As this found-footage fantasia began to find its footing as an unironic celebration of our current surveillance state and the almighty power of Google, where yes, even you too can unravel a complex international missing-persons case without leaving the comfort of your living room, it felt both revelatory and deeply depressing.
We were told the Internet would change the world as soon as it became publicly available in the early 90s, but at the time our imaginations could only stretch…
Colossally disappointing not just as a fan of All Gas No Brakes/Channel 5/ Andrew Callaghan/The Director/Star/Producer/RV Driver/Et Cetera, but as a fan of basic film grammar as well as journalism itself. What makes Callaghan pop off as a topical political commentator via timely person-on-the-street interviews is what ultimately dooms this Late Trump-era time capsule: the outcome of the election is already known, the repercussions of said hissy fit is also already known, and to top it off, our intrepid cub…
Works on so many different levels: As an uncompromising piece of investigative journalism shedding light on the unimaginable horrors of Japan's wartime sojourn into Southeast Asia, an attempt to untangle complex knots of guilt, patriotism, cognitive dissonance, and willful ignorance, and a character study of a bullheaded veteran driven to (possibly over) the brink of madness on a quest to find someone accountable for the horrors he endured.
Kenzo Okuzaki has a rap sheet of a number of bizarre offenses,…
This very culturally specific satire might fly over the heads of Western audiences expecting either the delirious cinephilia of TAMPOPO or the cynical yet deeply rooted humanism of THE FUNERAL. A more accurate title might be more along the lines of LEARNING HOW TO EJECT BELLIGERENT YAKUZA FROM YOUR HOTEL LOBBY WITHOUT ESCALATING THE CONFLICT OR DISRESPECTING THEIR PERVERSE SENSE OF PRIDE IN BEING GANGSTERS, USUALLY BY COMPLIMENTING THEIR ELABORATE TATTOOS OR PLAYING ALONG WITH THE FANTASY THAT THEY ARE…
