The Quick and the Dead (1995) Movie Review

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 action western movie directed by Sam Raimi and written by Simon Moore (with contributions by Joss Whedon). It stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Originally written by Moore in 1992 as a tribute to earlier spaghetti westerns but with a female protagonist, Sharon Stone decided Sam Raimi should be the director after watching his work on Army of Darkness (1992) and the film got a slightly more campy tone in a similar vein to Raimi's other films in the Evil Dead series. While production company Sony wanted a less serious tone and hired John Sayles to do rewrites, Moore came back and pretty much stuck closer to his original vision regardless. The film became a notable box-office bomb when it was released but it has since been reevaluated as a good post-modernist western and a homage to the films of Sergio Leone.

A mysterious female gunslinger named Ellen "The Lady" McKenzie arrives to an old west town named Redemption to seek revenge on John Herod, a dangerous and criminal leader who runs the place. She enters a fast-draw shooting tournament Herod has set in order to win the prize. Ellen meets an ex-gang member turned priest and a young gunslinger as she blasts her opponents in this ruthless town.

Turns out Raimi's eclectic and kinetic style of constant movement and weird angles perfectly fits the artificial and unique cinematic conception of the western by the likes of Sergio Leone and other spaghetti western directors. This film delivers awesome action by creating several highly fragmented segments of events, actions and reactions and joining them together through editing in order to achieve a certain effect or convey some meaning. The dutch angles and zooms are done in such a way that very few other westerns, especially American ones, can even come close to, it's totally unfamiliar in that aspect.

The story and characters are portrayed in a very two dimensional cartoonish manner, following tropes and archetypes but slowly charging them with some gravitas or charm due to the performances. Stone's character is a perfect example as she is, on paper, a very basic character: the mysterious, silent loner who arrives at a violent town and disturbs the social order (this element is more radical here because she is a woman) but by the end it is revealed that she is looking for revenge as the characters personal relationships are exposed and explored. However, Stone is such a good performer that her stoicism works and is believable, which gives her character more of a presence and layers.

A fancy split diopter shot.

It's not a well rounded film, it's sometimes too clunky in its storytelling and pacing, slowing down at points or focusing on the least interesting parts of its storyline, but it has some top notch production design and art direction as well as cinematography and camera work (something expected from Raimi), elements that certainly help at giving the film not only very distinctive look but also to become slightly lyrical and beautiful at moments, details like the way they shoot the rain falling down or the large skies decorated with clouds are always a joy to gaze at. 

Very recommended for western movie fans since it will not only give you some expected action but it gives the conventions an interesting twist, creating the needed element of variation and originality that good movies from a genre need.

Lady Snowblood (1973) Movie Review

Lady Snowblood is a 1973 action period (Jidaigeki) film directed by Toshiya Fujita written by Norio Osada and based on a manga by writer Kazuo Koike and illustrator Kazuo Kamimura. It stars Meiko Kaji, Kō Nishimura, Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimon, Miyoko Akaza and Eiji Okada. The film became a cult hit overseas and was also well known by western audiences for being one of the top influences for Quentin Tarantino when making Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2 (2003-2004). It also had a sequel titled Love Song of Vengeance (1974).

In Japan during the Meiji era, a woman was sexually abused and witnessed the murder of her husband and son at the hands of criminals, she was then imprisoned after stabbing one of the thugs. Years later she gives birth to a baby girl, Yuki Kashima, while captive and passes away. Yuki is trained by a priest to be an expert assassin and once she reaches adulthood sets out to kill the people who destroyed her family in cold blood.

While this film is mostly known as a huge influence on Kill Bill, because of the fragmented narrative with a heavy use of flashbacks, the swordswoman heroine looking for revenge and the great bloodshed as well, there are some key differences. The non-linear storytelling aspect serves in Lady Snowblood to further expand the background of the protagonist, this is similar to Kill Bill in that regard since that movie also reveals important information needed to understand following scenes every time it goes back in time, but in Snowblood the motivation and what the flashbacks reveal isn't nearly as mapped out and the two timelines that we go back and forward from are not as blatantly utilitarian and are more impressionistic, whereas in Kill Bill it's all very functional. Tarantino does a very decent job and structuring that film dramatically, but it's all according to the machine that is the script. Snowblood allows for more nuance and more time to think about the dramatic scenarios.

