SPOILERS WITHIN
Life
Been a very tiring week. Prepping for an audit at work, having to cover in another department while training someone new up. That mixed with the constantly fluctuating weather as a cold, rainy front swept in again to spoil the brief respite of pleasant weather we've had after the seemingly unending winter. It’s going to be a dreary, chilly weekend again, which will make it harder to get out, and I don’t really want to just sit around for both days. I’ve also not been getting much sleep. Getting home in a slog, then finally building up the energy to do things right as I should be going to bed, then having to wind myself down from that energy. And before you know it, I need to be up in 5-6 hours for the next day. I’m at an age now where I can’t keep burning myself out like this while using the weekend to catch up on sleep. I’m 40 now, and I’d rather be halfway to the end of my life than already 2/3 or 3/4. I need to take care of myself better.
Podcasting
Still editing our next episode of Schumacast. Had to set it aside a bit while working on my film editing project below, but I’m back at it. 40 of 155 minutes done so far.
Movie Nights
My Sunday Discord movie night hit its second anniversary. We’ve been running weekly since the beginning of the pandemic, and I put together a really fun show with my own brand new cut of the first film we debuted this project with: Godzilla (1954). I’m sure most of you know about the US release, where they not only trimmed the Japanese film down, but inserted new footage of Raymond Burr to add more appeal to an American audience. What I did was take the entire subtitled Japanese film, and spliced in as much of the US footage as I could to make one big hybrid cut. Which was surprisingly not easy, as not only is Burr acting as a replacement for several characters and events – most prominently as the one who inspires Emiko to reveal Dr Serizawa’s secret – but the timeline has been shuffled around to get the action happening quicker and try to condense multiple science conferences into a single one, while also adding an in media res opening of the aftermath of the disaster before flashing back to the events leading up to it.
While it’s a bummer that only a few people turned up for the screening (surprisingly far fewer than my hybrid cut of Return of Godzilla), I’m still thankful for those who could make it. And regardless, it was a really fun editing project, giving me a very intimate look into how the US version merged and reconstructed scenes to make Raymond a part of them. I also appreciate how much of the original film it preserves. There are scenes which were lost, like “man on the street” discussions of nuclear fears, or the argument at the government hearing over whether to reveal anything to the public, but it still kept all of the tragedy and horror. And only really dubs about 10-15 minutes of the original dialogue, with much of the cast still speaking Japanese as someone leans over to Burr and tells him what’s going on. I was thankfully able to keep over 90% of the US footage in there, allowing myself to drop some lines that would contradict the alternate chronology, and not forcing myself to use every single reaction shot of Burr just standing there doing some wonderfully silly acting with his pipe. It was fun pulling all those reaction shots together, then finding the strongest places to drop them in, my favorite being the end, where I have Steve’s denouement about the creature's defeat be premature, then adding a forlorn look as he reacts to the actual denouement of Dr Yamane’s fears of what could happen next if nuclear experiments continue. Heck, I was even able to keep in a portion of his scene encouraging Emiko to tell her secret, shifting it now to an emphasis on the sequence she initially shared with Ogata.
The one big issue which I couldn’t do anything to fix, is there’s no real cap to the arc of Steve being an old friend of Dr Serizawa. He mentions it a few times, there’s that call with the terrible double in front of the cheapest set recreation they could get, which I absolutely refused to cut because Serizawa is at least voiced (couldn’t tell if physically played, too) by a young James Hong! But we build to the big finale, and Steve is back to just standing there and observing, with no real moment added – double from the rear or otherwise – to have him properly say farewell to who we’ve been told is someone quite dear to him. Honestly, Steve just needed to be a reporter on the scene, or maybe be friends with Yamane. Or even just a friend of Emiko, since they already spend several scenes together.
