Pink Floyd the Wall

Amidst all the excitement lately I made it to a midnight showing of Pink Floyd the Wall at Camera 3. I probably won't make it out to another midnight movie until Rock 'n' Roll High School in July.  I'd never seen The Wall, but I am familiar with Pink Floyd's music in a cursory way.  I actually think Dark Side of the Moon is a better album, but what can you do?

I thought the animated sequences were really great.  You can really tell that animation director Gerald Scarfe worked in political cartoons....the animation from the film had the same sort of drippy, evil looking feel that political cartoons get.

The whole concept is kind of overwrought, but I think that anyone who's ever felt really sad can get understand what Roger Waters is trying to get at... "The Wall" as a metaphor seems almost too easy, but at the same time you can't think of anything more apt.  It's something insurmountable, uniform, soulless...it is the problem, but we're all a part of it.  And blah, blah blah.

極道恐怖大劇場 牛頭

Somehow during the past few busy days I found time to watch Gozu (cow's head).  I've seen many of Takashi Miike's other films and have usually enjoyed them...and I really loved Gozu.  The film is like a weird dream or trip on mushrooms...the hero just keeps meeting weird person after weird person and strange thing after strange thing happens.  But in a good way. I think that in the last few years Japanese cinema has gotten to weird for its own good (Gozu came out in 2003, though).  Trying to top the last bizarre thing with something even more depraved gets old, but Gozu is genuinely like "WTF LOL."  Terrible, but accurate review.  Awesome.

PS: If I were the type to pray, I would about the earthquake in Japan.  So sad :'( ugh

A Raisin in the Sun

Wow, what a powerful, gut wrenching, emotional story.  I really need to read the play.  This is a story about the black American experience...but it's also about the existential angst all human beings feel.  Excellent characterization....amazing acting.  Just wow.  I am really fond of some adaptations from the stage to film...I love the dialog driven storytelling.  

The Room

this picture most accurately portrays the film

The Room.  A movie which needs no introduction.  I finally saw this last night at a screening at Camera 3 downtown.  It was the first movie in their new midnight cult movie screenings....there are gonna be a few interesting ones, including Pink Floyd The Wall, Rock 'n' Roll High School, & Eraserhead (all of which I am planning on seeing!).

This was my first time going to any sort of audience participation movie.  I am going to avoid with all of my might ever seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live audience.

It was fun/funny.  What else need be said?  

excellent posters, too

Muriel's Wedding

I've always wondered why movies like Muriel's Wedding aren't on mubi.com.  I really like this film.  I like director PJ Hogan. He also directed My Best Friend's Wedding, another romantic comedy that I enjoyed  for its off beat execution.

An ABBA soudtrack....fat Toni Collette...what's not to love about Muriel's Wedding?  The movie is really enjoyable despite the fact that Muriel and her family of layabouts are all genuinely detestable human beings at the beginning of the story.  I guess seeing them ~grow~ just gives the audience satisfaction.

悲愁物語

this was an awesome shot/scene. i couldn't find more pics from the scenes i loved, and i don't have screenshot taking capabilities

Story of Sorrow and Sadness was released by Cinema Epoch as "Tale of Sorrow", but I like "Story of Sorrow and Sadness" better...has a better ring to it and is a more accurate translation (as far as I can tell).  I may as well call it by whatever name I like, because their subtitles were pretty bad (sorry guys).

The opening credits are really great with just the shots of various interesting golf clubs and the cool old song. I wish I knew what song it was!  I also wish I could find a video of the opening online.  Oh well!  I need help with being able to make videos & screenshots...someday I'll work on that.

The film follows golfer and up & coming celebrity Reiko Sakuraba.  She's embroiled in some kind of golf rigging scandal...the explanation of the golf stuff wasn't very clear... Actually, the beginning of the movie was all boring golf stuff and I was kind of worried, but then the film got to the heart of its true subject--celebrity obsession and ruin.  A neighbor of Reiko's gets obsessed with and blackmails her, and that (along with the golf stuff) prove to be Reiko's ruin.  The film examines what makes and breaks a celebrity and why people are obsessed with celebrities but simultaneously anticipate their ruin.

The nail polish colors were an interesting theme.

This was a very unique Suzuki film because it was made in the 70s.  It isn't like his 60s yakuza flicks...the atmosphere is totally different.  It was just a contemporary movie about contemporary subject matter.  His films after this were period pieces, so this was really interesting and unique.  It was a lot less surreal than his other works as well.  I loved the ending.

