Pusan International Film Festival Focuses On Asian Super Heroes

Source: Piff.org

Sometimes when you are searching the Internet you find out about some great events that happening around the world and you get an opportunity to share them with fans who otherwise would miss them, and sometimes you find out about these events too late. Such is the case with this years Pusan International Film Festival and their wonderful selection of films on the genre of Asian Superheroes. Sorry, about this one. I just found out about it. Unfortunately for fans that may have wanted to attend some of these screenings, the event ends this weekend. I normally get this stuff way ahead of time, but this time....well things happen.

Anyway I thought that the English speaking fans of Asian cinema may want to see what they missed.

Here is a summary of the event from the PIFF website:

It seems that Hollywood created super heroes like Superman and Spiderman are the only ones who protect our planet from the evil forces since we have gotten used to Hollywood blockbusters too much, but there are many unknown superheroes who are working double shifts for the world peace every country in Asia.

Through 11 Asian superheroes, the audience will understand how the new Western genre, "Superhero" was introduced in historical, political, cultural and social part of Asia. Asian superheroes will bring not only the peace of the world but also clues about the modernization of Asia.

Here is a list of the featured films:

Cicakman 2 - Planet Hitam (Photo Above)

It is interesting to see how Asian countries reinterpret the western superheroes. The reason the Cicakman stands out among Asian superheroes is that this superhero has the ability and power of a lizard, which can be easily found in Malaysia. It is unique that the Cicakman is a combination of superhero film and comedy film, while the most of superhero films are entered on action theme.

A Story of Hong Gil-dong

The first color-feature length animation of Korea. It was generally known the original print was lost but thanks to the resent restoration work, it's back on the screen. The Japanese title appears on the screen since the restoration project was done with the print that was exported to Japan, and this is the evidence of a long journey that this film had to go through before it comes back on the screen in Korea. The story unfolds as prime minister's illegitimate son builds his own ideal country Yuldo Kingdom and becomes a king.

Captain Barbell

Main characters of the Philippines superhero series are usually the lower middle class. They make a bare living and they hope for the better life with their supernatural powers, not just becoming superheroes at a stretch and fighting for the world. Captain Barbell gets his superpower from an old barbell and fights for justice, but the only reward he badly wants is that his one-sided love is answered.

Darna Ajaib

Indonesian version of Darna, inspired by Darna of the Philippines. Comparing this version with Philippine's original could be a good example of the cultural interactions and influences. This is the only super heroine film made in Indonesia and the original print archived at Sinematek Indonesia was developed specially for PIFF 2008.

Um...I have to interject something here. You really gotta see a picture of Darna. She is direct rip-off of Wonder Woman. Her costume looks exactly the same, and if you could imagine Lynda Carter as an Indonesian woman, then you get the idea. Heck, even the film's poster is a rip-off of the original Superman, just take out Christopher Reeve and insert a flying Indonesian Wonder Woman with a red cape and there you go. I would have added photos of this one to the article to prove the point, but the only ones on the site were small and of bad quality. Only the good stuff here!

Masked Rider the First

Followed by 1950s Gekko Kamen, 1960s Ultraman and robot heroes, the Masked Rider was the super hero of 1970s in Japan. The concept of man becoming a cyborg reveals how Japanese feels about a machine civilization, both wonderment and fear. This time, we will meet new generation of the Masked Rider with dazzling computer graphics and the original showdown story of cyborg villains and heroes.

Darna, Ang Pagbabalik

Female superheroes are rare even among the western superheroes, and Darna is definitely the one and only female superhero in Asia. Even though the character is originated from a Filipino comics, some may point out that Darna is very similar to Western superheroes, particularly Wonder Woman. Alike other Philippine superhero series, Darna has a detailed fantasy story of a girl transforming into a grown up woman.

Gekko Kamen

Gekko Kamen made his TV series debut in 1950s and scored up to 68% of an audience rating. The film Gekko Kamen is based on the TV series and who set the standard as Japan's first live action TV superhero. Not like traditional Samurai or heroes with supernatural powers, Gekko Kamen rides a motorcycle and armed with two six-shooters and shows the mercy of Buddha by forgiving the enemies instead of killing them.

Super Inframan

It is hard to find superhero films in China because their culture of emphasizing the importance of physical training (especially with Kung Fu) to become a superhuman. The first superhero from China, the Super Inframan inherited this spirit, so his ability is not inborn, but the result of research and study to fight with monsters invaded the earth.

Krrish

A Bollywood-style superhero film. The concept of a superhero never deviates too much from its original Hollywood incarnation; look at Superman as an example. Rakesh Roshan also adds the unusual elements of Bollywood cinema and Hong Kong action films to this mix.

Mercury Man

It is quite common to see many Asian superheroes kept the vestiges of western superheroes, but it is interesting to see that Mercury Man has similar appearance and shares of the outlook on the world with western superheroes. It could be little off the wall watching a Thailand superhero fighting Afghanistan terrorists to save America, but it could be an attempt of a Thailand superhero making inroads into US film markets.