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N O T E S O N R E C E N T V I E W I N G SComments on Japanese Films I Happened to Watch One Weekend
My principal interest right now is watching as many Hong Kong films as I can. I'm still a new HK fan, after all. As a result, though, my interest in other Asian films has been piqued. Here's a sampling of four Japanese films that I rented and watched one weekend. To learn more about Japanese cinema, visit your local library or Midnight Eye, an excellent web site devoted to a wide range of Japanese films.
Branded to Kill
1967. 91 minutes. Directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Movie: It would be difficult to argue with Nikkatsu Studios when it claimed that director Suzuki's most recent films 'made no sense and no money.' Yet here's a case where altruism was called for on the part of the studio. This black-and-white, existential, head-spinning drama is a minor work of art. The plot, such as it is, centers on an assassin trying to kill off other highly-rated professional killers so he can become #1. His wife lays around their strangely-designed and huge apartment, naked most of the time and seemingly sex-starved. But he develops an attraction to a withdrawn woman who picks him up in her convertible one rainy night, and, well, though much of what happens defies easy understanding, the visions that unfold on screen are compulsively watchable.
Medium: Criterion DVD quality is excellent.
Recommendation: Buy. (10/6/01)Gonin
1995. 109 minutes. Directed by Takeshi Ishii.
Movie: Beginning with a scene that could be either a nightmare or a freshly-bandaged wound ripped wide open, Gonin announces that it will not pay lip service to the demands of reality. Five men come together to rob a gang of modern-day Yakuza - one of the men owes a large sum of money to a second gang. Something goes wrong, of course, and very quickly a particularly nasty assassin (Takeshi Kitano) and his submissive sidekick hunt down the men. The violence is often quite bloody, and the distance between the camera and the participants only makes its explicit nature more horrifying - imagination fills in the sickening details. Relationships and plot mechanics remain murky, but such incidentals are beside the point. Writer/director Takeshi Ishii displays style to burn and an incandescent desire to leave the viewer scarred and whimpering softly. He succeeds on all counts.
Medium: Ocean Shores DVD quality is adequate. Burned-in subtitles are sometimes difficult to read.
Recommendation: Rent. Highly recommended. (10/5/01)Kikujiro
1999. 122 minutes. Directed by Takeshi Kitano.
Movie: Kikujiro is a gentle, carefully crafted story about a young boy who ends up on a road trip with a disreputable neighbor. Masao has been told that his mother is away in another town working and that is why he must live with his grandmother in the city. He misses his mother terribly and becomes determined to visit her. Very reluctantly a neighbor (played by Kitano), called simply "Mister" by Masao, is put in charge of escorting the boy to see his mother. The trip is eventful to the extreme, yet each carefully framed episode unwinds at an unhurried pace under the watchful eye of Kitano. A lot of deadpan humor rolls by as well, and though the film feels a bit long at 121 minutes, the delight of a storyteller filling in all the details is pleasantly evident.
Medium: Columbia/Tri Star DVD quality is excellent.
Recommendation: Rent. (10/5/01)Tokyo Drifter
1966. 82 minutes. Directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Movie: Tetsu is a gangster set adrift when his boss decides to go straight. But a rival gang boss wants to completely dominate Tetsu and his boss. Or something like that. Set against garishly colored and wildly beautiful sets, neon signs, and beautifully composed winter landscapes, Tokyo Drifter stumbles around a bit as far as making sense, but never misses the mark as far as mid-sixties cool and jazzy elegance.
Medium: Criterion DVD quality is excellent, especially considering the age of the film.
Recommendation: Rent. (10/6/01)
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