Review of films nominated at Asia-Pacific festival

Review of films nominated at Asia-Pacific festival

JAKARTA (JP): A lot of arguments colored the meetings of the
panel of the 40th Asia-Pacific Film Festival before the seven
judges finally announced the names of the five films nominated in
Best Film category on Sunday.

"The meetings continued until midnight, there were really
heated arguments on which films meet the requirements, which do
not," said Boediardjo, head of the panel.

"From the competing 30 films, we chose 14 films first, and
after that we chose five," said Boediardjo who was Indonesia's
minister of information in 1968 to 1973.

The five films nominated are Turning Point of Japan, Hsiao Yu
of Taiwan, Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon Dances) of
Indonesia, The Last Tattoo of New Zealand and The Lovers of Hong
Kong.

Another member of the panel, Jane Freebury told The Jakarta
Post that she was impressed with the 30 competing films.

"Some of them have met international standards and some others
are still developing," Freebury said.

Winner of the Best Film category will be announced tomorrow at
the award-giving and closing ceremony at the Jakarta Convention
Center.

Turning Point, a drama directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, centers
on Yumiko, a newspaper reporter who writes an editorial
criticizing a former prime minister. The story becomes
complicated since there is a religious sect supporting the ruling
government which takes her article as adverse criticism and
attempts to get rid of her through a government official it
controls. Yumiko later meets Masako Yanagi, an actress who is
also a mistress of the ruling prime minister, who helps her.

Career woman

Played by actresses Sayuri Yoshinaga and Miki Fujitani, the
film is about a career woman who has never retreated and who
keeps on fighting.

Directed by former Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang, Hsiao Yu is
the name of a girl who is an illegal immigrant in New York. To
obtain American citizenship, Hsiao Yu (interpreted by young
actress Liu Jo-yin) decides to marry Mario (played by Daniel J.
Travananti), a desperate, aging, former radical journalist. She
intends to divorce him after obtaining citizenship and then marry
her boyfriend Giang Wei.

But things don't go according to plan. Mario abuses the girl
and his ex-wife shows up and throws Hsiao Yu out of his
apartment.

Discovering that his girlfriend is hurt, Giang Wei kills
Mario. The story could have had a happy ending, but Hsiao Yu
refuses to marry Giang Wei and painfully chooses independence
over love.

It is no surprise to learn that one of the five nominated
films is the third film of Indonesian director Garin Nugroho who
is an award-winning filmmaker. Garin won no less than three
international prizes, including the top prize from Tokyo Film
festival last year, for his second film Surat untuk Bidadari
(Letter for an Angel).

For his third film Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon
Dances), as with his other films, Garin recruited a new actor and
actress to interpret the main characters of his film.
Twenty-five-year-old model Paquita Widjaya plays Bulan, former
photographer of the defunct Tempo magazine Norman Wibowo plays
Ilalang and Ki Soetarman plays Waluyu, Ilalang's and Bulan's
music teacher.

Inspired by Javanese classical dance Bedhaya, Bulan Tertusuk
Ilalang is a story of a love triangle.

"My film, as other films made by directors of my generation
either in Indonesia or abroad, features loneliness in the modern
age. If you see Vive l'amour of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-
liang, for example, you'll find the same perspective," Garin
said.

Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang will be screened today at 7.45 p.m. at
TIM 21 theater complex at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta.

The Last Tattoo directed by New Zealander John Reid is set in
New Zealand during World War II, when thousands of American
marines were based in the country awaiting their move to the
Pacific.

The story tells of a nurse (played by Kerry Fox) who discovers
a high level conspiracy while investigating a murder. At first
she suspects a marine captain (Tony Goldwyn) but then they find
both their lives are being threatened.

John Reid

The Last Tattoo has been sold to 15 countries and has won
three New Zealand film awards.

Hong Kong's director Tsui Hark remade Sampek Engtay, a Chinese
version of love story Romeo and Juliet, called The Lovers. The
story of Sampek and Engtay was previously translated into a movie
by another director and has also been staged in a play by
Indonesian Teater Koma in Jakarta several years ago.

In this ageless story, Nicky Wi Chi Lung is Ying Toy whose
marriage to a high ranking officer is arranged by her parents.
Worried that his daughter lacks education, Ying Toy's father
sends her to a college in a province where she later meets poor
Shan Pak (played by Charlie Young) and falls in love.

But their love is not to be. It is time for Ying Toy to get
married and she returns home. Smitten with Ying Toy, Shan Pak
follows her and is unfortunately caught by her father, who beats
him to death. Sorrowful, Ying Toy visits Shan Pak's grave after
her wedding and, as the grave splits open, Ying Toy immediately
leaps into the hole and joins Shan Pak in death. (als)