Motley Is A Fool's Uniform

robin_d_laws

Erik Nietzsche: The Early Years [Denmark, Jacob Thuesen, ***1/2] Film student transforms from hapless naif to cunning manipulator. Screenwriter Lars von Trier takes gleeful revenge on his old professors with this autobiographical comedy. [1]

Mad Detective [HK, Johnnie To & Wai Ka Fai, ****] Crazy ex-detective who can see people's inner personalities (Lau Ching Wan) is brought onto a multiple murder case involving a cop's missing gun. Entertainingly twisty mystery bound to trigger a Hollywood remake deal.

Sukiyaki Western Django [Japan, Takashi Miike, ****] Mysterious gunfighter comes to lawless town to choose whether to ally himself with the Genji or Heike gang. Four decades years after Sergio Leone "borrowed" Yojimbo as the basis for the spaghetti western, Takashi Miike takes it full circle with this exuberant, bloody, reverently spoofy and unapologetically fanboyish romp.

One of my fears about this project was the dialogue, which is spoken in English by Japanese actors, mostly heavily accented and sometimes obviously learned phonetically. The print screened here was sub-titled in English. This was distracting for all of a few minutes, at which point eye and ear coordinate and it all seems weirdly natural. Even Quentin Tarantino, in a cameo role, delivers a portion of his performance in this peculiar cadence. Eccentric as it is, it does play into the film's theme of duality, coming off as the midway point between Japanese and the stilted dubbing of an Italian western. [2]

The Exodus [HK, Pang Ho-Cheung, ****] Cop (Simon Yam) stumbles onto a syndicate of women conspiring to kill all men. Wry exercise in paranoia told with icy Kubrickian bravura.

California Dreamin' (Endless) [Romania, Cristian Nemescu, ****] Corrupt small town station master thwarts efforts of a US commander (Armand Assante) trying to get a NATO supply train to the Kosovo conflict. Witty satirical epic draws its characters keenly, deftly swerving around the obvious or expected choices.

In an odd way, it's sad that this movie is good as it is, because it's the debut film from a director who was killed in a car accident (along with his sound designer) late in its post-production phase.

Assante's performance is the best I've seen from him. In a hackier version of this movie, the character would be written and played as a caricature. Here he comes across as a real guy. You come to empathize with his superbly modulated slow boil.

Anyone wanting to see more of his reviews should head over to his livejournal.

[1] It's Lars von Trier thats the selling point for this one. I can only imagine the results from the director that brought you the unfinished epic of Riget (aka The Kingdom).

[2] I've seen extracts from this one and it's very corny looking and sounding. But it draws you into itself very rapidly, and completes a cycle in filmaking.

What can I say, but it works.

Must remember to catch the whole film sometime I'm less busy.

Although I didn't really realise it at the time, this was entirely due to the fact that it was centred around a conflict of genius. The major characters were all geniuses in their own fields: Doctor Zharkov was the scientific and intellectual genius, Flash was the athletic genius, Dale Arden was the beautiful genius, and, of course, Emperor Ming was the ultimate political genius.

( Genius is 99% inspiration... )

"Pain is such a primitive concept," I reply cavalierly. "I prefer to think of it as my neurons battling evil in another dimension."

She looks at me strangely, almost quizzically.

"Oh dear," I think. "Now I'll either be sectioned, or worse still, have to attempt to explain my obscure sense of humour."

But then she smiles and says "I loved that movie when I was younger."

"An educated doctor," I disclaim. "Will wonders never cease!"

"Just for that, I'm using a bigger needle..."

Maybe I should have stopped before we reached the Frontier.

During my childhood she was (when I noticed) an ocelot, a wolf, and a raven ["Ohhh! Bright Shiny Things!"] before settling on the best of all possible forms.

About 2.6% of the world's known daemon population are ermines, eminently proving that they make up in quality what they may lack in quantity.

Apparently you all believe that I am Modest [?], Inquisitive, Solitary, Humble and Fickle, and possess (or soon will possess) a beautiful white coat.

[I find it interesting that most people choose Athens or Sparta (or even Persia) in the Peloponeasan Wars. I chose Thespis and another friend chose Corinth. I believe both were stalwart Spartan allies though, so it does kind of colour which side I favoured. Like many stressed cultures, the Spartans are interesting to lokk at but not really something you want to emulate. In the end, they were essentially the victims of their own propoganda.]

And speaking of propoganda number films, my fellow Illuminati will be glad to know there was a trailer for the film The Number 23 shown beforehand. Fnord.