ONIBABA (1964, JAPAN), HOUSE (1977, JAPAN)

Onibaba

One of the reasons I started this blog is because I saw so many videos on our library shelf that were critically acclaimed movies put out by the Criterion Collection, and I wanted a systematic way to watch them and decided to go through the 1001 list. (Didn't realize it would take me years to do it, but that's another story)

First up is the story of Onibaba (The Demon), which is set in the back county of war torn 14th century Japan. A woman and her daughter-in-law are forced through necessity of killing soldiers and selling their body plates or anything else of value on them for scrap. When a local war veteran returns and has eyes for the young woman a conflict arises between the women. 

I tried to recount the plot above of Onibaba and no description feels quite right. It is an odd film, but a beautiful one at the same time. It is also an ugly film when it shows the brutal side of human nature. The plot point with the mask is based on old Buddhist legends and gives the film a slight supernatural twist on top of everything else.

The extras: The most worthwhile extra on the Criterion Disc is the interview with Director Kaneto Shindo who (at age 91) details the use of sex in his film, setting, music, fable, war and black and white photography. It is about 20 minutes and brings a great deal to understanding what he was trying to say with this film. It's also heartening how much he appreciates the DVD medium and bringing his film to a new audience.

When I saw the the new releases for the Criterion Collection one month and a strange Japanese movie titled House was on the list, I decided to order it for the library. That was a couple of years ago and I just now got around to watching it.

It is the story of a group of teenage girls named Gorgeous, Melody, Prof, Sweet, Kung Fu and Mac. (I think I got the names right.) Gorgeous's father is remarrying which has her upset. Then all the girls go on a retreat to a house that they soon discover is haunted. It's told in a very nontraditional manner. Some of the early scenes have elements of wackiness that made me wonder if this was a slapstick comedy or not. The music was interesting, but at times seemed remarkably upbeat for something that was supposed to be creating a scary mood. Once we get to the house, we do find a creepy old lady and her cat and all sorts of weird things start happening accompanied by some (intentionally) cheesy special effects. 

In some ways it's a traditional haunted house story, but in many ways it isn't. I'm not sure who the target audience for this was!

House

The extras:  Forty-five minute interview with director Nobuhiko Obayashi answers a lot of questions I had about the movie and I found it as interesting as the movie itself. Obaysahi talks about his apprenticeship in commercials, difficulty in getting the movie made despite a go-ahead from the studio, his appreciation and rejection of Japanese cinema, who the movie appeals too (Answer: pre-teens), and the how the studio actually being disappointed that the movie was a hit! Best of all is the story of a crew member that searched all day for a screw that was part of the set that the director was looking for. The reason the crew member worked so hard to find that screw, was because Obayashi was the first director ever to call him by his name despite being in the business for many years.

I've called on the Criterion Collection often during my journey through these films, and I by necessity will need to return.

LA NOTTE (1961, ITALY), L'ECLISSE (1962, ITALY), RED DESERT (1964, ITALY)

La Notte

The Michelangelo Antonio starter kit...Before I give my opinions on these films, I'm going to get some bullet points from Gerald Mast, author of my old textbook A Short History of Movies.

1. Antonioni's roots were in neorealism, but he soon deserted this style for a highly polished and stylized drama of personal sensations.

2. Antonioni blurred objective reality and buried the action within the subjective perceptions of the central character.

3. His method involves concentrating as much on the scenic environment as the people in it.

4. His use of modern architecture are metaphors for the  hollowness a character feels at a particular dramatic moment.

5. His characters feel an affinity for white walls which his they go to emphasizing that they are trapped or wall-bound.

6. He trusts visuals over words. Words can be misleading and in Antonioni's world, the characters mostly learn through encounters with the physical world.

L'Eclisse

And there's so much more that has been written on Antonioni! But the bottom line for me is how is the experience of watching them? What do you feel afterwards? They aren't necessarily about something in particular that is easy to grasp and are as good of examples as any of what people think of as European art films. La Notte is probably my favorite of the three films listed on this post. The English title of La Notte (The Night) is appropriate of a film I think of as dark and perhaps shows the dark side of the marriage of the two main characters of the film. Maybe I'm off base, who knows? There is a lot here to think about-the husband's (Marcello Mastroianni) bizarre encounter with an attractive mental patient and how he tells his wife about it..though not  quite telling the whole truth. The contrast of the couple's life with their terminally ill friend and then the party for the pretentious rich and the husband's encounter there with a young lady (Monica Vitti, who is in all of these films) that takes his fancy. But there is resolution and coming to grips with the problems in the film and ends on a more upbeat note than one might think.

