Kung Fu Cinema review

Genre(s): Action, Drama

Origin: USA, South Korea

Length: 87 min

Studio(s): Young Man Kang Films

Director(s): Young Man Kang

Producer(s): Bruce Khan, Young Man Kang

Action Director(s): Eung Jun Lee, Reuben Langdon

Writer(s): Young Man Kang

Cinematographer(s): Cheol Hun Ham, Sang Jin Han

Music: James Hopkins, You Lee Kim

Rated: NR - strong violence, sexuality, language, drug use

Cast:

Bruce Khan ... Adam
Kelly Hamilton ... Eve
Jourdon Lee Khoo ... Adam
Melanie Jean ... Eve
Freddie Milligan ... Snake
Seung Min Kim ... Eve
Tim Colceri ... Priest
Eung Jun Lee ... Cain
Chul Jeong ... Abel

Recommendations:

Ashes of Time (1994)

No Blood No Tears (2002)

Volcano High (2001)
:: REVIEWS ::.


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The Last Eve (2005)

AKA: n/a



The Last Eve is an ambitious and challenging independent production that attempts to bring together three interpretations of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, diverse martial arts action, and Korean and American culture, all while set to an apocalyptic story that unfolds in reverse order. It's occasionally bewildering and uneven, with its small budget and good intentions struggling to smooth over a range of rough spots. But there is something quite appealing about this martial arts movie that dares to artistically step beyond convention.

Although there is a singular thread that runs through the whole film, it's divided into three chapters that could very easily stand apart as distinct short films. Hapkido champion Bruce Khan stars in the first two chapters, but this and each chapter's relevance to Adam and Eve is about all that connects them.

To break it down as easily as possible, the earth has been struck by a massive comet that has wiped out all of humanity save for three people. One is a hooded priest, whose presence I must admit remains a mystery to me. Then there is Adam (Bruce Khan), the last man and a warrior monk who defends Eve (Melanie Jean), the last woman, from a small group of demons sent to earth in human form by Satan to stop humanity from being reborn. The outcome of the fight is clear, but the fate of humanity is left to interpretation for we're either presented with a demonic trick played on mankind or a reference to The Crying Game.

Of special interest in this first chapter is some fun martial arts choreography courtesy of Reuben Langdon and a number of fellow stunt actors who fill out the roles of the demons. This includes Zero Gravity member Kerry Wong, Chris Torres, and Stephanie Cheeva. Visually, these scenes are less of a supernatural sort and more of a crude Mad Max variety. The editing in this segment borders on experimental, but unfortunately things like two or three scene fades crudely overlaid looks a little too much like public access channel video effects and does nothing to enhance the film. There's also no dialogue, only some narration. When paired with the film's most unusual and arguably disturbing imagery, this makes it difficult to settle in to the film.

The middle act, which reinterprets the Biblical murder of Abel after Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden, is the film's high point visually and action-wise. The story makes an abrupt shift to an earlier time in modern-day South Korea where Adam (again Bruce Khan) is now a gravedigger and underground cage fighter, while Eve (Seung Min Kim) is the woman he hopes to marry. Trouble arises when the figurative serpent, in the form of Eve's brother Cain (Eung Jun Lee), loses Eve in a wager with a gangster and gets Adam's brother Abel (Chul Jeong) killed in the ring. To win her back, Adam must defeat the gangster's Muay Thai champion.

The production values and visuals of this Korean segment are substantially better than the American ones. It should come as no surprise though for the guys in charge of the camera and stunt work are Cheol Hun Ham and Eung Jun Lee, both veterans of Korean action cinema with Jungdok (2002) and Volcano High (2001) respectively to their credits. It serves no purpose to the story, but Eung Jun Lee is featured in a fantastic fight with his stunt team where he uses a blunt training sword to beat a group of gangsters to a pulp. Imagine any group fighting scene in Korean films like My Wife is a Gangster or Arahan, but without wires or excessive editing. The featured cage match between Bruce Khan and the Muay Thai fighter is just as well executed with Khan showing off some terrific legwork. His performance, and he's a solid actor too I might add, really makes me wish that the art of Hapkido was featured more often in action films.

The final chapter brings us to America, shortly before the comet strikes. From here on, Young Man Kang leaves the martial arts action behind and focuses on the temptation of Eve. Adam (Jourdon Lee Khoo) and Eve (Kelly Hamilton) appear to be grown residents of a Catholic orphanage and soon to be married. Enter the serpent again, this time as Snake (Freddie Milligan), another grown resident who has embraced worldly vice. Jealously leads him to tempt Eve into having a little premarital sex. She in turn does the same to Adam and both are cast out of Eden, shortly before the world comes crashing to a halt.

Kudos to Young Man Kang for attempting such a unique film. Certainly, the martial arts movie genre can benefit from more creative and challenging productions that push boundaries, although this is obviously more than just a genre movie. It's amazing to see so many diverse elements come together in a single, independent production. Most impressive is how Young blends Korean and American culture without resorting to any of the pitfalls that generally plague Hollywood productions that attempt the same. The Last Eve is definitely a major advancement from the director's last action-oriented film 1st Testament CIA Vengeance (2001), an ultra-low budget and convoluted thriller with mammoth pacing and bad acting issues.

The Last Eve has a few issues of its own, chief among them is a lack of visual continuity. The three chapters look like they were all shot with different crews and different equipment, while under different circumstances. In fact, this is somewhat the truth and its just hard to hide on a limited budget. I could also complain about the loose story structure and overall lack of clarity with regard to the film's message, if there is any beyond restating the tragedy of humanity's Biblical fall from grace. But the film falls far enough into relative artistic expression territory that viewers should ultimately form their own conclusions. However, I'll go ahead and put forth my own and state that The Last Eve is an intriguing, if overly ambitious art film, given its means. It's like a rough draft of some daring work of potential genius in progress. But it also challenges convention, makes you think, and delivers some great martial arts action, which makes the film worth investigating and Young Man Kang worth keeping an eye on.

- Mark Pollard


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:: DVD REVIEWS ::.


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"The Last Eve" Wins Award at New York Independent Film Festival

"The Last Eve" Wins Award at New York Independent Film Festival



An epic film entitled "The Last Eve" directed by Kang Young-man, who is based in New York, has won the "Action Film Award" at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, which just recently closed.

The festival, which was launched in 1993, has been taken in a road show format to four different cities in the United States, including New York and Los Angeles, screening about 300 films each year.

"The Last Eve" is an epic film consisting of three different short films using Adam and Eve from the Bible as motifs.

Kang made headlines in 2000 when he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the film director who had distributed a film made with the smallest budget to American movie theaters" by producing the epic film "Cupid's Mistake" (1999) with a mere 980 dollars, or about 1 million won.