I vaguely remember the scandal that served as the basis for this film. It was the nineties, and we were riding high on the victory of a little league team from Zamboanga. We're not well known as a baseball team so this came as a bit of a surprise to my young self (and probably to a lot of us back then.) Of course, nothing was as it seemed and thanks to a little investigative journalism, the entire scheme was exposed and the title was eventually taken away from the team. It's an interesting premise, and one ripe for retelling.
Gil Portes' Liars takes a lot of elements from this scandal and reframes it. The question now is, if it retells the interesting premise well.
The movie is set around the events of the 2001 Edsa 2 Revolution. Instead of Zamboanga, the team is from Smokey Mountain, a former dumpsite and home to a large number of impoverished Filipinos. The film centers around Ato and Dante, two young boys from the slums who have joined the local baseball team. Both have their own hopes and dreams: Ato wants to help his ailing grandmother, who has taken care of him in lieu of his mother's absence. Dante has ambitions towards the clergy, but the reality is that he's stuck with an abusive father who beats mother and son quite often.
Alessandra de Rossi enters the picture as a fresh out of water reporter. Instead of covering the ongoing brouhaha between pro and anti-Estrada supporters in the waning days of his presidency, she is assigned to cover the journey of this underdog team from obscurity to victory.
And as it turns out, the first part of the film, which deals with the scandal itself, is very much by the numbers. Nothing in the editing or music choices stands out. The cinematography is largely competent, but a bit uninspired. The script proves to be the weakest point of the film so far, dragging some great performances down and inserting random cliche scenes to amp up the drama. (Wait till the rain comes and you'll know what I'm talking about.)
Again, the acting, especially by the two young leads, is exceptional, but it tends to be lost in the forced dialogue. It is during scenes where the actors are made to just act and not spout stilted lines is when the true talent of these young actors come out.
The film draws obvious comparisons to Edsa 2 and the ramifications of that event. Although it could be argued that many factors led to the revolution, Edsa 2 was, after all, sparked by the unwillingness of several people to reveal the truth, through that envelope of evidence provided during the trial. The film takes this even further to the second, and more interesting, act of the film, where all of the characters relate to each other the ramifications of their choices. The truth serves to set us free, but, the movie asks, at what cost?
This to me would have been a different, and largely more interesting story: had the film focused on the second half rather than the first. An expanded second half would have delved into a large grey area where telling the truth may not be exactly the best thing to happen to all concerned. Instead, aside from a few lines, the message doesn't come across that well. I still commend the fact that the film included this part of the film, turning it from a preachy morality tale into something much more deeper.
Liars is a great concept buoyed by great acting, but weighed down by a spotty script, overly cliched moments, and a larger focus on an uninteresting first half.
6 baseballs over 10.
Note: eagle eyes can spot a certain anachronism (a 2012 sticker in one of the 2001 scenes) somewhere in the middle of the film.
For articles on the story that influenced the film, look below:
A
little background before we start with this review: a few years ago, Erika
Sawajiri was an up and coming actress. From beginnings in modeling and gravure,
she gained popularity from a number of TV dramas, especially the dramas “Taiyo
no Uta” and "1 Liter of Tears," where she played the lead role. With both an acting and singing career
on the way, she seemed to be on the fast track to the top of the Japanese
entertainment industry. However, it all came falling down when she was
promoting her latest film at the time, Closed Note.
Obviously
in a bad mood, Sawajiri answered questions during this promotional event in a
very rude manner and seemed to be either distracted or uninterested in being
there. Perhaps somewhere else, or with a different actress, the reaction may
have been different, but this was Japan. The backlash from this incident was
great: despite a formal apology and several interviews to try to salvage the
situation, Sawajiri’s career was more or less done. She didn’t get any more
work, her agency dropped her and she faded into the background, marrying a man
twice her age. Soon after she became tabloid fodder, often the topic of various
stories of her exploits abroad.
