THE SCHOOL OF OZU: HOU HSIAO-HSIEN - PART ONE

Ozu’s films were a revelation to me - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, TALKING WITH OZU

Below is a collection of visual comparisons between the films of Yasujiro Ozu's and Hou Hsiao Hsien.

What's so fascinating is that even before Hou discovered the films of Ozu, there was a strange coincidental synchronicity between their work (you'll see a handful of examples of this throughout). Hou hadn't discovered Ozu's work until the mid-80's...

since I was small and in my student days, the movies I saw were, more than anything, American - Hou Hsiao Hsien, Staging Memories: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A City of Sadness

While some directors shy away from talking about influence in order to avoid being eternally paired with someone else - often times the similarities are still undeniable even on a surface level. Quentin Tarantino claims to have never been in to the French New Wave yet his production company is called "A Bande Apart" and Pulp Fiction has a handful of French New Wave references. Jim Jarmusch claims to have never seen a Star Wars movie yet both Ghost Dog and The Dead Don't Die feature direct homages & references to George Lucas' epic franchise. Now...both The French New Wave & Star Wars are the kinds of works that you don't actually have to see in order to know where certain references comes from, but at the same time you can see the potential cracks/inconsistencies in their claims.

At the end of the day- who knows? 

Hou Hsiao Hsien is very much his own director but the influence which showed up later on in his movies is very clear (below is a specific example of a film he directed before discovering the work of Ozu but the coincidental similarities are still there).

Good Morning /
Green Green Grass Of Home

Every Hou film isn't represented in this piece but I think I got the point the across (while there is a part 2 planned, there are only so many shots of train stations, hanging laundry and industrial landscapes one can show until things get a bit repetitive).

Enjoy...

I’ve watched a lot of Ozu films recently and I’m about to make my own films depicting contemporary Taiwan - Hou Hsiao Hsien

Early Summer /
Good Men, Good Women

Early Summer /
Good Men, Good Women

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind

Early Spring /
Dust In The Wind

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind

Early Spring /
Dust In The Wind

Early Spring /
Dust In The Wind

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind


Ozu is like a mathematician. He knew the lives of Japanese people very well. And depicted them in his work. It’s as if he analyzed them in a detached way - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, TALKING WITH OZU

Equinox Flower/ A Summer At Grandpa's

Equinox Flower/ A Summer At Grandpa's

Equinox Flower/ A Summer At Grandpa's

The idea came from a Japanese friend. I wanted to tell a family story, just like Ozu, but to make it about modern Tokyo. I had a map of Tokyo. I started off by working out which area I liked most. After thinking up the professions for each character, I was able to work out which part of the city they would go to - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, The Guardian

Tokyo Story /

Cafe Lumiere

Filmmakers such as Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse were huge inspirations - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Headstuff.org

Early Summer /

City Of Sadness

Actually, it is very difficult to cross national borders and shoot the film of a different culture. How many successful films have you seen? There are very few. The reason is very simple. For example, when we look at Asian-themed films made by foreign companies, it's not accurate. When we watch their films about Chinese people, it's not accurate. It's a very big challenge, because they don't know about the Chinese way of life, daily rituals, etc. But I feel this is interesting. It's a chal-lenge; it's pretty interesting - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Senses of cinema

