyama. Why she isn’t getting a string of movie roles is beyond me. After her high-profile roles in Battle Royale and Kill Bill Volume 1, I thought the movie world would be at her feet. Instead, she’s done more TV than film, even in Japan. If anyone was suitable for YoYo Schoolgirl Cop, I'd have thought she’d be obvious, to further ensure international success.

There's a nifty trailer for Mail with lots of Chiaki in it here on YouTube.

For fans, here’s an interview with Chiaki that was done at the end of last year for TV in the UK. It's a segment from Japanorama, presented by Jonathan Ross - Britain's biggest cult movie buff and Japanophile. Here on YouTube.

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