Archive for the 'Articles' Category

Article – Cinema Below the 39th Parallel

Published on April 20, 2010 in Articles. 9 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The phrase ‘golden era’ was originally coined in relation to film as a label for 1930’s Hollywood, a time when anything seemed possible and megalomaniac producers mobilised their harems of stars to appear in some of cinema’s all time classics.

Since then many countries film industries have experienced their own mini eras of success and creativity. Post war Japan was a reflective time for the country and developed true masters such as Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and of course Ozu. The French new wave of the 60’s was a particularly strong period for a consistent producer of quality artistic films, before the baton was returned to the USA in the 1970’s, as the film school generation of Coppola, Scorsese and Lucas stretched their wings. In my book, Hong Kong cinema reached a cultural peak in the 90’s, an opinion I’m happy to bore people with on a daily basis. Yet a different Asian location has been growing in confidence and now has bragging rights as home to some of the most interesting, inventive and shocking cinema of the last decade. That country is South Korea.

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Article – Obsessed with Obsession

Published on March 27, 2010 in Articles. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

One of cinemas most extraordinary directors and bewildering characters is one Werner Herzog. This is a man thankfully still working today in an industry which is all too often unable to provoke or excite its audience. The only horizon of expectation attached to Herzog is to expect the unexpected for his films know no genre styling or format. He is as au fait with documentary as he is with historical drama or modern pulp fiction. However one theme sticks to his work both in front and behind the camera, and that is obsession.

It was 1972 when the 30 year old German filmmaker travelled to Peru to film his first feature. Most aspiring directors make their debut in their backyard covering a subject matter familiar to them, not Herzog. 16th Century conquistadors seemed like a good start for him so he packed his bags, his camera and his psychotic leading man/childhood friend and departed for Machu Picchu. The initial frames of Aguirre Wrath of God depicting Spanish soldiers and Peruvian natives scaling the misty slopes of that awesome and ancient monolith is truly one of cinemas greatest visual moments. What followed is a story of madness and obsession on both sides of the lens. On screen a search for El Dorado the mythical city of gold, behind it Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski sought a different treasure, a modern cinematic masterpiece. Kinski played the deluded monkey wielding conqueror as only he could. The manic reality of Klaus Kinski is more captivating than any performance. The charismatic but ever so slightly temperamental actor found time to anger the locals with his explosive outbursts and prima donna demands. This behaviour would only increase through the years until 1982 when the indigenous extras on the again Peruvian set of Fitzcarraldo asked Herzog if he would like them to kill Kinski. The director mused it over but decided that a living lead man was necessary to complete his film.

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Article – The Sacking of Seijun Suzuki

Published on March 7, 2010 in Articles. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Let’s start this story at the end. In April 1968 the 45 year old movie director Seijun Suzuki was fired by Kyusaku Hori, President of Japanese film studio Nikkatsu. This was a period when directors were contractually tied to studios and worked on a movie factory line. In a fiercely competitive marketplace Nikkatsu were struggling financially and drastically required genre action films; economic bankers which could lead them out of their precarious position. Oblivious to previous warnings over his outragous back catalogue and always one to be contrary, Suzuki delivered them Branded to Kill.

Suzuki’s crime’s which resulted in his P45? Too numerous to mention. ‘Nikkatsu Action’ had basically become a trademark during the late 50’s and early 60’s, a brand all of its own and specific to the studio. An alluring cocktail of Hollywood glamour, film noir and western, Nikkatsu Action was devoid of the reality of mid-century Japan. This made it the ideal tool of escapism for a disenfranchised youth. Often described as borderless due to the international stylings and settings, Nikkatsu Action was in fact clearly enclosed by well defined genre guidelines. When the studio asked Suzuki to direct a hit man action flick they probably expected something closer to the 1977 Sonny Chiba classic Golgo 13. What they were delivered was a baffling, incoherent mess of surreal imagery and distorted narrative; an absurd genre defying bag of nonsense. A masterpiece.

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Article – Coulda Been Contenders

Published on March 2, 2010 in Articles. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

When Brando turns to Rod Steiger in the famous scene from On the Waterfront and desperately cries “I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender!” it mines a deep seam of emotion for almost all who watch it. There are reasons why it’s among the most quoted lines in cinematic history. Most people have discarded a dream, wasted a talent. Even those living successful existences have at least one opportunity missed. That is why the scene resonates so strongly on a universal level. Personally, whenever I hear those words I think of two individuals who lived in the same cinema universe but worlds and years apart.

Charles Laughton and Saul Bass have sadly now passed away, but both plied their trade in the film industry. Laughton, amongst other talents was an actor of note. His high cultural water mark was the role of Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty and Quasimodo, the famous Hunchback of Notre dame. Bass is relatively unknown but most will have unwittingly viewed his work. His title design for films such as Psycho, Spartacus (a touching stone with Laughton who also starred here) and Vertigo is legendary. Spartacus apart, these men had very little in common, besides one key link. Both directed one full length feature each, both were instantly derided; both now garner cult classic status and universal praise.

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Cinematheque – an introduction

Published on March 1, 2010 in Articles. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

This is currently an interesting moment for cinema.  Seemingly untouched by the global recession the Hollywood giants continue to produce films which are record breaking for both budget and profit.  2009 was a high water mark for studio profits so it would seem that all is rosy for the Zeus-like moguls who rule all before them.  But cinema should be more than a business, it’s an art form, and history looks fondly upon films which manipulate emotions rather than profit margins.  2009/10 will be remembered for Avatar, but should it perhaps be engrained in our memories because of films made out-with the borders and structure of Hollywood?  A Prophet and The White Ribbon are arguably the best films of the last year, and most recent years, yet they are not applicable for the best film Oscar on the 7th of March.  Language dictates that they cannot be.  So, these wonderful works of art languish in the foreign language category, an afterthought.  Is this wrong?  No, because the Oscars are the awards of the Hollywood film industry.  They are not universally representative, but they are marketed as such and this belief is passed onto the casual cinema viewer.   Hollywood is simply one film industry existing upon this third planet of the solar system.

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