Cinematic Distractions

[dulcedemon]

Floating Weeds (Ukikusa - 1959):
Written by Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda, and Tadao Ikeda
I went overboard with Ozu in this installment. Sometimes directors remake their own films. This is one of those times.
I wanted to compare this remake with the original. Sound and color are the obvious differences. I had convinced myself that the original would come out the winner. I proved myself wrong.
In the original, the theatrical troupe arrives and departs by train. Here they arrive by boat and leave by train. More boats and trains are shown in later scenes. They are passive reminders that the troupe will eventually move on to another village.
The young boy in the acting troupe is played by an even younger boy here, seven-year-old Masahiko Shimazu. I like him in that he is much more natural and not creepy. There are only two actresses in the troupe. In the original, they perform only traditional female roles. In this version, we are treated to the younger of the two actresses playing a noble warrior (possibly the legendary warrior Yoshitsune).
Many scenes are taken word for word from the 1934 original. The love stories remain the same. The settings are better with greater variety and a number of thoughtful embellishments. The barber shop scene benefits from a gender switch. That scene has some of the biggest changes. It's not really a comedic scene the first time around, but it is in this version, and I love that he put Toyo Takahashi in it as the barber shop owner. As with the original, a theft is committed within the group, but this time, the thief takes more than a few coins from a child's piggy bank.
The closing shot is beautiful in a way that could not be achieved in black and white. Once Ozu transitioned into doing color films, he became known for including little splashes of red in as many scenes as he could. It was meant to act as a sort of visual punctuation mark. The red could be anything, a banner, a pane of colored glass, a jellied dessert, a lantern, or in this particular case, the rear lights of a train departing at night.
Floating Weeds boasts a trio of formidable actresses:
Machiko Kyō plays Sumiko a dancer turned stage actress and the troupe leader's common law wife. She also starred in Rashomon (1950), Ugetsu (1953), and Street of Shame (1956).
Haruko Sugimura plays Oyoshi an old flame of the troupe leader. She also starred in Tokyo Story (1953) and several other Ozu films, plus she appeared in two Kurosawa films, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and Red Beard (1965). She played a brothel madam in those last two.
Ayako Wakao plays Kayo the younger of the two actresses in the troupe. She also starred in Street of Shame (1956) and The Red Angel (1966).

Two Men in Manhattan (Deux hommes dans Manhattan - 1959):
Written, directed, and starring: Jean-Pierre Melville
A moody, jazzy score sets the tone for a missing person mystery with the potential to cause an international scandal as it unfolds amid the backdrop of nocturnal New York City. I have seen this twice before, and I keep coming back for more. There is so much I love about it. The Agence France-Presse office scenes are so good. I really dig the shot of the veteran newsman walking along a row of busy teleprinters, cherry-picking the most interesting stories as they come over the wire.
The exteriors showing Times Square, the United Nations building, and various places around the city were filmed by Melville himself while on a visit to New York. Most if not all interior scenes were filmed in France. It's easy to pick out the English dubbing for a few of the minor characters.
Moreau (Jean-Pierre Melville), a shrewd reporter for Agence France-Presse, teams up with a tabloid photographer colleague, Pierre Dumas (Pierre Grasset). They are tasked with learning the whereabouts of a missing French delegate to the UN. Their assignment leads them on a tour of New York City's nightlife and straight into an ethical quandary.

