A non-review of Lonely Swallows (2011) Japan Cuts 2012

I’m not going to review Lonely Swallows.

I’d like to but I can’t.

Its not that I haven’t seen it, I have, rather in the form I saw it, the film is a mess. Whether this is the result of the screener I saw the film on or the film itself I’m not sure. I suspect that it’s the largely the technical aspects of the film.

The film is the course of approximately two and a half years in the lives of five Brazilian Japanese, five young adults who live in Japan and have parents or a parent who came to Japan from Brazil in order to earn money in the factories. The kids are kind of adrift since their duel nationality has them as outsiders in the eyes of many Japanese. Indeed they are not required to go to school and many dropout in junior high to work in the factories. When the economic bubble burst in 2008 and 9 they were the first to be let go. The kids feel they belong in Japan, and not where their parent came from since they either left those countries as a children, or they were never there. The film plays out as a kind of universal tale of poverty and migrant workers who don’t really have a place where they feel they belong. Visually the world they in habit here could be anywhere in North or South America since other than everyone speaking Japanese there is no difference.

There are some colorful characters here and some of their stories are often heartbreaking and oddly hopeful, the trouble is that the film is a tough slog. The film seems to have been shot on a variety of different video cameras with the result that some of the hand held camera moves result in weird distortion in the image through much of the early parts of the film. Based on what is said in the film, the film started almost randomly with the filmmakers falling into the Brazilian community and they started to film. This is good because they film has a very much you are their cinema verite feel, but at the same time the feeling more frequently crosses over into feeling like someone’s home movies. Even over the course of the almost 3 years of filming the footage never feels like anything more than assembled home video. Sadly things never get beyond a thrown together feeling. There is a great film here it just needs a different editor to go through all the footage and put it together.

As you can see I have issues with the film technically and it’s organization. But at the same time I fully recognize that the material itself, the stories told in the film are very good and worth hearing. They deserve to be heard and seen, they just need to be seen in a better forum than this, much like a great painting needs a great frame, this a Rembrandt of a story needs something better than a 99 cent store frame.

The biggest problem with the film is the subtitles: They SUCK.

I mean they are an absolute jumble and mess. Its not a translation problem, rather it’s a problem with how they arranged. Much of the film has a commentary/narration that appears only in the subtitles which runs at the same time as the film is translating what the characters are saying.  Even though the narration is in yellow and the dialog is in white the resulting  collision of alternating lines makes it hard to balance what you are reading and seeing since its often like reading two books literally at the same time. Facts and figures mix with talk of regular life. It’s a mess and seems to be an indication of a deep seated problem with the organization of the film since the film which is throwing too much at you from the get go.

There is a good film here, no there is a great film here, it just needs to be restructured and resubtitled... and until that happens I can't in good concious review this film.

(It also needs to do something about at least mentioning the Nikkei laws which were put into place to get rid of the unemployed immigrants by paying them to go home and never come back. )

Brat Out Of Hell: The Brat! review, Japan Cuts 2012

High atop a building, on the set of a zombie horror movie shoot, a man is shouting at the top of his lungs and threatening to kill himself. Meet Daisuke Baba, a crew member of minimal importance in charge of putting together the ‘making of’ footage for the movie. For the 90 minutes that follow, he will test people’s patience and get on nerves as the antihero/protagonist of Japanese movie The Brat! (The Japanese title is ‘Kusogaki no Kokuhaku’ which translates into ‘The Brat’s Confession’).

The Brat! is one of a few films in this summer’s barrage of Asian movies (brought to us by the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts) with a movie being made within it. And it's one of two Japanese films where said movies within the movies are zombie flicks. Yet, The Brat! is closer in spirit to Hong Kong’s Vulgaria, both firing off a rebel yell of resistance from a young and fired up generation of filmmakers.

Before Daisuke can complete his rooftop rant, he is startled by a zombified actress, Momoko, who’s made her way to the same spot for a break from the filming. After the supporting actress expresses interest in being interviewed by Daisuke, they take turns doing their most guttural zombie moans, as she has asked him to give her tips on improving her performance. This marks the beginning of an awkward relationship between these two minor players on the film set, both of whom need to be regarded carefully before we in the audience presume to know who they are.

Daisuke, with his constant laments, is sure to pull in many a casual reviewer who sees him as rallying figure for those that insist on following one’s artistic dream, and those that are treated unfairly for having less attractive features. These are the focal points of his tirades: that the work being put his way compromises his pursuit of a pure vision and that he is not taken seriously because of his appearance; he seems to wear a permanent scowl no matter his feeling. While his frustrations may reflect some valid challenges to those with less glamorous paths, his constant remarks about these hardships should not necessarily be taken at face value. Add to the picture the fact that he lives at home with his elderly mother in a room adorned with pro wrestling figures and masks, and takes little interest in finding a steady source of income despite his mother’s pleas for him to do so. Even when bestowed with greater responsibility and the chance to take the lead on directing a feature related to the main horror film being made, he shirks this off, or rather uses it as a chance to get closer to Momoko. Daisuke takes a liking to her since the fateful day on the rooftop. His lack of experience being with other women taken along with her outgoing friendliness toward him makes her a potential first girlfriend for the would be director.

With these shortcomings in mind, Daisuke Baba joins a long line of late blooming flawed characters, going back at least to Ignatius from the novel Confederacy of Dunces, and following with more than a passing resemblance to Billy (Vincent Gallo) in Buffalo 66, fellow failure at love in contemporary Japan, Toshiyuki from Boyz on the Run, and rather interestingly he shares some parallels with Swanson, the main character in the Rick Alverson directed, Tim Heidecker starring indie dark horse, The Comedy...to name just a few. What these characters share is that they never uncategorically change or learn a lesson. They are too realistically defective for that. And yet, there is something likeable that surfaces in their character; in some cases it is simply their resolute stubbornness in remaining who they are but it also includes a break, no matter how slight, in their demeanor. A willingness to bend a little if not change altogether, and in the case of Daisuke, it is in his gesture towards another instead of his constant pining in self pity where we find his well-hidden appeal.

In Daisuke’s pursuit of Momoko, we have a refreshing wrinkle in the usual turn of events that finds inadequate boy miraculously getting the perfect girl. While at first seeming very much in control, Momoko turns out to have disturbing traits that rival those of Daisuke. The footage he shot on set, which led to him being charged with a documentary-like side project, honed in on Momoko convulsing horrifyingly in the background of an action scene. With the actress then removing herself from the movie shoot altogether, Daisuke pursues the nature of her malady, at first exploring the possibility of her being haunted by literal demons (encountered perhaps on a haunted movie set) and then facing the existence of figurative ones, manifestations of a very troubled psyche.

