kdnss77

[kdnss77]

Liverleaf/Misumisou (2018)

basic info: directed by Eisuke Naito and co-written by both Rensuke Oshikiri and Mako Tadano. the movie is based on manga series under the same title, created by the aforementioned Oshikiri.

overall ratings: imdb: 6.2/10 rotten tomatoes: 60% letterboxd: 3.2/5

summary: Haruka, after having moved to a stale village all the way from Tokyo, becomes an object of severe bullying, initiated by her classmates. despite the upsetting teases played on her under the leadership of a girl named Taeko, she seeks no reprisal and is content with her life outside school whatsoever, sharing her quality time with the beloved sister of hers. at least until her tormentors decide on setting her parent's house on fire, that resulting in death of both of them and grievous injuries of her sibling. the only person left, apart from her deceased nearest and dearest, in whom she seems to find reassurance is her classmate Mitsuru. having developed faint infatuation for the boy, Haruka is however unable to cope with the magnitude of her loss and embarks on a pursuit for retaliation. having brutally dealt with most of her bullies, she eventually learns the bitter truth about the obsessive feelings Aiba has had towards her, those resulting in ultimately harming her and beating almost to death.

my thoughts: the overall atmosphere of the movie is quite captivating - the melancholic and elongated shots with characters being surrounded by the remoteness of the village's natural stagnation, as well as the nature being a mute witness of youthful cruelty. what especially made a greater impression on me was the sequence of scenes leading towards the end of the movie - featuring Haruka, Mitsuru and Rumi fighting for their lives (quite literally) against the flashing white of fresh snow. its purity becoming an outstandingly accurate contrast for the blood covering their bodies and a blank canvas for the redness splashing all over the place. those frames were entrancing in a way and seemed almost ethereal to me personally, putting the surrealistic plot twist taking place at the same time aside (that is, Mitsuru is revealed to have some concerning, abusive tendencies and claims to had attacked Haruka's grandfather, with whom she wanted to stay and take up on a feasibly normal life in the future - and therefore declined the boys suggestion to remain by his side for a change).

secondly, what i found particularly interesting, is the portrayal of the motifs standing behind bullying in general. there's a couple of interjections concerning the parental background of some of the classmates continuously bulling Nozaki, those environments being rather dysfunctional or unhealthy in a way. taking Yoshie for instance, whom Haruka harmed with piercing her eyeball with an exceptionally spiky stick later on - she must have been extremely frustrated with her own life, feeling like it was worthless in comparison with what her hopeless target had. that is, lack of a stable home, loving parents and most importantly, of empathy. in opposition to the drunkard of a father, whose whims she was forced to abide by under the threat of being slammed with a glass bottle or whatever horrible incident my imagination is able to project me in this very moment. that desperation to prove herself wrong about her inferiority as a human being is then converted into hatred and eventually results in an utterance about wanting Nozaki to kill herself, as if it would end Yoshie's personal torment. another case is the one of Taeko, who is the very origin of bullying targeted at Haruka in the first place. the most puzzling thing about the relationship between the two girls is the fact, that Taeko - despite the monstrosities she decided to perform on Haruka - still holds onto memories and flashbacks referring to times when both of them seemed to be good friends. to my perspective, Taeko is unable to process defeat in a healthy way (as the probable reason for Haruka becoming her victim is her allegedly engaging in a romantic relationship with a crush of hers and, as a result, Taeko automatically feeling like she has to manifest her superiority) and is very troubled in terms of coping with her emotions in general. throughout the majority of the movie she is rather passive in the face of persecuting targeted at Nozaki or later on Rumi too, not only securing herself the position of the leader behind those but also that of an individual on a verge of utmost uncertainty - in reality, i'd say it's doubtful whether she wanted all of this in the first place. that is, ultimately, Taeko ends up on her knees in front of Haruka, begging her to forgive her for the harm she caused and miseries she brought upon the protagonist's life.

thirdly (uhh), i would like to introduce my take on the kind of love Aiba develops towards Nozaki. apart from the obviousness of the fact that almost every single character in this movie suffers from some kind of mental disorders, Mitsuru seems to go beyond just that - somewhere halfway throughout the film it's revealed, that he had killed his father and purposely beaten his mother, this coming to light just after he has battered his grandma. the boy mentions, in case of his parents, that he did it for some twisted affection towards them, just as if he was solemnly certain of the righteousness of his brutality. an akin fate meets Haruka, who manages to find comfort in Aiba throughout the roughest patches in her school life, him also being her only friend at that time. eventually, on the occasion of Mitsuru being ready to give up his life in the village to secure an assistance for Haruka, who is supposed to move back to Tokyo with her grandfather anytime soon, he finds himself rejected by his infatuation. the alleged feeling he had for her rapidly melts into a mixture of appreciation and loathing towards her. this comes down to, let's say, climax of the movie - a sequence of scenes, in which frantic Rumi, Mitsuru and Haruka face each other for the last time. the moment, in which Aiba casually reaches for his camera to perpetuate the image of his beloved, bleeding out in the indifferent snow, evinces unrestrained, destructive tendencies, that might be the cause preventing him from feeling any kind of sympathy for his surroundings in general - he's keen on hurting the people he adores and seems oblivious to the gravity of his monstrosities.

those aspects aside, let me move onto some more pronounced downsides of the motion picture. first of all, the plot - i might be picky, however the "mean world syndrome" and the subsequent lust for massacre type of story doesn't appeal to me that much and makes the whole movie seem blunt in its essence, almost unrealistic to a point. i do have an impression (but have no idea how exactly is this portrayed in the manga, as i haven't checked it out) that the whole concept of the protagonist becoming a teenage martyr is implied only for carrying out the gruesome scenes (which, by the way, seems like a trope similar to the one in "Girl Hell 1999"). the appalling acts of violence of many sorts are enjoyable after all, however not exceptional - the twisted ways of Haruka dealing with her bullies, whether by slicing one's stomach open or squeezing one's nose with pincers, are gripping and entertaining alone, nevertheless their repetitiveness as a straightforward series of rampage makes them nothing more than that.

my rating: 2.5/5

favorite quote: "Look this way and give me a smile."

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Oldboy/Oldeuboi (2003)

basic info: directed and co-written by Park Chan-Wook ("Sympathy for mr. Vengeance", "I'm a cyborg, but that's OK", "Thirst"). the story itself is loosely based on a manga by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, having inherited the original title too. it's considered a component of a three-piece trilogy, also referred to as "The vengeance trilogy", and therefore tackles the themes of desperate pursuits after retribution for the foregone detriments, along with several unexpected, although equally coherent plot twists.

overall ratings: imdb: 8,3/10 rotten tomatoes: 82% letterboxd: 4.4/5

plot summary: the production features a miserable figure of a middle-aged man, Dae-su Oh, who is continuously drowning his sorrows in alcohol and for which reason remains an upsetting burden to those around him, including his closest relatives. on one memorable night he is kidnapped by an unknown individual and subsequently imprisoned in a sweepingly obscure, hotel-suite-like room, in which he is certainly not expecting to spend a period of 15 years. in the meantime of becoming gradually absorbed by the enforced seclusion, apart from unsuccessful attempts on ending his life or rescuing himself out of captivity, he begins to lose himself in slight frenzy, due to unawareness of his fault at this tragic adversity. however, after being finally released, he only becomes involved in a further series of conscientiously planned events, which eventually lead him to uncovering the truth about his tormentor (and, incidentally, about himself, too). 

my thoughts: it would be suitable to start with the graphic and scenographic values of the movie. what has caught my eye to the greatest extent in this case was the arrangement of several frames throughout it. the appropriateness of the smallest details, such as the sort of tapestry covering the walls at this or that particular moment, the way its color palette managed to fit with the overall feelings accompanying the scene or even how thoughtfully were the characters guided within it, so that all of it would make perfect sense (and while typing this, i am having in mind the scene, in which Mi-do is sitting on the bed of her father's former prison of over a decade, having been decorated with those flappy angel wings). take the famous and nowadays rather widely recognizable corridor fighting scene: taking into account it has been filmed wholly just in one take, its quite astonishing and equally (and literally) breathtaking to observe it all in approximately one glance too. what i especially like about it, was that it was long - event though the circumstances of Oh Dae-su tackling a larger bunch of guys seems pretty unrealistic or cliche in a long run, acklnowledging details such as his training or the corricor's poor width, it suddenly grows into a believeable depiction of the protagonist's determination and general hatred. again, the separate elements, having been put together, result in an idealistic impression made on a potential viewer. excluding the philosophical surface of the film or its tone in general, i find it the most absorbing compound of its brilliance. it's extremely captivating to experience such definite harmony on screen. 

another matter worth mentioning is the aforesaid kind of universality the plot itself holds. apart from being exceptionally unexpected at times (that is, only towards the end of the movie the mystery behind the imprisonment of Dea-su entirely unfolds, disclosing that it was a well crafted retaliation for ruining Lee Woo-jin's adolescent and incestutous relationship he shared with his sister back in the school days, due to spreading a gossip about her being pregnant and subsequently, prompting her to commit suicide), it represents a great "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" philosophy, just like any other contribution of "The Vengeance Trilogy". nothing manages to pass unnoticed or unpunished, the magnificent example of this mindset being the vicious intrigue of the mastermind behind Dae-su's sorrow. having been deprived of his pathological infatuation, Woo-jin decides to have the culprit covered with a reprisal not only akin in its character, but also utterly depressing in its outcome. with the help of specific hypnosis, he, so to say, programmes both Dae-su and his daughter (about paternity to which the father was unaware of, having been held in captivity especially for this reason and his child allegedly adopted by a family abroad) to tie a romantic bond between each other in order to cause them the same mixture of disgust and loss he experienced himself once. his mischievous pursuit for vengeance had been satisfied, nevertheless the pain after the passing of his beloved has invincibly remained. the same issue applies to Dae-su, him having achieved his reprisal of retaliating against his long-term captor, although at the same time becoming familiarized with the disturbing notion behind his suffering. doesn't it make both protagonists paradoxically humane in their doings, albeit their fates come down to a tragic-like ending? 

