Sunday 31 December 2017

Music Bits of Noise that I Heard in 2017...

Can't exactly say there has been much to have a positive impact on my ear cavities this 2017. 

Hear were some that were more bearable than others. Though a year more of comedy silliness than really good musical offerings...That's what I heard...


ZEN-LA-ROCK, 鎮座DOPENESS and G. Rina - Seventh Heaven



This is just stupid.



YOUR SONG IS GOOD - Double Sider


Such a collection of attractive men in hats.



Chai - Sayonara Complex


This isn't completely terrible. They're kind of like Blondie for the under-5s.



Sludge Pump - Straight Outta Mount Penglai


Dirty British beat for dirty minds.



bugseed - E.S.T.


More solid stuff from the seedy insect. Decent, you know?!



Onra - Chinoiseries Pt.3


More Asian-inspired stuff from Onra's Vietnamese side. Tasty.


Damu the Fudgemunk - Vignettes


Autobiographical beat mix of words, noises and sounds.


U-zhaan, 環ROY, and 鎮座DOPENESS  - 七曜日


Those guys get to making fun videos yet again. This time summarising the repetitiveness of the seven-day week. And then they got off the bus...



Evisbeats - Week


The leader of the new school releases some nameless beats.



DJ Krush - Kiseki


A series of beats for vocalists. Speak words over it!



Anchorsong - Ceremonial


One of music's nicest men comes with another album of live-production fun. See if live.



Kid Koala and Emiliana Torrini - Music to Draw to: Satellite 


Slow, broody stuff to get your hands moving to. Not the rest of your body, mind!



環ROY - Nagi


Something of a mature album from the young man. Many songs getting - and deserving - promotional video formats also.



It's fair to say there wasn't too much great music this year, but feel free to change my opinion...

Films That I Have Seen in 2017...

Here be some of the moving images that I saw in 2017 that were newly made and released. It's fair to say 2017 was no vintage wine. Largely because a year is a metaphysical concept that cannot be a wine...or even a decent Cheddar. 

But these are the ones that I thought best of these there twelve months...or so...


Always remember: Opinions can vary.


In some sort of order, starting with...

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno


Director: Yoon-suk Jung
South Korea 

Documentary look at punk duo Bamseom Pirates and their album "Seoul Inferno" - as the title suggests. Music, larking about, "political" lyrics, court cases, questioning of their motivations musically...An at times comedic, at times serious political look at South Korean youth and their "relationship" with their neighbours in the North.

The Death of Stalin


Director: Armando Iannucci 
UK/France 

Iannucci-san and friends take their political comedy away from modern-day UK/US politics to Twentieth Century Russian naughtiness following the demise of some famous figure. Joshing and bants galore alongside the dark side of politics to make one laugh and consider. 

Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation


Director: Douglas Hurcombe and Geoff Trodd 
UK 

Combining two of my great passions: Japanese culture and Gary Lineker; alongside one of my loathes: mass death caused by a natural disaster, "Vegalta" takes its name from the Sendai football team who rose up the J-League standings in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Fans and local residents affected take a look at how the team's success gave them some brief hope after such a huge loss.   

Noise


Director: Yusaku Matsumoto
Japan 

First time director takes a look at youth and motivation in the backdrop of the Akihabara Massacre of 2008. Generational differences create pressures on the youth of the day, creating the potential for a snap-point. Noisy and bleak, "Noise" offers a voice to the little man.  

Junk Head


Director: Takahide Hori
Japan 

Stop-go. Stop-go. That old animation technique is making a comeback. Don't take the plot too seriously with this one; more enjoy the ride around as a human's mind is transplanted into a mishmash robot hopelessly wandering the strange underworld of botched clones. Inventive, if a little mad, this one feels straight out of the Nineties. 

Love and Other Cults


Director: Eiji Uchida
Japan 

Uchida-san's second collaboration with the good folk at Third Window Films. Ai is well mental a one and gets herself caught up in all kinds of wacky cults, gangs, sex scams, nuclear families in an attempt to find herself. The message is: slowing down a bit is a good way to help you find a bit of peace of mind...and then you get off the bus. 


