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Starting off the first of these
almost-diary-like posts, February was admittedly erratic. I’ve (until my recent
plans) always had a hodgepodge sense of going to a variety of
genres/directors/countries depending on my whims for that week, meaning that
there are few marathons to catch up with filmographies and series of films that
are interconnected. Probably the exception for this month was re-evaluating the
short films of the Quay Brothers on
mass which proved to be refreshing with their unique aesthetics. Pretty much
the rest of the month can be viewed through the following....
Best Film of the Month
1. Redline (Takeshi Koike,
2009/Japan) – 10/10 [Rewatch]
2. La Dolce vita (Federico
Fellini, 1960/France-Italy) – 10/10
3. Fellini’s Roma (Federico
Fellini, 1972/France-Italy) – 10/10 [Rewatch]
4. In Absentia (Stephen Quay and
Timothy Quay, 2000/UK) – 10/10 [Rewatch]
5. Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994/USA)
– 10/10 [Rewatch]
6. Street of Crocodiles (Stephen
Quay and Timothy Quay, 1986/UK) – 10/10 [Rewatch]
7. Roujin Z aka. Rôjin Z
(Hiroyuki Kitakubo, 1991/Japan) – 9/10
8. Beyond The Door II aka. Shock
(Mario Bava, 1977/Italy) – 9/10
9. Fear X (Nicolas Winding Refn,
2003/Brazil-Canada-Denmark-UK) – 9/10
10. The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer
(Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay and Keith Griffiths, 1984/UK) – 9/10 [Rewatch]
My brain says I should have La Dolce vita at the top of the list,
but the heart has to keep banging the drum for the anime film Redline. Fellini’s two films in the top ten however are legitimate
masterpieces, La Dolce vita still a
relevant film in this era in its ideas while being sumptuous in look alongside Roma. Very much a month of great
rewatches, including some that proved to be superior than I originally intended
them to be, but there were quite a few great first watches as well. Animation in
particular, with mention to the underrated Roujin
Z and its even more relevant message on the treatment of the elderly, stood
out for the month as well.
Biggest Surprise of the Month
1. Fear X (Nicolas Winding Refn,
2003/Brazil-Canada-Denmark-UK) – 9/10
2. Beyond The Door II aka. Shock
(Mario Bava, 1977/Italy) – 9/10
3. The Story of a Three-Day Pass
(Melvin Van Peebles, 1968/France) – 8/10
4. Bullhead (Michael R. Roskam,
2011/Belgium-Netherlands) – 8/10
5. Roujin Z aka. Rôjin Z
(Hiroyuki Kitakubo, 1991/Japan) – 9/10
Pretty much a great month for
finding obscurer films from certain directors second hand, only to find that
the film you expected to be average to alright to blow you away by their endings.
Mario Bava’s Shock was great for this, but Fear
X was the biggest surprise. Nicolas Winding Refn dropped the ball
for me with Drive (2011) which felt
generic and middling. Fear X, even
if it plays too much in David Lynch’s
backyard but doesn’t have the grace to wipe the mud off its feet on the
doormats, is the sort of films along with Valhalla
Rising (2009) I wish he continues with.
Discovery of the Month
1. The Story of a Three-Day Pass
(Melvin Van Peebles, 1968/France) – 8/10
2. Roujin Z aka. Rôjin Z
(Hiroyuki Kitakubo, 1991/Japan) – 9/10
3. Fear X (Nicolas Winding Refn,
2003/Brazil-Canada-Denmark-UK) – 9/10
4. Beyond The Door II aka. Shock
(Mario Bava, 1977/Italy) – 9/10
5. Bullhead (Michael R. Roskam,
2011/Belgium-Netherlands) – 8/10
The MUBI Directors Cup that I am
a part of, a fun game between film fans which imagines a battle royal for
directors while allowing people to see obscure films they would never be able
to see, is pretty much to thank for the top choice. Van Peeble’s debut will make viewing more of his films in the
future an anticipated event.
