Change Your Image
WonKaiKo
Reviews
The Terminal (2004)
An enjoyable film but a lost opportunity.
The one thing that struck me as truly bizarre about this entire film was the fact that DreamWorks never actually used the original story details that they (reportedly) shelled out around $250,000 for. As the old adage goes, "true life is stranger than fiction", and in the case of Mr. Merhan Karimi Nasseri, the (former) Iranian citizen who is the unsung hero of the real-life story which inspired this work, that is absolutely the case. The most important part of any film is establishing credibility in the opening segment but the reworking of real-life events that the scriptwriters gave to this film was just not credible. This is a great, great pity as it is a truly remarkable sounding story about immigration bureaucracy and mistakes, stolen credentials, a human-rights court struggle, and a 16-year confinement to the international transit lounge of Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport.
It's every film maker's prerogative to instil whatever political or emotional overtones that they see fit into their work. And Spielberg definitely left his overtones all over this film, from the grossly overdone syrupy schmaltz in some areas to the "politically correct" and fantasy-style portrayal of immigration at United States airports regarding detainees. I myself have been harassed, strip-searched, and the contents of my baggage overturned by United States immigration on numerous occasions just due to the colour of my skin and the fact my name looks "indian". So the portrayal that US immigration finally has "compassion for the human plight" was nigh-on insulting in the light of my own experiences.
However, contrary to other reviews posted, I still believe that Spielberg spent a great deal of effort on the visual and audio realism that is the reason for his well-earned reputation. I also believe he had to make some very serious judgements about how to interpret events in a real-life story and about whether those events should even be portrayed in the film in the first place. The facts show that Mr. Nasseri indulged in political activity against his own country within the confines of the United Kingdom, and that the British Government later (unrelatedly) denied his application for citizenship based on his claims of British ancestry. So, given the potentially hazardous material there was to work with, I think Spielberg did a good job in finding the likable aspects of a character that could have easily been unfavourably viewed by audiences. He also did a very reasonable job in emphasising the fact that life has a little humour even in the darkest of situations, and it is this for me that made the film quite enjoyable overall. As for the actors, Tom Hanks's attention to detail in language and character was excellent (care of a Bulgarian dialect coach), though a little cheesy in places. And the other performances, particularly Stanley Tucci and Barry Shabaka Henley, were good given the script they had to work with.
Of course, the one problem you have with dramatising any truly bizarre real-life story is that you have to bring it within the credible reaches of your target audience if they are to make the leap of faith on their part to connect with it. This is Spielberg's forte and in this film he created a work that was enjoyable and believable for cosy, suburban households without the entire concept being lost on them. However, having purchased the rights to a story about a living person, you have to wonder what drives a director to literally ignore real-life facts in favour of an almost completely unbelievable plot rewrite. In doing so, he squandered an opportunity to make a legendary film while, at the same time, trivialising the events that mentally all-but destroyed a man confined to a terminal building due to an unfortunate incident at a railway station followed by 16 years of bureaucratic red tape.
Would I recommend this film as enjoyable viewing? Yes. Then I would recommend going to a news website and actually reading the real story. At the time of writing, The Guardian newspaper (UK) article "The man who lost his past" has a one year feature documentary about Mr. Nasseri. I guarantee you'll find the real-life version a lot more fascinating.
Himitsu (1999)
Prepare to be emotionally battered
This film is probably one of the most seductive films you will ever see providing that you are a person who actually prefers to be emotionally taxed at the cinema rather than simply wooed with special effects and large explosions.
The story is about a husband whose wife and daughter are both involved in a coach accident on the way back from a skiing trip. However, in the hospital as the mother and daughter lay side by side in the emergency ward, a last dying wish by the mother to hold her daughter's hand is to throw the husband's life into turmoil; the personality of the mother being transferred to their daughter's body moments before she dies due to some mysterious power in the wedding ring she is wearing.
