Harry here... People ask me why I chose Anton Sirius to be the representative of AICN at the Toronto Film Festival all those years ago. He came to me, and he said, "Harry, I want to cover the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL for AICN, I want to do it officially." And he was just as you are... A regular film geek amongst a mass of film geeks. His letter was long and impassioned, and I had a strange tingle in my head. A feeling... Something to go with. I figured... How bad can he fuck up? So I lent the AICN name to him, and in these years I have not come to regret it in the least. I'll tell you why... He could have seen blatantly commercial films today that will be released in short succession in the coming weeks... But instead... Instead he chose to be bold and adventurous as a filmgoer. As a result the movie gods above rewarded him with a film titled "All About Lily Chou-Chou". Now we barbarian film writers know all too well the whimsy of the Movie Gods.. Those beings perched upon granite mountains high above the clouds laughing at our choices, but for the brave... The ones of us that venture blind in the night to titles we have not heard... Whom's posters do not adorn Sunset Blvd or a side of a studio... We get films like ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU and VERSUS.... Read on... and if you take his advice, perhaps the movie gods will smile at you as well...
"I’m not any kind of pie. I’m just a pig on a mission."
-Babe
No time for much of an update today, I’m afraid. Too much to do in the morning after a late night of crazy-ass Japanese zombie butt-kicking and a reception for All About Lily Chou-Chou. I conducted the interview with Shinji Iwai today- I’ll get it transcribed as soon as I can.
I also have nothing new to report on the Uptown front, Toronto folk. I’m working on getting a fix on someone to whom you can direct your polite yet firm displeasure at the prospect of losing such an exceptional theater.
And as always you can reach me at Anton2001Fest@Yahoo.Com
How’s Your News? (2001, directed by Arthur Bradford)
Let’s meet America’s foremost investigative reporters, the ‘How’s Your News?’ team: Susan Harrington asks the tough questions, as well as taking lead on the ‘How’s Your News?’ theme song; Sean Costello is a bit of a poet, filling a Charles Kuralt-like role and handling the science and nature beat; Bobby Bird is the consumer advocate with a nose for hypocrisy Mike Wallace would envy; Ronnie Simonsen covers entertainment from his own quirky perspective, quoting chapter and verse on ‘70s television and maintaining a healthy semi-obsession with Chad Everett; and Larry Perry holds a funhouse mirror up to the country with his person-on-the-street interviews.
The documentary follows them and their crew as they embark on a trip from their home base in New Hampshire out to Venice Beach. Along the way they tackle homelessness and the plight of veterans, cover a fundraiser to stop the closing of a slightly historic honky-tonk in Nashville, examine working conditions for Vegas showgirls, and talk to folk of every stripe and breed.
Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that the members of the How’s Your News? team are also… what’s the current PC term? Developmentally challenged? Differently abled? Special? As Garry Marshall would put it, they’re ‘tards. (Come to think of it, Garry’s probably developing this as a Giovanni Ribisi vehicle right this minute.)
Executive produced by Matt and Trey, How’s Your News?’s most remarkable trait as a doc is its ability to simultaneously shatter some stereotypes (like those about ‘those people’) while at the same time reinforcing others, especially those about America itself- rude New Yorkers, hospitable Southerners and kooky Californians all make appearances. Being the Welles-head I am, of course, I can’t help but wonder who and what got left on the editing room floor. But those kinds of questions get swept aside by the sheer charisma of the film’s stars and the sense of fun they exude on their odyssey. Watching Bobby, who can only communicate through grunted nonsense syllables, find a kindred spirit in an Arkansas cattle auctioneer reinforces just how little difference there is between us all.
Coming soon to Cinemax, How’s Your News? is a painfully amusing little road movie. It’s worth a look. Je rentre a la maison (2001, directed by Manoel de Oliveira)
The latest from Portuguese institution Manoel de Oliveira, Je rentre a la maison (or I’m Going Home) is a quiet, elegant study of an actor’s twilight.
