HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Here’s what critics say...
COURTESY HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
"My Mother is a Belly Dancer," a film from Hong Kong, tells of women ignored by society who find a way to feel good about themselves.
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Female empowerment film could use a sense of humor
With a title like "My Mother is a Belly Dancer," you'd expect a movie with a touch of humor and a lot of promise. But director Lok Lee Kung takes the women's empowerment story too seriously to allow a minute of gaiety, which would have at least provided some entertainment and relief from the film's onslaught of clichés.
'My Mother is a Belly Dancer'
In Cantonese with English subtitles
Screens: Noon Oct. 21
Place: Dole Cannery
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The novelty of filming a belly dancer might have seemed like a good one-shot idea, but without a strong story, the film's impact is no greater than a typical "Saturday Night Live" skit stretched into a feature film.
The story revolves around a bunch of "aunties," or women of a certain age, as recognizable here as in Hong Kong. Past the age society considers attractive, they are tolerated by their husbands and on the verge of becoming invisible to the rest of the world.
When they lose their dance teacher, a belly dancer is called in as a substitute. Most of the 30 or so women disapprove, saying, in stilted subtitles, "We Chinese call this 'slut,' to show belly in public."
In time, four women risk ostracism to become classroom regulars. It's better than being at home for three of them, who are ignored, verbally abused or cheated on by their husbands. The fourth is a young, carefree single mom, who looks and behaves like a child herself. She frequently leaves her infant son with a male friend while she goes on overnight dates.
We can take for granted that the women will find camaraderie and a certain amount of liberation and power in belly dancing, which affects their relationships in different ways. But unlike American feel-good cinema, it's not all positive, which is the only thing that saves this film from being a total cliché.
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When Norma Vega wed Wallace Castillo, above, she embarked on a lifetime of challenges as the war bride of a U.S. serviceman.
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War bride from Philippines smitten with American ideal
Norma Castillo reveals her age to be "70-something," and in a winking Freudian slip, refers to her wedding day as "the saddest day" in her life. What's telling is what she says afterward.
'Strange Land: My Mother's War Bride Story'
In English
Screens: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 25
Place: Dole Cannery
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"I'm a victim of circumstance," she declares.
That circumstance: the oft-ignored story of war brides from the Philippines. Her victimhood: falling more in love with the promises of Western life than with the Hawaii-born American GI who wooed her.
It's not as if she didn't love Wallace Castillo, Norma explains in her daughter's short documentary, "Strange Land." It's just that she recognizes the enormity of her decision to marry out of her country and traditions.
Director Stephanie Castillo's mother is among hundreds of thousands of women from Asia and Europe, the war brides of American servicemen. This year is the 60th anniversary of their arrival on U.S. soil.
Norma wed Wallace in a church at her behest, the last time she asserted her culture. She learned poker and bowling, but found it hard to adjust, with her husband out with friends all day.
Through casual conversation, the film gives insight into this war bride's perspective, but sheds little light on the overall movement. Perhaps in a feature-length documentary that avenue could have been explored.
At the very least, the film answers the question it poses: Was Norma's American dream fulfilled? The film's parting shots answer: Her many children's contributions to Americana prove her achievement.
Wallace's story, that of an American-born Filipino soldier, is missing. How tragic that the audience can't hear his thoughts upon visiting his ravaged homeland, and of marrying a girl of similar blood, but not of the same world. But how lucky that we can hear the story of 70-something Norma, told in an accent that almost defiantly remains, despite years of assimilation into a strange land.
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Japanese comedians find themselves thrown back in time to 1945 as suicide pilots, in "Winds of God Kamikaze."
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Making characters American hurts Japanese morality tale
Two mediocre modern-day comedians regain consciousness after a traffic accident to find themselves in 1945, members of a kamikaze unit on stand-by to make suicide attacks against the American fleet off Okinawa.
'Winds of God Kamikaze'
In Japanese with English subtitles
Screens: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Place: Dole Cannery
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If the premise sounds familiar, it's because this is the film version of a play presented at Mamiya Theatre in 2000. Masayuki Imai, the actor/playwright who produced, directed and starred in the play, returns as the director and star of the film.
The film is at its best humanizing the pilots -- America's suicidal enemies of six decades ago. Some died for their country, some for their families and some because they were ordered to do so. The film, like the play, tells their stories in powerful and touching style.
The problems come with changes Imai made in reworking the story for English-speaking, American audiences. In the play, the comedians are Japanese, and the central theme contrasts the discipline and self-sacrifice of the kamikaze pilots to the modern materialistic culture. The comedians' first impression of old Japan is that they're trapped in a prison or mental hospital, but they gradually come to see the kamikaze pilots as more admirable than the hedonistic Japanese of their own time. The film changes the location from Tokyo to New York, and changes the comedians from Japanese to Americans. None of these changes help the story, and the theme is lost.
Several scenes take place near the ruins of the World Trade Center. Is the intention to compare the kamikaze pilots with al-Qaida? Imai goes out of his way to emphasize that the kamikaze pilots -- unlike many other Japanese units -- didn't attack civilians. Does he then intend the audience to view the kamikaze pilots as operating on a higher moral level than American pilots who firebombed Japanese cities? A Japanese audience would certainly say yes.
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"Yamato: The Last Battle," a big hit in Japan, tells of the World War II attack on the biggest warship ever built.
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War film’s explosive action was huge hit in native Japan
It was a monster ship, and the movie about it was a monster hit, at least in Japan. "Yamato: The Last Battle," producer Haruki Kadokawa's very expensive take on a wartime "Titanic," became one of the most successful Japanese films ever when it was released a year ago, prompting all sorts of learned punditry about exactly why it struck a national chord. Does it herald a new militaristic nationalism? A new national pacifism? Or maybe audiences just liked watching things blow up.
'Yamato: The Last Battle'
In Japanese with English subtitles
Screens: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 p.m. next Thursday
Place: Dole Cannery
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Although it's been available on DVD, the film looks good on the big screen, as the crew built a nearly full-sized set of the forward half of the battleship and added lots of models and CGI effects to recreate its final voyage. For non-Yamatophiles out there, this was simply the largest warship ever built, with cannons the size of redwoods.
But on the way to battle on an Okinawan beach, the Allies attacked the Yamato. Yamato, the cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers were lost, carrying down nearly 4,000 souls; 12 Americans were lost. It was basically a gloriously futile suicide.
The other ships are ignored in the movie, as well as any pretense at restraint. It's all pretty melodramatic. Teenage Japanese sailors weep uncontrollably at the thought of leaving home; in battle, there's lots of screaming and slaughter and blood spattered like a Pollack painting. And the Allied airplanes, no mattered how well-rendered, still make odd 90-degree turns like they're swinging from a string in a Godzilla movie.
It's somewhat refreshing to see a Japanese film deal seriously with the war, if not quite honestly. Unfortunately, it's not a great film, not even a good one, and will likely engender more discussion about the producers' motives and the audiences' reactions than any analysis of artistry. Unless you like to see stuff blow up.