Still, I think the US cut, much like Robotech v Macross, gets a bad rap largely because of release standards of the time, which are themselves absolutely worthy of criticism, and not enough focus is given to how the people involved still put a lot of effort into preserving as much of the original work as they could. Even with Steve added in, the story remains. The themes remain. The striking images and horrific disaster remain. It’s still a film that swings hard and packs a punch, and seeing it again after my newfound appreciation for nearly the entire Showa era of Toho adds additional reflection to how much beautiful art and craftsmanship can often be dismissed because people think monster films are silly. Also, speaking of those involved in the US cut, this really makes me curious to dig deeper into the work of editor / director Terry O Morse, who seems to have been a go-to studio fixer for either productions which weren't working, or projects which were having a tricky time getting sorted during development. The only other film of his I’ve seen so far is Unknown World (1951), which I quite enjoy, and which we’ll be playing next week.
At my friend Melissa’s local bi-weekly movie night, we continued her dive through the history of martial arts cinema with a double feature from director Zhang Yimou.
Hero (2002) - I remember the ads when this was first coming out, with their striking visuals and the always delightful Jet Li front and center, but never got around to seeing it because we were already deep into being constantly burned by Miramax releases of Hong Kong cinema, which the Weinsteins would brutally hack to pieces, badly dub, and often even replace the scores to somehow cram a pop single in. Even the moniker of Quentin Tarantino Presents wasn’t much of a draw as I was in the midst of my hot / cold shifts of desire for his work, which I continue to wriggle through to this day.
Unfortunately, the Miramax release looks to be the only one currently available, at least on legal streaming sites. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to have gone through the heavy retooling of others, as it was a lovely widescreen print with subtitled audio and score completely intact. And I’m trying to figure out if the 2 hour “director’s cut” was an original release they edited down, or an extended release which came out later. The 100 minute cut we watched certainly flowed well without the usual sloppy jars I’d expect from that localization team. Terry O Morse they certainly were not.
Hero is known for its visual opulence, with strong color schemes and grandiose sets, and costumes by the incomparable Emi Wada. This combination of clean yet grand fits the story which ultimately boils down to a confrontation between two men which will determine the outcome of the entirety of China. The King of the Qin Dynasty (Chen Daoming) has launched the period of the Warring States in a goal to unify all of China, no matter how may millions of people need to die to achieve it. He’s granted an audience to a nameless warrior (Jet Li) who’s come to claim a reward for assassinating the biggest threats to his goal, the three greatest martial artists in the land: Long Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), and Broken Sword (Tony Leung). As he recounts his battles, Nameless is also challenged by the king who fears he might be a spy hoping to get close enough for an assassination, leading to an interesting philosophical chess game of a plot which gradually unfolds and constantly challenges our perceptions of what’s really going on. It’s not exactly Rashomon style, as it does have a clear direction it ultimately settles into, but it’s very much a puzzle that only gains clarity as the pieces come together. A better comparison is Harakiri. Interspersed with absolutely gorgeous fight sequences, which marry the flying, billowing fabric wuxia ballet with a psychological mind game as Nameless knows the only way to beat such skilled opponents is to get into their heads, the strained relationship between Flying Snow and Broken Sword especially gains focus as they go from bitterly jealous lovers (with young student Zhang Ziyi in the mix), to potentially noble heroes, to a deep philosophical break as each of the stories unfold, with completely new color schemes to the sets and costumes every time.
While the story does settle into a theme of “the goods of the many”/”Thanos was right”/”China united” which certainly will be offputting to some, it still rang true to how the story unfolded, fits the ethical greyzone Nameless operates in, and challenges at times by showing the ego and cruelty of the future emperor brutally cramming the pieces of the country into a whole. Yimou directs it beautifully, with sequences of complete fantasy, like a battle on water or a calligraphy school being attacked by wave after wave of arrows, with a deft maneuvering of the philosophical meditation and the action with a finesse I’m not used to from wuxia cinema, which does have a history of being a bit all over the place. Hero is one of the best example of the genre I’ve seen, increasingly as the puzzle of a plot continues to unfold. And the ending, while questionable, feels challenging in an interesting way instead of offputting, and leaves us on a note that’s both personal yet grand.
