16 發光的城市 A R O U N D T O W N FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008 • TAIPEI TIMES

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Compiled by Martin Williams The Sparkle in the Dark (黑道之無悔今生) The devil reads Gloss Set in Taiwan but largely a Hong Kong production, The Sparkle DIRECTED BY: Andrei Konchalovsky in the Dark tells the story of an orphan whose tragic and STARRING: Yuliya Vysotskaya (Galya), grisly loss and inability to adapt Irina Rozanova (Alina), Aleksandr to subsequent home life leave him marooned in a world of Domogarov (Misha Klimenko), Yefim hatred and drug abuse. Eventually he gets involved with gang Shifrin (Mark), Aleksei Serebryakov members, among whom he finds support, animosity, romance (Stasis), Gennady Smirnov (Petya), and — judging by the trailer — no shortage of machete violence. ‘Pravda’ Ilya Isaev (Vitek) Most of the songsters starring in this effort hail from Hong Kong, which isn’t likely to lend the movie any verisimilitude. That’s RUNNING TIME: 118 MINUTES possibly the reason why this downbeat flick is being released in A young girl travels to Moscow with a head full of dreams Languages: In Russian with Chinese only one theater in Taipei (Vieshow Xinyi). — and a willingness to do anything to make it to the top subtitles TAIWAN RELEASE: TODAY Eagle Eye By IAN BARTHOLOMEW The big-budget release for this staff reporter week is a chase film in which the pursued (Shia LeBeouf and Michelle Monaghan) are caught up in a plot involving government security forces, terrorism, a Gloss (Glyanets), The Devil Wears Prada is transplanted to Russia renegade supercomputer with a female voice and an FBI and inhabits a world that would chew up and spit out anyone interrogator (Billy Bob Thornton). Eagle Eye has Steven IN as principled and lovely as . There are plenty of Spielberg as executive producer, but that doesn’t necessarily preening designers and bitchy models, but in the world of Gloss, people are lend it the trenchant worldview that marks his later films, such bought and sold — literally — and a red-hot soldering iron is regarded as a as Minority Report and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Expect big legitimate tool for business negotiations. explosions, crashing trucks and disposable paranoia instead. Gloss tells the story of Galya, a young girl from a dirt-poor town in the coal Also screening in IMAX format. mining badlands of the Russian interior who is mesmerized by the models she sees on TV and in magazines. She dumps her alcoholic father, bitter Igor mother and gangster boyfriend and heads for the Big Onion — Moscow. With only a single item in her portfolio, a slutty photo that she managed to post Produced by a French animation in a local rag, it’s no surprise that things don’t go smoothly when she runs company, this US coproduction up against the glitterati. But Galya, who doesn’t have the type of good looks is a film for kids that explores modeling agencies in Moscow are looking for, is as tough as nails and willing the world of the title character to do anything, but anything, to make it to the top. This includes a stint as who, like his fellow Igors, works a talent scout and manager of a glorified brothel that pairs up models (who for mad and bad scientists. Our imitate Hollywood film stars) with members of Russia’s new rich looking for Igor (John Cusack), however, makes the leap to mad scientist trophy wives. And suffice to say, she’s willing to himself, creating new creatures for sinister ends — but with go further than that. results that don’t quite live up to expectations. As usual for Gloss, like The Devil Wears Prada, is intended bigger budget animated features, Igor has a noteworthy cast as a comedy, but the humor is black as sin of voice talent (Christian Slater, John Cleese, Steve Buscemi, and while there is a happy ending of sorts, this Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall), but this time around the script and rags-to-riches story leaves a trail of broken animation have resulted in a “mirthless,” “underimagined” and and destroyed lives along the periphery that “strenuously unfunny” movie, according to Variety. cannot be wholly ignored and which lingers long after the film ends. It is this that makes the Fear Factors (恐懼元素) film interesting, for with a point of departure so similar to The Devil Wears Prada, it is hard not Two short thrillers combine for this feature- to feel that Gloss is just a low-budget remake. length outing from Hong Kong — which It is in fact much more than that, and Gloss can be appreciated for its the Hong Kong Movie DataBase’s review very different sensibility. That said, the film, quite apart from its off-hand claims was shot on the cheap in unfinished appropriation from The Devil Wears Prada and other Hollywood movies, has Chinese office blocks. In the first yarn, a the feeling of having been somewhat haphazardly cobbled together. dying man and his female abductor are Yuliya Vysotskaya, who plays Galya, does a fine job in developing her confined in a room as flashbacks paint a personality from the ambitious, ignorant young girl from the back-of-beyond more complicated picture. The second has to the hardened woman making it on the fringe where the rich and the a meat vendor come upon an inheritance criminal gather. She manages to be constantly sympathetic, while remaining in the form of a factory — if he can survive an encounter with a someone you would probably never want to have dealings with. But in the end, knife-wielding lady wearing the obligatory white sheet. Perhaps Vysotskaya’s efforts are not quite enough. The