Good Morning /
Cafe Lumiere

Late Spring /
Cafe Lumiere

Late Spring / Cafe Lumiere

Late Spring / Cafe Lumiere

Early Summer /
The Time To Live And The Time To Die

Floating Weeds / The Time To Live And The Time To Die

Floating Weeds / The Time To Live And The Time To Die

Floating Weeds / The Time To Live And The Time To Die

Good Morning / Green Green Grass Of Home

Good Morning / Green Green Grass Of Home

Floating Weeds /
The Times

A Hen In The Wind /
Three Times

There Was A Father /
Three Times

Late Spring /
Goodbye South Goodbye

Late Spring /
Goodbye South Goodbye

Late Spring /
Goodbye South Goodbye

Late Spring /
A Summer At Grandpa's

There Was A Father /
Green Green Grass Of Home

I Was Born But... /
A Summer At Grandpa's

INFINITY POOL

Nepotism is an interesting subject when it comes to film. People love to conveniently pick & choose who they criticize. Sofia Coppola is often used as the definitive case study for “nepo babies” while her cousins Nicolas Cage & Jason Schwartzman go relatively uncriticized for having the same lineage (to be clear - I'm not saying it isn't common knowledge that they're in the Coppola family. It just doesn't come up as much in comparison to Sofia). Everyone loves Jeff Bridges & Jamie Lee Curtis while Margaret Qualley & John David Washington’s legacy is so weirdly downplayed. I understand that folks like Sofia Coppola & John David Washington haven’t made the impact of folks like Nicholas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis or Jeff Bridges, but there’s got to be some kind of consistency. Folks claim to hate all forms of nepotism yet give a select group of “nepo babies” a pass.

And if we're being honest - Sofia Coppola's nepotism is what makes her (few) good movies work. Who better to make something like Somewhere or On The Rocks? Both are stories of successful men told from the perspective of their daughters. She's the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola. She knows these types of people better than the average person.

The criticism of nepotism is also strange because people seem to associate nepotism with just the entertainment industry or the office world which is pretty silly. Nepotism is literally everywhere. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a good thing. I just wish folks that are critical of it would show some type of consistency in their criticism…

I say all of this because while Brandon Cronenberg is his own filmmaker, his work still comes right out of his father’s playbook (body horror, body modification, sex, violence, science fiction, surrogate bodies, new technology, etc). Last year we looked at the strong similarities between the work of Brandon & David (click here to read) and not much has changed with Infinity Pool (a movie I enjoyed). 

I don't see this as a bad thing. I have no problem with one of the most influence filmmakers (David Cronenberg) rubbing off on his own flesh & blood. Everyone else “borrows” from David. Why not his own son?

The Death Of David Cronenberg /
Infinity Pool

Crash /
Infinity Pool

Shivers /
Infinity Pool

The Dead Zone /
Infinity Pool

I highly doubt Brandon laid out these scenes in a calculated attempt to pay homage to his father. If anything he would probably try to avoid it. But the similarities are there even if coincidental.

Unlike the John David Washington’s of the world, Brandon Cronenberg doesn’t weirdly downplay who his father his. He doesn’t play it up either. He just casually acknowledges it in a matter of fact kind of way.

He’s my father, so I’m very influenced by him in that sense. We have some of the same genes, I grew up with him and have a close relationship with him – I’ve never rejected him as a means of rebellion. So he’s definitely influenced who I am and my interests, but I wasn’t influenced by his films or him as a filmmaker, because I just don’t have that relationship with them - Brandon Cronenberg (Denofgeek.com)

If anything it’s the senior Cronenberg that does all the bragging like a proud dad…

After a tragic accident while staying on a resort, a couple with pre-existing marital problems find themselves in way over their heads in a world of violence, corrupt laws, and all around hedonism. Brandon Cronenberg also continues to explore the idea of surrogate bodies like he did in Antiviral & Possessor (Infinity Pool is a lot more in line with Possessor). This specific aspect of the movie comes right out of his father’s playbook. 

And the similarities aren’t super obvious but Infinity Pool would make for an interesting double feature with Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. From the masks to the orgies - it’s all there (I’m sure there’s an essay or think piece on the weird secret activities of the rich & powerful somewhere out there)…

Eyes Wide Shut/
Infinity Pool

The general negative criticism of Infinity Pool is that it’s good until the final act where everything sort of falls apart and gets a little too “crazy”. The movie does sort of go off the rails but that’s what I liked about it. It’s about a downward spiral in to strange debauchery and that’s essentially what the film shows.


