Father Geek here, I caught THE ONE ARMED BOXER 2 at a drive-in triple feature with GODFATHERS OF HONG KONG and SHOGUN ASSASSIN 25 years ago. Amazing what gets the full tilt re-release treatment by American distribution companies. My money would have been on SHOGUN ASSASSIN, one of the original "Baby Cart" flicks based on the great LONE WOLF AND CUB manga, and an extremely good samurai revenge motion picture, buuuuuuut nooooooo we get treated to the forgetable ONE ARMED BOXER sequel instead... without a reissue of the original too... Here's Capone...
Hey Harry and/or Moriarty or whoever the hell else is running the show these days. Capone in Chicago here with a trio of films that are making their way across the country on the art-house circuit.
SKINS
I remember seeing director Chris Eyre's 1998 SMOKE SIGNALS like I saw it five minutes ago. It was a tale I'd never seen before told from the point of view I thought I'd never see ago. It was both sweet and dark; critical yet forgiving. It single-handedly brought the Native American story out of the stone age and into a modern setting. The characters addressed stereotypes (both real and exaggerated) and talking in reflective, almost innocent terms. Eyre's latest is SKINS, and it takes the borderline warm and fuzzy feelings most people got from SMOKE SIGNALS and throws them face-first into a brick wall...or perhaps the stone faces on Mount Rushmore.
SKINS is one of the angriest and purest expressions of suffering I've ever seen. Based on a novel by Adrian C. Louis, the film tells the tale of two brothers. Rudy is a Sioux reservation police officer who spends most of his time breaking up domestic disturbances, bar fights, and random acts of minor destruction, all fueled by alcohol and lots of it. Eric Schweig (who I first remember seeing in LAST OF THE MOHICANS) has never had a part like this and may never again, but it doesn't matter. He's amazing as the law man who wants his people to rise about the overly abundant quantities of alcohol that make it onto the "rez" thanks to liquor stores along the state border (no alcohol is legally allowed to be sold on reservations land). At the same time, Rudy is glad to have a steady job, which few of his people do. The man he loves the most is also the one that causes him the most grief and embarrassment-his brother Mogie, played unforgettably by Graham Greene in his bets role since Oscar-nominated DANCES WITH WOLVES. Mogie is always drunk, and it kills Rudy to see him fall into the same pit of self-destruction that their parents did (as we see in flashbacks).
One of the greatest things about SKINS is that it never quite goes where you think it will. Rudy is so tired of seeing countless destructive forces take hold of his people and his brother that he turns vigilante late at night. Early in the film, he paints his face dark, dons a stocking mask, and proceeds to beat the crap out of two suspected young Native American men who killed a friend of Rudy's family. Later he decides to burn down on the nearby liquor stores his brother frequents, but this act of defiance has unforeseen consequences that ends Rudy's clandestine rampage before it really gets going. At its core, SKINS is a family drama. Mogie has a growing son who loves him more than he deserves and who leans on Rudy for fatherly (and financial) support. He's a good kid, but so was Mogie when he was that age, and we pray for his soul under these crushing negative forces.
Whereas SMOKE SIGNALS focused on hope and renewal, SKINS is a film about defiance and resistance, resistance against internal as well as external enemies. It was actually quite jarring to see this film (which carries the tag line: "The Other American Heroes") at a time in American history when patriotism and flag waving are in the forefront of everyone's minds. SKINS carries with it an overt anti-U.S. government message that is both troubling and absolutely warranted. If this film had been made in any other country, it never would have been released in the United States. The final shot of SKINS is one I will carry with me forever; and when I think about the Native American struggle, Mogie's final act of defiance (which ultimately has to be carried out by Rudy) will serve as the perfect personification of that struggle. SKINS is as powerful a film about a people fighting to stay alive as I have ever seen. I have no idea what the release schedule on this is, but SKINS is scheduled to open at the Chicago's Landmark Century Centre Theatre on October 18.
SECRETARY
Steven Shainberg's SECRETARY is an exercise in hypnotizing the audience. You are so taken in and gripped by even the smallest action on the screen that by the time its over, you realize you haven't taken a breath in who knows how long. I was often times struck by how quiet the usually chatty preview audience was during this screening. And there wasn't a single scene with star Maggie Gyllenhaal that I wasn't absolutely mesmerized by.
