Let the Right One In

Many people try to make vampire films, and the majority of them fail horribly.  I mean, seriously, sparkling vampires?  But that’s the Americans for you, always trying to make things look a little shinier.  A movie that definitely does not contain shiny vampires is Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In.  This is, in my opinion, one of the best vampire films that has ever been made, much of that due to the simplicity of the story mixed with the complexity of the relationship between the two main characters.

This movie is a dark depiction of a relationship between two children, one of them human and the other a vampire.  Both are isolated from the normal world due to their inability to properly interact.  The boy, Oskar, is victimized by 

stronger, meaner kids, while Eli, the girl vampire, is ruled by her hunger and doomed to play the part of a predator.  Both actors do amazing jobs portraying these tortured souls.

Let the Right One In is not so much a tale of horror as a story about the trials of growing up (though it does contain its fair share of blood).  Eli becomes Oskar’s savior, and he hers, but in different ways.  It is survival that links the pair and they come together to fill the weaknesses in each other even as they explore who they are.  The levels of symbolism and meaning in this film are 

deep, and I always find something new each time I rewatch it.

Though the movie was remade in America as Let Me In, it fell short in its attempt to rework the original with the same message.  Anyone with an interest in vampire films, or who can sympathize with the trials of a dysfunctional childhood, will most likely enjoy Let the Right On In.

Foreign TV

I think it’s something that many people overlook, but there’s a great amount of quality television being produced in other countries.  Yes, that’s right, foreign television.  Sure, you have to be able to read the subtitles, but in the end it’s worth it.  There are lots of hidden gems coming from the Far East in particular that put American television to shame.

If you’re new to the game of finding foreign T.V. shows, mysoju.com and crunchyroll.com are two excellent places to start.  They cater strictly to Eastern entertainment, but the sheer amount of content on these sites means you’ll rarely have to go anywhere else.  Watch out for broken links though, they are all too common.

The biggest problem of exploring the foreign television market, as far as I’ve found, is fishing through the rubbish to find the good stuff.  Just like U.S. television, much of it is produced to cater to a marketable audience and is, therefore, crap.  On the other hand, if you’re absolutely in love with teenage romance dramas, you’ll never be in short supply.

Since there is so much that is not quite watchable, you’ll find yourself starting and stopping a lot of series.  Often the descriptions are a little off, so you don’t really know what you’re getting, but the opposite applies as well – sometimes something that looks totally rubbish is actually quite good.

Personally, I’ve found that the comedies are the best place to start.  Even if they turn out to be mediocre, at least you’ve had a few laughs before you decided to end it all.  Be warned, however, that once you start on the road of watching foreign T.V. you may find yourself wasting countless days.

Why I Love the Brits

Growing up in front of the television is a lifestyle that afflicts most of the American population.  We are fed a pile of lukewarm entertainment which probably does more to harm our brains then it ever could do to help them.  The formulaic rubbish which we willingly digest from birth to death ranges from the banal sitcom to the utterly idiotic reality television.  Now that I’m a little older, and perhaps a little wiser, I turn my sites overseas, to British television and a slightly more intelligent level of programming.

I’ve always been a fan of Monty Python as are most of the people I know.  It’s a classic that made its way to the U.S. and influenced the way comedy is conceived.  This tradition of surreal and thoughtful comedy still exists today in British television, though in different forms to suit a different era.  I’ve been perusing my Netflix (since I don’t get the BBC on my own T.V.) and absorbing what British shows I can find.

I’ve not been disappointed.

Newer shows, such as Peepshow, The Office and Black Books, have drawn me in, given me a laugh, but not left me feeling devoid of intelligence the way most American sitcoms do.  Those that put these shows together think a bit outside the box, avoiding a lot of the clichés and letting me laugh instead of causing me to grind my teeth.

Of course, it could just be that I’m out of touch and don’t realize that I’m actually being bombarded with a horde of British clichés, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.  If media outlets in the U.S. could learn to emulate (not just recast and remake) some of these British shows, we might still be able to break the cycle of redundancy and bring some intelligent writing back to American shows.  But until that happens, I guess I’ll be sticking with the Brits.

Tarkovsky’s Stalker

"I would have to say that Stalker is definitely one of the all-time classics of science fiction"

Anyone seeking a good, dystopian, science-fiction flick need go no further than Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979).  This film takes the viewer on a ride through a depressed and run-down Russian city in which an unknown event of some sort has altered a nearby landscape to contain what may or may-not be some form of alien or mystical intelligence.  The legend is that if one goes into the “Zone” there is a building there with a room in it which grants the wishes of any who enter.  But rather than playing off an adventurous and action-packed journey to the fabled room, Stalker spends its time exploring the philosophical viewpoints of its main characters.

