Found In Space

My thoughts on Elio and the returns of Christiane F and Shanghai Blues

Earlier this month, a number of movies theaters around the country staged so-called “Bleak Week” mini-festivals of some of the darkest and saddest films ever produced. If you attended one of those and came away thinking that they just weren’t grim enough for you, you are in luck because now arriving in theaters is a restoration of Christiane F, a 1981 German film from Uli Edel that is so infamously painful and wounding to experience that it makes those “Bleak Week” lineups feel like Garry Marshall retrospectives by comparison. Based on a real-life case study involving a young German woman whose experiences were first chronicled in a series of articles in the news magazine Stern and then in a best-selling book, the film tells the story of Christiane (Natja Brunkhorst), a teenager with the usual problems and vices—she doesn’t get along with her mom’s new boyfriend, experiments with pot and booze and stays out too late with her friends, a number of whom are already junkies. One night, while at a David Bowie concert (with Bowie himself appearing in concert footage meant to take place in Berlin but which was actually shot in New York), she decides to try heroin for herself, likes how it makes her feel and although she tells herself the usual stories about how she can’t get hooked if she only uses a little, she soon becomes an addict herself. Most of the rest of the film follows Christiane and her fellow junkie boyfriend (Thomas Haustein) as they make their way through the drug culture of West Berlin looking for their next fix and willing to do most anything to acquire it.

When the film arrived in America, distributor New World Pictures elected to eschew the art house circuit to give it a somewhat wider release in a poorly dubbed version with an ad campaign that emphasized the presence of Bowie over its actual content. And yet, as terrible as the dubbing was and as misleading as that ad campaign might have been, the film still had a remarkable power to it that could not be denied. Although not particularly artful, the raw and grimy visual aesthetic, the strong performances from the cast of unknowns and the lack of any overt After School Special-style moralizing gave the film a documentary-like feel and even though it contained any number of ghastly images (the most horrifying probably being the one where another junkie busts into the bathroom stall where Christine is about to shoot up, yanks the needle out of her arm and sticks it into his own), it never quite tips over into being exploitative. Seen today (and with its original soundtrack), the film still retains its power to shock and stun viewers without condescending to either them or the characters on the screen. Make no mistake, Christiane F is still one of the most grueling movies that you are likely to ever see in your life but for those who are able to stomach it, it is also one of the most unforgettable as well

.Elio (Yonas Kibreab), the central character of the latest Pixar film of the same name, is a young boy who has channeled the recent loss of his parents into an obsession with the possibility that there is life in outer space and his determination to live among whatever is out there, which he finds preferable to living with his loving but overwhelmed military officer aunt (Zoe Saldana). Through circumstances too complicated to get into here, Elio manages to send out a message to the cosmos announcing his willingness to join them and it is intercepted by the Communiverse, a group of brilliant minds representing countless alien worlds who beam him up to them under the mistaken belief that the kid is actually Earth’s leader. Not admitting to the error, Elio volunteers to help the group defend itself against Grigon (Brad Garrett), the giant slug-like leader of a war-mongering race who was declined admittance to the group and is now intent on taking it over by force instead. This leads him to develop an unexpected friendship with Glordon (Remy Edgerly), the adorable son of Grigon who has no interest in following in his father’s footsteps, as they try to stop the destruction of the Communiverse.

To be fair, Elio is bright and colorful and contains enough amusing moments and intriguing alien designs to delight its young target audience without being too painful of a sit for older viewers. Additionally, it is always fun to see a movie where nerds not only save the day (Spoiler Alert) but manage to do so by embracing their nerdiness instead of resorting to brute force. And yet, it lacks the sort of ingenuity and inspiration that one has come to expect from Pixar projects over the years—at times, it feels more like the work of other creators trying to emulate a Pixar film but only managing to get the surface details right. Although the basic premise sounds undeniably intriguing, the screenplay feels more like a scramble of elements cribbed from other genre favorites (including such films as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, E.T., Flight of the Navigator, The Last Starfighter and Joe Dante’s wonderful and underseen Explorers) than an organic narrative of its own and my guess is that most viewers, even the younger ones, will be hard-pressed to actually remember any of it even a short time after watching it. Look, I didn’t hate Elio—it is a little friendlier and funnier than a lot of the recent hard-sell family entertainments that have turned up lately and there is nothing overtly wrong about it—and if it had been produced by anyone other than Pixar, I might have been more receptive to it. However, knowing what that studio was once capable of producing (and still can, to judge by last year’s inspired Inside Out 2), this one can’t help but feel like a minor work by comparison

.Although legendary HK filmmaker Tsui Hark is perhaps best known to Western audiences for his kinetic and often jaw-dropping action spectacles (including Peking Opera Blues, Once Upon a Time in China, Double Team (hey, I like it) and Time and Tide), he has dabbled in any number of different genres throughout his career and in Shanghai Blues, which he made in 1984 and which is now being reissued in a new restoration to mark its 40th anniversary, he tackles the screwball romantic comedy in his own peculiar manner. The film opens in 1937 Shanghai as would-be musician-turned-soldier Tung (Kenny Bee) and Shu (Sylvia Chang) meet under a bridge while waiting out an air raid, instantly connect despite not being able to see each other in the darkness and vow to reunite once the war ends. A decade later, Tung is trying to make it as a songwriter while Shu finds herself working as a showgirl in a nightclub and taking care of new-in-town innocent Stool (Sally Yeh). Without realizing it, Tung winds up moving into the same building where Shu and Stool live and and complicated love triangle develops between the three as Tung and Shu do not realize who each other is while Stool falls instantly in love with Tung.

Blending together romantic melodrama, goofball knockabout slapstick and even a few musical numbers here and there, the resulting film is admittedly a tad strange and those looking for straight action thrills because of Tsui’s name will no doubt come away from it feeling a bit disappointed. However, while I would not necessarily rank it among his best films, it still has a lot to offer—it looks beautiful throughout, the three lead performers are effortlessly charming and charismatic as they go through their paces and it does have a delirious romantic tone to it that is at times reminiscent of the works of Alan Rudolph and which is enchanting throughout. Shanghai Blues may not be for everybody—which I suppose is true for the work of Tsui Hark as a whole—but those who are looking for something a little more offbeat than the usual multiplex fare of late may find themselves succumbing to its peculiar charms.