Air Doll

Hirokazu Koreeda 2009

This film was recommended to me by the Third Ear shift manager after I complained that LARS AND THE REAL GIRL had no balls. This one definitely has balls.  Great for, among other things, staying true to its protagonist and premise – a sex doll come to life.

Insect Woman

Shohei Imamura 1963

I was planning to see as many movies as I could in a row with WOMAN in the title, but this one stopped me dead in my tracks. When it first started I thought it might be a medieval folk story – it’s not. But it was hard to tell the difference in rural Japan in the 1920′s. The film tracks her life against the backdrop of the changing times in Japan over the first half of the twentieth century. It’s full of metaphors went clear over my head, but I caught as catch can.  I mean I’m not a complete idiot – I know a little about Japanese history. Like that they invented the camcorder. Powerful imagery compliments an increasingly harsh story line that leaves you feeling a little worn out. This was also one of the films Scorcese mentioned in the discussion on L’Eclisse that I saw on youtube.

Last Life in the Universe

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang 2003

I felt a little lost as I wandered through this movie. I liked what it was doing for me, but it took me a while to pick up on certain things, and so I was constantly working things backwards in my mind. I’m not sure if it was because I was reading the subtitles in Hebrew. It might have been because of that, but I don’t think it was entirely because of that. I think LAST LIFE is supposed to be a little tricky and I want to watch it again.

Nobody Knows

Kore-eda Hirokazu 2004

 

An overt homage to Truffaut’s 400 BLOWS  (from the musical score to the final freeze frame), this is one of those rare gems in which I felt completely immersed in the filmmaker’s world. That world is a quiet one of small progressive movements within a modern and alienating reality. I really liked this movie.