Electric Dragon 80000V

[Colin Geddes]

Has anyone seen Mach 1.67 perform live? They did a show for the 2000 
Tokyo Internatinal Fantastic Film Fest. We wanted Ishii to come to 
Toronto for the Festival screening and since Asano might be coming 
there might be some possibility of a scaled down show. However not 
this year as Ishii is starting a ten day fast on Sept 10, the day the 
film screenings.

The film is indeed an audio and visual explosion and I am curious to 
see the reaction from the arthouse crowd who his more "mainstream" 
works in previous years.

Colin Geddes


>I appreciate Don Brown's raising of Electric Dragon as a topic on the list
>(refreshing
>after all the 'can you help me find this?' postings). But I would like to
>challenge the
>implicit agreement he seeks (via his 'undoubtedly') in calling this a dumb
>film. I'd like
>to know what Don says about the 'well hidden' brain of this film; perhaps
>we aren't be in
>>such disagreement.
>
>Hi Patrick.  Yeesh, you certainly took me to task.  Well, my use of 
>the words "undoubtedly" and "dumb" were in no way intended to be 
>dismissive of the film.  I suppose I was clumsily trying to refer to 
>the overwhelming sense of fun inherent in Electric Dragon.  The 
>superhero elements, the music from Ishii's band, the sparse but 
>hyperbolic "dialogue", Nagase and Asano doing overtime away from the 
>set of Gojoe and apparently enjoying it. In comparison with Ishii's 
>other works, it doesn't have quite the metaphysical depth and 
>exploration of character and instead harks back to the punkish 
>energy of "Thunder Road" and his concert films, which appears to 
>have been the director's intention.  In this way, I felt Electric 
>Dragon was a much more accessible work than "Angel Dust" or "August 
>In The Water", because of its reliance on sound and visuals.  It 
>lacks narrative depth, but compensates for it with its barrage of 
>sensory stimulation. That's a rather convoluted explanation of the 
>"well-hidden brain" comment.
>  I guess fundamentally we're not really in disagreement, as we both 
>enjoyed the film.  I hope everyone else gets a chance to see it. 
>Don Brown
>p.s.The soundtrack by Mach 1.67 is available on CD in Japan.     
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>????????? No.1 ? MSN Hotmail ??http://www.hotmail.com/JA/

-- 
Colin Geddes

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