2010 Screening Log

001. (01 Jan) Drunken Angel (1948, Akira Kurosawa)
002. (01 Jan) Closely Watched Trains (1966, Jirí Menzel)
003. (02 Jan) Harlan County U.S.A. (1976, Barbara Kopple)

Exiled (2006, Johnnie To) two stars

Outstanding use of space, motion, and color in support of an utterly banal shot-em-up story. I struggled to enjoy it on a strictly abstract level, but ultimately couldn't ignore its narrative failings, not to mention its eye-rolling gender politics (some of which has been unjustly described as more complex than I could figure. Whatever. The only two females types in this movie are literally a mother and a whore). Also, gangster films that emphasize themes of friendship, loyalty, and family strike me as hypocritical and annoy my uptight moral sensibilities. Monotonous testosterone annoys my uptight feminist sensibilities as well. Maybe that testosterone was counterbalanced by its graceful mise-en-scene (or maybe it was absurdly romanticized... I'm still thinking about it, which I guess is a good thing...)