Tag: Better Than Average Bear

Review: The Fall Guy

From his uncredited co-directorial debut on John Wick through to Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and Bullet Train, director David Leitch has solidified his reputation of modern action. So, with THE FALL GUY, he and writer Drew Pearce aim to both deconstruct and poke fun at the whole enterprise – and have a ball doing so.

In the film, Hollywood stunt performer Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is doubling for megastar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) when a stunt goes horribly wrong. During Colt’s recovery, he blames himself for the accident and breaks off all contact with his girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt), a camera operator.

Over a year and a half later, Colt is surprised to find himself summoned by Ryder’s producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) to Sydney, where Jody is making her directorial debut on a new sci-fi event picture starring Ryder. Against the backdrop of a fractious relationship between Jody and Cole, it transpires that Ryder has gone missing – and Gail wants Cole to track him down.

While loosely based on the 1980s TV series with Lee Majors, in which the lead was a kind of bounty hunter, this version of THE FALL GUY most reminds me of a Shane Black joint. It’s a self-referential parody of the film industry, led by an affably beleaguered Gosling, while also being a massive love letter to stunt performers. It’s not quite the Academy Award category they deserve – but it will do while we’re waiting.

The action is impressive, especially when much of it takes place on the street where I regularly pop out to grab lunch or a bottle of fizzy water for afternoon tea. (It was the same feeling all Sydneysiders had back in 1999 with The Matrix, except we actually get on-screen credit this time). The latter culminates in the highly reported chase across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one that shut down the iconic landmark for several hours. I wonder if they still had to pay the toll on the way back?

Cinematographer Jonathan Sela captures all the obligatory postcard shots of Sydney, including the Opera House in both the film’s reality and Metalstorm, the film within a film. Speaking of which, the scenes we see from the faux film are impressively scaled, almost to the point that we’d actually like to see that film play out as well.

Perhaps the only thing counting against Leitch’s film is that it ultimately paints itself into a corner with its own high concept. Even with the best intentions, being this self-aware often means relying on the familiar tropes it’s skewering. Despite the Antipodean setting, this is very much a Hollywood production — and at times it feels like it could have been made anywhere at any time in the last forty years. If you don’t see the ultimate villain and resolution coming, you probably need to see more movies. To quote Steve Martin in Grand Canyon, all of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.

Nevertheless, from the Miami Vice-inspired chases across Sydney Harbour to the record making barrel rolls, it’s hard to describe THE FALL GUY as anything less than fun. As the credits roll over shots of the real-life stunt team who helped bring this to life, you’ll unquestionably have a deeper appreciation for the people who make the stars look good – and maybe that’s enough.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: David Leitch | WRITERS: Drew Pearce | CAST: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 126 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 April 2024 (Australia), 3 May 2024 (USA)

April 29, 2024
Review: Dream Scenario

If we’re all being honest, you’ve dreamed about Nicolas Cage from time to time. Whether he’s hunting for treasure or watching Paddington 2 with Pedro Pascal, at some point Cage transcended mere stardom and became memetic. Which is kind of the arena that Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself) plays around in with DREAM SCENARIO.

Family man and college professor Paul Matthews (Cage) eeks out a nondescript existence. His life is defined by all the things he never accomplished, his wife (Julianne Nicholson) and two daughters. At least until he inexplicably starts appearing in the dreams of millions of people. His newfound fame brings unexpected opportunities and instant recognition.

Paul’s appearances begin as odd but passive, characterised by him simply observing some unusual or embarrassing act. As his life gets more chaotic so do their dreams. His cameos become more active and violent, and the public turns against him – even if he hasn’t actually done anything in real life.

DREAM SCENARIO begins with a Charlie Kaufman-esque intensity but with an even more sinister edge. Filled with Benjamin Loeb’s unnerving camera angles, Borgli’s whiplash editing, and that moody Owen Pallett score, Borgli builds an atmospheric dreamscape where the viewer can never fully trust what they are seeing. The base premise is sharp and well executed, at least for a time, and Cage gives one of his best performances in years. There’s a tangible frustration as the ends of the thread keep getting away from Paul, and Cage’s trademark hairpin emotional turns come to the fore.

Yet as a soft commentary on Instafame in the age of social media, and the consequential shunning of high-profile celebrities called-out for unacceptable behaviours, Borgli is less successful. Indeed, it doesn’t have anything new to say on the subject, and at worse it might be interpreted as crying foul against the progress of the movement. (Coming so soon after Tár, some may see unfavourable comparisons there as well).

