Revenge: A Love Story

Revenge: A Love Story
Original Title: Fuk sau che chi sei
Directed by: Ching-Po Wong
South Korea, 2010
Thriller/Romance

Hong-Kong… it’s been a long time since I saw a good Hong-Kong movie that moved me in the same way that this one did. I sort of drifted away from their movies when the South Korean’s started taking over with their wave of eye-opening movies. Sure, Hong-Kong Cinema will always hold a special place with me, as I grew with Kung-Fu flicks and enjoyed the Hong-Kong children’s show Monkey Magic 1978 like hell when I was a kid. Well actually it was Japanese, directed by among others Godzilla sequel director, Jan Fukuda… but it was about Chinese’s mythology, and when Jeffrey Lau made his Chinese Odyssey films 1994 - bought at on VHS dupes at the amazing backstreet shop "Lisas Smink & Video" (Lisa's Makeup and Video) a week or two after it was out on tape in Hong-Kong, I was right back to being a kid. Not to mention the later revolution of bullet ballet’s directed by Ringo Lam, John Woo and fantasy actioners by Tsui Hark and Siu-Tung Ching at the end of the eighties.

If I didn’t know better I’d have thought that Revenge: A Love Story was a South Korean flick as it shares the same stunning imagery, cryptic narratives, and extremely nihilistic themes as the movies of Chan-wook Parc, Kim-ki Duk and Jee-woon Kim. What ties them together is that no matter how grim the story may be they are all told with the same passionate beauty. Although there are themes that I find recurrent in a lot of hardboiled Hong-Kong action films at play here too, the scenario of the bad cop and the little man out to set things right.

A spoiler free quickfix would read something like this; a serial killer is attacking pregnant women, tearing up their abdomens and removing their unborn children. At first the murders seem random, until the police realize that the killer has been targeting pregnant women related or married to police officers. A band of coppers, obviously a bunch of friends are Rapidly they apprehend their main suspect, Kit [Juno Mak – who wrote the original story and has released several albums of his singing in Hong-Kong] and take him in for a severe beating and interrogation when yet another victim is called in…

Ching-Po Wong’s Revenge: A Love Story is an impressive, touching and haunting movie, which I’m sure will bring with it yet another wave of stunning Hong-Kong thrillers. I welcome them with open arms, because this movie grabs it’s audience in a tight grip and then smacks them in the face with a sack of hot steamed buns as the rush of insight comes hammering down.

This movie stayed in my head all day, and I couldn’t shake it, no matter what. Not because of the rather hard violence, occasional moments of grotesque gore, and really dark narrative, but because of the gentle beauty of the love story that drives the pendulum forth. Yes, love is the driving force of this movie, and damn does it do so in a brilliant way. Kit is head over heals in love with schoolgirl Wing [Japanese former AV actress Sola Aoi] and his love for her knows no limits. Despite his unlimited emotion, he still acts in such a noble fashion that he even leaves the apartment whilst she takes a shower.

After an attempted rape of Wing, Kit rushes to her defence, his actions still can be seen as honourable as he’s doing what the majority of us would Defend our partner. Although the aftermath of this situation leads to a terrifying ordeal, an ordeal which only can result in Kit taking vengeance, a vengeance we too would want but probably due to moral issues never fulfil. Raw, brutal vengeance. But never the less, Kit’s actions are driven by the love for Wing. He need’s to take revenge for the events because of his love for her, and the viewer finds it acceptable it despite the terrible crimes he commits. The audience accepts it as we have a primal urge to see people in love live happily ever after. That’s just the way it is, it’s a human trait we all have. Which is why we become empathetic towards the story of Kit and Wing… even if she goes to extreme lengths to prove her love for Kit too. You won’t believe what she does, but within the context of the narrative it all makes logical sense. This all becomes apparent after a while when the movie starts to retrace its backstory.

Ingeniously told through a non-linear narrative much like that of Christopher Nolan’s Memento 2000 or Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible 2002, what at first seems to be a dark and cold serial killer flick, holds a completely different story when the movie ventures backwards through the backstory that explains Kit’s raison d’etre. A discourse unexpected and one that makes me change my judgment and opinions. A movie that engages and activates its audience.