L'Eclisse is even less accessible than the others. A woman (Monica Vitti) has one relationship end and quickly gets involved with a player on the stock market (Alain Delon). The wildness, unpredictability and mass of people yelling during of the stock market scenes is nicely contrasted with the scenes with the two potential lovers on the street, where they seem like the only people in the world. My first thought was that why didn't Antonioni hire more extras, but I think he might be making a point about isolation and loneliness here. L'Eclisse is as bright as La Notte is dark, but does anything get resolved? And what about that ending? I can't say I loved sitting through L'Eclisse, but the more I think about it, I may want to watch it again someday...just not today.

Red Desert

Red Desert is the only one of these films to be shot in color and Antonioni uses many vivid colorful images (the yellow poisonous smoke coming from the factory is an obvious example). Most of film uses as backdrop a huge impersonal factory and mighty ships whose strength and size is in contrast to frailness and vulnerability of the human characters, mostly in the woman Guiliani (Monica Vitti, of course) whose past bouts with mental illness aren't nearly as far in the past as she would like people to believe. I like the ending of the story which neatly brings the story full circle...

...And I've come full circle with the all the Antonioni films on the 1001 list. I do like going through some of these director's work watching several pf them back to back. I've still got enough on the list to do this a few more times with other directors, and maybe add some additional films from their respective works.

THE DEAD (1987), ROBOCOP (1987)

1987

Robocop

Robocop-One of the big movie events of 1987 for me was Paul Verhooven's Robocop, the story of a Detroit police officer who is killed (almost) and is revived as a super cyborg cop who cleans up the city. The Wikipedia article on this film points out some of the themes, "media influence, gentrification, corruption, authoritarianism, greed, privitation, capitalism, identity, dystopia and human nature." That's all true, but I would add to this list "really cool scenes where things blow up!" I still like Robocop for many of the reasons stated above after seeing it again, though I can't say the same for Robocop II. But I did like the newer Robocop from 2014. It had the basics elements of the first film, but made enough changes to make it distinctive in its own right. But I'll still go with the original if you're making me choose.

John Huston's The Dead

The Dead-A movie from 1987 where nothing blows up (except for emotions) is John Huston's The Dead, based on a James Joyce story (Robocop is not based on a James Joyce story). You've really got to use the non-Robocop side of your brain to watch The Dead. It has the ring of those Merchant-Ivory films and is a pretty good emotional drama, if you're in the mood for it. If you aren't, just watch Robocop again.

It's not quite like any other John Huston I can remember. But is there a typical John Huston film? From a career that went The Maltese Falcon to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to The Asphalt Jungle to The Man Who Would Be King to Wise Blood, The Dead represents the last act from one of the most significant directors of the 20th century. 

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Robocop and The Dead both made the list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but most movies from that year didn't make the cut. Here are twenty from 1987 that I've seen that didn't quite make have the stuff to make the list.

1. Ishtar
Let's update the old Hope and Crosby road picture film with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty and even get Elaine May to direct! It's a sure hit right? Wrong. You can't remember 1987 movies without thinking of Ishtar, whose very title brings about memories of a Hollywood mega-bomb. But to tell you the truth, I didn't think Ishtar was all that bad. It's amusing, Hoffman is good and the Paul Williams songs are funny. Maybe time for a re-evalutation? Some people seem to like Heaven's Gate now, after all!

C'mon! Give Ishtar another chance!

2. Amazon Women on the Moon, Three Men and a Baby, 
Police Academy 4, The Bedroom Window
In 1987, we just couldn't get enough of Steve Guttenberg, could we?

3. Barfly
I had a friend who really liked to watch this movie in a state of inebriation. And I have to agree, this Charles Bukowski semi-autobiography is a great drunk movie!