Infinity Pool might be the best film I’ve seen all year but I don't know if that’s because it’s actually really good or if there isn’t much to chose from these days. Either way this is a fun movie for folks that enjoy the recent/semi-recent films of the Cronenberg Family.

NO SUDDEN MOVE

The basic story behind No Sudden Move is a layered robbery gone wrong. Set in 1955 Detroit, a pair of criminals (Ronald Russo & Carl Goynes) are hired by an unknown source to retrieve an important document and they soon find that they’ve been set up/used as pawns in a much bigger game. Now Russo and Goynes have to work together to figure out what’s going on all while still trying to make a nice score. From the rarely mentioned Underneath & Lucky Logan, to The Ocean’s films, Soderbergh is at home with the crime caper (as you can imagine - there’s lots of double, triple and quadruple crossing at every turn in the film).

To my surprise, there were a decent amount of (subconscious?) Tarantino-esque moments. From the stacked ensemble cast to specific scenarios - this is the kind of post-Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction movie that would have come out in 1996.

Inglorious Basterds /
No Sudden Move

Reservoir Dogs /
No Sudden Move

It also appears that Soderbergh is tipping his hat to Bill Duke's role in Get Rich Or Die Tryin...

Get Rich Or Die Tryin /
No Sudden Move

At the end of the day this movie is "fine"(?) overall. There's just one aspect that I haven't been able to shake for the last two years...

I don’t know if this is good, bad or a combination of the two - but I saw shades of myself in Don Cheadle’s Goynes. Not the homicidal killer aspect. The just the part about “gettin’ what’s mine” (a phrase he uses throughout the film). I’ve always joked about how if I ever had to turn to crime in order to get money I wouldn’t get too greedy. Just one or two safe scores and then I’m out. A decent amount of momentary life-changing cash to stretch for a while and I’m good. By the time No Sudden Move ends, we learn that was Goynes’ plan all along (at least that’s how I saw it). 

That’s the good part about my relation to Goynes. The bad part is the selling oneself short. By the end of the film Goynes makes $5,000 dollars out of a potential $400,000 dollars. $5,000 in 1955 is a nice chunk of money but $400,000 is obviously better. No matter what year it is. But to get this $400,000 dollars you have to take part in an elaborate risky plot. The thing is - I’m not a risk-taker. Even in 2023 if there was an opportunity to make $5,000 in a low risk situation versus $400,000 in a high risk situation, I’m going to go with the low risk option. That’s just how I am. Part of that has to do with wanting to live. I don’t want to die (the stakes in No Sudden Move are very very dangerous). The other part of my non-risk taking personality has to do with me being a worker bee. A lot of people like to say they’re a “boss” or a shot-caller because they took out a PPP loan or started a small business. But not me. Take my work record. I have no interest in working for myself or being my own boss. I’m a salary guy. A lot of folks won’t admit this but my way of thinking represents a nice-sized majority of people in this world which is essentially what the film is about - giving “regular” folks crumbs to do the dirty work to get someone else rich. This isn’t a revelation. That’s the way of the world.
At first glance, No Sudden Move is a crime caper. Beneath that surface it’s a light commentary on the racial tension/divide in 1950’s Detroit. And beyond that it’s about regular folks being used as pawns and being happy to get scraps (like Goynes). These days any movie about money is going to be dissected as some kind of commentary on capitalism but in the case of No Sudden Move it’s truly warranted (the heavy-handed final scene/climax of the movie just solidifies this).


This would make a nice double feature with Army Of The Dead in that both films are semi-recent stories of pawns (that don’t necessarily know they’re pawns) used to carry out a mission with ulterior motives that goes horribly wrong. In both No Sudden Move and Army Of The Dead, the main characters/pawns think they’re getting a good deal when they’re really just getting crumbs at the end of the day.

