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...

Raindance Film Festival 2017: Junk Head

Stop-motion animation is one of those things that you thought might die-out with the Nineties, much like shell suits, Aston Villa footballing success and that Prince song. But, while sometimes employed due to budget constraints, has created some very effective moments in cinema, giving many works a charm not possible with modern CGI. Takehide Hori's debut feature "Junk Head" may be lacking in certain areas, but charm is certainly not one of them.

Essentially self-made, with the help of Yuji Sugiyama and Atsuko Miyake, much like Nick Park with "A Grand Day Out" which took years to make, "Junk Head" is four years in the making and a clear labour of love. And while watching a stop-motion film in 2017 may feel a bit backward, the fact that it takes you back to the days of yesteryear is part of the attraction to "Junk Head", with a soundtrack and style that feels straight out of the Nineties.

Humans have modified themselves to the point where they can live with vastly expanded life-spans; though the price for this endless living is the loss of ability to reproduce. With the need for greater manpower, human clones were created to take on the workload, though inevitably they rebelled. Forced to live underground, the "unstable" clones have taken on a number of differing forms: some mad; some evil; some funny; some friendly; all seemingly straight out of a creative art studio.

With the need for humans to learn more about how to reclaim the ability to reproduce, volunteers are sent underground to learn how it may be possible again. One such volunteer accidentally crashes underground; only his modified head surviving the journey.

Found by a trio of eccentric hunters, the head is taken to a doctor who transfers his mind into that of a boy robot. Understanding that he is of human form - the master race of creators - the clones revere him as a god. But confused by his new body and surroundings, the human runs in panic. To start, this leads to many scenes of running through seemingly endless corridors, trying to avoid the monstrous clones that lurk behind each and every corner.

Eventually plummeting further into the depths of the Earth, he is again found in a heap on the floor in need of reconstruction - his next incarnation as a mute worker robot. Getting lost on an errand, he again finds himself in an endless maze avoiding monsters everywhere, before being reunited with the original hunters to try and find the secret of reproducing.

Plot-wise, with a newly created world, there are many gaps, and we are thrown into a scenario knowing about as much as our dazed and confused hero. To start, there is a feeling that this could be two hours of endless running through corridors to Nineties-esque electro. But as the bumbling hero's story develops, you do follow him on his journey, with the animation style soon feeling less of a novelty as it progresses. Sadly, however, just as you're getting into the characters and their various quirks, the film comes to a somewhat abrupt, and inconclusive, end.

Humour is laced throughout "Junk Head", from the movements, to character traits, to the down-right strangeness of the character design, particularly the hunters. The obscure, distorted language in which all characters speak starts off as potentially irritating, but gradually you feel as if you almost comprehend it. Indeed, "Junk Head" is a film that you grow into in the unique environment, much like the human in the underground setting.

But for all its charms, "Junk Head" perhaps needs a more satisfying conclusion, particularly with the running time in a challenging style to hold an audience's attention. Originality of themes may not be as strong as it could be also; many ideas feeling likes those you may have seen before. In that sense, developed from a short, as a feature it is a little lacking overall.

But in a day and age where "quick and easy" (I say with no authority) computer graphics are starting to rule, the heart and soul of "Junk Head" are there to see, despite its hero lacking either. The sped-up shots of the three man crew during production over the end credits are a nice touch, though with so few people working on the film, these are over far too quickly. A shame for a film that took so long to make...