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Bakanuri no Musume (2023)
Tradition and creative urges
Japanese laquerware must rank as one of the most well-known of traditional Japanese crafts, and likely has the oldest lineage, extending back some eight or nine millenia. No surprise then that it is surrounded by various customs and traditions; add to these the male chauvinism that is typically present particularly in rural Japan, and set these features in Tsugaru in the far northern province of Aomori at the top end of the main island of Honshu, and one has the background in which the story of "Bakanuri no Musume", aka "Tsugaru Lacquer Girl", unfolds.
23-year-old Miyako helps her father Seishiro with production for his lacquerware business, but he relies on her help only because her brother Yuu, who would ordinarily take over the family business, shows zero interest in same. As such, Miyako is adrift; she can find no place for herself--she clearly doesn't belong behind a register at the local supermarket, but her gender evidently prevents her development as an artisan in a craft that she loves above all else.
Thus far, it's a story we've seen many times in many different settings. Miyako's unanticipated bid to break through the impasse she faces is however bold, breathtaking even, and obliges the viewer--this viewer, anyways--to overlook cliches in the storyline.
It's worth considering the meaning of the Japanese title. "Baka-nuri" roughly translates as "idiot-painter", referring to craftspeople who must apply countless coats of lacquer to a bowl or other piece before it is regarded as completed; enormous patience and perseverance are required to produce high-quality works. The self-deprecation belies the Zen-like total immersion required to produce works of such otherworldly beauty.
Inside No. 9: Ctrl Alt Esc (2024)
Another level...
Well, that was dark. Very dark.
An escape room premised on a serial killer is of course going to be dark. But then it moves to another level completely....as devoted IN9 fans should expect. There are the usual misdirections, the typical asides, and the clever red herrings. Oh, and Pemberton has an entire family--wife and children--whom he loves and cherishes! I can't think of many other such eps....
Even so, this one was, well, let's call it special. It begins with the usual escape room dramatics, then gives hints of something else, and then, ....
I liked it. But I'm not sure I will be recommending it to my escape-room-fanatic sister.
Seules les bêtes (2019)
Well done, excepting only two major coincidences
It is a nice little mystery. A woman disappears. Some people know some things about her, and tell the police. Others know about her, but don't say anything, to the police or to anyone else. That she has disappeared at all is very strange. What's going on?
Well, no-one except the viewer knows the whole story. Which is already somewhat unique. And the fact that what the different principals know provide us, the audience, with the complete picture by the end of the film, is bound to add to the viewer's satisfaction.
Nonetheless, there are two major coincidences...what one could call plot holes, although strictly speaking, they are not impossible.
The bigger and more consequential one has to do with the geographical location of the Marion character. She happens to be *precisely* where and when she can have the greatest impact. How likely is that? In a country of 68 million, to be hitchhiking and be seen by only a few dozen people...one of whom happens to be the one person on earth who is obsessed with her????
The second coincidence is less consequential, indeed is added on in the last few seconds of the movie as an afterthought. It can be disregarded...except in that it tells us that the filmmaker really doesn't care about such things.
Such a pity. Rather wonderful in many ways. I would still recommend it, but.
Hamon (2023)
Our interactions with others, visualized
The title "Hamon" is a standard Japanese word meaning, literally, "ripples", and metaphorically, the influences we each of us exert on others. This is underscored several times in this movie with scenes in which the principals--the wife, husband, son, etc--stand in a shallow pond, and waves emanating from one character expand in the usual circular pattern to reach the others.
An interesting enough visualization of interpersonal relations, but nothing that couldn't be applied to any movie involving humans. Or, indeed, any living organism.
The film's arc traces the tribulations of a Japanese housewife who is obligated to deal with a husband's sudden disappearance, the death of said husband's father, the flight of the only-child son to university and then a career as far away as one can travel without leaving Japan (well, excepting Okinawa), and then the reappearance of said prodigal husband. Among other events.
There is a fair amount of humor, a fair amount of bathos, some awkward scenes with the deaf fiance that the son brings home without any prior announcement.
