Andei distante do ie-ie-ie inicial da 32º Mostra Internacional de Cinema. Sequer vi a relação dos filmes confirmados, não participei de sessões de imprensa ou da esperada coletiva onde os organizadores apresentam à imprensa os caminhos do atual evento.

Confesso que neste final-de-semana, depois de passar pela estação Paraíso do Metrô e ver alguns cartazes, senti falta do burburinho inicial, aquele que vem antes do evento. É ali que pautamos o queremos ver, localizamos as pérolas que chegarão e mapeamos os locais onde encontraremos os amigos para a pergunta “qual é a boa?”, entre uma sessão e outra.

Como disse, ainda não tive nenhum contato com o universo da Mostra de 2008, mas a experiência do Festival do Rio pode nos valer alguma coisa neste primeiro papo sobre o evento. Algumas dicas de filmes que, imagino, estarão por aqui.

Katyn, de Andrzej Wajda – O novo filme de Wajda foi indicado ao Oscar de melhor filme estrangeiro. Relata a história de um militar que se recusa a atender os pedidos de sua mulher para deixar o país a tempo de escapar de um massacre.

Seleção italiana: “Um Dia Perfeito”, de Fërzan Ozpetek; “Gomorra”, de Matteo Garrone (o poderoso painel sobre a Máfia napolitana); “Almoço em Agosto”, de Gianni Di Gregorio; “Il Divo”, de Paolo Sorrentino; e “O Banquete”, de Mimmo Calopresi; “O fantasma da Ópera”, de Dario Argento (a história de um bebê abandonado no esgoto é salvo por ratos), “O pai de Giovanna”, de Pupi Avati (rendeu para Silvio Orlando o prêmio de melhor ator no Festival de Veneza)

Só dez por cento é mentira, de Pedro Cezar. Documentário sobre a vida e obra do poeta sulmatogrossense Manoel de Barros. Pedro Cezar dirigiu e roteirizou o simpático Fábio Fabuloso.

Gonzo: Um Delírio Americano, de Alex Gibney. Documentário sobre Hunter S. Thompson, uma dos últimas vozes independentes do jornalismo nos EUA. Seu filme Enron – Os Mais Espertos da Sala foi indicado ao Oscar de Melhor Documentário de 2006. Em 2007, dirigiu Taxi to the Dark Side, vencedor de diversos prêmios, incluindo o Oscar de Melhor Documentário.

O Homem Que Engarrafava Nuvens, de Lírio Ferreira. Documentário musical sobre a vida e a obra do compositor, advogado, deputado federal e criador das leis de direitos autorais, Humberto Teixeira, também conhecido como "O Doutor do Baião" pela autoria de clássicos populares como “Asa Branca”. O filme recebeu uma excelente crítica de Michelle Orange, do jornal “The village voice”.

Mataram irmã Dorothy, de Daniel Junge. O documentário revela os bastidores do julgamento dos assassinos de Dorothy e investiga as razões de sua morte e seus verdadeiros mandantes. Em 2002, o diretor realizou seu primeiro documentário em longa-metragem, Chiefs, vencedor do Prêmio de Melhor Documentário do Festival de Tribeca e exibido posteriormente na televisão americana.

Call girl, de António-Pedro Vasconcelos. Fenômeno em Portugal. Uma espécie de “Instinto selvagem” lusitano. Vale pelo folclore. Só isso.

Nós Somos Um Poema, de Sergio Sbragia, Beth Formaggini. O filme revela a desconhecida parceria de dois gênios da MPB, Pixinguinha e Vinícius de Moraes, para compor a trilha sonora do filme Sol sobre a Lama, de Alex Viany, produzido em 1963.

A duquesa, de Saul Dibb. Mais um retrato da aristocracia britânica e suas relações extraconjugais. Entenda como quiser. O filme é baseado no livro “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire”.

A Mulher sem Cabeça, de Lucrecia Martel. O filme foi selecionado para a Competição Oficial do Festival de Cannes 2008.

Velha Juventude, de Francis Ford Coppola. Professor de lingüística, é atingido por um raio. Além de sobreviver, ele sofre um surpreendente rejuvenescimento físico, acompanhado de grande desenvolvimento intelectual. O caso atrai a atenção de cientistas nazistas, obrigando-o a se exilar. E por aí a coisa vai. Baseado no conto homônimo de Mircea Eliade.

O Bom, o Mau, o Bizarro, de Kim Jee-Woon. Exibido em Cannes 2008, fora de competição.  Western oriental.

Loki - Arnaldo Baptista, de Paulo Henrique Fontenelle. Cinebiografia do músico Arnaldo Baptista, ex-integrante dos Mutantes, contada através de um quadro traçado pelo próprio artista. A pintura é intercalada com imagens históricas que remetem aos principais momentos de sua trajetória artística, que fizeram dele um dos grandes nomes do rock brasileiro. Depoimentos de Tom Zé, Nelson Motta, Gilberto Gil, Sean Lennon, entre outros.

O Silêncio de Lorna, de Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne. Melhor Roteiro no Festival de Cannes 2008. Lorna, jovem imigrante albanesa, sonha em abrir uma lanchonete com seu namorado Sokol. Para tal, ela entra nos esquemas escusos do criminoso Fabio, que lhe arranja um casamento branco com Claudy, jovem viciado em drogas.

