1,003 Words: The Loved One

Dead man’s party.

DVD: AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa

by Tony Nigro

Akira Kurosawa needs no introduction, no survey class nor explanation.  He is, without argument, one of the absolute greats of Japanese cinema and certainly the one who opened the eyes of most Westerners to his country’s rich movie history.  So it’s only proper that today Criterion is releasing a mondo Kurosawa gift set that’s almost as ambitious as their Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films.  The new set in question, AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa, has the epic scope of a required text and the tender touch of a labor of love.  The films include favorites like Seven Samurai and Rashomon, both long in Criterion catalog, plus earlier and never before released entries like The Most Beautiful, The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, and the Sanshiro Sugata films.  Cheap it’s not, but valuable it is.

War Vet as Freak Show

by Lewis Manalo

I took part in combat missions for Operation Enduring Freedom 1, 2, & 3.  Translated, that means I spent some time in Afghanistan before “Dear John” letters got sent via text message.

I don’t usually tell people when I first meet them that I’m a war vet.  The minute a person knows it, everything about me is seen in that context.  They immediately think of those cinematic images of soldiers running or marching in formation, and “Have you ever killed anybody?” is always the first idiotic question to come out of some jackass’ mouth.  In a reflex conditioned by our media, most people assume I’m one of those traumatized war vets of the silver screen like Tobey Maguire in Brothers.

This awful movie revels in propagating the stereotype of the war veteran as a brainwashed, traumatized paranoid who is constantly on the verge of committing acts of violence.  These filmmakers could’ve chosen to make a movie about a cheap Jew or a lazy Mexican – or even an obese and abused black teen who needs to be rescued from the slums.  But they decided to stereotype the men and women fighting our country’s wars.  To me this is more offensive than simple, irrational racism, because this stereotype begins with a twisted, compassionate thought.  Kind of like how some people will treat people who don’t know English like they’re mentally retarded.  So on this anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, put that notion on the scale of every war veteran who’s still alive today from any and every war and police action that this country has been involved in.

When They Were Young: Cannibal Girls

Twitch reports that a remastered Cannibal Girls will get the Blu-ray treatment.  Said film is an early exploitation effort by Ivan “director of great comedies/father of Jason” Reitman and features a young Eugene Levy.  No word yet if the disc will feature a bell to warn those of a prudish or squeamish nature when to look away.

1,007 Words: Thirst

Some day my dark prince will come.

You Have Been Assimilated

by Lewis Manalo

This is what we have become.  We not only acknowledge that we are plugged in from the moment we wake up until the moment we sleep, we celebrate it.  We take for granted that it is a part of our lives, a part of every small moment that matters to us.   Making out in a cab?  Don’t forget to check your text messages and email.  What identity do we have if we are not plugged in?  Do we even exist away from our screens?

Our hearts and minds are half cybernetic.  We used to shop for comfortable ear buds, but now our ears conform to the buds. 

1,004 Words: Persona

Eye of the beholder.

Freak of the Week: Alice in Wonderland (1949)

This Saturday, Cinefamily in Los Angeles is showing a rarely screened version of Alice Wonderland featuring stop motion animation by Lou Bunin. It looks fun:

Why “rarely screened,” you ask?  Well, it’s a classic case of Disney co-opting a public domain story to the point that they think they own it.  Somehow Disney lawyers managed to bury this 1949 version in enough legal crap to suppress it and avoid competition with their own animated adaptation in production at the time.  Of course, this is not to say anything of how Lewis Carroll’s trippy tale had already been adapted five times prior.  See kids, Hollywood remakes are nothing new.  And neither is poor regulation of big business and disrespect of the public domain.

Learn to Be Herzog

by Lewis Manalo

Really? I read about Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School in tandem with this promotional noise for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. But really?

It claims to be “not for the faint-hearted; it is for those who have travelled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs and wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lockpicking or forging shooting permits in countries not favoring their projects. In short: for those who have a sense of poetry.” It doesn’t seem very oriented towards technique.

But do you really need Werner Herzog to tell you how to do anything if you’re the type of ruthless soul his film school is for? If you need Herzog to tell you how to lie, cheat, and steal to make film, you probably don’t have the cajones to lie, cheat, and steal to make a film.

Just make a damn movie if you feel like it. Why pay to attend someone else’s publicity stunt?

1,006 Words: Forbidden Games

Ce n’est pas un happy ending.