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Mega-Post XII: The Mega Post Strikes Back!
Me and BeardotheWeirdo chit-chat about Spaghetti Westerns made me want to rewatch Duck, You Sucker. I've seen all of Leone's other Westerns a multitude of times but I've never really felt the need to return to Sucker until now. What struck me watching it with a more mature mind was it's ambivalence towards the Zapata Western genre. Zapata westerns where populist, leftist pictures. They usually glorified revolution and propagated the theory of class-conflict, though albeit not denying the violent streak inherent in revolutions or the unlikeable features of violent men. That said, Leone's attitude towards all of this seems a lot more pessimistic than his contemporaries. He puts a lot more focus on the setbacks of a revolution. How its often the poor that bears the burden. How friends name friends under torture. How warfare leaves you alive but others dead. At the end of the movie, Rod Steiger has been galvanized into a revolution he didn't want to be a part of yet has lost all of his family and friends, leaving him a lonely, saddened man. Message-wise its actually quite a contrarian and complex film. Evil, oppersive regimes and systems abound yet fighting them will most likely not make you a happier person, and said struggle isn't excactly going to be "fair" either. It's not exactly a rallying cry for revolution, is all I'm saying.
That said, on a craftsmanship and storytelling level, this is my least favorite Leone film after the Colossus of Rhodes. I think the fundamental problem is that, especially in the second half, Leone jumps to swiftly and jaggedly between time and place. For example, after a wild and cathartic machine-gun battle we jump instantly to Steiger finding his children murdered in a cave. There is no transition shoot between these very contrasting moments -- which makes it's impact feel rather muddled and confused.
Continuing on, I thought pretty much the same of A Touch of Zen as I thought about all King Hu flicks I've seen. It was good but jarringly uneven. As always Hu deserves major props for his artistic eye and cinematic composition. It was interesting to see him work with a darker, more naturalistic style than the bright color-galore parties of his previous work. But at 3-hours the movie has an oddly episodic feel, almost as if you're hiking through genres, and as I insinuate, some half-hours are just better than others. The worst was the whole "ghost ambush" sketch and I think I liked everything with the monks the best. Another downside was that... previously King Hu has always managed to create very engaging and energetic heroes-- especially female ones. But here everyone just seems stoic and formal like chinese porcelain. Hsu Feng stole every scene in "The Fate of Khan Lee" with her wordless, regal performance. But here she just comes of as a very shallow, typical genre character devoid of any vitality or life.
Kurosawa's High and Low, now there's a movie that knows how to transition organically between episodes! I very much liked this film, though I wouldn't consider it one of Akira's best. Akira's hyper-composition almost went a bit overboard in the first half but overall I liked it, especially how it was constrained to virtually a single room. The second half feels very reminiscent of Stray Dog, in that it is a police procedual that very much feels like a time-capsule of Japan at the time. It also reminded me quite a bit of Seven Samurai, in how it's about the relationship between social classes, not just in economical terms, but in how said economical terms translated into socio-psychological impacts on people. That said, Seven Samurai illustrated this much more thoroughly, as that relationship was present in virtually every frame of the picture, and in that movie the observations felt a lot more poignant, striking and heartfelt.
Speaking of more 3 hours+ monstrosities, I also took another gander at 1963's Cleopratra. When I was a kid this was like the most epic film ever made. The productions values and set-designs still inspire an awesome sense of grandure. That said, the rest of the movie fails to do the same. The longer the film goes you the more you get the feeling that they are just moving from one grand vista to another. More problematically, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton doesn't really seem to know what to do with their roles as Antony and Cleopatra. They don't try to make them humane or larger-than-life and just seem to settle on playing them as "seriously stuff" in the manner of which teenagers approach Shakespeare plays - resulting in very bland, uninspired performances (thought this is a normal issue with historical epics of the day, like Helene of Troy or Land of the Pharoes). Rex Harrison as Ceasar has fun with his role though, making his absent in the later half a major blow to the enjoyment-factor.
Moving over to films of a more reasonable running-time, I watched Network as well! Another one of the films that illustrated what a master Sidney Lumet was at giving actors the Lebensraum to shine. I think Faye Dunaway won the acting-war overall, though anyone in that movie could be a reasonable winner. Also, I love how it's basically a sci-fi movie about the news. Network didn't only foresee reality TV, it foresaw that reality TV would be faked.
While snooping around High and Low's IMDB page, I read that My Darling Clementine was a film that Akira thought "all other films should aspire to be". So naturally, I had to see it
. This was probably John Ford's most mature Western. And I'm not referring to maturity as in sex and violence but in wholesomeness and emotional sensitivity. There's some real humanity infused in the characterizations of this film, and none of that hokey, family-melodrama balderdash that weight down some of his other westerns like The Searchers or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Still I probably enjoyed those more. Clementine presents an intresting contrast with those particular pictures by the way. Often the taming of the west motif is presented as done by hard, rugged, uncivilized individuals. In both Searchers and Liberty Valance the hero that conquers the western spirit are roughneck that (tragically) has no place in the future, civilized society that they helped to create. In Clemintine though, the passification is done by a sensetive, well-adjusted man with urbane manners and outlook. It's the civilized man, bringing civilization with him to the frontier (and Henry Fonda is really perfect for playing such a character).
