Obake! J-Horror / Hausu spoof video

A discussion of J-Horror cinema with Japan Society's director of Film, Samuel Jamier.

Oh, and I also kill people.

Metropolis 2010

Slate provides a slideshow covering the vast aesthetic influence of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which is now on view with restored, never-before-seen footage at the Film Forum.



There are mentions of the obvious cinematic offspring - Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, and Madonna's "Express Yourself" - but really, just about everything in vogue right now references the dystopian, shadow-laced cityscape of Metropolis...










1. February 2010 Vogue Germany shoot by Karl Lagerfeld
2. 2010 Autumn/Winter line by Gareth Pugh
3. Late 2009 shoot of Lady Gaga by David LaChapelle
4. Late 2009 video of "Empire State of Mind" featuring Jay-Z + Alicia Keys

The list goes on...

Alice Soundtrack

A sneak peak of the soundtrack from Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland film has been released, and it's quite dismal. The title track is by Avril Lavigne, and despite a contribution by Robert Smith (the jury's still out on that one), the rest of the songs are by such awful pop punk/rock bands that I'm not sure why I'm bothering with this post. A duet between Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz? Other tracks by All-American Rejects, Shinedown, and Tokio Hotel? It's a sad state of affairs coming from a director who used to populate his soundtracks with the dark, majestic orchestrations of Danny Elfman along with songs by Prince, Siouxsie, and Harry Belafonte. (Would have been better if he went with Gaga covering The Sisters of Mercy's "Alice" or Jay-Z laying down the rabbit hole rhymes.) I'll be interested to see how this affects the unwavering dedication of the old school goth legion of Burton fans...

Cocksucker Blues @ the Brooklyn Museum

Robert Frank's unreleased documentary on the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour of the US and Canada made a very rare showing yesterday in Brooklyn. Although the band sued Frank to keep Cocksucker Blues out of the public eye, the auteur was able to retain the right to show it in a museum setting in his presence. While Frank was too infirm to attend this event, he gave Gail Buckland, curator of the Brooklyn Museum's excellent RnR photography exhibit, Who Shot Rock & Roll, the permission to proceed.

While the debauchery shown in this artifact is by now infamous, there is nothing overtly shocking about the film when viewed in today's culture of pornographic proliferation and drug use. It was more the anti-narrative aspect of Cocksucker Blues that made an impact. With no discernible beginning, middle, or end, the scenes just kept rolling, from day to night and place to place. There was a low energy feel to much of it, the monotony of the road and heroin-induced catatonia prevailed except in brief moments of explosive onstage bravado: Mick Jagger shaking glitter out of his hair singing "Brown Sugar" or Keith Richards ripping into the opening of "Midnight Rambler."

The entourage and hangers-on that made appearances were equal parts lascivious and lost, emblematic of that stereotypical post-hippie generation. The archetypal figures were impossible to miss: the mom on LSD, the awkward journalist, the sex-starved roadie. These individual portraits throughout made Cocksucker Blues more like a collage of photographs strung together than a film. Such an approach is apt, as Frank is best known as a groundbreaking figure in that field.

While it may not live up to the hype, Cocksucker Blues still retains an impressive aura of its own. It makes for a voyeuristic glimpse into a bygone era, so catch it if you can the next time they allow a showing.

Thirst

How fitting to come across a New York Times article on a Korean vampire flick as I sit in Seoul. Director Park Chan-wook, best known for the much lauded Oldboy, has released a new vampire film, Thirst. It tells the tale of a priest who turns bloodsucker after a botched transfusion. Read more for Chan-wook's discussion of the concept of vampirism as "inherently part of a Western culture," and his aesthetic approach to blood.