^ as far as I know, anyway

PS: the spellcheck on here is pretty terrible

陽炎座

In watching Kagero-za, I finally finished Seijun Suzuki's  Taisho trilogy.  The Taisho is an interesting period in Japanese history, and Suzuki's take on it is just fascinating.  I'm glad he made this trilogy!  The Taisho is a great period to make a film about because there is just a lot of material available for great visuals eg. a guy in a suit wearing a tophat and a woman in kimono, etc...  Kagero-za is really good, along with Yumeji. Oh, the trilogy DVD covers are pretty funny, too.  Like 90s photoshop awesome.

As far as I can tell, "kagero" means "mist" or "fog"--a reference to the ghostliness of the story and characters. The film is really surreal and that's what I love about Suzuki (my favorite director of all time).  This film makes more sense story & theme-wise than some of Suzuki's other surreal films, and that's what really makes this work.  The acting in the movie is really deliberate; every action was taken so delicately, it was amazing.  The actors were all just great.  Most of them moved (or held still) like professional acrobats or dancers.   They were all really good at portraying sadness as well, it was so real and palpable.

The film had interesting themes as well...the man with two wives, one Japanese and the other German masquerading as Japanese...classic East vs. West themes?  I wonder...

drag geisha

super arty sex scene

this scene was just amazing...filmed using reflections in water.  ghostly.

ok ok another amazing scene

in closing: an awesome picture i found of my favorite director

A Woman Under the Influence

OK, OK.  I have no excuse for not having seen A Woman Under the Influence until now.  It's amazing.  The acting was so on point that I felt like I was watching a reality TV show.  Gena Rowlands is just amazing.  The camerawork is amazing. I like the silhouette scene toward the end when husband & wife are having a conversation and the part where Mable is dancing on the couch but you can just barely see parts of her arms moving and just everyone's reactions.

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Awesome poster, too:

A Serious Man

A Serious Man is a new favorite! A well-done, hilarious nihilistic take on the 50s.

Milk

When Milk  first came out, I wasn't too interested in seeing it, in spite of all the praise it got.  I didn't much want to see a movie about recent history and a bunch of stuff I already know.  Well, as it would turn out, Milk is about events in the 70s that we already know about...and really should never forget.  Seeing it on film like this really drives it home...people were actually treated like this.  In the 70s.  That wasn't so long ago.  This was such an important film.  The Proposition 6 in the film reminded me a lot of the recent Proposition 8 here in California.  Society has a long way to go, eh...

Anyway, Milk has a great cast as well.  Sean Penn won an Oscar and all that, now I know why.  Joshn Brolin is also kind of a sleeper...he's not a movie star but he's also a good actor.  He has one of those chameleon faces so a little styling can make him look like anyone...

Anyway, whatever, the whole world needs to watch this movie.

拳銃は俺のパスポート

I def. watched this while wearing my snuggie.

So, I've finally finished the Nikkatsu noir boxset & A Colt is my Passport (cool title, eh?) was my hands-down favorite.  If you watch one movie from this boxset, watch this.  The other movies are really only of niche interest...the boxset is a great gift for any hardcore Japanese film fans or noir fans, but otherwise they're not of general interest.  

Anyway, this movie is one of Jo Shishido's best.  The film has a lot of beautiful shots.  I also liked the music--kind of a lonely Spanish/western sort of soundtrack with a lot of horns.  The final shoot out is great and shot in an empty landscape so the action speaks for itself.  It's a nice change of pace from the usual shootouts where people are hiding behind things and it's just bullets ricocheting everywhere.

main theme:

poster:

Cruel Gun Story

Watching more of the  Nikkatsu noir box set.  Cruel Gun Story was my favorite thus far (I have one movie left to watch).  I really liked the film's ending.  It starred Jo Shishido, who is a personal favorite.  He's the guy who got the cheek implants to make his face more interesting:

And interesting it was!  Also interesting:  Jo Shishido's official website, DIRTY JOKER (in Japanese).

This t-shirt is for sale on his website.  I need to figure out a way to buy it!!

その護送車を狙え

Take Aim at the Police Van was directed by Seijun Suzuki, my favorite direct of all time.  ALL TIME.  It's a lot more straightforward than his other works (read: it makes sense).  It's just a standard noir story, but Japanese.  If you like noir and you like Japanese cinema, this is the flick for you!  I own the DVD--got it with the Nikkatsu noir box set when Criterion was having one of their sales.  Now to watch the rest of the set!

二十四の瞳

Twenty-Four Eyes is a sentimental movie following a woman who teachers in a far-flung island of Japan and her first group of students as they grow up through WWII.  The movie has many scenes with children's folk songs, and those really elevate the film and made it one of my favorites.  There are so many songs it's almost like a musical.  The look into rural Japanese life is interesting as well.  I am not sure what the status of this film is in Japan, but it has all the makings of being something like a Japanese It's a Wonderful Life or The Sound of Music ... just a classic remembered fondly by all.  A must for all fans of Japanese cinema.

one of the songs: