|
Post by jackcaeylin on Nov 28, 2020 13:22:27 GMT -5
I haven't watched a movie for a while. I changed it.
-Labyrinth of Cinema (2019)
This is the last movie of the director. I think he is mostly known for Magoriyuki (2002) and Hausu (1977). Kinda sad to see that this movie is his last movie, not regarding the quality, he is a great director, thats why. This picture is not for everyone. It is kinda a love letter to japanese cinema. You see lots of technics and style that were used in the industry of Japan. From the old white/black hyperspeed shots to the decline of budget towards japanese cinema and the rise of japanese series during the time when everyone could afford TV. It breaks the 4th wall regularly and they even comment about their change of shot composite. It has tons of interesting shots. To be honest, I am not really good at picking japanese movies, thus I tend to watch movies from directors that I like. (regarding in japanese cinema). That is why I mostly watch about movies from the same 5-7 directors.
One thing that I want to mention is the cinematography, it is astounding. The movie shows his trademarks. It is a strong anti war movie like many movies that he directed. I can't really recommend this movie, because the story is not really important. The focus are the shots, technique, style, thus it is not really meant as a storydriven movie. If you want a brief movies (3 hours) about japanese cinema, then I would recommend it. Just keep in mind that the movie is sometimes intentionally quirky in a good way.
-Red Post on Escher Street (2020)
This is the latest movie of Sion Sono. It is a strong movie about various things. A director wants to make a movie and at the same time you see the life about the people that do application or end up as extras. At the same time the crew struggles, because of the producer wishes. It is about artistic integrity, the price of being an artist, application anxiety, frustration as an artist, existential crisis and other things, but as a cute comedy drama or should I say dramedy? I really like the chapters and he or the crew made it multi layered. For example, the second part is about hardcore fans of the director, but at the same time, it feels like that he makes fun about his actual fans, which was funny. You see, the director in the movie looks like a young version of the actual director, which made it really obvious. It has tons of chapters, they are named after the characters. Everyone is interesting with the exception of the scriptwriter. I don't have a problem with the actress, but it was kinda lacking. I think, they could do more about it. The scriptwriter chapter wasn't well filmed like the other scenes. I think, I need to rewatch it one day. I think, I missed something. I do understand the the role of thescriptwriter. It is an self insert about artistic intergrity and thats why the person is running away or an actual ghost, but some scenes felt really too different. I really like the chapters about the 3 elderly extras. They were in 1000 movies as extras and his biggest achievement was kinda depressing. You could see him for 15 seconds in a movie. He is an old guy in his 70's and he lives with his children. They seem to be really frustrated about him. The last third is about the acutal movie in the movie. They do not focus on the main actors, but at the extra and their problems, which was kinda cute. The extra turned into main actors and all the side characters have their revelation moments. It is hilarious in a good way. If you watch the movie without analyzing it, then you have a weird movie, but it can be analyzed in many ways and it makes so much sense. I would even say that the movie is autobiographical and the struggle of Sono in his years. Although, it kinda ended like a shounen, which was a weird choice, but it still works. I would recommend it, but it has a long runtime.
-All night long (1992)
The last movie that I have seen. I want to watch more movies that could be categorized as extreme cinema. I have already seen a few things like "tsumetainettaigyo" or the German movie "The angels melancholia" or another movie where a cult does suicide in a graphical way. This movie didn't have much gore, but it has a brutal story. three guys saw the death of a person, thus they started to see each other regularly. These 3 guys are outcasts, but they do not mention it. In a weird way, they want to introduce their girlfriends, but not even one person has a girlfriend, thus you see 3 chapters and how they try to get a girlfriend. They do it in a such weird and awkward way. It was kinda clear that this movie has a low budget, but at the same time I am surprised about the passion of the director. I mean, this movie is not a masterpiece, but it has a few interesting shots. Not even one actor can act, but the crew made it work somehow. In a weird way it made the movie unique, because you can see that these people are really awkward and outcasts, thus the twist really works and the weird shots at the end makes sense. You can interpret them logically. I believe, it could be unintentional, but it is still interesting. The story has kinda the same meaning like "tsumetainettaigyo", but not as good as the mentioned movie.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 1, 2020 0:45:34 GMT -5
jackcaeylin There was a documentary that followed Obayashi as he shot Labyrinth of Cinema on NHK World's website earlier this year. It's probably gone now, unfortunately, as they don't keep programs on the site for long, but it might be possible to find it somewhere. He's a great director for sure. Actually, for anyone who has an interest in Japan, I recommend checking out their On Demand page now and then. You can watch documentaries in English there for free. NHK is more or less Japan's PBS or BBC. In general their full-length programs (49 minutes) are solid. So aside from Nobuhiko Obayashi and Sion Sono, who are the other Japanese directors you like?
