The Bird People in China (1998)

[randy_byers]

Third time's a charmer.

Chûgoku no chôjin/The Bird People in China is the third Takashi Miike movie I've seen. Whereas Zebraman (2004) and Yôkai daisensô/The Great Yokai War (2005) are both hommages/parodies and overtly, sometimes manically, fantastical, Bird People, while no less magical, is more oblique, ambiguous, and naturalistic in its approach. It's about a Japanese salaryman who is sent by his company to a remote village in mountainous China to investigate rumors of a vein of high quality jade. He is joined on the journey by a yakuza thug who has been sent to collect the debt the company owes his mob family.

It is a journey from hectic civilization to a quiet bucolic paradise that is ripe for exploitation. It is a journey of the soul for both the salaryman and the yakuza. There is a legend in the village that the people there used to be able to fly, and there is a young woman who is trying to teach the children to fly with wings made of wood ribbing and cloth. The yakuza becomes fascinated by the idea, and the salaryman becomes fascinated by the young woman and the Scottish ballad that she learned from her dead grandfather, who fell into the village out of the sky.

It's very funny and sweet and moving. While the image on the Artmagic DVD is not of the highest quality, the imagery of the film is still very beautiful, with many shots of mist-shrouded crags and lush green hillsides and swollen brown rivers. It is very much a character study of the handsome, blank, restrained salaryman and the tormented, fierce, playful yakuza, and the acting is excellent. The ending and the final image are perfect, reminiscent in some ways of the bittersweet nostalgic finale of The Great Yokai War.

This Miike guy really is good. I'm still tiptoeing around the hyperviolent stuff, but it looks like there's more to explore. I just ordered Rainy Dog (1997) and The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001). The latter is described by one commenter on IMDb as "the best horror/comedy/musical/clay-mation/live action/drama/romance/anti-romance/thriller I have yet to come by." Okay!

Comments

Katakuris

[anitar.livejournal.com]

I did see the Katakuris when it played at SIFF. wow, it really does pile it on! but I think I enjoyed it overall.

Re: Katakuris

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued by the genre-mashup implications of this one, but it's hard to get a sense of what it's like from the verbal descriptions. On the other hand, I passed up on Sabu for now because it sounds possibly too sedate!