yseban Reviews

Tuna Girl (2019)

Beyond tuna

[8/10 · 16 April 2020]

Ok, this is indeed an obscure subject (farm raising tuna in Japan is a huge industry, that claims to be as good and more ecological than wild-caught tuna). So you'll learn a thing or two about tuna (which also gives indication of the stakes of tuna research and farming (not quite like pork industry I guess, but getting there), but pickings on Netflix are not that great, so one draws all the positives of such an oddball movie getting in your selection. It's a rather formulaic movie and script, yet it works in conveying the usual message: everyone makes mistakes, which are forgiven because you took a chance. There's an awful lot of film time dedicated to make the mistake, then apologize with dramatic self-flagellating, chest-beating, and crying confession to said mistake. I think this is really what the film is about. I suspect the movie may have been 'commissioned' by the actual tuna research center or even the tuna farm raising industry to polish their images and send out the message out there that tuna from farms is as good as wild-caught. But in its barebone, raw ways of film making, it also offers a great diversion that somehow captivate the mind of 90m, in times of this nasty virus going 'round.

Quiet Flows the Don (1957)

Sublime epic

[10/10 · 11 July 2012]

Somehow sometime we just know when a movie is going to be good right from the first scene(s). Everything looks and sounds right, we are fully immersed in something totally foreign yet we know we want in and anticipate something special. This 'Quiet Don' is one of the those films. Strangely though, (bit of spoiler alert here), the first part is basically the story of husbands cuckolded by their wives when they leave for war, I'm not spoiling too much here, you just know the man who cuckolds his fellowman gone to the war will be cuckolded himself when he goes to war. So the epic character of the film and the premise of the Soviet Revolution are reduced to a domestic drama (in Part 1). I want to mention that I wouldn't dream of watching this masterpiece with the commentary/voice-over in English. IT sounded awful and I don't recommend it.... luckily, I could turn on the French subs which I must say are extremely well-written, in a very rustic/country folk kind of language which just fits the Russian these Kosacks must speak. Big bravo to translator(s). If you guys read this, would love to know your name.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (1992)

a gem

[10/10 · 12 February 2012]

Just because a movie is made on a small scale doesn't mean its arc can't be close to extraordinary. 'Shiko Funjatta/Sumo do, sumo don't' is one of these movies. I slightly disagree with some of the reviews here in the sense that to me the most important point of this movie is that we observe how a small group of people set out to learn something together. Producer Shôji Masui produced a number of films on that same theme and Masayuki Suo made 3 movies with him on those premises: Fancy Dance, rock/n roll band members must learn monastic Buddhist Zen life so its leader can inherit the temple from his father; Shiko Funjatta shows a group of students asked to shape up the sumo club in exchange of their graduation; and Shall we Dance, the most internationally successful of the 3 films, a salary man learns salon dances with a group of oddballs to win the heart first of his dance teacher, then of his wife. The 3 movies show detailed aspects of how for Japanese the group dynamics are paramount to the achievement. Everybody has to learn together and no one is left behind. Shiko Funjatta has a stellar cast and of note, is Takenaka Naoto, who is just hilarious....Won't spoil his antics here. He will somewhat reprise the same type of role in Shall we Dance... I think it's worth watching Shiko Funjatta keeping in mind that the hero is the group, not necessarily excellent lead actor Motoki on his own, even if his and all other parts are perfectly written. It adds to the scope of the movie to consider the group in its ensemble performance.

Decasia (2002)

Title days it all

[1/10 · 3 February 2012]

I feel I need to douse some cold water on the spent positive nitrate here...as much as I liked Bill Morrison's doc about coal mining history in England, with a fantastic score by Johan Johanson...I must say that I had to walk out on all this decay after a good 40 minutes, I just decided I didn't have to suffer more. Conveniently, experimental films don't have to make sense (here the title says it all), they eschew narratives and they expect the spectators to bring their own way to figure out what's going on. And if they can't, they can enjoy the sights and sounds. In light of the formidably mediocre and boring "The Artist" that will reap its copious share of Oscar statuettes, courtesy of its ferocious US distributor with pit-bull attack techniques, this film is just a montage of old silent footage that barely distills anything. The figure of the spool or the wheel returns often (OK, we got it), and it's one long laborious stretch of things from the past. Since both newsreels and fiction scenes are all mixed up , it becomes pointless to try to attach much importance to what the segments show. (Again, the coal mining doc by same director really told a beautiful and powerful story, with same techniques, but sans decay). Some might enjoy this trip to nostalgia, made vaguely contemporary by the decayed look of the images, it just left me cold and bored. Another reviewer suggested to try to watch the film with another music: rightly so, this score added enormously to the difficulty to enjoy this film, for me. Obviously , it seems I'm in a minority here, but I don't mind.

Copenhagen (2002 TV Movie)

theater/TV drama at its absolute best

[9 September 2006]

Caught this TV drama on PBS at midnight. Didn't know anything about the play. Thought it would be something a bit starchy and pompous, and in a matter of minutes I was glued to the screen, especially when Stephen Rea (plays Bohr) gets into action...Obviously, people know by now that the play is a masterpiece, but this BBC production in the hands of Howard Davies (director) makes a superb job of conveying something that was and/or might have been. All three characters become fully alive, but again I was hypnotized by Stephen Rea's amazing acting performance. The guy even looked Danish, he probably doesn't look like the real Bohr, but he invented a fully credible character, using eyebrows, stooped shoulders, awkward mannerisms the way a world-class physicist can display. For all aspiring actors, this performance is a must-see. And of course, the huge issue of whether Heisenberg was sincere, duplicitous, suspicious, naive...Frayn gives us all the possibilities. It seems Heisenberg is badly treated by history for having been in charge of the Nazi Atomic program. I re-read this sentence, and I think, well, duh...well it's not that simple, and I have to watch or read the play again. Howard Davies does an amazing job, making a dry a subject something fully engaging, even sensual, with the decor, lighting, costumes/hair/makeup. Camera works are amazing, using a rather contemporary vocabulary of sweeping movements, staccato- like shots, smooth editing, etc...And of course, the issues dealt in the play resonate a long time afterward watching it. I'm pouring over the net to get all kinds of infos. So for example, if the Alllies had not made the Atomic bomb, maybe the Germans wouldn't have either, since they were lacking crucial clues in the physics. But that's a chance the Allies didn't want to take.