...and those from 2016 with delayed release in the UK that I pretended to first view in 2017...


After the Storm


Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu
Japan

Kore-eda-san's annual festival tourist delivers a nice enough journey about a private detective unable to leave his ex-wife behind. Perhaps a little too comfortable, but with enough realism to keep you interested, this maintains Kore-eda's position as the better Japan person director still churning 'em out with regularity.

Kills on Wheels


Director: Atilla Till
Hungary

Three disabled killers fool Budapest's drug dealers with their unassuming status, though the English title gives little away as to the additional depth offered below the surface. A coming-of-age piece more than a violent action thriller. 

Harmonium


Director: Koji Fukada
Japan

Tadanobu Asano playing some sort of strange person moving into a family home and invading every aspect of their lives with some sort of sinister motive? Can you come round next Tuesday, Asano-san? You can't escape it, can you?! Nice film...but not nice in that way.

The Long Excuse


Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Japan

Sachio's wife's death in a car crash unveils the car crash that is his life in Miwa Nishikawa's well-paced and developed film. It gets inside its characters' heads, as one would hope a film would do. As your life gets worse, so will your hair. 

Destruction Babies


Director: Tetsuya Mariko
Japan

Remember little Akira from "Nobody Knows"? Well, he's grown-up now and likes hitting people in the face. A film that will perhaps annoy many, the realism in the fighting and harsh comment on the surrounding violence of society leaves its mark at least. That Yuya character deserves a slap, hey?!


That makes a nice round total of 11...A football team of films...in the way that Luton Town are scoring lots of goals in the fourth tier of English football...

Wednesday 13 December 2017

Blade of the Immortal

"Over-the-top" and "excessive" are two phrases that can be pointed in the general direction of director Miike Takashi: the high-octane montage that greets us to the “Dead or Alive” trilogy; the comical blood-splatting of “Ichi the Killer”; the extensive battle scene of “13 Assassins”. All are examples of pushing cinema to its limits of taste, morality and viewer boredom threshold.

The third is an interesting one. His late Nineties and early new millennium films were often notable for their excessive violence, however, this violence was often creatively twisted into place alongside other, often stronger elements. The nature of relationships and power balances between characters in “Ichi the Killer”; the slow-building tension of “Audition”; the nostalgia of…”Nostalgia”. With the budgets more limited, Miike would seemingly earn his stripes and get creative, but now with the budgets and hype much greater, has excess simply become self-indulgence?

Based on the manga, “Blade of the Immortal”, the supposed ninety-ninth film of Miike’s now one hundred not out career, starts with Manji (Takyu Kimura) with a price on his head, fighting off a hoard of bounty hunters, while trying to protect his younger sister. A troubled, masterless samurai, Manji duly fights them all off, but at the cost of numerous wounds. Pouring blood worms into his wounds, a mysterious old woman heals Manji, giving him the curse of immortality, though the same cannot be said for his sister.


Switching forward fifty years, Manji has been living a desolate life alone and un-aged, but is sought by the young daughter of a dojo master killed by the Itto-ryu: a school determined to resurrect the skill of sword-fighting as a necessary evil, unlike the simple physical education it has become. Wary at first, Manji vows to help Rin (Hana Sugisaki) get her revenge, largely, it seems, because she resembles his young sister. Bloodshed ensues as the Itto-ryu (and others) challenge Manji to battle one-by-one, soon discovering his immortal powers.

The Itto-ryu also seek to become the Shogun’s fencing school of choice, but find themselves deceived by the Shogun’s army resulting in a three-way stand-off between Manji and Rin, Anotsu (Sota Fukushi, the head of the Itto-ryu) and the Shogun’s vast forces…and some other side story characters thrown-in again at the end to further the silliness. What results is a perhaps overly-long sword fight between hundreds of men and a couple of women in the vein of "13 Assassins".

On balance, there is probably more bad than good with "Blade of the Immortal". Over-indulgence perhaps the main problem. While we expect this to be a slash-fest with arms chopped-off galore, when this is the main crux of the film, it becomes a little tedious. An obvious comparison, "Ichi the Killer" centred around two main characters and their sadomasochistic relationships with those who hold power over them. The gore is an amusing and fun distraction, rather than the main draw.


