DARE-AOKE ROUND 3
Before we begin, sorry for the lack of updates. I needed a new modem, and these movies are torture. It's hard enough to write about them, let alone make it readable. Basically I was too lazy to post them, so you get two at once.
My partner in crime Joe over at http://reassurance.blogspot.com/ has updated with his reasoning behind only two entries as well. Difference is, I'm watching mine. I think we're back on track, though, and as he mentions in his latest post, we've also been doing a "why haven't I seen THIS" reccomendation on a weekly basis. I won't be posting about those regularly, but thus far I've experienced Stardust Memories, Casablanca, Diva, and the awesome A Nos Amours. This week is baby's first Fellini, Amarcord. Alright, here's the shitty movie.
SF:Episode One (aka. Samurai Fiction) - dir. Hiroyuki Nakano - 1998 - Japan
This is a film that’s inexplicably shot in black and white. There’s no reason for this decision at all, and while it certainly doesn’t look bad, it’s not like it’s channeling the beauty and brilliance of Kurosawa or something. It’s as if it were cheaper to shoot it that way, so they did it. There’s a red wash that covers the screen when certain people die, yet not everyone. It’s distracting, and it’s the kinda thing I’d probably like in a video game or something. This isn’t nearly as fun as killing people in a video game, unfortunately. I don’t understand much about the story except that an underdog is challenging a much more accomplished swordsman to get a blade back or something. This might have been the story for a Dragonball Z story arc, too. Ugh. This is just boring, and tedious, and contains far too many characters for me to care. I’m assuming that’s where the name Samurai Fiction springs from, to try to draw a parallel to Pulp Fiction. There are, after all, a lot of different stories and characters in both. That’s about the only connection. Pulp Fiction has charm, comedy, and charisma to spare, and it didn’t feel like sharing any of it with Samurai Fiction. Tarantino loves the Japanese, too! Hell, he probably liked this. They can’t all be winners, right? There’s also this misguided feeling that this is a comedy, though it’s certainly not funny at all. Granted, there may be some sort of comedy that's lost in translation. Most Asian humor is either really unfunny or goes over my head. It plays itself in a very goofy way, but will then become suddenly serious. It doesn’t work at all, and I don’t trust the comedy of the Japanese if this is the best they have to offer. And if you’re asking, no, there sadly isn’t an episode two...YET! Instead, gorge yourself on director Nakano’s other abortion Red Shadow, which I had the misfortune of seeing before this. He shoots just as boring in color as he does in black and white, and that shit is just as lame with ninjas instead of samurai. How can you fuck up ninjas??? This is easily the best of the three that I’ve watched thus far, but that’s kinda like comparing turd sizes.
-M
Before we begin, sorry for the lack of updates. I needed a new modem, and these movies are torture. It's hard enough to write about them, let alone make it readable. Basically I was too lazy to post them, so you get two at once.
My partner in crime Joe over at http://reassurance.blogspot.com/ has updated with his reasoning behind only two entries as well. Difference is, I'm watching mine. I think we're back on track, though, and as he mentions in his latest post, we've also been doing a "why haven't I seen THIS" reccomendation on a weekly basis. I won't be posting about those regularly, but thus far I've experienced Stardust Memories, Casablanca, Diva, and the awesome A Nos Amours. This week is baby's first Fellini, Amarcord. Alright, here's the shitty movie.
SF:Episode One (aka. Samurai Fiction) - dir. Hiroyuki Nakano - 1998 - Japan
This is a film that’s inexplicably shot in black and white. There’s no reason for this decision at all, and while it certainly doesn’t look bad, it’s not like it’s channeling the beauty and brilliance of Kurosawa or something. It’s as if it were cheaper to shoot it that way, so they did it. There’s a red wash that covers the screen when certain people die, yet not everyone. It’s distracting, and it’s the kinda thing I’d probably like in a video game or something. This isn’t nearly as fun as killing people in a video game, unfortunately. I don’t understand much about the story except that an underdog is challenging a much more accomplished swordsman to get a blade back or something. This might have been the story for a Dragonball Z story arc, too. Ugh. This is just boring, and tedious, and contains far too many characters for me to care. I’m assuming that’s where the name Samurai Fiction springs from, to try to draw a parallel to Pulp Fiction. There are, after all, a lot of different stories and characters in both. That’s about the only connection. Pulp Fiction has charm, comedy, and charisma to spare, and it didn’t feel like sharing any of it with Samurai Fiction. Tarantino loves the Japanese, too! Hell, he probably liked this. They can’t all be winners, right? There’s also this misguided feeling that this is a comedy, though it’s certainly not funny at all. Granted, there may be some sort of comedy that's lost in translation. Most Asian humor is either really unfunny or goes over my head. It plays itself in a very goofy way, but will then become suddenly serious. It doesn’t work at all, and I don’t trust the comedy of the Japanese if this is the best they have to offer. And if you’re asking, no, there sadly isn’t an episode two...YET! Instead, gorge yourself on director Nakano’s other abortion Red Shadow, which I had the misfortune of seeing before this. He shoots just as boring in color as he does in black and white, and that shit is just as lame with ninjas instead of samurai. How can you fuck up ninjas??? This is easily the best of the three that I’ve watched thus far, but that’s kinda like comparing turd sizes.
-M
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