Both films even have the pawns playing each other…

Army Of The Dead / No Sudden Move

No Sudden Move is set in Detroit so the name “Goynes” had to be a nod to the Michigan crime writer Donald Goines. The intentional slight change in the spelling of the name has been done before. In Nicolas Refn’s Fear X, the main character, Harry Cain, is a nod to Orson Welles’ characters in both Citizen Kane (Charles Foster Kane) and The Third Man (Harry Lime). Refn just changed the spelling of Cane.

This is also wouldn’t be last time Refn tipped his hat to Welles…

Mr Arkadin / Drive

Any Soderbergh heist movie will draw comparison to the Ocean’s films but if you’re familiar with his (large) body of work, you might be reminded of something like his under-appreciated The Underneath.

The end of No Sudden Move is actually a huge nod to The Underneath (it isn't shot for shot identical but both movies end with the femme fatale thinking they're getting away with the loot only to have their plan thwarted. 

Actually maybe it's time for me to revisit that...

WRONG REEL EPISODE #639 - GUMMO

 

I made a recent appearance on Wrong Reel to take about Harmony Korne's Gummo. Click here or the image above to go to the episode.

Enjoy.

A CONVERSATION WITH WENDELL B HARRIS Jr.

 

Back in 2021 I had the pleasure of interviewing Wendell B Harris thanks to the great folks at Alta Journal (click here to read). 

Below is the (mostly) unedited audio of our conversation. This was (and still is) a big deal for me. I thought you guys would enjoy hearing our conversation (this interview was always intended to be a written piece so the audio isn't as good as my other interviews).

Enjoy...

Zebras In America · PINNLAND EMPIRE: A CONVERSATION WITH WENDELL B. HARRIS Jr

I WANT MY TV NOW

 

I had a fun conversation on the iwantmyTVNow youtube channel to chat about movie comparisons, twitter, my favorite underrated films and so much more.

Enjoy...

A FEW MORE (POSSIBLE) VISUAL REFERENCES ON SKINAMARINK...

Hotel Monterey /
Skinamarink

Before going any further make sure to read my initial thoughts on Skinamarink by clicking here. Below are a handful of additional visual references that didn't make the initial post. I didn't want them linger on my shadowbanned twitter timeline or on my phone forever so I felt like posting them here. I also love visual comparisons and appreciate Kyle Edward Ball's openness about his cinematic influences...

Chantal Akerman's work definitely influenced it, and other experimental filmmakers like Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, and even one-off stuff like the short film Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967). Getting a bit more mainstream, David Lynch was a huge influence on me, Stanley Kubrick, and even little odd parts of cinema - Kyle Edward Ball, Fangoria

The Shining /
Skinamarink

The Shining /
Skinamarink

The Shining /
Skinamarink

Hotel Monterey /
Skinamarink

Hotel Monterey /
Skinamarink

Hotel Monterey /
Skinamarink

Inland Empire /
Skinamarink

Inland Empire /
Skinamarink

Inland Empire /
Skinamarink

Inland Empire /
Skinamarink

Lost Highway /
Skinamarink

Lost Highway /
Skinamarink

Lost Highway /
Skinamarink

Meshes Of The Afternoon /
Skinamarink

Meshes Of The Afternoon /
Skinamarink

I...Dreaming /

Skinamarink

Wedlock House, An Intercourse /

Skinamarink

There's one shot towards the end of the movie that's based on the end pull-out shot from Solaris by Tarkovsky - Kyle Edward Ball, Fangoria

Solaris /

Skinamarink

I think Ozu had a rule. In Tokyo Story, the camera never goes higher than about there, [three feet off the ground, the same height as someone kneeling on a tatami mat.] - Kyle Edward Ball, Rogerebert.com

Tokyo Story /

Skinamarink

Then I did something where I stole something from The Twilight Zone movie - Kyle Edward Ball, theinverse.com

Twilight Zone: The Movie /

Skinamarink

This one is a complete speculation on my part but considering the surreality of both films (and similar imagery), I thought it looked interesting...

The Blood Of A Poet / Skinamarink