|
Posted on 08.23.10 by David @ 10:07 am
Unfortunately, after an incident involving a visit to China, Leung was essentially banned from the film industry for roughly 16 years, from 1988 to 2004, when Stephen Chow brought him back to play the role of the villainous Beast in his phenomenally successful Kung Fu Hustle. Since then, Leung’s career has experienced a revival, with roles in gritty actioners like Shamo and Sasori (review here) and comedies like Just Another Pandora’s Box and Kung Fu Chefs (review here). His latest film is Gallants and it stars a slew of old school Hong Kong talent like Chen Kuan-Tai, Lo Meng, Shaw Yum-Yum and Teddy Robin, though nobody is better showcased than Leung. Recently, CSB’s David Austin and Charlie Prince had the opportunity to sit down with Bruce Leung, in town for the New York Asian Film Festival, to talk about Gallants and the ups and downs of his career. Leung, whose thickly-calloused knuckles bespeak a lifelong tough guy (and who has one of the best business cards I’ve ever seen, see immediately below), did not disappoint.
On Growing Up in Kung Fu Films CSB: How did you get involved in kung fu films? Bruce Leung: It’s a long story. I grew up in a single-parent family. To protect my family, every day when I walked past I saw little kids learning how to do martial arts and I wanted to learn. I used rice, and I would chop it until it was in really small pieces every day. My grandma would hit me when she saw me because I would cut the rice so small. To help my family, I got involved in the movies when I was 15. Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Hong Kong and Contributors: David and People: Stephen Chow Sing Chi and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 and People: Bruce Leung Siu-Leung and People: Angela Mao Ying Comments: None |
Bruce Leung Siu-Leung (who has gone by a number of names in the West, including Bruce Liang and Bruce Leong), now in his early sixties, has had a storied history in martial arts films, both as an actor and as an action choreographer. First entering the public eye as one of several “Lee-Alikes” in the wake of Bruce Lee’s untimely demise, Leung distinguished himself with his martial arts skills, especially as a leg fighter. Leung moved past his Bruceploitation phase to become a legitimate star in his own right in the seventies and eighties, working with producer Ng See-Yuen and alongside kung fu superstars like Angela Mao Ying and Sammo Hung, and taking leading roles for major studios in films like Call Me Dragon and Little Supermen.
|
Posted on 08.10.10 by David @ 6:54 pm
On The Anthology Series William Lustig: First of all, I’m very grateful to the Anthology for picking up on this series. It’s been great.
CSB: How did the series get started? William Lustig: I was contacted by the Anthology three years ago about doing a New York vigilante series. And obviously having made the movie Vigilante and movies like Maniac Cop, they thought I could be helpful in suggesting films, including my own, for the series. And the series was successful and while I was there I happened to mention offhand that I’ve always wanted a series to be done either there or at the Film Forum of these undiscovered movies from the sixties and seventies that are just languishing. They haven’t come out on video for various reasons and these are just some wonderful films that haven’t seen the light of day and I thought they could be interesting as a series. So, about six months later, they contacted me and said what films do you suggest? And I gave them a list and Jed over at the Anthology went searching for the prints and found most of them and we were able to do the first series last year, and it was met with sold-out houses. Filed under: Movie News and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Venues: Anthology Film Archives and People: William Lustig and People: Larry Cohen and People: John Frankenheimer and People: Jean-Paul Belmondo and People: Jan Michael Vincent Comments: None |
As we reported earlier, for the second year in a row the Anthology Film Archives in New York is presenting a great series of seventies genre films, curated by William Lustig. Mr. Lustig, of course, has a long history with New York genre films, having helmed the Maniac Cop series, Vigilante, Maniac, and numerous other films near and dear to the hearts of genre fans. In addition, Mr. Lustig has the distinction of founding and running Blue Underground, one of the first of the wave of independent DVD production companies to begin releasing underground treasures, and one of the few to survive the crash of the market in the mid-2000s. Last week, CSB’s David Austin had an opportunity to chat with Mr. Lustig, whose enthusiasm for these films is infectious, about the upcoming series running from August 12-20 (more information on the schedule and films can be found 
|
Posted on 07.20.10 by David @ 9:04 am
On 8000 Miles CSB: The English title, 8000 Miles, is a play on the Eminem film, 8 Mile. Did you like that choice? Do you see parallels in the stories? Yu Irie: I chose it myself. They are both stories about people who are trying to make it in rap. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 Comments: None |
Yu Irie has made a name for himself in Japan recently with back-to-back independent films chronicling the hijinks and setbacks of wannabe rappers in small town Japan. The first film, Saitama Rapper (re-christened 8000 Miles for US audiences) was a sleeper success, and Irie quickly followed up with Saitama Rapper 2: Chick Rappers’ Hurtful Rhyme (aka 8000 Miles 2: Girl Rappers), which guest-starred the characters of Ikku and Tom from the first series but otherwise added an entirely new female cast. CSB’s David Austin sat down with Yu Irie, in town for the New York Asian Film Festival, to discuss the films.|
Posted on 07.13.10 by David @ 11:14 am
 This is the last in our series of articles on the Japan Cuts 2010 film festival. As usual, the festival included some truly excellent films, particularly Confessions, One Million Yen Girl, Nightmare Detective II. As part of the series, Japan Cuts is also showing a print of Memories of Matsuko, which after four years still has yet to see an official release in the U.S – the sole screening is this Thursday, July 15, at 6:!5, if you have never seen the film I highly recommend it.
