Documentary Focus: Idol Groups over 9000

I'm not really sure you can call me a 'fan' of the ridiculously popular Japanese idol group AKB48, in the sense of "someone who buys their singles and votes in their elections" kinda fan. I just find the whole idea of an idol group conglomerate composed of (now) scores of members fascinating.

I got hooked into these girls watching the late night j-drama series Majisuka Gakuen, which portrays most of the popular members of the group as tough yankee juvenile delinquents. While your mileage may vary as on how effective that was, it was an entertaining watch and I wanted to find out more about these girls.

In 2010, Shunji Iwai, one of my favorite contemporary Japanese directors, started up a project that would offer a glimpse on the lives of these girls for the duration of one year. And thus, Documentary of AKB48 to be continued was started. Iwai is known for his films on contemporary youth topics and this fits the bill.

This, alas, is not really about that film. Haha.

This review is about a shorter cut documentary made for NHK entitled Documentary of AKB48 the future 1mm ahead. It's basically a 44 minute cut of the aforementioned two hour film, narrated by AKB48 member Minami Takahashi (nickname: Takamina). It documents the trials of the idol group during the year 2010. 2010 was a particularly crazy year for the group, as it was part of the apex of the group's massive rise in popularity. Coincidentally, it was also the year when Majisuka Gakuen aired.

Mostly it features interviews with the girls interspersed with footage of them practicing, going to places like the LA Anime Expo, and so on. While the theatrical cut of the movie eschews the narration, the TV version's narration makes it more accessible to people who haven't the slightest idea on who these girls are. The narration explains the ranking system and the yearly General Elections (Senbatsu,) a popularity contest that decides which girl gets in the spotlight, and which ones support her from the sidelines.

There are some events that aren't explained fully, including that incident where member Sayaka Akimoto resigns as captain, or how important getting on Kouhaku Uta Gassen is.

The girls who are covered in the docu are appropriate, but there are a few omissions (that may show up in the theatrical release anyway.) Atsuko Maeda, the long reigning queen and 'face' of the group, is not covered in much detail here, other than her involvement in the 2010 Senbatsu.

Indeed, it's not the most popular members or the ones that win the Senbatsu that are the backbone of the team. We see that Takamina does a lot to hold everyone together and give their support through hard times, and to say that these girls work hard is an understatement. She may not rank as high as the others (she ranked sixth in this year's elections, and seventh in the year before that) but she is the foundation of the team, working herself to exhaustion just to get these people to work.

Anyway, the shorter cut of the film may be a better choice to watch if you're curious about the group and want to get to know more about them. For the hardcore fans, there's always the DVD release with english subs or the 4 disc collectors set available in Japan.

Documentary Focus: Dear Zachary

I'm going to give you advice about watching this movie right now (and you should watch it if you have the chance) : go watch it cold. Don't look at synopses, don't spoil yourself. Watch it right off the bat.


There really isn't much I can say to you guys other than this is a fantastic film to watch. I've found it quite unusual compared to other documentaries I've seen, because there's a lot of emotion involved as the film's director knows the subject matter personally; he was one of his close friends.


But rest assured, this film really is a documentary. It is intended to serve as a video letter about Andrew Bagby, who died under tragic circumstances, for his young son Zachary. This is achieved by conducting interviews with Andrew's close friends, family, classmates, and other people whose lives he touched. As with many eulogies the film paints him in a positive light, and he may not be as nice as everyone put him out to be, but you still get that he was a pretty nice guy nevertheless. But to say that the film ends there is an understatement. Lots of twists and turns happen along the way and the movie that you see at the end will not be the movie you expected to see at the beginning.

The film was probably made to be a private one, made on virtually no budget at all. Other than some other minor technical hiccups, I'm not a big fan of some of the fast MTV style cuts that happens. It's in the slower, more measured interviews that the film gains its greatest strength. It's in these purely human feelings of love, regret, sadness, hate, and joy that we get a true glimpse of who this guy really was.

Watch it. It will be hard to sit through, but it's one of those movies that will change you and haunt you long after its done.

Documentary Focus: A Little Kindness

I'm sure you've seen this clip on Youtube before. It's a series of outtakes from an industrial commercial for Winnebago RVs. The man is Jack Rebney, and it looks like it's the worst day of his life. The tape has been going around for quite a while now, first circulating as an endless stream of VHS copies, then viral video fame on Youtube.

One filmmaker, Ben Steinbauer, asked himself a question: who the heck is this guy, and what happened to him?

So he made a documentary about it. Enter Winnebago Man.

At first the film seems like a commentary on internet celebrities and fame, but the documentary goes further than that. Thanks to a few intriguing twists and turns, the story turns out far more complex than initially perceived. The filmmaker paints a picture of a man with many contradictions: wanting to be isolated, yet yearning to be heard. At times calm, well spoken and verbose, and at other times still as hot tempered as the guy we saw in the clip. But deep inside he's just a really nice guy who wants to be understood, in the face of this sudden internet notoriety that he doesn't fully understand.

We're approaching a culture whose boundaries are smaller than ever before, and one whose media is shaped not only by the creators, but by the audience as well. But then again, that really isn't the point of this movie. Though we do not know much about Jack's past, or his life before, but by film's end you get a sort of understanding of the person he really is.

