Most Meaningful First Viewings and Re-Evaluations of 2013 Part 12: U To Z

Uncle (Adam Elliot, 1996)
I was expecting a compilation of short films from directors from around the world, the obscure to the acclaimed, to at least provide some gems, but this one in particular stood out, having never seen any else of Adam Elliot's, for how much of an emotional punch a claymation piece could be. With nothing sentimentalised, left absurd or sad as it is, it fully conveys emotions in only a few minutes.

Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915)
Probably the reason why I have fallen into love with the pulp of cinema so much. On the first viewing finding it difficult to grasp the full enrapturing nature of the film serial, the second viewing showed how a pulpy crime story can be art and almost surrealist when its presented in this way.

Vidas Secas (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1963)

Vixen! (Russ Meyer, 1968)
Thus proving softcore and politics can share a bed. In one of the previous entries for this series, I talked about the possibility of having found an area of American genre cinema that suits my niche, the kind that is unique and encourages me to search out for it more. It wouldn't be surprising that Russ Meyer would be one of the first people that would have to researched if I went further into this area of cinema, and it's not a surprise that seeing this film would encourage digging into his films further.

Viy (Georgi Kropachyov and Konstantin Yershov, 1967)

Walker (Ming-liang Tsai, 2012)

Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (David Blair, 1991)

The White Dove (Frantisek Vlácil, 1960)/Josef Kilian (Pavel Jurácek and Jan Schmidt, 1963)

Wojciech Has
(The Noose (1958), The Saragossa Manuscript (1965), The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (1973)) 

A Woman After A Killer Butterfly (Ki-young Kim, 1978)

WWF Summerslam 1993 (1993)
Some might be surprised by this being on this list. Even as a self confessed pro wrestling fan, this is not a great ppv event. It's interesting to see what the early nineties was like, both wrestlers who would become very different in persona years later, and what the former World Wrestling Federation was like in a period seen as a drop in interest before "the Attitude Era" came about, where wrestlers like Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson started becoming famous to even non-wrestling viewers. Probably the reason this is added to the list, but not as a positive but an odd lesson learnt from this that can be applied to anything in general, comes from the main event. The good American hero, riding in on his "Lex Express" of Americana, against the evil Japanese champion (actually a Samoan wrestler). The xenophobia was discomforting, putting me off instantly when it gets to the national anthems, but what stands out if that, for all the hero's pre-match hype, especially as he was an attempt to hastily replace Hulk Hogan, the crowd waving flags, images of American eagles and the such, he wins only because he knocks his opponent to the outside and the baddy cannot get back in. Championships cannot be won through count out victories, and the set-up of the challenge is that it's the only chance the hero can have to fight for that title. He would have another shot later in the former WWF's PPV history, but as the Americans celebrate, confetti in the colours of the American flag, hero on the shoulders of others, and the fact that he hasn't truly defeated the villain and taken the title from his is a perplexing case of self denial within a worked scenario. Even in a wrestling event, this for even someone who doesn't understand pro wrestling would still be a clear example of how you can blind yourself even though you've lost the actual war.

Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969)

Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain (Tsui Hawk, 1983)

=====

Images from the following sources:

http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/4161258/600full-uncle-screenshot.jpg

http://maciejrajk.eu/wp-content/uploads/file/Les_Vampires_1915_Wampiry.jpg

http://themadmovieguy.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/vidas-secas1.jpg

http://img11.nnm.me/2/2/d/9/a/fc6b2022aa6188cceb9b182beee.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5s1rAv9u4FRM9Jdy8w1Uwq6rBOY1xUApuZ1FElodP5FKzxMh9ll2VvCgKF4AS7trUwvGNXrk8P1sTrTK7DWRxpRmOUQqXOzC01elbRdon1op5uXxkVVAu7uWx8gepqJy0kGguqPiO-FY/s1600/skellar.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/aa6a2d7165be83989fdc6afd801670f3/tumblr_mrsc0qTHod1qzpdnho1_1280.png

http://www.videotapeswapshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/vlcsnap-2013-07-14-00h41m47s34.png

http://readwritehand.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/the-white-dove.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/joseph-kilian/w448/joseph-kilian.jpg

http://ttltrash.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/tsm.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDCkovEBvxCINNphwuZXDtGz3YP1LGl1OMnL7fxa2FtSFpJHZ1b9K1-_t63v2idYEPgVW37qK9bebFTXquANLpqAHAnnzv2sVSuEWHA47J04WhhsgGATiObHwuev5hyphenhyphenO7r7DNZgQrAu8/s1600/KB04.jpg

http://legacy.barstoolsports.com/_images/articles/2007/08/11/31.jpg

http://magazine.ufmalmo.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/z21.jpg

