An outright assault on asceticism, The Crazy Family plays like a farce of traditional Japanese family drama in which Sogo Ishii signature manic style revels in a thinly-veiled critique of the social structures at place in Japanese society, specifically the oppressive nature the patriarchal family structure places on the personal autonomy of the other individuals who make up the traditional family-unit. Told largely from the perspective of the patriarch, a man whose become increasingly convinced his family is suffering from some intangible disease, objective and subjective reality becomes completely subverted in The Crazy Family, leading to an absurdist parable in which traditional family's authoritarian structure sits in the cross-hairs of Ishii's chaotic, transgressive formalism.
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Simple narrative implications provide a rich contextual framework for Jerzy Skolimowski who employs bleak aesthetic designs to amplify and agitate the preconceived notions and expectations of the viewer, presenting a singular treatment of an archetypal story, one in which a man becomes increasingly infatuated with a woman he knows only due to spatial circumstances. Introspective and meditative in its examination of loneliness and the importance of socialization, Four Nights With Anna exhibits how identifying the distinction between malice and lack of knowledge, in this case of the social variety, can be paramount when it comes to determining the circumstances of eccentric or outre behavior.
By-and-large more of the same - still endearing in its utter-absurdity, relying heavily on the charisma of Statham and Johnson, a chemistry which begins to wither due to over-exposure of this alpha, testosterone-dripped performative sense of importance. There is something to be said about the film being more focused than the FF movies, due primarily to the intrinsic nature of a story centered around just Hobbs & Shaw, but the thin characterizations of these two characters does become a tad grating in the back-half of the film. Love how this film basically breaks down thematically as: pro-family, anti-transhumanism, and anti-technocrat, plus it quotes Nietzsche lol... this franchise.
A clever conceit, radiates elegance with stylistic flourishes which are only an early indication of Ophuls' mastery. I almost get depressed watching films like this - the ingenuity and creativity exhibited vs. today despite the obvious technical limitations, a salient example of how creativity is perhaps at its best when it is out of necessity to creation. At a brisk 70 minutes, The Tender Enemy is easily digestible, whimsical, and features slight undercurrents of melancholy, being a solid feature which ends up being a moral tale about how the past often informs the present. Despite the narrative construction being male-centric - being told through the lens of three past loves of the matriarch - The Tender Enemy's theme and ultimate emotive substance is personified in the relationship between a mother and daughter, exhibiting how personal agency and rejection of societal expectations are paramount to one's own sense of happiness.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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