#43: Hard Boiled (1992) June 28, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Action, 4 stars, 1990s, 2008, world cinema , add a comment1992 | John Woo | 122 mins | DVD | 18 / R
The first John Woo film I saw was Mission: Impossible II. I think. It may’ve been Face/Off, which I love, but this works better with M:I-2 because most people don’t like it. Because, personally, I like M:I-2. It’s not the greatest action thriller ever, but it has its moments and the plot isn’t half as complex as some like to claim. It’s certainly more fun than Brian de Palma’s Euro-thriller first film, which in retrospect looks a bit like a proto-Bourne. Of course, what M:I-2 really had going for it were its action sequences, which are occasionally a bit out there but always expertly done. Face/Off’s are even better again, as I recall. Anyone with a basic understanding of structure can’t fail to see what I’m going to say about Hard Boiled.
I don’t think realism is Woo’s strong point — at least, not in his straight-up action movies. That’s not a flaw, though, but a deliberate choice — he dispenses with the realism of what a gunfight would be like (presumably, bloody scary and with fewer shots fired) and pushes the male fantasy of mindless slaughter to the limit. Which means his action sequences are pure adrenaline-pumping fun. Chow Yun-Fat single handedly slaughtering a warehouse full of heavily armed gangsters? Well, of course! Or directly hitting a small object wedged in an electrical pipe with a shaky shooting arm? Naturally! The action may have all the realism of a Dali painting, but it also has all the gleeful fun of repeating everything your sibling said when you were five — except with more choreography. It’s a cliché, but there’s something about Woo’s action that makes you want to use the word “balletic”. Not that I’ve ever really watched ballet. I expect it involves fewer guns.
These sequences seem to have been designed with one thing in mind — cool. And they are. There are a few holes in the plot and characters’ logic, but that doesn’t matter when they can leap around firing two pistols at once and always hit their target, while the bad guys — who could shoot just fine when they slaughtered some innocents a few minutes ago — keep missing them… with machine guns. If you think about it too hard then of course it’s nonsensical, but somehow, in some way, this sort of action seems to appeal to most men (not all, of course, and if you enjoy it then don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you’re a bloodthirsty braindead weirdo). One particularly astounding sequence is achieved in a single long take, as Yun-Fat and Tony Leung make their way down several corridors killing Very Bad Men literally left, right and centre. It’s both exciting and technically impressive, considering how many squibs, blood packs, weapons and extras must have been involved to pull it off in one uncut shot.
If you don’t care for people shooting at each other, especially when it pushes believability beyond the limit, then there’s not really anything for you here. There’s some male bonding stuff, and other bits about duty and honour and sacrifice, and a climactic subplot involving lots of cwute lickle baby-wabies; but Hard Boiled is most at home when the bullets are flying and things are blowing up. And what a lovely home it is.
#33: Throne of Blood (1957) May 29, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Akira Kurosawa, 5 stars, adaptations, 1950s, 2008, world cinema, Historical, Shakespeare , 1 comment so far1957 | Akira Kurosawa | 105 mins | DVD | PG or 12
Kurosawa moves Macbeth from Scotland to 16th Century Japan in this retelling of Shakespeare’s infamous Scottish Play. I’ve heard this described as a loose adaptation — perhaps those reviewers have never read the play. Kurosawa sticks very closely to the structure of Shakespeare’s version of the story (though based on real events, Shakespeare changed key details), often choosing to adapt it scene-for-scene. It works well in the new setting, with some of the themes — honour, respect, betrayal — perhaps becoming more understandable when placed in samurai culture. Kurosawa changes other elements too — character names are understandably localised, there’s only one witch, there’s no version of the famous “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” monologue, and so on. It’s not all omissions however, as Kurosawa adds imagery and symbolism of his own. Again this helps to place the story in its new context, but also covers the loss of Shakespeare’s original language (a major sticking point for some critics).
Beyond the Shakespearean similarities (or lack of), there’s much to see in Throne of Blood — literally, thanks to the atmospheric cinematography. Most of the exteriors are doused in fog, and while this is sometimes over-done (an extended sequence of Washizu and Miki riding in and out of it goes on too long) it also makes for some amazing moments, such as when the trees of Cobweb Forest drift menacingly forward. The interior of the forest is suitably oppressive and scary too, the perfect location for encountering a witch. Kurosawa was inspired by Japanese Noh theatre in his construction of the film, so there are a lot of longer shots that allow the characters to be blocked as if on stage. It’s not overly theatrical, thankfully, and works suitably.
Cinematic techniques are not entirely abandoned however. The most memorable is the banquet scene, in which Washizu sees Miki’s ghost: we see Miki’s empty seat, the camera tracks forward to a shocked Washizu, then back to reveal the ghost of Miki sat at his place, before tracking and panning around the room to follow Mifune’s brilliant performance. It’s an infinitely more effective reveal than any amount of jiggery pokery with dissolves or CGI could provide. Similarly, Washizu’s iconic death scene — in which hundreds of arrows puncture him and the surrounding walls — is impressively achieved (using real arrows), including one seamless shot when an arrow pierces his neck.
Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play — it’s a great story, with great themes, imagery and language. Throne of Blood obviously loses some of this, but it doesn’t matter in the slightest — Kurosawa has constructed an excellent and well-conceived retelling with a few of his own flourishes.