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Zu.jpeg

Most Meaningful First Viewings and Re-Evaluations of 2013 Part 11: The "T"s

Takeshis’ (Takeshi Kitano, 2005)
That this area of Kitano's career has been dismissed compared to the rest, this being the first of the three in these meta-autobiographic works of his I've seen, is sad considering this film is so alive with wit and interest. Complete absurdity start to finish, as one critic perfectly described this period of his work the creation of a man who is free. Skewering Hana-Bi (1997) ay the end, the film that broke Kitano into the West for many, he both reflects on his career throughout this one with a satirical light and showed he had more than enough creativity for another decade of films.

The Tatami Galaxy (Masaaki Yuasa, 2010)
Rewatched this last month and saw Kaiba (2008), the director's earlier TV series, making this one fresh in my mind again. If only more Yuasa projects were as available as The Tatami Galaxy was, as he already stands up as a potentially great anime auteur whose ability to tackle with human emotions alongside visual creativity is rewarding.

Taxi zum Klo (Frank Ripploh, 1981)

Theorem/Pigsty (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968-9)
Expect more Pasolini films to be seen as monthly lists at least for February. He is becoming one of the most interesting and rewarding filmmakers I've going through the work of.

They Called Us ‘Les Filles du Roy’/A Scream From Silence (Anne Claire Poirier, 1974-79)
A type of cinema I haven't seen a lot of. A fascinating documentary in the former, the later a deeply unsettling film which, while once finding its later half's cerebral discussions too disconnected on the theme of the damage of rape, has stayed throughout the year and become more powerful.

They Eat Scum (Nick Zedd, 1979)
Sometimes complete rawness is more rich. Transgressive, course rawness. Funny too, especially with a habit of making jokes against disco, and I'm a fan of disco music.

Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)

This Must Be the Place (Paolo Sorrentino, 2011)

This Sporting Life/O Lucky Man! (Lindsay Anderson, 1963/1973)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (Michael Cimino, 1974)
This is a great way to show anyone who distinct seventies cinema could be, and why its missed as badly as it is by many.

Time to Leave (François Ozon, 2005)

Tomu Uchida
(Souls in the Moonlight Trilogy (1957-58-59), Chikamatsu’s Love in Osaka (1959),
Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarter aka. Hero of the Red Light District (1960), Fugitive from the Past (1965))
If only Uchida's work, like many other under appreciated Japanese directors, was available in the West. There's large gaps in the global view of cinema, and any of these films I've been lucky enough to see would fit perfectly into it.

A Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1969)

Two Orphan Vampires (Jean Rollin, 1997)
I've developed a habit of praising maligned or obscurer works by well known directors even over their more well known work. I hope this trend continues.

------

Images from the following sources:

http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/155913/155913_full.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYXvzgIYySxt5vSxBBOP3TJ2KM-Vym6820y8n24nJEfPcMDTtUWcAQ-jHux3wVqbNlLADBTuyou4Op77pfW4fRujCmyYnz1QhhxEpq5RCCQEqdzgxSLOkNKxZUYBN8XCxCzHkWUT_Nhc/s400/tatami-galaxy-6.jpg

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq120/adrianmendizabal/SCREENSHOTS/vlcsnap-2011-06-21-19h54m45s163.png

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHrLix1Dd4gxFERnTEpHtBeeDCvBWuVhCiC8pQTWHdAEu0d8Y191hLwo4PrfxPqZhXFhXH_DAGwT_qKqtm48hvcHiOZmuE09RSIT_Sj3IveQc42YECmbCdZvzBZWgbzZ9k2jZ_q-_BFc/s1600/teorema4big.jpg

http://blogs.whatsontv.co.uk/movietalk/files/2012/06/paso2.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/they-called-us-les-filles-du-roy/w448/they-called-us-les-filles-du-roy.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/a-scream-from-silence/w448/a-scream-from-silence.jpg?1311941185

