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nonionayI just watched Izo. It's about the ghost of a killer hacking and slashing his way through the afterlife. Super surreal, super symbolic, but not in an obvious, Hero's Journey way.
In the special features, the creator (I missed if it was the writer or the director.) said that he was trying to show "the spirit of the Japanese man." I could definitely see that, though to look at some of the reviews out there, I'm one of the few who can. The movie's like a visual poem, especially at the beginning, where it's interspersed with flashes of stock footage which adds to the emotional content, sometimes in clashing ways. A one-eyed cat, a flower, a naked woman.
Time overlaps, and we get samurai fighting on a bridge while trucks swerve around them. Vacation home salesmen turn into demons. Flashbacks to his life. He's got a tyrannical boss. Throughout the film, Izo is called the very spirit of irrationality, and you really have to keep that in mind if you want to experience this film. It's not a rational, linear plot. It's a peeling back of the facade of the modern world to expose the neurotic blood and guts beneath. (lots and lots of blood!) As with poetry, you have to let each image spark an emotion, and just marvel at the tapestry of sparks that's created.
Crazy, awesome movie. Definitely not for everyone.
In the special features, the creator (I missed if it was the writer or the director.) said that he was trying to show "the spirit of the Japanese man." I could definitely see that, though to look at some of the reviews out there, I'm one of the few who can. The movie's like a visual poem, especially at the beginning, where it's interspersed with flashes of stock footage which adds to the emotional content, sometimes in clashing ways. A one-eyed cat, a flower, a naked woman.
Time overlaps, and we get samurai fighting on a bridge while trucks swerve around them. Vacation home salesmen turn into demons. Flashbacks to his life. He's got a tyrannical boss. Throughout the film, Izo is called the very spirit of irrationality, and you really have to keep that in mind if you want to experience this film. It's not a rational, linear plot. It's a peeling back of the facade of the modern world to expose the neurotic blood and guts beneath. (lots and lots of blood!) As with poetry, you have to let each image spark an emotion, and just marvel at the tapestry of sparks that's created.
Crazy, awesome movie. Definitely not for everyone.
