I’ve started watching the Lone Wolf and Cub
series, and I find the plot, characters, themes, violence, and cinematography to be enthralling. Tomisaburo Wakayama as Itto Ogami, the Shogun’s Second or Assassin is so sure and deadly in his role. Quentin Tarantino was obviously inspired in Kill Bill, Volume 1
by this movie. I have a son about cub’s age, and cub’s wide-eyed wonder at all the violence occurring around him is disturbing yet cute.
I watched A Very Long Engagement
yesterday, and Audrey Tatou was sweet as always in her pixieish way. The convoluted plot was hard to follow at times, but there are such wonderful scenes of horror and beauty in the movie. I particularly liked the flashbacks of when Mathilde and Manech were young children, meeting each other, and having so much fun as friends to eventually become lovers. The director alludes in his commentary to how anything can be done digitally these days, and the sets in the gray despair of the trenches and the sepia tones of Paris and the French countryside show the mark of a person who cares a lot about the look of a film. It’s funny at how pissed off he was at Tcheky Karyo’s long hair in the movie since no one had hair that long back then, but Tcheky was only there for 2 or 3 days, and he wasn’t willing to cut his hair for such a short time. Jodie Foster impressed as always with her intelligent eyes and acting. It was good to see Dominique Pinon. He’s a character actor with a unique look and energy. I loved how he mugged it up with Ron Perelman in Alien Resurrection
. I think you know if someone is really into movies if you can talk to them about the character actors that they love. Two other character actors I never get bored of are Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly.