It was, I think, worth watching even before the final scene, which was surprising, rousing, invigorating, actually rather wonderful. Ole!
Inside No. 9: 3 by 3 (2023)
Watch it again
Yeah, the first time I watched this, I didn't get a lot of it. I don't believe most people do. It is one of those things that will fly clear over the heads of many viewers.
Watch it again. Seriously. You pick up dozens (...literally!) of clues, hints, premonitions.... the kinds of things that we expect to see in Inside No. 9 eps, but not with this frequency or this precision.
There are a number of IN9 eps that push the envelope, are outliers in various ways. This is perhaps the best example.
"I knew this one anyway, it's the Volga"
A dead giveaway, if you think about it. The mother is expecting to be fed answers from her daughter, but she "knew this one anyway".
Brilliant. Easy to overlook, obvious after the fact.
Inteurodeoksyeon (2021)
Often murky and opaque, but with intermittent flashes of light
Rather hard to recommend this one. The viewer is left in the dark much of the time, with no clue to the motives of the individuals on the screen. I have to say, it is irritating to be given only the odd scraps to gnaw on.
A young couple part casually--"okay, see you later" etc...with no clue that she is flying from S Korea to Germany for study. That's only the first of many jarring scenes. Why is the boy's father so distressed? We never learn. What is the real reason for the girl's trip? We are given some hints, by and by.
Well, this is a film that requires some observation and inference. Which is not a bad thing at all, but observation and inference are insufficient to fill in all the details, and even some of the major issues. If you're okay with that, this film may well be worth your time. I myself am conflicted. At one hour and change, it is easy to watch again, and one can always fast-forward past all the monotonous smoking scenes.
Extrapolations: 2059: Face of God (2023)
Proper consideration of the "moral hazard" involved
For the most part, I thought this episode was very well-scripted.
Any serious discussion of the climate crisis will necessarily include geoengineering. And any discussion of geoengineering must consider what has been called the "moral hazard" that it entails--the possibility that, if we scatter some chemical into the atmosphere and it does lower global temperatures, we (we collectively--but more realistically, the major corporations that run so much of our civilization) will continue to use fossil fuels, digging us into an ever-deepening hole.
Thus even if geoengineering worked, it would ultimately make it all worse. The problem, as multiple characters in this episode point out, is humans. A real Pogo moment: We have met the enemy, and he is us.
A Demonstration (2020)
Taxonomy, that is, classification--and what resists it
Taxonomy, that is, classification, has been and still is an important component of modern science. Through classification we may be able to identify important relationships and natural laws; consider for example the periodic table, subatomic particle classifications, and of course zoology.
And yet, those "monsters" persist--the instances that do not seem to conform to our attempts at classification. Can we learn from them? I have studied the history of science, and have not come across much emphasis on "monsters", but this short film makes me think they may be real, and important, and, perhaps, revealing.
IAC a beguiling short film that asks more questions than it answers.
Kiri no hata (1965)
Coincidences? Yes, we have 'em...lots and lots of 'em.....
Kind of hard to recommend this one highly, if you care at all about verisimilitude.
Kiriko Yanagida, a woman in her early 20's, has good reason to detest demigod lawyer Ohtsuka, who perhaps could have saved her brother from wrongful death at the hands of the authorities in Kumamoto--but refused to even try. And then, as if by magic, the means for having revenge on Ohtsuka fall into her hands...due to not one, or even two, but at least three highly improbably occurrences.
Well, no thanks, I don't like to be asked to play dumb. If you can stomach these events, however, occurring roughly midway in the film, it is otherwise a well-wrought drama. The director Youji Yamada, near the beginning of his very, very long career, evinces bold creativity, most noticeably in the unique audio of the scene in which Kiriko has learned that Ohtsuka will not help her and that, as a consequence, her brother is likely doomed.
...in addition to this film, I have seen other films based on Matsumoto novels, and have read a few of his novels as well, and I have to say that he tends to be overrated. One Matsumoto-based film that I can recommend, however, is Suspicion (Japanese title Giwaku) (1982), which plays fair: no absurd coincidences in that one.
