roujin's 2nd verdict in this wonderful bracket? Oh no! Super magical happy funtime!A Touch of Fever vs. In the Heat of the Sun
A Touch of Fever (Ryosuke Hashiguchi, 1993)
This is actually available on netflix under a different title,
Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old, for all that are curious.
Anyway, this is a really fascinating film. It details the everyday of life of a couple of guys who have found themselves selling their bodies to older gentleman at a club named
Pinocchio (yeah). One of them seems pretty ambivalent about his sexuality. He has no problem with selling his body because of the money and because it's never personal. It's not enjoyable for him but it isn't bad. The other boy is much more emotional than him and grows to dislike everything associated with the place. Of course, one falls in love with the other. This is all told in almost typical Japanese minimalist style with lots of extremely long shots of people just doing random things. I mean,
there was like a 8-minute take of a family eating around one of those cool little tables just depicting subtle behavioral changes and shit which was awesome and I kept wondering how long they would keep it going for (I think there's a name for the tables but I forgot what it was, anyway, they are awesome and I want one). The film is pretty fascinating because of its thematics, honestly, and not because of any cool visual stuff that it has going and at the end it becomes really clumsy in what's arguably its most important scene. The director appears in the pivotal scene as a john and what follows could've been handled better if he were behind the camera instead of in front of it, but it's like this weird exorcism shit that happens as the guy breaks down (this is supposed to be autobiographical, I think, and one or two of the characters could be him) and he addresses them talking about this all stuff and it's so bizarre and clumsy and heartfelt and so goddamn fascinating. I loved it. Anyway, I was surprised to see that this film was a hit in Japan and is a landmark in gay film over there (and it only has 96 votes on IMDB!). Surprised because it's so slow and patient in how it develops and stuff. I just can't see that sort of thing happening here (unless it's with Cowboys or something
).
and...
In the Heat of the Sun (Wen Jiang, 1994)
This was actually sort of similar to
A Brighter Summer Day in its depiction of teenagedom in a past decade (not 60s but 70s). However, that film employs a very oblique still camera thing while this is full of free-flowing camera movements and lots of visual goodies. I'm surprised this isn't more well-known cuz it seems pretty
seminal (
) in its depiction of a certain time period in China. It's the cultural revolution and all the parents are away working hard! It appears to be summer and the teens around here have nothing to do but explore, fool around, and get into crazy ass fights. It's also very
funny and stuff or
something or not or perhaps.The film is mostly about the past (it's narrated by the central figure many years later). There are times when we see scenes and wonder how real they are because the narrator keeps doubting himself saying that things may have not happened this way and he gives fictionalized accounts as well to make himself look braver. However, while this is certainly a coming-of-age film, it doesn't really end up where you expect it at all. And, that's what I like the most about it. I'm not sure. You should tell me.
Anyway, these are both very, very good but for entirely different reasons...
I'll be interested in what pix says of
Touch of Fever when he reviews it cuz it's out and I'll be interested to see what someone else says of
In the Heat of the Sun cuz it's moving on.
I might as well have flipped a coin.
Well, I guess
In the Heat of the Sun is much more assured in its direction and handling of themes... plus... it's pretty... so... yeah...