Now, five years later, Erika Sawajiri returns to the big screen, and she does it
full force, like a storm over the seaside.
Helter
Skelter is based on a josei manga by Kyoko Okazaki. It tells the story of
Lilico (Ririko in other translations), a hugely successful model and actress.
She is considered a trendsetter and her public image is pure and sweet.
However, her private image is far from clean: she sleeps her way to the top,
abuses her assistant and is generally an unpleasant peson. To add to that, her
picture perfect looks are artificial, having undergone extensive plastic
surgery to improve her looks. The problem is, the illegal and dangerous
procedures that give her the look need to be done regularly, or else everything
breaks down. And Lilico’s body is beginning to show signs of breaking down: she
eventually needs stronger meds and more frequent procedures. To add to that, a
younger, prettier model (played by Model/Actress Kiko Mizuhara) is stealing her
spotlight. As she unravels, Lilico is determined to spread her misery and self destruction
to everyone around her.
The
film adaptation follows the manga quite closely; at times scenes are word for
word copied from the original. While both the film and manga can be considered
a critique of the shallowness of beauty and the entertainment industry, the
film conveys this shallowness through imagery. Director Mika Ninagawa is, first
and foremost, a fashion photographer, and it shows in the lush and vivid imagery
throughout the film. Like her debut film Sakuran,
Ninagawa uses color and motifs to drive the story forward. While at times the
color and set design matches the mood, in other scenes, the colors come across
as too garish, which may be intentional.
Erika
Sawajiri acts her butt off in this film. Given the parallels between Lilico and
Sawajiri herself, it makes the movie experience that much more close to home.
Acting against her earlier pure image, Sawajiri’s Lilico lashes out with rage
and almost nihilistic tendencies, and yet we sense that deep down inside her, a
part of her original self remains. This film is her best acting role yet, and
before this film she was no pushover, either.
Much
buzz was given to Erika Sawajiri’s many sex scenes in this film, but most of
them are not aimed for tittilation (although that’s never stopped anybody from
trying anyway.) Usually, whenever Lilico has sex, it is either to manipulate
someone or to inflict emotional damage on someone else. It was unnerving in the
manga, and it has the same impact here.
The
supporting cast delivers their roles perfectly. Shinobu Terajima deserves some
sort of award as Lilico’s oft-abused assistant, and Kiko Mizuhara proves once
more (after a great showing in Norwegian Wood) that she isn’t just a pretty
face. Nao Omori also shines in his role, and Kaori Momoi nails it as Lilico’s manager/mama-san.
Props go out to a special cameo by fellow model/actress Anne Suzuki.
While
exposing the hypocrisy of society’s views towards beauty, and the fragility of
celebrity, neither the film nor the manga offer a solution to the problem. I
honestly can’t offer anything either; it’s just how the system works. At least,
however, I hope that the film gets people to think about it and try to consider
true beauty and what it means to them.
The
ending for both manga and film are the same, although the film is a bit less
vague about it. As for its meaning, I’d like to know too. It's crazy beyond the imagination. But like the manga says at the last page, that's a story for another day.
fun note: there's a cameo by director Ninagawa in one of the montages of Lilico. Also, somewhere in the film, an actual photobook by Ninagawa and Kiko Mizuhara can be seen in a stack of magazines.
WARNING: This review contains a lot of spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness. If you want a spoiler free review, then do not read anything other than this paragraph. In short, it's a nice film, it's not the Star Trek I used to know, but that's kinda ok. The cast was great and I had a lot of fun.
The crew of the Starship Enterprise embark on a new voyage in Star Trek Into Darkness. And this time they face one of the original crew's greatest enemies.
Although I enjoyed 2009's Star Trek reboot, I still had some reservations about the new direction JJ Abrams was taking the franchise. I was concerned that the whole retooling of the series into a more action oriented thing would take away the some of the concepts the original series had that I loved: the idea of a peaceful humanity, timely topics and philosophy in a futuristic setting, and good old fun and fisticuffs.