From that moment, the story is sensitive and delicate, it's meandering pace worked so masterfully that you barely notice the 2 hours or so rapidly slipping by delivering situation after anxious situation, such as the husband's turmoil of wanting to satisfy his wife's emotional and sexual needs but being unable to violate the boundaries presented in his daughter's physical appearance. Along the way, as the daughter's personality appears to be coming back, the wife's personality ebbs away and many poignant moments are created as the husband has to deal with the possibility that his wife is finally going to leave him.
Since "Ghost" first came out all those years ago, there have been countless re-workings in different languages of what was, undoubtedly, one of the most original stories of it's time - a story of a loved one coming back and living in a mysterious temporal space between life and death, giving the widowed spouse one final opportunity of companionship. Only last year a Korean version was released with the title "I Introduce to You My Girlfriend" (title translated from Japanese release).
However, the art of film-making is always in the execution, and that is why Japanse film making is never to be underestimated when it comes to getting to the crux of what makes human emotions tick. Unlike the dreary and shallow Hollywood efforts, this is a masterpiece and the ending is a true shocker; gently delivered and seriously potent. It left me frustrated with my mind in pieces, not because the film was sub-standard in any way, but because I felt so much for the situations of the characters involved. Great films have the power to emotionally absorb their audience and this is definitely one of those films.
I have not seen the English translation of this film as I watch all of my Japanese movies in Japanese with no subtitles. This allows me to see and appreciate the film with all the inflections and nuances that the writers and film makers intended. I hope that the subtitling on this film does it justice, otherwise it could very easily ruin what is a masterful piece of film making.
Koibito wa sunaipâ: Gekijô-ban (2004)
Original Storyline, somewhat averagely executed
The film is about a man who decides to extort money from the Japanese Government by holding the citizens of Japan to ransom through a rather ingenious method. However, due to the man's profession as a police lawyer, he is able to shield his identity by influencing elements of the investigation through contacts within the police itself. In desperation, the Government decide to hire the services of a sniper who, at the time, is serving a 250-year sentence in a forced labour camp for previous crimes committed. A cat-and-mouse game then ensues between sniper and lawyer.
The film's title, "My Lover is a Sniper", stems from the previous relationship between a woman who is on the police investigation team and the sniper who is brought out of forced labour to save the situation. Although this film is the third in the "Sniper" series, it stands alone as a film in it's own right, with no apparent unintelligible references to the previous two films in the series.
The film's pace is truly stock formula: opening high-paced introduction sequence to create the motive for the rest of the film. From there, it predictably slows down whilst character introductions are done before starting to wind-up about a third of the way through with the first big action sequence. From there, interest is maintained through slick, if not slightly predictable, story work, culminating in a particularly weak ending.
Character portrayal is average is my opinion, and not particularly deep; an unwelcome departure from Japanese films that I have watched in the past. However, performances are solid and credible, if not a little dubious given the apparent disregard at times for any similarity to real-life Japanese character or personality traits. However, this is offset against some well-executed camera work and some nice wide-overhead shots of Tokyo, which help give the film some scale as it moves around from location to location. Particularly nice are the wide, manga-style camera angles on the fight scenes, with the fight-work looking particularly precise in places.
Although an enjoyable film, this didn't quite live up to the expectation I had having watched previous Japanese movies. Previous movies I have watched have always managed to deliver something that truly allows me to reflect on a unique aspect of Japanese Culture or Film making. I watch all my Japanese movies in Japanese with no subtitling so that I can pick up all the cultural inflections and nuances that the script writers and producers intended to create. Even so, at the the end of this I kind of felt I hadn't really watched a Japanese film. Instead, it could quite easily have been copied from a Hollywood film and just translated; hence my slight disappointment.
If you want something that will keep you amused for 2 hours or so then this film will definitely do that. However, it is not particularly deep either culturally or performance-wise so it's probably best just to take it at face value.