dustinkdye Reviews

Bu ken qu Guanyin (2013)

Who can say what is good and what is bad?

[8/10 · 12 July 2021]

I once heard a Chinese fable that went something like this:

A man found a strong horse and brought it home. His neighbors claimed he was so lucky, but the man replied, "Who can say what is good and what is bad?" The next day his son rode the horse and was thrown from it, breaking his leg. His neighbors lamented his bad luck, but the man said, "Who can say what is good and what is bad?" The following day, the army came through town to conscript soldiers, but the son was not taken on account of his broken leg.

That story encapsulates the spirit of the film Avalokitesvara, particularly that of the character Little Lotus (Chun Li). As the outcome of an action can't be known, it is better to act forthrightly on principles and accept the consequences than to give in to baser motivations or impulses. Doing such will lead to infinitely better outcomes than acting without principles. At least, that is what I took away from the film.

As for the quality of the film itself, I found the CGI dubious and the wire-fu sequences confusing. However, this was a character-driven drama rather than an action/adventure, and didn't rely solely on action or special effects. The action was purely in service to the story (they way it should be), so overall, this was an effective film, and will appeal to broader audiences than the Buddhist images or message would suggest.

Prison Circle (2020)

A curious intervention

[8/10 · 28 May 2021]

For Prison Circle, director Kaori Sakagami obtained an unusual level of access to a Japanese prison to document an innovative rehabilitation intervention, known as the TC program. Participants in the TC program take time out each week to meet and talk in a structured setting. Topics included what led them to commit their crimes, their relationships, their victims' perspectives.

We learn the backgrounds of four TC subjects in some detail. Two common themes are mother issues and bullying. While all the offenders had a different mother-son relationship dynamic, all their relationships were maladaptive. I can't determine whether there is a causal relationship between dysfunctional mother-son relationships and crime, but it would seem such relationships don't produce well-adjusted men. Bullying is endemic in Japan, so it is not surprising the offenders were both bullied and bullies. As bullying is endemic, it must have been functional in Japan's not-too-distant past, when cooperation in an agrarian society was a matter of life and death, and one person doing their own thing could sabotage an entire village, but in today's modern economy, it is clearly pathological.

I had a couple questions watching the documentary. 1) How did the TC staff know their intervention would work? Was there research supporting the specific types of workshops they conducted? Or was the simple act of talking in a structured setting what worked, rather than the specific content of the conversations? Has there been a long-term program evaluation? It's stated the recidivism rate of the TC participants was half that of general prison population, but can that be attributed to the program itself? Or were the program's administrators cream skimming? Or was there a self-selection bias in the participants? Does this conclusion suggest the program can/should be scaled up? 2) How trustworthy are the subject themselves? Knowing the prison population has a disproportionate number of psychopaths, who are often adept liars, should we take their words at face-value? How do we know the director and ourselves aren't being had, a la Truman Capote in In Cold Blood?

Prison Circle is a unique look at uniquely Japanese prisons.

The Chicken (2020)

I feel like Chicken tonight

[7/10 · 9 February 2021]

The Chicken is a well-made short that is a bit of an unsolved mystery as you have to keep working after it's over to make sense of what you just saw. I felt it ended just as I was being drawn in.

The story revolves around two Japanese men in New York City--Hiro and his cousin/house guest, Kei. Hiro is a scrawny, low-maintenance fellow who has a delusion he and his family will one day survive as subsistence farmers in Siberia. He brings home a live chicken one night for dinner so he can practice the survival skills he plans to pass on to his unborn child. After seeing a man apparently die in the street earlier that day, Hiro loses his resolve and can't bring himself to slaughter the chicken. He relies on his pregnant wife, Anna, to do this dirty work for him. During dinner, which Hiro doesn't eat, Anna's water breaks and they hurry to the hospital, leaving Kei to clean up the mess... Then it ends.

In a short film, nothing is superfluous, so one has to tease the meaning out of these events. Water and blood seem to be thematic elements. As Hiro and Kei wait for the ambulance to come for the sick man, they try to give him water, but the water just spews out of his mouth, as if the man's life is flowing out of him. This seems to disturb Hiro, implying this soft man had never needed to contemplate the harshness of life and death. That night, when Anna has to slaughter the chicken for him, we see her holding it between her legs as it bleeds out, giving the appearance blood is spouting out of her vagina. Shortly after, her water breaks, and as Kei is cleaning it off the floor, he notices blood mixed in. It is unclear whether this is the chicken's blood that had inadvertently been missed, or if it came from Anna. I took this to mean they lost their child.

Of course with any film that is intentionally ambiguous, more meaning can be wrung out of it.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

What did Kubrick want us to open our eyes to?

[10/10 · 19 August 2020]

Eyes Wide Shut is a movie like Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz (which is subtly referenced in the film) in that the more times you view it, the more you get out of it. (I imagine at some point you would wring out all the meaning, but that would take scores of viewings.) One infamous scene is so over-the-top it is easy to miss all the subtle references in the film, which necessitates multiple viewings. Fair warning--the more times you watch it, the more you go down the rabbit hole Kubrick digs (a reference to Alice in Wonderland, also evoked in Eyes Wide Shut).

Eyes Wide Shut was inspired by an Austrian novella called "Traumnovelle." The film is indeed dreamlike. Kubrick recreated Greenwich Village on a sound stage in London, which, like a dream, is slightly off from the real thing and contains no superfluous elements. This evokes the perfect atmosphere for the movie as we accompany Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) on his all-night, humiliating, surreal odyssey.

To me, the title of the movie, Eyes Wide Shut, implies willful naivete, particularly Dr. Bill's, and by extension the viewers', which seems to be (one of) the theme(s) Kubrick intends to highlight. Even the movie's poster seems to imply this: a mirror image of Nicole Kidman's character (Alice, as in Through the Looking Glass), looking right through the mirror in what appears to be an Illuminati image, while Dr. Bill has his eyes closed. In fact, all the shots of Alice looking in the mirror started to creep me out on subsequent viewings.

The movie then indulges in conspiracy-theory dog whistles to anyone whose eyes aren't wide shut. The Harfords are a WASPy family living in a luxurious apartment in Central Part West, which may be out of reach for a doctor (basically, a highly paid member of the working class) whose wife doesn't work. Furthermore, Dr. Bill Harford (whose name sounds like "Dollar Bill Harrison Ford") throws around money like it's no object. Which raises the question of how he really makes his money--apparently by making house calls to the ridiculously wealthy who can afford to avoid hospital waiting rooms. Dr. Bill seems to aspire to rub shoulders with these people, but he is spectacularly naive to the realities of the world he is tangentially involved in and his actual role in it. It seems to me the reason he was invited to the Victor's (as in an economic "victor's") luxurious party at the beginning is because it is a house-call in disguise in case of something like the OD that indeed occurs at one point. I determined this by reading between the lines when the two models hit on him, and he seems oblivious to their allusions of taking him "to where the rainbow ends" (more on that below) and when he is taken away at Victor's call, they exchange looks that seem to say they had mistaken him for one of the elites, not a working-class schlub.

FULL-ON CONSPIRACY THEORIES BELOW.