Biggest Change of Opinion
1. Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994/USA)
– 10/10 [Rewatch]
2. The Short Films of the Quay
Brothers
The Quays became more than just “less interesting than Jan Svankmajer” for me but worthwhile
directors of stop motion in general. Ed
Wood however was a revelation, utterly beautiful visually, but potent as an
ode to the difficulties and joys of filmmaking. It doesn’t matter whether Ed Wood Jr. was a great filmmaker or
not; it meant more that at least he tried his damn hardest.
Most Divisive Film of the Month
1. Pistol Opera (Seijun Suzuki,
2001/Japan) – 5/10
2. Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven,
1995/France-USA) – 7/10
3. The Green Hornet (Michel
Gondry, 2011/USA) – 6/10
4. The Roe’s Room aka. Pokój
saren (Lech Majewski, 1997/Poland) – 5/10
Showgirls is the kind of film that understandably would appear on
worst-of lists, but it has far too many legitimate virtues to dismiss it,
playing in the same ballpark of Starship
Troopers (1997) and causing problems for any viewer believing films are
surface level only. The Green Hornet
as well has to be placed here as, narrative wise, it is a perfectly good film,
but making it an adaptation of the famous character was an ill-advised idea
when it should have been its own, unique superhero story and avoided
trivialising the original character at the same time. Pistol
Opera however has to be top of this list considering my divided review of
it earlier in the month, a film that bored me but I cannot forget and find
virtues in. It depends on the rewatch one day whether there is any real worth
to it beyond this.
The Most Underrated Film
1. Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven,
1995/France-USA) – 7/10
2. Fear X (Nicolas Winding Refn,
2003/Brazil-Canada-Denmark-UK) – 9/10
3. Dark Horse (Todd Solondz,
2011/USA) – 8/10
4. Cutthroat Island (Renny
Harlin, 1995/France-Germany-Italy-USA) – 6/10
5. Roujin Z aka. Rôjin Z
(Hiroyuki Kitakubo, 1991/Japan) – 9/10
6. Norwegian Ninja aka. Kommandør
Treholt & ninjatroppen (Thomas Cappelen Malling, 2010/Norway) – 7/10
As mentioned, Showgirls has a lot more to it of worth
than one would believe. Cutthroat Island
as well although it suffered from major problems of not being very engaging by
its ending. Having seen some truly awful films in my young life already has
made me realised that the worst is usually the least well known. The season of
bad films I did on the blog the last two months proved this.
The Most Overrated Film
1. Killer Joe (William Friedkin,
2012/USA) – 3/10
2. GoldenEye (Martin Campbell,
1995/UK-USA) – 6/10 [Rewatch]
Bond films are varying for me in
quality, although the Sean Connery
movies may prove to be the great ones for being the first ones of the series
when the premise was fresh, and with the Cold War at its prime, having a
relevancy to the era. Killer Joe
however really has no escape clause to it; I’m starting to realise Friedkin has a terrible habit of pushing
the buttons in using provocative content in his work far too much, more of a
problem when his work I’ve seen, even Cruising
(1980), have the tones of prestige films rather than exploitation cinema.
Making a film about broad Southern trailer trash stereotypes with an
unnecessary amount of sickening violence and humiliation with a chicken
drumstick should not be awarded. It’s just lame, just as bad as the nihilistic
“torture porn” aesthetics of many modern horror films and causes my eyes to
roll back in my skull and wait for the film to finish so it can leave my DVD
player sharply as possible before it leaves a stink in the machine. Extreme content can work, like in a Takashi Miike film, but the best
examples are far too cartoonish to cause one to feel ill and separate the lines
between the film revealing in the content and forcing one to question what you
are watching. A film like Visitor Q
(2001) can get away with being a comedy with immensely sickening content
because it undermines and questions the ideas of voyeurism and gender/family
roles in ways that stops the viewer from feeling they are above the characters
and can look down at them. The same can apply to Showgirls (1995) just from viewing it on the surface. Killer
Joe is just an excuse at laughing at the trailer class of the South and to
try to view it like a black comedy and a good film would be like sticking my
genitals into an industrial paper shredder.
