I liked the Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit, tho I later learned to prefer the original. This other western has sat on my list for a while; I hesitated because it's only moderately popular and these guys are a gamble to me. Kind of an ugly title, too. But the continuing use of the "First time?" meme increased my curiosity.
Buster (Tim Blake Nelson) actually doesn't appear for long, because this is an anthology of six stories, each with completely different characters and actors (among them Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, James Franco, Stephen Root, Clancy Brown, Tyne Daly, and Brendan Gleeson). Two of them are based on literary short stories. The others seem to pay more homage to movies. Apart from the Old West setting, the main unifying theme is death.
Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Dreams (1990)
Wisely marketed by Netflix as "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams," this is my first anthology viewing since...well, another Kurosawa piece. It's also from later in his career than anything else I've seen. I figured I'd like it better than Dodes'ka-den, partly because dreams are bound to be at least close to fantasy.
There are eight stories, generally set in 20th-century Japan. In "Sunshine Through the Rain," a young boy ignores his mother's warning not to go into the woods on a day with the titular weather, because kitsune have weddings then and don't brook human witnesses. In "The Peach Orchard," another boy, missing the peach trees that his family clearcut, sees their strangely human-shaped spirits. In "The Blizzard," four mountain climbers are on the verge of succumbing, possibly to the yuki-onna, before reaching their camp. In "The Tunnel," a former WWII commander walks through a tunnel and meets the ghosts of men who died following his orders and don't know it yet. In "Crows," a budding artist imagines(?) himself meeting an anglophone Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese!) in France and traversing the scenes of several paintings. In "Mount Fuji in Red," a nuclear meltdown rapidly depopulates the volcanic area, with most people deciding they'd rather drown than face cancer. In "The Weeping Demon," on another mountain, radioactivity has effectively turned humans into demons in a Buddhist hell. And in "Village of the Waterfalls," a traveler discovers a contented Luddite village.
There are eight stories, generally set in 20th-century Japan. In "Sunshine Through the Rain," a young boy ignores his mother's warning not to go into the woods on a day with the titular weather, because kitsune have weddings then and don't brook human witnesses. In "The Peach Orchard," another boy, missing the peach trees that his family clearcut, sees their strangely human-shaped spirits. In "The Blizzard," four mountain climbers are on the verge of succumbing, possibly to the yuki-onna, before reaching their camp. In "The Tunnel," a former WWII commander walks through a tunnel and meets the ghosts of men who died following his orders and don't know it yet. In "Crows," a budding artist imagines(?) himself meeting an anglophone Vincent van Gogh (Martin Scorsese!) in France and traversing the scenes of several paintings. In "Mount Fuji in Red," a nuclear meltdown rapidly depopulates the volcanic area, with most people deciding they'd rather drown than face cancer. In "The Weeping Demon," on another mountain, radioactivity has effectively turned humans into demons in a Buddhist hell. And in "Village of the Waterfalls," a traveler discovers a contented Luddite village.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
You won't find the titular term even in a Japanese dictionary, but I expect to remember it for a long time, because it is spoken many times in this Akira Kurosawa film. Specifically, it's teen Roku-chan's impression of a trolley sound as he shuffles around a slum all day. I'm not sure whether he hallucinates or just immaturely (as with mental retardation) likes to pretend to be a trolley driver, but children taunt him, adults generally avoid him, and his mom frets about him. His imagined world isn't ideal; he complains about lazy maintenance men. Nevertheless, he's probably happier than his neighbors.
Roku-chan is more a framing device than a protagonist; our attention is mostly on others in his unenviable environs. These include two filthy drunkards, an overworked and abused girl, a homeless man and his young beggar son, a cuckold who treats all his wife's kids as his own, a henpecked husband who stands up for his wife, a haunted-looking man who never speaks, and an elder gentleman quite kind to troublemakers. None of their stories really overlap; they just alternate in the spotlight.
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Dead of Night (1977)
I'm not sure what got this TV movie with a 6.4 on IMDb onto my queue. Someone other than Netflix must have suggested it to me. Anyway, it's not like Night of the Living Dead. It's an anthology more along the lines of The Twilight Zone, starting with a Rod Serling-style narration that explains the title as referring to "a state of mind."