|
|
|
Post by jackcaeylin on Dec 1, 2020 8:43:22 GMT -5
jackcaeylin There was a documentary that followed Obayashi as he shot Labyrinth of Cinema on NHK World's website earlier this year. It's probably gone now, unfortunately, as they don't keep programs on the site for long, but it might be possible to find it somewhere. He's a great director for sure. Actually, for anyone who has an interest in Japan, I recommend checking out their On Demand page now and then. You can watch documentaries in English there for free. NHK is more or less Japan's PBS or BBC. In general their full-length programs (49 minutes) are solid. So aside from Nobuhiko Obayashi and Sion Sono, who are the other Japanese directors you like?
Thank you very much for the information.That documentary sounds like my cup of tea. I will try to find the documentary through wayback machine. Otherwise, I will hope that Criterion Collection can use it as a special feature one day.
That NHK stuff is also awesome. They even make chinese subtitles. I bookmark it, when I find time again to improve my chinese skills, so I can combine two awesome things at once.
The directors are quite famous. I put my thought into the brackets.
-Akira Kurosawa ( I mostly like his "urban" stuff like like "Ikiru" "Yume", "Dersu Uzala" but I also like his historical stuff like "Kagemusha", I found him through Dersu Uzala, because it was on free TV when I way really young)
- Teruo Ishii (I mostly like his "coming of age" movies as well as some of the unique stuff like "japanese hell", I still need to see lots of stuff from him, for example Narzumono)
-Shin'ya Tsukamoto (I think, he is mostly known as an actor, but he does interesting unique movies like Kotoko or Nobi)
-Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (kinda an enfant terrible, he made infamous stuff like "Sora no Ana" as well as "Kichiku dai Enkai", to me, he is kinda miss and hit, the quality can never be calculated, I guess, that is the appeal)
-Takeshi Kitano (I am a big lover of "Hana Bi", I still remember the zoom out shot at the paintings, great shot composition with a strong message, but I also like his other stuff like "Autoreiji. Biyondo" or "Brother", the door scene is still iconic)
-Tetsuya Nakashima (I am not the biggest fun, but I have to admit that "Beautiful Sunday" as well as "Kawaki" was interesting and well made. His recent movie "Kuru" could not really convince me completey, despite the idea. I need to rewatch it again in a better position)
There are other two directors, but I think I will drop them in the near future:
-Takashi Miike (I adore his past stuff, for example, "Gyori [despite its issues]", "Imprint", but I could not enjoy his recent movies ["Hatsukoi", "Mugen no junin" and "Rapruasu no majo"], especially "Hatsukoi".
