Shanghai Surprise

Shanghai Express (1932) - Sternberg Joseph Sternberg's portrayal of 1930s China is that of a Westerner's exotic dream of what the East is supposed to be like - full of danger and intrigue filled with beautiful, dangerous dames while everyone speaks perfect English. Shanghai Express is a visual feast made up of long tracking shots, expressive dissolves, gorgeous shadow play and most of all, its luminous star, Marlene Dietrich's stunning wardrobe changes.

Shanghai express's plot contains lost loves between a British officer Harvey (Donald Brook) and a courtesan known as Shanghai Lily (Dietrich) as they embark on a train ride from Peiping (Beijing) to Shanghai. Then there is a rogue element in Chang (Warner Oland in ridiculous 'oriental' makeup- raised eyebrows and three point mustache that looks like a Halloween gag costume for racists) who feigns to be a passenger but a revolutionary sleazebag who masterminds the train jacking and taking hostage of Harvey in exchange for his second-hand man who got captured by Chinese gov't troops earlier. Chang also threatens to keep Lily as his concubine and after her rejection, turns to Hu Fei (Anna May Wong), Lily's chamber-mate, and rapes her. The siege ends in Lily sacrificing herself - to stay with Chang to release Harvey without Harvey knowing it. After Hu Fei kills Chang and everyone gets released, Harvey, thinking that Lily chose the captor for her own volition makes the rest of the train ride a very uncomfortable one.

Silly plot aside, Shanghai Express is all light and shadows and how to light its star as beautiful as possible. And Dietrich is as always, stunning. Wong also shines as knife wielding dangerous beauty without backstory. It would have been great if there were a Hu Fei spinoff. Will investigate Wong's filmography in the future.

Bad Moon Rising

Lúa vermella/Red Moon Tide (2020) - Lois Patiño In a coastal fishing village in Gallicia is experiencing another ocean related tragedy; Rubio, a fisherman who is known for retrieving dead bodies of shipwreck victims so the mourning villagers can have closures, became the victim himself of the tumultuous waves off the coast when his ship sank. His body might never be found. The local legend dictates that there is a monster living in the dark sea, awakened by the devil moon. Three ancient witches come in to town, to take its villagers who seem to be immobilized by grief on the spot where they stand by shrouding them over with white clothes making them a literal ghosts statues, while under red moon. And that's the gist of the story in Lúa Vermella.

Like Oliver Laxe's Fire Will Come, Patiño makes full use of Galicia's rustic natural beauty and its real inhabitants to tell a tale steeped in legends and its surroundings. His images are out of this world though. I've seen his short Fajr before, shot in Morrocan desert morphed with shadowy cloaked figures. Lúa vermella goes several steps further. I mean, those mindboggling transition shots alone makes it a worthwhile viewing.

Female Desires

Smithereens (1982)/Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) - Seidelman Susan Seidelman's first two films - Smithereens and Desperately Seeking Susan tapped into the period between last throes of gutter punk 80s New York into New Wave scene like no other films did. Only rivaling films that capture that era NY culture are perhaps Slava Tsukerman's Liquid Sky (1982) and Martin Scorsese's male counterpart, After Hours (1985). Smithereens and Susan are similar in themes. Both are from the perspectives of New Jersey women who long to be part of New York scene and for that, they will manipulate their ways all the way to the Alphabet City to get what they want. They will emotionally abuse and parasidically live off of any willing men as long as necessary to be a part of New York's Lower Eastside music scene. However morally reprehensive these characters are in today's standards, these two films are intriguing time capsule cases, representing its time and place. And I can't help myself looking back on it nostalgically. These girls are bitchy, tough but also extremely attractive - Wren (Susan Berman) in Smithereens, Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) and Susan (Madonna) in Desperately Seeking Susan.

No they don't have an arcade game in their or their friends apartment, or cool furniture or lamp or anything of value. They usually don't have a place to sleep at night because they burned too many bridges already. But they somehow get by, usually by the grace of some ditsy girlfriends or men with heart of gold who they emotionally abuse.

The two films also reflect the changing landscape in New York at that time. The punk was almost dead and moved on to LA, the so-called no wave was too unglamorous to have groupies. Desperately Seeking Susan was shot in the summer of 84. MTV had their first music video award in the fall of 1984 which would make a mega star out of Madonna. Seidelman knew how to read the changing music scenes accurately. She also had the 80s sensibilities. There are no real tragedies in the Seidelman's grimey NY - no drug overdose, no AIDS yet, no serious domestic violence. Instead, there are cool shades, smashing jackets, spiked ankle boots, laced gloves and guys donned cool hairdo. It's the hip 80s, not the tragic, ugly 70s anymore.

Skindeep these films maybe. But Seidelman somehow makes these characters likable, partly because they are driven by their own desires. It's not their clothes and their coquettish looks, it's their drives to get what they want that turn out to be their most attractive qualities.

Top 20 Favorite Films of 2020

What can I say about 2020 except it sucked big time? Possibly one of the worst years I've experienced in my lifetime if not the worst. My viewing films suffered as well: many film series and festivals have faltered or postponed, on top of all movie theaters being shuttered because of the world-wide pandemic that has been raging since March. I did catch up with some good films though. This year, unlike any other year, was the year of gentle, subtle films. It has been a good pace of change to balance out the ugly, anxiety filled reality leading up to the presidential election and losing loved ones and sharing heartbreaks with those who are greatly affected by Covid 19. It was also the year of women filmmakers - Reichardt, Gomes, Zhao, Song as well as newcomers Zheng Lu and Kulumvegashivli made the list. 

Happy holidays! Good riddance 2020. Here's hoping for a better year everyone!

1. First Cow - Reichardt

2. Ghost Tropic - Devos

3. Lovers Rock - McQueen

4. O que arde/Fire Will Come - Laxe

5. La casa lobo/The Wolf House - Cociña, León

6. The Disciple - Tamhane

7. Days - Tsai

8. Malmkrog - Puiu

9. The Cloud in Her Room - Zheng Lu

10. Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds - Herzog, Oppenheimer

11. The Two Sights - Bonnetta

12. Undine - Petzold

13. Notturno - Rosi

14. A Portuguesa/A Portuguese Woman - Gomes

15. Fourteen - Salitt

16. His House - Weekes

17. Beginning - Kulumvegashivli

18. Nomadland - Zhao

19. Calming - Song

20. American Sector - Velez, Stephens

Vitalina Varela, Bacurau, Wild Goose Lake, I Was Home, But...and Zombie Child all made my list last year.

Click here for yearly top 10

Top 10 Discoveries 2020