If Dr. Bill's eyes are wide shut, then Alice's are partly open. This is implied in the very first dialogue exchange in the movie, when Alice knows exactly where Dr. Bill had left his wallet, while he had forgotten, and he doesn't remember the name of the babysitter, which was mentioned like 30 seconds earlier. This comes to the fore when he simply can't imagine Alice being unfaithful to him because women don't think like men, and she falls to the floor laughing and divulges a depressing sexual fantasy. Alice looks in the mirror a lot, most memorably when she stares in the mirror as Dr. Bill begins kissing her. Is Kubrick implying Alice is a former sex slave who is going "through the looking glass"--the mental space sex slaves go to mentally block their abuse? Is that why Alice is constantly grooming their daughter, Helena? Is she subconsciously grooming her daughter for a similar fate? Is that why in the final scene, when Alice and Dr. Bill are wrapped up in their conversation at the toy store, Helena can be seen running away in the direction of two men in the background, who had also been in the background at Victor's party? Among the strange toys at said toy store are stuffed tigers and a game called "Magic Circle"--resembling the imagery at the secret society's ritual/party Dr. Bill crashed and apparently a prop created for the movie. The stuffed tigers are identical to one on Domino's bed, a streetwalker Dr. Bill meets in Greenwich Village. Is Kubrick implying Domino is a sex slave, having undergone "Beta Kitten" programming, and the juxtaposition of the same toy with Helena in a toy store implying the girl's fate as well as the creepy conditioning the elites are subjecting the masses to?

Then there are the references to "rainbows," as in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," another reference to sex slave conditioning, similar to "through the looking glass." The two models at Victor's party offer to take Dr. Bill "to where the rainbow ends"--where they go mentally when they're having sex. Then there is the costume shop "Rainbow" where Dr. Bill obtains the cloak for the secret society's party and where the proprietor's daughter prostitutes herself. The girl runs from her enraged father, gets behind Dr. Bill for protection, then whispers something inaudible into his ear. The version of the movie I own has Japanese subtitles that translate what she said: She tells him which cloak to choose. Does she infer where he is going with that cloak and does she have knowledge of what goes on there? That would seem to connect her with the rainbow image in the store's name.

Finally, I question how accurate Kubrick's depiction of the elite's secret society is. It seems to be a hodgepodge of hellfire club, Bohemian Grove, Illuminati/Freemason, O.T.O. imagery. Are there elite cadres involved in these types of ritual debauchery? I'd guess Kubrick was close enough to these people he probably saw a lot and knew enough to guess at the rest (such as the sort of parties the Rothschilds threw--the exterior of the house of the party was one of the Rothschilds' residences). There are disturbing parallels with Eyes Wide Shut in the Jeffrey Epstein case and his "suicide." I'm guessing it is true in broad strokes. I think Kubrick was telling us society's elites engage in depravities that would frighten and disgust the masses if we knew about them, and therefore we shouldn't be so naive to grant the economic victors any moral authority.

Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980 TV Movie)

An impressive character study of mass murderer Jim Jones

[9/10 · 10 August 2020]

Every time I see a TV movie or miniseries from the late '70s to early '90s, I am always impressed with the sheer production value and ambition of TV movies from that era. Beginning roughly with 1975's Kansas City Massacre and ending around 1988 with The Bourne Identity, and including such titles as Shogun (1980), The Day After (1983) and Noble House (1988), this era was a golden age of TV movies/miniseries.

The Guyana Tragedy was shown over two nights in 1980 on CBS. This was an effective format to tell a nonlinear story beginning right before the mass suicide/massacre in Jonestown, Guyana, with flashbacks covering Jim Jones's life, beside a concurrent storyline about a congressman traveling to Jonestown to investigate the situation for himself.

The movie depicts Jones's upbringing by an abusive Klansman father, the sort of thing that can literally warp one's amygdala, which regulates one's fight-or-flight response and diminishes one's ability to weigh risk vs. reward, which explains how Jones ultimately behaved when his social experiment came crashing down around him in his failed utopia in Guyana. We see how Jones started out with good intentions, and we even root for him for awhile as he stands up to institutional racism. We see him gradually become corrupted, as he engages in ethically questionable practices for the good of his community, then later for his own benefit, how once a line had been crossed, he was able to rationalize going further. He worked hard for the good of his flock, and he had to keep pushing himself to do more, which drove him to amphetamines. We understand how he did the wrong thing for the right reasons before doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons. Once he began using hard drugs, his underlying mental disorders came to the surface, and he began down a self-destructive path that unfortunately took nearly a thousand people down with him.

Guyana Tragedy is a well-made and truly disturbing film. It might also be the only movie about Jim Jones that actually features an actor named Jim Jones (James Earl Jones). I highly recommend tracking down a copy of this film.

Robin Hood (1973)

Disney's charming take on the legend is an overlooked treasure

[6/10 · 29 July 2013]

For most kids these days, their introduction to Robin Hood is through this Disney animated classic. All subsequent Robin Hood movies are measured against this one, and no number of misguided revisions of the legend can diminish the charm of this cartoon.

"Robin Hood" was released in an overlooked period of Disney animation, long after "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Dumbo," and long before "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King." "Robin Hood" doesn't really live up to the earlier classics, nor is it as good as the more recent films. But as a minor Disney classic, it is still a charming movie.

Allan-a-Dale, a lute-strumming rooster, informs us that this is the legend as it is told in the Animal Kingdom, which is basically the same as the Human Kingdom's version, except with animals. It contains familiar Robin Hood legends, such as the archery tournament, although sometimes with a twist. For example, Robin Hood must rescue Friar Tuck from hanging rather than Will Stutely.

True to other Disney cartoons, the songs and animation are cute. You will have a hard time resisting the urge to smile hearing the opening song. Oscar winner Peter Ustinov (Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus") is especially good as the voice of Prince John.

However, while the film is relatively short (83 minutes), the story seems to drag after the one-hour mark because the movie doesn't follow the typical rhythm that has been culturally ingrained in our minds. After the archery tournament and ensuring madcap action sequence one hour into the movie, most of the conflicts up to that point have been resolved. The film comes up with a second conflict for the last 20-some minutes. The short movie had a hard time retaining my attention during the final act.

The movie also had some historical inaccuracies that were laughable for anyone familiar with medieval English history. In one song bashing Prince John, they said that he will not be remembered for the laws he passed, but rather for being the phony king of England. John is remembered today for passing (under duress) the Magna Carta, an early forerunner to the Constitution. Prince John is cursed throughout the film for imposing crushing taxes, considered by all to be unjust since only the true king, Richard the Lionheart (literally a lion in the cartoon), has the right to tax the people. The film conveniently fails to mention that Prince John had to raise taxes to pay for King Richard's crusade. King Richard eventually returns and arrests Prince John, so he can never harm the English people again. An epilogue pointing out that John would reign as the king of England for 17 years after Richard would have been warranted.

But expecting historical accuracy from a Disney film is like expecting gourmet food from McDonald's, so that isn't a major criticism. (One joke I heard around the time James Cameron's "Titanic" was released was that if Disney had made "Titanic," not only would Leonardo DiCaprio have lived, but he would have prevented the ship from sinking.)

"Robin Hood" is nevertheless a satisfying introduction to the culturally significant legend that will appeal to Disney's intended audience.

Robin and Marian (1976)

A refreshing take on the Robin Hood legend

[6/10 · 29 July 2013]

If Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn had a child together, he or she would probably be the best-looking kid ever. I assume that is what was going through the casting director's head when she approached this film.

"Robin and Marian" shows us a Robin Hood story we haven't seen before. Rather than an origin story, we get an outcome story. This is a welcome approach to a tale that has been told so many times that it could easily become dull.

In other Robin Hood films, such as the 1922 silent film staring Douglas Fairbanks, 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" starring Kevin Costner, and 2010's "Robin Hood" staring Russell Crowe, Robin's adventures begin after he returns from the Third Crusade. We're asked to believe that a crusader who had fought alongside the king in the Holy Land would settle down in Sherwood Forest to frolic with Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and the Merry Men.