that allows me to move onto the last aspect, which i would like to include in this composition. that is, the portrayal of penance - in case of this movie, it being equally prevalent, yet terse in its convention. is it possible to unambiguously determine, whether any of the main characters could be found guilty or innocent in face of their past? to me personally, it is more of a complex issue and this ambivalence in particular has caused me to doubt the righteousness of their actions in general. what if Dae-su truly deserved what had been brought upon him? and might it be that Woo-jin and his sibling were just meant to be together and their affection should have been hushed up? and what if we thought of it the other way round? regardless of the perspective, the revenge they both seek in their own twisted ways leads only to an incomparably larger amount of pain. one of the actual quotes from the movie depicts this concept quite well - "Revenge is good for your health, but pain will find you again." that said, how could an individual be hindered from such a convenient opportunity of unleashing one's inner frustration and desperation and therefore letting it convert into severe abhorrence? where is this thin line between being a factual redemption-seeker and a monster in all its glory?

that is more or less how the ending of the film could be grasped, where Dae-Su had supposedly gotten rid of his second, "monster-self" with the usage of hypnosis, and who incidentally holds the truth about his wrongdoings towards his daughter. to me alone, even though the noticeable traces on the snow could point to him having been freed from his indecent secret, the facial expression he evinces towards the very end of the motion picture, hugging Mi-do, is rather unsettling. "I love you... Oh-Daesu", words mouthed just then by his daughter seem to cause him to realise, that he is now forever convicted to this burden of brutal awareness and that the price he was made to pay not only for a trifle back in his youth, but also replenishing his personal retaliation, was in fact tremendous.

my rating: 4.5/5

favourite quote: "Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live?"

the images were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Ichi the Killer/Koroshiya Ichi (2001)

basic info: written by Sakichi Sato and directed by Takashi Miike (also known for his directory role in "Audition"). this yakuza themed and - therefore - quite thuggishly harsh movie is loosely based on a manga series by Hideo Yamamoto under the same title.

overall ratings: imdb: 7/10 rotten tomatoes: 65% letterboxd: 3,6/5

plot summary: Anjo, a chief of a fearsome yakuza clan is revealed to have allegedly left his subordinates behind In order to intangibly levant with a young girl into unknown, along with all the money that had belonged to the gang. however, it turns out that the leader of the lawless group mentioned has been assassinated by an individual called Ichi - a man imagined to be completely ruthless in his doings, who reduces his targets into splatters of bloody intestines. even though Kakihara - a sado-masochistic member of the Anjo group of suspiciously uncanny persona - isn't aware that the questionable disappearance of his executive had been a well crafted setup, initiated by a man (Jiji) aiming for enflaming the ties between clans in the district, he still sets off for a blind pursuit after the infamous brutal killer. as the events unfold, their paths are gradually heading towards an eventual crossing - Kakihara unjustifiably torturing his clan allies or potential leads, additionally pleasuring the pain his cruelty causes them and Ichi being severely manipulated by Jiji (with, among others, a story about him witnessing his bullies rape a girl who tried to help him, which inappropriately turns him on) so that the superficially harmless man would become homicidal and assassinate more shady individuals. when a sudden and tense confrontation occurs, its outcomes turn out rather ambiguous - Kakihara dies, having fallen of the rooftop, Ichi's further precise whereabouts remain unknown (or he's probably dead) and Jiji is revealed to hang himself on a tree branch years later (where, at the very end of the movie, we witness a focus on a certain young man, resembling Takeshi - the son of Kaneko, a former policeman, who had presumably beaten Ichi to death on that rooftop; it's nothing but a speculation of mine though).

my thoughts: it's undeniable that violence in its most apparent revulsion is the highlight of the movie. and it's also something i'd like to start with, partly to the conclusion on the subject of frivolousness, to which i'll dome down to later. the characters are acting in absolute lawlessness. putting their criminal involvement aside, obviously. there's so much awry carelessness and freedom in Kakihara callously racking his victims in various, internally-cringing ways, casually cutting the tip of his tongue, so as to guarantee penance for his clan allies or letting his opponent deal him heavy punches as if they were having a walk in the park (which are, by the way, aspects consisting in a more complex picture of his character. i'll eventually get to this though). sickening and disturbing as it may seem, the way brutality of various kinds is portrayed in the movie is just as grotesque at the same time. taking the scene in which Kakihara enthralls Suzuki by hanging him on a great set of metal hooks by his skin tissue for an example - the gang member, prior to sticking hazardously sharp spikes into his mouth or pouring red-hot oil on him, casually proceeds to fry tempura. it's also apparent in the one where Kakihara unlocks the cuts in his face and after accepting a blow, the guy's hand remains stuck in his unnaturally wide-open mouth and is stripped from its flesh by Kakihara's teeth. ridiculous, yet terrifying - this man's actions seem unpunished and entertaining, both on the same level. a similar, yet more bleak tone refers to Ichi - even though he's top-down controlled, or rather conveniently manipulated by Jiji to his own benefits, he seems to acknowledge no consequences of his actions too. just as if time didn't exist and the protagonists, with all the depraved things connected to them, congealed in their own, individual miseries. i don't think it would be completely wrong to name it a substance of freedom - even though the character's connotations are far from positive. what i'm trying to convey, is that the movie could define a similar sense of complacent unpredictability that we do lack nowadays. i'll always look back on it in that liberatory type of manner, at least thats the feeling it has left me with in the end. what's more to it, there's no hope for it to last forever. both Ichi and Kakihara get a profound taste of that in the latter matter.

that lets me move onto their individual characteristics: Kakihara, although he is featured in most of the movie posters, isn't factually the titular Ichi. in reality (around half an hour into the film) it is revealed that the almost legendary killer is the one he's after - Ichi, that is, was namely ordered to assassinate his boss and equally the only person able to assure him an efficient amount of violent experiences, Anjo. however, in the meantime of fruitless searches for his target, Kakihara starts developing a faint fascination with Ichi - mostly to his attraction to his murderous skills and the brutality with which he deals with his victims. it's crucial to understand, that the man in this funky, alligator-skin suit and with questionable scars all over his face is in love with pain. he's passionate with it and unsatisfied with any unauthentic indications of it (just as in the scene, where a guy tried to escape both the corrupted policemen and him. Kakihara allows him to attack him with bare hands, which he finds disgraceful to the value of violence itself, saying his punches lack any sort of passion. it's not only a source of sado-masochistic pleasure for him, but also something almost sacred). however, ever since his chief and probably the most primal origin of gratification to it has been gone, that void of disappointment with his surroundings and lack of appropriate incentives prompts to morph into a frantic pursuit after something just as exciting. therefore, Kakihara starts viewing Ichi as his chance for ultimate fulfillment, probably resulting in an equally ultimate matter - death from his hands. that is, pain in general - both the one he is granted with and the doings he undertakes to hurt others - is his only reason to carry on in life. otherwise it's senseless and boring.

Ichi does add to that unfortunate perception as well. he seems to be extremely prone to being carried away by his emotions, caused by the aftermath of manipulations and fake scenarios Jiji had rooted in his consciousness. superficially, he appears as a rather assailable and overall a rather peaceful guy, but when confronted with his illusionary past, he becomes homicidal and prone to killing ruthlessly. it seems like an inevitable way of his for dealing those unsolved, mental issues and at the same time, an impulse he personally loathes. he's hesitant in the face of his doings - on the one hand, he is driven by inner hatred towards imaginary events, regarding which he was powerless, those pushing him towards agreeing for further assassinations, and on the contrary, he strongly wishes to stop murdering. this internal battle he's tackling makes him mentally riven and unfit for logical, reasonable thinking. i really enjoyed the almost psychedelic, vhs tape-like shots, especially in the moments of his post-murder breakdowns. that also brings to my mind a concept of him being just like a registered record - particularly programmed for violence (hmm..."Videodrome" reference?). nothing but an ideal toll for Jiji to pursue his motifs. it's not enough to pity him, though - an apparent psychological fault doesn't justify his horrendous actions; that is, Ichi is also an exceptional pervert, enjoying sexual contacts with vulnerable women and getting aroused at the thought of rape-related imaginary. just the same as Kakihara, he descents into the shallow of his own misery - defeated by lies he was lead on with and completely hopeless, left with heartbroken, child-like cries. Kakihara, utterly upset by yet another dissatisfactory outcome of his pain-seeking hunt, decides on taking his own life by falling of the rooftop banister (however, he does experience a hallucination on a different turn of events - he first observes Ichi decapitating a child (Takeshi), then charging him and subsequently he receives a blade straight into his forehead. so it's only half a win for him). i interpret the scene after this sequence, where he's sitting in the corner of a dull room, filled with chains freely hanging from the ceiling, a depiction of hell for him personally - no pain to feel and to make others feel. there's just offed peace, so unbearable in this fringe comparison. apart from my take on the ending, it remains objectively unclear and inconclusive - it's rather to be open and speculated about, depending on the light a viewer sees the characters in.

my rating: 4/5

favorite quote: "There's no love in your violence."

the images were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

The Substance (2024)

basic info: written and directed by Coralie Fargeat (whose name could ring a bell regarding a thematically kindred production, associated with the concept of foreign thing tampering with the human body under the title of "Reality+"). the leading roles are played by Demi Moore (Elisabeth Sparkle) and Margaret Qualley (Sue).