This leads to a surprising portrayal of unhinged suffering from Sayaka Tashiro, whose first time(!) this is starring in a feature. Her performance here is raw and unsettling. And of course, Hiroki Konno, who is the brat, is impressive too. Like the far more repellant subject of The Comedy, Daisuke borders on completely irredeemable -- the abuse he hurls at his mother when she refuses to cook for him until he finds a steady job -- while there are moments that embrace such an illogical and abrasive path, they take on an innocence that endears the character to the audience. It is all pulled off with unique quirks and mannerisms.   

If The Brat! is not a film about following through with one’s vision or defying superficial judgments of a person’s merit, then what? Unrealized desire for one, and the many paths it could lead a person down. Unending secret longing, vicious assaults on others both verbally and physically, moving on in a new direction, even suicide...all of these avenues are explored.  Both Daisuke and Momoko encounter the physical manifestations of their desires in the form of the internal movie’s debonair director and its rising starlet. Yet, their sympathetic behavior toward the imperfect pair seems to further raise their ire.  

Amid all this despair and frustration lies the potential to make distant fantasies into a reality, even if it is not in the manner one initially hoped for. Here lies, for Daisuke, a renewed sense of purpose centered not only around himself, but the salvation of another. The tone changes from wallowing to empowering. While not, as it may first seem, about making one’s vision come true, it is about finding out what in fact that vision is.
  
The conclusion is where this film’s magic trick lies, after a somewhat shaky narrative. It is anything but a smooth ride. What comes is a riveting instance of primal scream therapy between the two main characters, which holds surprisingly little back in a culture that still maintains rituals of distance and restraint.

Pulling off the creation of this kind of offbeat character is an impressive feat for newcomer writer/director Taichi Suzuki. With The Brat! also filled with raw moments about the frustration of filmmaking, he’s created a debut feature that is not always perfect, but makes a bold and not soon forgotten impression.

The Brat! is being shown as part of the Japan Cuts festival, taking place at the Japan Society, Saturday July 28, at 7:00 PM.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Rebirth (Youkame No Semi) Review, Japan Cuts 2012

While it is perhaps true of all cultures, Western ones seem find it particularly difficult to show or view a conflict in absence of judgment. When something unfortunate happens, there must be a party in the right and one in the wrong, just and unjust. Although, I suppose it’s become increasingly easy to cast negative judgment on all sides of an issue. 


So it goes with the film Rebirth (whose Japanese title, Youkame No Semi, translates to ‘The Cicada’s Eighth Day)...perusing blogs and comments of those who have seen it in Japan (it opened in theaters there in 2011) or a television drama based on the same novel, reactions come down to taking sides: 


‘I couldn’t sympathize with this character at all because what she did was so completely immoral.’ 


‘She shouldn’t have done that, but then the mother was a b----, so she was right to...’ 


Yet despite reactions, this Japanese academy award sweeping film poses quite a challenge to absolute moral judgment with its look at an impulsive criminal act and the course of events that follow.

Rebirth opens in tight courtroom suspense mode and a dour mood.  The defendant, Kiwako, on trial for taking a four month old girl and raising her in secret for 4 years, and Akiyama Etsuko, the child’s mother, make final statements before a judge.  The mother is wrathful. Kiwako is sorrowful, yet firmly unapologetic. An affair with the father, which was ended by him but not on mutual terms, led up to her rash act of kidnapping. After Kiwako is found guilty and the tension of this scene reaches its height, the film moves around through different phases of time to color in the acts leading up to Kiwako’s transgression, as well as her efforts to raise the girl, Akiyama Erina, while at the same time evading capture.

The film takes its time to eventually settle on its other, arguably main focus: a young adult Akiyama Erina, living the life of a detached college student with a part time waitressing job. A woman of a similar age as Erina, introducing herself as a reporter, presents her with a dossier on Kiwako and the the trial, an aspect of Erina’s life that she had apparently not yet been ready or willing to explore.

The events shape up to focus more on the trials of Erina from herein -- an affair with a married man finds her following a similar path to that of Kiwako and also results in an unexpected pregnancy, while her relationship with her parents is strained at best from since she was returned to her natural parents.  And as they do, the flashbacks shift from the point of view of Kiwako to that of Erina as she and the supposed reporter who has an oddly keen interest in her take to the road together to retrace her path in tow with Kiwako and sort out the events of her past.

While the film is often labeled as suspense -- and there are some elements of it, it depicts a rather languid life on the run. As Kiwako sought refuge and support in the newfound task of raising a child, she found herself indoctrinated into a separatist cult (which is also not portrayed as malevolent), and then settling and working in the rustic island community of Shodoshima. In fact, most of the tension occurs early on with the film’s end run focusing on Erina’s emerging recollections, her coming to terms with an unconventional past, and her resolve for the future.

It is a through and through beautifully shot film. The camera captures small portraits of characters’ uneasy frames of mind amidst a scenic backdrop of rural Japan. This is helped in no uncertain terms by the portrayal of these emotionally complex characters by a very accomplished cast, led by Mao Inoue as Erina and Hiromi Nagasaku (who also appeared in a role of great psychic duress in 2010’s Wandering Home, a 2011 Japan Cuts selection) as Kiwako.  Intermixed with a moody score are songs by Jack Johnson and Beach House, giving it a fresh and contemporary feel.

What prevents the film from being an all around great drama goes back to its treatment of immoral acts. I do not find its more neutral portrayal of Kiwako’s kidnapping a sore point, nor the sympathetic portrayal of her as a caring mother figure. Life is not always made up of such simple black and white ways of looking at an issue, nor should characterizations in movies be as such. While the movie does not cast a suggestive dark shadow over characters for their acts, it does not do much to explore the factors surrounding such an incident. A film like A Separation shows society’s role in creating morally ambiguous situations where people are lead into conundrums like this, all the while struggling internally. Kiwako’s motherly instincts make her a sympathetic figure so the fact that she is not shown to at least reflect on the consequences of her actions doesn’t quite add up. We are left with the possibility that she shut such thoughts out of her mind, like someone who blocks out memories in order to cope with a trauma, but that notion is a bit lacking in substance.

Perhaps the story should have been built more firmly around Erina’s perspective. It is her journey that we are building towards in the conclusion after all, which is something that does not have quite a natural fit with the progression of the story from early on. Again, had the story’s construction been focused more consistently, it would have perhaps made a stronger statement...and made more sense to me as a winner of this year’s best film award of the Japanese Academy. It does not compare to the powerful visions of the prior year’s winner Confessions and frontrunner Villain.

Still, Rebirth has an undeniable beauty and weaves a dramatic tale with an intriguing turn of events that will fall upon many a teary eye.

