Wednesday was horror day so most movies in this post are horrors.

Resiklo
by Mark A. Reyes
The Philippines 2007, sci-fi
The usual plot where Earth is invaded by extra-terrestrial monsters and a group of rebels fight against them. Of course the fearless leader will save the world, to say nothing of the girl. In this one they built a collage of references to famous movies: Star wars, Mad Max, Gladiator, X-men and countless others. Sci-trash.

The glorious team Batista
by NAKAMURA Yoshihiro
Japan 2008, medical thriller
Something is wrong in the hospital. People undergoing earth surgery suddenly started to die. Perhaps a killer hides in the equipe and two very different investigators will find it out. Well done movie with ironic lines and plenty of tension.

Our town
by Jung Kil-young
South Korea 2008, psycho-horror
In a small town a serial killer suddenly starts to murder people and crucifix them. We’re immediately told who the killer is but there’s something wrong, perhaps there’s a copycat? What’s their motivation? Sustained tension leads to a dramatic conclusion. Best use of audio effects.

Altar
by Rico Maria ILARDE
The Philippines 2007, horror
The classic haunted house story, but done so hilariously bad you get to laugh all the time. I wonder how this made it to the festival.

The screen at Kamchanod
by Songsak MONGKOLTHONG
Thailand 2007, horror
Ghosts tied to a forgotten movie appear when the film is run. A scientist a his friends try to solve the mystery. Slow and a little boring.

Black house
by SHIN Terra
South Korea 2007, psycho-horror
An insurance agent is sucked in a story of horrifying murders and mutilations enacted by a psychopath to get money from the insurance company. Trying to react, the agent will then attract violence on himself in a spiral of increasing tension. Best splatter scene.

The guard post
by KONG Su-chang
South Korea 2008, horror
Something terrible happened at GP506, a military fortification on the border with North Korea. 20 out of 21 men were killed in a furious internal fight. A man has a mere few hours to investigate what happened and he’s going to have to face the same unknown enemy. Blood, violence and mystery. Recalls Carpenter’s The thing.

Magic boy
by Adam WONG
Hong-Kong 2007, youth romance
Two young magician friends are in love with the same girl and will use all of their tricks to capture her feelings. In the process they’ll learn to grow up while the girl will learn the value of playfulness. Average.

The assembly
by FENG Xiaogang
China 2007, war epic

During the civil war of 1949 a platoon is sent to defend a land post against the overwhelming enemy fire. The 1st 20 minutes have a great dramatic effect for their crudeness and recalled Saving private Ryan, though this was possibly made even better.  Weren’t for the final, a little too slow and commemorative, this would have been a perfect war movie.

Deathfix: die and let live
by MIKI Satoshi
Japan 2007, crazed comedy
A freelance writer is asked to get a near-death experience using a special chemical and report on the afterlife, but the plot doesn’t matter that much cause it’s just an excuse for a sequence of jokes and surreal situations. This movie is probably lots of fun but it was late at night, past midnight, and I was so tired it wasn’t funny anymore. At some point I fell asleep so I won’t cast a vote on this.

A sister’s garden
by Shin Sang-ok
South Korea 1959, drama
Another movie from the retrospective. In a post-war South Korea two sisters struggle to keep up with their lifestyle after most of their money went to pay a debt and their father died in the process. They are surrounded by men with different agendas and must swallow plenty of delusions in this newly capitalist society. Old style but still enjoyable.

Kala malam bulan mangambang
by Mamat KHALID
Malaysia 2008, noir
A black and white story with a reporter blocked in a strange village of the countryside where ghost-like events happen and every character has a bad shadow, but ironic lines and comic situations let the movie on a parody tune. There are probably references to local culture that I couldn’t get, or maybe actual consistency errors.

Adrift in Tokio
by MIKI Satoshi
Japan 2007, road movie
A debt collector and a student lagging behind stop their everyday activities to walk together through Tokio, small talking and progressively getting to know each other until they’re tied by actual relationships. A very light movie about small things important in our life.

