Tokyo Zombie - Sakichi Satô - Japan - (2005)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451954/

Plot: "Two blue-collar factory workers and jiu-jitsu experts have to  deal with a zombie uprising in Tokyo."

From the multi-talented Sakichi Sato, "Ichi the Killer" scriptwriter, actor for the likes of Miike in "Gozu" and Tarantino in "Kill Bill", came this horror comedy that puts two legendary actors together: Shô Aikawa ("Zebraman" and zillions others)  and Tadanobu Asano. This film fells fresh and free. There is a taste of liberty and foolishness that really made up for it's cheap moments. The low key humor and the absurdity of the situations makes it fell more like a manga, than anything else. And guess what ? It's an adaptation from a manga  by Yūsaku Hanakuma. Again ! What an amazing resource the manga genre has become for the movie industry in Japan. Back to the movie, it's a mix between classic zombie flick and a "master / disciple" martial art movie.
No much gore, not much zombie scares if any, much more a great little wacky Nippon comedy. Nice.

PS: Weird that in its second part, the movie takes place in a besieged city, only for the rich survivors, and shows us fights between zombies and human, very identical to the "Land of the Dead" movie by Romero. Don't know who copied who but obviously someone did.

PS 2: Sakichi Sato is preparing another manga adpatation with Shô Aikawa, called "Insect Detective Yoshida Yoshimi" about a detective that can speaks to any living creatures. Watch the trailer here.

Trailer:

Koroshiya 1 aka Ichi The Killer - T.Miike - Japan - (2001)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296042/ 

Plot from Imdb: " Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with three hundred million yen. His loyal gang members, lead by the masochist Kakihara, start a search, but their aggressive and gory methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakiharas most frightening counterpart is the mysterious Ichi, a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret, who is controlled by a retired cop"

One of my favorite movie of all time. The one that blew my mind for good and made me understand that Miike was some sort of catalyzer for all the weird cinema I love. Adapted from a manga by Hideo Yamamoto, this movie also as an animated prequel, voiced by Miike himself. It seems that the manga universe of Sadomasochism and Yakusa's underworld fitted Miike's universe perfectly, as this movie is, really, without limits. It doesn't stop to violence, gore, trauma, graphic effects, weird imagery, strange behavior, iconic characters, it goes all the way to the cartoon-style just to get back to the violent and dry style of Yakusa's Eiga. It's a trip. I think that it also represent very well all the sources of inspiration that a Japanese creator like Miike can draw from: Graphic novels, traditional movie genre, experimental video style (Tuskamoto plays one of the main character), video games, porn, music video, etc...
The casting is perfect, Paulyn Sun is beautiful and speaks badly Japanese, Tsukamonto mentioned before is perfect as a non charismatic conspirator, Susumu Terajima (who plays in almost every Kitano movies) is a great unlucky Yakusa, Nao Omori as ichi demonstrate a great talent but the most amazing actor of all is, of course, Tadanobu Asano ! Where does the talent of this guy stops ? I've seen him in almost 10 movies and he's always great. His interpretation of Kakihara is one for the records.
In depth, the story is also rather interesting: amongst the ones that inflict or are victims of violence, Ichi represents the "neutral", the "traumatized" and "repressed" kid, witch enable others to control him. Don't be fool by the westerners indignation about the violence, it's not  what the film is about. It's about social control. A recurrent theme in Japanese cinema.
I saw this movie maybe 15 times and I'm still amazed by it. An absolute MUST-SEE !

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

Trailer:

Psych-Out - Richard Rush - USA - (1968)

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063469/ 

Plot from Imdb: "A deaf runaway arrives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury hippie district looking for her missing brother."

