(Old) JAPANESE CINEMA: “Ran.” / “The Snow Woman.”

“Ran” (1985, Tubi) epic historical action drama film directed, co-written, and edited by Akira Kurosawa. The plot derives from William Shakespeare's “King Lear” and includes segments based on legends of the daimyō Mōri Motonari. Like most of Mr Kurosawa's work in the 1970s and 1980s, this grandiose feature is an international production, this time a Japanese-French venture.



       While most of the characters in Ran are portrayed by conventional acting techniques, two performances are reminiscent of Japanese Noh theatre. Noh is a form of Japanese traditional theatre requiring highly trained actors and musicians where emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures. As expected, the marvel in Akira’s movies are the spectacular battle scenes. Grand, alluring, colorful. Just for those, it’s worth watching this 2 hours and 42 minutes movie. 🎥💻📽


“The Snow Woman” (1968, Tubi) Japanese fantasy horror film directed by Tokuzō Tanaka. An expanded adaptation of the Yuki-onna short story as it appeared in the 1904 collection “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things” by Lafcadio Hearn (d. 1904), who is widely credited with introducing the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world in his time.



       A master sculptor and his apprentice are trapped in a bad snow storm after finding a special tree for carving a statue. Finding refuge in an abandoned hut, they celebrate their luck in finding the tree, but are visited by the Snow Witch soon after. A fine start and then, we go from there. 

       This is craftily-executed old movie. The Japanese are known for their inventive navigation of the horror genre that inspired many Hollywood derivatives. Their “scare tactics” aren’t about gore, bloodbath, or eerie chase sequences. But Japanese horror does terrify in a quiet, disturbing way. 🎥👍📽


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Alto Knights.” / “The Irish Mob.”

Image
“The Alto Knights” (2025, Max) biographical crime drama. Story: In a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by his ambitious underboss, Vito Genovese , Luciano family boss Frank Costello finds himself at a crossroads. Robert De Niro both portrays Mr Genevese and Mr Costello , which can be confusing a bit because both speak like De Niro and both talk like Mafia bosses. As is though, this is not a bad movie although nothing is really new here. But a tired retelling of what we already knew or watched in so many mob cinema tropes.         Plot: In a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by his ambitious underboss, Vito Genovese , Luciano family boss Frank Costello finds himself at a crossroads. Weary of the constant bloodshed and betrayals that define his life, Costello informs Genovese of his intention to retire and cede control of the Luciano family. However, Vito, a man consumed by ambition and paranoia, refuses to believe Costello's in...
Read more

NOSFERATU (or Dracula) movies or films inspired by Bram Stoker's 1897 novel “Dracula.”

Image
<>“Nosferatu” (2024, Amazon Prime), written and directed by Robert Eggers . Production design is haunting, photography is disturbingly sinister, sound editing kneads your spine. And, of course, Nicholas Hoult (as Thomas Hutter) expectedly delivers and Lily-Rose Depp (as Ellen Hutter) is a revelation.         Meanwhile, with the prosthetics or masks, it is hard to rate the performance of Bill Skarsgård 's titular Count Orlok but Simon McBurney (as Herr Knock otherwise known as Renfield) is chillingly hilarious although a bit exaggerated, I think. But Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as Arthur Holmwood) is miscast.        Take note that Nosferatu/Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker and Lucy Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy Westenra, Renfield, John Seward, Arthur Holmwood etcetera assumed different names in this version. 🎥👍📽 <>“Nosferatu The Vampyre” (1979, Tubi), directed and written by Werner Herzog . A remake of...
Read more

FUTURISTIC THRILLERS: “Please Don't Feed the Children.” / “Lazareth,” / “The End We Start From.”

Image
“Please Don't Feed the Children” (2024, Tubi) psychological thriller. A group of orphans head south in search of a new life after the country's adult population is wiped out from a viral outbreak. Soon they discover a dangerous secret from a deranged woman.           This movie was directed by Destry Allyn Spielberg , daughter of the master, Steven, and Kate Capshaw. Alas, dad's filmmaking genes didn't do well in this debut work by Destry.  Yet somewhere there's promise in this dystopian nightmare until the nightmare got real. A creature showed up.        Dad Steven's first movie (which he also wrote), 1964's “Firelight,” made when he was 17, showed hints of the future genius. Destry is 28. 🎥💻📽 “Lazareth” (2024, Hulu) thriller film , starring Ashley Judd , Sarah Pidgeon , and Katie Douglas . Plot: A woman protects her orphaned nieces from a self-destructing world, raising them in isolation until...
Read more