Far East Film Festival 9, 2007  Leung Wing-Fai   Memories of Matsuko (Japan 2006) -- a "tragic comedy with a life-affirming message".   At Far East Film Festival, Udine, Italy this year, I was disappointed once again (see itp issue 54). In four days, I watched 14 films, 1 television drama, walked out of 8 screenings (a personal record) and could not finish one title. First impressions: the mainland Chinese outputs seem to be moving towards the commercial mainstream; Hong Kong cinema continues to decline; the results of effort to generate Asian blockbusters are mixed; Korean titles are steady, solid productions but fail to impress. There was only one retrospective this year, of Patrick Tam, one of the most underrated directors from the Hong Kong New Wave. I was glad to revisit his early works, as well as see After This Our Exile (2006), his first film after fifteen years. Even the general atmosphere of the festival was a little subdued: only on 25 April (Italy’s National holiday) was there a sell out (for the unfortunately lame sequel to Nana, Kentaro Otani, 2005, see below). Having said that, FEFF is still the prime promoter of Asian film culture in Europe and the debates in and around the main venue Teatro Nuovo carried on in its lively tradition. For itp readers I shall examine Asian commercial cinema, including co-productions and blockbusters, and genre films.   The national selections reflect the respective commercial health of the industries. China reportedly produced over 300 films in 2006 (153 releases). Censorship seems to have been relaxed in order to allow for more realistic and popular themes to emerge. The Matrimony (Teng Huatao, 2007) was the first officially passed story involving supernatural elements, disguised as a ‘ghost-melodrama’ where one side of the love triangle is a dead girlfriend. In China, domestic films took 55% of total box office (FEFF 2007: 25) which is a sure sign that the Chinese industry is one to watch. With the continuous decline in the number of productions from Hong Kong (50 in 2006), the film industry relies on co-productions, most notably, with China, Japan and Korea. In March, the city hosted the first Pan-Asian film awards, alongside existing ventures such as the Asian Film Financing Forum, a step closer to the dream of region-wide cinema. Confession of Pain (Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, 2006, the team behind Infernal Affairs) is a suitably convoluted thriller though the performance lacks charisma (main cast includes Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro); its glossy, high value production does not hide the dull blockbuster formula. Apparently, Confession has already been sold to the production team behind The Departed and another inferior remake is expected. Sakuran (photographer-turned-director Ninagawa Mika, Japan, 2007) travels in the opposite direction: a Memories of Geisha cloned, deliberately colourful, inauthentic tale of an oiran (high class prostitute) set in the Edo period. The combination of good visual elements and inappropriate choice of score of cheesy western pop, J-pop, jazz does not detract from a flimsy narrative.   In 2006, Japanese films took just over half of the domestic box office; South Korea also had 60% market share (FEFF 2007: 37, 53). Apart from Hong Kong, on paper at least, East Asian cinemas seem to be relatively healthy. It is a tad worrying if the offering at this year’s festival is an accurate reflection of the commercial outputs from the various Asian film industries. The Hong Kong-China co-production Battle of Wits (Jacob Cheung 2006) turns out to be a dull CGI epic that plays (sic) like an annoying computer war game, one over which the audiences do not have any control. Death Note, a Warner Brothers release, and its sequel (based on Ohba Tsugumi manga, both directed by Shusuke Kaneko, Japan, 2006) also fall under this category of ‘joystick-less game-film monstrosity’. The story is an unnecessarily complex psychological battle between a student-killer and detective, featuring CGI egos (one of them looks like David Bowie, which freaked me out). Another spectacular failure is Dynamite Warriors (Chalerm Wongpim, Thailand, 2006). Obviously trying to capture the post-Ong Bak market, it attempts to combine far too many, annoying computer-generated fight scenes with an Indiana Jones type character (an almost entirely silent Tony Jaa clone). One lesson from all these is that computer imagery helps and enhances the narrative but does not compensate for poor script and the lack of rounded characters.   Genre films, once the speciality of industries such as Hong Kong, are now a firm tradition in South Korea. The most impressive is The Host (Bong Joon-ho 2006), about a sea monster holding a couple of children hostage, hotly pursued by an anxious, eccentric family. It has high production value, featuring the best of monster flicks from Hollywood (quality special effects) and Japan (Godzilla-style villain and the quintessential family in peril). After its disappointing cinema release in the UK, this film is now enjoying a good reception on DVD. Elsewhere, Asian horror fails to recapture the fresh surprises of several years ago. This year’s horror day featured the likes of Chermin (Zarina Abdullah, Malaysia,