Sonatine

Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine (1993) is clearly the film that defines Kitano's trademark style: deadpan humor presented through a calm and peculiar form. As a mob war escalates a group of yakuza decide to go into hiding in Okinawa.

The premise sounds like something that could be used for a lot of suspense and action, but Kitano does not take that route. Instead he explores the way the gangsters spend time hilariously at the beach, which is interrupted by bloody violence sparsely. Kitano's humor is bright and truly funny this time. Solid characterization and the relaxed setting allow it to bloom to new heights. Even though a few themes do unify the film the focus is on comedy and rough violence.

The form is a bit exceptional too. The absolutely gorgeous photography, the calmly moving camera and calm editing patterns make the audience forget the passing of time - it's really easy to get into the film's world because of that. Joe Hisaishi's beautiful score is both haunting and relaxing at the same time - it works well as a cathartic device as well. There are a few moments in which Kitano's approach is quite awkward. For example there is one pivotal action scene that is handled in a dry way despite its slightly dramatic potential. I guess Kitano intended it to be blunt, but it has an effect which is too alienating.

Sonatine is an all-around solid film that is the best choice if you want to be introduced to Kitano's filmography.

Score: 8 out of 10

Kill Bill (Volumes 1 and 2)

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Quentin Tarantino's two-part action masterpiece Kill Bill (2003 & 2004) is probably one of the most famous cinematic efforst of the noughties. It is a wild story of a woman taking revenge on a group of assassins who put her into coma and took her baby. Whereas the first film is an outrageous, tongue-in-cheek combination of Japanese pop cultural references, the sequel mixes that pattern with spaghetti westerns and somewhat serious drama.

The plot itself is rather simple as the main character, The Bride, eliminates each assassin one by one before going after Bill, the biggest bad guy of them all. The films are ridiculously full of references to other films and cultures. The weird mixture of yakuza, samurai myth and God knows what else can be found in the Crazy 88's, a group of sword-wielding gangsters The Bride slaughters in a famous action scene. The epic setpieces are entertaining on their own and this one in particular is one of the finest achievements of the genre. And the best part is the climax of the whole setpiece: an elegant duel in a Japanese garden covered in snow. There is also an entirely animated sequence for the origin story of one of the assassins, O-Ren Ishii, which fits surprisingly well into the film.

The sequel is a bit rougher in tone although it manages to be funny at the same time. Although occasionally it is indeed a bit confusing as the balance between actual drama and silly entertainment does not work smoothly. However it's not a drastic hindrance when the film still features great action scenes (none of them rival the Crazy 88's sequence, though) and an interesting flashback storyline.

The form is a triumph in both parts. Tarantino's slick use of music is refined here - although the 2nd Volume pales a bit in comparison to the 1st one. That does not mean it is bad at all. The editing switches between intensive/kinetic and relaxed to create a funnily "charistmatic" tone at all times. Charismatic in the way that it makes the film easily entertaining and never lets the viewer fall into boredom.

Above all, Kill Bill is top quality entertainment that never pretends to be anything else - even I was easily sucked into its violent and simple-minded world.

Scores:

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003): 10 out of 10

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004): 8 out of 10

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Jackie Brown

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Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997) is the director's first slip-up. Essentially it is a long movie about a complex con a stewardess pulls off, but it is presented without a punch. A Tarantino film lacking the punch is an utter failure. It's almost as if he tried to hide his unsatisfying dialogue and boring characters under a superficially complex plot. Not even actors like Samuel L. Jackson can bring the characters to life - there is something wrong with the writing.

Even the form falters a little here. It certainly has decent camerawork and good editing, but Tarantino's soundtrack is hit-and-miss - too random this time that it doesn't even fit to the mood at all on some occasions.

And all of this mediocrity goes on for 150 minutes so it's not really tolerable either.

Score: 5 out of 10

Pulp Fiction

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Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) is often considered the director's best achievement. Four storylines of violence and salvation (most characters are seen in more than one storyline) are combined to one hell of a film. Tarantino's snarky dialogue dominates the two and half an hour running time and some of the film's quirky scenes have become legendary for Tarantino's fans.

