For the last few days I've been avoiding watching new films, probably in a subconscious effort to sabotage this blog, which seems ludicrous and is just like me. To circumvent my own stupidity I submit to you this film from 1973 by Italian director Antonio Margheriti (here credited as Anthony M. Dawson), the name used by Eli Roth's character in the final scenes of Inglourious Basterds. If you know anything about this period of Italian Cinema, you know it was dominated by a genre of pulpy, murder/mystery, exploitation films called Giallo. The name comes from the little pulp paperbacks that many of the films are based on which were printed rather cheaply with yellow covers. Giallo is also the Italian world for Yellow, as it were, so the name just stuck. Enough history, let's get into Six Deaths In The Cat's Eye.
The story is set in a small Scottish village and follows a series of murders taking place near a castle and the MacGrieff family who dwell in it. According to legend (in context of the story) when a MacGrieff kills one of his kin the deceased will become a vampire. All of the murders seem to be witnessed by the family cat which lurks around the film letting the audience question whether or not it is somewhat of an ethereal being itself.
Corringa (played by Jane Birken, mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg), the niece of Lady Mary MacGrieff, is the principal lead of the story. She arrives at Castle Dragonston where her Aunt and Mother are arguing about the future of the castle. A dinner scene introduces the rest of the characters, a Priest, a seductive French Teacher, a secretive Doctor, and Lord James MacGrieff (played by Hiram Keller), the supposedly 'Mad' son of Mary. Motive is set almost immediately for murder but as is a staple of good Giallos, we are constantly made to guess until the climax of the film. That being said, the film is in no way a typical Giallo, instead having a very Gothic horror feel to it similar to the Hammer Studios pictures of the same era.
One of the things I really like about the film is the atmosphere. The film makes great use of shadow and motivated light sources. One light source in particular is an oil lamp with a multicolored hood that throws out an array of red, green, yellow, and blue at a few crucially creepy moments thereby emphasizing the terror (and sometimes eroticism) portrayed by the actors.
Many Giallo's are well known for the exploitative look at sex and violence. As the years progressed and the technology progressed many of them got gorier and some practically devolved into hardcore pornography. That is not the case of this film. While the blood does certainly flow, it is not without a macabre sense of taste. The weapon of choice in the film is a straight razor to the jugular and unlike a Fulci film the emphasis is not on the tearing open of the neck, but of the blood flying from the wound. Whether this was due to makeup or time constraints is debatable, but it was quite effective regardless.
While many Giallo's suffer from censorship and long term neglect, this film has been preserved quite well and can be found on DVD in both English and Italian languages. The English dubbing is particularly interesting because many of the side characters, who were dubbed over, have thick Scottish accents including slang. One such appearance is of Birken's partner, the late the Serge Gainsbourg, as a Scotland Yard inspector.
When one thinks of World War II there are definitely a few things that come to mind. Pearl Harbor, The Jewish Genocide, The Atomic Bomb and of course all of the aftermath leading into the Cold War. A not often talked about atrocity is the Japanese Invasion of Nanking, known also as The Rape of Nanking. It was an act of total warfare upon the Chinese Capital, which claimed upwards of 300,000 Chinese military and civilian casualties and resulted in the trials and executions of Gen. Iwane Matsui, Gen. Hisao Tani and foreign minister Hirota Koki (Nanking Massacre. wikipedia.org) while the more sadistic perpetrator Prince Yasuhiko Asaka was granted immunity from the military tribunal due to a pact between Gen. MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito.
There are many idea's surrounding what happened and why, but the fact remains that it is an atrocity seldom talked about on western shores. Although, this is not for lack of trying. Frank Capra made a documentary film in 1944 called The Battle of China which included graphic footage of Nanking and several other areas, but death toll numbers were mere estimates (and they were low at that). There are also a few mid 90s Hong Kong films about the incident, but again, only one of those is available to western audiences. However, it seems that recently western eyes have been getting more interested in the incident. Partially due to the story of John Rabe and the westerners who remained in Nanking and established a safe zone for civilians and refugees. Western Eyes look at these more romantic hero stories which give a kind of Hollywood glossed feel. Regardless of these sentiments, not many films show just how brutal the incident allegedly was. I say allegedly because it is still a huge point of contention between Japan and China, and the true death toll number has not been technically found, although most historians seem to agree on 250,000-300,000.
All films have bias and it is no surprise what the bias is going to be of a film made in the country which suffered. That being said, I still found myself moved, to tears a few times, by Lu Chuan's recent Black and White film, City of Life and Death.
I missed the film on it's VERY limited run at the Nuart Theater and was surprised on "internet blackout/protest day" to find that it had been recently added to Netflix Streaming. The film is a beautiful example of 35mm black and white cinematography. It starts at the end of the Japanese siege and with the capture of the city and moves through the documented history from there. Scenes of warfare and brutality are not far off, including mass executions of KMT and National Army troops as well as civilian casualties.
