Sheffield Doc/Fest Part 2

A brief summary of the films I saw, even though that was now a few weeks ago.

Dokkoi - a very rare showing, apparently that was the UK premiere. Introduction by the films producer and part of a season of films on Ogawa Productions. Very early screening at 9.15, too early for some as half-most on the people who came left during the film, very disrespectful to any film. I loved it even though i was very tired (had been up since 6am). The film is set around a poor farming town where jobs are limited due to the poor economy at the time (late 70s), it opens with a funeral and death features prominently throughout the film. People apparently came up to the film crew and asked them to take pictures of them so that would have something in case of their own funeral. It wasn't uncommon for the crew to be interviewing someone who only a few days later they would find out who just died. Powerful indeed, there's no DVD release on this or any on major distribution on any Ogawa's work. I may never see this again.

SWTH - a local short film that seems to be bordering on acted drama. Quite good, i enjoyed it.

Japan - Nicely (but no intentionally) follows n the subject of Japanese economy, this shows modern day poverty in a successful Japan. A BBC/NHK co-production that will be on TV in the new year and an extended version will be shown in Japan. McAllister was there to answer questions afterwards as was the star Naoki who got a huge round of applause. I loved this documentary and there were alot of heart warming and funny moments. I recommend this to all when it shows next year.

No Manifesto - Rough cut, still has a bit to go. Bit difficult to work out what this film is about watching it. It's stuck between a retrospective of the bands career, darting back to various events and themes at several moments and a look at the band current working process as they are seen working on the album Send Away the Tigers (probably too much footage is shown on them working on Imperial Bodybags) Another great film, but then I enjoyed the whole day. Lots of fantastic interviews and footage. Can't wait till its finished.

Sheffield Doc/Fest

Two weeks till Sheffield Doc/Fest and I will be attending, I will be seeing:

Dokkoi! Songs of the Bottom (1974) (intro & Q&A)

The ‘bottom’ of the title is that of society itself. Ogawa’s subject had shifted from Sanrizuka to Kotobukicho, an area of great social deprivation. Filming was tough and the budget was far too small. Once again the team lived in the place where they shot, in this case renting doss houses. Everywhere they looked, people were clinging to life with their fingernails. The film became a series of poetic portraits – songs – of those people, some of whom died during the production. Alert camerawork, inventive intertitles and, most of all, a complete immersion in the world of the story, contribute to Dokkoi’s unforgettable power.


Smoking With the Hawk (2008) + Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008)(with Q&A)

Smoking With the Hawk - Clyde is hard. Fucking hard. He's also a pool impresario whos got £8,000 riding on his boy against a young whippersnapper from Chesterfield. Meanwhile Clyde has to deal with a mild machete attack and train his hawk to be a killing machine.

Japan: A Story of Love and Hate - Naoki had it all in the boom days of the Japanese economy. Now he shares a one-room windowless flat with a girl who’s half his age. At fifty-six, he is one of thousands of Japanese who have fallen through the cracks to become a class of working poor. He grits his teeth to perform the obligatory morning calisthenics at the post office before earning his pittance. The twinkle of rebellion is still alight in his eye but this love story is bound by work, pride and necessity. The destructive push-pull cycle between Naoki and his lover is only broken when Naoki must finally meet her father, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t the same age. British documentary's sinner and saint, Sean McAllister, again offers extraordinary access and returns with an absorbing a portrait of inescapable contradictions, of life and the narrow lines love and hate share.


No Manifesto (2009) (Work In Progress with 30 min Q&A)

Manic Street Preachers fans unite! This is the doc you’ve been waiting for and its almost ready. The most colourful and contentious band South Wales ever produced face off with their equally colourful and contentious fans in a verité-multimedia-documentary-experiment-work-in-progress. Out-takes, raw and untamed touring footage and of course, the magic of the music will be screened for the first time in its embryonic stage. You can safely expect absolutely anything. With the director in attendance, the audience has the rarest of opportunities to have their input into the shape and feel of this long overdue rockin’ Manic’s doc.

Website: http://www.sheffdocfest.com/

At last! Laserdisc!

Well I got this a while back but I am posting this now. I've finally bought a Laserdisc player! As a film collector it a has long been my desire to buy one of these machines. Why? Well not only as a retro novelty but also because there are so many films that are still not available on DVD but were released on VHS and LD. Some examples; David Lynch's On The Air, Neil Young's Human Highway, Shohei Imamaura's Insect Woman etc... And also at times the LDs had extras not available on DVD, such as the Nightmare Before Christmas Boxset which featured an extended documentary and more short films (more on this later).

As for the visual quality: well going by the 14" TV screen I'm using the quality appears to be on par with DVD (though DVD still is higher) and is definitely better then both VHS and VCD. VCD I tend to find to be very flat and sometimes jerky due to the compression to mpeg.

For those who don't Laserdisc is a home video format introduced in the 80's and was successful in the US and Japan up till 1999 when DVD came in. LDs were released in the UK and many titles were available but it just didn't catch on in the general market. The discs themselves are 12" wide (the same as LPs) and are double sided holder 60 minutes per side in standard definition (CLV) and 30 in higher (CAV) meaner who would have to flip the disc or even change discs throughout the viewing, later machines could play both sides.

The machine itself cost initially 44 Pounds but unfortunately being second hand and over a decade old it seized up upon watching my first disc (the ever 'classic' Angel Enforcers), repairs at another 50 fixed the problems. I've bought a few titles so far, nothing too rare so far, discs seem to be around the 15 mark for semi rarities, fiver for the standard films and onwards and upwards for those in higher demand. So far i own: Angel 2, Angel Enforcers, My Crazy Life, Red Squirrel (I think these are all on DVD, i bought these just to test the machine), Talking Heads: Storytelling Giant and Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition.

Stuff: Newspaper films

Well, I'm writing again, first time since May, oh well.