Sukiyaki Western Django, de Takashi Miike. O filme foi indicado ao Leão de Ouro no Festival de Veneza de 2007. O filme acompanha um duelo entre dois clãs. O diretor fez O Teste Decisivo (1999), Prêmio Internacional da Crítica no Festival de Rotterdam, Ichi – O Assassino (2001), prêmios de Melhor Filme e Melhor Diretor no Japanese Professional Movie Awards, e Gozu (2003), exibido na Quinzena dos Realizadores do Festival de Cannes. Meu diretor predileto.

Pausa para o próximo capítulo.

Divirtam-se!

Esse é o meu quinto festival (compareço regularmente desde 2004), além de ter sido o ano onde eu assisti mais filmes (18 no total, e os dois curtas). Infelizmente, como em outros anos, não posso tecer comentários mais embasados sobre a Premiere Brasil, uma vez que só assisti um, que acabou ganhando o prêmio do público (Apenas um Fim). Sobre ele, posso comentar que com certeza o lobby feito pelo pessoal da PUC (Universidade onde o diretor do filme estuda cinema), que compareceu em peso a sessão, contribuiu e muito para esse resultado, mesmo o filme sendo apenas mediano. Também infelizmente não assisti nenhum documentário.

Em compensação, nunca arrisquei tanto como esse ano. Resolvi deixar os grandes figurões de lado (exceto o Takashi Miike; os caras de olhos puxados são garantia de bons filmes no Festival desde 2006 – “Trilogia da Vingança”) e resolvi apostar em alguns filmes antigos que não conhecia e também em alguns filmes vindo de países como Israel e Indonésia. Algumas apostas foram certeiras ( “A Fronteira da Alvorada”; “A Maldição da Múmia”), outras nem tanto (“Soi Cowboy”; “14 Kilômetros”). Mas isso faz parte de todo grande Festival.

Acho que, no final das contas, fui bem-sucedido nessa minha escolha, pois acabei conhecendo alguns bons filmes, me surpreendendo com outros e ainda puxei um papo rápido com a Érica Mader logo depois da sessão de "Apenas o Fim" (e, antes que me perguntem: sim, ela é muito bonita e simpática!!). Sem falar que o clima de um Festival de cinema é sempre bom, mesmo com toda a correria de sair de uma sessão para entrar em outra em outro cinema (ainda mais quando você têm apenas 10 minutos para chegar no cinema).

Para finalizar, deixo aqui o top dos filmes que assisti no Festival, e desde já inauguro a contagem regressiva: faltam cerca de 365 dias para o Festival do Rio 2009 (e o Multiplot! estará lá mais uma vez!!)

Top! Festival do Rio 2008

01. Sukiyaki Western Django (Takashi Miike, 2007)
02. A Fronteira da Alvorada (Phillippe Garel. 2008)
03. A Maldição da Múmia (Ivan Cardoso, 1981)
04. O Castelo da Pureza (Arturo Ripstein, 1972)
05. Duas Mulheres (Vittorio de Sica, 1960)
06. Canção de Baal (Helena Ignez, 2008)
07. Praça Saens Pena (Vinícius Reis, 2008)
08. Tora-San Reencontra Lily (Yoji Yamada, 1975)
09. A Irresistível Sabella (Dino Risi, 1957)
10. Blackout (Daniel Resende, 2008)
11. Sad Vacation (Shinji Aoyama, 2007)
12. The Photograph (Nan Achnas, 2007)
13. Gesto Obsceno (Tzari Grad, 2008)
14. Sanguepazzo (Marco Túlio Giordana, 2008)
15. Domingo de Páscoa (Pedro Amorim, 2008)
16. Apenas o Fim (Matheus Souza, 2008)
17. O Visitante (Tom McCarthy, 2007)
18. Sol Secreto (Lee Chang-dong, 2007)
19. Soi Cowboy (Thomas Clay, 2008)
20. 14 Kilômetros (Gerardo Olivares, 2007)

Adney Silva

APRIL 5, 2033: In a moment reminiscent of Texas Western's 1966 victory over Kentucky, the all-black Kentucky Wildcats are upset in the NCAA basketball championship by the University of Portland, a school whose squad is composed entirely of Asians.

1. As long-time prognosticators and imaginers of the future, OBJ514 pundits will appreciate the efforts of Esquire writer Chuck Klosterman. A recently published FT-style timeline of his, found here, makes for exactly the kind of half-prophetic, half-satirical reading that many of us love most.

2. Objective challenge: find a modern analog for Futurism itself. How do we measure up? What are our dreams? Assume that we all love love the present, in part, because it is yesterday's future. What defines the analog, and what are its values? A search for the truth? Reimagining the past? The ascendancy of modern culture?

3. Of course, I already sort of have an answer... HOT SPACE LADIES.

My Life With Miike

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike is prolific. With 78 films under his belt as director since 1991, Miike has tackled what seems like every conceivable genre, style, mood, and sexual perversion. His films themselves (of the 8 or so I've seen) are nothing if not memorable. Forever entrenched in my mind: the notorious and sadistic piano-wire slicing/sawing in the end of Audition, the cum-dripping high kick decapitations of Ichi the Killer, a dwarf brushing his teeth with cocaine in The City of Lost Souls, the blood-soaked bathroom murders and machine gun bullets to exploding stomach of pasta opening montage of Dead or Alive (and the bazooka blast apocalypse ending of Dead or Alive), the explicit birthing a full grown man in the Gozu, the grace and mystery of the Three…Extremes short Box, and (of course!) the hyper-violence of Fudoh: The New Generation that served as my introduction to Miike.