Rebirth is being shown as part of the Japan Cuts festival, taking place at the Japan Society, Tuesday July 24, at 7:00 PM.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Hara-Kiri:Death of a Samurai and No Man's Zone (Japan Cuts 2012)

Today was supposed to be a double feature at Japan Cuts but things happened and it ended up being a double feature of a different variety

Since the first of the Japan Cuts films was at 315, I realized that if there was an early enough screening I could see Takashi Miike's 3D Hara Kiri. there was an 1105 so I went down to the IFC center and bought myself a ticket.

The story is based on a novel by Yasuhiko Takiguchi which is also the basis for a classic film from 1962. Things begin when a poor samurai arrives at the home of the local lord asking to be allowed to kill himself in his court yard. Fearing a bluff for money the lord takes the samurai in and tells him the story of another samurai who had come earlier, just such a bluff that went "wrong". The poor samurai persists and then tells his story, which is linked to the first man.

I paid $17.50 to see this at the IFC Center. I say this because that's way too much for a movie under the best of circumstances but for as bad a projection of a film as this it's inexcusable. Early technical glitches aside the screening was so dark that any 3D was all but lost. Yes it worked in a few sequences, and really popped in three sequences with bright flowers and the snowy finale, but the light was so terrible that everything dissolved into the films largely grey palate. It was so bad I watched a chunk of the film with out the glasses on.

How was the film itself?

14 of the longest 2 hours I've ever spent in a movie.

Yes I know that the film is pretty much a soap opera, but it takes forever to get where it's going. I was yawning.

And it's not the story, which is quite good, I think the script is badly put together. What do I mean? There is a cruel turn by one of the Samurai at the Lord's house that seems to imply something deeper than just not liking the suicide bluff. The tale of the long flashback that forms the tale that lead up to the first suicide is truly soap opera, which is fine, but outside of three characters and their pain we don't know anything about their world. Certainly we don't know enough or see enough for the larger issues raised in the final confrontation to resonate as fully as they should.

That said the film has some amazing set pieces, the first act of suicide is quite honestly one of the most horrifying things ever put on screen. People in front of me were curling up in their seat. Also the finale is an amazing piece of samurai action.

At this point I have to state that as good as the end is, it reminded me of Sword of Desperation, a film that played last year at Japan Cuts. That film also dealt with questions of honor, loyalty and revenge, not to mention the larger questions of the samurai system.

It's not a terrible film, but one that didn't seem to benefit from 3D or paying almost 20 bucks to see it.

After the movie I headed out to get lunch and drain my meager savings via the 50% off Criterion sale at Barnes and Noble.

I then headed up to the Japan Society for No Man's Zone.

This is where a problem occurred. Whomever did the scheduling for Japan Cuts for today didn't take into account that you really can't schedule a two hour movie in a two hour slot and then clear and refill the theater in enough time to stay on track. Add intros to the movies plus director appearances and you can see that things went sideways from the start.

The movie was supposed to start at 315, I don't think we were let in until after that and I don't think the movie started after the directors intro until about 345. It was a cock up that lead me to bail on Is Anyone Alive because by my guess-timate it wasn't going to start until after 8 which would mean a midnight arrival at home.

Director Toshi Fujiwara began his pre-film statement by saying he didn't want to say anything about the film. We were to take it as a film on it's own terms without any preconceived notions from him. He said that while filming began some 40 days after the earthquake (he didn't want to get into the rescuers way) the film should not be taken as to how things are right now. He said a year as passed since filming and things have changed.

No Man's Zone is a film record of Fujiwara's trip int to the 20 kilometer no man's zone around the damaged Fukushima power plant. At first it's a travelogue of the devastation left by the earthquake and the tsunami. The film then shifts gears to how people are coping. How are the people displaced or who have suffered losses from the disaster coping. There is a philosophical voice over which mixes with the words of various people who have been affected. We get several extended interviews with people in the zone.

Ultimately it's part of a record of an event that no one ever foresaw happening.

A documentary crossed with meditation or essay, this is a hypnotic and unique film. There is no real finger pointing (though there is a discussion of government mishandling of things-which is partly explained by understanding this is beyond comprehension), there is only the damaged landscape and damaged people. Fujiwara shows them to us and lets us make up our own minds.

I'm still trying to come to terms with what I've seen and what I heard since the commentary is full of food for thought about how we process disasters.

Is it a great film?

I don't think so, I think it's a little too heady to truly touch the heart. However as an exploration of an event it's dynamite.

After the film the director answered a few questions as the audience for the next film was seated.

He said that he is aware that in some form he is exploiting the tragedy. I don't think it sits well with him but at the same time he feels that there has to be a record.

He said that the most asked question about the film was why make it? He replied that the real question should be why not make it.

Samuel from the Japan Society asked him about the use of silences and sound. He said that the silences are there because there are silences where he filmed. No one is around so there is no sound, only the sound of nature which is why it fades into the soundtrack like it does when you're there.

There was also some fleeting words on disaster tourism, which seems to be a growing things not only in Japan but elsewhere in the world.

There was a few more bits but out of context, like much of the narration, they will mean nothing to you. He did say that he is working a follow up which he is financing until he can find backing.

When the movie was done I ran into Hubert from Flixist. We both headed out despite having tickets for a later movie. Both of us were/are exhausted and we both didn't think we could handle a later night than planned.

We then headed home, walking back to Grand Central and subways toward home.

The long run of film festivals is almost over. I have two more Japan Cuts screenings this week and Unseen will be reviewing several other films in the line up as well, so keep reading.

The MondoCurry Top 5 Favorites of the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival plus Rogue's Gallery

Having withdrawn from New York City’s sweltering humidity to take respite in a Pacific island hideaway, I’ve had time for my New York Asian Film Festival reflections to bake, cool off, and gel into my Top 5 favorites list. It's a highly subjective list of favorites from among the new movies shown (the amazing retro film selection assembled for this year’s fest, centered around guests Choi Min-Sik and Donnie Yen, plus the most WTF mind melters the NYAFF programmers could unearth, deserves a look all its own) .  Bear in mind there are films I did not get a chance to see and there is also the factor of my tastes leading me to be inclined to prefer certain types of films over others. At the same time, this is a year that I’ve seen more of the films than any previous, in part because of a greater willingness to partake in advance screenings and screeners -- perks of being affiliated with a legitimate online outlet, which has also allowed for a few replays of movies that demanded a repeat viewing to truly absorb.  And there was also the great camaraderie among other writers and moviegoers making it a pleasure to stick out long stints in the theater.  Anyway, here we go...