Here, Miike chooses to go for long, drawn-out fight scenes that offer little after the first thirty seconds other than just adding to the body count. Little is particularly developed in terms of characterisation, other than Manji coming to terms with immortality being a fate worse than death and his explanation to Rin that revenge only leads to bloodshed - something Miike adequately shows. Villain Anotsu delivers a surface-level monologue midway through the film, but beyond this, the audience is given few clues as to whether to love or loath him.

Extended fight scenes is nothing new to Miike, with "13 Assassins" having the mother of all battles, but this was an epic battle to which the film had been building, rather than a extended slash-fest, having already had some earlier slash-fests.


The film looks pretty in parts, with some good cinematography and the special effects fit the bill. But as a bigger, more anticipated release than perhaps his films in the Nineties received, the bigger scale has come at the cost of creativity. His peer Shinya Tsukamoto still works to limited budgets, but still creates some inventive and interesting works.

Manji is referred to as the "Hundred Man Killer" and Miike is now a one hundred production director. But with his recent trajectory, his career seems not so much immortal, rather a slow death.

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Distance

Before his more mainstream success, kick-started by 2004's "Nobody Knows", Kore-eda Hirokazu was a documentarian who branched out into an interesting brand of cinema with slow pacing, mood lighting and naturalistic acting. His documentary experience had been put to use, with the use of long takes, improvised dialogue and even clips from previously filmed interviews.

Starting with the mournful "Maborosi", followed-up with the inventive and thought-provoking "After Life", 2001's "Distance" is the third in his initial trio of films that are similar in style and unlike his subsequent films that would see him garner more mainstream recognition abroad.


Obviously based on the Aum cult and the Tokyo gas attack of 1995, the "Ark of Truth" cult attack three years previous on water supplies to the city left dozens dead. As an annual remembrance, four relatives of members of the cult meet and visit the lake where they were based, but the reasons for this act are unclear.

Having their transportation mysteriously stolen, they are left stranded out in the forest with no phone signal for help. It is here their party becomes five, as former cult member Sakata (Tadanobu Asano) - though he abandoned them before the attack - also finds his bike stolen and unable to get home.

He takes them to his former living quarters while he was with the cult to spend the night. Here they discuss their family members and Sakata's recollections of them and muse on how things came to be; before going their separate ways in the morning to meet "same time next year."


With the picnic, day out feel, the film is shot largely in a homemade style, with handheld cameras and grainy footage, adding to the sense of mystery and intrigue. These blurred images are contrasted with the more conventionally shot flashbacks that each of the five have as to their family members as they first started to realise they were members of a cult. Though these images' greater clarity do not make the picture any clearer for those left behind.

The interactions between the five are natural for a group that has little in common other than being relatives of cult members. Perhaps reflecting the fact that Kore-eda saw the film evolve and gave the cast members differing direction, forcing improvisation within the long takes, handled well by the cast of Asano, ARATA, Susumu Terajima, Yusuke Iseya and Yui Natsukawa. Indeed, the film is littered with shots of the five positioned together, but looking in various directions or visibly apart; distant from each other, as well as their loved ones. Though as a double-edged sword, the documentary nature of the filming and dialogue may frustrate some viewers, as he favours naturalism over entertainment.

Perhaps intentionally, much like "Maborosi" before it, there is no concluding answer, as the motivations behind such acts will forever be unexplained. Though if "Maborosi", as has been described, is a haiku, then "Distance" would perhaps be better as a novel: An exploration of mindset, but unable to deliver the rounded conclusions required in the cinematic form. Indeed Kore-eda went on to spend much of the time after making "Distance" writing. One almost feels that if you were to combine "Distance" with the interviews of "After Life" you would have something along the lines of Haruki Murakami's "Underground" on the Aum attacks.


Kore-eda offers something of an ending to a story, though it is one with open ends in-line with the rest of the film. Atsushi (ARATA), the supposed brother of one of the cult members with whom Sakata was close, may not be the man he claims. Some beautiful cinematography from Yutaka Yamazaki to close reveal he is perhaps the estranged son of the cult leader, a man to which the others will no doubt hold some contempt. But this only furthers any confusion that may already be present in a film that asks many questions.