Gogo (2020)
Inspiration
94-year-old Gogo ("grandma" in a local language; real name Priscilha Sitienei), an elderly midwife in a remote Kenyan village, resolves to attend grade school, aiming for graduation, and aiming as well to set an example for her great-granddaughters. Gogo never had a chance to attend school, and is dismayed to find that local girls, including her own descendants, give up on a good education too easily.
About as simple and sincere and frequently joyful a movie as you are likely to ever see. When you've had enough of Hollywood Glitter and Panache, you could do worse than spend a short evening with Gogo and the numerous girls, as well as the teachers and schoolmaster, and others who encourage and assist her in her quest.
Chansilineun bokdomanji (2019)
We can all be lucky...if we adjust our expectations as needed
This was quite an offbeat movie with a strong "indie" vibe. It is, among other things, about filmmakers and movies and movie-making, and includes, among other things I never would have expected, a vigorous defense of the movies of Yasujiro Ozu (of Japan).
The title character was quite happy working as a kind of factotum or all-around manager for a well-regarded movie director, but suddenly found herself out of work and needing to make drastic adjustments. These led to further adjustments, and...to several humorous interludes and dramatic waves and introspective moments. There were also quite a few notes on Korean culture that were new to me.
If you like quirky, offbeat movies with comedic elements, that may resort to fantasy or metaphor or even less serious means of making points, and that don't necessarily have a conventional ending, you may very well enjoy your time here with Chan-Sil.
Ooshikamura soudouki (2011)
The play's the thing....
I watched this a decade ago, when it first came out, and had the chance to re-watch it tonight. I'm glad I did.
I watched it in Japanese, and I don't know if decent subtitles for this movie exist; in any case it would be difficult for a Westerner to follow the story in all its details, insofar as it is intricately related to Kabuki and other aspects of traditional Japanese culture. But if you love the theater, and especially home-grown theater--plays put on by locals--and the concomitant camaraderie and intrigues, you might want to take a close look at this one.
In its relation to theater, Ooshikamura most closely parallels "A Midwinter's Tale", aka "In the Bleak Midwinter", Kenneth Branagh's tale of down-and-out actors putting on a Christmas performance of Hamlet. As in that film, there is no shortage of humorous asides and subplots, here most prominently involving two aging actors who suddenly show up during a rehearsal for the approaching traditional kabuki extravaganza. This poses a problem, because one of the two is the wife of the lead actor, and the other is the man who persuaded her to elope with him some 18 years previously. An awkward situation, to be sure, and it gets worse from there, and also funnier, before turning dramatic-tragic.
To sum up, rather wonderful, if you can suspend your disbelief at the prospect of a woman with dementia somehow, over the course of less than a week, making a complete recovery, such that she can play the lead role in the troupe's grand production. Seemed somewhat improbable to me, but.
Call for Dreams (2018)
Akin to abstract art...any evaluation is bound to be highly subjective....
Ah well. In the midst of all the enthusiastic reviews here, it falls to me to be the wet blanket.
I would not say that Call for Dreams was a waste of my time: it was entertaining, on its own terms. But the pseudo-intellectual aphorisms are largely nonsensical (the notion of a "dream dreaming a dreamer" is incoherent); the lead actress delivers her lines in bloodless monotones; much of the "Tokyo" we are shown (and where I used to live) is highly unrepresentative; and the Japanese spoken by the Israeli fellow near the end is largely incomprehensible. Among other flaws.
Events bear little relation to each other, but in an abstract work of art, that need not be regarded as a defect. And as others note, many of the shots are fairly stunning.
We were looking for something out of the ordinary to watch this evening, and in this we were not disappointed.
Horizon (2019)
Interesting premise, hobbled by plot holes and leaden dialogue
The basic story that unfolds in Horizon is interesting enough, and could have been the basis for an above-average sci-fi flick. Unfortunately the screenwriters did not exhibit similar rigor and creativity when fleshing it out. Plot holes abound, especially towards the end. Lines voiced by actors range from cliched but reasonable, to cliched and awkward, to, in some cases, idiotic. ("Give them hell!" "I intend to" is an instance of both--extremely commonplace-boring, and at the same time, it makes absolutely no sense in context.)