A note on the classification: the UK DVD from the BFI is rated PG, classified in 1991. A few months after the DVD’s release in 2001, the film was re-submitted to the BBFC and received a 12. Quite way the rating was raised isn’t explained, and copies of the DVD still bear a PG on the cover.
#24: Rashomon (1950) May 5, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Akira Kurosawa, 5 stars, adaptations, 1950s, 2008, Mystery, world cinema, Historical , 2 comments1950 | Akira Kurosawa | 88 mins | DVD | 12 / PG-13
One has to wonder if Dr. Gregory House was exposed to Rashomon at a young age. House’s universal truth — “everyone lies” — is also the conclusion of Kurosawa’s much-lauded film, in which four witnesses tell different versions of the events surrounding a samurai’s murder.
The “Rashomon” of the title is one of two gates to Kyoto, built in 789 and in disrepair and disrepute by the film’s 12th Century setting, but thanks to this film the word has come to signify a narrative that retells the same event from multiple perspectives. Mentioning it seems unavoidable when writing about a film (or episode of TV, or novel, or…) with such a structure, as reviews of the recent Vantage Point would attest. However, most similar tales aren’t quite as radical as this ‘original’ (which is based on two short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa), in which the four tales differ wildly.
Justifiably, much has been written about Rashomon, both critically and analytically. As such I’m not going to dig too deeply here, but instead just highlight a couple of reasons why it’s so acclaimed. For one, it looks great. Kazuo Miyagawa’s cinematography is exemplary, producing gorgeous rain at the gate, wonderful shadows in the forest, and employing numerous inventive shots and moves, always effective rather than showy. Fumio Hayasaka’s music underscores proceedings beautifully, coming into its own during long dialogue-free sequences. The performances are also accomplished, especially Toshiro Mifune as laughing bandit Tajomaru, but also Masayuki Mori’s largely silent turn as the murdered samurai, and Fumiko Honma’s chillingly freaky medium.
As I said, there’s much more that could be (and has been) written about Rashomon — I’ve not even touched on the intricacies of the plot, the presentation of the courthouse scenes, the significance of the fights, and so on. Certain viewers might be put off by the subtitles, the black and white photography, the film’s age, and its occasional ‘arthouse’-ness — and, I confess, I’m one of the first people to get fed up with films like Tati’s Play Time or Ozu’s Tokyo Story — but, for me, Rashomon was an incredibly enjoyable first encounter with Kurosawa.
#73: Night Watch (2004) August 6, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Horror, Action, Fantasy, adaptations, 4 stars, world cinema, 2007 , add a comment2004 | Timur Bekmambetov | 110 mins | DVD | 15 / R
Urban action fantasy from Russia; the first part of a trilogy (though, apparently, film two wraps the plot up and film three will be made in the US, looking at a different part of the story). It makes for a pretty entertaining tale, with a neat ending that both concludes this film’s plot and leaves everything wide open for what’s to come. It also has some very snazzy subtitles (sadly only available on the two-disc DVD; I won’t waste too much space ranting about how crap the one-disc is here). If you don’t like Films With Subtitles, this one might surprise you.
#46: Breathless (1960) May 8, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Thriller, Romance, 4 stars, 1960s, world cinema, films about films, 2007, Jean-Luc Godard , add a comment1960 | Jean-Luc Godard | 90 mins | download | PG
Or A Bout de Souffle, Godard’s first and most famous film; part of the beginning of the Nouvelle Vague, a French movement defining a particular youth culture at the time. OK, loose history lesson over. This is definitely what most people would call an ‘arthouse’ film, though is decidedly less so than the one other Godard film I’ve seen (1959’s Vivre Sa Vie, which goes by various translated titles); this might be down to it drawing inspiration from American movies, most obviously those starring Humphrey Bogart. Undoubtedly not for everyone, but an obvious must for anyone with an interest in art / international cinema.
#43: Hidden (2005)
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, Thriller, 2000s, 4 stars, Mystery, world cinema, 2007 , add a comment2005 | Michael Haneke | 112 mins | DVD | 15 / R
Empire’s 15th best film of 2006 is very European. How so, you may ask. Well, firstly, it is French (and its original title is Caché, by the by); but it certainly feels it: it takes a very good concept/plot for a thriller and then stretches it out a little thin, with a notably slow pace, and a concentration on the dramatic impact on characters rather than plot movements. Not necessarily bad things, and it walks a fine line somewhere between them working and them failing (that is to say, it’s not wholly successful). There’s an irritating apparent lack of resolution, though reading one theory in an online review has suggested maybe I missed (or misinterpreted) it. The performances also deserve mention — as with everything else they teeter between excellent (mostly) and a bit unbelievable (see: the rather muted ‘arguments’, or the unusual order of reactions to the son going missing). Some also might argue the direction is flat, with many long shots and relatively few cuts. You could argue this reflects the theme/plot, but on the other hand it is somewhat symptomatic of some areas of European cinema.
#42: Three Colours Red (1994)
Posted by badblokebob in : Drama, 5 stars, 1990s, Mystery, world cinema, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 2007 , add a comment1994 | Krzysztof Kieslowski | 95 mins | DVD | 15 / R
The final film in the trilogy takes on the theme of fraternité/brotherhood, in a relatively obvious way: Irene Jacob befriends a lonesome old man who spies on his neighbour’s telephone calls. There’s much more to it than that, all on broadly the same theme, but I’m sure to say too much would be to ruin what is an excellent film. Best of all, in my mind, is the intriguing and oddly satisfying conclusion to the trilogy as a whole. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I still recommend it.