Alongside "Hana" and "Air Doll", "Distance" is in the trio of Kore-eda films to gain most criticism, for being a slow and drudging watch with a lack of satisfying conclusion to justify it all. But with the naturalism, air of intrigue and lack of conclusion as an end in itself, "Distance" has strong elements of good filmmaking and it is wrong to call it a bad film, rather one requiring more form to satisfy a wider audience.

Monday 27 November 2017

The Death of Stalin

"It's just fucking word play"
- Nikita Khrushchev

Armando Iannucci has spent much of his career predicting the political future: whether it's pre-empting overly bombastic news graphics with "The Day Today"; foretelling leadership changes within UK politics in "Time Trumpet"; and acting as a think-tank for any recent UK government with "The Thick of It". But probably bored of inadvertently directing the course of the UK, he now turns his art to the past. The Soviet past.


As you may know, popular Georgian Joseph Stalin died in the mid-Twentieth Century. Frenchmen Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin made a graphic novel about said event. Then a group of British writers turned it into a film script. We all know the routine. Finding the piss-soaked body the next morning, his supporting cast, made-up of names you've already forgotten from GCSE history confusedly debate what to do about the situation, choosing to work as a collective.

Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) is appointed Acting General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but real power is hidden behind him, as a power struggle emerges between Beria (Simon Russell Beale) and Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi), as each try to manipulate the situation and get the support of the rest of the collective.


This leads to lots of typical Iannucci fast dialogue and improvised banter in the workplace, as each actor brings a unique personality to their historical figure, such as Paul Whitehouse's cockney Mikoyan, Rupert Friend's pissed public schoolboy Vasily Stalin and Adrian McLoughlin's dirty old man Stalin himself. As with the likes of "Blackadder" before it, comedy is a good way of re-teaching history, placing historical fact in an accessible format.

Buscemi's line as Khrushchev denotes the quick wit of the writers and cast, but also the very nature of politics and how it is all about what is said, and what is not said. Joking aside, the tricks become more underhanded and plotting more deceitful. To succeed, each must eliminate his opposition as quickly as possible; the more ruthless the better. Every act has a distinct purpose to it: to gain the upper hand. Though this being Soviet Russia, getting bumped-up the order on the news is not enough.


The end takes a sinister twist as each is exposed for their previous and present crimes, with the victor the one able to vilify the other fastest. This is handled by the cast in a day-at-the-office manner; a stoic nature born when making decisions affecting the lives and deaths of others.

While without the sinister undertones of endless death, today's political playground of every man for himself and acting before the next man still holds true. An observation on the basic human nature of power struggle and that all political hierarchies are doomed from the outset.

GCSE History: B

Every 14 Days...(40)


Bullet Points (Mark Watson)

Mark Watson is on something of a wave of popularity with his recent television appearances (which has probably since decreased since I wrote this). He himself has even acknowledged this and, milking his new-found fame, encouraged fans to read his books as well...except the first two. I was half-way through his first novel, "Bullet Points", when I read this comment. Enjoying it up to that point, I wasn't going to let the author's opinion get in the way of my interpretation of the book!

Peter Kristal is a British boy growing up in the fictional town of Witching, Cambridgeshire, forever in the shadow of his American best friend Richard. As they grow older together, both become interested in psychiatry, moving to the US to study at university; Richard, however, at a much more distinguished university.

Their careers both develop, one obviously behind the other, though Peter achieves some minor success for his "bullet points" technique for mapping-out his patients' lives in bullet point form to help solve their problems. But despite this success, there is always something looming over him, stopping him from reaching a point of satisfaction and happiness. This constant chasing results in his eventual demise, harming both himself and the lives of others.

For a debut novel written by a young man, "Bullet Points" is a solid effort. Written from Peter's point-of-view with self-deprecating humour throughout, this is a nice, flowing read, with some interesting points throughout.

As the story draws to a close, it does maybe get a little messy in places - perhaps why Watson is keen to point out that he was young when it was written - but not enough to detract from the overall read, showing a writer with craft and a knack for placing humour at the right moments.

