I admit that I was enchanted when I first saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I also thought Zhang Ziyi was super hot. Now, I feel murderous at the thought of watching another teardrop roll down Zhang's snow-white cheek to a Tan Dun score. The Banquet, which kicked off this year's New York Asian Film Festival (this year taking place at the IFC and Japan Society!!), was an epic Chinese period film gone terribly awry. The plot was loosely based on a permutation of Hamlet: an ousted Prince ( who had spent his years in exile at some performing arts center honing his dance, mask and poetry skillz, as all ousted nobles should!) is called upon to return to his kingdom upon the death of his father-emperor, but in the time it take for him to escape the arrows of his assassins, his former lover/stepmother (the ambition-driven conniving Zhang) has re-married his now-emperor uncle (her brother-in-law) and assumed the throne as Empress once again. Through predictable fluid fight choreography sequences (rife with splattering blood, people running through the air, fabrics swooshing and swooping) saccharine slo-mo close-ups of the emoting actors spouting off histrionic maudlin dialogue, the already limp story is mired in utterly meaningless gorgeousness; by the end, it was difficult to stifle laughter or retain a shred of care for the characters. We would have left if it weren't for the free booze at the post-screening party, for sure... Though I am keeping my hope up for the rest of the festival line-up.
My weekend cinema experiences were somewhat redeemed by Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, which for all its raves in the NYT and TONY, was essentially a sweet but highly unbelievable film about two people who should never have hooked up hooking up, getting pregnant, and then (for unexplained reasons) deciding to keep the baby and simultaneously attempting to develop their romantic relationship. WTF? Despite its implausible premise, the film is endearing and heart-warming without venturing too far into sentimental Hollywood cheeseland. It was a feel-good movie that bridged chick flick and dumb-guy-comedy (of the Will Ferrell variety) with plenty of stoner jokes, and a very realistic shot of a baby coming out of a lady's pochi.
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