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  • 2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: VENGEANCE OF THE PHOENIX SISTERS (1968)

    2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: VENGEANCE OF THE PHOENIX SISTERS (1968)

    A “New” spin on the wuxia revenge does not disappoint!

    The third film I caught at the 10th Old School Kung Fu Fest was the New York Premiere of the Digital Restoration of Chen Hung-min’s Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters. This was the directorial debut of Chen Hung-min, who had editing duties on King Hu’s Dragon Inn and it feels like a bad ass wuxia manga come to life. The film is a frantic black and white revenger that starts off shockingly similar to The Swordsman Of All Swordsmen — a family is slaughtered by a gang of bandits, but this time, instead of a singular male child, we have three females who when they reach adulthood set out to get revenge for their fallen family.

    The film ups the drama by separating the sisters when their family home is ransacked and pick up 15 years when their paths begin to cross by happenstance. When the middle sister Qingfeng (Liu) happens upon their youngest, Zhifeng (Chin) after her adoptive family is attacked by the same bandits, they eventually find their oldest sister Xiufeng (Yang) who has spent the last 15 years training under her father’s martial arts teacher. In a rather progressive plot thread Xiufeng is masculine-presenting, while on the hunt. What surprised me most is this isn’t played simply for some comedic or shock effect either, but shows how Xiufeng is able to move around in this world as a master swordsman differently than her sisters.

    Once all three women reunite the film goes as expected, and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. While the narrative may seem familiar, Phoenix Sisters really surprises with its frantically edited and bloody fights showcased by its lush black and white cinematography. There’s lots of these rather longing close-ups, where the camera holds onto a character’s expressions to build on the drama or attempt to penetrate and explore the character’s motivations. It’s an intensity that Chen Hung-min flawlessly uses to help lean less on dialog and more on action in maintaining the rather brisk 90 minute runtime. Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters was a six fisted blast that subverts the formula just enough to put a fresh new spin on wuxia revenge.

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  • 2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: THE SWORDSMAN OF ALL SWORDSMEN (1968)

    2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: THE SWORDSMAN OF ALL SWORDSMEN (1968)

    What starts out as a formulaic and fun revenger delivers a hell of an impressive third act!

    My first non doc at the 10th Old School Kung Fu Fest was the US Premiere of the Digital Restoration of Joseph Kuo’s (18 Bronzemen and Mystery of Chess Boxing) The Swordsman Of All Swordsmen, a whirlwind of a film that from the description sounded like a lean mean revenger running at 85 minutes. The film follows swordsman Tsai Ying-jie (Tien Peng) who has spent two decades of his life sharpening skills preparing to kill the five men that slaughtered over 60 people, including his father and mother at his family home. Tsai Ying-jie not only wants vengeance, but the Spirit Chasing Sword that was taken from his father after his death.

    The first two acts are a brutal by the numbers revenger, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Tsai Ying-jie mows down anyone that crosses his path, whether it be with swords or chopsticks, and the fights are brazenly visceral and cut together with a frantic energy. Ying-jie eventually comes across another swordsman, the Black Dragon (Chiang Nan) — who helps Ying out of a particularly thorny battle and then challenges him to a duel to obtain the title of the number one swordsman, which Ying-jie holds. Dragon agrees to wait till after Tsai finishes his quest, tagging along. All goes according to plan until the third act when he finally confronts the final boss, the ringleader of the gang who organized the massacre. The thing is, he’s blind and sincerely repentant, even handing over the Spirit Chasing Sword without so much as a tussle and offering an arm in penance in exchange for what little of his life is left.

    This turns the film and the entire final act on its head as the Ying-jie is then forced to question his entire quest and his moral compass, along with the audience — given the old man is not only incapable of putting up a fight but sincerely regrets his actions against the young man. This is further compounded by his daughter Flying Swallow (Polly Shang-kuan), who not only falls for the swordsman and saves his life, but wishes to save her father as well. That narrative shake up was worth the price of admission and takes a decent by the book revenger and really elevates it into something a bit meatier for fans to chew on. I dug the hell out of this The Swordsman Of All Swordsmen and I am going to try and check out the other two entries in the series also screening as part of the fest.

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  • Arrow Heads #105: THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU

    Arrow Heads #105: THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU

    Rigg and Oliver Reed co-star in a middling, late ’60s romp

    After a high-profile run on the popular The Avengers TV series across three years (65–68) and 51 episodes, Diana Rigg (aka Mrs. Emma Peel) was understandably ready a change. Eyeing a jump from cathode-ray TV sets to the big screen, Rigg co-starred in two studio-backed productions in 1969, The Assassination Bureau in March and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in December. The latter, the first and last time George Lazenby stepped into the James Bond role first — and most iconically — essayed by Sean Connery throughout the decade, was and remains the larger, better remembered film and not only because it was part of a long-running super-spy series, but because Rigg delivered a standout performance as Bond’s first, great, and until Eva Green performed a similar role in Casino Royale almost forty years later, last love.

    But we’re not here to sing the praises of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or even The Avengers, but to judge The Assassination Bureau on its own merits, a slightly above average genre mashup elevated into watchability status thanks to Riggs’s performance as the co-lead, Sonya Winter, a women’s rights activist and freelance journalist in early 20th-century London, who, through circumstances unclear and undefined, uncovers the existence of the title organization, a non-governmental, transnational group dedicated to separating the immortal souls from the mortal souls of bad, immoral, corrupt men in powerful positions in exchange for cold, hard cash deposited in bank accounts across Europe.

    Winter sees exposing the so-called Assassination Bureau as both a moral imperative and the perfect opportunity to show off (and show out) her journalism skills to Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas), a publishing magnate with an agenda of his own that might run counter to Winter’s. Either way, Bostwick agrees to bankroll Winter’s somewhat daft plan to expose the murderous organization. Said plan involves locating the chairman of the Assassination Bureau, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed), where he lives and apparently works, and putting an irresistible proposal before him: If, as asserted, the bureau targets only men who truly deserve their fates, then surely the head of said organization should be targeted.

    In far from the first credulity- and plausibility-stretching plot development, Dragomiloff agrees to Winter’s terms, essentially setting himself as the target of an executive board comprised of well-to-do, high-status professionals who double as assassins as needed for monetary gain. That, in turn sets up a loose, stop-start narrative that borrows more than a few pages from Ian Fleming’s super-spy’s adventures, including, but not limited to city- and country-hopping location switches, glossy production values, periodic, high-stakes set pieces culminating in a literally explosive, effects-heavy finale, and a central romance resolved before the end credits roll.

