A Confucian Confusion (1994) [Film Review]

A Confucian Confusion; or, The Way of a Copywriter
     Don't you feel emotion is becoming dangerous nowadays? Emotion has only become an excuse. It can be faked. Take you, for example, your innocence, loveliness, tenderness, vivacity. They all can be faked. Think about it.
Recently, I found myself in a dire need for Edward Yang. Yi Yi (2000) is obviously a masterpiece and to date remains one of my all-time favourite movies, but I wanted to check out the director’s earlier works as well. My choice became A Confucian Confusion from 1994. I have been eyeing this particular motion picture for quite some time, but I was either not in the mood for it or too tired to pay attention to multiple storylines. Well, I finally watched it, so here are my thoughts on the film.

Release Info

Directed by: Edward Yang Starring: Suk Kwan Ni, Bosen Wang, Chen Shiang-chyi, Danny Dun

Language: Mandarin Original Title: 獨立時代 Runtime: 125 min

Synopsis
The story focuses on the misadventures of Molly (Suk Kwan Ni), a fast-paced yet moody businesswoman who is unhappy at work and also within a relationship. She is engaged to Akeem (Bosen Wang) who is a businessman doing international travels. Needless to say, he is hopelessly in love with Molly and incredibly jealous. Molly manoeuvres through her friends, former colleagues, and relatives, who are also in search of true meaning in life and true love. Will they be able to find both?

Taipei Nights
Description of the film on MyDramaList says that if Woody Allen were to direct a Taiwanese picture, then it would have looked like A Confucian Confusion. In my opinion, this statement is a bit far-fetched. Edward Yang, in his own, idiosyncratic auteur style, mercilessly dissects the social stratum of Taipei yuppies. The 1990s were a decade in which Taiwan was a rapidly growing economy; therefore, people became overwhelmed by rampant consumerism. What were the implications of that?

In A Confucian Confusion, Yang elaborates on the themes of fakeness and emptiness. It is always so easy to fake emotions or to pretend to be somebody else at work just to achieve a certain goal. What is more, the masses are interested only in the mainstream stuff, opting to cheer for a scummy artist rather than series writer. If Confucius himself got reincarnated and returned to Earth, people would tell him that he is a fake.

So this is the main modus operandi of the characters. They are deeply unhappy in modern society and desperately try to do something about it, to make the right choice. Here Yang's allegory about choosing either autocratic rule or democracy is important. To be honest, I very much enjoyed all the interactions and conflicts presented in the film. Yang presented the whole thing as if the audience performed the function of bystanders who witness flashes of events concerning ordinary people. My favourite subplot was the one focusing on Qiqi and her boyfriend.

With regard to performances, I obviously enjoyed Suk Kwan Ni as the main lead, but I also greatly liked seeing Chen Shiang-chyi and Danny Dun in the supporting roles. Interestingly, there are small parts done by veteran actresses: the late Chen Limei who played Molly’s sister and Elaine Jin who portrayed the Auntie.

Recommendations
If you are in the mood for a satirical (nearly Shakespearean, indeed) comedy flick from Edward Yang that rides to the ground the unlikable (yet deeply existentialist) business people from Taipei, then I recommend A Confucian Confusion. It is indeed a hidden treasure from director Edward Yang.

Overall score: 7/10

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Kamikaze Taxi (1995) [Film Review]

Kamikaze Taxi; or, The Winds of the Andes

     I heard music. Not Japanese pop. Not heavy metal either. It was music. I just felt he and I could become friends.

Taxi transportation is so popular in the realm of cinema. Martin Scorsese made the immortal Taxi Driver in 1976, Luc Besson wrote and produced Taxi (1998) comedy, whereas director Jang Hoon had the chance to tackle the subject matter in a 2017 movie. Let me tell you that the Japanese also had their piece of the action in 1995 with Masato Harada’s Kamikaze Taxi, a brutal satire on the topical problems which still continue to perplex the Japanese society.

Release Info

Directed by: Masato Harada Starring: Koji Yakusho, Kazuya Takahashi, Reiko Kataoka, Kenichi Yajima, Mickey Curtis

Language: Japanese Original Title: 復讐の天使 Runtime: 134 min (Theatrical Cut)

Synopsis
Tatsuo (Kazuya Takahashi) is a young yakuza member who is responsible for delivering prostitutes to high-profile clients. After a rough night, one of Tatsuo’s girls gets killed, whereas the other one is badly injured. The gangster wants revenge on a prominent politician (Taketoshi Naito) who did this, but his boss, Animaru (Mickey Curtis), forbids to take any action. Tatsuo disobeys the order and raids the politician’s household, stealing his savings in the process. Now, Tatsuo is on the run from the yakuza gangsters who want the money back, and his only chance to stay alive is a quirky taxi driver, Kantake Kazumasa (Koji Yakusho), who may look like a Japanese citizen, but is actually an immigrant worker of Peruvian nationality...

Wild Target
I was aware of the movie for quite some time primarily because I’m a fan of Koji Yakusho (actually, who isn’t?!), but I could check it out just recently thanks to kind souls on Youtube and their uploads (the movie is out of print). Well, the movie certainly subverts your expectations. I thought that this will be something like a happy-go-lucky flick crafted by Shinobu Yaguchi, but Kamikaze Taxi has more of a Takeshi Kitano touch but without Takeshi Kitano…

The opening sequence is just all over the place, and just as when I was about to turn the film off, the storyline finally started making some sense. Evidently, Masato Harada is not an auteur filmmaker focused on coherent storytelling. The film feels like a series of disjointed vignettes in which people either shot at each other, have prolonged death sequences, or deliver lofty monologues about life and justice.

Nevertheless, beneath all that V-Cinema sleaze, there is a masterpiece of a movie lurking and waiting to be discovered by the viewers. Kamikaze Taxi ruthlessly exposes such social issues as ultranationalist politicians, abuse of women, belief in New Age crap, drugs, genocide, distorting historical facts, and discrimination against immigrant workers. In consequence, our protagonists find themselves on a quest through the pathological margins of a society to kill the bad guys and put things right.

Definitive highlights of the movie are excellent cinematography as well as downright breathtaking music score composed by Masahiro Kawasaki. Allegedly, director Harada ordered the composer to listen to hours of Peruvian music because he wanted to have a soundtrack with South American vibes.

With regard to performances, Koji Yakusho absolutely steals the show as a mystical taxi driver who speaks broken Japanese and suffers from personal trauma. Kazuya Takahashi also does very well as revenge-driven Tatsuo, and Reiko Kataoka is quite memorable as his girl sidekick. Mickey Curtis himself also appears in a supporting role of Animaru, the crime boss who likes playing jazz. In addition, Taguchi Tomorrow himself has a cameo as Charlie Chaplin.

A word of caution, there are different cuts of the film out there. Initially, I have seen the theatrical version which runs at 134 mins. There is also an international version (160 mins), and fan recut (176) which sees the inclusion of deleted scenes. Basically, the only major sequence that got cut out from the theatrical cut is the protagonists’ stay at an onsen resort where they engage in all sorts of pastime games/group theraphy with the personnel.

Recommendations
All things considered, Kamikaze Taxi may suffer from narrative shortcomings, yet it manages to be captivatingly poetic and touching. Undeniably, it is a brilliant commentary on Japan and its problems which are constantly being swept under the rug. Overall score: 7/10

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