House of Flying Daggers (2004) - Yimou’s immediate followup to Hero again pairs him with the designs of Emi Wada, but in a wonderfully different style as, instead of clean, solid colors, this is an experiment in detailing and contrast with vibrant filigree and floral patterns to a minute degree that seems to presage our era of high definition as I can only imagine how it would look with the aliasing of VHS or early DVD.
Right from the start, it’s an amazing hook as we open in a theater / restaurant / tavern / brothel (I’m really not sure which, culturally), where Ziyi Zhang is Mei, a famed blind dancer first having to deal with a drunken, handsy party boy (Takeshi Kaneshiro), then a stern officer (Andy Lau) who initially threatens to arrest her for being the victim of sexual assault, then challenges her to the most elaborate game of Simon ever put on film, where she has to use her dancing and extended sleeves of fabric to strike a ring of drums in the same patterns as his flung nuts. The way this opening unfolded was sensuous, biting, striking, and mind-blowingly elaborate in a way that had me planning for an entire film set in and around this building; a spectacular wuxia bedroom farce, if you will. Unfortunately, the moment we leave this house, that’s when the story starts to fall apart.
Mei still ended up going to jail, only to suddenly be set free by the party boy, but it’s all a complex plot between he and the cop, because they know she’s an agent for the House of Flying Daggers, a resistance moment using banditry and assassination to defy the current ruling government. There’s twists and turns as they're trying to ferret out the head of the organization (who was meant to be Anita Mui, but was left off screen due to the actress’s tragic death), only to both have romances with Mei, neither of which feel convincing or compelling, and descend into outright offputting as both are lousy dudes in their own way. For all the gorgeously shot fights in a bamboo forest and fields of wheat (much of which was surprisingly filmed in the mountains of Ukraine!), it ultimately boils down to a gross and disappointing duel between the three, which instead of culminating on romantic poignancy, instead feels like the flailing finale of a drawn out soap opera arc. For all the skillful plotting on display in Hero, the story of Daggers is a complete mess that started losing me quick, and never pulled me back in, largely because the two guys have zero appeal and I don’t want to see Mei stuck with either. The film is worth watching for the absolute visual opulence on display, but it’s not a story I’m interested in revisiting anytime soon.
TV
Continuing to work through my re-rewatch of Farscape. Here's the post on episode 10 "They've Got a Secret". I really need to pick up the pace as I've got that potential convention panel coming up in less than 3 months!
The Kids in the Hall 102 (2022) - Oh what a wonderful return. Sharp, raunchy, surprisingly nude, but always with a playfulness to back up the horrific darkness. I love the self-deprecating opening, the jumping, the entire pies sketch. Not sure I get the Friends of Kids in the Hall segment, but okay.
103 (2022) - Glad to see the zoom meeting and baby drop sketches are already getting widely talked about as masterful works of hysterical disgust. I love them. The recliner and glory hole sketches are also wonderful. Who is this portly man in the towel? He's been in both episodes. Was he a recurring bit on the original series? It's been at least two decades since I last watch the old stuff. Definitely planning to revisit after I finish this season.
DT Eightron 1 "Out of Datania" (1998) - Came across this one while researching the work of Tetsuro Amino, director of such anime as Starship Troopers, Iria, and Macross 7. The marketing art looked like such a blatant knockoff of Neon Genesis Evangelion that I was surprised to have never heard of it before, and that nobody ever licensed it over here given the late 90s flood of Eva clones. Thankfully, there's a fansub that's easily available, because curiosity compelled me to check it out. The first episode does have Eva echoes in its wasteland cityscape and a lead who's identical in design to Shinji, but there's other echoes in here of Serial Experiments Lain in the staticky indie rock / rap opening sequence, and some Tenchi Muyo styles to the designs. The story itself is a pure throwback to late 60s / early 70s dystopian scifi like THX-1138 or Logan's Run, with a city full of teenagers who are constantly scanned by drones to see if they ever fall out of step with absolute conformity, and a group of kids who plan to sneak out at night in the hopes of breaking through labyrinthine sewers to see the fabled outside. While the animation is a bit rough, it's not bad stuff, bringing in a mysterious overlord, lethal androids, and what looks to be an outside rebellion. While it does feel like a jumble of existing concepts, it's blended well, and I'm absolutely setting this aside to watch in full down the road.
