Kitano

Fergus MacDermot macdermotfergus at hotmail.com
Sun Apr 11 06:03:17 EDT 2004


>being maudlin and verging on TV-movie trite.  I do
>agree that "Zatochi" is a fun, artful return to form.

I did enjoy Zatoichi but I thought it lacked the darkness of the originals 
(I've only seen 3 from the 60s) and there was a numberof points that 
bothered me, chiefly.

When he goes gambling and notices the dice are switched, he suddenly flaes 
up and cuts them to pieces. Great action but shouldn't he be slightly harder 
to provoke? If he was that fiery, I don't care how good a swordsman you 
were, you'd soon be dead.

The other one is the ending. Why make us question whether he is blind or not 
(this has probably been covered in this list already but I'm new. Feel free 
to ignore, oint to the thread). "I can't see even with my eyes open" is 
hugely ambiguous, especially after tripping over - something that didn't 
happen when he was blind. Remember when he stepped over the Asano's 
characters leg?

Lovely use of rhythm though.

fergus

>--- Mark Mays <tetsuwan at comcast.net> wrote:
> > > I do agree that "Zatochi" is a fun, artful return
> > > to form.
> >
> > When did he careen away from form?
>
>I might be mistaken, but I believe there was a general
>feeling that "Dolls", while beautiful to look at, was
>not up to snuff--unless form is viewed purely in
>technical/visual terms; then, no, he hasn't careened
>away from form.  Even so, I found "Kikujiro" and
>"Brother" to be weak compared to some of his earlier
>films--and "Hana Bi" as well, although apparently I'm
>a bit alone in my feelings about it.  I should add
>that I was so ready to dislike "Dolls" from all that
>I'd read about it that I found myself rather liking it
>(wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting, I guess).
>
>Anyway, Mark, care to elaborate on your thoughts about
>Kitano's work?  Form?  I'd be very curious to get your
>take.
>
>Mitch
>
>=====
>Most recent propaganda (updated when I remember):
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>http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=articleArchive&articleId=CA70934&display=searchResults&stt=001
>http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2000-11-10/books_set2.html
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>http://generationrice.com/index.phtml?talk=peterichang_1
>http://www.minsky.com/branches.htm
>
>"As the movie industry becomes more like the merchandising industry, the 
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>  I think it's very difficult to be a young writer today.  I fear that 
>young writers, after one or two books, will disappear the way young film 
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