Live from Far East Film Festival 24: our first impressions of the films in competition

Finally, the twenty-fourth edition of the Far East Film Festival of Udine, which will take place until April 29 in a double capacity: firstly live at the Teatro Nuovo “Giovanni da Udine” and at the Visionario, through the 42 films in competition (a total of 78 titles from 14 cinemas, 9 world premieres, 13 international, 14 European and 23 Italian) and many other thematic trails.

A second way of being able to participate in the festival is through the portal MYmovies: the FEFF offers once again this year a valuable selection of online titles for the entire duration of the festival, with 22 films that Asian distribution houses have made available for streaming.

Reminding you that in our previous news you will find the complete list of all the films scheduled, as well as the various methods of accreditation, including the online one, below we propose our first impressions on the films we have already reviewed: for those hasn’t yet joined the initiative, therefore, there is still time and various reasons to do so: good vision everyone!

**

She is me, I am her (Japan, 2022)
available online

A film that contains four stories within it, all set in the period of social distancing. And this is how the protagonists, as we did during the COVID period, invent new ways to have a reunion with ex-schoolmates, meet new people, talk to someone and even scam other people.
These are stories that focus above all on thepsychological impact it had on people this virus, but most of all social distancing; because after all, someone has found themselves in complete solitude facing all this, someone without a home, someone else without a job. They are stories that make you think about values ​​such as friendship, love, solidarity and the need for human contact.
In all four we find the talented actress as the protagonist Nahana who plays different characters, such as meaning that each of them could be us.

Your lovely smile (Japan, 2022)
available online

The independent director Hirobumi Watanabe travels solo across Japan to promote his films.
From Okinawa to frigid Hokkaido, passing from one prefecture to another (and from aessay to the other), handing out flyers and personally selling tickets, the young filmmaker will find himself faced with an extremely bleak panorama, due to the crisis in cinemas, which has worsened further in the covid period.
With an unusual operation on the border between road movie and fake documentary, the director Kah-wai Lim sign his romantic declaration of love for cinemastaging (with some surreal flashes) the real vicissitudes of his colleague Watanabehere as actor dalla strong stage presence and unsettling and disenchanted comedy.

Ditto (South Korea, 2022)
available online

Among the various films presented at the FEFF, this was the only one, among those that really interested me, also proposed online and I was a little sorry because, among those not included and those with a single show, with day and time restrictions, the choice was not vast on the digital platform.
But thank you for being able to enjoy this beautiful film, a remake of the homonymous film, also Korean, from 2000.
The story is about two boys who manage to communicate via a radio, but will soon understand that he lives in 1999 and she in the present day. Optimal the choice of using different shades of color for the two erasin order to better understand the viewer.
In the first part of the film it would seem like the classic tender and delicate story; but about halfway through watching, the unexpected happens with a stunning twist. The story will retain its sweetness, but will change direction.
Extraordinary Jin Goo Yeo in the role of the protagonist who manages to convey all the emotions felt by his character: love at first sight, jealousy and disappointment.
The final scene of the film made me cry so much.

The Legend & Butterfly (Japan, 2023)
available online

She is beautiful, cunning, scheming and intelligent, raised by her father to be a great lady as well as to fight and hunt skillfully with a bow and arrow.
He is crude, stupid, ambitious, ferocious and increasingly feared after his growing successes in the military.
The one between Nobunaga Oda and Nohime (or Kicho, hence the reference to the butterfly in the title of the film), is a political marriage, and in the majestic representation directed by Keishi Otomo the two do not even want to touch each other, let alone collaborate.
Induced by the folds of history, the two will learn however first a use each other and benefit from each otherstudying each other, bickering endlessly, up to finally look at each other with different eyesfilled with the most varied emotions, in the excellent interpretations of Takuya Kimura And Haruka Ayase.
Although the focus of the film is more sentimental than documentary, the transposition of the narrated events is almost faithful to the story, even if it could be a bit difficult for the viewer who does not have previous knowledge of the Japanese feudal period. Multiple real-life figures alternate alongside the protagonists, as familiar to the Japanese as they are semi-unknown to a Western audience. We are in the so-called warring states period, and we are therefore linked to the many military campaigns conducted by the Oda clan towards power and the dream of the unification of Japan, up to the tragic incident of Honno-ji with its intense finale.
Excellent music by Naoki Satothe pace that holds up the almost three hours of film is always well managed.
In Japan the film will arrive in May exclusively on Prime Video: the online screening or in presence at the Far East Film Festival is aunique opportunity to enjoy a special preview for the West.

Sri Asih (Indonesia, 2022)
available online

Born under the protection of an ancestral divinity during the eruption of a volcano, Sri Asih is the superheroine protagonist of this adrenaline-pumping Indonesian action that has nothing to envy to the most famous cinecomics of Marvel And A.D, at least in terms of choreography and special/visual effects. The screenplay, based on a comic book, is co-written by Joko Anwar (already present at Far East 20 with another superhero, Gundala) and by the director herself Avianto bees. What emerges is a tenacious and combative heroine (played by the beautiful and tormented Pavita Pearce), torn between her immense superpower, which she is not yet able to control, and her sense of justice in defense of the poor and oppressed. All in all an enjoyable film, net of some small ingenuities, certainly ennobled by the impressive metal soundtrack that supports the pyrotechnic action scenes.

The Sales Girl (Mongolia, 2022)
available online only in Gala special screening (April 24, 2023)

The Sales Girl it’s everything you don’t expect from a Mongolian comedy. Set in the urban area of ​​Ulan Bator, it glimpses the petty vices of the bourgeoisie residing in the capital, representing a modern Mongolia in step with the times, different from what we are used to seeing on big screens. The story starts with a banana peel and a slip, a comic cliché, probably dated, but necessary in order to start the edgy and nonconformist comedy that we will find ourselves in front of.
Saruul is the protagonist: an introverted girl who pursues a dream that doesn’t belong to her. Her life seems to flow in front of her and she seems to be stuck in an eternal adolescence.
She is a figure in which each of us can be reflected because she perfectly embodies her doubts and insecurities: she has always lived with a deep sense of inadequacy and fear of what the future has in store for her. Due to the initial incident, however, she finds herself coming out of her shell, starting to work in a sex shop. Here she meets Katya, the owner, a fundamental figure in the journey towards her emancipation.
The bond created in fact, it will mark the path towards the discovery of herself and her own identity.

Dust in the Wind (Taiwan, 2010)
available online

Young Wan decides not to extend his studies because he is eager to find a job and continue his school curriculum with evening classes. However, he has to leave his native village, with the luxuriant and uncontaminated nature that surrounds him, to move to Taipei. The trip to the city takes place with the beautiful Huen, the childhood friend who grew up with him.
The Far East Festival, in the retrospective section, proposes Dust in the Wind, last poignant chapter of a dedicated trilogy by the great director Hou Hsiao-hsien to country life and its inhabitants, available here in a beautifully restored version. Milestone of the cinematography of an author considered the progenitor of New wave Taiwanese.

Original version of the news