Jack Nicholson with a ponytail...Yeeeaaahh....You want to see it ? Watch this movie ! An AIP production, from the director of "The Stunt Man", it's a nice acid movie that takes us into the heart of Haigst & Ashbury in San Francisco, the center of the hippies movement during the 60's and 70's. Lot's of scenes are shot directly in the streets, with the people tripping all around. This helps diving into the crazy atmosphere of that time, and helps relating to the bunch of "artists" we're following. For once, I thought the "tripping" sequences and the concerts were not too annoying. There is a very nice in and out relationship between Nicholson (as the hippie who stays lucid) and a kind of "pure Guru", played by Dean Stockwell, who ultimately represents everything that's too extreme. The danger of dropping acid like there is no tomorrow is also visible, witch makes it even more realistic. Some sequences are over the top but enjoyable, like the fight between a tripping Max Julien  (yes, "The Mack" himself !) and some greasy rednecks. Very nice little movie.   Did I mention Nicholson has a ponytail ?

Trailer:

Diabolikal Super-Kriminal - Doc -Trailer

Looking forward to watch this nice documentary about "Diabolikal Super kriminal"aka "Sadistik", another classic Fumetti (italian comic book for adults) from the 70's:

Official site: 

http://www.gosadistik.com/ 

Danger Diabolik - M.Bava - Italia (1968) vs Kriminal - U.Lenzi - Italia - (1966)

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062861/ 

Plot from Imdb: "Fey super-thief Diabolik runs around stealing jewels, gold, murdering innocent people, and being a nuisance to the government of a generic European country."

Inspired from the Fumetti by Angela and Luciana Giussani in 1962, Diabolik is a masterpiece and yet another confirmation of the amazing skills of Mario Bava. Shot for less than 500 000$, the movie is magnificent, with a tremendous use of matte-painting and visual special effect from that time. The framing is second to none, as Bava allows himself to play with it even more than usual, to match the comic book graphic style. Diabolik as a character is pretty nice, he does bad things but so stylistically and  cleverly that we cannot keep from loving him. Deep down, he's not a real bad guy. He just has some issues with morality & the law. Who hasn't ? His willingness to sacrifice himself for his girlfriend  makes him a romantic character more than anything else. The actors are great, John Philip law doing a good job as Diabolik, Melissa Tomei being beautiful and Michel Picoli  not overacting as the police arch enemy of our anti-hero. The soundtrack is one of Morricone's best, if not the best. It's lush, hypnotic and pop as hell. A masterpiece. Well, what to say ? This is a complete success as far as it's intention: to be a 90 minutes fun trip into the extravaganza life of an European super criminal.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

US Trailer:

Main theme from Ennio Morricone's amazing soundtrack:



The Beastie Boys did a video clip inspired by Danger Diabolik, check it out here!

Official Italian comic books site:
http://www.diabolik.it/

VS

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060608/ 

Plot: " Escaping from his execution, purchased by Scotland Yard, Kriminal goes on doing what he does best: stealing jewelly and killing anybody in his way."

Kriminal, adapted from,another Italian Fumetti comic book, is a nice piece of Europop cinema from Umberto Lenzi, very crafted italian director from the 70's ("Cannibal Ferox", "Spasmo", "Roma a mano armata" ) . The main character is much more violent and psychopathic than Diabolik, and he's never reluctant to kill and deceit everyone. As such, he could have been a great character, but the movie doesn't really bring out the all dark side of him, it focuses more on the adventurous events of his journey.  The cast is ok and the directing is well done, but clearly uninspired. The difference between this exploitation movie and the work from Bava on Diabolik is tremendous. When Bava is looking to always stay close to the graphic element of the comic book, Lenzi on the other hand is just shooting it like the "serial" it is and adds nothing to it. Even if it's quite well made, it's impossible to compare the two movies, as they are each on a different scale: Lenzi does his job well, Bava creates Art.  Locations are great as we travel from England to Spain & Turkey (Istanbul was clearly a very popular destination in "Euro exploitation" movies from the 70's). Nice & enjoyable but minor movie.

  

  

 

 

 

Opening credits video: