Birdland

Since we're doing Asian art films by action film directors, let's take a look at The Bird People in China. It is directed by Takahashi Miike, known for ultraviolent Japanese gangster films. But this is not one of those.

It is the story of a young Japanese salaryman whose work suddenly sends him to a remote Chinese village to look for jade. When he lands, he is met by a Chinese guide and a Japanese gangster - salaryman's company is in big to the yakuza and they want to protect the investment. The yakuza is great. He looks so much like Jo Shishido, it must be homage. In case you haven't run into him, Shishido is a chipmunk-cheeked toughguy actor, best known as either the rice-sniffing Number 3 Killer from Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill or as Captain Jo in MST3k's Fugitive Alien. Um, but it's not him, so I digress.

So our "heroes" travel to the end of the road, then over a mountain, then down a river, then take a psychedelic mushroom trip, then... This is the classic Journey motif, a Lost Horizons or The Valley (Obscured by Clouds). When they get to the village, an idyllic Shangri-La, they meet a young woman who is teaching the children to fly, like in the old days.

I expected a good deal more magical realism than I got in this movie. Can traditional Chinese people really fly? That is almost the only surreal theme in the film (the other involves turtles). Other bizarre circumstances are explained quite prosaically, including the flying teacher, and her theme song, "Bonnie Annie Laurie". Yet, the scenery is incredibly beautiful, the village is lovely, and it's people colorful and interesting. The interplay between the serious, handsome, romantic but dull salaryman and the loud, violent yet philosophical yakuza is a lot of fun. The philosophical gangster is quite an icon, esp. in Japanese film - see "Beat" Takeshi.

While not magical realism, this is pretty magical. There's a nice twist at the end, except it isn't a twist - ahh, watch it yourself.