Cinematic Distractions...

[dulcedemon]

Scandal (1950):
This is what I watched on New Year's Eve. This was my second time renting it. I hope to own a copy someday. Several years back, I stumbled upon Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale(2010), and it quickly became my new favorite Christmas movie. It has since been unseated.
I first saw this in late 2020. I was trying to rent all the Akira Kurosawa movies that I haven't yet seen. I still have several to go. I was having a moment in my personal life when this story was particularly resonant. Frankly, I'm still there. You won't read about in the tabloids. Then again, maybe you will.
I fell completely in love with this movie. I've rented it twice, but I've watched it five times. Scandal has everything I could possibly want in Christmas movie, yet it's not officially one of those. It's a courtroom drama more than anything else. Since it was on one of my lists at the end of 2020, I'll only address its Christmas and New Year's aspects here.
There is a casual mention of the holiday by one of the characters while seated in a diner. There is a wonderful scene of Mifune riding on a motorcycle with a fully decorated Christmas tree mounted on the back. There is a Christmas party thrown for the tubercular daughter of their attorney at which Mifune plays an organ while Shirley Yamaguchi sings Silent Night. The sweet and innocent but sickly daughter(Yôko Katsuragi) is the Tiny Tim of the story. There is a powerful, redemptive arc with the shady, downtrodden attorney Mifune hires to prosecute the case against the celebrity gossip magazine.
Takashi Shimura plays his role as attorney Otokichi Hiruta with a high degree of melodrama. His character is so downtrodden that he is physically stooped, always looking down, and on the verge of tears. He has loser written all over him. He is barely hanging onto his law practice. His office is a glorified pigeon coop on the roof of a building. It doesn't even have a telephone. Mifune hires him out of pity.
The humbug of the story is the sleazy, gossip rag publisher. He stains the personal and professional reputations of two innocent people in the name of profit. He also does his best to undermine and corrupt the prosecution.
Finally, there is my favorite scene, which takes place at a hostess bar called The Red Cat. The prosecuting attorney tries to drown his guilty conscience to no avail. When another drunk stands up and makes a speech about the new year, he is compelled to confess all of his shortcomings in front of his client(Mifune) and everyone in the bar. The scene ends with everyone singing and crying to Auld Lang Syne. They're crying. I'm crying. We're all crying. No matter how many times I watch it, I can't help but cry during that scene.
The last mention of Christmas comes after they leave the bar. Both are staggering drunk, and the attorney shouts, "Merry Christmas!", at every passerby, at the stars in the sky, and at the starry sky reflected in a filthy pond near his house before collapsing and passing out.
It's surprising this movie isn't more well regarded. It's like a hidden gem that no one mentions or likes except me. I've noticed that it's especially disliked by people who are big fans of Kurosawa's samurai movies. I found it refreshing. It's heavy on the melodrama, but that makes it even more of a Christmas movie in my opinion.
Here is a link to the first time it appeared on this list: https://dulcedemon.dreamwidth.org/2020/11/25/ There is some overlap, and of course, several spoilers.

Hawkeye (2021):
This was so much fun, and so festive! It really put me in the mood to celebrate the holiday. It's new, so I won't spoil it. I loved the design of the opening credits, the story, the action, and the music. I hadn't heard Sweet Gingerbread Man by Sammy Davis Jr. before, but it pairs brilliantly.
One thing I will say about the action is that I had read an article about the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree before seeing the episode that features it. That star should have hit the ice much harder and left a crater like a small car. I know there are no plans for one, but I'd love another season of this.

Finding Vivian Maier (2013):
A few years ago, some photography bot accounts that I follow on Twitter began posting these lovely, black and white photos of street scenes in New York City. That's how I learned about Vivian Maier. Were it not for John Maloof neither those bot accounts nor I would have any idea about her and her incredible images.
This documentary is the story of Vivian Maier, an unassuming nanny and prolific photographer, whose striking talent might have been forever unknown and perhaps left to rot in a garbage dump had it not been for one man's auction purchase of several boxes of photo negatives. It's a rather epic and mysterious tale.
Before watching this documentary, I thought she was strictly a New York photographer. She took photographs all around world. She had an eye for beauty as well as the macabre, and a wry sense of humor.
The only thing I was uncomfortable with was the part where a few of her former charges allege abuse. It's not that I don't believe them, but she is dead and can't defend herself. It can't be proven or disproven.
Thanks to John Maloof for his determination and effort to uncover her identity, preserve her art, and make it available to the public.