Said Zone is guarded zealously by the government (who have not figured out how to approach it safely), which means that those who wish to take a journey to the room of wishes must hire a guide of some sort.  Thus, the Stalker comes in.  It is his job to break the government blockade and lead his charges across the wildness, to the building, through its mystical traps (which have killed many) and eventually to the room.

The Stalker’s clients in the story consist of a writer who seeks to renew his inspiration and a professor who wishes to achieve great fame.  As the story unfolds, the strange landscape and rules which it seems to follow are a surreal backdrop which highlights the interactions between the three main characters.  The whole film is very existential in nature and provokes some deep thought in the viewer once they are done. 

I would have to say that Stalker is definitely one of the all-time classics of science fiction, regardless of an absence of laser guns, aliens or other high-tech trappings.

Akira Kurosawa – A Legendary Legacy

Anyone who has an interest in Eastern cinema, or even foreign cinema in general, should be familiar with Akira Kurosawa.  He is the Japanese master of film that inspired so many of America’s own directors and writers.  His film The Hidden Fortress (1958) was the basis for Lucas’s first Star Wars film.  Yojimbo (1961) inspired the Clint Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars.  So many of his films have made their way to the West in one form or another that it is impossible to be a movie viewer of any sort and not have at least touched upon Kurosawa’s legacy.

Kurosawa’s life was not always one of fame and brilliance, however.  As a child he was dedicated to everything he did and as an adult he was notorious for staying up all night and writing an entire script.  Not all of his films immediately rocketed to success.  In fact, most of what he made did less-than-well.  But he still persevered and kept making movies all the way up to his death in 1998.

Actors and crewmembers say that working with Kurosawa was one of the hardest and at the same time most rewarding experiences they have ever had.  He would drive those that he worked with, sometimes to the point of physical harm, but he also inspired such a loyalty that people were willing to push themselves in order to help him achieve his vision.  This intense attention to detail and perfection is apparent in Kurosawa’s films and part of what makes them so amazing.  Kurosawa admitted himself that he hated working with dialogue, and another sign of his brilliance comes

across in the often long scenes filled with movement but with not a single word spoken. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  Luckily, he left behind a body of work that takes weeks to watch and years of re-watching to fully appreciate.

Netflix is Dubbing My Films

I have long been an advocate for banning dubbed films completely.  It is my firm opinion that movies were meant to be watched in their original language and that dubbing over them for the convenience of those who are too lazy to read is akin to dying a poodle bright pink and carrying it around in a little purse.  In other words, it offends me.

Upon turning on my Netflix On-Demand the other night, I saw a flick that I hadn’t seen for a while in the queue, a remarkable film called Avalon (2001).  I was excited, as this is one of my favorite foreign (Polish / Japanese collaboration) dystopian movies of all time.  Anger spread through me, however, when the first words out of the protagonist’s mouth were in English.  It wasn’t just dubbed, but dubbed so badly by such an atrocious voice-actress that I cringed to hear it.

Now, maybe I am just less Netflix-savvy than I like to think, but I could not for the life of me find a way to put the situation right.  This has happened to me with other films as well.  I went to watch IP Man some time ago only to find the same problem – English voices coming from Chinese actors.  With IP Man it was worse though, as when they reached the point of the movie where the Japanese were introduced, they didn’t even bother with the dubbing – it was just in Japanese.

Netflix, please, put your default settings to subtitles or at least provide an easy way for us purists to switch the dubbing off.  I understand that dubbing may make foreign movies more accessible to the general public, but the process ruins a perfectly good film.  Movies should be proudly played in their language of origin and not subject to whims of a semi-illiterate English-speaking populous.

Japan, Food and Sex: Tampopo (1985)

Tampopo, directed by Juzo Itami, is an often overlooked comedy that I had the pleasure of stumbling upon during one of my university’s cultural film presentations.  The movie, for the most part, revolves around a trucker by the name of Goro who rolls into town like a cowboy to help the lady in distress – Tampopo - revitalize her failing noodle restaurant.  He does battle with bad guys who seek to undermine Tampopo’s success and gets into more than one fist-fight (as every cowboy worth his salt should).  The story of Goro and Tampopo is just one of the many lines that run through this movie, however.

Tampopo is a collage of smaller films, all themed around the relations between food and human interaction – from public, social interaction to sexuality.  It comes across like a spaghetti western in the main storyline (it was affectionately referred to as a “ramen western” during its release) and is filled with clichés, though used in an intelligent and amusing manner.

The side-stories range from the sexually-inclined eating habits of a Yakuza gangster to a lesson on how not to slurp your noodles when eating Italian pasta.  Those who have experience with Japanese culture will no doubt recognize many of the social and cultural elements that Itami is referencing.

