What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Bullet Ballet

Tsukamoto returns to black & white photography for this tale of a director whose lover kills herself with a gun. Since Japan has some of the strictest gun laws on earth he asks himself not only why did she kill herself but why with a gun? and also how did she get it?
Stepping into Japans underworld of teen gangs and Yakuza, working towards getting a gun. Eventually he decides to build his own from imported parts when he realises he cant get the one he wants. Meanwhile he also finds himself getting mixed up in gang warfare.
While this film does not necessarily deal specifically with physical transformation. The film does look at how the main character is transformed by firearms. Here it's not necessarily for the better as the introduction of firearms escalates things to a lethal degree.

Tokyo fist.

Shinya Tsukamoto likes to cast himself in the central role it seems. Here he's a seemingly mild mannered insurance salesman. I say seemingly as it becomes apparent his calm demeanour hides the fact that his a seething, ticking time bomb of rage and frustration. Things come to a head when he meets an old friend who is a pro boxer. His friend tries to seduce his girl and while he fails it triggers the insurance salesman's rage, splitting up him and girl. His lover moves in with his friend who quickly becomes alarmed when she begins piercing herself and getting tattoos while Tsukamoto begins boxing in a bid to regain his pride after his friend badly beats him.
Here physical transformations, working out to become a fighter and body modification become metaphor's for dealing with inner rage and frustrations. All three central characters are embracing extreme lifestyles to cope with past traumas. Once again it's beautifully shot, with Tsukamoto's trademark frenetic style.

[keirarts]

Vital

A real departure for Tsukamoto. Here an amnesiac studying to become a doctor is studying anatomy in the lab by dissecting corpses. He soon realises the corpse on the slab was his old lover and his detachment from the physical reality to an emotional one triggers his memories and causes him to explore his past. Given the grim subject matter, this is possibly his most heart felt and genuinely touching film. Its beautifully shot as one would expect, far more controlled with much more static and framed shots and has a more traditional score. Once you get past the differences from his other work this one is hoghly recommended. With Third windows releases of his back catalogue all looking astonishing on Blu-ray here's hoping.

Haze

Under an hour long, this is the closest thing Tsukamoto has come to committing a genuine nightmare to screen. A man wakes in a mysterious, cramped underground maze. It's littered with traps, human remains and to make matters worse he realises he's bleeding to death. While searching the claustrophobic hell he finds himself trapped in he finds a woman in a similar situation and the pair resolve to make their way through and escape.
If your in any way claustrophobic this is difficult film to watch. It's horribly claustophobic, dark and grimy and genuinely harrowing.

[keirarts]

Fires on the plain

Based on the novel Nobi written by Shōhei Ōoka and previously adapted into a classic Japanese war film by Kon Ichikawa. Given the 1959 film is seen as something of a bona fide classic, its to Tsukamoto's credit that he's delivered a genuinely great war film that may end up creeping into my years top ten. (Though it was made 2014 might make it a bit of a cheat)
Tsukamoto plays a TB infected Japanese soldier trapped in the Philippines, along with many other troops he's desperately trying to survive on whatever he can forage and trying to avoid the bands of guerrillas and American Troops all looking to kill them. The genuinely beautiful jungle scenery is contrasted with the corpse strewn jungle floor and the cast of haunted and desperate men who will go to any lengths to survive. Possibly his best film Tsukamoto delivers a lot on a small budget to really hammer home the horrors of war through starvation, mutilation and sickness. Recommended.

[Demoncrat]

Tetsuo still has the power to derange them senses. Are these BD Keir??

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Fires on the plain

Based on the novel Nobi written by Shōhei Ōoka and previously adapted into a classic Japanese war film by Kon Ichikawa. Given the 1959 film is seen as something of a bona fide classic, its to Tsukamoto's credit that he's delivered a genuinely great war film that may end up creeping into my years top ten. (Though it was made 2014 might make it a bit of a cheat)
Tsukamoto plays a TB infected Japanese soldier trapped in the Philippines, along with many other troops he's desperately trying to survive on whatever he can forage and trying to avoid the bands of guerrillas and American Troops all looking to kill them. The genuinely beautiful jungle scenery is contrasted with the corpse strewn jungle floor and the cast of haunted and desperate men who will go to any lengths to survive. Possibly his best film Tsukamoto delivers a lot on a small budget to really hammer home the horrors of war through starvation, mutilation and sickness. Recommended.

Noted !!

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Tetsuo still has the power to derange them senses. Are these BD Keir??

Everything but vital (tartan Asia extreme) and Haze (very rare terracotta release.)

Anyone thinking of getting Tsukamoto stuff should look at Third Windows releases. All director supervised and look marvellous. Even the super grungy Tetsuo looks decent.

[Demoncrat]

Vital certainly was a departure. Never did get my hands on Haze ... now's the time methinks!!

[Demoncrat]

Annabelle: Creation.
Ok in parts. Too much CGI in others.

Ta!!

[bleakshaun]

Phase IV
Set in Arizona, the film focuses on a scientist and his assistant investigating a strange occurrence with ants. What eventually happens is that it becomes a battle of wills between the scientists and the ants.
To be honest, this film starts off rather promising especially with the use of narrative, it kinda felt like it would have been a documentary. However unfortunately after a few minutes, it's not. Acting is there, but one stand out element is all the close ups of the ants which feels like the footage would be better in an Attenborough documentary.
6/10

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[Cinematic Shocks]

Leatherface (2017)

*** out of *****