Tarantino's writing is really compact and interesting this time. In comparison to Reservoir Dogs the scenes never feel like they go on for too long - although Butch's storyline is initially less impressive than the other ones. There's a huge cast of interesting characters, such as Jules - Samuel L. Jackson's Bible-reciting hitman who faces a miracle - and the Wolf - Harvey Keitel's cool gentleman whose specialty is to solve any sort of problems.

Pulp Fiction's form is also more refined and it is not distracting. Instead it is more successfully intertwined with the content. However, I'm not still a big fan of stylished camerawork for the sake of appearing as "cool". And naturally the soundtrack is marvellous.

Pulp Fiction is certainly the American epitome of coolness and snarkiness, but I don't find it nearly as impressive as the fanboys do.

Score: 9 out of 10

Reservoir Dogs

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Writer/director Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut Reservoir Dogs (1992) features the director's famous trademarks - even though they are still a bit unrefined. Essentially the film is about a group of criminals planning to rob a jewelry store, but the catch is that the heist fails in a terribly bloody way. The movie explores the consequences of the heist as the criminals begin arguing while trying to figure out just why the heist failed.

Tarantino is clever by leaving the heist itself offscreen and he depends on the ambitious narrative to deliver the emotional impact on the viewers (if that doesn't work then the screenplay would have been screwed). Tarantino is known for his masterful dialogue, but Reservoir Dogs doesn't completely deliver in this department. While it might work perfectly sometimes (such as the opening scene) there are times when it's stretched too much or simply too offbeat (dialogue between Orange and White). 

The camera work is also a bit unbalanced. When there's running, shooting or pointing guns involved in the scene Tarantino performs rather well, but during the dialogue-heavy scenes there are a few oddities that are so clearly made for the sake of being stylish. That's offputting. The use of music might feel a bit forced in Reservoir Dogs, but it works rather well in any case.

There are numerous flaws in Reservoir Dogs, but they are rather minor in the end. It is a fascinating crime film that deserves its cult status - even if it is quite overrated due to a mass of enthusiastic teenagers.

Score: 8 out of 10

Violent Cop

Takeshi Kitano's debut film Violent Cop (1989) is one of the most pathetic efforts at making a film I've seen in a while. The screenplay doesn't hold itself together enough well for a proper plot synopsis so I can only say the following. Everyone beats up everyone. Kitano's bad cop is the only properly characterized character - others become a blurry mass of incarnated nihilism upon which Kitano lays his violence. And then the others beat Kitano up, too. It's a mess.

Apart from the massive amount of cop outs, nihilism and clunky storytelling, the film is technically somewhat decent. Kitano's long take aesthetic does feel quite forced here and on some occasions the long takes are simply not justified. Kitano stretches the scenes only for the sake of doing so. I don't want to even write about the terrible soundtrack that is so painfully 80's.

Avoid it unless you are a diehard fan of Kitano. Nihilism for the sake of nihilism never works.

Score: 3 out of 10

Samaritan Girl

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If you had asked me a year ago whether I'm a Kim Ki-duk fan or not, I would have replied 'yes'. Even films like The Isle fascinated me. However, I have gradually begun to lose my interest and appreciation for his films. I then decided that Samaritan Girl (2004) will be the last of his films I will watch (apart from the possible rewatches of 3-Iron (2004) and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (2003)) if it doesn't turn out to be as good as I remembered.

Samaritan Girl is a film about two teenaged girls who resort to prostitution in order to earn some money (apparently they want to go to Europe). The film's first "act" is a solid and rich piece of writing that fascinated me a lot. The characters seemed promising (and well developed) and it felt like Kim really had something to say this time instead of vague and shocking content.

However, a dramatic twist in the plot ruined the rest of the film. The characters became irritatingly static, the focus of the film turned into something so ridiculously redundant and out of place. It seems to be almost a trademark for Kim to throw in a lot of prop motives which only hint at something undefined and end up being rather useless and empty. This can be found in Samaritan Girl as well.

Kim's form is refined though. His clean yet "chaotic" visuals rarely fail to deliver. Pleasant (and occasionally intriguing) compositions, good (and calm) pacing and smooth camera drives make the film enjoyable. This time he also mastered the use of music throughout the film: the bittersweet instrumental soundtrack hits hard. However, there is one peculiar exception to the quality: his use of Erik Satie's Gymnopedie is somewhat unconvincing. The weird thing about it is that I find it hard to see how someone could fail using that masterful composition. As a side note, it is also weird how there are so many Asian films that feature the song - even to the point of obsession.