The other week I went in a charity shop and looked through one of those boxes of free newspaper discs they always have and found a childhood classic; Flight of the Navigator. It was 25p and so I bought it. A few days later i went to another and sifted through an even bigger jumble of discs and snapped these films:

Ashanti
The Big Sleep
Buster
The Cannonball Run
Carry on Up the Khyber
Carry On Camping
Educating Rita
The Fourth Protocol
Fried Green Tomatos At The Whistle Stop Cafe
The Ipcress File / Brief Encounter
The Killing Fields
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Missionary
Prizzi's Honour
Return From the River Kwai
Sophie's Choice
Take the Money and Run
Under Suspicion
Up Pompeii
Zulu Dawn

The total cost was £5, 25p each.Whether these films are good or not I'll have to wait and see, but there's a few such as the Killing Fields and the Carry On films that I have been wanting to see for a while.

Charity shops can be great for bargains if you know where to look, these newspaper discs included as being extremely cheap ways for seeing some classics. FND (Free Newspaper Discs), have become a bit of a problem for charity shops, they get so many of them. On the discs they range from including song compilations, PC software, select episodes / clips from TV shows and even full movies. But as i say charity shops get so many, that it outweighs the amount of demand for them that most are just chucked straight in the bin. In fact most shops i go to don't bother to sell them anymore. But those that do sell them for anything between 10 - 35p, sometimes even just literally giving them away for free.

Most of the selection is trash but there are a lot of great films to be had such as:

- Cinema Paradiso
- In the Mood For Love
- My Life as a Dog
- Godzilla
- Wickerman
- More Carry On films (looks like all of them)
- Death of a Salesman
- Rita, Sue and Bob Too
- Rebbecca
- Notorious
- Donnie Darko
- Last Emperor
- Metropolis
- Paris, Texas
- East is East
- Cabaret
- African Queen

The downside is the discs are bare bones, featuring no extras and usually slightly lower quality then full prices issues, possibly because they are put of DVD-5 instead of 9s. Another problem I found when I watched the first film in the list Ashanti is that you never know what version you are getting. In this case what appeared to be a TV edit, cropped to 4:3 and cut for violence.

However on the plus sides,, the discs are cheap and disposable, just pass them on to someone else or back to a charity shop. Being mostly packaged in slip cases they are easy to store and they outweigh all other reasons for otherwise renting, cost wise and the fact it's a keep copy. The only cheaper alternative is waiting for it to come on tv or downloading, but this way you can watch when you want and not be restricted to a computer. And lastly its a great way to give a bit of money to a good cause.

Right I have a lot of films to get through now, some good, perhaps a lot bad, a lot more films to hunt for! Happy hunting to us all!

WarGames: Special Edition DVD

It's been a long time posting but here's some exciting news. WarGames is to get a special edition re-release:



Extras include:

- Commentary by Director John Badham and Writers Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes
- ”Loading WarGames” documentary (NEW)
- ”Attack of the Hackers” featurette (NEW)
- ”Inside NORAD: Cold War Fortress” featurette (NEW)
- ”Tic Tac Toe: A True Story” featurette
- Menu-driven interactive superpower weapons briefing gallery
- Theatrical trailer

Also to be released on DVD is the follow up Dead Code which i admit i never knew existed. Either way i am glad that i held off getting the bare bones edition for so long!

Source: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=67742


---

Ok so i looked up WarGames: The Dead Code and it appears to be a brand new sequel made this year probably straight to video. Judging by the trailer it has little to be with the original other then following the same storyline



And just for comparison, heres the original:

Oh Brother!

New to the collection, a set of German lobby cards for Kitano Takeshi's Brother:






Photos taken on phone camera as my digital camera needs new batteries.

Little Nemo Test clip

Cartoon Brew has posted a very rare test clip for the film Little Nemo in Slumberland, the greatest part? It's by Whisper of Heart director Yoshifumi Kondo, check it out:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/little-nemo-test-film%3Cbr%3E

Ratatouille (2007)

A rat with a keen sense of taste and smell finds himself in Paris where he helps a restaurant garage boy become an expect chef.

Of all the animation mediums CG is one of my least favourites but I still admire Pixar greatly for it high standards in film quality. That said there are still a lot of there films that I haven't seen but Ratatouille is one i did get excited about, if only because it's directed and written by Brad Bird. One of Brad Bird earliest works that i was exposed to was this screenplay for the sci-fi *batteries not included a film i would always watch when growing up. There after his filmography is primary directing in animation such as on The Simpsons, the Family Dog pilot and The Iron Giant.

I found Ratatouille to be a delightful and very funny movie.

---


Lately I've been a little lazy with these film reviews, so here's two more I saw recently:

Amadeus - Directors Cut (1984)
A film i've been meaning to see for a while, i liked it.

For Your Consideration (2006)
Christopher Guests latest mostly improvised film. This time taking place on a film set. Not actually done as a documentary like his previous but probably would of improved it. Completely forgot that Ricky Gervais was in it even after his appearance. It has its moments.

Film: Bartleby (2001)

A new boss at a public records firm decides to hire a new employee to help handle the work load. In enters Bartleby, the only man who applied for the job. At first he's a model employee but then trouble starts when he refuses to work simply uttering 'I would prefer not to'.

A very funny yet bleak film that captures the true essence of 'quirky'. The tagline will probably go down as one of my favourite things to say.

From the DVD theres a few notable extras, an interview with Crispin Glover and the 11 minutes or so mini commentary. Overall the video quality of the actual film leaves a lot to be desired.

Cinema: Persepolis (2007)

An autobiographical film of a girl growing up in Iran.

This film is superb, animated brilliantly and contains the right balance of humour and drama. Persepolis is also the final showing at my local art cinema until summer time as it's in the process of relocation. Being the last for a while, the screening (which i believe is also an advance showing) was free, with free drink and a small free raffle.

Cinema: Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (2007)

AKA The Bands Visit

An Egyptian police band become stranded for the night in Israel when they go to the wrong town.

I thought this film was absolutely wonderful. A light charming comedy with some outstanding music, I can't wait to see this film again.

The only qualm i had about the showing however was the that subtitles were provided throughout the films and a lot of it was in English (though a fair amount in Arabic and Hebrew). How sometimes subtitles are required even for English dialogue in cases of heavy accents or a jumbled interpretation of a language but not in this case. The subtitles became a bit of a distraction and I found myself at times reading them when i could understand perfectly.

Cinema: Sanxia haoren (2006)

AKA Still Life

In a small village which is being prepared to be flooded two people come searching for those they've lost contact with. The first a man looks for his wife and child who he hasn't seen in 16 years. He must wait whilst there before her brother allows him to speak to her, he takes a temporary job demolishing the evacuated buildings.

