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Reviews
Japanese Story (2003)
A naturalistic journey into a landscape of raw emotion and beauty.
Tender, original and moving, Japanese Story boasts an exceptional performance from Toni Collette. The star of Muriel's Wedding plays the ambitious geologist Sandy Edwards, reluctantly accepting the assignment to guide Japanese businessman Tachibana Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) through the Australian outback: a vista of spartan natural beauty captured through expert photography. Unlikely intimacy and human emotion beckons in the expanse, as the feisty Antipodean and reserved Easterner clash and then connect, while getting lost in the desert.
The polarised characters of Sandy and Hiromitsu are thrown together purely for placating the relations of business, reflective perhaps of the relationship between Australia and Japan for the last fifty years as their union exists rather out of an economic necessity. Sandy accepts the assignment in order to promote her software designs, determined to persist in striking up conversation with her reluctant Japanese counterpart. Hiromitsu exhibits all the characteristics of a patriarchal tradition; conversing only with men in the language of business whilst openly rejecting Sandy as merely his chaperon not worthy of any common courtesy of niceties.
The film takes us on a road-trip journey that forces the unlikely couple further into the expansive Australian terrain. Hiromitsu seems obsessed with the amount of space the land has to offer signifying his claustrophobic existence in both his marriage and corporate structure where he is subordinate to his father. His infatuation with Australia's limitless landscape fuels his demands for Sandy to drive deeper into the unknown. Sandy meanwhile openly displays her disdain and frustration towards Hiromitsu yet a series of unpredictable enactments allow attraction, desire and romance to ensue.
Just when their relationship is tenderly developing in adversity, the film takes a dramatic turn, forcing the audiences expectations of a conventional love story to be confounded. What we get instead is a radical turn of events that cause a delineated plot leaving the audience emotionally wrenched whilst unable to fathom the film's outcome. Alison Tilson's script directed by Sue Brooks gives the film a tenderness and realism to both character and plot which could so easily have been overplayed. The film in essence is as unpredictable as life, taking you on a journey where the final destination is never a straightforward route of resolutely love and happiness. Under Brook's direction, Collette and Tsunashima give a performance that is outstanding, captivating and highly charged with emotion. Collete's naturalistic and raw emotion is powerful enough to effect even the hardest of nerves whilst Tsunashima's character transgresses from a confined man to a freer being allowed to shake off his shackles of tradition and expectation.
The film's beautifully constructed cinematography of a picturesque yet barren landscape is reflective of Sandy and Hiromitsus' relationship that exudes so much promise and beauty within an environment of unpredictability, danger and frailty. Hiromitsu even remarks to Sandy that 'You have shown me so much beauty' which rings true through the landscape, her physicality and their human emotion. The film's success lies within its examination of binaries and confounding expectations within those structures. The cultural division between East and West are temporarily eroded in the relationship between Sandy and Hiromitsu whilst gender and sexuality are displayed in a unique cinematic way. The male body becomes the object of desire through the lingering camera work both on the beach and in the hotel bedroom encounter. Both female and male body are examined equally adding to the feeling that both Sandy and Hiromitsu are temporarily detached from the world abandoning all its preconceptions and social baggage.
It is remarkable to see another resounding success for Australian cinema and so refreshing that Collette isn't just prepared to settle at what Hollywood throws at her. Japanese Story is a powerful journey into the unknown and the unexpected, leaving both the protagonists and audience emotionally exposed to what life has in store for us.
Irréversible (2002)
A brutal depiction of life that will make you question the nature of cinema and entertainment.
Director Gasper Noe is no stranger to controversy as his film prior to Irreversible ended up being censored for its containment of real, albeit blurred, porn images. The genius behind Irreversible then is the way in which it cleverly defies censorship through unfolding the action backwards and in single, uninterrupted takes forcing the audience to witness a climactic and terrifying beginning set against an almost optimistic and happier end.
The plot of the film is purely and simply a 'rape and revenge' tale, with the crucial difference being that it is filmed in reverse. This means that after a bizarre, seemingly unrelated conversation between two men, the camera dizzyingly moves out of the window to the Rectum nightclub below, opening the film with the lead character, Marcus (Vincent Cassel) being led away by the police. Moments later, we see the horrifically brutal act of violence that led to his arrest, then Marcus discovering the badly beaten body of his wife Alex (Monica Bellucci), followed by the deeply shocking and powerful nine-minute central scene in which Alex is horrifically attacked both mentally and physically, anally-raped and then brutally beaten after she tragically walks through a subway underpass.
