Koyaanisqatsi (1982)/Baraka (1992)

 

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)/Baraka (1992) – G. Reggio/R. Fricke

I first saw Koyaanisqatsi in college, as part of a cultural studies class where we watched films in a small screening room in the library. This was probably 1988 and I don’t think I had really been exposed to the essay film before and certainly not a nonverbal one. The images are designed to wash over you, just so much endless timelapse cinematography (by Ron Fricke) in so many fascinating locations. The themes emerge from these images (the title is in the Hopi indigenous language meaning “life out of balance”), moving from ancient vistas (like the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley) to insanely chaotic scenes of humans and cars overwhelming the planet. The camera also stares at people as well as places, pondering their very souls, wondering how they feel about this crazy existence. Philip Glass’s amazing score (once heard, you can never stop intoning the title word in that Gregorian chant way) really elevates everything – all due credit to Godfrey Reggio for having the dream and pulling this all together (as well as the two sequels which I should really track down).  Fast forward a couple of decades to when blu-ray discs were invented and we had just purchased our first player.  I saw a copy of Ron Fricke’s Baraka in a shop and decided it might be perfect as my first purchase in this format. Advertised as being filmed in 24 countries in the late 80s/early 90s and with the same amazing cinematography (lots of timelapse) that Fricke has perfected (even creating his own cameras), the film delivers on its promise.  It really has some spectacular images in some truly historic and memorable places (Japan, Cambodia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South America, Australia, etc. etc.).  The themes focus on world religions/spirituality but quickly encompass death, war, sex and everything in between, also roping in some of Koyaanisqatsi’s ideas about industrialisation/world destruction. You get to peek into the soul of a snow monkey chilling out in a Japanese hot spring. Some of the scenes from Auschwitz or red light districts are probably the type of thing you might want to save to discuss with your kids when they are of the right age. We watched these both this week and what more is there to say then that they could be called prophetic given the trainwreck that the world is heading into now (likely foreseeable then but impossible to ignore now). It is almost quaint to see the world in the late 70s to early 90s, a world to which we can never return. See it while you can.  

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) – J. Foley

It’s an acting masterclass from Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, and Alec Baldwin using a script by David Mamet (based on his play) and directed by James Foley. Aside from Spacey (the office manager), they all play real estate salesmen, mostly down on their luck. Alec Baldwin (a high-flyer from the head office) is brought in to threaten them to start closing deals – or else!  Lemmon seems to be in the most dire position, with a sick daughter in the hospital and out of funds.  Only Pacino has been selling and he has Jonathan Pryce on the hook as the film unfolds.  But when the premium “Glengarry” leads are stolen, the office falls apart as everyone is suspected.  Although only Pacino received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, everyone here is given some choice dialogue in that emphatic (and highly profane) Mamet style.  It’s gripping…and sad.  These guys are busting their butts in order to convince people to invest their hard-won savings in some highly doubtful get-rich-quick property schemes.  Clearly, they’ve got to sell their souls (as Baldwin seems to have) and be ready to exploit others without feeling in order to climb the ladder of success.  Such is capitalism.

  

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) – S. Tong

The special thing about Jackie Chan is that he does his own stunts – not just fighting but extreme stunts, which probably hit their peak in this second sequel to his action comedy hit Police Story (1985).  The plot is really incidental to the stunts – Jackie is a cop going undercover in mainland China to capture a drug kingpin.  Michelle Yeoh is the Chinese Interpol agent who joins him (and also does her own amazing stunts).  What little comedy there is here (as compared to the earlier Police Story or Project A films) centers on Jackie’s boastful “supercop” persona and on his relationship with May (Maggie Cheung) who catches him in compromising situations (that are not what they seem).  In some ways, Jackie is a little older, a little duller – but the stunts more than make up for this, involving trains, helicopters, cars, motorbikes, motorboats etc.  There’s also a good deal of ultraviolence, courtesy of drug dealers with automatic weapons and explosives.  So, more of an action film and less shenanigans than in the past.  I saw this on the big screen in 1993 (not the later dubbed version with a new musical soundtrack) and was pretty wowed.   

  

Malcolm X (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Malcolm X (1992) -- S. Lee

Long, but gripping bio-pic (following the tried and true formula). I enjoyed the few Spike Lee flourishes (and a role for himself) even after reading that others thought they detract. A bit of a history lesson for me -- seems reasonably even-handed, siding with the more tolerant Malcolm X post-Nation of Islam... but not letting up on the issue of institutionalized (and personal) racism. Perhaps I would have wanted even more philosophy and less of the early years... (but I was looking to get educated). (2008 review).

