1008 July 19-Aug 1, 2013 - Metropolis

MOVIESMore reviews
WASTE LAND: ©VIK MUNIZ STUDIO; BERNIE: © 2011 BERNIE FILM, LLC AND WIND DANCER BERNIE, LLC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.; V/H/S: © COPYRIGHT 2012 8383 PRODUCTIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.;A LATE
QUARTET: © A LATE QUARTET LLC 2012.; MONSTERS UNIVERSITY: ©2013 DISNEY/PIXAR. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED.; FAST & FURIOUS 6: © UNIVERSAL PICTURES; DARK SKIES: © 2013 ALLIANCE FILMS (UK) DARK
SKIES LIMITED ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.; COMPLIANCE: © 2012 BAD COP BAD COP FILM PRODUCTIONS, LLC;
EIGA: © NINTENDO · CREATURES · GAME FREAK · TV TOKYO · SHOPRO · JR KIKAKU © POKEMON © 2013 ピカチ
ュウプロジェクト; MOVIE NEWS: IMAGE.NET; CINEMATIC UNDERGROUND: © SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI
BY DON MORTON
Metpod
and theater details: metropolis.co.jp/movies
WASTE LAND
From the outside, the 3,000
or so trash pickers painstakingly
sifting through Rio de
Janeiro’s Jardim Gramacho,
the world’s largest pile of garbage,
might seem a wretched bunch. But
they’re happier than you might
expect. They’re tough, resourceful,
creative and hard working.
Nobody’s saying their lives are not
hard, but they’re making the best of
their options without resorting to
drug dealing or prostitution. Their
recycling work is indeed useful;
they have a community;
they have pride.
Charity, perception and
art come together in
Oscar-nominated Lucy
Walker’s compelling
documentary about
this surreal world. We
meet and get a peek into
the homes and lives of a
half-dozen of its inhabitants.
The director’s
focus is successful New
York-based Brazilian
“trash artist” Vic Muniz,
whose own childhood
was beset by poverty.
Muniz is known for
incorporating trash and
other unconventional
materials into his
works. For this project,
he photographs the denizens,
creates giant portraits (out of trash)
on a warehouse floor, and then
photographs those to sell at auction,
with 100% of the proceeds getting
pumped back into the community.
For a movie so bleakly titled, it’s
amazingly uplifting. Be a waste not to
see it. Japanese title: Vik Muniz: Gomi
Art no Kiseki. (99 min)
BERNIE
The title mortician was a pillar of the
east Texas community of Carthage.
Bernie befriended the 81-year-old
and astoundingly mean widow
Nugent (Shirley MacLaine, in full
battle mode), and gained her trust
and access to her millions. But as he
opened her world, she closed and
controlled his. When he confessed to
having killed her, none of the townsfolk
(actual townsfolk, in mock-doc
interviews) would believe it. They
still don’t. This offbeat true-crime
dark comedy from Richard Linklater
stars Jack Black in a groundbreaking,
original role, his best since School of
Rock. Tricky material, but nicely
finessed. (104 min)
V/H/S
This is a found-footage anthology by
a half-dozen young directors who
thought they could squeeze a little
more creepiness out of the tired and
tiresome genre. Granted, they’ve
done a lot with a little, but it’s all fairly
pointless and plays like a film-school
project. While I can’t really recommend
this, the short-film format
is way better for this kind of thing
(don’t have to sit through a feature),
and I did witness bursts of innovation
amid the underlit, shaky camcorder
footage (one’s done entirely on
Skype). Can’t wait to see what these
guys come up with when they grow
up. Indie horror fans only. Japanese
title: V/H/S Syndrome. (116 min)
A LATE QUARTET
The announcement by the cellist in a
25-years-world-famous string quartet
(Christopher Walken, Catherine
Keener, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Mark Ivanir) that he has Parkinson’s
and must retire opens the door to a
few long-smoldering personal issues,
and the quartet starts to go out of tune.
You don’t need to know anything
about classical music going in to
this knowledgeable, deeply felt film
about life and art by Yaron Zilberman,
but you will take something away.
Especially notable is Walken, who’s
been doing wingnut roles ever since
Annie Hall. Nice to see him in a more
subtle, deeper portrayal. Japanese
title: 25 Nenmei no Gengaku Shijuusou.
(105 min)
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
First, any Pixar animation featuring
the voices of Billy Crystal, John
Goodman and Helen Mirren is
worth a look. Sigh. Never thought I’d
use that word for a Pixar flick. This
popsicle-hued origin story of how
Sully (jock) and Mike (nerd) met at
university represents the further
slide of the once-great studio into
Disney mediocrity. There’s no Boo
(the little human girl). There’s no
magic. Anyone over seven will find
this to be a mildly amusing checklist
of college-movie clichés. Apparently
the inspiration and propulsive storytelling
of the first movie didn’t
graduate along with the technical
wizardry. (110 min)
FAST & FURIOUS 6
The world’s fastest preposteronefueled
soap opera franchise is
running on fumes, story-wise, but
made up for it, annoyingly, by punching
the nitro every time the dreadful
dialogue put me to sleep. It’s strayed
rather far from its 2001 street-racing
roots, now more resembling a Bond
or a heist flick as our gang of renegade
peterosexuals battles a nefarious
master criminal. It disinters Michelle
Rodriguez’s Letty character,
conveniently with amnesia. But F&F
knows what it is and what it is not,
and it delivers the advertised goods.
