Ghosted

I know that Monika Treut films are not for everyone but I have enjoyed watching her docs like Gendernauts and early strange films like Virgin Machine, still I had no real expectations about her latest film and I just reminded me to watch it with an open mind. I had not to worry as this film does not look or feel like the two I mention above, this feels and looks mainstream which is not really a good thing to say about a Treut film. Besides having average cinematography and a crazy ghost story that you guess too early -if you pay attention to a couple of characters that constantly appear- the film for me lost all the good-shocking elements and became quite ordinary.

But if I think only about the lesbian interest genre the story is normal, meaning that tells how Sophie Schmitt meets Ai-ling Chen, fall for each other, share their lives until the inevitable happens (one feels left aside) and tragedy follows. The narrative is non-linear which makes the film a little more interesting, plus Asian actresses are quite attractive. Also on the plus side the film shows the couple cultural contrasts and how no one is willing to acknowledge them in the name of love, which surely ends in a bad way.

So if you haven’t seen any Treut film I imagine that you will easily get involved in the storytelling; but if you have seen her previous work, I suggest you forget about it and go with a clean state of mind as will help you to watch the film and maybe enjoy it. I really wish someone had told me this before watching this movie.

I know that many that read this blog have to watch the movie and I say, go ahead as maybe you will enjoy many of the romance moments. Me, I watched the entire film and can’t say I like it, if I had skipped I would have not missed much.

Enjoy.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

46th Golden Horse Awards Winners

From news sources and the official site here are the winners in *Red.

--end of update--

Recently the Tapei Golden Horse Film Festival announced the nominations for the prestigious awards and here they are.

Best Feature Film
*No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Dai, Taiwan
Cow, Guan Hu, China
Crazy Racer, Ning Hao, China
Face, Tsai Ming Lian, Taiwan
Like A Dream, Clara Law, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Best Director
*Leon Dai for No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Taiwan
Guan Hu for Cow, China
Tsai Ming Liang for Face, Taiwan
Clara Law for Like A Dream, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Best Leading Actress
Sandrine Pinna in Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-Chieh, Taiwan
Yolanda Yuan in Like A Dream, Clara Law, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Zhou Xun in The Message, Chen Kuo-fu and Gao Qun-Shu, Taiwan and China
*Li Bingbing in The Message, Chen Kuo-fu and Gao Qun-Shu, Taiwan and China

Best Leading Actor (tie)
Chen Wen-Pin in No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Dai, Taiwan
*Nick Cheung in The Beast Stalker, Dante Lam, Hong Kong
*Huang Bo in Cow, Guan Hu, China
Daniel Wu in Like A Dream, Clara Law, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Best Supporting Actress
Liou Yiin Shang in Sleeping With Her, Wen Chih-Yi,Taiwan
Lu Yi-Ching in A Place of One's Own, Lou Yi-An, Taiwan
*Wai Ying Hung in At the End of Daybreak, Ho Yu-Hang, Malaysia
Zhang Ziyi in Forever Enthralled, Chen Kai-Ge, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong

Best Supporting Actor
Cai Zhen Nan in Ending Cut, Liao Chi-Hua, Taiwan
Huang Chien-Wei in Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-Chieh, Taiwan
Zhang Han Yu in The Equation of Love and Death, Cao Bao-Ping, China and Hong Kong
*Wang Xue Qi in Forever Enthralled, Chen Kai-Ge, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong

Best New Performer
Chen Wen-Pin in No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Dai, Taiwan
Her Sy-Huoy in Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-Chieh, Taiwan
*Yu Shao Qun in Forever Enthralled, Chen Kai-Ge, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong
Michelle Chen in Hear Me, Cheng Fen-Fen, Taiwan

The Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year
Let The Wind Carry Me, Chiang Hsiu-Chiung and Kwan Pun-Leung
*No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Dai, Taiwan
Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-Chieh, Taiwan

The Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year
*Lee Lung-Yue
Jack Kao
Leon Dai

Lifetime Achievement Award: Ming Ji
Special Contribution Award: George Wang
FIPRESCI Award: Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-Chieh, Taiwan

To check nominees and winners in all the categories go here and to read info about each movie go here. The awards ceremony will be held on November 28. To check the news release with all the awards (published 3 minutes ago) go here.

