Two common places: the summer heat and the more than evident lack of ideas of commercial North American cinema. The first is inevitable and natural. The second must have slightly more complex causes, although it is sure to be preventable and not natural at all. The first takes you to an abulia enhanced by leisure. The second leads you to avoid any movie that has recommendations like: "two thumbs up" or "an adrenaline roller coaster." The first gives you a chance to catch up on the movies. The second leads you to search other cinematographies, an uncertain and arduous search. This question of globalization and other cultures (the Other, we would say, getting cultured) are usually tempting. Then we start to explore dark areas of the video or we look for those movies that only have one copy in stock or we resort to recommendations from various sources. And we then fall into boxes that have more text than images (once the film is rented, we will discover that rather than seeing it, the film must be read), we discover that there are almost as many festivals as there are films that we did not see, and we discover that a surname does not necessarily have to bear vowels. So we fall into that zone daughter of neoliberalism and the most stark consumption. Films victims of the novelty, that forgotten are stacked under the ignominious poster of "$ 2.50 x 48 hours". But experts in the economy of war and in balance tables (read types without resources interested in cultural property) we know the benefits of these common graves of the industry. All this presentation is justification for a recommendation (and for a cacophony of a university thesis). A way to save time and money, or if you want a need to comment on three films, easy to get, entertaining and coming from a market, which in recent years prevailed and is feeding the little imagination of Hollywood: the cinema of the East . There are three films (do not despair, they are not horror, nor do they have white-skinned babies appearing in the middle of the night) that had their commercial premiere and that worked well, but that may have been forgotten in the heat of the premieres. Attention: it is not art or metaphysical cinema, they are not "about thinking". They are three films to have a good time without too many demands for the viewer but that reflect the creative freedom of oriental cinema (something that, unfortunately, is not seen very often).
The first one must have left Quentin Tarantino typing. Curious, while Tarantino visited Japanese culture with a simplistic gaze in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), Park Chan-woo appropriated the aesthetics of Reservoir dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994), exacerbated and enriched it and responded to it. with Oldboy (2003), an American-based thriller made with the fury, sadism and thematic freedom of Asian cinema. And here there are no fishermen on the side of a river who watch the seasons go by, nor sensual eroticism of tangled bodies, nor metaphysical snakes that speak to the camera (very rare that final short by Shoshei Imamura on 11 09 01 (2002)). Here's a raging tale of urban revenge, exaggerated (thirty-two teeth and a hammer is a chilling combination to say the least), which does not hesitate to resort to uneven fights (and I am not talking about a ninja against an army of marines, if not unequal and credible fights) and taboo subjects such as incest (an impeccable Greek tragedy ending). A jewel enhanced by the hysterical way in which it is filmed, a montage in empathy with the protagonist and an excess that leaves the most demanding viewer pippon (homework: quote the last sentence and stick it to the DVD box at the video store, do not forget to mention the author and the magazine you are reading). Uncontrolled creative freedom + Entertainment + Various oriental influences. Formula that has at least one obvious result: Kun-fu-sion (Kung-Fu-Hustle, 2005) by Stephen Chow. Imagine a future film director victim of an overexposure of Looney Toones, Play Station games, Bruce Lee karate movies and various comics / manga. Imagine this grown-up young man on an honest budget and the freedom to do whatever he wants creatively. Let's imagine that and we will have an outline of what this movie is. A story of gangsters in China in the early decades of the 20th century, Chow indulges in anime, musical comedy, stupid humor, and a hidden hero story that makes you want to watch multiple times. Whoever hates karate movies should watch it to begin to know the genre from humor. Whoever idolizes Shaolin movies should understand this humor as a loving tribute.
Finally, a classic of oriental cinema recommendations: the master Takeshi Kitano. Recommending Kitano talking about Asian cinema is almost a no-brainer but it is a justified obviousness in the talent of this director. Zatoichi (2003) is a pearl in samurai cinema (I risk putting it on the same level as The Seven Samurai (1957) or Kagemusha (1980) by Akira Kurosawa). The story is not very new: a blind master samurai (nothing to do with the horrible Blind fury (1989) with Rutger Hauer, a hit from my childhood as a cinephile) disguised as a masseur arrives in a town, which supports the confrontation of different criminal gangs. As you can imagine, the blind man will be in charge of defending the poor and absent, with a great display of fights, blood and saber-rattling. There are betrayals, denunciations, lies, hit men, bosses in the shadows and innocent victims. It looks like a samurai directed by Scorsese (can you imagine a Japanese Joe Pesci?). Now, this creative freedom, this open mind - which may be the perception that one has from a culture that is considered as opposite, or at least quite different - and with which I have been insisting throughout this text, is manifested with all his audacity in the final frame of the film: an incredible choreography of American tap, a la Ziegfeld Follies, but with the scenery and costumes of 19th century Japan. An unjustified scene in the continuity of the story but that sets in a masterly and natural way, and ends up making any other ending think as impossible (and beware, I'm not revealing the end of the film, that's where I'm ruining the surprise, but not it's so serious). Three recommendations, three movies that are easy to find in any video store. Three films edited a while ago, already on the side of the balances. Good and cheap: Asian bazaar chiches of everything for two pesos (although less kitsch and more durable).