A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa monogatari - 1934):
Written by Tadao Ikeda and Yasujirō Ozu
A ragtag theatrical troupe has a one-year contract to perform in a small village. They arrive by train and promptly begin mixing with the locals for better and worse. The troupe leader causes more drama than he puts forth on stage when he looks up an old flame.
I want to clarify what I said above about the child actor in the remake being better. With the kid in this one, the character is nine, but the actor is eleven. He acts very immature for his age. He still wets his bed. His father still gives him piggyback rides, even though he is much too big for it. He is kind of an unsettling, weird, impish kid. There is no sign of his mother, but a sidelong glance between the kid's father and the younger actress is a cause of wonder.
Although this is a silent film, it has the pacing of a talkie. It's got a flow to it like no other silent movie I've seen. As silent movies go, this one is in my top three along with Metropolis (1927) and Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922).
There was no accompanying score written for it in 1934. At some point after the Criterion Collection got their hands on it, they commissioned a piano score. The DVD has the option to play the film with or without it. I didn't care for it. I found it too incongruous and painfully Western. It's preferable to total silence, but one would likely do better choosing something from their own music collection.

The Swimmers (2022):
Written by Sally El Hosaini and Jack Thorne
These young women braved an ordeal that most will never have to face. Their arduous struggle and miraculous survival make for an emotionally harrowing viewing experience. Knowing that their struggle continues to this day steals away the joy. If you know nothing about the Hosaini sisters, it might be best to watch this without looking up any information beforehand.
Refugees should not be treated with contempt or penalized for seeking safety and a better life. Their journeys are fraught with countless perils. Most of us can't imagine let alone survive such a journey. They don't deserve the cruelty of physical and legal obstacles being hurled in their path. I don't know who can watch this and not be moved by it.

Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari - 1953):
Written by Kōgo Noda and Yasujirō Ozu
A small-town couple in their golden years takes a two-day train ride to visit their adult children in Tokyo. They plan to spend the summer there, catching up with family, touring the city, and looking up a few old friends, but their visit is not so well received. It's not a surprise or some last-minute plan. Everyone was notified ahead of time.
Their children had weeks to prepare, yet they act as if their parents are a sudden imposition. They start asking their parents when they plan to return home almost as soon as they arrive. Their eldest son is a physician who runs a private practice from his house. Their eldest daughter runs a beauty salon. Either one of them could have easily closed up shop for a few days, but instead they go out of their way to make excuses to keep busy. They take their parents for granted, showing indifference to their increasing frailty and encroaching mortality.
Their young, widowed daughter-in-law works at a major advertising firm. She is the only one who gives them a truly warm welcome. She graciously hosts them and shows them around the city despite her hectic work schedule.
I really enjoyed the universal themes of this story: children drifting apart from their parents in adulthood, grandkids being unappreciative brats, people acting like they have infinite time as if there will always be a later moment to spend together, have that dinner, and go to that place.

Black is Beltza (2018):
Written by Harkaitz Cano, Fermín Muguruza, Eduard Sola, and Jorge Alderete
This is Fermín Muguruza's directorial debut.
The last time I saw an animated feature that came anything close to this was American Pop (1981). The animation is terrific. The music is even better. The story filters real events and people who made history through the lens of a fictional protagonist. Unlike American Pop, which traces a timeline of pivotal moments in music history and the ups and downs of show business, Black is Beltza traces the history of social justice activism and counterculture resistance movements of the 1960s.
Manex (Unax Ugalde) is a young Basque man who travels from Spain to New York City along with his brother to participate in an ethnic pride parade featuring processional giants. The particular giants that they pilot are black, and local discrimination laws forbid them in the parade. This upsets Manex so much that instead of going back to Spain, he undertakes a cannabis and psychedelic drug enhanced odyssey into New York City nightlife, including a party at Andy Warhol's where he is introduced to Che Guevara's girlfriend Amanda Tamayo (Ayako Wakao).
If you can accept that premise, the rest of it should be no problem.
Rudy (Angelo Moore) is a young black man who befriends the brothers on the day of the parade. He has peripheral involvement with all sorts of interesting people, including but not limited to artists, musicians, revolutionaries, and activists. In other words, he is everyone's favorite weed supply guy. He facilitates a number of introductions that lead Manex to further adventures.
The story is non-linear. It jumps from Manex's adventures in America, Cuba, and Mexico to he and his brother caught in a predicament with the police in Spain. Among the history acknowledged and portrayed:
Muhammad Ali's 1967 arrest for draft evasion
The assassination of Malcolm X
The death of Otis Redding
COINTELPRO
The Cuban Revolution
The Black Panthers
The Harlem riots of 1964
Monterey Pop Festival
Warhol's Shot Marilyns

