Into The Ether
Posted on | April 5, 2004 at 8:57 pm | 8 Comments
Time for a little movie talk (Hellboy and All About Lily Chou-Chou), along with my feelings about the quick cancelation of Wonderfalls. As Bob Seger says, “Turn the Page”…
The movie Hellboy is a documentary about a super-secret organization, spun off from the US government, which deals with paranormal threats to our plane of reality. The title protagonist is part of that team, a big red guy who slipped into our dimension when the Nazis were fooling around with the occult back in WW2. If these types of movies and comics are any indication, the Nazis lost the war because they spent way too much time collecting occult artifacts and staging elaborate rituals, when they should’ve been developing nuclear technology and such. Hellboy is one of the few comic-to-movie adaptions where I haven’t read the original source material. Something about Mike Mignola’s artwork really rubs me the wrong way – I think it has something to do with the way he makes everyone look bulbous, like Mike Sekowsky did in the 60s.
The movie is good entertainment though – director Guillermo del Toro and his DP have a nice visual style, so there’s always something interesting to look at. Ron Perlman’s a good character actor, and he makes you feel for the big guy. I thought Selma Blair’s character was misused to some extent – it just seems like they could’ve done more with her than make her a mental patient involved in a not-really-there love triangle. And I did get a little tired of the dog-squid monsters after awhile. The Nazi-made-of-dust guy was pretty interesting though. This one’s worth seeing on the big screen, but I think it will look even better in my home theater.
Last weekend, I also finally got around to watching my all-region import DVD of All About Lily Chou-Chou, another Japanese movie about disaffected youth, which came out in 2001. I gotta tell ya, I’m beginning to understand a little better the mindset that led to Battle Royale. The kids in this movie (aged around 13-15) get into some things that would make even the most hardened American kids blanche. I was disturbed by this movie on a different level than I was by Battle Royale, yet I felt it as intensely. Probably because it felt more real.
It’s basically about this kid Y???ichi, who is the webmaster of a site dedicated to the titular pop idol Lily. Some of the story is told through online conversations, so there’s more reading in this one than in the average subtitled movie. Y???ichi has a “friend” Hoshino, who starts out as this smart, charming kid but who ends up being the local ganglord. The story seems to be mostly about the relationship between the two of them, but there are lots of twists and turns and side stories along the way. This is a long movie (almost 2 1/2 hours) that feels even longer. Yet I was never bored or sleepy, even during the slow parts.
The story structure is bizarre and hard to follow. Not only does it skip around in time and it never explains key elements, but the whole thing feels more like a series of short stories linked loosely together and featuring the same characters than it does a complete linear narrative. Along the way, there are a few deaths (including a suicide), rape, child prostitution, bullying, and other unsavory exploits, and although none of it is graphic, it’s still disturbing. There’s a whole section in the middle about a summer vacation trip to Okinawa, which was shot on digital video (unlike the rest of the movie). It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen on film, especially the incident with the needle fish…
I wouldn’t call the movie visually stunning, though there are some nice (fantasy) scenes with the kids standing out in the fields listening to Lily’s music on headphones. These scenes are meant to show how the kids are tuning into the “Ether”, the state of mind that Lily and her music espouses. Mostly though, the cinematography just makes Japan look gray and grimy, underscoring the hopelessness of the situation.
The twist at the end is powerful and would’ve been more predictable for me if I had been paying better attention. Anyway, the whole thing just really made me think about the pressures the Japanese kids must be under with their school system and their seemingly repressed society and all, and made me wonder just how reflective of reality it is. And of course any movie that makes you think outside your normal parameters is a good one. Next time someone complains about the youth in America, I’ll be thinking “Just be glad you don’t live in Japan!” I realize of course that (like in America) no one makes movies about the good kids, so this is probably depicting a not-so-prevalent aspect of Japanese life, but it’s still chilling to think about.
