Face

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Starring: Fanny Ardant | Jean-Pierre Léaud | Jeanne Moreau | Laetitia Casta | Lee Kang-Sheng | Lu Yi-Ching | Mathieu Amalric | Natalie Baye

Original language title: Visage

Country: belgium, france, netherlands, taiwan

Year: 2009

Running time: 138

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262420/

Michael says: “Drawing parallels between the chaos of making a film and that same unpredictability in life, Tsai Ming-liang has made his most far out and in many ways exciting movie to date. Kang, who we have come to know first as a watch salesman in WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? then as a porn star in THE WAYWARD CLOUD, is now a Taiwanese director working on a film in France. His procuder Fanny is doing her best to keep the over-the-top production on time and on budget while the lead actor and actress muddle through personal crises, or perhaps neuroses? On top of this, Kang suffers a personal crisis of his own and must return to Taiwan for a time.

“Tsai uses his muse, Lee Kang-shen as his stand-in as is the norm, and it is certainlyl an interesting choice to see such a passive, emotionally remote character in charge of something as complicated as a movie set. The whole WHAT TIME IS IT THERE cast is back, including Yi-Ching Lu as Kang’s mother, and Shaing-chyi Chen, although after the cirucmstances of THE WAYWARD CLOUD, it’s surprising to think that she may be playing the same character. The film is fleshed out by a who’s who of French talent across the decades, from Fanny Ardant to Mathieu Amalric to the incomparable Jeanne Moreau in one of the films many surprisingly hilarious scenes.

“The director returns to the visually stunning technique he used to such masterful effect in WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? where he frames each shot and allows the action to move in and out of the camera’s eye. While some scenes in this carefully structured film are dense and indecipherable, who cares when there is a sudden explosion of fatastical musical numbers, or static scenes of sudden hilarity? 4 1/2 cats”

Bruce says: “Caught sitting between those who loved and loathed this film, I am reluctant to reveal that I fall right in the middle.  Tsai Ming-liang (GOOD BYE, DRAGON INN; I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE; THE WAYWARD CLOUD; WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?) is among my favorite directors and in many ways his talent shines through in VISAGE (I prefer the less ambiguous French title to FACE, the English title, which is unclear as to whether it is noun or verb).  However, the film is too long; several vignettes are not commensurate in quality to others; and the choice of Laetitia Casta as Solome is regrettable.  That said, let’s focus on the good.

“VISAGE is homage to French cinema but Tsai is also self-referential as he revisits some of his old territories.  The film opens with a missed appointment.  Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud), the star of the upcoming film ‘Salome’ has not shown up for his rendezvous with his director Hsaio-Kang (Lee Kang-Sheng) at a café.  Next we see a kitchen sink mishap that eventually fills a whole apartment with water.  With silent film slapstick frivolity, Hsaio-Kang tries one futile solution after another but the water is bursting out of the faucet and pipes with a vengeance.   Tsai’s obsession with water was particularly evident in many of his other films, particularly THE RIVER, THE HOLE, I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE and THE WAYWARD CLOUD.   Truffaut figures prominently throughout: much of the film vaguely echoes DAY FOR NIGHT and Jean-Pierre Léaud’s character has the same name as his character in six of the director’s films.

“Regardless of whether the vignettes make any sense, they are – for the most part – stunning visually, which is what one comes to expect from Tsai.  The most delightful of the film’s vignettes involves Antoine sitting in the snow with an uncaged canary named Zizou, a multitude of vertical mirrors, chorus girls,  and a stag wandering about.  The effect is dazzling.  Later a woman wearing a wig cap mysteriously tapes windows so that no light will come through.  This theme is repeated throughout the film.  We learn later that she is the Salome.  In an amusing scene, director Hsaio-Kang later argues with his make-up team that he wants Salone’s skin more translucent.  Fanny Ardant (Truffaut’s wife, frequent star and muse) plays the producer and also the role of Herodias in the film.  In one silly yet enchanting vignette she has tea with Jeanne Moreau and Nathalie Baye.  Near the end we get to see the actors actually performing in “Salome” (I am a fan of both the Wilde play and the Strauss opera) but unfortunately it is one of the least interesting portions of the film.  3 1/2 cats  

(VISAGE screened at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.)”

Chris says: “The latest from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-Liang (WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?) plays like a greatest hits album. It’s brimming with all of his favorite obsessions: the prevalence of water (culminating in his most hilarious Buster Keaton homage to date), manipulation of time and space, delightfully absurd musical numbers and preferred actor Lee Kang-sheng in the lead. However, he also includes a few worthy new tracks to the playlist: most of the film is set in France, with such celebrated actors as Jean-Pierre Leaud, Fanny Ardant and Jeanne Moreau playing more or less versions of themselves (and don’t miss Mathieu Almaric’s cameo); additionally, the plot hinges on the making of a film within this one, encouraging viewers to question what’s real or a façade. Stunningly gorgeous (the mirror-filled forest sequences will take your breath away) but challenging, it may prove too obtuse for some viewers, but it was my favorite film of the festival. After seeing it, you will never look at crushed tomatoes the same way again. 5 cats”

Thom says: “As much as I loved this film I would have a hard time recommending it to everyone for a few reasons. First, Tsai Ming-liang is definitely an acquired taste. Nearly every single shot in all of his films are within one frame. There is a slow rhythm that is present in all his films that can, quite frankly, bore people to tears. But I usually find him exhilarating. Two, all the people that saw this at TIFF that I know were not thrilled with it, even huge Tsai Ming-liang fan Bruce Kingsley. A friend I made at TIFF saw the film with me and he, too, was not very impressed. In his films connections between shots do not hold to palpable storyline logic. Often the confusion that arises is that much of the plot takes place between scenes so his films become an intellectual exercise that can be both frustrating and exasperating. Tsai’s muse Kang-sheng Lee is once again present as Hsiao-Kang as he was in REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, VIVE L’AMOUR, THE HOLE, WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?, THE SKYWALK IS GONE, GOODBYE, DRAGON INN, THE WAYWARD CLOUD, & I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE. All of Tsai’s themes are represented to great effect: water, rain, France, Jean-Pierre Léaud, homosexuality, musical numbers, loneliness, off-screen action, etc. My very favorite spot in the movie involved a scene that reminded me so much of the painting Carte Blanche by René Magritte, 1965. Instead of the tree trunks hiding the horse and rider as they travel in the woods, it is the trees which reveal them and the open spaces which hide them. That which should be behind, is in front. Here Tsai used well-placed mirrors to achieve the effect. Finally the film logs in with 138 minutes but when it was over it had only seemed like half that time. Anyway, the plot revolves around a film director from Taiwan goes to Paris to make a film about the Salomé myth.  5 cats”