While most of the characters appear to be documented there are always aspects that have to be viewed from the lens of fiction. The key theme of the story is the weight of war. The Genocide committed by the Japanese troops acting on the orders of a few incredibly atrocious leaders resulted in an open wound for the past 70 years which still has not closed.
While I very much liked this film, I will admit that there was a certain formula that I found a bit displacing. Whether it was at the behest of the censors or an artistic choice is unknown to me (I have not seen Chuan's other works), but there were moments where the characters made "noble sacrifices" which were played up a bit much for my taste. I'm not a nationalistic person and I don't feel any pride when I see someone standing head held high to walk to their death. I do not see the unbeaten spirit of the martyr, I merely see a man walking to inevitable, pointless, death.
Wikipedia had this to say about the censorship process of the film:
The film endured a lengthy period undergoing analysis by Chinese censors, waiting six months for script approval, and another six months for approval of the finished film.[4] It was finally approved for release on April 22, 2009.[5] However, the Film Bureau did require some minor edits and cuts, including a scene of a Japanese officer beheading a prisoner, a scene of a woman being tied down prior to being raped, and an interrogation scene of a Chinese soldier and a Japanese commander.[4]
Sure enough, rape is a common depiction in this film. However, it is not depicted for the mere shock of depiction but as a historical recognition of what happened. There is documentation, via diaries, photographs, and films made by the Safety Zone committee, suggesting that perhaps 1000 instances of rape occurred on a nightly basis. In one instance, the Japanese Army demands 100 women for use as pleasure women for Japanese soldiers at the threat of extermination of the camp. It's harrowing, tragic, and downright depressing to see, but it happened none-the-less and if anything enhances the power of the film.
The most interesting, and perhaps most redeeming, aspect of the film is the Japanese character of Kadokawa. Kadokawa is akin to the conscience of humanity in the film. Through him we see the effects of brutality and suffering that comes from such unrestrained activity. He is the most profoundly affected of the Japanese and we see that he feels absolutely wrong about what is happening. He's a representation of the the duality of man, the idea that good and evil rest hand in hand. Ultimately crushed by the weight of war and the weight of what he has witnessed it is his line, "Life is harder than death" upon which the film ultimately makes it statement audibly. Death is easy; it's living with the understanding that what one has witnessed or how one has acted was grievously wrong that is next to impossible. This is the weight of war.
Chuan received death threats for his sympathetic portrayal of Kadokawa, just for showing the idea that a Japanese soldier could feel wrong about what happened and feel the need to take action, no matter how small that action may have been. Available on Netflix, I highly recommend this one. A beautiful, brutal, emotionally powerful film.
I'm always looking for films that I can't describe after seeing. The type of films that just strike you someplace deep in your chest or in your mind, igniting the fibers and sinews of emotion within your soul. It shouldn't be too surprising that I found this with The Kid With A Bike the new Dardenne Brothers film.
Thematically, the story is about growing up with the psychic wound of abandonment. The main character, Cyril (played by new comer Tomas Doret) has been abandoned to a country run children's home, like an orphanage intended to be a halfway towards foster families. Refusing to believe that his father would abandon him, he attempts to escape from the house and find his father, only to discover that the adults had been telling him the truth. Upon his capture in a medical clinic he becomes bound by fate to Samantha, a hair dresser (played by the wonderfully natural Cécile de France). Samantha becomes increasingly attached to Cyril, first out of pity, and second out of honest love.
The wounds of abandonment are hard felt and Cyril is definitely damaged by them. Psychologically speaking, he cannot reconcile his trauma and acts out in increasingly difficult and vicious ways, seeking love in all the wrong places regardless of the fact that it's been right in front of him all along.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's previous works include the Palmé d'Or winning Rosettaand L'Enfant as well as many others, and they have been working together for the past 37 years. Their style is very influenced by documentary film making, where they got their start, and their stories tend to be about young people in dire situations. They generally eschew music, with the exception of diegetic (motivated by the scene, i.e. a car radio, boom box, or television), although Kid is the first to feature a piece of non-diegetic music, a Beethoven piano concerto. While many of their films do not contain happy or uplifting endings (they are certainly more interested in realism) they focus on the transitory nature of emotion and mental maturity.
I will end on a non spoiler note, that The Kid With A Bike is probably one of their most accessible films to date, in terms of a wider audience appeal. I watched it with a few friends at The Aero in Santa Monica, CA followed by a Q/A with the Dardenne Brothers and I think it's safe to say that everyone in the theater left with the elation of seeing a film that left a feeling inside them that is difficult, if not impossible, to describe with words.
The film should hit theaters in Los Angeles in March, hopefully a wider release is to come, and it has also been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.
