Politic 21

Here ye, hear ye

Ready to Die - Notorious B.I.G.
Edan vs. Edan - Edan
Superstarr - MC Solaar
Monstermoviematineeonibus - Delegates of Culture
Monkey Dot - Money Mark
Nouveau Western - MC Solaar
Sights in the City - Guru and Carleen Anderson
Wrong Side of the Tracks - The Slew
hip hop - Dead Prez
Build and Destroy - Boogie Down Productions
Gimme the Loot - Notorious B.I.G.
Crossover - EPMD
That's When Ya Lost - Souls of Mischief
Just Say Stet - Stetsasonic
DBC Let the Music Play - Stetsasonic
Underneath it All - Money Mark
Never Lost Control - Nomak
Prose Combat - MC Solaar
Mr. Sandman - Method Man, RZA, Inspectah Deck and Street Life
Daydreamin' - MC Solaar
What If? - Shabaam Saadiq, L-Fudge, Mike Zoot, Talib Kweli and Skam
A.F.R.I.C.A. (Norman Cook Remix) - Stetsasonic

Young Gun in the Time

With sold-out showings and being out of the city for a key part of it, I couldn't fit in many films from this year's Terracotta Far East Film Festival, their fifth to date. With the spotlight on Indonesia still to come, I've only managed one film from the offering: 'Young Gun in the Time'.

The title makes little sense, but is to be expected coming from Korean director Oh Young-Doo, whose previous two efforts are 'The Neighbour Zombie' and 'Invasion of Alien Bikini'. With names such as these, both are films that are clearly working on low budgets and, as such, are not films I have resulted in seeing. Being the UK Premiere, this is perhaps an introductory point for Oh in the British Isles.

So, plot: Detective Young-gun (played appropriately by Hong Young-Geun) is a debt-ridden private detective being forced to market his detective agency by his creditor, Sa-Jang.  Bumbling about, he stumbles upon Song-Hyeon, an academic seeking justice over the murder of her colleague and mentor. This opens up a world of violence, mysterious characters, time travel and murder with sex toys; a far cry from his usual role of hunting missing beetles. Wondering the streets of the city in his inconspicuous outfit of hat, Hawaiian shirt and Gary Neville 'tache.

Billed as a science-fiction action comedy, despite a step up in budget from previous efforts, the money is still not enough to stretch to much science, with computer hacking of unexplained proportions. The other elements clearly deliver, with enough fighting and bouncing about to warrant the 'action' tag and consistent enough laughs for the 'comedy' tag.

Perhaps the best element on 'Young Gun...' is the editing. '24' style split screens feature throughout in the use of montage sequences, coupled with Hong's goofy character to create some, at times, slick moments, though always with an element of silliness. 

In 'Young Gun...' silliness reigns, stopped only for moments of violence, but there's nothing wrong with that, when it's done in earnest, Adam Sandler. 

Every 14 Days...(16)

Something Like an Autobiography (Akira Kurosawa)

Aww, relief….

After the long and enduring read that is ‘Mao: The Unknown Story’, I needed something light, entertaining and easy to read. Kurosawa’s sort-of-autobiography was the perfect tonic.

Like Ronseal, ‘Something Like an Autobiography’ does exactly what it says on the tin (cover). Written in 1981, Kurosawa believed that his life from 1950 onwards, when corking, copper-bottomed hit ‘Rashomon’ brought him international acclaim, was nothing more than making films, and as such a documentation of that period would be of little interest to any. Of course, this is harsh self-criticism, but the man himself believed that his films would be a better reflection of his life from that point on – he is a film director, after all.

The book, therefore, follows his childhood upbringing from a samurai family, through school and into his starting in the film industry as an assistant director under Kajiro Yamamoto and Mikio Naruse, before directing his own films. Focusing on some of his earlier and lesser-known works, ‘Rashomon’ is the cut-off point where he stops.

Written well over thirty years after the events for much of the book, it reads more like a collection of short anecdotes from an aging man as he looks back on his youth. The films are looked at, but not in any great detail, as he focuses more on the relationships he had with the cast and other crew and what he learnt from them, such as how to drink.

‘Something Like an Autobiography’ feels like a taster of what was to come later, when his career as a director really took off and he made many of the films he is known for today. But, it is an enjoyable read of an old man and his musings.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.9

The Japan Journal: 1947-2004 (Donald Richie)

For years, Donald Richie was little more to me than just an American who wrote a lot about Japanese cinema. The leading foreign voice, writing celebrated books on Ozu and Kurosawa, I didn't know too much about him beyond writing about 'Seven Samurai'. His death earlier this year, prompted new light to be shed on his life, and as such I proceeded to delve further. 'The Japan Journals' is what resulted.