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-s9AgkPvvEDHaW0294Xhkv5vEXj8bvFuifhi0Md0ixQ7j1WXH3AUVw2UUkf1fbtAdJ0efQP1Ik8VwiuZQXQ42JEy9dB7Sgg-m8fH74zcBivfdkvZso6a1NneqrrDu3iAjvCOOL5pZNRE/s320/theyeatscum14hq4.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz5turUsLz1qjbsoho2_r2_1280.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOoZHe9zsZ0XB0gRU64_MtE2JB3Vwvxx1bERAl-gAnK1K_RKep9z-FU1yJeeL1upTNBcOMe0kdKzeYL1iepCvqfoj2vYFRSTtR7z5m3G_WLeCMDKZmxTleHdkAFPopws5fixOB2D_mFqj/s640/vlcsnap-2012-04-18-23h37m18s67.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCb8HbI6ez_aCffNPBfVUz0PBRvP-B8DkYMDayETnfNDjqv6-_0ejiC3U72g8vsUY2QL_M-E-V7vKUK6kA9jz-5cSWP7AeC9BTd-9zijDhMheKisZQt9TrHB0zTagFib9wZ22p06pxtg/s1600/tsp2.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Qa9YlX6pTnFGjFzG3V_muBwuKhcipB3tre8lTWTDuTKviSUmiKYWy98kGED1ug6Sgh0Ax-Bmw7y8lIBXv6_3OXSs7-Qat6XDUmm7-6GzxhyphenhyphenmV01GQNY0Gkw_M4yVwr5d7cXLOv6EJrqY/s1600/o+lucky+man+2.png

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Thunderbolt-and-Lightfoot-1974-Clint-Eastwood-Jeff-Bridges-pic-10.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2006/05/11/time372.jpg

http://michaelgloversmith.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/fugitive.png

https://feminema.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/touch_of_zen.jpg?w=480&h=196

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTrxRF1Yvn4Ke94dYVM-krF4JwepBa9QtsioGQxvHDnS2c9SA6lK6wM71XIo_toD88orRLzAPQfsU4pBlhSEWKITdVvpzgBO41OjtaSDN-KJM2XxAuA-cLGrcGLUUpT9ks06KhUF29Kgh/s400/Two+Orphan+Vampires+9.JPG

Most Meaningful First Viewings and Re-Evaluations of 2013 Part 10: The "S"s

Sakura Wars Franchise
(OVA 1 (Takaaki Ishiyama 1997), OVA II (Susumu Kudo, 1999),
TV Series (Ryutaro Nakamura and Takashi Asami, 2000))
A flawed set of works. The first is the best but it was designed to wrap around the original source material, a videogame combining dating simulation with strategy, so huge narrative gaps are left. The second suffers from being an early work with computer made 2D animation, but has a lot of interest. The series sets up the characters, but its technically a prequel and suffers from generic plotting. But they still shine with virtues for me. The later 1920s Japanese setting, even if fictionalised with proto-steam punk, is grabbing, and the significance of how the female characters are treated as all being significant ] is something that stands out immensely. Even if they could be seen as clichés, they're treated with respect, with no sexualisation in any of the pieces I've seen, and the importance of the original Japanese voice actresses behind them, all contributing the singing in the music as well as acting, to the point that they became loved for playing these characters over and over again can be seen. It gives what are videogame adaptations as lustre of class that did stick out in these anime even with their major flaws.

Samuel Fuller
(The Steel Helmet (1951). Park Row (1952), Shock Corridor (1963))
Completely blunt. Subtlety is vacated in these films for Fuller's sledgehammer tone but to great effect. It's a bluntness that's passionate and backed up with the ability to make the most out of limited means. And with Park Row he did have the means and pulls off one of the most tantalising, continuously moving camera shots I've seen in a long time.

Santa Claus (René Cardona, 1959)
Definitely a strange film, but it manages for all its kitschy tone to actually be legitimately sincere and sweet in its message. Its dismissal as a terrible film to laugh at is insulting really - it's camp, but its heart was in the right place. Certainly a damn lot more bearable than Santa Claus (1985) with Dudley Moore which does deserve more stick for its content. Link to a review here.

Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)/Serial Experiments Lain (Ryutaro Nakamura, 1998)
Two completely different toned works. One an animated television series, the other part of a paranoia trilogy of films from an acclaimed American filmmaker. Yet they lingered together as siblings, brother and sister, ever since last year when I was compiling my best of viewing for that December. Both about the meaning of existence when their different traits are boiled away. One through the notion of being able to have a new life, the other through completely transferring yourself out of your physical flesh. One is unable to accept his new position, the other is lost as someone presuming to be her acts independently. One is of the meaning of one's life, the other brings in the concept of a new God being created. Both individuals are lost in a world that makes no sense, with people acting upon their lives, but one of them may in fact be in more control that she may believe. Two very different works but they make perfect sense next to each other in hindsight.

Seven Beauties (Lina Wertmüller, 1975)
"The ones who don't enjoy themselves, even when they laugh. Oh yeah. The ones who worship the corporate image, not knowing that they work for someone else. Oh yeah. The ones who should have been shot in the cradle... Pow! Oh yeah. The ones who say 'Follow me to success, but kill me if I fail... so to speak.' Oh yeah..."

Shameless Films Back Catalog
(The Frightened Woman (Piero Schivazappa, 1969), My Dear Killer (Tonino Valerii, 1972), What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (Massimo Dallamano, 1974), Night Train Murders (Aldo Lado, 1975), Killer Nun (Giulio Berruti, 1978)
Not all of the films were perfect, the weakest being My Dear Killer, but a lot of the reason why my interest in seventies and early eighties Italian genre films has grown this year is thanks to the British DVD company Shameless, these films all contributing something of interest in style and content. The good news is that the company, after a long time of inactivity, is coming back with a couple of Italian films getting UK premiers this year on DVD, which I hope is a continuation of the great work of theirs I'm finally catching up to. 

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (Steve Roberts, 1980)
Admittedly on the first viewing of this film, I really couldn't grasp a lot within it. Able to have a grasp of what is exactly is going on, to understand what kind of absurd oddness the film plays within, it grew immensely in the second viewing. It's the first proper connection I've had to something from Vivian Stanshall, someone I will have to get around to in my interest in absurdist humour made in Britain, and this is an acceptably bonkers work to begin with.

Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)
Bond films vary for me. Sean Connery's from what I've seen, the first, have been the best while the others have not really stood up well at all. Neither am I a fan of American Beauty (1999) since the day I grew up. But Skyfall did stand out exceptionally well. It feels like a significant film than a mere sequel - the performances, the tone, the incredible Roger Deakins cinematography - giving it a justifiable importance to its spectacle and means it doesn't coast on being flag waving for my country in favour of being an actually engaging narrative.

The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)
Just gorgeous.

Something Weird (Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1967)
Definitely lives up to its title. It appears that a potentially strong area of American genre film has opened up for me to investigate like Lewis's work - from between the sixties and eighties, the peculiar works that don't really belong in a specific genre but go in any direction depending on who got cast and how much the budget was there that day. The kind of films Something Weird, the DVD company who took this film's name as theirs, release. Unfortunately at the start of this year the founder passed away, but I hope the company still continues, not only for the significance of all the films they preserved and made available, but because I fancy importing more films like this one on DVD to collect.

Song at Midnight (Weibang Ma-Xu, 1937)
Growing on me. A luscious, gothic melodrama which has continually been in my mind for the fact that it feels completely uninhibited in its content. Willing to have the political message it has, and go as far with it as it does, to have the gothic nature close to actual horror, and never letting the doomed romantic story get lost between the disfigured faces and dank, cobwebbed courtyards. Areview can be read going into more detail through here.

Spookies (Genie Joseph, Thomas Doran and Brendan Faulkner, 1986)
What happens when a film is unfinished, and said footage gets used to create a new film years later? Spookies is what happens, where you can see the joints, but the creation that tries to hide them is fascinating to watch. This is also the movie with mummies that make farting noises too, already bizarre to the standards of American genre films without the back story of the production having to be known. Its closer to Something Weird than just another dull horror film from cross the Atlantic thankfully.

Starcrash/Contamination (Luigi Cozzi, 1979/1980)
Luigi Cozzi in these films feels like he actually finds immense enjoyment in his work. Legitimate enjoyment like a child with a construction set. Yes the special effects might not be completely what he wanted them to be in some areas, and the content in absurd, but its joyful, fun and delights in its bubblegum nature. Even when Contamination has the gore it's not cynically made. Even Demons 6: De Profundis (1989), which I slagged off in a review on here, while Starcrash got an immensely positive review here, is growing for me from the first watching just for how intentionally absurd it felt in its existence.

