Hans - 24 January 2008 05:26 AM
The Passenger is a beautiful film and I highly, highly recommend it. Rescue Dawn top-shelf Herzog, as well.
Oh man, I second that on “The Passenger.” It was great to see on the big screen for the first time when it was re-released a few years ago. The opening 20 minutes with no dialogue was especially surprising, to me anyways. It’s hard to remember sometimes all the arty and subversive films Jack was involved in during the ‘70s when you look at all the old fogey bullshit he does now like “The Bucket List” or “Somethings Got to Give.” Shame.
Recently saw “Reeker” despite the warnings from NOTLP. Crap. Also “Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs” (1974) which I would highly recommend for Cinema Diabolica sometime if you haven’t seen already. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw the trailer on the “Burst City” DVD.
Apparently, one of the more famous films of the yakuza/exploitation hybrids known as “Pinky Violence” in Japan with the emphasis on girls fckin shit up. The title character is kind of like a female version of the Franco Nero/Maurizio Merli detective of Italian crime, who kills first and follows police procedure second. Her trademark weapon are these red handcuffs that can fit around a dude’s neck and slice people. She is incarcerated for shooting a high-profile bad guy in the dick after tries to rape her, and the opening credits consist of her getting beat to hell in prison by all the prostitutes she put behind bars, but remains completely cool and stone-faced the whole time. She’s let out to rescue Someone Important’s kidnapped daughter by going undercover and infiltrates the responsible gang by being raped and beaten by every single member. Crazy stuff. As exploitive and trashy as it is, it is very artfully shot. It seems this was the first in a series, but I’m not really sure. Highly recommeded.
Not sure if the big screen counts, but saw “Cloverblown” on Friday and “Mother of Tears” on Sunday as part of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention here in Austin. I won’t say much, but have realistic expectations kids. The maestro ain’t what he used to be.