陽陽 Yang Yang

This is a movie all about cinematography and starts loud with a light saturation that will hurt your eyes, then almost all the movie is filmed with hand-held camera (which means the screen constantly moves), almost all scenes are close-ups and many scenes have texture. Sounds interesting isn’t? Well could have been interesting if the director paid more attention to the narrative as 112 minutes of not always interesting images is too much without a strong story to follow.

There are many so-called “beauty shots” of Sandrine Pinna, the exotic girl of Miao Miao that’s Eurasian and here plays an Eurasian character, but in most of the shots she doesn’t look beautiful because lenses and director were more interested in giving texture to the movie than in showing Pinna’s clean and young beauty that delighted my eyes in Miao Miao. Shame.

Most surprising is to find when the credits roll that Ang Lee is the consultant. I do not know what kind of consulting Lee did but this movie is nothing similar to any of his excellent movies, including the ones when he started. Shame.

I cannot recommend this movie and if someone says that is art… hmm, then is very pretentious and irrelevant artish cinema. Shame.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

11th Taipei Film Festival Award Winners

Recently the fest had the awards ceremony and here are the winners.

New Talent Competition

Grand Prize: Disgrace, Steve Jacobs, Australia and South Africa, 2008

Special Jury Prize: Parking, Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan, 2008

Special Mention:
Breathless, Yang Ik-June, South Korea, 2008
The Dark Harbor, Naito Takatsugu, Japan, 2008
La Nana (The Maid), Sebastian Silva, Chile, 2009

Audience Choice Award: Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-chieh, Taiwan, 2009

To check all the award winners go here.

Tapei Award

Winners are not posted at the official site in English, but from other sources here are some of the winners.

Best Film: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Ta, Taiwan, 2009
Special Jury Prize: Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-chieh Taiwan, 2009
Best Director: Chung Mong-hong for Parking, Taiwan, 2008
Best Actress: Sandrine Pinna in Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-chieh Taiwan, 2009
Best Actor: Chen Wen-ping in No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Ta, Taiwan, 2009

Great Miao Miao won two awards for best cinematography and best editing.

11th Taipei Film Festival

The fest will run from June 26 to July 12 and here are the films in the New Talent Competition. All films come from prestigious festivals where won awards or were official selections.

Breathless, Yang Ik-June, South Korea, 2008
Disgrace, Steve Jacobs, Australia and South Africa, 2008
Everyone Else, Maren Ade, Germany, 2009
Parking, Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan, 2008
Parque Via, Enrique Rivero, Mexico, 2008
Salamander, Pablo Aguero, Argentina, France and Germany, 2008
The Dark Harbor, Naito Takatsugu, Japan, 2008
La Nana (The Maid), Sebastian Silva, Chile, 2009
The Noise in My Head, Vincent Pluss, Germany and Switzerland, 2008
The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner, Stephan Komandarev, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia, 2008
Unmade Beds, Alexis Dos Santos, UK, 2008
Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-chieh, Taiwan, 2009 (must be seen)

These are the films in competition for the Taipei Award.

Ayu, Lai Chunyu, Taiwan, 2009
A Place of One’s Own, Lou Yi-an, Hong Kong and Taiwan, 2009
Finding Here, Cheng Feng-heng, Taiwan, 2008 (intriguing)
Miao Miao, Cheng Hsiao-tse, Hong Kong, 2008
No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, Leon Ta, Taiwán, 2009
Parking, Chung Mong-hong, Taiwán, 2008
Port of Return, Chang Jung-kuei, Taiwan, 2009 (animation)
Somewhere I have Never Travelled, Fu Tien-yu, Taiwan, 2009
Yang Yang, Cheng Yu-chieh Taiwan, 2009

There is one opening film that seems very interesting Germany 09, a collection of 13 short films by Fatih Akin, Wofgang Becker, Sylke enders, Domik Graf, Christoph Hochhausler, Romuald Karmakar, Nicolette Krebitz, Dani Levy, Angela Schanelec, Hans Steinbichler, Isabelle Stever, Tom Tykwer, and Hans Weingarter, Germany, 2009

Also very interesting and starring Anamaria Marinca is Storm, Hans-Christian Schmid, Germany 2009 and for those living in Taiwan I strongly suggest you do not miss the opportunity to watch in the big screen two classic lesbian interest films in the Vintage Berlin section: Aimee & Jaguar and Girls in Uniform. Also the gay interest films are remarkable and includes a retrospective by Rob Epstein and his well known documentaries like The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet.

To browse the fest site go here.