The Burden of Suffering: Comparing La Femme Nikita (1990) and The Villainess (2017) [Editorial]

Disclaimer: The following editorial is filled with spoilers of both movies. Read it only if you have seen the films.

     Don’t forget… There are two things that have no limit: femininity and the means of taking advantage of it.~ La Femme Nikita

     Let me show you… what you made me into.~ The Villainess

Every self-respecting moviegoer is most probably aware of the fact that strong heroines have been present on the silver screen for decades, not several years. The 1970s as well as the 1980s gave us a whole slew of tough and badass female characters, from the West as well as from the East. Interestingly, European Cinema never quite engaged into “Girls with Guns” craze, and perhaps its only worthwhile interjection into the matter is Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita from 1990.
     The young and confident director was at the top of his game in the 1980s, effectively changing the face of French cinema which was suffused with art-house style and theatricality at that time. By emphasising the visuals and style rather than proper narrative (see Cinema du look movement), Besson created such modern classics as Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and, of course, La Femme Nikita (1990).

     Somewhat forgotten today, the movie about a young woman turned spy became an important cultural phenomenon. If you ask anybody today about “Nikita”, they will most certainly associate the title with one of the American TV shows or even a John Badham movie. Indeed, Besson gave Europeans their own “girl with a gun” but she was immediately snatched by Hollywood and incorporated into the American mainstream. Nevertheless, the archetypal figure of a non-conforming woman forced to serve the state, and who tries to find happiness, proved to be pervasive in culture. While Hollywood was busy with the remakes, Hong Kong already made their own version of Nikita in 1991. Black Cat with Jade Leung ticks all the major plot points from the original film while also adding tropes of an exploitation flick and underlining the anti-authority message (Black Cat is actually controlled by the CIA via microchip).
     Yet, the incarnations of Nikita with Bridget Fonda, Jade Leung, Peta Wilson, and Maggie Q, do not mark the end of fascination with this character. A 2017 South Korean production The Villainess was openly advertised as a movie inspired by La Femme Nikita; however, I believe that the movie is not so much a remake but a companion piece to Nikita.

     The fans have spotted references to Kill Bill (2003), The Raid (2011), and Hardcore Henry (2015), but director Jung Byung-gil acknowledged that The Villainess is first and foremost an homage to La Femme Nikita. Having watched the two movies back-to-back, I was surprised by the fact that The Villainess does not simply retell the events of Nikita but also comments on them and builds on the character of the original heroine.
     Firstly, let’s take a closer look at La Femme Nikita: The movie starts with a bunch of hoodlums who rob a pharmacy. It turns out that our soon-to-be heroine is a drug addict who is on such an acid trip that she actually shots a police officer point blank in the head. Nikita is rightfully sentenced in the court of law, and two men approach her in a cell with an injection. Nikita breaks down because she is convinced that she is about to be euthanized. Actually, she’s only sedated and wakes up in a white room where she is greeted by a man called Bob. He explicitly tells her that the government fakes the deaths of worthless criminals and turns them into spies. Evidently, Nikita is very reluctant about the whole concept and tries to break away, but Bob eventually manages to mould her into a professional agent. Nikita is given a new identity and she is allowed to lead a normal life, on condition that she will always perform secret assignments.

     According to researcher Jeanne Deslandes, La Femme Nikita is a film about going back to the state of normality. We see the main heroine as a social wreck at the very beginning, but she is salvaged by Bob (a representative of the French secret police, we could say) who offers her a second chance in life. Ironically, Nikita gets more than she bargains for. That is to say, whenever something pleasant happens to her, bad things immediately strike as well. For instance, on her 23rd birthday, Bob takes Nikita to a restaurant only to give her a gun and target details. In addition, when Nikita spends a honeymoon with her beloved husband Marco, she is ordered to take down yet another target. In consequence, the heroine is unable to have a happy life because of the very same authorities who gave her a fresh start. When a mission concerning economic espionage goes terribly wrong (not out of Nikita’s fault), she is completely burnt out and, with the blessing of her husband, she runs away (hopefully, trying to regain her normality).