    Based on an unfinished Jack London novel only completed in 1963 by another author, The Assassination Bureau leans hard on familiar super-spy tropes, though turning Dragomiloff from the supposedly irredeemable head of a murderous organization to the ostensible hero doesn’t quite work, though Reed, an actor who rarely delivered a poor performance regardless of the quality around him (or lack thereof), does his next-level best to match the tonal demands of director Basil Dearden’s (Sapphire, The Blue Lamp, Dead of Night) approach, regardless of where a particular plot point falls on the verisimilitude scale. (Arguably, verisimilitude matters less in a genre mashup like The Assassination Bureau dominated by a black comic tone.)

    It helps, of course, that Rigg invariably matches Reed energetic beat for energetic beat over the course of The Assassination Bureau’s languid two-hour running time. Despite Winter’s presumed centrality to the narrative, though, she’s often sidelined at crucial points, including the finale involving a bomb-laden dirigible. In the closing moments, Winter’s presence functions as an unnecessary punchline to a not particularly funny joke. It also serves as delayed an unfortunate reminder of the limits of late ’60s progressivism on and in film. Still, Rigg never looks better and the sizable costume budget ensured a different, period-specific outfit for every scene change. If only the same could be said for The Assassination Bureau’s storyline or treatment of its central duo.

    Blu-Ray Features

    High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
    Original lossless English mono audio
    Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
    Brand new audio commentary with authors Sean Hogan and Kim Newman
    Right Film, Wrong Time, a 30-minute appreciation by critic, broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet
    Original trailer
    Image gallery
    Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork choices

    Get it at Amazon: If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.

    https://amzn.to/3NfkMuE
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  • 2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: KING OF WUXIA is a Masterclass on King Hu

    2023 Old School Kung Fu Fest: KING OF WUXIA is a Masterclass on King Hu

    The three hour plus doc is a must for fans and for those looking to get into the director’s filmography

    One of the big draws for me personally for this year’s Old School Kung Fu fest was The King Of Wuxia, a 3 and a half hour deep dive on the Chinese auteur King Hu, who some would argue is the father of the modern martial arts film. After directing the Shaw Brothers classic Come Drink with Me, Hu decamped to Taiwan and turned in such Wuxia classics such as A Touch of Zen and Dragon Inn — that while embracing a realism unlike their Shaw Brothers counterparts, infused the real world with a kinetic action and visual style inspired by Chinese art from the period he was channeling. Admittedly, I am more of a hand-to-hand guy when it comes to my Kung-Fu flicks, so I was hoping for a crash course on these wuxia classics along with one beloved filmmaker of this particular sub-genre.

    What director Lin Jing-jie delivers here is comparable to some of my favorite tomes on cinema. It hooks you in with the familiar filmography and then lure you down the rabbit hole, enlightening you about the man responsible.

    The King Of Wuxia is broken up into two parts. Part One focuses on King Hu’s impressive Wuxia filmography film by film, and features a who’s-who panel of Chinese cinema with directors such as John Woo, Tsui Hark and Ann Hui dissecting Hu’s films alongside production designers, cinematographers and film critics. The focus here is not just on these amazing films and how they came to be, but how King Hu appeared to be a jack of all trades on set, not only directing, but acting out scenes, making props and even supplying detailed sketches and fabric for his costumes. While the film doesn’t shy away from the themes and research that went into the historical epics, they are very purposefully trying to illuminate how hands-on the director was. Given Part One is roughly two hours, it’s draining every second to show how Hu exuded a Kubrickian level of control over the finished product, with a single film sometimes shooting for nearly three years.

    Part One makes sure to hammer home how craftsmanship was key to the director’s approach and the control he exerted over the quality of the production of his films. But unlike Kubrick, who achieved this perfection with a relentless iron fist, Lin Jing-jie is very clear to highlight the humanity of Hu, firstly through how his actors and crews who were very much like close knit family where everyone would pitch in to help Hu achieve his vision. Secondly it digs into how because of his jack of all trades approach he imbued this ethos of doing anything to get the film finished into those around him. The crux in Part One is the fact that he was an uncompromising and relentless perfectionist when it came to film, but not at any cost.

    The second half takes the filmography and provides an illuminating and gut wrenching context on the man that birthed these classics. The son of a concubine, King would make his way into the film industry as first an artist, then an actor, slowly working his way up the rungs eventually to director. This path helps to explain how he could effectively have done nearly any job on set, because he’s simply done them all. This part wastes nearly no time catching up to the end of the last film with King Hu migrating to LA in 1984, way before John Woo was a household name. The film then tracks a project that was never finished called The Battle of Ono a fictional account of a group of Chinese laborer who were forced by the Americans to build the railroads and after finding a gold deposit fought to keep it. The film shows King toiling away in LA refusing to settle for anything but complete creative control of a project that sadly would never see the light of day.

    Lin Jing-jie’s approach to me really spotlighted how manipulative American docs have become in this age of Netflix. Sure, there’s an agenda here, but it’s not force fed and cliffhangered into you in a way that feels so heavy handed. Jing-jie instead gives the audience the breadth and time for King to earn your respect, and for you to fully vest into this man’s story before pulling the curtain back on his origin. He does this by first informing the audience of not only his work and achievements, but his work ethic that crafted those films and inspired those around him. How he follows that up will catch most off guard since that dread of what was to come would have been baked into the viewer out of fear of them turning out if this was an American production.

    The King Of Wuxia is a deeply engrossing doc worthy of its subject. It’s a monument to not only the man but his filmography, which is no easy feat. I can definitely see this doc eventually landing in a Criterion box on King’s filmography. This way fans can discover the story of the man behind these classics.

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  • SISU Kills ’Em All

    SISU Kills ’Em All

    Slight, Satisfying Nazi Hunting Action

    Lionsgate

    Jalmari Helander, the Finnish phenom who wrote and directed Rare Exports and Big Game, is back at the helm of his chaos machine with the wildly violent WWII action film Sisu. Reteaming with actor Jorma Tomilla, who has appeared in his other features, the duo bring to life Aatami Korpi, an action hero from the WWII era who dwells in a heightened world of immortality and death-dealing that can be rivaled only by such characters as Rambo or John Matrix, but who in reality feels more like a Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers type.

