tiggymalvern | More on SIFF

Two more films for the review treatment.

A few days ago, I went to see Nanjing! Nanjing! (released in the US as 'City of Life and Death'), a Chinese film version of the events in that city during the Japanese invasion in 1937/8. I had rated the 2007 dramatised documentary Nanking very highly (I bought the DVD), but that was a western film, and I was curious about the Chinese take on the same period.

Factually, the two films seemed fairly close, though this film concentrates more on the Chinese and Japanese people, with the westerners secondary. Some of the specific instances from the documentary were recognisable in this drama, so as far as my (deeply limited) knowledge goes, the film appears to have aimed for some historical accuracy. Technically, the film was very well made, with good direction and cinematography. It's a film about some very brutal atrocities, so of course there is violence, and I thought it walked a good line between how much to show and how much to leave implied.

Unfortunately, I didn't really connect with the film emotionally. I'm normally one of the first people to get sucked in and start crying at a film, and Nanking makes me cry every time I watch it, but this film didn't. It's a well made movie, and the content should have got to me, but there was obviously something missing, and I can't even really say what it is. Maybe it was because there were too many characters to focus on, and I didn't get to spend enough time with any one of them? That kind of jumping around doesn't hurt Nanking, but it's twenty times more powerful hearing the stories in the words of the people who lived through it, instead of seeing a performance by actors.

Interestingly, the character I did feel closest to was one of the Japanese soldiers. I had wondered if there might be some anti-Japanese bias in the Chinese film, given the long history between the two countries and the subject matter. Instead, the film-makers seem to have gone to such lengths to avoid this, that their most sympathetic character is one of the 'enemy'. I would be interested to know how much of his personal story was factual, as the end credits make it clear he was based on a real person.

I scored the film 4/5 for being well-made, but its failure to rip my heart out with this subject matter meant it couldn't be a 5.

The following night, for a change of pace, four of us went to see Skeletons, a British debut feature by its writer/director. An unusual pair of travelling businessmen have a secret 'procedure' for removing metaphorical skeletons from literal closets. Want to know what deep, dark secrets your spouse is hiding from you? These men will give you an impartial answer, for a fee, and a lot of disclaimers. But a way to dig into the past and inside people's heads carries its risks, and one particular case becomes a lot more complex.

This is a black comedy with a very dry sense of humour - a lot of smirks, not too many laugh out louds. It practically defines the word 'quirky', and it's one of the most crazily innovative films I've seen in ages. Stunning originality, and well executed, what more could you want? It delighted all four of us, scoring 4 or 5 all round. Quite the debut!