This is high quality, story-driven, animation for adults. Emphasis on adults: This movie contains graphic violence, nudity and sex, and heavy drug use. It also has a superb soundtrack.
Depending on your politics, the story and its sentiments might be off-putting. I will refrain from deriding it as tankies on LSD. A sequel was released in 2022, but I have yet to see it.

The Key (La chiave - 1983):
Written by Tinto Brass, and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (novel)
There is a good story here. I'm sure of it. It's too bad I couldn't hear the English-speaking actors. They're only the main characters. I don't mind jockeying the volume from loud action to quiet dialogue. Many movies have that problem. I do mind having to do it from one line to the next, which was often the case with The Key. Not only that, but the disparity was tremendous. Thirty notches difference in volume between Italian spoken parts and English dubbed parts was too much. I quickly gave up trying to adjust it. Worst of all, only the Italian was subtitled. I apologize if my description of it proves inaccurate.
A married couple with a big age difference engages in erotic journaling and photography. The much older husband has some sort of heart related medical condition that precludes him from having sex. He seeks photography instruction and assistance from a man closer to his wife's age. An odd sort of triangle forms. Their trysts are set in Venice in 1940 with Italy on the brink of war. The story is based upon the 1956 novel The Key by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.
Frank Finlay stars in a far cry from his role in A Christmas Carol (1984). Franco Branciaroli, who plays the younger man, became a Tinto Brass regular after this role. I haven't seen Stefania Sandrelli in anything else except for Stealing Beauty (1996). Tinto brass always has a cameo appearance in his own movies. The one he makes here is quite ironic.

¡Que Viva México! (2023):
Written by Luis Estrada and Jaime Sampietro
I needed something subtitled that I could watch late at night. I also wanted something that wasn't particularly challenging as I was fresh from watching The Swimmers. Requirements met.
It's not really my kind of comedy. I might have laughed out loud once per hour during the three hours. It's the longest comedy I've ever watched. I'll give it that. The two main things played for laughs here are fighting over an inheritance and being ashamed of your family. Those aren't things I tend to find humorous.
Aspects of it were more relatable than average due to some past experience I've had with relatives going batshit and cutthroat over an inheritance. It was an oddly cathartic three hours. At least this family has something of considerable worth at stake --an entire valley and part of the surrounding hills under which there is said to be a large deposit of gold, plus a ranch house as big as a motel. Damián Alcázar plays three different roles here, and so does Joaquín Cosio. I recommend watching it just for those performances.

Pink Flamingos (1972):
Written by John Waters
Ashes to ashes,
Funk to funky,
Schlock thou art, and unto schlock thou shall return...
This is it. This is the one. The one in which Divine eats the...
Though not among my reasons for choosing this title, I have to say that particular moment is far from the worst thing that happens in this movie. It's definitely filthy, yet not necessarily the filthiest, and competition for that dubious distinction is fierce.
Even with Mink Stole's stunning turn as ruthless, horrible, depraved, and utterly filthy Connie Marble, and Divine's vicious, unhinged, and trashy to the core Babs Johnson, I'm pretty sure the chicken fucker-murderer wins the contest. Honorable mention goes to the hot dog groper in the grocery store scene.
I remember my dad telling me about this movie back when I was too young to see it. He would always mention the "egg lady". The egg lady, Edie (Edith Massey), is the nicest character in this mess. My dad neglected to mention the chicken fucker-murderer.
The only other thing it has going for it is the soundtrack. The songs are an excellent sampling of late 1950s and early 1960s pop music. I was pleasantly surprised when it kicked off with Link Wray. They obtained the rights to use the songs just in time for the 25th anniversary of the film.