I really like films that play games with my mind, Revenge: A Love Story, is definitely one of them, as it uses the Doing bad for doing good approach. We know that Kit shouldn’t be committing the crimes, but after that harrowing rush of insight we want him to take his vengeance, and we are somewhat at ease with the way he goes about it. We certainly can’t blame him. Which is a big step away from the first impression we get of that coldblooded killer.

It also uses the love story to justify the violence and the actions of Kit and Wing. There’s an emotional recognition in the narrative, which the audience can identify with. I may not actually murder people for revenge, but I can definitely connect to the emotion of wanting to murder someone who has done me or mine wrong. This emotional recognition makes us empathise with Kit – and Wing – on their journey of destructive vengeance. It’s the same triggers that create the emotional recognition in something like Let the Right One In 2008, and its remake Let Me In 2010, where we want the children to kill their antagonists. We even welcome their acts of violence as long as it results in Eli and Oscar [Abby and Owen] can be together. Yes – take the knife, use the stick, kill them all, let love reign. It’s the same emotional recognition that works there as in Revenge: A Love Story.

The finale of Revenge: A Love Story, may seem cryptic and like many other areas of the film, the interpretation is left up to the viewer. You may chose to read it as a dark destructive finale which lives by the thesis that violence breeds violence, or you can interpret it as a fantasy which takes place in Kit’s mind. This is merely two of my suggestions, and in turn you will have to come to your own conclusions of the movies ending.

If you enjoyed Sion Sono’s Cold Fish 2010 or Jee-woon Kim’s I Saw the Devil 2010, then you have to see Ching-Po Wong’s Revenge: A Love Story. It’s one of the most moving, cruel and haunting pieces of Hong Kong cinema in a long while. Fascinating, riveting, and a complete kick in the gut, Revenge: A Love Story is fucking awesome and original, one of the best Asian movies I’ve seen this year!

Kilink Vs. The Flying Man / Kilink Strip & Kill

Kilink Vs. The Flying Man / Kilink Strip & Kill

Original Title: Kilink uçan adama karsi / Kilink soy ve öldür

Directed by: Yilmaz Atadeniz

Turkey, 1969

Action /Adventure, 49 min / 92min

Distributed by: OnarFilm

The more I see of Turkish Genre cinema the more I find myself draw into it’s naïve, cheap as dirt, but appealing and enthusiastic charm. It’s no understatement that the world seen through the eyes of a cineaste is happier place since so many passionate distributors and real enthusiasts are making sure that these movies become available in the best possible conditions.

The masked antihero is no stranger to those who have explored the alternative cinema treasures found around our great planet. From the wrestling rings of the Lucha Libre, to the Henchmen of Yakuza, although there’s still have the pleasure of discovering Kilink – The masked avenger from Istanbul!

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the Kilink movies where cheap rip offs of Mario Bava’s iconic Diabolik (Danger Diabolik) 1968, just like the bigot morons who don't do their research. But actually the Killing comics where produced pre Diabolik, the Kilink books and movies are made before John Law Philip hid his face away behind the mask and are in many ways pretty dammed good counterparts to that later Italian entry to the masked anti hero.

Kilink is in some ways a take on the Italian antihero Satanik, which started out as photographic comic magazine aimed at an adult audience – just like those fabulous Mexican El Santo and Blue Demon comics that also where photographs with captions written in on the images, fantastic stuff. Although Kilink always took things a step further and really held no moral judgment at all, he was a one man crime wave who stopped at nothing to take out the other bandits that stood in his way – so in a fascinating irony he works on both sides of the law.

Three instalments are what make up this fabulous suite of Kilink movies directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz. Ten movies all in all make up the series, and it wastes no time to jump-start the action and roll out the melodrama.

The original film; Kilink Istanbul’da (Killing in Istanbul) 1967, was also directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz just like the first sequel Kilink uçan adama karsi (Kilink Vs. The Flying Man), which picks up right where the first one ended.

Kilink kills a professor in search for secret documents at the end of the first movie, and in the sequel the professors son Mr Orhan, is granted superpowers to claim his vengeance. By uttering the special words Shajam (Shazam…) he turns into “The Flying Man” who easily beats the crap out of Kilink’s men. But Kilink won’t take it and soon turns the tables on Mr. Orhan when he kidnaps the some other old geezer and his two daughters, one which happens to be Orhan’s girlfriend. Kilink takes them all to his “Devil’s Island” secret lair. And obviously it doesn’t take too long before Orhan is on his way to rescue them!