While visiting Dad, we continued chipping through some shows.
Lost in Space 27 "Contingencies on Contingencies" (2021) - While I'm still bummed the series is ending after just three seasons, this arrival at Alpha Centauri captures the feel of a long, well-spent adventure. It's a bit clumsy, with the mystery of SAR's absence not quite working, and the whole "fight" at the dam could have been better staged. And Vijay's confessions. Ack! But it does feel authentic in its ackness. Still good character stuff. I love that the colony is already at the level of a classy suburb, and that we get to welcome in familiar faces and reflect on some who were lost. I'm not ready for this fantastic reboot to be done, but I'm looking forward to the finale.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel 28 "Billy Jones and the Orgy Lamps" (2002) - I love it all. Every last bit of it. Especially Midge's perfect reclamation of her home going wrong in the best ways possible, her connecting with her father in a genuinely sweet moment, and the promise of the Wolford, which I can't wait to see play out.
Only Murders in the Building 2 "Who is Tim Kono?" (2021) - After the hysterical memorial service, I like that we get to spend most of the episode with Mabel, exploring her backstory, starting to see her walling Charles and Oliver off a bit as she researches their past. For as many questions as it answers, it raises just as many new ones. And the little moments of surrealism, like the conversation with Tim, are a cool touch. Really digging this show.
Reading
Virus (1964, by Sakyo Komatsu) I'll be screening a copy of the film adaptation for my film club in the future, so wanted to give this a read. Ever since Japan Sinks, I've become fascinated with the works of Komatsu, and this pandemic apocalypse doesn't disappoint. I love the macro, genuinely omniscient view he takes on the story, looking down on the world and philosophizing about the parallels between the spread of civilization and the spread of the virus which destroys it, and all the little things that can go wrong to compound a problem into a disaster. I've seen criticisms that it doesn't have enough of a through-line of characters and arcs, but I'm okay with that. It's a story of the world, and when it does zip down to play out a scene between characters, it's an important moment that contributes to the broader picture. In the third act, as we focus on the pocket of survivors, it's more intimate because the world itself has shrunken down to this group, and every decision they make will determine the course of the species. It's gripping, mournful, but also hopeful in the end. While a little 60s scifi pulp at times with the outer space origins of the virus, and the big, silly combination earthquake / nuclear disaster that springs up, it never loses the story, charging through them with its deep human focus. This is a really good book that holds up well, and I hope someone will translate more of Komatsu's work some day.
Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear 3 - Planet Plague (1997, by John Whitman) The first book was a mess, but this and the prior volume have begun to win me over. Whitman is still a sloppy writer, with deeply underpopulated worlds, a lazy reliance on cliffhangers, and a choppy, loose writing style that can often break up the flow of a scene. But what I appreciate is how sad and dark he allows his children's adventure stories to get. City of the Dead was driven by loss and grief, and this is driven by pandemic fears of yourself and your loved ones having a deadly alien infection as we see people being mutated into blobs of living virus, who stalk after you with their slimy tentacles. Even with the educational bits meant to teach young readers about disease and vaccination, the science doesn't hold much weight, especially when people are running around with goggles that can let them see clouds of infection in the air so they can weave around them (even though doing so would create currents that would pull the clouds closer in). The big cameo of this volume is Wedge, and while he doesn't do much, he's charming and gets in on the action well. I like that this volume finally reveals the main villain of this subseries, and introduces the mysterious character of Forceflow. It's cool seeing a story involve the internet of the Star Wars universe, and delve into anonymity, government tracking, catfishing, and having to hop planetary servers. Just imagine what dialup times are like. I'm really curious to see where this story goes, even if I have to wade through sloppy plotting like a character constantly racing from her ship to a building to her ship to a building to her ship to a building, which leaves me wondering how rushed the editing on these volumes were.
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