Let's rewind: I moved to Chicago in the fall of 2003 to attend college. I was a young and naive whippersnapper (i.e. drunk and surly) in the Windy City, and my newly acquired Facets Multimedia membership opened me up to a plethora of films they didn't carry at my previous rental location, Video Villa in Glen Ellyn, Illinois*. Being 18 years old and thirsty for obscurity, I came across the films of Takashi Miike. I’m almost certain he came to my attention when I read a write up of Fudoh: The New Generation somewhere on the Internet**, but I don't remember exactly. What I do remember was the accompanying image. A low angle shot, possibly from the ground, of a naked girl. She was pretty, in a compromising and awkward position, and most importantly, preparing to shoot a dart out of her vagina.

I remember coming home from class some mornings, cooking up a bowl of ramen noodles, and popping in a Miike movie. Most times I wouldn’t even eat the ramen, and almost always couldn’t even begin to relate what had happened in the film to inquiring friends. A mixture of Miike’s incoherence mixed with his hit or miss plotlines was most likely the culprit. I remember seeing Ichi the Killer at the Facets Cinematheque, which was my first time experiencing a Miike film not by myself in my dorm room. I remember the sensation of sharing the gross-outs and repulsion with a hundred or so kindred spirits. We came to witness unthinkable violence and torture, got what we came for and more, and were pleasantly disgusted. Later I remember watching Battle Royale ,Versus, and the films of Shinya Tsukamoto and Chan-wook Park.

The years went by, and the influence of J-horror and the “Asia Extreme” movement manifested itself in the worst of American cinema. Saw came and went, as did unwatchable sequels. Eli Roth and his hair gel evoked Miike’s name enough times to use the “If I had a dollar for every time he said…” phrase. Rob Zombie cited Miike in the creation of his House of 1000 Corpses and Devil’s Rejects. The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call, and Pulse remakes happened. “Torture porn” became a commonly used phrase and “style” in the States. Michael Haneke remade Funny Games shot-for-shot so it could be released in the US, so he could prove how bad of people we all are. In short, shit got out of hand, fast.

While the bulk of the “Asia Extreme” films I saw made an impression on me at the time, most of them had little to no lasting power***. My interest faded – novelty at best, I thought. I mean, I wasn’t a teenager any more! It took more than Tadanobu Asano cutting off his tongue in close up for me to get my kicks****. So with my waning interest in ultra-violent Asian cinema, Miike was cast out with it. In retrospect, this seems totally unfair, as Miike is a seemingly inexhaustible work-for-hire type of robot, a man who has cranked out an endless stream of diverse films. But pigeonhole him I did, and a year or so after my fading interest, I rented Gozu, an absurdist, Lynchian tale of alienation and full of Freaks-esque sideshow characters (which not coincidentally played at Cannes, it being “arty” and all). I remember being startled by the restraint and beauty of his short Box, which, accompanied with Fruit Chan’s dead-baby eating Dumplings and Chan-wook Park’s torture comedy Cut seemed the work of a seasoned art-house director. These two films showed me a different side of Miike, a man capable of more than single-minded genre films. Then time, as usual, came and went

[Excluding Box, Miike has made 15 films since Gozu (the last Miike film I saw). I remember one playing in Chicago, Izo, a film about a time traveling samurai/assassin, and while it sounded awesome, for whatever reason I didn’t make it out. Naturally I was excited to see that Sukiyaki Western Django was getting some sort of proper release in the US, which is most certainly rare for a Miike film despite his rabid cult following and torture-porn trend setting.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django opens in acid-western territory, where a computer generated sun, sky, and mountain backdrop pour out saturated reds and blues. The faux set is emphasized, and its fakeness is played for laughs. Miike wants you to know that this is a movie, and at that, a movie-movie, so in other words, hardly a movie at all. What you are seeing is not a spaghetti western, or a samurai film for that matter. What you are seeing is the appropriation of two film movements (i.e. genres, loosely) as chewed up and spit back out by a violence-obsessed workaholic with a penchant for cinematic insanity.

The film is introduced by way of Quentin Tarantino channeling Elvis/Eastwood as Ringo, who appears by slicing open a snake and mowing down some rival gunslingers. As master of ceremony for the picture, QT is given the special duty of ‘telling the tale’, which more or less involves him hanging around for too long in iconic close-ups. The tale, too, leads us to “400 years later” and to “Nevada”, neither of which make any sense.

The real set up, by way of Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars, involves a lone and unnamed gunman (Hideaki Ito) offering up his mercenary services to rival gangs in the war torn town of Yuda. The rival gangs in question are color coded for clarity (the Red and the White), and what follows is easier described in vague comparisons than in plot description – a big old fucking spaghetti western samurai milkshake (metaphor).

