Fantasia '04: Gozu
Jul. 11th, 2004 02:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaMiike 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. ^^;)
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. ^^;)