The acting ranged from reasonably good to awkward to cringe-inducing. There were too many fistfighting and gunfighting scenes, going on for far too long. And one or two scenes near the middle added nothing to the story.
I don't regret watching it, but would only recommend it to someone with a taste for B-grade or lower sci-fi.
Krisha (2015)
Not even a smidgen of empathy...???
It's very well done. Yes, it's depressing. A lot of what happens in life is depressing. And with one exception, I didn't see much in this movie that I felt was less than believable.
But...what the whole plot turns on here...is the attitude of the family. Krisha feels that she is ignored--everyone else is off doing their things, playing games, watching football, whatever. She feels left out, shut out, and finally...she goes up to her room and somehow manages to open a bottle of wine.
Really? We are given to understand that the entire extended family knows that this is a damaged woman, someone who is on the edge of dysfunction. Would any family who really gave a damn let her stand there on her own for extended periods of time, ignore her? Wouldn't they come forward to talk to her, ask her to join in a game, to walk in the backyard, ...any damn thing? Anything at all???
This doesn't make sense to me. The viewer can either conclude that all the language of the family members about missing Krisha, loving her, etc is so much klaptrap, or...she can conclude that the script itself doesn't make sense.
In rating this highly, I have given the benefit of a doubt to the filmmaker. I wonder though if he deserves it. No-one else seems at all surprised by this unwillingness of the family members to offer Krisha moral support.
The Twilight Zone: The Comedian (2019)
Boring?? This ep was anything but. An excellent start to a rebooted series
I have always been a fan of the original TZ series. We actually watched the second episode in this rebooted series first, because it was rated more highly, but this one, I think, is clearly superior.
I am not an artist, but I am interested in what artists do. And one thing they do is described in this 55-minute drama: they use "found objects"--bits and pieces of what they know from their own lives. And once they have used these things, they can't easily repeat them--THAT would be boring, self-plagiarism, whatever. Once you use it--in a play, a novel, a poem, or a stand-up routine--it is, in a sense, gone.
"The Comedian" riffs brilliantly on this basic insight. I thought it was highly insightful and intelligent, and despite what others have said in this space, not a minute too long.
A un (1989)
Friendship and its limits
I was surprised to find that no-one has reviewed this yet. This movie, A-Un (clumsily translated "Buddies" in English), is a rather wonderful tale of a friendship between two men, one (Kadokura) a company president in an unhappy marriage, the other (Mizuta) a mid-level employee of a pharmaceutical company with a lovely wife and beautiful 18-year-old daughter. The setting is Tokyo in the 1930s; fascism is on the rise, and everyone is in thrall to the burgeoning Japanese military machine.
The Japanese phrase "a-un" refers to two entities that are complementary--similar in some ways but not alike; glossed in various Japanese-English references as inhalation and exhalation, or as alpha and omega; each presupposes the other. They are also represented by the "koma-inu" guardian-dog statues that are present at the entrances to Shinto shrines in Japan, and which appear several times in this movie.
The two men are different, strikingly so even, but these differences paradoxically reinforce their friendship--up to a point. Beyond that point, the friendship becomes untenable, at least temporarily. A parallel storyline traces the tentative romance of the daughter with a young student.
There are innumerable films depicting the rise of fascism in Germany and elsewhere in the 1930s, and its consequences for ordinary people. But such tragedies occurred in Japan and other Asian countries as well. This tale similarly recounts the imminent implosion of a family, or family-like group, preceding Pearl Harbor and WWII. And as is generally the case, it serves as a powerful rebuff to fascism, by limning the heartbreaking consequences of such strident nationalism for ordinary folk. Highly recommended.
Tabula Rasa (2017)
Pretty nearly believable. Yes, that's a compliment.
