Charles Conn in the Austin Chronicle 2001

In 2001 I approached Louis Black, the editor of the Austin Chronicle, who passed me over to Film Editor Marjorie Baumgarten. She in turn liked my writing enough to send to print 3 separate articles which I am posting here. I, in turn, am a fan of Marjorie. Her work can be found in print and online in the Austin Chronicle's Screens section --be sure to check it out.

M (1931) dir Fritz Lang

Foxy Brown (1974) dir Jack Hill

School Daze (1988) dir Spike Lee

Gohatto (1999)

aka Taboo
aka Tabou
dir: Oshima Nagisa

Symbolically summed up best at the end: "Sozaburo(Matsuda Ryuhei) was too beautiful. Men took advantage of him, He was possessed by evil." Then in one fell swoop the speaker, Captain Hijikata (Kitano "Bito" Takeshi), slices off the top of a young sakura tree in full bloom.

Samurai shudo was not unknown behavior in this time period. Rarely though does it ever does it become subject, incidental or otherwise, in this type of historical pic, with this one's genre bent towards mystery and intrigue. The gayness of the film shouldn't be seen as the sole focus though. 'Gohatto' translates into the "against the law" or "against the laws," and shudo isn't the thing out of bounds here. Perhaps it's the underlying, unspoken jealousies threatening to undo the male bonds that is in implied contention in the title.

Most conspicuous to the film is what's missing. The gay act itself, though not treated any less artistically, is displayed with a complete departure from the graphic form one may come to expect from Oshima. What we are left with are spectacularly built up moments, carefully constructed with Oshima's deft pacing; though simulations of gay sex are shown, they are secondary concerns compared to, say, when Sozaburo reaches for chaperone Heibei's (Matoba Koji) hand --truly one of those breathtaking instances encapsulating so much of the film's concerns: the hidden depths of male emotions and bonding.

It can't be understated the masculine, stoic beauty Asano Tadanobu represents in the character of Tashiro, early courter of Sozaburo in the wake of his freshly joining the close-knit social quarters of the all-male militia troops. Composer Sakamoto Ryuichi lends heavily to the tense tone.

Survive Style 5+ (2005)

dir: Sekiguchi Gen

An exercise in J-pop fluff, the movie has a strange sense of humor --standard Japanese quirkiness abounds, both in terms of story as well as look and feel. The candy coated sets are fun and kitchy, i.e. the feast of all breakfast feasts thrown artfully together into temporary glory, as it gets tackled by its intended recipient and one of many of the films' characters, Asano Tadanobu . The chef is his supernaturally gifted, ever-reincarnating, revenge seeking girlfriend whom a la Groundhog Day he sans explanation recurrently kills and buries. She comes back to get even, and he puts her back down, again, and again, and again.

For said quirkiness, the mood, while often light and airy, is tinged with underlying darkness, as in these aforementioned scenes in the woods at night, and as with the rest of characters and story-lines the film follows:

The three bumbling friends robbing houses, two of the bunch discovering more between them than just loot.

The ad saleswoman, oddly likable for being a cutthroat, sharky bitch, whose imagination is rife with silly, un-pitched ideas for unrealized products.

The oft-angry British hitman (Vinnie Jones) traveling inseparably from his translator, intently demanding of folks: What's your function?

Finally, there's the sympathetic family man/super dad who, while attending the TV taping of a talk show, gets hypnotized into thinking he's a duck.

Hilarity, naturally, ensues.

Of note: Sonny Chiba has a small role as an advertising company president.

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

aka Ai no Corrida
aka L'Empire des Sens

dir: Oshima Nagisa

The story follows the true-life tale of Abe Sada --"a lady with a past"-- and Ishida Kichizo who show up in the public record in 1936 Japan, with Abe reportedly carrying her deceased lover's severed penis around with her for days before being caught up with by police.

Oshima's screenplay attempts to fill in the gaps left in the wake of stories run in the papers who sensationalized this scoop in its day. The resulting is Oshima's most notorious work, serving as suitable project for French co-producer Daumin's bequest to make a porno flick, a la art house of course.

If the original motive to be so graphic was to shock through transgression of the cultural norms, perhaps today the shock is more subdued. Still, there is an undeniable beauty captured rather heroically here, tense because of the tenuous line Oshima is walking, and often reminiscent of Edo-period shunga woodblock prints.