I didn’t much like it. Wasn’t made for
me. Flying head-butts? Now that’s
new. Japanese title: Wild Speed Euro
Mission. (128 min)
DARK SKIES
Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton and their
two young sons begin to notice odd
goings-on about the house. Birds go
berserk; people have bad dreams
and get bloody noses; all the family
photos mysteriously disappear.
Ghosts? Nope. It’s not a bad movie.
It’s workmanlike and spooky-ish,
unsettling if not chilling. Like a weak
X-Files. Brightens briefly when alien
expert J. K. Simmons appears. It will
appeal the most to moviegoers who
have never seen Poltergeist, Signs,
Paranormal Activity or The Exorcist.
Warning bells: writer/director Scott
Stewart previously gave us Legion
and Priest. (97 min)
COMPLIANCE
In this riveting condemnation of
mankind’s willingness to defer to
those who claim authority (“just
following orders”), the matronly
manager of a fast-food joint (a spot-on
Ann Dowd) gets a call from “Officer
Daniels,” who claims a pretty blond
employee had stolen money from
a customer. She is asked to detain
Becky (Dreama Walker), strip-search
her, and then, along with others,
subject her to increasingly horrific
and humiliating acts of abuse. This
would all seem contrived if it hadn’t
actually happened—several dozen
times. A potent, primal film that’s
hard to watch and harder to forget.
Japanese title: Compliance: Fukuju no
Shinri. (90 min)
eiga
T
he Pokemon
industry is
one of the
best-known international
character and
animation franchises
from Japan. Originally
a Game Boy
role-playing video
game from the giant
Nintendo, it has
morphed into an
anime series, manga
and finally a film series. With Pokemon the Movie: Shinseko no
Genosekuto Myuutsu that cinematic incarnation now moves—
almost unbelievably—on to its 16th feature film. The animated
stories here follow a different narrative than the game, with hero
Satoshi (Rika Matsumoto), his buddy Pikachu (Ikue Otani) and
a host of friends who change with successive "generations" all
defending the world. Directed as usual by Kunihiko Yuyama,
this film will be the last of the fifth generation Pokemon characters
and features the baddy Red Genoskuto (Koichi Yamadera)
and the previous evildoer turned good guy Myustsuu (Reiko
Takashima). TV Tokyo aired a prologue on July 3 to prepare
their diehard viewers for the story. Set in a futuristic New York
City the plot is an epic battle between Satoshi and friends to
defeat Genoskuto. The drawings are the usual Japanese mix
of cute and surreal and this entry into the oeuvre will please
long-time fans, though it may not earn the franchise any new
followers. (96 min) Rob Schwartz
movie news
W
ith so many
White-Houseunder-siege
movies out there, how
are you to know which
one is for you? Channing
Tatum and Jamie Foxx
are hoping you will
choose White House
Down. “It is an entertaining
movie, although it is
about something dark,”
Tatum said at the recent New York premiere for the film about a
massive attack on Washington D. C. The 33-year-old actor joined
costar Foxx on a faux-presidential motorcade to the event, where
female fans in bright red T-shirts emblazoned with his own first
name overwhelmed him. In the Roland Emmerich-directed
popcorn flick, Tatum plays a Secret Service agent who must
think fast to protect the prez (Foxx) when terrorists take over
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The plot is strikingly similar to that of
Olympus Has Fallen. The Gerald Butler film has been released
in Japan as End of White House, only adding to the confusion
between the two would-be summer blockbusters. Tatum was
thrilled with the casting of the POTUS role in his film. “There are
not many people who can play the president,” he said. “We could
have done the dusty version, but this is not a dusty time, when we
have the first black president in office. So hopefully this will be a
turn [in the way the president is portrayed]. And I got to work with
Jamie, who is awesome.” White House Down opens in Japan
Aug 16. Kevin Mcgue
cinematic underground
S
hibuya’s Eurospace (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.
eurospace.co.jp) continues to roll out masterpieces by
Ingmar Bergman with a new program starting July 20.
Witness on the big screen one of the most famous images of
cinema, the existential chess match in The Seventh Seal (1957;
pictured), or catch Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Virgin
Spring (1960)... Revel in kitsch as My Way, a biopic of French
pop icon Claude François, plays at Bunkamura’s Le Cinéma
(2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku; www.bunkamura.co.jp) from
July 20. The titular karaoke standard is most associated with
Frank Sinatra, but it was flamboyant Francois who penned
the equally schmaltzy original French version… A Lady in
Paris, another offering from contemporary French cinema is
playing from July 20 at Ginza’s Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku;
www.cineswitch.com). Veteran actress Jeanne Moreau plays a
stubborn Estonian pensioner who reluctantly bonds with the
young woman who comes to care for her. KM
#1008 • WWW.METROPOLIS.CO.JP • 19