dulcedemon | Entries tagged with musicals

Three Resurrected Drunkards (Kaette kita yopparai - 1968):
Written by: Masao Adachi, Mamoru Sasaki, Tsutomu Tamura, and Nagisa Ôshima
What we have here is a case of cinematic happenstance so uncanny that it knocked me on my ass. This and the second entry on this list were both released in 1968. Both star a pop group. Both deal with time loops. Both are anti-war and use almost identical imagery to convey that message. Both overlay the anti-war sentiment with zany romping and hijinks. Only one has trains.
I knew almost nothing about Three Resurrected Drunkards going into it. I chose it solely because it was directed by Nagisa Ôshima. I had seen Taboo, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and In the Realm of the Senses. Any one or all of which I wholeheartedly recommend. I wanted something from earlier on in his career, and this was what I picked.
It just happened to arrive the same week as Head (1968). I knew what I was getting into with The Monkees, but there was nothing to prepare me for the misadventures of The Folk Crusaders.
Here is a musical interlude while I gather my thoughts:
Kaettekita Yopparai - The Folk Crusaders
https://youtu.be/ZTlJR6ZuhnE
The lyrics are translated into English in the subtitles of the movie. The official English title of the song is I Only Live Twice.
The real-life wartime imagery that these two films share is the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém, a suspected Viet Cong officer, on a street in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. The use of it is more subtle in Head but only comparatively. Here, it's unavoidable. Maybe not so noticeable or identifiable at first, but eventually, unmistakable and looming larger-than-life over the entire landscape with all the subtlety and grace of a bullet to the temple.