Also, stay tuned over the next week or two for our wrap-up coverage of the New York Asian Film Festival, as we post reviews of additional films and our interviews with Simon Yam, Bruce Leung and Yu Irie. [For more information, visit the Japan Cuts website here - http://www.japansociety.org/japancuts. For all Japan Cuts 2010 articles, click here - http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/?cat=775.]
Nightmare Detective 2 (Japan 2008) - I enjoyed the first Nightmare Detective film as a thriller, but the mix of police procedural and Nightmare on Elm Street horror was about as commercial a film as I’ve ever seen from director Shinya Tsukamoto (even Hiruko the Goblin was too odd to have real mass appeal). Nightmare Detective II changes all of that. Vastly more personal, vastly more emotional, and, frankly, vastly better, Nightmare Detective II is the rare sequel that far surpasses the original. While the first film dropped us into the world of Kagenuma (Ryuhei Matsuda), the titular sleuth, Nightmare Detective II provides Kagenuma with tragic weight and heft to match his powers. While Tsukamoto leans heavily on the imagery and atmosphere of J-horror, his actual concerns are more intimate, dealing with the inherent horror of being unable to shut out the minds of others. Tsukamoto remains a director who is fascinating even in failure - it is wonderful to see him craft a success on par with his Vital and A Snake of June out of such humble material. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and People: Ryuhei Matsuda and People: Shinya Tsukamoto and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2010 and People: Yu Aoi and People: Nao Omori and People: Miki Nakatani Comments: None |
|
Posted on 07.08.10 by David @ 8:05 pm
Today is the last day of the New York Asian Film Festival, but The Japan Cuts festival at the Japan Society continues, with a number of films including the Best of the Unreleased Naughties, a celebration of some of the great films of the last decade that have inexplicably never been released in the U.S. Japan Cuts may be a little more focused on human relationships than on martial arts and blood splattering wild boars , but there is still a nice mix of genre, arthouse, and anime to be found. We’ve already covered the co-presentations of Confessions, Boys on the Run, Golden Slumber, Dear Doctor, Blood of Rebirth, and Alien vs. Ninja, but serious and casual film enthusiasts alike will definitely want to check out Parade, Zero Focus, Nightmare Detective 2, and One Million Yen Girl at a minimum. [For more information, visit the Japan Cuts website here. For all Japan Cuts 2010 articles, click here.]
Zero Focus (Japan 2009) – Zero Focus, a period murder mystery, has drawn deserved comparison to Hitchcock. Those comparisons are fair, but with its sweeping string score and psychosexual anxiety, Zero Focus evokes the claustrophobic small town mysteries of David Lynch as much as the free-floating dread of Vertigo. Impeccably crafted, Zero Focus functions best as a gorgeous evocation of its time – the late ‘50s – and place – frigid Kanazawa on the northern coast of Japan – conjuring up dazzling images of rocky shores, snowy roads and dark trains. Disappointingly, the underlying plot, in which Teiko (Ryoko Hirosue) searches for her missing husband and bodies begin to pile up, while more than serviceable, never quite lives up to the aesthetic achievements of the cinematography and sets. Teiko never gels as a character and the denouement, in which she serves almost a bystander, enforces that absence of a central performance. Nevertheless, Zero Focus is one of the most visually impressive achievements in the festival and, bolstered by a ferocious turn from Miki Nakatani, more than worth your time. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and People: Tatsuya Fujiwara and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Venues: The Japan Society and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2010 and People: Yu Aoi and People: Miki Nakatani Comments: None |
|
Posted on 07.07.10 by David @ 9:03 am
For those familiar with Hong Kong cinema, Sammo Hung is a legend. Coming up in the same Peking Opera training school as Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, Sammo has since made a name for himself as one of the greatest martial arts actors, directors and choreographers of all time, as well as one of the most beloved stars in Hong Kong. Big Brother Big’s filmography would take pages to even summarize, but a quick list of his outstanding work includes Magnificent Butcher, The Prodigal Son, Millionaire’s Express, Knockabout, Eastern Condors, Wheels on Meals, Pedicab Driver, Encounters of the Spooky Kind and Dragons Forever. Nevertheless, Sammo remains less well known in the U.S. than his peers, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, despite an attempted breakthrough into U.S. television with Martial Law, which ran for several years in the late nineties. Since then, Sammo has aged gracefully into the Great Man of Hong Kong cinema, appearing frequently on the screen and providing support and choreography for countless other films.
