patonamu Reviews

Valse Triste (1977)

A boy's Wet Dream

[9/10 · 16 August 2006]

With a similar dreamy mood like its predecessor "Take the 5:10 to Dreamland" (1976) this clip starts with a boy getting into his bed. The camera zooms in into the boy's mind and a slow, sad waltz(i.e."Valse Triste") accompanies images of a locomotive, a miner, the globe, the sky, a sheep heard, etc. Disparate elements, but if one concentrates only at the movement of the figures, one can perceive a commotion, slowly livening up: The starting wheels of the heavy locomotive, the tired miner pushing the heavy cart of coal bricks, the globe smoothly turning around and around, the clouds imperceptibly floating in the sky, the sheep idly moving in the herd, etc.

We reach the first climax when a mannequin opens her coat like a flower. The second big crescendo spurts out from a "water hose", after watching schoolgirls doing gymnastics for quite a while. A sad, but nostalgic aftertaste lingers in the end when funeral cars drive away through a flooded area...

Jukyusai no chizu (1979)

How can I survive this (adult) life?

[7/10 · 10 May 2003]

A student's life is hard. One is already an adult, but still penniless. The protagonist-student here is surviving by being a paper-boy running from door to door and accumulating "world-anger". He gets an inside-look of this rotten, hypocritical human kind. He hates 'em all. But life must go on...

Comparable with the "Fight Club"-terrorist-movement, but here the individual stays alone and breaks down (losing even his best friend). We can neither live happily nor kill ourselves. We must keep running...

Sacrificed Youth (1986)

Mezmerizing Nature-Trip

[8/10 · 27 November 2002]

She gets from the city to the jungle village. She discovers her beauty, her appeal towards men and her potential to heal. But paradises can't last forever... Great images (as dark as her ignorance), great sounds (leading you to a half-trance) and a refreshing coarse camera-work (to imitate real-life perception).

Assassin(s) (1997)

Too visionary for some

[7/10 · 9 June 2002]

Having read the previous comments, I must say that for me it wasn't too gloomy, too violent, too confused. I think you couldn't have been more lucid, even visionary, in 1997, considering the real-world high school rampages thereafter (1999: Columbine/USA, 2002: Ehrfurt/Germany, etc.).Another sharp insight in this film is the depiction of the different generational "characters". We have the old, heroin-addicted killer, the naive hard-working mother, the joint-smoking, lethargic twen and the cold-blooded, bored teen. Me, being a twen, found a totally new generation presented: They are not only constant TV consumers like all the other generations, nor is only one parent missing, but here we have no parents at all, and their active, martial video-gaming-experience combined with passive access to all the trivial perverseness of TV's innumerable channels, can most likely lead to a detached killer seeking real life testing of his training in the virtual world. The key scene for me is, when Max sees himself as a killer in the reflecting car-window. He then can still reflect upon the insanity of it all.

Primate (1974)

Going under the skin

[7/10 · 3 June 2002]

Theme: Experiments on monkeys at a scientific research base. And Mr. master-of-direct-cinema Wiseman presents another institution, like in his other documentaries (Highschool, Hospital ("Near Death"), Army).Only this time we have a very controversial and gruesome piece of "document". In the beginning, we see gorillas in cages and some(like me) may think already then:"How inhumane.Let them free." But actually, they live in paradise compared to the "experiments" and "operations" still awaiting the viewer/monkeys. Wiseman in his ingenuously "absent presence", i.e. his seemingly invisible camera and his unbiased editing, forces us to create a story and an opinion on our own. So there will be no ending in reviewing and rediscussing the film.

The Sting of Death (1990)

Jealousy kills both parties

[8/10 · 19 May 2002]

This story of a middle aged couple starts in twilight. They sit apart and their posture is controlled. But inside, the jealousy-demon is about to break out endangering both into insanity. The cinematography is quietly hovering, the acting disturbingly real, the mood just awesome. Kohei Oguris later "Nemuru Otoko" is more spiritual and mystical leaning towards kitsch. This one is darker, exploring the manic-depression of "excessive clinging" and the bleak consequences of constant psycho-terror.

A Day in the Country (1946)

Romantisized rape scene fantasy of a Man

[5/10 · 17 May 2002]

I'm quite surprised at the uniform comments so far to this film. It is an interesting film I admit, and many film-scientists have analyzed and praised it, BUT: Isn't the "peak" of this story a rape scene? The daughter obviously plays an innocent virgin and being on a swing or in a boat is all she wants. Her mother on the other hand is quite "deprived" for her allusive request to her heavy husband to quickly go together behind the barn, gets turned "down". But here we have 2 other bored youngsters: One is a show-off Casanova, the other (as it turns out later) only seemingly disinterested in the game of love. This game is exemplified through the (male) sport of fishing. Now the climax is very skillfully displayed through the water and the upcoming storm metaphor, but the foreplay is quite politically incorrect: Numerous "touch-and-kiss-attacks" from the part of the guy and the numerous "shoving-aways" by the girl doesn't seem to stop him or take "No" for an answer. Eventually of course, she gives in, and many years later she tells him that it was and ever will be the happiest moment of her life. It smells like macho fantasy to me, where No from a girl means Yes! and that especially virgins need to be forced into the introduction of sexual pleasures. Well, possible, but still, what if not?

Take the 5:10 to Dreamland (1976)

What dreams may come...

[8/10 · 24 April 2002]

I've seen a tape with a dozen of Bruce Conner's experimental "music-clips" and this one captured me most. Its slow somnambulic rhythm, its animalistic jungle sounds as well as the eerily mixed images create a dream mood that comes closest to my actual dreaming-feeling. The long black phases between the sequences are as important as the images themselves because they leave empty space where the "echo" of the last image can seep through without interfering with the following image. But our logical mind still somehow feels compelled to construe some kind of sense, parallel, or some erratic story out of it. Surrealist or Dadaist have also tried similar things (Le chien andaluz, ballet automatique) and some of David Lynch's films (Lost Highway, Eraserhead) also have a similar atmosphere, but this one is my favorite dream clip (but sadly only a few minutes long, but doesn't every dream end too early?)

Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (1968)

Pure Hypnosis

[8/10 · 24 April 2002]

An insecure guy falls in love with a young nude model.But his past sexual abuse hinders him of loving inhibitedly. He meets a little girl in the park instead... The story isn't that linear and that's why the freely linked episodes of this film just takes you on a shaky underwater rollercoaster ride. Beautiful camera-shots, excellent editing, great music, great acting...

Harikomi (2001)

The best "Love Cinema"-Film

[8/10 · 21 April 2002]

I've seen all 6 "Love Cinema"-movies, one of which was "Harikomi". Another "Love Cinema"-movie was Takashi Miike's "Visitor Q", with morbid, perverse, but still funny scenes that simply shock."Harikomi" with its witty dialogues is way more subtle, presenting aesthetic imagery, excellent acting and a bursting finale...

The Isle (2000)

In the Realm of Femme Fatale

[8/10 · 21 April 2002]

A fantastic,mesmerizing work!For me it was the best Korean Movie I've seen in a Film Festival with Korean movies from 1998-2001.Best because it went "under my skin", with a mythical female goddess figure unseen since the classic "Femme Fatale"-movies like "Suna no Onna","In the Realm of the Senses" and "Basic Instinct".One sees totally original images, a parable both repulsive and fascinating...

Happy End (1999)

Men will always stay men

[7/10 · 21 April 2002]

An excellently performed movie about our age of the equality of the genders. If men lose their jobs and their wives have wild affairs can a man forever hold his horses? An original story with a touching motherly daddy who knows when enough is enough...