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Flunky, Work Hard
02 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted 1932
in02 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted 1932
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19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted 1960
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This movie, damn <3.
19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted 1932
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19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted 1931
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19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted 1930
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Not nearly quite as breathtaking as his dramas or even the other collegiate comedies I’ve watched from him but the running sight gags are still a great deal of fun and just the way Ozu uses framing to depict how these friends hang out and bond together while in colege and then gradually diverge away from the protagonist makes the whole thing worthwhile.
19 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted 1934
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28 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted 1959
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1950s, 1959, CoTR, Japan, Nagisa Oshima
10 Tuesday Apr 2012
Posted Uncategorized
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02 Monday Jan 2012
Posted Uncategorized
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Staggering and monumental.
This is a film that seems haunted by a sense of (national) guilt which just makes it even more affecting. Also, despite the specificity of the context, it feels both current and universal.
Firstly, the film is really ambitious covering a broad spectrum of issues around what it means to be human and live in a society. It’s also brutally cognizant of the degree of hypocrisy that we are all responsible for – both individually and collectively. It repeatedly pits individual ideology against self-interest and the greater good. This all sounds rather bleak but the formal elements keep it from being merely a litany of miserable events piled up on top of each other. Plus, Kaji is a really well-written protagonist. He’s both sympathetic and flawed in the way that most humans are. Several times in the course of the film, he trades in his ideals or at least the opportunity for nobility in the interest of pragmatism / his own goals.
I can see the film being criticized for being somewhat repetitive but at least for me, the repetition worked in that it reinforces the ideas that the film is trying to convey. It’s mirrored by the repetition in the imagery of groups of people trudging through tough, barren landscapes hoping for a better future. Ultimately, despite the occasional heavy-handedness of the plot, I can’t get these images off my mind.