Lost In Translation

New Cult Canon: A Company Of Men

Neil LaBute gets the AV CLub treatment with his debut feature:

“Women. Nice ones, the most frigid of the race—it doesn’t matter in the end. Inside, they’re all the same: Meat and gristle and hatred, just simmering.” —Aaron Eckhart, In The Company Of Men.

Neil LaBute’s 1997 directorial debut, In The Company Of Men, attracted such a heap of controversy at the Sundance Film Festival that most distributors didn’t want to touch it, even though no other film at that year’s festival was as talked-about. There were worries that lines like the one above—to say nothing of the vile actions they preface—would draw a backlash from arthouse audiences sensitive to misogyny. It had the potential to be another fiasco along the lines of David Mamet’s toxic gender study Oleanna, not least because LaBute owed the great playwright an obvious debt (if not royalties) for his clipped, profane, hyper-masculine dialogue, his spare directorial style, and a closing twist that echoes Mamet’s love of the long con. The film eventually found its way into theaters seven or eight months later, but the controversy stayed with it, and to my mind, the chief complaint was consistently wrong-headed. In The Company Of Men isn’t a misogynistic film, it’s a misanthropic film. Big difference. 

Stranger Than Paradise

Apologies to Facebook readers, but it is worthwhile to re-post a great film review of  Stranger Than Paradise by an interesting director: 

For better or worse, Jim Jarmusch has developed a reputation as the cineaste of cool. He has only himself to blame. For one, he has a rare genius for the suave posture and the shockingly odd image. Think of Johnny Depp in a checkered suit and black bowler, limping through a birch forest in the surrealist Western Dead Man (1995), or the two Japanese tourists in Mystery Train (1989), ecstatic with passion for Elvis Presley, sitting on the floor of their Memphis, Tenn., hotel room with lipstick-smeared faces. He also frequently casts musicians as his actors (John Lurie, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, and Jack and Meg White, among others), and his soundtracks, featuring Charlie Parker, Elvis, and Ethiopian composer Mulatu Astatke, help give his films their distinctive mood—the cinematic equivalent of a world-weary shrug. Most responsible of all for this reputation, however, is his trademark dialogue, with its reliance on antiquated slang, digressive riffs, and bathetic one-liners.

King Rat

King Rat is an extraordinary film-I can’t believe that I’ve never heard of it before. It is one of the best POW prison films I’ve ever seen. It seems that many of my friends know it since it was adapted from a novel by Jamse Clavell based on his experiences at the Japanese prison camp Changi in Singapore-which is now home to the airport. It is the story of survival of the prisoners and what they did to survive. George Segal plays King, an American corporal who runs the camp with his black market schemes. He has a bunch of cronies that carry out his requests and he orders officers around as well. It is extremely realistic and has great cinematography. It is also a study of class and society. Once the camp is liberated by Richard Dawson!? King loses his status and position and once again is a lowly corporal rather than the King. The supporting cast is also quite impressive as well. It is well worth seeking out and watching.

Getting Any?

Getting Any? (1995) is Takeshi Kitano’s fourth film and has largely been considered a failure by his critics for good reason. It is a straight up sketch comedy with little plot. It is a big departure from his previous films up to this point, which is probably the point. It is more similar to the kinds of things Beat Takeshi does on TV. I think there were some funny set pieces in the first segment, but the comedy is very hit or miss and runs dry throughout. I was surprised that it was so well received by the customer critic on Aamzon.  

A Scene From The Sea

A Scene From The Sea (1992) is Takeshi Kitano’s third film and a large departure from his previous two violent films. It is a simple love story about a deaf man and his girlfriend. He finds a surfboard and learns to surf and it becomes an all-consuming activity getting in the way of work and his relationship. I found the slow pacing off-putting. Of course the camera angles and long shots that punctuate the film show Kitano’s artistry, but it seems more like a misstep to me than a triumph.

