Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5997766 times)

flieger

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30470 on: April 23, 2010, 02:04:53 AM »

United Red Army (Kôji Wakamatsu, 2007)

"Even if we destroy the armed enemy, the unarmed enemy remains.

We must root out our enemy toxins and our own impurities.

Revolutionary war is the antidote."


So, this is batsh*t crazy, brutal as all hell, long, talky, intense and claustrophobic. It also has this weird, offset poetry which mourns the crimes committed (and the people lost), but also inquires into, and weirdly euologises, the people involved.

A movie in three acts, the narrative starts wide open with the student protests and mass action, and slowly closes in upon itself, where black farce and tragedy awaits.

The first act is a chaotic, crowded cram-session in Japanese radical student politics of the 1960s-70s. A mix of archival footage, recreations, written information and narration jam your brain full of radical goodness, and the evils of capitalism and American imperialism. There's a lot of talk, a lot of revolutionary expository dialogue. There're also a lot of students - a very high turnover rate of young, revolutionary idealists - and a lot of meetings. And, of course, there's a lot of factionalism, where the militant-radicals splinter off into their own little cabals. The recreations have this weird, heightened-yet-drab-and-mundane, slightly artificial feel. Maybe it's the first intimations of a break from reality. The world these students occupy is one of intense relations, and very little, if any, outside interaction. Closing down and breaking off. The militancy starts, and any who interact with the outside world are in mortal danger.

The second act is their long march into the mountains, where they set up training camps. The two factions join to become the United Red Army. The absurdist (but maybe a little sadly poignant) touches start now. I loved how they had firing practice, all lined up, rifles on shoulders, and they have to go "BANG!" for the shots, presumably because they have very little ammunition, but it also shows how marginal they have become. Cut off from broader society, they really start to radicalise.
"Self-critique" becomes the tool of the leaders to interrogate, chastise, and eventually destroy the members they deem unfit. The phrase "Are you capable of critiquing yourself?" becomes this god-awful, terrifying mantra, because whatever is said is not enough. Bad, bad sh*t starts to happen.

The intensity of these scenes, through brutal repetition, and through an unwaveringly clear, unvarnished vision, is harrowing. All the more so through its sheer inexplicability. Explanation comes through Wakamatsu's deft handling and remarkably perceptive interpretation of events. The psychological pressure builds, and never dissipates. It seems just plain madness, but it never devolves into cheap exploitation or psychologisation. When one doomed member laments "Where is the revolution?" you can sense that it's a question as relevant to Wakamatsu as to her.

Then, the third act lets of some steam, with some wonderful trekking scenes. But the forces of bourgeois repression are not far behind, and the world starts to close in again. The last remnants take refuge, and a hostage, in a ski lodge. A stand-off ensues. We never see the police, just a disembodied voice, amplified by a speaker. Closed off again, surrounded by repression. Wondering what to do, they hold a meeting. Trapped, some of the dialogue devolves into surreal parodies of what has gone before. They state their case to the hostage, saying "Their real aim is to steal our social consciousness..." but she doesn't seem to care. The final, farcical throes of political consciousness and revolutionary zeal comes with "That very cookie you ate is an anti-revolutionary symbol" which is possibly the best line of the 00s.

It starts off messy and confusing, but really, really focuses as it goes on. It's also incredibly tender, appropriately horrified, and genuinely curious in trying to get across the whole mentality of this group. I love how we see nothing from the point-of-view of the outside world until the hostage is taken. It gives the whole narrative this wonderfully intimate, crazy, not-unsympathetic tone, and it makes the whole tragedy all that more painful. You just had to be there, man, you just had to be there. ('nother Top 50 film for me!)


zarodinu

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30471 on: April 23, 2010, 02:57:56 AM »

United Red Army (Kôji Wakamatsu, 2007)

So, this is batsh*t crazy, brutal as all hell, long, talky, intense and claustrophobic. It also has this weird, offset poetry which mourns the crimes committed (and the people lost), but also inquires into, and weirdly euologises, the people involved.

Probably as good a description of this film as you could fit into two sentences.

The intensity of these scenes, through brutal repetition, and through an unwaveringly clear, unvarnished vision, is harrowing. All the more so through its sheer inexplicability. Explanation comes through Wakamatsu's deft handling and remarkably perceptive interpretation of events. The psychological pressure builds, and never dissipates. It seems just plain madness, but it never devolves into cheap exploitation or psychologisation. When one doomed member laments "Where is the revolution?" you can sense that it's a question as relevant to Wakamatsu as to her.