1. NAMELESS GANGSTER (South Korea)

This is a big, sprawling epic and totally based in reality gangster related drama. Making use of a historical backdrop of South Korea over the course of the ‘80s and early 90’s, during which the government decided to commit to a massive purge of organized crime, it tells a messy tale of traditional ancestral hierarchy butting heads with the code of gangsters. There are many confrontations that explore the fragile yet explosive male ego as shaped by Korean society.  Music is cleverly used to show the timeframe of the story with the ‘90s crackdown marked by a suspenseful score (think the moody beat driven sounds of movies like The Yellow Sea and The Unjust), contrasting a cover (by Chang Kiha and the Faces) of a swirling psychedelic pop tune, I Heard a Rumor signifying the ‘80s. The main attraction is of course Choi Min-Sik’s nuanced performance as a middle aged customs officer one notch above being a grunt, unwittingly brought into the folds of organized crime. At once terrified, and yet too prideful and aware of the potential rewards to walk away from the game, it’s an attention commanding performance. And when the movie does reach its conclusion, set in a distant present day, it does feel like coming to the well earned end of a hard travelled journey.

2. MONSTERS CLUB (Japan)

This film crept up from nowhere and haunted me at an advanced screening. Followed by weeks of various other features, I wondered if it would in fact hold up to my early impressions. But sure enough, all it took was the discovery of a clip of quietly brooding music from the movie to bring those strange, enchanting feelings right back.  It is a unique blend of striking images, controversial political messages, and internal struggle. Though abstract in its telling, there is a powerful story about finding one’s way amid powerful and difficult to understand influences bursting at its seams.    


3. KING OF PIGS (South Korea) 


Having watched this film quite a few times to familiarize myself with its proceedings (to prepare for an interview with its director that I am still sorting through), it almost eluded the list having become something of an academic text.  Entertaining, it is not. At least not without some serious psychic damage along with it.  A fluid animation with a muted color palette that still manages to pop, it’s a bleak tale of two down on their luck men looking back on junior high school days filled with systematic oppression and resulting tragedy. The choice of animating this tale allows for some tripped out elaborations on its dark themes: humans transform into dogs and swines to represent their status, cats and corpses taunt the living and their powerlessness in the face of more well-off bullies, and Chul, a boy for whom violence is inseparable from his everyday existence, warps into monstrous forms to show his increasingly hate-filled state of mind. This film truly challenges a way of life in a way that is both beautiful and painful to look at.

4. BLOODY FIGHT IN IRON ROCK VALLEY (South Korea)  

With a slight now you see it now you don’t presence on the festival’s schedule, I can’t help but try to draw some attention to it. That and I am a mark for some straightforward, yet very well done pulpy action.  This film manages to do a whole lot with just a little, and that sense of economy is one of the things about it that won me over. Adorning characters with little more than regular apparel and making great use of a sleepy backwoods town and seemingly abandoned spaces, it tells a tale of revenge against convincingly portrayed heartless men who do very bad things, wrought by a steely eyed loner whose blackened heart allows him to do equally bad things in turn. Along the way, the pursuit of vengeance runs across a corrupt conspiracy and a truly dazzling damsel in distress. It’s minimally packaged into a neat little nail biter of a thriller from a director I am definitely eager to see more from.

5. SCABBARD SAMURAI (Japan) 


Picking the final slot was a challenge because at least two other films vied for a position on this list. But alas, no ties allowed, a 5th place film must be named. I chose Scabbard Samurai because it is such an amazingly pure and heartfelt gesture. Watched again, the trials of its reluctant samurai, Kanjuro, work on another level, saying something about entertaining the masses while still carrying the burden of an unfulfilled soul. It speaks of the paralyzing effects of loss, as both Kanjuro and the prince who he has been charged with entertaining both mourn the deaths of those they held dearest to a plague brought into the story through mention only. Kanjuro’s grand gesture to his daughter, passed along in an impassioned performance by a half speaking half singing monk, has the sort of deep significance that could only come through sacrifice. Considering the director’s more trifling early ventures makes this film an even stronger statement.

As the 5th spot was difficult to determine, here are some honors for two other truly remarkable films:

HONEY PUPU (Taiwan) - a densely coded, brilliantly colored blast of alien logic on the impermanence of all things (including us), told about and perhaps for a generation longing for nostalgia but totally fluent in virtual technologies. Abstracted beyond any followable logic, if that bothers you, you’re not likely to enjoy it. If you can let go and enjoy the ride, then strap yourself in and prepare for take off.

VULGARIA (Hong Kong) - a whip smart, low brow assault on good taste, with both inside cultural and universal humor a plenty, that takes shots at the film industry, yet at the same time works as a sincere tribute to those that put everything on the line to make movie magic.

Thank you to everyone on the New York Asian Film Festival team for making this magic happen!

And thanks to friends, new and old, who made the festival an especially good time to be had!!

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Hip Hop Hideout: 8,000 Miles 3 Roadside Fugitive review (Japan Cuts, 2012)

In 2009, director Yu Irie planted a strange landmark alongside the road of Japanese cinema.  It was the beginning of the 8,000 Miles series, a strange mash up of youthful, locally flavored protagonists interacting in stories that move along at a slacker’s pace, filled with long interludes of hiphop freestyling.  These offbeat rhythmic exchanges came up as conversational interactions between characters more often than they did as actual performances. Episodes meandered along towards points that were not really conclusions, but rather stops along the way for the series’ 3 constants: a trio of amateur rappers going under the collective name Shogung (MC Ikku, MC Mighty, MC Tom) dreaming of big time success.  

Its third installment, ROADSIDE FUGITIVE offers some more of same, yet not without some changes.  This time out, it’s a darker, more grown up vision than the previous films. There is a bigger budget, which allowed for an interlude that takes place in a slick, yet vilifying vision of Tokyo.  The outset takes us back to where the first film left off as Mighty bids farewell to partners MC's Ikku and Tom, deciding to head for the electric lights of Tokyo to try to make it big on his own.  We fast forward to Mighty working as a kind of roadie, but really more of an indentured slave, for a Tokyo based hiphop unit Gokuakucho (among it’s ranks is actor Akihiro Kitamura of Human Centipede victim infamy).  He does all of their bidding under the pretense of paying dues before being given a chance to show his stuff on stage.  

An opportunity to enter a freestyle MC battle presents itself (it’s the same kind of rap battle you may know from the Eminem biopic 8 Mile) and Mighty quickly rises to the top of a heap of young MC’s.  As the tournament approaches its conclusion, Mighty is suddenly given an unexpected directive to fall short of victory in the finals because his opponent to be is part of a more established crew that will share an event with Mighty’s crew.  The conflicted up and comer begrudgingly opts for loyalty to his crew and tosses away the competition.  Things only get worse. His crew disowns him in front of another group, the same one whose member he laid down for in the freestyle tournament.  On top of that, they deny him a previously promised spot on stage that night.  

At this point, it may seem like the makings of a great tale of redemption. Perhaps Mighty will persevere against stacked odds to battle the members of these crews and prove his mettle as an MC.  But the 8,000 Mile series continues to stubbornly steer clear of a linear path.  The incident leads to a violent outburst on the part of Mighty, thus sending him on the road and establishing him as the fugitive of the movie’s title.