CSB: Congratulations on the lifetime achievement award last night. Because your back catalog of films is so extraordinarily deep, before we discuss Ip Man and your more recent work, I want to ask whether there any of your older movies that don’t get the attention you think they deserve or are not seen as much as they should be? Sammo Hung: To me, making movies is a natural progression, one thing after another. My hope would be that all of my movies get the recognition they deserve. CSB: How is your body holding up after all these years? Can you still get in there and handle long days? Sammo Hung: I wish my body could go back 20 years (laughs). On the Ip Man films and Wing Chun CSB: You did the choreography for both the first and second Ip Man films, but only appeared in the second film. Did choreographing these films present any unique challenges? Sammo Hung: I did some research about Wing Chun. Many years ago, I did two films focusing on Wing Chun. One was The Prodigal Son with Yuen Biao. The other was Zan xian sheng yu zhao qian hua [Warriors Two], starring myself, Leung Kar-yan, and the Korean, Ka Sa Fa [Casanova Wong]. So what I was thinking about here was how to create fights that were different from what I did before. The previous films were both period pieces set a long time ago in China. Ip Man is set in the much more recent past – the ‘30s and ‘40s. Much closer to now. So the action has to look more like that of today. Also, Ip Man deals with real people, not people created to fit into history hundreds of years ago. Everything, the fights, must look closer to today and like real fights and real movements. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Hong Kong and Contributors: David and Contributors: Charlie and People: Donnie Yen and People: Sammo Hung and Movie News: Interviews and Genre: Martial Arts and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 Comments: None |
Recently, CSB’s David Austin and Charlie Prince had the honor of sitting down with Sammo, in town for screenings at the New York Asian Film Festival of Ip Man (for which he choreographed the action), Ip Man 2 (for which he provided choreography and took on a role as Ip Man’s rival), and Kung Fu Chefs (in which he stars) ((reviews of all three films may be found |
Posted on 07.02.10 by David @ 2:14 pm
[As part of the NYAFF’s continuing program at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, Crazy Racer plays again tonight at 10:00 pm and Cow plays again at 1:15 pm on Tuesday, July 6.]
Huang Bo: I’ve now had a chance to go to a lot of places because of the films. I’m excited to go to more places and see how different countries react to my films. It’s a lot of fun. CSB: What country has had the best reaction? Huang Bo: They were all pretty good, but everywhere you go is different. The places people laugh in China, the places people laugh in Spain, or Italy, or America, are all different, so it’s interesting to watch. CSB: Are you starting to develop an international fan base outside the Chinese language community? Huang Bo: Not really. Mostly Chinese and overseas Chinese. Though in Italy, I signed some autographs (laughs). Filed under: Movie News and Contributors: David and Contributors: Charlie and Movie News: China and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 and People: Huang Bo Comments: None |
Through his series of “Crazy” films with director Ning Hao, starting with Crazy Stone in 2006, 35-year-old former singer Huang Bo has made a name for himself as one of the preeminent comic actors working in mainland China today. In this year’s New York Asian Film Festival, Bo appears in both Crazy Racer (see our review 
CSB: I understand that this is your first time in New York. Are you traveling more now that your films are starting to see some international exposure? |
Posted on 06.30.10 by David @ 11:50 am
Starting on July 1st, half of the NYAFF screenings will be co-presented by the Japan Society as part of the Japan Cuts festival.
