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Ten Women in Black

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Let’s face it, women are way more interesting cinematically than men. There’s an internal dialogue and range of emotions that makes for complex, layered storytelling . Meanwhile, guys are firing guns in slow-motion and daydreaming about ancient Rome. I might be exaggerating for effect…but not by much. Which is why when women finally get a chance to lay their cards on the table, as in 1961’s Ten Women in Black , you can count on them to bring up the subjects everyone else is avoiding. Kaze Futaba is a serial philanderer with a wife and at least ten mistresses that he can recall. The women are all well aware of each other’s existence and their pecking order in his casual affairs. So they playfully agree to have him killed so none of them have to share. But when one of their number pulls a fast one, Kaze might wind up facing a fate worse than death. Directed by Kon Ichikawa but written by his wife under her professional name, Natto Wada, Ten Women in Black is far too attuned to the...
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The Hot Spot

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The whole neo-noir ‘90s thing is almost as inexplicable as the depression-era film fixation of the ‘70s; there was just something in the water. But it wound up producing some interesting left-of-center titles like Bound, The Last Seduction and After Dark, My Sweet . Ironically, the film with the best pedigree of the bunch, The Hot Spot (1990), didn’t even burn a hole in the upholstery. Directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Don Johnson, this almost Lynchian bit of small-town debauchery deserves more recognition than just being known as “that movie where Jennifer Connelly appears topless.” Rolling into town in his vintage Studebaker, Harry Madox (Johnson) is an opportunist who stumbles onto an easy bank robbery job. But after burying the loot, he’s blackmailed by his boss’s wife, Dolly, (Virginia Madsen) to continue their sexual escapades. Harry stays out of jail, but his real interests lie in starting a new life with the virginal Gloria (Connelly), if he can only manage to get...
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Cyclops

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David Cronenberg’s battle cry “Long live the New Flesh!” didn’t makes much of a dent in mainstream cinema. But for a select few filmmakers, the director’s unique take on human evolution – or de -evolution, as the case may be – echoed and amplified their own ideas about body horror. Joji Iida’s Cyclops (1987) is a V-cinema showcase of practical effects, teenage telepaths and misunderstood mutants that carries on Cronenberg’s biological revolution into distinctly Japanese territory. Continuing his mentor’s secret experiments, Tooru Takamori protects his adopted “sister,” Miyuki, from clandestine operatives while caring for his pregnant wife. As Miyuki begins to suspect a larger conspiracy, she becomes the focus of a menacing stranger hiding behind oversized sunglasses. But exactly what he’s hiding behind those shades is only the tip of the evolutionary iceberg. Cyclops drops viewers into a story that seems to be missing its opening chapters, forcing you to untangle a complicated ...
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Go

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Few films embrace the hedonistic nihilism of the Y2K phenomenon better than Go , director Doug Liman’s 1999 post- Pulp Fiction era comedy that shifts perspectives and narrative gears with giddy cinematic energy, sending its characters on an ecstasy-fueled bender…only to have them wake up and face another day of suburban monotony. Forget the run-on sentence, this is run-on filmmaking at its most frantic, flawed and fashionable. Facing impending eviction, grocery store cashier Ronna (Sarah Polley) recruits her fellow employees to score some X from a local drug dealer (Timothy Olyphant) in hopes of making a quick sale to two prospective buyers (Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr). But the plan goes awry, putting each character in a predicament that only seems to get worse as the night progresses. Using a Run Lola Run format, John August’s script starts over from the same spot every 20 minutes or so, following a new protagonist – and a new series of misadventures – that neatly weave together in ...
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TAG: The Assassination Game

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An obscure part of the John Carpenter multiverse, 1982’s Tag: The Assassination Game was written and directed by Carpenter collaborator Nick Castle, who also had the honor of playing “The Shape” in the original Halloween . And, despite being marketed as an ‘80s college comedy, it’s obvious Castle picked up a trick or two from his proximity to the famous slasher franchise as TAG is a surprisingly effective thriller that aims for Hitchcockian suspense way more often than laughs. A reporter on the school paper, Alex (Robert Carradine) proposes a feature on the campus “assassination” game in hopes of scoring with one of its star players, Susan (Linda Hamilton). But while they’re busy firing rubber darts, one competitor is really playing to win, racking up a body count not just on paper…but hidden in the back of his closet! Lifting several crew members from his Halloween days, Castle does a terrific job balancing the copious film noir references, relatively tame kill sequences and co-e...
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Laurin

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For any physical media collector how one organizes that collection is an intensely personal decision. Alphabetical by title? Grouped by genre? Year of release? Separated by director? Either way, shelving and rearranging new purchases is an important part of the process. But where do you put a film like Laurin (1989), director Robert Sigl’s slightly supernatural serial-killer period piece that slips between the cracks of easy description and seems to demand a category all its own. Essentially orphaned after the death of her mother, Laurin (Dora Szinetar) is convinced that her new teacher, Mr. Van Rees (Karoly Eperjes), is responsible for the disappearance of several children in the village. And her suspicions makes her a vulnerable target as the killer attempts to cover his tracks. A German film shot in Hungary with English-dubbed dialogue, Laurin feels out of step with reality from the get-go. Sigl mixes and matches visual influences ranging from Bava to Bergman almost indis...
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Shogun's Ninja

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Not every film is the result of personal artistic expression. Sometimes it’s difficult to disguise all the cooks in the kitchen juggling studio demands, passing fads and budgetary constraints. Shogun’s Ninja (1980) was released during a particularly tenuous time for Japanese cinema, with homegrown productions fighting for attention against Hollywood hits, the Hong Kong action craze and episodic television. That being the case, it winds up as one crazy grab bag of traditional chanbara, Jackie Chan-inspired stunts and desperate trend-chasing that appeals to no one – and everyone – at the same time! Set during the Warring States period of feudal Japan, Takamaru (Hiroyuki Sanada) returns from exile in China to extract his pound of flesh from Shiranui Shogen (Sonny Chiba), who murdered his family in bloody clan warfare. He’s joined by a cadre of surviving childhood friends and the daughter of a Shaolin monk who followed him on the journey back. But Takamaru’s training hasn’t prepared ...
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