-Koji Shiraishi (I love Nori and Occult, but similar to Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, the quality is sometimes faltering (Jigoku shoujo movie from 2019 was quite bad), thus I have mixed experience about him, I guess I just want a japanese take on the chinese movie "boxer curse" (known as Mo from 1983, had quite interesting actors like Bolo Yeung, which was a friend of Bruce Lee)
--
I kinda tried to find movies about different topics and recent directors. There were movies like "Tailwind" from Anraku Ryo, which was quite interesting, but he mostly relied too much at the script. The lack of creative shot compositions was surprising and wasn't big fan of the ending. The funny thing: It was kinda almost really awesome. It was quite fascinating to me, but this is kinda the reason why I also like movies. It has many interesting decisions.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 1, 2020 10:29:54 GMT -5
jackcaeylin Interesting list. I have mixed feelings about Kitano, but Hana-Bi is also one of his best to me. I liked Kids Return the most, overall. I thought Outrage was awful, though, and I love yakuza movies. I'm a big fan of '70s Toei (and some '60s stuff), so I'm familiar with Teruo Ishii, but I kind of hate most of his stuff. His late '50s Shintoho stuff and early Toei stuff (ie the Line and Gang series) is ok, but I'm not into ero-guro at all. There's a great interview with him in the Outlaw Masters of Japanese Cinema, though, which you can probably find online. He's very candid. I'm also planning to watch more then-modern Kurosawa, like I Live In Fear and The Bad Sleep Well, but of course Rashomon is also on my list. So far I've seen The Seven Samurai (I liked the first half a lot more than the second), plus Ame Agaru, a movie made in 1999 from an unfilmed script he wrote by a former assistant director of his. It's good. I do like Takashi Miike, though he was best in the '90s and early '00s V-Cinema era, and I've only seen two Sion Sono movies so far, one I disliked overall despite some nice ideas (Why Don't You Play in Hell) and one I loved (Tokyo Tribes 2). I have a bunch of his movies on my to-watch list. For Tsukamoto, I saw Tokyo Fist. It has some great moments visually, but I found the story too muddled. My favorite director is Kinji Fukasaku, though. Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Yakuza Graveyard, Battle Royale... he made dozens of great movies.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien on Dec 1, 2020 11:53:51 GMT -5
Saw two animated films/specials both from 1988 recently on YouTube.
- Gandahar AKA Light Years: this one has a reputation of a cult classic, but after watching it I found it kinda slow and not nearly as trippy as they made it to be; still interesting though. The version on YouTube is the English adaptation made by Miramax, with dialogues adapted by Isaac Asimov (!) and overall conceived by Harvey Weinstein (!!). The plot is kinda confusing with these jumps between past and future, and the animation by a North Korean studio is not that great, still it can be interesting for those looking for weird stuff from the 80s and a good dubbing full of famous people from Glenn Close to Christopher Plummer.
- Space Family Carlvinson: an OAV that adapted a sci-fi manga about a group of goofy aliens and robots adopting a human orphan. A simple, cute story in the typical 80s anime for families style. The problems of raising a child instead of space battles, so no flashy effects or impressive feats of animation but it's all competently made, amusing and sweet without being cloying or overstaying its welcome (it's just 45 mins long). Gentle slice-of-life for all ages, a nice tale for the holidays.
|
|
|
Post by jackcaeylin on Dec 1, 2020 17:41:49 GMT -5
jackcaeylin Interesting list. I have mixed feelings about Kitano, but Hana-Bi is also one of his best to me. I liked Kids Return the most, overall. I thought Outrage was awful, though, and I love yakuza movies. I'm a big fan of '70s Toei (and some '60s stuff), so I'm familiar with Teruo Ishii, but I kind of hate most of his stuff. His late '50s Shintoho stuff and early Toei stuff (ie the Line and Gang series) is ok, but I'm not into ero-guro at all. There's a great interview with him in the Outlaw Masters of Japanese Cinema, though, which you can probably find online. He's very candid. I'm also planning to watch more then-modern Kurosawa, like I Live In Fear and The Bad Sleep Well, but of course Rashomon is also on my list. So far I've seen The Seven Samurai (I liked the first half a lot more than the second), plus Ame Agaru, a movie made in 1999 from an unfilmed script he wrote by a former assistant director of his. It's good. I do like Takashi Miike, though he was best in the '90s and early '00s V-Cinema era, and I've only seen two Sion Sono movies so far, one I disliked overall despite some nice ideas (Why Don't You Play in Hell) and one I loved (Tokyo Tribes 2). I have a bunch of his movies on my to-watch list. For Tsukamoto, I saw Tokyo Fist. It has some great moments visually, but I found the story too muddled. My favorite director is Kinji Fukasaku, though. Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Yakuza Graveyard, Battle Royale... he made dozens of great movies.
