Thanks to some serious paper-writing I only was able to make it to two films this weekend. Unfortunately I was completely absent from Shortsfest (the worst failure ever in my opinion), but managed to truly enjoy one of the two films I actually made it to (a very high ratio for all you who have experienced the sheer grab bag of 300+ films that SIFF houses annually).
On Saturday I saw the Japanese comedy The Chef of the South Polar. A delightful dry comedy about a crew of men stationed in the Antarctic for about a year and half, the film centers on their odd-ball chef. Honestly, not much happened within the film's two hour runtime, but the infinite slew of delicious looking food kept be salivating and cinematically satiated (wish I could say the same about my stomach). In a timid way the film explores the effects of isolation and the troubles for relationships with the unthinkable distance between Japan and the South Pole. But more importantly, this film embraced the subtly soulful effects of a great meal. It was utterly heartwarming as our chef, Mr. Nishimura, a character of expert facial gesture and quiet kindness, attempts to unite and please the crew through a plethora of mouth-watering meals. With his cuisine constantly compromised at the palate of the rugged cast of men, his cooking methodology manages to bring people together through gentle humor and good-cookin'. I would recommend this film to just about any audience. With food at its heart, the film is utterly approachable across cultural boarders and age groups.
Now I had very high hopes for the second film, Prince of Tears. Honestly, as the Hong Kong submission for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category, I figured this film would have an easily approachable narrative, so I might delight in its cinematographic beauty. And it's not that I was wrong, but quite frankly the film lost me. A story of a family in Taiwan in 1954, during the rise of the communist party on mainland China, the tells of the turmoils of living during a period of extreme politicization and militarization of the Taiwanese territory. The tragic tale separates the two daughters from their parents who are arrested on suspicion of treason, oddly stratifying the narrative into segments as the two daughters continue their day to day life. A flat narration attempts to ground the sporatic events, but ultimately confuses the converging plot lines. Quite frankly, it plateaus pretty quickly and continues on for about an hour and a half. Oddly enough, its not as if I was bored. And its not as if the film was particularly bad, but its not as if it was good. The film failed in the end to climax or accurately pull it all together. Instead I left feeling almost nothing... something that doesn't happen very often...
Well with that all said, I intend to make up for lost time in the coming days. I'll be hitting the Centerpiece film Farewell, taking a stab at some of the delightful Spanish films showcased this year and hopefully happening upon some unexpected gems on a volunteer shift. We'll if this 1/2 success ratio continues!