Like most Miike, the film is structured in alternating stretches of high-octane lunacy and sterile, undercooked drama (i.e. backstory). If anything has changed since my previous encounters with Miike, it’s that his stretches of tedium have been compressed. Gone are the epic stretches of monotony (e.g. Dead or Alive), but that’s not to say he’s become a balanced filmmaker. If anything his divided skill set is as noticeable as ever (as evidenced by the several uninspiring flashback sequences), he just seems to have scaled back the attention necessary “plot” points. All the better, I think, since Miike is truly at his best when he’s throwing it all up on the screen without giving a fuck. And that’s really what makes Sukiyaki Western Django enjoyable.

If you’re A.O. Scott, or whoever, it’s easy to dismiss Sukiyaki as a pointless imitation, homage, pastiche, or whatever the fuck. But what we all need to remember is that spaghetti westerns were imitations to begin with. The attempt by Italian directors to imitate the old masters (e.g. Ford, Hawks, Walsh, et al.) and their subsequently incomplete, bastardized interpretation of the American west and the western genre is the key to their notoriety. The result of this interpretation was the western stripped down to its core—manifest destiny and the American morality of studio era westerns were told to get the fuck out, and what remained was greed, violence, greed, violence, memorable Ennio Moriccone scores, three day beards (e.g. Eastwood, Nero), radical CinemaScope framings, bad post-sync sound, and more violence.

The tradition of the spaghetti western puts Sukiyaki in a curious position. If the original spaghetti westerns were at worst cheaply imitative B-westerns, then what to do with a film that is imitative of an already inferior genre? If you’re Takashi Miike, you can have all the actors, who are Japanese, speak in phonetic English. Being one of the weirder filmmaking decisions in recent memory, it takes a while to get used to. The actors toss up cliché after cliché, sounding it out in often the wrong tone and/or mood, making one’s native language sound foreign and familiar at once. This makes for an odd, almost post-sync type effect that is synonymous with the spaghetti western, and it also helps to cultivate Miike’s absurdist aspirations.

Sukiyaki’s central position (i.e. point) is that it is a derivative of a derivative genre/movement, and this could lead one to read the film in a plethora of meta, but for real it isn’t much more than Miike flexing knowledge on his DVD collection. Corbucci’s Django is evoked by way of extensive gatling gun use, along with a cover of Luis Enrique Bacalov’s title theme. The lone gunslinger is jacked from every (spaghetti) western ever, the out of nowhere snow recalls The Great Silence and possibly Altman’s anti-western McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the warring factions are straight out of the Yojimbo/Fistul of Dollars camps, and the list goes on and on and on.*******

The question, then, is why this film isn’t just a pointless exercise in director masturbation. The answer, though not unfortunately, is that it is. But with Miike’s filmography in the rearview mirror, it is still a work of strong personality. Miike is an auteur in the truest Cahiers du Cinéma sense of the word. His personality is recognizable through all the muck (perhaps his personality is the muck itself), and it’s as recognizable as a Tarkovsky dolly shot or the always professional Hawksian protagonist. While much has changed in the years between Audition and Sukiyaki Western Django, the only glaring difference is the restraint in gore and graphic violence that was once Miike’s trademark. In a treacherous time of studio homogenization and celebration of faux-liberal cinematic Hollywood hogwash, it’s pretty fucking great to watch and enjoy a movie made by and for a man who first and foremost loves movies (the film's energy and high flying spirit are not dismissible). I think it might be time to rediscover Miike not as the single-note violence monger I once thought (and loved) him as, but instead as an ever expanding, improving, and constantly shifting artist with a bright future still ahead of an already storied and proven past.

-----

*To be fair, Video Villa had (I think?) every Cronenberg movie on VHS, which, among other VHS rentals (see: Caligula, Lost Highway) was essential to my lengthy coming of age / becoming a cinephile period (1997-2002).

**This image might have come from a review on Filmthreat.com, but I don't remember for shit. In an interesting side note, TIME Magainze listed Fudoh: The New Generation as one of its top 10 films of 1997. The Internet tells me this but I can't find it to actually confirm. Corliss? Really?

***With probably the sole exception of Shinya Tsukamoto, whose work I’m not as familiar with as I’d like but am very much impressed by to this very day. Seeing A Snake of June on Sundance Channel last year was a pleasant surprise, and I’ll probably forever be a fan of Tetsu: Iron Man and Tokyo Fist.

****I realize this might sound serious and/or condescending. It’s not. But there really is only so much extreme violence you can take before the whole ‘desensitization’ thing comes in. It just doesn’t pack that much of a punch. I think at this point I became whole-heartedly obsessed with the American west, which means lots of Hawks/Ford/Peckinpah/Fuller.

*****This past weekend a friend of mine explained his love of Quentin Tarantino’s acting with analogy similar to Jason McElwain, the autistic basketball player who hit all those sweet shots when he had the chance to get in an actual game last year. Basically, he was suggesting that Tarantino is a bad actor, and that it is overshadowed because he’s transparently trying so hard whenever he gets the chance (i.e. it’s cute, funny, sad all at once). While I partially agree with this theory, Tarantino’s acting reminds me more of the annoying kid on your football team who wore a hockey jersey to school everyday, had a real bad attitude and talked massive amounts of shit despite crapping the bed any time he actually got a chance to play (i.e. Tarantino is so fucking annoying I will give him no credit).