Thanks for the comment and view on some movies. It is quite interesting to see the similarity (I also vastly prefer the first half of The Seven Samurai), but also the wide difference (regarding Teruo Ishii).
I have similar views regarding his Outrage trilogy, but it worked for me towards a different reason. I don't think, it was intended, but the that trilogy was kinda about his retirement and position in cinema. I haven't seen it for ages, thus I don't know if I mix up some stuff, but the first movie could be seen as his highest moment, because his role was in a higher position in the Yakuza family, then he kinda lost everything and needed to wrap it up. I think, the second movie has the cop as the string puller, so he is forced to do what the string puller says, kinda similar to executive producer towards the director or the crew. The last one is about his actual retirement and if he should come back from his retirment. In the last one, he is kinda unsure, if he should deal with the problem and he did and at the same time it was his last labour. All of these things feels like an amalgamation of his position in japanese cinema. He did great stuff, made some mainstream stuff and he got critisized, after that, he did his comeback and it was also his end, but on Takeshi Kitanos terms. I don't think it was intentional. It was also interesting to see in the second movie how he portrayed racism, but in the way of Beat Takeshi.
I also thought, it was kinda a weak trilogy. I don't know, maybe, it is his way of dealing the decline of Yakuza movies.
I understand your sentiment towards Teruo Ishii. His crime stuff in the 50's and 60's are really well loved ( I still need so see some things), but I really adore the visual experiments. I am also not really keen on ero-guro stuff, but for whatever reason this category get lots of visual uniqueness. There was a really bad lesbian prison movie, but the last 5 minute has a unique cross scene that is remarkable. I guess, it is the price that I have to pay for some interesting director technique. Honestly, I don't know, why VHS artsy stuff does things to me.
To be honest, I never heard the story with Kurosawas assistent. I do like the synopsis, thus I will try to hunt a physical copy. I never saw his most popular stuff like Ran or Rashomon. I think, you made the best summary towards Tsukamoto movies. I never heard the term "muddled", but it is definitely the right term.
The only thing that I can say about Sion Sono. He is a magician to me. The quality can be kinda wonky, but it is an interesting ride with some unique ideas. Prepare to be surprised
I never heard the name Kinji Fukasaku, then I read the full sentence of yours. Wow, Battle Royal was great, especially the social commentary regarding college entrance exams and actual life after high school or the other characters and Japan potential problems in the future. He killed early the couple, due the the decline of Japan birthrate. He obese guy dies early, because Japan has negative view towards obese people or even the danger zone itself. If you don't study the frequent studied stuff like medicine, engineering, jurisprudence, then life will be hard for some people, thus the engineering were one of the last victims (they die early in the Manga for comparison). I was surprised how much of an improvement the movie was in comparison the the Manga. For whatever reason, I thought it was a Miike movie, I don't know why. I will put Kinji Fukasaku definitely in my list. I haven't seen other stuff from him.
BTW, have you seen movies from Miwa Nishikawa and would you recommend it? I don't know her and you know lots things. She gets lots of recognition and made stuff with some well known people the industry.
Saw two animated films/specials both from 1988 recently on YouTube.
- Gandahar AKA Light Years: this one has a reputation of a cult classic, but after watching it I found it kinda slow and not nearly as trippy as they made it to be; still interesting though. The version on YouTube is the English adaptation made by Miramax, with dialogues adapted by Isaac Asimov (!) and overall conceived by Harvey Weinstein (!!). The plot is kinda confusing with these jumps between past and future, and the animation by a North Korean studio is not that great, still it can be interesting for those looking for weird stuff from the 80s and a good dubbing full of famous people from Glenn Close to Christopher Plummer.
- Space Family Carlvinson: an OAV that adapted a sci-fi manga about a group of goofy aliens and robots adopting a human orphan. A simple, cute story in the typical 80s anime for families style. The problems of raising a child instead of space battles, so no flashy effects or impressive feats of animation but it's all competently made, amusing and sweet without being cloying or overstaying its welcome (it's just 45 mins long). Gentle slice-of-life for all ages, a nice tale for the holidays.
