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Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
Watch the film more for the ideas, not for its potential to entertain.
Alphaville is a rather experimental piece done by Godard, a Nouvelle Vague film in the spirit of sci-fi/film-noir fusions such as Blade Runner. The story is interesting, but some scenes are fairly outlandish, and may take repeated viewings to understand. In short, you should probably watch this film if you're a film buff wanting something different, a novice filmmaker, or someone whose more interested in the the artistic/thematic ideas that film is able to capture. If you're looking for a night's worth of entertainment however, than this is definitely not your movie, and a waste of your time. You have to approach this film with a patient and willingly open perspective, and only then, you may be able to get a glimpse of what Godard is trying to do.
A french-speaking "American" private-eye, Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constanine), sets out for the dystopia, Orwellian Alphaville, intent on stopping the master computer of the city, Alpha 60, and its inventor, Doctor Von Braun. He eventually meets up and falls in love with Natasha Von Braun (played by the ineluctable Anna Karina). There are many very admirable things Godard does with the plot, and how he is able to make a futuristic environment with relatively low-budget and common film-noir streets is a feat of creative imagination. The composition of some of the shots are a marvel to behold, and some of the framing of the conversation scenes with Natasha really capture the beauty of actress Anna Karina. However, Godard does take the experimentation to an extreme degree in some situations, (i.e. the inverse color vision, the strange dance/pose fight scene, random uses of a gun), but the one thing I did like was the use of the distorted voice of Alpha 60 and the directly Orwellian philosophical overtones (many of the ideas from the script are ripped straight out of 1984).
In summary, watch this film more for the ideas (artistic, cinematic), and not for its potential to entertain. If you don't try so hard looking for a pleasing, entertaining experience, you'll find out that there's a lot to appreciate about this movie. Just try to examine its aspects and individual strengths and scene compositions, and perhaps after repeated viewings, you'll begin to maybe see and appreciate the originality of Godard's vision.
Tasogare Seibei (2002)
Sanada's Brilliant Performance
Hiroyuki Sanada (Western audiences may recognize him from his recent turn as Ujio from The Last Samurai, 2003), carries this film with his masterful acting, making the portrayal of "Tasogarei Seibei" (a.k.a. a samurai jokingly called "Twilight" by his colleagues), a poignant and memorable portrayal of a true hero.
Sanada plays Seibei Iguchi, a poor, 50-koku ranked samurai who has to support his two daughters and a senile mother, due to the passing away of his wife. The structure and plot turns of the story are simple, but fascinating to watch unfold, and it is perhaps the simplicity and novelistic grace of the narrative that makes the film so remarkable. Seibei works as a scribe with his fellow samurai, and always has to rush home after work to attend to his duties as a father. He lets hygieine slowly slide into second priority (resulting in rather unkempt clothes and socks), but in general, he doesn't seem to care: his two daughters he treasures above all other things. When a woman named Tomoe, a childhood friend that Seibei was particularly fond of, suddenly re-appers into his life, Seibei makes certain decisions that he ultimately ends up regretting later. The rest of the story is full of very interesting plot develoments, playing with the audience's expectations (especially with the relationship between Tomoe and Seiebi), and although the film is not a traditional samurai film in that it does not have alot of action scenes, the composition of the tale, and its "storytelling" invocation (one of the daughters narrates) is good enough to keep you watching.
Hiroyuki Sanada playing Seibei is really a marvel to watch; he adds a very sensible depth and modesty to the character, and infuses it with some understated comic acting as well. At the end of the film, after the climatic final battle, Sanada is able to make the character of Seibei resonate with a very unconventional but nonetheless strong and beautiful heroism. Sanada is really a very talented thespian, and in this film, you may get to sample the sheer range of his great technique. For the world-class acting work he did in this film, he won a Japanese Academy Award, and the film also got noticed by the Oscars (nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, 2004). If there's a chance your able to catch this film in a local theatre (usually, it plays at Landmark) do so, you won't regret it. You'll be able to watch an excellent story unfold, and also see some of the finest acting in world cinema today.
Ma jiang (1996)
A Scathingly brilliant satire. Excellent.
