Riffing on The 13th Floor v The Matrix

*I assume here, kind reader, that you've at least seen The Matrix, so if you have not...then there may be a spoiler here. I won't spoil any important details for The 13th Floor though as few people have seen it...

So I recently watched The 13th Floor again, since first seeing it probably 10 years ago (I'd heard it mentioned in a brilliant podcast that I listen to). And though I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen The Matrix, the most recent time was probably a few months ago when it was on tv. Both films were released in 1999, by competing film houses, and both explore the concept of virtual worlds. It's interesting to compare how each film has fared now that over a decade has passed.

Surprisingly, even though The Matrix had a budget of 63 million, as opposed to 16 million for The 13th Floor, it's the latter film that has stood the test of time visually. The CGI in The Matrix- which was very ambitious at the time- looks really obvious now, whereas the more subtle effects used in The 13th Floor haven't really dated at all.

Most of the acting in The 13th Floor is better than The Matrix too. Both of the protagonists are computer programmers, though these days the rich, successful Douglas Hall from The 13th Floor seems more realistic than the genius-level-programmer-working-at-mundane-cubicle described by Thomas Anderson in The Matrix. Craig Bierko's classical/musical training shows when you contrast it with Keanu Reeves' monotone. As for supporting roles both films are a mixed bag- Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine, The Game, Eastern Promises) is wonderful as the brilliant A.I researcher Hannon Fuller, but Dennis Haysbert (the grill chef from Heat) wasn't able to convince in his role as detective McBain.

The thing about the two films though is that The Matrix is really just an awesome action movie with a backdrop that happens to be kind of philosophically interesting. The 13th Floor is more a pure sci-fi film which uses a murder-mystery plot device to keep the story going. As a result, on a scene-by-scene basis The 13th Floor doesn't have anything as memorable as the excellently choreographed fight-scenes and shoot-outs of The Matrix. What The 13th Floor does have though is a series of very interesting question throughout the film- can consciousness emerge digitally? Would we have ethical obligations to digital forms of consciousness? If we talk about levels of reality, then is one more real than the other? How would you know whether you were living in a simulation?

Whereas The Matrix asks the question "could your world be an illusion?" and then proceeds to answer by judo-chopping you in the throat. I like both films plenty, but after revisiting them both I have to say that The 13th Floor is my preferred film when it comes to making me think, and I suspect it'd be the best coffee-shop, hand-waving material as well.

Funnily enough, the closest analogy for the differences between these films that I can think of occured just a year before they were released- I'm talking about when Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line came out in 1998.
Both are war films, but whereas Spielberg's film was more about the visual horror of war, Terry Malick's masterpiece delved deeper into the nature of man.

By the way, whilst I suspect that we might be able to produce photo-realistic graphics that are rendered in real-time within the next 10-20 years, actually having an interface that interacts with your brain in such a way as to convince you that you're in that environment is something I can't see happening for a real long time, as it's more in the real of neuroscience than computer science. And neuroscientists don't seem to enjoy the same speed of progress as computer scientists.

The Social Network

I had thought that Animal Kingdom wouldn't be topped as film of the year.

It has now, at the very least, come to a photo-finish between that and The Social Network.

The last film adaptation of a Ben Mezrich book I saw was 21/Bringing Down the House. And that movie was...well let's just say that seeing Kevin Spacey in such a celluloid-shitfest was like watching your favourite uncle get piglet-squeal-raped on a canoeing holiday (as was the case with Superman Returns too, but I digress- although I note that Spacey was executive producer of The Social Network).

I haven't read any of Mezrich's stuff so I don't know whether he's a good writer who got poorly adapted in 21, or whether Aaron Sorkin was very liberal when he wrote The Social Network.

In any case, the film had me hooked throughout. It moves very fast, and the dialogue really requires full attention to be appreciated. I suspect this is why I've heard a lot of negative things about the film from morons. Now, I don't mean to suggest that not liking this film means that you're a moron. But I must admit, the only negative comments from the film I've heard so far seem to be coming from moronic circles.

