Catching Up on Last Week
This week’s mailings included Takeshi Kitano’s Brother, Visconti’s The Leopard, and the final discs of Nip/Tuck Season 2.
Brother is Takeshi Kitano’s last, though probably not final, gangster pic. As always he writes, directs, and stars. This time he plays a laconic lone wolf Yakuza (hard to believe, but true). The twist is that it takes place mostly in LA. After his gang in Tokyo is decimated, Kitano relocates to the US to reconnect with his younger brother, now a small time drug pusher. In a matter of weeks, the trigger happy Kitano takes over a good chunk of LA. He also becomes blood brothers with Omar Epps, learns a few words in English, and ventilates dozens of mobsters. Things end typically for a Kitano movie, but he’s definitely upped the entertainment factor with this one. Films like Sonatine and Hana-bi are deeper, but there’s no denying the joy of seeing Epps and Kitano fuck with a old Mafia boss. One warning, the US version has been trimmed to remove some bloody effects. Thanks MPAA for keeping the art house safe for kids. 4 out of 5
The Leopard is a slow moving epic about the fall of the Italian aristocracy in the 1800s. The film was heavily cut upon its original American release, but Criterion has done their usual stellar job of putting the pieces back together. Lacking the proper historical background, the film is sometimes a little hard to follow. However, there’s some fun in seeing Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon playing Sicilian. Claudia Cardinale is also around too, which is never a bad thing. It probably deserves more than the rating I’m giving it, but a 3 hour Italian history lesson is a bit rough for the casual viewer. 3 out of 5
Nip/Tuck’s second season ends with the carver in full force. He’s drugged and sliced Sean already, but Sean continues to fix his handiwork. Julia hits rock bottom, and Christian tries to do the right thing by a blind Rebecca Gayheart. The final episodes have a few shocks in store for those who haven’t read the spoilers. Um…SPOILERS AHEAD!!! While trying to keep Matt from flying to Paris with Ava, Christian makes out with and finger bangs her…only what he finds down there is a little shallower than what he’s used to. Ava is a man! Her ex-husband was her surgeon! Her ex-husband is…ALEC BALDWIN! How did the producers approach Famke? Did they tell her up front that they think she could play a post-op tranny, or did they sugarcoat that one? The last episode ends with a shocking cliffhanger that would have driven me crazy, if not for the fact that I have all of Season 3 already downloaded on my hard drive. Even an appearance by Joan Rivers couldn’t stop me from rating this 5 out of 5.
March 17th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
‘Brother’ is seriously a dope film.
That is all.