Funuke, show some love you losers!
by YOSHIDA Daihachi
Japan 2007, black comedy
Thee brothers are forced together after their parents both died abruptly. They have very difficult and violent relationships but the most oppressed will find a way out in a very manga style. Excellent photography and surreal sequences.

The detective
by Oxide PANG
Hong-Kong 2007, thriller
A private investigator is hired to find a women who’s apparently chasing the client but he will found the story is much more complex and there are lots of things and crimes to explain. The sequence of the dropping fridge is hearth-stopping.

Handle me with care
by Kongdej JATURUNRUTSAMEE
Thailand 2008, road movie
A three-armed man and a big-breasted beauty coming from the countryside meet while traveling to Bangkok, trying to solve their problems. Their physical diversity, altough opposite, make them feel empathy and fall in love. Intelligent drama with a surreal twist.

The happy life
by LEE Joon-ik
South Korea 2007, drama
After the funeral of a friend, three men in their 40s get together to re-form the rock band of their youth and escape the problems of their ordinary life, no matter what their wives can say. Like an active volcano, after 20 years of rest they can still erupt their sheer passion and make a success. Fun.

Always – Sunset on third street – 2
by YAMAZAKY Takashi
Japan 2007, nostalgic melodrama
This is a sequel of what I think was the best movie at FEFF2006. The humble and yet extraordinary life of the same characters in the neighborhood of a post-war developing Tokio, with a constant feeling of great hope for a better world that’s coming. Moving, again.

Trivial matters
by PANG Ho-cheung
Hong-Kong 2007, episodes
Seven small episodes about nevrotic life and unimportant things. A self-amusing sequence of style exercises where the director tries to yield a good result with a very low budget, unfortunately with uneven outcome. Some episodes are great, some aren’t. Entertaining none the less.

A flower in hell
by Shin Sang-ok
South Korea 1958, drama
This year FEFF dedicated a retrospective to this Korean director of the 50s. This movie is interesting to see post-war South Korean life, with men stealing stuff from the American army warehouse and selling that on the black market while their gorgeous women sell themselves to the American soldiers. Unfortunately it’s 50 years old and nowadays it’s not easy to watch.

Mr Cinema
by Samson Chiu
Hong-Kong 2007, nostalgic drama
Released to celebrate the 10th anniversary after handover to the Chinese government, this movie describes life in HK in the last 40 years, following economic booms and recessions, political struggle and society changes revolving around the humble but proud family of a projectionist. A little propaganda but not bad.

In the pool
by MIKI Satoshi
Japan 2005, comedy
In a sequence of surreal and comic situations a manager that has to swim in a pool to defend against stress, a men with a constant erection and journalist affected by anxiety are the three improbable patients of an even crazier psychiatrist fond of leopard-print shirts. Crazy fun.

Here I am, just back from FEFF. I managed to watch 23 movies in 5 days. And I survived!

In the next few days I’m going to write about the movies I watched, but first I’d like to talk about a dinner we had in Udine.  A friend of us, Flavia, suggested we try Osteria Lo sbarco dei pirati in the city center and I’m very glad she did.  Thanks Flavia!

Lo sbarco dei pirati is a  picturesque place with plenty of traditional stuff hanging from the roof, that warm feeling you get inside mountain huts and a funny owner.  At first he tried to talk friulan (the local dialect) but we could barely understand what he was talking about.

After a very good goulash we ordered gubana, a traditional nut-roll cake.  The owner asked if we wanted it “with slivovitz”.  We said no, mostly because we didn’t know it, but that was a terrible mistake.  The owner reacted as if we murdered somebody, as if gubana with no slivovitz were a criminal sin!  You know, in Italy we care a lot for our traditions and if somebody tried to eat salamina without pure I would react the same.  We had to quickly retreat to re-establish the cosmic equilibrium.