Samaritan Girl's problems seem to be same as with other films by the same director: while his form is more or less brilliant, his writing stumbles.

Score: 6 out of 10

Do the Right Thing

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Everyone is a fucking motherfucker in this shitty ass film. All they fucking do is fucking whine all day about fucking racial FUCKING problems. Do you fucking see how fucking annoying this kind of language is for fuck's sake? That's the essence of the film's dialogue. Which film am I talking about? Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) - a film which caused a lot of heated political discussion because the film deals with racism in the worst possible way: by provoking people in unreasonable ways.

You can notice while watching the movie that Lee seriously tries to dig deep into its subject (and so he has said in interviews), but the problem is that he doesn't get to his point. The film is way too provocative for anyone to be watched objectively. The worst thing is that every ethnicity's flaws are exaggerated and no one is a good person in this film. The film is full of bad-mouthing every character and ethnical group. Everything Lee "wants to say" is stuck into ridiculous monologues or quotes (at the end of the film) which only vaguely get to the point.

His visuals aren't good either. The kinetic form becomes a little too comic for its own sake (too many useless Dutch angles, for example), but I've got to give Lee credits for at least trying hard. The color palette is very bright and a bit too "trendy" - and thus, it's quite distracting. The musical score is quite horrible as well - it's off-putting in its ridiculous sentimentality.

The film's name, Do the Right Thing, is supposed to be ironic in the film's own context. However, for me the name is ironic because the film makers didn't do the right thing themselves.

Score: 3 out of 10

Battle Royale

Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale (2000) is a controversial film based on a controversial novel. The Japanese are afraid of their youth and bypass an act called "Battle Royale" which allows a class of ninth graders (per year) to take a brutal challenge: kill each other off until one stands or they all will be killed. The soldiers and teachers equip them with various weapons, control them with lethal necklaces and leave them alone on a huge island for 3 days.

Its premise sounds more fitting for a silly exploitation film - which it is not. Instead it is a clever social commentary on education and generational gap. It explores its premise thorougly and becomes a psychologically great examination as well - and even though most of the characters' screentime is around 2 or 3 minutes, all of them are fully developed and none of them are disposable. When this is done on an epic scale like in Battle Royale, it enables the film to explore the repressed emotions and beliefs of the youth.

Each death brings up a new perspective (or even an entirely new theme) to the film's vast content. That's how the film keeps the viewer's attention constantly occupied and the film's emotional impact is truly sad instead of being only shocking. There are a few darkly comic moments in the film, but mostly the tone is very dramatic and grim.

Trust, friendships and love are tested as friends kill each other and lovers commit suicide. The fragility of the separate groups is heartbreaking - especially in the brilliant lighthouse sequence which I consider one of the best scenes of the decade. The narrative is so meticulously constructed that it swept me in right away and almost made me completely forget about the form (which is good as well).

Fukasaku engages the rich and controversial screenplay with needed intensity and drama. He mixes classical compositions with instrumental music created for the movie to create a very dramatic musical score. It could easily lead to maudlin sentimentality, but Fukasaku employs them in the correct way to make the drama tangible. Occasional use of handheld camerawork and intensive yet precise editing patterns add to the film's strong impact on the viewer.

Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is a hard-hitting and complex film which deals with themes I hold in high regard. It makes me even more interested in the director's earlier filmography which is quite hard to obtain from anywhere.

Score: 10 out of 10

Bad Guy

Kim Ki-duk's fans often describe his film, Bad Guy (2001), worse than most of his other films. I was surprised because the film is actually an effort more solid than Address Unknown (2001) and The Isle (2000). The film tells about a young woman who is forced to become a prostitute. The English title is a bit weird and I prefer the Finnish translation which literally means "The Pimp".

Despite the weak beginning and overwrought melodrama, the film's writing is quite decent. This time Kim finds truly poetic and beautiful moments in the harsh world. However, the film is quite uneven because there are scenes that stand out as brilliant and then there are scenes that are so utterly failed. The characters are decent enough to not distract me while watching the film - which can not be said of The Isle. The central relationship is explored in a peculiar yet successful way and the final result is intriguing.