overall ratings: imdb: 7,9/10 rotten tomatoes: 90% letterboxd: 4/5

plot summary: an aging and commercially fading fitness show star is just experiencing unavoidable, yet natural consequences of becoming a show-business veteran - her superior openly intends on trading her up for a more vital and, most importantly, younger anchor, therefore making her witness her long-gone fame and career wither, them gradually reaching its downfall. Elisabeth Sparkle can't accept it though, wanting to shine to the very end. she decides on engaging a rather black market company's questionable services, which include an offer of one-of-a-kind experience - in the result of injecting their substance, an individual is able to independently manufacture a more perfect and desirable version of themselves. nonetheless, there are a few principles, that must be respected: the individual (also referred to as the matrix) ought to switch with the their other self every seven days and the other way round, no exceptions. what's more, the matrix can't reverse the eventual damage or alternations caused by malfunction or misuse of the illegal drug. and the crucial one is about unwavering unity - there's no them and other self - just one, shared and mutual extension of a single subconsciousness. finding balance and a thread of agreement is the key to achieving initial satisfaction in this twisted experience. however, Elisabeth herself fails on that - the woman begins to feel as if she was eaten alive by the achievements of her other self and grows a mixture of hatred and desperate hope towards it, and Sue (the creation resulting from the injection of the substance) pursues on becoming gradually more independent being and recklessly abuses Elisabeth, so as to remain in the state of control over the life her "birth-giver" craved. she overthrows her, subsequently stepping into a miserable passage of inevitable decay (quite literally) and overwhelming desperation for more, which ultimately results in the creation of Elisabeth's final form - an abominable pile of deformed flesh, a gross construction of crooked limbs and displaced organs. the monster makes it to the new year's eve spacial transmission, initially destined for Sue's performance, and ends up overlaying the whole audience with liters of blood, profusely gushing from its mutilated body parts. then the foul specimen falls apart in its deformity and Elisabeth vanishes into the dark of the night.

my thoughts: a mix of early Cronnenbeerg's works and a schematic, yet (thanks to that) widely recognizable message? yeah, this movie has both, with the addition of a satiric take on the show business industry and its commonly libeled circumstances, as well as a dispute on struggles with negative body image, especially regarding women. i'm not going to elaborate much on the two-sided feminist portrayal in the film, as it"s quite explicit. we're expounded some fundamental statements here: on one hand, there's the commercial exploitation of women's bodies, objectifying and sexualizing them, which also results in setting elusive beauty standards, and on the contrary - the irresistible strive for those standards that, besides being internally demanded, is determined by the will to fit into the picture society had already stated for women. the protagonist is visibly tackling this battle and her individual frustration - which has its source in the above mentioned - makes her think, that without an attractive and desirable body, smooth skin and all that she's unworthy of perceiving herself as an actual person.

Elisabeth, apart from being full of self-loathing, could be considered an anti-hero in her own story. i can't resist comparing this trope to the plot in the famous book from Oscar Wilde, "A Picture of Dorian Gray" to be precise. both the protagonist and Dorian are obsessed with maintaining their external youthfullness, become the roughly-pitiable villain in their lives and therefore contribute to their own adversity. a quintessence of primary meaning of tragedy, in fact. they become ruthless in their doings for the sake of achieving their goals - the perpetually young man indulging himself in unmoral actions in the aim of securing the truth behind a mysterious painting and Elisabeth incessantly bobbing towards a better form of herself by sacrificing her own life to it. they could've stopped, but didn't in the latter matter. and so could their downward spiraling - death was the only solution to their endless greed, as well as a particular liberation from the misery they had brought upon themselves.

coming down to that, i really liked the ending of the movie alone. it closed the circle, also stating that Elisabeth's peculiar experience hasn't changed much in a long run - not only for her individually but also (and even more) for the world around her. after dissolving into a bloodish splatter right on her hollywood star, her remains are simply wiped off by a cleaner (which, for me personally, would perfectly align with the ketchup stain accident in the beginning of the movie - her pursuits were just as meaningless as that). all she ever wanted was to be loved by the audience and shine - she did, at least for that last time, within the cold gusts of wind on this new year's night and under the sparkle of the stars above.

that aside, there's also a pretty impressive take on body horror, gore and extreme horror in general. it's truly awesome how this movie consists in both frames featuring women's bodies in several suggestive poses, accompanied by some generic pop music and then slightly obnoxious scenes of Sue having to sew up the wound from which she had crawled out of moments earlier or those revealing aftermath of Sue's abuse of Elisabeth (her - externally - becoming a sickeningly aged and ailing version of herself) or those including multination of the obscurely deformed monster. spectacular, really. the usage of these conventions, with the combination with a topic relatable to every single human being, makes "The Substance" concerningly unsettling in its very core.

however, the movie is not perfect (ha ha). what bugs me about it, or rather about its strictly directive setting, are the unnecessary flashbacks echoing some lines, as if stuck in Elisabeth's head. it makes the the production seem apologetic, almost in the need to explain the intents of the characters in case the viewers haven't entirely caught up. i'd be pleased to see the wholeness of the release kept in a more psychedelic and semi-realistic version. that would add to the coherence of the filming and incoherence to the ultimate perception - and would allow to immerse in the plot a lot more, this way capturing the state of mind of the protagonist much better (we did get a bit of that, but it has left me with a serious shortage). anyway, that at least makes the movie large-audiences friendly and enables to label it as just "fucked up" and not "abstract". it's more convenient. either way it's truly unsettling.

my rating: 3.5/5

favorite scene: probably the one in which Elisabeth cycles back and forth from her bathroom mirror to the front door, being constantly hesitant of her looks with a picture of her complete, youthful opposite in her head. in the end she completely refuses to leave the apartment and proceeds to break down at an another look in the mirror and violates her makeup entirely, smudging it all over her face and pulling her hair in irresistible helplessness. i think it was the plainest portrayal of how much she loathed herself - even though signed up for something pleasurable for her, a night out in some company, she couldn't bear the temptation of measuring her self-worth in the mirror's reflection and comparing it to something so out-of-range. and it's a great performance of image struggles in general - that particular scene in similar circumstances could be relatable to many other on several levels.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

A girl on the shore/Umibe no Onnanoko (2021)

basic info: directed by Atsushi Ueda and written by both him and Inio Asano. it’s considered a teenage, coming-of-age drama with psychological ersatz. one could also name it a turbulent romance movie, but it’s a rather risky take (as there's way more distress than actual, affectionate tension).

overall ratings: imdb: 5.4/10 letterboxd: 3.3/10

plot summary: the events of the production take place in a rather remote, nothing out-of-ordinary, near-coast town. within its serene ordinariness, there develops a superficial, non-commitial relationship between two students - Isobe and Koume. the boy has no friends - he voluntarily locks himself up in his comic-loaded room, spends his leisure time in front of the computer screen and possesses an obnoxious personality, which makes him hard to keep conversations with, as well as is utterly infatuated (at least at first) with a girl solely searching for nothing in precise across the abandoned and neglected, local beach. Koume, on the contrary, is an ordinary schoolgirl, drawn by Isobe's deference, whom she starts portraying as a tool for spontaneously satisfying sexual needs of hers, not caring much about whether he's mentally unwell, has been experiencing aftermath of the trauma his brother's suicide has caused him, or if he intends on killing himself in the near future. their ties tighten, as the unusual and remarkably miserable bond between them experiences its occasional ups and spectacular downs, eventually abounding with actual, emotional feelings. however, ultimately, they are made go completely separate ways: Isobe turns out to regain faith in a possibly better future, therefore seemingly lifting himself up from the shallow of his depressive tendencies, where Koume realizes her overwhelming attachment towards the boy and is absolutely distressed by both his departure from the reality, she has been misled by for too long, and inappropriate happiness, that her occasional lover has managed to obtain.

my thoughts: first of all, i feel in a responsibility to mention the significance of this story to my own person. my prior encounter with it was via manga and its authenticity has truly captivated me on several levels. i feel like there's this particular feeling regarding most Inio Asano's stories - their pinning brutality and the vague sense of familiarity, that makes them relatable in various ways. i'm glad the movie i'm now writing about was able to capture those exceptional bits and reflect their impression with a force of bringing them to life - and therefore making them even more powerful. by that, i mean the way of filming (i've already mentioned its significance in the previous blog entry regarding another movie, which has been written in collaboration with the mangaka). quick, short-lasting cuts and conveniently incorporated frames perpetuating shots of the sea or the characters casually laying in the mess of a teenager's cluttered room - this concurring to a sense of unrestricted laissez-aller, which results in an almost sickening feeling of carelessness. that's how i'd depict it, especially in addition to the age and natural ignorance of the protagonists. it seems like both of them aren't fully aware - or more appropriately, sure - of their doings, being perplexed in the face of being an almost-adolesecent and growing up in general. they come from two different and opposing worlds, too - Koume having a full and loving family caring about her well-being and education, where Isobe lacks that kind of validation, mostly being left home alone throughout his school week and his parents remaining in a state of separation-like relationship, or at least being too busy with work to maintain it, after his older brother had committed suicide. Koume has everything and thinks she can get anything, and Isobe holds onto anything so that he has something at all. that's probably why he decided to stick around Koume at some point, even after she deleted the photos he had found on the beach earlier (and therefore infringed his sacred device - the computer, it also being one of among many, but the most crucial one at the same time, remembrances his dead sibling has left behind). he lacked that sort of affection and approval and for this reason he seems to have pursued the search for them in sexual pleasure (probably also relieving his frustration this way) and in a number of revolting kinks. he's full of self-loathing and fails to find comfort in anything or anyone, subsequently deciding on taking his life on his birthday (which is also the day his brother has done it). Koume, on the other hand hand, doesn't care. she at least pretends to not do so. she calls Isobe and egoist, but she seems more worthy of this title - the girl doesn't acknowledge Isobe's feelings for her from the very start and changes her mind about his person's significance to her only after developing those towards him. their helplessness in this doomed relationship is revealed in the circumstances of their actual fondness they maintain towards each other - Koume turns out to not be able to live without Isobe in a long run, discovering that she has been dulling her love for him for this whole time, and Isobe being able to do everything it takes for the girl, even committing to crime activity (he decided on punishing Misaki, who had hurt Koume earlier, by beating him up). i feel like this was his final straw before cutting ties with Koume in terms of this peculiar situationship and the way of showing her, that despite the final outcome, she still mattered to him. that leads me to the latter form their bond adopts - or more precisely, its very downfall.

