I first became aware of George Pelecanos, before his first novel was published, as the executive at Circle Films in Washington, DC, who was masterminding the US theatrical distribition of John Woo's "The Killer." He's still on the Asian beat.
Monday, October 3, 2011
George Pelecanos on recent films from Japan, S. Korea and Hong Kong
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15 comments:
Looks like he's been reading Cinerati...
I watched most of 13 Assassins myself, streamed on a iPad (not the ideal medium, admittedly) Handsome and kinetic, but, as with most Miike movies, the level of raw sadism was difficult for my middle-aged sensibilities.
You may recall that I was unable to finish Audition for the same reason.
I may be doomed to watching Dolphin Tale and the like for the rest of my life....
Also a part of the problem with Woodrell, I assume.
I had a period -- roughly from Nora's birth to around age ten -- when I had twinges of the same problem. Feelings closer to the surface, etc. But I persevered and I got over it. I recommend a course of treatment where you start with Roy Rogers movies and work your way up to Peckinpah.
Try this: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/georgepelecanos/film/action.html
Woodrell is fine. There's a scene in 13 Assassins with a woman who has been tortured by cutting off her arms and legs and tearing out her tongue and (I believe) taking out her eyes.
She moans a lot.
Now I'm as receptive to the adrenaline charge of a bit of the old ultra violence as the next guy.... But really.
I remmeber that. But it's about ten minutes in. Is that where you stopped?
In fact, the horror of that shot is what seals the case against the guy they're going after -- the brother of the shogun, as I recall. It would take a lot to get a loyal smaurai to step that far over the line. And this is a lot.
I understand the plot.... Just didn't like it much. It's a story told many times without that level of explicitness. (All that Joffrey has to do in Game of Thrones is kill a beloved character, for example. Shocking, but much easier to take.)
At any rate,I stuck it out for a while longer. Just lost interest, basically.
There's potentially an interesting issue, here, beyond just personal discomfort. I would defend an artist's right to shock or gross out an audience -- and after all we're talking about the director of "Ishii the Killer!" But context is crucial. An image that might seem apt in a horror movie could be off key and therefore a rhetorical/aesthetic flaw in an action movie. A mistake of judgement as crucial as burning the kid's father to death at the end of "Kick Ass" -- which offended me a great deal more, BTW, than this limbless apparition, which was too far-fetched to have any real world resonance.
13 ASSASSINS is pretty over the top with the graphic quality of its violence, but that is typical not just of Miike but of the chambara genre itself. I remember an interview with Quentin Tarantino around the time of KB:1 where he talked about using blood as a paintbrush -- something QT did exquisitely in KB:1 -- and how chambara films differed from American films in this regard.
Peckinpah may have his exploding squibs, but the blood on the walls of 13 ASSASSINS makes THE WILD BUNCH look like THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE (Nick Cage version).
I found the film surprisingly powerful, especially at the end. The scene where the reluctant warrior tells his wife that if he doesn't return by x date, he will meet her at the festival of the dead was particularly wonderful and gave extra weight to the final showdown.
I'll defend along with David the use of ultra-violent images. But that's not inconsistent with being repelled by them.
"Great, but not for me" is, perhaps, the response of the aging, but it's all my own.
A couple of years ago, if I remember, blog reader Go Joe (who has forgotten more about Asian action movies than I know) indicated an additional familiarity with European aestheticized ultra-violent thrillers. I made a note to myself to follow up, but, of course, didn't.
("Chambara" is a new word for me, and I will now act as though I was lisping it in my cradle... Thanks.)
I agree with Christian that the final minutes of the film carry a lot of emotional weight -- perhaps in part because of the extrenity of what they've been through. The afterglow scenes, as it were.
But I also think the move,ment toward that effect starts early, when non-chambara performwer but excellent actor Koji Yakusho justifies his casting with the suprising depth of his gratitude, when he realizes he's being offered one final chance to embrace death in battle; to go out like a samurai rather than wasting away as an idle civilian. This is a notion that gets paid lip service in many, many swordplay films but is really felt in this one. Miike's achievment reminds me of what Kael said about "The Wild Bunch" -- that Peckinpah put ths sting back into death.
I think it is telling about changes in viewing habits, that all three of these films are currently available on Netflix streaming.
As you all know, I reviewed the magnificent Ip Man in August of 2010. I haven't reviewed Ip Man 2, but it lacks the emotional weight of the first film. It has some great action sequences, but the mood of the film is quite different.
I think your Ip Man piece was what Tulk was referring to above. I was impressed by the film, as well.
You're making me feel like an idiot for responding as I did....
Since I can stream Assassins, I can always revisit, and probably will.
Reactions to something horrible don't have anything to do with intelligence, IMO. Cf my comment on "Kick Ass."
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