The topic of terrorism isn't new in the Star Trek universe; and in light of recent events some of the actions in this film are brought into light. However, the film doesn't delve into these concepts too much, with only a vague attempt at exploring the notion that some people, given enough motivation, will do anything.
Like the first film, this film doesn't dwell too much into greater concepts like Star Trek VI's treatment of the Berlin wall coming down in space; this is mostly a character piece. And the source material for this movie is quite apt: Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan, one of the most character-centric movies in the franchise (and arguably one of the best Star Trek movies, period.) Does it live up to the source material?
The center of the story is Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan. Cumberbatch is
an amazing actor, and he brings a different interpretation to the
character: a near-invincible superman of superior genetic breeding, with
cunning and charisma, ruthless to the core. My only gripe would be that
Khan is supposed to be of Indian descent. Cumberbatch acts the part
very well, but it's like casting Heath Ledger as Asiong Salonga: it's
going to be the best Asiong Salonga ever acted on film, but you can't
sell me 100% on a hunky Australian actor playing a Filipino gangster.
Despite that, Cumberbatch's Khan shines in every scene he is in; he
radiates a presence of power that few actors can do today.
With the man out of the way, we go to the character concepts the movie touches upon. Wrath of Khan was a deconstruction of Kirk as he reached middle age. He had experience behind him, and in the process, he has prevailed every time. His reckless exploits during his five year mission has come back to haunt him, in the form of a son who doesn't know him and an enemy who wants him dead. He realizes that as an Admiral with a desk job in Starfleet Command, he isn't the same James Kirk that used to go toe to toe with Klingons and Gorn, and at the same time, he wants to go back to that time. He wants to feel alive. At the end of the film, Kirk pulls off a miracle again - but this time, he loses something important to him, probably the first time something like that has happened in his life.
This film, while drawing on the same source material, frames this character study on a Kirk that's just starting out. We know little about this Kirk's exploits, and thanks to the events of the last film, he was probably put into a position that he was not ready to fill yet. This Kirk is too naive, too confident, too sure of his own abilities. In short, the very opposite of the person the Wrath of Khan was deconstructing! As such, it approaches Kirk in a different way. In many ways, Admiral Pike was right: reboot Kirk was a person who didn't know how to lose yet. Original Kirk had the same problem in dealing with losing, but only after having gone through numerous near scrapes and wild adventures throughout the galaxy.
Kirk faces a similar dilemma in both films: how can he prevail in a situation where he must lose, if he has not yet faced loss before? Both films take a very different road in answering these questions; while Wrath of Khan resolves it with Kirk losing a valued friend in the process, Into Darkness makes Kirk take this to heart in a very personal way.
That said, this focus on Kirk overshadows the rest of the crew. While there was an effort to continue the journey that Spock started in the last movie to come to terms with his mixed heritage, it was a bit underplayed here. Kirk's interactions with the other crew members are also limited, especially with McCoy, whose insight and emotional balance to Spock's cold, logical side was absent here. Since Spock is a little more open with his emotions here, McCoy is pushed to the sidelines. I would have liked to have seen more interaction with Kirk and another character from Wrath of Khan, Carol Marcus. The chemistry is there, and I believe in Chris Pine and Alice Eve as actors. But while there's a bit of tension hinted at between the two, those moments are lost in the film's frenetic pace.
That seems to be Into Darkness' greatest weakness: in the process of making the film more accessible to audiences and increasing the pace, the themes of the film become incompletely explored and character development is lost in the process. The movie just runs with it all and never stops. That unfortunately means a lot of things are going to be left behind. Plot holes abound, just like in the first film, in the name of entertainment. It feels a lot like Star Wars than Star Trek. But to be honest, I really had fun watching the film. And I know that the Star Trek of old is gone for now. I'm happy that I'll always have those ten movies and 700+ episodes to keep me company in the time being.