Head (1968):
Written by: Bob Rafelson, Jack Nicholson, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, and Davy Jones
I have lost count of how many times I have seen this movie. Let's go with several to many. I don't own a copy. I wish I did. It's not so easy to obtain. I may or may not have a VHS bootleg that may or may not have been copied from AMC. If such a VHS bootleg exists, it may or may not still be in playable condition.
Ask a Monkees fan about Head, and they will probably tell you that it was a demonstration of the band's genuine musical prowess combined with an earnest anti-war sentiment in an effort to prove that they were more than a manufactured sugar pop boy band. Ask anyone else, and they might tell you that the Monkees got to together with Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, did a lot of psychedelic drugs, and made a very bad movie while they were at it. I tend to agree with the fans, but both opinions are at least partially true.
Not long after it begins, the basis of the entire movie is explained with a spoken piece known as the Ditty Diego-War Chant. It plays over a scene featuring a wall of televisions. Each screen shows either actual news footage, a person-on-the-street interview, an old movie clip, or a scene from the movie yet to come. The television screens are shown all together as well as individually until it hones in on one final screen in particular. That screen shows the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém. Cut to a beautiful, blue-eyed, blonde, teenage girl screaming her head off for The Monkees as they take the stage. Cue the plaintive wail of Mike Nesmith singing Circle Sky intercut with footage of the Vietnam War with emphasis on villagers fleeing for their lives. It's a heavy beginning for a movie often dismissed as a bit of fluff.
As I have mentioned, both movies involve time loops. The first entry begins with three college students frolicking on a beach and ends with them in a predicament on a train before looping back around. The time loop in Head centers around trying to escape a box or avoid becoming trapped in the box in the first place. The box can be a physical construct like a prison cell or shipping container. The box can also be something less tangible like a genre or stereotype.
It features several great songs and numerous celebrity cameos. I love the Porpoise Song, but Can You Dig It? and Circle Sky were the ones I played back the most. My favorite cameo is Frank Zappa, who offers some words of wisdom to Davy Jones, while simultaneously leading a cow off a soundstage. My second favorite cameo is Vito Scotti. The scene in the desert with Micky Dolenz versus the vending machine is probably my favorite of the whole movie.
Timothy Carey plays Lord High 'n Low. It's a part just big enough to not be a cameo, but if this movie were made today, his role would probably be edited down to a cameo for the sake of sensitivity and political correctness. He does not make fun of the disabled. I can see how some people might interpret it that way. Without going too much into it, there is one scene in which Timothy Carey portrays a disabled person. Some people laugh and make fun of him. There are swift and severe repercussions against those people. That bit of his performance is hard to watch. It's jarring in part because it's unexpected, but also because it's done by an actor with a knack for the uncomfortable. It's not meant to make you squirm in your seat. It's meant to make you ask yourself why you are squirming in your seat (if applicable). Despite his appearance and demeanor, his character is not the heavy. His part is that of a petty showbiz tyrant more than anything.
Throw in some madcap antics, silly skits, Eastern spiritualist philosophy, a troupe of belly dancers, a groupie or two or ten, psychedelic and surreal imagery, a god-like main antagonist, and it's a party.
My favorite sound bites from the wall of televisions:
Bela Lugosi: Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not.
Person-on-the-street: Are you telling me that you don't see the connection between government and laughing at people?
***
Commentator's Epilogue or Why Oh Why Ye Gods of Cinematic Happenstance Did You Do This to Me:
Here is a not funny story about the week these two eerily similar movies arrived at my house. They both arrived a few days before the Texas mall massacre that left entire families in piles of chunks on the ground. I was not in a good headspace when I sat down to watch these.
Talk about squirming in your seat, this had me crawling up inside myself looking for a place to hide, and I have had all of May to stew about it. I got sick at the end of the first week. COVID tests were negative, but whatever I caught turned into pneumonia just the same. I have been recovered for less than week now, which is why it took me until June to write it up.
Three Resurrected Drunkards was particularly hard to handle. It doesn't just show that violent piece of imagery from Saigon. It dwells on it almost to the point of absurdity, and it got me to thinking. I thought long and hard back to a much happier and more innocent time in my life, when the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém was the worst and most violent image of reality that I had ever seen. Agree with the execution or not, feel that it was justified or not, be shocked and appalled by it or not, the action is understandable given the context of war. I'm deeply sorry that I now live in a world that forces me to look back on this horrific image of one of many horrific events that were part of the Vietnam War and view it as something almost quaint in comparison.
There is an obligation to bear witness, but does it have to be my obligation? I am disgusted and exhausted by atrocity after atrocity after atrocity. It's all the horror of war without the rationale of war, and it's being foisted upon civilians almost every damn day anymore. I am so fed up with this country and the aggrieved entitlement zealots and gun fetishists that drive this bloodlust and madness. They are forever crying about their freedoms. There is no freedom which guarantees the right to carry a massacre machine. There are guns, and there are massacre machines. I have no time for those who refuse to acknowledge the difference. No one needs or is entitled to a massacre machine.
Speaking of freedom, what about my freedom to not have to see fellow citizens on a routine shopping trip shot to smithereens like enemy combatants? I didn't seek those images out. Between television and the internet, they were unavoidable. It takes but a glance to be saddled with indelible horror. The ghosts of atrocities past remind me of this.
Movies are one of my favorite means of escapism, but there was no escape this time around. The shocking image that these two movies repetitiously examine was ripped straight from the headlines at the time. It was probably the most shocking image that many people had ever seen, so much so that it was burned into their individual and collective memories.
50 years ago, a photo of a Vietnam execution framed Americans' view of war
A photograph of an execution on a Saigon street remains one of the defining images of the Vietnam War, 50 years later:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/50-years-ago-photo-vietnam-execution-framed-americans-view-war-n843801
Warning: Despite being relatively wholesome and G-rated, it is now illegal to show either of these movies in proximity to minors in a non-zero number of states in the USA due to cross-dressing on the part of one or more characters.

The Ornithologist (O Ornitólogo - 2016):
Written by: João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata
An ornithologist kayaks through the breathtakingly beautiful wilds of Portugal while doing a species count of black storks. Immersed in his observations, he drifts into rough waters which capsize his craft and knock him unconscious in the process. He later awakens disoriented and lost. It marks the start of a rich, strange, at times perilous, occasionally delightful, and ultimately spiritually transformative journey. His first unsettling encounter comes courtesy of two young women who are also lost in the woods.
The women claim to be pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, but they are way off course. They insist that the ornithologist must help them find their way. Fernando (Paul Hamy) reluctantly agrees. He may or may not have unwittingly consumed a hallucinogenic "medicinal" tea, and it's just one bizarre encounter after another from that point onward.
Half-naked huntresses, costumed drunken revelers, a shepherd who may or may not be a divine being...
The synopsis says it's based on the life of St. Anthony of Padua. Even though I was raised Catholic, I'll just have to take their word for it. It's not bad, but it's certainly not great. The scenery is absolutely stunning with forested cliffs and exposed sheer rock of many colors towering over both sides of a river. There are several good moments of suspense and surprise. I liked the way it defied my every assumption. I also liked the romantic and rather poetic song that accompanies the closing credits: Canção Do Engate by António Variações. The lyrics are translated into English in the subtitles of the movie. The translations that I found online were not as good.

