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Kordermamet23
Reviews
'R Xmas (2001)
Quotidian Dealers vs. Frank White's New Day
RXmas--which I have heard pronounced as R Christmas--is an intriguing entry in Ferrara's career. I have to admit, I much prefer the hyperslick megaviolent insanity of King of New York and the scuzzy Method Acting delirium of movies like Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game, and The Funeral, and the drab experimentalism of New Rose Hotel and The Addiction to this exercise in extreme realism. But I admired and respected the achievement. Drea Dematteo is very powerful, very vulnerable, very real. Her desire to rescue her husband from the clutches of mysterious kidnappers is fascinating to watch. Ice-T, who gets so little respect as an actor and has been condemned these days to Law and Order spinoffs and Leprachaun sequels, is tight, mean, scary, and inspirational. Lillo Brancato gives a very truthful performance as the husband. He doesn't play it as a moronic machofried action hero: he's just a dad, a workaday stiff, trying to provide for his family in the best way he knows how. RXmas is seemingly the beginning of a new cycle of films, presumably dealing with New York City and the business of drug dealing. Somehow, I doubt this new cycle will ever be brought to fruition. RXmas was yet another megaflop/now you see it now you don'ter from Ferrara. Too bad. American cinema could use some more of his scuzz, his hyperslick insanity, his quotidian realism. I have this theory that most people who see his movies think he's European (Italian, possibly French). He is, however, one of the great American filmmakers. Hopefully, more of this cycle will be revealed.
RoboCop (1987)
Robocop--Unstoppable, Indomitable, Inimitable--Oh So Lovable
Verhoeven has said that this movie,for him, is about the creation of an American Jesus. Being an American Jesus, therefore, Robocop shoots the bad guys to bring them to salvation. I must say, for years before I listened to Verhoeven's commentary for the film, I never understood this movie in that particular way. My understanding had been much more straightforward: a story about a man brought back from the dead to be used as a crime fighting machine, and, potentially, as a weapon of oppression by the power elites of OCP. That's Directive Four. It's also a horror movie about the forcible intrusion into the body of sharp, mechanical, hard edged things, against one's will. A horror story of a human identity trapped in an ugly mechanical shell. And just why is it that they keep Murphy's face? That always struck me as perverse, more of a designer's fancy than practical. I find the story, for all of its horror and cynical humor, to be uplifting: Murphy finds a way to exist in his new state of being, and regains an essential kind of humanity. He's still bound by his directives (that sinister Directive Four humming ominously away in his consciousness) but it's better than not knowing why he does what he does. Critics have been very unkind to the first sequel, Robocop 2. I find Robocop 2 to be just as brilliant, if not as tight and smooth as Verhoeven's original. Robocop 3 lost the thread for me, though it has one or two moments. Also of interest is Takashi Miike's own remix of Robocop, Full Metal Yakuza.
Izo (2004)
Izo is Miike's ultimate statement on death and rebirth.
As much as it is about politics (anarchy, rebellion, the lies of nationhood and imperialism, etc.), Izo also contains the key to Miike's personal creative philosophy. Consider that Miike is probably one of the most prolific filmmaker's of all time. It has been said by other critics that he is more in love with the process of making movies, than having made movies. Many filmmakers I have worked with seem to prefer having made the movies--having that list of accomplishments to look back on, to show others, to impress people with. I think Miike strives for continual rebirth through his work, much like Izo strives for transformation through the act of nonstop destruction and homicide. Izo's transformation is one from apparent humanity to inhumanity--a fanged, drooling, screaming, red eyed demon. When Izo runs the treadmill of infinity in this film he is struggling to break free of the cycle of death and rebirth that ensnares humanity. Only Miike would boldly portray a man of incredible violence and ruthlessness as having what it takes to burst through all of that to a final confrontation with a powerful being that may be God itself. I prefer to think of Miike this way, a maniac railing against all things--nationhood, conformity, morality, ethics, religious authorities, military authorities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and , in this movie at long last, against God itself. For those of you who have seen this movie, I urge you to compare Izo with Ichi from Ichi the Killer, and Izo's ultimate rebirth with similar imagery from Gozu. I would suggest that the fate of the protagonist of Audition is also a form of rebirth. Izo is a stunning testament to the power of sheer determination, guts, and the willingness to battle all foes, be they God or less, which drives so singular and inspirational an artist as Takashi Miike.
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
One of the Best, Four Stars, A Solid Ten
Very little to say that this movie doesn't say oh so very well. Jack Webb is definitely the Man. Disregard what others say about him being too stiff--how the hell else is someone supposed to get by in this cutthroat business of gangsters and con-men? Webb's stoicism is very much in the tradition of Joe Friday, no doubt about it. But as Pete Kelly, we get to see the tender side that had already been killed off by the daily drudgery of police work in Dragnet. Dig: the sincerity on his face while watching Ella perform. Dig: the do-or-die determination that gets him out of (and into) so many dangerous situations. Webb's performance gives us a hero worth rooting for: sincere, tough, unsentimental, and totally honest: no fakery here, no razzle-dazzle. He just does what he has to do. Enough words. Go see the movie!