Oddly the film's final message is kind of appropriate: this raw moment of one person's frustration over a really bad shoot on a really bad day becomes a symbol of sorts for standing up to adversity in the human condition. Or, shit happens. We just have to live with it sometimes - and sometimes, there are people like Jack that help us along the way.

Documentary Focus: Resurrect Dead

Sorry guys, it's not about zombies.

I've heard of the Toynbee Tiles for quite a while now, as one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Seen as far back as the early 1980's all over the East Coast and all the way to South America, these tiles all share the same text, seen above, with small variations in additional text. The thing is, no one knows why they were made or who made them.

The documentary Resurrect Dead: Mystery of The Toynbee Tiles tries to figure out the answer to this lingering mystery. Led by artist Justin Duerr, the film talks about his years-long search for the elusive tiler. Thanks to collaboration from multiple people, also interested in the tiles, he has three leads: a reclusive resident of Philadelphia, a former railroad worker whose trail corresponds with the placement of the tiles, and a play whose content eerily resembles the content of the tiles.

The film is compelling and grabs you from start to end. Eventually, after multiple dead ends, Duerr seemingly hits paydirt and presents evidence pointing towards one of his earlier leads. The evidence is quite convincing and fits the details of the mystery quite well.

Interspersed within the narrative are some segments that show a glimpse of Duerr's own life, somehow giving a reason for his obsession: he is a loner, yet a consummate artist, rejected by the mainstream in his youth, unable or unwilling to conform to society's pressures. In many ways I think he sees himself in the person who makes these tiles. These segments transform the narrative into a mirror comparing the tiler and Duerr himself rather than sticking to a straightforward story.

This is a very intriguing documentary and I recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery. Whether you agree with the evidence presented, the journey you take to get there is good enough for the price of admission.

Randomness, part 3890f3@# (see I told you it was random)

So I was watching this on youtube today.

If you watched Kill Bill (and you probably have, this is the sequence where Uma Thurman has Sonny Chiba make a sword for him. You might remember the bald shaved guy who serves as his assistant and does... assistant stuff. Look closer dudes.

That's freaking Kenji Ohba, man. a.k.a. Uchuu Keiji Gavan/Sky Ranger. a.k.a. Battle Kenya, a.k.a. Denji Blue, a.k.a. Mr. Super Sentai, who basically taught Captain Marvelous on how to be awesome. He was often his own suit actor. In Kill Bill, he reportedly also fought Uma Thurman as one of the Crazy 88. I honestly don't know if Tarantino knew this (he watched Hattori Hanzo, so I wouldn't be surprised if he did)

Mind = Blown.

Anyway, in retrospect, it kinda makes a lot of sense. Sonny Chiba founded the Japan Action Club. Basically it's a troupe of stunt performers and martial artists and what have you that perform in various plays, dramas, etc etc. Most of the tokusatsu productions from the early eighties got their casts from the JAC. I think most of the Bioman cast were from there, for example. Many alumni from the JAC formed their own stunt troupes. Even now, those suit actors in tokusatsu probably got their start training under there somehow.

Other people Sonny Chiba helped train includes Hiroyuki "Duke" Sanada, who we remember as that badass dude from The Last Samurai, and from a little horror movie I'd like to call Ring. Also, one notable alumna from the JAC includes Yukari Oshima, better known by her stage name, Cynthia Luster:

Japanese martial arts films may not have been as 'in the spotlight' as Hong Kong films were, back in the day, but if you watched any of the shows I mentioned earlier, these guys were basically part of your childhood. So that Kill Bill scene has a new emotional meaning for me: I guess it is kinda fitting that Sonny Chiba would have one of his best guys playing his right hand man in the film.

That's basically it. Just a random thing to spice up your day. Move along now...

Jesus Camp

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."
- Proverbs 22:6

Sometimes narration and words are not necessary to convey the subject matter of documentaries; instead, it is often more interesting to see the material speak for itself. And objectivity is the pure purpose of any documentary - the presentation of truth in distilled form.

And so begins Jesus Camp, a documentary detailing the experiences of three kids as they go through a charismatic Christian Summer Camp. The camp is run by Becky Fisher, a Pentecostal children's pastor who believes in spiritual warfare and training kids up to preach the word of God.

Throughout the film we are treated to several interesting scenes: kids getting their hands doused with 'holy water' (a bottle of mineral water) to purify themselves of sin; speaking in tongues; talks on the sanctity of life by passing around little plastic models of fetuses; praying over everything from cardboard cutouts of George W. Bush to pews and powerpoint presentations; and condemning Harry Potter to death because warlocks are agents of Satan.

Interspersed within the main film are sequences featuring Mike Papantonio, a talk radio host who gives another voice and viewpoint to the movie, culminating with an interview with him and Fisher debating the ethics of running such a camp.

I was surprised at the many reactions to the film. People either loved it or hated it (and some were genuinely scared by it,) but they did not hate it because it was a bad documentary; they disliked what they saw. It does not damn the people in the film at all by portraying them in a bad light, as it merely portrays them as they are.