On to TV. Wonderfalls has been canceled after only four episodes (13 were filmed). They didn’t even get a chance to start the big story arc. In order to avoid further heartbreak, I’m contemplating boycotting Fox altogether, since they keep doing this to show after show that I like and which deserved better (Firefly, John Doe, Andy Richter, etc.). I’m surprised they haven’t killed Arrested Development yet. C’mon Fox, what are ya, a bunch of pussies?!? What are you waiting for? Kill AD already so I don’t have to keep watching your stupid network. I can easily give up The Simpsons, since that’s been coasting for years. NFL season might be tricky, but the Broncos mostly get shown on CBS anyway. C’mon Rupert, I dare ya!
Latre.
Comments
8 Responses to “Into The Ether”
April 6th, 2004 @ 6:38 am
"the swan" looks like a good enough reason to boycott fox to me.
April 6th, 2004 @ 10:24 am
:angry:
theres nothing good left on t.v i swear…..
April 6th, 2004 @ 3:59 pm
I think Tru Calling is the only thing left on Fox that I even semi-regularly watch, and I don’t even like it that much. I’d probably like Arrested Development but didn’t get started on it, and I somehow keep missing F/X’s marathon AD rerun sessions.
I’ve also decided that if Falsey/Brand ever launch another TV series, I’m not going to watch it, because they always do the same thing: put on a quality show for 3-4 years, then hand over the writing to a bunch of hacks who turn all the characters you’ve come to love into caricatures. St. Elsewhere and Northern Exposure were unbearable in their final seasons, and left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.
Soon SCTV DVDs will be here, and I can live entirely in the past. Huzzah!
April 6th, 2004 @ 7:46 pm
Miles, I totally forgot about Tru Calling, which I do watch but wouldn’t be torn up about if it went away (renewal seems unlikely). Especially if it would free up Eliza to do a Buffy-spinoff Faith show. More importantly, I also forgot about 24, which I would not want to see go away. However, if I boycott Fox, I could always just watch the inevitable DVDs later. And that’s a more pleasant viewing experience anyway. I’ve contemplated doing that with Alias this season, especially since the audio & video quality on the broadcasts is so bad. I have a hard time figuring out what’s going on in dark scenes.
I agree about Northern Exposure, but I don’t remember Saint Elsewhere having a big quality drop in the later seasons. Then again, that was much longer ago, and my memory ain’t what it used to be.
April 7th, 2004 @ 1:59 am
With St. Elsewhere, it was really just the final season, I think — everyone became a shrill caricature, and then there was the "twist ending" of the series, which to me was even more egregious and godawful than the plot twist of Bobby Ewing showing up in the shower on Dallas.
April 9th, 2004 @ 2:26 am
WHO SAID THERE’S NOTHING GOOD ON TV?!?
Simply absurd. There’s little of interest on mainstream American TV, I’ll grant you, but it’s always been that way – you just have to dig a little.
Best sitcom: "Black Books" (UK) which recently began its 3rd season. (Download eps via BitTorrent, links available from SuprNova.org)
Other best sitcom, if you like that sort of thing: "Arrested Development" (on Fox of all places)
Funniest show, usually, even though they have it too easy: "Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
Best show, usually, if you like this sort of thing and I do: Letterman
(all right, so I’m a bit comedy-centric… and I’m limiting myself to current shows, even though there’s unparalleled genius in shows like "Jam" or "The Games" (both from 2000) – and Family Guy, even though they’re doing a movie now, is sadly gone…)
Best science fiction: (um, I hope the answer isn’t still "Stargate"…)
And if you’ve been ignoring "The Man Show" up ’til now, due to having self-respect and, well, a life… watch the current season with the new hosts. There’s some very, very dark and funny stuff coming up.
Oh yeah, and Phil Hendrie is the only reason to own a radio. Testify!
(Disclaimer: my wife is friends with a number of people involved with many of the shows above…)
April 9th, 2004 @ 9:34 am
InfK, how dare you use my website to push your own personal comedy TV agenda!
I would certainly not say there’s nothing good on TV – I still watch way too much of it. And now I can’t even go through with my Fox boycott because the last couple of episodes of 24 have really rocked, making up for the bad start for the season. But I do refuse to watch The Swan.
April 10th, 2004 @ 4:33 pm
You don’t want MY "TV agenda" – well, how about this: My wife watches "The Swan"… and she says she likes it even better than the midget one.
(But then, I think the particular flavor of entertainment value she gets from those shows is not necessarily the one intended by the producers?)