Seijun Suzuki, like Rainer Werner Fassbinder after him, was so prolific and fast working you get the sense that he was willing to try anything and would see what actually worked after the fact in the editing room. Yet, unlike Fassbinder, Suzuki was largely subject to studio dictates never having the luxury of total control over the scripts he was saddled with. Creative freedom, to the extent he had it, came from working within smaller budgets in the B-Movie universe.…
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Season of the Sun 1956
In the 1950s world wide post-war economic “miracles” and the democratization of consumerism and the leisure class lead to entrenching the “teenager” as an actual thing. Quickly following that, mainstream global film culture starting exploring themes relating to juvenile delinquency. While Hollywood released rather “reputable” JD material (the cheapo exploitation fare would come later) like The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause and The Blackboard Jungle, other jurisdictions - like Japan with the “taiyozoku/sun tribe” films - had their own…
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Crash 1996
Tales of Interactive Cinema.
Long before I was born producer/director William Castle promoted his The Tingler via his use of “Percepto!” where certain theater seats were equipped with electric buzzers in order to deliver that tingling sensation. Got a kick out of reading about this gimmick back in the day. John Waters was/is a Castle fan and I remember as a young cinema fan having my interest peaked by hearing about his use of “Odor-rama” for Polyester (essentially handing out…
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A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness 1977
The fact that Seijun Suzuki was essentially exiled for a full decade from feature film production from his bonkers B&W 1967 hitman flick Branded to Kill until this 1977 under-seen/appreciated triumphant return in brilliant colour is a crime against cinema going humanity.
“Blow Up Your TV” - John Prine (Spanish Pipedream)
The opening of this wild film includes a clip of legendary gymnast Nadia Comăneci knocking out her perfect tens at the Olympics - and then for the first 30…
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Corvette Summer 1978
How big a Star Wars fan was I at ten years old? Let’s just say I bought the novelization of Corvette Summer.
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The Incident 1967
This post Kitty Genovese murder (1964) and pre-Bernie Goetz vigilantism (1984) take on NYC urban dread and bystander indifference is a rather stark and mean affair. The black and white, low-budget, gritty location shot elements of it all is suggestive of NY set 60s films like Blast of Silence, Something Wild, The Young Savages (all 1961), The Pawnbroker (1964), or even the British made subway car set Dutchman from the same year. One on-line commentator suggested the film is strange…
