42nd Street Freak - November 17, 2010, 1:39am

“Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Video Tape” (2010)

http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvnastiesguide.php

This new documentary on the infamous UK ‘Video Nasty’ scare (directed by Jake West and released by ‘Nucleus Films’) doesn’t really cover any new ground to those who have followed and studied this dire period, but the many new faces (and voices) that we see talking about the debacle add a freshness to the subject and add a welcome, often fascinating, new slant on old information.

Such famous and diverse people as directors Christopher Smith (“Severance” / “Black Death”) and Neil Marshall (“The Descent” / “Dog Soldiers”), film writers like Alan Jones, Stephen Thrower and Kim Newman, critics like Derek Malcolm and educational intellectuals like ( wonderfully off the wall for her profession, in full Goth get-up and sporting a “The Beyond” tattoo) Dr. Patricia MacCormack are amongst those who deliver the scorn towards the whole mess with knowledge and enthusiasm and relay many a fun story of how the ‘pre-certification’ period effected their lives both then (as kids) and now as adults in their chosen careers.
But it is perhaps researcher/author Martin Barker who delivers the most crippling blows to the ‘pro-censorship’ brigade.
And also shows a weakness in the documentary.

Barker delivers lost of juicy tales of the scheming, lying and double dealing that ‘concerned’ groups and individuals.
His ripping apart of a (bogusly named) Parliamentary study committee on the ‘effects’ of videos of children and the corruption of truth (let alone data) that they took part in is great and tragic at the same time (especially when we are shown how influential and widely reported these bogus finding were), but these key findings are not then levelled at the two (alive…as we also have footage of the late James Ferman and Mary Whitehouse) interviewees who used this false data to push through their argument and cause.

These two ‘characters’ are the then head of the ‘Obscene Publications Squad’ Peter Kruger and the M.P (now a friggin ‘Sir’) Matthew Bright, who brought the ‘private members’ bill to get ‘video nasties’ banned that was the wellspring of the ‘Video Recordings Act’ that would see the crackdown on videos.
At one point Bright (in some of the wonderfully interesting and extensive archive footage in the documentary) is shown declaring, on national TV, that he has proof that videos not only disturb children…but can harm dogs too!
Well you have him here. Damn will hit him with his own words and lets hear him try to squirm out of his insane ‘video nasties mentally damage dogs’ remark. But no.

Also they have footage showing the ‘Obscene Publications’ guy, on TV, quoting the bogus data that decided 40% of children aged 6 had seen at least one ‘nasty’.
Well you have him here now…hit him with Barker’s facts about the fiction he used to back up his argument. But again, no.

True the makers often let Bright hang himself (his, even today, assertion that some of the deaths that he saw in these ‘nasties’ were real) but the ‘Obscene Publications’ guy is given a free ride.
And when you add the hideously weasel-like, nasal voiced, Himmler glasses wearing, cretin John Beyer (who took over the leadership of the ‘Viewers and Listeners Association’ from Mary Whitehouse after she snuffed it) into the mix but only on archive tape so again given automatic free-reign…you feel that not enough is being done to counter these people directly during what may be the only chance anyone will have.

At 70 minutes the documentary is full of good stuff (and the great ‘wall of old VHS’ backdrop for the interviews is a joy) but I was hoping for at least a 90 minute documentary given the sheer number of juicy tales and years of tragic farce the topic takes in.
And we could have done without Emily Booth pointlessly popping up yet again for a silly ‘attack of the VHS tape’ film break.

But overall this was a well made, interesting and often insightful thanks to those they chose to interview, look at this dark (if now grimly fascinating) period in British censorship and law upheaval that has much for ‘Nasties’ fans or just the general horror fan to enjoy.

So as an overall package this is something to be celebrated and supported (Marc Morris and Jake West know how to do these things for sure) and at the end of the day you have an essential DVD release for not just ‘Nasty’ fans, but for fans of cult/horror/trash cinema in general.

 
Well said, 42nd Street Freak!
 
Not knowing all the details yet, I thought this documentary was a wonderful eye-opener and quite revelatory, especially when they show footage of the people who try to reason but are endlessly interrupted by the pro-act advocators, with no interference whatsoever by BBC presentors.
 