4. Beverly Hills Cop II
How to do a sequel essentially making the same movie as the first one all over again, just not as well.

5.Black Widow
Theresa Russell in Black Widow is on the short list of sexiest female leads in film history. She's to die for, which may have even been the tagline of the film. If not, it should have been.

Theresa Russell is The Black Widow

6. Cry Freedom
Little surprised that this Richard Attenborough film about apartheid in South Africa isn't on the 1001 list.

7. Dirty Dancing
Not necessarily a personal favorite, but I might include this on the 1001 list just for it's enduring popularity.

8. Dragnet
Feature film version of the classic television series is notable mostly for Dan Akyroyd's spot on Jack Webb impression throughout the movie. And who among us hasn't referred to an innocent young woman as "the virgin, Connie Swayle" at one time or another?" Or maybe that's just me.
   

9. Ernest Goes to Camp
I'm having second thoughts on whether or not I actually saw Ernest Goes to Camp. I know I saw a couple of the Ernest movies...I'll have to give this some more thought whether or not this was one of them.

10. The Stepfather
Long before he played John Locke on Lost, Terry O'Quinn played in this low budget horror/thriller about a stepfather who resolves disputes within his family by knocking them off and starting a new one! Everyone has there own definition of family values, I guess.

Terry O' Quinn contemplating the pros and cons of
family counseling in The Stepfather

11.  House of Games
Lots of plot twists and turns in this David Mamet film. I admit this was one time I did see the final plot twist coming.

12. Planes, Trains  and Automobiles, Roxanne
A good year for Steve Martin.

13. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
I thought this was a pretty good entry in the series, but by the same token what is the point in having a bad guy that you can't kill no matter what you do him?

14. Overboard
I have never seen this Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell from beginning to end. However, TBS has shown this so much over the years, I think I've pretty much seen it all in parts. Overboard was on so much over the years, it got to be a running joke in my house.

15. Harry and the Hendersons
Who the heck knew Bigfoot was just so darned cute? Thanks for creating those sad eyes, Rick Baker.

That cuddly Bigfoot in
Harry and the Hendersons

16. The Principal
Jim Belushi is the ass kickin' baseball bat wielding motorcycle ridin' head of the school!

17. Predator
The original Predator is pretty good from what I remember as this invisible and unstoppable force that battles future governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura.

18. September
Thinking about some of the Woody Allen movies from this period...I kind of get this one mixed up with Another Woman...and what was Alice about again?

19. Assassination/Death Wish 4 The Crackdown
Speaking of September...the films of Charlie Bronson at this point were showing a little wear (And I'm being kind here) as he was reaching the September of his years. But we'll always have Once Upon a Time in the West.

20. The Witches of Eastwick
I remember going to see this movie at the Lefont Plaza theater in Atlanta when it came out. But the thing I remember most about it is the guy sitting in front of me. Every time Cher would appear in a scene, he would gasp as if he had seen the most amazing sight he had ever witnessed! And during the scene where Cher is dressed up for a night on the town, the guy gasped and applauded at the same time as I was sure pretty sure he almost fell out of his seat! At this point, I thought the poor guy might pass out in the sheer ecstasy and have a Chergasm! This was pre-Moonstruck, but I really should have slapped him and said, "Snap out of it!"

The woman who needs no introduction in
The Witches of Eastwick

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGHT (1982), BLADE RUNNER (1982)

1982

"Am I hallucinating here?" Sean Penn and Ray Walston in
Fast Times at Ridgemont High

I was in the last stages of being a teenager when Fast Times at Ridgemont High came out. Maybe that's why I still have such an affection for it. This comedy about some urban teenagers trying to live and get through high school is still fun to watch. Most of the characters have their flaws, but are pretty likable for the most part. And we also have characters that we recognize from high school: The unobtainable pretty girl (Linda), the schemer (Damone), and of course, Sean Penn as Spicoli, the stoner. The scenes between Penn and Ray Walston as Mr. Hand are my probably my favorite ones in the film. Character I see relate to the most? Why, the nerdy and socially challenged Mark Ratner, of course!

Stu Nahan appreciation society: Stu Nahan is probably best know to moviegoers as the play-by-play announcer in the Rocky movies. But he is also the guy who interviews Spicoli on the beach in Fast Times. 