I don't know, if you have seen them, but if you are interested in european animation or stop motion and if haven't seen them, then I would recommend "La planete sauvage" (also known as "Fantastic Planet") or "The Pied Piper" from 1986. I saw them 10 years ago, thus I don't know, if they are actually good.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 2, 2020 11:52:29 GMT -5
jackcaeylin I don't know her at all. Japanese cinema has really declined, so I tend not to keep up with the few directors who still get critical acclaim these days. I've never seen a Koreeda movie, for example. The synopses I'm reading sound pretty boring to me (dramas about families with secrets, etc), but I could be wrong. I might give one of her movies a chance at some point. Kinji Fukasaku was a contemporary of Teruo Ishii, btw (Ishii started about 5-6 years earlier). Both worked at Toei for most of the '60s and '70s, though Fukasaku's career really took off when Ishii's slowed down (around 1973). He's best known for his documentary-style yakuza and crime movies of the '70s (though he made some really good ones in the late '60s too), Battle Royale, and movies like The Fall Guy (a comedy/drama about Japanese cinema - you need some familiarity with old-school samurai movies and dramas to appreciate the comedy part, though, since it satirizes them) and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (about a war widow trying to find out why her husband was executed by the Japanese army during WW2). In general the only movies of his I don't recommend except for completists are the very mainstream ones he made with Kadokawa Productions in the '80s (like Virus or Legend of the Eight Samurai) and the couple sci-fi movies he had to make. Almost everything else is good or great. He didn't make a ton of samurai movies, but one of them, The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy, is solid, and lead to a TV series that's one of the best in the genre.
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien on Dec 6, 2020 6:56:40 GMT -5
Saw two animated films/specials both from 1988 recently on YouTube.
- Gandahar AKA Light Years: this one has a reputation of a cult classic, but after watching it I found it kinda slow and not nearly as trippy as they made it to be; still interesting though. The version on YouTube is the English adaptation made by Miramax, with dialogues adapted by Isaac Asimov (!) and overall conceived by Harvey Weinstein (!!). The plot is kinda confusing with these jumps between past and future, and the animation by a North Korean studio is not that great, still it can be interesting for those looking for weird stuff from the 80s and a good dubbing full of famous people from Glenn Close to Christopher Plummer.
- Space Family Carlvinson: an OAV that adapted a sci-fi manga about a group of goofy aliens and robots adopting a human orphan. A simple, cute story in the typical 80s anime for families style. The problems of raising a child instead of space battles, so no flashy effects or impressive feats of animation but it's all competently made, amusing and sweet without being cloying or overstaying its welcome (it's just 45 mins long). Gentle slice-of-life for all ages, a nice tale for the holidays.
I don't know, if you have seen them, but if you are interested in european animation or stop motion and if haven't seen them, then I would recommend "La planete sauvage" (also known as "Fantastic Planet") or "The Pied Piper" from 1986. I saw them 10 years ago, thus I don't know, if they are actually good.
I knew about Fantastic Planet and will watch it soon, but I never heard of The Pied Piper (and I enjoy stop motion, too) so thanks for the suggestion!
In the meantime I finally saw on Netflix Cube by Vincenzo Natali, one of the few films that are basically set on the same stage all the time, but it still works for the most part and it is still fairly creepy. So I decided to watch another one of Natali's films and I watched In The Tall Grass, an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King and his son Joe (so unsurprisingly a horror film). Nice, but nothing amazing and a bit confusing in the end.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 6, 2020 23:09:58 GMT -5
I've read that story (In The Tall Grass), but haven't seen the movie. If I recall correctly, it's kind of a Children of the Corn remix. Not officially, but it takes most of the same elements and moves them around.