In "Second Chance," a young enthusiast for classic cars restores one from 1926, takes an old road, and finds himself literally in 1926. In "No Such Thing as a Vampire," around the time of Dracula, a woman keeps waking up with a bleeding neck, and her husband and servants can no longer shrug off the village rumors. In "Bobby," a woman appeals to a pagan deity to bring back her drowned son, but he's not quite the same anymore and becomes increasingly hostile.
In "Second Chance," a young enthusiast for classic cars restores one from 1926, takes an old road, and finds himself literally in 1926. In "No Such Thing as a Vampire," around the time of Dracula, a woman keeps waking up with a bleeding neck, and her husband and servants can no longer shrug off the village rumors. In "Bobby," a woman appeals to a pagan deity to bring back her drowned son, but he's not quite the same anymore and becomes increasingly hostile.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
As Long as You've Got Your Health (1966)
This was included on the same disc as Yo Yo. I was going to skip it, but at a mere 77 minutes on top of the previous 92, it called out to me. Besides, being divided into four stories averaging less than 20 minutes each would make it easy to stop whenever I wanted.
In part 1, an insomniac reads a vampire novel while his wife sleeps next to him. In part 2, people struggle to find acceptable seats in a movie theater. In part 3, people attempt to grin and bear living in a noisy, bustling city, sometimes with several medications against stress. In part 4, two picnickers, a huntsman, and a fence builder get on each other's nerves when they happen to choose the same neck of the woods.
In part 1, an insomniac reads a vampire novel while his wife sleeps next to him. In part 2, people struggle to find acceptable seats in a movie theater. In part 3, people attempt to grin and bear living in a noisy, bustling city, sometimes with several medications against stress. In part 4, two picnickers, a huntsman, and a fence builder get on each other's nerves when they happen to choose the same neck of the woods.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Wild Tales (2014)
I must be a junkie for popular flicks. All I knew when I rented this one was its placement on IMDb's top 250. The opening credits in Spanish took me by surprise; I actually paused to make sure Netflix didn't send the wrong disc. Sure enough, WT is from Argentina.
It's also six short stories, not alternating but one after another, with only the running theme of stress to tie them together. Before the title screen, strangers on a plane discover that they have a former acquaintance in common -- and it might not be coincidence. In story 2, a waitress at a nearly empty restaurant recognizes a mobster who wronged her family, and the chef favors a poisoning. Story 3 consists of road rage way out on a country road, still cranked up to 11. Story 4 sees a man contesting a towing charge when the no-parking zone wasn't marked. In story 5, wealthy parents try to ensure that their young adult son doesn't go to prison for a deadly, probably drunken hit-and-run. In story 6, a bride finds compelling evidence at the wedding that the groom cheated on her.
It's also six short stories, not alternating but one after another, with only the running theme of stress to tie them together. Before the title screen, strangers on a plane discover that they have a former acquaintance in common -- and it might not be coincidence. In story 2, a waitress at a nearly empty restaurant recognizes a mobster who wronged her family, and the chef favors a poisoning. Story 3 consists of road rage way out on a country road, still cranked up to 11. Story 4 sees a man contesting a towing charge when the no-parking zone wasn't marked. In story 5, wealthy parents try to ensure that their young adult son doesn't go to prison for a deadly, probably drunken hit-and-run. In story 6, a bride finds compelling evidence at the wedding that the groom cheated on her.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Kwaidan (1964)
Yup, another 1960s horror set in feudal Japan already. But there are key differences, starting with the fact that this piece is a compilation of four stories, with no recurring characters between them. I hadn't seen a film like that since before I started this blog.
Might as well summarize them in order of presentation. In "Black Hair," a samurai gets a divorce against his wife's pleas, not because there's anything wrong with their relationship, but because he's seen an opportunity to marry into wealth; as you can imagine, he lives to regret it. In "The Woman in the Snow," a frosty demoness spares a man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone about her, which gets tempting when he falls for a reminiscent beauty. In "Hoichi the Earless," a blind shamisen player gets unknowingly solicited by ghosts to play a ballad about the battle that killed them, prompting his caretakers to fear for his place in the land of the living. In "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai sees a face clearly not his own reflection in (wait for it) a cup of tea, and his reaction does not please the owner of that face....