And that's one thing that the filmmakers deserve credit for: the footage is left there to speak for itself. Some will see it as an uplifting film of serious dedication and faith. Other people will see it as a terrifying example of indoctrinating the young and a church that wants to interfere with a state that should be separate from it.

Now that that is out of the way, do I think what they are doing is wrong? Yes, I do. I believe in the power of teaching a strong moral base, then letting kids decide for themselves when they are of age. Do I think religion should be demonized for letting this happen? Not really. I think the fundamental 'enemy,' of progress in society is not religion, but fundamentalism and misguided zeal, and those are concepts that tend to pop up in many religions.

When religion is practiced or taught to guide people to be better as a whole, then I think that's good. When religion is used to dominate or oppress people, that's never a good thing.

This is an interesting documentary, and I suggest you see it for yourself and form your own opinion. While opinions on whether it was good or not is up for debate, it is at the very least objective, and true to the pure documentary spirit.

Super Sentai Roundup – Let’s Make This Showy as F**k

This is going to be a long one.

Le Prologue

I mentioned before in my writeup on Jetman that I’ve been watching this stuff for a long time now. Bioman and Shaider were my first tokusatsu shows, Ultraman and Fireman (Magmaman) shortly after. The ball has kept on rolling from there. I can recall numerous afternoons with cousins deciding who should be Red One, Green Two, etc. I can recall instances where I played with the only Super Sentai/Power Ranger merchandise I had – a non transformable Megazord and a small replica of the BioJets.

So you see, nostalgia is a huge factor in why I watch these things. The idea of being a kid at heart and loving the shows that one has watched in one’s youth appeals to me personally. Add that to shit randomly exploding, ridiculous situations, spontaneous cosplay and dudes in suits fighting over small scale replicas of cities and you have the complete package.

I caught up to the Super Sentai franchise after a long period of not watching any tokusatsu by watching a special feature on Super Sentai History – released for the 30^th anniversary of the franchise, the 30 minute feature basically enumerated all 30 Super Sentai teams from Goranger (a Shintaro Ishinomori innovation, providing a spiritual link between Kamen Rider from the very start) to Boukenger, the current season (at the time). It was a fun program and it showed me that the shows I had watched as a child were only a small part of a much larger franchise that at the time had gone on uninterrupted for thirty years.

At around the same time, a few years ago I learned of the Super Sentai vs. series. Basically that year’s team would team up with last year’s time and kick ass together. They were in themselves an enjoyable addition to the season itself. During certain seasons, like the 25^th and 30^th anniversaries for Super Sentai, there would be something extra special – the team from that particular season (Gaoranger and Boukenger respectively,) would team up with selected individuals from past series. Most notably, Big One from J.A.K.Q., the second overall Sentai series guest starred in the 25^th anniversary.

That fucking blew my mind back then. How awesome would it be, I imagined, if somehow they would gather everyone up and fought like this super hard enemy? It was a dream, I thought. It would never come true.

Well shit, I was wrong.

A Bunch of Hearty Pirates

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is the 35^th anniversary series of the Super Sentai franchise. Somehow, somewhere, in the planning stages of this series, some inspired fellow probably thought of the same things as I did. Surprisingly, the fellows at the top agreed. And the final product is one concentrated mass of pure AWESOME. Seriously, give that man a medal, a new car, a new house and several Nobel prizes in the field of awesomeness. Jetman may have been a modern classic, and it may still be one of the best Super Sentai series ever, but this one? It might just be the MOST AWESOME SEASON EVER.

Basically the story is this: ALL previous 34 Super Sentai teams exist in the same universe. A few years back this badass space empire, Zangyack, decided to invade the hell out of Earth. This empire is no pushover – no one in history has been able to beat them, and all the planets they’ve invaded have ended up destroyed or occupied. In response, all the Super Sentai teams from Goranger to Goseiger (last year’s season) fight the armies of Zangyack. ALL OF THEM.

Just look at it. LOOK AT IT.

Let that sink in for a while. YES, IT IS AS AWESOME AS IT SOUNDS. The first episode basically explodes this battle in your face. The sheer logistics is staggering. 180+ people in spandex + around 50 more people in monster suits just beating the shit out of each other.

Anyway, Zangyack proves too much even for the combined might of our heroes, until the leader (Goranger’s Akaranger) decides to do this combined spirit attack that finally wipes out the fleet for good. Unfortunately this also means that in exchange, all of the powers of the Super Sentai teams are sacrificed for this final attack, leading them to be scattered into space.

This all happens in the first two minutes of the first episode. And I was like HOLY SHIT I CAME IN MY PANTS.

Later a bunch of space pirates arrive on Earth. They’ve collected most of the scattered powers (manifested as Ranger keys) and are looking to acquire the greatest treasure in the universe, something that can only be attained by collecting all the powers. Cue toymakers shitting bricks from the sales figures.

Our intrepid heroes are just a bunch of pirates with no stake whatsoever on earth: they just want their booty. But as they collect more powers they realize that this little backwater planet may be truly worth saving after all.

A Blast from the Past

The story is constructed in a way where episodes highlighting the growth of individual characters are mixed with Tribute Episodes. Basically during tribute episodes they gang meets with a member of a past Sentai Team and they teach them something that increases their powers. Again, let that sink in for a moment. Again, these episodes are AS AWESOME AS THEY SOUND.

