[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

sweet.

You should watch BRIDE OF FRANK soon too man.

Been there. Done that.

 

[a-p a. niemi]

 

[noisereductions]

The Shining
Nightmare On Elm St 4
After-Life

[Pelle]

Old School.

Pretty funny, yeah.

[noisereductions]

In THe Mouth Of Madness
Fright Night

[demonrail666]

 

Revolver (2/10)

I love it when celebs (in this case Guy Richie) decide they're some kind of font of wisdom. Bits of this reminded me of those rap records where the rapper has decided he's some kind of oracle having watched a programme on the history channel. It's the fact that Revolver takes itself so seriously that makes it so weirdly watchable. Like seeing Kanye West pop up on a documentary about string theory. Although I only gave it a 2, in a way it probably deserves more. God only knows what Ray Liotta was thinking when he got involved.

[atsonicpark]

YES! Demonrail, that movie SUCKS! That is the ultimate in "what the fuck were they trying to accomplish?" It seems like Ritchie wanted to make one movie, but the studio wanted him to make the types of films he usually makes. That probably explains why the film is so fucked up, and it was written by 3 writers.

[demonrail666]

I heard that the really pretentious bits were purely Richie's doing. A dreadful film, but enjoyably so. A real latter-day Golden Turkey.

Anyway, just watched ...

 

Gommora (8/10)

Seriously good. Easily my favourite of the recent Italian crime movies I've been getting into lately. Naples just seems scary as hell right now.

EDIT: Anyone know of any good modern day Yakuza stuff, say from the last ten years?

[LifeDistortion]

"Animal Kingdom" really good.

[atsonicpark]

modern day yakuza? Besides Miike's stuff (DEAD OR ALIVE 1-2, DEADLY OUTLAW REEKAH, FUDOH, YAKUZA DEMON), Aoyanam's stuff (like 2 Punks, which is great!), and Kitano's (OUTRAGE... you've already see SONATINE/HANABI/BOILING POINT/VIOLENT COP, probably) stuff? Check out:

GONIN is one of my favorite films of all time, it's about 7 dudes ripping off the yakuza.

Past 10 years.. so that excludes, like, Yakuza Papers... if you haven't seen those 5 films, BATTLES WITH HONOR AND HUMANITY.. those are essential, as is any Nikkatsu stuff you can find. Criterion released NIKKATSU NOIR, a great 5-movie set you can get off of amazon for like $5. RUSTY KNIFE and TAKE AIM AT THE POLICE VAN is in it.

Sorry, gotta mention one more old film...

 

Goddamn, I LOVE Pale Flower (also, a big inspiration on Scorsese, if that matters). It's more "noir" than yakuza, though it is a yakuza film, and great at that.

Again, I know you know BRANDED TO KILL and shit... but yeah.

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

EDIT: Anyone know of any good modern day Yakuza stuff, say from the last ten years?

SHARK SKIN MAN AND PEACH HIP GIRL was outstanding.

[deflinus]

 

[atsonicpark]

One thing I'd like to mention is that most yakuza films are DV now. Used to, they'd get theatrical releases and shit, but noiwadys, a STRAIGHT-UP hardcore yakuza film won't get you anywhere. So, the films I'm about to reccomend arent strictly, straight-up yakuza tales for the most part. But they are great.

And, yeah, SHARK SKIN MAN AND PEACH HIP GIRL is a damn good film of course.

But, yeah, I got some more...

 

PISTOL OPERA. Not a traditional yakuza film, it's about hitman/hitwomen fighting to be the # 1 assassin, moving their way up the yakuza ranks. The interesting thing about Japanese cinema like this and Gozu and such.. is how often you find yakuzas in different films. Here in America, you don't see gangster films (aside from the awful comedy MAFIA!... and Miller's Crossing is a bit unconventional, I guess) where the "gangsters" are in different types of movies. In Pistol Opera, you've got yakuzas fighting to be the # 1 assassin, in this surreal landscape, with explosive colors and shit. Just insane and awesome.

 

THE OUTRAGE... I mentioned it above, but I gotta say -- without any hesitation -- this is one of the finest and most engaging yakuza films ever made. Kitano is a master director, one of the best directors.. ever, and perhaps the most poetic and meditative director since Ozu (which is strange, since his films, thematically, couldn't be further from Ozu if he tried).

 

GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI is a film with yakuza action, roleplay/cosplaying, George Bush, "pinku" (violent sex!), and it's just surreal, off the wall, and fucking hilarious.

