Was really hoping I'd be able to put another Meiko Kaji movie among my 5 stars and I think this one is gonna be it.
A full on surrealist descent into gender nihilism. A world where men are sadistic monsters and women, if not willing to bend and submit to the whims of a system that demands full sovereignty of their bodies, are cast out and succumb to their most violent bestial instincts with nothing left but to gnash at…
This had me in a chokehold for 2.5 hours straight. My favorite of Mann's work so far.
I have this thing where I'll watch late 90s and very early 00s american movies and somehow always find a way to tie my thoughts about them to 9/11 and this one is no exception lmao. There is just something ecstatically transgressive about even many of the mainstream big hitters, the truly last big hurrah of the anti-establishment rage that seemingly defined the…
Damn near hated this movie. Not due to any faults on its end, mind you - it's honestly pretty great in its technical execution and I found plenty of stuff to love about it upon some reflection afterwards - but because it captures a very specific feeling of painful mundane anticipation that genuinely gives me psychic damage.
As an exceptionally neurotic and all around anxious person, especially in the face of uncertainty, this brought out the most unpleasant memories of…
I think this often gets said about art but this movie, probably more than any other, really feels like it has the power to bring back someone from the edge of a cliff. While Badii's fate remains unclear, it feels like it holds a mirror up to a potentially struggling viewer's face and asks them to look deep inside themsleves and try to reflect on what tethers them to this earth, and it does so without preaching or judgement, only immense empathy and tenderness.
