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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 230
An "homage" (?) to the classic Samurai movies of old. 12 Samurai and a hunter come together to assassinate Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, the murderous leader of the Akashi clan, and to thwart his appointment to the Shogunate Council.
Perfectly balanced, with half an hour giving Samurai Motives, another half to assembling the assassins, half to skirmishes and readying the place of battle, and the last half hour to the battle. Standard "7-Samurai" sort of stuff, where the character of the players is assembled to play against overwhelming odds and through heroic self-sacrifice save the day.
Very little that's new, but - an old format well revisited.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 144
Not, oddly enough, my favorite. The Depictions of New York - 1910-20(??), again in the '30's, then in the 60's, all practical effects, all remarkable. The casting - Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Joe Pesci, etc - excellent, the costumes, period pieces, sets, all very worth while, the sentiment of characters with a torch carried for decades, meeting again and again to no good effect, well, sentimental to the extreme, but at almost 4 bloody hours long!!!!
One exception - the Modern Erotic Chinese art, passed over in the Chinese Theatre/Opium House scene near the beginning with Robert DeNiro -, well, I could have paused there, there was some inspiration. But that was background to a vanishing scene, like the opium dreams themselves...
Otherwise, no.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 159
This, another on the list of "Movies no-one has ever seen but you must if you'd consider yourself cinema-literate".
Which of course I bought into, being a fan of the obscure and esoteric.
The premise, an art collector has a selection of 7 paintings of Tableaux that he interprets for the camera/audience, via live recreation of each of the tableaux and his subsequent interpretations.
In style, a black-and-white forerunner of Peter Greenaway. The sets, styles, music, filming - I'm pretty sure this made an impression on him.
In substance - the paintings the collector has amassed - ludicrous, appalling recreations of what we are assured are art masterpieces. Even in black and white these appear to be 3rd rate studies by an artist of little talent and an impoverished imagination. That is not addressed, and I would think should be taken as a "clue". The collector shows us the painting, and then analyzes it for us, then on to the next painting - and each painting, somehow, is joined or thematically linked to the next. Until we arrive at the third or fourth which has been stolen, but the collector nevertheless attempts to reconstruct it's content and link it to the others.
It is a fine example of the "unreliable narrator" - how someone with a great deal of knowledge upon various subjects can tie them together in ways that - while they may impress the uneducated viewer - in themselves possess no greater value (or insight) than the paintings do on their own. The progenitor of every conspiracy theory. A curiosity, for sure, and some interesting ideas, but niche in the extreme and not entirely relevant. Yet another film I can strike up a conversation at the bar with..."You should see"...ending with "Well, maybe you shouldn't but it's only an hour long...".
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyQf4am7VOA
I'm waiting on the books I ordered, need a break from all of this European-Art-Haus, and, checking the tracking, I"m still 2-3-4 weeks away. And they're all on the same continent. Bloody hell. I'm seeing the value of Amazon...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 169
Now, going through youTube recommended lists of "Films that you should see that nobody else has". A must-see list of undiscovered masterpieces. Sitting in a hotel in Kelowna, waiting for the dentist the next day, and so I watch.
The weather, cool, rainy, outside cloudy and grey, the drive - autumn colours and the immanence of winter, all made for the perfect viewing conditions.
***
This, a black and white film, filmed in 1990 but set (?? Maybe the 40's, 50's ??) - about a detective on the trail of a serial killer, pedophile who's' murdering children in rural Hungary. It's atmospheric as hell, long takes of the forest, autumn, when panned overhead the trees have their leaves, when filmed on the ground the trees are all bare.
The dialogue, sparse, the soundtrack - haunting and familiar - Kate Bush is listed on the credits, but - I've heard this music before, only where...
The plot, about how when evil, in human form, comes among us how ill prepared we are to recognize or deal with it. Phrases like “Sociopath” or “Pychopath” or “Narcissist” hide it, give it an air of psychological legitimacy…to what most of us must be unknowable and unimaginable. Claustrophobic, haunting, disquieting, a morally grey landscape in which it's always cold and raining, in which the detective is always searching, not only outwards but in himself, in which...well, a few things. That rare combination of a film that makes you think as well as feel (perhaps more the latter.) I'll note this is not a happy or cheerful film, so, perfectly paired for the weather but probably not for everyone.
Link: https://rarefilmm.com/2017/12/szurkulet-1990/
Note, this version is unrestored, so poor resolution and a crackle in the audio. If anything to me it lends it that air of veracity. There are other versions that have been cleaned up and restored, to me it made no difference.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 165
This, a peculiar Polish masterpiece from 1973. Based upon Bruno Shulz's "Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass.", which I'm not sure I have or haven't read; but the story revolves loosely around a man going to visit his father in a Sanatorium where the ordinary rules of time don't apply. Fantastical sets, Art-Nouveau in ruins, covered in spiderwebs and dust, the halls of memory, tied up trunks and bureaus, a graveyard with ravening wolves, examination rooms in surreal decay, inexplicable incidents...it becomes a parable of memory, the pretext of visiting his father leads him to relive and reexamine various stages of his life, the aesthetic alone makes it worth the watch, the opening train ride (a conductor leading any number of lost souls), the crowds of people - active or silent, frozen in time, it reminds you of a live action version of The Quay Brothers "Street of Crocodiles" (also by Bruno Schulz), or a darker, more surreal Jodorowski; rooms (memories) are entered, left, and then sealed behind, doors opening up to surreal tableaux, his father surrounded by bare-breasted flappers and prostitutes digressing upon Steak and Mushrooms, the stuff of indigestion and bad dreams...
A surreal masterpiece. You can read the wiki here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hourglass_Sanatorium
or watch it on YouTube here (for free!!!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8nHhstKtEA
Note: The YouTube version is low res and the colours are so-so. This could benefit from a restoration.