    Sisu, which apparently is a Finnish concept with no direct English translation, more or less indicates a strength of will or a coolness in the face of insurmountable odds. Our guy Korpi?! Yeah, he’s Sisu. I’m not entirely clear as an American viewer if sisu is supposed to have any mystical or supernatural connotations. Perhaps Finnish audiences will have a better grasp of that. But Korpi deals a whole lot of death out on a bunch of unsuspecting Nazis during the brief runtime of this film and he’ll overcome superhuman obstacles to do so.

    Told in a very straightforward and stripped down fashion, Sisu unfolds in chapters with basic titles like “the gold”, or “the legend”, etc. Our hero is hunting for gold in the deep Finnish countryside after having sworn off the war and walking away from society. Unfortunately for him, the Nazis are in the death throes of their final days in the war and they’ve adopted a scorched earth policy. So when Korpi strikes gold and must reconnect with society, an ever escalating conflict to the death sparks off with Aksel Hennie’s SS officer Bruno and his battalion of ragged and desperate soldiers.

    There’s not a ton of depth to what’s going on here in Sisu. This is a movie spoon feeding its audience exactly what it came to see. Korpi is creatively and brutally killing Nazis within seconds of them getting a whiff of his gold. Helander is having the most fun when he’s dialing up the gore and creativity surrounding the cat and mouse game that ensues between one former elite commando and an entire tank battalion. It’s never really much of a question of who is going to win, but the fun is in the slicing and dicing, which gives Sisu more of a slasher vibe than, say, a “John Wick Meets Nazis” vibe. This isn’t slick, clean, beautiful action. It’s gore-kills and audiences jumping out of their seats.

    Sisu is one of those “just what the doctor ordered” kinds of movies that fully and completely delivers on what it promises without giving anything more. The chapter-based but threadbare plot escalates pretty exquisitely and there are many set pieces and plot zigs and zags that you aren’t likely to see coming. After seeing thousands of action and slasher films in my life, not to mention samurai films, I can honestly say that Helander and his sisu-slasher Korpi deliver some creative kills that aren’t quite like anything I’ve seen before. There’s an inventive brutality on display that feels Raimi-esque, although the aesthetic is more Raimi-meets-Leone in execution.

    If I’m being totally honest I had a really rough day leading up to my screening and it was a miracle I was even able to make it. Sisu was the perfect antidote to a shitty day. It’s not going to change anyone’s life, and it’s not pushing the envelope really. But it’s delivering the blood and viscera of evil Nazi soldiers to its audience on a silver platter. There were laughs, cheers, and gasps in my theater and some of them came out of my mouth. Slight and satisfying, Sisu simply slays.

    And I’m Out.

    Sisu releases in theaters April 28th, 2023 from Lionsgate

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  • BEAU IS AFRAID Puts the Odd in Odyssey

    BEAU IS AFRAID Puts the Odd in Odyssey

    Ari Aster’s newest is an uncompromising, messy journey into uncomfortable terrain.

    Photos courtesy of A24.

    “They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
    They may not mean to, but they do.”

    Thus begins Phillip Larkin’s most famous poem, “This Be the Verse,” still as shocking to see today as it was when first printed over 50 years ago. The poem shocked both because of the language, but also the earnestness with which it attacks a universal experience. Our parents, no matter how much they love us and we love them, are a product of their own experiences and are imperfect people, incapable of creating new perfect people. Such is the reality of parenting: that you try your best to raise someone to be the best version of themselves, but you inevitably imprint your own weirdness that you inherited from your parents who, to turn a phrase, fucked you up.

    Acclaimed writer-director Ari Aster is likely very familiar with “This Be the Verse.” After all, stories of families and how families inevitably scar us reoccur throughout his work. His short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is a harrowing portrayal of familial sexual abuse, while his feature debut Hereditary explores how a family’s secret history has unforeseeable consequences. Midsommar, Aster’s best film to date, is about how an isolated group can appear strange to outsiders but can provide vital support to those on the inside. His newest film Beau is Afraid is basically “This Be the Verse” in filmed format—but far stranger.

    The Beau in question is Beau Wasserman, (Joaquin Phoenix), a mumbling, ineffectual man-child who lives in his run-down apartment while the world appears to be going to hell around him (though how much of his decaying urban environment is real or imagined is difficult to determine). Beau is plagued with anxiety, insecurity, and uncertainty about how to engage with the world on the most basic level, down to how to pay for a bottle of water. He is noncommittal to his therapist and only appears to leave home to visit his overbearing mother Mona, (Broadway legend Patti LuPone).

    But when Beau’s latest trip to see his mother is delayed due to his keys being stolen, tragedy strikes and Mona is killed in a horrific chandelier accident. Devastated, Beau has to get home as others sit shiva, as his mother’s will stipulates she won’t be buried until her only son arrives. With Beau, nothing ever goes his way: He both gets hit by a van and is the victim of a stabbing attack on his journey, and is taken in by Grace (Amy Ryan) and Roger (Nathan Lane). The perhaps overly kind couple nurse him to health, but what seems like good fortune turns into yet another series of nightmares.

    To get much more into the details is edging into deep waters for Beau is Afraid, a film that is somehow both barely a narrative feature and also built almost exclusively on the novelty of never quite knowing what is going to occur next. Aster’s ability to build tension into his world-building has always been a strength, and is the engine that runs through the entire enterprise of Beau is Afraid. As Beau journeys to get back to his mother, we journey with him through a very adult fairy tale, discovering increasingly distressing edges to the world that the film inhabits. It is no wonder that Beau is afraid—his world seems terrifying.

    Of course, there is another reason Beau is afraid: Mona, who is portrayed in flashbacks by Zoe Lister-Jones as intimidating and unnerving, always soft-spoken but with a real sense of forceful control. Through horror stories of his own conception, Beau is terrified to start a family out of fear that he will die if he even attempts to have sex. This psychosexual dysfunction fuels Beau’s ties to his mother, and in her sudden fatal departure, Beau finds himself unsure what his future actually holds.

    As a whole, Beau is Afraid is both exciting and frustrating. Seeing Aster spread his wings and make some truly bizarre art seems like a major step forward for a filmmaker who has only made masterpieces up to this point. But Beau is easily his worst film, partially because of its sprawling run time (it hits at almost three hours) and a lack of focus that is present in Hereditary and Midsommar. There are a lot of parts to love: Phoenix’s performance across the epic journey, a dazzling pseudo-animated segment in the middle where Beau imagines his life without his dysfunctions, and a familiar streak of bleak Aster humor throughout. But an expanded budget (at an estimated $35 to $55 million, A24’s largest yet) brings with it a sense of excess that often meanders and never fully congeals into a singular piece. Put bluntly, Beau is Afraid is a bit of a mess, a barely contained parade of ideas that sometimes grabs you, but just as easily loses its grip.

