Fantasia '04: Preliminary Remarks

I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to post the next Tanabata request fic about as much as I did want to post the last one, which is irrational and ridiculous because, well, request fic. Unclear on the concept, much? Of course I express this passive-aggressively, by not giving myself the time to finish it up. FantAsia's great for this purpose. Twenty movies at least to go:

( The List, in case you're curious )

I haven't got tickets for all of these yet, because I'm still trying to swing free VIP seating. XD Have already missed three films I wanted to see, due to scheduling (like the zombie high school baseball drama, man, shounen sports and zombies! two great flavours that complement each other) or because they sold out (like the Enki Bilal-directed one based on his bédée :O). I also may drop one or two, like Paranoia Agent. I mean yeah it's Satoshi Kon, but if someone sent it to me wouldn't it just sit on top of the tottering pile for a few months...?

Somewhere in there you have: Anno Hideaki directing Iwai "Too Ky00t To Be A Director Dammit, Go Join A Band OH WAIT YOU DID" Shunji in something that appears to be TOTALLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE YAY, Asano Tadanobu in a Thai flick shot by Christopher Doyle who needs plot?, and Vincent Cassel possibly playing a cowboy. Oh, and Matsuda "Pwetty Samurai-chan" Ryuhei in a gakuran. I think he's legal. He's legal, right?

...I pick the films based on director, though. No, really.

Fantasia '04: Gozu

Miike Takashi's sort of like Jackie Chan, if you think about it: you don't judge a Jackie Chan movie by whether it's a good or bad movie, precisely, you judge it by whether it's a good or bad Jackie Chan movie. Jackie Chan movies are a genre. Are all of them the same? Well, no. But there is a schtick, which has to do with native charm and goofery, martial arts, minor details like that. Miike Takashi's definitely got a schtick too, but it's hard to sum up. "Gory" or "exploitative" don't cut it, because his films aren't always. Even the sick sense of humour is occasionally reined in to non-existence. My brain teeters on the edge of sentences like "There is no spoon."... Basically what I'm trying to say is, Miike is one of the few storytellers in any medium that I've encountered since the age of majority and come to trust completely. I know he'll surprise me. I know I won't be able to second-guess him. I know I'll see something beautiful, and that at some point I'll have to close my eyes and go "ew". Hell, I know most of the time he'll give me a happi endo, even if it's a weirdly-defined happi endo. And he's certainly made enough movies to be a genre all his own. Really, what more can one reasonably ask for?

Having set down this paean, what of Gozu? Well, it's one of Miike's best, definitely, and not in the same way [insert last Miike film you watched] was. Lynchian to the max, for one. Illogical, dream-logical, post-logical, frightening like Kafka is frightening. (Though also funny like Miike is funny: there is a Minotaur at the centre of the protagonist's personal labyrinth, but damned if he isn't wearing tightie whities.) There are no problems of pacing or narrative ADD, which are Miike's major weaknesses. The pitch is Unheimlich psychological horror, and no matter how much you laugh at the momentary diversions the screw just keeps tightening. The actual fear factor probably varies with mileage - the "Les Diaboliques" trope of dead man walking where you can't see him gets me big time - but the tension is undeniable. Then you finish watching and realise the story was pretty damned linear. ^_^; In fact I absolutely defy anyone to harbour any thought in the dying moments of the reel other than "CONGRATURATION THIS STORY IS HAPPY END".

(Story summary tomorrow, as the flick deserves it. Not two films in and already falling behind. ^^;)