The Good
Confessions (Japan 2010) – I enjoyed Tetsuya Nakashima’s wacky, visually inventive Kamikaze Girls, but it in no way prepared me for the Technicolor kick-in-the-stomach that was 2006’s Memories of Matsuko, the heartbreaking story of a failed life told in the style of a joyful musical. With Confessions, the tale of a teacher’s attempt to wreak a terrible vengeance on the students she blames for the death of her daughter, Nakashima maintains his heavily operatic style (though moving away from the literal musical), using every cinematic trick in the book to portray big emotions. In that respect, Confessions frequently plays like the bastard love child of Park Chan-Wook and Shunji Iwai, transplanting Lady Vengeance’s cold, calculated protagonist and icy but flashy visual style into the fraught high school world of All About Lily Chou-Chou. However, Nakashima has far more heart than Park has ever shown and Confessions is messy in a way the clockwork vengeance world of Park could never be. A deeply flawed movie, Confessions is nevertheless fascinating for its flaws, and one of the best films in the festival. It doesn’t hurt that Nakashima has slipped in a ringer by packing the soundtrack with great cuts by Radiohead and Japanese noise-metal pioneers Boris. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Venues: The Japan Society and Venues: Film Society at Lincoln Center and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2010 and People: Tetsuya Nakashima and Production Company: Sushi Typhoon and People: Nao Omori Comments: None |
|
Posted on 06.28.10 by David @ 1:29 am
More nougaty goodness from the NYAFF in Report 2. Some great screenings and guests so far, including surprise appearances by Angela Mao at Sammo’s lifetime achievement award and by Joyce Godenzi at the Eastern Condors Q+A. [Note that Boys on the Run is co-presented by the Japan Cuts festival, which starts officially on July 1.]
The Good Ip Man (HK 2008) – Ip Man, the Donnie Yen-starrer about Bruce Lee’s Wing Chun sifu, is more than a little schizophrenic in tone. The lovely first half is a subtle comedy of kung fu manners, with an uncharacteristically likable Donnie as the titular character. Hen-pecked by his wife, harassed by the local constable, and pestered by would-be disciples, Ip Man just wants to live a peaceful life, but keeps being challenged by every new master who wants to make a name for himself. The script is strong and the fighting is excellent, especially once Fan Siu-Wong (Story of Ricky) turns up as a bumpkin whose skills surpass those of all the locals but Ip. On the other hand, the second half (and the shift is not organic in the slightest) is an extremely heavy-handed bit of WWII-era patriotic propaganda, in which Ip Man stands up to Japanese invaders. Full of lingering shots of downtrodden Chinese and unsubtly swelling music, only a bravura scene where Donnie takes on ten Japanese martial artists is particularly rousing. As the final battle scene between Donnie and the imposing General Miura fails to meet expectations, the movie never tops its mid-film peak. But, oh, that first half …  Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Hong Kong and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and People: Donnie Yen and People: Sammo Hung and People: Simon Yam and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Venues: The Japan Society and Venues: Film Society at Lincoln Center and Movie Reviews: China and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2010 and People: Huang Bo Comments: None |
|
Posted on 06.25.10 by David @ 4:57 pm
The NYAFF is upon us again! I’ve been following Subway Cinema since back when they used to hold the occasional Old School Kung Fu fest at the Anthology and Village Cinema downtown through the fancier digs at IFC, but I never thought I’d see the day when the New York Asian Film Festival invaded the hallowed halls of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. Truly high culture has been overthrown. Of course, I’ve had the opportunity to watch both Ichi the Killer and Raw Meat at Lincoln Center, so perhaps the dichotomy was never so clear. But on with the show. As usual, the Subway gang has picked some doozies, some whoppers, and some head-scratchers (in both the good and bad sense). I wanted to pattern my festival reports after the Korean blockbuster from last year, The Good, The Bad and the Weird, but frankly, with very few exceptions, there aren’t any flat-out bad films in the pack. So as an alternative, I’ll be breaking things down into The Good, the Not-Quite-So-Good, and The Weird. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Hong Kong and Movie Reviews: Japan and Movie Reviews: South Korea and Contributors: David and Film Festivals: News and People: Takashi Miike and People: Sammo Hung and People: Simon Yam and People: Lo Meng (5 Venoms) and People: Tony Leung Ka-Fai and People: Chen Kuan-tai and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Movie Reviews: China and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 and People: Huang Bo and People: Hitoshi Matsumoto Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.11.10 by David @ 3:20 pm
AKA: Män som hatar kvinnor; Millennium: Part 1 - Men Who Hate Women Review By: David Austin
