Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561572 times)

mañana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2180 on: August 02, 2016, 11:57:52 PM »

Princess Mononoke - Hayao Miyazaki, 1997

On one hand I'm impressed with the manner in which the film attempts to avoid an oversimplification of the conflict between nature and development. Eboshi may be intent on destroying the forest, but greed is not her sole motivation. By the same token, San's attacks on civilians hardly generates support for her cause from the audience. Both are virtuous, both have blood on their hands. Like Ashitaka, the film straddles both sides of this divide and, though ecology may ultimately be the "message", it is balanced enough to have empathy for all combatants in the conflict. On the other hand, balanced is not necessarily nuanced and this approach felt a little strained. How's that for a wishy-washy take? Of course, within this remarkably expansive and bizarre world, this binary mostly felt like very good bones to hang the film on.     




Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald - Koki Mitani, 1997

A pleasant farce about the behind the scenes shenanigans of a radio drama production. Shortly before going on air, the diva lead actress insists on script changes which instigates a series of events that completely transforms the narrative and precipitates several layers of chaos. Never is Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald especially funny, but it is thoroughly good-natured and operates within a certain American tradition of screwball chamber comedy that was a real pleasant surprise for me. I really don't know enough about Japanese culture to make any informed observations, but this film does seem to be consistent with the Shall We Dance? (1996) current about liberation from rigidity. I guess I'll have to see it in a third before I can label it a trend. Anyway, fun script, good cast, and nicely paced direction made this solidly enjoyable. 



Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald is unexpected fun but Mononoke is too singular and too much of a humdinger of an adventure to deny. Princess Mononoke goes on.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 12:00:52 AM by mañana »
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2181 on: August 03, 2016, 08:26:22 AM »
Good choice. Been a while since I've seen Mononoke, but I just recently bought it, so I'll probably give it a rewatch soon and see how wrong you are about it being wishy-washy.  :P

MartinTeller

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2182 on: August 03, 2016, 09:54:54 AM »
I thought he was calling his take on Mononoke wishy-washy, not the movie itself.

mañana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2183 on: August 03, 2016, 10:23:41 AM »
Yeah, me, not the film.  :)
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2184 on: August 03, 2016, 10:42:28 AM »
Oh yea, I reread it. Makes more sense now.

BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2185 on: August 03, 2016, 05:01:46 PM »
Nice writeup Manana! Happy this bracket is still chugging along.
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oldkid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2186 on: August 08, 2016, 11:24:16 AM »
Just watched Mononoke again a couple nights ago.  Although Mr. McDonald is fun, it isn't nearly as powerful as the animated film.
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pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2187 on: October 21, 2016, 04:36:20 PM »
Round Three Resurrection Review


A Petal (Jang Sun-Woo, 1996)
Won over Childhood Days (verdict by Tequila)
Won over Days of Being Wild (verdict by tinyholidays)
Lost to M/Other (verdict by Bondo)

There really could be a 1990s Far East sub-bracket consisting of all these young girl misery porn films. A Petal vs. Xiu Xiu vs. Red Cherry vs. Down the Drain. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple. The only downside would be that only one of those films (Xiu Xiu) is truly worth watching. A Petal, alas, is almost as bad as Down the Drain. My notes for it read as follows: "I mean, just, ugh." That's all I bothered to write down. It turns out that I don't need to see a young girl raped, repeatedly, to better understand — at a metaphorical level — the tragedy of the Gwangju massacre. Just offensive to me, honestly, especially in a film so clumsy and heavy-handed. It's a shame, too, because the flashback to the actual massacre is actually pretty terrific and provided the emotional gut-punch that the rest of the film so desperately fails to achieve. The brief sequences of animation are just as artful and a very welcome surprise (check out Tequila's verdict for a sample screenshot). The surrounding live-action scenes suffer by comparison, despite the impressive physicality of Lee Jung-hyun's crazed lead performance. Tequila, tinyholidays, and Bondo all got more out of A Petal than I did, so I'm happy it was part of the bracket; but it's not a fourth-round film, for sure.

Resurrection Standings (the top six films may earn resurrection)
* Automatic Resurrection

Up next: Artists in Wonderland.

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2188 on: October 21, 2016, 05:03:35 PM »
Progress! We need to get on those last few verdicts. Come on, people!

pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2189 on: October 21, 2016, 05:47:06 PM »
Round Three Resurrection Review


Artists in Wonderland (Satô Makoto, 1999)
Won over A Quiet Life (verdict by edgar00)
Won over Pushing Hands (verdict by tinyholidays)
Lost to After Life (verdict by Beavermoose)

It's funny that the verdict that most praised Artists in Wonderland is the one that kicked it out of the bracket. Equally surprising is how little this fly-on-the-wall doc managed to engage me, given my default affection for the genre. I had issues with the structure of Satô's other bracket doc, Living on the River Agano, but his (seemingly) haphazard editing is even more of an issue here. Like much of the abstract art on display, the film lacks shape. There are interesting moments and characters and themes, but they're rarely sustained. I would've loved greater focus on any single one of the film's best elements — perhaps on the artistic process or on how that process and the resulting artworks may or may not reflect the minds of the artists — but the film's tapestry is less interesting than the sum of its parts.

Resurrection Standings (the top six films will earn resurrection)
* Automatic Resurrection

Up next: Shanghai Triad.

pixote
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 05:49:43 PM by pixote »
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