The Story of a Three-Day Pass/Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1968-71)
It's not surprising Van Peebles, especially the later film, helped bring in an entire series of African-American driven cinema in the early seventies. Read the review of Sweet Sweetback... here, just to see proof why it led to the blaxploitation movement.

Straight on Till Morning (Peter Collinson, 1972)
After falling out of love with The Italian Job (1969) and finding Fright (1971) to be bland, it's surprising the same director, having reviewed the film here for the Halloween series last year, created something this special out of nowhere. That it's a film that has been ignored is sad, considering that it's from the same period really dull period Hammer House films were being made that are more well known. This is truly a horror film and of a vastly better quality.

Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)
The monkey's funeral near the beginning perfectly encapsulates the world the protagonist and the audience enters, one that at first glance is pathetic and completely disconnected from reality, but at the same time you not only feel sadness and sympathy for it, but see the grandeur of it, that once flourished, and regret that it was buried away from the public, not just in filmmaking but general human emotions.

A Swedish Love Story (Roy Andersson, 1970)
And finally, a film very different from what Andersson would get to from the last few decades onwards, but already assured in visual composition and immense interest in human relationships. An image of fleeting light over a woodland has stood from his debut film the most.

========

Images from the following sources:

http://www.magnificent-world.com/post_images/sakura_wars_ova1/sakura_wars_ova1053.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLfXjFdsjIxxNlH3aBxlhsmDvipuOgb_ADaaYA2mo40skKwr5clZrEcrE3dEnyYPNL_zSrMBfS6HT2dd0N4n9TYDozakwpgA3ZB52-HIYdXetJM4hsewHAxAm7O5XUTXoVKLvcrJMrLYVU/s1600/ParkRow2.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjueWEm72GhBT4955QLU1k4sp0KiNTnAaQ83JKWIwEJh8qHRKYOv3NWDrAJzOpGSFSicuoCEf9CE6TTWI-uZ0veci-jJMNlO3bj2c3hYV9kxCFapPGvJGSF3_hKlj9yrp5dCHFJKx-oG_I/s1600/santaclaus19591.jpg

http://www.nova-cinema.org/IMG/jpg/seconds.jpg

http://moviepline.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/serial_experiments_lain_desktop_1280x800_wallpaper-425601.jpg

http://www.reverseshot.com/files/images/pre-issue22/SEVEN%20BEAUTIES.preview.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKy6arGYTgx2S3mv1LtrrpayuBVZrCM0T8hHltBPM8a9JkBO9nuzBPTRdhyphenhyphengT9Ei2p9ftYbprVwyaN-tb6BqGPMLVz9zSCfSidJjReaSvQePr2qzUcZ8pLOovKOYITSHpRubw3ubE1mE1T/s1600/Frightened+Woman+15.jpg

http://mmimageslarge.moviemail-online.co.uk/18874_Sir-Henry-2.JPG

http://www.bassvisuals.com/wordpress_bv/images/fullsize/bass_visuals_jellyfish_nightlights_james_bond_skyfall_film_movie_1920_1080_01.jpg

http://themoviequatic.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/762-spirit-of-the-beehive-erice-spirit_of_the_beehive_disc1-6.jpg

http://cdn.mos.totalfilm.com/images/s/something-weird-1967-.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsaobzXDDx1qz78r0o1_1280.jpg

http://strangewitness.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vlcsnap-2011-12-11-14h37m16s16.png

http://www.zickma.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/star-crash-1979-01-g.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihKrtsdvthKOPQQ9-riaF2lSPum1i5aJVAb3A6DRbJ1aCmiT2TNGEBYOj3_VAzyjPiM4FB340lEwrLnHOGQSFzrq1G65sXNhV_jcku63kBLuOUdfCbfjhm19rDBVOiTJySnyNk24HlcdAr/s1600/CONTAMINATION+-+eggs.jpg

http://history.sffs.org/i/films/1967/Story_of_a_three_day_pass_T.jpg

http://historyofcinema.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2011/02/carfire.png

http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/n-z/sotm/sotm_shot4l.jpg

http://prettycleverfilms.com/files/2013/12/sunset-boulevard4.jpeg

http://data2.whicdn.com/images/9798113/large.jpg