In "Robin and Marian," we learn that Robin's best-known adventures passed 20 years before the events in the film--before Robin joined the crusade. Robin (Connery) has become disillusioned with the crusade after King Richard the Lionheart (Richard Harris, Dumbledore from the first two Harry Potter films) orders his men to attack a crummy, undefended castle for a treasure that doesn't exist. After Richard dies, Robin returns to Nottinghamshire and resumes his relationship with Maid Marian (Hepburn), who has since become a nun, and his rivalry with the Sheriff, all of whom are older and wiser. Robin's old gang comes back to him, and they dream of rising up against the notorious King John (Ian Holm, Bilbo Baggins from "The Lord of the Rings").

The youthful innocence of Robin's adventures in Sherwood and his love with Marian is long gone. We learn that Marian attempted suicide after Robin left her. Robin's experience in the crusade has also caused him to mature. Even though Connery is 45 in this movie, he doesn't look a day over 63. Their love now has the maturity of an old couple, and there is no denying there is real chemistry between Connery and Hepburn, which allows the characters to rise above the material.

The Sheriff is played by Robert Shaw, resuming his adversarial role against Connery that commenced in the 1963 Bond film "From Russia with Love." Shaw is grim, but sympathetic, as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and is the best Sheriff of any Robin Hood film.

"Robin and Marian" is a fun film. With the exception of some heavy- handed dialog early on in which the characters talk about historical events that would have been well-known in their day in order to educate the audience, the movie is both playful and touching. The film has effective situational humor throughout, using both slapstick and irony.

The scenes between Connery and Hepburn all find the right tone, and the film has a somewhat faded look that helps create a nostalgic atmosphere. However, the fights look clumsy. Director Richard Lester could have taken tips on staging fights from Connery's earlier Bond films. Another technique Lester often employs is to show someone shooting an arrow, cut away, then have the victim with an arrow through his head fall into the frame. This is about as gruesome as the filmmakers could get considering the PG rating (this was before PG-13 was created).

Unlike the most recent Hollywood Robin Hood film, this one doesn't pretend so much to be historically accurate, so I won't complain about historical inaccuracies such as Kings Richard and John speaking English, rather than French, or Robin Hood speaking in a thick Scottish accent.

Movie connections: Sean Connery would go on to play King Richard in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," as well as appear with Ian Holm in "Time Bandits"--another film with the Robin Hood character. His son, Jason Connery, played Robert of Huntingdon in the British TV series, "Robin of Sherwood."

Aliens (1986)

This sci-fi/action classic is enjoyable on multiple levels

[8/10 · 28 July 2013]

Ridley Scott's "Alien" was a classic sci-fi horror film. He used claustrophobic sets and atmosphere to create a creepy, modern monster film. James Cameron's "Aliens," however, is a great sci-fi action film.

Both films benefit from having competent directors at the helm. Both directors take a different approach to the material, which lends each film a unique feel. We never feel like we just watched the same movie twice, nor that we saw an inferior spin-off of the first--common complaints about sequels.

"Aliens" is a self-contained story. (I actually saw "Aliens" before I saw "Alien"... back in the third grade. My parents were cool like that.) The action picks up 57 years after the events in the first film. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been in hibernation since her first ordeal with the alien. Her story of the alien is met with derision, and her bosses demote her for blowing up her ship, the Nostromo. Ripley is horrified to learn colonists have been living on the planet where her crew encountered the alien for 20 years. However, when contact breaks off with the colonists, Ripley is sent in with the Marines as a consultant to confront the aliens. The Marines find the colony devoid of life, except for one little girl, Newt, who has managed to survive by hiding in the vents.

Lesser films use children as a cheap device to force the audience to care about the outcome of the story. Here, the relationship between Ripley and Newt is pivotal to showing Ripley's maternal side, which is essential to the development of the character.

Cameron takes his time setting up the story and building suspense. Almost an hour passes before the first encounter with the aliens. The set-up can be perfunctory at times, with dialogue between the Marines seemingly copy-and-pasted from "Full Metal Jacket." From the midway point, however, the action doesn't let up. We sat through the slow ride to the top of the roller coaster, and it is all thrills until the end.

This film is now 27 years old and was so popular that if you're reading this, you probably have already seen it. I will instead write about one of the themes of the Alien franchise that I find interesting in understanding the films. Much has been written about how the franchise is actually about rape. However, I will write about the series's feminist undertones.

My Western Civ teacher at the University of Kansas, John Younger, lectured about how the feminist movement can be traced through the series.

"Alien" was released in '70s, a time when the feminist movement was in its most militant phase. Ripley, a butch female, single-handedly destroys the alien (which has a penis-shaped head and penis-like extremities protruding from its body). This was after it had already killed all her male companions, proving that "women need men the way fish need bicycles."

"Aliens" came out in '80s, when feminists began to embrace their femininity. We see this in the motherly role Ripley adopts toward Newt. Ripley goes alone with a pulse rifle taped to a grenade launcher to rescue Newt from the alien queen.

"Alien 3" came out in '90s, when the feminist movement became more inclusive, and progressive men could actually be considered feminists. In the third installment, the men of the penal colony work together with Ripley to destroy the alien.

As for the subsequent movies, it's better to just mentally erase them.

The films also celebrate Native American art. Alien creator H.R. Giger was a great admirer of pre-Columbian art, and based the alien design partly on the stone reliefs of the Chavín culture, a pre-Inca Andean society. One creature in Chavín art is notably depicted with a mouth within its mouth.

Considering these things adds layers of appreciation for the viewers.

Ultimately, "Aliens" works because the filmmakers set out to make a good movie, rather than crank out a sequel simply to cash in on the success of its predecessor.

Ali G Indahouse (2002)

Ali G suffers by having a script

[4/10 · 28 July 2013]

Before there was Borat, there was Ali G.

Released in 2002, "Ali G Indahouse" was the first of three films featuring the three characters from Sacha Baron Cohen's TV series, "Da Ali G Show"--the other two films being 2006's "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and 2009's "Brüno." Unlike the latter two films, which used the unscripted man-on- the-street format of the TV show, "Ali G Indahouse" suffers from using a script.

The story is mostly contrived. Alistair Leslie Graham, who goes by his wannabe name, Ali G, is a white kid from the London suburb of Staines who wants desperately to be black. He lives with his grandma and has a girlfriend he calls Me Julie. When the government threatens to close down the center where he teaches a group of boy scouts how to be gangstas (scenes of wasted comedic potential), Ali G goes on a hunger strike outside Parliament to protest. The hunger strike quickly ends when the reporters covering the event tempt him with some KFC. Ali G is then recruited by a conniving Member of Parliament, David Carlton, to run for the representative from Staines. Carlton's plan is for Ali G to fail miserably, embarrassing the Prime Minister (Michael Gambon, Dumbledore from all but the first two Harry Potter films), causing the PM to be ousted in a no-confidence vote, clearing the way for Carlton to become PM. Contrary to Carlton's plans, however, Ali G proves to be wildly popular by "keeping it real." The PM's approval rating soars, and Ali G becomes the PM's adviser. Of course Carlton isn't going to sit by idly while this happens.

The movie falls back on lazy, juvenile humor. Most of the jokes are stillborn and fall flat. What made the TV show so wildly funny--playing off the character with interview subjects who weren't in on the joke--is completely absent from the movie. The movie does have some good moments, such as when Ali and the gang break into the PM's residence and have to break dance through an "Entrapment"-inspired security system criss- crossed with laser beams. And there is some funny commentary on modern society, such as when Ali has to clarify over the phone an indecipherable message he texted in shorthand.

