Random Thoughts

After the sheer brilliant insanity of Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell, my expectations for this movie are unreasonably high.

But the first scene here is brilliant, so perhaps this is going to be another masterpiece.

OK, this isn’t Goke. I mean, it’s pretty good, but it’s… a pretty normal ghost story? It’s well made and it nice and tense…

Love the eye liner and mascara.

OK, they’re not really even trying with the special effects.

OK, I’ve just kinda lost interest now. This started off like some explosive 60s thing, and then it turned into a kinda scary ghost story, but not… it’s kinda plodding now? It’s just hard to stay interested.

This is the director’s second (and final) movie. I guess that makes sense — it’s brimming with ideas that could have really worked, and occasionally does. But like at random.

(And then he went to TV.)

Love the eye liner and mascara.

OK, this film isn’t “good” good, but there’s a number of fascinating scenes. So:

The Living Skeleton. Hiroki Matsuno. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

It’s a Shochiku film!

Such bokeh.

This is fantastic. Absolutely thrilling.

Wow. I’m amazed and riveted. This may be the best start to a movie ever.

Hajime Satô never got to direct anything after this, so I’m assuming it keeps this up!

I love how they’re using the odd lenses as a feature here — the odd distortions at the edges are perfect.

Oh, now I know what this reminds me of! It’s like Liquid Sky, only a decade (and a bit more) earlier!

This is so Liquid Sky! I wonder whether they’d seen this movie when they made that.

Man this is brilliant. If I had a midnight drive in movie, I’d put this on (on a triple bill with Night of the Living Dead and Liquid Sky) every night. OK, there are scenes that aren’t perfect… but… I was totally riveted. And it’s so interesting and odd, and incredibly well made. I love everything about this, so:

Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell. Hajime Satô. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Ooo!

Could he be the villain?

Such lens.

Wow, that’s harsh.

So this is where Bezoz got the design from.

This is a straight up sf movie? This is not what I expected from Criterion — they usually eschew genre movies (I mean, unless they’re really … big…).

Is there gonna be a twist and then it’s gonna be all existential and stuff?

I paused a bit and read the DVD insert text. This was made by the Shochiku studio, one of the oldest and staidest studios in Japan (Ozu etc), but they made four genre movies in 1967 and 1968, and that’s what this box set is about: They’re of interest because they’re contextually odd?

But I’m enjoying these designs.

So much work have gone into these sets!

*prtrtrt*

I appreciate that they didn’t do space all black and stuff.

It’s a Moon bath!

Moon showers!

That’s how I want my bathroom to look like.

This guy is the worst! I mean, worst lip/sound sync. I don’t think he’s actually speaking Japanese?

It took a long time before we got to the monster!

I’m enjoying this movie. It’s got a kinda relaxed storytelling pace… nothing is all that dramatic, but there’s always something happening.

See?

But I can also see why this wasn’t the start of a mega-franchise like Godzilla. Sure, it’s a cool monster that destroys Tokyo, but it doesn’t seem to have the potential for a fun mythology like Godzilla had.

Well, OK, I don’t think you can say that this is a “good movie”, but there’s something about all these awkward oddball scenes that appeal to me. I mean, I understand why this isn’t a well-loved cult movie. But still:

The X From Outer Space. Kazui Nihonmatsu. 1967.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Wow. This isn’t exactly the kind of role you’d think an actor in this phase of her career would choose.

You gotta admire Bergman’s pluck going for this role. She apparently blackmailed the film company into making this film by refusing to make another comedy unless they backed this movie.

It’s kinda good, too?

Er… If I screenshoot anything more from this movie, it’s gonna be a spoiler. This movie has the most amazing reveal scene, and then… sort of makes fun of the reveal scene? It’s totally riveting.

So don’t read anything more if you don’t want spoilers!

A Woman’s Face. Gustaf Molander. 1938.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

So we (for very small values of “we”) continue watching the Ingrid Bergman in Sweden box set from Criterion.

There’s six movies included in this set, and the first three weren’t… good. I mean I haven’t seen many Swedish movies from the 30s, but I vaguely imagined that they had to be better than this.

So this was written by Hjalmar Bergman… who isn’t related to Ingrid or Ingmar, apparently? How many people named Bergman are there in Sweden anyway!?

Oh deer. This is bad. No scenery is left unchewed.

Well, this is better than the previous movies. I paused it a bit to read the liner notes on the DVD, and… this is supposed to be an American-style screwball comedy? I don’t quite see it. It’s got too much drama? It’s not frivolous enough?

But Bergman’s doing her best to get some comedy going, but the cinematographer seems to actively sabotage her by not centring her when she’s doing the best lines.

OK, now it seems like it’s finally taking off, with the repartee and stuff.

Wow, that’s some jacket. Those buttons! Those shoulder straps! That hat! Amazing.

Looks like it’s wool? I’m obsessed.

There are scenes here where I’m going “finally this is taking off!” and then the next scene kinda fails.

Bergman is, of course, the best thing about this movie, but even though she’s totally giving it all, she can’t really save it.

Dollar. Gustaf Molander. 1938.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.