I feel like doing a couple more reviews, lets move down the list.
EraserheadShit, where do I even start with this one. Anway, this is one of those classic art film. Those people who expect something easy to interpret or follow from this film will be completely lost, and the atmosphere throughout the entire film is that of total oppression, dread, and simply being ill at ease. I think that one of the most amazing things about this film is that it god made at all, this was his first major film, and he made it with a 10,000 dollar grant from the AFI (this was not sufficient, so private donations and odd jobs were necessary as well.) It took six years to make, but I believe this is including a two-three year hiatus (because the movie was shot sequentially, there is a segment where henry is about to open a door, and then the scene following this is filmed a year later).
I feel that its important to note the attention to detail on the part of Lynch. Every single aspect of every shot, most notably the sound (lynch is the head sound editor for every one of his films), is slaved over by Lynch. You can tell by watching this, that he micromanaged everything. Being that he had total creative freedom with this film, he was probably setting himself up for the heartbreak he would suffer over Dune. While his next movie after this one is Elephant Man, it uses a lot of similar elements to build its ethos.
This movie is visually stunning, and sucks me into a whirlpool every time I see it. Its also one of the only movies that my girlfriend will refuse to watch under any circumstances, ever. Which, if you were still interested in this after I said 'Art Film' you're probably ok. There is a lot of material about this movie as well, as Lynch has talked about it in frequent interviews, and even written about it in his book. The Wikipedia article on this movie isnt that bad, either.
Another thing I like, is the DVD menu. Pretty much all of the David Lynchs' DVD's contain long interviews about the films, these are meant to substitute for commentary tracks, as Lynch doesnt want
anythign interfering with the ambience of the movie. Seriously, the guy wont even allow chapter titles and breaks in his films, as they break the continuity, so if you just want to skip to a particular part of the film... you either have to just watch most of the movie in fast forward, or just watch the whole fucking movie. I kind of like Lynch for his idiosyncrasies, but a lot of people despise them. Lynch IS pretty pretentious, but its because he approaches films as art, rather than purely entertainment. I appreciate that the film can have that much meaning for the director, but I'm sure a lot of people would be more happy watching GI JOE.
Also:
David Lynch vs IphoneThis is a short clip from the interview track on Inland Empire. Just an example of one of David Lynchs' many idiosyncrasies.
response to lynch vs iphonea response, obviously made by someone familiar with lynch. anyway, I was laughing.
Also, I feel that Lynch would make an excellent Riddler for a Batman film, although the chance of that happening is virtually nil.
Battles Without Honour or HumanityJingi Naki Tatakai
Most people are familiar with the director, Kinji Fukasaku, for the more recent film Battle Royal (not the craptastic sequel that he died during filming, and was finished by his son). Some people may even remember that he was the director for the japanese segment of Tora! Tora! Tora!. He also directed a whole fucking slew of yakuza films in the seventies, although this one is in my opinion easily the best.
This is the first in a series of five movies following the development of the yakuza, starting with the american occupation of japan post world war two. Most of the reviews of the series focus on one element of these films, the lack of jingi (translated in the films title as Honor & Humanity) amongst post war yakuza. This is accurate enough, although its worth noting that the main character is a counterpoint to this, representing (at least in the first film) the concept of Giri (I can only think to describe this as a sense of duty or obligation to ones boss). So, to start, the movie has a driving concept... this is good. The true value in the movie, however, is just how fucking gangster everything is... seriously, from Toshiaki Tsushimas fucking AWESOME soundtrack, down to what is possibly one of the most epicly gangster endings of all time (up there with scarface, easily). Bunta Sugawara is just a fucking bad-ass though this whole movie, somehow he manages to preserve this even though he's just continually being ruthlessly shat on throughout the entire series. I cant really talk about this too much without giving anything away, but its definately worth a watch.
Fukasakus other yakuza movies of the period are ok, but they tend to focus specifically on characters who have absolutely no redeeming value to society, villians who do nothing but draw out the contempt of the audience towards everything they do. I dont think this is a bad format for a film (I'm looking forward to talking about Bad Lieutenant), but of Fukasakus yakuza films Battles Without Honor and Humanity is really the only one that creates any sympathy for the main character, and it does this well.
Oh, a note on the title, some people may have noticed that its the same as a popular song on the Kill Bill soundtrack. It is very likely that this is intentional on the part of Tomoyasu Hotei, as the films were extremely iconic in japan. I've even heard story (from an exchange student) that one of the reasons they were so popular, and I'm not sure if this can be confirmed/disconfirmed, is that the yakuza were happy to see themselves being portrayed in cinema (in any context) so they would actually go around forcing people to see them (IE buy these tickets from me or I'll kick your ass). Toshiaki Tsushima did work on the Kill Bill soundtrack as well, since obviously, Tarantino is a huge asian cinema nerd.