Matsuda Eiko's body is well-formed, all the right curves, her back arched over Kichizo as she straddles him. Fuji Tatsuya's face is glorious in close-up, his bone structure soft and even. In keeping with character, Fuji begins to eschew food, his body becoming increasingly leaner, described by Oshima as beautiful like a holy man.

In comparison with film's companion piece, Empire of Passion (1978), both concern couples blind to the world because they are consumed with their passion for each other, though the genre and tone of each film couldn't be further apart. Still, Fuji Tatsuya stars in both, taking on the aggressor role in Empire's pairing. Both films circumscribe a descent into the lunatic aspects of human love and lust; and for both not ending particularly well, they share that quirky narrative device: the disembodied voice of moral closure.

Empire of Passion (1978)

aka Ai No Borei

dir: Oshima Nagisa

Considered a companion film to 1976's In the Realm of the Senses (famously by the same director), Realm of Passion rehashes the same Japanese/French co-production team, on the French side represented by Anatole Dauman and Argos Films.

Both films also star Fuji Tatsuya, in this much tamer role of Tsuyoji, a vagabonding Sino-Japanese War vet living on the fringes of society, at the bottom rungs, in who's charge is his disabled younger brother. He persistently pursues married woman Seki (Yoshiyuki Kazuko) who is unable to resist some forced upon, but ultimately pretty good head. Pussy shaving is the tipping point, advancing the lovers forward with Tsuyoji's plan to murder Seki's husband, hard-working rickshaw driver Gisaburo (Tamura Takahiro).

This ghost story is beautifully shot with its lush landscapes and undeniable expression of the seasons. Revealed is the unknown drama a snow storm lends to the dragging away and hiding of a corpse, for instance. Elsewhere, the quiet presence of the red-leaf carpeted forests in Fall make themselves known.

Nature here also includes human nature (Gisaburo's selflessness; Seki and Tsuyoji's murderousness), as well as the realm of the spirits. Sex too is present heavily, and sexily so, though not (porno)graphically. As it turns out, Nature, a big theme for Oshima, envelops everything, the sexual not to be excluded.

Elements of the natural world manifests audibly as well, with the call of birds, the chirping of insects, the cries of Seki's baby. It is the ever-louder inner calling of Seki and Tsuyoji's nature, dragging them further and further down into the depths, symbolized ultimately with the lovers in the well.

Oshima describes this film's world view, including sex and love, as ultimately devoid of meaning, and consequently reality is revealed as a living hell. Even so, it is yet a source of unending beauty. Such extreme contradictions coexist though-out the work, best encapsulated by the passion that leads to the very unraveling of the protagonists.

The masterfulness with which he's been said to have elevated the pornographic in the past is definitely present this time absent the porno. Of course, this is an unequivocal testament to Oshima's dominance of the medium, clearly evident in 1999's Taboo, his final film to date.

Tokyo Zombie (2005)

dir: Sato Sakichi

To paraphrase Tadanobu himself --interview provided as part of the extras-- Tokyo Zombie is actually a love story between the bald guy --Mitsuo (Aikawa Show)-- and the afro guy --Fujio (Asano Tadanobu). Certainly there are elements of the master-apprentice relationship going on here beyond the repair-man trappings. These bushido-code loyal friends, grappling/jiu-jitsu aficionados/partners are undeniably something of soul mates.

A take on the Western buddy pic, perhaps, the movie's origin comes in the media of manga. The orginal work's [Tokyo Zonbi] author Hanakuma Yusaka, himself a fighting member of Ichibanbosi Grappling, co-wrote the screenplay with director Sato Sakichi, which picks up the tale of the two popular comic book characters, Afuro (Afro) and Hage (Baldie).

A surprisingly refreshing view, given the dystopian-future-set zombie comedy depicts future humans as (d)evolved with increased petty ego-ism, materialism, and a murderously ravenous appetite for entertainment, drawing parallels with human's thirst for blood-sport with that of the zombie's appetite for live flesh.

Done with panache and flair atypical of any of these genres taken individually, the film rises above the sum of its parts, drawing easy comparisons to the sense of humor in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. With an open ending one can only hope a sequel is in the works.

FADE IN

welcome to my dvd journal, a venue for the documenting and commenting of rental movies with a bent towards the not-so-run-of-the-mill selections.

your comments are not only welcome but encouraged as are debate and discussion.

i hope you enjoy,

ch.