The Heart of the Game

I’ve been meaning to see the documentary, The Heart of the Game, about a Seattle high school's girl’s basketball program, Roosevelt High School, for a number of reasons. It got great reviews, the coach, Bill Resler is a professor from my alma matter the University of Washington, I love basketball, and I did a long term substitute teaching assignment there and had a good friend who worked there for years. It turned out to be better than I had anticipated, because I didn’t know about the personal story of team star Darnella Russell who is seemingly college bound when she gets pregnant drops out of school returns and tries for her final year of eligibility. She is denied by high school sports governing board at first, but finally triumphs in the end. It is a great story, but also raises some questions about double standards between genders. It’s entertaining, full of vibrant personalities, a compelling story, and is essentially a feel good movie.

Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves has the same production team that created the masterly Last Life in the Universe, one of my favorite films. We have director Pen-ek Rataraunang, screenwriter Prabda Yoon, cinematographer du jour Christopher Doyle, and actor Tadanobu Asano reunited for another stylish mood piece with film noir underpinnings. It is the story of a chef who murders the boss' wife with whom he is having an affair in order to atone for his misdeed. However, in execution it is similar to Last Life in mood and tone that is underscored by the background music and haunting locations and sets. The action takes place on three islands, Hong Kong, Macau, and Phuket, but anyone who has been to these places will hardly recognize the lonely, rundown locations that could be anywhere. There is an otherworldly sequence on a cruise ship that takes the murderer from Macau to Phuket in which he is forced to grapple with his conscience. There are supporting roles by Hong Actor Eric Tsang (Internal Affairs) and Korean actress Hye-jeuong Kang (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). I think this film might be more cinematic than Last Life, but doesn’t emotionally resonate with me like that film for some reason. However, it is a masterly made film with plenty to offer viewers. Unfortunately, this film got limited release. I ordered the film from Australia, but I think it is definitely worth seeking out. 

Boiling Point

Boiling Point (1990) is a very intriguing film-the second Takeshi Kitano directed after Violent Cop. It is similar in that it has some of the same violence, some of the parallel structures in the film, and also has a controversial ending. But it is much more experimental and has perhaps more misogyny than its predecessor. That being said it also has some very arresting images and impressive framing and cinematography. Two members of an amateur baseball team go to Okinawa to get a gun to help out their manager who is in trouble with the yakuza. While there they befriend the inexplicable Kitano character who is a local gangster who has his own score to settle and engages in some violent and unpredictable behavior in regards to his henchman and girlfriend. The later that he treats consistently cruelly. The two baseball players return to Tokyo to try and help their friend. But what happens causes the viewer to reevaluate everything that has happened in the film up to that point.

Violent Cop

Violent Cop (1989) is Takeshi Kitano’s (aka Beat Takeshi) first foray into film as a director; he also stars in the role of the ultra violent cop, Azuma. The story is a typical drugs and crooked cops story line that follows the Dirty Harry school of the vigilante cop who doesn’t follow the rules to apprehend evil criminals. This film is notable for art film editing and other Kitano artistic aspect of camera angles and set design that elevate it from your typical cop revenge film. I suppose it’s unconventional ending also sets it apart from films of a similar vein. All in all I think it’s one of Kitano’s better films up there with Hanabi and Zatoichi.

The End of Summer

The End of Summer (1961) was Ozu’s last film and one of his more interesting films in my opinion. In this film you have the usual late Ozu themes of generational divide and conflicts about marriage, duty to the family, and personal happiness. It culminates in a separation of generations through conflicting beliefs. Ozu’s preoccupation with marriage in his films reminds me of Jane Austen. The patriarch of the family of this film is having a sort of second childhood as he reconnects with an old flame that the family disapproves of before succumbing to a heart attack at the end of the film. This sub plot reminds me of the Tanizaki novel The Key in which an old man spends the family fortune on his the object of his lust. Interestingly there is a sub plot in which the old lover’s daughter is suggested as being his daughter although the woman says he is the only one who believes it. The daughter is a fast girl with several foreign gentleman callers, which is treated as being completely normal in 1960s Japan.  The patriarch also has two unmarried daughters, the elder doesn’t seem to want to marry a suitable match (a typical Ozu dilemma), the other wants to marry the man of her choice, an academic living in Hokkaido. This ended up being one my favorite Ozu films mostly due other cheeky grandfather sneaking out to meet his old mistress and shocking his family.