    As is often the case with A24 films, however, it is uncompromising. This is clearly the film Aster wanted to make at this point in his career, and for that alone it is admirable. It is rare today that we get a truly singular vision. For Aster, we get the portrait of a shell of a man wandering back to bury his mother and unpacking what all that actually means. It is thorny at parts, inspiring elsewhere, and often simmering with not-so-quiet resentments. The end result may leave a bad taste in your mouth, but the journey is worth taking.

  • THE SEVENTH SEAL: A N00b’s Take on Ingmar Bergman’s Classic [Criterion 4K UHD Review]

    THE SEVENTH SEAL: A N00b’s Take on Ingmar Bergman’s Classic [Criterion 4K UHD Review]

    “You know nothing, Ed Travis”

    Images provided by Criterion

    I jumped at the chance to review Criterion’s latest 4K UHD release of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.

    Why did I jump? Well, I saw this as a perfect opportunity for Criterion to once again “take me to school” as I’m a lifelong film fan who has managed to never see an Ingmar Bergman film and whose biggest cultural connection to The Seventh Seal was knowing that Death from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey was a reference to this film. I also knew this was a film set during the crusades, and during a plague, and I was just in the right temperament to plunge into something that dark and depressing. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that this renowned classic (while indeed a death-obsessed tale) is rife with bawdy humor, beauty, and innocence to match the direness of is setting.

    Max Von Sydow’s knight of the Crusades Antonius Block, upon returning to his homeland amidst a plague with his Squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) does indeed encounter Death (Bengt Ekerot in the visually iconic role) and challenge him to a game of chess. But what I’ve always envisioned as a dire, quiet, cerebral affair turns out to be a remarkably human tale brimming with emotion. The Seventh Seal plays out somewhat like The Canterbury Tales (something I also know little about and haven’t studied since high school), with knight and squire on the road and encountering various people in their travels who represent many different ideas and concepts that give depth to Block’s ongoing duel with Death.

    Early on we’re able to observe the significant differences between Block and his Squire. Prone to the singing of bawdy and sacreligious tunes, Jöns is much more a man of the people, one who has seen death and destruction (and caused it) and feels no need to feign righteousness as a result. Block, however, is a believer in crisis. He’s a man of high esteem who has also spent his last several years at war and is desperate to understand and to make meaning before Death claims him. He’s a man of faith and authority, so it feels quite natural for him to not accept Death’s advance, but to challenge him to a game.

    We soon encounter a family of traveling performers who turn out to represent something of the purity and innocence of life. Jof (Nils Poppe) is a “head in the clouds” type and reminiscent of a Jester. He sees religious visions and frequently gets into trouble in bars and towns when he tries to relay his second sight to others. Mia (Bibi Andersson) is a beautiful young mother to baby boy Mikael and wife to Jof. Many plot machinations occur in various vignettes throughout the film that flesh out the family, the Squire, and Block’s ongoing duel with Death.

    Ultimately Death comes to collect and Block, enamored by the sweet young family representing hope and the future, finds some sort of personal form of redemption by sending Jof, Mia, and Mikael away from Death’s grasp, even as all the other characters, having taken refuge in Block’s castle, are not so fortunate. Jof, with his second sight, views all of our characters being led off by Death. Whether Block somehow managed a trick of fate to save this young family or whether the dumb luck of their social distancing from the rest of the troupe saved them from the Plague, we’ll never know.

    The Seventh Seal is a film that openly asks many profound questions about religion, damnation, and salvation. Sure, it’s got historic iconography and an obsession with Death, but Bergman infuses the whole affair with bluntness and with real life emotion to create a parable that’s never staid or stuffy.

    The Package

    I think the image quality here looked fantastic, but I also continue to struggle to see whether a 4K restoration is really able to look markedly better than a 2K scan. I never claim to be an expert in these matters, as I am not, but let’s just say the image quality here is fantastic and not split hairs on whether it’s night and day better than simply a full HD version of the film.

    Packed with bonus content largely narrated by Berman expert Peter Cowie, I gravitated immediately to the Bergman 101 feature as a cinephile with relatively little exposure to Bergman. I found it highly informative and interesting to learn that Bergman also directed stage plays throughout his career and spent much of his time working with casts and crews who moved between stage and screen with him throughout his various projects. Bergman at one point casually described The Seventh Seal (what would become his most renowned work) as simply something he made with his friends one summer.

    This disc also offers full commentary by Cowie, a feature length doc called Bergman Island, a Woody Allen tribute to Bergman, trailers, an essay, and an intro. In other words, it’s pretty well packed to the gills and allows Criterion to do what it does best for me personally, which is to take me to school and offer me so much to learn about a cinematic master I’ve never known a whole lot about. I suspect it’ll offer as much to you as well, whether Bergman novice or superfan.

    And I’m Out.

    The Seventh Seal hits 4K UHD Blu-ray from Criterion 4/18/23

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  • STAR TREK The Next Generation Movies are Energized by 4K-UHD

    STAR TREK The Next Generation Movies are Energized by 4K-UHD

    Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis, stun with new 4K-UHD transfers, and an abundance of extras

    Over the last few months, Paramount Home Video has treated us Trekkies with 4K-UHD releases of Kirk and co’s adventures on the big screen. A first wave featuring The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home, and a second (why truncate them?) giving us not only The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country, but also the Director’s Cut of TMP. Beyond celebrating these films, the releases largely stood out for the care taken in restoring these films to their intended form. A 4K restoration not just upping the detail and quality of image, but a chance to scrape away much of the over processing and plastic-saturation that came with the Blu-ray releases of these films over the years. This release of the Next Generation era of films, coming fittingly in time for First Contact Day (April 5th, the day Vulcans first made contact with humans), showcases a similar level of attention, resulting in the best way to beam aboard the Enterprise-D (and E) at home.