But without an unwitting victim, Ali G just isn't very funny. Luckily Cohen learned his lesson from this film, and stuck to the format that made his show so funny in the inspired comedy "Borat."

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Kubrick's overlooked classic

[8/10 · 28 July 2013]

"Barry Lyndon" is a work of art. Meaning it is like a painting put onto film. It is as if director Stanley Kubrick transported us into the world of the paintings on the walls of a fine art gallery. Released in 1975, between "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) and "The Shining" (1980), "Barry Lyndon" is perhaps the most overlooked of Kubrick's later films.

Like Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Full Metal Jacket," "Barry Lyndon" is a disjointed story. Michael Hordern's narration, while sometimes stating the obvious, holds the movie together and eases the transition between sequences. The movie is split into two parts, which can quickly be summed up as Barry's rise in the first half and fall in the second.

The first half is Redmond Barry's rags-to-riches story. Barry is a sympathetic character. He is young and naive. He is in love with his cousin, but too shy to touch her. He is simultaneously awkward and stubborn as he picks a fight with his cousin's suitor, and later duels him. After the duel, Barry has to leave home, and he gets robbed at gun point on his way to town. He eventually joins the army, but later deserts, only to be conscripted into another army. He falls in with a wealthy gentleman, and begins his ascent into the life of an aristocrat.

The second half documents Barry's fall. He marries the beautiful and (more importantly) wealthy Lady Honoria Lyndon, and changes his name to Barry Lyndon. In his quest for acceptance among the aristocracy he squanders his wife's wealth and step-son's inheritance, alienating his family. As Barry cheats on his beautiful and generous wife, the character we sympathized with in the first half gradually forces us to view him with cold detachment, which is what I think Kubrick was expecting the audience to do through the cinematography he used.

One camera technique Kubrick employs throughout is to center close-up on a character, and then zoom out, letting our eyes take in the full setting. The characters may take the beautiful scenery for granted, but Kubrick makes sure the audience doesn't. While this worked in some scenes, I thought it was overused, and created a barrier between the audience and the characters at times. The characters are like the bloodless portraits adorning an art gallery.

The duels and battle scenes, however, find the perfect tone. The long takes, rare in today's films, lend a gritty reality to the violence on the screen. A filmmaker today might show these scenes in a series of shaky takes lasting less than two seconds, alternating between quick- fire close-ups, attempting to get our blood flowing through fast-paced editing.

"Barry Lyndon" may be a bit too slow-paced for the MTV2 generation, but it is a pleasure for anyone who appreciates artistic film-making. Let anyone who thinks Kubrick's films are tedious gorge themselves on "Transformers," while more discerning cinephiles can now enjoy "Barry Lyndon" on Blu-ray.

Dersu Uzala (1975)

A sweet oddball in Kurosawa's catalog

[10/10 · 28 July 2013]

Akira Kurosawa's "Dersu Uzala," winner of the 1975 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is as heartwarming as a cartoon from Disney's golden era, but only the title character can understand the talking trees and animals.

Filmed in Russian in the Soviet Union, "Dersu Uzala" has the distinction of being the only film Kurosawa made outside Japan. Released in 1975, it was made at a time when the Japanese film industry was beginning to discover that children's movies were cheaper and easier to produce, thanks to the low-cost of animation and a less discerning audience ensuring a reasonable return on the studios' investment. The studios, concerned only with profit and not the artistic merit of films, could no longer justify the bloated costs of Kurosawa's epics. This signaled the beginning of the end for the Tokyo film industry, which once rivaled Hollywood and Paris in terms of innovation and quality, and eventually changed the Japanese aesthetic to kawaii (cutesy). Kurosawa would later depend upon foreign patrons to finance his films, such as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg. And in the case of "Dersu Uzala," the Soviet Union.

The film is based on the 1923 travelogue, "Dersu the Trapper" by V.K. Arseniev, which explains why it doesn't follow a conventional story line. The story is basically broken into three parts. The first part is an account of Arseniev's exploration of the Ussuri basin in the Russian Far East. He and his men encounter a Nanai trapper named Dersu Uzala, and commission him to be their guide. At first Dersu is like a magical woodland spirit. Speaking awkward Russian, his world-view is considered quaint to the Soviets, but engenders him with a brand of common sense he needs to survive in the wilderness. Dersu saves Arseniev's life several times.

The second part of the story picks up a few years later when Arseniev is making another survey of the Ussuri basin. He runs into Dersu again by chance, and again hires him to be his guide. Dersu is growing older now, and is becoming too senile to survive on his own in the wilderness. Here he relies on Arseniev to save him. Where Dersu came off as the stereotypical "noble savage" in the first part, he now seems more fallible and human.

The third and final part is a fish-out-of-water story, as Dersu, believing the wilderness has grown hostile to him, moves to the city to live with Arseniev's family.

While something of an oddball in Kurosawa's catalog, the film still has the director's distinctive style. Kurosawa uses his characteristic long takes, in which he leaves the camera stationary and allows the acting to dictate where the viewers' eyes should look.

"Dersu Uzala" is not just beautiful for its cinematography, but also for its touching human relationships. Arseniev and Dersu come from two different worlds, and they will never be able to fully understand each other. However, they find friendship in each other despite their differences.

Unfortunately the U.S.S.R. allowed 20 minutes to be cut out of this 141- minute epic for the Italian release without consulting Kurosawa, which turned off the director from ever making a film outside Japan again.

While certainly not Kurosawa's best film, this sweet, but unusual tale is worthy of the director's better-known classics.

American Pie (1999)

'American Pie' set the bar for teen sex comedies

[6/10 · 28 July 2013]

"So high school boys everywhere only think about sex, huh?" my Japanese wife turned to me and said about 20 minutes into "American Pie." She looked at me expectantly, as if she wanted to hear me say I was somehow different, above such base pursuits. I could tell she was mildly disappointed when I replied, "Yeah, pretty much." Eighteen-year-old boys' raging hormones is a truly universal theme.

There have been four American Pie films to date, not counting the straight-to-video releases. The film notably struck a chord with teens when it was released in 1999. I remember sitting in art class and overhearing a popular and attractive senior girl condescending to an awkward and geeky freshman boy, "You haven't seen 'American Pie'? The great American sex comedy?" I still cringe when I remember that.

If you haven't seen it, it is basically about four senior boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school. They shrewdly determine prom is their last chance to get laid, and devote all their energy to getting a woman in bed at the after-prom party, to be held at the lake house of the cocky lacrosse player, Steve Stifler. The boys, particularly Jim, have a series of embarrassing mishaps along the way, one famously involving a warm apple pie.

"American Pie" set a new bar for teen comedies. Every teen comedy since has tried, and failed, to top the scene where Stifler unwittingly drinks a beer with a load of semen in it.

Though "American Pie" is famous for its numerous gross-outs, the movie is good, and not just gross, because we come to identify with the characters, and the humor rises naturally from the situations. The scene where Stifler slips laxatives into Finch's mochaccino, causing him to make a desperate dash for the nearest toilet, is funny not because fart sounds are humorous, but because the film already established Finch's aversion for public restrooms.

The Stifler character was especially believable. When Heather (Mena Suvari) asks out Oz (Chris Klein) in front of the lacrosse team, Stifler proceeds to make lewd gestures. Heather misinterprets this as Stifler making fun of her, when Stifler was really just trying to embarrass Oz. When I first saw the film at the age of 16, I thought, That's pretty much how high school boys act.