Starring Michel Piccoli as Gilbert (an institution in his own right in France, Piccoli has appeared in over 150 films, including Bunuel’s Belle de jour, Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort and Malle’s Atlantic City) and with cameos by Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich, the film adeptly uses the final stages of Gilbert’s career- from triumphs on stage in Ionesco’s "Exit the King" and as Prospero, through to an abortive attempt to play Buck Mulligan in an American film version of Ulysses- to illustrate Gilbert’s gradual acceptance of his own mortality, and his realization that endings do not always have to be tragedies.
What makes the film more than just a maudlin swan song and yet another film about film people is the presence of Gilbert’s grandson, Serge. Thrown together after the death of Serge’s parents, and Gilbert’s wife, in a car accident, it is Serge who brings Gilbert back from the brink, and begins Gilbert’s healing. It is also Serge who is the source of much mischief and whose innocence keeps the film from becoming too heavy.
Je rentre a la maison is a small film, but not an insignificant one, and on which bears de Oliveira’s deft touch on every frame. Here’s hoping de Oliveira, at least, has not yet reached his Buck Mulligan.
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001, directed by Shunji Iwai)
It’s always nice to have the benchmark set early in the fest.
All About Lily Chou-Chou is an extraordinary film. Lyrical and sad, brave and beautiful, it is at its core a story about adolescent pain and alienation, but at the same time (and I say this with all the love in my heart) it has far more to say than an episode of Buffy. It is also, in my estimation, the finest depiction of the internet and chat room culture ever put on screen.
The plot unfolds slowly, but gradually four characters emerge at its center: Hasumi Yuichi, a boy who feels completely at the mercy of the things around him, and who runs a Lily Chou-Chou fan site called Lilyphilia; Hoshino, who has a seemingly unquenchable darkness inside him; Kuno, a fabulously talented pianist and the girl who introduced Yuichi to Lily’s music; and Tsuda, who Yuichi in kind turns on to Lily, and who can’t escape Hoshino’s clutches.
The film contrasts the inner turmoil of its characters with scenes of aching beauty. Lily’s fans have built up eloborate mythologies about her, including identifying her with a metaphysical emotional medium called the Ether. And when they listen to her music the kids here are literally transported to the Ether- standing in fields of gently swaying grass in the dying light of the afternoon sun, you can see the strength they draw from Lily’s music and message, just as you can see it drain out of them when they take the headphones off and reality crashes back down around them.
This pattern holds true throughout. The most gorgeous shots are almost inevitably tied to moments of the greatest despair, including a single aerial shot that gradually, detail by detail, reveals a character’s death. It’s one of the most impressive single shots I’ve ever seen, and one of the most heartbreaking.
In a movie about a fictional pop star, of course, the soundtrack is pivotal, and once again Iwai (and his musical collaborator Takeshi Kobayashi) is both surprising and spot on. We do hear snippets of many of Lily’s tunes, which sound exactly like the kind of thing people in pain would cling to, but far more prevalent is Debussy (who according to Lily was one of the first artists, along with Eric Satie, to connect with the Ether.) Refrains from Debussy’s most famous works haunt the film, adding just the right amount of melancholy to key scenes.
Goddess, but I could talk about this film forever- the way the chronology twists back upon itself the way a vivid dream can come back to you and seize your senses even while you’re awake, or the entirely fantastic Okinawan sequence in the center of the film, or the brutally accurate depiction of teenage cruelty, or how even Greenaway would be envious of the way chat room entries are layered over the action…
My interview with Iwai is coming up, and right now I honestly don’t know what I’m going to say, or where I’m going to start. All About Lily Chou-Chou overwhelmed me, and that, even in my current sad state, is no easy task.
The film is just now due to come out in Japan, and I have no idea if or when it might play in North America. It should, it really should. The hearts beating on screen are too real and fragile not to strike a chord with any audience, anywhere. Do whatever you have to- second screening is Sunday afternoon, folks in Toronto- to see it.
