KHADAK Movie Review

KHADAK (2006)

On the desolate plains of Mongolia, nomadic herders tend to their flocks and congregate in large tents to keep warm and pass away the days. Among these is Bagi, a young man who is dedicated to his mother, grandfather and most of all to his flock, and seems to be plagued with the same affliction that eventually lead to his father’s death. Life is hard for these nomads, but it is the life they have chosen and the life they cherish. That all changes when the government comes rolling in with military vehicles and wild claims that the flocks are contaminated with a mysterious plague and must be contained. The herders meanwhile, are rounded up and brought into a city where jobs await them.

Life may have been tough on the plains, but it becomes almost unbearable for Bagi and his family. Bagi is placed into a mail delivery service, while his mother is sent to work operating a gigantic crane at the coal mine. When Bagi is picked up for stealing, he is placed in a labor camp where he meets a group of dissident youths and fellow ex-nomads who believe that the animals are all safe and that the plague was made up. All the while, Bagi’s affliction, which a doctor diagnoses as seizures, are becoming worse and worse. And it is during one of his seizure attacks, where he drifts into an ethereal state of mind, that Bagi comes to believe he knows where their flocks are being held!

Read my full review on The DVD Lounge

RENAISSANCE Review

RENAISSANCE (2006)

It is the year 2054. Mega-corporation Avalon, whose primary products promise "youth and beauty", has permeated themselves into most aspects of modern life. When one of their star researchers, Ilona, is kidnapped, Karas is put on the case to find her. His rough and gruff means of data extraction and detective skills are both a contrast to the beauty that the city of Paris wants to show, and a mirror reflection the city's underbelly. As Karas interviews those that are associated with Ilona, and the hidden truths that her very worried older sister Bislane finally reveal to Karas, he comes to the suspicion that Avalon may in fact be behind Ilona's kidnapping, or even one of her closest friends. He also becomes acutely aware of just what Ilona was researching, and what it could mean for civilization's future.

From debut director Christian Volckman, who spent seven years bringing his creation to the screen using rotoscoping animation (the process in which live actors and actions is animated; think the recent A SCANNER DARKLY or A-Ha's classic "Take On Me" music video), comes this highly-stylized black and white sci-fi noir. Taking many of its visual cues and technology inspirations from the reigning champion of sci-fi nor, BLADE RUNNER, as well as inspiration from Frank Miller's high-contrast artwork in his Sin City graphic novels, Volckman has set out to create an animated feature film for adults with a love of near future envisioning and speculation.

Volckman and his animation designers have set out to imagine what will happen to the visual appearance of Paris over the next fifty years. The result is a lovingly rendered vision of a sleek, clean, and beautiful cityscape, with walkways and entire rooms made completely of glass, giving the city and open and welcoming atmosphere, while still retaining a sense of history, as the Eiffel Tower is still a center piece of the city . Technology gets a huge bump in this vision of the future as well, as computers, cars, police equipment, and medical instruments get a very realistic advancement from today. We can see the technology that they are using as a distant descendant of what is in use in our modern world. Surveillance and video recording also gets a massive future imagining here. Taking cues from the already Big Brother-esque camera installations all over many major around the world, in Volckman's future Paris, cameras and microphones are everywhere, with huge control rooms overseeing all of the information being taken in.

This is one of the truest examples of a "black and white" film, in that there is absolutely no grey scale in use to bring the vision of the future to life. White rain falls against a black sky, characters disappear within the inky abyss of shadows, pure white light cuts through otherwise pitch black dance clubs in throbbing blasts. Extraordinary attention is given to the human characters, and though the expressions were originally made by a real person, you forget on multiple occasions that you are watching an animated version of those emotions. The artistic talent that is backing up Volckman's world here is breathtaking, and at many times the movie almost does appear to still retain its live action origins. Backing up the visualization is an equally impressive audio accompaniment.

The soundtrack assists most of the scenes quite well, enhancing the mood and atmosphere. The blips of the technology, as well as the ambient background hum of the city, provide a layered dull hive buzzing of a very real and living city. Also along for the ride in the English language dub of the film are several prominent names. Daniel Craig provides the lead voice of Karas. Jonathan Pryce and Ian Holm are also on hand in smaller supporting roles. And unlike some celebrity-voiced films that have been seeping into the theatres recently, these actors take a cue from real voice actors, and create characters with their voices. Their names are there for a bit of publicity, but if you didn't know it was them, you wouldn't be able to guess who was speaking.