Isobe, after the typhoon that had reached their small town descended, has accidentally come across the girl from the photos on the sd card he had found some time ago. it was nothing like a lucky occurrence for him - more of an ultimate rescue and profound awakening from the despair he has been stuck in. a chance for happiness and experiencing actual teenage life, filled with friends, normal girlfriends and dreams of going to university. Koume didn't want that for him - for her, he should have stayed depressed, sitting isolated in his room and eventually commit suicide out of boredom and exhaustion resulting from dealing with the curse his brother has left behind, just as he had promised. that way he would have grown attached to Koume and never leave her out of fear of being misunderstood by anyone else. that makes her a horrible and malicious character, but she did have a right to think so. no future in a nowhere town, days spent on nothing productive and there she finds something so interesting and investing, granting her not only company but also new, uncharted territories. it's hard to let something like that go, especially for someone as selfish as Koume. she did evince the will for a change though. she wanted to become a kind person, just as Isobe had said he prefers. but it's still all about altering her personality exhaustingly and not staying true to her nature. she lacked something, constantly looking for it in the sea of countless possibilities. unspoken confusion, almost petrifying to the very core. she did find something, in the end - the sea, indeed, was all she needed. not the boy she was mourning so desperately that memorable day on the shore or all that trash she encountered during her walks on the beach. sea was all the ever needed. not much is known about the protagonist's future whereabouts (except for Koume, who gets a boyfriend - she's really cautious with love declarations that time, probably seeing her younger self in the boy she's dating, head over heels for her. also, i think it's important to mention the retrospection at the beginning of the movie in this case. while strolling along the coast line, Koume turns her attention towards two other kids on the beach, who turn out to be her and Isobe. the same thing happens at the end of the film, her witnessing some teenagers - so, perhaps, her mind wandering to hoping she and Isobe would have sticked together - enjoying themselves. it's a full circle at this point and an underlining of an another matter dividing the protagonists - Koume, even though she seems to have moved on with her life psychically, subconsciously, she can't let go off her past as Isobe did prior to cutting ties with her). i just hope they're doing well, painlessly.

my rating: 4/5

favorite scene: the one i adore the most (both in the case of the movie and manga) is when Koume and Isobe are laying together, hand crossed, on the poufs engulfed by the darkness of the boy's room. Isobe proceeds to sleepily about how much he hates himself and declares his intend to take his life in some time. subsequently, Koume seems to casually put him off by saying she doesn't mind him dying but she just can't stand talking about death in general. for me, it's a trivial exposition of their initial attitudes towards their personal matters - Koume doesn't clutter her mind with such effusive subjects and has even no recognition of suicide as some frightening extremity. Isobe, on the contrary, is revealed to be in an concerningly low point, yet his sorrow hasn't been acknowledged by his surroundings - partly to his tendency for hiding this behind a mask of a rudeness and indifference. it's like they're true to each other only in that particular moment. i'll just leave these words (coming from the manga translated into English) below. enjoy. "If you died, it wouldn't really matter to me but...definitely...don't talk about dying."

the images were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Downfall/Reiraku (2023)

basic info: directed by Naoto Takemaka and written by Inio Asano (on whose manga the movie is based) and Yutaka Kuramochi. it could be considered a psychological drama, most of the release remaining slow-paced and reflective.

overall rating: imdb: 6,6/10

plot summary: Kaoru has always cared about nothing but manga. he had profoundly believed, that being a comic artist is the most wonderful thing in the whole world. however, when he finishes serializing his original piece of work after several years of tireless effort, the man suddenly finds himself in the very middle of a withdrawal as an author. unmotivated for creating any form of fresh and - most importantly - commercially demanded material, as well as filled with growing hatred towards his beloved job, he is inevitably heading for the depths of morality and reasoning. therefore, he no longer - as if he ever has - finds comfort in his wife, who is more of a stranger to him and is constantly busy with serving artists way more successful than her spouse, so he begins using the services of escort girls. that’s how Chifuyu, a woman with cat-like, hypnotizing eyes and a striking sense of resemblance to a figure from the protagonist's past appears in his seemingly shattered life, becoming a makeshift for the validation and understanding, from which Kaoru is depraved. this tumultuous, yet quite eye-opening, over-a-year experience draws the main character's attitude to a somber statement - in the aim of becoming a best-selling manga author, he can’t create stories that fall to his personal liking. no one will ever understand those in the same manner as him, and it’s sufficient to give the audience what they want - shallow, vague and non-reflexive patterns that are selling well.

my thoughts: first of all, i must stress this is a good adaptation. a great one, even. i mainly confer such a bold opinion on the atmosphere, which has not only been skillfully adjourned from the manga panels to a motion picture, but also equally well preserved. thanks to specific cuts or particular frame positioning, the initial sense of both perplexity and ferocity, with which the pages were beaming, is sensible - heart sickening, even. that's the thing because of which i started to adore what i was watching from the very beginning. but a crucial word here, that would be able to describe the ultimate tone of all those artistic hops, would be despair - the blazing longing for something to make sense and incredible frustration that comes along with it. i also recognize this as a way of showing the protagonist's perception of reality - always focused on what catches his attention and could be beneficial to him and never considering the uselessness of his surroundings. because that's how Kaoru appears to me - an egoistic individual, who blames the superficiality of the world around him for his failure and has not enough courage to fight for his long-foregone dreams. these are, truth be told, the main causes of his so-called downfall - a series of events, which bring him to a realization, that there's no point in trying to make things better, yet it could have been way worse. he's a remarkably complex character, after all. firstly, he seems to have been living in a state of being constantly misunderstood in his thoughts, and therefore in their way of outing for his whole life. his manga series, following his personal opinions, had much more to itself than allegedly bad works of similar, yet still more popular and recognizable authors, maintaining only a minor group of dedicated fans (who, as we are able to observe in the ending of the movie, in Kaoru's way of thinking also misunderstand his upper concepts). however, the brutal truth is that there's no point in creating pieces that won't be read by the public. it's only worth it as long as it sells, huh? that's the conclusion Kaoru reaches towards the ending of the film, which seems like the final descent to the abyss of anguish - he has failed at both his private life and profession. for that reason, he remains pitiful in his emotionlessness - cutting ties with people that at least maintain the appearances of sympathy for him and losing himself in the dark emanating from the past, from which he has never really moved on. the relationships he maintains with his wife and Chifuyu could also be a matter of further discussion. that is, Kaoru has been existing in an affection-less marriage for years, which seemed like more of a coincidence than a choice made on the basis of actual feelings. lack of conversation between them could be the cause for all the frustration piling up inside Kaoru, leading him to quite drastic and rather impulsive decisions, just as suddenly wanting to divorce Nozomi. what they didn't have, he found in Chifuyu - a way younger woman, for whom he has went absolutely oblivious to anything else. she, on the contrary, was somehow an opposite of Kaoru. she still had the passion for living and pursuing her hopes for the future - to me, Kaoru envied that in a way, along with the desire for seeing a glimpse of his past memories in her. it seems like the last one in particular has been eating him alive and twisting his insides so painfully, filling with indispensable aftermath, called indifference - with the events unfolding, Kaoru gradually hurtles down the oddments of his persistence and compassion, being left with nothing in the latter matter. his dawn as a decent human being, uncovering his true nature, or rather the lack of it - it's like a subconscious admission to being a monster, which he was once already called.

my rating: 3/5

favorite scene: the one that made the strongest impression on me was where Chifuyu had just waved her goodbyes to Kaoru at the train station, after they had visited her hometown. right after, the protagonist becomes a witness of a strangely realistic illusion, in which he and the woman with cat-like eyes are laughing cheerfully, him lifting up a child accompanying them. it's a moment of absolute disorientation, as Kaoru just mumbles to himself a line about not knowing what he's even doing anymore. he has developed an inappropriate sense of attachment towards Chifuyu - or rather the way she had reminded him of his college-time girlfriend - and it seems like the stupidity of it has finally striked him. it's one of those very few moments in which the viewer could feel sorry for him, even though his misery is partially to his own doings.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Creep (2014) + Creep 2 (2017)

basic info: both movies are an original creation form the Duplass brothers - including directing, story, as well as character writing (the plot is believed to have been was alternated multiple times whilst making of the film, therefore various takes on different scenes have been created, although not necessarily used in the final cut). they've been recorded in found footage convention (produced by Jason Blum; ever heard of Paranormal Activity?), mostly being rather fragmentary (as the only source of the viewer's cognition is the picture recorded on a portable camera). it could be also described as a psychological horror or a thriller - preferably for the reason of an overall sense of tension or uncanniness, caused by some acts performed by the odd protagonist in both cases.

overall ratings: imdb: 6,3/10 + 6,4/10 rotten tomatoes: 91% + 100% letterboxd: 3.3/5 + 3.3/5

plot summary: plots of both movies are quite similar in opposition to each other - they feature a thorough, motion-picture documentation of the turnabouts of unusual confrontations between a cameraperson and a seemingly harmless, although pathologically deceitful man (who later on is revealed to be a serial killer with no criminal record registered). in Creep, the individual brought into remote premises of a rental wooden cabin is Aaron - tempted by an offer of a financial opportunity, which includes helping a cancer-infected, an overly affectionate man make a short film about himself, for the reason of it being shown to his still unborn baby in case he dies sometime before that. they engage into lighthearted activities, some of them particularly intimate (like Josef taking a tubby with an imaginary Buddy - his alleged baby - and descending into a depressive spiral right after, later turning trying to drown himself in the bath into a bad joke) - Aaron doing his job behind the camera and Josef gradually losing control over his beforehand scripted craft. after leaving the cabin and cutting ties with the strange man, Aaron begins receiving unnerving cds along with generous gifts - a video showing Josef burying brimful trash bags (perhaps a warning, because he didn't manage to kill him back then?) or a baby wolf plushie stuffed with a necklace with their cut-out photos inside. upon finally and ultimately meeting with Josef, Aaron - deceived by his naivety - is killed by the other man, him all dressed in the beloved Peachfuzz mask and by smashing his prey's brains with an axe.