But the true source of joy of this set is in disc 2 and 3. Introductions and trailers for all 82 films that were ever on the “video nasties” list (even the ones that were taken off later)!
These intros are great, featuring the same people as in the documentary. At roughly 5 minutes each this is no mere filler but very interesting stuff, and at 2 AM on a weekday I had to physically force myself to eject the disc to prevent me from watching another 3 or 4, or 10…
 
And did you check out the 45 minutes of eighties video-companies intros? I literally felt pangs in my heart from seeing some of these logos pop up, and others had me in stitches with all their Sinclair ZX-Spectrum glory…

Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats), the sophomore feature film by Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan, explores the rivalry between two hopelessly love-stricken friends, one gay, the other straight, vying for the attentions of a gorgeous self-absorbed Adonis. A love triangle à la Jules et Jim, featuring excellent performances (including that of Dolan himself as the excrutiatingly shy Francis), and bursting with color, this one comes highly recommended. The transfer to DVD is superb.

It’s quite rare for me to even be able to finish watching a DVD these days, but two Korean movies, one a romance comedy, the other a kind of thriller romance, might please the undiscriminating viewer - “Villain and Widow” and “Petty Romance”.

“We are what we are” - [I]1/5[/I]

According to some ponce of a critic (who of course never has to pay to see the films) this “Does for Cannibals what ‘Let the Right One In’ did for Vampires”.
Well yes…That’s if “Let the Right One In” made vampires supremely stupid, grossly obnoxious to spend any time with and had them never actually drink anyone’s blood!

Yep, meet a supposed “Cannibal gore-fest” (a critical quote taken out of context!) that features NO…I repeat…NO cannibalism!

A family of obnoxious cannibals live in Mexico (more on that later!) and utterly rely on (and I do mean utterly rely on) their Father to ‘bring home the meat’.
Sadly (or not) though Daddy drops down dead one day and the family (two brothers, a sister and a mum) go into panic mode wandering what to do.
It seems they have to (nothing here is made remotely clear) perform a cannibalistic ritual to stop them…er…er…going a bit nuts?
Like I said, things here are as clear as mud.

After a lot of moaning, fighting and shouting the two brothers eventually kidnap a hooker and bring her home.
After a lot of moaning, fighting and shouting the mum (who don’t like dem whores) bashes the hooker’s head in.
After a lot of moaning, fighting and shouting WE came to the conclusion it was desperate they get food before tomorrow…and we waited ages for them to get some. 
But what do they do with this nice fresh street walker?  Carve her up for snacks ‘n’ nibbles?  Put the rest in the fridge for treats?
No.
They put her in a sack and dump her right back on the hooker filled street they got her from! 
In their own car, with the number plate in full view, no less.

So a lot of moaning, fighting and shouting later (we are now an hour into this dross) the older brother goes all “Looking for Mr Goodbar” and we are suddenly watching a gay cruising film. 
Eventually…eventually…we have some action when the brother and the mum both turn up with potential victims.
Some brief but choice violence later it looks like we may have some cannibal funstuffs AT LAST.
Cue slightly yucky butchery sequence.

But, thanks to some generally rubbish cops, the utter uselessness of the cannibals themselves and some seemingly psychic vengeful hookers, things don’t go to plan so…NO ONE gets eaten! 
Hell, even when the film gives itself a chance to show the very hot sister naked (to wake us up at least!!) it fails to do it!

The view of Mexico here must make the Minister for Tourism (if there is one) go pale.
Mexico is constantly showed as nothing but a crap-hole filled with junker buses, slums, crap Cops, common cannibalism, predatory Homosexuals, foul looking hookers and gangs of homeless kids.
Nothing else.

This glowing view of Mexico is best summed up by the fact that when the Coroner (or what passes for one here) finds a finger in Dad’s dead stomach (why would you even eat a boney, nail varnished,  finger anyway!!??)  it’s treated as just another person munching on another person occurrence! Duh!
As if this is a common annoyance in Mexico that the Cops either don’t care about or only care about if cracking the case will get them money!  OH…That’s when the Cops aren’t shooting each other!

Dull, slow for no valid narrative reason, populated by empty/obnoxious characters, non-event set-pieces, filled with glaring plot holes and logic farts and worse even than all that…no cannibalism in what is meant to be a cannibal film…“We are what we are” may have a couple of briefly satisfying icky moments and a very good ‘sister with an axe’ shock shot that’s nice, but otherwise this is a total fail (just because it has subtitles does not change that).