Where DREAM SCENARIO ultimately lands feels like a turn or two too far, almost as if the final moments stepped out of another film (or Black Mirror episode) entirely. It ties the whole enterprise to one winking jab at corporate tech and advertising, undoing much of the atmosphere and moodiness Borgli so carefully builds in the first half of the film.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Kristoffer Borgli | WRITERS: Kristoffer Borgli | CAST: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker | DISTRIBUTOR: A24 (USA), VVS (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 10 November 2023 (USA), 1 January 2024 (Australia)

November 27, 2023
Review: Napoleon

One of the things we continue to admire about Ridley Scott is the diminishing number of fucks he has left to give. If you’ve ever read an interview with the filmmaker, there’s ample evidence he’s down to his last one. So, his unapologetic attitude and broad range of genre choices probably makes him the perfect choice to tackle Napoleon Bonaparte on screen.

In fact, Scott and writer David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) take a journey through several of those genres in NAPOLEON, a sprawling and often littered visual summary of the Frenchman’s Wikipedia entry. Kicking off during the 1789 Revolution, a brutal decapitation of Marie Antoinette sets the tone for everything that follows.

From the Reign of Terror to Napoleon’s (Joaquin Phoenix) rise and fall as Emperor, and his multiple exiles and battles along the way, Scott and Scarpa paint in broad brushstrokes. At the core is Napoleon’s tumultuous relationship with Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), shown as a microcosm of Napoleon’s obsessions. His empire building is often a backdrop to this dynamic. Which is why you might also get whiplash from the tonal changes in a film that leaps through Napoleon’s greatest hits as satirical farce (see also: House of Gucci), a romance, a political thriller and an action film.

It’s the latter that plays to Scott’s strengths, harnessing the grandeur of Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven in the process. Each iconic battle is shot in such bloodletting detail that they demand to be seen on the biggest screen possible. They make tangible the scale of the hundreds of thousands Napoleon marched off to their deaths in his vain quest for power. Nevertheless, Scott is still somewhat preoccupied with human (and horse) viscera at every battle, even if he and regular photographer Dariusz Wolski somehow make blood under sheets of ice look gorgeous.

Scott is not concerned necessarily with accuracy or detail as much as he is in the mood. For example, there’s a lavish montage in which Napoleon marches back into France from his first exile only to learn of Joséphine’s fate (sorry, spoilers for history). Yet in reality he is said to have heard of her passing via a French journal while still in exile on Elba, and stayed locked in his room for two days, refusing to see anyone.

Phoenix might be perfectly cast as this figure, doing that stone-faced thing he does so well. At one point, Napoleon says of the British “You only think you’re so great because you have boats,” and it’s possible that only Phoenix could deliver a line – one of many that’s both deliberately and accidentally absurd – with such conviction.

Yet it is Kirby who gives us absolutely everything she has as Joséphine. While she is physically kept on the sidelines through the machinations of the empire, she is at the centre of everything that this version of Napoleon does. If there’s any justice in the world, she will win all the things and have a whole new edit dedicated to her character.

Like the historical figure it depicts, NAPOLEON is a wildly ambitious enterprise with some deep flaws. We know that Scott has a director’s cut in excess of four hours that does indeed explore more of Empress Joséphine’s story. I would welcome this expansion of Scott’s vision, as you are forever conscious of something missing in the connective tissue. Until then, you can sum up the contents of this theatrical cut with Napoleon’s dying words: “France…Army…Joséphine.”

2023 | USA, UK | DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott | WRITERS: David Scarpa | CAST: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing, Apple TV+ | RUNNING TIME: 157 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 22 November 2023

November 24, 2023
Review: Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle is one of those deep dive comic book characters that’s either really important to you or entirely inconsequential. It all depends on when you started reading comics. For some, he’s an integral part of comic history, and the inspiration for Watchmen’s Nite Owls. There’s even a period in the 80s when Beetle, along with regular partner Booster Gold, were part of a joke era of the Justice League International.

For the character’s live action film debut, DC has wisely chosen to focus on the more recent Jaime Reyes iteration. This immediately provides the film with a point of difference from the early-to-mid-century, whitebread origins of the majority of the canon. Here Jaime (Xolo Maridueña) returns home to Palmera City from Gotham Law University, the first of his family to earn a degree, but finds that his family faces eviction thanks to the Kord Industries developments.

