The Drunkard

106 minutes, Hong Kong, dir. Freddie Wong, Cantonese with English subtitles

Set in sixties Hong Kong, The Drunkard is director Freddie Wong's hauntingly atmospheric adaptation of Liu Yichang's bold novel Jiutu. It follows Lau, a washed-up writer and part-time journalist, and his inability to come to terms with Hong Kong’s complex and shifting reality. John Chang Kuo-chu gives a sensuous, nuanced portrayal of the eponymous alcoholic in his desperate descent into emotional oblivion. Despite Lau’s disintegration, or because of it, he nevertheless captivates a parade of beautiful women: Mary (Katie Kwok) a precocious 17-year-old, Lulu (Joman Chiang) a glamorous dancing girl, Mrs Wong (Irene Wan) his still very attractive landlady and wealthy cosmopolitan, Lily (Elena Kong). While Lau’s relationships with these women are driven out of self-absorption, there is an undeniable emotional dynamic between them.

The Two Escobars

102 minutes, USA/Colombia, dir. Jeff Zimbalist & Michael Zimbalist, In Spanish and English with English subtitles

Scoring an own-goal that ultimately eliminates your country from the FIFA World Cup has to be a soccer player’s worst nightmare. The talented and usually dependable Colombian soccer captain Andrés Escobar did just that in a “must-win” game against the United States on June 22 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in the 1994 tournament.

Biographers and sports historians might wonder why filmmakers Michael and Jeff Zimbalist would loop the lives and the ultimate deaths of Andrés Escobar and Pablo Escobar. Aside from sharing the same last name (no relation); the two men would seem to be at opposite ends of the moral spectrum. Pablo, was an infamous ‘drug lord’ and said to be at one time the richest criminal in the world; Andrés was known as the “gentleman of the field” for his strong moral convictions and honourable values for the game. But nothing about the game of soccer is ever that clear cut. The Zimbalists show in this fascinating documentary that these two men will be forever inextricably linked with the meteoric rise and disastrous fall of Colombian soccer. It’s an odd paradox that both where assassinated by gunmen barely six months apart (Pablo on December 2, 1993 and Andrés on July 2, 1994) in the same city (Medellín). The Two Escobars show that Pablo Escobar bankrolled the entire team of Atlético Nacional of which Andrés was a member. Many of Atlético’s players also were part of the Colombian National team. Pablo was a huge soccer devotee, but more important he had found the perfect way to launder the drug money. The film includes in-person interviews with family members and teammates of Andrés, Pablo’s family including his cousin and former lieutenant, Jaime Gaviria, former politicians and Francisco Maturana the national coach at the time

The film opens with file footage of the actual match showing the Colombian captain intercepting a pass, but instead of clearing he punts the ball past his own goalkeeper into the net. It was the only own-goal of his career, but it cost him his life – it ends with the arrest of Humberto Castro Muñoz, who was convicted of the murder of Andrés Escobar

Hahaha

116 minutes, South Korea, dir. Hong Sangsoo, In Korean with English subtitles

Hahaha is Hong Sangsoo’s attempt at a romantic comedy. Unfortunately, despite the film’s contradictory title, there is very little comedy and what there is, is decidedly low-brow. Two drinking buddies, Munkyung (Kim Sangkyung ) and Jungshik (Yu Junsang) decide to get together for a farewell drink at a cafe on Mount Cheoggye before Munkyung leaves for Canada. They have both recently spent some time in Tongyeong, a small coastal city where many Koreans vacation. So as the rice wine flows, their conversation soon tends towards their exploits with the women the met. Each take turns in relating only their “pleasant memories” seen in flashback. It doesn’t occur to either that their stories are interconnected through Seongok (Moon Sori), a pretty tour guide and Jeongho (Kim Kangwoo), a friend of Jungshik, but a rival of Munkyung. Unless you enjoy watching people eating globefish and drinking lots of makkoli, you’ll find this film too long by about an hour-and-a-half.

