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.