That company’s ruthless CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) has recently acquired a mystical scarab she hopes to harness for her One Man Army Corps (OMAC) project. Yet when rebellious niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) steals the scarab to help protect her father’s legacy, the powers of the object are unlocked – and naturally latch onto Jaime.

Originally slated for release on Warner’s (HBO) Max streaming service, BLUE BEETLE occasionally betrays its lower budget origins. The neon future stylings of the fictional Palmera City, replacing the comic book setting of El Paso, look wholly artificial. Director Ángel Manuel Soto and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski shoot most scenes in the most functional manner possible.

Yet when the film splashes out into some key action sequences, mostly involving fight sequences with henchman Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), we do see where some of the money went. Like the similarly colour-themed Green Lantern, this Blue Beetle’s powers can manifest anything he imagines. This not only leads to some fun and fancy fights, but injects a healthy sense of fun into the plotting.

A lot of that feeling also comes from the family focus. Unlike most hero stories, where the brooding lead tries to walk a secret solo path, here the tight-knit family that surrounds the very likeable Jaime is filled with genuine character. From Adriana Barraza as the wise Nana with a past to the over-the-top George Lopez as the anarchistic uncle Rudy, these are not just background filler characters but essential parts of the Blue Beetle story. As a result, BLUE BEETLE does more for representation in single scenes than entire cinematic universes have done in dozens of films. Or as one Latino character puts it, “This time we get our own hero.”

Yes, it all comes down to a familiar clash of CG dolls with identical powers, but damn if it isn’t a lot of fun getting there. Although the film is ultimately left stranded in the limbo between Multiverses, neither referencing the DCEU nor the future of the franchise, there are also Easter eggs galore for the comic book faithful. With the door left wide open for the future of the DCU, here’s hoping that this isn’t the last we see of Jaime Reyes.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Ángel Manuel Soto | WRITERS: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Based on the DC Comics characters created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers and Cully Hamner) | CAST: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. (USA) | RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 September 2023 (AUS), 18 August 2023 (USA)

September 15, 2023
Review: New Life [Fantasia 2023]

John Rosman’s debut opens with a woman, the as-yet-unnamed Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin), running to or from something. There are men with guns in her home. We immediately have questions, and in this new take on familiar thriller territory, Rosman is determined to make sure we keep asking them right up until the end credits.

In many ways, Rosman sticks almost religiously to The Fugitive (1993) playbook in NEW LIFE. Jessica’s life is turned upside down when she has to go on the run for the Canadian border when she believes that she is wanted for murder. Elsa Gray (Sonya Walger) is hired as the fixer who has to check every hen house and outhouse to bring her back at any cost.

Yet it’s the points where writer/director Rosman deviates from the formula that makes this a little bit more interesting than your average bear. In building a slow tension, it becomes obvious around the halfway mark that Jessica is in possession of something that makes her dangerous to everyone she comes into contact with — only Jessica is unaware of this fact. This not only veers us into a different genre entirely, but gives us a ticking time bomb as well.

Similarly, Elsa is a career professional who has recently discovered that she has ALS. In a controlled performance by the excellent Walger, she becomes “a prisoner in her own body.” As Elsa begins to realise her limitations, Rosman juxtaposes this with what’s happening to Jessica’s own form of body horror. If I’m being coy about the latter, it’s because there’s a certain joy in the discovery, but suffice it to say there are parallels between the two women.

While not a horror film per se, there’s some terrifically frightening moments. Rosman is not beyond using a few jump scares during these scenes, which work despite the audience knowing more than Jessica (or perhaps because of it). That these are all contrasted with the pristine photography of Mark Evans (All That We Destroy, Satanic Panic), using the backdrop of the pine forest mountains of the Pacific North West to great effect, makes them all the more impactful.

While Rosman indulges in the obligatory Tommy Lee Jones moment between Walger and her fugitive, we’re still left with the feeling that we’ve watched something a little bit more interesting than the average thriller. Subtly, and occasionally more overtly, targeting some of the bigger social issues of the recent pandemic, NEW LIFE is sure to find a dedicated cult audience.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: John Rosman | WRITERS: John Rosman | CAST: Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Hayley Erin | DISTRIBUTOR: Fantasia Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July – 9 August 2022 (Fantasia)

August 15, 2023
Review: Gran Turismo

Video game films have been, to put it mildly, a hit or miss affair. So, there’s a worrying moment at the start of Neill Blomkamp’s GRAN TURISMO, partly based on the video game series of the same name, when Orlando Bloom’s marketing executive gives us a TED Talk on how great the titular product is. For a second it feels like pop has devoured itself whole and regurgitated out the by-products.