The acting is serviceable. Eugene Levy, who plays Jim's dad, and Seann William Scott, who plays Stifler, are totally convincing in their roles. (Toward the end of the film, watch Stifler in the background check his beer before he takes a sip.) Others, however, give flat performances, especially in dramatic scenes. However, since these scenes take back seat to the comedy, and few of the jokes fall flat from the acting, the mediocre performances don't hurt the overall effectiveness of the film.

Another criticism I have of the film is one that pretty much applies to all Hollywood films, and that is that the kids are too rich. You can usually tell who the poor kid is in a Hollywood movie because he's the one who's not driving a late-model car. His family will still live in a two-storey house. Every student in "American Pie" (except for Oz, the only one shown to have a job), lives like the richest kid at my high school.

Overall, "American Pie" is an enjoyable comedy that will continue to be the standard against which all teen comedies will be judged. I recommend the unrated version. While scenes in most unrated or extended editions were cut from the theatrical releases for good reasons (i.e., they were tedious), the theatrical version of "American Pie" was really a sanitized version of the better, unrated version.

The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)

Nagakawa vividly brings a Japanese legend to life

[6/10 · 15 July 2013]

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, NECESSARY AS THE STORY WOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN FAMILIAR TO Japanese AUDIENCES AT THE TIME

The Japanese have some of the world's most inventive and exotic ghost stories. Without a shared cultural basis for these stories, they appear especially disquieting to Western audiences. This largely adds to the appeal of "The Ghost of Yotsuya."

"The Ghost of Yotsuya" is based on a popular Japanese folk tale, with a basis on an actual murder. The folk tale has been the subject of numerous woodblock prints and ukiyo-e paintings, and was most famously adapted in the kabuki play by Tsuruya Nanboku IV.

The story would have been well-known to Japanese audiences at the time. Knowing the story in advance, the audience would have been watching for subtle twists in the plot and mentally comparing it to other stagings.

In a nutshell, the story is about Iemon, a ronin samurai whose wife, Oiwa, is weak and ailing after giving birth to their child. Iemon falls in love with the granddaughter of his wealthy neighbor. The neighbor gives Iemon some medicine that will purportedly heal his wife, but instead leaves her disfigured and eventually kills her. Iemon also kills Oiwa's sympathetic masseur, Kohei, who is a possible witness. He then nails their bodies to opposite sides of a shutter and throws their bodies in a lake.

Iemon proceeds to marry his neighbor's granddaughter, but his guilty conscience haunts him. At their wedding, he sees Oiwa and decapitates her. But after inspecting her body, he discovers to his horror that he has killed his bride. He then confronts his new grandfather-in-law, but finds Kohei instead. He then decapitates his in-law, thinking he's Kohei. Iemon goes on a killing spree as he sees Oiwa's disfigured face on everybody.

Iemon can't escape Oiwa's vengeance, and retreats to life as a hermit on Mt. Hebiyama (Snake Mountain). Even here he is not safe. When he goes fishing, he pulls out the shutter with the two bodies nailed to it. In the iconic finale, the ropes and vines around Iemon turn into snakes (symbolizing the world of death and revenge), and Oiwa's face confronts him on a lantern. Iemon's brother-in-law finally avenges Oiwa and Kohei at the end.

It is a moralistic story. In a culture where women had virtually no legal repercussions against abusive husbands, "The Ghost of Yotsuya" warns about the supernatural consequences for cruelty against women.

This 1959 film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa is considered the definitive screen adaptation of the story. "The Ghost of Yotsuya" is more or less faithful to the legend, although the filmmakers have added some flares of their own. There are minor changes to names and details. Iemon and Oiwa's relationship is also given a bloody back-story, and it takes almost an hour for the movie to get to the heart of the legend. Nakagawa uses vivid colors reminiscent of a woodblock print, which effectively lend a distinct look to the film.

I had a few problems with this film. One was the acting. Japanese acting, even today, tends to be very affected. The style was developed for the kabuki theater, and looks unnatural on screen. I realize this is a cultural difference. It looks like horrible overacting to an American viewer, but if the Japanese think it's good, then it's good. The execution of the story also left something to be desired. Nakagawa seemed to rely more on shocking, gory imagery rather than create a sufficiently creepy atmosphere necessary for a ghost story.

"The Ghost of Yotsuya" should please die-hard fans of Japanese horror films, and could be seen as a forerunner to "Ringu" (remade in the U.S. as "The Ring") and "Ju-on" (remade as "The Grudge"), both of which take cues from the legend of Oiwa.

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Back when Adam Sandler was funny...

[6/10 · 15 July 2013]

If you only see one Adam Sandler movie in your life, it should be "Happy Gilmore." This is the quintessential Adam Sandler movie, the one he has been trying to recreate ever since.

Unlike some of the so-called "smart comedies" of the past few years, "Happy Gilmore," doesn't pretend to be anything it's not--namely a low- brow comedy. The movie's admittedly banal set-up is simply a platform for the comedy.

Happy Gilmore is pretty much the same character Sandler played in Billy Madison: a lovable everyman. Despite his mother walking out on the family after getting fed up with his father's obsession with hockey, and his father dying after getting hit with a puck at a hockey game (all this is in the first couple minutes of the film, so there are no spoilers here), Happy doesn't give up his dream of being a professional hockey player. Happy has an incredibly powerful shot, but he can't skate. After failing another tryout for a pro hockey team, he decides to make some quick cash hustling a golf driving range until next year's tryouts. When his grandmother is in danger of losing her house due to back-taxes, Happy decides to join the golf tour to get the money to save her house. With the help of a retired pro (Carl Weathers, Apollo Creed from "Rocky"), he quickly becomes the star of the tour, threatening the determined pro, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald, playing the cartoonish villain he plays in every low-brow comedy).

Adam Sandler would probably be the first to admit that this is not a great movie. But it is still funny and succeeds in every area it was meant to. Happy's outbursts are often hilarious, especially when he ends up in a fist-fight with Bob Barker. Ben Stiller provides some good laughs as a heinous nursing home attendant, and I especially enjoyed Richard Kiel (Jaws from the James Bond movies) as Happy's former-boss- turned-biggest-fan.

Recently coming off "Saturday Night Live" and releasing his classic comedy album "What the Hell Happened to Me?" only days earlier, "Happy Gilmore" is Adam Sandler at his comedic height, which he himself has yet to top.

Climax!: Casino Royale (1954) Season 1, Episode 3

Before there was Sean Connery...

[6/10 · 21 May 2013]

"The name's Bond. Jimmy Bond."

Or so this American James Bond might as well say in 007's screen debut.

Before Sean Connery played Bond in 1962's big-screen "Dr. No," Barry Nelson (Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining") played the secret agent in this 1954 CBS small-screen live adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.

Jimmy Bond is an American CIA (Combined Intelligence Agency) officer. He is tasked with cleaning out communist agent Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre, "Casablanca") in a game of baccarat. Le Chiffre has been living like a high-roller on party funds, and if he can't recover the funds quickly, he's likely to be executed by his own party. He plans to stake everything on one card game at Casino Royale in France. Bond's mission is to make sure Le Chiffre is ruined. Bond is helped by British secret agent Clarence Leiter (perhaps a cousin of Felix Leiter) and sexy French double agent Valerie Mathis (Vesper Lynd and René Mathis from Fleming's novel rolled into one character).

