Catching Up

Ive seen so many films lately I really haven't had the time to write anything down. So here is a bunch of short reviews to get these out of my system.


Rian Johnson's Brick. Noir in a highschool setting. Works pretty well but I think it was limited by its own gimickry. Enjoyed it.

3/5


Todd Fields Little Children. It's good. It's got some very amazing scenes, It's got a few scenes that didn't quite work. Not Oscar caliber in my opinion.

4/5

Shohei Imamura's Warm Water Under a Red Bridge. It's a bizarre Film even on Imamura's standards. Good film that attempts to make you care for a bunch of interestingly bizarre characters.

4/5


Tom Tykwer's Perfume. I thought this movie looked cool from its trailers but I wasn't biting with anticipation. After seeing the film I cant wait for the DVD to be released. The surprise film of the season for me. One sentence summary, It sort of Amelie meets Silence of the lambs.

5/5


Guillermo Del Toro's Fantasy War Tragedy. A little bit to hyped in my opinion(I was expecting something that was going to have a ridiculous impact on me) but still a fantastic film. Wildly impressive visuals and a moving story line. Cant wait for his next.

5/5


Gen Sekiguchi's whacked out Japanese Magnolia. Bought It cause I like Tadanobu Asano. Crazy visuals and wacky stupid plot. Didn't work for me.

2/5

Benoit Jacquot's Godard like film about a bourgeoisie caught up in a life of crime. Similar Plot to what could be a Godard film but 1/10th the passion(but thats still more than some).

3/5

Kinji Fukasaku's Street Mobster

I'm a sucker for really innovative films. Kinji Fukasaku's 70's yakuza pictures are some of the earliest films to feature a high speed documentary style visual feel. These films shooting style is so far ahead of its time that it's just now becoming more mainstream. Films like Saving Private Ryan, Narc, United 93 all owe something to these old flicks.

Street Mobster is the tale of a young thug named Isamu Okita(Bunta Sugiwara) who is a hot head with who refuses to bow to anyone... ever. As you can imagine in the world of the street thugs and Yakuza big wigs this can cause quite a bit of drama. Its a tale of rags to riches filled with money, dames and violent uprising.

The star of this and all of the Fukasaku Yakuza films is the wild visual style. Angles are so dutch that the camera man might be suspended from a cable or something. We chase down our criminals at such high speeds with so many well timed cuts that it really gets your blood flowing. Every action scene has quick dramatic impact, gun shots, stab wounds all happen so quickly that they are quick shocking and effective.

While the style is something to write home about the rest leaves something to be desired. While this film is easier to understand than Fukasaku's byzantine Yakuza Papers series, It lacks that films sheer number of amazing scenes and memorable characters. The main character of this film borders between cool and annoying punk almost unbearably(part of this is because he is the main character of the Yakuza Papers where his amazingly cool). The story to the film seems to lack any real weight as we watch it, it has developed characters hell we even see a the main character as a baby, but it just doesn't seem to have any gusto. Also Some character motivations are very muddy. Especially those of Okita's bizarre girlfriend who will be nearly tortured and for some reason always come conveniently crawling back when the plot needs it.

While this isn't a particularly good film, it is a very cool one. If you haven't been exposed to Fukasaku's violent and stylish Yakuza world I'd say to start with The Yakuza Papers (There are five films in the first series), then go on to watch the magnificent Graveyard of Honor. This film has enough style and one particularly good scene to warrant a viewing for hardcore fans, but for others its not required viewing at all.

3/5 "Its got some style, but not much else."

Pedro Almodovar's Volver

Pedro Almodovar is one of my favorite filmmakers working today. He has such a passion in his films that very few can hold a candle too. Volver is a great film filled with humor, drama, and plenty of twists.

Volver is a complex noir like story that is difficult to give justice to in a few sentences. The film revolves around the beautiful Raimunda(Penelope Cruz) and her complex past and present. It's a film with murder, sex, ghosts, and a grand helping of great humor. This is the kind of film where you want to go into it not really understanding what its about. Just trust me.

The first and most striking thing about this movie is the fantastic performance by Penelope Cruz. She is at once extremely likable, intensely beautiful, and very confrontational. Its interesting how well Cruz and Almodovar work together to highlight one another. His stylish passionate and intimate direction gives much to the character. She flows from being a powerful woman in control to a scenes of powerful vulnerability very naturally.

The best thing about this film and every other Almodovar film is the amazing script. Almodovar is a fantastic director don't get me wrong, but with a script this good even the worst chump of a director would have a hard time messing it up. The film has such an odd feeling of humorous tragedy that it is at once disarming and refreshing. We don't know exactly how to feel in every scene. In one scene in particular (which I wont describe as to refrain from spoilers) some members of the audience where cackling with laughter while others looked across the row in confusion. It was interesting to see how some people took the scene as drama and some as comedy. I'm not sure who was right, but both of them were having a good time.

Even though I just said it was the script that made this film(which it was) Almodovar's direction is still fantastic. As usual his films have a visual vibrancy on par with other intensely visual directors like Wong Kar Wai or Steven Soderbergh. Beyond colorful lighting its obvious that Almodovar is just having fun making the film. There is a sort of child like glee to the way Almodovar captures some specific scenes which I don't want to ruin, but lets just say it involves some spilled blood!

Almodovar is a great filmmaker. This is another great movie to add to his already amazing body of work. Its a humorous and playful noir film told with a passion seldom seen. Not to be missed by those with a pulse.

5/5 "He's Back again."

Robert Altman's Mccabe and Mrs Miller

So I have been waiting for this film on Netflix for probably two months. It sat there at #1 with a short wait for quite a while building up some anticipation on my part. Well I finally got my chance to watch it and it was honestly worth the wait. McCabe and Mrs Miller is an offbeat western that manages to involve just about all the highlights of storytelling, comedy, drama, romance, action.

McCabe is a gambling man who comes to the small town of Presbyterian church to start a new whorehouse/bar. After he gets things off the ground the straightforward and smart Mrs Miller comes to town and offers to help him with the business as the madame and a partner. McCabe is a little goofy and dumb while Mrs Miller talks fast and thinks faster, but romance slowly builds up between the two none the less.

In the past I have enjoyed Altman(I've seen Mash and Nashville) but have not found a film of his to really latch on to. So finally with this one I have something to fawn over. In most ways its just another western, but it really stands apart by making significantly different and way more developed characters than usual. Warren Beaty as McCabe is a sort of likeable oaf who sucks at math and mutters to himself "I got poetry in me!" while arguing with himself about Mrs Miller. Now Mrs Miller on the other hand is very smart and always in control. My favorite little bit of character from her was the way she just shoveled food into her mouth with complete disregard for what would be 'lady-like' when she first meets McCabe.

My favorite bit about this film was that it completely played with your expectations. In the western the hero is always in control and tough, he never makes mistakes, and he kills the bad guys when it has to be done. The whores are whores. They aren't smart, they don't have ambitions except maybe to find a good man to wisk them away. But this film just does the opposite of that in almost every way and its a very interesting and it functions as a refreshing take on the western. Its quite interesting how it comes full circle too.

I'd say its a must watch for fans of character studies, and for fans of westerns. It felt like this film foreshadowed Deadwood in many ways both in plot and style. Its a great American film from one of the great American auteurs that shouldn't be missed.

5/5 "Great Characters make a Great Film."