Defeco Ergo Sum

Fruit Chan's 2003 film Public Toilet is a low-budget DV globe-hopping affair that, amongst other things, shows how we are all united in shit. Whether it be the communal toilets of Beijing, the Porta-potties of Korea, or even India's Ganges River, nobody is above nature's call. For those unfamiliar, Fruit Chan is one of Hong Kong's leading maverick independent filmmakers. In films like Little Cheung, Durian, Durian, and Hollywood Hong-Kong, Chan sculpted gritty, social-realist portraits of working class Hong Kong. Public Toilet, his first venture into digital video, was shot entirely guerilla style -- in not one of the six countries he filmed in did he obtain any kind of official permission. The inspiration for the film came during a visit to New York City, where he realized that there are hardly any public toilets, a major difference between East and West in his mind. The film begins in China with the story of Dong Dong (Tsuyoshi Abe), a young man dubbed God of the Toilets, given that he was found in a public restroom as a newborn. He and his friend Tony are both planning to leave Beijing in search of miracle cures for relatives that are dying. Though narratively the film is quite thin, it does maintain a steady flow that carries us through China, Korea, India, America, Hong Kong, and Rome. Each country brings a new tale, with each connected somehow to the titular lavatory and/or a quest for a cure. In Korea, a young man discovers a woman with no bones who lives in the bottom of a porta-potty and feeds on human waste. In New York, Dong Dong befriends a hitman from China who is there on his final job. (Including a restroom execution that owes a debt to The Godfather.) On his voyage to the Ganges, Tony meets two Indian brothers from Hong Kong who are traveling to India to help their dying father (who is also a God of Toilets, but for another reason). Most interesting about Public Toilet is Chan's view of our ever-shrinking world. Multi-culturalism abounds, and the rest of the world is just a cell-phone call away. Dong Dong's childhood friends include an Italian and a Somalian who were both raised in Beijing. His grandmother, when not singing Chairman Mao's Long March song, is addicted to Bollywood musicals. The quick cuts between cities thousands of miles apart helps to enhance the "it's-a-small-world-after-all" theme. (Especially during a phone call between the hit man in Times Square and his girlfriend, who is on some remote part of the Great Wall -- the effect is a bit bewildering.) Though not as profound as, say, Jia Zhangke's The World, Chan's take on globalization in China (and other parts of Asia) is still quite impressive. Whereas some directors strive to show how DV can look almost as good as film, Chan seems to have degraded the image to the point of where it approaches the quality of 8mm. While this gives the film an almost documentary feel to it, the murky shades of brown and hazy images that dominate the film are off-putting. Still, Public Toilet is a fascinating curiosity. Though it may come off as a bit naive (and at times guilty of naval-gazing), Chan and his international cast (a mix of professional actors and newcomers) have created something that is totally original and very entertaining. While Public Toilet might not be Fruit Chan at his best, it is nonetheless definitely worth seeking out. [Available on DVD. Check with your favorite Asian E-tailer.]

Comments

[Adam]

". . ., murky shades of brown and hazy images that dominate the film are off-putting."

Hmmm, you've made me think that Chan's efforts here in presenting this murky/hazy brown look is to carry the shit/refuse metaphor even further, since the whole film looks like it's sitting underneath the public toilets like so many of the characters - Dong-Dong himself, the mermaid in Korea, and all those showering in the Ganges river.

[Freddie Kipple]

I'd be interested to read a list of Filmbrain's best looking DV films...

[Freddie Kipple]

It's also worth mentioning Fruit Chan's contribution to Three Extremes, the gruesomely enjoyable Dumplings.

[Filmbrain]

I think easily the best looking DV film is Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou. Hands down. Stunning.

Others I can think of off the top of my head: Bamboozled, 9 Songs, Ten, Irreversible, and Personal Velocity.

As for Dumplings -- yes, I failed to mention his recent foray into horror. I've been meaning to write reviews of both the short and long versions of the film -- next week, perhaps.

[Freddie Kipple]

Great choices, although I think Gaspar Noe's Irréversible was shot on Super 16 then digitally stitched together. For stunning Super 16s I'd say Boe's Reconstruction and the granddaddy of the format's renaissance Leaving Las Vegas (save Sting song) stand apart.

[rube lubener]

For me, hands down, Sex and Lucia is the best looking DV-shot movie out there.

[phyrephox]

More good DV work: Jia's "Unknown Pleasures," his DP's film "All Tomorrow's Parties" and Godard's "In Praise of Love".

[Jay Blanchard]

I think Julien Donkey Boy's DV work is amazing & really shows an appreciation of the video medium, rather than just trying to make it look like film.