The second tale follows a woman who searches for her husband after two years of lost contact. Whilst the two protagonists never cross paths they are connected through several sub characters.

Advertised to me as a documentary, this is anything but. Still I thought it was a wonderful movie which continues to feed my interest in Chinese cinema.

Film: Various

Matango (1963)

A group of friends out sailing become shipwrecked on an island inhabited by strange mushroom creatures.

A classic and practically unknown horror from the director of Gojira.

The Savages (2007)

Two siblings have to deal with putting their father into a care home when he starts suffering from dementia.

Excellent comedy/drama

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (2007)

Like The Savages, this stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and is about two siblings and their relationship with their parents.

Two brothers both desperate for money decide to rob a jewelery store which it turns out to be owned by their parents. Things go wrong when the mother is shot.

Told in a non linear manner, the film is split into segments focusing on either one of the brothers or the father at different time periods often jumping back. I thought this film was ok but but the transition between these segments was a bit much.

Film: Mr Baseball (1992)

Tom Selleck stars as a washed up Baseball player for the Yankees who reluctantly gets transfered to a Japanese team.

Playing like a 90s more mainstream version of Lost in Translation Selleck wanders through Japan taking in all blinded westerners find surprising about modern Tokyo, a woman reading erotic manga on the train, torture game shows and TV commercials starring western celebrities, and also along the way breaking Japanese customs such as not washing before entering a bath and placing chopsticks erect in a bowl of rice.

Likewise with Lost in Translation a lot can be debated whether this film is offensive, a few cheap jokes are made about height and I personally think the reactions to Sellecks blunders are a bit over the top (he mistakenly doesn't take off his shoes before entering the changing rooms, does this rule really apply here?). However this is not enough to cause too much of a problem, the bigger stereotype I found was in fact Sellecks character, he is a obnoxious, arrogant and ignorant American who represents all Westerners misplaced perceptions of the rest of the world. Unwilling to adapt to the new surroundings he must as we expect find his way to doing so by the end of the film not only to succeed professionally but personally. It is a film about a foreigner in a foreign and so the focus is directly placed on the American and doesn't truly bring out the rest characters until towards the latter half, which is a shame as the film could of had a lot more depth then the simple cultural window.

As a comedy the film is not that funny, it does have a few moments placed near the end when most of the culture clash hurdles have passed.

Stuff: Ed Wood video

What's on the video? This:

Film: Freaks (1932)

A woman pays the price for making a midget think she loves him at a circus' sideshow.

Tod Brownings controversial film brings together a unique array of characters from the popular sideshows or 'freak shows' of the time. We have women born without arms, a man born with no limbs at all, a human skeleton, a chicken woman and many more. Freaks is a compelling drama and a fine example as both exploitation cinema and sideshows of the early 20th century.

The DVD comes with commentary, a in depth documentary that equals the film in length (60 minutes) and a featurette on the alternative endings. The featurette shows the ending we see in the film plus two shortened versions which make little sense. A third longer ending is talked about both unfortunately looks to be lost like almost 30 minutes worth of footage cut from the original print.

Film: Casino Royale (2006)

For the 21st film in the series the makers not only go back to the original novel but also the beginnings of 007.

A financier commits acts of terrorism in order to control the stock market to make money for his clients, the currently headstrong and recently promoted Bond races against time to stop his latest act of blowing up a plane. They end up head to head in a multi million dollar poker game, a game that could ruin the corrupt financier as he misuses this clients money.

Firstly i didn't now that the story of James Bond was going so far back for this film, I imagined it would be treated as another follow up like the rest. Casino Royale is an exciting and enjoyable film throughout and certainly a lot less confusing then the 60s 'adaption' starring Peter Sellers.

Book: Sessue Hayakaya

Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom by Daisuke Miyao



Sessue Hayakawa was one of Americas first famous non-white film actors. Gaining fame literally over night in The Cheat, Hayakawa played a villainous Japanese art dealer who blackmails a woman after she loses money for a Red Cross fund. His unique acting style and screen presence made him adored by white women and admired by critics. However Japanese Americans were negative for portrayal as it represented a negative stereotype that may influence more xenophobia towards Japanese which was already a problem at the time. To improve his star image Hayakawa later played mostly the hero characters, almost always falling for the white woman but never getting the girl due to controversies around miscegenation and in the end sacrificing himself in order to save the white American family. His popularity at the time was mostly due to the current famous in all things Japanese, mostly art, a great contrast on the times due to the Japanese being considered as the Yellow Peril and a threat to the nation because of their actions in Asia.

Hayakawa became a big part of the American propaganda train as the two Nations joined forces beliefly during the Great War. However afterwards Hayakawa's popularity declined as Japan continued to attack other Asian countries and the only films about Japan being made in America were all anti-Japanese.

After appearing in films in Europe and Japan Hayakawa was brought back to fame in the states with supporting roles in films such as Tokyo Joe, Three Came Home and the Oscar nominated role in Bridge over the River Kwei.

Throughout his silent career Hayakawa didn't just play Asian roles but also other races and nationalities such as Native Americans and Egyptians.

---

Not having any experience with watching any of Sessue Hayakawa's films i became interested in the book after reading an article on it on JapanToday.com. Centered solely around his silent career the book is not only a simple biography but a fascinating history to both the film industry and America at the time. It tells us how the Hollywood system would not only mold other cultures to fit the films they made but also the actors themselves, for example fictionalizing Hayakawa's biography giving him a background in acting that never existed. The one aspect that grabbed me to read this book was the fact that Hayakawa was sometimes cast in non Asian roles, however this was actually a small handful. Hayakawa's story is in reality quite sad, often being shunned by his own country and fellow Japanese living in America as being a traitor for appearing in films that trivialized or mis-represented their culture but on the otherhand praised for creating a bridge between the two countries. But this parallel contrasting images seems to crop up a lot in his life, his acting style was admired for being minimalist but at the same time moments of becoming over the top.

The book is fascinating, a tale of an actor almost forgotten and the chapter of cinema I never knew existed. The only problems I really have with the book is that there isn't really any information on Hayakawa's transition from silents to talkies. A jump that left many stars of the silent era behind.