Might as well summarize them in order of presentation. In "Black Hair," a samurai gets a divorce against his wife's pleas, not because there's anything wrong with their relationship, but because he's seen an opportunity to marry into wealth; as you can imagine, he lives to regret it. In "The Woman in the Snow," a frosty demoness spares a man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone about her, which gets tempting when he falls for a reminiscent beauty. In "Hoichi the Earless," a blind shamisen player gets unknowingly solicited by ghosts to play a ballad about the battle that killed them, prompting his caretakers to fear for his place in the land of the living. In "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai sees a face clearly not his own reflection in (wait for it) a cup of tea, and his reaction does not please the owner of that face....
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Cloud Atlas (2012)
The Wachowskis have not done a great job of sustaining their directorial popularity in the wake of The Matrix, with V for Vendetta being their one other major hit as writers and producers. This may explain why they decided to try something different, adapting a David Mitchell bestseller into one of the most expensive indies yet, sharing credit with German cult director Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run).
Specifically, we get six alternating subplots across different settings and even genres. In 1849, an American aristocrat visiting a Pacific island contends with illness, envy of his wealth, and a burgeoning sympathy toward slaves. In 1936, an aspiring British composer works on "The Cloud Atlas Sextet," but his history of gay sex limits his options for exposure. In 1973, an investigative journalist follows a murder trail toward a horrible San Francisco corporate conspiracy. In the present, an elderly British publisher learns the ups and downs of working with a thuggish author, followed by the untrustworthiness of his own brother. In 2144, South Korea has been manufacturing female clones for servitude, and one with the telltale serial number 451 rebels. In 2321, an unspecified disaster has led to Hawaii being divided into primitive tribes and a handful of elite technocrats, and one of the latter needs assistance from the former.
What draws these subplots together? Lots of little things: a recurring birthmark on focal characters, parallel moments in their lives, actual references to the past. Oh, and more than a dozen actors play multiple roles, among them Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Wachowski staple Hugo Weaving, hinting at reincarnations. If there's a single overarching theme to the whole thing, it's championing resistance against tyranny -- which, come to think of it, describes the other Wachowski movies I know.
Specifically, we get six alternating subplots across different settings and even genres. In 1849, an American aristocrat visiting a Pacific island contends with illness, envy of his wealth, and a burgeoning sympathy toward slaves. In 1936, an aspiring British composer works on "The Cloud Atlas Sextet," but his history of gay sex limits his options for exposure. In 1973, an investigative journalist follows a murder trail toward a horrible San Francisco corporate conspiracy. In the present, an elderly British publisher learns the ups and downs of working with a thuggish author, followed by the untrustworthiness of his own brother. In 2144, South Korea has been manufacturing female clones for servitude, and one with the telltale serial number 451 rebels. In 2321, an unspecified disaster has led to Hawaii being divided into primitive tribes and a handful of elite technocrats, and one of the latter needs assistance from the former.
What draws these subplots together? Lots of little things: a recurring birthmark on focal characters, parallel moments in their lives, actual references to the past. Oh, and more than a dozen actors play multiple roles, among them Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Wachowski staple Hugo Weaving, hinting at reincarnations. If there's a single overarching theme to the whole thing, it's championing resistance against tyranny -- which, come to think of it, describes the other Wachowski movies I know.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Princes and Princesses (2000)
France does a pretty good job on the animated feature front, albeit with a rather quirky focus. I had previously known director Michel Ocelot only for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest, which, while not my idea of impressive (the graphics evoke The Sims 2), at least expresses a whimsy that I value in my viewings. This other Princes movie offers more interesting visuals -- namely silhouettes, almost like a smoother version of The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
In just 62 minutes before the end credits, we see six fairy tales of a sort, mostly including at least one royal character. The unifying structure consists of two adolescents and a middle-aged man rapidly deciding what kind of stories they want to tell, assembling their costumes via retro-futuristic technology, and putting on plays on a peculiar stage.
In just 62 minutes before the end credits, we see six fairy tales of a sort, mostly including at least one royal character. The unifying structure consists of two adolescents and a middle-aged man rapidly deciding what kind of stories they want to tell, assembling their costumes via retro-futuristic technology, and putting on plays on a peculiar stage.
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