    This collection release (the films are also available for individual purchase) comes with new cover-art, matching the style adorning the Original Series Movie Collections. The renderings are ok, but the composition does seem a little uninspired. Inside is a plastic case containing 8 discs, 4 housing the 4K-UHD versions, and 4 containing Blu-ray versions of the same new restoration, digital copies, along with largely legacy extra features. There are several hours worth of content for each movie, covering all manner of aspects of the film, scripts, special effects, character development, Trek lore, and more.

    Star Trek Generations

    It was always going to be a difficult job for any “passing of the torch” movie. Going from the beloved original crew to the Next Generation. The plot propels Kirk from his time into the current day (for TNG at least), eventually pairing him with Captain Picard in an effort to stop the madcap machinations of Dr. Tolian Soran (a delightful turn from Malcolm McDowell). His scheme involves mass genocide in order to enable his return to a pocket universe known as the Nexus, a place where all dreams become reality, and where Kirk has been trapped after his heroics 78 years earlier.

    The plot is a little convoluted, but to bring these two legends together was always going to involve some fudging of the timelines. Some old school heroics, an A-plot that feels akin to a 2-parter episode, and a fun little B-plot with Data getting his hands on an ‘emotion chip’. Familiarity also comes from the film reusing the old sets (albeit with some upgrades), costumes pilfered from DS9, and even some classic villains from the series too. What does stand out is a decent blend of CGI and practical effects, the saucer landing set-piece still holds up today. But really, it’s the chemistry of the cast, from both eras, that carries things along.

    Like the original series, the Blu-rays that were released back around 2009 featured heavy processing. Color palettes that were amped up, and a heavy slathering of Digital Noise Reduction (DNR). These new masters have all approached the visuals as more true to their original form and the results are fantastic. The image here is incredibly detailed, sometimes showing up some of the reality between set and ship design. But the extra level of texture really adds to the film, as does the natural grain. Colors are strongly represented but natural, not blown up. Contrast and blacks impress, and help a lot of the imagery really pop on screen. It’s a notable step up from the 2009 Blu-ray, whether you watch that disc or the 4K one.

    Extra Features

    • Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto: A nice rapport between the pair and Coto in particular is well versed in Trek-lore
    • Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore: Two of the more influential talents behind the various Trek shows (notably as writers on TNG), so this is one of the more insightful and often funny additions to the extras
    • Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda: Trivia tidbits
    • Library Computer viewing mode: A ‘pop-up video’ style overlay that adds into to the film as you watch
    • Production: Uniting Two Legends, Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion, Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire, Scoring Trek
    • Visual Effects: Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures, Crashing the Enterprise
    • Scene Deconstruction: Main Title Sequence, The Nexus Ribbon, Saucer Crash Sequence
    • The Star Trek Universe: A Tribute to Matt Jeffries, The Enterprise Lineage, Captain Picard’s Family Album, Creating 24th Century Weapons, Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert, Stellar Cartography on Earth, Brent Spiner — Data and Beyond Part 1, Trek Roundtable: Generations, Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
    • Deleted Scenes: Orbital Skydiving, Walking the Plank, Christmas with the Picards, and Alternate Ending
    • Archives: Storyboards for Enterprise-B, Worf’s Promotion, Two Captains, and also a general Production Gallery
    • Trailers: Teaser and Theatrical

    Star Trek First Contact

    Rightly regarded as the best Next Generation movie, some even consider it the best Trek movie overall. The film brings back the long standing threat to the Federation, the Borg. A relentless cybernetic collective, intent on assimilating mankind and their technology. Another failed invasion leads to a last ditch effort to alter the past to ensure that the present day resistance of Starfleet, is no longer an obstacle. Traveling back hundreds of years to 2063, the crew of the Enterprise-E must ensure that crucial ‘first contact’ with an alien race occurs to keep humanity on a path to the stars, while also contending with the Borg remnant on board, adding the technological and biological distinctiveness of those on board to its collective.

    The film ticks so many boxes with its story, not just in bringing back a legitimately unnerving enemy, but also escalating the threat with the introduction of a figurehead in the Queen. It also works due to the longstanding trauma within Picard, after his assimilation several years earlier. Meaty moments of conflict that give Patrick Stewart opportunities to flex, and some elegant insight into character development among the TNG crew, notably Worf. Down below the B-story is the more emotional and amusing dealings with Zefram Cochrane (a magnificent James Cromwell). Combine these with some thrilling action sequences (notably the deflector sequence), the corrupting allure of the Queen, cinematic production design with the new Enterprise, and a beautiful score from Jerry Goldsmith, and you have a real step up to embracing the big screen from the TNG franchise.

    This is the standout release of the set, not just due to the film, but also it’s transfer. The higher production values, and new interior design of the Enterprise-E look great. Increased detail revealing textures to the costumes, information on background LCARS panels, Borg adornments, and ship exteriors. Grain flattening and plasticky skin textures in the 2009 Blu-ray have given way to a more natural representations. The deep blacks and improved contrast reveal stunning space sequences, notably the opening introduction of the Enterprise, and the battle of sector 001 with the Borg cube.

    Extra Features

    • Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes: A very off-the-cuff commentary, but enhanced by the enthusiasm of the director
    • Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore: Again, the dynamics between the pair speak to their differing views and tones, with Braga seemingly a little detached from things, while Moore is far more engaged in the activity
    • Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale: A weird one, pairing the writer of the Kelvin-verse movies with the managing editor for TrekMovie.com. The former is largely there for some wise-cracks, while the latter is more prepared with insights as to the production
    • Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda: as above
    • Library Computer viewing mode: as above
    • Production: Making First Contact, The Art of First Contact, The Story, The Missile Silo, The Deflector Dish, From “A” to “E”
    • Scene Deconstruction: Borg Queen Assembly, Escape Pod Launch, Borg Queen’s Demise
    • The Star Trek Universe: Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute, The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane, First Contact: The Possibilities, Industrial Light & Magic — The Next Generation, Greetings from the International Space Station, SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight, Brent Spiner — Data and Beyond Part 2, Trek Roundtable: First Contact, Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex
    • The Borg Collective: Unimatrix One, The Queen, Design Matrix
    • Archives: Storyboards for 1930s Nightclub, Hull Battle, Worf vs. the Borg, also photogalleries and three featurettes on various Easter Eggs in the movie
    • Trailers: Teaser, Theatrical, and for the Borg Invasion Experience

    Star Trek Insurrection

    The wobbles begin. Insurrection, while (in some ways deservedly) maligned in some quarters, is a bit of farcical fun. A film that runs the gamut of genres, with sci-fi meeting action, romance, comedy, and even becoming a musical at one point. The Enterprise response to a a friend in need. Data has gone rogue while on undercover assignment monitoring the peaceful, idyllic Ba’ku community. The crew arrives and comes face to face with an automated and ethically driven Data, defending these peoples from the shifty Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) and leader of an allied alien band, Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham committing to the villain role with gusto). Investigations reveal a plan of forced resettlement, to allow these two to mine the planet for valuable resources. Honoring the people and their Starfleet oaths, Picard & co. turn in their uniforms, and beam down to the planet, to help the people while Riker takes the Enterprise back out of this distant region of space, to look to Starfleet for support in stopping this rogue Admiral’s venture.

