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petroniaMy current MSN display message, the previous one being Nobunaga vs. tamagochi: round 1 fight! Matsuda Ryuhei turns up in a lot of Fantasia movies, and I realised yesterday that he commits horrible murders in most of the ones I've seen. Or at least causes people to die in awful ways. Or both. I've always wanted to write a media essay on the alienating quality of Matsuda Ryuhei's looks and how they're employed by his films' directors as a signifier of his character's unworldiness/inhumanity/outsider status/whatever, but then I am the only person who thinks Matsuda Ryuhei is pretty in an alienating way. Everyone else just thinks he's pretty. Maybe I should write a media essay on how he always plays homicidal maniacs.
Every year I try to write these newspaper-column-length reviews of Fantasia movies and peter out after three or four, because I have to get to the next movie and just haven't the time. No more. This year the blurbs will be short, opinionated and plot/spoiler-free.
Ashura: okay, this was cheesy. As in the oni bleed spurts of fluorescent green paintball paint that glow eerily because the blacklight is turned on, so that the actors' teeth and the lining to their kimonos also incidentally glow white, that kind of cheesy. It's pretty, though, very much in a "Japanese wuxia" vein, and the soundtrack is by Kanno Yoko. (Which means that Kanno Yoko was the one who sat down and said to herself, "Now what would be a good ending theme for a Japanese historical fantasy film? ...I know, Sting and Herbie Hancock covering My Funny Valentine!")
The film was apparently adapted from a theatrical play. The kabuki bits were indubitably the most awesome part.
The Taste of Tea: I went to see this because someone on my flist recommended it - I can't remember whom. ^^; In a way it's like an Ozu film on crack. It has that Ozu slice of daily life thing happening, complete with static shots of the family contentedly sitting on the veranda and sipping tea while contemplating a shared middle distance, except the family is comprised of oddballs (including two animators and a mangaka who reminded me nigglingly of Ayamine Rando), and their daily life is... how to put it? Picture the last really weird event you encountered; something that happened on your commute that caused you to log into LJ as soon as you got home so you could make a "WTF?" post, that sort of thing. Now picture something like that happening every day to somebody in your immediate family, and you about have it. XD It's hilarious, heartwarming, and made me tear up a couple of times. Recommended to all and sundry.
Oh, and there's a go club romance. ♥ So accomplished did I feel when Haruno's sempai asked him, "You're not an insei? You don't have other club activities?" and I KNEW WHY HE HAD TO ASK.
Every year I try to write these newspaper-column-length reviews of Fantasia movies and peter out after three or four, because I have to get to the next movie and just haven't the time. No more. This year the blurbs will be short, opinionated and plot/spoiler-free.
Ashura: okay, this was cheesy. As in the oni bleed spurts of fluorescent green paintball paint that glow eerily because the blacklight is turned on, so that the actors' teeth and the lining to their kimonos also incidentally glow white, that kind of cheesy. It's pretty, though, very much in a "Japanese wuxia" vein, and the soundtrack is by Kanno Yoko. (Which means that Kanno Yoko was the one who sat down and said to herself, "Now what would be a good ending theme for a Japanese historical fantasy film? ...I know, Sting and Herbie Hancock covering My Funny Valentine!")
The film was apparently adapted from a theatrical play. The kabuki bits were indubitably the most awesome part.
The Taste of Tea: I went to see this because someone on my flist recommended it - I can't remember whom. ^^; In a way it's like an Ozu film on crack. It has that Ozu slice of daily life thing happening, complete with static shots of the family contentedly sitting on the veranda and sipping tea while contemplating a shared middle distance, except the family is comprised of oddballs (including two animators and a mangaka who reminded me nigglingly of Ayamine Rando), and their daily life is... how to put it? Picture the last really weird event you encountered; something that happened on your commute that caused you to log into LJ as soon as you got home so you could make a "WTF?" post, that sort of thing. Now picture something like that happening every day to somebody in your immediate family, and you about have it. XD It's hilarious, heartwarming, and made me tear up a couple of times. Recommended to all and sundry.
Oh, and there's a go club romance. ♥ So accomplished did I feel when Haruno's sempai asked him, "You're not an insei? You don't have other club activities?" and I KNEW WHY HE HAD TO ASK.