The logistics of getting at least one member per past Sentai Team (in some cases, up to three) and SUCCEEDING AT IT just blows my fucking mind. Our Super Sentai alumnae can still kick ass even in old age, and even out of costume. The awesomeness was so much that sometimes writers for the original series wrote for the tribute episodes, thus making some of them wholehearted, well referenced tributes to those original series. Watch the Dairanger and Jetman tributes for example. You WILL shed manly tears if you know these series.

That’s why this series succeeds so fucking much. Nostalgia is a great factor in how people like me view Super Sentai, and watching a series like this makes that nostalgia, well, come in its figurative pants. It succeeds in so many levels as well. To the beginner it is a good entrypoint into Super Sentai as a whole. A casual viewer might be blown away by the sheer idea of so many teams coming back together. And a hardcore fan of the franchise will be blown away at the sheer complexity and consistency of the series’ internal continuity.

What continuity, you may ask? Certain things that you pick up watching the individual seasons and movies and vs. specials show up in Gokaiger. Several villains that appeared during the vs. movies and the series have successors that appear in Tribute Episodes. Take the Timeranger tribute: while it is explained well during the episode, one who has watched Timeranger will basically squeal with fanboy delight seeing the reenacted transformation sequence and fight scene set to THE ORIGINAL THEME MUSIC, as well as the episode’s epilogue of sorts for one of the characters. Gokaiger not only keeps an orderly continuity for itself, it ties up loose ends from other preceeding series and movies.

Some may just have brief cameos. Some, like the Hurricaneger tribute, have a full fledged vs movie over the course of two episodes. Pirates vs. Ninjas! But those cameos are well worth the price of admission.

As for the cast, this is one of my favorite bunch of characters in Super Sentai. With the unfortunate exception of this season’s Sixth Ranger, all of the pirates in Gokaiger are developed very well. Each one has a backstory, a motivation, hopes and dreams and each of them grows as a character as the story goes on. Add that to the fact that a good number of these guys are new to acting and that makes it more amazing. Kudos goes to the main cast for playing characters I can invest myself emotionally in, something that you don’t see that often in recent series. With all that pressure, being the anniversary series and all, the main actors and actresses have proven themselves over the past year.

The mecha are given more CGI treatment than usual, making some battles more frantic and acrobatic. Add that to the fact that most Special Powers give the Gokaigers’ mecha more addons and special abilities and you see that it pays off in spades. Again, toy manufacturers somewhere may be having a party over this awesome shit.

While the enemies are sometimes bumbly or comical, Zangyack is an enemy you do not want to mess with. Throughout the series there is this sense of dread that one feels. One feels that this is a war, and all the odds are against our heroes, and the end may not be a happy one for everyone. It’s a feeling I haven’t felt since previous, darker Super Sentai series of the late eighties, and Jetman, which I still hold in high regard.

The various movies and specials arealso sweet additions to the already epic cake of awesomeness. The movie, 199 Hero Battle, is the Goseiger vs. Gokaiger movie. It is exactly as it sounds in the title as well, as 199 heroes appear in this series. Then, this January, a crossover movie was made between Super Sentai and the Metal Heroes series (which included Shaider) – Gokaiger vs. Gavan. If that wasn’t epic enough, the upcoming summer movie crosses over Super Sentai with the Kamen Rider series, which has its 40^th anniversary this year.

In summary, this series is one continuous infusion of awesome from start to finish. Very highly recommended. Quite simply the best season ever.

And yeah, I just had to include pics of Mao Ichimichi and Yui Koike in there. Just because.

(To understand most of what was going on, I watched the following in order. Not necessary, but it helps with the overall enjoyment of the series)

All of Gekiranger

The Gekiranger vs. Boukenger Movie

All of Shinkenger

Gokaiger episode 1-16

199 Hero Climactic Battle

Gokaiger episode 17-39

Goseiger vs. Shinkenger

Gokaiger episode 40-51

Super Sentai Roundup – Onward, Samurai

After an OK season with Go-Onger, the folks over at Toei decided to make a Samurai themed Super Sentai series. With at least two series based on ninjas, it makes you wonder how they could have passed over the concept.

Thankfully, it works really well, and thanks in part to the writing skills of Yasuko Kobayashi and the excellent cast, Shinkenger is the best Super Sentai season of the first decade of the millennium, and one in my personal top five. This show is so full of awesome moments that it is totally a season worth watching.

The main plot is: the Shiba Clan has been protecting the world against an evil monster named Chimatsuri Dokoku for 18 generations. The last time Dokoku invaded, it was a total asskicking on the humans’ side: the Shiba Clan were decimated, the former Shinkengers (composed of the 17^th head and his retainers) were severely injured or killed, and the world is saved at the last minute thanks to the special ability of the clan, sealing the enemy in the Sanzu river. The current 18^th head of the clan is Takeru Shiba, who (in contrast to Red warriors of recent seasons) is level headed and stoic. He then summons four of his retainers as Dokoku slowly begins to revive.

