I saw both of these over the weekend. Check out the Brattle blurbs and the articles linked off of them and decide if you'd dig them. I did, each in its own genre, context, and mind-altering way...
PANDORA'S BOX is a wonderful and sad silent film. Lulu is a beautiful young woman who gets by in her Berlin ingenue life thanks to the kindness of not-so-strangers. She will sometimes share such kindness with her sketchy friends, and try to help them with their dreams/schemes. As a result, some consider her reputation to be questionable, but her apparent innocence and naivete continue to disarm man after man. Louise Brooks as Lulu is bright and shiny and beautiful. Perfect for portraying a woman who men see as their salvation or their doom, but either way, find irresistible. And she, she is willful at times, but likes who she likes and stands by those she calls friends. Unfortunately, she cannot choose who desires her and their character. Naturally, bad things happen. It *is* called PANDORA'S BOX, after all.
THE GREAT YOKAI WAR is pretty frickin fried. If you've seen any of writer/director Takashi Miike's other work (ICHI THE KILLER, AUDITION, GOZU, IZO, HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS) you'll understand what I mean. If you've enjoyed his stuff, you should definitely check this out. On the scale of sensible narrative, it's probably about better than average for Miike. If you're not familiar w his work, but aren't a stickler for umm... reality... or... consistent narrative... or... logic..., heh, check it out. =)
Tadashi, A young city boy sent to live in the country w his grandpa, is chosen to be a village's hero, the Kirin Rider, at a local festival. The festival's story claims that the hero must trek into the mountain of the Goblin to recover his enchanted sword to do battle with evil and protect the spirits. His grandpa seems to believe the story, and as his days in the country pass, Tadashi stumbles into situations which point to the festival story being more than just a fairy tale. When he is finally drawn up to the Goblin mountain, he encounters members of the fabled Yokai - creatures, spirits, and sprites, who rule and govern little bits of nature. Their behavior scares Tadashi, but these Yokai seem to be afraid of something, or someone, else. Tadashi must recover his sword and find out who is terrorizing the Yokai.
I forget if it's in the Brattle blurb or some other review, but I think the phrase "live-action Miyazaki" is used to describe it somewhere. That's pretty fair at times. I imagine that for Japanese audiences, the creatures in the film must be recognizable from legends and folk tales. It's too bad the U.S. isn't old enough to have created a rich and colorful mythology to explain the world, pre-technology, pre-Western philosophy, y'know? On average, everything and everyone here is too new to be able to create an experience like this for an American audience.
Trippy stuff.
Keep on keepin on~
p.s. If you get yourself lookin at the calendar, look ahead to BRICK and HARD CANDY tomorrow and Wed, and check out the weekends for midnight shows.
p.p.s. Larry hit me back w an email pointing to Superman as an American-made legend or myth. Of course, I can't argue with that. But y'know, where are the unseen creatures who make the wind blow, or hold the sun up in the sky, or prick you with pins when your arm falls asleep? O well.
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