Now all I have to do is watch some of those silent films, The Cheat at least is available and The Dragon Painter is conveniently out on DVD this month with The Wrath of Gods and a short as bonus features.

Cinema: Die Büchse der Pandora (1929)

aka Pandora's Box

A vaudeville dancer (Louise Brooks) in Germany goes on the run when she accidentally kills her husband.

The showing was preceded by a small introduction into gay silent cinema in which Pandora's Box was used as an example by depicting one of the earliest lesbian couples on screen. Actually it was really a couple as described but a character played by Alice Roberts. This aspect is actually so small in the film that one of the gay cowboy films mentioned in the introduction would have served as a better example. But in actually this may of just been the better film full stop as it is wonderful. The huge downside to the showing however was the fact that it was shown straight off a DVD and not a print, i feel slightly cheated by that.

Film: Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

A Swiss family hoping to start a new life in New Guinea after Napoleon invades France become shipwrecked along the way on a deserted island. They quickly adapt to their new life, building a tree house, making friends with the animals and spending the days having fun. Two of sons whilst surveying the islands coast rescue a girl from pirates. The families life is once again turned around, if it's not the boys fighting over the girl then the pirates coming back for their hostage.

I have just finished reading the book on actor Sessue Hayakawa that I mentioned in previous posts so was quite lucky to see this film again as he appears as the pirates captain. Like the previous film i saw Three Came Home, it's not one of the films he's most famous for.

The film is very enjoying to watch however outdated. The family's carefree attitudes to the local habitants is something you wouldn't see in most Hollywood films today. Treating them almost like toys, the animals are either ridden on or roped up for labour work. These scenes remind me alot of Ki-duk Kim's Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring 2003), where the young boy ties a fish, frog and a snake each to a stone laughing at their struggles. The main difference there though is that the boy is soon punished for his attacks by his adoptive father, a Buddhist priest. The obvious problem that in Swiss these actions go unresolved, but then wouldn't as they are treated as it isn't a problem but just childplay. How times have changed.

Despite this it is a very fun family film. One shot of the very attractive Janet Munro
as 'Roberta' stood out for me:


It looks a shot straight out of an exploitation film, turn this film around a little, make it for adults and it could easily be one.

Stuff: Ed Wood video

I've been watching this video for a while and have finally made the plunge and bought it for £10.

What is it? It's a video lasting 6 minutes 40 seconds according to the auction sites page containing interviews and behind the scenes footage from Tim Burton's Ed Wood, a film which I love dearly. Hopefully it will be good and not just something that's on the DVD or a blank VHS.

Watch this space for details once it arrives!

Film: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Tim Burton's latest is a film adaption of Stephen Sondheim's hit stage musical. After being framed for a crime a barber going under the name 'Sweeney Todd' returns to London finding out his wife was raped and has committed suicide and his daughter now living with the Judge who was responsible for sending him to prison. Opening up shop in his old home he seeks revenge with the help of Mrs Lovett, the woman who owns the unsuccessful pie shop downstairs. When they accidentally kill one too many, they find that the now acquired meat turns the pie business around.

I am a huge Burton fan but honestly wasn't looking too forward to this film when I first heard about it. The idea of a macabre musical just seemed too atypical of a Tim Burton film and the other proposed idea at the time of biopic Ripley's Believe it or Not sounded much more my kind of film and could of been another Ed Wood. With the writers returning from said film and Jim Carrey to star, that project has now moved to other hands. In fact the last few Burton films have not been as good as they should of been. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was nicely shot, had a lot of great moments and a fantastic supporting cast the alterations to the original storyline to bring in the message of the importance of family unity was not required. That said I still prefer it any day over the 70s adaption Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. Burton's return to stop motion since 1993 A Nightmare Before Christmas seemed promising and again the animation is impressive but lets itself down with a poor script and too many songs which only act as filler. I know that NMBC contained songs but that seemed more appropriate being advertised as a musical, whilst in Bride, the songs came up like a surprise and gave me the impression that it was just following the usual animation route for marketing towards family audiences.

Big Fish I thought was a wonderful film, not perfect but possibly Burton's best of this latter films (I personally feel that works could be split into too eras; The beginning - Ed Wood, and Mars Attacks - Present). Planet of the Apes on the other hand was a dreadful 're-imagining', but still entertaining if only watched the once.

My first surprise when it came to Sweeney Todd was seeing the trailer; there are no signs of a musical number until near the end. Shocked, I almost thought they decided to go back and not even make it a musical after all. In actually the film doesn't go longer then a few minutes without going into another number. It's almost back to back with song after song, probably more then a typical cinema audience is used to. My excitement for the film only came when I heard the response it got. I'm not one to follow trends or to admit to associating with anything status quo that often but this was enough to get me interested.

The film starts with completely CG made opening titles, it looks ugly but is soon forgiven. In sails Todd and his young friend Anthony who starts the film with a song telling of how things came to be. From here the film rarely slows down and keeps up a pace filled with bloody violence, tragic romance and deadpan humour, there's never a dull moment. Todd is a dark, quiet character driven by revenge who becomes a serial killer, despite his misfortunes little sympathy can be given to him but at the same time he stays away from being a complete villain. It's this contrast of images that makes the character so intriguing. The bloody mess created by Todd and Lovetts drive to feed their pie business makes a fun watch in a twisted and sadistic manner.

Sweeney Todd is bloody good.

Film: The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Three years after a disease wipes out the Earths population only a doctor (Vincent Price) who is somehow immune survives. Those who were affected became vampires living off the blood of each other. The doctor spends his days hunting them down and destroying them in hope of finding a solution.

The first adaption of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend which was alter made in to Omega Man (1971) and most recently I Am Legend (2007).


Download

Film: Mr Moto's Last Warning (1939)

Kentaro Moto travels to Egypt to uncover a plot to blow up a French fleet of vessels.