Started when he first moved to Japan after the Second World War, 'The Japan Journals' is a cobbled together collection of some of his diary entries over the years of his life spent living in Tokyo, looking at his life as a translator, film maker, writer. Structure is not a term appropriate for the collection, being that Richie was not meticulous in his maintaining of the journal, nor keeping it in an ordered manner. To read, it is, therefore, inconsistent, with several year leaps in places, and new life stages reached without any build-up.

At its best, 'The Japan Journals' sees Richie comment on the social, cultural and economic changes in Japan over his time there; at its most boring, it is anecdotal about the various artists that he served as interpreter and guide for while they visited the country; and at its worst, it is preoccupied with his sex life, focusing too heavily on any young boys he met and to whom took a fancy. Pointed out by close friends, while not a complete reflection of his life, the collection makes Richie out to be sex mad, often picking up men, hanging out in sex cinemas and brothels, regularly conversing with prostitutes. While this paints a picture of both his and Japanese life, it does get a bit tiresome after a while.

But, when the focus is on cultural differences and the changing face of his accidentally adopted homeland, it shows a love affair with a rapidly changing country, for better or worse.

Days to read: 26

Days per book: 16.1

The Roads to Sata (Alan Booth)

Set off from Cape Soya, Japan's northernmost point, and walk the 2,000-mile journey to Cape Sata, the southernmost  point of Japan's four principle islands, and you're probably mad. Well, I am mad and I like this idea.

Born in Leytonstone, like the much-travelled David Beckham, Alan Booth is an English writer who moved to Japan after his time at the University of Birmingham to study Noh theatre. Married, he clearly got bored and decided to wonder off for a few months in the Japanese equivalent of Land's End to John O'Groats. 'The Roads to Sata' is his account of the four month journey, documented the people he met, the places he saw and the alcohol he drank.

Done in 1977 at the age of 30, a white man from East London meandering around the Japanese countryside was probably an unusual sight, made even more unusual by his ability to speak the lingo. Booth was often met with 'full' ryokan, hostile receptions and cries of 'gaijin!' alongside friendly drinking companions, offers of lifts from drivers and calls for his head to be examined. 

'The Roads to Sata' is a witty account of his journey, with numerous drunken tales, but also shows a changing Japan, away from the bright lights and big cities. The differences in human geography as he makes his way further south are noted, as well as the various history lessons offered as he searches for the 'real' Japan.

Days to Read: 13

Days per book: 16.0

Three books, from three different perspectives, all about the Land of the Rising Sun: An elderly Japanese, not giving too much away; an American in search of his identity; and an Englishman that likes to drink beer, all entertaining and educational in their own respects. 

Gimme the Loot

‘Yes Love, love your fucking attitude, ‘cos the nigga that play pussy, that’s the nigga that’s getting screwed’

Notorious B.I.G. ‘Gimme the Loot’

Sometimes, it’s not always good to read too much about a film before you go to see it. When entering the cinema, I was already at the point of expecting a film with some good graffiti action, with a plot thrown around it. But, as the film went on, I became more and more disappointed.

The plot is simple: Adam Leon starts with a clip from ‘All City Hour’, in which writers talk about tagging the Mets’ apple at Shea Field, sorry Citi Field. Seeking revenge on a rival gang, two writers, Sofia and Malcolm, look to make a name for themselves by achieving this very feat. Needing $500 for a blind eye to be turned to gain access to the stadium, the pair take to the streets to try and hustle up the money.

What follows is a two-day journey around the city in a similar style to ‘Kids’, as the duo repeatedly struggle to raise the cash. This is where my expectations went missing. What I’d read about the film made me expect a lot of graffiti, a bit of a tagging war and maybe a bit of Notorious B.I.G.. Instead, the film is more about the failings of the two leads – and for me, this is the film’s failing.

The two leads, Sofia, played by Tashiana Washington, and Malcolm, by Ty Hickson, don’t particularly live up to their image: Sofia, while described by Malcolm as being hard and tough, spends a lot of her time naively getting scammed and played for a fool by people of all ages, with whiney shouting her only reaction; Malcolm, among fellow taggers, seems to command respect and sometimes fear, as if he got the juice – to use a Nineties phrase – though again spends much of the film foolishly, coming across as a bit of an idiot. Being that this is such a character-led story, it needed some stronger characters.

