人魚伝説 Mermaid Legend
The film starts off as a social drama, with a woman’s fisherman husband being killed by corrupt businessmen and being framed for it. It’s heavily dreamy, ethereal, melancholic… until it gets utterly bold. We witness our protagonist being sexually assaulted, slicing men up, and becoming a revenge goddess à la Meiko Kaji, able to summon a storm to cleanse everything around her. This, my friends, is pure cinema.
And obviously, I cannot not mention the score—that fascinating…
女囚さそり 殺人予告 Female Prisoner Scorpion: Murder Notice
美しい恨みの化け物… A beautiful monster of vengeance.
I already felt the strong Kaji Meiko/Sasori influence in Ikeda’s masterpiece 人魚伝説 Mermaid Legend, and watching him take on the Scorpion mythology just felt like everything was perfectly aligned.
The plot takes a smart approach: a female assassin is sent to prison to take out Matsushima Nami, the legendary Sasori, only to discover it’s part of a conspiracy to keep the other prisoners docile and less resistant. The…
Filmmaking-wise, nothing spectacular (except for one fantastic transition); it’s well shot, classic, efficient. But the plot, while quite simple (with a very simple setting too, only involving a few characters and a lot of twists, betrayal and framing) is fantastic and keeps the audience on its toes. The three leads, especially Vincent Price, greatly enhanced the whole package and I must say I had a great late night experience with this noir.
蜘蛛巣城 The Cobweb’s Castle
Kurosawa’s take on Macbeth is a stunning piece of art. Like most of the filmmaker’s work, it’s visually striking—each shot perfectly framed (to this day, nobody can match his visual flair). This might just be his boldest film, largely because of its fantastic gothic elements. In one scene, a ghost appears in the forest, shrouded in heavy fog and illuminated by an intense light, while the camera dares to linger on the unsettling image for quite…
(seeing a deer who has just been killed by a hunter)
"You’re a very primitive species."
No, we’re straight evil: we also send billions of animals in slaughterhouses each year.
Starman. John Carpenter’s take on a family-friendly extraterrestrial love story, some say like E.T. but for adults. And quality-wise, both films are very close, carrying some cinema magic like it has rarely been seen.
Here, it’s Carpenter’s efficient filmmaking, almost minimalist, and his wonderful score that do most of the…
— What about our partnership?
— Maybe next time.
One of the craziest things imaginable is improving on A Fistful of Dollars — a revolutionary film packed with iconic scenes, a stellar score, and a unique style. Well, Sergio Leone did it. He made For a Few Dollars More, didn’t he?
It’s not only a terrific sequel — it’s the best Western ever made (for the time… wait until Leone does it again the following year). From the gorgeous cinematography…
