Udine Dispatch. 1.

Miike Takashi knows why the Udine Far East Film Festival is one of the most popular festivals of Asian cinema in the world. It's about the audience and the films, not the market and money. The unedited version of his latest film, Imprint (Japan, 2006), was shown at a special screening at midnight on opening night. Takashi told us that he was happy to work on the Masters of Horror series, and the fact that it was censored in the USA doesn't bother him. He was able to make the film as he wanted. If it weren't for the censorship, he knows the film would not have drawn so much attention.

By the way, the scenes cut from some versions have to do with aborted fetuses. The distinguished director said that he tries to break down the wall that we build to protect us from our fears. He even humorously encouraged us to take our children to see Imprint. Although he did admit that he was reluctant to have his mother see it, so he understands the strength of these walls. It may be hard to figure out the iconography of Takashi's films but he suggested that if we want to do some homework, one of his favorite and most autobiographical films is Young Thugs: Nostalgia (1998), the story of a young boy growing up in a dysfunctional family who puts his fantasy world to good.

Takashi noted that he likes to mix American culture with his films. In Imprint, set in the 19th century, an American journalist, Christopher (Billy Drago), tries to discover how, Komomo, a woman he loved, has died. But he's a heartless soul, as revealed in the opening scene, when wishes a female corpse he spots in the water good riddance. Drago's delivery is wooden and theatrical, which is one of the disturbing elements of the film. A woman Christopher buys sexual favors from (Youki Kudoh) tells the story of his lost love, so sexuality and horror are intimately entwined from the beginning. Theme of the film: Why do people want to know the truth? Better yet, why do people want to see needles pushed under someone's cuticles? Like many in Udine, I had to ask myself why I wanted to watch this. But Takashi delivers. Imprint is rich in gothic horror detail, with magnificent costume and makeup. Be prepared for long torture scenes with a smiling woman with precision tools who is brutally cold, on the scale of what we witnessed in Audition (1999). Imprint also reveals some of the imaginative world of The Great Yokai War (2005).

The opening film of the festival was Han Jae-Rim's Rules of Dating (South Korea, 2005). I recall a seminar last year at last year's festival on the excellent relationship between the DP and the director in Asian films. In this case, the cinematography by Yong-su Park is exquisite - often better than the story. The opening scenes feature an admirable visual style with students running in a playground. The lead characters Hong (Park Hae-il) and Yu-rim, (Gang Hye-jung), a student and her advisor, initially seemed to have very little chemistry so it was hard to get into the film. In fact, Yu-rim serves as almost a caricature of a woman. But Rules of Dating grows on you, showing the hierarchical order in the South Korean school system and how gossip has a gender pecking order. The provocative plot twist on the subject of date rape and sexual harassment compensates for whatever deficiencies the character development imposes on the work.

Posted by dwhudson at April 23, 2006 8:27 AM