     Now proceeding to The Villainess: The movie has a similar structure and premise of Nikita, but the main character is quite different. Sook Hee is arrested and subsequently turned into a spy by the Korean secret police not because she is a lowlife, but because of her extraordinary abilities. At the very beginning, we see her slashing her way through hordes of expendable baddies and surviving the bombastic ordeal simply because she’s driven by the desire to avenge the death of her father. In a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Sook Hee’s father was killed because of a stolen diamond. His friend betrayed him but the real killer remains unidentified. Sook Hee was sold to human traffickers, but she was unexpectedly saved by a professional hitman. Cue to present day, Sook Hee is trained by the authorities and given the identity of Chae Yeon Soo. Together with her little daughter, she moves into an apartment and eventually marries a goofy but kind neighbour, Jung Hyun Soo. In the course of her assignments, she comes face to face once again with the hitman who saved her years ago.
     I admit that it is a fool’s errand to correctly summarise The Villainess from beginning to the end because there are tons of subplots happening in this movie. Nevertheless, here are the interesting contextual parallels between the two films:

     For example, Nikita and Sook Hee (amazing Anne Parillaud and Kim Ok Bin, respectively) are so feisty and spirited that they unsuccessfully attempt to escape the containment facility. This is of course a mutual plot point, but each character also sheds their old identity in a unique way. On the one hand, Bob takes away Nikita’s hoodlum clothing as if to symbolically distance her from the old days of being reckless. On the other hand, Sook Hee undergoes a plastic surgery and receives the new name of Chae Yeon Soo and a vocation: an actress. Both tricks seem to work as the heroines proceed with their training.

     Additionally, the mentor figures are also quite interesting (brilliantly played by Tcheky Karyo and Kim Seo Hyung, respectively). Bob is very friendly towards Nikita and he even pretends to be an uncle in front of her husband. Nevertheless, the most appropriate way to describe Bob is to call him a demon, simply because he owns Nikita’s soul. After Nikita’s attempt to free herself from his grasp, Bob’s smile towards the end of the film is more than unnerving. In turn, Kwon Sook in The Villainess performs exactly the same function (Sook Hee/Chae Yeon Soo is an investment that needs to follow orders), though she never becomes a friend.

     Furthermore, it is also intriguing how the characters of husbands (wonderful Jean-Hugues Anglade and Sung Joon, respectively) were handled. Marco in Nikita is a perfect Mr Nice Guy (quiet, caring, understanding). Although he seems to be oblivious to Nikita’s activities, it is revealed at the end that he figured it all out. As for Jung Hyun Soo in The Villainess, he is a government officer who genuinely falls for Chae Yeon Soo. Even though Jung dies while protecting her daughter, I think that Marco’s character has a stronger impact on the story. He is an average guy on whom the viewers can fall back (the bathroom scene is so powerful just because of his presence), whereas the presence of Jung Hyun Soo serves to elicit a melodramatic effect (boosting Chae Yeon Soo’s need for vendetta).

     Speaking about melodrama, The Villainess attempts to emotionally invest the viewer into the story with the usage of overt plot twists and stunning action set pieces. The plot twists about a lover who turned out to be the killer of Hee’s father makes the film venture into the territory of Luc Besson's other popular film, Leon (1994), but does not quite manage to bring the story of an assassin good at heart together with that of a female spy.

     Nevertheless, The Villainess is an extension of Nikita. What I mean by this is the fact that we get to know everything about Chae Yeon Soo through extensive flashbacks, whereas we know nothing about Nikita (apart from that she was named after a song). Nikita might as well have had exactly the same painful past as Chae Yeon Soo, but it did not haunt her afterwards. The most important bit about the two heroines are their attempts to regain normality. In the case of Nikita, she runs away because she has enough of killing (in fact, her last mission failed because another hitman wanted to solve everything with brute force). In the case of Chae Yeon Soo, she loses her husband and a child simply because she could not leave the past behind. As a result, she becomes an indestructible angel of vengeance (similar to the character played by Meiko Kaji in Lady Snowblood) in the epic finale. After killing the man who ruined her entire life, she turns into an antithesis of herself, she loses her normality (the state that Nikita wants to avoid). Chae Yeon Soo’s malevolent smile at the very end marks her transformation into the villainess…

     All things considered, The Villainess serves not so much as a remake but a companion piece to Nikita, showing what could happen to the archetypal lost woman if she had not run away. Evidently, both movies are about fallen heroines with guns who only wanted to lead a happy life. Actually, I am surprised that we have not been given proper sequels to these films. Perhaps it is best to leave the two heroines as they are.
     I very much recommend watching both movies. I personally like La Femme Nikita a tiny bit better, because it manages to achieve more with its subtlety. I hope that this extensive editorial was not an exhaustive read. I simply wanted to provide food for thought for viewers who also enjoy girls with guns flicks. Please share your thoughts in the comments. My thanks go to Seonsaeng from MyDramaList who kindly read the article and provided his feedback before the publication.
Sources: They Programmed Her to Kill: Black Cat, a Hong Kong remake of Nikita (2002) by Jeanne Deslandes * (Young) Sisters in Arms.Youthification and Femininization in Contemporary Action and Sci-Fi TV Series by Elisa Giomi * THE VILLAINESS Interview: Director Jung Byung-gil on the Stunts and Stars

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150th Review: Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers (2005)

Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers; or, Believe in Yourself

      When I think of it, feeding my turtle and spy activities have similarities. I get excited about doing spy activities wherever I am. I just want to live as inconspicuously as possible.

Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers what a mouthful of a title! Well, that’s Satoshi Miki and his quirky style for you. I have been meaning to check out more films of this director after seeing his wonderful Adrift in Tokyo (2007). Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers was made just two years before that film, yet it is also a motivational story with a heart-warming message.
Release Info

Directed by: Satoshi Miki Starring: Juri Ueno, Ryo Iwamatsu, Eri Fuse

Language: Japanese Original Title: 亀は意外と速く泳ぐ Runtime: 90 min

 

Synopsis

Suzume Katamura (Juri Ueno) is just a simple housewife. Her husband is abroad doing business and she takes care of his turtle. She kills free time by meeting her best friend, Kujaku (Yui Aoi). Oddly enough, nobody ever seems to notice Suzume, almost as if she’s invisible. All of a sudden, Suzume accidentally notices an advertisement for spies. She meets with a man and woman who created the ad. They claim to be spies on the services of a foreign state. After interviewing Suzume, they employ her, giving 5 million yen for mission expenses, and begin her training…

 

What makes us ordinary?

Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers really feels like a story by Haruki Murakami (but he would not have used comedy). Suzume is just a lonely housewife with a turtle, but after meeting a strange couple, she gets an extraordinary job which requires an ultra-high degree of ordinariness. This makes her think about what is the essence of being normal, in contrast to being not normal.

Of course, director Satoshi Miki would not be himself if he had not sprinkled the story with a full array of weird supporting characters. Apart from the spy couple, Suzume also encounters an over-the-top plumber, a retired marksman, bored-to-death cops, and a ramen chef who always makes mediocre ramen. Through these characters, Satoshi Miki questions the notions of individuality and personal uniqueness. Only after understanding ourselves can we reach our full potential and do great things, just like Suzume.

 

With regard to performances, Juri Ueno is basically the queen of weird stuff! (*Swing Girls (2004), Nodame Cantabile (2006) flashbacks*.) She makes everything instantly more awesome just with her appearance. The three actors: Ryo Iwamatsu, Eri Fuse, and Yutaka Matsushige, who also appeared in Adrift in Tokyo (2007), were also extremely hilarious as the spies. Azuki Panda-chan scene nails it!

Recommendations

If you liked Adrift in Tokyo, then go ahead and watch Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers. It is a positive, happy-go-lucky film which definitely deserves more love nowadays. As for Satoshi Miki himself, it is a crime that his films are not quite popular internationally. The man is a master of quirky (and touching) comedies focusing on serious themes. I think that I should buy myself some sunglasses and a turtle.

Overall score: 8/10

Seoul Raiders (2005) [Film Review]

Seoul Raiders; or, Trust Nobody in Korea

     I'm under the international spy section of the Japanese National Security Dept. But I just changed jobs, and became... head of Interpol Asian Division. In other words, I'm just... super cool.

As I am still on the lookout for the release of Europe Raiders, I decided to wait patiently and, in the meantime, review Tokyo Raider’s sequel, simply known as Seoul Raiders. Made 5 years later after the original movie and with just Tony Leung Chiu-Wai reprising his role as the jack-of-all-trades Lam.

Release Info

Directed by: Jingle Ma Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Shu Qi, Richie Jen

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 韓城攻略 Runtime: 98 min

 

Synopsis

Lam (Tony Leung) retrieves a pair of plates which are used to make American dollars. He hands them over to the US Embassy representative, Owen (Richie Jen), but the man double-crosses Lam and escapes with the plates. Lam is sent by the Hong Kong Police to South Korea in order to track down Owen. The spy recruits a group of beautiful Korean assistants and teams up with JJ (Shu Qi), a small time crook who is also after the plates. The team finds out that Owen intends to sell the plates to a crime syndicate boss known as Polar Bear.

 

Kingdom of the Silvery Plates

First of all, I will start by saying that amidst the sea of fake and quasi-sequels, Seoul Raiders is an actual continuation which references the original film (K.O. and TTTTT :D). However, its primary disadvantage is the lack of the two strong leads: Ekin Cheng and Kelly Chen who, together with Tony Leung, had such great chemistry on screen.

 

Nevertheless, once you get over the absence of Ekin and Kelly, the movie becomes quite fun. Right from the opening sequence, there are nicely choreographed action set pieces, ridiculous jokes, and a standard upbeat music (this time composed by Tommy Wai instead of Peter Kam). In addition, the main setting for the unfolding events is now Seoul and the movie uses some of its interesting live locations.

