The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame III: Foreign Language Edition

Like Thief wrote, the ending to the American remake is totally butchered.

And not just butchered, over-the-top butchered.

As in the end is that

I'm blown away by that. That has to be the studio. I never get that. it's not like American films are void of unhappy endings. Audiences can handle it.

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I think that (MAJOR SPOILERS)

According to most sources I've read, yes, the studio told Sluizer the only way the remake would go through was if he changed the ending. Apparently the ending of the remake had already been conceived as an alternate for the original, but obviously wasn't used. But with the remake, he buckled.

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I can understand them changing the ending - using the original ending wouldn't have had the same impact because it had already been done. But it does alter the tone of the film completely to a more standard thriller.

The Mirror (1975)

I’m glad this was nominated as it was a glaring gap in my lists. I think a Tarkovsky film is a bit of a risky nomination in some ways though, as nearly all of his films seem to require several viewings to even begin to understand them. I’m not a huge Tarkovsky fan, overall, although I liked Solaris and appreciate aspects of his other films that I’ve seen. Sometimes films are intentionally vague and open to discussion, often you can get more out of a film on a second or subsequent viewing, but if you can’t get much from a film without that, if it doesn’t stand up on its own at all I wonder how successful it can really be.

The plot, or perhaps the premise, of the film seems to be centred around a man who we never see who has some kind of issue with his mother and maybe feels guilty about something but I don’t know what. There are scenes of his childhood with his mother, scenes of him arguing with his ex-wife in the 70s who looks like his mother (and is indeed played by the same actress) and generally being pretty horrible to her and their son. There are scenes featuring his mother, wife or son in which he isn’t present which means the idea of these being his memories doesn’t quite hold up. It’s probably also saying something about how Russia has changed or not in the time periods it covers, pre, during and post war. And some poetry.

I feel like The Mirror is a difficult film to rate and review. It’s deliberately opaque in a way that seems to be reflecting fractured memories but that makes it difficult to connect with. At times I was affected by it, at other times mystified and sometimes frustrated and annoyed with it. Sometimes within the same scene. Sometimes even when I didn’t know what was going on it still achieved a sort of feeling of unease like in the chicken scene, which I respected.

I've seen 5 movies from Tarkovsky so far and will be watching The Sacrafice before the countdown. The Mirror is the one I think I could really fall for if I gave another chance.

Hana-bi, 1997

Violent police officer Nishi (Takeshi Kitano, who also wrote and directed) leaves the force after an apprehension goes horribly wrong and results in the death and injury of several other officers. Nishi's wife, Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto) is terminally ill. One of the injured officers who is now paralyzed, Horibe (Ren Osugi) struggles with serious depression. Nishi sets out on a series of dangerous schemes to earn money.

After watching several films with an emphasis on the cyclical nature of life, it was interesting to arrive here, at a film that instead shows a character moving toward a decisive ending. This isn't a film about someone going out in a blaze of glory, but rather a film about someone making deliberate choices knowing that his career and his marriage have come to an end.

So many movies about angsty police characters turn that energy inward. A man is angry, and he often vents that anger at whatever bad guys cross his path. What is really engaging about this film is that so much of Nishi's energy is turned outward, toward the people he cares about. This is a film that sort of manages to have its cake and eat it too--we get cool, violent showdowns with yakuza enforcers, with the no-holds barred dynamic of a man who does not care, but we also get long, meditative stretches focusing on Nishi's relationship with his wife and the emotional recovery of Horibe.

Horibe, in fact, becomes a very interesting foil to Nishi's character. Early in the film, Nishi gifts Horibe with some art supplies, and Horibe finds a way to express himself through art. It is a beautiful counterbalance to the more fatalistic path on which Nishi and his wife find themselves. The film takes its time in showing us Horibe's work and the way that it evolves. The title of the film, which translates or is alternately titled as fireworks, gives a nice bridge to the two stories. Horibe often paints in a pointillist style, and in the film we see Nishi's wife watching fireworks. She and Nishi are out to enjoy all of the beauty that they can.

Normally in a film like this, the crime/yakuza plot would be like 70% of the run time. Here, those proportions are flip-flopped. Most of the movie leans on the drama, with the crime/yakuza stuff popping up to add momentum to the narrative.

I really enjoyed this film, and I don't think it was on my radar. Thanks to whoever nominated it!

Hey, does anyone know where I can stream/rent/buy Le Cercle Rouge online in Canada? I can't find it. It's not available to rent or buy in Canada on itunes, Google Play or Amazon prime. It's not on any of the streaming services I subscribe to.

I've yet to have success with him either which is a bummer but I got a few of his big ones left still.

Exactly the same for me. However, I thought Taste of Cherry was better than the others I'd seen.

If you enjoyed this aspect I would definitely recommend Sonatine as well.

I watched Le Cercle Rouge (1970), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, The film is about a thief released from prison who gets involved in a jewel heist. Le Cercle Rouge is a stylish film and it looks good, but my main problem with it is that the story is not as interesting as it should be. I found the film to be overlong and it dragged on in parts. There are some great sequences though. Acting is good, but no one blew me away. I didn't feel like the audience really gets to know the characters and they didn't feel sufficiently developed. I've seen two other films by the director (Le Silence de la Mer and Le samouraï) and liked them a lot. This one didn't captivate me. My rating is a .

I've been underwhelmed with the 2 Kitano movies I've seen while I'd say The Red Circle is probably my favorite of what I've seen from Melville.

I've seen Sonatine, though it has been a while. I know I enjoyed it. I think I have enjoyed everything I've seen from Kitano.

Le Corbeau: Thought I was really going to love this one. It's pitch black and I thought it would flesh out the subplot with the protagonist more. It doesn't really delve into that much though, and the mystery of who the raven is soon becomes pretty dull.

Only seen Fireworks and Sonatine. Cared for neither.

I am a little surprised that it didn't work for you. Huh.
Sorry to hear that.

Quite enjoyed this film, really need to revisit it.

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Big fan of Kitano as well. Still need to Sonatine, but I have seen a large chunk of his work.

I've only seen this recently in the Japanese HoF and loved it for the reasons you've mentioned. That a yukaza film evolves - and quite remarkably, into one of emotional self-healing. It was a wonderful surprise.

I had learned, that the artwork in the film was created by Kitano himself, after a serious accident.