Mahjong (1996) is in many ways Yang's greatest Satire, but has, at the same time, the beating pulse of a real dramatic story. In plays on the perception of Taiwan by foreign entities, urban locales, love, father/son relationships, and of course, themes of business & greed that Yang most vehemently loathes. The story is told through a variety of different viewpoints, but we are centered on a small gang of friends/hustlers, apparently led by Red Fish (Tang Congsheng), and consisting of Luen-Luen (Ke Yulun), a gentle-hearted translator, Hong Kong (Chen Chang of Crouching Tiger fame), a ladies man who is able to charm his way into any woman's pants, and Little Buddha (the same actor who played "Cat" in Yang's A Brighter Summer Day), a fake Feng-Shui expert who is used in the gang's various scams. A French woman named Marthe (Virginie Ledoyen) - Yang plays very craftily on the similarity of the name 'Marthe' with 'Matra', the defunct subway system in Taiwan that is milking the city of its funds - comes to urban Taipei looking for her "lover", a British man named Marcus. The plot eventually shows us Marthe's eventual relationship with Red Fish's gang (and Luen-Luen), but also reveals a variety of interesting narrative twists and turns concerning Red Fish and Hong Kong.
The performances in this piece are great, and Yang really seemed to get a lot out of his actors. A lot of critics complained that the acting from the foreign thesps were inferior, but their performances weren't bad at all, and added a diverse and invigorating "global" flavor to an otherwise "Asian"/Taiwanese film. There is a great quote at the end made by the actor who plays Marcus, where he reflects on how Taiwan will be the height of "western civilization", a political and philosophical reflection on Yang's part. Also, Nien-Jen Wu (he played NJ, the lead, in Yang's Yi-Yi) has a nice turn as a ruthless Taiwanese gangster/hit-man - you really begin to see the breadth of Nien-Jen's skill as an actor: he's really talented.
In addition, Ke Yulun (who made a guest appearance in Yi-Yi as the military-uniform-clad "Soldier" who Lily cheats on) puts out a great performance as a tortured interpretor, drawn by love to Marthe. Tang Congsheng (he's also in Yi-Yi, in a blue-shirt at the N.Y. Bagel Cafe) is also fantastic, and seems to be, in more ways that one, Yang's vehicle in expressing rage against financial/capitalist-driven greed.
The final violent outbreak by Tang Congsheng's character Red Fish is beautifully executed, and Yang could not use violence in a more perfect way. It is a great moment of cinema and is perhaps the most pure, honest, cathartic and emotionally-intense venting of range I have seen in any film of recent memory (or ever, for that matter).
Well, in addition, there are many nice city shots of the bustling urban Taipei, excellent humour (the part where Angela's trio of women, wanting to "share" Hong Kong and paralleling Hong Kong's gang in wanting to share another, previous girl is hilarious), finely-executed suspense camera-work, and some crackling dialogue. The dialogue, as sharp and satirically-witty as it is, is perhaps what I most admire about the piece. It constructs the film with a structure that is at once a strong narrative-driven story and a scathingly brilliant satire. This work may be hard-to-find and a very, very rare piece (as most of Yang's works are), but if you're able to get your hands on it, you will not be disappointed. I hope it is able to live on as a classic piece in its own right, because it is definitely one of the major works of Yang's oeuvre.
Bu san (2003)
A Work of Mood and Color
Tsai Ming Liang's recent piece "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" (Bu San) is a film chock full of beautiful color and rich, textured moods. It features the characteristic pacing of Taiwanese film, and it is composed of shot upon remarkable shot of a crumbling movie theatre in its final days, playing the last runs of "Dragon Gate Inn", a martial art classic Dir. by King Hu. Some of the stark imagery lingers, and it is just the pure action of the actors (there is no dialogue in the film for the first 45 minutes) that makes the film a profound stylistic achievement. There are some appearances by the original actors of The Dragon Gate Inn film (Tien Miao, for one); and Tsai Ming Liang's favorite actor Lee-Kang Sheng shows up at the end as the film projectionist. There's also a fine performance by Chen Shiang-chyi, who plays the limping "heroine" of the film, if such a thing exists in this movie. A great film overall, and a cinematic work that tries to say a very heartfelt and melancholic "goodbye" to not only "Dragon Gate Inn", but also to the old cultural and historical values that are perhaps beginning to fade in Taiwan.
Hitori musuko (1936)
A simple Ozu masterpiece
"The Only Son" is Ozu's first "talkie" - and utilizes sounds/dialogue in a stylistic manner to tell a simple story. The beautiful simplicity that pervades the piece is classical Ozu, and amplifies the poignant tale of a mother coming back to visit her son, after sacrificing her livelihood to ensure he achieves higher education. When she realizes that he is unsatisfied with his life as a night-school teacher, a general melancholic tone begins to unfold through the progression of the narrative.
