Dream Home - Ho-Chueng PAng - Hk - 2010 - trailer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407972/ 

Looking forward to watch the last Ho-Cheung Pang movie, with Anthony Wong ! 

I really enjoyed his previous movies: "You shoot, I shoot", "Men suddently in black" and "Exodus". All extremely original ones.

International trailer:

Nikutai no Mon aka Gate of Flesh - Seijun Suzuki -Japan - (1964)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058409/

Plot by imdb: "After World War II, some Tokyo prostitutes band together with a strict code: no pimps, attack any street walker who comes into our territory, defend the abandoned building we call home, and punish whomever gives away sex (who falls in love). Maya, a young woman whose family has died, joins the group. Into the mix comes Shin, a thief who's killed a G.I. The women allow him to hide while recovering from wounds, but then he won't leave. Maya is drawn to him, discovering as she falls in love that she can feel again; she's now more fully human, but at the same time, she's endangered herself and her livelihood. Can she and Shin make it out of Tokyo to establish as a couple?"

A sexploitation plot, a realistic historical background, the pop/flashy colorful aspect of Seijun Suzuki frame composition, his desperate romanticism and his fascination for outlaw groups, in this case prostitutes, all these are turning this movie into an instant cult classic for me. 

How can I describe how magnificent is the movie ? Just watch the trailer and the screencaps. It's mesmerizingly beautiful. Having been shot in the Nikkatsu studio with all the crafty technicians around and  a comfortable budget allowed this very stylish director to fully control every aspect of his creation. It will go even further in his following works, "Tokyo drifter" & "Branded to kill", pop insanities disguised as yakuza eiga, leading to his firing by the Nikkatsu in 1968, supposedly for "making incomprehensible pictures". Those fucking  dumb suits ! 

A wonderful dive into the dark underbelly of post-war Japan, a huge sense of desperation and bitterness is felt all along the movie, that really explains a lot about the generation of directors that emerge in the 60's: Suzuki, Fukasaku, etc.... Having lost their illusion on mankind in their childhood during the war, they went on making "genre" movies that were extremely cynical and quite desperate, but who showed an incredible vitality.

"Gate of flesh" is amongst those movies. A sense of constant emergency and at time, hysteria is only compensate by the inner feeling of the main characters that "there  is more to life than this". "This" in that case is stealing, robbing, being a prostitute, etc... Anything that can make you survive in a desperate situation.

The cast is top notch, all the prostitutes having their own strong personality but the main roles belongs to  Yumiko Nogawa and Jo Shishido (and his silicones cheeks), both great.

Another amazing piece of work from Suzuki and a movie that goes really beyond its exploitation genre.

El Infierno - Luis Estrada - Mexico - Trailer

Part of a trilogy about Mexico contemporary life, comes this satirical view on the Narcos.

Seems hilarious and violent enough to be mentionned here.

Sorry no subs yet. Better revise your mexicano.

Best movie about the Cuidad Juarez sexual crimes: "Backyard, el traspatio"

And another excellent crime movie from Mexico: This one is a "serious" one and will give you the creeps. Great work again from the director of "El crimen del Padre Amaro", Carlos Carrera.

New Darren Aronofsky's movie: "Black Swan" - Trailer

:"A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, BLACK SWAN stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company (Mila Kunis). A Fox Searchlight Pictures release by visionary director Darren Aronofsky (THE WRESTLER), BLACK SWAN takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect."

Look amazing and, as a fan of Aronofsky's movies - including the least popular one like "The Fountain"-, I am really expecting this to be another masterpiece. I'm thinking Giallo and Gothic Horror right now. 

Wow ! Can't wait.

Caribbean Basterds - Enzo G. Castellari is back !

Enzo G.Castellari is not only the director of Inglorious Bastards (the original), but also of dozens of others great movies form the 70's italian exploitation frenzy, including "The New Barbarians" and others post-apocalyptic genre flix. 

I still consider KEOMA as his masterpiece, with Franco Nero in another "Django" character. 

But this one looks.....wild, to say the least. Apparently shot in 5 weeks in Venezuela, it will have a limited release.

Coming from a 72 years old man, it looks as fresh as ever.

Rispetto direttore.

Trailer:

Sorcerer - William Friedkin - USA - (1977)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076740/

Plot by Imdb: "A group of outcasts from different backgrounds/nationalities are forced by misfortune to work in a remote oil drilling operation in South America.. When fire breaks out of control, the outcasts are given the opportunity to earn enough money to get out by transporting two crates of unstable nitroglycerin through miles of jungle in ancient trucks. Will they succeed and regain their honor and citizenship, or get blown up for their efforts? "

Where to begin? 