Biggest Disappointment of the Month
1. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock,
1958/USA) – 5/10 [Rewatch]
2. Killer Joe (William Friedkin,
2012/USA) – 3/10
3. GoldenEye (Martin Campbell,
1995/UK-USA) – 6/10 [Rewatch]
4. Isole Di Fuoco (Vittorio De
Seta, 1954/Italy) – 6/10
5. Mortal Kombat (Paul W.S.
Anderson, 1995/USA) – 4/10 [Rewatch]
6. Nitrate Kisses (Barbara
Hammer, 1992/USA) – 6/10
Rewatching Vertigo was sad as I am unsure whether it is legitimately an
overrated film or that the proclamation of it being the greatest film ever made
has destroyed its affectiveness. Number 4 to 6 all could have been better, Nitrate Kisses being a mere 60 minute
documentary when I was hoping for a work equivalent to a Un chant d’amour (1950) in quality with its subject matters, and the
short Isole Di Fuoco having very
little effect on me despite its beauty. Even Mortal Kombat could have been something even if part of a very
different area of cinema; what could have been as fun as Street Fighter (1994) ends up being a mediocre film with a
horrifically put together script.
[Non] Guilty Pleasure of the Month
1. Robot Monster (Phil Tucker,
1953/USA) – 6/10
2. Twister (Jan de Bont,
1996/USA) – 6/10 [Rewatch]
While Twister had its virtues, it’s been a one Ro-Man contest this month.
Possessing potential depth completely at odds with its cheap, sci-fi look and gorilla
suits with diver’s helmets, Robot
Monster is a reminder of how peculiar science fiction can get especially on
a z-grade budget.
The Para-Bizarre Film/Scene/Work of the Month
1. The Ending (after viewing the
whole film) of International Gorillay aka. International Guerillas (Jan
Mohammed, 1990/Pakistan) – 6/10
2. The Tone of Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven,
1995/France-USA) – 7/10
3. Robot Monster (Phil Tucker,
1953/USA) – 6/10
4. The Aesthetic Look of A Deadly
Invention aka. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (Karel Zeman,
1958/Czechoslovakia) – 7/10
International Gorillay, despite being an attempt to counteract Salman Rushdie, probably becomes as insulting
for a Muslim as The Satanic Verses
was. Attempting to capitalise on a real case of freedom of speech versus
perceived blasphemy for commercial gain, even for a exploitation film, is bound
to have a polarizing effect, but the film goes beyond this by its ending to
being completely insane, dragging the Islamic god into the unfortunate mess
without His permission.
Worst Film of the Month
1. Dominator (Tony Luke, 2003/UK)
– 1/10 [Rewatch]
2. Blood Thirsty (Jeff Frey,
1999/USA) – 1/10
3. Killer Joe (William Friedkin,
2012/USA) – 3/10
4. Cannibal Apocalypse (Antonio
Margheriti, 1980/Italy-Spain) – 3/10
Another disappointingly generic
film from Antonio Margheriti and Friedkin’s utterly crass film still have
some merit when up against films with no discernible value to them at all. Blood Thirsty became legitimately offensive
by its end with its portrait of self harm, but I’m still going to have to give
the award to Dominator. I was hoping
reviewing it for the blog that its ridiculousness would be charmingly bad on
the second viewing, but I instead found out how much of an embarrassment it is
for my country’s culture that was thankfully forgotten by everyone else. As a
manga and heavy metal fan I feel soiled by the thing and it, along with Blood Thirsty, proves that it is the
viewer who gives these films bad reviews like this that are the truly terrible
aspect of them, dumb enough to view them when they knew going in it would
probably be this awful.
The Steven Seagal Award For Best Worst Scene
1. The Ending Effects of
International Gorillay aka. International Guerillas (Jan Mohammed,
1990/Pakistan) – 6/10
2. Ninja meets bus from The Sword
of Bushido (Adrian Carr, 1990/Australia-Hong Kong) – 4/10
3. The Go-Kart Chase of The Sword
of Bushido (Adrian Carr, 1990/Australia-Hong Kong) – 4/10
Pursuing the bad guys’ car in a
go-kart is probably the least expected thing I saw this month in action cinema
although I cannot get past the idea that ninja, known for their stealth and
agility, could let themselves be caught out by a bus like the one in the same
film. The award goes to International
Gorillay, with the emphasis that, if one is offended by a writer’s take on
your religion, you must rise above it instead of resorting to what the film
does to show them up as the ill-religious fool they are. Making an International Gorillay however just
allows said writer to dismiss it as rubbish and say how completely opposite from
reality it actually is.
The Person(s) of The Month
1. Director Melvin Van Peebles,
and actors Nicole Berger and Harry Baird (The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1968))
2. Federico Fellini
3. Martin Landau (Ed Wood (1994))
4. Stefan Czapsky
(Cinematographer of Ed Wood (1994))
5. Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead
(2011))
6. Takeshi Koike (Director of
Redline (2009))
7. Stephen and Timothy Quay
8. Jack Birkett (Jubilee (1977))
9. Nicolas Winding Refn (Director
of Fear X (2003))
10. Participants of the MUBI
Directors Cup 2013 who choose the films like The Story of a Three-Day Pass
(1968) for the matches
Honourable Mentions - Jost Vacano
(Cinematographer for Showgirls (1995)); The Set Designers for Pistol Opera
(2001); Tai Bo (Ninja In The Dragon's Den (1982)); Niall MacGinnis (Night of
the Demon (1957)); Mario Bava (Director of Shock (1977)); Arne Treholt
(Norwegian Ninjas (2010)); Bernabe Pérez and Magdalena Flores (Japón (2002));
Brian Eno, Dean Landon and J. Peter Schwalm (Composers of Fear X (2003)); Gina
Gershon (Showgirls (1995)); The Ro-Man (Robot Monster (1953)); Todd Solondz
(Director of Dark Horse (2011)); Nasir Adib, Zahoor Ahmed, Sikandar Khanna (and
the English translation of the subtitles) (Screenwriters of International
Gorilla (1990); Marcel Lévesque (Les Vampires (1915)); Daria Nicolodi (Shock
(1977)); Seth Rogen,; Jay Chou and Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet (2011));
Sterling Hayden (Terror In A Texas Town (1958)); Mary Field (Director of The
Mystery of Marriage (1932)); Alan Cumming (GoldenEye (1995)); Marc ‘Lard’ Riley
and Mark Radcliffe (Dominator (2003))
Dishonorable Person of the Month
Dani Filth (Dominator (2003))
Dishonorable Mention: Jeff Frey
(Director of Blood Thristy (1999)); The Individuals behind the price gouging
for the UK DVD release of Roujin Z (1991)
There is no excuse for how
expensive Roujin Z, a 80 or so
minute film on an extra-less disc, was for me to buy it at my local HMV, Blue
Cross sale or not. I have become more and more fond of the store, buying more
from them over the two years, but over expensive prices for certain niche DVDs
was probably not going to help them during their recent financial issues.
Originally I was going to put the director of Dominator on this list, but considering the problems he had
including treatment for cancer, I would rather damn the film itself separate from
him. The director of Blood Thirsty should
be ashamed though.
And out of either of these
choices, Dani Filth however has to
have the bottom placement for how bad his presence in Dominator was and the potentially sad fact that he thought the
whole thing was awesome and added to his view of what heavy metal music is. Cradle of Filth seem a bit off-putting
for me to get into as a band even as a general, open-minded music fan willing
to try anything, as it comes apparent that the same mentality Dominator may permeate their music,
something I dread to have to listen to. I’ll stick with the song Nymphetamine on my iPod for now and not
venture anywhere near their discography yet.
85 Works Watched In January
31 Rewatched Works
54 New Works Seen
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