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.
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! LOOK FOR ALERTS!
Every once in a while I watch something that keeps me inexplicably transfixed. A film that draws me in until I find myself making strange faces or other bodily reactions to what I'm watching. Mind you, I'm not talking about the kind of reactions you would expect from a bunch of drunken frat boys and a horror movie. I'm talking about real gut reactions. I'm talking about being truly affected to the core by some inexplicable quality of the film. This happened a few weeks back when I finally got around to watching Steve McQueen's (the artist, not the actor) first feature length film Hunger.
If you've seen the film, perhaps you know what I'm talking about. It's available on Netflix Instant, although if you're a quality snob, the people at Criterion Collection released a Blu Ray for it earlier this year. Is about IRA member Bobby Sands, who was a key player during the No Wash prison strike during the Thatcher era, in which the IRA were attempting to force the British Parliament to recognize them as political prisoners and not as terrorists.
The film lingers heavily on the psychological effect of prison treatment on both the prisoners and the guards using slow photography and cold textured lighting. It stuck with me for a good long time, but I wanted to let it gestate before talking about it further. McQueen is an expert with his camera, showing all the filth and the fury involved in the strikes. It reminded me greatly of some of the cinematography of Orson Welles' films; long moving shots, refusing to cut when one would expect it, forcing the viewer to be with the film at precise moments and there by getting under the viewers skin.
There are some hard scenes to take in, especially knowing that the film is based on fact. Michael Fassbender commits wholly to his character, once again doing a fantastic job in his portrayal of a man fighting for his conviction against all odds. That is not to say that the film is totally one sided. McQueen also gives us a glimpse into the life of a prison guard and a young riot officer, both of whom are affected violently, both physically and mentally.
The film really, to me at least, is an attempt to show the pointlessness and the sheer loss that results from such violent bull headed ideologies. When the No Wash strike fails, Bobby Sands announces a Hunger Strike, where the film takes it's name from and McQueen doesn't let the audience off easy.
Sands commits fully to his ideals and we watch as a strong man, full of vigor, is reduced to a shrunken, shriveled skeleton of a man, before death takes him. We are left with the sensation to cherish our innocence while we have it, because, as history has shown, it can all come crashing down to a wretched and violent end.
END SPOILER! END SPOILER! END SPOILER! END SPOILER! END SPOILER!
For all it's grittiness and it's heavy subject matter, Hunger, is a beautifully shot film about a tense and ugly situation in the history of the United Kingdom. 'The Troubles' as they have been called, left a huge scar on the psyche of the people and films such as Hunger can only attempt to examine those scars so that true healing can begin. I look forward to getting out to see McQueen's second feature (also starring Fassbender) Shame.
David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen have been on a roll for the past few years. After the smash success of History of Violence and the follow-up Eastern Promises it would appear that they have definitely become a hit making director/actor team reminiscent to the days of Scorsese/DeNiro. While their newest venture, into the early life of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud may not prove to be as successful as it's predecessors, it is none-the-less an intriguing film.
The film begins with the introduction of Sabina Spielrein, played by Keira Knightly, being carted, kicking and screaming to the Burghölzli, where she became a patient of Jung (Michael Fassbender). It becomes clear very early on that Jung is the central focus of the story, passing through time as he attempts to secure his place in the budding field of psychoanalysis. He develop's a father figure in Freud and through interactions with both, his own theories start to emerge further.
The film is well shot and there is great attention to the period detail. The performances were all quite solid, featuring interesting dynamic range from all three principle actors. However, there was something seriously lacking in the pacing of the film. Perhaps, this is due to lack factual evidence or even due to the writing. True enough, the script was written by playwright Christopher Hampton, based on his play The Talking Cure and as such, pacing can become an issue when presented in the film medium. Now, add the fact that it's a play adapted from a nonfiction novel, John Kerr's A Most Dangerous Method, effectively making it an adaption of an adaption.
The beginning of the story seems to push forward rather quickly, almost as though it's trying to satisfy the audience expectation of the interactions between Jung and Freud. The films real power lies in the fallout of the central conflict. Watching the character interactions amid scandal, as friendships become rivalries, makes some pretty enjoyable cinema.