Hilarious dialogue likes the two henchmen bitching about the girls being to tired for them when they get off heir shift certainly holds something of a Austin Powers humor in it. Also the fisherman who helps the professor and daughters flee is very reminiscent of Ömer – the lad comedy character from Tourist Ömer Uzay Yolunda (Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek) the Turkish equivalent to the Carry on Gang or Swedens Åsa-Nisse.

This second movie is somewhat of an oddity – as they all are to be honest. First there’s an almost twenty minute recap of the original movie, which then leads up to the culmination of the “flyingman” stories, which at the same time set’s off the premise for the third movie. Kilink vs the Flyingman does miss some of the ending, but its been rebuilt with archive footage and stills to re-create the climax of the movie. Hey it worked for dear old Stroheim in Queen Kelly 1932 – supposedly one of film history’s finest movies, so why not here.

The final installment, or rather the third part available on DVD so far, picks up right where the second one ends – just like part two does, and is among the finest of the Turkish super hero action flicks ever. It’s moves fast and it’s quite possible that the print is missing some small scenes here and there, as it at times is kind of tricky to follow the plot at times.

Kilink soy ve öldür (Kilink – Strip & Kill) is outstanding and perhaps one of Kilink’s darkest entries ever. Two rival gangs of mobsters are both out to lay their grubby hands on a microfilm. Kilink finds himself wham bam in the middle of both fractions, and this gives him a great opportunity to confiuse and create mayhem as he sports a variation of disguises to infiltrate and confuse his foes. Not to mention the amount of women he seduces along his way. Throw in a few good car chases, some shootouts and the obligatory misogynistic torture scene here and there and you have a remarkablely entertaining Kilink flick.

Obviously the movies are cheap, cheesy, semi sleazy whenever they can be, but absolutely superb little oddities that will bring delight to any fan of obscure cinema. The movies have terrific soundtracks, with a score that is very reminiscent of John Barry’s theme to On Her Majestys Sectet Service 1969. It’s very catchy and very fitting for a catchy flick too.

Yilmaz Atadeniz, who also directed the fabulous Casus kiran (Spy Smasher) 1968, technically directed the first Turkish Superman movie as Kilink Vs. The Flyingman features Superman as Kilink’s force of antagonism… well perhaps a mixture of Batman and Superman then to be honest but it’s still the first Superman-ish villain, as Kunt Tulgar’s Süpermen dönüyor (The Return of Superman) wasn’t released until 1979.

Behind the mask there’s the talent of Yildirim Gencer who played the masked maniac in all three of Atadeniz Kilink Kilink entries, but also held leading parts in stuff like Atadeniz superhero flicks Casus Kiran (Spy Smasher) 1968 and Casus kiran – ydei canli adam (Spy Smasher: Man of 7 lives) 1970 which also saw him fighting out against Irfan Atasoy, the Flying man and Orhan of the first two Kilink movies.

Considering that they where shot back to back with each other it’s fitting that OnarFilms team up both Kilink Vs. The Flying Man and Kilink – Strip and Kill on this great disc and they make a great double feature. Also it has to be pointed out that Kilink Vs. The Flying Man was indeed a lost gem, because it hasn’t been available in any format at all since OnarFilms resurrected it from the dead. I can honestly say that these two films are all you need to make up a splendid night of Turkish Fantastic cinema!

You can still get your hands on this double shot of fantastic Turkish cinema from Onar Films, and for a very limited time they are even offering the very last of Yilmaz Atadeniz, rare original movie Kilink Isanbul’da (Killing in Istabul) 1967. It’s the last of the batch reclaimed by the one-man army at OnarFilms to once again make sure that the real fans of Turkish fantastic cinema get an opportunity to see these fantastic movies.

So go get some Kilink right now, you won’t regret it!

Image

Black and White, 4:3

Audio:

2.0 Stereo, Turkish with optional Greek or English subtitles.

Extras:

OnarFilms releases are always packed with great extras that will give you an insight into Turkish cinema and almost always feature interviews with directors and actors. Here you get written interviews with Yilmaz Atadeniz, a filmed interview with him and star, Irfan Atasoy, a photo gallery, and trailers for other Onarfilms releases.