I found the characterization of Takeru to be very refreshing. There haven’t been a lot of Reds like this in a long time (if at all) and Tori Matsuzaka does a very good job doing his thing. In fact, this season has a great range of characters that grow as the series goes on. This season has one of the best casts in recent memory, and it shows.

One very notable thing is that the last arc changes EVERYTHING. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you finish Shinkenger and watch it again after seeing the last 10 episodes, certain character nuances make sense in a different way than original. This is genius, as it adds replay value to the series. Imagine that!

There are various references to jidaigeki films (Zatoichi, Mito Komon, etc.) that you can see. Even if you’re just a casual fan and know nothing, it is still impressively cool seeing it. The series is structured like a long play that you would probably see in some Japanese traditional production or something, with each episode being one chapter or act in a play.

The mecha are decent with a number of transformations, though not as much as last season. The final form is so ridiculously bulky that it doesn’t walk – it rolls around the ground.

Anyways, watch it.

Super Sentai Roundup – Go Over Time and Space

Timeranger is the Super Sentai series that heralded the new millennium – and what a season it was. With a plot that gets deeper as time goes on and interesting characters, this season of Super Sentai (and the closely adapted Power Rangers version, Time Force) is highly regarded by most fans.

Our story begins in the year 3000, where the sky is kinda orange-ish and lots of doves are flying around for some reason. Maybe they are the only species of birds left on the planet, I don’t know. Anyway the Time Police or whatever is doing some sort of meeting when suddenly something big happens – Don Dorneiro, a notorious future criminal boss, and two of his subordinates, manage to travel 1000 years in the past along with a prison full of future criminals (it makes more sense in context.)

In the process, four individuals are hurled into the past along with the Don. They encounter a poor schmuck that just happened to be jogging nearby and thanks to some weird circumstances, recruit the guy into their group and become TIMERANGEEEEEER!!. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, but nothing in this world happens by chance – destiny plays a large part in how the characters develop.

You see, that’s the theme of Timeranger: is destiny locked in place or can it be changed by one’s own actions? There’s a difference of opinion between the guys from the future and the guy from the past (who happens to be the Red ranger of this season), and that shapes a lot of interpersonal conflicts. Unfortunately some characters are developed better than others and that leads me to want more development out of TimeGreen or TimeBlue.

We also get a very strong willed female lead in Time Pink, who is effectively the leader of the group (Red still leads in battle and is a major force in the way the Timerangers fight, but he does not call all the shots.) This season’s red is a careful balance between the hot blooded idiots of other seasons and the stoic serious reds of others.

Like some other seasons the main villains are not as overtly evil as other Super Sentai villains, but they are still evil enough. And people die in this series. Civilan deaths are mostly implied but do happen instead of other seasons that gloss over them. Most of the characters, friend of foe, have their own stories to tell and their own personal pains. Also, enemies of the week are not completely destroyed when defeated in their giant forms: their giant forms are actually a consequence of their method of incarceration backfiring: a method of cryogenic stasis ala Demolition Man that leads to super inflation once you take off a special sticker that controls the process.

Timeranger is one of the earlier series to use CG, notably during the transformation sequence. At first glance this is done in a way that it isn’t noticeable, but careful viewers will be able to see the difference. The mecha transformations are made way more simple here, with two robots and a limited range of transformations.

Despite its relative seriousness, Timeranger still has the occasional silly episode, including a trippy episode that pits our heroes in different genres like westerns or samurai or whatnot. It still ends up being one of the ‘darker’ seasons of Super Sentai, and an enjoyable way to start the decade. The intensity of the last 10 or so episodes is well worth the price of watching the show.

A little postscript: the opening song, Jiku, is my single most favorite Super Sentai Opening ever.

Super Sentai Roundup – Action, Perfect and Industrial Revolution!

Ever since watching Jetman in 2008 I’ve watched a good number of new Tokusatsu Shows, Supaidaman being one of them. From the earliest ancestor of the Super Sentai series, I’m going to discuss two series that just aired within the past decade.

As the 2000s rolled by, Super Sentai underwent a lot of changes. Plots veered towards more family friendly fare owing to the changed timeslot (Sunday mornings as opposed to primetime) with the occasional serious storyline propping up at times. Competition from other morning shows, like for example Pokemon, challenged the status of tokusatsu shows. The Superhero Time programming block was then started on TV Asahi, consisting of a Kamen Rider series and a Super Sentai series.

While the plots and characterization changed, the things I loved about the franchise were still there: giant robots, random explosions out of nowhere and episodes that make you wonder what the writers were smoking on that particular day.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Dekaranger is the 2004-2005 Super Sentai series with a police motif. Similar to Timeranger (of course, without the time concept) it involves capturing and/or arresting criminals… FROM SPACE! It also has a talking dog as a commander. No shit. No one even makes the effort to make the mouth opening match the voice, but who cares? As the show goes on you realize it doesn’t really matter, as this particular character (Doggie Kruger) kicks major ass.

Banban (or just Ban) Akaza is a rookie cop who gets transferred to the SPD (Special Police Dekaranger) branch on earth. He is reckless and tends to wreak some collateral damage in the process of catching some bad guys. He is then joined by four other people and they go out and fight crime… Space Crime that is.

