Why do people applaud movies where the film team is either dead or absent, or both? (Just laughed at myself about the thought of a present-but-dead film crew…) Self-presentation is a disgustingly dominant human feature. (Cue the irony of me self-importantly pointing out my appearance on camera in yesterday’s post.)
Don’t let the picture fool you, the film was shot in very nice colour.
Daikon to Ninjin (Radish and Carrot, ?????)
Japan 1964, Shibuya Minoru, 107′
Tokichi Yamaki has loyally served his company for 30 years. Correct in every aspect of his life but having no real ambition he is still only section chief, which his wife and his four daughters like to point out. One day, after selling his stocks to help his irresponsible younger brother he suddenly vanishes.
What a delightful, funny Ozu movie, despite not being an Ozu movie! (side note: I discovered a totally awesome Ozu DVD collection in Poland (of all places!) recently) I guess it shows, when you do an hommage to Ozu, based on a script outline of his. It was the kind of playful, witty serious comedy I’d expect from Billy Wilder, only a little less wild and much more Japanese. The film was shot in the same year the Shinkansen started running, so we had many prominent shots with it. Disregarding its great entertainment value it was highly interesting to see that in 1964 Japan was on one side the classic wooden Ozu-Japan but on the other side things like the Shinkansen, love hotels and many typical features of modern Japan were already starting to show.
Tropa de Elite 2 – o inimigo agora é outro (Elite Squad 2 – The enemy within)
Brazil 2010, José Padilha, 116′
Ten years later, Nascimento has lost his marriage but is winning the war against the drug trade. Unfortunately, the drug trade is neither the biggest, nor the most dangerous enemy and now things “get personal”.
You could have tacked this onto Tropa de Elite and no one would be able to tell that this is not the same movie, Padilha managed to exactly copy style and feeling of the first movie while throwing a big helping of “dark” in there. Like the first movie, it carefully balances between admiring The Fist Of Brutal Righteousness that is BOPE and the grim consequences and collateral damage of cleaning up with no holding back. In fact, the educational twist that these methods may not be, at least to this degree of consequence, the best for all involved doesn’t happen until about 10-15 minutes before the end of the movie, which is quite a bit later than in its predecessor. Definitely a worthy successor although it doesn’t win points for originality; it really doesn’t have to anyway. It is however close to the perfect sequel and that alone is a big achievement.