Then something strange happens: it grabs our attention and manages to hold us there for well over two hours. Jason Hall and Zach Baylin’s screenplay isn’t just based on the game, but the true story of gamer turned professional racing champion Jann Mardenborough (played here by Archie Madekwe).

Blomkamp’s film plays fast and loose with the facts, but that partly because the most unbelievable element – that Nissan and PlayStation took gamers, ran them through the GT Academy, and offered them a chance to race professionally – actually happened between 2008 and 2016.

The film version has all the elements that you might expect from an underdog sports movie. Jack Salter (David Harbour), Jann’s trainer, takes a chance on the young driver due to his own past regrets. There’s Jann’s father Steve (Djimon Hounsou), a former football champion who doesn’t understand his son’s passions. Literal golden boy Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski) serves as Jann’s chief rival.

Yet for a film that sometimes feels as rapidly assembled as a lightning fast pitstop visit, it’s remarkably compelling and slickly shot. Blomkamp takes his time getting us to the major races, allowing us plenty of time to get to know and enjoy this young Rocky Balboa’s company. The romantic interest (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) may be a perfunctory inclusion, but only because the father/son dynamics between Jann and Jack – not to mention Jann and his actual father Steve – have so much more emotional impact.

The races are also shot with real punch, taking us all over the world with the ease of selecting a map on a screen. You can feel the danger every time one of them steps onto a track, and there’s a rare use of speed that doesn’t rely on slowing everything else down. There’s a major turning point during the second act that’s a genuine heartstopper too.

This is arguably only hampered by the aesthetic debt to the original games. Jann frequently sees dotted lines on the track signifying his trajectory. At other times, there will be a little HUD or a number on screen showing the driver’s overall position. It’s a minor quibble, but it often momentarily takes us out of the film’s reality at crucial times.

The film version of GRAN TURISMO may bend the truth, ignoring drivers like Lucas Ordoñez who managed to unlock some of the depicted achievements a few years earlier, but it remains a solid racing drama. It does the rare thing of transcending the source game, even if it ultimately stays quite literally on a well driven track.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Neill Blomkamp | WRITERS: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin, Alex Tse | CAST: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell Horner, Djimon Hounsou | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 10 August 2023 (AUS), 25 August 2023 (US)

August 7, 2023
Review: Mad Cats [Fantasia 2023]

It opens on a group of women dressed in white, standing on a hill and serving up some serious Hanging Rock realness. As an axe falls, and an unknown prisoner is fed like a cat, you may wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into with Reiki Tsuno’s debut feature. You may spend the rest of the running time trying to figure that out as well.

Taka (Sho Mineo) has been living a shiftless life ever since his archeologist brother Mune (So Yamanaka) went missing, spending his days in a trailer and threatening his demanding European landlord with deportation when she dares ask for the rent. When he receives a mysterious recording with clues to his brother’s location, he is off like a shot to find Mune.

What sounds like a solid setup takes a rapid left turn into the bizarre when Taka begins to encounter a strange collective of warrior women with catlike abilities. Uncovering a plot that connects ancient artefacts with supernatural catnip, Taka is joined by a homeless man with nothing else going on and a gun-toting woman who knows more than she is letting on.

Filled with non sequiturs, over the top action set-pieces, and characters that are more inspired by cartoons than action films, MAD CATS is the kind of film that you ride along with rather than watch. As the audience, we really just keep pace alongside Taka, who seems to be genuinely reacting to every new weird scene that he encounters.

Tsuno, who released the cult short film Crying Bitch a few years ago, wears his influences right there on his shirtsleeves. From the 1950s US inspired diner sequence to the epic martial arts and sword-swinging pieces, Tsuno happily ticks off some favourite bits of inspiration while gently poking fun at entire tropes produced by the action franchise machinery.

From a technical point of view, the film is stunningly shot by cinematographer Shintaro Teramoto, who recently did amazing things with Wonderful Paradise. (Indeed, there’s a little bit of Yamamoto Masashi’s insanity in this film’s DNA). Pristine landscape shots look like they could have stepped out of neo-Western, and the obvious and deliberate use of rear projection during key driving sequences gives the whole thing a retro vibe.