After eating the cake we discovered slivovitz is a strong and bitter distilled liquor and makes a great pair with gubana!  Well, you have to be careful because you can get drunk eating cakes, but it’s definitely worthwhile.  Eventually I researched on the pedia to find out this is the generic name for a sort of plum brandy typical of the slavic area.  Good to know!

Between a movie and the next one you can sunbath on the grass in front of the theater or sit at the internal cafè. Here at the FEFF in the middle of the crowd it happens strangers will sit at your table and you suddenly find yourself doing conversation in a casual group of half a dozen people, one from Beijing, one from Klagenfürt, one from Udine, one from Villach. You can feel like you are in a global melting (G-s)pot, and that’s not just for cinephiles.

So once again I’m attending the Far East Film Festival in Udine. This year they run 8 movies a day and there’s practically no pause to eat. If you want to miss nothing you need a catheter Yesterday I got two autographs from NAKATA Hideo (director of Death Note movies) and YAMAZAKI Takashi (director of Always Sunset On Third Street). Stay tuned.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video was shown in the theater before each movie.

In four days I’ve watched 19 movies:

• After this our exile ***
  by Patrick Tam, Hong Kong, a sad child story, where the child grows good despite his parents being completely inept.
• Agent X44 *****
  by Joyce Bernal, Philippines, a funny remake of the spy movie from the seventies
• Cruel winter blues **** 1/2
  by Lee Jung-bum, South Korea, even gangsters have hearts
• Death note **** 1/2
  by Kaneko Shusuke, Japan, manga story about a brilliant boy killing criminals just by writing their names on a book
• Death note: The last name **** 1/2
  by Kaneko Shusuke, Japan, sequel of the previous one
• A dirty carnival ****
  by Yoo Ha, South Korea, a realistic movie about gansters in the real gangster spirit
• Dog bite dog **
  by Soi Cheang, Hong Kong, a crude and bloody crime thriller
• Eternal summer **
  by Leste Chen, Taiwan, triangle love/friendship story among 2 girls and a boy.
• Eye in the sky **** 1/2
  by Yau Nai Hoi, Hong Kong, thriller where Surveillance Unit defeats a gang just by seeing everything.
• Family ties ****
  by Kim Tae-yong, South Korea, three episodes about difficult relationship between brothers, mother and daughter, lovers.
• The Host **** 1/2
  by Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, a monster brings terror in Seoul but a family will be united to fight it despite the government errors.
• The Matrimony *** 1/2
  by Teng Huatao, China, ghost movie where a girl died in a car accident tries to take over the wife of her ex-boyfriend.
• Memories of Matsuko *****
  by Nakashima Tetsuya, Japan, love makes life worthwhile even when you get only delusions. A truly colored comedy.
• The restless ** 1/2
  by Cho Dong-oh, South Korea, lots of computer graphics in this fantasy movie
• Sakuran **
  by Ninagawa Mika, Japan, a geisha life story in the Edo-era, with a modern soundtrack.
• Umizary 2: test of trust *
  by Hasumi Eiichiro, Japan, a disaster where Coast Guard divers save people from a boat sinking whit a romantic love story mixed in
• Uncle’s paradise ** 1/2
  by Imaoka Shinji, Japan, pink movie with dream-reality dualism and infernal twists.
• Young and clueless **
  by Tang Danian, China, love/friendship stories among teen girls and a boys, and evolution when they grow up.
• Nomad ***
  by Patrick Tam, Hong Kong, a disenchanted portrait of youngness bore in the eighties, with a violent ending.

I’m currently in Udine, where yesterday began the 9th edition of the Far East Film Festival. This is the 3rd year in a row I come here to attend the festival. In case you don’t know, FEFF is the largest showcase of popular Asian cinema held in the western world. Here you can see international previews of movies that will come to our theaters months ahead, and several movies that will never reach european theaters. Of course directors, producers and main actors come to Udine to present their work and feel the warm welcome this city can give them. They shoot movies from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, and so on.

Today I attended five movies in a row and now I’m exhausted. The most interesting was Eye in the sky. I’ll keep you posted!