The Long Day Closes (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Long Day Closes (1992) – T. Davies

Meticulously crafted with each sequence suffused with a distinctive kind of light, often muted or mediated through the rain; on the soundtrack, there are snippets of film dialogue or songs and unknown noises transposed over the more diegetic sounds.  This is director Terence Davies’ personal reverie, bespeaking of a lonely childhood, brightened occasionally by the cinema and by family bonds with preoccupied older siblings and a widowed mum.   The stillness of the moments is often broken by singing, sometimes low and distant and personal, and occasionally religious or from the heart, collectively, as in Davies’ previous film (Distant Voices, Still Lives; 1988).  But the overall feeling is cold, not warmly nostalgic, but chilly and apart -- the staged and constructed nature of the shots adds to this sense of detachment.  There is often pain and torment, from stern schoolmasters and schoolyard bullies – and friends who carelessly exclude. Yet, the film is still wondrous, a series of high-culture poetic moments with low-culture British tenement life as their ingredients (alongside audio from The Magnificent Ambersons, Great Expectations, Meet Me in St. Louis, and the Ealing Comedies as clues to decipher or totems to worship).   Almost too personal to share, if it weren’t for its deeper common humanity.

  

Minbo no Onna (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Minbo no Onna (1992) – J. Itami

The last of Juzo Itami’s string of hits (The Funeral, Tampopo, A Taxing Woman, A Taxing Woman Returns) focused on the Yakuza and resulted in the director subsequently being stabbed in revenge.  I guess he hit a nerve.  Perhaps it isn’t surprising that the Yakuza might really succeed by using intimidation tactics aimed to embarrass in a country that is very concerned about politeness and appearances and not inconveniencing others (and would take offense at such an accusation).  The Yakuza in this film (goons, all) are all bluster and veiled threats but they are effective in cowing their victims (the staff of a prestigious hotel) into paying “reparations”.  They don’t cross the line that would allow the police to act by actually using violence or leaving evidence of their blackmail techniques.  So, when the hotel hires Nobuko Miyamoto (Itami’s wife and the star of all of his other hits), a lawyer specializing in Minbo (the Yakuza’s technique of extortion), the baddies have more than met their match.  The rest of the film follows the usual underdog defeats evil power script but the various extortion schemes seemed believable, as did the legal means to stop them.  Although the style of the film is nothing flashy, I was engaged all the way through by the characters and the simple hydraulic plot.  Sadly, Itami committed suicide a few years later, perhaps still affected by the violent response to this film (although he did make a few more subsequent to this one).   

  

Baraka (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Baraka (1992) – R. Fricke

Ron Fricke was the cinematographer for the classic photography film, Koyaanisqatsi (1982), directed by Godfrey Reggio.  That earlier film had no plot but the theme of a “world out of balance” was clear and the music by Philip Glass was memorable and now immediately recognizable.  Although Reggio followed up with two additional qatsi films, Fricke was not involved.  Baraka was Fricke’s own “sequel” to the earlier work, although Baraka’s theme (or themes) is much less obvious.  Instead, this film (and the subsequent Samsara from 2011) is all about the images – and they are gorgeous, especially in this remastered blu-ray version.  However, without a clear indication of where each sequence was shot – and the images come from 24 different countries on 6 continents – viewers are left to speculate.  Therefore, we simply talked aloud to the movie (and each other) about the locations and the possible connections between sequences (cutting from a battery hen farm to Japanese commuters squashed into a train makes some kind of statement, I guess).  The music is a bit less compelling than that of Philip Glass but occasionally rises to the occasion.  All told, Baraka gives you a chance to be fully amazed by the wonders of this world and the varied people in it – circa the early nineties.  As such, we sometimes reflected upon whether all these wondrous things are still with us twenty-something years later.

1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992) – D. Markey

A tour diary of sorts from Sonic Youth’s two-week visit to Europe (with support act Nirvana) to play various big festivals, edited and “directed” by Dave Markey who had also done some of their music videos.  At first, when I realized there would be horsing around between each song, I thought “this is going to be too much wankery” – but as things progressed, I found that Markey’s editing of the backstage goofin’ and the various European locales (and fans and radio interviewers etc) actually moved at a pretty good clip and the video experimentation (with color and sound) throughout added value.  But you come for the music and I must say that these are some pretty fantastic Sonic Youth performances with songs drawn from throughout their early repertoire (Schizophrenia, Expressway to Yr Skull, I Love Her All The Time, Brother James, Dirty Boots, Mote, Kool Thing).  Also featured (just to raise the nostalgia value for those who were, say, 23 to 25 years old, in 1991) are Nirvana, Dinosaur, Babes in Toyland, Gumball, and (briefly) The Ramones. This vid is unafraid to get noisy. Those were the days that make me think “bionic ear” and, of course, miss you friends.

Hard-Boiled (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Hard-Boiled (1992) -- J. Woo

Not for the squeamish or faint-of-heart, John Woo pulls out all the stops as he directs reckless cop Chow Yun-Fat to take on an unscrupulous arms dealer (is there any other kind?) who has a secret hideout in the basement of a hospital. Cue action set-piece in the maternity ward. Tony Leung plays the undercover cop struggling to break the case from the inside. (Of these two mega-stars, Tony's profile continues to rise in Hong Kong and with his work for Wong Kar-Wai whereas Chow Yun-Fat's Hollywood adventure seems to have been a flop and so too with John Woo). But back to Hard-Boiled: it is a heavily-stylized (slow motion, candy coloured) ultra-violent (but videogame-like) all action movie. In between the shoot-em-ups, the two stars emote and deliver the kind of sappy lines that Woo often gives to his tough guy leads. Woo himself puts in a very low key appearance as a jazz club owner.