Pride (2014):
I didn't know what to expect from this comedy-drama based on the true story of gay and lesbian activists coming together in solidarity with striking miners by fundraising for them and their families. This was an in-house recommendation, and it turned out to be just the kind of feel-good movie I needed. There are an awful lot of tear-inducing moments for a comedy. I certainly didn't expect to cry uncontrollably to a rousing rendition of Bread and Roses. It's funny, but it's also powerful and touching. It's a bit shallow in that it glosses over and downplays certain historic details.
One of the details it downplays is lead activist Mark Ashton's affiliation with the Communist Party of Great Britain. That aside, it does a great job of educating the audience about an episode of history that many of us are too young to remember and were likely never taught about in school. It also acknowledges the AIDS crisis that was unfolding at the time.
The cast is lovely. The story is enlightening. The soundtrack is great.

Tokyo Drifter (1966):
This one was a Christmas gift. It's been on more than one of these lists on more than one website over the years, going all the way back to LiveJournal. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This is live action Cowboy Bebop.
Ages ago when MySpace was popular and Facebook was still in college, I heard or read somewhere that this movie inspired the anime series. I don't know if that's true. I can't find a source directly tied to the anime. There are several bloggers who have made that assertion. Since I can't find my original source from way back when, I'm just another one of those. It's fair to say that the series borrowed heavily. It would also be fair to refer to this movie as The Spike Spiegel Story.
Tetsu the Phoenix(Tetsuya Watari) is leaving the syndicate, but the syndicate won't leave him. His boss, Kurata(Ryûji Kita), has decided to become a legitimate businessman. He retires from the yakuza to open a nightclub. Unfortunately, he uses his underworld ties to finance it. A rival syndicate boss seizes the opportunity to take over Kurata's old turf and interfere in his nightclub deal as well. That rival boss, Otsuka(Eimei Esumi), is the Vicious of the story.
Chiharu(Chieko Maysubara) is a singer who performs at Kurata's club. She is in love with Tetsu, which makes her the Julia of the story. Otsuka makes a play for her for no reason other than she's Tetsu's lady.
She sings three times throughout the film. The first song she sings is about the Tokyo Drifter. The other song, which she sings twice, is Blue Night in Akasaka.
As with Cowboy Bebop, there is a lot of musicality. Tetsu has his own theme tune, which he either whistles or sings at least in part in almost every scene. When it's not Tetsu's theme, a boisterous jazz score dominates. Where those are absent, a solo harmonica evokes pathos.
A few other characters worth mentioning:
Tatsu the Viper(Tamio Kawaji) is Otsuka's hit man whom he sends after Tetsu. The bad guys here are so bad that when they need to make a phone call, they dial their rotary phone with a gun.
Kenji AKA: Shooting Star(Hideaki Nitani) is a syndicate veteran who has since left to pursue more independent, mercenary engagements. He is a little bit Jet Black. He is detached yet protective of Tetsu. He genuinely wants to see the young man make it out of the syndicate alive. They team up but only briefly. It's Kenji who plays around with a deck of cards in two scenes. He randomly draws a card each time. Both times it's the ace of spades.
One of the more unusual highlights of this film is a cartoonish bar fight precipitated by two drunk yakuza in their underwear who try to grope a white, strawberry blonde stripper while she performs on stage. She slaps them back into the audience. Suddenly, everyone in the bar starts throwing hands, bottles, and chairs, demolishing the set in the process.
Speaking of the sets, what appears to be artsy minimalism in terms of set design is actually the result of the production running out of money to build sets before they were finished filming. The studio was stingy when it came to Seijun Suzuki. His films were given barely half the budget that was given to other directors like Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu. The nightclub where Chiharu sings is essentially an empty soundstage with a short staircase, a piano, and a bizarre sculpture of a nude holding what looks like a giant doughnut or a tractor tire above its head.
In contrast to that starkness, they insert numerous shots of the many elaborate neon signs adorning the cluttered entertainment district. Not a neon sign, but an interesting sign that appears in one scene, it reads:
STOP
LOOK
WELCOME
ENJOY YOUR LIBERTY HERE
CLUB
HONG KONG
An interesting note about the male lead, Tetsuya Watari. The studio wanted this movie to make him the next big star. It was intended to be a showcase of his talent. That's why he has his own theme tune. The trouble with it was that he wasn't much of a singer. The song sounds odd and a bit stilted because they had him sing it one line at a time, then they took the best takes of each line and edited them together. The studio was unhappy with the overall finished movie. They scolded Seijun Suzuki for failing to showcase the star and made him reshoot the ending with some stylistic changes they wanted.

