#reader report

The Boy & The Heron

Sinister parakeets and teeth and eyes in beaks.

Footprints On The Moon

I know it's only the second week of January but so far this is my discovery of the year,

Despite being a 70s Italian mystery/thriller playing with themes of madness and identity, which features a murder using scissors and the creepy red headed girl from Deep Red this is less giallo and more a delightful slice of weird the fuckness. In many ways it reminds me of Liquid Sky.

Another insomnia watch.

I had this on some VHS I think I found on the street. Last few minutes were totally garbled though but ending isn't really the thing here is it. I mean boy gets girl vampires are defeated whatever. Didn't really seem to be the strong point of this.

So my first full watch of this and first rewatch in for ever.

It's a bit of a rough watch tbh. Not that it's a difficult watch but the seams show, especially in some of the editing and the pieces just don't all fit together.

But when it works you can understand being swept away by a band of desperate lowlifes just barely surviving one sundown to the next. Especially when they're such a contrast to those big empty slow spaces all around. And that bar scene. Damn!

So mute Nicolas Cage vs evil Chuck E Cheese.

No really I had a busy weekend: moving boxes; emptying storagespaces and closets.  But also the Mrs was away which means I sleep poorly so watched lots of stuff instead of going to bed.

Quite enjoyed finishing this.  Given the subject mater it could have easily veered into garish pulpy noir or leaned into obvious exoticism but instead keeps things more convincingly low key and therefore creating a more believable world. The characters and the performances are also well done enough to escape their cliche types (the naive reporter eager to prove himself, the violent yet soulful young gangster on the rise, the street smart former good girl, the wise older detective).  Admittedly though Rinko Kikuchi‘s character seems under served. Still with so many character types, reporters, detectives, yakuza dealing in information, somehow still manages to fall on the right side of show don’t tell.

And I got a big chuckle that it felt no need to wrap up any of its storylines.

Lastly though so fun to see a contemporary show with so much smoking.  And it’s never aggressive or furtive or commented on.  Just everybody smoking all the damn time.

On it’s own this might be fine, a light entertaining enough if somewhat dated wuxia out for revenge flick.  As a follow up to Swordsman of All Swordsmen it’s a disappointment.

If Swordsman exudes a certain spaghetti western vibe with (for the genre) grounded characters The Bravest Revenge has a visual style that reminds me of a third season TOS Star Trek  and instead leans into magic swords, a video game like story and barrage of manic fights with extra leaping in place of any characterization.  Honestly the main characters might as well be called Sword Guy, Other Sword Guy, Guy with Those Rings on His Saber and The Girl. 

And sadly for something so fight centered (the last full half hour is a non stop horde fight; mini boss battle and repeat until reaching the main big bad) the fight choreography is very uneven.  Worse still while the actor who plays the villain has a good sinister presence he frequently feels like the least convincing fighter.  And that makes the heroes seem pretty lack luster when they regularly take him on four and sometimes five against one.

In fairness there are a couple of decent moments and I really enjoyed the soundtrack which skews towards crescendo heavy Western Classical and some odd almost electronic sounding bits when the magic swords come into play.

I do love me some Michael Mann : Manhunter of course and the Miami Vice movie is a big guilty pleasure in that I can't really defend it but boy do I love watching it. And I like movies that take their time. But I had avoided Heat as the bits I'd seen didn't grab me.

But now I watched it and I just do not get it.

Maybe it's that I can't take later Pacino. Maybe I just like my pulp leaner. But the whole thing felt bloated and despite some absolute gorgeous shots just blandly bad.

Could have dug it as some contemporary Hong Kong actioner though where the guns violence and soap opera were all Spinal Tapped up to 11.

So I went for the Care Bears go Apocalypse Now vibe and yeah it does that but I didn't expect to also wind up being reminded of Legend. And I'm not saying that because unicorns but also yes unicorns and the shapeless evil growing and that it feels more of the idea of a story than a specific actual story.

I did find myself worrying early on that this was going to be another Meet The Feebles that would wear out its juxtaposing of gratuitous shocks and funny animals too quickly. But it's many shifting tones cutsey here, psychedelic there, then gory, sad or allegorical, excellent and interesting animation as well as the anti-war anti-religion themes carries it above mere shock value. But it still didn't really gel for me and hey the Kubrick-esque apes over fore-shadowed the big final reveal.