[The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in the U.S. on March 19, 2010] I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again - there are some very interesting things going on in Swedish cinema right now. After decades as the dual home of the enlightened (Ingmar Bergman) and the depraved (countless sexploitation films of varying quality), followed more recently by the indie-style charms of Lasse Hallstrom’s art-house schmaltz and Lukas Moodysson’s more personal films, a new form of Swedish genre cinema is finally starting to emerge, and I like what I see. Last year’s Let the Right One In was a brilliant piece of moody, original vampire horror. In contrast, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery/thriller, far more commercial but still admirably pulpy – jam-packed with Nazis, serial killers, and hackers. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and Contributors: David and Movie Reviews: Sweden Comments: None |
|
Posted on 02.26.10 by David @ 3:46 pm
Kadin Dusmani
At its heart, Kadin Dusmani is more giallo than slasher, though the famed “black gloves” of the giallo killer have been replaced by a series of Halloween fright masks. The killer targets women alphabetically by name and neighborhood, while Detective Kemal (Ekrem Bora) tries to sort through a large group of suspects and red herrings before his beloved, widowed sister-in-law, Oya, is targeted. The central mystery is well constructed, though the killer is pretty obvious from the start (if you follow the rule of superfluous characters). Moreover, aside from some gratuitous bellydancing and a bizarre (and quickly abandoned) subplot involving Oya’s sister, events move along snappily and with some style. However, my favorite aspect of the film was the soundtrack – the theme is jangly and discordant, incorporating what seemed to be a mix of synths and traditional instruments like pipes, drums and possibly even a zither. Overall, Kadin Dusmani is nice, sleazy little exploitation package. Filed under: Movie Reviews and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Genre: Giallo and Rating: Average ★★ and Movie Reviews: Spain and Movie Reviews: Turkey and DVD Reviews: Turkey and DVD Reviews: Spain and DVD Companies: Onar Films and DVD Companies: Palm Pictures and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews Comments: None |
Has there ever been a more apt name for a slasher film than Woman Despiser? Ironically, by the notoriously misogynistic standards of that much-maligned genre, Kadin Dusmani is relatively respectable. Which is not to say that the female cast isn’t in for some rough treatment, but rather that the filmmakers at least do not seem to share the same low opinion of womankind as their necrophiliac sex maniac killer. Sadly, that is something that can’t be said for many slashers, which pack their casts with harpies, whiners and loose women.|
Posted on 08.10.09 by David @ 9:17 am
Recently, Nishimura came to town for the world premiere of his follow-up film as a director, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, at the New York Asian Film Festival. Nishimura set a high bar with Tokyo Gore Police, but, so far as I am concerned, he managed to meet it with Vampire Girl, while going in a very different direction tonally and thematically. Candy-colored where Tokyo Gore Police was dark, poppy where Tokyo Gore Police was brooding, Vampire Girl is the high school-set story of an ordinary teenager torn between two extraordinary girls, at a school that seems to operate under the same rules as The Story of Ricky. Vampire Girl is scheduled to open in Japan in a week, but Nishimura and I sat down for a chat the day of the world premiere, and a few hours before the NYAFF’s Tokyo Gore Night, an event which involved action star Tak Sakaguchi throwing darts at the (barely) loincloth-covered asses of Nishimura, Iguchi and festival director Grady Hendrix (remind me to post some truly frightening video some day) and the recording of a live commentary track for the special edition release of Tokyo Gore Police. CSB: At the showing of Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, you appeared with the bone samurai hat and blood sword from the film. Have you kept more props from your films? Nishimura: We hold on to all the props. Our storage starts to overflow with all the crazy props, though, so we hold on to props from a movie until the DVD release. It’s really starting to get full so we’re starting to think about throwing away stuff from the film Meatball Machine. CSB: Do you just throw the props away or do you ever leave them in unusual places to startle people? Nishimura: That’s a good idea, but if we do it in our neighborhood, they’re totally going to know who did it. (laughs) Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2009 and People: Yoshihiro Nishimura Comments: None |