And that goes double for you, Hank Scorpio, and all the other Cloudmakers out there, and anybody else who thinks the term ‘internet community’ is not an oxymoron. This is the first time somebody has got it right.
Versus (2000, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura)
Well, after all the hype, I finally get a chance to see Versus to kick off Midnight Madness 2001. And of course as a proper jaded internet geek I should just write it off now, because any film that garners a lot of hype must immediately be torn down, just so it never ever appears like I’m anything but right at the very cutting edge of the crowd.
As if.
Versus rocks. Versus kicks ass. Versus beats the holy living bejesus out of you, pauses for some Raimi-esque slapstick, then resumes pummeling your sorry butt. And anyone who says differently is, well, see above.
Jaded internet geek sez: "But the plot is a lame pastiche of manga clichés, and is just an excuse for fight scene after fight scene."
Anton replies: "Shut up. The plot is kinda funky, involving ancient reincarnated enemies and a forest where the dead don’t stay dead and some portal thing that’s a total McGuffin anyway. Plus, it provides a good excuse for fight scene after fight scene."
Jaded internet geek sez: "But the fights show none of the innovative choreography of the finest Hong Kong cinema, or even mid-period Jackie Chan, and rely far too heavily on slow motion and a correspondence degree from the Michael Bay School of Action Editing."
Anton replies: "I’m not warning you again. The film isn’t about your precious choreography. As a wise man once said, this ain’t ballet. It’s a freaking zombie movie. The fights are an absolute blast, and are so far over the top they achieve escape velocity. Plus they make fun of the Matrix- I thought you jaded internet geeks were into that sort of thing."
Jaded internet geek sez: "Only in the right films."
Anton replies: "Hypocrite."
J.i.g. shoots back: "Sell-out."
Anton: "Jealous punk-ass wannabe."
J.i.g.: "Corporate stooge. Studio plant. Why don’t you go write a glowing review of a Meg Ryan film or something."
Anton: "That’s it." (Anton empties around nine or ten full clips into the jaded internet junkie’s torso, then finishes it off with a leaping scissors kick to the side of the head.) "I’ve had enough of that poser. As I was saying, the characters in Versus add exactly the right amount of humor to the bloodbath. From the runt Yakuza henchman who seems to spend most of the film tumbling down one hill after another landing himself in hot water, to the wannabe Mod dandy henchman who’s just a few bricks shy of having any bricks at all, to the FBI agent who’s a dead ringer for a Japanese version of Jeffrey Combs in the Frighteners,"
(the jaded internet junkie shambles to his feet behind Anton)
"…each one seems to add both humor and mayhem to the mix. The effects are low budget, but that’s not to say they suck. Limbs and blood fly every which way, and usually straight into somebody’s face, while the make-up… excuse me for a minute-"
(Anton does a standing back-flip over the approaching zombie and takes off its left leg with a sweep of his sword. Anton then plants his knee in the zombie’s back and yanks its head up by the hair.)
"-gets the job done. Notice the slight blueish tinge to the skin and lips, and the bruising and clotting around the old wounds. The camera is usually moving restlessly around the action anyway, so you never get a long enough look at anything to be able to pick it apart."
Anton slams the zombie internet geek’s head back into the ground and puts a bullet in the back of its skull. He stands up and looks around. More zombies approach- MPAA zombies armed with shears, zombie Coreys, a zombie Schumacher. Smiling between bloodied lips, Anton sheaths his sword and pulls out two chrome-plated revolvers, holding them Woo-style in front of him.
"Bring it on, you bastards. But don’t forget one thing."
A hurricane of lead tears across the clearing out from Anton’s blazing guns and flaring black leather trenchcoat, sending limbs flying and bodies tumbling to the canopy of autumn leaves.
"I never lose."
ANTON SIRIUS!