    It’s a tale that plunges the crew into a story of civil war, or corruption, with fantastical elements that draw from the fountain of youth, and asks what do we want to do with the time we have given to us. In a lot of ways, it embraces some classical Trek questions about honor and duty, while having some fun with it. Sure there are clunky elements, but the infusion of rebellion only fuels the confidence in the cast and their chemistry with each other.

    As with the previous two remasters, this is a breath of fresh air compared to the previous Blu-ray release. Digital processing and smoothing have gone, returned in a natural presentation, emphasized by the improved detail and depth the 4K scan brings. Whether showcasing a starship interior, or the frequent use of exterior locations, the detail, healthy and varied color palette, and range of contrast all impress. Deep blacks and clarity of image showcase the bright, sleek curves of Enterprise-E, notably in the battle of the Briar patch. The only real negative point is that the improved detail and clarity of image showcases some of the shortcomings in set design.

    Extra Features

    • Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis: A warm and fun commentary, blending insights on the shoot (Frakes serves as director), and their experiences with each other and of being in the show
    • Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda: as above
    • Library Computer viewing mode: as above
    • Production: It Takes a Village, Location, Location, Location, The Art of Insurrection, Anatomy of a Stunt, The Story, Making Star Trek: Insurrection, Director’s Notebook
    • The Star Trek Universe: Westmore’s Aliens, Westmore’s Legacy, Star Trek’s Beautiful Alien Women, Marina Sirtis — The Counselor Is In. Brent Spiner — Data and Beyond Part 3, Trek Roundtable: Insurrection, Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba’ku and Son’a Conflict
    • Creating the Illusion: Shuttle Chase, Drones, Duck Blind
    • Deleted Scenes: Introduction by Peter Lauritson (producer/director), Disabling the Injector, Flirting, The Kiss, Ru’afo’s Facelift, Status: Precarious, Working Lunch, and an Alternate Ending
    • Archives: Storyboard Second Protocols, a Photo Gallery, and 3 easter egg featurettes
    • Advertising: Teaser and Theatrical, a 5 minute promotional featurette, and another trailer for the Borg Invasion experience

    Star Trek Nemesis

    There’s an old theory that odd numbered Star Trek movies tend to flounder a bit in quality, while the even numbered ones excel. Welcome to the one that breaks the rules. The tenth movie in the series, Star Trek Nemesis was not just a muddled affair, it was so ill received that it pretty much ended the adventures of the TNG crew. Released in 2002, many at that time would be shocked to think that no new Trek will hit the TV screens until 2017, and we wouldn’t learn the fate of the TNG crew until the release of Star Trek Picard in 2020.

    Set in the aftermath of the costly Dominion war, a Romulan veteran of that conflict named Shinzon (Tom Hardy), overthrow his government, and takes power to settle some scores and deal with a personal quest. Sent to open diplomatic ties with the new leader of the Romulan Star Empire, the Enterprise arrives with Picard encountering a familiar face, his own. The product of cloning, Shinzon is the remnant of an infiltration plan, who now has a mission of his own. Survival, and revenge. With his warship armed to the teeth with a weapon of incredible destructive power, Picard & co. have to put aside diplomacy for a more direct approach to save Earth.

    Romulans in theory are a good baddy . The original series long positioned them as a foe on par with the Klingons, and their Vulcan-offshoot heritage has always added another layer. But here, the duplicitous and shady race is somewhat shunted to the side for a more sci-fi driven nemesis. The 2000s were an era where the advent of genome sequencing really started to permeate social and pop culture consciousness, so why not hop on the bandwagon. Screenwriter John Logan retools many ideas that we’ve seen before in the series and couples them to a rather generic sci-fi plot. The film is dragged down by rather turgid dialogue, and murky messaging about war and peace. Some of the space based action does liven things up, but a off-roading buggy sequence on a planet feels like the film confusingly aping other genres. On the positive side, there are finally some forward steps in the individual characters personal arcs to appreciate, and their overall chemistry is still there, but the rest of the film is so flat it drains Nemesis of most of the charm and energy they bring to bear.

    Again, the existing Blu-ray of Nemesis showcases cranked up levels of saturation and over processing. The new 4K presentation strips that away for a far more subtle and detailed rendering. The garish visuals that accompanied the planet-set treasure hunt are now less overexposed. Grain is restored with a natural, filmic quality. The darker interiors the of the Romulan sets show far more details. The slathering of green tones is dialed back too. But it’s the facial textures, more natural color palettes, and better representation of uniforms that really showcase the step up in quality.

    Extra Features

    • Commentary by director Stuart Baird: Entertaining, for the wrong reasons. While his direction is not at fault for the reception of Nemesis, his failure to demonstrate a real understanding of Trek here likely did
    • Commentary by producer Rick Berman: A man in denial, as he preaches about the potential of Trek while watching Nemesis, clearly detatched from the direction he was heralding the franchise
    • Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda: The two stalwarts of Trek who are behind many of the visual features you glimpse on scene. Their commentary is warm, informed, and entertaining
    • Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda: as above
    • Library Computer Viewing Mode: as above
    • Production: Nemesis Revisited, New Frontiers — Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis, Storyboarding the Action, Red Alert! Shotting the Action of Nemesis, Build and Rebuild, Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier, Screen Test: Shinzon
    • The Star Trek Universe: A Star Trek Family’s Final Journey, A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier, The Enterprise E, Reunion with The Rikers, Today’s Tech Tomorrow’s Data, Robot Hall of Fame, Brent Spiner — Data and Beyond Part 4, Trek Roundtable: Nemesis, Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation
    • The Romulan Empire: Romulan Lore, Shinzon & the Viceroy, Romulan Design, The Romulan Senate, The Scimitar,
    • Deleted Scenes: All in standard def. Introduced by Rick Berman; Wesley’s New Mission, Chateau Picard 2267, The Time of Conquest, Data and B-4, Federation Protocols, The Chance for Peace, A Loss of Self, Remember Him? (Extended Scene), Turbolift Violation, Sickbay Prepares for Battle, Cleaning out Data’s Quarters, Crusher at Starfleet Medical, and Advice for the New First Officer
    • Archives: Storyboards — Scorpion Escape, The Jefferies Tube, Collision and Data’s Jump, Prop and Production Galleries, and 3 Easter egg featurettes
    • Trailers: Teaser, Theatrical, and Borg Invasion

    Star Trek the Next Generation 4-Movie Collection is available on First Contact Day, April 5th

  • The Chattanooga Film Festival Unleashes Their First Wave of Programming for 2023!