Stu, Sean and friends..."Hey, bud let's party!"

And those nude scenes: Yes, any male who watched this movie back in the day certainly remembers when Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) takes off her clothes and seduces Damone (Robert Romanus). Not to mention the fantasy scene of Brad (Judge Reinhold), where Linda (Phoebe Cates) emerges from the pool and takes off her top (Hello...Brad!). But on sober reflection, the first scene ends up with Damone ejaculating immediately, getting Stacy pregnant and going out of his way to avoid paying for her abortion. The second scene ends up with Linda catching Brad in the bathroom masturbating while thinking of  her...Ah, nothing like a little male humiliation upon sober reflection.

Hello, Brad!...Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Blade Runner

Blade Runner

Blade Runner is based on the sci-fi novel by Phillip K. Dick about a Blade Runner named Deckard that is reluctantly hired to hunt down some refugee replicants that are almost indistinguishable from humans. The entire plot synopsis is put forth in the opening crawl, but the plot isn't the main reason to watch Blade Runner. The main reason to watch it is for the stunning visuals. The sets, the design, the make-up, the costumes, the lighting...all these elements took me to another place like few films have. Absolutely in my book.

The original book asks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a query that is irrelevant to the film Blade Runner as the electric animals of the book play pretty much no part here. But at least they changed they did change the title for the film.

Blade Runner

Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Blade Runner made the 1001 list, but here are some other films released in 1982 that didn't make the 1001 cut.

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Still the gold standard of Star Trek movies for me, not to mention having one of the all-time great movie villains.

The Wrath of Khan
For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!

2. Airplane II
The precise type of humor that the Zuckers and Abrams brought to Airplane! mostly falls flat in this sequel without them.

3. The Verdict
Tailor-made role for Paul Newman as an aging, over-the-hill, alcoholic lawyer who finally gets a shot at a big case.

4. Author Author
I mostly remember this comedy with Al Pacino as being a little on the bland side. Might be worthy of a revisit, though.

5. Liquid Sky
When I first got a VCR, I wanted to check out some off-beat things that you couldn't see easily elsewhere. This movie about space aliens, lesbians and heroin addiction certainly fits the bill and should be at the top of any 80's cult movie list.

Liquid Sky
Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n Roll and aliens. What better way
to break in your new VCR?

6. Cat People
Remake of the 40's classic does have a sexy Natassia Kinski, a plot that can be much more adult than the original and the David Bowie theme song which is really the first thing I think of when I think of Cat People.
"Puttin' out fire...with GAS-O-LEENE!"

7. Creepshow
You don't see too many horror feature films anymore that are just a section of vignettes. If I ever did watch this one again, it would mostly be for the section that we get to see Stephen King act!

8. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Black and White film noir comedy with Steve Martin I'm sure is still fun to watch, though I'll bet the then groundbreaking special effects of putting 40's movie stars in the scenes with Steve are officially no longer state of the art. Damn CGI!

9. Deathtrap
Remake of Sleuth, but with Christopher Reeve sort of in the Michael Caine role and Michael Caine in the Laurence Olivier role. Or something like that.

10. The World According to Garp
One of my favorite parts of John Irving's book is T. S. Garp's stories within the main story. You can't really show that in a movie adaptation, but I always have liked what George Roy Hill did with the movie version anyway. I honestly think this is Robin Williams's signature role, though I may be in the minority on that one.

Mr. and Mrs. Garp

11. Lookin’ to Get Out

Before my first trip to Las Vegas, I wanted to watch some movies set in Las Vegas. So I picked this Hal Ashby comedy with Jon Voight and Ann-Margaret...which was universally panned, but not as bad as all that if I remember correctly. Or maybe I was just excited about my Vegas trip and want to go easy on it?

12. My Favorite Year
I liked the depiction in this film of the early years of television and how could you not love Peter O'Toole as an egocentric slumming movie star?

13. Missing
I'm a little surprised this critically acclaimed Costa-Gavras political thriller isn't in the 1001 movie book.

14. A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
Woody Allen denied that this film was based on Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, but I can't watch Woody's film without thinking about the Bergman film.