Rita: Season 05 (2020):
This was a highly satisfying conclusion to a wonderfully entertaining series. I'm glad I took a chance on this funny, heartwarming show from Denmark. I really had no idea what I was getting into.
Rita is the kind of teacher that believes in letting kids have agency and showing them respect. For an American, the school system as depicted by this show seems very liberal, and Rita even more so, but not in a bad way.
I recommend starting at the beginning. Don't jump in at season five. I also recommend the spin-off series Hjørdis.

The Shadow Whip (Ying zi shen bian - 1971):
It begins with a cheery song and a beautiful, snow-covered backdrop. Our heroine, Yun Kai-yun(Pei-Pei Cheng), is headed into town with her servant on a supply run to stock their pantry in preparation for winter. Her attire makes her look like a young Mrs. Claus. Their horse and buggy gets waylaid by thugs. They catch up to the aforementioned thugs at a restaurant in town.
Ms. Claus(Yun) comes to town and kicks all their asses with her bull whip. Her skill does not go unnoticed. She is approached by a young man, a skilled martial artist himself, who inquires as to the identity of her teacher. He is not the only one. There is a lot of chatter among those who witnessed and took part in the fight at the restaurant. Only one man in all the land is so skilled in fighting with a whip --The Shadow Whip! Ms. Yun knows him as Uncle Fang.
Trouble follows her from town to Uncle Fang's house, forcing him to go into hiding. Ms. Yun teams up with the young man from the restaurant to clear her uncle's name, learning about their shared past and family tragedy along the way. Eventually, they catch up to her uncle, and they form a trio for the final fight.
This is what I watched on Christmas. One really cool thing about it besides the snowy scenery and the Mrs. Claus attire was the way it presented a part of the story told in flashback. Uncle Fang has her read through a journal he kept. The journal explains what happened to her parents, and how he came to be her adoptive uncle. It's through the highly detailed drawings of the journal that we enter the flashback scenes. I thought it was an extraordinarily nice touch for a low budget Shaw Brothers production.

A Christmas Horror Story (2015):
The bits with William Shatner are the best. He really keeps the whole thing going. The changeling story was the most interesting. The Krampus versus Santa story was the most visually stunning with an uncomfortably true to life twist ending. The ghost story was a tad boring but had a few cheap jump scares.