Though, with this, perhaps Leon is trying to create more realistic characters, full of flaws and inconsistencies, making them seem like the ordinary idiots you know. With the cast and director not having the longest careers in film on their CVs, there is a slightly amateurish feel throughout, that gives it a charm, but also some drawbacks. ‘Gimme the Loot’ is not a bad film, and has its moments, though by the end it’s not wholly satisfying and leaves one feeling of ‘gimme a little more.’

The Look of Love

With the recent release of the UK’s rich list in The Sunday Times, the timing of the release of Michael Winterbottom’s biopic of Paul Raymond, one of Britain’s very own millionaires, seems appropriate. With a cast reading like a UK comedy rich list, led by ‘the man who thinks he’s it’, Steve Coogan, a film about one of Britain’s most famed smut peddlers has the potential to go any number of ways.

Charting his rise from lowly entertainer to Britain’s richest man, the focus of much of the plot is on his relationships with the most important women in his life: his wife, Jean Raymond (Anna Friel), his lover Fiona Richmond (Tamsin Egerton) and, most importantly, his daughter, Debbie (Imogen Poots). While riding the wave of success his money brings, gradually, each of these relationships breaks down as he fails to leave the clubs, magazines and women behind and form a normal life.

Starting in black and white, in what seems like a slow-paced montage, WInterbottom adds colour to the screen as the Soho nightlife begins and the female clothing ends. The film then dives into a world of sex and drugs and every hole’s a goal, as the money builds and Raymond’s fancies change.

While the main plot focus is on Raymond’s relationships, these are often interspersed with scenes from his various nude shows or photo shoots for magazines that leave little to the imagination. These could, perhaps, have been toned down a little, or even left out, but being that this is a Michael Winterbottom film, there is a sense of trying to push boundaries, though this lacks the ambitious nature of ‘A Cock and Bull Story’ of the ground-breaking release of ‘9 Songs’.

The juxtaposition of music gigs and full sex scenes in ‘9 Songs’; the dialogue between Coogan and Rob Brydon and English countryside in ‘The Trip’ manifest here as love and lust in Raymond’s life, with his love of the women in his life sabotaged by his lust for looking at beautiful women naked and results in a decent little film, but never pushing too far beyond that. More could have been done to add humour into the script or put more into his troubled relationships, rather than filling time with scenes that result from the BBFC’s more relaxed governing – a situation Winterbottom helped create.

The performances here are good, though you do want Coogan to let out an ‘ah-ha’ every now and then, showing he is yet to fully shake the monkey off his back. Imogen Poots is convincing enough in making you believe she’s the annoying result of a slightly warped upbringing; and Chris Addison shows he is perhaps more method actor than stand-up comedian. Though Dara O’Briain will never pull-off an 80s Alexei Sayle.

British films featuring a cast of comedians with a slightly raunchy theme come from a long line in tradition of being neither sexy nor funny. ‘The Look of Love’ does not follow a similar path, though perhaps here, much like with Raymond himself, lust slightly overpowers love, leaving neither fully satisfied. 

Every 14 Days...(15)

Clockers (Richard Price)

‘Clockers’, the 1995 Spike Lee film, is one I have not seen for a while. The book of the same name pre-dating it by 3 years is written by Richard Price, a regular contributing writer on ‘The Wire’. Since I have a liking for both, I decided to take it for a spin, a rather long spin.

Split in two halves, alternate chapters focus on ageing homicide detective, Rocco Klein, and drug dealing lieutenant, Strike. After being given the duty himself, Strike discusses with his estranged brother that a local restaurant manager and low-level drug dealer has ‘got to be got.’ But before Strike can fully whimper out of his murderous responsibility, he is shocked to find that the deed has already been done and that his brother has turned himself in.

Put on the case, Rocco finds himself at odds to explain why a decent, hard-working man would hand himself in over the murder. Believing his brother Strike has to be involved somehow, Rocco presses hard to put the young clocker under pressure to take responsibility for the murder and clean his brother’s name.

The bold David Simon quote on the front cover reads ‘The Wire wouldn’t exist without Clockers’ and is one that can be taken as true. Written at a similar time to Simon’s books, it has a similar vein running throughout, focusing on individuals and building up their character and traits slowly. Many ideas, themes and characters from this book feature in ‘The Wire’, which Price would later write on.

It’s a long read and an intense one, focusing largely on the two main characters, but is well written, engrossing and asks some interesting questions about what would drive a man to kill.