I think this is the purpose of the film, to tell the story, but more importantly to ask "where did we go wrong?"

Wondering what to do, they hold a meeting. Trapped, some of the dialogue devolves into surreal parodies of what has gone before. They state their case to the hostage, saying "Their real aim is to steal our social consciousness..." but she doesn't seem to care. The final, farcical throes of political consciousness and revolutionary zeal comes with "That very cookie you ate is an anti-revolutionary symbol" which is possibly the best line of the 00s.

Yeah, the dark as night humor in the end is truly great.  The revolutionary cookie, the explanation to the hostage how she is not truly a hostage, the delusions of grandeur and belief that this standoff is some kind of revolutionary event.  All of it is incredibly ironic and incredibly sad given what came before (is this crap why you killed your brother kid?) 

It starts off messy and confusing, but really, really focuses as it goes on. It's also incredibly tender, appropriately horrified, and genuinely curious in trying to get across the whole mentality of this group. I love how we see nothing from the point-of-view of the outside world until the hostage is taken. It gives the whole narrative this wonderfully intimate, crazy, not-unsympathetic tone, and it makes the whole tragedy all that more painful. You just had to be there, man, you just had to be there. ('nother Top 50 film for me!)

I love the isolation, it is what helps create the delusions and makes them spiral out of control.  The lack of outsiders is very effective, and when the hostage shows up it just helps expose the lunacy of it all.  I loved the disembodied voice of the police announcer, and the voice of the mothers acting as the hostage takers gnawing consciousness.  I also love how the movie portrays the heroes as human being without ever excusing what they did or turning them into some kind of martyrs.   

Glad you loved it, great review flieger.
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flieger

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30472 on: April 23, 2010, 03:02:55 AM »
Yeah, your recommendation, Schmer's for La France, and duderoujin@work's for Le Monde Vivant have given my Top 50 a real injection of wouldn't-have-seen-it-otherwise newness! Woo-hoo!

Verite

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30473 on: April 23, 2010, 04:13:02 AM »
United Red Army (Kôji Wakamatsu, 2007)

So, this is batsh*t crazy, brutal as all hell, long, talky, intense and claustrophobic. It also has this weird, offset poetry which mourns the crimes committed (and the people lost), but also inquires into, and weirdly euologises, the people involved.

Although I haven't seen City of Life and Death aka Nanjing! Nanjing!, I've read that it's brutal and really controversial.
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jdc

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30474 on: April 23, 2010, 04:15:12 AM »
I thought City of Life and Death was really well done and i felt sick after watching it. 
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Steven O. Selsnik

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30475 on: April 23, 2010, 09:05:17 AM »


At least a dozen times I thought, "WOW! How did they get that shot!"  Once or twice i might have actually said it out loud. A little preachy near the end but it was to be expected.

Mostly teens at the 9:15 show and I expected talking and texting during the whole movie but they were all quiet and attentive. i sound like an old man here but this generation understands their role in nature and their resposibility to the world around them way more than mine or the generations before us.

ˇKeith!

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30476 on: April 23, 2010, 09:19:21 AM »
also they now know that its never a good idea to swallow your dental hygenist so there's that...

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30477 on: April 23, 2010, 10:05:24 AM »
The wife and I watched Shakespeare in Love last night - for the first time. I thought it was really charming and funny. My wife is less familiar with Shakespeare, and didn't seem to pick up on a lot of the in-jokes, but still enjoyed it a lot - signs of a good movie that works on multiple levels.
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ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30478 on: April 23, 2010, 10:43:54 AM »
At least a dozen times I thought, "WOW! How did they get that shot!"  Once or twice i might have actually said it out loud. A little preachy near the end but it was to be expected.

Mostly teens at the 9:15 show and I expected talking and texting during the whole movie but they were all quiet and attentive. i sound like an old man here but this generation understands their role in nature and their resposibility to the world around them way more than mine or the generations before us.

I love when a post is given a great spin when you pretend the guy in the poster's avatar is typing it...
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Steven O. Selsnik

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #30479 on: April 23, 2010, 11:46:57 AM »
also they now know that its never a good idea to swallow your dental hygenist so there's that...

my ten year old was laughing her ass off as the birds were picking the baby sea turtles off the beach. not sure if i am disturbed by that or appreciate her dark humor.

not sure if i need the spoiler there either. like you don't know what is coming at the beginning of that scene.

 

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