This early Bond film is markedly different from the later MGM series, and criticisms of it arise mainly from comparisons with the wildly popular franchise. To many, Sean Connery was the only Bond, and later actors were only replacements. Nelson still doesn't benefit by coming before Connery. Since "Casino Royale" was made for American TV as a part of the CBS series Climax!, the producers seemed to think they needed to make the hero American. Nelson plays Bond like a hard-boiled private eye. He talks with a stiff upper lip and drinks water instead of vodka martinis shaken-not-stirred. Peter Lorre, however, is spot-on as the villain. Even though he is a small man, he radiates an erratic intensity that makes him menacing.

Since this version of "Casino Royale" was made for live TV, there are also mistakes as a result of not having multiple takes to get it right. There are long pauses in telephone conversations, Lorre is inaudible at times, and in one shot, he clearly didn't know the camera was still on him.

This film probably won't be interesting to a general audience today, but it is a must-see for Bond fanatics.

Big (1988)

'Big' is a magical movie experience

[8/10 · 20 May 2013]

The only thing you need to do to succeed as an adult is act more like a kid.

Or so the makers of "Big" would have you believe. In real life, there's a good reason we don't go around playing with toys and dropping water balloons on people. But that doesn't really matter. "Big" is still an enjoyable, indeed magical, movie experience.

"Big" is about a 13-year-old boy, Josh, who still plays with toys, is not mature enough for girls to take him seriously, and not even tall enough to get on a carnival ride. He comes across a mysterious Zoltar machine and wishes to be big. The next day he wakes up to find himself in Tom Hanks's 30-year-old body. Josh makes the best of the situation by pretending to be kidnapped and then joining adult society.

The only complaint I have about this film is the level of willful suspension of disbelief the audience is expected to suspend. I will buy that a Zoltar machine will grant a kid's wish to become an adult overnight. But when the 13-year-old adult goes to apply for a job, he only has to fill out a one-page application, using a made-up social security number, has no resume, no references, and is hired after stumbling through a 30-second interview. Then, after a couple chance encounters with the company's owner, he is promoted to vice-president. The kid accomplishes more in a week thanks to his adult body than I have my whole life. Maybe it was just easier to get a job in the '80s.

On top of that, Josh dates one of his coworkers and manages to get to second base (on camera, probably to home plate off camera). He will be the only boy in the seventh grade who won't be lying when he says he's gone all the way. Eventually Josh learns that being an adult isn't all fun and games, and yearns to be a kid again.

The movie is better if you don't think too hard. It's still a fun movie, and a minor classic in its own way. Tom Hanks is great in his role. He never seems to forget that he is a kid, and all his mannerisms have the nuances of a young boy. The scene where Josh plays a giant keyboard with his boss is one of those iconic moments in cinema that will stick with you your whole life.

"Big" works as a fantasy. It has the charm of an old Frank Capra film. As long as you go with the flow and don't question the movie's logic, you will find it thoroughly enjoyable.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)

A new holiday classic.

[6/10 · 19 May 2013]

Holiday films are much like Christmas sweaters and holiday albums by has-been recording artists sold next to the cash register at the Hallmark store: best avoided. I made an exception for "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas."

The newest film in the series picks up several years since the boys escaped from Guantanamo Bay. Harold (John Cho) is all grown up as a big- shot Wall Street trader with a fellow Korean-American as his loyal assistant (Bobby Lee, reviving his bit part from the first Harold and Kumar film). He's finally married to Maria Perez, and they live in a beautiful suburban home. Kumar, however, is still the immature boy he has always been. The epiphany he had at the climax of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" has worn off, and we learn he has failed med school. Or rather, he failed a drug test. The two haven't seen each other in two years, and have replaced each other with newer, lamer friends.

The story starts with Kumar (Kal Penn, Assistant Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement) finding a mysterious package addressed to Harold on his doorstep. He drops it off at Harold's house. The estranged friends open the package and find a gigantic joint inside. Kumar naturally lights it up and accidentally sets the Christmas tree on fire. This is a problem, you see, because Maria's father is Danny Trejo (Machete), a frightening Mexicano with a scarred face and a Christmas tree sweatshirt. He is fanatical about Christmas trees and already has a very good reason to hate Koreans.

The two set out on a journey to replace the tree before the Perez family returns from midnight mass. They have run-ins with a pair of black Christmas tree salesmen, Ukrainian mobsters, Santa Claus and Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers).

"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Chrstimas" is a worthy continuation of the series. The production value has increased greatly since the first film, and it makes good use of the 3D, using the same cheesy gimmicks as early 3D films from the '50s. True to the holiday-film genre, there is even a (cocaine induced) claymation sequence.

While better than "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," the third film in the series doesn't have the fresh feel of the first. For example, in the first film, when we saw Doogie Howser snort a line of coke off a stripper's buttocks, it was shocking and funny. It has simply become expected the third time around. The movie is still funny, but the jokes are no longer new, and the laughs don't come as quick as the first film.

"A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" may not be the holiday classic that "A Christmas Story" is (although there is a shocking scene that pays homage to the 1983 comedy), it is worth seeing for anyone who enjoyed the first two films.

The Most Beautiful (1944)

Of historical value only

[6/10 · 19 May 2013]

In a material war, what your side lacks in material, you must make up for with spirit. Or so the Japanese told themselves during the war, and that is the driving point behind "The Most Beautiful."

"The Most Beautiful" is the second film directed by internationally acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. Like "Sugata Sanshiro" before it, "The Most Beautiful" is a product of World War II. However, while one could characterize "Sugata Sanshiro" simply as a film with subject matter that was deemed safe for the time, "The Most Beautiful" is pure propaganda.

The film follows a group of girls working in an optic lens factory during World War II. The girls' leader is one Watanabe-san (Yoko Yaguchi, Kurosawa's wife), a kind of Japanese Rosie the Riveter (Tokyo Rosie the Riveter?). When the factory's chief, Ishida-san (Takashi Shimura, "Seven Samurai") raises the girls' quota by 50 percent, the girls gripe that it wasn't raised by 100 percent like the boys'. The girls exert themselves to exceed their quota.

The girls work to the point of exhaustion. This leads to mistakes and petty bickering. The girls play volleyball and sing patriotic songs to raise their morale.

Akira Kurosawa was one of Japan's greatest directors and storytellers. This film is distinctly Kurosawa with the director's characteristic wipes and long takes. However, as a piece of storytelling, "The Most Beautiful" is a failure. That is not to say that there are no humorous moments or likable characters, but no character experiences the kind of dynamic change that drives good fiction.

The film focuses mainly on the Watanabe character, who remains static throughout. She is the hardest, most dedicated worker at the beginning of the movie, and she remains so at the end. She sacrifices sleep to find a defective lens, and even stays away from her dying mother's bedside to work. No conflict can shake her dedication. There are minor external conflicts throughout the movie that Watanabe-san straightens out nicely by virtue of her dedication to her job.

"The Most Beautiful" is an important film in terms of historical context. Rarely do we get to see propaganda from the other side, and this film is a good illustration of extreme Japanese values at an extreme moment in Japanese history. The Japanese realized that they were at a technological disadvantage to the Allied Powers, but insisted that they could win by virtue of their spirit (apparently they weren't counting on American boys having spirit too). Militaristic slogans adorn the factory. The girls adhere to Zen Buddhist values as they emphasize hard work above all else, while the boys sing a militaristic song hoping for the "destruction of America and Britain."

