TIED HANDS
Directed by Dan Wolman
A powerful film about a young Israeli man, Uzi (Ido Tadmore), who is quickly dying of AIDS. His mother (Gila Almagor), in an effort to alleviate his pain, takes off into the Tel Aviv night on a quest for some marijuana. She travels through a series of urban scenes that eventually descend into an After Hours-like nightmare of crooked dealers, thugs and hookers.
The film finds its most emotionally resonant moments when it flashes back to Uzi’s life as a dancer. In these beautifully choreographed scenes, director Dan Wolman finds a blunt but powerful juxtaposition between Uzi’s past gracefulness and his now-fragile body, too racked with disease to perform even the slightest of delicate movements.
The film is shot plainly, which suits its journey-like narrative, although Tadmore’s performance often slips into high drama, at odds with the otherwise realist tone of the film. The ending is a little too neatly wrapped, but the film finds some great moments of humour and chatty digressions, and the meaning behind the film’s title is particularly heartbreaking.
Preceding Tied Hands is a short by director Randy Caspersen, Dolls. (BE)
NO REGRET
Directed by Leeson Hee-il
A reat and bizarre film from South Korean director Leeson Hee-il, No Regret follows young and pretty Sumin, who leaves his factory job for work in a men’s escort agency. He finds himself suited to the life, well paid and desired by clients. Unlike many of the working men (who are supporting a lifestyle or a girlfriend), Sumin finds the job to be a safe place to express his sexuality, even as the work deeply unsettles him.
He starts seeing Jaemin, an upper-class CEO of the factory he once worked in. Sumin is initially disgusted by Jaemin’s wealth and privilege, but the two soon find themselves happily in love. Unfortunately, Jaemin is engaged to a woman, and his mother threatens to out him if he doesn’t go through with the wedding.
But No Regret isn’t a simple, melodramatic tale of forlorn love — the film takes time to explore the inner workings of the brothel and, of course, lots of sex. It then veers off wildly into a violent, semi-tragic direction in its last act — let’s just say it involves a grumpy hitman and a shallow grave. And it mostly works, due to director Hee-il’s careful direction, with snappy dialogue and rich colour schemes. Just ignore the bad, intrusive music. Well worth checking out. (BE)
LOVE MY LIFE
Directed by Kôji Kawano
A charming but very slight story of two young lesbians. Rei Yoshii plays Ichiko, a university student who strikes up a relationship with Eri (Asami Imajuku). When Ichiko tells her dad about this development, he responds with a bombshell of his own — both he and Ichiko’s late mother were gay, too.
The trouble is, neither this nor any of the film’s other plot points ever lead to a real conflict. Ichiko drifts through a number of situations that test the relationship, but each resolves itself with a minimum of fuss or effort, and the overall effect is less a narrative than a collection of slice of life vignettes. The ending is particularly lacking — rather than making a statement, it turns the film’s title into a desperate plea from the writer.
Still, Yoshii’s performance goes a long way towards making up for the narrative’s deficiencies. She’s adorably naive and consistently sweet, and though the character’s occasional flights of irrational worry are more petulant than deep or insightful, that seems about right for teen love — and for the film itself. (PH)
THE GAY BED AND BREAKFAST OF TERROR
Directed by: Jaymes Thompson
Anyone can make an awful movie, but it takes a lot of talent to make a good deliberately bad movie. It requires an encyclopedic knowledge of film tropes and clichés and a good deal of intelligence and composure. Most importantly, making a deliberately bad movie requires the ability to make a good movie. Unfortunately, too many modern directors forgo these requirements and try to emulate the unintentional sublimity of ’60s and ’70s B-movies.
Writer-director-producer Jaymes Thomspon falls into this trap with The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror, a send-up of the cheesy horror comedies of old that tries desperately to capture, yet completely lacks the charms of its obvious cinematic touchstones. The story follows a set of stereotypical couples who have booked a weekend visit to a supposedly gay-friendly B & B. As the affairs begin to pile up, the guests get systematically picked off by the George W. Bush-worshipping hostess who seeks to cure her daughter’s homosexuality by converting a gay man into a hetero husband, and killing any potential girlfriends. The hostess’s mutated love-child of 100 Republican Party members also lurks in the house, intent on eviscerating any sinners.
It’s a suitably cheesy setup, and TGB&BOT does produce the odd laugh, but instead of the madcap zaniness he’s going for, all Thompson can muster is tired pastiche and obviously manufactured kitsch. A uniformly poor cast trying way too hard to seem like they’re trying too hard doesn’t help things either. Instead, they suck what little enjoyment there is to be found out of most scenes.
TGB&BOT attempts to achieve the mindless fun and oddball feel that earned similar films cult status. Sadly, the only element it really hits is the mindlessness. (GP)