One notable difference in Dekaranger is that the bad guys are not under one big evil organization like (for example) the Tube Empire in Maskman or the Machine Empire thingy in Bioman. Instead, criminals come and go, supported by this bat guy named Abrella who is more of a supporter than an actual scary bad guy (at least until the last few eps.) One’s mileage may vary on how effective this turns out to be. Another is that the giant forms of the monsters of the week are different; they do not increase in size, instead they are given machines by Abrella to pilot, kinda like Bioman.

Our heroes are joined later on by the requisite 6^th ranger (and a seventh and tentative eighth) who fight crime along with them. Each new person has their own set of special powers and tends to make things more interesting and drive the plot forward. The Dekarangers themselves get a special upgrade courtesy of a SWAT/Special Forces like training episode.

Character wise the Dekarangers are pretty decently characterized, but honestly there was no one in the series that was really as notable as they should have been (other than maybe Doggie, and for all the right reasons). There’s a backstory and character episodes for everyone so everyone gets their share of the spotlight. The actors are pretty decent, with most of them getting bigger roles in movies or doramas or as voice actresses in anime.

There are various references to pop culture, like that one episode where a criminal named Tyler tries to open an illegal “fighting club.” Sound familiar? There are even a few noir-ish episodes that people may appreciate.

Anyway, Dekaranger is a fun series of the 2000-2010 decade. While not the best, it holds up quite well and is a fun watch.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger

The title for this series weirded me out when I first saw it. It came of the heels of an awesome season (Gekiranger) which had awesome chopsocky martial arts and shit. This one was about fighting pollution and racing. Er… WTF? Don’t cars make a lot of pollution in the first place?

Anyway, while trying to wrap my head around that one, the story. Our world is part of eleven dimensions/universes that look like membranes in space time. Gaiark, our evil organization for this series, consists of a bunch of nincompoops who want to pollute the earth or something like that. I guess they want to rule the earth too, after all the polluting is done.

Go-onger is a comedy series, much like Carranger was in the nineties. The villains are mostly harmless other than the occasional act of evil and pose little threat in most episodes. But as a comedy series, the plot kinda drags during the first third of the series. Other than a few episodes the plot meandered during this part, and it’s easy to see how the show could lose its viewership early on.

As the show moves into the halfway mark however, the introduction of the Go-on Wings and some new enemies that are a little more threatening give the show some quality moments (but still in the background of a comedy show.) This is where the show finally gets off the ground.

The characters are characterized well enough, but some of them get the short end of the stick (I’m trying to remember from having seen this last year, but all I can remember is Saki’s evil sister for some reason.) That’s kinda sad considering how serious episodes could at least have been replaced by character centric ones.

This is kinda sad considering they had good talent for this one. Most of the people in Go-Onger had been in doramas before, and the rookies were at least decent actors. Notable is former AV actress Nao Oikawa, who I would not have noticed if not for the fact that I saw one of her movies before and you just can’t forget something like that. Hehe.

The main draw here is the mecha and the insane number of combinations you can make from switching parts and putting them in different configurations. The toymakers for this season probably went crazy designing all of this stuff. With 12 engines you can make a lot of stuff happen.

Go-Onger is an average season that took too long to start up its engine so to speak. It’s sandwiched between two really great seasons and in terms of the 2000-2010 seasons it suffers a bit in comparison.

back from the dead

time to shift gears (er, from parking?) and write some new stuff. It's almost been a year hasn't it? Oh well.

Cinemalaya 2011: Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, Bisperas, Shorts A

Cinemalaya 2011 continues with fancy prancy dancing, a robbery, and several other things.

Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet)

It's Interpretative Dance: The Movie!

If you remember one of my reviews from last year (the midnight screening, forgot the title) that particular movie had a part where this interpretative dance segment comes out from nowhere and punches you in the face. It was artsy fartsy, it was pretentious, and it didn't work. It is hard to integrate concepts like that into film, and often the result is a confusing and obscure mess. But leave it to this New Breed entry to prove me wrong.

The title itself makes itself clear: this is a film that has a lot of dancers and dancing. But that's only the most superficial level of the film. This is basically a love story, expressed through dance and song. Surprisingly, it works really well.

Marlon is in love with his literature teacher (Jean Garcia,) who also happens to teach a dance class on the side. Dennis is one of the tutors in the teacher's class, and Marlon asks him to teach him some dance moves. Thing is, Dennis kind of has a thing for Marlon as well. Yeah, this is a rare Male ---> Male ---> (older) Female love triangle.

Intense feelings of love and longing are described in the many scenes of dialogue and debate, infusing each scene with layered meaning. The tension between the three characters, sexual or not, is so thick you can cut it with a knife. And yet, even as we wait for something to actually be done, we realize that this is not a film about getting the guy or the girl, it is about the process of loving itself, rather futilely.

Strikingly, one of the scenes describes the act of reminiscing a past love, or a love lost, as something like sex itself - that when one recalls memories of the people he or she loves, they inhabit that body's memory, becoming one with the memory itself. This idea of love unreachable or unrequited (same sex or not) is the central theme of the film. It all heads off into a dance fueled climax based on a creative reinterpretation of Humadapnon's part of the Ilonggo Hinilawod epic.

