Risselada Blog

Under discussion:

Film Name  Production Year

Johnny Guitar  (1954)

House of Bamboo  (1955)

I have asked certain users on Spout to recommend a movie to me.  I will be blogging about these films as I watch them.  This film was recommended to me by protexblue

House of Bamboo

It wasn't too long ago that I met protexblue on Spout, but I liked him right away after browsing his movie ratings.  And then after a couple correspondences and seeing a few of his posts, I knew this guy was someone I wanted to listen to.  His taste in movies is fantastic.  His observations and insights are acute, and his ability to put them into words is adroit.  Here is how he put his recommendation of this movie to me:

I'm recommending Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo based on the mixture of Japanese and classic American films in your 5 star films list. For whatever reason the DVD was released in the "Fox Film Noir" collection, even though it's from the mid 50s pulp thriller shot in color cinemascope - so you see a lot of people giving it mid-range reviews online because they were expecting heavy shadows and dutch angles. I first tracked it down after reading it was Godard's favorite Fuller film, and if you see Contempt or Two or Three Things I Know About Her you can really see the influence on his widescreen compositions. I'll leave the description to the back of the box or Netflix - but all you really need to know is Sam Fuller directs Robert Ryan vs Robert Stack in Tokyo.

I thought his recognizing of my penchant for Samuel Fuller and Japanese cinema was astute, and thus the recommendation made sense to me.  I was looking forward to seeing more Fuller films, although this one was not originally near the top of my list.

Although he mentions Godard in his recommendation, I have only seen one Godard film, and did not like it.  So I can't comment on that connection.  But I will say that the compositions were probably the most striking and enjoyable part of the film.  I'm remembering an interesting directly above crane shot.  And also a lot of interesting things with windows, and those paper Japanese walls, and other translucent surfaces.

The story took me a while to get into.  I like Robert Stack, but most of my exposure to him has actually been more of his self parody comedy style of recent years.  But now watching him in this movie I kind of feel like he was always a parody of sorts.  His character is largely a shallow portrayal of the stereotypical film noir protagonist, but bordering on being a cipher.  Robert Ryan's character however is much more interesting, even if a bit bemusing at times.  *SPOILER*  His blatant carelessness at the end of the movie during his plot to finish off Robert Stack seems so out of character with his calm and precise manner of the rest of the film, that it lowered my enjoyment of the film.  Of course the homosexual subtext (which according to the audio commentary Ryan and Fuller had worked out but Stack was completely oblivious to [as was his character] during the filming) may provide the reason to why Ryan may have been so flustered at finding out Stack was an undercover investigator.  But still, his plan goes from working so well, to turning into such a disaster by his own carelessness so quickly that it still seems out of character.

The fact that the film takes place in Japan provides some more interesting scenery and a bit of culture clash to the context, but mostly the Japanese stay on the perifery of the story without becoming too central.  The love story with Mariko becomes part of the plot, but again the real meat of the story at least for me came from the interactions with Ryan's character Sandy Dawson.  Fuller makes a few observations about Japanese culture and they way they see love and romance and racism, but it didn't hold as much depth as I was hoping for.

See the movie for the compositions and for Robert Ryan.  This was worth watching, and I will watch more Fuller films, but unfortunately this was my least favorite of his so far.

Next I'm hoping I can see Johnny Guitar, protexblue's number one recommendation for me if it ever comes out on Region 1 DVD or to a theater near me!

Samuel Fuller:
Total feature length films seen: 5
Previous average film score: 9.25
New average film score: 8.8

Rating: 7/10

Under discussion:

Film Name  Production Year

Brother's Keeper  (1992)

Salesman  (1969)

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills  (1996)

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations  (2000)

This is the third feature length film I've seen by directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky working as team.  I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.

Brother's Keeper

The two other films I've seen by Joe and Bruce are the first and second Paradise Lost films.  In a way, the story of those films are the same in that they are both about an ambiguous murder trial.  But in many ways they are opposites within that context.  Both take place in kind of rural areas, but in one the locals band together to support the accused where as in the other most locals have turned against the accused.  In one the accused is rather old, and in the other they are quite young.  There are too many interesting similarities and polar opposites to go through the list, but the point is that these directors know how to find these interesting cases and document them in a way that seems true but also narratively involving.

I think there area  lot of mixed feelings about these filmmakers in the documentary world.  Their style is a bit different from some of the other stuff that has been seen.  They were able to get access to a small group of people living much of their lives in much privacy and seclusion.  This is a fascinating thing to see.  It's both a regional story and a courtroom drama, both of which I find appealing.  And it was made at a time that was still before cameras and reality TV had become so present in society that it was hard to capture people in real life without them altering their behavior for the camera.  If you do too, then don't miss out on this one!

Interesting fact:  This was the #1 movie on Ethan Coen's list top five favorite movies of all time.  The list also included Salesman by the Maysles brothers who Joe and Bruce had worked with before and met each other through their production company.

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky:
Total feature length films seen: 3
Previous average film score: 9
New average film score: 9

Rating: 9/10

Under discussion:

Film Name  Production Year

Airplane!  (1980)

Lethal Weapon  (1987)

Lethal Weapon 2  (1989)

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1  (1993)

National Lampoon's Vacation  (1983)

National Lampoon's Animal House  (1978)

The Naked Gun  (1988)

Loaded Weapon 1

I guess the full title of this film is National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1.  I could never really figure out what the connection was between the different films with the "National Lampoon's" prefix was, but I just looked it up and realized it's just the name of a production company.  You know that the films are always comedies, and probably could have the descriptions of "zany", "crude", or "base" attached to them.  Most people will think of Animal House or the Vacation movies (written by the recently departed John Hughes).  Although I just found out the first ever National Lampoon's film was titled National Lampoon's Disco Beaver from Outer Space.  But Loaded Weapon 1 is actually a bit different in that it's pretty much a spoof movie, where the others aren't.  Obviously trying to work within the style created by the Zucker Abrahams Zucker team who did Airplane! and The Naked Gun, this film is much more based on a sequence of gags than really building complex character or scenarios.  Which is fine with me.  I love that stuff when it's done well.  And I feel that Loaded Weapon 1 was done well.  I have seen it a handful of times, and just pulled the shrinkwrap off a DVD that I've had in my house for a while after buying it on clearance to show my girlfriend.  I think she fell asleep like she usually does, but I still had a great time.

It's a short little film, as it should be.  It's primarily a spoof of The Lethal Weapon movies which I have never seen.  I have seen enough pieces of them and know the basic plot that I'm still able to enjoy what they are spoofing.  A good spoof somehow gives you an insight into what the original scene of a movie it is spoofing was like even if you haven't seen it.  It's hard to explain how this is done, but if you GET the joke, you can sense where it's coming from.  One of the most striking things about the movie I think is how many cameos there are.  Here's a list:

Dr. Joyce Brothers
James Doohan (Scotty)
F. Murray Abraham
Charlie Sheen
Dennis Leary
Corey Feldman
Phil Hartman
J.T. Walsh
Erik Estrada
Larry Wilcox
Paul Gleeson
Whoopie Goldberg
Christopher Lambert
Bruce Willis

And Denise Richards (although she was not at all a celebrity at that time)

Of course you have the main characters played by Emilio Estevez who was pretty well known then.  Samuel L Jackson was less well known.  But then you got some other funny performances from John Lovitz, Tim Curry, Kathy Ireland, and of course the wonderful William Shatner, who tries to pull off such a goofy voice here.

So if you want some laughs, and to see a "gratuitous beaver scene" check this movie out.  Like I said, it's short and sweet.

Rating: 9/10