Both our movies tonight were about fucking. It wasn't planned that way, the first movie, Sakuran, has been bobbing near the top of the queue for a bit, and the second just popped in the door this eve. Mike found a copy of Sakuran somewhere online, it's not readily available in the USA. It's a movie about whores in 18th century Japan. They live and ply their trade in Yoshiwara, a walled in area, with a water filled moat, separate from the city of Edo. Only men are allowed entrance through the guarded gate of the quarter devoted to the more naughty pleasures. We meet a young woman, Anna Tsuchiya (pictured above), who works in one such brothel. Here's a couple of the rooms decorations. Total eye candy. The whole movie is like that. I read that the director is more known as a photographer than a film maker. Goldfish figure in a lot too. They might be a metaphor. I don't know.
In Anna's flashbacks we find she was sold to this fancy house as a kid. The girl grows up rebelious, not being interesting in being a whore, but she soon learns that her interests aren't of any interest to her master. She gets tied up and beaten until she's old enough to learn. She's placed under the wing of the oiran, a high end courtesan, and trained up for the real work at hand. These ladies are supposed to be well versed in the arts and literature as well as the more sweaty bits of business. And it is a business with deadly people playing. Again and again Japanese movies remind us of how little life was valued in the past. It was a tough period, the only safety net was falling on the pointy end of your sword. The women weren't even allowed to leave the walled in area, life was hard and short for many, dying of suicide, vd or gettin' stabbed. That happens to the orian at the brothel. She snaps and attacks her customer with a straight razor. In the struggle she gets her own neck slashed. Anna moves into top spot with a promanade down the street in foot high shoes and super fancy glamour kimono. Pays to advertise, she soon becomes popular and several men are wanting her attention. The movie plods along at a pretty damn slow pace but often there is something nice to look at. It's definely a melodrama, and I'm just not into those that much. Worth taking a look at for the pretty backdrops and artful photography. Maybe best at the 1.5 speed.
I had been interested in our second feature Zack and Miri Make A Porno for two reasons. Seth Rogan cause he's in it and Kevin Smith because he wrote and directed it. Seth plays Zack and Elizabeth Banks plays Miri. They live in a crappy apartment and they are behind in the bills. They aren't boning, they're just friends and roommates. When the water goes out they head for their high school reunion where Miri goes after her old flame and Zack strikes up a conversation with Justin Long who's the old flames boyfriend. Turns out he's a gay porn star with lots of fun stuff to talk about. I was in stitches from all the dick jokes. After returning home the power gets turned off. Seth talks Miri into making a porno as a way to raise some cash. He's all fired up and has a plan. He collects a gang of misfits and talks his co-worker, the wonderful Craig Robinson, out of some money to rent a space to shoot. Zack writes a Star Wars porn parody, makes some costumes and builds a couple of sets. There's a lot more swearing in the way that Kevin Smith tells the story. That's why I like his movies so much. There' s more nudity in this movie than most Kevin Smith movies. Sadly, for some, it's mostly Jason Mewes and his ass. He does flash the full monty for those who are dick sensitive, so watch out. The gang gets cheated by the guy who rented them the space when it's demolished by the real owners of the property. Everything is gone but they ralley and the shoot gets moved to the coffee shop where Jack works. Zack and Miri have their scene on the second day and everything changes. They let feelings get in there and everything falls apart. Zack runs away and gets a job getting shot in the nuts with paintballs. Craig finds him and tells him they didn't finish the movie when Miri wouldn't do her scene with Jason Mewes. Cue the happy ending. Yay! It's a fun movie with lot's of very entertaining dialog. That's code for swearing and dick jokes. Lot's of...
Snack Warning: We often will try different chips. A trip to Target of late yields up several odd flavors. I'll let you discover those on your own. Friday Joe bought a bag of Doritos Tailgater BBQ chips and brought them along. The flavors are inspired by the NFL's John Madden video game franchise. The sister flavor of this limited edition is Stadium Nacho. We didn't have that flavor to try. No one ate very many of the Tailgater BBQ. We all thought that they had a weird flavor. Those those of foreign locations with little knowledge of US sports I'll explain tailgating. People arrive early at a sporting even and set up barbeque's in the parking lot, they cook food, eat it, and drink beer. I think putting BBQ flavor on a corn chip doesn't work very well to begin with and adding so much liquid smoke that it tastes like the asphalt you'd be tailgating on isn't making me want to keep stuffing them in my pie hole. I wouldn't recommend them and I don't think anyone there that night would either. 100% failure.
At work earlier Friday I tried some of the Lay's Baked Parmesan and Tuscan Herb. Very weird, both taste and texture. Not for everyone.
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