    The Chattanooga Film Festival Unleashes Their First Wave of Programming for 2023!

    The fest that specializes in all things weird and wonderful is returning IN PERSON AND ONLINE June 23–29!

    One of my favorite genre fests, The Chattanooga Film Festival, just dropped not only their first wave of programming this week, but also announced they would be both IN PERSON and virtual since pre-pandemic. Now in their tenth year, the 2023 iteration of the fest that specializes in all things weird and wonderful is returning June 23rd, through 29th. Along with the online component, the festival will be hosting screenings/events at various locations around the city, with the main venue Chattanooga’s historic and legendary haunted The Read House Hotel.

    The program this year starts off strong with the Southeast premiere of Onyx The Fortuitous And The Talisman Of Souls. I was lucky enough to have caught this film at Sundance this year (Review here) and it’s a hilarious love letter to genre that fits the CFF vibe perfectly. Along with Onyx they have announce the other first wave titles that all sound equally on brand are:

    KING ON SCREEN

    Synopsis: 1976, Brian de Palma directs Carrie, the first novel by Stephen King. Since then, more than 50 directors have adapted the master of horror’s books, in more than 80 films and series, making him the most adapted author still alive in the world. King On Screen reunites filmmakers that have adapted Stephen King’s books for cinema and TV.

    *In-person and virtual.

    NEW RELIGION

    Synopsis: After her daughter’s death in an accident, Miyabi gets a divorce, starts working as a call girl and moves in with her new boyfriend. In a meeting with a new customer, he asks to take a picture of her body — first her spine, then, her feet, and after that, he begins to photograph her every time they meet. One day, while at home, Miyabi feels a small hand touching her leg and soon realizes that every time she allows her body to be photographed she can feel her daughter’s spirit reaching closer and closer. Soon, only her eyes remain to be captured, leading to the outcome which defines this unique art-house fantasy from a culture-shocking Japanese voice.

    *In-person and virtual.

    ONYX THE FORTUITOUS AND THE TALISMAN OF SOULS

    Synopsis: The story follows fledgling occultist Marcus J. Trillbury (Onyx) as he attends a once-in-a-lifetime ritual at his idol Bartok the Great’s dark mansion. Once there, Marcus meets a group of other occultists and they are led in a series of rituals meant to “better them.” But as terrible things begin to happen, it soon becomes clear that Bartok’s intentions are more nefarious. As Onyx and his new friends battle to keep their souls, a question of great destiny looms over Onyx’s head: is he doomed to be a nobody or will he rise to defeat Bartok and save his friends from damnation?

    *In-person only.

    SOUR PARTY

    Synopsis: Sour Party follows Gwen and James, two broke, flailing 30-somethings on a quest to scrounge money from a collection of low lives and failed artists in an attempt to show up to Gwen’s sister’s baby shower with a proper gift.

    *In-person and virtual.

    TEARSUCKER

    Synopsis: Emotionally vulnerable women are preyed on by a charming psychopath who wants to suck their tears.

    *In-person and virtual.

    THE ELDERLY

    Synopsis: After his beloved wife suddenly commits suicide, octogenarian Manuel starts behaving strangely, much to the distress of his family and his increasingly independent granddaughter. He becomes aggressive, still believes that he’s talking with his dead wife, and even tries to implant a radio receptor into his chest. His family are confused and angry, and as the temperature in Madrid literally rises due to a summer heat wave, it appears that Manuel isn’t the only senior citizen preparing for something big. All the elderly folk are acting suspicious, and they all seem to know something the young ones don’t.

    *In-person and virtual.

    EVENTS

    Black Magic Masquerade: Opening Night Party

    In honor of our CFF 2023 Opening Night film ONYX THE FORTUITOUS AND THE TALISMAN OF LOST SOULS, we’re proud to partner with our buds at Chattanooga Whiskey for a sinful salute to the dark arts. Join CFF and Onyx himself for an evil evening filled with costumes and cosplay, creepy cocktails, death-obsessed DJs, freaky and fantastic pop-ups by our pals at Infinity Flux Comics, Yellow Racket Records, Snapdragon Hemp, and Liquid Death Mountain Spring Water, plus even more sinister secrets we can’t yet divulge. So grab your favorite mask, costume or cosplay attire, remind your parents that hell has cooler records, and prepare yourself for mayhem, as soon the dark ritual that is CFF’s 10th birthday celebration begins…

    *In-person only.

    BORDELLO OF BLOOD: Live Commentary

    *Presented by Diabolik DVD

    After the success of DEMON KNIGHT, the first Tales From the Crypt feature, filmmakers Gil Adler and A L Katz were busy preparing a follow-up, set in New Orleans, that was to be called DEAD EASY. Sadly DEAD EASY never got made, and instead, the pair were forced to adapt filmmaker Robert Zemeckis’s student screenplay BORDELLO OF BLOOD into the second Tales from the Crypt feature film.

    The making of BORDELLO is well-known to horror fans as one of the most horrifically troubled shoots in the genre’s history, with Adler and Katz facing impossible odds, impossible egos, and studio nonsense at every turn. CFF is proud to help them further exorcise these past cinematic demons with a very special 2023 edition of our live filmmaker commentary series. We join Adler and Katz as they watch the film that neither has been able to sit through in nearly 25 years, and we learn firsthand How NOT to Make a Movie.

