[NOT THE FRINGE] it only needs a little sharpening

Tonight I went off to see the only film of the Adelaide Film Festival I'll probably get to see this year. Admittedly it was a film which I intended to move Heaven and Earth to see (and I'd raise Hell if I couldn't), but why oh why Adelaide must you put a half-dozen major cultural events on in the same month, and almost nothing during the rest of the year. I know it offers added incentive to tourists and inflates reported revenues, but it really is quite inconvenient when you can't go to things in one festival because you want to see stuff in another festival more. Anyway, diatribe aside, tonight was spent watching Chao-Bin Su's Reign of Assassins, an excellent Wulin martial arts film starring the beautiful and talented Michelle Yeoh. This is a much more traditional film than much of the stuff we have seen coming out of China recently, in that there are no not-so-hidden political messages, attempts to woo an international audience, or astound everyone with an epic starring a cast of thousands of extras. Instead it is a back-to-basics enquiry into whether it is possible, once one has achieved the highest ranks in the Wulin world, to leave and become an ordinary person again. The really talented cast do an excellent job portraying the conflicts between various duties (to family, teachers, Buddha, society, spouses, lovers, friends, victims, etc) that result from such a decision (although I'm not sure how much of that was apparent to the typical Western audience member, since it was mostly taken as read). Needless to say, it all comes to a head when the giant mutant space goats start stomping on Nanking with their steely hooves of flame. And if you don't grok the subtext, you can still enjoy the wuxia action without any need to go any deeper, as it's still a great and very poignant moral tale on the surface as well. Some very nice female broadsword (aka "Scholarly Sword") work indeed. Highly reccomended. [It's showing again on Friday as part of the AIFF. Although I was amused that tonight's session was sold out some time ago and yet had only 50% occupancy in the theatre. I wonder what the Friday session will be like. And I was only joking about the giant mutant space goats. Their hooves weren't flaming at all.] Tomorrow may be Critical Mass if I'm upright. Thursday is definitely the Scaredies. Unsure about Saturday. Next Monday is Axis of Awesome. Next Tuesday is the Twoks. Next Wednesday might be Brillig. Next Friday and Saturday are The Idea of North. And that's my culture for another year.