There's a lot of shoutouts to Trek: mentions of Nurse Chapel, Section 31, Gorn and Andorians; models of previous Enterprises; dialogue lifted straight from Wrath of Khan; Sulu in the captain's chair. It's all awesome if you're a fan of the series. I was not really a fan of the new Klingon designs, and the ships looked junky.
Into Darkness was a great and fun ride, and I'm a bit excited for the next installment, which may or may not feature Klingons. I can't wait for a reboot version of Kang, Koloth, or Kor. Also, the legendary five year mission has only just begun. So... Space Nazis? Space Rabbits? Greek gods from Space? Space Indians?
The Queen of Versailles is a documentary that does its thing in the way only the best documentaries do: let the footage speak for itself.
The Siegels were once at the top of the social ladder. David Siegel was owner of the largest timeshare companies in the world, and was filthy rich as a result. One of his most prominent projects for his family was the Versailles house, which was to be the most expensive single family house in the United States. Life was good.
Unfortunately, the 2008 economic crisis stopped all that. Siegel was losing money, and eventually it takes its toll on his family.
The film is filled with many interesting characters, but none are as interesting as David's wife, Jackie. At first she seems like your typical trophy wife, but she isn't as scatterbrained as one may think (she graduated in Silicon Valley at a time when women taking up such courses were scarce). We watch her spend money frivolously as her husband struggles to keep his company afloat. I see her as someone who has gotten too used to a lifestyle that emphasizes too much on excess. In contrast, we are treated to the story of the Siegel's Filipino nanny, who is also a mother, and who has not seen her son in years. Her story of living in poverty and being happy to just be under a roof is a counterpoint to the events around her.
Of the members of Siegel's family, it is the children who seem attuned to the situation. They are aware that things may not be going that well, so they do the best they can as kids can.
The movie is a rather dark take on the American Dream, showing that the pursuit of material gain is not everything life has to offer. It's one of the best documentaries of the year, go see it.
A coda to this tale: last year, construction on the Versailles house had continued and is now on the market for 100 million dollars. The house is expected to be completed by 2014.
I guess I don't have to warn you guys that THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. But I still will do that. So if you have any plans on watching this film, do that first then come back here. If not, then read on.
I think the title of this blog entry says it all. Prior to watching this film, I really had qualms watching Indian films in general because they tended to be really long, had song and dance parts out of nowhere. This movie singlehandedly converted me. Indian films are awesome! Jesus Ganesh take the wheel! Or something.
The movie begins with a police officer, Rakesh Kadam, being accused of being a lousy cop. The TV for some reason has nonstop shows that tell him he sucks. Seriously there must have been a cooking show or something in between those news channels. Right?
"Isn't there one channel that has Honey Boo Boo on?"
It turns out that Kadam was bribed by a number of unscrupulous men to look the other way. Kadam refused the offer, and was framed for bribery anyway. Kadam, bothered by all this bullying, reaches his breaking point and decides to kill himself in his own office.
"But... Honey Boo Boo can't be cancelled. NOOOOOO"
At first I thought that this dude was Singham, that somehow that was Kadam's nickname or something. It turns out he has little to do with the plot... yet. Meanwhile, Kadam's widow begins a campaign to clear her husband's name and get the guy who basically bullied him to death. This guy:
The movie is filled with these awesome walking shots.
Jaikant Shikre is his name, and on the surface he runs a hotel and a construction company. But as we will soon find out, he is involved in lots of shady businesses, including drugs, kidnapping and extortion. Also, in the first few minutes since he is introduced, HE PULLS A FREAKING GUN ON A RANDOM REPORTER AND ISN'T IMMEDIATELY ARRESTED FOR IT.
Don't believe me? Well what the heck is this then?
Of course he was kinda doing it to prove a point, but anywhere else he could get sued to oblivion doing something like that. And so we get to the first song of the film, the theme song. And it is fucking awesome.
Most epic entrance ever.
Yeah, that's our title character, played by actor Ajay Devgn, rising from the Ganges like a demigod. Singham literally means "lion" and is a reference to the logo of the police force or something. Plus lions are cool. The theme song goes on and talks how Singham is a destroyer of evil, all the while showing his many good deeds, helping a cart out of a ditch with his bare hands and helping a kid in a leg cast win a running race. Wait... why was the kid running in a cast in the first place? Shouldn't he be, like, recovering at home or something? And isn't that cheating? What about all those other normal kids who ran honestly and didn't win because some dude just picked up some kid in a cast and ran him all the way to the goal?
I mean the kid could just have waited for his leg to heal and run in another race.
Those poor kids. Also the song features Singham doing this thing with his hands like a lion's paws:
Rawr. Alternatively, boobs.
It may look corny, but by the end of this film you'll be doing this all the time. We now move on to the bulk of the film. While that first part of the film takes place in Goa, Singham is actually the inspector in charge of Shivgarh, this out of the way country town where everyone knows everyone else. Singham uses his own brand of settling disputes among the townsfolk, to the effect that barely anyone gets arrested, nor are any cases filed. Because of this the townspeople highly respect Singham for his good heart and honesty. Not to mention the slow motion walk that he does every time he settles a dispute:
like so.
We now go back to our buddy Jaikant Shikre and gain a glimpse of his kidnapping abilities. He has men stake out a kid, then call the boy's father (a rich businessman) before doing anything. He threatens the businessman that he will kidnap the boy if he doesn't pay up. Kind of like a prepaid thing. But with kidnapping instead of cellphone credits. We then see what happened to the kid of some poor guy who didn't pay up:
"This tie... is it made of suede?"
Shikre tells the kid that his father doesn't love him. At this point I'd expect him to let the kid go, make him a slave, sell him to Angelina Jolie, or at the very least have one of his henchmen kill the kid, something like th-
...
He...
He choked the kid. WITH HIS BARE HANDS.
HOLY SHIT THIS GUY IS EVIL.
In a welcome break from all of the over the top evilness going on, we move back to Singham's hometown. Gautam Bhosle, a wealthy industrialist who grew up in the town, comes home for vacation. He brings along his two daughters along for the trip, and they get to know their relatives and stuff. Kavya, the elder of the two daughters, decides to have a little fun, dress up as a ghost and scare the fuck out of half the town.
Kavya eventually runs into Singham, and does the scare tactic again. Singham responds with what comes natural: a bitchslap to the face.
...and this is how all great romances begin.
Kavya is not amused by this turn of events, and even though Singham lets her off lightly for terrorizing the population, she decides to get revenge by doing a retaliatory bitch slap at the temple, or by throwing a rock at him. However, Singham apologizes before she can do any damage, and Kelkar, Singham's poor sidekick, inadvertently gets the brunt of the retaliation.
Shit then hits the fan when a group of thugs harass Kavya with all kinds of dirty innuendos. Not only that, they push Kavya's grandfather around and steal Kavya's scarf, which is probably a no-no in the local culture.
"This scarf looks fabulous on me!"
Kavya's grandfather then runs over to Singham's dad, and Singham himself listens in on the conversation. He's not happy. What happens next is a crazy action scene that dwarfs anything made in Hollywood today in terms of manliness. I'm sure there are copies of that somewhere in Youtube or something, but the end result is: bad guys get whooped, and Kavya gets her scarf back. Predictably, this epic, manly ass beating proves to be quite effective on the ladies:
And Kavya then proceeds to make up crimes just to get an opportunity to be with Singham as much as possible - reporting stolen purses, cell phones, etc. Somehow I feel that this kind of thing is illegal or something, but who cares? SINGHAM.
This all comes to a head when Kavya, frustrated by the lack of progress her schemes have dealt so far, just plays it straight and confesses her love right in front everyone.
Yeah, this was my reaction too.
