Smooth Edges – Rough Cut

I had a fair amount of trouble titling this particular post. I saw it during the recent Korean Thanksgiving holiday (주석, or Juseok). Mind you, I had initially planned to watch ‘The Clone Wars’, but I quickly realise that when you are with a girl (though not on a date, I hasten to add), any film chosen with the word ‘war’ in the title is not a particularly popular choice (funnily enough, the first ‘Star Wars’ film had a fair amount of pressure from the studio to change its title, since studies conducted back then showed that films with ‘war’ in the title wouldn’t be popular with the better half of the population). The same could also be applied to the word ‘dangerous’ in ‘Bangkok Dangerous’, the combination of which prompted laughter rather than intrigue.

Settling for a Korean film, then, we ended up picking ‘Rough Cut’. The problem I had, then, wasn’t with the film itself…but with the title, because although the Korean title (영화는 영화다) literally meant ‘Movie is the Cinema’ (if you put it through the Dictionary.com translator), I know that Korean movies don’t do literal translations well. With this in mind, I considered the various meanings that could also be applied, until a chance visit on the excellent Koreanfilm.org website (which I haven’t visited for quite a while), revealed ‘Rough Cut’ as the English title. Once you bear in mind the general idea that the film tried to achieve, then you’ll realise how apt a title it is.

Ballsy – The Love Guru

I had a revelation revealed to me recently. As I sat down and flicked through the channelsone fine anti-social evening, one of the main movie channels was showing ‘Scary Movie 4′. One of the ways in which I would practise my Korean would be to watch Western movies (which would invariably have Korean subtitles), and write the subtitles down as I go along. This is one way that I can get myself acquainted with new Korean words. Half of the time, I end up not using them (‘prison’ isn’t exactly a main ingredient of everyday conversation), but nevertheless, I persist, in the hope that they will stick around in my head sooner or later.

And so it was with ‘Scary Movie 4′. Pen in hand, eyes on the bottom third of the screen, I witnessed the scene in which the Tom Cruise spoof character placed his gun on the rim of his jeans, securing it around his waist. Two unexpected things happened. He accidentally shot himself in his nuts. “My balls,” he screamed. The other unexpected thing was that I laughed hard at this, surprisingly so. I considered describing it as ‘long and hard’, but it wasn’t long, for soon enough, he would accidentally shoot himself in the ass as well. At this point, I also laughed my own ass off.

Heavenly – Paradise Now

Suha: One day, things will be better.
Taxi Driver: Sounds like you’re not from here.

***************

‘Paradise Now’ is not exactly the newest of movies, but I must admit to knowing little of this movie other than the controversy that it created a few years back. During the 2006 Oscars, the movie’s nationality was hotly debated, with the schizophrenics failing to fully decide between describing it as a film from Palestine, the Palestinian Authorities, or the Palestinian Territories. Though the compromise eventually meant that ‘territories’ was chosen, it caused nothing more than a blip on my radar. A part of the reason is that most films that I have come across or heard of from the regions seemed to deal with the same subject over and over again. Of course, each treatment is different in its own way, but the lack of perceived difference meant that my interest in the film was limited mainly to the controversy, and little else beyond that.

Having trawled through Shekhar Kapur’s excellent blog some time ago (he comes off very much as a humanist, more than as a filmmaker. It is a good reminder than there are more important things in life than films), where he fervently and positively showered much praise on the film.

Yellow Card – The Football Factory

Despite the popularity of football, there are few films that looks at the game. Over the years, however, the few that did became instant classics, like ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ and ‘The Cup’. Their success lies as much in the skills of the filmmakers themselves rather than the actual subject itself. The film that did try to portray modern football in all its glory, ‘Goal!’, was a commercial success, but its shallowness meant that only those who are actually into football gets to connect with the film. There are a few more films that touches on the subject (‘Maradona by Kusturica’ and ‘Zidane’), but these would fall more towards the categories of creative non-fiction, rather than fiction itself.

Judging by the title, you might think that ‘The Football Factory’ would be such a film to satiate such an emptiness. After all, half of the people you meet almost certainly has more than just a passing interest in the game. They may not all understand the offside rule, but they would certainly know or have at least heard of Cristiano Ronaldo (if ever a film is made of his life, I would fast forward to this summer’s non-transfer to Real Madrid ). Given such a film, then, it is interesting to note that ‘The Football Factory’ doesn’t actually look at football, but the people that drives it: its fans.