Gangster VIP

Fresh-from-prison (on a murder rap!) yakuza Goro returns to his turf and finds things radically changed: his gang are now losers, getting the short end of the stick from the other gangs.

After things get bad and Goro loses a finger, he decides to force a confrontation with a rival gang, which doesn't seem to have been a good plan in retrospect.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Burai yori daikanbu (IMDB)

Wince : [*****]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [_____]
Gape : [*____]

Beerequisite : [*****]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [**___]

Reality Check: Flailing about in the mud is the new martial art school, eh? Really hands it to those in the hitting-like-a-girl school.

Lessons Learned: When trading your finger for the release of your friend, demand to see him first.

Election

A democratic election is taking place to determine the new leader of the Hong Kong triad: longtime gangster Lok, or ambitious moneyman Big D. No prize if you can guess who wins, and who gets pissed off.

Slow-moving but captivating film, with a race to recapture a sacred triad artifact and one quite good found-object fight scene. In fact, that last bit is so important it deserves its own category.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Hak se wui (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [****_]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [****_]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [*****]

Scene I'd watch on endless loop: The spoon-eating scene. Or maybe those crates being rolled down the cliff.

Red Handkerchief

After killing a witness during a scuffle at the police station, ambitious young policeman Mikami is force to resign. He leaves Tokyo only to be found by a colleague, years later, eeking out a guilt-ridden existence as a guitar-playing laborer and drifter.

Convinced to return to Tokyo, Mikami finds his former (and also forcibly-retired) partner has become a successful, and smells something fowl. He uses his old street smarts to scour the Tokyo underground for answers, often getting beat up for singing the title song.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Akai hankachi (IMDB)

Wince : [***__]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [*____]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [***__]

Drunken Angel

An early Kurosawa gem set, like Stray Dog, in post-World War II Japan.

An alcoholic doctor treats the yakuza Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifue) for a bullet wound, and discovers he has TB. Matsunaga refuses to change his lifestyle to undergo treatment, preferring to continue his tough-guy ways of drinking, womanizing, fighting, and gambling.

The doc gives him the "dying of TB is not glamorous you idiot" speech, which helps things a little until Matsunaga's former boss is released from jail and starts to retake control of his former territory. Matsunaga soon realizes he is not as powerful in the gang as he thought, and makes a half-hearted (the other half of that heart having been eaten up by TB, no doubt) attempt at redemption.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Yoidore tenshi (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [*____]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [***__]

Divorce, Italian Style

Ah, those wacky Italians and their strange customs.

An aristocrat in a small Sicilian town has tired of his wife and fallen in love with his jailbait cousin. Given the impossibility of divorce under Roman Catholicism, he decides he should catch his wife in an affair and murder her on the spot in order to escape his marital woes and win the girl of his dreams. A dry and rather cynical comedy of errors inevitably ensues.

Marcello Mastroianni is of course fantastic, gradually developing a nervous tic as his plans come closer and closer to failure. The film abounds in details that are understated yet poignant: the pencilled-in unibrow and moustache of the wife that only appear during moments of intimacy, the conveyance of respect or scorn by the townspeople through their background actions, even the husband's occasional fantasies of his wife's untimely demise. And who can forget the maid-groping grandfather?

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Divorzio all'italiana (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [_____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [_____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]

Diva

A postman makes a bootleg recording of an opera singer, steals her dress (I'd assumed to masturbate onto, and I wasn't far off), gets mixed up with a white slavery ring, and is pursued through Paris by a Taiwanese record label and a Carribean crime syndicate. Throw in a moped chase through the Metro and an underaged asian gal for good measure, and you end up with quite a good film.

There's a lot to like about this one : a throwing awl (a nice complement to Master of the Flying Guillotine's Indian throwing owl), a cat named Ayatollha, the Zen of toast. As the pace picks up, so does the cinematography, and towards the end of the film there are some very beautiful shots.


* * * R A T I N G * * *

Diva (IMDB)

Wince : [_____]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [_____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [_____]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [*____]
Explicability : [***__]

The Warped Ones

What's Japanese for A Clockwork Orange? Kyonetsu no kisetsu! This movie plays out like the first act of Clockwork, with Akira and his pals plucking motorcars from the trees, taking pretty Polly, and all that -- all to a cool jazz soundtrack. There's some manner of a plot involving Akira raping a girl and her falling in love with him, and Masaru moving into big-time gangsterdom, though these seem inconsequential even as they unfold.

The real joy of this film is watching Tamio Kawaji sneer his way through society, insolent and barbaric without an ounce of respect in his body. It is truly a wonder to watch: the simple act of eating a fruit or reading a newspaper becomes a vehement rejection of society.

A truly worthy member of the proto-punk canon.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Kyonetsu no kisetsu (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [****_]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [***__]

Most over-the-top 'holy crap!' moment: The chicken. Saying any more would ruin it.

Biggest gasp from the well-off audience in the UES theater I saw this at: Yuki pleading with Akira to defile her fiance in the same way that he had defiled her, apparently so they would have something in common.

Best unintentionally humorous cross-cultural scene: The Japanese patrons of the Jazz club bopping their heads to the crazy beat.

Best unintentionally homoerotic scene: Akira and Gill going for a swim. What the hell did these guys think they were filming?

Cruel Winter Blues

At some point you realize the guy you're working for is a complete and unrepentant asshole. That point comes for Chi-juk, not to mention the audience, about thirty minutes into the film. There may not be any labor laws covering this, but when your boss beats up a bunch of school kids, you probably want to find other employment.

