Kitano

Sun Apr 11 13:31:22 EDT 2004

My two cents worth:

I remember seeing my first Kitano film, "Hana-bi", the
opening film at the Singapore International Film
Festival in 1998(?), and the festival director asked
me right after with some conviction, "Wasn't that a
powerful way to kick-off the festival?". I simply said
"no".

Felt totally ambivalent towards the film then. It
seemed to switch between violently-inflected moments
of cool-macho-bravado and deep, wordless,
introspective contemplation. 

Strong as both currents were, they seemed to belong to
different films then.

But the film stayed with me, and haunted me for a long
time after that. Eventually, I found myself
championing and lobbying the film to all my film-buff
friends who weren't yet so well acquianted with
Kitano's works.

By then, I felt he pulled off a tremendous balance or
harmony between the at-times volatile, at-times comic
external world of good cops & bad hats against the
delicate and indescribable realm of pure sentiment (of
loss, yearning, sympathy and despair).

Sadly, I do not find this superb balance nor harmony,
which in itself represents a bold and original view of
life or reality in itself, in either his subsequent or
previous works (though i've only seen a handful).

"Sonatine" and "Kids Return" appear to address some
similar themes or notions, from somewhat different
entry-points, but neither reaches the full power and
poetry "Hana-bi". 

"Brother" doesn't seem even worth a discussion; whilst
"Zatoichi" doesn't seem to take itself very seriously,
and perhaps was not intended to be, though the film
had its moments for me.

So my point is? well, i don't know what my point
really is... 

I guess "Hana-bi" was special, but that's about it
with Kitano...

Naguib

 --- Fergus MacDermot <macdermotfergus at hotmail.com>
wrote: > >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):
> >http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/tidecull.htm
>
>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
>
>http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24lewist.html
>
>http://www.thepermanentpress.com/bookdisp.ihtml?id=303
> >http://www.fetchbook.info/Mitch_Cullin.html
> >http://www.corpse.org/issue_8/reviews/phelan.htm
> >http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020613/242/d11q6.html
>
>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 
> >book business becomes more like the movie industry.
>  There's more pressure. 
> >  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 
> >directors do."  --Don DeLillo
> 
>
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