A TIME TO LIVE, A TIME TO DIE (1985, TAIWAN), A CITY OF SADNESS (1989, TAIWAN)

A Time to Live, A Time to Die

A Time to Live, A Time to Die is an unpretentious and largely unremarkable film that occasionally reaches unexpected depths of feeling.-Janet Maslin, September 23, 1986 New York Times.

A City of Sadness, which was clearly viewed in its own country as a huge step forward in the ability of cinema to look, finally, at Taiwan's recent past, constitutes a real turning point-a fact which also enabled the film to become a great public success-Jean Michel-Frodon,  1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

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The two films from Taiwanese director Hou Hsia-hsein watched for today have much to recommend them. They are important cinema histories of post-World War II Taiwan and the director uses the experiences of his own childhood to convey much of the story. They are also very well crafted.

That really should be the end of today's blog, but I have to be honest. I didn't really connect too heavily with either film. Well, let me take that back. I did relate to A Time to Live, A Time to Die, but that was only after getting even less connection to A City of Sadness.

The director still has my respect. And I still have The Puppetmaster still on my list to watch. There may be hope yet! I may like The Puppetmaster so much that I will go back and watch City of Sadness with fresh eyes! You never know.

A City of Sadness

AN ACTOR'S REVENGE (1963, JAPAN), THEATER OF BLOOD (1973)

The Kabuki actor (Kazuo Hasegawa) onstage in

An Actor's Revenge

An Actor's Revenge is Kom Ichicawa's film about a Kabuki actor named Yukitaro who as a youth had his parents led to suicide by three men. The film depicts his infiltration of these men's lives in later years with the intention of  extracting a little payback on them.  His plan is complicated by his feelings for one of the men's daughters, who in turn has fallen in love with Yukitaro. I tend to like these Japanese films with Kabuki actors: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, Ballad of Narayma, Late Spring among others. 

The character of Yamitaro is most interesting. He appears in feminine form onstage...and has the same persona offstage. This persona is what the daughter of one of the revenge targets falls in love with. She is originally just a vehicle for Yamitaro to help with his plan, but he does begin to have real feelings for her. But what exactly are the extent of these feelings? Whatever they are, they do complicate his plan. I do think their relationship is the heart of the film.

The world's a stage for Vincent Price

in Theater of Blood

I tried to think of another actor's revenge themed movie to team An Actor's Revenge with and the obvious choice for me is the 1973 film Theater of Blood featuring Vincent Price as a hammy Shakespearean actor named Edward Lionheart who takes revenge on his critics by killing them one by one by methods adapted directly from his Shakespearean roles.I first saw this on late night telly at my Aunt's house forty years ago! So a revisit was interesting.

There is a lot of good here. Price is appropriately over the top with his Shakespeare soliloquies and also the administering of his murders. For example, he gets one of his critics to kill his wife in a jealous rage like in Othello or tries to gauge out the eyes of another a la King Lear. The film also has the plus of a young Diana Rigg as his complicit daughter.

However, there are problems with the plot. Chief among them is the fact that there is a police investigation into the killings and they figure out that Lionheart is committing the murders and have the targeted critics under police surveillance. However, the police are so casual with watching the critics, they allow several of the critics to be murdered right under their noses! Oh, well. It's still a nice watch for Price fans. 

THE KILLING FIELDS (1984), SALVADOR (1986)

We made a mistake...We underestimated the kind of insanity that seven billion dollars worth of bombing could do.

Haing S Ngor and Sam Waterson

in The Killing Fields

The Killing Fields is the moving and tragic story of the U. S. involvement in Vietnam and more specifically the story of the escalation of the war in Cambodia as seen through the eyes of two journalists, Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterson) and Dith Pran (Dr. Haing S. Ngor, who won an Oscar for this). A gripping film throughout and one I certainly thought was deserving of its accolades when I saw it at the theater upon release. Seeing it again (Thirty-five years later!) I find the relationship between the two journalists the core of the film, with much of the second half involves Pran trying to get out of Vietnam several years later. The final scene is one that definitely brought tears to my eyes.

Definitely one for the see once in your lifetime list and if you haven't seen it in thirty-five years, one to watch a second time! (Putting on my viewing queue for 2054.)

You let them close down the universities, you let them wipe out the best minds in the country, you let them kill whoever they want, you let them wipe out the Catholic Church, you let them do it all because they aren't Commies! And that, Colonel is Bullshit!

Oliver Stone's Salvador features journalists in another hotspot, El Salvador, during the early 80's. Roustabout journalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) and his friend Dr. Rock (James Belushi) travel to El Salvador where the reckless but talented Boyle runs into all sorts of stories to cover assuming he gets out of it alive. Part of the problem is inherent within the country, but much of that problem can also be related to how the United States handled things there.

Boyle also runs into a fellow photojournalist (John Savage) whose penchant for getting in harm's way to get the perfect photo eventually costs him. The film is a fictionalized story of true events, and depicts historical events within it, including the assassination of Archbishop Moreno and the murder of four American missionaries by Salvadorian militants.

John Savage and James Woods

in Salvador

Other 80's films featuring journalists in hotspots include Under Fire (Nicaragua) 1983, Cry Freedom (South Africa) 1987 and The Year of Living Dangerously (Indonesia) 1982.

GANDHI (1982, GREAT BRITAIN), A PASSAGE TO INDIA (1984, GREAT BRITAIN)

Colonialism: Control by one power over a dependent area or people

 Ben Kingsley as Gandhi

Gandhi is the epic three-plus hour retelling of the life of Mahatma Gandhi. It mentions in the opening credits, that they can't tell everything about this life in so short of a space, but they do hit most of the highlights. We see Gandhi when he was a young lawyer in South Africa and and the roots of his non-violent movement. We then see in later years his struggle against the rule of the British empire and how he essentially defeats them through resistance. (Not passive resistance, as he states that he has never been passive about anything).

Academy awards went to director Richard Attenborough, screenwriter John Briley and to Ben Kingsley for his iconic portrayal of Gandhi.

I think the film still resonates as an impressive epic work that should be seen. Whether or not it sugar coats things about Gandhi and avoids things that may be less positive is another matter. Gandhi has the look and feel of one of the great David Lean films which leads us to...

Judy Davis, Victor Banajee and Peggy Ashcroft
in A Passage to India

...A Passage to India which was the last film directed by David Lean and is based on the book by E. M. Forster. The plot involves a Brit named Adela (Judy Davis) who is traveling to India with her future mother-in-law Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft). They befriend a local doctor named Aziz (Victor Banagee) who takes them on an picnic with many others to a cave where a series of unfortunate events leads to an accusation of rape by Adela against Dr. Aziz. Much of the last half of the film deals with the trial of Dr. Aziz and the truth coming out.

This large scale film is admirable in a lot of ways, but it doesn't quite hit the notes of Lean's greatest work (Lawrence of Arabia) or even Gandhi for that matter. Admittedly, that's a pretty high standard and this is still a recommended film and one I had never seen before now. I also haven't read Forster's book, but if I get on an anti-colonialism book kick (I have before), I may pick it up.

Academy Awards went to supporting actress Ashcroft and to Maurice Jarre for his impressive score.

The Fox factor: James Fox plays the very sympathetic Henry Fielding in A Passage to India.
His brother Edward Fox play the very unsympathetic General Dyer in Gandhi.

 Edward Fox in Gandhi

James Fox in A Passage to India

The Saeed Jaffrey factor: Jaffrey plays the role of Patel in Gandhi and Hamindullah in A Passage to India.

Saeed Jaffrey in Gandhi

Saeed Jaffrey in A Passage to India