Reviews of screenings from the The 2011 Reel Asian International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada.
Surrogate Valentine (U.S.A., 2011, 75 mins. Dir: Dave Boyle)
Goh Nakamura might have once been a wild man of rock'n'roll. But now, whimsical ringtones notwithstanding, he operates with the sober deliberateness of a lifer trying to get by as a working musician. In this film Nakamura plays a fictionalized version of himself, and every long slog on the highway and every stranger's floor he sleeps on ring with weary verisimilitude. Gigs and the occasional music lesson aren't quite enough to put together a stake for some studio time with a big-shot producer, so Goh reluctantly signs on as a "technical advisor" for a friend's movie. His job is to teach some rudimentary guitar to Danny Turner (Chadd Stoops), a television actor with dubious thespian skills who wants to absorb Nakamura's persona with full-bore Method immersion.
As Goh increasingly realizes that his friend's script is a thinly-veiled version of his own life, he becomes increasingly conflicted, especially as to whether he should help Danny to "get him right" in his portrayal. And all this takes place against the backdrop of Goh's reunion with Rachel (Lynn Chen), an old flame who is also portrayed in the script.
The scenes between Goh and Rachel crackle with the easy chemistry of old friends, and Goh's desire to push things along is palpable. The parts with Danny are more of a mixed bag — played as brash and largely oblivious, a little bit of the character goes a long way, even when we see later in the film that he's trying to do right by Goh. Still, this is a low-slung charmer of a film, and Goh is easy to root for. If things with Rachel don't work out, we're left hoping that at least this might provide him with grist for a knockout song — and like Goh, we can dare to hope that just maybe something more might come of it.
Shot by Boyle in budget-conscious black-and-white, the film looks good and doesn't overstay its welcome with its trimmed-down running time. And Nakamura's music — sounding like Elliott Smith by way of Elvis Costello's folksy side — adds as much as his charming personality. Well worth seeing.
Pearls of the Far East (Canada/Vietnam, 2011, 103 mins. Dir: Cuong Ngo)
If a director's greatest task is to arouse an emotional response in the audience, this film (receiving its world premiere) succeeded like wildfire — inasmuch as I really hated it. This is, of course, an entirely subjective reaction, based on the film's approach and tone rather than the ample technical merit it contains.
A compendium of seven stories by author Minh Ngoc Nguyen, each of these episodes deals with a different form of unrequited love. "Episodes" is an apt term here, as each of these vignettes come close to the heady melodrama of a soap-opera, every gesture heightened and fake-y. Anyone looking for a light touch should move along, as there's not much subtlety on offer here. That starts with the cloying score (which overpowers like someone wearing too much perfume) and continues with the broader-than-broad acting — there's no characters here, just archetypes. And in case you weren't sure why a character is staring wistfully into the middle distance, fear not — a flashback to something that happened on-screen just seconds ago will remind you.
There's no doubt that the film captures the natural beauty of Vietnam. But even that is taken too far, with every immaculately-groomed scene feeling sterile and airless — by the end, I was positively aching to see an empty pop can roll across the foreground or an oil stain on a road. Similarly, it seems that the cast were mostly chosen for pin-up appeal, with several of the male actors looking like Harlequin covers brought to life — most unintentionally hilarious was the always-shirtless Kris Duangphung, projecting like a more-broody, extra-dim Keanu Reeves.
All of which meant that the movie totally failed to connect with me. Others' mileage may vary — it was well received by the crowd at this screening, and I could hear small laughs of joyful recognition at some of the specifically-Vietnamese cultural cues on the screen. But unless the weirdly-chaste fantasy world of romance novels appeals to you, I'd suggest avoiding this one.
Just a reminder: With the main portion of the "downtown" festival successfully wrapped up, ReelAsian is taking its films to where its audience is, with a weekend of screenings at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. More information here.
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