Another flash forward, and Mighty is in more familiar territory, somewhere in the sticks far removed from glamorous Tokyo.  Although free of the bullying and disrespect he experienced in Tokyo, here he finds himself hooked up with a different brand of thug, but thugs all the same, ripping off cars to resell as scrap, amidst other seedy activity.  Mighty finds himself in one of their good graces and is charged with organizing entertainment for an outdoor festival. This becomes the playing field on which the rest of the movie’s exploits are carried out.

Reenter Tom and Ikku.  Not ones to miss out on any opportunity to achieve fame, they are among several teens and twenty-somethings trying out for a spot on stage at the festival.  It’s all good rhyming and flexing until even this local showcase proves to be more of a pocket lining scam than a genuine effort to put on a great show.  In keeping in line with the rest of the film’s flow, there is still no one major conflict or challenge to rally around.  Shogung join forces with some similarly raggedy juvenile counterparts to make a live festival appearance materialize while Mighty’s troublesome rage again surfaces as he and his girlfriend’s integrity are compromised and money pressures rear their head.  The drama in the lives of these young upstarts orbit around one another as vulture-like threats (even the tyrannical rappers from the Tokyo scene reappears) form ever tightening circles and a sweaty carnivalesque summer festival lurches into gear.                             

While the film can feel bit all over the place, the vibrant rap interludes and director Irie’s skill at capturing movement, be it in the shiny Tokyo scenes or the more crudely shot festival sequences near its conclusion.  Even without a clear direction, Irie knows how to steer things in such a way that it’s compelling to see what is going to come next.

Here a subjective conversation is due about the decidedly grim direction.  For films that explicitly set out to expose audiences to injustices of the world, it’s fine.  For this more character driven film, I’m not sure.  Its world is one where those older and more powerful lord whatever influence they have, even when it is slight, to exploit a younger, hopeful generation. The petty criminals in Roadside Fugitive rip off, bully, and goad into degrading acts like prostitution, the generations that have come after.  Resistance to these powers that be, never mind overcoming them, is sadly absent.  The protagonists play the games by the unfairly loaded rules until they crack under pressure.  This didn’t quite work for me, coming from a genre that could potentially deliver the hope and sense of uplifting that often comes from well-crafted tales of individuals that face great odds.  I’m still hung up on a minor moment during the auditions, when two girls trying out as dancers are propositioned to sign a contract to regularly sell their bodies by the festival’s leering ringmaster.  The lack of comeuppance for such a sleazy character, or at least some form of rebuke, left me cold.  Yet I am forced to question if this overbearing lack of hope is overly cynical, or in fact a much needed dose of realism?

Even if it’s not always pleasing to the senses, the commitment to presenting a less than sunny vision in this chapter is, without question, daring.  Mighty’s slips into violence were jarring, and definitely a unsettling shift from the mood of the other two films that threatens to turn some people off.  Again, it’s an aspect of the film I’m ambivalent about.  I’ve admired how these films and their American reference point 8 Mile proposed the possibility of a battle of words replacing actual violence.  It's a matter of idealism vs. life’s harsher realities. Even the final performance goes out on a ledge, portrayed in a firmly non-celebratory style, which does carry across an, until then unclear, message about loyalty and perseverance.  It all leads to a messy and conflict-ridden anti-conclusion.  While it may mark an inner urge for Irie to express a bleaker sentiment about the world around us, another possibility is that they are laying dramatic bridgework for another sequel. It would not be hard to imagine that he conceived of an even lengthier, more sprawling story that they decided to cut into two parts, as reports do indicate the series has been commercially successful in Japan.     

Despite the lack of triumph, a sense of solidarity that comes through this countrified interpretation of hiphop is still evident.  While its big city incarnation is seen as divisive, corrupt, and all about image, the freestyle exchanges between Tom and Ikku and their new allies lead to bonding together.  Even when it’s done in confrontation, it comes off as respectful one upmanship and speaks of an understood, communal sense of pride.  And a stubborn one -- it might be hard to imagine the ridiculously monikered newly introduced MC’s, especially Speak No Evil and the wildly varying in energy level DJ Sleeping Cat to defend their act from against taunts, but they do so with bravado.    

It seems important to once more point out the presence of the unique freestyle rap dialogues.  The story has grown up to the point where they are not as essential to the plot as they once were. They don’t work as well for me here as in 8,000 Miles 2: Girl Rappers, when they seemed integral to expressing the frustrations of the female rappers of that chapter. But they are there, making this part of a franchise that is truly a one of a kind moviegoing experience.  How enamored you are with this trick, and perhaps how familiar with it you already are from the series’ earlier entries, will determine how much mileage you’ll likely get out of this 3rd chapter.  


Roadside Fugitive is being shown at the Japan Cuts festival at The Japan Society on Sunday, July 22, 9:30 PM. Director Yu Irie will attend to introduce and answer questions after the screening!


Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Koji Yakusho retrospective at Japan Cuts 2012 (Woodsman and the Rain & Chroncle of my Mother)

As part of Japan Cuts they are looking back at the work of Koji Yakusho who is going to be there all next weekend talking about the 6 films they are running.

Yakusho is one of my favorite actors. He's someone who's name I can never keep straight, but who's presence makes me smile at every time I see him on screen. His body of work is incredible. He's the sort of guy who manages to do a wide variety of films and manages to more or less hit it out of the box every time.

This year they are running the wonderful Shall We Dance, which was remade as an okay Richard Gere film; Cure a murder mystery which is really good (and really needs a write up); and 13 Assassins which I have talked way too much about simply because I love it so much.

They are also running two of his recent films, both of which I saw in advance of the festival

The Woodsman and the Rain is the most recent film. It's screening Friday at a sold out out gala performance.

The film concerns a logger who crosses paths with a film crew (making a zombie film). The film crew needs a bit of help getting around and he provides it. He also takes an interest in a slacker amongst the bunch, who he doesn't realize is the director. The pair begin to bond as the woodsman finds joy in the filmmaking process while the director finds his backbone.

I find it hard to say more than I liked it. You'll forgive me some times a film doesn't really produce more than a comment of "it's good" you'll like it" no matter how good a film is. This is one of those times. This isn't to say that it's a bad film, rather it's a nice gentle film about life and filmmaking.

Screening Saturday is Chronicle of My Mother which is a film that shows you just how good Yakusho is. Here is a role that allows him to so completely disappear that I was waiting for him to show up, until I realized that he had been on screen the entire time.

Based on an autobiographical novel by Yasushi Inoue, Chronicle of My Mother covers the period just before the death of lead character Kosaku‘s father in 1960 until November 1973. As the film opens Kosaku played by Yakusho)is home visiting his parents.

