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Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - (1982)
I remember enjoying
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid a great deal the first time I saw it, but subsequent rewatches haven't been as great an experience. It still has exceptional moments which are really funny, and reach the heights of other Carl Reiner/Steve Martin comedies, but it's a bit more hit and miss than any other as well. Of course, this one has the famous splicing in of high-profile 1940 noir movies, and if you know those movies you'll get even more of a kick out of the film. There's been some mention these days of the casual sexism and misogyny in the film, but then again, if it's spoofing those old noir films you'd see it there as well. Good moments, but also a lot of pointless plot diversions in order to fit the old footage in. It's okay, even pretty good, but not as good as
The Jerk or
The Man With Two Brains.
6/10
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Fireworks - (1997)
It took me a while getting used to Takeshi Kitano's narrative style, with a film that initially jumps around in time a lot that had me confused, but once it got going, and I realised what it's main focus would be, I really started to enjoy it. This is a film that I feel I should watch again, now that I don't have to keep groping around for some kind of idea of what it's all about - I can just sit back and enjoy it. There were heaps of great ideas in the way scenes were constructed, editing and it had a very unusual pace to it - but emotionally I was fully there by the end, being especially touched by Kayoko Kishimoto as the sick wife of Takeshi Kitano's character. It had a very hard, violent edge to it, but it was the love that held it together.
7.5/10
Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 86/100