Days to read: 12
Days per book: 15.2


The Last Wolf (Laszlo Krasznahorkai)

Being that the sentences in Krasznahorkai's novels are so long and rambling, short stories may be the best introduction for some readers to his works. These two shorts - separated by some twenty-three years; grouped due to their common warden theme - as such act as a good introduction for the novice, though are not as rewarding as the main body of his writing.

The more recent titular short, "The Last Wolf", concerns a German academic in Berlin, relaying a story of his recent trip to Spain to a Hungarian barman in a bar populated by Eastern Europeans and Turkish. Asked to write a piece on the region of Spain he is invited to, he instead gets distracted by the story of "last" wolves in the region and the local warden who monitored them.

The German's rambling tale is in-line with much of Krasznahorkai's work, though continued references and interjections by the Hungarian barman bring comedy to the tale. Though the real theme here is of the warden's relationship with the animals with whom he is put in the difficult position between protector and predator.

The older story, "Herman", is a more sombre tale, as a local warden, forced into retirement, takes revenge by roaming wild; setting traps on the people of the village that has deemed him surplus to requirements. A group of young officers arrive in the village and observe the mayhem as outsiders.

Being shorts, the two lack the depth of his novels; "Seiobo There Below" while a collection of shorts, combined form a greater whole when reading. As such, while the most accessible of his writing, these are not a good starting point to truly see his craft, feeling more of a stop-gap between greater works.

Days to read: 7
Days per book: 15.2


Botchan (Natsume Soseki)

"Botchan" is something of a popular work among Natsume Soseki's books. It is also slightly different in style to the other works I have read, though still sits very nicely within his oeuvre, following, as it does, the inner-workings of a young man's mind in a slightly different take in his exploration of the human condition.

Botchan, the child-like nickname for our hero, is a young graduate in Tokyo with little real direction as to what's next. Offered a role in a provincial school as a teacher on Shikoku, where Soseki himself once taught, he goes along with the offer, but is belligerent about the whole affair, finding little joy both at work or at home.

The narration is much more bumbling and colloquial than is typical from Soseki, reflecting the young, arrogant hero. His misguided nature sees him cause trouble for his work colleagues, and so eventually himself, but his belief that he is always right is where the comedy lies, and no doubt what gave it popularity, painting an interesting portrait of the young.

Perhaps lacking the depth and soul-searching  oh his other novels, "Botchan" shows some versatility; and that we all like a laugh.

Days to read: 10
Days per book: 15.1


A Light-hearted Look at Murder (Mark Watson)

The second of Mark Watson's first two novels, of which he is rather disparaging, "A Light-hearted Look at Murder" is an interesting tale involving a scenario you would believe came from the mind of a comedian; and continues the flowing writing and dotted moments of humour seen in his debut.

Alexandra is a woman in her mid-twenties, working in London in a job that holds little meaning for her, single and having to live with her "City boy" brother and his similarly male flatmate. Bored, she stumbles across an advert for pen-pals for prisoners and chooses to sign-up with nothing to lose. This is how she meets Andreas, her new German pen friend.

But getting little from him, he then sends her an extensive manuscript...in German. Luckily, flatmate Gareth knows some German (quite a lot, it would appear) and is happy to take time out from his busy schedule to translate it for her in convenient, chapter-sized chunks.

As she reads, we learn of Andreas' life from his days at Cambridge which resulted in his meeting and falling in love with the fifth tallest woman in Britain, becoming a Hitler impersonator and moving to London to start up a look-a-like agency, before life takes a more sinister turn.

Andreas' intriguing grasp of English makes for some comic writing from Watson, with his idiosyncratic mannerisms, though perhaps this starts to decline a little as the story develops (though I blame this largely on Gareth's translation). The switching between Alexandra's daily grind and Andreas' memoirs keeps the reader interested, though it is without doubt the German's half that brings the most amusement.

Alongside the moments of humour are some points of social comment, such as seeing the Berlin Wall as a tourist attraction in early Nineties Germany as strange, as well as the at times misguided nature of graduates in London.

As with "Bullet Points" things are perhaps a little loose at times, though again this is not enough of a distraction to spoil the overall enjoyment. I wonder if I'll enjoy one of his books that he actually recommends...