French Connection was just awesome. Another testament to how superb William Freidkin can be. Urban grime really was the theme of 1971 -- with this and movies like Get Carter and Shaft being marched into the theaters. The cold, gray, grimey New York that Friedkin crafts his plot around really heightens the tension and identity of the story. You just didn't see movies where policemen where nasty and casually racist like this back then. Gene Hackman's obsessed, mad-dog performance works splendidly in tune with all this. You really believe he's the kind of cop that would go on a mad train chase (which was an amazing action set-piece I must say).
On the martial art front, I saw The One-Armed Boxer. It... was very unlike The One-Armed Swordsman I must say. It had none of the heart that the aftomented film had. Instead it went for a very slapdash, heavily speed-up narrative that almost made it feel like a very straight-faced, trollish parody of Shaw Brother genre pictures. Everything about it is ridiculous but played totally straight. There is literally a Spanish-inquisition moment where someone bad-mouths Tibetan martial arts -- and two Shaolin Monks burst through the roof-top and screams "Nobody bad-mouths Tibetan martial arts!" That said, the fights are awesomely fun. It has the classic style-vs-style match up that is a classic as old as time but always work. And there's a moment where the wounded, de-armed hero is crawling away while the freaking Shaft theme plays! So yeah, ludacris and fun.
On a short note, Quatermass and the Pit was one of Hammers finest. It's one of those movies that at its climax is intense, weird and psychedelic yet the movie perfectly builds this up by establishing the sense of normalcy that is slowly eroded through the film. Great Hammer-styled horror flick.
Lastly, I never thought I'd see a throwback-film to the Italian cannibal wave of the 70's/80's -- but damit Green Inferno came out, meaning I'm pretty much obliged to see it. It was really funny. Eli Roth's morbid humor really went hand-in-hand with the subject matter (with a few missteps). A bit surprisingly it didn't really try to one-up the levels of gruesomeness, even though its pretty gnarly by modern standards, but nothing really like say Cannibal Holocaust vs Cannibal Ferox. The cinematography I also thought was very well done, capturing the greenness and lushness of the jungle.
And Lorenza Izzo is just insanely gorgeous, which is the sentance that every proper mega-post should end with.
Me and BeardotheWeirdo chit-chat about Spaghetti Westerns made me want to rewatch Duck, You Sucker. I've seen all of Leone's other Westerns a multitude of times but I've never really felt the need to return to Sucker until now. What struck me watching it with a more mature mind was it's ambivalence towards the Zapata Western genre. Zapata westerns where populist, leftist pictures. They usually glorified revolution and propagated the theory of class-conflict, though albeit not denying the violent streak inherent in revolutions or the unlikeable features of violent men. That said, Leone's attitude towards all of this seems a lot more pessimistic than his contemporaries. He puts a lot more focus on the setbacks of a revolution. How its often the poor that bears the burden. How friends name friends under torture. How warfare leaves you alive but others dead. At the end of the movie, Rod Steiger has been galvanized into a revolution he didn't want to be a part of yet has lost all of his family and friends, leaving him a lonely, saddened man. Message-wise its actually quite a contrarian and complex film. Evil, oppersive regimes and systems abound yet fighting them will most likely not make you a happier person, and said struggle isn't excactly going to be "fair" either. It's not exactly a rallying cry for revolution, is all I'm saying.
That said, on a craftsmanship and storytelling level, this is my least favorite Leone film after the Colossus of Rhodes. I think the fundamental problem is that, especially in the second half, Leone jumps to swiftly and jaggedly between time and place. For example, after a wild and cathartic machine-gun battle we jump instantly to Steiger finding his children murdered in a cave. There is no transition shoot between these very contrasting moments -- which makes it's impact feel rather muddled and confused.
Continuing on, I thought pretty much the same of A Touch of Zen as I thought about all King Hu flicks I've seen. It was good but jarringly uneven. As always Hu deserves major props for his artistic eye and cinematic composition. It was interesting to see him work with a darker, more naturalistic style than the bright color-galore parties of his previous work. But at 3-hours the movie has an oddly episodic feel, almost as if you're hiking through genres, and as I insinuate, some half-hours are just better than others. The worst was the whole "ghost ambush" sketch and I think I liked everything with the monks the best. Another downside was that... previously King Hu has always managed to create very engaging and energetic heroes-- especially female ones. But here everyone just seems stoic and formal like chinese porcelain. Hsu Feng stole every scene in "The Fate of Khan Lee" with her wordless, regal performance. But here she just comes of as a very shallow, typical genre character devoid of any vitality or life.