story is too loose, and the acting released in Taiwan to take a bite out of 4bia’s slice of the box too uneven, to be convincing. office pie, this undistinguished pairing might even struggle to Director Andrei Konchalovsky make on DVD, let alone in its limited theatrical release. is probably best-known for films such as Runaway Train (1985) Three Monkeys with Jon Voight and Rebecca De Mornay and Tango and Cash A real downer awaits audiences (1989) with Sylvester Stallone with this Turkish entry. A fatal and Kurt Russell. He also has a accident prompts a politician to slew of critically acclaimed art convince his driver to take the house work to his credit. In Gloss, rap, but the reward he promises there are occasional sparks of the once the latter leaves jail doesn’t rough-and-ready power that made save anyone involved from deteriorating relationships with the low-budget Runaway Train spouses, children and lovers. The title seems to refer to the act such a masterful work, but it has of shunning responsibility, and the moral of the tale leaves no none of that film’s discipline, nor way out, while some suggest that the scenario is a metaphor for the narrow focus that gave its Turkey as a whole. For this film, Nuri Bilge Caylan won the Best anti-hero (Voight) a certain tragic Director award at this year’s Cannes film festival. dignity. In the end, Gloss fails to either convincingly put a layer Vow of Death of gloss on the world of fashion (which The Devil Wears Prada did A couple of months ago the Thai film The even while pretending to remove Coffin taught us that lying in coffins when it) or convincingly remove it. you’re not dead is an overrated tradition that can shorten one’s lifespan. In Vow of Death, also from Thailand, a bunch of The characters in Gloss make Meryl teenagers clearly suffering from excessive Streep’s Miranda Priestly look like parental expectations discover that a super- Dharma Master Cheng Yen. natural tree, which they hoped would help Photos courtesy of Joint Entertainment International them with exams, has been ripped from the ground and wants them dead. More than a year-and-a-half since its home release, this one is entering theaters here with virtually no fanfare.

sexuality. As the story unfolds, Billed as a sports movie, ‘City Without it focuses on revealing the Baseball’ has less to do with protagonists’ backstories and inner They’re out! reflections rather than following the sport itself and more to do with their drive to victory. Overloaded with too many homoeroticism and repressed sexuality themes and subjects, City Without Baseball ends up being a hazy By Ho Yi starting pitcher, Chung (Leung mishmash that is less than the sum Staff Reporter Yu-chung, 梁宇聰); and his not-so- of its parts. Background music Billed as a sports drama based popular teammate, Chun (Heung seems to suggest nostalgia for City Without Baseball on the experiences of the real-life Tze-chun, 香子俊). Insecure about the end of a better era but what (無野之城) members of Hong Kong’s baseball his position both in the team and that means is never made clear. team who play themselves in the in his relationships with women, And certain plotlines, such as the DIRECTED BY: Lawrence Lau (劉國昌) and Yun film, City Without Baseball (無野之 Chun starts dating Mei Zhi (Lin romance between the Taiwanese Xiang (雲翔) 城) explores the little-known story Yuan, 林苑) after finding out that coach and a young Chinese of the official baseball team in a his girlfriend has cheated on woman, suffer a premature death. STARRING: Heung Tze-chun (香子俊) as Chun, city where the game is virtually him. Mei Zhi, however, becomes Many moviegoers, however, will Leung Yu-chung (梁宇聰) as Chung, John Tai unheard-of. On the surface, it seems infatuated with Chung when she no doubt be delighted by the movie’s Real-life baseball players make for surprisingly good actors in City Without Baseball. (戴于程) as Coach Tai, Jason Tsang (曾建忠) as like a melodramatic sports movie. meets the macho pitcher. Chung, full-frontal nudity and scenes of Jason, Lin Yuan (林苑) as Mei Zhi, Monie Tung But a closer look shows it to be meanwhile, develops an interest in Photo Courtesy of Vision Film Workshop athletes horsing around in the locker (董敏莉) as Kim something altogether different. Kim (played by Monie Tung), who built around the matches in the for the absence of actual scenes room and in the showers. In terms Building up to the 2004 Asia he almost accidentally runs over tournament, Chun decides to involving the sport. Though there of storytelling, Scud’s script is solid RUNNING TIME: 132 MINUTES Baseball Cup tournament in when she tries to commit suicide profess his love to Chung. is footage of games and dramatic and able to maintain the audience’s Pakistan, the film focuses on by getting in front of his car. And Directed by novice Yun Xiang tension built around baseball- attention. And the baseball players Language: In Cantonese with Chinese and three characters: Coach Tai (John complicating matters considerably, (雲翔), and Lawrence Lau (劉國昌), related activities, the film has themselves come across as natural English subtitles Tai, 戴于程), who arrives in Hong Chun discovers that he has feelings known for his films that explore more to do with relationships and and uninhibited actors with strong Kong from Taiwan to train the for his teammate and rival Chung. youth-related issues in Hong Kong, identity issues, existential crises, on-screen presences, despite their TAIWAN RELEASE: TODAY team for the big game; the team’s Amid the tension and excitement City Without Baseball is notable homoeroticism and repressed lack of formal training.