Daily Archives: December 19, 2019

Terra em transe (1967)

Posted on December 19, 2019 | 2 comments

Terra em transe (Earth Entranced)
Directed by Glauber Rocha
Written by Glauber Rocha
1967/Brazil
IMDb link
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] The camera is an object that lies. – Glauber Rocha[/box]

Your cranky critic found this beautifully shot film to be too weird for words.

Paulo Martins is a poet and journalist in the fictional country of El Dorado.  He opposes both the populist and reactionary candidates for leadership.  Meanwhile, outright revolution fills the streets.

Ok, the first problem is that the hero is a poet and speaks in ridiculously didactic “poetic”dialogue.  The second is there really is no story – just a bunch of events that allow Rocha to take freakish Felliniesque close-ups of the bad guys.  I think experimental political cinema is not for me.  The English-subtitled print currently on YouTube looks great.

Clip

 

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1967

Zatoichi Challenged (1967)

Posted on December 19, 2019 | Leave a comment

Zatoichi Challenged (Zatoichi chikemuri kaido)
Directed by Kenji Misumi
Written by Ryozo Kashahara; story by Kan Shimozawa
1967/Japan
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

 

[box] There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit. — Napoleon Bonaparte[/box]

Number 17 in the series about my favorite blind swordsman is one of the better entries.

The basic plot outline is always the same: Zatoichi is honor-bound to protect women and children against the predation of evil yakuza gangs and kicks ass while doing so.  In this one, a woman on her death bed asks Zatoichi to bring her small son to his father, an artist. En route, the two run into a troupe of actors that Zatoichi must also protect.  Turns out the father has been blackmailed by the gang into producing highly illegal pornographic images.

This moved along at a good clip and has some awesome swordplay.  It also looks really handsome and Shintaro Katsu is up to his usual superb standard.  Does continue the unfortunate trend of saddling the hero with an annoying comic-relief kid but mostly just great.

 

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Posted in 1967