 

With regard to performances, Tony Leung obviously relishes playing the over-the-top spy and his Errol Flynn-like enthusiasm in every scene is infectious. To be honest, I’m not riding the fan-train of Shu Qi, but I give it to her that she did great with her part and even made me laugh a few times. Richie Jen is quite likeable and convincing in the role of a rogue embassy worker, even though he gets beaten up throughout most of the film. Additional praise goes to Meme Tian for looking badass cool as the syndicate’s “interpreter”.

 

I should point out that there are two plot twists, unlike in the previous film which had plenty(!), yet these do not disrupt the overall reception of the picture. Jingle Ma at least in this case made the storyline simpler and easier to follow. However, I still view Tokyo Raiders slightly superior to its successor. Seoul Raiders might have improved in terms of pacing and coherency, but it ultimately lacks the style and charming playfulness of the original movie.

 

Recommendations

Seoul Raiders may be perceived as an inferior sequel, but it is undoubtedly a fun to watch and a good choice for a free evening. It only gets better with repetitive viewing, because you know what to expect and just wait for the action and laughs. It’s more than watchable and quite entertaining, even if it does not touch the bar set by the first film.  Now, I only have Europe Raiders left to review. If I manage to track down a copy, I will most certainly share with you my thoughts on the film.

Overall score: 7/10

Tokyo Raiders (2000) [Film Review]

Tokyo Raiders; or, Trust Nobody

     A private eye who speaks bad Japanese, but I like him.

With this month’s premiere of Europe Raiders (August, 2018), I decided to find out what it’s all about with the filmmaker Jingle Ma and his directorial Raiders franchise, starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as the main lead. Strap yourselves in as we are going to descend into the fun chasm of Tokyo Raiders.

Release Info

Directed by: Jingle Ma Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Ekin Cheng, Kelly Chen

Language: Cantonese, Japanese Original Title: 東京攻略 Runtime: 100 min

 

Synopsis

Macy (Kelly Chen) is hopelessly waiting for her fiancé Takahashi (Toru Nakamura) at the altar, but he does not arrive. While searching for him in Japan, she is joined by an interior designer Yung (Ekin Cheng) who claims to have been financially conned by Takahashi. The two find themselves being chased by a yakuza crime boss Ito (Hiroshi Abe) who also, for some reason, is looking for the elusive Takahashi. Macy and Yung are rescued by Lam (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) who claims to be a private detective framed by Takahashi. The trio decides to work together in order to find the man in question, however, each one them carries their own hidden agenda.

 

Raiders of the Lost Spy

Judging by the title and the trailer, I thought that I’m in for a heist movie, but I was completely mistaken. Tokyo Raiders can be best described as a mix between a mystery spoof and a spy/action thriller made purposely for the Chinese New Year. From the very first scene, the viewers are thrown in medias res of the story as Tony Leung epically knocks down with an umbrella hordes of bad guys to the flamenco beats very much in style of the Gypsy Kings.

 

The development of events (who is who and what is going on) becomes clear only 30 minutes into the picture, as the character of Lam delivers a lengthy exposition. However, this in turn initiates a cascade of triple plot twists, because it turns out that the whole exposition was fake and, actually, our main heroes are not who they claim to be (immortal spoilers!). This method of being kept in the dark may be perceived as the movie’s disadvantage by some, but I didn’t mind it at all and just went along with the light-hearted goofiness on screen.

 

Additionally, the movie is filled with lots of great action set pieces. These may not be Jet Li or Donnie Yen’s standard, but they are enjoyable nonetheless, especially as many of the fights are elaborated into chase scenes. Thus, we get to see a street chase, a road chase, and even a water chase with some memorable Tokyo locations in the background. All of this combined with the crazy awesome music score by Peter Kam.

 

With regard to performances, Tony Leung is evidently too cool for school in the role of a detective/spy as he overtakes the picture with his charisma (it’s clearly visible that he had a lot of fun on the set). Kelly Chen serves as a great addition in the role of a heartbroken bride and provides the movie with a substantial amount of charm and elegance. Ekin Cheng is the third great pillar of the film, especially in terms of the fight scenes. The three actors worked together so well that their chemistry is reflected in the characters. I only wish that Kelly and Ekin could have reprised their roles in the sequels. In addition, Cecylia Cheung as one of Lam’s Charlie’s Angels and Hiroshi Abe as an allergic yakuza boss deserve a mention.

 

Recommendations

Safely recommended to anyone who is looking for an hour and a half of good entertainment. Tokyo Raiders reminded me greatly about Asian “midnight” movies, shoved out of the main TV programme format, which I used to watch a lot as a teenager. The movie is great fun in a light tone and with a well-choreographed action. It really deserves a wider recognition, instead of being underrated. What is more, Tokyo Raiders is also responsible for marking the end of a certain technological era as it was the very last motion picture released on LaserDisc. All things considered, see it if you can, because they don’t make them like they used to.

Overall score: 8/10