There are some fine indoor shots of the house where the son lives, and also, some greatly composed scenes of the run-down industrial neighborhood where the son goes out to buy "noodles" from a nearby stand. What's also memorable about the film is its excellent rendition of outdoor nature shots, one scene stands out in my mind where the son is having a discussion with his mother. There is also a great shot of the night-school teacher looking out dismal and lonely from the school-building to a city sign, which is juxtaposed against a dark, night sky.
The ending is nicely done, and overall, the film is crafted in that spare, simple perfection that is the stylistic hallmark of Ozu's cinema.
Tôkyô no onna (1933)
One of Ozu's first strong tragic pieces
Ozu's "Tokyo no Onna" (Women of Tokyo) is a short film that delivers alot of tragic import for its length, timing and execution. It is a simple tale, concerning the lives of a Japanese college student and his sister. Things go awry when he finds out that his sister is actually a "hostess"/prostitute at a local bar, and that she is actually financing his college education by means of that career. There are a series of fine indoor shots, perfectly lighted and composed in a dark, (pre-film noir) mood. There is one great outdoor shot I remember, and that is when the sister looks outside, seeing the steam coming from a nearby chimney, and hanging clothes/socks out to dry. The scene where the student/main character walks in the dismal street is also nicely done. Overall, the film is a great example of a strong short film narrative, and has a slightly (unexpected) tragic twist at the end.
Rakudai wa shitakeredo (1930)
An Ozu Classic
"I Flunked, But..." (Rakudai wa shita keredo) is an Ozu piece made in the 1930's, and a great example of what a Silent Film can achieve. A college satire set in Depression-era Japan, "I Flunked But.." is an excellent movie, a comic masterpiece, and perhaps one of the stronger examples of Ozu's silent film ouevre.
It concerns the humorous attempts made by Takahashi and his gang of friends in trying to pass the rigourous "Exam Hell" mandated by the College of Economics they attend. We are introduced to a variety of very humorous cheating techniques and the gang's dedication to perfecting odd gaits and struts. Takahashi and his cohorts fail the one important exam that enables them to graduate, when one of their valuable cheating tricks (a shirt cribbed with diagrams and notes) is taken out by the laundryman. This movie is filled with a bunch of comic miniutae as well, from Ozu's play with shadows (a noose shows up as a lamp's string after Takahashi fails the exam), superb dialogue (even though its a silent film - many lines are very good), some fairly memorable characters (one of Takahashi's dorm-mates, a bespectacled klutz, constantly thinks it absurd that he was able to graduate while Takahasi, his smart "teacher", fails), and some nice indoor cinematography in Ozu's classic style.
The film's ironic punchline comes in the harsh truth that during tough times, there are rarely any jobs, so the student who flunks is actually better off than the student who graduates. All of Takahashi's dorm-mates receive one job-rejection after the next, and reminisce of the "good college days" - one of the most memorable lines is when one of the characters say: "I want to go back to college - we graduated too hastily". The film may be a hard find, being that its silent and B&W, (and it was made in 1930!) but if you can catch it, it's definitely worth it. Definitely a small fraction of the overall aesthetic greatness of Ozu as a director, auetuer and an artist.
Dead Man (1995)
A masterful film; a most philosophical western
Jim Jarmusch's film "Dead Man" is a haunting masterpiece, a spiritual journey into the unknown and an epic story about one man's attempt to find his way in the lawless wilderness of the Wild West. William Blake (Depp) is an accountant who forsakes everything for a job in the steelmining town ingeniously named "Machine." Things soon go wrong: he doesn't get the job, and somehow murders a man (Gabriel Byrne) after getting into an one-night stand with a lovely flower-maker (Mili Avital). Blake soon becomes a wanted man, and while wandering the forests lost, he is aided by a Native American named "Nobody" (Gary Farmer) who thinks he is actually William Blake, the famous poet and artist.
The black-and-white cinematography is brilliant, stark and inspiring: it invokes a mood of unfamiliarity, and echoes old westerns and classic Kurosawa movies. Neil Young's electric guitar soundtrack provides the perfect mood and backdrop for the piece, and his music is simply the most fitting accompaniment to the epic ambience of the film. Featuring some stellar performances from great actors: Johnny Depp, Mili Avital, Gabriel Byrne, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thorton, and Alfred Molina, "Dead Man" is a great and classic film, an inspiration to filmmakers, a spiritual meditation, a poetic and philosophic examination of the "Western" form, a study in scene composition, and a movie definitely not to be missed.