******This is a generalization, but speaks very close to the truth. From where I’m sitting, there are only two genuine masters of the spaghetti western, Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. All told, they combine for around 6-8 mostly excellent films, which is more or less the cream of the crop as far as spaghettis go. There are exceptions everywhere, but everyone needs to get real, since most spaghetti westerns absolutely suck. This is probably because outside of the aforementioned auteurs, many spaghetti westerns were in fact not cast out of the unique Italian revision of the American Western, but rather cast from the mold of A Fistful of Dollars, Django, and the ‘best-of’ the whole ‘genre’. [It’s also important to note that zombi master Lucio Fulci made some Italo-westerns, and the only one I’ve seen, Massacre Time, starring Franco Nero, was pretty awesome in its own sweaty, bloody, bar-fighting way.]

*******This is acknowledged as being both lazy and not wanting to sound like "I've seen all these movies you haven't" guy so I can reference them in this article. The truth of the matter is that the bulk of my Italo-western viewings/introductions were in a Spaghetti Western class in college, which was an excellent gateway.

PQP!!! Ca-ra-lho!!!Só mesmo um bom palavrão para expressar o meu contentamento com esse filme. Foi exatamente o que eu esperava: uma homenagem a todo um gênero - no caso, o western - com trocentas milhões de referências e arquétipos característicos do gênero e do cinema Ocidental, com uma história que se sustenta mesmo com todas essas informações, extremamente insano, bizarro e genial ao mesmo tempo. Faz um bom tempo que não divertia tanto assim em um cinema. E tudo isso filmado maravilhosamente com tomadas e cenas bizarras bem ao estilo do diretor (apesar de ser o mais "normal" dele,se é que vocês me entendem). Consigam-o de qualquer maneira, já que seria impossível que ele estreasse em grande circuito.

Simplesmente o melhor filme do Festival, mesmo não tendo visto um décimo de todos os filmes.

4/4

Adney Silva

Direção: Takashi Miike

Elenco: Kou Shibasaki, Shin Chi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukishi, Anna Nagata

Duração: 112min

Sinopse: Tudo começa quando uma adolescente recebe uma chamada em seu telefone celular. Ao atender, ela ouve um terrível grito. Mais tarde, a jovem fica surpresa ao constatar que a chamada veio de seu próprio telefone, três dias à frente. Quando chega a data e a hora marcadas na mensagem, ela morre de forma violenta. A partir daí, o estranho caso começa a acontecer com outras pessoas, fazendo novas vitimas. É quando uma das jovens que recebeu o telefonema decide investigar o que está acontecendo para tentar salvar a própria pele e entra em um mondo de terror sobrenatural, que poderá levá-la a descobertas trágicas e aterrorizantes.

Distribuição: Alpha Filmes

Página no IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366292/

Classificação: ainda não desenvolvida.

Opinião: ainda não desenvolvida.

Upcoming film release directed by famous Japanese auteur Takashi Miike about some samurai cowboy featuring Quentin Tarantino. With Miike on the helm surely you would know what is about to come. This movie is going to be pumping your adrenaline with it's surreal kinetic action. There will be blood if you get what I mean. Watch the HD trailer over here.

'Extremes' starts off with 'Box' by my man, the amazing Takashi Miike. It's an involving film indeed, and tells the story of a woman who dreams about the accidental murder of her twin sister with an underlying complex plot involving a circus performer and pedophilia. As expected from the great Miike it succeeds in cinematic artsy-ness with real care to production design, imagery, juxtaposition, and whatever possible elements to create mood. With a perfectly crafted ending, we then come to learn that things aren't what they seem (a cliche done the Miike way!) and then kicks in the psychological, elegant, and slick style.

The second story in the film is 'Dumplings' by Fruit Chan (I didn't even know this guy could do horror) . It's a story about an aging actress who searches for a way to hold on to her youth as well has her cheating husband. I wasn't at all suprised when I learned that 'Dumplings' was shot by famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle of 2046 as its clever visual style contradicted the dark, dark territories that this film ventures into. Bai Ling and Tony Leung make appearances in this 40min film, too. Bai Ling+ Tony Leung+ unborn fetuses = Dumplings. Stick it through the end and you will be... shocked (though it's a bit of an understatement).

The last segment and by far the most entertaining for me is a film entitled 'Cut' written and directed by Chan-Wook Park (can't wait to see his next project). 'Cut' is a story about a hotshot film director who comes home only to get knocked out. He wakes up and finds his wife strung up by wires with her fingers superglued to a piano while he has a rope tied around his waist to limit his movements. The culprit? A vengeful movie extra whose gotten it into his head that the director is too successful, too rich, and too handsome and thus needs to be taught a lesson. Its plot structure is all-too familiar (see Phone Booth, Saw, and One Hour Photo) but what follows is a sort of twisted social commentary on the frustrations of every man whose life doesn't turn out as grand as expected.

This film, and the whole trilogy all together literally blew me away; it's just so weird and absurd that there's never a dull moment in this shocking, evil, yet elegant compilation of horrific tales sprinkled with my favorite type of dark comedy.

Last Friday night, Sukiyaki Western Django opened at the Nuart. Even though we went to the 10pm show, there was a bigger-than-usual crowd. Some hipsters, some Asian-philes, a few Tarantino fan-boys/girls. From the trailer I knew Quentin Tarantino was going to be in the film. I just hoped that he wouldn't fuck it up.

Right after the movie I sent a text to my friend. She made plans to see the movie on Sunday because I hyped it up. (I have the tendency to get overly excited about stuff). My text said: "Just to warn you the movie is in bad English - not Japanese."