Silent Running (1972):
Written by: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, and Steven Bochco
This gets all the stars for creativity and zero stars for pacing. My late father was a fan of actor Bruce Dern, yet he never mentioned this movie to me. I learned of its existence from someone on Mastodon. It's not hard to figure out why this movie is like a forgotten secret. It's not without problems. Considering that it was director Douglas Trumbull's maiden voyage, those problems are perfectly understandable.
Bruce Dern plays botanist Freeman Lowell. Apparently, things are so bad on Earth that the only way to preserve any flora and fauna is by launching it into space inside specially engineered biodome habitats. That's the good news. The bad news is that those last chance to avoid total extinction space flights are at the mercy of a conglomerate of corporate entities that jointly own and command the entire fleet of spaceships. That conglomerate ultimately decides to return the fleet to commercial service. Saving the very last trees, flowers, birds and bunnies just isn't profitable. The news is well received by everyone aboard the fleet, except the botanist.
There are holes in the story and flaws in the logic that a whole fleet of spacecraft could fly through, but don't let that dissuade you. The helper robots are cool and the actors who played them are even cooler. It was clearly not an easy job. It's just Bruce and the robots for much of the movie, which is why I complained about the pacing. The bulk of the action happens early followed by a long, slow slide toward the inevitable.
I really appreciated the making of featurette included on the DVD. It was quite fascinating. Given the year this movie was made, it leaves you with a lot of questions as to how they did things. All of my questions were answered by the making of featurette and a more recent interview with Bruce Dern also included on the disc. I strongly recommend avoiding any trailers prior to watching it. They give away entirely too much.

Cheeky! (2000):
Written by: Tinto Brass, Carla Cipriani, Nicolaj Pennestri, Silvia Rossi, and Massimiliano Zanin
I saw Tinto Brass in the news recently, and two things happened:
1) I realized he was still alive.
2) I rented probably one of his best movies for the third time.
Boasts profound love for the butt, and the director put himself in one of its best scenes. It's a fairly convincing softcore with full male and female nudity, featuring both lesbian and heterosexual pairings. Definitely adults only. Don't overthink it just have a good time.

Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma monogatari - 2005):
Written by: Nobara Takemoto and Tetsuya Nakashima
This is a very silly, highly entertaining comedy about an unlikely friendship between a sugar-frosted, Rococo lolita (Kyôko Fukada) and a grease-streaked, Yankii biker (Anna Tsuchiya). One of the cool things about renting the DVD is that it has a special mode in which a cabbage will periodically appear on the screen. When you click the cabbage, it reveals narrated text offering a cultural note, geographic description, or terminology definition.
It has a rather unique look. Some parts are animated. All the live action is in supersaturated color almost like a cartoon. There is also a flashy yakuza guy (Sadao Abe) with an enormous, jutting, regent pompadour that earned him the nickname "The Unicorn". As bizarre as it might seem, it's a sweet and adorable coming of age and learning the true meaning of friendship story.
Bosozoku, Yankii And Sukeban - Japanese Gangs:
https://skdesu.com/en/japanese-gangs-yankii-bosozoku-and-sukeban/

Syndromes and a Century ( Sang sattawat - 1968):
As I pick my way through writer-director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's body of work, I'm finding that it's hit and miss. This one bored me terribly. It seemed promising at the start, but my interest quickly waned. It's supposed to be the story of his parents' courtship, but it tells two slightly similar stories with very different outcomes.
It's not a contrast of his and her perspectives. It's two different stories. Not knowing which if either to believe made me not care. Both stories are bland, meandering, and lacking in coherence. It was not a good use of my time or a DVD rental. Cemetery of Splendor (2015) and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) were far better. Syndromes and a Century lacks the meditative, spiritual qualities, and whimsical moments of those other titles largely due to being set in an austere medical environment. Sticking with it becomes a chore long before the end.

