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INFERNAL AFFAIRS III
Directors:
Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
Cast: Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Kelly Chen, Daoming
Chen, Leon Lai
Certificate: TBC
Price: £19.99
Released: 26th September 2005
This
third instalment of the Hong Kong crime saga sticks
together two separate plotlines, without ever
making a coherent whole. One thread follows Andy
Lau’s turncoat policeman as he tries to
redeem himself, while the other tracks undercover
detective Tony Leung, who died as a result of
Lau’s actions in the first movie. Newcomers
to the story will be utterly lost, and much of
it feels like off-cuts that should have been in
the original movie- but there’s still a
powerful edge to the story, along with some seriously
slick and stylish visuals.
Extras: Documentary, Trailer, Film Notes
A brief but informative behind the scenes portrait,
and not much else.
Rating:
* * * Extras:
* *
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LADY VENGEANCE
Director:
Park Chan-wook
Cast: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik, Nam Il-woo
Certificate: TBC
Released: 10th February 2006
What’s
it about?
Released after thirteen years in jail, Lee
Geum-ja (Young-ae) has gained a reputation for
reforming into a kind-hearted saint– but
it’s all part of her plan to finally get
revenge on schoolteacher Mr. Baek (Min-sik), the
man originally responsible for her imprisonment…
Less ballistically intense than Oldboy and easier
on the stomach than Sympathy for Mr Vengeance,
the climax to South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s
Revenge trilogy is more interested in ideas of
guilt and atonment than bursts of frenzied ultraviolence.
As Lee Geum-ja tries to simultaneously rebuild
her shattered life and gain her vengeance, the
script goes in a very different direction from
the expected Kill Bill-style revenge romp, and
instead wrestles with the idea that even if she
gets her revenge, she may not actually deserve
it. The visuals are genuinely stunning, but Chan-wook’s
outrageous approach to storytelling causes problems,
with the time-hopping plot frequently difficult
to follow, and the black humour sometimes shifting
into tastelessness. Biggest flaw of the lot, however,
is that unlike Oldboy’s stylised madness,
the film never lets us truly understand the main
character, with Lee Geum-ja remaining stuck somewhere
between ice-cool siren and tragic figure. It’s
bold, beautiful and hugely provocative- but prepare
for an equal dose of amazement and frustration.e.
Rating:
* * *
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LAST DAYS
Director:
Gus Van Sant
Cast: Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento,
Scott Green
Certificate:15
Price: £19.99
Released: 9th January 2006
Gus
Van Sant’s perplexing and plotless look
at the final hours of a thinly disguised Kurt
Cobain (named ‘Blake’ and played by
a mumbling Pitt) takes the minimalist or ‘ambient’
style he showcased in Gerry and Elephant even
further than before. The end result may have moments
of quiet beauty, but it also voyages into previously
uncharted realms of cinematic boredom.
Extras: Deleted Scene, Featurettes, Interview,
Music Video, Trailer
The featurettes contain plenty of on-set footage
and insights from the cast, and the 25-minute
interview with Pitt actually tells you more about
what he and Van Sant were trying to achieve than
the film ever will.
Rating:
* * Extras:
* * * *
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