The FEU Dance Troupe helped in doing many of the dancing scenes in this film (the film itself takes place in the university.) All three leads are competent and believable as dancers as well (the credits section shows them along with the dance troupe practicing together.) Everything from traditional Filipino dances to Western dances like tango are covered in the film.

The soundtrack is also quite capable, with songs often accompanied by solo dances, especially during key scenes. It's gripping and quite intriguing to watch. Also, it doesn't just come out of the blue.

Give it a watch. I came in with low expectations and it exceeded all of them. 8 pirouettes out of 10.

Bisperas

This time, let's take a look at one of the entries for the Director's showcase category. Jeffrey Jeturian's Bisperas takes place on Christmas Eve. It begins with a procession, eventually showing the family whose lives we will see unravel in the next hour and a half. There's the patriarch (Tirso Cruz III), his wife (Raquel Villavicencio), and their three children: Balikbayan Dianne (Jennifer Sevilla) and her daughter Steph, frank and blunt Ara (Julia Clarete) and youngest son Mio. After robbers burglarize their home, deep-seated sentiments among them all begin to unravel, exposing old wounds and opening new ones.

Although most of the movie takes place in one place (the family's house,) this character-driven drama delivers from start to finish. While at first the family seems at peace with each other, each one of them has their own set of problems and hang-ups, leading to inevitable conflict. The robbery itself does not matter, but it serves as a force of nature that catalyzes the rest of the events in the movie. I won't spoil any of these conflicts because they add to the overall enjoyment of the film as a whole.

I am not entirely sure if the makers of the film were drawing parallels to what is going right now with scandals involving religious authority (the director himself said something to this effect during the gala premiere, but I'm not too sure as to the context of the statement) but one could interpret its relevance as such.

The acting is quite solid in all respects, and in character driven pieces like this it makes all the difference. Julia Clarete was my favorite in the film; her character interacts the most with all the other members and seems to bridge communication between some of them.

The end of the film closes out the story in an almost Christian fashion. Well, this is Christmas after all.

8 stolen items over 10.

Shorts A: Un Diutay Mundo, Samarito, Walang Katapusang Kwarto, Every Other Time, Nino Bonito

Un Diutay Mundo

An abstract short about a boy who is trapped forever in a room with no contact from the outside world. This was made by students of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (the movie is narrated in its entirety in Chavacano.) Like his namesake's stories depict, Kafka (the boy)'s circumstances are never clearly explained. At no point do we clearly know why he is in there, the nature of the girl, etc etc. Not really my cup of tea, but I guess its decent enough in its own right. 2.5 feral boys over 5.

Samarito

...Samaroon. Just kidding. Simple enough in concept, an unlikely person becomes an unlikely Samaritan because of unlikely circumstances. Just watch it and form your own opinion. Technically decent and executed well. There was a bit too much shaky cam at the end for my taste, however. 3 crowbars over 5.

Walang Katapusang Kwarto

If you think about it, this short is basically two people talking. It's a very simple concept but the two leads manage to pull it off really well. It ends up paced just right and doesn't overstay its welcome (too much) thanks to well placed jokes and clever dialogue. Plus the little twist at the end really tops it off. 4.5 witty retorts over 5.

Every Other Time

This short was made by students of the College of Saint Benilde. Another simple concept film that has this cute payoff in the end. Compared with the other shorts in the repertoire it is quite average but it tells its story effectively and pretty much gets to the point. 3 cellphones over 5.

Nino Bonito

I like Milo Tolentino's short films. They all involve kids (non-actors to boot), they mostly take place in impoverished settings, and all are invariably funny and entertaining. Although not his best, this one is quite cute when not in its 'the world is a soulless and relentless place' mode. It is innocence versus its inevitable loss - fittingly represented in this film by the Santo Nino. Not his best effort, but still above average. 3.5 religious icons over 5.

Cinemalaya 2011: Amok, Shorts B

Truth. Despair. Freedom. Terror. Splendor. Memory. Passion. The seventh Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival is underway, and it's about time for some movie watching. I don't think anything can match the sheer volume of content I reviewed last time, but I'll try to do what I can with the time I have.

AMOK

There seems to be something about Pasay Rotonda that makes it an attractive setting for movies like this. With its sprawling walkways and chaotic hustle and bustle it becomes a character of its own. In recent memory I can recall the film Rotonda, which bears a passing similarity to this entry in the New Breed Category, Lawrence Fajardo's Amok.

Amok is an interconnected tale weaving together the lives of several people and how their actions affect each other. While some are simply living their lives as normally as they can, some enter the Rotonda at a distinct turning point in their lives. As the film draws into its inevitable climax (the "Amok" hinted by the title) this single event will send ripples through all of the characters, changing them either for better or worse.

An experienced ensemble cast including Mark Gil, Dido Delapaz, Garry Lim, and Archi Adamos (among many, many others) play the various characters that inhabit the setting of this film. They all bring their characters to life, making us sympathize with at least some of them in the limited time they have with their respective vignettes.