While "The Most Beautiful" is an important work in a historical sense, it is unworthy of Kurosawa's later, greater films.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

The best since the original

[8/10 · 18 May 2013]

Humanity should be less concerned about computers becoming too smart and wiping us out. The singularity is more likely to come when apes become super-intelligent.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise, and is the best film in the series since the 1968 original film starring Charlton Heston.

I haven't seen "The Planet of the Apes" or any of its sequels since the early '90s, when I was in elementary school. I loved the films as a kid, and I would set the VCR to record them off the Disney channel when they aired at 3 a.m. on a school night. I skipped the 2001 Tim Burton remake, however. Admittedly, I only vaguely remember the original, but that didn't seem to matter. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was a film that stood alone, and one doesn't need a frame of reference with the rest of the series to enjoy it.

The film stars Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings," and starred as the title character in Peter Jackson's "King Kong." Serkis is Caesar, a chimpanzee whose IQ is heightened by the virus ALZ 112, a test drug meant to treat Alzheimer's. Caesar is raised by Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist who helped develop ALZ 112; his apparent girlfriend, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto), a primatologist who knows only a little more about apes than the film's audience; and Will's father, Charles (John Lithgow), an Alzheimer's patient.

Serkis is a great physical actor, and, indeed, he gives the best performance in the film. Like the other films in the series, this one uses no real apes. The apes were created digitally by Peter Jackon's Weta Digital, and they look nearly lifelike. The advances in CGI technology are on full display in this film.

While Caesar is a smart chimp, he displays signs of aggression as he matures. He gets taken away from the Rodman family after he attacks their neighbor, an airline pilot with anger-management issues who totally deserved his comeuppance. Caesar is taken to a shelter for primates, where he is kept in a tiny cell and tormented by one of the keepers (Tom Felton, Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies, now with an American accent). With the help of a smart orangutan and a powerful gorilla, Caesar frees the other captive apes and does to Malfoy what Harry Potter should have done during his first year at Hogwarts if he'd had the cojones, but not before Malfoy gets to say, "Take your stinkin' paw off me you damn dirty ape!" This all leads up to the first battle against humanity, set on the Golden Gate Bridge.

As the movie wound down, I found myself questioning how a hundred or so apes could take over a planet teeming with humans. The film answers this question in a subtle way (hint: it's the same way a small army of Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztec empire), which was believable in a historical context.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was an enjoyable, well-made popcorn flick, and as the "rise" in the title implies, there's bound to be a sequel.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945)

Before there was "The Hidden Fortress"...

[8/10 · 18 May 2013]

Before directing "The Hidden Fortress," which would go on to inspire "Star Wars," Akira Kurosawa directed a different tale of royalty escaping through enemy lines in "The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail."

The story is set against a historical background in the late Heian period of Japan. Yoshitsune has had a falling out with his brother, Yoritomo, the shogun (generalissimo). Fearing for his life, Yoshitsune and his loyal retainers, led by Benkei, and their unsuspecting porter are attempting to flee to the north disguised as priests. They come to an obstacle when they find their path is barricaded by Yoritomo's forces, led by Togashi (Susumu Fujita). Being hopelessly outnumbered, the men must rely on their wits, rather than violence, to pass the barrier.

Even though there is no violence in this samurai film, the movie is filled with suspense, thanks largely to the strength of the script and Kurosawa's direction. The movie is an enlightening portrayal of extreme Japanese values. These values can be seen in the contrast between the samurai and the porter. Yoshitsune's retainers are stoic and intensely loyal to their lord. The porter is foolish and speaks with a loose tongue. In their behavior, the samurai and the retainer are keeping in line with the expectations of their respective castes. While the samurai are the highest class in the feudal system, their status comes with expectations of strict piety. Even though the porter is limited in his social mobility, he is not held to the same standards as the samurai.

Filmed in 1945, "The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail" was banned by the Occupying Forces for its portrayal of feudal values. The movie was finally released in 1952, after sovereignty was returned to Japan.

This film has multiple parallels with Kurosawa's later epic, "The Hidden Fortress." Both are about samurai sneaking through enemy lines. Both use porters as comic relief. The princess in "The Hidden Fortress" and Yoshitsune in "The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail" both have to wear a disguise to hide their high breeding.

At 59 minutes, this is a short movie. It feels like one act of a longer film. Kenichi Enomoto, a famous comedian at the time, provides welcome comic relief as the porter. But his performance is a bit over-the-top, and seems a bit more suited for another film. The way the samurai interact with him, however, provides a humanizing effect on the characters.

"The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail" is an early gem in Kurosawa's catalog.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Cheech and Chong for the new generation

[8/10 · 27 April 2013]

Harold and Kumar are the Cheech and Chong of the new generation. But the dynamic between the likable characters elevates "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" above the typical stoner comedy.

Harold is an accountant who takes the brunt of "positive" Asian-American stereotypes, namely that they're all good at math. He is serious and bookish, but enjoys getting high on the weekends. Kumar is Harold's Indian-American roommate and polar opposite. Getting high is a way of life for Kumar, and he plans to float through life on his dad's money.

On one fateful Friday night, the two heroes have the munchies and are determined to get their fix at White Castle after seeing a TV commercial. The nearest White Castle is a good 45-minute drive, providing you know the way. The two stoners predictably get lost and have a series of quirky late-night adventures as they stray off the beaten path, which include encounters with a Jesus freak straight out of "Deliverance" known as Freakshow, frequent run-ins with a gang of "extreme" skateboarders, and Neil Patrick Harris (TV's Doogie Howser, M.D.). One of my favorite scenes is a fantasy sequence in which Kumar imagines his life with a giant, walking sack of weed.

The movie is stylish and makes good use of what appears to be a relatively low budget of $9 million ($20 million would be modest for a comedy).

"Harold & Kumar" has a lot of good laughs, including both situational humor and playing on racial stereotypes. The racial humor is funny without getting too offensive or preachy. But the movie ultimately works because of the character development. Even with their flaws, Harold and Kumar are both likable characters that the audience can root for. Character change drives good fiction, and the viewer is happy to see Harold learn to assert himself and Kumar decide to grow up.

While "Harold & Kumar" is not a great film by any stretch of the word, it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do, which makes it effective.

Drunken Angel (1948)

A minor Kurosawa classic

[8/10 · 24 March 2013]

"Drunken Angel" is one of dozens of collaborations between Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, and one of many which was directed by Akira Kurosawa. The two actors have played nearly every possible, even contradictory, dynamic, from sempai-kohai (senior-junior) in "Stray Dog" and "Seven Samurai," to somewhat antagonistic roles in "Drunken Angel."

Dr. Sanada (Shimura) is the titular drunken angel. He is a competent doctor, despite being an alcoholic, who operates a clinic in a shabby Tokyo neighborhood, still in shambles in the aftermath of World War II. (The American Occupation forces censored films at the time, and banned the showing of bombed-out ruins. Nevertheless, Kurosawa succeeded in providing a sense of the seediness and desolation of post-war Tokyo.) Dr. Sanada is rough around the edges, screaming at children not to play in the stagnant cesspit in the neighborhood and admonishing passers-by for their unhealthy habits. But we see that he clearly cares about his patients in his treatment toward a 17-year-old schoolgirl who is recovering from tuberculosis.

The story begins when a two-bit yakuza gangster, Matsunaga (Mifune), finds his way to Dr. Sanada's clinic after a gun fight. While treating Matsunaga, Dr. Sanada suspects the yakuza has tuberculosis. Dr. Sanada insists he can cure Matsunaga, but it will take strict discipline on the latter's part.

