Sunday, October 28, 2007
Throne of Blood
Directed by Akira Kurosawa(1957)
Kurosawa meditates on Shakespeare's tragedy "MacBeth" and transforms it into a dark samurai tale set in feudal Japan. Two successful soldiers - Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Minuro Chiaki) find themselves lost in a dense forest during a powerful storm. There they encounter a spirit who predicts Washizu and Miki's rise to power. Wahizu embarks on a ambitious path and quickly fulfills the prophecy.
Akira Kurosawa deftly displays his mastery of the medium. He creates stunning imagery through movement and landscape and borrows ideas from western literature and cinema to create a beautiful translation of the epic tale of an ambitious man. He effectively translates the knights and royalty of MacBeth's medieval tragedy into samurai and shogun of Japan's militaristic feudal era. Mifune portrays Wahshizu as a cocksure, driven warrior whose blind ambition slowly leads him to self destruction. Miki is a compatriot of Washizu who also tormented by the mysterious predictions, but does not choose the path of violence and bloodshed to determine his fate.
In Throne of Blood, Kurosawa creates a feeling of solitude that defines the culture of the samurai. The samurai are effectively realized by Mifune, with his hard, battle-worn face, scowl, and actions representative of his underlying torment, and is countered by Chiaki, who as Miki portrays a tough soldier, but with a human aspect, not consumed by ambition and bloodlust. The solitary life of a samurai is reinforced by the expansive panoramas of the remote setting in which the fortress resides. In addition, the skillful camera work and use of movement - in characters, horses and in battle scenes create swirling pattens that fortify the feeling of constant motion and change throughout the film. Much of the camera shots and angles were cutting edge at the time, so unfortunately much has to be taken in context when viewing this film. It is rumored that Kurosawa had seen Orson Well's monumental "Citizen Kane" a few years before, had been unduly influenced, and it shows. Throne of Blood is an superb rumination of MacBeth, gives new breath to a classic, and is another masterpiece by one of the greatest directors of the twentieth century.
A
Monday, October 22, 2007
Eastern Promises
(2007)Directed by David Cronenberg
In the thriller, "Eastern Promises", director David Cronenberg re-teams with "A History of Violence" leading man, Viggo Mortensen. As with the previous film, director and star explore the modus operandi of a man we know little about - Nikolai, a mysterious, ruthless, and ambitious member of a London branch of the ruthless Russian mafia: the Vory V Zakone brotherhood.
Cronenberg crafts a tale of a rising, motivated mobster and provides a vignette into a not well-known world of the Russian mob, involving murder, betrayal, and retribution. Set in present day London, the film focuses on a branch headed by Semyon, an charming elder don who is the proprietor of a plush Trans-Siberian restaurant which is a front for the syndicate. Semyon's warm charisma hides his merciless, brutal nature of a ruling head of a crime family. The gangsters are portrayed as mostly unintelligent, unequivocal henchmen concerned only with instant gratification and following orders. The exceptions are Semyon and Nikolai, whose loyalties are divided between the family and his chivalrous ideals. Nikolai's loyalties are further compounded as his path is intertwined with Anna (Naomi Watts), a midwife in a local hospital, who is in search of the family of an orphaned newborn whose slave-prostitute mother was impregnated and driven to death by the Vory V Zakone, and whose diary provides information about the mob.
As with the main character in A History of Violence, Eastern Promises' Nikolai is a man of mystery. While associated with the mob, he is quiet and calm, with a smoldering edge that seems ready to explode at any moment. Nikolai is more than willing to follow orders, but has a strange compassion with the people he meets (even if they are enemies), while his peers are callous, uncaring, and willing to off anybody who crosses them at whim. Mortensen plays the part well, his chiseled features adds to his rough appeal as a tough criminal. He also summons the rage of Aragorn in a violent and gruesome fight scene in a steam bath. According to my wife, there was a brief full frontal shot of the averagely endowed Viggo during this brutal and bloody battle, but I must have missed it, distracted by flying fists and knives.
There is also a fleeting love interest with Anna who allows the film to show more of Nikolai's compassionate side. While this provides more insight into the mind of the Nikolai, I wondered why Anna would go go out of her way to try and find the orphaned infant's family, risking her life and family to deal with the mob, instead of just going to the police. Like a lot of movies, I said to myself "What an idiot. Who would do that?" But not everyone acts rationally in cinema.
While Eastern Promises is an above average thriller, an interesting account about the Russian mob, and a character study of a gangster, I couldn't help think I was watching a Russian version of the "Soprano's". The cocky, fault-ridden but charming boss. His eager-to-please, unsympathetic henchmen. The gangster's headquarters in an established restaurant. Although I would have liked a few more details about ambiguous Nikolai, background on the criminal organization Vory V Zakone, and a more complete ending, Eastern Promises delivered what I expected from David Cronenberg - Gruesome, brutal, and wincing violence, gritty subject matter, and a decent plot. The director continually provides a good product, and does not dumb down, simplify, or sanitize his movies for his audience.
B
Death Proof
Written and directed by Quentin Taratino(2007)
Originally released as a second-billed movie part of Grindhouse, Death Proof is a throwback to the 1970s exploitation road-chase movies. Kurt Russell is featured as Stuntman Mike, a former Hollywood stunt race car driver who targets and kills women with his "death-proof" stunt car.
Like many of Tarantino's films, Death Proof is a glorification of the action movies of his childhood. "Vanishing Point" and "Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry" were two road chase films that influenced Death Proof, and are even cited in the second act as basis for a test drive of a 1970 Dodge Challenger. The high speed automobile action and violence is separated by scenes of extended dialog between the characters, which seems to be a Tarantino trademark. One scene of dialog toward the end of the movie is very reminiscent of "Reservoir Dogs", replacing the gruff gangsters with attractive stuntwomen.
The slow, calm, realistic, and informative dialog not only shed light on the characters, but provide a great counter-point to the intense, high-speed mayhem that occurs in the murder scenes and final car chase scene. While Tarantino's prowess for the English language may be his bread, the showdown in all his project is his butter. And the bread in Death Proof tastes so much better when it's dripping with posi-traction, four barreled, hemi-powered, 100 mile-per-hour goodness.
The classic muscle cars in Death Proof are as every bit as visually important as the sexy women. A '69 Dodge Charger, '69 Chevy Nova, '70 Dodge Challenger, and a '72 Ford Mustang all play big parts in the struggle between good and evil in Death Proof. These cars are all muscle and no flash (except for the Mustang) to remind you that you are not watching the latest installment of "The Fast and the Furious", and they proceed to get beat up, wrecked, and destroyed, and still manage to keep on running.
Death Proof succeeds at what it is - a great car chase movie, an homage to the exploitation road-chase movies of the 70's, and a good thriller. It doesn't require much brain power to follow, and Tarantino is successful at recreating the feel of seeing a much used film at an old "grindhouse" movie theater by designing the cinematography of Death Proof with scratches, flaws, skips, occasional lack of color, and missing parts. If it was a scratch and sniff movie, you would have been smelling burnt rubber, oil, transmission fluid, sweat, and blood.
B+