“For all the innocent lives, past and future, taken away by selfish devils,” declares a mid-credits dedication. “Humans will fear the sound of MAD CATS coming for you.” While it would be folly to even pretend that we know what this means, it’s perfectly in keeping with the irreverent and chaotic philosophy of the movie. Like the cats of the title, it scratches and knocks random things off the table, but it’s still going to be one of your favourite feisty felines.

2023 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Reiki Tsuno | WRITERS: Reiki Tsuno | CAST: Sho Mineo, Yuya Matsuura, Ayane, Michael Aaron Stone, So Yamanaka | DISTRIBUTOR: Fantasia Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 88 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July – 9 August 2022 (Fantasia)

August 5, 2023
Review: Plastic [Japan Cuts 2023]

You might have certain expectations when you see the same Daisuke Miyazaki on directorial credits. Given that those credits include action fantasy End of the Night, a slew of Not Found horror thrillers, and the experimental joy of being lost in Tourism, that expectation might just be for the unexpected. With PLASTIC, he explores a teen romance that develops through mutual love for a 70s prog rock band.

Having missed his shot at music fame, teenager Jun (Takuma Fujie) transfers to school in Nagoya. While busking to the music of his favourite band Exne Kedy, glam rockers who broke up years before, he encounters fellow student, Ibuki (An Ogawa) who happens to be singing the same tune.

Miyazaki’s coming of age story might skip through the years, checking in on this couple between August 2018 and August 2021, but in all other ways is a measured and leisurely look at a relationship. As their affection progresses beyond the superficial and the complexity of the future looms its head, we start to see them strain under the pressure.

Built on the foundation of a shared love of music, there’s a mixture of fantasy and realism in the telling. Real world totems like the pandemic or the Tokyo Olympics pepper the background fabric. At one point, there’s a scene of Jun and Ibuki conversing in a bar that might be a minor vision of a possible future. In another moment, Ibuki pictures a musical performance sequence in a forest while sitting in the back seat of a car.

The music that drives the film, ostensibly the back catalogue of Exne Kede, is actually a concept album by real-life Japanese musician Kensuke Ide With His Mothership. With titles like ‘Landline Boogie’ and ‘Swinging Lovers (Story of Joe)’, there’s a kind of concept storyline running through the music itself. Japanese speakers will undoubtedly get a little more nuance out of this important element. Nevertheless, they are all catchy as hell with a couple of bangers in the album too.

An Ogawa, who has previously worked with luminaries like Ryusuke Hamaguchi (in Heaven Is Still Far Away) and Ryutaro Nakagawa (for Mio on the Shore) does a wonderful job carrying much of the emotional weight of the film. Relative newcomer Takuma Fujie, a musician and performer, plays it all close to the chest, but impresses in this understated performance.

Miyazaki does not leave us with a traditional romantic ending. Very long takes of driving and walking around Tokyo are his equivalent of the ‘running to the future’ trope. Indeed, it’s a hitherto rarely heard narration that gives us the final coda on Jun and Ikubi, almost as if the song is still playing during an album’s fade out.

2023 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Daisuke Miyazaki | WRITERS: Daisuke Miyazaki | CAST: An Ogawa, Takuma Fujie, Kyoko Koizumi | DISTRIBUTOR: JAPAN CUTS | RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 July-6 August 2023 (JAPAN CUTS)

July 31, 2023
Review: Winny [Japan Cuts 2023]

If you were online in the early 2000s, you’ll remember the absolute panic around peer-to-peer (or P2P) file sharing. Most will remember the widespread media attention around programs like Napster. In Japan, the focus was on Winny, a program developed by Isamu Kaneko, the programmer who found himself at the centre of a precedent setting legal case.

In November 2003, two users of Winny were arrested for using the program to share copyright material. Shortly after, Kaneko himself (played in the film by Masahiro Higashide) was apprehended on the charges of conspiracy to encourage copyright infringement and “proliferating piracy.”

Lawyer and cybercrime specialist Toshimitsu Dan (Takahiro Miura) recognises that Kaneko’s arrest has broader implications on the rights of programmers everywhere. He decides to take on the case, arguing that the creator of the software that makes the piracy possible is not responsible for the actions of its users.

