• Passion 1995
• Patlabor 2
• Princess Blade, The

Passion 1995

Anyone who’s seen Chung King Express will recognize a lot of the elements in Passion 1995, though done without nearly the same level of artistry. In this story, “Dick” arrives in Hong Kong looking for his old girlfriend Kuen, arriving at the place she used to live to find she’s no longer there. Renting a room there himself and beginning his search, he crosses paths with Sister Tina, who MIGHT be in the process of breaking up with her boyfriend, Dragon. AND, Gucci, Dick’s landlady, has been in a “phone” friendship with a Hong Kong policeman who she’s tentatively decided to finally meet face to face.

As the Beatles once lamented, all the lonely people... of course, in this case we KNOW where they come from. Dick’s story is remarkably close most of the time to something that might have found its way into one of the story lines of Chung King Express... even though it’s not in the same league it manages at times to be very affecting. The other tales don’t exactly work on the same level, though, and they don’t blend and intersect as smoothly. And whereas Wong Kar-Wai managed to use such pop songs as California Dreaming as a strong, effective commentary on his characters and their plights, Passion 1995 gives us instead Sister Tina and a group of friends doing an MTV-style production number in the center of town to a generic tune called “Funky Fun Funky”... not just once, but twice. In spite of its flaws, though, this film rates a narrow “thumbs up” if only for its ambition... it’s no Wong Kar-Wai, but it clearly wants to be and at times ALMOST succeeds. If it’s a failure (and it’s debatable whether it actually is), it’s certainly an interesting one.
(Review written: 10/23/02.)

Patlabor 2

It's 1999, and peace & order in the world is maintained by a special U.N. peacekeeping force made up of officers who patrol inside gigantic robots equipped with all the weapons they could possibly need, robots known as "labors". But Japan's fragile peace is being shattered by a former member of this force now dedicated to bringing about the destruction of vast portions of his nation and the world... and he's being opposed by a team of his former allies, one of whom is his former student and lover. This anime adventure comes across somewhat like a futuristic version of a Tom Clancy novel... which is to say, it has a well-thought-out, complex plot and a lot of extremely inventive weapons and technology, but it falls a bit short in the characterization department... you learn a lot about what these people do without ever really knowing who they are. Nonetheless, action fans will be more than satisfied... particularly by the lengthy shoot-out at the end that blends elements of both Top Gun and Star Wars. And since September 11, there's a certain element to this film's scenes of terrorist attacks on public bridges and buildings, followed by speaches about how we've got to dedicate ourselves to opposing terrorism, that just wasn't there before...

Director: Mamoru Oshii

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The Princess Blade

It's the future, about 500 years from now. Japan has long since become a monarchy, but a band of rebels is threatening to topple the established order, so a group of former soldier/guards, who became a band of assassins for hire after their master died, are hired to deal with the problem. But when their most valued member, Kuki, learns of the traitor within her own group, she has to team up with the leader of the rebels to fight her former comrades. It's possible to throw a bunch of well-worn concepts together and come up with something new, but it's something you see very rarely. You will definitely see it done in The Princess Blade. The futuristic atmosphere (depicted very subtly... it's mostly run-down post apocalypse stuff, with just an occasional throw-away scene to establish that it's the future) makes a fascinating setting for what amounts to a traditional band of samurai living by the time-honored samurai codes and ideals (you'll be amazed what a fitting time and place it is for these ancient codes). In the midst of all the action, the film never loses site of one of the essentials of a good action film, characterization... these are some of the most interesting and real people you've seen in a movie in a long time. And speaking of that action, it's choreographed by none other than Donnie Yen, who gives us some genuinely astonishing sword fighting scequences. If you think you've seen everything that can be done with sword fights... well, have you ever seen a fighter flat on her back with her right hand pinned to the ground with a sword still continue fighting her opponent? Didn't think so. And it's hard to pin down exactly what it is about the cinematography, but the film is shot in such a unique way that it gives the movie an otherworldly atmosphere even in bright daylight. If you imagine that you're tired of swordfight films or action in general, you owe it to yourself to see this film anyhow... after all, you can't really be tired of a kind of film you've never experienced before.

Starring Hideaki Iro, Yomiko Shaku, Shiro Sino and Yoichi Nomata. Based on a manga by Kazuo Koike and Kazo Kamimura. Directed by Sato Shinsuke.

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