I only say this because I suspect some people might be put off the film, thinking that it's written to appeal to the 'Facebook generation', whatever that might mean. But it's most definitely not- and in fact all of those moronic circles I speak of are part of that very generation. Anyway...

As with any David Fincher film it is head and shoulders above everything else in terms of its technical refinement- perfectly shot, innovative yet fitting music from Trent Reznor, awesome editing. And the performances are uniformly excellent- Jessie Eisenberg has now overtaken the Juno guy as the A-list nerd-every-nerd-can-relate-to actor of Hollywood.

The only negative about the film is overly-eager cgi work on what I believe the Norwegians call froskrit, that foggy mist stuff that comes out of your mouth when you're breathing in a sub-zero climate. It was kind of like a 'more cowbell' moment from the effects artists.

Well, I guess that means Animal Kingdom is still the best film of the year.

Eyebrow Reviews

My best friend Steven has a blog he only just told me about, and it's hilarious.

He reviews, um, eyebrows from various films. And he's a brilliant writer. I loved this sentence:

"Yes, you can probably do wonders with your eyebrows if you’ve had enough acid that you spend your afternoons chasing purple elephants with Commerce degrees and a summer homes in Malibu."

This thing will be huge soon, I feel, so get in before it gets too crowded.

This is his blog.

有话好好说 - Keep Cool - Film Review

I've got a blurry view of Zhang Yimou.  I can't quite figure out what his style is, and I'm not sure whether he's a good director who occasionally makes crap films, or a crap director who occasionally makes good films.  The truth is probably just too complex for a simple view like either of those to hold.

I haven't seen his films in any chronological order, and that doesn't help.  I first saw Hero and 'Surrounded' (aka House of Flying Daggers); fun, anodyne f ilms lacking much substance.  Then I saw Happy Times, which I really liked.  It had a soul and a sense of humour.  Then I saw Raise the Red Lantern, which was burningly haunting.  

And then I saw 'City of Golden Armour', aka 'Curse of the Golden Flower', aka 'Curse of the Golden Breasts'.  

Keep Cool is probably closest to Happy Times, which is to say, it's one of Zhang's films which I really liked.  The pace and feel of the film is almost reminscent of early Wong Kar-Wai films like Chungking Express and Fallen Angels.  This is probably because of the on-location shooting, and the largely handheld, constantly dancing cinematography.  

And in the same way that Chungking Express seems, to me at least, to capture something of Hong Kong, Keep Cool is quite an accurate depiction of Beijing.  The dialogue is chock-full of Beijing dialect (or rather, they speak in Beijing dialect throughout the whole film), our main character played by Jiang Wen (from Green Tea) is somewhat of a hooligan, and it relies on the distinctly Beijing sense of humour, or at least North Eastern brand of humour.  The scene with Zhao Benshan (who was also in Happy Times) reading poetry outside the apartment is particularly hilarious.

With any luck, Zhang's next film will be more along these lines, and not some epic, craptacular.

Shanghai Gloaming

There was a really good documentary on SBS just now, called Shanghai Gloaming. It was made by FLY Films, and follows the photographer Greg Girad around the more interesting areas of Shanghai. My favourite thing to do in Shanghai is to stroll through the northern Bund area, and I was lucky enough on one of my trips to visit a friend's old home in the area. It was built in the shikumen style (石库门), and it was fascinating taking a look inside.

The documentary was made in 2005, and gives quite a gloomy outlook as to the future of these unique architectural styles, suggesting that they're going to be torn down in the near future. That's probably true, though there's still plenty standing today, so it's still worth exploring. I didn't have my camera then, but in any event there's better examples of it at Greg Girad's website. In particular, in the places section, see photo #3 "North Bund Rooftops".

I also saw that Girad has done some good work capturing the Walled City which used to exist in Kowloon.

Ma Jiang

I saw another film by Edward Yang called Ma Jiang. On the DVD I have it also gives the English name as Couples, but I'm not sure if that's right.

The last film of his I saw was A One and a Two, which I really liked. Ma Jiang is quite a different film- certainly a much more disturbing film- but also well worth seeing.

