Berlinale 2010, Day 5 (Golden Day)

I was supposed to watch three movies, but I didn’t dare to, because the first two were so good that the risk of “ruining” the day was too big. Besides, they were all films from the official competition, so I will be able to see them later on DVD.

OMG, the mashup-trailers, the things with the dancing people I was telling you about, you can stream them here!

Golden Slumber (??????????)
Japan 2010, Yoshihiro Nakamura, 139?

Aoyagi meets up with his old college buddy Morita. On the same day the new prime minister, the first from an opposing party, holds a parade thorugh the city streets. While they talk, Morita reveals to Aoyagi that he was set up to be framed for something and Morita was forced to be part of this. Seconds later, the prime minister’s car explodes and suddenly all police is closing in on Aoyagi. He manages to flee and tries to get help from his small circle of college friends and receives it also in quite unexpected places and situations…

OK, that will be a hard one. I know I wholeheartedly adore this movie, it put me in great mood afterwards and really moved me, but I can not exactly say why. Was it the unwavering solidarity between the four college friends? Was it the heartfelt sympathy from complete strangers? (I mean, come on, a serial killer?) The tragic of it all, mixed with so much humor? Was it the end? Either way, this was a very strong and fresh approach on the theme of a single fugitive man, fighting against the whole government. And while it had this genuinely American goverment-sceptic setup the whole execution made it something very uniquely Japanese. Also, the suspense was done just right and the soundtrack played a great part to enrich the flashbacks and some of the quieter scenes of his escape.
I may be wrong in seeing a trend, but this is the second Japanese movie this year that was political in its message. While Kanikousen was overtly hyperpolitical, this one did have no overt message, only a quite opinionated tone, it surprises me to see a movie targeting political issues so much. My special Japanese friend however told me that she was in Japan during the recent elections and there was quite a lot of optimism and a longing to discuss more and more (political) issues openly, because the long-ruling (not anymore) LDP is so fervently hated for its ties to business lobbies and big corporations.

You Yi Tian (One Day, ???)
Taiwan 2010, Hou Chi-jan, 93?

Sin’ging works on ferry from Kaohsiung to Kinmen, where one night she dreams about a young soldier who says he will meet her again and be her boyfriend. While she doesn’t believe him, he turns out to be right…

This is the cutest movie I’ve seen in a long time, awwwww! <3 Also: World premiere, I was there! Two rows behind the unbelievably cute main girl! <3 Some (not cute) girls sitting beside me were commenting on how the movie dragged out the scenes. Either I’m into slow movies far too much by now or they were stupid, because I couldn’t disagree more. While it was in fact anything than fast paced I didn’t think the scenes were unnecessary or dragged out. I guess they were just immune against the unbelievably cute atmosphere this unbelievably cute couple had… I’ll stop with the “unbelievably cute” now, although it is the truth! Honestly, 90 minutes felt like a good amount time of time to tell the story. Of course you could have left out about 10 minutes or so, but it really would have hurt the atmosphere. Those details and conversations were important to flesh out the relationship between the two, so you would feel more at the end. (Dear Argentinian director: please watch this movie to learn how out-of-focus is done right.) Speaking of style, I found it to be quite wongkarwai-ish in how it sometimes used shots with no clear focus that only served the purpose of delivering a certain emotion or mood. The director also succeeded quite admirably in blurring the line between reality and dream: It always took some time to see what was real and what was not, but it never let you hang there too long and those of the loose ends I felt needed to get tied up he tied up quite elegantly. Impressively, this was the director’s first feature film.

In fact, the movie is just a simple little love story with a simple message and a slightly surrealistic dream-layer, but in all this it creates such a warm, loving atmosphere that just moved me. The beauty of it is the tragedy of it all and that effectively prevents you from really being jealous of their love. (If you have reasons to do that, anyway…)