The wife and I have seen a couple dozen thriller/mystery miniseries over the past several years. They typically start off reasonably well, then devolve into silliness, or farce, or worse.
Tabula Rasa is not one of these. That is not to say it is perfect. After the final episode, you will think back on all that has gone before, and will realize that some plot developments are unlikely, and one or two verge on the impossible.
Even so, this is well above average for the genre. If verisimilitude matters to you, you might want to check out Happy Valley (U.K.) and Top of the Lake (New Zealand), both of which are also rather excellent. The former for remaining entertaining yet almost thoroughly believable, the other for a Campion-Hunter redux production that gives us a really mind-blowing ending.
Jinsei, irodori (2012)
Formulaic? You bet--from beginning to end. ...but, it actually happened.
Well, I expect it more or less happened as in this movie. I'm sure there was some embellishment here and there.
Three elderly ladies in the remote Japanese prefecture of Tokushima decide to start a business harvesting and selling...leaves. Leaves from various trees, arranged decoratively to accent and enhance traditional Japanese cuisine. Anyone who has had even the simplest traditional sushi lunch will be familiar with the basic idea.
Tokushima is one of the most remote and resolutely rural of Japan's 47 prefectures. Snuggled into a corner of Shikoku, the smallest of the four main islands, Tokushima prefecture is a little larger than Rhode Island in size, but home to fewer than 750,000, according to the latest census. And here as elsewhere in Japan, the rural population continues to fall, as residents pull up stakes and head for the cities, unable to find a way to make ends meet in what would otherwise be a wonderful place to live--the natural scenery is stunning. This is emphasized in the very first scene of the movie, as neighbors with all their belongings crammed into a truck stop to say a brief goodbye on their way, we presume, to a nearby city and something more nearly like a livable wage.
But these three old friends--one home temporarily to visit her mother--hit upon one possible business plan, mentioned above.
A shrewd viewer could guess much of the arc of the story, with some leeway for the particular nature of the obstacles the women will have to overcome. But this is based on an actual success story, and as the credits roll we are shown photos of what appear to be the actual principals. We are told that their business now has an annual turnover of some 260 million yen (US $2.3 million, at the current exchange rate). Not too shabby for an outfit run by septuagenarians in the boondocks.
The spoken Japanese is all in Tokushima dialect; I had a hard time following it. An extra on the DVD shows a dialect specialist teaching the actors how to pronounce their lines properly.
Despite its predictability, this film may be worth your time for the uplifting story, for the moral about finding new ways to live and work in a place you love, for the truly spectacular scenery, and for occasional humorous or moving interludes. However, I am unaware of the availability of an English subbed or dubbed version.
Kimi wa iiko (2015)
Helping each other. It's humanity at its finest. But.
This is one of those movies whose cinematic heart is in the right place, but which falls short in the execution. To some extent anyways.
We have maybe a dozen characters here, tracing three separate story lines, cadged from three separate short stories by a Japanese author. They depict people who have various problems; parent-child abuse in two cases, while others are more complex.
The most important character is a young male grade school teacher who is often unable to control his class, but at the same time brings a fresh perspective to his work, especially WRT an assignment he gives his charges at the end.
...unfortunately, several of the performances, and a number of the plot developments, strain credulity. Some parts are quite easy to believe; others are, frankly, borderline absurd.
Which is a pity, because the recurring theme, about how by helping others we help ourselves, is noble and worthwhile and so, so right. But verisimilitude is important too, and in this respect, Being Good does not always ring true.
Nankyoku ryôrinin (2009)
The ultimate "tanshin funin" experience
"Tanshin funin" is variously translated as "being posted overseas without one's family" or "short-term unaccompanied transfer", but in any case is an important aspect of Japanese society. It is often regarded as something to be endured for the sake of one's career.
This movie, then, depicts the ultimate "tanshin funin" experience: being posted for more than a year at a research station in Antarctica, at very high elevation, so that there is absolutely nothing of interest in the area. Options for communication are limited as well; phone calls back to Japan are a pricey 740 yen (over US$6.00) per minute. They don't appear to have the bandwidth needed for Skype....