Death in July: Japanese Cyborgs, Wierd Music, Fashion DIY

This weekend's documented drama. See below. Japan Society's Japan Cuts film fest kicked off my Saturday, with a screening of Korean director Kwak Jae-Young's Cyborg She (The Japanese title literally translates to My Girlfriend is a Cyborg, which I find much funnier). Overall, the film was really a sci-fi romance, but Cyborg She still felt like several movies in one, with the tone alternately saccharine slapstick, apocalyptic disaster, and melancholic human drama. There were many tips of the hat to the Terminator series, from the model name of the cyborg (Cyberdyne 103), to the chick cyborg aping human gestures with adorable results (thumbs up!). The club scene with the robot doing 'the robot' was ridiculously irresistable as well. Despite a confusing presentation of events that didn't line up within the film's past-future continuum, Cyborg She was still successful in its massive chick flick appeal. I nearly shed a tear for robot/human love. A Cyborg-themed party followed the film, which featured free food, Sapporo, futuristic techno, and a few select people whose aesthetics were cyborifically inclined. Next came the Eye and Ear Festival. After transporting myself downtown in the pouring rain, I only made it to see Martial Canterel and Blacklist, which happened to be my two favorites anyways. People freaked for Sean McBride's analog synth wizardry (see DJ Anarexia and her orange pompadour with leopard print Pieter getting down), and headliners Blacklist struck their own reverberating chord with the audience, playing tracks off their excellent recent album, Midnight of the Century. Revel Hotel's Frankie Teardrop was a new addition playing keys, and during Blacklist's sparse, ambient number "The Cunning of History," I had the pleasure of putting my musical prowess to good use whilst shaking some silver coins onstage with (Religious to Damn) Zohra Atash's jingling scarf. Next I headed over to Don Hills for Salvation's 2 year anniversary party. DJ Patrick, NYC's longest running goth DJ helms the night, and I put aside my aversion to public consumption so I could enjoy a delicious piece of cake while The Sisters's "More" blasted in the background. Salvation is still the only goth dance night where local dark post-punk is spun regularly. There's the classics of course, but new stuff has a place to showcase. Sunday's festivities were a bit more laid back and fashion forward. I stopped by the Urban Outfitters in Soho to see Jeralyn and others present in the DIY or DIE event. Not only does she frequently DJ Wierd and run Boston's Rescue boutique and the blog I'll Wear Any Color As Long As It's Black, but she also makes really cool shit. The zine they handed out for the talk featured Jeralyn's how-to advice for studding, as seen on the hot little number below. Other designers included the Six Six Sick girls, who put on the fabulous party at Happy Endings, which is right across the spooky/sleazy park from Home Sweet Home. One of the ladies explained that fringe is thee season's hottest accessory. So there you have it. I was so inspired by the DIY ethic that I decided to go shopping. It was off to Williamsburg where I stumbled upon the Love Brigade store and picked up a subtle, yet quasi-bondage pencil skirt and a neon rosary. For 2 extra bucks they threw my stuff into a cute black tote bag, which was great marketing on their part. If I'm not going to do-it-myself, at least I can support others who will! Which, now that I think of it, seemed to have been the theme for this very weekend.

Weekend Sounds

NY EYE & EAR FESTIVAL II

Saturday: 92Y Tribeca
*Liz Wendelbo's Opticks I-XIV film @ 4:30pm
*Martial Canterel @ 12:30am
*Blacklist @ 1am

DIY/Indie Record Fair + tons more music 2nite, tomorrow, and Sunday as well.

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Download of the week. RCRD LBL puts out yet another remixed NYC sensation. IAMX's Dean Rosenzweig cuts you up with sonic slices of Cruel Black Dove's "Love Song."

La Santa Muerte: Saint Death

Director Eva Aridjis' 2007 documentary La Santa Muerte: Saint Death is a measured, elegiac meditation on the passionately dedicated Mexican followers of the cult of Santa Muerte. A syncretic belief system combining pre-Columbian indigenous religions and mainstream Christianity, the cult centers around the skeletal female embodiment of death and has over 2 million disciples across Mexico. The practice's origins are shrouded in mystery: some say it originated in Hidalgo during the 1960s, while others maintain the cult's existence spans hundreds of years. Nevertheless, Santa Muerte's presence continues to inspire many.

Narrated by famed Mexican actor/director Gael Garcia Bernal, the film neither lauds nor condemns the followers of Saint Death, but reveals the hope and strength disparate people gain through worshipping her. Aridjis focuses particularly on how the disenfranchized and marginalized have a special connection with Santa Muerte. From men and women in prison to gays, transsexuals, gang members, and the sick and impoverished, Santa Muerte reaches a cross-section of Mexican people that the Catholic Church cannot.

While critics find the practice satanic in nature, the benefits to those who have stared with reverence into her imposing hollowed eyes is evident. Some included in the documentary describe in vivid detail how she saved them from certain death, while others assert that their addictions were cured and they achieved inner peace through paying tribute to Santa Muerte. As a young man sporting a Ramones shirt and a Doors visor explains, "I feel she is a miracle worker and she doesn't discriminate."