There's also a bunch of Children of the Corn movies; the original (and the only really based on a Stephen King story) has the best production values, and it's ok, but the first two original sequels are the most entertaining because they're so deranged. They get less and less watchable after that.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2020 3:37:27 GMT -5
I remember finding Cube to be a real breath of fresh air at the time, since it released following the 90's slasher resurgence. It felt like a smarter film to me with the escape-room style situation since I hadn't seen anything like that beforehand. I also remember Splice was another of Natali's films I found pretty enjoyable and similarly found more thoughtful than most. toei - on Kinji Fukasaku I don't suppose you have any thought's on what would be a good entry point for someone who has only seen Battle Royale? That film gets watched a lot in my household so it might be worth me trying more of his out.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 7, 2020 9:13:16 GMT -5
It's always been surprising to me that there's never been a game made out of Cube. Everything is still so mysterious by the end, and it seems very natural to put some kind of puzzles between the different rooms. I haven't seen the sequel and prequel, but I haven't heard anything good so it doesn't seem like much of a loss to throw them out completely.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 7, 2020 20:16:43 GMT -5
excelsior Probably Battles Without Honor and Humanity. It's his most famous and acclaimed movie in Japan, and it was my first after Battle Royale. It's not my ultimate favorite, but it's really good. And Yakuza Burial doesn't get talked about as much, and the official English-language DVD release has a weird transfer (the image quality is not bad, just kind of weird), but I love that movie. I could go on for quite a while, so I'll keep it at that for now. If you want to get into his non-yakuza movies, Under the Flag of the Rising Sun might be a good starting point, though it's quite harsh. The trailer used to be on youtube, with English subtitles, but I can't find it anymore so it might have been removed.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2020 16:02:27 GMT -5
excelsior Probably Battles Without Honor and Humanity. It's his most famous and acclaimed movie in Japan, and it was my first after Battle Royale. It's not my ultimate favorite, but it's really good. And Yakuza Burial doesn't get talked about as much, and the official English-language DVD release has a weird transfer (the image quality is not bad, just kind of weird), but I love that movie. I could go on for quite a while, so I'll keep it at that for now. If you want to get into his non-yakuza movies, Under the Flag of the Rising Sun might be a good starting point, though it's quite harsh. The trailer used to be on youtube, with English subtitles, but I can't find it anymore so it might have been removed. Thank you. I managed to find a box set with Battles Without Honour and Humanity, Yakuza Burial and Street Mobster. Hopefully I'll enjoy them as much as you have.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Dec 8, 2020 17:47:59 GMT -5
excelsior Is it one of those Arrow Films Blu-ray collections? If so, that would mean they probably remastered Yakuza Burial... Might be worth tracking down for me.
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 8, 2020 19:35:14 GMT -5
Ended up watching a couple of old classics (well, one of them's more of a cult classic) for the first time this week on a whim, and I thought I'd write about them.
Grease (1978) - Yes, despite this being one of the most ubiquitous musical films of the last 50 years, I'd never actually seen it. Heck, I used to think the soundtrack album we had in our car was an album done by a band called 'Grease'. (To be fair, I was 5.) I've come to know a decent bit about the movie through pop cultural osmosis, but I decided to give it a shot while my parents and I were having dinner. The best way I can sum up this movie is that it's "fun". It's carefree, silly, odd and all wrapped up in so much energy and sincerity that it's really hard not to get enthralled in the whole thing. Also, as a budding songwriter, I dug some of the lyrical sensibilities that kept cropping up - gave me a couple things to quietly think about.
Heavy Metal (1981) - I'd always wanted to give this animated anthology a bash, and did so one dull evening with my dad. He was very bemused at how many bare-breasted women were in this, as well as the sex scenes involving said bare-breasted women. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but I kinda get why it's considered a cult classic. The various short stories offer up something unique in their artstyle, tone, use of music, and while they're not really connected beyond the framing device of the Lok-Nar, I'm pretty cool with that and found it added to the spontaneity of the whole thing. "Captain Stern" had very appealing artwork and animation, "So Beautiful and So Dangerous" has this weird but mundane charm about it, and "Taarna" is an old-school fantasy romp scored by amazing Elmer Bernstein music (and this is coming from a guy who doesn't even a Bernstein fan). It's an enjoyably off-beat anthology, and one I'd definitely recommend if you can watch it.
At least I've got one famous animated anthology off my list. That just leaves Fantasia, Robot Carnival, Memories, Neo Tokyo (and probably a couple dozen other ones that are less famous but equally worth watching)...
|
|