15. Pink Floyd-The Wall
The music of Pink Floyd + Alan Parker + Imagination run wild=One of my favorite midnight movie experiences of that year.

Bob Geldorf does some rearranging
Pink Floyd-The Wall

16. The Man from Snowy River
One day in 1982 I just decided to go see a movie at the theater and picked The Man from Snowy River for no reason in particular. This Australian Western with Kirk Douglas was enjoyable enough from what I remember. Or maybe I just felt a need to balance out my midnight movie excursion with The Wall with a more family oriented film.

17. An Officer and a Gentleman
I liked this movie when I saw it. Then I took a college film class the next year and realized how An Officer and a Gentleman had so sneakily manipulated my emotions! I still don't know what to think about it, though the final scene will always remind me of the similar scene of Homer and Marge in one of the early episodes of The Simpsons.

18. Night Shift
Lighthearted, but not a bad start to Ron Howard's post Happy Days feature film directing career. He also directed a high school TV movie in the 70's called Cotton Candy. I wonder if anyone else remembers that one?

19. Porky’s
This may have been the breaking point where I was getting less enthused about slob sex comedies. It did have some funny moments, but wasn't inspired enough to see Porky's II when it came out.

20. Swamp Thing
Is this the one with Adrienne Barbeau or Heather Locklear? I'm trying to get them straight in my mind.

That's Adrienne Barbeau with
Swamp Thing.

21. Rocky III
Probably the III'rd best Rocky film.

22. The Seduction
Morgan Farichild was never going to be a big movie star. But her poster shall remain on my wall (hypothetically) forever!

23. Personal Best
I went to see this movie for the great reviews it got, not all the buzz about nude scenes and Mariel Hemingway Playboy spreads and such. Well...maybe a little of all of the above. I do remember during the steambath scene, the guy sitting in the seat ahead of me leaned over to his date and whispered, "subtle breasts" when speaking of Ms. Hemingway.

A more "subtle" scene from Personal Best

24. The Atomic Café

Why my dating life wasn't so hot in 1982...

Me: Hey, would you like to go see a movie?

Potential date: Oh, how about Officer and a Gentleman? Or maybe you would prefer to see First Blood?

Me: I was thinking about this movie called The Atomic Cafe. It has all this archival footage from the 50's about military manuevers and how to duck and cover all put together in a narrative whole for a new generation to look back in a historical context at our post nuclear-age paranoia!

Potential date: I think I'm busy tonight, come to think of it.

 (I went to see it by anyway...alone)

And finally...

One Movie I Must See Before I Die Because My Wife Told Me I Needed To:

25. First Blood

I may have seen An Officer and a Gentleman and The Atomic Cafe, but I never got around to seeing First Blood. I never saw any subsequent Rambo movie either (Son of Rambow doesn't count). I"m not much of a fan of Sylvester Stallone action movies in general, but I guess this is one I should see once and I'll try to go into it with an open mind.

The movie starts off promisingly with a Vietnam veteran named John Rambo (Stallone) finding out the last man in his unit has died before drifting aimlessly into a town where he is treated with hostility by local law enforcement. They take him in for no real reason, treat him badly before he escapes and the film quickly turns into a action movie that seems to forget about the roots of Rambo's psychological issues and basically just falls into him just blowing stuff up and causing mayhem as he is being chased into the woods by Brian Dennehy and the rest of the "Jerkwater, USA town" sheriff's department. He's a one man wrecking machine, or so says his former Vietnam Commander (Richard Crenna) who comes along to see if he can save the authorities from Rambo (and not the other way around, as he puts it). At this point, some local reserves presumably kill Rambo, but of course he isn't really dead and decides to make sure everyone knows this by stealing a truck and blowing lots more stuff up! Rambo finally has some dialogue at the end of the movie when he tells us about how he was never able to fit in since returning from the 'Nam (I liked Stallone in this scene, got to give him credit). He is then talked into turning himself in by his old commander and the end credits roll.

The movie does have overtones of Billy Jack., which also had a soft spoken Vietnam Vet who had a tendency to be provoked into violence.

Well I'm glad to have finished that short movie list of one.

October, 2015-finally saw a Rambo movie.