Kurosawa's High and Low, now there's a movie that knows how to transition organically between episodes! I very much liked this film, though I wouldn't consider it one of Akira's best. Akira's hyper-composition almost went a bit overboard in the first half but overall I liked it, especially how it was constrained to virtually a single room. The second half feels very reminiscent of Stray Dog, in that it is a police procedual that very much feels like a time-capsule of Japan at the time. It also reminded me quite a bit of Seven Samurai, in how it's about the relationship between social classes, not just in economical terms, but in how said economical terms translated into socio-psychological impacts on people. That said, Seven Samurai illustrated this much more thoroughly, as that relationship was present in virtually every frame of the picture, and in that movie the observations felt a lot more poignant, striking and heartfelt.
Speaking of more 3 hours+ monstrosities, I also took another gander at 1963's Cleopratra. When I was a kid this was like the most epic film ever made. The productions values and set-designs still inspire an awesome sense of grandure. That said, the rest of the movie fails to do the same. The longer the film goes you the more you get the feeling that they are just moving from one grand vista to another. More problematically, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton doesn't really seem to know what to do with their roles as Antony and Cleopatra. They don't try to make them humane or larger-than-life and just seem to settle on playing them as "seriously stuff" in the manner of which teenagers approach Shakespeare plays - resulting in very bland, uninspired performances (thought this is a normal issue with historical epics of the day, like Helene of Troy or Land of the Pharoes). Rex Harrison as Ceasar has fun with his role though, making his absent in the later half a major blow to the enjoyment-factor.
Moving over to films of a more reasonable running-time, I watched Network as well! Another one of the films that illustrated what a master Sidney Lumet was at giving actors the Lebensraum to shine. I think Faye Dunaway won the acting-war overall, though anyone in that movie could be a reasonable winner. Also, I love how it's basically a sci-fi movie about the news. Network didn't only foresee reality TV, it foresaw that reality TV would be faked.
While snooping around High and Low's IMDB page, I read that My Darling Clementine was a film that Akira thought "all other films should aspire to be". So naturally, I had to see it
. This was probably John Ford's most mature Western. And I'm not referring to maturity as in sex and violence but in wholesomeness and emotional sensitivity. There's some real humanity infused in the characterizations of this film, and none of that hokey, family-melodrama balderdash that weight down some of his other westerns like The Searchers or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Still I probably enjoyed those more. Clementine presents an intresting contrast with those particular pictures by the way. Often the taming of the west motif is presented as done by hard, rugged, uncivilized individuals. In both Searchers and Liberty Valance the hero that conquers the western spirit are roughneck that (tragically) has no place in the future, civilized society that they helped to create. In Clemintine though, the passification is done by a sensetive, well-adjusted man with urbane manners and outlook. It's the civilized man, bringing civilization with him to the frontier (and Henry Fonda is really perfect for playing such a character).French Connection was just awesome. Another testament to how superb William Freidkin can be. Urban grime really was the theme of 1971 -- with this and movies like Get Carter and Shaft being marched into the theaters. The cold, gray, grimey New York that Friedkin crafts his plot around really heightens the tension and identity of the story. You just didn't see movies where policemen where nasty and casually racist like this back then. Gene Hackman's obsessed, mad-dog performance works splendidly in tune with all this. You really believe he's the kind of cop that would go on a mad train chase (which was an amazing action set-piece I must say).
On the martial art front, I saw The One-Armed Boxer. It... was very unlike The One-Armed Swordsman I must say. It had none of the heart that the aftomented film had. Instead it went for a very slapdash, heavily speed-up narrative that almost made it feel like a very straight-faced, trollish parody of Shaw Brother genre pictures. Everything about it is ridiculous but played totally straight. There is literally a Spanish-inquisition moment where someone bad-mouths Tibetan martial arts -- and two Shaolin Monks burst through the roof-top and screams "Nobody bad-mouths Tibetan martial arts!"
That said, the fights are awesomely fun. It has the classic style-vs-style match up that is a classic as old as time but always work. And there's a moment where the wounded, de-armed hero is crawling away while the freaking Shaft theme plays! So yeah, ludacris and fun.On a short note, Quatermass and the Pit was one of Hammers finest. It's one of those movies that at its climax is intense, weird and psychedelic yet the movie perfectly builds this up by establishing the sense of normalcy that is slowly eroded through the film. Great Hammer-styled horror flick.
Lastly, I never thought I'd see a throwback-film to the Italian cannibal wave of the 70's/80's -- but damit Green Inferno came out, meaning I'm pretty much obliged to see it. It was really funny. Eli Roth's morbid humor really went hand-in-hand with the subject matter (with a few missteps). A bit surprisingly it didn't really try to one-up the levels of gruesomeness, even though its pretty gnarly by modern standards, but nothing really like say Cannibal Holocaust vs Cannibal Ferox. The cinematography I also thought was very well done, capturing the greenness and lushness of the jungle.
And Lorenza Izzo is just insanely gorgeous, which is the sentance that every proper mega-post should end with.