Tampopo is an intelligent film that, despite its rather slapstick approach, takes a serious look at the ingrained effects on relations that food has for people of every culture.  Though it comes from a Japanese perspective, it is easily relatable to people of any country and is enjoyable by more than just those who really love ramen noodles.  I highly recommend it for those who enjoy light-hearted yet insightful films.

Man Makes First Samoan Language Film

Tusi Tamasese is the writer and director behind the first ever Samoan language film "The Orator".  Creating this film is already considered to be an achievement in itself.  However the movie has started to enjoy some success.



The Orator had been popular with the Australian, New Zealand and Samoan public.  While the movie is based in Samoa, it is considered to be both a New Zealand and Samoan film.  This is because the New Zealand Film Commission funded the movie.  It should also be noted that while Tamasese is Samoan, he has lived in New Zealand for a considerable period of time.  The movie is New Zealand's first entry into the foreign language Academy Awards category.

Many credit the success of the film to the universality of the story.  The film is about a son of a chief who is cast aside by his community.  In order to defend his family he has to stand up to them by using his words.

The director states that he never set out to make a Samoan movie.  It just worked out that way.  It is likely he made this comment because he wants to be considered for bigger budget films.  Nevertheless the success of this film will be good for the Samoan community.  It is well known that Samoans value their rugby.  This is because it is one of the few ways that young people can leave Samoa and make significant amounts of money.  Hopefully the release of this film will encourage more Samoans to pursue careers in the arts. 
 

American Adaptations: Please, Hollywood, Stop!

I know there is a need in Hollywood for fresh ideas, and one of the best places to find them is to simply rob the neighbors, but it’s getting out of control.

First of all, these movies are never as good as the originals – no exceptions.  I know everyone raved about Scorsese’s adaptation of Infernal Affairs into the hit movie The Departed, but, even though it was a decent (and Academy Award winning) movie in its own right (and I happen to love Scorsese) it still did not carry the same punch that the original did.

Another movie that simply did not need to be remade was the amazing Swedish vampire flick

Let the Right One In.  What emerged from Hollywood was pretty much the same film, except without the directorial excellence.  Let Me In was like a decaffeinated version of the original.

The worst is the seemingly endless horde of Japanese, Korean and Chinese horror flicks that keep getting reprocessed for sale.  Much of what makes those scary films scary is the cultural context involved.  The nuances are lost in translation and what started as something more psychological (a movie like Pulse, for example) ends up turning into screaming teenagers and the “murder-by-numbers” cliché format that movie studios love to churn out.

Now Hollywood is set to commit further blasphemy by letting Spike Lee remake Park Chan-wook’s masterpiece Oldboy.  Chances are that curiosity will get the best of me and I will saunter down to the theater and take in the new version when it gets released, but I am already predisposed toward the opinion that it will never measure up to the original.

It’s nice that famous directors are seeing these great films and being inspired to redo them within their own cultural context, but perhaps they should resist the temptation to devour someone else’s work and stick to making something original and unique to them.

Review: Kikujiro (1999)

I’ve always been a fan of “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, even in the many ridiculous gangster roles that he has played throughout the years.  He brings a style to his characters that make them appealing to the viewer.  Many people may only know this guy from Takeshi’s Castle, but those that do know him know that he’s a comedian first and an actor second.  Which made him perfect for his role in Kikujiro.

The basic premise of the film revolves around a young boy, Masao, who was left behind by his mother to be raised by his grandmother.  Masao has never met his mother and decides one summer vacation to make the journey.  Of course, being a kid he’s a bit too young to try and do the whole trip himself, so a friend of the family “volunteers” to take him.  That friend of the family is Takeshi’s character, Kikujiro.

Kikujiro is a washed-out yakuza, wanna-be tough guy, problemed gambler, all-around layabout and a generally poor excuse for a human being.  He gambles away the money that Masao was given to make the trip and so ends up having to get them to their destination though a combination of scamming, stealing and playing off the good nature of other people.

Along the course of the journey the pair runs into obstacles and some of the strangest people one might find anywhere, let alone in Japan.  A hippy in a van and a pair of effeminate motorcyclists are the main peripheral cast, though others pop up along the way.

The movie is a heartwarming look at the tough guy trying to do what’s right for the kid but unable to get past his own weaknesses.  Kikujiro takes quite a bit of abuse along the road, but still managed to keep his promise.

What really makes Kikujiro unique is not the plot, but the strange and erratic scenes throughout the film.  Those without a thorough knowledge of Japanese culture might find themselves scratching their heads more than once.  In the end though, it’s all worth it.  I’ve re-watched this film a dozen times and every time has been an enjoyable experience.  Highly recommended for those that want a light-hearted laugh or two with a moving story at the core.

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