Gyllenhaal (brother of the ever-present indie actor Jake) is Lee, a woman recently released from a mental hospital after a breakdown that resulted in her cutting herself all over her body, she says, to release the pain underneath. She just happens to return on the day of her sister's wedding, and the process of making her feel small and insignificant begins all over again. Lee decides she needs to get out of her parents home as much as possible by getting a job as a secretary for lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader, in his single most bizarre role since CRASH). Grey is a perfectionist and a sadist; Lee (without realizing it at first) is a submissive masochist. And it isn't long before Mr. Grey is controlling every aspect of Lee's life. Lee tries to carry on a "normal" relationship with long-time boyfriend Peter (Jeremy Davies), but the tension and thrills of her desk job are too exciting to think about anything else. Soon the verbal degradation pave the way a physical (although not really sexual) relationship. Spanking, rope and chain play, and all variety of master-slave action are a regular part of the office.
They say it's never as good as the first time, and that may be true in SECRETARY. The first time Spader has Gyllenhaal bent over the desk for what will become the first of countless punishment spankings for typos in a memo she's typed up is extraordinary. Lee is such a guarded and squirmy woman that we don't quite know how she's react to physical contact from another person. Apparently she enjoys the hell out of it. We suspect early on that Grey has done this before, and there are signs early on that Lee may be on the way out just as she's starting to get into the game. I know many of you are thinking this film may be a little too bizarre for all tastes, but SECRETARY is surprisingly old-fashioned on a certain level. Lee and Grey are two people who have substituted pain and dominance for real love, and you find yourself rooting for the two to translate their ultra-kink into a real emotion.
There has been a tremendous amount of ink put forth about Gyllenhaal's performance, and I was convinced it wouldn't move me as the hype had let me to believe I would be. Whoops. Maggie has a face, a smile, and a form that can be all things within the space of 10 seconds. Withdrawn, dowdy, giddy, horny, desperate, hurt. Gyllenhaal is a wonder, and everyone should see he in this film. I was even more shocked that James Spader still has a few tricks up his neatly pressed sleeves. His work as the mannered, deliberate Grey is kinda brilliant in its own way. And without cracking a smile or uttering a single joke, Spader makes us laugh and care about his character's well-being in a way I never thought possible. It's a strangely moving performance that is destined to be overlooked by most.
SECRETARY is an experiment that succeeds. Often experimental films like this fail, but you're glad they at least tried. This one works. It also opens in Chicago at the Landmark Century Centre Theatre on September 20.
MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
Slowly inching its way across the nation's more artfully included theatres is a "restored" version of the 1975's legendary MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. Please remember to use the term "restored" with extreme caution. True, this cut of the film is intact, uncut, and has new subtitles, but the print still looks like shit. There may be a few less scratches and hairballs on the negative but the colors are faded, abysmal, and constantly changing. As it should be. This ain't high art here, people.
FLYING GUILLOTINE (I've also seen it called FATAL FLYING GUILLOTINE, ONE ARMED BOXER VS. THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, or simply ONE-ARMED BOXER II) is said to be a cut above the millions of other similar Hong Kong kung fu films from the mid-1970s, and in terms of humor and outrageous characters and effects, I'll go along with that. But the story is strictly genre. There are a couple martial arts schools that enter a gigantic tournament to see who is the top Crouching Tiger (or Dragon or Monkey or Eagle or Whooping Crane or whatever). There's an old blind dude (Kang Kam) with one of the coolest weapons ever: a hat with a veil around it with tiny guillotines sewn in. He whips it out on a long-ass chain, it lands on your head, the veil with blades drops down around your neck, and he whips it back. Pop! Off goes your head. Pretty sweet. The old dude is gunning for our hero, a one-armed boxer played by the film's director Jimmy Wang Yu, for the age-old chop-sockie reason: revenge!!!
Smack dab in the middle of this pursuit is one of the longest martial arts contests ever committed to film. It had to run at least 30 minutes, but most of it is pretty hysterical. Dozens of contestants from all over Asia face off two at a time in a gladiator-style fight. Each contestant has his or her own unique (well, maybe not so unique) style of fighting. If you've seen the film, you no doubt remember the "Indian" yoga master whose arms actually stretch to about twice their normal length. You can almost see the sticks that hold up the elongated arms under the actors clothes. You will die screaming with laughter. And there's plenty more silly fighting where that came from.
FLYING GUILLOTINE succeeded at keeping me wide awake and entertained, but it feels so dated that it's almost rendered embarrassing. Everyone in the film is so noble and earnest, and undoubtedly audiences will be laughing throughout. Maybe that's the point, and as a midnight film it would be a lot of fun seeing this with an excited, slightly drunk audience. But I'm not sure this film (especially this print of this film) warrants a full re-release. I saw this film with a roomful of critics, and I'm guessing I'd feel different if I'd seen it with paying customers. It's worth one look, but if you are compelled enough to see it again, you're a glutton for punishment. It opens September 13 in Chicago at the Landmark Century Center Theatre.
Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
