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Global revisions Asian Visions is the latest film fest to celebrate the continent by MATTHEW HAYS
"We're talking about two billion people [in that part of the world]," says the organizer of the first Asian Visions film fest, which is coming to Montreal this week after a hugely successful debut in Toronto. "We're going for a very different audience than the one at Fant-Asia. These clearly aren't the same kind of films." Amarshi hopes the festival will help to illustrate the diversity of Asian life. Amarshi and partner Carolynne Hew have managed to assemble a broad range of films with varied geographical backgrounds. The eight films come from India, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. One of the films premiering, The River, managed to make waves with Serge Losique, who was apparently upset since his World Film Fest had hoped to premiere the film in Montreal (Amarshi says the Asian Visions team never had any intention of stealing the World Fest's thunder).
Other highlights of Asian Visions include Mee Pok Man, the first film from Singapore to hit the fest circuit. The film has been hugely controversial on its home turf, where it was banned and then given a restrictive rating upon its release two years ago (no matter, the film packed audiences in). Director Eric Khoo spins the story of a dim-witted noodle salesman who runs an all-night shop in the wrong end of town, and his twisted love for Bunny, a naïve prostitute. Undeniably grim but unmissable, Mee Pok Man is an astounding achievement, especially in light of its mere $70,000 budget and three-week shooting schedule. Japan's staunchly conformist society is taken on in Kids Return, in which two adolescents try their damnedest to rebel against the rigid codes of social behaviour. Shinji becomes involved with the sport of boxing, where his future looks promising--for a brief while. Masaru, meanwhile, becomes involved with the mob. "Most professors and pundits on youth spin you the line that adolescence is a time of unlimited opportunity," director Kitano Takeshi told Sight and Sound magazine in an interview about the film. "According to them, if you fail you can always try again and succeed later. But I have to say that my own observation suggests that the opposite is often true. Very often young people who fail in some way cannot undo their mistakes. I suppose that's the main perception behind the film." Asian Visions opens this Friday, July 25 at the Cinéma du Parc and runs until July 31. See repertory listings for showtimes |
Having not one but two film festivals dedicated to Asian cinema running at the same time may seem like further evidence that Montreal has too many film festivals, but film and video distributor Hussain Amarshi would beg to differ.
Amarshi acknowledges that the Taiwanese entry The River got very mixed responses at Asian Visions' Toronto screenings last week. The film depicts the intense alienation and bizarre family relations of a young man growing up in Taipei. "The film is not for everybody. Some people told me it was the best film they'd seen all year. I heard some reports that others were hissing at the screen. It's certainly a film that provokes different responses. It is definitely a very courageous film."