Meaning this becomes one of the most frustratingly unsatisfying movies I’ve seen for years quite frankly.
Avoid.

“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” (1927)
http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvsunrise.php

A temptress ‘City Woman’ on vacation bewitches a local farmer and seduces ‘The Man’ away from his Wife.
But this is not enough for her so she convinces ’The Man’ to murder ‘The Wife‘ by drowning her.

But ‘The Man’comes to his senses just in time.
Back at shore ‘The Wife’ flees onto a tram heading into the city.
‘The Man’ follows…

Murnau was one of the finest pioneers of cinematic technique and a genius visionary that lifted this still young medium of the movies high into the artistic stratosphere.
Murnau (blessed with equally astute crews) also knew that visual trickery and spectacle was more than just eye candy.
He used visuals to also get an emotional response from the audience.

In “Sunrise” Murnau uses unusual camera movements (sometimes right up close to bring home strong emotional scenes, sometimes well back and even furtive like a respectful interloper) to guide us through the story and the spectacular visual flourishes of legendary Cinematographers Struss and Rosher who manage to pull off some astonishing camera work here.

More subtle in their genius are the special effects shots where an entire city is delivered up to us on screen, via a huge master shot filled with tall buildings, wide roads, cars, trams and bursting with people, that is mainly just models and matte paintings, shot via forced perspective, to make what is really just a studio set look like a bustling metropolis.
It can’t help but astonish.

But it is not just spectacle that Murnau visually delivers, he uses visuals to masterly effect to portray even the most personal of human emotions.
Perhaps the most famous sequence of all is the FX shot of ‘The Man’ and ‘The Wife’ (all the characters are given ‘roles’ not names) walking across a busy road as speeding, honking, automobiles pass behind, in front and even through them as the sheer power of their re-kindled love obliterates any outside interference and cushions them from the harsh reality of life as the chaotic street scene fades into a tranquil walk in the country before returning once more to reality.
It’s a stunning moment on every technical and, more importantly, emotional level.

The acting here of course has that theatricality about it that almost all but both George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor do fine jobs at bringing genuine emotional power to their very cliché characters.
Indeed it is only the heartfelt and truly intense emotional torment and trials, as well as the hard fought for happiness later on, that O’Brien and Gaynor manage to portray so effectively that really save the film from the big narrative flaw at its heart.
More later.

Worth mentioning too is Margaret Livingstone as ‘The Woman from the City’ who has just the right amount of sexed-up screen vamp theatricality mixed with more grounded cunning to make her character believable.
Indeed the almost supernatural spell that the scheming ‘City Woman’ casts over ‘The Man’ sees Murnau almost return to the toxic influence that Count Orlok would have on those around him in “Nosferatu”.
Indeed the almost wraith-like appearance of her behind ‘The Man‘, grasping him as he sits on the bed, drips with an almost supernatural feeling of evil as she seems to manipulate ‘The Man’s’ very soul.

So what then could there be wrong with a movie that I have up to now so lavishly praised?
Well the basic set-up sadly. That aforementioned narrative flaw.

Perhaps it would be more acceptable in 1927 this ‘stand by your man’ attitude of ‘The Wife’ and that the astonishing crime of ‘The Man’ was somehow not so big.
But it is very hard to see how any kind of love (let alone the almost mythic love portrayed here) could get passed the sheer magnitude of the wrong committed by O’ Brian’s character;

First off you have the basic fact he’s openly seeing another woman.
Secondly the fact that others know about it, thus adding public humiliation for ‘The Wife’.
Thirdly that he has started to sell off assets that the couple own because he needs to spend the money on his mistress.
Fourth he’s also selling off the future of their young child, just to spend more money on another woman other than its mother.
Fifth, if all that was not enough, the huge cherry atop this particularly fetid matrimonial cake is that he coldly carries out most of the plan to murder his Wife and only stops when her terrified pleading breaks through his madness!

That anything could ever be saved, let alone saved to such a love-filled degree, is so unlikely it confounds and also insults ‘The Wife’ as even after all this almost murderous betrayal she still stands by her man and even renews her vows of devotion to him!
This unlikely nonsense is portrayed best by the cafe scene where, not long after nearly murdering her for another woman, ‘The Man’ tries to make things alright by…buying his Wife some cake!
Oh, that’s okay then!