the events of Creep 2 take a kindred turn, excluding the ending alone. this time a woman - Sara - decides to familiarize herself with the origins of a self-proclaimed and burned out serial killer's motifs for murder, for the sake of gaining minimal popularity for her internet show called Encounters (where she engages in potentially uncomfortable situations with strangers posting various announcements online, covering their pitiful stories and trying to understand their sorrow). for that reason, she insists on staying in the face of presumable danger and is determined to get to know Aaron (Josef changes his name to this one after dealing with his victim in Creep) as conscientiously as possible, bringing his most sensitive aspects to the daylight - by provoking him to confess about his abduction experience during his breakdown in the hot tub or signing him up for a game of two lies and one truth (this way revealing that he has never slept with a woman). along with a growing passion that Aaron holds for Sara, he convinces himself into a double suicide performed by him and his companion, which would thrillingly end with them both crawling into a freshly digged grave together. but later on is made to knock out his so-called soulmate, who had tried to run away in terror. however, he's the one ending up unconscious, as Sara manages to get out of the hole she had been dragged into, just in time to incapacitate Aaron with a shovel. so, in the very ending of the movie and in contrary to Creep, the victim survives. although this could be easily debunked, as the closing scenes include an unspecified individual following Sara, unaware of being the central frame of the device. she realizes the identity of her follower, obviously petrified, only after they begin their quiet whistling. this vague and obscure ending is either a foreshadow of a decent continuation or a terse message, that Aaron hasn't given up on his priorities yet.

my thoughts: seldom does it occur, that the descendant is better than the sacred original. well, that's the case for me. i highly enjoy releases kept in found footage style, and that's one of the main reasons which had drawn me to Creep as a whole at first. however, the movie from 2014 seems more of an prologue something more, to me - not a separate entirety, as i feel it should. without a sequel, or at least if i had decided not to watch the second installment at all, it would be consistently complete - had it not been for some threads picked up and left afloat just as quickly, this incoherence would have been much more valuable. on the other hand, i'm prone to considering it an advantage; bending upon the figure of Josef, a remarkably impostorous individual altering his narration depending on the situation, so as to make himself look extremely lonely or vulnerable and find himself in favor of his victims, the inconsistency (like, for instance, in case of his potential mental issues, for which he was treated but never managed to feel any better or to fit into society; basically putting up a show about him being a poor, unwanted human being. it's never confirmed, whether he was factually unwell in a psychological sense and it was the thing that supported his violent and weird behaviors or he was straight out a reckless murderer, using those mercy-seeking tricks for his own satisfaction and fulfilling his twisted needs) would have been deliberate and acceptable.

i also feel that the performance we're given in the entirety of Creep is a quite reliable, and therefore a realistic portrayal of a serial killer. firstly and foremostly, Josef/Aaron is negatively intimidating on several levels, but just by his very existence when in direct contact. not exactly terrifying, especially from the start alone, but always unnerving in a way. and chaotic in his thinking patterns or their complete lack of, mostly acting irrationally. at least that's what i'd say makes Mark Duplass's performance so authentic, despite its voluntary amateurism, resulting from the found footage convention. and the portrayal of this character reaches its peak in the second installment - he's more straightforward, more insane and more disturbing, yet electrifying. in Creep, the boldest to which Josef confesses to is raping his alleged wife (also presumably interested in animal pornography) in his beloved wolf mask - at this point, its genuineness is questionable, especially when taking into consideration his way of being and the fact about no sexual contacts withe the opposite sex revealed in Creep 2. but what bugs me about it, is the thing Aaron mentions in the movie from 2017 - right after uncovering Sara's actual intentions, he mentions, he never entirely lies and always remains true in his eyes or heart. it just plain points to him having those tendencies either way. or never meaning to say anything that comes out of is mouth, seeking enjoyment in pretending on a daily basis. however, in the sequel - although implicitly provoked by Sara - he shamelessly claims to have murdered 39 people so far and aims for 40, confesses to pleasuring the act of murder, describes the time he was abducted and almost killed in his teens or kindly asks his companion to end his life. pure madness, just as if he was on the verge of insanity - if the state of mind he has already been suck in could get any worse by then. and it seemed like all of these things mentioned were true to him. he meant them - with his words, eyes and heart.

coming down to that, there's another thing i want to mention - the matter of trust and naivety. Aaron, in the first installment, has boundless faith in Josef's misery and non-culpable loneliness haunting him, those connected to misjudgment of his odd personality. so, he doesn't turn around when supposed to meet him by the lake and, consequently, is killed - literally - by his lack of reasoning. the same goes for Aaron in the second part of the series - he continues speaking to the camera, praising Sara's greatness and importance into the numb silence of the woods, when she's preparing herself to beat him with a shovel in the meantime - just behind him, ready to swing it anytime. he also could've turned back. i perceive it as a very nice parallel, just like the question Sara asks Aaron when he's chopping wood with the infamous axe; that is, if any part of him intends on murdering her with that tool. ring ring, the same thing was raised in the 2014 film, although the question came from Josef and was about whether Aaron had any doubts about being attacked with it. he also shows the video he was working on with his previous victim, just like a well maintained souvenir, of him sticking that same axe into Aaron's head to Sara. really, really nice. what's also nice is Xiu Xiu's track played alone with the credits. a sublime, but a forceful touch. on spot, even. that brings me to an unfortunate statement - Duplass's acting - first as Josef and then as Aaron - carries the whole series, crafts the appropriate atmosphere and is the reason for the originality of the movies among others of similar kind. he does it all, story aside. 

my rating: 3/5 + 4/5

favorite quote: "Well, this is my destiny. Sara loves her juicy fruit. And Aaron loves to kill."

favorite scene: (because why not) i'd actually name two here; one from Creep and the other from Creep 2. the one regarding the first release would be Josef standing high up the cabin stairs, his face swallowed by the dark and almost desperately insisting on Aaron staying overnight. the tension accompanying this scene was something else, almost as if that one drink with Josef was a matter of life and death. because it was, in the long run. at least an extremely crucial decision. in terms on Creep 2, i'd point to the shot consisting in Aaron sitting in the bathtub - with this disturbing kind of gaze in his eyes - and telling a story about his favorite song, smoothly moving onto describing his earliest trauma. this whole sequence felt strangely intimate, so as not to state that it felt intimidating - because most of Josef's/Aaron's acts could be labeled this way.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Videodrome (1983)

basic info: directed by David Cronenberg (who's also recognizable for his "The Fly" remake) and categorized as a both science-fiction and horror production. i'd also add the "psychological" tag here, as the movie doesn't stay very much coherent and exemplifies the blurring of the line between reality and fiction. remarkable are also the director’s attempts at various flesh modifications, resulting in several takes at the body horror convention.

overall ratings: imdb: 7,2/10 rotten tomatoes: 83% letterboxd: 3,9/5

plot summary: the film's events follow an executive of a rather niche television station, which broadcasts all kinds of sickening content - from mild pornography to disturbing snuff movies. however, Max is always striving for something more. having successfully captured a signal of a gruesome and plotless programme under the name of videodrome, he gradually becomes oddly invested in its origins and is determined to uncover its mystery. from then on begins a grotesque sequence of senseless events caused by the tumorous frequencies stemming from the video's signal. these include, among others, a scar on his stomach suddenly becoming a gaping wound, observing the tv (screening Nicki calling for Max's company) being poured life into and proceeding to moan with arousal, as well as first finding himself in a familiar room (resembling the one in videodrome) and enthusiastically beating Masha (a softcore producer courting his favors) only to find her lifeless in his bed (which wasn't real too). this way, him experiencing gradually more disturbing visions, the initial touch with conjectured reality starts to wane, opening the path to insufferable insanity - which can be soothed only with ultimate death. Max manages to get in touch with an individual directly connected to videodrome - Barry - who later prays on his imposed dependence and programmes him (with a video tape) to assassinate his co-workers, in the aim of obliterating his channel. in the latter matter, the protagonist ends up changing sides with the help of Bianca (the daughter of Brian O'blivion, who has been presumably incapacitated by the wielders of videodrome) and starts serving an opposite idea. by the finish of the movie, he is tempted by Nicki to go on to - as she had put it - the next phase, which results in him shooting himself with a gun rooted in his arm.