Had the movie been in Japanese, I think I would have really, really enjoyed it. It was Takashi Miike's interpretation of a spaghetti Western with a touch of Samurai sensibilities. It had all the elements of a great film: beautiful actors, awesome action scenes, cool cinematography.

Unfortunately, it also had Japanese actors saying things like "I reckon that's true" in really bad accents. Do you know how difficult it is to follow a movie with bad Engrish? Hey, I'm Asian, and it was pissing me off. I had to ignore a lot of parts and wait for the action scenes. The crowd cheered the loudest for the few Tarantino scenes which weren't too horrible but not enjoyable either.

I didn't hate the movie. There were parts of it that I really enjoyed. Hideaki Ito plays a great Pale Rider-esque gunslinger, and Yusuke Iseya is simply gorgeous. (Don't worry, guys; you have some eye candy, too.) I won't ruin it for you but I will say one of the actresses was my favorite character. The last fight scene saved the movie for me, and the action sequences were worth the ticket price. I might rent it later and re-watch it in a quieter setting.

It could have been a great movie, but it was just okay. Takashi Miike let me down with this one. I understand that he wanted to reach an American audience, but this film would have been so much better in Japanese. Forget those lazy Americans who can't be bothered with subtitles. Make a real film for the rest of us.
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See Hana's less-angry side at supahcute.com.

I'll admit it - the main reason for me writing a post about this movie is so I could write the title in all caps. I mean how often are you going to get to write "Sukiyaki Western Django" as the title to anything? This was an opportunity I couldn't afford to miss.

But this trailer turned out to be pretty ridiculous. First, we get a setting ("A distant island") that seems entirely imaginary (I GUESS it could be Japan), and some motivation ("two clans split into the Reds and the Whites"). It sounds like a Japanese West Side Story. And we see our narrator, Quentin Tarantino! Who appears to be holding a container of Silly Putty.

Tarantino is so amazingly bad for this part it's laughable - like if they had Dave Matthews play the role. His accent is completely absurd. Next we get the most hilarious non-typo I've ever seen:

The director is Takashi Miike, but look at that shot and tell me you're not laughing.

Then we get crazy Quentin Taratino style action - when we were all really expecting traditional Japanese martial arts. The heavy metal music exemplifies this abrupt change, and sounds like the band Rammstein. And the action! It includes:

-A woman shooting a crossbow arrow out of the air with a gun

-A guy stopping a sword between his hands

-A ridiculous pot of gold:

-A guy stopping a bullet with a sword

-A guy stopping a sword with a gun

-A Japanese guy saying "Not too shabby" in a John Wayne like accent

-Not your typical Japanese weapon:

-And finally, this has to be a joke:

Hey, it's Takashi Miike's "English Language Masterpiece", how could you not want to see it? Oh did I mention the title is Sukiyaki Western Django ? That's what I thought.

País: Japón.
Año: 2003.
Duración: 130 min.
Interpretación: Hideki Sone , Shô Aikawa , Kimika Yoshino,
Shôhei Hino , Keiko Tomita , Harumi Sone , Ryo Ishibashi.
Guión: Sakichi Satô.
Producción: Kana Koido y Harumi Sone.
Música: Kôji Endô.
Fotografía: Kazunari Tanaka.
Montaje: Yasushi Shimamura.
Diseño de producción: Akira Ishige.

Argumento:

Cuando Minami es enviado a asesinar a su mentor, Ozaki, que está en medio de una crisis nerviosa, se embarca en una odisea de inexplicables fenómenos que comenzarán con la muerte de Ozaki y la posterior desaparición del cadáver, que lo llevará a conocer los personajes más extraordinarios y vivir las situaciones más sorprendetes.

Mi humilde opinión:

 Al Sr. Miike se le va la pinza con esta película de una manera … Comenzar a ver una de sus películas es una aventura como pocas, nunca sabes lo que te vas a encontrar.

Gozu es surrealista de principio a fin. Yo me preguntaba : ¿dios mio … que coño hago  viendo esto? , pero a la vez era incapaz de apagar la tele, es tan ¿alucinante? todo lo que pasa que te engancha y no te suelta. Rara como pocas. La adorarás o la odiarás.

Si quieres ver algo diferente y  flipar en colores no te la pierdas . No pierdas el tiempo en intentar entenderla, porque casi nada tiene sentido.

Si decides verla, el mejor dia es el tipico domingo de resaca. ;-).

warning: not for the weak-stomached. 

samurais with cowboy couture. japanese engrish. kill bill  and the female. parodies of reality. taking a piss out of pop culture. reds, whites, and swords. quentin tarantino. laugh out loud machine guns. bloody guns and gore. and simply, a western by the eyes of an eastern westernized culture.

This film directed by Japanese director Takashi Miike looks to be the sleeper film of the year.  Sukiyaki Western Django also features Quentin Tarantino.

Went over to Jordan's house this weekend for a movie night. We watched a DVD of Takashi Miike's newest American release, Sukiyaki Western Django. Truly entertaining. 

Jordan has a Leopard Gecko named Buddy.