In the 1930s film series about Asian detectives were very popular, most famously the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and Mr. Wong series. All of course now deemed slightly politically incorrect due to all the title characters being played by caucasian actors in make up going through the stereotypes. Being that I've just seen this Mr Moto film I'll use as an example, the portrayal isn't actually that offensive, just poor. The brilliant Peter Lorre takes up the role, slick back the hair, add some teeth and put on some glasses and he's ready to go. The only problem is that Peter Lorre still looks like Lorre and is hard to imagine as a Japanese. In the routine of 'Yellow Face' as it's called another touch is put on the 'Engrish', switch the Rs for Ls and so forth. Lorre however sounds like Lorre, which is probably good enough for the producers as his German accent sounds foreign and that's all the audience needs. Moto on the other hand does use 'Engrish' himself, merely as part of his disguise to turn the Magnificant Moto into the humble antique dealer Kuroki. As I say Lorre is hard to picture as Asian even more so when his assistant, played by an actual Asian actor (who is killed shortly afterwards) stand side by side with him.

As much as mis-representation of race offends I can't help but be fascinated by the stereotypes which man has come up with. To me these are like abstract characterizations of human kind placed within Hollywood's reality.

As for the film itself, it's a lot of fun, I enjoyed it very much and plan to look further in to the series as well as the others mentioned.

Download

R.I.P. Kon Ichikawa (1915 - 2008)

Kon Ichikawa, director of film such as The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad and An Actor's Revenge sadly passed away yesterday after complications from pneumonia.

Film: Dushi Fengguang (1935)

aka Scenes of City Life

A novelist uses all his money to buy gifts for the woman he loves who in turn is also seeing a business man, using him for expensive presents. As a consequence the writer is unable to pay the rent, whilst the womans family goes hungry as her fathers business suffers.

A joyful comedy that expresses the dangers of consumerism for the careless spender.

Download

Music: Del Byzanteens

In the early 80s before/around the release of Jim Jarmusch's debut Permanent Vacation Jarmusch was in the 'Del Byzanteens', which apparently had a bit of an underground success here in the UK. They released two singles and one album, all on vinyl only. Above is a live performance of My World is Empty which features backing vocals and keyboards from Jarmusch and sax by John Lurie.

You can also listen to there album and download three mp3s on the official MySpace page

Film: Malu Tianshi (1937)

Aka Street Angel

A street musician helps a girl from being sold into marriage.

Chinese comedy that was also a social commentary of the times for the lower class.

I found this film absolutely brilliant although i had a lot of trouble with the subtitles. I downloaded the film and subtitles separately and they were out of sync for the entirety, fixing it was frustrating and only solved the problem for so long. Next time i see this it will be on DVD with proper subs.

Free Download

Film: No Country For Old Men (2007)

After a drug deal goes wrong Llewelyn Moss finds the money claims it as his, unaware that more trouble then it's worth will follow.

I absolutely loved this film. Since I didn't see the Coen Brothers last two films (which are said to be disappointments) Intolerably Cruelty and Ladykillers, I can't really say if this is a return to form as I have loved every one of there films before them. I could even say that this is my favourite of all their works.

Film: Student Bodies (1981)

Ladies and gentlemen, in order to achieve an "R" rating today, a motion picture must contain full frontal nudity, graphic violence, or an explicit reference to the sex act. Since this film has none of those, and since research has proven that R-rated films are by far the most popular with the moviegoing public, the producers of this motion picture have asked me to take this opportunity to say "Fuck you."

A murderer calling himself 'The Breather' is going around campus killing any teenagers who happen to be sexually active in this spoof of slasher movies of late the 70s.



What with the current success of the Scary Movie franchise some may call this film ahead of it's time when really it isn't coming from an era when both slasher movies and spoofs such Airplane and Kentucky Fried Movie were at their peak. Made during the 80s writers strike Paramount uses these as a no risk business model, unfortunately the film was a complete failure which probably wasn't a huge problem since the film was pretty low budget.



The film itself has a few laughs a long, never as memorable as Airplane or KFM but enough to make this film worthwhile partly as a comedy but mostly as a trash low budget horror. And for the connoisseurs of bad cinema you should be happy to know that Student Bodies is produced by non other than [an] Allen Smithee.

Film: Willard (2003)

Being either bullied at work or stuck at home looking after his sick mother, Willard (Crispin Glover) lives an unfruitful life. Then one day he meets a white rat who he calls Socrates. Socrates is both a loving and intelligent rat who brings hoards of friends with him. Willard soon discovers that through Socrates he able to control the rodents to get revenge on his boss, but the tables are turned when another rat, the gigantic Ben, gets jealous of being in second command after Socrates.

Willard is actually a remake of a film of the same name from the 70's. The original spawned a sequel entitled 'Ben' which gained notoriety due to it's more famous theme song by Michael Jackson. The song Ben itself appears twice in the film, the original and a new version sung by Crispin Glover who also directed a music video for it. Having previously only seen this music video I was never aware that the original song was written for such a film as it was, especially by Jackson. Though thinking of the Thriller video the connection makes more sense.

The characters in Willard are all archetypal, the sympathetic outcast who lives with his mother, the over the top and bluntly evil bully and the possible love interest. Overall the film is easy to get into and just plain fun.

Watch Crispin Hellian Glover's Ben

Film: Tie shan gong zhu (1941)

Aka Princess Iron Fan this is an early Chinese animated feature, I've heard to be one of the first even. Based on the book Journey to the West I watched this without subtitles but managed to barely follow the story. Three disciples of a traveling monk, a monkey king, a pig and water spirit attempt to steal a power fan from a princess in order to defeat an angry fire demon who is causing a massive heat wave. That about makes up the first half, the second I wasn't too sure about but it involved the fan again and also some singing along the way.

Having previously only watched the English dub of the Japanese Monkey series it was nice to see another adaption of Journey To the West, especially such an early one. The animation is crude as can be and the shots seem to make more movement then necessary (there are shots where the camera appears to dart back and forth for little reason), the former however being acceptable.

As i say it was nice seeing such a rare piece but would of been nice with subtitles. The animation is available to download from archive.org

Download

Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Frank Capra directed comedy about a couple to struggle with families from conflicting backgrounds. One a middle class family who believe life should be lived with fun in mind, the other from the establishment who wants to buy their house in order to build a factory.

This film is absolutely wonderful from start to finish, I couldn't of enjoyed it more, well possibly without the ad breaks as i watched it on TV. A very young Jimmy Stewart co-stars who is excellent in this film. Very funny, I will add it to my 'wishlist' at once.

Cinema: Rescue Dawn (2006)

Werner Herzog's fictional re-enactment of Dieter Dengler's experience in the Vietnam war (See: Little Deiter Needs to Fly review).