This huge elephant in the room can never be ignored and it is testament indeed to the acting, combined with the already mentioned visual and artistic genius of Murnau, that we go along with the latter stages where the love of ‘The Man’ and ‘The Wife’ blossoms once more.

And that we are kept in fearful suspense for the characters and their new found love during the finale extended storm sequence is again a startling achievement given the fact it belies any kind reason these two could be back together.
And it is this humongous unlikelihood that stops “Sunrise” from truly being something astounding.
On every other level and with every other facet of its being (Direction, FX, Cinematography, general artistic majesty) “Sunrise” is a masterpiece worthy of its historic status.
But this utterly unbelievable romance the film (superbly) embraces can’t help but put a noticeable flaw in this cinematic gem.

“It Came from Kuchar” - 3.5/5

Fine documentary about idiosyncratic underground film makers Mike and George Kuchar who made horror/sci-fi/Hollywood melodrama influenced 8mm/18mm (and now video) films that mixed the personal with pop culture to make some very weird and often wonderful creations indeed.

One of the biggest influences on John Waters in particular and indeed influences on a lot of film makers including Buck Henry, Wayne Wang, Atom Egoyan and Jim Jarmusch and on 60’s/70’s film aesthetic in general the Kuchars’ mass of often no-budget shorts have had little distribution on legit DVD or even VHS.

A paltry 4 short film compilation on UK VHS (“Color me Lurid”) is perhaps their biggest legit release full stop.
Even the late Curt McDowell’s oh so mighty “Thundercrack” (which George Kuchar co-wrote, did make-up for and co-starred in) that perhaps had the highest global profile and distribution has been relegated to low quality, truncated, VHS/DVD dupes for years (DVD hopefully on way from ‘Synapse’).

As such The Kuchar’s tend to live solely in a documentary world for most people, but at least this particular one is packed with great information, fascinating insights and some marvellous interviews with the Brothers Kuchar themselves. 
And often these interviews reveal a darker side to their upbringing for sure (when asked if their parents simply “got along”, George comes out with the blackly hysterical “I wouldn’t go that far”) but most of these moments reveal seemingly happy and fulfilling lives packed with crazy revelations and filled with contagious enthusiasm for underground cinematic (now DVDmatic sadly) creativity.

George is the most active in film making today (he still runs a college film course that’s been going for over 30 years and attends film festivals/retrospectives) but both drip with artistic greatness (their artwork is also wonderful) and their sheer eccentricity is simply divine…making even the legendary John Waters (one of the many interviewees here) look achingly normal and mainstream personalities!

This needs to be seen by any and all underground/indy/exploitation film fans and if it’s a bit short (some 45 minutes of deleted scenes on the DVD which are also cool) it at least offers people the chance to get close to a couple of groundbreaking artists whose art is sadly now stuck away in dark and dusty corners (which also makes the many, many clips form their films here a joy) and for “Thundercrack” devotees there’s also some wonderful footage of Curt McDowell too, including a deeply moving moment the Kuchar’s themselves shot of Curt in his sick bed (he would die from AIDS) that sees Kuchar wit slice through the melancholy.

Bizarrely the very day I watched this (yesterday, 10th of April) I got back into contact (after 7 years!) with Curt McDowell’s wonderful sister and [B]“Thundercrack”[/B] co-star Melinda to sadly find out that she had literally heard that very day that the astonishing“Thundercrack” star Marion Eaton had died at the age of 79.
So RIP Marion, and long live the Kuchar’s.