Faroeste de Samurais conta com a participação de Quentin Tarantino

A idéia é inovadora. Um filme de faroeste com samurais. Embora essa ligação tenha nascido quando o clássico Sete Samurais (Shichinin no Samurai, 1954), de Akira Kurosawa, foi refilmado como Sete Homens e um Destino (The Magnificent Seven, 1960), de John Sturges, nenhum filme transportou os samurais para o universo do velho oeste antes. Até que o diretor japones Takashi Miike realizou Sukiyaki Western Django. Uma grande homenagem aos filmes da linha Faroeste Spaghetti, de Sérgio Leoni. O diretor Tarantino participa como ator no começo desse filme que é um grande tributo ao gênero. Miike tirou sua trama de Por um Punhado de Dólares (Per un Pugno di Dollari, 1964), de Leoni, por sua vez refilmado de Yojimbo - O Guarda Costas (Yojimbo, 1961), de Kurosawa. O novo faroeste dividiu os críticos, inclusive no Brasil, quando foi exibido na Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo (2007). Por isso, a dificuldade em ser lançado nos cinemas por aqui. Sukiyaki Western Django entrou em cartaz mês passado, nos Estado Unidos e sofre o risco de chegar direto em DVD no Brasil.

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Guillermo del Toro com agenda lotada até 2017

Depois de ser escolhido para assumir as duas partes de O Hobbit (The Hobbit), com produção de Peter Jackson, o diretor mexicano Guillermo del Toro (Labirinto do Fauno, Hellboy) acertou um acordo com a Universal Studios para realizar quatro projetos. Entre eles as refilmagens de Frankenstein e Dr. Jekyll e Mr. Hyde. Assim que concluir sua contribuição para o universo de Tolkien, del Toro será exclusivo da Universal pelos dez anos seguintes.

I followed up a  viewing of Takashi Miike's Audition (1999) recently by watching the special features included on the disc. This included an interview with director Miike, who expressed the opinion that Audition was not a horror film, since it did not include any ghosts or monsters.

Audition opens slowly and quietly as a character study of a widower working in the movie business whose friend talks him into using a bogus movie audition to screen for possible new brides. He quickly settles on one quiet, thoughtful young girl and despite warnings from his friend and teenage son discards the sham of the audition process to begin wooing her directly. At this point the movie makes an abrupt left turn into madness and violence, since the young woman in question turns out to be a seriously disturbed murderess.

Yes, there are no ghosts or monsters, but Audition surely is a horror movie. Because the movie takes so long to introduce us to the main character of the widower and not only develops sympathy for him but also sets up the shock we later feel when he is revealed to be not everything we thought, the movie also establishes the emotional framework for the horror that follows. The emotional foundation of Audition is the effect that loneliness can have on someone's life, which can range from sad and corrupting to monstrous and deadly. In the end, the widower is not completely sympathetic and his torturer is not without pathos.

It's valuable to note that, even though the last act of Audition is shocking and hard to watch, Miike does pull back on his punches. Miike recognizes that not every gory detail needs to be lingered over and much of what transpires is suggested. Of course, this makes it all the more horrible since it is unfolding in our imaginations. And interestingly, rather than falling back on familiar instruments of screen mayhem like scalpels or saws, Miike has his villian torture her victim with acupuncture needles and piano wire.

Several elements elevate Audition above the level of a standard "kid tortured and abused turns into serial killer" movie: the amount of time Miike invests into developing the story of the widower, the widower's hidden failings, and the chilling scenes of the young girl sitting in her apartment, staring at the phone, waiting for her victim to call.

But NO that will not happen.  I have a few posts in the pipeline that require a bit of polish, if I could only remember my notebook when I am actually doing these things.  Oh! and I am working on a online radio station, though I think it will be on last.fm rather than pandora (since pandora is giving me problems with the whole idea of eclectic music).  

BUT to get things rolling, here is a link to a review on Slate about a mind boggling Japanese Western

Slate

What is it about?

Japanese have taken the wild west. They are fighting guns with swords, the red against the white, trying to score them some gold, women and one gunman.

Questions I want answered!

Will this movie be my mommy, please?

Things worth seeing: hot Japanese guys, hot Japanese guy with a piercing, arrows vs. bullets, Quentin Tarantino covered in flour, cinematography.

Music factor - Oh yes, the soundtrack is a must have for playing loud in the morning before the everyday battle of your life begins once again.

Coolnes factor - unreachable.

Official movie site

In theaters: August 29, 2008

Sukiyaki Western Django is an english language "Spaghetti Western" film (Sukiyaki here for some japanese flair) directed by Takashi Miike, and featuring a japanese cast along with Quentin Tarantino. The film's got a pretty neat sense of style, and though the story may be cheesy (actually I don't really know what the story is lol), this should make for some pretty good entertainment with some friends (in the same vein that Grindhouse was).

Can check out some more stuff at the official movie site.
Wikipedia page on the film. Here you'll find references to what the Spaghetti Western genre of films is, and also where the name Django comes from.

Also Known As: Big Bang Love, Juvenile A

Director: Takashi Miike

Writer(s): Ikki Kajiwara (novel "Shonen A ereji" as Ato Masaki) and Hisao Maki (novel "Shonen A ereji" as Ato Masaki)

Release Date: August 26 2006 (Japan)

Genre: Drama

Plot:An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals. (credit to Svend Snedker via imdb.com)

Awards: n/a

Cast: Ryuhei Matsuda, Masanobu Ando, Shunsuke Kubozuka, Ryo Ishibashi, Kiyohiki Shibukawa

MPAA: Not Rated.