The story narrative itself takes a backseat to the visual flair rocketing across the screen, and at many times Karas' investigations seems to exist solely to bring the viewer into the multi-layered social spectrum of this future Paris. There has been a lot of time and effort put into creating a very realistic and operating city, and Volckman intends to show it off. His "camera" swoops and sways through the city as it follows Karas, pulling off otherwise impossible angles, zooms, and crane shots, and bleeding through solid objects in continuous motion. An exhilarating car chase, which zips through most of the city over the course of a few minutes, is a highlight of the movie. The story is nothing groundbreaking, with many aspects of the classic detective motif merely updated and adapted to reflect the future world, but it is at least engaging, and seems quite plausible given the future setting, and has just enough mystery and subtle clues that will have any armchair sleuth trying to keep up or figure out the riddle.

Once again, an animator has taken a bold step is bringing down the concrete wall that separates animation as a genre (read "kids entertainment") and as a medium to tell a story. And here it is used perfectly as a medium to tell the story and bring a future Paris to life. Japan has long known the full range and potential that animation holds as a medium to bring compelling and entertaining cinema to the screen. And with recent works such as RENNAISSANCE and the ever advancing CGI getting closer and closer to photo realistic rendering, that wall is slowly chipping away both here in America and Europe. There will be a day, sooner than later, where these films will be seen not in festivals, art houses, and home theatres but in a multiplex. And that will be a day worth going to the movies.

EQUILIBRIUM (2002) Movie Review

EQUILIBRIUM (2002)

In the 21st Century, in the aftermath of World War III, the leaders of world make the conclusion that mankind would not survive a fourth, and take the extreme measure of removing from man's life that might which provoke war - feelings, thought and emotion. A drug, Prozium, is invented to keep the masses at bay, and a new arm of the law, the Tetra Grammatron Clerics, is created to police sense crimes and destroy anything that might invoke said senses.

John Preston (Christian Bale) is a Senior Cleric, who follows his orders to the letter, kills those that are guilty of sense crimes without hesitation, and commands the destruction of anything illegal. That is, until one day when he accidentally breaks his daily dose of Prozium. That one missed dose is all it takes, and the sensory and emotional world he has fought so hard to destroy creeps into his mind. He begins a double life, continuing to be a Cleric by day, while seeking out the resistance that fights to bring down the controlling government at night. When he finally discovers the resistance leaders, they ask him to kill Father, the all-knowing, all-decision making head of the government, which will set off a chain reaction that will allow the resistance to take over. But with another Cleric already suspicious of Preston's activities, he may be arrested of sense crimes before he can start the coup d'etat.

The film's basic premise pulls from the themes and imagery from the great dystopian novels of the twentieth century, gladly borrowing from A Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984, as well as the Nazi Germany's power of persuasion to bring the twenty-first century a new tale of science speculation and dystopia. Director and writer Kurt Wimmer has certainly done his homework, and spins a tale that, much like its inspirations, is just real enough and close enough, that it could happen if society lets it. Some of the more impressive nods Wimmer applies is the drug Prozium, a reference to A Brave New World's Soma, the burning of books and art a la 451,and the huge "big brother" video screens and the drab grayish uniforms of the common folk of 1984. Anyone familiar with these novels or their film adaptations are bound to see more similarities.

Societal constrictions are not the only element that is given a sinister overhaul. Organized religion and devout faith are also given a good muckraking. From the head-figure dubbed Father (a synonym for God) to the Clerics who enforce the social religion with pain and death against those who do not conform, to the unwavering faith that everything is being done in best interest of mankind. To paraphrase from the movie "whether we agree on what the Father says is not the issue, but our willingness to obey and to have faith in him is".

Christian Bale, who is in almost every scene of the movie and easily carries the film, is exceptional as John Preston. Bale plays the duality of the role perfectly, and uses his face to express everything the character is about. At the beginning, he is rigid and emotionless. His face is a blank slate. Once free of the Prozium though, he switches gears and even as he continues to show that rigidness, his slight changes shows the pain of having to willingly suppress his new found freedom of emotion. Bale also performs most of the demanding action sequences himself. It would be hard to dismiss that this movie was one of the main contributors to Bale donning the cloak and cowl in BATMAN BEGINS.

In the film, the Clerics use a martial art called Gun Kata, a form created entirely by Kurt Wimmer that incorporates guns, both as a projectile and physical weapon, into hand-to-hand combat. This weaponplay is brought into the movie several times throughout and adds from some exciting action set pieces that gives the viewer a breather from the oppressive government overtones. And here is where the main fault, if it can be called that, of the movie lies. The movie is marketed very much as a super-action film, and those expecting just that could be easily turned off by the heavy messages that take up a bulk of the film. Likewise, those who may be lulled in by the dystopian tale could find the action sequences a little too brutal.

Dystopian futures are one of my favorite genres, and for some same reason that I like westerns, though the build up is quite different. In each, all it takes is for one individual to take a stand against that which they see as wrong, and not only having the courage and determination to make things right in the eyes of that character, but the ability to be able to see those changes through. It may not be the best way, and many innocent lives are usually lost during that struggle, but it is a price I would gladly pay.