Hey folks, Harry here with another of our correspondents from the Rotterdam International Film Festival... an absolutely wonderful international film festival that I was a special guest of one year and enjoyed immensely. In this line up, the film that really leaps out to me is YAJI & KITA - THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS... just the description from Mr Tough Guy of, "Yaji & Kita could be described as the gay junkie samurai movie." ...well, that's got me curious... not bi-curious, but at least curious enough to see what the hell a gay junkie samurai movie is. Here's Mr Tough Guy with the scoop, watch out for spoilers...
Hey Harry,
back with more from Rotterdam, and while so far I haven't really seen anything yet that really stands out, I have seen a couple of good and a couple of not so good movies.
Yaji and Kita - The Midnight Pilgrims (Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san) - Kudo Kankuro
while brokeback mountain is known as the gay cowboy movie, Yaji and Kita could be described as the gay junkie samurai movie. The movie is loosely based on the novels and manga of the same name, and tells the story of Yaji and Kita, two friends who live during the edo period, even though Yaji is married, the two are lovers, and are inseparable. Kita who's hair is died blonde is a junkie, and the two friends embark on a quest to find the Iso temple to cure Kita of his addiction. But before they can find the temple, they have a long journey to make that will lead them on a strange and curious path.
Reading all this the plot seems simple and straight forward, but the movie is anything but. The movie is almost Pythonesque in it's silliness. While the movie starts as what looks like a period piece in black and white set in the edo period, it quickly shifts gear and the silliness starts, when Yaji and Kita decide to start their journey on an "Easy Rider" inspired motorcycle, before being called back so that they can restart their journey on foot. On the way they meet the strangest people, like the singing cross dressing inkeeper, his daughter who sings so bad that whenever she sings mount Fuji is covered in clouds, and the Elvis look alike police inspector with his golden throne.
Al this makes Yaji and Kita one of the trippiest and funniest movies I've seen in a while.
After the screening director Kudo Kankuro was present for a Q & A and was kind enough to answer some questions.
The movie was based on an old novel and a manga, but where the drugs present in the original stories?
Well yes they were present but the novel and manga are set in the edo period so they used drugs that were available then.
What was the reaction of the Japanese people who were familiar with the characters of Yaji and Kita from the book and the manga?
It's mostly the older generation who know yaji and Kita from the book and manga, and for them the movie came as a great shock, while the younger generation might not have picked up some of the references the movie makes to movies like Easy Rider and Midnight cowboy. But the director was happy to say that he stayed to watch the first half of the movie with the audience and was happy to see and hear the audience respond to the movie, and get the references.
The actors used in the movie are not well known movie actors, one is a tv actor and the other a kabuki actor, why did you pick these guys?
The actor that played Yaji is a wel know tv actor and idol, and he has a background that includes singing so that was a plus for this movie since Yaji and Kita sing in it. The actor who played Kita was a kabuki actor, but the director was happy to note that he could easily switch from the kabukistyle of acting to what the director wanted. Also he was happy to note that the two main actors became good friends on the set, and were so close that it almost looked like their friendship would start to mirror their on screen relationship.
Takeshis' - Kitano Takeshi
Almost as weird as Yaji and Kita, takeshis' is a hard movie to explain, in it Kitano "beat" Takeshi not only plays himself but also a look a like washed up actor with died blonde hair. It's sort of a parody of his own body of work as he makes fun of the yakuza movies he's famous for. It sort of follows his look a like who is also named kitano as he struggles through auditions, while working in a convenience store. Ignored by the casting director, and made fun of by his neighbours, this guy some how manages to get a gun and suddenly becomes a yakuza, but al is not as it seems.
Takeshis' has a great cast of actors recognizable from previous Kitano movies, and there's a great bit with what only can be described as the Japanese equivalent of Seinfelds Soup Nazi,but while the movie is at certain points hilarious, and there are plenty of great characters, it does seem a bit to long and drags on in the end. Though on the plus side you do get to see Beat Takeshi do what he does best.
13 (Tzameti) - Gela Babluani
The feature debut of director Gela Babluani shot in black and white is the brutal story of sebastian. Sebastian is a young man who at the house of a gangster fixing his roof. One day he overhears a conversation his employer has with a friend about a job, he is planning to do which will earn him a lot of money, he's just waiting for some final things to come in the mail. But when the letter comes, sebastians employer dies as the result of an overdosis, and sebastian finds the letter which contains a train ticket and a reservation for a hotel. With his boss death, any chance of getting paid for his work is gone, so he decide to take over his employers mysterious job, but when he finally arrives at the job, the job isn't exactly what he expected as he has to enter a game with deadly results.
Going into this movie, I didn't really know what to expect, I knew it was black and white, I knew it was made by someone from Georgia, and in the description they mentioned Tarantino, but I've been fooled by a good description more then once. Though this time I'm glad I went to see the film, for a first feature this is really quite good, not only does look great in black and white, but the story is great to. First you have the buildup to getting to find out what exactly this mysterious job is, then when you finally find out there's the brutality of it all. All in all great movie which I can recommend to all.
so that's all for now, will be back again later with more
Mr Tough Guy
