wjohanb Reviews

V for Vendetta (2005)

Exhilarating if you let it be

[7/10 · 20 March 2006]

Most movies are a give and take proposition, meaning what you get out of it depends on the extent that you let yourself go into the films world. It's very rare that a film can force you to care. V for Vendetta is the most extreme example I've seen in a long time of a film that can either be tremendously exciting or as equally disappointing. At first I was nonplussed. The story seemed forced onto the screen, both in camera work and pacing. But about 30-40 minutes in I said "F*@# IT"! to myself, and settled back to enjoy what was there. And dammit, I was downright exhilarated. For all it's faults, V for Vendetta manages to capture something unique in todays action flicks, and that's an actual soul. Alan Moore wrote the original book as a cry of outrage against Thatchers Britain, both the politicians and the passive populace, and where he feared they may be headed. Many people in America and all over the world hold the same sort of rage as they view the New Bush Regime. It's telling that the best, fiercest lines are taken verbatim from the book. Truth be told, V for Vendettas politics are simplistic unto silliness, and Moore himself has cut his name from the movie like it was a third nipple. But then again, Moore is a pompous, self righteous, difficult bastard, and V for Vendetta wasn't made to answer questions like, "what's the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter"?, and "when is violent protest the answer, if ever"? What the movie was made for, and does very well if you let it, is energize and galvanize, pump up your mind and body, stimulate your own questions. It helps that great actors like Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, and Stephen Fry are there to help you. Weaving especially does grand, forging a connection from V to the viewer without a single facial expression or ever seeing his eyes. The rabble rousing score is also damn good. V for Vendetta is an idea, not a foreign or domestic policy blueprint. And like any idea, it needs people to stand behind it for it to work. Oh yeah, does anybody actually read these f*#&ing things?

Crazy Lips (2000)

completely ridiculous and enjoyable, cheapened by laborious rape scenes

[5/10 · 24 February 2006]

Crazy Lips is a thoroughly enjoyable and bizarre flick, where I really had no idea what was coming next, and often was enthralled by new hilarious or thrilling twists and turns. But, in the end, I found myself simply feeling ill, for the basic reason that 4 out of the 5 female characters in the film are raped, in the traditional anime style of,"wait, are those sounds of pain and trauma or are the girls getting off on this"? Among all the gleefull gross and inventive gags, this repeating aspect simply disturbed me. I understand that to take anything of this movie and treat it seriously is rather silly, but I was bothered by the rapes presented as such. Anal rape! Ha ha ha! It just didn't sit well with me, and made it difficult to enjoy the rest of the flick. I'm not so narrow minded as to think that these scenes will inspire people to rape young girls in the ass as they are forced onto the erection of a dying hanging man, but the gratuitous shots of the young girls sweaty chest, her sounds of pain and anguish slowly turning into gasps of excitement and pleasure as she is (with overt squelching noises) violated from in front and behind represent a disturbing attitude that rape, such a violent and tragic reality, isn't really that bad; that girls might even like it, or deserve it. Certainly others have been able to enjoy the movie despite these scenes, and one could easily say that I'm being hypocritical, as I have no qualms about the violence and torture in the film being presented humorously. Maybe so, but I have yet to find any aspect of rape, no matter how cartoonishly or ridiculously it is presented, entertaining. There is a very real social stigma about rape, in America, Japan, and everywhere else. It is a brutal reality that is perpetrated on women and children and men as well every day across the globe, and it is also the least reported crime in the world. Such a very brutal and destructive crime perhaps should merely be treated with respect for the victims, not exploitation, no matter how harmlessly intended.

Pulse (2001)

Great idea and moments, ultimately dull

[6/10 · 22 February 2006]

I'd heard so many good things about this movie, I was rather stunned to find myself, well, bored. Please don't confuse me with someone who thinks horror means blood guts and false scares. Indeed, Kairo has, at times, a delicious brooding unnerving sense of dread, and some undeniably classic visuals and moments. But I found myself becoming less and less affected as the movie progressed, irritated even, that such a tantalizing idea was being drained of it's primal effectiveness. In the end, the haunting deeply felt fear that Kairo sporadically creates is left stranded, and the only thing that I talked about after-wards was how it should've been better.

Loft (2005)

great buildup.......and?

[7/10 · 22 February 2006]

No living director anywhere can build creeping, gnawing, raw nerve anticipatory tension like Kurosawa. Aside from that? Well, it's a mixed bag. His new film, English title "Loft", twists slowly on your skin early on, digging deeper and deeper. And then it sort of just stops. The shallow breathed fear that he creates, having you flinch at every movement in delicious tension (What's that! Oh, it's a TV. Wait! What's THAT! Oh, just a shadow) is unique. His mastery of composition in the frame, of scene, setting, character movement, sound, are unparalleled. And in this he sets himself up. There would have to be one hell of a harrowing finale to bring it all to a satisfying conclusion. As it is, "Loft" creeps up on you, hypnotizing you in fear; and then it just waits a while, and creeps back away. Not to say that the (lengthy) conclusion is poor, in any other movie it would be great. He twists several cliché horror staples in unique ways, and even finds some delirious humor. But it just doesn't work well enough. You almost feel the plot stumble and come close to falling. Kurosawa's brilliance with horror is that he does not scare you with sudden movements, grotesque images and stunts. He creates dread, primal and powerful. His horror slowly leans over your shoulder until it stares you in the eye. Unfortunately, in "Loft", the audience wins the staring contest.

Izo (2004)

See it once, and then again immediately, skip the DVD extras

[7/10 · 28 November 2005]

analyzing Miike's flicks is somewhat akin to analyzing David Lynch or Stan Brakhage(sic?). He himself seems to feel that something is right, rather then have it all worked out in his mind logically. This can result in junky, rough work, as Izo is at times, and also touch a pure cinematic form of pure feeling, that what was shown could not be done any other way. Izo is this also. Having said this I found Izo to be one of the most clearly defined of Miike's movies that i've seen (admittedly only six or seven). I felt rather clearly spoken to, both in image and dialog. I wont go into this because of the sheer amount of what is there, and I always believe in people seeing movies blind, not looking for any particular preconceived message. I'll just say this felt like the truest movie I've seen of Miike's, the purest in feeling and heart, and also, by far, the most relevant and poignant.