Yoshihiro Nishimura is at the forefront of the low-budget, gore film revolution coming out of Japan. Directors like Noboru Iguchi (Machine Girl) and Yudai Yamaguchi (Meatball Machine) are proving that Japanese horror isn’t all women with long, dark hair and the alienation of modern life, it’s also about penis guns, schoolgirls with machine guns for arms and people punching each other’s skeletons right out of their bodies. As a special effects and makeup artist of truly gruesome reputation, Nishimura has worked with some of the most fascinating directors in Japan today, including Iguchi, Yamaguchi, Sion Sono, Hideo Nakata, Takashi Shimizu, and even old ero-guro stalwarts like Teruo Ishii. More recently, Nishimura has achieved international notoriety as a director with Tokyo Gore Police, an international cult hit and one of Cinema Strikes Back’s choices for best film of 2008.|
Posted on 08.05.09 by David @ 8:09 am
From August 7-14, starting this Friday, the Anthology Film Archives in New York will present a series of 1970s crime/action films, curated by William Lustig of Maniac Cop and Blue Underground fame, all produced by Hollywood during its more grubby, adventurous days. None are available on US DVD and most have become quite obscure over the years, so this is a rare chance to not only see them, but to see them on the big screen.  A few of the films I’ve seen before and few I’ve now seen for the first time. Here are some of the films to look forward to (press release with full details follows): The Outside Man (1972) The Outside Man (also known by its French title, “A Man is Dead“) is one of the earlier examples of what I tend to think of as “The Killer” plot – a hit man who finds himself hunted by his own employers after fulfilling a contract. In this case, the killer, and eponymous “outside man,” is Lucien, a French contractor brought to America to whack the head of a Los Angeles crime organization and immediately betrayed by his employers (whose identity should be obvious within the first 10 minutes). In LA, Lucien is pursued by ferocious American killer Roy Scheider and assisted by topless waitress and party girl Nancy (Ann-Margret, utilized primarily as a cleavage-delivery device). Like its protagonist, The Outside Man is an odd duck. Lucien, as played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, is cold and unlikable - the hero by default only. Frankly, I was rooting for Scheider’s character. However, the emphasis is less on Lucien’s predicament and his efforts to save himself than on his surroundings. Lucien is a man completely out of place, nonplussed by the cultural mores of seventies Los Angeles. Seedy bars and motels are ubiquitous, and Lucien seems as confounded by his encounters with bikers, proselytizers and single moms as he does by the assassination attempts on him. In a particularly clever touch, Jacques Deray, a second-tier but talented director of French crime films (Borsalino & Co., Flic Story) constantly inserts televisions into the frame, contrasting their down-to-earth reality with the fantastic elements of the plot. Overall, it is an unexpected approach to a largely played-out subgenre, and elevates the material considerably. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: USA and Contributors: David and Venues: Anthology Film Archives and People: William Lustig Comments: 2 Comments |
|
Posted on 07.27.09 by David @ 9:27 am
AKA: Rampage; Turkish Rambo; Fearless Review By: David Austin  Korkusuz, perhaps better known unofficially as “Turkish Rambo,” is a classic example of the Turkish knock-off film. Back in the day, the Turks made a cottage industry of aping foreign films with wacky, low-budget adaptations using local talent, resulting in bizarro versions of Star Wars (The Man Who Saved the World), Superman (Superman Returns), and E.T. (Badi). Director Cetin Inanc was an old hand at this type of film, having previously directed The Man Who Saved the World, perhaps the most famous of the Turkish adaptations, and Turkish Rocky during the eighties. Of course, back in the sixties, Inanc proved he could do more with Iron Claw the Pirate (see review here), one of the more enjoyable masked hero films of Turkish cinema’s heyday. Here, Inanc transplants Rambo into a thinly fictionalized version of Turkey’s Kurdish conflict, and replace grimacing, monosyllabic muscle man Sylvester Stallone with grimacing, monosyllabic muscle man Serdar (using his own name for his character, possibly to avoid confusion by the actor). The plot is considerably more convoluted than it needed to be, but in its essentials involves Serdar’s undercover insertion into a mountain bandit base run by the entertainingly, old-fashioned villain Ziya (Huseyin Peyda, a dead ringer for Vincent Price in looks and spirit). Serdar gets in good with Ziya’s stupider brother and soon is helping the bandits with some sort of goofy plan that involves raiding a friendly bandit’s headquarters for no apparent reason. Aiding Serdar are Captain Omer (Swayze-esque Togrul Meteer) and a peasant girl who falls for our hero. Korkusuz is justly famous (or should I say infamous, for two stupefyingly silly and entertaining action scenes. The first is a one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat between Serdar and one of the lead bandits. It’s awesomely awkward in that uniquely Turkish style, where energy and can-do spirit trump choreography and skill. Filed under: Movie Reviews and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Rating: Average ★★ and Movie Reviews: Turkey and DVD Reviews: Turkey and DVD Companies: Dark Maze Comments: None |
| previous posts » |
* 