    *Virtual only

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  • Living With Miyazaki, Part 6— PORCO ROSSO

    Living With Miyazaki, Part 6— PORCO ROSSO

    Continuing lessons on living from the animation maestro’s oeuvre

    Previous life lessons:

    Part 1: LUPIN III — THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO
    Part 2: NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND
    Part 3: CASTLE IN THE SKY
    Part 4: MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
    Part 5: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE

    Welcome back to our continuing series on “Living With Miyazaki,” as we examine the lessons one can take from his films through their recurring motifs and varied approaches. After the back-to-back blockbuster success of My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service, plus the launching of Studio Ghibli as a powerhouse in the animation landscape, Miyazaki pivoted yet again with perhaps his oddest concoction ever.

    Which, if you’ve been reading and watching along, is really saying something.

    THE MOVIE: Porco Rosso

    Porco Rosso sits almost dead center in Miyazaki’s filmography. There are five films before it, and six films after it (once How Do You Live gets released). Like many a middle child, it’s an often forgotten outlier that exhibits traits of what came before and what comes next, belonging to both halves of Miyazaki’s film career, and to neither.

    It has the look of two-fisted pulp adventure, but it moves like a hangout film, which is to say that it doesn’t move very much at all. It’s built atop the most whimsical possible premise, but is vastly more concerned with the tactile and tangible than it is with the magical and the fantastic. It’s a warm and loving film, but its titular character can be, charitably, described as an obnoxious, insensitive jackass, not to mention being quite literally pig-headed.

    To hear him described, Porco (real name “Marco”, but only one person is allowed to call him that) might have swaggered out of any of the dime store novels and serial films that also spawned the likes of Indiana Jones. In the pre-World War II Adriatic Sea, Porco is the most ruthlessly efficient bounty hunter out hunting bounties on the air pirates who run rampant over the water. Once an average Italian pilot, Marco was long ago turned into a pig by an unknown curse, a fact that draws absolutely zero remarks from any of the regular humans walking around the movie.

    The ’plot’ such as it is kicks off when the pirates, fed up with Porco Rosso and his red plane always swooping in to bust up their heists, recruit a hotshot American flyer, Curtis, to challenge the pig in aerial combat. Curtis, a daring maverick in a real top gun of a plane, successfully shoots his rival down, sending Porco on the lamb to get himself a new set of wings.

    Miyazaki films tend to be heavy on incident, light on plot, and nowhere is this more clear than in Porco Rosso. It has fewer moving pieces than even the pointedly straightforward Castle in the Sky, instead contenting itself to follow Porco around as he eats, drinks, flirts, chats, and gets his new plane ready. You can’t really describe an animated movie about an anthropomorphic pig and his feud with plane-based pirates as “naturalistic”, this shit ain’t exactly Mike Leigh, but there’s no heroic quest to be undertaken, no master plan being pursued, not even any real obstacle to be overcome. Curtis and the pirates are too blatantly ridiculous to ever pose any real threat. The true villain of the film is the audience’s understanding of what’s coming for Europe in only a few short years. The creep of fascism is ever-present, storm clouds amassing on the margins of the glorious blue horizons over and under which our lovable scamps and scoundrels play out their harmless games of pirates and bounty hunters.

    There are later films that deal more thoroughly with Miyazaki’s thoughts on fascism (spoiler: he’s not a fan), but Porco Rosso isn’t exactly about that.

    No, what the film really zeroes in on, and what I’d like to discuss more thoroughly in this life lesson, is craft. This is a film about a master craftsman, made by a master craftsman, that luxuriates in the technicalities of creation, of craftsmanship. If Kiki’s Delivery Service is about the soul and spirit of an artist, then Porco Rosso is about the actual labor of artistry, the nitty-gritty of getting your hands dirty, learning by doing, of working towards mastery step by exhausting step.

    That love of craft is reflected not only in the characters’ and their obsessive pursuit of perfection with their aerial vehicles, but in the incidental moments that Miyazaki chooses to hone in on. Throughout the film, Miyazaki and his animators take the time to emphasize process at every turn, whether it is all the complex cranks and levers that Porco and the other pilots have to constantly adjust while flying, or the myriad laborious menial tasks that go into building a plane one rivet at a time, or the wheeling and dealing to get the most gas for the least money. Everything is part of a process, and each process is important in the pursuit of your goal, whether that’s designing an airplane or using that airplane to shoot down some pesky pirates. It all comes back to dedication to the craft.

    More to the point, the film Porco Rosso is itself a testament to that craftsman work ethic. More than even other Ghibli films, this is a film of textures, of sensations, captured with such a vivid and bold palette that the animation crosses the divide and imprints as reality to the viewer. The sea breeze is so lovingly captured in ink and paint that you can almost smell the salt on the air. There are long stretches of unbroken quiet throughout the film, amplifying every diegetic sound that does occur, whether it’s the clink of ice against glass, an exhalation of cigarette smoke, small waves lapping against the sand.

    Miyazaki has always been the A#1 champ when it comes to flying sequences, but the ones featured in Porco Rosso are above and beyond even his own high-water mark. You feel the wind that screams by and the water that splashes up as the plane kisses the surface of the sea. The fluidity and life in every frame is nothing less than stunning, and it’s only possible as the result of an absurd level of focus and dedication towards craft.

    At one point, Porco and his mechanic Piccolo stand around a massive ROARING plane engine, causing dozens of painstakingly individually animated steel shutters to violently shudder around them, even as Porco and Piccolo’s own flesh is buffeted by the torrential forces. The scene is about two masters of their craft putting in deliberate work to get every bit of minutiae correct for their creation, and the scene itself is a showcase for a master of his craft to demonstrate how meticulous effort manifests in movie magic.

    There’s a more somber lesson to be imparted by Porco Rosso, though. Those storm clouds I mentioned earlier? They can’t actually be ignored forever. Eventually, they have to break, the storm has to arrive. For as much fun as it is spending time with Porco and the motley crew of scoundrels and rapscallions that populate his world, we know from the outset that that world is doomed, and the doom is coming sooner rather than later. No matter how much Porco busies himself with his planes and his grudges and adventures, he knows what’s coming and knows that he’s powerless to stop it.

    Craft is important. Art, culture, creativity, these things are vitally important. But Porco Rosso carries in it the bittersweet knowledge that dedication to your craft won’t keep the world at bay. It won’t stop the tumult and turmoil that guide the shape of history. No matter how careful you are, no matter how wholly you throw yourself into your own passions and pursuits, sooner or later there will be a man in a uniform at your door, telling you that the party is over and the bill is due.

    But the red plane keeps on flying, long after it was probably meant to stop.

    Next up, let’s go for a nice, sedate walk in the woods with Princess Mononoke.

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