Interviews, pilgrimage footage, festival shots, and haunting guitar driven folk music come together through Aridjis' artful eye to create a vision of Santa Muerte's powerful hold on her devotees. Enjoy the trailer of the work below, or rent the subtitled version from Netflix.

Opticks @ Anthology Film Archives

Outlined in the exemplary program for Liz Wendelbo's film Opticks is her definition of "Cold Cinema": filmmaking that "predicates resistance to cinema as a virtual medium." Wendelbo's latest 16mm piece, which premiered yesterday, expresses alienation, anxiety, and metaphysical dread yet somehow veers away from frigidity borne of an emotional void. On the contrary, the chilling space Wendelbo purposefully injects into her "reel time" film provides just enough "philosophical space" to allow the viewer to project his/her own interpretations onto the experience.


The film was initially inspired by Wendelbo's fascination with Isaac Newton's principles of color, which he wrote about in his 1704 study also entitled Opticks. She gives us 14 short films that incorporate a re-occuring optical grid, linear movement, and absolute body control as exemplified by a ballet dancer and a military officer. Interspersed are experiments involving stock footage of WWII tragedies and triumphs, all of which feature a masterful synth-driven soundtrack provided by Wendelbo's Xeno and Oaklander bandmate and Martial Canterel founder Sean McBride. The ominous sound, at times dissonant, minimal, and foreboding, has been "purposefully disconnected from the original footage," she explains in the notes, "so as to depart from the 'Mickey Mouse Effect', whereby sound follows image."

What occurs, then, is 50 minutes of optical illusions, allusions, concealment and revealment. Favorite sections include the melancholic ballerina en pointe in black ballet slippers and a German Expressionist visage, and the piece entitled "Columns." The latter takes a voyeuristic look at the shapely obelisks used to construct ornate furniture. The masked workman and the caress of the camera moving slowly up the carved pieces of wood hold a chilling and strangely stark eroticism.

Catch the next showing at the White Columns gallery this Tuesday evening at 6pm.

Attn: Poe Folks

As 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth, it's only fitting there would be a smattering of new releases on the author, (as discussed in yesterday's New Yorker article), and a film premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, Tell Tale, based on his most heart-stopping story.

Takashi Miike @ Japan Society

In a sold out Q&A session at Japan Society, Japanese auteur Takashi Miike admitted to suppressing his bloodlust while making his latest film, Yatterman, which premiered yesterday at New York's ComicCon. As anyone who has seen Miike's films can attest, this is not something he makes a habit of doing. From the start of the event, Miike made clear that while he is often viewed as a horror/gore director outside of Japan, his work is really just a reflection of reality. "Human nature makes us do horrible things," he explained. Everyone of us, beneath our skin and in our veins, is filled with blood. All it would take is a little pin prick and we could have a horror set right here, he continued. His films are not fantasy, but hyper-reality. These brutal truths, with a little "hope at the end," is how he characterized much of his work. Beyond that, Miike said, he would prefer not to analyze or be self-conscious about the process.

This hour-long event was moderated by Marc Walkow, co-director of the New York Asian Film Festival, and helped along by a translator. Miike fielded questions about his childhood, schooling, and creative inspirations, drawing direct correlations between his affinity for marginal characters as the protagonists in his films and his own marginal position as a filmmaker and his experience growing up amongst various outcasts. He is still running from adulthood to this day, he laughed, which is why he went into movie making in the first place. It seemed as though there might have been a request to keep the questions soft, because it wasn't until the audience participation that the few in-depth queries of the session were proposed. There was a continual evasion, on Miike's part, of discussing any specifics regarding the extreme instances of misogynistic carnality present in many of his films. When asked about female fans in the U.S., he said it was interesting that they enjoyed his work, even if it hadn't been specifically created with them in mind. And when asked about female fans in Japan, he was speechless for a second before replying that he had cast top male actor/pop star, Sho Sakurai, in Yatterman to make up for his lack of such fans. The subject of women was clearly not going to lead anywhere.

Despite the fact that Miike continually affirmed his outsider status and his allegiance with those who don't fit into socially prescribed roles, his stance on gender, as expressed in this session, was overtly traditional. The same can be said for many of his films. Miike may not be able to transgress Japanese gender mores to the extent he has broken boundaries for expressions of sex and violence on film, but it doesn't have to detract from his impressive, extensive, and visually stunning body of work. The next time you want to watch a girlfriend scorned amputate her boyfriend's feet with piano wire or a father pay his teenage daughter for sex, Miike is your man.