Kim's form has become completely refined by now. His use of alienation through compositions is perfect and framing is magnificent in other ways as well. Music is nearly nonexistent apart from two songs which are used well.

Ultimately, Bad Guy is the first sign of true sophistication in Kim's films before he made 3-Iron (2003) and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (2004).

Score: 7 of 10

Shinjuku Triad Society

Before I watched Takashi Miike's Shinjuku Triad Society (1995), I thought the film was supposed to be subtle. It might be that when compared to the rest of his filmography, but it's a description that simply doesn't fit. The film's chaotic narrative follows struggles among the yakuza and police, focusing mostly on two brothers who are on opposite sides.

The film's story is bewildering because the narrative wanders around so much that you don't realise what the film is about until you are in the final third. Violence and sex dominate the film - even to the point of ridiculousity as filmcritic.com's Christopher Null wrote: "You got oral sex, you got straight sex, you got anal sex. You got men, you got women. You got violent sex. You got prostitute sex. You got yourself a ton of sex here." Sometimes sex (and violence as well) is used well as a narrative device, but Miike simply includes too much of it. The story is a thematical mess as well - because it's too unfocused.

Miike still handles the form rather masterfully. It is a lot rawer when compared to his later film - I would even dare to say it is Miike at his "purest". The opening sequence is a great example of his great editing and cinematography skills. He makes the controversial and harsh content flow smoothly and effortlessly. The violence is striking in the best way possible.

Shinjuku Triad Society is an uneven film, but Miike is able to redeem it to some point - luckily he has improved a lot after making this film.

Score: 5 out of 10

Ran

Even though Akira Kurosawa continued making films in the 90's, Ran (1985) is commonly considered his final masterpiece. It is also one of his biggest productions ever - even though he used "only" 1400 extras, it feels like there are a lot more of them (Kurosawa directed the massive sequences in a clever way). The film is the story of an old lord who lets his three sons take his position, assuming that they will work together as he suggested. Shortly thereafter, the two corrupt sons betray their father and the youngest brother.

The film's screenplay was inspired by Japanese history (the daimyo Mori Motonari) and Shakespeare (King Lear). On top of that, it deals with Kurosawa's own views about loyalty. Kurosawa approaches loyalty as a theme in all of the film's storylines (there are a lot of them even though the plot description doesn't show it). He mixes elements of greed, lust, power and guilt with the main theme and thus, it becomes a deep exploration of the ugly sides of humanity. Especially his take on guilt is fascinating: once the old lord has lost everything, he goes insane due to his guilt and even tries to dig himself a grave. Kurosawa's take is ambitious in its complexity - and what's the best thing about it is that he succeeds perfectly.

Surprisingly, there are bursts of cruel violence and blood in Ran. It is something Kurosawa has never emphasized in his films before. Especially for a Kurosawa fan this film hits hard because it seems him go to an extremely poignant level in delivering his message. Kurosawa uses music sparsely in the film, but it even further punctuates the moments he uses it in. The most unforgettable scene is the assault of the third castle during which the old lord becomes mad: the sound effects disappear and there is only music during the disturbing sequence of violence. The silence of sound effects ends to the sound of a gunshot - and its effect is astonishing.

Kurosawa spent a LOT of time (around 10 years) storyboarding the film - by PAINTING each shot beforehand. The result is breathtaking because each shot is so carefully composed. The lines and the colors are in perfect harmony. The editing is also remarkable in how it flawlessly brings the story together and gives it the magnificent pace.

The tragedy in Ran is heartbreaking. The characters are corrupted more as the film goes on - and everything is slowly crushed and taken away. Especially the ending left me a little teary-eyed. It is a simply stunning experience to watch the film.

Score: 10 out of 10

Une catastrophe

The legendary French film director Jean-Luc Godard made a trailer for the 2008 Viennale film festival. This trailer was called Une catastrophe, and it is Godard's poetic way to briefly look at violence and love in films. Its length is only ONE MINUTE. The short film is a montage of video and sound clips from other movies - including Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925). The trailer / short film also features a German poem. Une catastrophe is eligible for my project so I thought I should briefly mention it on this blog after I watched it. It's a solid work of art, but nothing more.