From watching Herzog's documentary on Dengler Rescue Dawn felt very faithful, despite missing out several events such as the fact that Dengler was held captive twice and not just once as shown in the film and the incident concerning his wedding ring which he retells in the documentary. There has also been debate to the accuracy concerning Herzogs depiction of Eugene. However my only complaint, if any, is the simple fact that Dengler (played by Christian Bale) is lacking a German accent. Dengler was born in Germany and left for America at the age of 19 and retained an accent after nearly 40 years. In Rescue Dawn, Bale has a straight forward American accent which may imply that he came to America much sooner.

What is fascinating about the film is what has been pulled from the original documentary, the anecdotes and tidbits of information that pop up such as how the Vietcong's made fire which Dengler demonstrated himself.

Even despite want is going on the locations look stunningly beautiful. At times the camera would be used hand held, following characters much like in Herzogs documentaries giving the film what seems like an added dimension.

Overall I enjoyed the film a lot and feel that watching Little Dieter... first gives off a much better understanding even if it takes away any surprises (which is besides the point). Compared to other war films I have appraoched this one different, it has felt more like a worthwhile education then entertainment.

Promotional Crap

Part of what this blog (or flog as I'm currently calling it) is to show off some of the film related stuff I find such promotional items found in cinemas. The first i present on here isn't very exciting but is for a film I am much looking forward to.

It's a simple promo/competition card for Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind. However it does come with a mini credit card sized poster, which I think is quite neat.

Film: Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Now this is Jarmusch's true debut!

Split into three episodes in the first an Hungarian girl called Eva comes to America to live with her aunt but must stay with her disinterested cousin Willy for 10 days till she gets out of the hospital. The second Willy and his best friend Eddie travel to Cleveland to visit Eva and in the last the three visit Florida.

Stranger Than Paradise started out as 30 minute short made on old stock given to Jarmusch by Wim Wenders and was later expanded int o the film we know today. Every scene is shot in single long takes with blackouts inbetween making the film presented more as moments than want conventional editing to conceive.

What Stranger has that Permanent Vacation didn't was ability bring across the actors/characters personalities making the quality of the acting less strident. An aspect that would be seen in later films where Jarmusch would cast many non-actors in roles.

Cinema: Wheel of Time (2003)

Part deux of the Werner Herzog season, in which Herzog takes a look at the Buddhist Kalachakra initiations from 2002. Done in a more traditional method then Little Dieter, the pic features interviews with the Dalai Lama and Takna Jigme Zangpo, a man who was imprisoned for 37 years demanding freedom for Tibet.

Whilst Dieter was a lot simpler to get into Wheel of Time is worthy not only as an education into Buddhism but also to the lengths that man would himself in for their beliefs, as demonstrated when pilgrims are shown making there way to the initiations whilst getting on the ground in prayer and back up again every few steps for however many days they must travel. For one monk it took him several years.

I throughly enjoyed this film and i am looking forward to seeing the final part in the Herzog series this Sunday with Rescue Dawn.

Film: Permanent Vacation (1980)

A boy spends this time wandering the streets, at times coming across some odd characters.

I'm a huge fan of Jarmusch's work so I was excited to finally see this film. Permanent Vacation is his debut feature film, completely self funded and shot of 16mm. Jarmusch was a film student at the time of production and actually quit university to finish the film. It doesn't seem too surprising to me that the film has the same feel as a student film. The acting from the main leads is pretty terrible and is a far cry from the dream set of players that Jarmusch would soon be hand picking and writing parts especially for. Because of this the film seem too scripted and the actors at times seem to be too reliant on the script, with later films such as Down By Law a lot of the dialogue is improvised. The building used for the hospital scene also gives off an atmosphere of a student made film.

But enough of the negatives, John Lurie who would play keys in Jarmusch's next two film, has a small part as a street saxophonist. He and Jarmusch also collaborate on the soundtrack together. The main character Allie mostly wanders around streets of decay, which is the films main attraction however I think the sequence shown with the opening monologue as the stand out a moment. It shows an array of once occupied rooms which could be still in use but are purposely lacking in personal possessions.

Permanent Vacation is interesting but possible only to those with a liking towards Jarmuash or independent cinema, though it seems to be setting itself up as the archetypical indie-art house film it's probably safer to say that Jarmusch's next film Stranger Than Paradise is his true debut.

Film: Three Came Home (1950)

Since I'm currently reading a book on actor Sessue Hayakawa it is appropriate for me to at least watch some of this work. The nearest and cheapest I could find is the war drama Three Came Home, which is in the public domain and downloadable for free. Hayakawa was at the height of his fame during the nineteen teens so this may not be the best example, but I will go on about his work and the book I am reading at a later date.

Three Came Home is about a family living in Burma, when the Japanese arrive they are soon transferred to POW camps. The film reminds a lot of the BBC series Tenko however less like ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif soap opera and more cinematic which gave me the feeling of a better realism. Hayakawa plays a Japanese Colonel who is a fan of a book written by Claudette Colbert's character which is probably the key to her survival. The relationship portrayed by these two in actual fact isn't to dissimilar to Burt Kwouk relation to his prisoners in Tenko.

The film is enjoyable and probably one of the finer examples, if but few, of a woman POW camp in the war. The copy I download unfortunately went out of sync in the middle so I had skip about 20 minutes though thankfully I didn't get too lost. It is certainly a film i will have to see again.

The film downloable from archive.org in divX format, but be warned with sound problems:

Download

Cinema: Lust, Caution (2006)

In the build up to the Second World War a group of students plot to kill Yee, a collaborator working with the Japanese. It is up to 'Mrs Mak' to become his mistress in order to take his guard his down.

Ang Lee's Lust, Caution brought controversy when released in China due to the explicit sex scenes which were cut out. Consecutively in the US the film will be released in both R and NC-17 cuts. The sex scenes are indeed explicit, getting more so through out. The first being quite tame compared to what follows.

Took a little while to get in to this film but overall i loved it, even being over two and half hours long it didn't seem to drag.

Cinema: Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1997)

The story of Dieter Dengler, a German-America pilot who was shot down in the Vietnam war and struggled for survival both in the jungle and in the hands of his capturers.