Ride, Rise, Roar

87 minutes, USA, dir. David Hillman Curtis

When an artist goes on the road for a concert tour, one would expect them to take along: side musicians, back-up singers and equipment technicians. If the artist is Scottish-born musician David Byrne (now a resident of New York) he might also include a troupe of professional dancers. Director David Hillman Curtis chronicles the collaboration between Byrne and his choreographers as they meet the particular challenges of integrating his unique musical style with interpretative dance for the Music of David Byrne and Brian Eno tour. Curtis uses a striking technique of filming concert footage in colour and footage of the planning, rehearsals and interviews in black & white. The film includes exclusive interviews with Byrne himself, collaborator Brian Eno, Quebecois choreographer Noémie Lafrance and folk-rock singer Jenni Muldaur (daughter of Maria Muldaur). Audiences also get to see Byrne perform some of his best known songs, such as: Road to Nowhere, One Fine Day and Burning Down the House.

It has been twenty years since Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee David Byrne left Talking Heads the group he co-founded. However, Curtis’s highly entertaining film shows he continues to be influential and at nearly sixty, remains a creative force with an uncanny ability to relate to new generations -- a “must-see” for those who have followed the career of this innovative artist.

Microphone

122 minutes, Egypt, dir. Ahmad Abdalla, in Arabic with English subtitles

Microphone is Ahmad Abdalla's second feature film; a quasi documentary that brings into focus the North Egyptian city of Alexandria as a Mecca for “indie-cred” music and avant-garde graffiti art. The movie follows Khaled (Khaled Abol Naga) who returns to his home town of Alexandria from USA, where he has spent the last few years. He first attempts (unsuccessfully) to rekindle a relationship with a former girlfriend Hadeer, played by the film’s one international actor, Menna Shalabi. Footage of their coffee shop conversation is interspersed throughout the entire film. Khaled then befriends a street-wise skateboarder named Yassin who navigates him through the underground music scene, whereupon, he meets a myriad of alternative artists like juvenile hip-hop singer, Young T.

Despite having a distinctive soundtrack – a potent fusion of western and middle-eastern influences recorded from real bands that appear in the movie - the film suffers from some appalling editing and too many subplots that make it difficult to follow. It doesn’t help that the original Arabic dialogue (likely local street speak) has a totally different rhythm to English. Chunks of translated discourse are displayed as subtitles for hardly more than a nanosecond that are sometimes impossible to read.

Kinshasa Symphony

95 minutes, Germany, dir. Claus Wischmann & Martin Baer

French and Ngala with English subtitles

Kinshasa is home to ten million people who are among the poorest in the world. The city gained a degree of notoriety in 1974 through hosting the so-called ”Rumble in the Jungle” – the world Heavyweight boxing event between champion George Foreman and former world champion and challenger Muhammad Ali. Since then, quality of life has only gotten worse. The city totally lacks new infrastructure and existing infrastructure has fallen into serious disrepair.

It’s in this backdrop that Wischmann and Baer juxtapose the absolute chaos of the streets of Kinshasa with the capacity of the human spirit to overcome hardship to produce beautiful music. The documentary follows a handful of the roughly two hundred musicians and choir members that form the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste (O.S.K.) named in honour of Simon Kimbangu, a revered spiritual leader and the grandfather of the Orchestra’s current director Armand Diangienda. For the most part, the musicians are self-taught amateurs who hold down (in some cases menial) regular jobs, then attend rehearsals in the evenings.

Joséphine Nsemba, who plays cello, has to get up at 4.30am in order to begin work at Kinshasa’s market at six. Her monthly income is barely enough to cover her rent. She then goes to rehearsals that start at 5.00pm and continue well into the night. Flautist Nathalie Bahati is a single mother in the process of desperately searching for a new home for herself and her young son. She finds that competition is fierce even for the most squalid places.

During the filming, audiences will hear the orchestra perform excerpts from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Largo.

© 2010 John Jane