Author Topic: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250  (Read 31223 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2010, 09:51:33 PM »
I agree a lot with that bit at the end and your thoughts overall. Probably my favorite moment of that kind. I really want this film in my top 100, but I think I need to give it another viewing before I can consider it as a potential addition.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2010, 12:00:11 AM »
A Clockwork Orange is a blast.

chardy999

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2010, 05:11:11 AM »
Awesome review michael. I think when she looks in the camera at the end she is also looking at Fellini. Very happy to hear it will make your Top 100; it will be very high in mine.
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Melvil

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2010, 02:08:29 PM »
Woohoo! Excellent review, michael. Very well describes why I love it so much, and I'm really happy you liked it so much.

Bill Thompson

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #14 on: August 07, 2010, 04:28:01 AM »

Tengoku To Jigoku (High And Low, 1963)

Maybe I’m wrong, I often am after all, but Tengoku To Jigoku  feels like Akira Kurosawa’s entry in the 1960′s movement of cool cinema. I know, I know there was never any cool movement in cinema, I’m making that up, big whoop. The point I am trying to make is that I’ve always viewed the 1960′s as a time when cool was King in cinema. You had Jean-Pierre Melville coming into his own as a filmmaker, Sergio Leone crafting The Man With No Name trilogy, and a bevy of other films where a sense of cool was a major part of the film making process. Kurosawa being the craftsman that he was had to add his own voice to the 1960′s movement of cool cinema, and to do so he made Tengoku To Jigoku.

There an ease with which Kurosawa directs Tengoku To Jigoku, and that is where the coolness comes into play. His camera has moments where it moves a lot, but it also has moments where it stays still for long stretches, simply allowing the action to take place in front of the audience. You get the sense that Tengoku To Jigoku is a great filmmaker putting his stamp on something and saying, “See fellas, I can do it too, if I so choose.” There’s nothing cooler than that really, and it’s all summed up perfectly in the moment I chose for my screenshot. My actual reaction while watching Takeuchi emerge from the underbrush with those illuminated sun glasses of his was, “God dammit, this is so CINECAST!ing cool!” I loved that feeling, I loved the fact that Kurosawa was able to so effortlessly draw me into this world, pardon my French for a moment, but I just CINECAST!ing loved it!

But, that isn’t enough for Kurosawa, because he is Akira “God Damn!” Kurosawa. Cool is great and all, but Kurosawa makes sure to layer a great morality tale around all of the cool. The first hour or so takes place in a single room, time elapses, our characters come and go, but we never leave that room. The thing that makes Kurosawa such a great filmmaker is that he creates a situation where we don’t need to leave that room. I was fully engaged by the quandary Mr. Gondo was faced with. I spent a good deal of time debating what I would do if I were ever faced with such a situation. The more I thought about the situation of Tengoku To Jigoku, the more I realized that it went beyond a simple morality play. Gondo represented Japan and their need to advance at any cost after World War II. But, what if that cost was their fellow man, what if in their zeal to become a strong nation again they lost sight of the very tenets that make us human? That can then be taken even further and Gondo can represent not just the Japanese, but all of humanity. How much are we liable to our fellow man, what measures should we take in order to help our fellow man? All questions Kurosawa asks in Tengoku To Jigoku, and you won’t find a single answer, because that just wouldn’t be cool man.

Hold your horses mates, Kurosawa isn’t done yet. He’s splashed you with cool and slapped you in the face with some morality, now he wants to thrill you with a taut detective story. Kurosawa can do it all and Tengoku To Jigoku has it all, because while the second half of Tengoku To Jigoku is a vastly different film it is great in just as many ways as the first half. The focus shifts completely to the investigative side of the ledger, but Kurosawa never skips a beat, each new twist and turn in the investigation draws the viewer even deeper into Tengoku To Jigoku. The ending is the icing on the cake, it brings the thrill of the investigation to the end, the coolness pops its shades back on and the morality play asks one final question before signing off.