my thoughts: one of the assets of this movie is its inconsistency. a logical, and therefore comprehensible plot would be no fit for this one - a viewer is made incapable of distinguishing, which events are a part of the real ground of the backdrop and which have been fake from the very beginning. that is, with the occurrence of Max first coming across videodrome, it becomes troublesome to suppose, that the events we're projected are authentic - later on it's revealed, that Nicki was nothing but bait for alluring the protagonist into further examination of videodrome; she's been dead the whole time, as Max has never seen her again after that. the matter of Max viewing videodrome was also set up in the first place - the hacker, responsible for pirating similar videos, was instructed to be employed under Max in particular, so as to quasi-incidentially familiarize him with the sickening tortures of questionable source. this way, exposure to a harmful signal - which turns out to be an undercover weapon for annihilating depravation of all kind - tumorous alternations in its victims brains are caused. it's an another interesting matter - the way videorome is supposed to affect people it must eliminate. as explained by Barry, it's a prototype of a large scale, technology based and wide range weapon - its signal causes hallucinations, which are a reason for a brain tumor to emerge (according to prof O’blivion, it seems like a new outgrowth, an integral part of the human brain that smithers the thin line between reality and the fake and therefore contributes to achieving psychosis. it's also mentioned, that by being based on pure violence, the receptors in our brains and spines are more prone to opening and reacting to the signal - we're weakened and it's able to easily sink in. there's also a different reason for this and not some other convention of the programme - it's made especially for alienated, violence-thirsty weirdos, deeply inside deriving pleasure form watching a living being squirming in crippling, painful agony. the primary goal of videodrome's executives is to purge the society from similar degenerates - which also includes Max, an indirect distributor of inappropriate content; the fondness for abuse-filled sex is a serious inadequacy of the nation and must be eliminated. it's therefore connected to the subject of the way what we watch influences our behaviors and perception of reality. the movie clearly implies, that people pleasuring violence and exposing themselves to it in a passive manner are a risk to society, as a danger of repeating the acts they absorb on a fictional level. however, it's always dependent on how we decide to live as a part of this society. prof O'blivion has put it into a phrase reading that we recon real only things that we experience and that remain in the range of our perception - according to him, television is just that. it's our choice, whether we proceed to imitate what we see on tv - it's almost a reflection of reality, liberally ductile and equally insincere. Max chose to follow the path of violence - from the very moment he has shoved a whole gun into his life-restored wound, which also later becomes his weapon for killing his co-workers. over time, the gun conglutinates with Max's flesh and skin tissue, slowly becoming an inseparable part of his body. there was no running away from it as this point - had he not been so invested in uncovering videodrome's conspiracy, his brutal and ruthless side would have remained hidden. therefore, his only option left was to let his flesh die - it's put as the final phase of a transformation in the movie, perhaps resulting in becoming something out of reality-based and even bodily cognition. on the other hand, it was the only way for Max to escape this peculiar and never-ending chain of events. long live the new flesh. or whatever. there's never a profound confidence, that what we register with the use of our eyes is the actual reality. it's always something we want to see, even subconsciously.

my rating: 4/5

favorite quote: "The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television."

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Kite/A Kite (1998) + Kite Liberator (2008)

i've decided to elaborate on these two at one time, so as to present a somewhat accurate comparison (especially because they're, despite the appearances, superficially connected).

basic info: both titles were written and directed by Yasuomi Umetsu (also known for collaboration within releasing "Robot Carnival" or "Mezzo Forte"), as well as circle around the themes of sci-fi, violence and adult content - the two-episode ova and its sequel feature a teenage assassin fighting crime, resulting in loosely explicit scenes.

overall ratings: imdb: 6,6/10 + 5,5/10 letterboxd: 3,3/5 + 2,8/5

plot summary: the first movie had been originally parted into two episodes, later being combined into a length of an ova (it also received its uncut and therefore uncensored version). its protagonist, Sawa, is an orphaned schoolgirl making a living out of working as a qualified assassin. her job consists in sentencing to death individuals presumably suspected of pedophilia or abuse against minors - beforehand indicated by her supervisor and initial caretaker, Akai (with whom she also maintains a sexual relationship). her seemingly supreme goal is to obtain the identity of the one standing behind the death of her parents, although it's later revealed she has been well aware of her employers fault at murdering them. Sawa is bogged down in this state of voluntary-involuntary dependency on manipulative adults surrounding her, until she encounters an another young assassin - Oburi. in the name of a promising future by his side, the protagonist decides to betray her self-proclaimed savior and helps her co-worker escape an execution. the film ends with Sawa patiently waiting for Oburi to return to his apartment, while the boy has already been shot by girl, whose ball he previously destroyed (and probably some other assassin of Akai too). the second installment of the franchise takes a slightly different turn - or, truth be told - could be broken into two separate plot lines. "Liberator" takes place a few years after the original "Kite" and revolves around both an unfortunate outcome of risky procedures on a space station and the ordinary, yet bizarre life of a teenage girl - Monaka, also known as "The Angel of Death". she works undercover for the manager of a restaurant she makes night at and who calls Akai his descended friend. her commissions mainly include dealing with pedophilia-involved targets too. another reference to the ova is the gun Monaka wields - it clearly once belonged to Sawa. there's also the already mentioned trope featuring an unclassified creature, into which one of the space ship's crew members morphs after consuming seemingly beneficial, however untested food. the thread of connection establishes the fact, that a victim of the mutation is actually Monaka's father - an astronaut, who decided to volunteer for a mission once his wife passed away. the unfolding events reach its climax when the extraterrestrial monster makes its way onto the earth, previously escaping from an emergency capsule, and reunites with the girl, whom - in some other circumstances - it would call its daughter.

my thoughts: both Kite and its successor have undeniable potential. although i have to admit, that the first production should be considered the generally better one - both in terms of the plot line and overall impression. Kite is rough and ruthless, exactly like animated productions for mature audiences at that time should be. im a devoted fan of releases of such kind, especially because they're not only a once in an eternity occurrence (we don't get anything like this anymore), but also possess an atmosphere that is truly irreplaceable. and a crucial component of these matters are the characters - conflicted in their choices and therefore easy to engage with. Sawa is a great instance for this, mainly because of her obedience towards Akai, despite him obviously controlling her in a manipulative manner. as i've already mentioned, him knowingly killing her parents is no secret to her too. the thing is, that Akai was the one who has taken care of her back then, probably ensuring her he's the only option left among the monstrosities of the world you have to live in as an adolescent, deprived from elementary parental figures. Sawa, along with becoming naturally and subconsciously attached to him, granted him a perfect weapon, which he could manipulate with continuous lies and with absolute impunity. even though Sawa turned out to have been aware of this hypocrisy, becoming Akai's pawn was a matter of life and death for her in the latter case. these could be the reasons for which she sticked with all this dirt of a business for such a time, at least until she meets Oburi. while hanging out together (besides from acting like actual teenagers, which was truly heartwarming), she said some lines that seem to hold a great importance for her and in the ending scenes of the movie start to make the most sense. for them, working such a ridiculous, yet horribly hazardous job it's a matter of making through tomorrow or dying while performing an assassination on their targets. Sawa, when asked about her future perspectives, is unable to respond appropriately - they have no right to dream and hope for the better, as their only aim it to survive by focusing on this very moment in the present. Oburi's fate is a bitter confirmation of these speculations, as he wasn't destined to make is back to his flat and see Sawa once again. this ending might seem like more of a mild cliffhanger, but it really did fall to my liking. a lot, actually. i'm just glad that these unsettling doubts the protagonist had weren't just a blunt addition to the dialogue, so as to make the movie more emotional. it felt right and real. i'm not that fond of my opinion on "Liberator" on the other hand. in comparison with "Kite", it's less of a metal burden and more of a sci-fi/slice-of-life story (to a certain degree). as viewers, we're presented two opposing prompts, which connect only reaching towards the end of the movie. the little references to the original franchise are a nice touch, although they make no sense in the long run - they're just picked up, mentioned and left alone, perhaps to speculate about (what comes to my mind in this case is the character of Mukai - an assertive employee and a single mother, who works along Monaka at Apollo 11. she strikes a remarkable resemblance to Sawa - it's also hinted she had been something more than an ordinary waitress, her noticing how the protagonist tried to stab a guy harassing her with a pen or hitting a target with a knife in darts. the manager of the restaurant has also admitted he doesn't know much of her past either). i feel like the whole story could have been used way differently if it had been treated as a separate and independent work. or were the tropes prompted from "Kite" improved, we'd get an interesting and a direct continuation. it's rather a watch out of necessity, for the sake of completing the viewing of the series.

my rating: 3.5/5 + 2.5/5

favorite quote: (from "Kite") "Be patient my friends. Very soon. Oburi will come home to us. Right?"

the images were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Girl Hell 1999/Shojo jigoku ichi kyu kyu kyu (1999)

basic info: directed and written by Daisuke Yamanouchi (also known as the executive of such titles as "Red Room" or "Celluloid Nightmares" from the same year). it's classified under the genre of horror, for the sake of including acts of slight gore, violence and a broad range of sexual abuse performances.

overall ratings: imdb: 5,1/10 letterboxd: 2,5/5

plot summary: the movie sets off with a melancholic shot featuring the protagonist, 17-year old Misaki, which turns out to be a leap into the future in the latter take (and, probably, captures the rather suicidal state of her mind - as the events unfold, we're gradually familiarized with all that the girl had dealt with and what has left her almost completely callous to the matter of her own existence). subsequently, we learn that Misaki actively supports a homeless woman living near the bridge in the town, bringing her leftover food and keeping her company. however, it turns out she's in the center of attention of both a young, although extremely short-tempered and abusive worker and an individual standing behind the repetitive thefts of her biking seat (which, to me, at first seemed more of a cruel joke made by her classmates, so as to bully her. but it comes down to a gross piss kink later on). its also revealed that the schoolgirl parts her daily life with an unpredictable father and a heavily wounded sister, who constantly needs to be taken care of. her sibling's immobility is unfortunately taken advantage of by the parent, him imposing becoming an object destined for rape only on her. more into the movie, when Misaki resigns on meeting the guy interested in her, he and his loyal friend run for a vigorous killing spree in revenge - first, they brutally deal with the oblivious woman from under the bridge, then knock Misaki's father off and end up torturing her sister until she's become completely lifeless. in the meantime, Misaki herself is captured by the pervert, who has been the initial cause for her bike seat to magically disappear (this sequence includes a picture of the man drinking her urine from a tube). then we're finally brought to the point, with which the whole movie began - Misaki's out of any emotions, becomes completely soulless and simply gives herself in to the two previously mentioned friends, who have just murdered her only family. the ending scene is rather unexpected - while walking off, the protagonist encounters the beaten up, homeless woman, holding a different doll (the previous one and therefore the one woman has been taking care of so thoroughly ever since - Haruko - had been destroyed by the workers). this sight causes the girl to snap and proceed to continuously hurt the terrified woman with a bat.

