New Kim Ki Duk

Michael Haneke's Funny Games U.S.

Funny Games is a shot for shot remakes of Haneke's 1997 original. The first destroyed me, the remake continues its rampage but I would say its basically the same. I read his thought behind remaking the film was that it's points was being lost in translation for western audiences(who he felt most needed to hear what he had to say). Judging from the theatre reaction people still just ending up confused, but us fuax d-grade suburban intellectuals will probably agree his not so subtleties are easier to grasp in our native tounge. His willingness to disrespect his audience is something to behold. The film is simply a trap for those who love tourture porn/slasher flicks. Haneke is judge and jury adn wants to punish us lowly sinners once he gets us in our seats. I'm not wild on torture porn and the only film in the genre I would champion is the original Texas chainsaw Massacre. The majority of the genre is dreck that really we could all do without.

My question is where does his condemnation start and end. Obviously the beforementioned films have little to no value beyond carnal entertainment and are basically for all purposes obscene, but does Haneke condemn something as masterful as say Hitchcock's Psycho or Cluzout's Diabolique? Neither Film makes some point about existence or tells a story that is going to change peoples lives to attempt and justify its use of the darkside of humanity they are simply brilliant thrillers. Can a masterwork be excludeded from the moral complications of its vile content?

Since most people (i'm somewhere in the middle) do not accept that these films are obscene or are ambivalent about it. What is the price we are paying for this sort of entertainment being accepted? From my experience I can't see any. One might argue America's impressive output of this sort of film could possibly go as far to explain some of our more aggressive tendencies but I'm certain that this sort of cult entertainment that the populus for the most part leaves behind upon graduating highschool(or dropping out) has not a damn thing to do with it(who the fuck knows why). I mean look at the Japanese, they make the most fucked up films in the highest quantity and they are about as dangerous as a wet kiss.I have come to no answers to any of the questions the film brings forth, but goddamn do I love this film for making my head run around in circles. Haneke is a mad genius.

5/5

Miwa Nishikawa's Yureru

Yureru seems to combine elements of Capra's It's a wonderful life and law and order into one simple film with a killer ending. The film tells the story of a murder, a brother gone off to find himself in the city(and become a hipster) and brother left to stay at home and the gap that grows between them. The film features the trademark japanese understated approach, simple camera work with occasionally beautfiul compositions and a somber somewhat resigned tone. The powerful and ambigous ending really makes up for the films average first two acts. On a side note the film features a scene stolen from my boy infys film Growing Down

4/5

Neil Marshall's Doomsday

Doomsday is a big dumb mashup of movies from the 80's that Neil Marshall loved. Since it wasnt screened for critics I was expecting an absolute disaster but it really isnt as bad as all that. If it had screened I would expect a tomatometer of about 20% which is about average for this sort of fair. It plays somewhat like a cinematic version of a Girl Talk song. Snippets of Mad Max, Escape from New York, and Alien with some sword and sorcery thrown in from way the fuck in left field for good measure. It has basically no focus, a ton of screaming and overbearing music but, somehow I still enjoyed it.



3/5

Jason Kohn's Manda Bala

Manda Bala is an odd beast for sure, it's the kind of documentary that one of your friends will be certain that in fact is not a documentary. The film focuses on the state of modern brazil, which apparently is fucked up beyond belief(as if City of God didnt make brazil look rough enough). Kidnappers, paranoid wealthy businessmen, kidnapping victims, plastic surgeons who fix mutitlated kidnapping victims, frog farmers,oddball cops and possibly the most corrupt politician Ive ever seen populate this oddly comic film. The editing has an eye for humor that is top-notch leaving us in the scenes long enough to catch some hilarious bit of personality from the subject. At one point the interviewer asks a policeman who is displaying his massive gun collection "Can you buy a nuclear weapon in Sao Paolo?" to which he replies in seriousness "I've never tried to. But I'm pretty certain you can". The laughs dont last forever though because as I started to think the film is making a joke out of the troubles in Brazil the film hits you with some sobering footage from kidnapping ransom videos or the very real effects of political corruption on the people of Brazil. The director is quoted saying that he felt the film was a "Non-fiction robocop" which seems a pretty insane claim, but after watching the film its an accurate way of describing the situation. Manda Bala is handled with a wit and eye for minute comic detail which is a rare treat in documentary film makes for both an enjoyable and truly eye-opening experience.

4/5

Southern Comfort

This trailer is to awesome not to share. Quoth the end sir.

Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr

Dreyer is a director I've been reading about for a long time but have yet to get around too, I would always look at his stuff my college library but never made him as my choice. So after reading another article by Paul Schrader where he exalts Dreyer I figured it was time to get a move on. So I watched Vampyr. In General its a bit of a mess. Its a bit hard to follow and is fairly light on exposition but whatever its a stylish masterwork. Dreyers smooth flowing camera really has to be beheld and will take you off guard. There are two particularly amazing scenes one in which the strange doctor comes to meet our intrepid hero face to face coming down a dim stairway which is short but sweet. The second is a long dream sequence where our the main character leaves his body for a macabre bit of hallucination captured immaculately.

5/5

Massive Attack video featuring one the killer scenes from Vampyr.