This, admittedly, is extremely uncomfortable to sit through and there were numerous reports of walkouts when the film screened at both the Cannes and Edinburgh film festivals. However, the structure of the film means that, perversely and paradoxically, Noe provides his film with a happy ending, since the film leaves us with beautifully intimate and sometimes humorous scenes involving Alex and Marcus as lovers in bed whilst Alex discovers she is pregnant.
Visually, the film is extremely impressive as the swooping camera relentlessly follows the actors, plunging us into a world of horrific nightmares and sexual depravity. The fact that the camera never cuts away with each scene lasting up to ten minutes long means that the audience is never given any space to breath and cannot escape the reality of what is happening before us. Similarly, Cassel, Bellucci and Dupontel as their mutual friend, are exceptional through their immensely tender, naturalistic and no doubt-improvised dialogue. The reversal effect of the film is both technically and mentally stunning as the audience in its position of safety and authority examines and replays the films unfolding with a deeper understanding and resonance for the tragedy and horror on screen.
The film is undoubtedly an unusual and unique cinematic experience that forces you to examine the way in which you experience a film and indeed your reactions to it. Films like Irreversible, Requiem for a Dream and Ma Soeur force us to consider the question of whether we can ever truly enjoy watching such harrowing films when they appear perhaps too realistic in their depiction of a brutal life. Some might argue that a film which conveys such disturbing images of extreme physical violence and rape must have something redeeming about it in order for the film to be constructed as a worthwhile cinematic experience.
Certainly when talking about such controversial films as Irreversible and Requiem for a Dream, it is impossible to say you liked them yet they remain powerful and thought provoking nonetheless. What can we say about it other than it is a film that captures the incapability of fate and consequence, underlying how we are all susceptible to time's destruction. A controversial film yes, but one that is sure to get people into a dialogue into the nature of cinema and entertainment.
Secretary (2002)
A profoundly erotic and original slant on the exhausted subject of love.
Steven Shainberg's debut film Secretary, adapted from a short story by Mary Gaitskill, is a profoundly erotic and moving tale of how love can cultivate in even the most unusual of circumstances. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Lee, a self-harming outpatient of a psychiatric institution, who lands a job as a secretary for an eccentric lawyer, Edward Grey - played by James Spader, an actor who seems strangely at home when it comes to playing roles that explore the sexually perverse (Crash, Sex Lies & Videotape). Lee is a long way from being cured of her desire for self-harm as no sooner is she back home for her sister's wedding than she's harming herself again, whether it be through scolding herself with a kettle or using her home made kit to cut herself with medical precision.
It is in this environment of self-harm and boredom with her unfulfilling boyfriend (Jeremy Davies) that Lee increasingly finds herself drawn to her hard-edged boss, forcing a series of sadomasochistic enactments to ensue. E. Edward Grey, a man who seems incapable of forging any lasting relationships, is less at ease with his sexual desires than Lee who seems determined to force Grey into embracing his sadistic instinct.
The film is therefore insightful in its exploration and discussion of sexual politics as the audience can either see Lee's sexual determination as empowering or conclude that she is a pathetic woman caught up in a male fantasy of female subjugation. The film's portrayal of self-harm, a complex subject that is rarely confronted, is no less divided as Lee has merely found another outlet for her masochistic desires, begging the question of whether her triumph is justified when she stops torturing herself to give someone else the pleasure to hurt.
There is also a certain air of doubt over whether a relationship that is based upon sadomasochistic intent can ever truly exist as Secretary is exclusively focused around love as sexual expression as opposed to a general conception of love which is centred upon companionship, compassion, sharing and laughter. The love expressed in the film is troublesome to say the least in that what it appears to say is that if only masochists and sadists could find each other then they could freely participate in an activity which is less self-harm and more of a legitimate sexual proclivity.
Whatever your opinion on the film's sexual mores, it convincingly depicts some genuine moments of intimacy and emotion however uncomfortable it may seem to admit. With Gyllenhaal it seems that less is more in terms of her acting as her face becomes remarkably expressive and mesmerising whilst Spader is excellent in forging both a perverse yet gentle dominator. The film has an unmistakable feel of a world not far from the mind of Lynch, both through the slow paced and lingering camera work and simplistic dialogue to the propulsive score by Angelo Badalamenti.
Secretary was certainly one of the best films of 2002, as not only did it contain some truly remarkable acting from two greatly underrated actors but forced its audience to be moved by an unconventional yet highly original depiction of love. After all, who are we to say that this type of relationship could not exist when two people express their love for another in a way that society deems unnatural yet feels perfectly natural to both Lee and Grey. Secretary is both erotic and witty yet never overtly sexual or titillating and remains a film for those who can appreciate an original slant on the exhausted subject of love.