Primarily written as a courtroom drama, it still isn’t until the halfway mark of the film that the trial itself starts. Director Yusaku Matsumoto and co-writer Kentro Kishi use this motif to explain technical details to the judges of the court, and thereby pass on those complex details to the audience.

For the most part, this works exceptionally well, although Matsumoto recognises that the trial alone cannot sustain an entire film. Layered into the narrative are glimpses of Kaneko’s past, with the programmer portrayed as a little boy who simply loved computers and grew up trying to make the world a better place.

Yet there’s also a secondary storyline about police corruption that Matsumoto has used to expand the running time, and this is less successful in the telling. Included here on the thin premise that Winny was used to leak documents that proved the misappropriation of law enforcement funds, even the in-film characters talk about it being only tangentially related to Kaneko’s case. Nevertheless, it does add more fuel to the argument that the program can be used for white hat purposes as well.

Between Tetris, Air, and now this film, it’s a golden age for the process and copyright heads out there in filmland. While the film only covers the initial trial, Kaneko was ultimately acquitted by the Osaka High Court, with the decision upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan. It’s a case that’s certainly had deeper implications that resonate with any user of copyright material online today.

2023 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Yusaku Matsumoto | WRITERS: Kentro Kishi, Yusaku Matsumoto | CAST: Masahiro Higashide, Takahiro Miura, Hidetaka Yoshioka | DISTRIBUTOR: JAPAN CUTS | RUNNING TIME: 127 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 July-6 August 2023 (JAPAN CUTS)

July 31, 2023
Review: Hand [Japan Cuts 2023]

Rather than sweep the rich history of pinku films under the rug, or Roman pornos as they are sometimes called, Japan has embraced their form again over the last decade. Nikkatsu celebrated the 45th anniversary of these films by commissioning a series of features by folks like Isao Yukisada and Akihiko Shiota. For the 50th anniversary, three new films were launched in tribute.

Daigu Matsui’s entry is HAND (手), and alongside new works from Koji Shiraishi and Shusuke Kaneko, forms part of the Roman Porno Now line launched in July 2022. Based on Nao-Cola Yamazaki’s novel, it introduces us to the 25-year-old Sawako (Akari Fukunaga), who has a deep fascination with older men. Partly influenced by her father’s presence, she goes so far as to scrapbook encounters of men she spots.

When she meets and falls for Mori (Daichi Kaneko), a former coworker, they begin an intensely physical relationship. Sawako begins to experience a new lease on life, along with a self-assuredness in her everyday interactions.

The rules of the previous wave of Nikkatsu films gave filmmakers a framework: have a simulated sex scene approximately every ten minutes, be under 80 minutes, and shot in under a week. This is clearly not the case here, as Matsui has a much broader canvas to paint his exploration of a relationship through the lens of sex and physicality.

Yet the one rule Matsui does stick to is the regularity of the eroticism. Having made a career of understanding the unspoken and observational moments in relationships, he takes HAND‘s sex scenes right up to the edge of explicit in order to show us those unguarded conversations couples have in various states of undress.

That said, the prurient nature of the form does mean that we get the occasional random sex scene with another couple entirely, namely Sawako’s sister Rika and her boyfriend, and that just feels a bit excessive. It’s also all tinged with just a shadow of fatalism, almost as if we know how it’s all going to end. In this sense, it has something in common with the ‘sex and death’ films of the Japanese New Wave or more recently, Haruhiko Arai’s It Feels So Good.

HAND is a film that both transcends its Nikkatsu origins while remaining firmly tied to them. At times deeply intimate and sensual, reflecting its conventions back through a kind of female gaze. Yet it always feels conscious of its own form, with several threads – not least of which Sawako’s relationship with her now ailing father – ultimately lost in the mix.

Beautifully shot, this is certainly one of the more deliberately crafted of the recent Nikkatsu pink films. While this reviewer has not yet had a chance to compare this with Safe Word by Shiraishi Kōji or Kaneko Shūsuke’s When the Rain Falls, it continues to be a shame that Nikkatsu is yet to pick a female director to bring a fresh perspective to these kinds of stories — especially when this is very much about reversing the male gaze. Perhaps that’s something we can hope for by the 60th anniversary.

2022 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Daigo Matsui | WRITERS: Sorami Date, Naocola Yamazaki | CAST: Akari Fukunaga, Daichi Kaneko, Akio Kaneda, | DISTRIBUTOR: JAPAN CUTS | RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 July-6 August 2023 (JAPAN CUTS)

July 28, 2023