Days to read: 14
Days per book: 15.1


Piercing (Ryu Murakami)

"Piercing" is one of the Ryu Murakami books that I've put off reading for a while. Polishing off his other more well-known books in the West, I chose to leave this one on the shelf. And I can now see why I have.

Kawashima (good ol' River Island) watches over his daughter sleeping in her bed at night, gently stroking an ice pick across her cheek. While not wanting to, he feels compelled to use it on her. Wanting to satisfy this hunger for violent acts, he decides to take a break from work to stay in a hotel room in Tokyo and plot to finally use his ice pick on a young prostitute, and hopefully relieve himself of this desire.

The motivations within the premise are hard to get one's head round, and as such, Kawashima is not particularly a character to grow fond of. His meticulous planning puts him in a league with standard "psycho" characters, but with a lack of depth and simplistic writing - stating motivations, rather than allowing them to flow naturally - both Kawashima and his supposed victim are two characters you are quite happy to see slashed.

Days to read: 5
Days per book: 15.1

Friday 27 October 2017

Mind Game

I first came across the work of Masaaki Yuasa with 2010’s “Tatami Galaxy”. With the ever-quick dialogue and the constant changing of visual styles, it was clear his style is to assault your senses rather than allow you to relax into an anime. With repetitive narrative, but stylistic variation, you can just about get through a twenty minute chunk episode, one at a time. A feature film, therefore, may feel a step too far for this style of working. But with a title such as “Mind Game” and my aforementioned experience, I knew I was in for a slight fudging of the head.


Adapting Robin Nishi’s manga of the same name, the aptly named Nishi bumps into old friend – and less-than-secret-crush – Myon on the train one night in Osaka. Myon invites him back to her family restaurant, where they sit and eat with her sister, Yan, and no-good father. It is here where two yakuza enter the fray looking for her father and after a butt-clenching near-death experience, Nishi and the two females make haste to escape the wrath of the yakuza.

It is here where things start to get a little peculiar. The yakuza forming a road block over a bridge, the trio, in a car stolen from the yakuza, are launched into the water below and into the mouth of a whale. Here they find a quiet place to rest in the makeshift living quarters of Jii: a man trapped in the whale for some thirty years. Getting comfortable, the film slows a little in pace, losing its frantic edge, though is equally creative in the scenes of play the quartet enjoy.


This cannot last forever, however, and the trio get the urge to escape the whale and again see blue skies. Hatching a plan, a frantic chase ensues to escape the whale’s mouth, with memories and dreams flashing before each as they run to freedom. Before we start all over again.

But I’ve missed out some bits here…quite a few bits. The film’s introduction is an endless stream of visual imagery that is seemingly unconnected. This fast and frantic style brings a lot to take in initially, though is enjoyable to watch as the colourful variety in the images flashes before your eyes, in a similar way to Satoshi Kon’s subsequent “Paprika”, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. As the film progresses, however, with the opening repeated to come full circle, this is more than a simple stream of consciousness to look pretty.

At key points for each character, nostalgic memories and possible hopes for the future flash before their eyes, forming this montage when combined at rapid speed. These stay with the character’s throughout serving as points of motivation to escape, and giving the film a well-rounded completeness on conclusion.

There are many apparent “mind games” at work here: flashing mind’s eye visions throughout the narrative; and the literal “Sliding Doors”-esque twist of fate at the end showing how it could all have been avoided and life would have been different in an alternate reality – repeating the initial scenario once more in a “story that has never ended.”


There are a large number of ideas to take in, but Yuasa handles this well enough to avoid unwanted overload for a feature length. The dialogue is sparser than in “Tatami Galaxy”, something of a relief to a non-native Japanese speaker, and so the film can be enjoyed, as oppose to endured, with moments of relaxing animation to provide respite.

Jasper Sharp’s introduction as part of the London East Asian Film Festival notes how its 2004 release coincided with a pivotal year for anime: the release of Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” and Otomo’s “Steamboy” as well as Oshii’s “Innocence” screening at Cannes. With “Mind Game”, Yuasa’s name can fit alongside this company comfortably for originality and style that lives long in the mind.