Kagero Vs.12 Storeys
Kagero
I was once reading somewhere about the famous Cropduster scene in North by Northwest where they mentioned that it’s the perfect scene because it “Adds nothing to the narrative but does not ruin the flow of the movie” I guess that’s the best way to describe the opening moment of Kagero. We open on a woman, with clothes off(Just cause) at sunset, a beautiful sunset. She is pouring water over herself. But what strikes us is that Tattoo. What is it? Why is it there? What does it mean? All questions plaguing modern man symbolised in a Tattoo.
The rest of the film, unfortunately, doesn’t reach the transcendence of that moment, which I argue would be very hard to do (someone get PTA on the phone). However, it does have some really nice moments in it, there’s a great scene with a (unfortunately explicit) great shot of the same woman carrying a bowl of water, mainly as a balancing act. It’s a pretty shot, and a pretty sequence, but it’s diminished by the fact that we know who this is and what she’s doing. By contrast, the opening shot is a wonderful enigma.
The bad news is that the film doesn’t go near those heights again. The good news is that it doesn’t try to.
It’s more of a kick-ass/emotional journey, and it works really well. Our protagonist is A lone woman who, after meeting her brother and learning that the house she grew up in with foster parents has been taken over by samourai, proceeds to enter the DARK AND DANGEROUS WORLD OFFF umm..gambling.
The movie’s trick is to slyly change styles on the fly, like Tarantino does in IB, though much more deliberately in Tarantino’s picture. It goes from some sort of relationship drama to win against all odds to revenge tale until she gets fireworks and BLOWS EVERYTHING UP!! (I’m loving the caps lock key today).
But it works! Unlike a movie which tried to do the same thing,
Thirst, what Hideo Gosha gets right much more then that film is two fold. The first is subtlety. Instead of grand changes he keeps the basic idea the same and twists certains aspects of the films style. Second, his character is very relatable. She’s hnot hell bent on a mission, she’s just kind of a person. Not a normal dude kind of person, just a person, she’s not got a lot of emotional depth or intensity, though she is very professional and shows herself as one who plays with the men. (Quote this out of context)
Plus, he gets very nice moments. One of my new favourite romantic pairings must now be the lead and her opponent cause, not only is he her opponent, but he also killed her father when she was little!! And you expect the movie to go all Kill Bill on him but instead it twists with our expectations and becomes a very touching love story. With two people. Who kick amazing amounts of ass at the end.
12 Storeys
12 Storeys is one of those twisting tales of multiple people, all of whom live in a flat. The movie starts out on a man, who having had his soul been somewhat crushed by alcohol and cigarettes, goes up to the 12th floor following an elderly woman. While up there, she puts her foot over the ledge, considers jumping, then pulls it back. The man then looks out across the planes for a bit, and does the same. Except he actually jumps. There’s a great moment where he’s lying on the ground and six people are just staring at him and someone comes up to them and says “Who called the ambulance? Didn’t anyone call an ambulance??”
The movie is actually about three plotlines. My favourite, and the one given the least amount of screen time, is about the woman mentioned earlier. In a very Jeanne Dielman-esque way she mainly spends the day doing house chores, clearing up the flat. However, in the back ground we hear the constant berating of her by her mother, how is talking about how she is a pig, lazy, and much worse then her surrogate sister. Of course, the mother is actually dead; this is just the woman thinking to the past/berating herself. It’s a great segment, as we get the sister coming over later on and she’s not really the person she’s hyped up to be. She’s the stereotypical upper class socialite. And the woman is a better daughter. But that’s just my opinion.
The second story is about a couple. One is the doting husband, the other is the gold digging wife who has been duped into the marriage thinking he was a millionaire. At first, we hate the wife, always mad, always hating against him for things that just seem stupid, like the allowance she gets and all that. She’s really a despicable character. But the Eric Khoo, by the end, allows you to feel sympathy for her. The husband is not a great guy either, he’s a doormat and he’s quite the sad sack. And you get to feel the crushing weight that the wife feels, stuck in this marriage for the rest of her life. But that’s just my opinion.
The third strand, given the most time I think and probably the worst of the three, Is about a brother looking after his two siblings. It’s mainly about him trying to get the older sister to study, and not stay out too late, and to stay a virgin. (STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS!! DON’T DO DRUGS!!!) There’s no plot, and you know the films of Miss Reichardt and Mr Bahrani, the ones with barely any plot but achingly beautiful moments. Well, Khoo can’t really achieve that. First of all, he tries to invent conflict through performances and style that isn’t really there at all, and he doesn’t know how to use the plot at all. Also, I stopped caring about either side by the end, although we do get that insane reaction shot as seen up above. But that’s just my opinion.
Two side attractions were also great. The people talking at the table outside were fun, but my favourite part of the movie was the spirit of the man who committed suicide. He doesn’t play a role, he just sort of appears in scenes with the Lady in the first story, as a spectre looming over everything. He’s the character I latched onto the most even though he’s barely on screen and he also got some of the best moments.
It’s a really nice looking movie too, there are some great shots.
Also:
Verdict: I liked both of these movies a lot, but I have to go with
Kagero. Resurrect
12 Storeys!!