Current Music: Canção Do Engate by António Variações

Kantara (2022):
Written and directed by and also starring Rishab Shetty.
This is my kind of movie in so many ways. I got lucky when I stumbled onto a promotional music video for it on YouTube. It has all the charisma of RRR, which occupied the top spot on the previous list, but it has so much more heart, better character development, and greater emotional depth.
It even has a catchy song. That is, it did have a catchy song, or it might still, or if it doesn't right now, maybe it will later, depending upon how the court rules.
Read about the song controversy here:
Kantara song Varaha Roopam can't be played in theatres and digital streaming platforms, rules Kerala court:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/kantara-song-varaha-roopam-can-t-be-played-in-theatres-and-digital-streaming-platforms-rules-kerala-court/ar-AA19TjQO
As of this posting, the song is still up on YouTube and in the movie as streamed on Netflix.
https://youtu.be/gH_RYRwVrVM
The story takes place in a tribal village in the state of Karnataka, India. There is a land dispute between the village and the government forestry service. Things get heated when the government orders a new land survey that marks a portion of the village as over its boundary. Complicating the situation is the fact that while the villagers own their homes, they do not own the land. The land is held by a local official who essentially acts as their landlord.
The action begins shortly before a local religious festival honoring the deities that watch over and protect the village and the crops that the villagers grow. The festival, known as Bhuta Kola and often referred to simply as the Kola, honors Panjurli and Guliga. Panjurli is the village benefactor and protector. Guliga is more of an enforcer and punisher. My basic understanding is that if you disobey or break your word to Panjurli, Guliga will show up and make you regret it in a big way.
Read more about Buta Kola here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buta_Kola
Shiva (Rishab Shetty) is a charismatic and bold young man from the village. Given his family history, he should be the one to perform the Kola ritual dance, but for reasons, he has elected to let that sacred duty fall to his cousin. Shiva prefers to spend his days drinking, carousing, cutting wood and hunting wild game with his friends (illegally according to the forest service). Kishore Kumar G. is outstanding as Murali the head of the forest service survey team. Sapthami Gowda is excellent in her role as Leela.
The last time that I got everything I wanted in a movie was with Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Kantara easily meets that standard. It has the right balance of action and drama, a bit of romance, and complex yet relatable characters that the audience can really care about. It teaches something about the culture and its belief system. It looks amazing, and it's got groove.

Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto (1968):
Stop-motion animator Kihachiro Kawamoto began his career under the mentorship of the extraordinarily gifted Jiri Trnka, and it shows. This is a wonderful collection of animated short films. There are few happy endings to be found, but the craftmanship and storytelling are excellent.

Dames (1934):
Story by Robert Lord. Screenplay written by Delmer Daves.
This film introduced the song I Only Have Eyes For You to the world. I have seen several Busby Berkeley films, but this one is something else. It's easy to tell from all the drinking and smoking that they got this one out before the Hays Code was strictly enforced. Technically, they are taking medicine in the form of Dr. Silver's Golden Elixir (thirty-five percent alcohol by volume). Alcohol is the least of its vices. CW: Cousin fuckers
The dance numbers, and I hesitate to call them that, but words fail me, are the most stunning geometrical displays I have ever seen outside of an actual kaleidoscope. Taken in combination with the camera trickery used, if you can withstand the psychic damage this film inflicts, you can endure just about anything. I loved Hugh Herbert, Guy Kibbee, and ZaSu Pitts. Joan Blondell is fabulous as always.
Dick Powell is Dick Powell. Once you have seen enough of these you will know what I mean. I hated Ruby Keeler's bangs. As far as the featured song goes, I prefer the version recorded by The Flamingos in 1958.
Extras on the DVD include:
Featurette:
Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes (2006)
Shorts:
Melody Master: Vitaphone Presents: Don Redman and his Orchestra with Red and Struggie (1934)
Good Morning, Eve (1934) - The most surprising thing about this one is that it's in color. Also, the tune Emperor Nero plays sounds quite like Mysterious Mose minus the goofy sound effects. I imagine the bevy of pants-less pages made the censors sweat.
And She Learned About Dames (Movie Promo 1934) - This is a corny promotional film for Dames (1934) in which a wallflower gets herself a makeover, so she can compete in the Miss Complexion contest and have a chance at kissing Dick Powell.
Cartoons:
Those Beautiful Dames (1934) - Chuck Jones was one of the animators for this one. Directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng. CW: Racial caricatures
I Only Have Eyes For You (1937) - Robert Clampett and Chuck Jones are among the animators. Directed by Tex Avery. CW: Ageism, sexism, and ableism