And we go to the next song, Saathiyaa. It's a nice song, and the musical cues leading up to this song build up quite nicely. After the song, it's all story again. Shikre bullies a random guy out of his land by coercing him to do so. As he exits the house of that man, he is approached by his guy in the police force who does all his dirty work for him. It turns out that Shikre has been judged guilty of some crime, but has been granted conditional bail: he must sign up at a local police station every fortnight. That police station is: Shivgarh.
And thus begins the first confrontation between these two dudes. Shikre has his minion do the signing for him, who then assigns to dudes to do that. Singham won't have any of these shenanigans and orders Shikre to come to the police station personally or face the consequences. Shikre then comes with a whole entourage of men to intimidate Singham:
...but Singham has an entire village of people to do the same thing:
"The hills are alive with the sound of muuuuuusic"
Shikre is left with no choice but to put that thumbmark on that paper or risk getting killed by a gazillion angry townspeople. He backs off, but you can see that he is not happy with the turn of events.
In Indian cinema, a movie is an experience. Moviegoers sing along to the songs or repeat their favorite lines from the movie. This movie is full of one liner gold, especially when Singham is arguing passionately about something. I guess that's how these films are designed, and it's all very entertaining.
Shikre then uses his power to have Singham transferred to Goa, his territory. Here he has the control of the police, the local government, and basically everyone else is afraid of crossing him. Not only that, Shikre is campaigning to be minister of Goa, which, if successful, will give him unlimited power. Shikre then does a number of Singham, doing acts that range from vandalism to juvenile pranks to outright trying to run over Singham with a truck:
"Welcome to Goa, Singham."
Singham then learns of Rakesh Kadam's story. Kadam is the guy who held the position that Singham now holds. The constant harassment takes its toll and Singham considers leaving Goa and returning to his post in the country, defeated. But then someone throws a beer bottle at him. Kadam's kid holds on to his leg and Singham reaches the end of his rope. He then commences performing an epic asskicking of everyone involved, culminating with The Mother of All Bitchslaps:
And it all escalates from there. Singham decides to take this head on and retaliates against Shikre, trolling him every step of the way. He then proceeds to dismantle all of the things that Shikre holds power on, using the power of a good asskicking. He plants evidence, frames people for crimes, all totally legal* stuff. This notably is seen when Singham pays the corrupt minister a visit:
*not really.
all that's missing is the Brazzers logo.
When Shikre does his kidnapping shtick on Gautam Bhosle and kidnaps Kavya's sister, Singham is pissed. He manages to stop the criminals with his overwhelming manliness, and through a bit of detective work makes Shikre's right hand man blurt out his connection to Shikre and his illegal activities.
"hey boss I got all those tons of cocaine and... uh... whoops."
At first you'd think Singham has won, but nope. Shikre has won the election and has used his powers to transfer Singham out of Goa and back to his hometown. Singham, after receiving an inspirational speech from one of Kadam's former subordinates, decides to take on Shikre by himself, but not before delivering an inspirational speech of his own to all the policemen in Goa:
"we must bring Honey Boo Boo back on the air!"
This somehow works, and every policeman in the city decides to help Singham. How do they do this? By surrounding him and his own house and discussing ways how to kill him and make it look like a suicide. I'm not fucking kidding, and it's all darkly funny for some reason. Shikre then snaps and manages to escape from the authorities, but while running he is confronted by every poor schmuck that he screwed over the course of the movie.
Also, flying cars.
Singham and the rest of the police force corners Shikre and delivers a bit of poetic(albeit highly illegal) justice. I'm sure the CHR would throw fits or something if this happened in real life... but who cares? SINGHAM. In the end, everyone is happy except the bad guys. Happy end!
With its ridiculously over the top action scenes, hokey but addicting dialogue, and decent performances from everyone, this movie is a gem that you have to see at least once. If not for the audacity, if not for the weirdness, just for the sheer manliness.