I didn’t think it was possible at all, but Tengoku To Jigoku made me like Akira Kurosawa even more. I had mad respect for the man to begin with, but Tengoku To Jigoku made me sit back and go, “whoa,” and as I said, I love when a move elicits that sort of reaction from me. If you want cool then Tengoku To Jigoku is the movie for you. If you want your morality questioned, then Tengoku To Jigoku is the movie for you. If you want to be thrilled, then Tengoku To Jigoku is the movie for you. If you want to watch a great movie, then Tengoku To Jigoku is the movie for you. Screw it, I can’t say anything better than the screenshot I grabbed. Look at that people, look at how awesome and cool that screenshot is and know that you need to see Tengoku To Jigoku, it really is that simple.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2010, 04:50:23 AM by pixote »

pixote

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #15 on: August 07, 2010, 04:46:51 AM »
Screw it, I can’t say anything better than the screenshot I grabbed. Look at that people, look at how awesome and cool that screenshot is and know that you need to see Tengoku To Jigoku, it really is that simple.

* Screenshot not included.

** Nevermind, I got all officious again.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2010, 04:51:36 AM by pixote »
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alexarch

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #16 on: August 07, 2010, 08:58:22 AM »
Watched mine. More later.

michael x

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #17 on: August 07, 2010, 09:56:10 AM »
Yes! Glad you loved it, and that's an interesting point about how Gondo's dilemma can be a metaphor for Japan's struggles. I hadn't thought of it, but I think you're right.

Bondo

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #18 on: August 07, 2010, 11:46:18 AM »
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Because Bondo has Into the Wild at #29 and I think this will be an interesting companion piece because of the nature setting (plus it's only 93 minutes long and I won't feel bad in the slightest if he doesn't like it).

At first, this logic for the dictation worried me. You see, I didn't like Into The Wild because of the nature setting. I liked Into the Wild for the tragic tale it tells about what happens when one puts dreams above people. Christopher's aversion to society and idealistic view of individualism and nature and his persisting in it in spite of the people he meets on his journey is interesting to me as someone who is a bit cynical. So I was a bit worried going into this. But as it turns out, it does make an interesting companion piece, even on this level.

Instead of individualism and nature, what we see here is an idealism of ambition and glory. I just love the introduction here that sets this journey up as basically the Incas playing upon these faults they see in the European invaders and send them on a hopeless quest. It is a wickedly backhanded sort of revenge. And the hubris of the Europeans makes it hard to feel too much sympathy for this doomed quest (not a spoiler as they tell you of its doomed nature at the start). You've got people in this wild, treacherous domain, yet they have these heavy cannons that don't seem to serve a great function in the setting but are tied to the conception of power. The leaders have their wives or daughters, which I suppose would be fine if they were seen as co-equal contributors to the quest (I wouldn't suggest that women can't function in such an environment) but they are the sort of pampered lesser beings that are a burden in many ways. This does cleverly allow the film to have attractive women in it, even with the setting...women who look shockingly tidy considering. Anyway, all this is the Europeans not taking nature (or the natives) seriously and it is their downfall.

But for all the thematic interest here, Herzog makes such rough films. It is good in that it really captures the rugged, unpleasant nature of the journey, but I'm not sure many would put this film up for any screenplay awards. The dialogue, plotting, and acting (Kinski aside) are at best satisficing. I love the story of the making of this film. The whole films is dubbed in German (without Kinski) after the original English recording was stolen or something). You've got the fact that the cast/crew were actually going down the river on rafts and actually lost their rafts to flooding and had to rebuild. So yeah, the realness of Herzog's shoots is impressive, but at the end of the day, I like a film with a bit more focus on story. This keeps it out of my top tier of films.

Rating: 4/5

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: August 2010 MDC Write-ups: Filmspotters' Top 250
« Reply #19 on: August 07, 2010, 11:55:43 AM »
I don't know what it is, I should love this film, I've watched it several times, but for some reason it hasn't cracked my top 100 yet. I think I'm going to give it another watch this month.

 

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