Empire of Light (2022):
Written by Sam Mendes.
I rented this only because it was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards. I haven't seen the winner or any of the other nominees yet, and I'm not sure when I will. Newer movies are no longer a priority now that we have come to the last precious months of DVD rentals. It makes me sad beyond measure to know that such a vast collection of classics and rarities from every decade of cinema history is about to be lost. There is no way I will be able to watch all the movies still in queue by the end. There was so much left to discover, study, and enjoy. It's a dreadful shame and a terrible loss. The service is still making money in spite of their refusal to promote it. They just don't care. Apparently, Netflix doesn't care about history, film preservation, or even what people find entertaining. They are a de facto film archive, and as such, they have responsibility to do right by that collection whether it turns them a profit or not.
I could have said it separately, but it's apropos of Empire of Light. Most of the action takes place at a cinema built in the early 1920s. The building is a beautiful Art Deco relic still hanging on in the 1980s in Margate, UK.
It's a real theater. They changed the name for the movie.
I didn't read the synopsis until it was en route. My initial reaction: Oh shit! A mental illness movie. Although the main character struggles with mental illness, it's more about interpersonal connection and perseverance. It's also a little bit about how movies provide people with solace and hope. That latter notion is conveyed beautifully by Norman (Toby Jones) the projectionist. He was my favorite character by the end.
I can relate to Hilary (Olivia Colman) to some degree, especially in terms of how her first boss exploits her and sort of dangles that she is a probationary hire through social services. There are people who like to take advantage of the marginalized, condemning them while at the same time using them and squeezing them for little extras, favors, added fees for the privilege of participation.
It's one of several challenging issues the story attempts to address. I thought its handling of certain topics was a bit too shallow. I was also conflicted by the depiction of Hilary's mental illness. It's said to be schizophrenia, but it looked like bipolar disorder. That conflicted feeling might stem from bias on my part. I've known quite a few bipolar people but only one schizophrenic. I did not see that one person reflected in the portrayal here, but it matched up with every bipolar person I have ever known.
The actual diagnosis doesn't matter in the context of the story. Hilary's relationship with Stephen (Micheal Ward) was beautiful, but it didn't always feel real, and as a vehicle for social commentary, I think it fell short. As a dreamy, poetic, bittersweet romance in a pretty location, it's not bad.

Fanny Hill (2007):
Based on the novel written by John Cleland. Screenplay written by Andrew Davies.
Tonight, on a very special (adults only) Masterpiece Theatre...
Just kidding. Well, not about the adults only part, but I don't know if Fanny Hill was ever shown on PBS. I doubt it. It was released by Acorn, which is the company responsible for Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin, and others.
It was shown as a television mini-series in the UK.
It's a period drama with lots of corsets and frock coats, ladies with heaving bosoms and daintily coiffured men, and smallpox with a side of tuberculosis. A provincial young lady, Fanny Hill (Rebecca Night), is made a destitute orphan when she loses her parents to smallpox, so she heads to London with a friend to seek employment.
She finds employment of a sort. Technically, it finds her. It turns out to be drastically less than what she had hoped. She absconds with a devoted client before fulfilling her contract. Things are looking up until his father raises an objection, and Fanny winds up freelancing. Feel free to open a window and let out all this innuendo.
This was not my cup of tea. Maybe it could have been if it had been less predictable. Fanny tells her tale in flashback, and I didn't like knowing the ending from the beginning. Had Netflix made their disappointing announcement prior to this being shipped, I might have chosen something else like Vampires in Havana (1985) or Happy Together (Chun gwong cha sit - 1997), both of which I've seen several times but neither of which is easy to obtain.