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MARCH 2003 FILMS DIVINE INTERVENTION Director Elia Suleiman casts himself casting many a mournful glance but what DIVINE INTERVENTION could've used were a few more critical and disparaging ones. Suleiman recognizes that the daily humiliations in the occupied territories needs no comic accoutrements but one can't help but regret that this lackadaisical approach infects most of the film especially after witnessing scenes of Suleiman's ire. In the end, one wishes Suleiman was a bit more pissed off; DIVINE INTERVENTION needed less doleful distancing and more such infusions of energy between the obvious setpieces. [C-] MILLENNIUM MAMBO I thought a second viewing would polarize my opinion on MILLENNIUM MAMBO but I'm as indifferent - and as disappointed in his follow-up to FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI - as after my first viewing of this at the 2001 Toronto festival. Hou continues on the idea of female entrapment but in a contemporary setting. Instead of the elegant prostitutes of FLOWERS silently planning their escape from the trade, today's mobility sees Vicky in constant transit - the dance itself a trap - between her aimless on-again, off-again lover Hao-hao and the nurturing gangster Jack. That the older Jack seems the only promising source of stability for Vicky is perhaps a lament from Hou over the loss of older ways. Vicky's predicament is foretold in the opening shot (beautifully lensed by Mark Lee Ping-bing) but I wish my heart managed to thump as vigorously and as persistently over the rest of the film like its techno score. [C] LIFE OF A NINJA Who can disagree with Colin Geddes when he says "Less bombs, more kung fu!," especially when the kung fu is courtesy of LIFE OF A NINJA? This is a fruitful comic minefield of ninja facts (or "nin juzu" to those in the know). The film begins with training in a secret batcave where scantily clad female trainees must be dipped like teabags into iced water and mud wrestle. Previously unknown ninja tools-of the-trade are hinted at including over-elaborate - nay, exotic - weapons such as ice daggers laced with poison, poison liquid paper and stunning your opponents with a quick flash of your ninja breasts (applies to beautiful female ninjas only). There's revenge and love, too, but fans of the art of the exploding fruit cart may be disappointed. Elaborately choreographed action scenes are spiced up with previously unseen ninja moves such as the ninja jig, the ninja scurry and the ninja spaz. Shock, awe, guffaw. | ||