Score: 5 out of 10

PS: You can even watch it on YouTube!

Double Review: "Ichi the Killer" and "Visitor Q"

Here's yet another double review for today: two Takashi Miike's films, Visitor Q (2001) and Ichi the Killer (2001). Both of these films are extremely controversial, and especially Ichi the Killer has become known as one of the most disgusting and violent films ever. Ichi the Killer focuses on three central characters. The title character, Ichi, is a mentally damaged young man; Kakihara is an extremely sadistic and masochistic yakuza boss; Kaneko is an ex-cop who has become a criminal. All of these three characters are engaged in a complicated plot that involves a LOT of cartoonish violence and gore. Visitor Q, on the other hand, is a lot rougher. It is the story of an extremely dysfunctional modern family. I wont reveal a lot of details, but I'll warn you by saying this: it touches on almost every possible controversial topics. It involves - for example - incest, necrophilia and lactation.

Ichi the Killer is often misunderstood as glorification of violence, but Miike inteded it as quite the opposite. It has a mixture of cartoonish, horrible CGI and physical, raw gore. The CGI bits will probably have you laughing out loud - and that's what Miike wanted as well. But he skillfully merges it with shocking gore that makes us really ponder why we actually laughed at the violence. It makes fun of exploitation, yet it seems to laugh at itself too. It is a refreshing and brave take on violence. Although it partly seems that Miike enjoys disturbing the audience, Ichi the Killer really does have a strong message. The story is carefully crafted and the characters are well-developed. Even though it is clearly a parody, the dramatic bits work well too and if the screenplay was slightly altered, it could be interpret as a completely serious film. The climax is one of the best I have ever seen - it is simply fascinating. As funny as it may sound, you can also interpret the film as a tragic story. It just happens to include sadomasochism.

Visitor Q is certainly more controversial than Ichi the Killer. At first it seems a lot more serious than Ichi, but in the end it becomes more like a farce. I understood it as a wild and weird exaggeration of modern families. The dad is only focused on his job and not on his family; the mom tries to take care of the family and accepts anything, both good and bad things; the son is very violent, isolated from others and on top of it all, spoiled. But once a mysterious guest enters the house, the family begins to change gradually. There is also a daughter who lives elsewhere and she is a whore. Seriously. It makes a valid point of modern society although it goes so ridiculously over-the-top - but that is luckily on purpose. The last half of Visitor Q erupts so hilariously that I laughed through the last 25 minutes. Although all of these controversial topics reach their culmination points, it is funny as hell. And even more absurd is the effect on the family. At first I thought Visitor Q was going to be a silly and onesided social commentary, but the end made me change my mind because it was so brilliantly farcical.

Ichi the Killer's form is intriguing and a little pulsating. Mostly it has shots that have great compositions, but then there are a few oddities in the editing, like the beginning of the film. Miike uses slowmotion and fastmotion very absurdly, especially the latter. His use of slowmotion in the climax was a little distracting because it reminded me of Snyder at first, but luckily he didnt overuse it. As you might have guessed, every bit of violence is as juicy as possible - to silly extremes. Miike proves himself to be a talented director as well by being able to do that for 2 hours without any problem.

Visitor Q is the opposite of Ichi in form. It has a calm - and sometimes even documentarian - feeling to it. The camera rarely moves and when it moves, it is slow and smooth. Even though there arent significantly long shots in the film, it feels like there arent many cuts because it moves on such a calm pace. When the shit hits the fan - the farce becomes dominant - the camerawork becomes a bit more lively and more interactive. The farcical climax is something everyone should feel although the content is highly disturbing, but is presented in such a great way that it is impossible not to laugh.

Ichi the Killer's acting is fascinating. Even though Kakihara is one of the strangest and most unsympathetic characters ever, Tadanobu Asano makes him so damn interesting and human that I became actively interested on how he developed and what he was going to get next. The same thing goes for Ichi who isnt really anything *that* special as a character. In Visitor Q, Kenichi Endo's performance as the father is so unbelievably towering that I still havent fully recovered from it. He is SENSATIONAL.

If you can stand cartoonish violence and controversy, you should totally watch these films. I insist.

Scores:

Visitor Q (2001): 9 out of 10

Ichi the Killer (2001): 8 out of 10