Quick Film Reviews #15
Ugetsu Monagatari
What I remember most about Ugetsu Monogatari are the interiors. Mizoguchi uses the minimalist interiors of Japanese houses, with their open areas and sliding panels to great effect.
Oyu-Sama
I think I got this by accident, in a double-set with the previous film. I found Oyu-Sama's melodramatic tale quite compelling and I'm not sure why. Even more than Ugetsu Monogatari, it features fabulous Japanese interiors.
28 Weeks Later
The basic idea of 28 Weeks Later is a good one. It's a heavy-handed metaphor, but zombie films are never known for great subtlety. Then it never really finds its feet. What really got me was the military's first reaction to the zombie outbreak, which was to turn off all the lights. There's a 30-second montage of lights going off all over the area. Then they put all the civilians in a basement with nothing but a double-door and no guards between them and the zombies.
Mark is amazed that I don't really like zombie films like everyone else he knows. Partly I just haven't seen many (eg. Night of the Living Dead is the only Romero film). I suggested that people who like zombie films think they're better than everyone else; better than the unthinking mass of humanity (who can only be dealt with by violence). Partly I think I find the films unnecessarily cruel, which seems an odd complaint. It's like "don't humans do enough unpleasant things to one another without zombies?"
What I remember most about Ugetsu Monogatari are the interiors. Mizoguchi uses the minimalist interiors of Japanese houses, with their open areas and sliding panels to great effect.
Oyu-Sama
I think I got this by accident, in a double-set with the previous film. I found Oyu-Sama's melodramatic tale quite compelling and I'm not sure why. Even more than Ugetsu Monogatari, it features fabulous Japanese interiors.
28 Weeks Later
The basic idea of 28 Weeks Later is a good one. It's a heavy-handed metaphor, but zombie films are never known for great subtlety. Then it never really finds its feet. What really got me was the military's first reaction to the zombie outbreak, which was to turn off all the lights. There's a 30-second montage of lights going off all over the area. Then they put all the civilians in a basement with nothing but a double-door and no guards between them and the zombies.
Mark is amazed that I don't really like zombie films like everyone else he knows. Partly I just haven't seen many (eg. Night of the Living Dead is the only Romero film). I suggested that people who like zombie films think they're better than everyone else; better than the unthinking mass of humanity (who can only be dealt with by violence). Partly I think I find the films unnecessarily cruel, which seems an odd complaint. It's like "don't humans do enough unpleasant things to one another without zombies?"