Takashi Ishii’s superbly shot neo-noir erotic thriller “A Night in Nude:: Salvation” (Nude no yoru) is one of the the most impressive films I’ve seen so far this year (the other being Jeong Seung Il’s “Cafe Noir”). So much so that I went ahead and ordered the 100-page photo book with interviews and critiques published by Kinema Junposha and available for only $13.00 from CD Japan. Many critics seem to have dismissed Ishii as a director hampered by low budgets, whose work has been on a steady decline since the late 1980s. Yet an honest appraisal of his oeuvre reveals an auteur with a distinctly recognizable style (and a singularly  bleak vision of humanity), whose bold experiments with lighting, color, camera angles and editing earn him a place beside Shinya Tsukamoto (whose Snake of June, Bullet Ballet and Tokyo Fist are among the pinnacles of cinematographic art) as one of the true innovators of world cinema. Also worth a look is the fine collection of post-Korean War films included in “Landscape After the War”, released by Blue Kino under the auspices of the Korean Film Archives. Highlights of the set are Shin Sang-Ok’s neo-realist “Flower in Hell” (1958) and Kwon Yeong Sun’s over-the-top melodrama “A Drifting Story” (1960). The former tells the story of two brothers in love with the same woman, a prostitute (played by the director’s wife Choi Eun-hee, in one of her most convincing roles) working the red-light district near an American military base. Standout scenes include bandits atop a speeding locomotive, and the final scene in which the cuckolded brother exacts his revenge in a muddy swamp that might very well have been the inspiration for the memorable mudfest in Jang Hoon’s auspicious debut “Rough Cut” (2008). Kwon’s “A Drifting Story” details the downward spiral of a coffee shop owner (Mun Jeong Suk) after having an affair with a man (Kim Jin Kyu) trapped in a loveless  marriage. The film benefits from solid performances, a good script and effective camerawork (particularly so in the many day-for-night shots), as well as from a remarkably well-preserved print (unfortunately, the soundtrack for the final minutes of the film are lost), but suffers from a poor choice of music. 

Yutaka Ikejima’s vampire pink film “Twilight Dinner”. First, the good points: TLA shipped the DVD to me in around one week; the widescreen format is preserved in Pink Eiga’s acceptable transfer; and the running time is just a tad over sixty minutes. Stiff acting and a weak plot make it impossible for me to give this picture even a cautious recommendation. I haven’t checked out the 4 hours of bonus material yet. For the best pink (and other Japanese sex films) out on DVD, have a look at my “Torture Porn for the Discerning Moviegoer”
http://ee.twitchfilm.com/site/forums/viewthread/1186/

UPDATE:
I watched all of the bonus material on the disc (except for the commentary track - nothing could induce me to watch this picture twice), and the verdict remains unchanged. Don’t watch this movie, but be sure to see Ikejima’s Japanese Housewife Next Door, Part One if you have a chance.

The year’s biggest discovery is “Poongsan”, written and produced by Kim Ki-Duk, with former assistant director Juhn Jai-hong (Beautiful) at the helm. This taut political thriller-actioner involving a sullen man (Yoon Kye-sang) who transmits messages to loved ones across the DMZ, is both brutal and cynical, the sparse dialogue revealing the hypocrisy of both North and South with searing irony. A perfect antidote to many of the earnest but insipid dramas we’ve seen dealing with the subject (Welcome to Dongmakgol et al). Technically, the package is aces, and the presentation on DVD is excellent. The best Korean film of 2011.

Yesterday I got my mitts on the Alloy Orchestra’s soundtrack that was intended to be included on Kino’s complete Metropolis blu ray. I’ve been waiting for this moment for over 15 years, I think. The MP3 is supposed to sync perfectly with the film if you hit the play button when the words “AN UFA PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTED BY PARFUMAT” appear on the screen. Unfortunately, I was unable to import the MP3 to my iTunes library, so I had to borrow a friend’s clunky boombox. I’ll let you know the results tomorrow!

Oh well, promises, promises. After trying several times to get the Alloy Orchestra’s soundtrack to Metropolis to upload into my iTunes Match library, I realized why it wasn’t working - the file is a few hundred MB, and the limit for iMatch is 200 MB. Anyhow, I just dragged and dropped it onto my iPod and began listening to it this evening, along with Kino’s tremendous Blu ray of the Complete Metropolis (I can’t believe I’m uttering these words, since I vowed long ago never to buy another Kino movie). I’ve only seen about an hour so far, but the sound quality and the soundtrack are incredible. I’d been waiting some 15 or 20 years for this day, as I used to go to listen the Alloy Orchestra at the Detroit Film Theater every year. I would go so far as to say that if you haven’t heard the Alloy Orchestra’s accompaniment to Metropolis, then you haven’t really seen the film at all, but that’s just me! I’m sure everyone is already aware that Kino intended to include this soundtrack on their Blu ray, and the Alloy Orchestra mixed a soundtrack specifically for the release, but they were prevented from using it by the movie’s copyright holders. Anyhow, if anyone out there is interested (and since we eliminated the spambots, things seem to be pretty quiet around here), you can purchase the MP3 CD from the Alloy Orchestra’s website.