One of the odd things about the film is the performances by the foreign actors. It's not that they're poorly acted roles, but rather just a bit odd. The easiest way to describe it might be as though they delivered the lines as though they were acting in a David Lynch or Peter Greenaway film; very deliberately, very slowly. I'm not sure if it was intentional on behalf of the director, but the result is the film takes on a sort of surreal quality.

It turns out to be a good mixture though, especially since the film starts off relatively innocently and slowly twists and descends.

I'll have to keep my eye out for more Edward Yang films, especially one he did with Christopher Doyle, That Day on the Beach.

Best. Simpsons. Ever.

Just saw The Simpsons film, and it's brilliant. Weaves together the best wit and social commentary of the old episodes with the laugh out loud slapstick of the new ones. And doesn't succumb to seriousness.

Not much more to say really. Except that Grand Theft Walrus and Spiderpig almost killed me with laughter.

G is for Greenaway

Now that I've had some time for reflection, I've made up my mind about Peter Greenaway.

He's brilliant.

You'll not find a more confronting, entertaining, challenging or rewarding filmmaker than Greenaway. He completely manipulates the medium into unchartered territories. Like what Miles Davis did for the trumpet, he makes all feel fresh again. If I had to single out one aspect of his style which is most recognizable, it would be the enormous detail packed into each shot.


Some of the shots are just frame worthy; they practically stand alone as pieces of art. Incredible given that there's 24 in a second. And they are (from mid 90's and before) accompanied by intricate scores from Michael Nyman. The effect is genuinely unique amongst all the films I've watched.



All frames taken from 'Drowning by Numbers'.

Shut It, Spielberg

So Spielberg has to live up to the Liberal Hollywood cliche of criticising China, does he Miss Farrow?

Damn it, I'm due to deliver a speech in Changchun very soon for a competition, and a big part of it hinges on the East-West cooperation between Spielberg and Zhang Yi Mou on the Olympics.

If he follows through with public criticism, this will cause huge loss of face for me.

So, kindly shut it, Spielberg.

The Good People of the 3 Gorges Dam

I finally got around to seeing 'Still Life', by Jia Zhang Ke. It's an excellent film indeed, wholly deserving of the Golden Lion it won at the Venice Film Festival last year. Although, I can't say I really know any of the contenders for that prize, so I've no idea really. But this is a very, very good film.

The film is about the villagers of Fengjie , in Sichuan province. Or is it now under control of Chongqing? Anyway, one of the special things about the film is that the amazing location of the villages, right on the banks of the Yangtze (长江）. It's special because we can't visit these places anymore; they've been completely submerged since 2006. I'm sorry to say I've never been to this part of China before so I'll never know what it was like up close, but this film does offer a beautiful visual record of it.

Upon some reflection, a primary theme throughout the film seems to be about loss. There are two lead characters who both are involved in broken marriages, and have become loveless. And then there is the loss of the village itself.

I'm not sure that it's my favourite film by Jia, I think I still prefer The World. But this is nevertheless another brilliant piece of cinema from him, and I can't wait to see what he films next. Certainly something that does seem to be becoming a trait of Jia is the occasional juxtaposition of surrealism in what are otherwise hyper-realistic films. I first noticed it with the cartoon sequences in The World, and in Still Life he takes it further by using some impressive computer-generated imagery. I quite like the effect.

Oh, and a note about the title. 'Still Life' is the English name, but the original Chinese name 三峡好人 translates to The Good People of the 3 Gorges Dam (well that's my translation). A bit of a mouthful from a marketing perspective. It does, however, have relevance to the film, as there is a scene where a young man remarks "There are no good people here!". Whilst on topic, I should add that some (most) of the dialects in the film are nigh impenetrable to me.

A Trip to the Video Store

Now that the holidays are on and my only other commitment is preparing for the Chinese Bridge competition (to be held in Jilin this year), in addition to lots of reading, I'll probably watch quite a few films.

I take absurd times to select videos these days, but I finally settled on

Yi yi by Edward Yang
The Missing Gun
8 1/2 Women by Peter Greenaway
A Zed and Two Naughts by Peter Greenaway

I can't remember who directed The Missing Gun at the moment. Anyway, I'll hopefully give a brief review of each within the week which I have rented them for.