A Remake of the all-time classic adventure movie from Henry-George Clouzot's "The Wages of Fear", this strangely often forgotten masterpiece from William Friedkin is also the one movie that destroyed his career in Hollywood and sent him to the "blacklist" hell. 

First, the movie: In my humble opinion, this is a fascinating piece of cinematography. Almost every aspect of 70's cinema is represented here: an overall documentary aspect (a huge influence on Friedkin), part of a gripping thriller in the tradition of the Film Noir (the main character story), the political times of the decade (for the Palestinian terrorism  and the French political scandal sequences), the exotic-fantastic settings (not unlike Apocalypse Now, the jungle environment begins as an hostile environment to turn into a mental landscape of the protagonists) and the experimental cinema (for the hallucination sequence in the end) . 

Mixing all this, and despite the very different backgrounds of his main characters, Friedkin shows us that, in the end, everything comes down to pure survival. And survival means pure capitalism in our world, as they all end up being forced to work for this Oil company in the middle of nowhere, risking the only thing they have left to sell: their very lives. 

The cast is brillant: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amidou...They are all perfect and credible.

The soundtrack from Tangerine Dream is one of my favorite and works perfectly with the images, whether it is in an urban landscape or inside the "magical" jungle. Check out the trailer to hear a bit of this wonderful partition.

Last but not least, it is also a tragedy, as it will be Friedkin last movie for a long while in Hollywood. The making of the movie was catastrophic (late, over budget, filled with accidents and mayhem, etc...) and the dictatorial attitude of a megalomaniac Friedkin at the time just killed his reputation as a A-list director and sinked his career, almost for good. It would take him a long time to regain the trust of financial partners and go back to filmaking on a large scale again.

A journey to hell and back for its director, "Sorcerer" is Friedkin's "Apocalypse Now": Unfortunately for the director, it didn't end up well for him.

Absolute masterpiece, to be watched and studied over and over.

Trailer:

Eat the schoolgirls: Osaka Telephone Club - Naoyuki Tomomatsu - (1997) - Japan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450004/

Plot by Imdb: "Two young adults are doing dirty works for a yakuza gang, making sadistic rape/snuff films. Both of them are sexually obsessed; one is addicted to telephone sex whilst the other can only function sexually, whilst seeing mutilated female corpses."

Before joining the  Nikkatsu's "Sushi Typhoon" production team, alongside with Iguchi, Nishimura and many others, Tomomatsu made this very disturbing picture, that has very little to do with his futur absurd-gory-tongue-in-cheek productions, like Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl. More a Pinku movie turn gross, "Eat the schoolgirl" is to be handled with care, as it is obviously not for everyone. Not for your girlfriend, for example.  The amount of misoginistic sadism and extremely deviant male behaviour is difficult to believe. But the real interesting thing is the stylistic archievment that this movie represent: It is as weird, twisted and unsafe as other masterpieces of the genre like "Angst" or "Henry". Higly recommended if you can stomach this style of production, it shows once again that even a small production in a sub-sub-genre (pinku horror) can result in an impacting and memorable movie. 

A dark, dark shocker from an interesting director. Watch it at  your own risk.

Video clip made with images from the movie (the "music" has nothing to do with the movie)

Koara kachô aka Executive Koala - Minoru Kawasaki - Japan - (2005)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0830581/

Plot from Imdb:"Keiichi Tamura is a hardworking executive in a pickle company, who is making a big merger at work and struggling with memory loss and the mysterious disappearance of his wife three years prior. He's also a koala, which doesn't seem to bother people too much, but then the president of the company is a large white rabbit. Tamura enters the sights of the police when his current girlfriend is found stabbed to death and his murky past seem to imply that he is not the well-mannered Koala he appear to be."

Maybe the best work of Kawasaki, this "false" nonsensical thriller is filled by excellent ideas and witty artistic direction. The acting is great...or the animal masks are good, whatever you prefer. The gruesomeness of some scenes is made hilarious by the oddity of the costumes, until a certain point. Not unlike the masterpiece of adult animation from Satashi Kon "Perfect Blue", the childish aspect of the characters is becoming more and more odd, if not unsettling, as their behaviors grows more sinister. Perfect balance between the usual intimate stories told by iconic figures (a classic of Kawasaki, in Calamari Wrestler for example) and a denunciation of schizophrenia of the modern workplace, Executive Koala is a delightfully weird moment of cinema.  If you never had the chills on front of a maniac koala, now is just a good time.

PS: I, personally, discovered a few years ago, in Australia, that they are vicious little bastards, Eucalyptus junkies without moral or ethic !!! But that’s another story...

Tense moment at the precinct (extract): 

Japanese trailer: