geekent’s stuff’n things

the global influence of moviemaking collides with the old tradition of storytelling in whale rider, an adaptation of witi ihimaera’s new zealand novel based on one of the stories the maori have told for a thousand years.

koro, the leader of the paikea tribe, awaits the arrival of his successor; a male heir, fathered by his eldest son porourangi, to follow in his footsteps. the happy news of twins arriving is muted quickly as porourangi’s wife and the boy twin die, leaving the other twin, the girl pai, as the possible heir. the grief-stricken father flees, placing pai in the custody of koro and his wife (her grandmother). pai battles to win the favour and love of koro, who blames pai for the tribe’s continued downturn and searches for a new inheritor. as pai struggles to find herself, she finds nature and heritage collide…

the story told is an old one; a neglected offspring battles to be recognized and loved by her family with help from the outside. however, whale rider does this admirably, placing an emphasis on the letting the tale unfold naturally, without relying on schmaltz and obvious plot devices. the new zealand landscape is both gritty and beautiful as it’s obvious that the coastal tribe is remote and financially rough. niki caro directs the film in a straightforward fashion, guided along by the ethereal score by lisa gerrard. the entire cast and crew do an excellent job, particularly keisha castle-huges as the precocious pai and rawiri paratene as the stubborn koro.

the book is used in new zealand high schools as part of their reading courses, but for those of us outside the kiwiland, the movie serves as a brilliant introduction to the world of the maori, highlighting their language, traditions and beliefs. however, don’t expect this to be an english class filmstrip; whale rider succeeds on drawing us into a world by looking at one person’s story for identity as she’s carried through life on the knowledge of her ancestors.

I’ve been reading rather mixed reviews about Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow, and while I can’t say I wholeheartedly agree with, say, The Onion (which compares the film with Goodfellas… *ahem* which I havn’t seen *cough*) or Roger Ebert (which gives it four out of four stars, I wouldn’t go that far), I can say that I did find the film intriguing.
Most of the buzz that I’ve seen (aside from actual reviews) goes on and on about the fact that it’s an all-Asian-American cast with nary a martial arts move to be seen. And it’s true, there isn’t, and it’s also true that there aren’t any overt racial undercurrents to the film (the characters don’t belabor the point of their ancestry, it’s just part of their character, we’re not beaten over the head with it) which I think Lin has to be praised greatly for.
The film is really a cross between your typical Can’t Hardly Wait” high-school teen dramedy, and the amateur night at the gangster land antics of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (the visual style to which Lin owes completely). It’s also part Suburbia, Richard Linklater’s own more straightforward criticism and examination of the suburban life.
Our films hero is Ben, played by Parry Shen, he’s a straight-A easy-achiever (meaning his smarts take no effort), who handles school, a job, basketball, and other school activities, as well as a little side venture as petty rip-off artist with his best friend, the high-strung Virgil (Jason Tobin), and Virgil’s laconic cousin Han (Sung Kang). Eventually they get approached by Daric (Roger Fan), a star athlete (but in tennis, and thus lacks the respect of the more jocular athletes) and award winning student reporter, to help in his cheat-sheet scam.
Though they already had the taste for the something extraordinary (read: crime) in their lives, their venture eventually brings them a rep, guns and drugs. It’s here where the story takes it’s jump in the plausibility factor. I just don’t believe these guys (well, maybe Han) are capable of doing the business their keeping. And the movie really breezes through their efforts, not really sitting upon any consequences to their actions until the final downturn in their lives, a catharsis which, while visually powerful, takes an even greater leap in the believability realm.
Aside from this, though, Perry Shen’s Ben keeps the film together with a strong performance (amidst many strong performance) as we see the greatest difficulty in his life isn’t the challenges he faces and the situations he’s gotten himself into, but his crush on Steph, who already has a boyfriend, Steve (John Cho) who himself plays an important part in the grand mechanics of the film.
Better Luck Tomorrow lives a lot on borrowed cinema, but it does also have its own voice, if a little muddy. It is, at times, fun, and at other times sad. There are moments where you can definitely relate to the characters, and times when the characters are doing things so extreme to their personalities that it’s hard to understand them at all.
The moral ambiguity of the film is perhaps the biggest let down, and also maybe it’s greatest strength. It doesn’t proceed to give you a life lesson, nor does it ever preach, it simply relies on the characters to do what’s right or wrong, and to have them live with the consequences of their actions however they see fit. Most telling of this is Shen’s plagued look as he knows, at the end, he doesn’t deserve to get the girl.
It’s a perplexing film, worth watching if only because of stellar performances and tight direction (but really there’s more to it than that).