Box Office: n/a

I. Love. This. Movie. What first attracted me to this movie was that Takashi Miike had directed it. I am a huge fan of Takashi Miike's films. So I picked this one up with some fansubbed subtitles. When I first saw this movie for the first time, I did not get it at all.

The movie is literally translated at 4.6 Billion Years of Love. I am assuming, since I know nothing of the Big Bang Theory, that they came up with Big Bang Love, Juvenile A because the Big Bang supposedly occurred 46 million or 4.6 billion years ago.  Juvenile A is, of course, one of the juvenile prisoners "name", I just have no idea who.

The movie begins with Ariyoshi strangling Kazuki on the floor of their cell. He releases him and confesses to killing him, resulting in the guards taking him away. We then get thrown into the murder case. We meet two detectives who are trying to solve the mystery of why did Ariyoshi kill him. As they dig into their lives, we tag along and see what has happened to get them to this point.

I love Ryuhei Matsuda in this movie. He has such an innocent looking face here and is just adorable. All things considered. I first met Masanobu Ando in this film. And what a pleasant surprise. He is so handsome and so... agile. lol

There's not much to say in acting for this movie, just that it was soooo greatly done. There is not much interaction with the other cast. But for these actors to act as crazed prisoners won my heart. There was no hesitation, no awkwardness, and no overall wrong doings. The acting, all that was in this movie, was great.

The cinematography was very "chill". Just like Akumu Tantei (Nightmare Detective)(2006)that both Matsuda and Ando both take part in as major roles, it is dark and void of any "brightness". The "future" is so droll and dirty. There is a spaceship that will take you to space and an ancient pyramid that will take you to heaven. Lol.

The sexual tension between Ando and Matsuda is soooo eerily sweet, it makes me just want to wish Kazuki (Ando) gave up Ariyoshi (Matsuda) what he wanted. This movie has touched me in ways not many have. I didn't understand it at first. The way the movie is formatted and takes place is very confusing. You must be paying attention the entire time in fear of missing a very important part.

A

After continuously asking myself "what in the world is a threefold rainbow?!" I finally understand, or so I think. It never held me back from loving Miike's self proclaimed masterpiece. And I agree with the brilliant director. This is his masterpiece that will never be overdone.

MYV382

Allis R.

Os invito a todos vosotros a hacer el test, independientemente de que vuestros resultados sean brillantes o mediocres xD... yo en el primero acerté 12, y en el segundo 15. Habían algunas muy obvias para mí, y otras de estas que dices...joder... a mí que me cuentas xD

Aprovecho para mencionar, tras el "Leer más", algunas de las curiosidades que podemos ver a raíz de las preguntas.

Creo que alguna de las más interesantes es el hecho de que la habitación de El Resplandor en el libro sea 217 y en la película 237. Es algo en lo que me fije hace tiempo, pero a lo que no había dado demasiada importancia... hace poco, leyendo un reportaje sobre la película, encontré la explicación de esta duda. Resulta que algunas de las escenas del film se rodaron en los exteriores de un hotel real, el Timberline Lodge; los responsables del hotel pidieron a Kubrik que cambiase el número de la habitación a 237, habitación que en el hotel real no existia, puesto que -sabiendo lo supersticiosa que suele ser la gente xD- si mostraban la habitación con el mismo número con el que aparecía en la novela, la gente renunciaría a alojarse en la habitación 217 del Timberline Lodge.

Por otro lado, es curioso el guiño entre Sam Raimi, director de Posesión Infernal, y Wes Craven, director de Pesadilla en Elm Street. En la primera, Raimi mostraba un poster de "Las colinas tienen ojos" en el mítico sótano de la película; dos años más tarde, fue Craven el que le devolvió el guiño mostrando cómo la protagonista de Pesadilla veía en su televisor escenas de "Posesión infernal".

Otra curiosidad, esta ya bastante personal, es que recuerdo perfectamente el nombre del gato de Alien básicamente porque ese es el nombre que le puse a mi gato, hace unos 9 años... de pequeño ya estaba viciadisimo a esta gran saga xD

Por otro lado, buen y archiconocido guiño en la pregunta de la frase que Jack escribe en El Resplandor con la frase de "Sin tele ni cerveza, Homer pierde la cabeza", frase obviamente sacada del especial de Los Simpsons de La casa árbol del terror, en la que se homenajeaba a El Resplandor. Otro detalle es que la frase original era ""All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" significa algo así cómo "Trabajar mucho y no jugar hace de Jack un niño tonto", mientras que en la traducción se nos muestra la frase "No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano". Esta traducción se debe a que el mismo Kubrik pidió que en cada país se tradujese la frase con una frase hecha de cada país, aunque no correspondiese al 100%.

En cuanto la pregunta de Balagueró, vemos como una de las opciones de "película de terror" de este buen realizador español es OT La película. Cabe remarcar que, en entrevistas actuales, el director sigue afirmando que disfrutó rodando el documental y que no se arrepiente en absoluto. Para mí, sin duda, es la película a la que más temor tengo de su filmografía.

La pregunta de Audition es MUY fácil para todos aquéllos que la hayan visto. No es ningún secreto el hecho de que Takashi Miike esté "algo" loco. Yo nunca olvidaré ese "kiri kiri kiri" xD