His sisters are buzzing around him talking and preparing a meal. They are discussing the fateful day decades before when he was sent off to school. He is trying to remember details of that day.

When the meal is done he goes to see his father who recoils from his touch, there is no love loss between the men. Kosaku also speaks with his mother who wants to discuss her husband's impending funeral. A short time later as Kosaku is heading home he is stopped by his mother who wants to discuss the matter of the funeral again. Kosaku thinks its forgetfulness, it is in fact the beginning of the decline of his mother. From there we see the course of the lives of Kosaku and his family as they deal with each other, the past and the declining health of their matriarch.

Koji Yakusho is amazing. If you want to see why he is one of the best actors working today see this film. Watching him in the film I was, as I said, hard pressed to know where he was. Sure he was front and center, but it didn’t seem to be him. Sure he was made up and dressed to be Kosaku, but at the same time there was something more, his whole being seemed to be different. He moved and held himself very differently than in any other film I had ever seen before. It was as if someone else has inhabited his body and took over. I suspect that you think I’m nuts but it’s true. If you watch any, or all, of the films the Japan Society is running in the retrospective of his films you’ll understand what I mean. Sure Yakusho is good in all of them, but there is something special about his performance here, it’s a performance that takes his acting to another level, which considering how good he is I would have thought was impossible.

Compared favorably to the works of Ozu (whose work, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never seen) this is drama operating on any number of levels. We have the examination of how we deal with our aging parents; there is the attempt to find out why things happened in the past; and we have the domestic drama as the patriarchal and somewhat tyrannical Kasuko has to deal with his daughters who are having a hard time balancing what he has told them with the collision of modern society and the the revelations that the man is not the absolute pillar they took him to be. It’s a complex mix that some how manages to all come together into something really special.

Full disclosure here, I freely admit that part of my reaction to the film is that the film connected to bits and pieces of things that I experienced with my mom before she died. Little moments here and there connected to things that had happened with my mom. At the same time the film also connected with me in other ways that made the film feel as if it was more than from a novel, autobiographical or otherwise.

I really liked this film a great deal and when it was over I found that I had been moved by it’s story.

This film is a winner and I want to thank the Japan Society and Japan Cuts for shining a spotlight on it. As good as all the film in the serious are, this is the one where you truly understand what a treasure Koji Yakusho is.

No Keeping Them Down: Girls For Keeps (Japan Cuts, 2012)

GIRLS FOR KEEPS (whose Japanese title is the Japanese phonetic representation of 'Girl') is something a little bit out of my comfort zone.  It’s a through and through chick flick that caught my curiosity because it is adapted from a novel by Hideo Okuda (whose infamous LALA PIPO shines an unexpected beam of light out from an extremely dark and raunchy societal landscape).  Before I get into the film, I’ll preface by saying that while my eyes were initially doing barrel rolls, it won me over with its strong performances and earnest pro-female proclamations.

The film starts with a sequence that is striking in its dead-on reference to Sex and the City: a loud boisterous voice-over from one of the main characters, Yukiko, about her love of fashion (sure to set off Carrie comparisons) is set to noticeably American contempo-pop music blaring in the background.  The movie’s focus on her and 3 female friends will likely draw even more comparisons to the seminal HBO show.  Be prepared, however, for some much appreciated wrinkles in the formula.  

What the women share in common is that they are in their 30’s, or in the case of Yukiko, 29 and almost there -- an important factor in what the movie depicts to be an extremely age-conscious urban Japan.  When Yukiko joins the other women, all with their own stories, at a restaurant for a birthday celebration, they decide to tell Yukiko that it is time for her to grow up in both her appearance and manner.  And so begins her soul searching over an image she has long been comfortable with, as well as each of the other friends’ stories, filled with struggles over work, family, and yes finding love.  

Along with Yukiko, a campaign planner for an advertising agency, there is Seiko, a recently promoted executive for a city planning and developing firm. Takako is a single mom whose mind is often occupied with doing right by her son.  And last of all, Yoko is another white collar worker who is conscious of the difficulty of landing a mate in light of younger competition, a situation that is made more apparent when she is assigned to mentor a very desirable (to all of the women in the office) new male employee.        

For the women in the story, the combination of their age and gender present one sort of challenge or another.  While Yukiko and Seiko both have long term relationships, they face the hardships of holding nominal influences in their jobs.  Yukiko finds that her designs are not taken seriously by senior members of her company.  She ends up reporting to a younger superior with something of a vendetta for the way she and other 30-something women dress in frilly clothes and refer to themselves as ‘girls.’  At the same time, she grows increasingly frustrated with a longtime boyfriend whose efforts to make her feel special are humorously lacking.  An impulse to demand more is met with the nagging voice of a co-worker that at her age, she’d be better off just settling for the relationship she has. Seiko is undermined by a system that does not take women seriously as leaders, to the point where her work is sabotaged by an arrogant male subordinate, while at the same time forced to watch a new female employee be trivialized in spite of her talent.  

While they occasionally see each other, lament, and give advice over their situations, the stories are really each one’s own.  Their struggles are documented through situations that at times are humorous, and others humiliating.  Yukiko, with the help of a livelier and more self-assured colleague, stands up for her vision of a critical fashion promotion, while at the same time putting up with her longtime boyfriend’s routines, slowly growing in her demands for better treatment.  Seiko navigates her increasingly hostile work environment, steadying her resolve for an inevitable boardroom battle to prove the competence of herself and a sympathetic subordinate.  Less in the foreground are the stories of Yoko and Takako, yet their tales also have poignant moments.  In one scene that bears a great moment of awkward humor, Yoko returns home after work to find her family clandestinely celebrating her younger sister’s engagement.  “You don’t have to hide it from me. I can find a mate for myself,” she insists as she open a beer, but the cracks in her resolve are apparent.  For Takako, a simple gesture like teaching her son to flip over the monkey bars is a testament to her devotion to her son, yet at the same time the fretting she does over this shows her insecurities over being an adequate parental presence in his life.

The further along the film goes, the more it sheds away the Sex and the City comparisons -- aside from the important common ground that this about strong, independent women.  All of them are, even the more bubbly Yukiko; if they weren’t, they would not be able to face the uphill struggles society has thrown at them.  A big distinction between this movie and its American predecessor is that there is no focus on saucy exploits here.  The protagonist in Girls... are not trying to get their rocks off.  Rather, they seek to establish a positive identity, equity in a world that sends an overbearing message that they should remain complacent in a marginalized position.  I can also say with certainty that, as little familiarity as I have with the Sex and the City franchise, I know enough about the movies to say that Girls... is far more grounded in reality.  No, here there are absolutely no trips to luxurious wedding parties held in Dubai.  

