Underwater Love

In the film's lore, Kappo are underwater reincarnated spirits who love cucumbers.  One particular Kappo wants to save a girl he loved in life from her own early death.  A German-funded Japanese pinku musical ensues.  It was actually much tamer in those ways than I expected, and was otherwise pretty fantastic.  It's another excellent film from the director of Uncle's Paradise.  The song lyrics are worth it alone.

Underwater Love
2011, 87 minutes, directed by Shinji Imaoka

Little Deaths

I don't usually review short stories.  If I went down that path, what's next?  A pointless micro-blog review of each TV show and YouTube click I watch?  So you won't find mention of short-film collections on here, like the Futurestates series I quite surprisingly enjoyed at last year's SX (and will be seeing the second season premiere of tomorrow).

Little Deaths, though, was conceived and executed as a single "anthology" film.  And I stayed up pretty late for it so I feel like I need to get something out of the effort, like a blog post.  Because - and let me be very honest - I didn't get much out of the film.

The three tales interweave the themes of sex and death.  If you want to read promo blurbs, go find the official film site.  All I can add is that "House & Home", the most satisfying of the three, goes off the crazy end.  "Mutant Tool" starts in crazy and keeps going, and "Bitch" is, well, pretty sad.

I really hope to see something I like at SXSW this year.  Here's hoping for Saturday.

Little Deaths
2010, directed by Sean Hogan, Andrew Parkinson, and Simon Rumley

 

Tim League in a dog suit, shortly after (almost) setting himself on fire.

 The beef stroganoff chugging contest.  Mr. Faceintheglass (next to Tim) won.

The 2 Bobs

SXSW has come again, and with it a week of movies that I've never heard of but will see and, maybe, enjoy. The vacation situation at work leaves me with none, so I'm juggling evening/weekend films with a full-time job this year.

The opening night film, Love You Man, is one-too-many Paul Rudd / Jason Segal comedies for me, so instead I went for locally made, no-budget comedy The 2 Bobs. Filled with language and nudity and local Austin product placement, the film does tremendously well for its resources. Note "Samurai Sam" in Vertical Bob's office; his usual locale is the reception area of my wife's former employer.

The film is a bit disjointed, and filled just a little too much with stupid people doing nonsensical things in a panicked fashion, with gratuitous nudity and language . Horizontal Bob, Devin Ratray, said in the Q&A, "It's the only time I've been on a set, where the writer is embarrased to hear his own dialog." It's funy, but very local, very independent - not suitable for wide consumption.

The 2 Bobs
2009, 86 minutes (SXSW cut), directed by Tim McCanlies

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

And so it begins - another film festival. This year I'm stressed because I can' t take off any work, due to upcoming travel. My first film is the opening-night extravaganza - the U.S. premiere of Zack and Miri Make a Porno at the galliant Paramount. Makes this feel more like SXSW.

Adult comedies can be great. This one was really good, even brilliant at times, but it also got pretty uncomfortable. If your going to see it, do so in a theater full of those who will love it, so you can share in their laughter to lighten the mood.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
2008, 102 minutes, directed by Kevin Smith

It's not really "softporn", but there's enough adult content make it worthy of the tag.

Uncle's Paradise

Don't let the "softporn" tag fool you. This movie has a serious plot with multiple plot lines and twists. The fact that they are all insane is merely a side effect. Movie makers in Japan have to include the softport to get funding, but then often proceed to tell a story that is bizarre and original. This one is no exception. You have been warned.

Uncle's Paradise
2007, 64 minutes, directed by Shinji Imaoka