A few weeks ago I mentioned I enjoyed several of the pieces on Ten Minute Older: Trumpet and desired to look more into the works of these directors. I was lucky that at my local art cinema (Metro, Derby) they were showing three of Werner Herzogs pictures, the first showing last night and the last at the start of next month. Little Dieter is an unique documentary told throughout by Dengler himself. Dengler take us through his life and even to the past by re-visiting his hometown in Germany and then going back to Laos where he fought and was captured. As he describes the horrors he encountered the film suddenly becomes very cathartic as Dengler even replays some of the moments surrounded by local people filling in for the role of his capturers.



This approach to me seems very daring, even the fact that Dengler re-visits his hometown to tell his story is something you usually see in documentaries, it is far different then the usual talk heads followed location shooting by the crew alone.

The film was shot on 35mm but by the look of the projection to me it looked like video at times. It is possible that the projection itself was from the video source, at times there were moments of interlacing. To me this low quality did not distract from the film as a whole but probably made it even greater then it ever could be. The quality to me made the film feel and look honest. Dengler and Herzog have done an amazing job with this film. Dengler tells his story boldly and without remorse whilst Herzog dones a magnificent job at capturing his unique character.

Little Dieter is an amazing, sometimes funny and sometimes shocking insight. Werner Herzog recently adapted this story into a films tarring Christian Bale called Rescue Dawn (2006), which I will see on the 3rd of February but before then it's Herzogs documentary Wheel of Time (2003), showing next Wednesday.

Currently reading...

Film: Lord of the Rings (1978)

Yesterday I watched Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings, which is based on the first two books.

Recently Peter Jackson completed the trilogy across three 3 - 3 and an half hour films (not including deleted scenes included on the extended cuts), Bakshi managed to tell half of that story in just over 2 hours. Originally subtitled as Part One, a second film was planned but never created despite commercial success. The helm would later be taken over be Rankin Bass Productions Return of the King which was made more as a follow up to their earlier film The Hobbit.

Bakshi, like in his previous work, uses rotascoping to animated his characters, the process of filming live actors and then using that as a template to create more realistic movement. The use creates an odd mix of style in this work, at times you would think this was never done and then suddenly a shot would appear with such life like characters that it looks more like Richard Linklater's Waking Life (2001) or A Scanner Darkly (2006) then your archetypical cartoon [sic]. Though Bakshi at this time was seen as one of the most daring and cutting edge animators, it's no wonder that these shots look almost like dark pop art pieces.

At two hours for an animation this may seem long but considering the depth of the original books by many this may not be long enough. I thought the earlier moments of the film just skimmed past to quickly. There are some great moments in this film the most memorable for me was the encounter of Gandalf and Saruman, however i found the unbalanced mix of animation style i bit cheap and in general it seems a little flat at times.

Film: About Love

A trilogy of love stories set in Tokyo, Mainland China and Taiwan each featuring a foreigner from one of the other respected countries.

One of many films backlogged in my DVD collection that needed watching. An interesting film that has its moments but not something that i would watch again. The subject matter around language barriers is quite intriguing.

Film: The Revenge of Doctor X (1970)

An over worked NASA scientist, who appears to have crab up his ass which won't go away, takes a vacation in Japan by the advisement of a colleague. But instead of relaxing he decides to carry out experiments on a Venus Flytrap, which he somehow managed to smuggle in to the country, to prove that humans evolved from plants. He resides in a secluded old house with his colleagues daughter and the hunchbacked housekeeper and begins with crossing the flytrap with a seaplant which somehow manages to make it grow and take the form of a human. His last act is cross it with human blood which he obtains from a sanitarium which seemed to appear from no where.



The Revenge of Doctor X was a US-Japanese co-production that was allegedly written by none other then Edward D Wood Jr. The original title of the film was The Venus Flytrap, but Revenge is the more common title. Confusing because the X seems inexplanatory and theres actually no revenge of anything. The film is badly made and always over the top throughout. The doctor can't seem to go five minutes without bursting into fits of rage and moments towards the end just seem to get more and more nonsensical. For example why does the doctor go all the way to a sanitarium to get human blood, doesn't he have his own?

The Revenge of Doctor X is just pure silliness from beginning to end, any fan of bad movies will love this. This film is bad bad bad bad baaaad. And of course any fan of Ed Wood should certainly check this out [note: apparently the opening credits are completely wrong which explains why Ed isn't listed as writer]. The movie can be downloaded for free, and legally, via torrent from Public Domain Torrents.

Links:
The hunt for Ed Wood
Download

New Moomin DVD

Since I was a kid I've been a fan of the 90s Moomin cartoon series and I have been meaning to buy this series on video. Theres only been two DVD releases so far in English, in the UK the 5 episode 'Moomin Mania' which is now out of print and very hard to obtain and in the US the 4 disc 12 episode boxset priced at over $40. The former i can't seem to find and the latter is very expensive and can only be found on the US Amazon website.

So I am very happy that Stax Entertainment will be releasing the DVD set Moomin: Series 1 in March, 14 episodes split across two discs for measly sum of only £9.99 (the same price of Moomin Mania). Hopefully the 'Series 1' part implies further releases soon afterwards. Heres a tiny picture of the artwork:



There has been many adaptions of the Moomin novels since the 60's, in many forms of animation such as the Polish stop motion series and the Soviet cut out films. The 90s cartoon series is the third Japanese-Finnish co-production anime which was dubbed by the BBC and shown in the UK in the 90s. Tove Jansson never liked the Japanese versions for being slightly departed from her original books but the series has always had a place in my heart so i am very excited about this release and only wish it was sooner!

DVD roundup

A quick roundup of the DVDs I recently, all Region 3 except True Stories which is Region 1. None of the discs include extras.

David Byrne takes on a tour Virgil, Texas as it celebrates it 150 years of specialness. Throughout the film Talking Heads songs pop up either sung by Byrne (though not in character) or the cast members like John Goodman. True Stories me instantly think of Neil Youngs own feature direction debut Human Highway and personally think that these two would make an excellent double bill.

The songs were soon afterwards released on the Heads album of the same name. I could say soundtrack but in actually it was more of the usual studio album affair with Byrnes adopting vocals of all the tracks. Cast vocal versions have been released of various Heads releases since as b-sides to singles lifted from the album.