my thoughts: this one, no matter from what angle you look at it, is plainly pointless. just a story about a schoolgirl who somehow happens to have everything and everyone against her, suffering non-culpably for being too pure and kind-hearted for this world. having oversimplified what my reflections on this have morphed into so far, of course. nevertheless, the movie has some remarkable bits, that make it live up to my expectations in a way. in terms of the production it's, however, way below those - it's clearly a low-budget one, what emerges in inadequate cuts or sudden lightning changes (on the contrary, one could state that this was purely intentional - personally i liked the random alternations between first colored and then black-white canvas in the meantime of all the dramatic shots. it points to some further vision and potential, that - unfortunately - wasn't entirely fulfilled). what i find valuable about "Girl Hell" is the aftermath of its story. the plot alone is rather senseless, but taking into consideration the burden protagonist has to deal with, it makes her a pretty complex character. firstly, she seems to live in constant fear - the moments, in which she contemplates on entering her own house are filled with unspeakable tension. deep inside she'd rather be anywhere else, far away from the hell she has to deal with every day after school. she never knows what to expect from her perverted and aggressive father, of whom she's afraid of and can't do much to stop him from sexually abusing her disabled sibling. her sister on the other hand, loathes her, even though Misaki is the one to treat her unhealed wounds. what's more, she's convinced Misaki's glad she ended up like this, prompting her to spiral down her own helplessness even deeper. in a hazardous confrontation with her father, after pointing a knife at him, she's also obstinately defending her mother, who had abandoned their family some time ago. however, it seems that - somewhere, under the surface of self-indulged guilt - she pities her parent for leaving her, not receiving this motherly kind of love. this lack emerges, among others, in the scene where Misaki starts to drink milk from a breast of the homeless woman - sucking on it just like a newborn child, almost wistfully. then, again, in the ending scene of the movie - when Misako realizes, that a new doll has already found its place in the arms of the lady, she rages on her with a blood-covered bat, granting her with numerous hits. to me, it seems that she might have seen herself in this particular piece of plastic - she's been simply thrown away by her mother (who, taking into account the words of Misaki's father, has probably run away with an another man), despite being nothing more than a child. it's symbolic in a way - it's the first and only time in the whole movie that Misaki lets her frustrations out instead of obediently cramming them inside. this scene, in fact, literally rescues the production as a whole. but it still doesn't contribute to exceeding the norms of mediocre watch. i just wish Yamanouchi contented himself on releasing a rather poorly made, although self-sufficient movie. and not something aspiring to be a high-budget crap, screaming with potential yet too proudly exhibited. and it's exactly what killed it.

my rating: 2,5/5

favorite quote: "I bet you feel real good, now that i've ended up like this." (these words come from Misaki's sister. i find them crucial in a way, as the point of the protagonist's story is the exaggerated focus her inability to prove anyone or anything wrong - including the self-loathing she most probably experienced too in the face of it. her family life is a torture, she's surrounded by perverts and abusive individuals, basically drowning in all sorts of depravation. it seems as if she was sentenced for them, the one to be blamed for everything that ever happens. just like you could imagine the generalized perception of hell, a never ending torture).

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Cat soup/Nekojiru-sou (2001)

basic info: directed by Tetsuo Satou and loosely based on the manga from Nekojiru (Chiyomi Hashiguchi). creation of the storyboard is credited to Masaaki Yuasa (whom you can associate with such titles as Devilman Crybaby or The Tatami Galaxy). its a relatively short animation listed as an experimental, dark comedy.

overall ratings: imdb: 7.6/10 letterboxd: 4/5

plot summary: the short film features two siblings, Nyatta and Nyako, who set off for a journey - an unusual and pretty nihilistic in its latter tone - in the aim of regaining the older sister's missing part of a soul. having been taken away by a religious personification of death, Nyako is left only with a piece of her consciousness, becoming rather oblivious to the dangers and beauties of the surreal, yet crushingly symbolic world around her. Nyatta on the other hand, remaining in sort of a fever dream after (probably) drowning in a bathtub, leads their duo through all the odd obstacles god puts on their way, so as to save his sibling. towards the end of the animation, the protagonist seems to be coming to realization about the absence of both his parents and sister, them disappearing into nothingness as if turned off by a tv remote. the credits are accompanied by a looped, raw animation of his family, all cheerful, on a beach with a tune of music box in the background.

my thoughts: as i've already let it slip, Cat Soup is a rather nihilistic and hopeless take on the superficiality surrounding us - matters of life and death in particular. values, that by default are generally considered crucial to our being as humans. we're scared of dying. we're scared of pursuing our dreams in life, what makes us scared of living in a way too. on the contrary, we treasure moments we're able to experience throughout life. however, the short animation is conveying a simple message: none of that matters. neither life, nor death mean a single thing in this twisted pseudo-reality. taking for instance the scene, in which god comes out to the audience in the circus to perform a trick on a female assistant. first, he intends on cutting her into several pieces, what makes her technically dead (although i recall her still giggling). then, he just joins her specimen back together, as if magically bringing her back to life. where did the importance of those go? they're casually stripped from their dignity, making them look childishly easy to imitate. another point worth mentioning is the powerlessness mankind is left with when in god-human tally. so as to revive his unfinished meal, lord casually reverses the wheels of time and causes countless people to come back to life, natural disasters rewind its tremendous consequences, assassinations are being taken back. even our main characters are, comically, first immediately aging and subsequently returning to their primal, newborn forms. it seems like we're nothing but a worthless cob in god's almighty machine, him not caring less about humankind or its fate. i'd name it an another crucial example of how the anime trashes the sacred idea of godly creation and its turnabouts, such as death or destruction. adding to that, i must mention the sequence in which a fish, desperately trying to escape a near-death experience, is almost entirely sliced into pieces by a bunch of samurai. it ends up on a beach shore, exhausted but equally relieved, just for its eye to be eaten by a cat. i've interpreted it as an, once again - negatively - pointless strive towards surviving at all costs, yet achieving nothing in return and discovering our pain and labors have gone to absolute waste. there's no hopes or dreams, just misery. but is there? the looped raw that is shown parallel to credits tells rather otherwise. that nihilistic though might be the main message of the creation but shouldn't that encourage us to treasure those bright and jolly moments in our lives? before its all irreversibly gone, just as Nyatta's family, when he snaps our of his imaginations? i'd prefer to think so. that comes to the case of speculations on the subject of this characters odds. at the beginning of the movie, Nyatta is shown to stay under the water for an extended period of time, then exposed to a strange encounter with a religious entity taking away his sister. only after that he is, sort of, waken up by his father and seemingly returning to reality - but not really after all. could it be, that Nyatta drowned while playing in the bathtub and the further events are just a product of his mind? that would make a belief that before ultimate death fragments of the life you've had literally flash before your eyes sound pretty decent. perhaps that's what happened to the humanoid, little cat - the sudden disappearance of his sister and parents would determine his consciousness to finally withdraw, granting him peace. that's what seems logical to me, assuming there is an actual plot line. on the other hand, i would agree if someone would just call it an experimental work with a bit of black humor. what i've written above rather resembles an analysis, although i'm convinced one should just feel this movie. it's either purely symbolic or completely meaningless, nothing but a story about two cats, life and death and their endeavors brought to life by an unusual vision. your choice.

while researching the origins of the production, i stumbled upon some information on the original author of the manga - that is Nekojiru - and feel like her death might have influenced the final tone of the movie. not much is known about her life or the circumstances of the way her life had ended, apart from the fact it surely was a suicide. she also had a history of depression, which probably has originated in her youth, and experienced trouble maintaining social contacts/involving in social interactions. for that reason, in her early works, she started to depict herself as a cat surrounded by people. antisocial and alienated, misunderstood by the surroundings. just like her characters - also Nyako and Nyatta - living among humans but not being a part of their world. maybe that's what the creators of the short film had in mind, when crafting its depressing scenario (apparently, apart from the circus visit, none of the plot events are associated with Nekojiru's works).

my rating: 4.5/5

no favorite quote in this case, as there's no spoken dialog throughout the entire film. however, i'd name the ending and then the short scene in the credits my favored bits of the animation. the first one leaves you with a sense of emptiness, and the second one soothes this impression, leaving a viewer with a bitter-sweet feeling in the end.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

Mysterious Skin (2004)

basic info: directed and written by Gregg Araki on the basis of a novel by Scott Heim under the same title. listed among the genres of coming-of-age and drama.

overall ratings: imid: 7,6/10 rotten tomatoes: 86% letterboxd: 4.2/5

plot summary: the story follows the ups and downs of two seemingly unassociated boys - first kids, then teenagers, and ultimately young adults. they both end up gaining the burden of experiencing an overwhelming trauma at a very young age, although its outcomes happen to push the two boys onto completely separate life paths, irreversibly altering their perception of themselves and the values, they treasure. Brian, having crammed the events of summer of 1981 in the very back of his mind, believes he had been abducted by aliens and has been a victim of odd, extraterrestrial occurrences ever since. Neil on the other hand, had subconsciously converted the sexual abuse used against him into a sense of validation and love, searching for which he continued after becoming a sex worker. we're able to accompany the protagonist through their upbringing, leading to a point the two finally meet and momentally join the dots regarding the memorable (yet hard to remember for Brian alone) summer their innocence was taken away and forever. the movie comes to an end with Neil comforting Brian in the house once belonging to the Little League coach who violated them, while listening into the christmas carols and wishing none of this happened.