As far as performances go, Kumiko Asou (who was also in one of the big features of this year’s Japan Cuts, Love Strikes!) is captivating as a headstrong, indignant businesswoman. This is fitting, as her confrontation with an overwhelmingly chauvinistic foe makes her story the most emotionally charged of the bunch.

While it espouses a cause we can get behind, the movie is not without some factors to take into consideration.  For one, this is a decidedly pop affair, with moments that some might find overly sappy.  Considering Fukuda’s other written work, it leaves me wondering if there was not in fact edgier, less tactful dialogue to begin with that was later prettied up.  On a more technical note, In moving between four stories, there are long stretches of time dedicated to two of them, with the others left out of the picture.  It is enough to sometimes take you out of the loop of the other characters’ stories and lessen their impact.  In fact the original novel was structured as a set of short stories, so combining them into one may have been a challenge.  And all the while it must be acknowledged, the cuts back and forth between the crucial events in Yukiko and Seiko’s stories near the movie’s finale was masterfully and movingly edited together.       

In fact all of the main characters’ final resolutions and realizations struck a chord with me.  I was truly won over.  The more i think about the ground covered, the more impressed i am that from within a social climate that is still marked by serious imbalance, a film like this comes along to both entertain and address those issues.

Whether or not you can relate, Girls For Keeps offers a genuine look at the challenges and complexities of womanhood, while channeling a powerful shot of positive girl power. An unapologetic chick flick, proceed accordingly.

Girls For Keeps receives its international premiere (first screening outside of Japan!) as part of the Japan Cuts festival, taking place at the Japan Society, Wednesday July 18, at 7:30 PM.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Final day - NYAFF 2012 - a killer rabbit, a unabomber, & some potato chips in Sendai.

Yesterday was officially the last day of the NYAFF before the baton was passed over to the Japan Cuts program. I went in to the Japan Society to catch the last trifecta of films starting with Tormented, Monsters Club, and the closing film - Potechi.

Tormented was billed as a psychedelic, trippy horror fairy tale involving a misunderstood 10 year old and his creative imagination in dealing with grief and suffering. A larger than life size rabbit will try to snap some sense in him! Tormented had me hallucinating in the theatre dreaming of the Little Mermaid as I started drifting in and out of reality.  Was it the intentions of the filmmaker to channel my psychosis to suck me into the horror’ible tale of an alternate Alice in Wonderland universe ruled by twisted rabbits?  Maybe watching this film in 3D would answer some questions in my two dimensional mind. DB had more of a granite chin as he was able to withstand the punches of the killer wabbit. His thoughts on the film here.

Monsters Club on the other hand, packed a thudding punch of social commentaries directed at our capitalistic society more interested in orchestrating a frenzied rat race full of empty souls in order to feed their shallow materialistic needs which further fueled their egos with this false sense of power because of monetary status.  The director who was on hand at the screening was inspired by reading the unabomber - Ted Kaczynski’s Manifesto and instantly thought that the writings described the current state of Japanese Society which led to the output known as Monsters Club.  The film is beautifully shot offering a poetic and peaceful outlook in life while being “free”.  Unfortunately, the flipside of the story is that the main character Ryoichi uses a destructive method in delivering his message to the money hungry CEO’s and TV Networks that are merely using the masses as puppets to appease their own greed.  In the middle of the peace and destruction in the eyes of Ryoichi - he begins to have a moment of self realization as memories from his past would conjure up in another creative form in order to begin the process of healing and to form some sense of closure with his family.  One of my colleague’s at Unseen Films - Mondocurry gives a description of the film (no spoilers) with more eloquence and passion here.

Toshiaki Toyoda - the director of the film was on hand to talk about the film after the screening. He mentioned some hardships during the filming of Monsters Club including the main actor - Eita who had lost his dad in a tragic death. Toyoda also had some fun words offered about Eita who was 17 yrs old when the director first worked with him. The young actor, a straight laced & bright fellow, has become quite popular in Japan through TV and commercials but Toyada sees him quite differently as a ‘dark’ individual who drinks a lot which is why he is banned from many bars!  The director mentioned that Eita really prepared himself for the role by buying mountain gear and living at a lodge for quite some time. The film shoot in the mountains was intense in the -15 degree weather. Another important thing to note is that the film was shot before the earthquake in Japan. The younger generation in Japan took to Monsters Club quite well as audiences were really emotional even crying at some of the screenings.  When asked by an audience member at the Japan Society, was there a particular philosophy that you wanted to convey to the viewers through MC - the director answered that it’s difficult to say what type of philosophy, but he welcomes the audience to take what you will from the film. With the context of Japan in mind, the matter of survival and thriving in Japanese society today is a huge problem.  At the end of the film, the director wanted to try to get the audience to see a glimpse of hope. Of course the hope is not entirely clear so he wanted to leave the conflict in the minds of the viewers.  Monsters Club is a heavy hitting and deep film that I’m still digesting and trying to make sense out of. Go see for yourself!

The closing movie of the festival belonged to the charming comedy POTECHI.  It left a nice taste of consomme flavored potato chips in my mouth if not a bit unbelievable plot wise but overall a fun way to end NYAFF!  There were a few intended malevolent twist and turns in the film but somehow the situation ended up with a rainbow at the end. The viewers cannot help but to cheer on the main character as he stumbled, fumbled, and tripped on the screen - all with good intentions.  I didn’t watch Yoshihiro Nakamura’s other touted movies such as A Fish Story nor the NYAFF Audience Favorite -  A Boy and his Samurai but I did manage to catch Golden Slumber from a few years back. I can see how DB from Unseen films mentions that Nakamura’s films’ plot lines dive back and forth and eventually intersecting to form some cohesiveness in the story.  It was difficult to see how a tangled web of burglars, suicide, blackmail, a professional baseball player, and a mixup of potato chip flavors all tied into the plot .  DB reaches into his bag of chips with his review of the film here.

Potechi was set in Sendai which was an area severely devastated by the Earthquake and subsequent Tsunami and nuclear disasters. The Japan Society screened part 1 of a series of short films called WE ARE ALL RADIOACTIVE before each post March 11th Cinema feature.

Thanks to all of the Unseen Film gang’s collective contribution & coverage to NYAFF. It was fun! I’m sure DB & Mondocurry are slowly reducing the pot of ragu sauce for some concentrated Top 5 or best of lists from NYAFF 2012! Stay tuned!


Japan Cuts 2012 program runs from July 12-28. Go see some films pronto!
Check out the schedule!

Tormented (2011) NYAFF 2012 Japan Cuts 2012

The final film for me from this years New York Asian Film Festival was Takashi Shimizu's wildly off the mark Tormented (aka Rabbit Horror 3D). I'm so glad that the infinitely better Monster's Club and Potechi (Chips) followed it so that the festival could end on a high note because quite honestly this film is one of the very few low points. (Apologies to Stewart who came with me, I swear I didn't know!)