The DVD is an early Warner Bros. bare bones release coming in the unpopular clip case. Zero extras and subtitles even the menu is a generic WB design. The picture and sound are both acceptable but i was a little annoyed by the fact that as the case states the film has been re-formatted to 4:3. However apparently the film was shot open matted (the process of shooting a film in 4:3 and then cropping it down to widescreen during projection) so we are actually seeing more then intended. WB has in the past released their bare bones discs double sided with both full frame and widescreen versions shame they couldn't do that for this film.

Unemployed lecturer, Yoon-ju, can't stand the noise made by the dogs in his apartment so he decides to kidnap and dispose of them. Hyun-nam who works close by catches him in the end and tries to save the next victim before it's too late.

I quickly became a fan of director Bong Joon-ho when I saw his incredible Memories of Murder. Barking Dogs Never Bite is his debut film, a dark comedy that i expect many animal lovers would find difficult to watch. This film along with his latest The Host confirms him as one of my favourite directors and one to keep an eye on.

Seven directors each create a short film around the theme of time. Ten Minutes Older: Trumpet featured many I had heard of but have yet to see films of so this made an excellent introduction to their works. Directors such as Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki and Werner Herzog. I loved almost all the stories however I unfortunately was a bit disappointed with Jim Jarmuschs who was the sole reason I bought the film, I found the others more intriguingly. I also didn't have much interest in Spike Lees contribution, a documentary piece on the 2000 elections.

One of my favourite stories was Herzog's Ten Thousand Years Later a documentary about a Brazilian tribes decline over 20 years.

I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK - A girl who thinks she's a cyborg starves herself in a mental institute. A man who has the ability to steal intangible things tries to get her to eat. Director Park Chan-wooks first film after his 'vengence' trilogy (OldBoy) is an excellent and touching comedy.

Film: Sour Grapes (1998)

Two cousins go to Atlantic City and one wins $400,000 on the slot machine but the other think he's entitled to half since it was his quarters and it doesn't go well for either from there on. Sour Grapes is Larry Davids only directional work and his first project after Seinfeld and before Curb. Overall the humour and characters feel like they should belong in a Seinfeld episode and unfortunately would probably work better there. SG is very dark in places, one of the characters attempts to kill his own mother by scaring her to death, these quite of traits would not belong in either of Davids other projects. This is probably where the freedom lies in making a film like this as there is no recognizable characters for the audience. The film was failure both commercially and critically and I can see why, whilst Davids humour is clear it doesn't quite work. Maybe under a different director it could of been better.

R.I.P. Vampira (1921 - 2008)

Maila Nurmi aka Vampira sadly departed our world on the 10th of January. Nurmi was famed for playing her ghoulish character on her late night TV show The Vampira Show and soon afterwards appearing in a silent role in Edward D. Wood Jr's notorious Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959). Her trademark image has been much imitated most famously by Elvira who she famously tried to sue. Since Plan 9 Nurmi has only appeared in a handful of films her last being in, appropriately, the Ed Wood written I Woke Up Early the Day I Died in 1998. Other on screen appearances have included many documentaries on Ed Wood and cult cinema including one on herself Vampira: the Movie (2006).

Maila Nurmi will be greatly missed.

Film: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaption

In 1981 three boys fell in love with Steven Speilburg's first installment of the Indiana Jones series so much that they decided remake the film shot for shot. Seven years later they were done. Shot entirely on home video the boys used magazines, articles and saw the film countless times even seeking in a sound recorder all in aid of research. They drew concept drawings, storyboards and made their own props. The dedication that went in to construction of this tribute is astonishing.



When any amateur or fan film is made there will usually be problems, as there is in this. The acting overall is pretty bad, the video being early 80s home video is mostly blurry and the sound at times is unlistenable. The boys however were 12 when began and a lot of the cast were around the same age. But at that age what they have accomplished is inspiring. All of our favourite and most memorable moments have all been faithfully reconstructed. Watch these YouTube clips for just a taster:

Trailer

Segment on BBC's Talking Movies



The film has had quite the following since its completion getting the big thumbs up from Speilburg himself and the story surrounding the remake is in the works to become a film itself (currently Daniel Clowes is set to write). Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaption is fascinating to watch and is currently only available to watch through bootleg or one of the recent cinema screenings. You can read more about the films production over at TheRaider.net.

Film: 24 Hour Party People

Firstly hello and welcome to the post of my new blog. Being that there are more blogs then people on the internet I'm not sure anyone will ever read this but let's see what'll happen. I have written blogs before and have gotten lazy and left them for dead. I'll face it, I'm not a blog person. So why start a new one? No idea. In this blog i have decided to write anything film related. Films I have seen, DVDs or things i have bought and any links of interest. Basically anything that suits me.



Tonight I watched 24 Hour Party People, Michael Winterbottom's bio-pic on Anthony Wilson the founder of Factory records, the company that has brought us Joy Divison, New Order and the Happy Mondays. It seems to me in the past year Factory has been in the spot light a lot what with the release of Joy Divison film Control, a BBC documentary on Factory, the reissues of Joy Divisions back catalogue and unfortunate death of Tony Wilson.

24 is quite interesting in style. The opening titles look particularly good backed with what i hoped for the Happy Mondays song 24 Hour Party People which the film is named after. My only qualm (misuse i know but sounds good) with the titles is that all the credits appear unreadable, but who cares it looks good. Steve Coogan plays Wilson and is backed by a cast of mostly sitcom actors (Peter Hook is played by Ralf Little and looks like Ralf Little). Very much like Winterbottoms next film (or more the film within the film) Cock and Bull Story, Coogan occasionally jumps into third person which gives the film an interesting angle and seems to be a slight theme being that the novelisation of the film is written by Wilson himself. I have seen in the past year Control and the for mentioned BBC documentary and in all honesty those were better. The BBC documentary covers exactly the same as this film but in greater depth and the fact its told in interviews rather than reconstruction seems more appropriate. Control, whilst just being about Joy Divison (though a large amount of 24 is still set around this period) is much better cast seems a lot more truthful. But still I really liked this film.

Is it good, is it bad? What does it matter and what does my opinion really matter on it. If you are interested either any of said bands or British music in general then watch it. 'nuff said.