Days to read: 26

Days per book: 14.5

The Box Lady and Other Pesticles (Richard Herring)

Following on from where ‘Bye Bye Balham’ left off, this is the second instalment of paper publishing of the second longest online blog in the world.

Looking back at himself a decade down the line, he sees himself starting to set-up his new life in Shepherd’s Bush following having said ‘bye bye’ top Balham. It’s more of the same, showing regret and shame at some of his previous actions as an older, wiser and now married man.

Being that this blog has now made its mark on Mr Herring’s ‘Warming Up’ blog, I can’t wait to see my name in print in 20 years or so time.

Days to read: 15

Days per book: 14.6

Mao: The Unknown Story (Jung Chang and Jon Halliday)

Back in August, 2008, I bought and started to read ‘Mao: The Unknown Story’. But by September, only just over one hundred pages in, I got bored and chose to start something else instead. Ever since, the seemingly never-ending book has remained on floor piles or shelves in the various accommodation I have since inhabited. But, seeing as everything else on my bookshelves had already been read, I thought it about time that I finally finished the bastard.

At some 765 pages, if you remove all the appendices and index, and small print, this is a long old book. Upon starting it, I whizzed through the first hundred pages again on train journeys, but beyond that, found the book to be slow and plodding. The book starts off at a pace you feel you can keep up with, but when getting to The Long March, you feel like you might have actually been part of it, as it seems to read in a ‘and then this happened’ manner. Motivation to keep going, therefore, soon started to decrease.

Reading ‘Mao: The Unknown Story’ is a bit of an ordeal, struggling through a long-winded book, feeling less motivated and as if you aren’t intelligent enough to care about some thing that happened loads of years ago.

The book, however, does not always sit amazingly well with me. While a history book – looking into ‘facts’ – it feels written in a story-like manner, as if first-hand experience. While all sources, etc. are cited at the back of the book, they are not always linked to the text, and the little inflictions and adding of ‘our italics’ seem more like the authors painting the picture they want you to believe, rather than leaving you to conclude your own opinions based on evidence.

Much of the book is undoubtedly true and it uncovers some previously unknown information, but with the style in which it is written and the negative attitude towards the subject from the outset, it feels less an academic text, and more a biased television documentary. This is a book that will divide opinion, but one thing that is for certain is that this is not the most comfortable read.

Days to read: 91

Days per book: 16

009 Re:Cyborg

So far for me, 3D films have been a failed experiment. Films have had to incorporate needless moments to try and justify the increased expense the format has brought with it; or they are simply nothing more than demonstrations of three dimensions on screen, with a loose plot fitted around it. My hopes, therefore, for Kenji Kamiyama’s addition to the 009 Re:Cyborg manga and TV series were somewhat muted.

‘009 Re:Cyborg’ is the first animated 3D film I have seen, and I have to admit, the best yet. On looks alone, the film is a nice piece of work, with the multilayers that the format offers working brilliantly, despite the need for subtitles on screen. Much like that other manga/anime franchise that Kamiyama has worked on, Ghost in the Shell, ‘009 Re:Cyborg’ is suited to a 3D format, combining futuristic action scenes in an aesthetically pleasing environment.

But that’s all about the format: what about the film itself? Plot-wise, the film centres around the reforming of a group of nine cyborgs from the 00 series to combat mysterious acts of terrorism carried out by those that claim to hear ‘His voice’. Having followed different paths over the years, there is friction between certain members of the group, hindering their ability to save the day. The ending leaves little explanation as to events or really establishing what ‘His voice’ is, felling a little unsatisfying as a whole.

Much like Kamiyama’s ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’, there is a lot of philosophy throughout the film, with lengthy explanations of various values and ways of thinking. And maybe that is where the film falters a little. With each ‘GITS: SAC’ Gig, there were 26 episodes to develop and execute as many deep philosophical musings as possible, but in just over one hundred minutes of cinema time, the ideas around ‘His voice’ are a little patchy and in need of more development and work.

This is very much a Kamiyama work, appearing and written in a similar vein to the ‘GITS: SAC’ anime series. Throw in religious undertones similar to those of ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ and you find Kamiyama’s interpretation of Shotaro Ishinomori’s ‘Cyborg 009’. The film shows two things: firstly, the strength of 3D when used appropriately in anime to create an extra dimension to 2D design, justifying the four times extra effort that Kamiyama claims it added; and secondly the potential for Kamiyama to take ‘Cyborg 009’ to a television series format, allowing him to explore all those crazy ideas he so loves further. It also shows the great Japanese sense of humour, with British Cyborg 007 named simply ‘Great Britain’. Larks.