The plot of the film begins with a young boy killing a rabbit in misery. He's then tormented by his classmates, and his only friend appears to be the mute librarian....who just happens to be his sister. We then watch as the boy is pursued by a stuffed rabbit and a person in a rabbit suit... But wait there is a twist coming that resets the table and makes you throw up your hands...until yet more twists confuse matters so much that when the end credits rolled I said "What the hell was that?" out loud to everyone in the theater.

What is it?

Its a big hot steaming pile of rabbit poop.

Christopher Doyle's cinematography looks great(and I'm sure this was cool in 3D). The actors are fine. The script was absolute pretentious twaddle.

I don't care who Takashi Shimizu is and what he's done before (the incredibly excellent Ju-on films) this one makes no sense even internally. Logic, dream, deranged or otherwise it makes zero sense.

You can't keep changing the table to create tension when what you're doing to begin with makes no sense.

Note to Goran: You asked me what were the two or three films I couldn't believe you guys programmed over the past 11 years- This is one of them.

Why did you run this?

I know, the director.

Stop that. Just stop that. Don't do that. Run the movie because it's good not because the director has been in the past.

MrC fell asleep.

I and Stewart tried to.

This is one of the least at the film festival.

And with that the festival was done.

Japan Cuts is just starting but NYAFF is done.

As I write this MrC is at the Japan Society finishing up the festival. But for me it's all done.

A summation and all of that will follow in a day or so once Mondocurry and MrC finish taking stock.

Thanks to Goran, Rufus, Samuel and the rest for inviting us along. While they aren't looking forward to next year, I am.

(And a shout out to Alec from Flixist and Mike from Fangoria. Hopefully I'll catch up with you guys at Japan Cuts)

New York Asian FIlm Festival is Done! Long Live Japan Cuts!

Just in from my 52nd film at the New York Asian Film Festival - Tormented. I'm exhausted, having run out the screening to get on a train to go to dinner. A report will follow in the early morning. I have to decompress.

A shout out to MrC who was staying to the bitter end tonight, Alec from Flixist and Mike from Fangoria wall of whom I ran out on...many apologies.

Okay time to get into jammies and get to writing.

Tokyo Playboy Club and Gyo — NYAFF 2012 / Japan Cuts 2012

Down to the final two days at the New York Asian Film Festival, which means I'm at the start of my time at Japan Cuts.

I mean this lovingly, but I think I've finally hit the point where there is too much of a good thing. I'm at the point where you should call a doctor...

...which is a state that many of the rest of you going to the festival in as well (I'm not getting into the people running the festival since they clearly need to be put away for a long rest). I spoke to a bunch of people covering the fest and just going and everyone is worn out.

Sitting waiting for Tokyo Playboy Club to start a tall blond gentleman came striding down the aisle and asked if I was DB? Yes I said. And Alec from Flixist introduced myself. We then sat talking until the film started. He is a great guy and I completely understand why Hubert hangs with him.

(For those wondering how he could know who I am if we had never met, if you've ever seen the bald big guy that I am you won't forget me, no matter how hard you try. I'm easy to spot once I'm described)

As Rufus took the stage to introduce the movie I got a slap on the back as Mr C slid into the seat in front of me.

Rufus said that Tokyo Playboy Club was a film he wanted to screen. He said it was one of the more alive films in the festival and one of his favorites. He said that some people compared to Tarantino and Miike, but he didn't think that was appropriate. It's not nor is it fair.

Playboy Club is a multi-character story centered at the run down hostess club of the title. Things are set in motion when an ex-gangster (kind of) trying to go straight needs a place to hide so he goes to an old friend, the owner of the club for a place to hide out. We also get to meet one of the employees of the club, his girlfriend and his paramour...and then there are the three gangster brothers...

There is no way to explain this film with out telling you everything so I won't. It's a really good film that is completely unlike what ever it is you maybe expecting. As Mr C said "I read on the film but it wasn't what I was expecting". No it's not. It's like Tarantino (say Pulp Fiction) and yet completely different. Its a film you stay with to the very end because you have no idea where this is going to go. I mean a whole bunch of us sat there waiting through the end credits because there could be something at the end (there wasn't)

Speaking of the end credits, when they started to roll there was an audible groan from a portion of the audience. Not to give anything away, but they, like me couldn't believe that they were leaving it there...yes they were. While it's in keeping with the anything can happen nature, I wish I knew what happened next...

As Rufus said it starts slow but once it gets going it is gangbusters. One of the better films at the NYAFF/Japan Cuts.

Between screenings Mr C left. He was heading up town for an outdoor screening on playground basketball. Based on what he said, it sounds great and I hope he reports in.

I also got a chance to talk fleetingly to Kenji from My Life at 24fps and assorted other places. He is a really good guy who seems to be in constant motion.

Inside the screening Alec and myself were joined by Hubert and (don't kill me if I get this wrong) Mike from Fangoria. I say this because anyone who was there there, and who made it to sunlight deserve a badge of honor...not because the film was bad but because while it's one of the best films at the NYAFF/ Japan Cuts, it's also the very definition of WRONG. It's a movie that will mess you up.

Gyo...

There is no way in hell that I can describe this film to you and have you understand , I mean REALLY UNDERSTAND what it's like seeing this film in a darkened theater. Think being trapped in someone Else's nightmare where your rules and logic don't work.

It's funny, I mean the initial premise that has flatulent fish on spider like legs coming out of the ocean is funny, but it just goes so horribly terribly monstrously wrong.

People in the audience were moaning and talking out loud between the nervous laughter. It's a film that crawls inside you and makes you uncomfortable even as you're laughing at it.

Walking down 47th street with Alec and Hubert there was a point during the heated discussion about Gyo (some of the most passionate I've had about any film at the festival should add) that Alec turned to Hubert and myself and said "we saw something else today, what was it?" It took a minute before we realized it was Tokyo Playboy Club.

Gyo is a kind of mind wipe.

Gyo is a movie that clears the mind of anything else you experienced before it.

Heading home I stopped into Midtown Comics to try and get the comic book by Junji Ito. They didn't have it. I then called Randi to ask her to email to find the comic on line. She could tell I was mentally bent.

"It's one of those films, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes. How could you tell?"

"Your voice"

Gyo is one of those films.

Applause to the NYAFF/Japan Cuts crew for getting it. But GOD DAMN IT ONLY ONE SHOW? ONE? Had you ran this baby twice you would have had to beat people away once the word of mouth started.

When you can, see Gyo, just do so early in the day, you don't want to be dreaming about what's in this film.

(And a shout out to the lovely Lee who I was waiting on line for Love Strikes! and to whom I didn't get a chance to say hi to)