Both films also have some stylistic flourishes with their formal exaggerations, but the fixation on the saturated hue of the blood and the extravagant choices in framing, composition, angles, music, the zooms, the sound effects and movements all ring more cohesive and are less exhausting in Snowblood than in Kill Bill, which is too slap-dash and eclectic. In Lady Snowblood every shot simply joins into a unity, a flow that is controlled and mediated by the director quite skillfully, and every hyperbolic element is simply a very expressive manifestation of the emotional intensity the story requires, arriving at a more concrete and precise tone that organically emanates from the storyline as opposed to being implemented outside of the story as an eccentric whim.

Related to the description above is the fact that every confrontation set-piece is a masterclass in vigorous action as every editing choice is just as punctual and necessary for the development of the sequence as every maneuver and motion the actor does in these fantastic choreographies. The almost pictorial quality of the movie is never really overdone as in other movies that try to show off only to come off as sterile, when we see the image of white snow contrasted with bright red blood we don't really think this is a fake and forced visual but it comes out so beautifully natural that it reaches a very lyrical dimension successfully. This is very hard to achieve, especially because the film never overexplains itself. The rapid insert shots of the main character remembering things appear briefly and without any bombastic music or sounds to announce it, you have to do the work and infer the intensity of the significance of the image through the montage and the clues you are provided.  

This is, as usual, a very nice production by Tokyo Eiga (a Toho subsidiary) with good production values and a convincing recreation of 1800’s Japan. This setting is also taken advantage of by the writer as it becomes a critique of Japan's imperialistic tendencies as well as this point of convergence between post-feudal Japan, its modernization and its westernization that eventually ended up as its colonization by the USA in the 1900’s but all explored in a particular period of transition that turn this into a more mythical story than a contemporary fad or something more current. 

Soothing music aids the entirety of the film, this beautiful soundtrack features some dramatic melodies of melancholy by Masaaki Hirao and the songs Shura no Hana and Urami Bushi performed by leading lady Meiko Kaji are now legendary. However, the film mostly knows when to use the music for a better effect and when to use silence accordingly, so it never overdoes it, always austere.

A mandatory swordfighting action film from Japan that any fan of Kill Bill or the entire subgenre should enjoy. If you have never seen it then I can absolutely recommend it for all cinephile audiences.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 7: Double Vision

Double Vision is the seventh episode of the original Bubblegum Crisis series. It's directed by Katsuhito Akiyama, Hiroaki Gôda, Hiroki Hayashi, Masami Ôbari and Fumihiko Takayama; and written by Toshimichi Suzuki, Katsuhito Akiyama, Shinji Aramaki, Emu Arii, Hideki Kakinuma and Ken'ichi Matsuzaki; with the voices of Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Ômori, Michie Tomizawa and Akiko Hiramatsu.

A new combat Boomer is being produced by GENOM and the Gulf & Bradley Corporation. Meanwhile, popular singer Vision is coming to town, but this is a front, her real name is Reika and she is here to kill the people responsible for the Boomer who murdered her sister (as seen in episode 2 Born to Kill), however, Reika is too soft to murder anyone and hesitates when it comes to pull the trigger. The stakes are raised and the Sabers are in crisis with Priss having a broken arm, Nene is on the case at the A.D Police headquarters and Linna getting involved with Reika since she was a personal friend of her dear departed sister, Irene, persuading the well known singer to drop her plans for vengeance.

Another solid episode, one that returns to the musical roots of the show, but not with Priss, which would have been cool. I do think that having the main leads go through a lot of obstacles that knock them down a few notches in order to increase the tension of the conflicts is a very effective and well implemented trick to make the story more impactful and engaging due to its increased dramatic charge and having Linna become more of a focus is a also a very good decision because we get to spend some needed time with a mostly sidelined character in the past couple of episodes.

The weak spots are the routinary and dull stuff going on with Leon and the A.D Police, but that actually ends up paying off in the end. Some of the internal conflicts with the antagonists is interesting to a satisfying degree and a lot of it is more than necessary to the plot but it nearly always runs the risk of slowing down the pace and burying the main character's screentime, their development.

In addition to the usual well-crafted combat and riding sequences, we also have a few new tricks and flourishes such as the flashing and brief inside look at the exo suit when Priss gets her arm broken and some overly gory and brutal moments that are very in tune with the rest of the action but that are somewhat more highlighted here, increasing the despair and the misfortune of the characters. I also gotta commend the writers and directors for spicing up every battle scene and climax in the series making them feel distinct and never dragging on for long.

A very intriguing and captivating episode, giving some needed continuity to the show and closing some loose ends before the very last entry.