Shariq Madani at DIFF 2009
Daily Festival Report: 11th December 2009 (Day #2)
Three movies, three genres, three varying levels of quality: from Korea to Japan to Sweden; from a personal story to a mythical epic to a post-apocalyptic animated. As my oft-repeated slogan de troika goes, the day included the good, the bad and the weird (but not necessarily in that order!). Here’s the doozy:
My Dear Enemy (Meotjin Haru)
Yoon-ki Lee | South Korea | 2008
123 mins
My Dear Enemy commits one of the greatest sins a movie can commit — it gets boring. A simple enough premise could well have lead to a useful exploration of the film’s two main characters’ interplay and psyche; it could also have been a humorous look into the situations they get into. The film does neither. The first 15 minutes of My Dear Enemy tell us almost everything we need to know about these people. Then from there on it out, it just allows time to tick on, burdening us with a painfully shallow female lead. It could have been a wonderful short. But it ends up being a five-course meal of biscuits only!
Kamui (Kamui Gaiden)
Yoichi Sai | Japan | 2009
120 mins
As far as Ninja movies go, Kamui takes itself very seriously. And appropriately so. Director Yoichi Sai sets up a scene early on with a voice-over narration which entrusts the movie into mythical folklore. Following traditional Japanese ink-paintings in an animated prelude, the movie follows one fugitive ninja, Kamui, on the run from a ninja clan. Ultra-serious, masterful at his craft, and with not a single care, he escapes to and finally settles on an island of fishing-folk –- unaware of the love and treachery that awaits him. Although the film does not employ state-of-the-art effects, it fills each scene, action or drama with enough soul. The fight-sequences are intense, sometimes brutal, fun and a tribute to the iconic imagery that ninjas carry in popular culture. Unfortunately, the movie lacks a strong villain — one that could have been a cause of real threat to the hero. Therefore, the climactic showdown does not reach the level of excitement that the movie builds towards. It was just another good fight.
Metropia
Tarik Saleh | Sweden | 2009
86 mins
In the hands of a good director and a great cinematographer, Metropia can be a wonderful live-action movie. It could just as easily enough become a bad b-grade direct-to-video also. Tarik Saleh’s Metropia, with its peculiar technique and an eerie visual motif, is an askewed look into a dystopian future. The over-sized heads and two-dimensional movements mixed with photo-real faces and skin create a bizarre effect. This surreal effect does not wear off as the movie progresses but instead complements the mystery that the movie’s story presents. The movie raises many questions, answers too few, but it is eventually not about intellectualizing the story. Metropia is about how it is made. Nonetheless, this does not stop the director from making a jab at our increasing fascination with voyeurism.
Day 3 has plunged me deeper into the 2009 Dubai International Film Festival. Having seen 10 movies till now, and four movies lined up for tomorrow, it will be easy to be overly critical towards movies that find it hard to hold the audience’s interest. However, it is usually on such days that the best of the festival is discovered. Plus, there’s the rain…