Fellini Satyricon (1969):
I don't like Fellini. I find his work egotistical and dishonest. The much vaunted La Dolce Vita left me underwhelmed. This is the second time I've rented Satyricon. Nights of Cabiria is the only other Fellini movie I've seen. Of the three, this is the most honest. I don't care to elaborate as to what I mean by that.
Two men who could be described as friends, lovers, and rivals fight over a slave. One is genuinely in love with the slave. The other seduces then sells the slave just to spite him. What follows are their adventures and misadventures in pursuit of someone who ultimately proves to be a fickle slut.
Many of the male characters in this movie screw everyone but their wives. Quite a few of the female characters are played by men. There is a lot of gender bending going on here. The costumes range from beautiful and delicate to gaudy and grotesque. There are number of impressive set pieces. I tend to confuse the costumes and set pieces of this film with those of Caligula(1979). This second rental was me reminding myself which is from which.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976):
This movie can fall into the sea.
When I love a movie, I seldom bother reading the reviews. When I hate a movie, I make a point of it. I can't help but wonder if maybe it's just me. Maybe some high art was simply lost on me. I don't think that's the case here.
There were many favorable reviews from people who saw it when it was first released. They remembered it fondly for the sex scenes, but not much else. There were several apologetic reviews from people who had read the Yukio Mishima novel upon which it was based. They argued that the Westernization was to blame in that it robbed the story of its profound symbolism and proper cultural context.
Bullshit!
The sex scenes are tainted by their context. For such scenes to be enjoyable, the audience needs to be alone with those in the act. The audience is not alone here. On the other side of the wall, a teenage boy spies upon the action through a knothole. He gets all sweaty and agitated, and jots copious notes about it in his journal. It wouldn't be so bad if he weren't spying on his own mother. It gets even worse when she brings home a sailor, played stiffly by Kris Kristofferson. Way to make sex unsexy, kid!
At first, the kid seems fine with mom's new boyfriend. The sailor diddles his lonely, widowed mother whenever his ship is in port, then heads out to sea again. It isn't until the sailor decides to stay that the kid goes berserk.
Sarah Miles plays the mother. Her performance is rather brilliant though a bit over-the-top. She certainly conveys how lonely and man hungry her character has become after four years without her husband.
Miles and Kristofferson made news back then with their intense erotic scenes, which as the story goes, crossed the line from acting into a real-life affair. They also did a promotional spread in Playboy magazine, which was shot on the set. Kristofferson's wife divorced him over the affair.
Now back to the perverse, mentally disturbed brat...
Her son is played by Jonathan Kahn, who had very little in the way of an acting career after this. I can't say I'm surprised. Perhaps he gave too disturbing a performance for his own good.
Young Jonathan might have started out well-adjusted, but in the years since his father died, he fell in with a bad crowd. This bad crowd consists of four other boys from school. The biggest asshole of the group designates himself "the chief" and assigns the other boys numbers. They are ranked according to how much they kiss his spoiled ass and subvert adult authority on any given day.
Many reviewers mentioned Lord of the Flies when describing this little gang. That's more than it deserves.
The chief, played by Earl Rhodes, is the rich but neglected son of a surgeon. We never see his parents. He is alone and unsupervised most if not all of the time. His hobbies include bullying the other boys, especially when they act their age(around 12-13), and torturing and killing animals, including household pets. There is graphic dissection scene involving the family cat. There is another graphic scene involving firecrackers and a seagull. He doesn't treat his friends much better. They aren't so much his friends as his captives.
I wanted someone, anyone, another kid, an adult, anyone at all, the fucking mailman to step in and punch this homicidal little brat's lights out. He needs to be knocked cold and tossed in The Home for Young Serial Killers. For the cat scene alone, I recommend skipping this movie. The lack of comeuppance and the amorality make it all the worse. I don't know if this is supposed to be a cautionary tale about parental neglect or what. Maybe it's a dig at single mothers.
The chief is definitely neglected. It's also implied that when he isn't neglected, he is bullied and abused by his father. Jonathan has his mom though. In fact, apart from the chief, the other kids have it pretty good. They are varying degrees of rich. All but the chief has one or more loving and attentive parents. They are privileged, thus they fear no consequences.
The most baffling thing is why the movie rental service files this under "steamy romantic". This is a horror movie. Also, it has inconsistent sound. Mom and sailor have a conversation on the beach. The waves are crashing loudly, except when one of them speaks, then the ocean is just muted entirely. It's disconcerting. It's also very 1970s. I don't know how to put it technically, but if I had just the audio, I would know this was made in the 1970s. Those are minor complaints compared to the incestuous overtone, and the animal torture murders.
At least the scenery is nice. Nice landscapes, nice boats...horrible movie. I've seen enough Japanese movies to know that proper cultural context wouldn't change my opinion.