my thoughts: it's one of those movies thats is just straight out good. it doesn't need any sophisticated dialog sequences, breathtaking frames (except for those shots, in which the actors look directly at the camera. it's so simple, yet almost intimate) or excessively twisted, complex characters. it's relatable. and it's enough to call it a good one, because the seriousness and exceptionality of the topic it features is just enough on its own. i might be a little biased, as i personally adore Araki's works in general, but my statement on this one is invariably reckless and equally favorable. the movie leaves you with a deep void, mainly because at first you're nothing but a witness of some rough patches in a life of a depraved 15-year old and an alien-obsessed nerd. however, as the events unfold, that void grows bigger and more extensive. Neil becomes more and more self-destructive, whilst Brian gets closer and closer to uncovering the truth about his strange, in-dream encounters. they both seem rather helpless in their actions, as everything in the movie involuntarily comes down to the beginning of all things - the summer of 1981, when a really nice coach was still in town and the boys were signed up for Little League. we're presented two severely different scenarios in terms of coping with generally put, childhood trauma from now on. firstly, Neil: the affection coach granted him made him feel special, especially because his single mother wouldn't always be there for him due to her vivid and unstable love life. he had started to figure out his sexuality at a very young age too, which might have ensured him back then, that his feelings for a grown man (which were reciprocated too, although by an adult fully aware of his doings) are rightful and not inappropriate - just fun, as Neil was told by the coach. he felt loved by someone, in the sickest way possible. sexual abuse became a way for him to satisfy the lack of validation, which he couldn't fulfill anyway - neither by having sex with other men, by whom he was treated no better then a piece of trash, nor by giving himself up to their demands to feel better. Brian on the other hand, stands as a complete opposite - he unawarely wiped the hurtful, traumatic experienced from his consciousness, which he replaced with unclear, alternated glimpses of the actual truth. the dream Brian continuously had about having his face stroked by an alien, in reality consisted in the coach doing so. he didn't want to remember and his parents never asked about his absence on that rainy day. over time, he slowly regains those small pieces of subconsciously hidden memories, until it all hits him after he reunites with Neil and is told the real story. that scene hurt me physically. the void growing, my chest clenching. there's nothing you can do anymore, because it all has already happened and it couldn't have gone differently. nothing will ever be okay, and they can't do anything about it. I'm fully aware that i rather pointed out all the good aspects of this production instead of objectively and critically reviewing it, but i don't care. it deserves it.

my rating: 4/5

favorite quote: "There was nothing we could do. So I just stayed silent and trying to telepathically communicate how sorry I was about what had happened. And I thought of all the grief and sadness and fucked up suffering in the world, and it made me want to escape. I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically... disappear."

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

August Underground's Penance (2007)

basic info: directed by Fred Vogel and co-written with Cristie Whiles. this sequel forms the final part of the August Underground trilogy.

overall ratings: imdb: 3,5/10 rotten tomatoes: 50% letterboxd: 2.3/5

plot summary: for the grand finale, we're set back to a narrative provided by only a duo - which consists of Peter and his girlfriend Crusty, for a change. they, once again, go for an uncontrollable spree around the town, violating their victims in equally ruthless and sickening ways. we can gladly observe our protagonists cut a homeless man open, letting his intestines stick its gurgling contents freely out, Peter beating a man to death with a hammer, cutting a fetus out of a dead woman's body (who was actually played by Vogel's wife) or them breaking into a random family's place, in the aim of (unsuccessfully) raping and (with a fortunate result this time) strangling its members. the lovebirds are also shown feeding an alligator a dead rat, as well as doing so to a lion with several pieces of a dead deer. the ending is rather bitter-sweet on the other hand, as the production finishes with Crusty committing suicide by asphyxiating herself to death.

my thoughts: the first thing that caught my eye, and therefore made a huge difference in comparison with the previous movies, is the high definition footage. no more degraded, seemingly obscure and inconsistent graphics. one could say that this little, yet ultimately enormous cosmetic change prompts the whole found footage convention to vanish. well, kind of, but we do get something even better in return. a better understanding of Peter's (mostly his) and Crusty's characters, ladies and gentlemen. or at least potential tropes, that could lead to profound conclusions on their personal experiences, trauma and inner relationship cracks. that is, for instance, Crusty is revealed to get frustrated because of Peter's inability to get his thing up - in AU's Mordum he's also called a faggot by her, which might point to his sexuality and, at the same time, stand as a main reason for all the friction piling up between them. this causes their killing spree to gradually exacerbate, inclining Crusty to finally snap towards the end of the movie. however, Peter isn't as entertaining as a person alone. his worth is defined by his tremendous actions. and it seems like he's well aware of that - by pursuing in all those monstrosities, staying consistent with his violent capabilities, he's the last man standing after all. he persists. i feel that's the right turn of events. be boring, do crime! nevertheless, although the final part of the trilogy did fulfill my primary expectations regarding character development, it hasn't possessed a remarkable spot in my mind. i've read about Fred Vogel mentioning it's his personal favorite among the remaining two productions and i totally get it. it has it all: gore, but not that much so that it doesn't outshine the actual plot, characters with their individual burdens and an intriguing camerawork. i'm not entirely sure if it's because of the lack of the original, deformed-like style of filming or because i got what i wanted. there's something missing and it bothers me.

my rating: 2/5

no favorite quote for this one. i wanted to mention a particular scene instead. after the duo had broken into a family's house, Crusty seemed different at the sight of the presents and the occasion of Christmas itself. besides form the arousement resulting from strangling the girl. i wonder if it was straightforwardly connected to some questionable trauma she experienced before. i suppose so.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

August Underground's Mordum (2003) + The Maggot Cut

basic info: co-directed and co-written by Fred Vogel, Killjoy (the lead singer of the band named Necrophagia; the production at first was supposed to be a music video), Cristie Whiles, Jerami Cruise and Michael Todd Schneider. a co-existent, although completely separate version of this movie was edited by Schneider and released under his own label.

overall ratings: imdb: 3/10 rotten tomatoes: 42% letterboxd: 2.1/5

plot summary: in this one, we're granted some new faces. that's because Peter is now joined by his sadomasochistic girlfriend Crusty and her oblivious, partially unconscious of his surroundings, brother -Maggot. their exceptionally thriving teamwork starts off quite hardcore, as it begins with Peter walking in on Crusty and her sibling performing a sexual act, then the couple (the non-incest one) arouses each other by self-harm, and ultimately they all break into a crack house. the subsequent events circle around the trio toying with their victims or each other in a disgusting variety of truly unbearable and nasty ways. the aforementioned include: Maggot penetrating intestines freely hanging off a woman previously gutted alive or him eating (unsurprisingly) maggots out of a rotting corpse of a child, as well as Crusty cheerfully vomiting on faces of the captives or generally put necrophilia.

my thoughts: one could say this is the best a roughly 300$ budget and a sick artistic vision for such a disgraceful contribution to the cinematic universe could give. i wouldn't agree with them, but would definitely place it on the very top within the three movies, when it comes to my personal experiences with the series as whole. what i mentioned in the entry prior to this one is that in the first part of the trilogy the protagonists lacked depth, which could make one's perception of the story more complex. in mordum, we're given an insight into the uneasiness of the relationship between Peter and his girlfriend, along with the seemingly submissive position Maggot is put in, in comparison with his sister's partner. our guy is also made the centre of the least pleasant (or just plainly horrible) scenes in the movie, what pictures a vague, yet tense hierarchy that exists within the trio. (regarding "The Maggot Cut"; that version basically includes more scenes featuring Schneider's character). that's a nice addition to a motion picture documenting uncivilized acts of gory torture and violence. in terms of those, they're undeniably well done. not only as a matter of purely scenographic creativity, but also the acting of the victims of the murderous trio successfully leaves one with a sense of uncanniness. their reactions seem strangely on spot, nonetheless fitting the messy filming style. hypnotizing. this little thing has drawn my attention and its something i can't recall accompanying me in case of the original August Underground. wasn't it for the actual character exposition, and therefore an almost psychologically draining impression, mordum wouldn't excel its predecessor in anything in particular.

my rating: 3/5

favorite quote: "That's your fucking baptism, you fuck!"

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[kdnss77]

August Underground (2001)

basic info: directed by Fred Vogel and co-written by Allen Peters. classified by the genres of horror, found footage and snuff.

overall ratings: imdb: 3,5/10 rotten tomatoes: 48% letterboxd: 2,1/5

plot summary: the plot itself revolves around a sociopathic duo: firstly - a gruesome, torture-loving serial killer and secondly - his loyal companion, capturing his monstrous acts within the eye of the camera. their endeavors, which include kidnapping and severely injuring a young woman, as well as slicing into pieces a body of a man killed by Peter (played by Fred Vogel, the director himself) or beating up a prostitute they came across, have found their place on a video tape in a conveniently chaotic style, proudly following the foundations of the infamous found footage convention.

my thoughts: but to get real. could the adjective "good" be ever found under the same label as the subgenre of snuff? it's rather quite self explainable, just as the subjectivity in terms of sympathy for sickening mixture of brutality, gore and shameless, sexual depravity. because in its own kind, this particular title (and the subsequent sequels) are in fact quite remarkable. the characters feel disturbingly real, just as their doings. both the obscene and surprisingly casual, such as getting a tattoo in terms of the second matter mentioned. i've seen reviews saying the movie lacks gore cuts and that they shouldve been more frequent throughout its full length, so as to make it more entertaining and even less humane. but for me personally it creates a well crafted balance. just two guys on a killing spree, having the best time of their lives. giggling uncontrollably and documenting things that are plainly unimaginable. and at the same time could be happening anywhere, anytime or even at this particular moment. although i have to agree, that - except for the realness of the protagonists - they themselves lack some initial depth that would enable a potential viewer to immerse oneself in this ordinary, yet horrible turn of events. all i managed to feel for both Peter and his bro was hatred, but only for the reason of their actions. no personality or motifs included. guess that would be the lacking piece of puzzle for me, regarding this part of the August Underground series in particular.

my rating: 2/5

favorite quote: "You know what I don't understand? I don't understand, you know, like, in, y'know, in the Bible, and y'know, the stories that you hear, y'know, they're always upset, and weeping, and crying and stuff like that. These people just have a stoned look on their face. Get it?"

the images used were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.