Reviews from the Reel Asian Film Fest
The 2009 Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival satisfies every taste, and that shouldn’t be too surprising considering how diverse Asia is to begin with. I was able to see a few of these films, and as the parameters being only that they are Asian (of course) it allowed room for everything from the harshly political to the laugh out loud hilarious. 
Advisor for Reel Asian Film Festival, Colin Geddes (who is also TIFF’s Midnight Madness programmer) tells us the Royal Theatre used to be called the Golden Princess and was the only place in town where “guys like him” could go and watch kung-fu movies. So it is perhaps an appropriate venue for Red Heroine, a silent wuzia (martial-arts) movie that can remind one that the magic of film should not be taken for granted.
Jonah Rapino, Brendon Wood, and Tim Nylander of the Devil Music Ensemble are the ones that dug up this gem, the sole survivor out of thirteen in a series of sword-play films. Dragging the hidden reel out after China’s tumultuous century, it was the perfect muse to bring to life with the Ensemble's own score. Their “orchestra” included an erhu (Chinese violin), electric violin, lap steel guitar, vibraphone, synthesizer, a few samples, an effect for the clippity-clop of a horse, and the traditional Chau gong.
In the film, a young girl named Yun Mei refuses to leave her grandmother behind in their village as the remaining peasants attempt to flee before the arrival of a western Warlord. Yun Mei ends up captured and her grandmother is killed. The long-haired leader of the army, perhaps led astray by his evil accomplice ,wants to add Yun Mei to his harem of young girls. She is rescued by White Monkey, a Taoist recluse, and spends the next few years as his student, learning military skills.
Yun Mei is distraught over her loss, but White Monkey convinces her not to commit suicide saying, “Are you not care to revenge?” Another group of villagers try to get Yun Mei to leave with them also end up in trouble after returning to their village with the occupying force still there. One of the villagers then ends up betraying the others the Warlord because his advances are rejected by the lovely Miss Hsia. Soon the forced marriage of Miss Hsia with the Warlord can only be prevented by trading her for her father’s life. Yun Mei, now with magical powers will return to make things right and the music gets even louder.
The English subtitles often did not fit the screen and combined with the poor English used, although perhaps bringing out a few cheap laughs, it was often difficult to understand what was going on, or at least what was being said. It did not really matter, however, as the old film had a wonderful live score and is now an enchanting classic almost outside the range of criticism 
Agrarian Utopia is a 'prose documentary' that is so smooth it almost seems like an acted film. Director Uruphong Raksasad insisted that the two Thai farmers featured, Prayad Jumma and Somuek Mungmeung, are really not moving on to acting careers. Raksasad was neighbours with these northern Thailand families, and he returned to film them in loving detail as they went about their daily work in the lemongrass and paddy fields.
But no matter how bountiful the crop, the set price does not make it worthwhile. Nor can they even begin to pay back the interest on their loans, which forces them to take drastic measures in order to make ends meet. One such practice is the desperate forging for food such as hunting for rats, snakes, beehives, and feral dogs. Another farmer called the ‘professor’ is a hippie-like recluse who avoids the use of pesticides and herbicides and only produces what he needs for himself.
As the troubles mount, they are invited to join the professor and follow his example as he does but their lives carry more responsibility than this allows needing money for their children’s education and to prepare for an uncertain retirement. There are political rallies that are always noisy but lead to little change, and every grassroots leader becomes corrupt as soon as they get power. There is a dignity to what these poor people do, and a simple environmental message. The whole scene is bountiful and beautiful and ‘folkish,’ juxtaposed with a golden shrine in the background. The director has achieved the effect of a story and held our interest watching the daily toil and quaint lives of these farmers.
Feature films were often preceded by shorts. There was White Boy From the East, created by Istvan Kantor, about the controversial roots of the Hungarian people ran before Red Heroine. Also screening was a film by Toronto director Mio Adilman called Unlocked, a story about an angry young man (Bobby Del Rio), his bike lock problems and his stressed mother who insists he apologize for everything. These shorts were just an appetizer compared to the laughs that were to follow in the feature presentation. 
White On Rice by director Dave Boyle, is a hilarious Asian-American romantic-comedy. Jimmy, played by Japanese actor Hiroshi Watanabe (The Last Samurai), who goes to stay in America with his sister Aiko (played by Nae) and her grumpy husband Tak (Mio Takada), who wants his brother-in-law out of the house for many good reasons. Jimmy is a 40-year-old divorcee in search of a new wife, and he’s attracted to Tak’s niece Ramona (Lynn Chen). He tries desperately to woo Ramona away from her boyfriend Tim (James Kyson Lee), and even attempts to tell her how he feels, saying, “You have been running through my brain all day.”
Now, Jimmy is a dinosaur-loving goofball who can barely open his mouth without saying something inappropriate. A film with a fish-out-of-water character is fertile ground for comedy: They say unexpected things, and are justifiably klutzy – sort of like a Japanese Borat. When he passing on his usual politeness for the casual manner that he thinks is the norm in America, he starts a love letter to Ramona with the words, “For a good time. Please meet me …” Jimmy is the man-child from another planet to the point that he cannot cook his own dinner. Prior to his divorce, his soon-to-be-ex-wife prepared three months of meals for him. Only once he had consumed all of them did he actually leave Japan.
Laughing at cultural differences and poor English is usually thought to be in bad taste or unfair, but at Reel Asian these discrepancies can also be the things that make for the best comedy. And the more movies you see overall, the more you may ends up, even in some small way, with a bit of an education as well as entertainment.
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