As we know from history, Jung and Freud's friendship was a short lived one. Both ambitious men, the dinosaur and the babe, the audience watches them simultaneously nurture each other and destroy one another as well as themselves in the process.
One of the other main plots is the affair between Jung and Spielrein, which has an interesting psychoanalyzed approach to S&M. Whether or not their relationship was as such is up to much speculation, but it is generally believed that some type of extramarital relationship developed between the two. Cronenberg, has always been known for sexuality being a central theme in his films, but I felt like this film conveyed the psychological power dynamics involved in sexual relationships, more so than any of his previous films.
An interesting film, worth a watch for sure, but definitely more for fans of Cronenberg than for people interested in the history of psychoanalysis. That is, of course, not to say that it doesn't have some very intriguing moments examining early psychoanalytical practice, but that is not the focus of the film.
If you know me, you know that I'm an avid fan of asian cinema, particularly the cinema of Japan. I go to great lengths to find films that are otherwise impossible to find in America, simply because I like the Director's work. This is achieved through websites like Yes Asia and various other means, such as bootlegs and torrents.
One Director, whose work I come back to somewhat frequently, is Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to master film maker Akira Kurosawa). Most of his films which have received release in America fall into the supernatural, horror, and thriller genres, but some of his lesser known films were genre pieces. Like many director's cutting their teeth in the late 80s and early 90s, Kurosawa made his fair share of Direct to Video/TV Movie features. Films like the Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself series, or Door 3 are examples of this.
When he moved to Horror/Thriller, with Cure, the story about a bizarre link in a series of killings, he was on the cusp of leaving "product films," but at the challenge of a producer friend of his he made two more, in the space of 1 and 1/2 weeks. Not an easy feat, let me tell you.
Those films are The Serpents Path and Eyes of the Spider.
Both films are revenge stories and both films involve a character named Nijima (played by Sho Aikawa), and yet completely different in pace and tone. The Serpents Path, for example, plays like a traditional revenge/detective procedural with a few interesting twists along the way. Nijima is a math teacher who helps a low-level yakuza track down a group of people who were all involved in the rape and murder of said yakuza's 8 year old daughter. We are drawn in because we do not understand until later why Nijima is helping this man. He has an enigmatic quality about him. Why would a man who teaches math at a cram school to students young and old (one of which is an 8 year old prodigy) risk his life and his career to help a low-level thug? Is it out of empathy or does he have an ulterior motive? Does he NEED to have a motive? These questions kept me hooked, regardless of my small laptop screen and awful speakers.
On the other hand, Eyes of the Spider, is completely different. It misleads the viewer into thinking it is going to be another standard revenge procedural when instead the revenge aspect of the story is resolved within the first 10 minutes of the film.
The core premise is the same, with a few important differences. This time, Nijima, who is NOT a math teacher, but some kind of salaryman, is the father of the victim. An average man, he goes to the extreme and finds his daughter's killer himself after 6 years of searching. After satisfying his revenge, his life becomes devoid of meaning and he drifts through each day until a chance meeting with an old high school friend has him leave his salaryman life and enter that of a low-level yakuza gang. The film has a much more philosophical tone and Nijima has to deal with issues like the validity of life and the effect of his actions on his own soul. What is right and what is wrong when the whole world seems to be absolutely insane? And what about consequences?
The world, as we know it, always finds a way to give consequences to our actions. It is no different in films than it is in life. Spider does an excellent job of showing the consequences to all the characters actions, whether they are physical or metaphysical in nature.
Despite these glaring differences, their are also structural similarities that needn't go unlooked. Each film starts with the revenge plot, each film has a bloody climax, and each film has an open ending that begs certain questions from the viewer.
Unfortunately, these films still do not have domestic release, but if you're internet savvy, you can find a way to see them. Definitely worth the watch.
Note: I am in no way, shape, or form, condoning piracy to the readers of this review. As such, I will not be held responsible for the individual actions that any person who reads this review makes.
