Reel Asian

It’s hard to believe that I’ll be cov­ering my fifth edi­tion of the Reel Asian fest this year. Over the years, this strongly-curated event has brought films from places like Indonesia and Malaysia to my atten­tion, in addi­tion to adding to my know­ledge of film from such cinema power­houses as Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. The pro­gram for the 14th edi­tion of the fest­ival was announced last night, and I’m pre­paring to have my hori­zons expanded yet again. Here are some things I’m looking for­ward to:

Tuesday November 9 at 7:00pm: Opening Night Gala — Gallants — I heard this described as a martial-arts ver­sion of The Expendables. Sold!

Friday November 12 at 10:00pm: Golden Slumber — from the same dir­ector who brought us the inventive Fish Story at last year’s festival.

Saturday November 13 at 5:00pm: The Mountain Thief — filmed using non-professional actors recruited and trained by the dir­ector living near the Manila garbage dump where the film is set.

I’ve really only had a chance to take a cursory glance at the pro­gram guide so far, and I’m sure I’ll find more to fea­ture in the weeks to come.

Passes and tickets are on sale now, and this year, for the first time, Reel Asian will be holding events and screen­ings in Richmond Hill. If you can’t make it down­town, be sure to check out the 905 ver­sion of the festival!

Tagged as: #reelasian10

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White on Rice (Director: Dave Boyle): 40-year-old Jimmy (Hiroshi Watanabe) is living with his sister and her family after his divorce, sharing bunkbeds with his young nephew, but only until he finds someone better than his ex-wife. Alas, this poten­tially funny premise is not able to sus­tain an entire film, espe­cially when none of the other char­ac­ters feel developed enough to serve as any­thing other than foils for Jimmy’s prat­falls. Not much to describe in the way of plot, either. Jimmy develops a crush on his brother-in-law’s niece, but it doesn’t go any­where. Despite crib­bing from all kinds of other com­edies (Napoleon Dynamite, a few of Wes Anderson’s films, even the little-seen Kiwi comedy Eagle vs. Shark), White on Rice never really rises above the quirk­i­ness of its moon-faced protagonist.

There are plenty of gaps in expos­i­tion as well. Jimmy is Japanese, and speaks Japanese with his sister and her hus­band who live in an American suburb, but we have no real idea whether he’s only recently moved from Japan, or whether his ex-wife lives in America too. At one point he tells a poten­tial love interest that he’s only been divorced “a few years” but it’s unlikely he’s been sleeping in his nephew’s room for that long. Much of the humour comes at Jimmy’s expense, such as his fre­quently mangled English, and although the cast is mostly Asian, I wonder if this isn’t just per­petu­ating ste­reo­types other Hollywood com­edies have traded in.

Overall, I just expected a bit more and found myself dis­ap­pointed and a bit bored by the end. The film is com­pet­ently made and, at least in Watanabe’s case, enthu­si­ast­ic­ally acted. But the script failed to deliver any sur­prises or authentic char­ac­ters. Worse than that, when it had oppor­tun­ities to sub­vert Asian ste­reo­types, instead it just milked them for the film’s few cheap laughs.

Official site of the film

(6/10)

Tagged as: #reelasian09

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