So these eight middle-aged men, sentenced to live together in the midst of endless ice and snow and not much else, have to make their own fun. Which they manage in various ways, more or less, to more or less stave off insanity--which is indeed the understated dark side to this movie: such situations really are hazardous to mental health.
Mostly a fun movie, told from the chef's POV. Some parts may require an understanding of Japanese cultural idiosyncracies, such as the crazy idea for "fried lobster" (which doesn't sound quite so crazy in the original Japanese). Also a serious movie about dealing with loneliness, isolation, monotony, which are often part of the tanshin funin experience.
I have to disagree with another reviewer here though, this film has nothing, other than food, in common with Tampopo (dir. Juzo Itami).
Giwaku (1982)
A plausible and interesting mystery from 80's Japan
I actually hadn't expected too much from this one. Suspicion (Japanese title "Giwaku") was a fairly big hit when it appeared in Japan in the early 80's, but many films do not age well. Not so this one, though--it is worth your time.
Based on a novel by the prolific Seichou Matsumoto, the story begins with a doting and well-to-do older man indulging the whims of his young (too young), pretty wife as they tour a seaside village. At dusk on that same day, however, their car suddenly races towards and then off the pier, astounding several passers-by. The young wife, Kumako, emerges from the water and makes her way to the shore; her husband Fukutaro Shirakawa does not come up. Suspicion builds that Kumako has killed hubby in a thinly disguised attempt to claim the absurdly high insurance on same, amounting to over 300 million yen. The bereaved Shirakawa family is convinced that the gold-digger wife is a scheming murderer; the police are coming around to their point of view.
Enter Ritsuko Sahara, hotshot lawyer, a woman who has been highly successful in a man's world--such was (and largely still is) the Japan of this period. She reluctantly agrees to defend Kumako, but the two are oil and water, dogs and monkeys, to use a Japanese idiom: they spend as much time crossing swords with each other as trying to beat the murder rap.
Pretty fine entertainment, and it plays fair. Hints are provided, and an observant viewer might be able to guess the denouement. And the fireworks between the two female leads are also entertaining, if a bit overplayed, especially at the end.
Every Secret Thing (2014)
The real world
So this is what the real world is like. Real people, real situations, real tragedies.
The director, Amy Berg, has previously directed "West of Memphis" and "Deliver Us from Evil", documentaries relating to crimes not completely unlike things that happen here.
And the tragedies that occur here, separated in time by seven years or so, are likewise quite believable. As are the individuals involved.
That's all I will say, I guess. Without giving anything away, this is an entirely believable tale. It is also well-acted and very competently directed. I thought it was superb overall, and very underrated.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Mostly hilarious....even if derivative...........
I don't understand the negative reviews. Granted that comedy is subjective, but.
Yeah, it is kind of silly. It is not Shakespeare. But as light-hearted entertainment, I thought it was definitely among the best I've seen.
...some idiot is "reviewing reviews", and claims that positive reviews are by people with new accounts here. I have been posting and rating movies at IMDb for nearly 18 years. And I say, if you liked the original 1984 Ghostbusters, you will probably like this. You might even prefer it to the original.
All four of the lead ladies are pretty excellent, but McKinnon's wackiness is the best, IMO.
Black Mirror: White Bear (2013)
Unalloyed irony and hypocrisy
Funny how these two words don't seem to come up, at least in the comments and reviews I have read, yet they're what this episode is all about. Irony and hypocrisy.
Without wanting to say too much, although I've flagged this comment as containing a spoiler (first time I've used this function), the denouement makes clear that the many dozens--hundreds even! --of people involved in this project, are guilty of quite cruel hypocrisy--they are engaging in precisely the behavior that they claim to be helping to punish--and are part of a spectacle that is as ironic as can be imagined.
For this reason I've rated this episode fairly highly, although I don't believe the interests of verisimilitude have been served. I don't believe--and certainly don't want to believe-that any significant number of people could be so heartless, so utterly devoid of human empathy.