 

YAKUZA IN LOVE - 1997. Very lonely, depressing, but moves fast. Bleak and awesome.

[atsonicpark]

 

THE MISSION - Johnnie To is one of my favorite directors. He has made many yakuza movies.. if not yakuza, then films that have lots of violence, gangs, hitmen, and awesomeness. Some of his films are downright strange, but I'd say 90% of them are compelling and fun. FULLTIME KILLER is straight-up the best and by far the coolest action film since John Woo's "Killer" and "Hard Boilked" and "A Better Tomorrow". EXILED, VENGEANCE, ELECTION (which IS a hardcore yakuza film that strongly resmebles classic films in the genre, and really goes all out to explore the "dynamics", ie the inner workings, of the yakuz.. fascinating stuff), BREAKING NEWS (the first 8 minutes are down in one take, and it consists of LOTS of hardcore violence... definitely ranks up with the opening of SNAKES EYES and THE PLAYER, and.. uh.. all of ROPE and RUSSIAN ARK.. as the most mindblowing "single take shot" of all time), A HERO NEVER DIES, LONGEST NITE.. etc etc etc etc... all great. He has a filmography that is definitely worth exploring.

 

YOUNG YAKUZA - 2007! This is a DOCUMENTARY, and is shocking how much the notoriously-secretive yakuza left notoriously-polite people in notoriously-quiet Japan film. Great movie.

 

SPECIAL MIIKE AWARD - I mentioned Miike above, but lemme reiterate.. I've seen nearly 70 Miike films, last I checked, yet I'm not a big fan of him personally. I think he's kind of a hack. He doesn't write his own films, his movies are often sloppy, and I just flat-out don't like many of his movies. But you know what? I also happen to love quite a few of his films as well. Shock. Gasp! Yeah, IZO is my favorite, but that's a samurai film. Let me make a special mention of DEAD OR ALIVE 2. While in many many ways resembling Sonatine (one of Miike's favorite films -- he said Kitano is his favorite Japanese director next to Sogo Ishii), there is SO MUCH going on here that, well, it's definitely worth a watch. The opening and ending are pretty violent, but the middle has a lot of downtime.. very quiet, with the main yakuza toughguys putting on a child's play. This thing is just nutty, honestly. Miike's made lots of great yakuza films -- DEFINITELY his speciality, especially the BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY (Ley Lines and Rainy Dog especially) and the 200 minute AGITATOR. DEADLY OUTLAW REKAH, FUDOH, CROWS ZERO, GUY FROM PARADISE, MAN IN WHITE, SABU, NEGOTIOTAR, the 185 minute FAMILY, GOZU (which is way too long and took me 4 watches to appreciate in any meaningful way), YAKUZA DEMON, and quite a few others are absolutely worth a look. DEAD OR ALIVE 1 is COMPLETELY different than the second one, btw, and is more of a quiet, slow, depressing little tale. DON'T WATCH DEAD OR ALIVE 3: FINAL THOUGH -- that is absolute garbage, and almsot seems purposely so (Miike has said he hates sequels.. even though he's made plenty of sequels by now). Most of Miike's films are skippable, and he only has a few that are great (BOX from 3 Extremes being another wonderful film), but DEAD OR ALIVE 2: BIRDS is absolutely one of the finest films ever made.

 

TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 - saved the best for last (of this post). The director is friends with Johnnie To and is a huge fan of Kitano, and it shows, with this nutso, existentialist Japanese yakuza drama. The DIRECTION is insane, with some truely twisted angles.. at one point, everything goes black and you just hear sounds... another point, the scene is lit by all the gunfire.. at two different points, the camera spins upside down -- once after a long tracking shot in which someone bumps into the camera and konkcs it over and the camera follows around characters feet upside down from them on out as bodies fall over... blood constantly gets on the camera too.. I don't think the camera EVER stops moving.. it's almost like RUN LOLA RUN in that respect, as it has some of the most kinetic energy of any movie ever.. oh man this movie fucking rules. Check it out ASAP!

[atsonicpark]

 

MADE IN HONG KONG
Fruit Chan's 1997 masterpiece isn't a "True" yakuza film, but they certainly appear. It's mainlyt about a guy who ... I don't want to ruin it, but he basically interacts with different people, and eventually becomes violent, after failing to save a very sick girl's life. This is one of my favorite films and is depressing as hell.