Interestingly enough, though, just as Jae-moon (the boss) is at his most reprehensible, he seems to have a moment of clarity and his character begins a reversal that's straight out of a Dickens novel. Except, of course, with soju and sashimi knives.

As for the story itself, well, it's pretty straightforward. Jae-moon wants revenge after his buddy has been killed in retribution for a botched hit; he grabs talented mob newbie Chi-juk and does what any dedicated yakuza would do: stake out the noodle shop run by the victim's mom.

None of that matters, though, as the film is entirely character-driven, with the relation of the two yakuza to the mob, to the locals, and to each other changing as they get involved in the day-to-day life of a small, sorry village.


* * * R A T I N G * * *

Yeolhyeol-nama (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [***__]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [****_]

Scene I'd watch on endless loop: The night, in the noodle shop, of the hit. Masterful.

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

Imagine Disney doing a film about a high school girl-turned-gangleader movie ... where everyone dies.

A Japanese high school girl inherits a yakuza gang from her cousin and embarks on a life of organized crime. Not as entertaining as it sounds: the gang is falling apart (there are four of them left, and they drive the Japanese equivalent of a beat up old Fiat), the girl hates violence, and the jokes just aren't that funny (sure, it's in Japanese and something could be lost in translation, but judging by the directing and the acting it probably just isn't that well-written).


* * * R A T I N G * * *

Sailor-fuku to kikanjû (IMDB)

Wince : [****_]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [****_]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [**___]


What I would do different: This is a Japanese movie starring a Japanese schoolgirl, and there's not a tentacle in sight. Nobody even eats squid! Wasted, wasted opportunity.

City of Violence

The Region 1 DVD of this came out over the weekend; in celebration, I re-watched it. The film definitely holds up to multiple viewings; the strength is in the choreography and the editing, rather than in any details of the plot. And it still earns that 5-flinch rating, even when you know what is coming.

The story itself is straightforward: big-city cop returns to his hometown for a friend's funeral, finds the circumstances of death suspicious, begins an investigation, ends up beating the hell out of a bunch of people. Fantastic action film for those who like tae-kwon-do, buddy cop films, sashimi knives, or 70s action movies.


* * * R A T I N G * * *
City of Violence (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [*****]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [*____]
Explicability : [*****]

Scene I'd watch on endless loop: Fighting the gangs of kids. Definitely.

Blood & Donuts

A pleasant, some might even say tender, film about a vampire waking up (from sleeping off the effects of a moon-landing bender, apparently) in modern(ish) Toronto, and falling in with a (immigrant?) cabbie who hangs out at a late-night donut shop. Where the OPEN sign is on the inside, and they serve donuts on a plate. Quite odd donuts, too.

Boya the Undead is fun to watch as he stumbles stiffly around like a junkie, timidly making conversation and snacking on rats. It is Earl the cabbie, though, who soon steals the show with his outlandish accent and his easygoing delivery: "Is stress. My brain, is not pliable. It cracks!"

There's a plot of some sort involving some small-time gangsters (backed by the nefarious David Cronenberg), and another involving Boya's ex from the sixties, as well as a half-hearted love triangle between the vampire, the cabbie, and the donut shop gal (with Boya reaching for the part of hypotenuse when he plants a hand on Earl's thigh). But who cares? Great dialog and quirky acting combine to make a very memorable film.


* * * R A T I N G * * *
Blood & Donuts (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [**___]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [***__]
Pornability : [*____]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [***__]

Scene I'd watch on endless loop: Earl coming to grips with Boya's vampirism. "Sorry! I only know this one day and already I try to kill you, eh?"

Memories I want to erase: The CGI golfballs over the opening credits.

Fingers

Part two of Saturday's lineup.

Harvey Keitel plays a classical pianist who does occasional collection work for his small-time loanshark dad. This is one of Keitel's best performances: 'Fingers' is a sociopath who constantly blasts 'Summertime' on his portable radio, beats a pizza shop owner in front of his son, rapes (or was she asking for it?) Tanya Roberts in a bathroom, leers at a nearby young girl while trying to talk his way out of being arrested, and stalks and rapes (or was *she* asking for it?) Tisa Farrow for her vacant stare. You don't like the guy, you're amazed that more characters onscreen aren't kicking three kinds of crap out of him, and you don't think you'll like where it's all going to end up.

Where it's all going to end up is obvious from the moment Dad says "hey, by the way, that last job is going to be tough: the guy stuck a gun in my ear when I came for my money", but Keitel's performance of the ostensibly conflicted and genuinely unstable 'Fingers' is fantastic enough to keep you watching. Knowing Keitel's reputation as a method actor, you have to wonder what lengths he went to when preparing for this film. Especially during the prostate exam.

All in all, a fine and vastly underrated film.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
Fingers (IMDB)

Wince : [**___] (-1 * for being a sociopath)
Flinch : [****_]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]

Prime Cut

The first half of Friday's double-feature.

Lee Marvin versus Gene Hackman: the Chicago mob coming down on a Kansas City slaughterhouse owner/meatpacker, with the mob playing the sympathetic character, oddly enough. There's meat (do we see a theme here?), a combine-harvester, a sex slave auction, and no doubt about the outcome in this movie.

If you see one Lee Marvin vs Gene Hackman movie this year, make it this one.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
Prime Cut (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]