Mifune fits the role of the down-and-out gangster perfectly. The young actor's face is intensely brooding, but sallow (the result of hardships during the war). Mifune was sometimes accused of overacting by Western critics who only knew his work through "Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo." His performance here provides a stark contrast to the comical, drunken buffoon he played in "Seven Samurai." Mifune's is a fully realized character. Like many career lowlifes, his commitment to changing his ways, even in the face of death, is wishy-washy. The audience can see that he's not all bad, and we hope he can change his ways before it's too late.

Watching "Drunken Angel," I was reminded of another Kurosawa-Shimura collaboration, Ikiru, which was also about a man facing imminent death. But in Ikiru, Shimura's character makes drastic changes to give meaning to his thus-far wasted life. In "Drunken Angel," Mifune's character denies his illness and resists change.

The soundtrack was especially notable. Rather than having a score, most of the music is ambient, coming from some unseen source, such as a street performer playing the same tune on a Spanish guitar over and over, or a crackly waltz booming over a loud speaker giving ironic contrast to a dramatic scene. One particularly haunting moment was when the dreaded Okada turns up after being released from prison, takes the guitar from the street performer, and plays a suitably ominous tune.

Like many Kurosawa films, "Drunken Angel" is somewhat preachy, and the dialogue can be ham-handed at times, particularly when the characters make statements that are obvious to the viewer.

While "Drunken Angel" doesn't have the epic scope of Kurosawa's later samurai films, it is still a highly watchable, minor classic.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Kurosawa's first classic

[8/10 · 24 March 2013]

"Sugata Sanshiro" is a worthy first effort from Akira Kurosawa, the internationally acclaimed director who would go on to direct such classics as "Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo."

The film opens with a message from the film's distributor, Toho Company Ltd., telling the audience that Japan's wartime censors cut roughly 17 minutes from the film without consulting Kurosawa--footage which has never been recovered. But since the original screenplay still exists, titles on the screen occasionally tell the audience important plot developments that the film is missing.

The film follows Sugata Sanshiro, something of a Japanese d'Artagnan, as he travels to the big city to learn jujitsu. However, after the jujitsu sensei and the students of his dojo lose a fight to Yano-sensei, the founder of a new jujitsu called judo, Sanshiro begins to follow Yano.

Sanshiro is tough and stubborn, and after getting into a street fight, he is scolded by Yano. In order to prove his dedication to Yano, he jumps into a pond of cold water and stays there all night, nearly freezing to death.

Sanshiro matures, and falls in love with a woman he sees praying at a shrine. The woman turns out to be Sayo, the daughter of a man Sanshiro is supposed to fight (Takashi Shimura, "The Seven Samurai"). Sanshiro is torn between his love for Sayo and his duty to fight her father, a man Sanshiro knows he can easily defeat. Sayo has been praying for her father to win.

Released in 1943, at the height of World War II, "Sugata Sanshiro" is truly a product of its time, and I think Kurosawa chose the subject knowing it wouldn't be controversial. The historical setting, the theme of dying for one's duty and the martial arts conflict all mesh with the war-time background in which the film was released.

The film works because Sanshiro is a character the audience cares about. We sympathize with him when he is forced to fight the father of the woman he loves. The film only suffers because of the missing footage and the dark picture in some scenes, making it difficult to see what is happening on the screen (this may have to do with the quality of the surviving print, and not a technical fault on the part of Kurosawa).

Fright Night (2011)

A silly and entertaining vampire movie

[6/10 · 24 March 2013]

"Fright Night" is the latest in a long line of vampire movies to come out in the wake of the Twilight craze. It is similar to the 1985 cult film of the same name (which I haven't seen). The film gently pokes fun at "Twilight" while cashing in on the vampire mania the series renewed.

"Fright Night" is set in a Las Vegas suburb where residents water their lawns, wash their cars, and let their kids play in the sprinklers, despite living in the middle of a desert. This is an interesting setting, which serves as more than a backdrop. The suburb is the perfect habitat for a vampire since one can live in a house with blacked-out windows without arising suspicion. (We're informed many people in this commuter town have blacked-out windows because they work on the Strip at night and sleep all day.)

The film stars Anton Yelchin ("Terminator Salvation") as Charley Brewster, a nerdy guy whose girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots), is admittedly out of his league. His perfect life takes a turn for the worse when Jerry the vampire (Colin Farrell) moves in next door, and Charley's classmates and neighbors go missing one by one.

Except for the suspicious Dumpster in his front yard, Jerry the vampire is a seemingly normal guy--he kicks back with a beer to watch TV and he has dead strippers in his closet. In addition to feeding on the living, he also eats apples, since that is apparently what vampires like to eat judging by the cover of "Twilight." Charley doesn't begin to suspect Jerry until his classmate and childhood friend who isn't cool enough for him anymore, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, McLovin from Superbad, playing pretty much the same role here), spots the warning signs of vampire activity.

Charley goes to Las Vegas to enlist the help of drunken vampire expert- extraordinaire Peter Vincent, whose name I assume to be a combination of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. Peter reluctantly helps Charley stop Jerry the vampire.

"Fright Night" was an entertaining movie with a few laughs and a few thrills. (I wonder if Century 21 paid for the product placement.) However, it never quite found the right tone. It's not creepy enough to be a horror film, and it is not funny enough to be a satire. There are good special effects throughout. I especially liked the way the vampires exploded when they stepped out into the sunlight. (I was worried they would sparkle.) But the film was too dim in some scenes, making it hard to figure out what was happening on the screen. I don't think this was a problem with the projector or lenses, since I saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" on the same screen just prior to this, and that film looked fine. I watched "Fright Night" in 2D, so I imagine these scenes would just be a confusing black blur in 3D.

Despite not finding the right tone, "Fright Night" was enjoyable and should appeal to its target audience.

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

A charming samurai classic

[8/10 · 23 March 2013]

"The Tale of Zatoichi" was a cultural phenomenon in Japan in the 1960s, spawning 25 sequels, a 112-episode TV series and a remake.

Set toward the end of the feudal Edo period (1603-1868), the film stars Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi, an itinerant blind masseur/swordsman. He stops in the town of Iioka one day to stay with a yakuza boss, Sukegoro, who he had met on an earlier journey.

Zatoichi is humble, but has a quiet intensity. Even though he is blind, he perceives more in the situations around him than the other participants with normal eyesight. In an early scene, Sukegoro's gangsters try to take advantage of Zatoichi in a game of dice, but he uses their underestimation of him to his advantage, and hustles the gamblers out of all their money.

Zatoichi insists his impressive skills with the katana are nothing more than parlor tricks, but Boss Sukegoro hires him to stay on, as he has plans to go to war with a rival gang in nearby Sasagawa. Sasagawa boss Shigezo hires a ronin samurai, Hirate, to counterbalance Sukegoro's Zatoichi.

Zatoichi and Hirate develop a sort of friendship, but their affection toward each other has less to do with their love of fishing or drinking than on their common code of honor. Even though they know they will be expected to fight to the death in the war between Iioka and Sasagawa, this doesn't stand between their personal friendship.

So it follows that the most interesting conflict in the movie is not the yakuza warfare between the Iioka and Sasagawa gangs, but the conflict between Zatoichi and Hirate. Hirate is dying of consumption, and seems to prefer death by Zatoichi's sword rather than let his illness or an unworthy gangster take his life.

"The Tale of Zatoichi" is both fun and stylish. But rather than being a by-the-numbers action flick, the filmmakers took the time to develop characters the audience can actually care about, which elevates Zatoichi above other films of this genre.