 

AS TEARS GO BY and FALLEN ANGELS... when it comes to pure unadulterated energetic directing and skill, there's really no one better behind a camera than Wong Kar Wai. This guy knows how to hold a camera. This guy knows how to film people -- he has a very Godardian artsiness to his stuff at times, but his style is truely original in most ways. These films are both unconventional, narratively and otherwise, but I reccoemend both GREATLY.You won't see many films better than FALLEN ANGELS.

 

THE REVENGE - As many of you know, KIYOSHI KUROSAWA is one of the most successful directors in the world, and has made many modern masterpieces: CURE, CHARISMA, DOPLLEGANGER, TOKYO SONATA, BRIGHT FUTURE, etc etc etc. He actually started out making yakuza films, and THE RENVEGE -- while hard to find -- is pretty awesome. It's about a cop whose entire family (!) is murdered by the yakuza, so the cop gets revenge. It's stylish, action packed, and unconventionally filmed, with a great atmosphere.

 

TOKYO EYES - I love these mid-90's Japanese films, when all these shoot outs happened inside of arcades with kids dancing in DDR machines and people palying Virtua Fighter. This isn't the best film by any means, but it has a certain look and atmosphere that makes it compelling. It's short and energetic and very spontaneous, worth a look.

I'm alway son the lookout for yakuza films, and any new Asian films in general. All the best films of the past 40 years have come from Asia (TETSUO, PASTORAL, MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN, HAUSU, FUNERAL PROCESSION OF ROSES, THE CAT, RIKIOH, etc etc etc). I've always got my eye on this stuff, so if I find anything else I'll let you know.

[Dr. Eugene Felikson]

You think I'd like Glamorous Life? That Godard/Trey Parker + Matt Stone comparison is enticing.

[Ghostchase]

Miike rules in my books, and I've only seen Audition and Ichi the Killer.

I gotta watch The Outrage. Its awesome the Japanese Blu-ray comes with english subs. Now, just to buy it.


Watched Air Doll, fantastic film of the sex doll that comes to life and is given a heart, to become somewhat of a real life human being. Jumped on this one instantly because of the soundtrack, scored by World's End Girlfriend. Loved it.

 

[atsonicpark]

Miike rules in many people's books because they've only seen Ichi and Audition. Hah. I watched Audition again recently and actually kinda liked it. There is this one cool camera movement when the main female character comes on the scene, where the camera walks all the way across the room and stops just as the main character begins his interrogation. That scene is awesome. There is a lot of loneliness and depression in the film which I enjoyed. I find the film quite average, though. As for ichi, I also recently watched that for the first time in about 8 years, and I still feel it's a bit cold and hard to watch -- not because of the gore, just because there's not much for me to latch onto, as a viewer. I hate all the characters, and the film actually feels a bit confusing and disjointed, like they were more concerned with throwing violence on the screen. Despite being Asano's most well known role, it's probably my least favorite.

As for Miike's top 5, I'd say: 1. IZO, 2. DEAD OR ALIVE 2, 3. BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY (3 films, true, but they're 3 of his best), 4. VISITOR Q, and 5. FUDOH. With HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS being up there as well. It's interesting, I recently rewatched FUDOH and was BLOWN AWAY by it... for those who've seen HOSTEL 2, Eli Roth ripped off the "soccer kids playing soccer with a decapitated head" from it. Also..

SPOILER

isn't it neat how the film ends right as the two main characterrs are about to fight? What a great cop out ending!

END SPOILER


Miike is a competent director-for-hire. He's been involved in some interesting projects though.

Air Doll was one of the best Japanese films of 2009, definitely.

[demonrail666]

Wow thanks. I'm starting to wonder if there are more yakuza films than there are yakuza! Haha.

I'll start with The Outrage and work my way back from there.

Thanks Atsonic and Dr Eugene. I'd rep you both if I could.

[atsonicpark]

 

the mechanic - 8/10

Caught the remake in theaters and thought it was a fun, competent action film, with Jason Statham playing the same role he always gets. If you get a chance to catch the 6/10 remake on television sometime, check it out, it's not on bad at all honestly. Not much to it, but I appreciate it not being too cheesy; when they kill a bad guy and the bad guy says "fuck you", they don't say "TIME TO WASH OUT THAT MOUTH SOAP.. MADE OF LEAD." or something fucking ridiculous. So there's that.

ANYWAY, decided to download the original. And it's damn good! It's action less, pretty much, for the first half. There's this great part where a woman kills herself in front of an uncaring Bronson. Really entertaining film.