And it is the cast of characters that serves as the central pillar that holds the film up: from washed-up actors to dirty enforcers to a proud father and son, all of these characters have one thing in common: they are either the perpetrators or the recipients of an "injustice." Some try to cheat the system already in place. Some try to cheat others, offering them hollow prizes in exchange for their souls. And that is one of the central themes of the film; screenwriter John Bedia describes this injustice (and I paraphrase here) as the "source" of the characters' "anger" (translated as 'init') that compels them to do the things they do. Ironically the man who perpetrates the 'Amok' that sets up the climax seems to be the only person who acts on this injustice, albeit with violence.

Last year, when I reviewed Astig, I saw many cliches that were beginning to eat away at the artistic integrity of films with similar concepts and settings (cliches that would eventually get parodied in one of the other films in this year's festival, but that's for another review.) Astig taught me that a film could be technically excellent but lacking in other things, when concepts are regurgitated again and again so as to seem artificial in themselves.

Luckily this film avoids these pitfalls and uses the Rotonda as a canvas with which to paint this interesting tale, using poverty and social injustice as matters of fact instead of emphasizing them, almost to the point of blatant exploitation. The movie is NOT about how people are sooooooo poor. The movie shows us what IS, and that is to me, true art.

One thing though, and this is something of a nitpick... given a revolver with six bullets, how the heck do you reload and where do you get those bullets...?

7.5 headshots out of 10.

Amok Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ppXJETZQM

Shorts B: Hanapbuhay, Oliver's Apartment, Immanuel, Debut, Hazard

Hanapbuhay

The punchline of this story is important, so I'm not spoiling anything. The point of the film is, even when times are rough, deep inside, true men have integrity - and that may be the most important thing of all. Excellent comedic timing, well paced, technically sound, what can I say. Best short of the festival. 5 broken bottles out of 5.

Oliver's Apartment

Oliver is a man with severe OCD and germophobia. A postcard then sends things spiraling out of control. Although technically sound and done with no dialogue at all, this particular short sends its message decently. However there is a bit of confusion if the girl and the postcard sender are the same person. The film kind of spent a bit too much time on Oliver instead, which I guess was sort of the point, but it left some things confusing in the process. 3 neatly arranged pills out of 5.

Immanuel

This short is unique in that it is a science fiction film; in five years of going to this festival, I have never seen a sci-fi film in Cinemalaya before. The film portrays a dystopic future where oxygen is of such limited supply that it is rationed to workers very strictly. No work, no air. And having extra children (especially if they're not regulated) sucks too. Say what you want about the concepts of the film and its parallels to current issues on reproductive health and population control, there's lots to debate about here. The film is presented gorgeously with stark contrasting colors and shadows, cool hues of blue and silver and gray giving off an appearance/effect similar to that of film treated with a bleach bypass process. 3.5 O2 crystals out of 5.

Debut

Rather than telling you about the plot of this rather simple film, we had a little debate about the nature of this film as a cleverly disguised metaphor or not. One of my friends noted that the emphasis on the money received kind of made us see the movie as is, instead of as a metaphor or abstract representation of something else. Still, something to think about when watching this really short film. 3 ribbons out of 5.

Hazard

Mikhail Red's film last year, Harang, was one of my favorite shorts in recent years. This new effort, a simple looking father and son story that soon spirals wildly out of control, is a whole different monster entirely. It took a while after watching the film that it is basically exactly like what the father said - that the son knows nothing about how the world works, and in the end, the father is the one who is held accountable for his son's mistakes. It's just that this film takes it to the maximum extreme level that it can take the concept. 4 dead bodies out of 5.

The Tree of Life

I was a bit excited when I learned that Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life won the Palm D'Or at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. A film several years, if not decades, in the making, it was full of ambition and seemed to offer something unique. Given Malick's previous stints at directing, those films tended to be technically superior films, but lacking in something else.

After seeing the film for myself, I can understand why the film received such a polarized response from moviegoers and critics. The Tree of Life is not an easy film to digest.

Jack O' Brien (Sean Penn) as he deals with everyday life as an architect. Around him the concrete walls of the city trap him, with corridors seemingly stretching out for miles, jungles of stone and steel. He begins to remember back to the time when he was still a boy growing up in the suburban America of the 20th century. He recalls his life with his two other brothers, his mother (Jessica Chastain) and his troubled relationship with his father (Brad Pitt.)

But to say that the paragraph above is the 'story' does not do justice to what really goes on. The Tree of Life is more an experience, a compilation of feelings and emotions and dreamscapes and memories. As such, the structure of the film is not linear; from one moment we see ourselves in the characters in the present - and in another we see the creation of the universe itself. A large portion of the film is bereft of dialogue, and we are left to bask in images and sound. Maybe Malick is channeling his own inner Kubrick here, ala 2001. Either way, he's not a director who likes to use dialogue too much in his films.

Some viewers have drawn religious undertones to the film, and indeed the music of the film is patterned like a prayer from start to finish. Others have likened it to a person's mental process in understanding the world or life itself. People have drawn other conclusions from the film, and that is, in my humble opinion, is what makes this film work - the sense that it draws a spectrum of reactions from different people. That is film as art, in its pure form.

It is quite surprising that some of the more impressive special effects in the film are NOT generated by computers. Douglas Trumbull, who did the special effects in iconic visual feasts like 2001, Blade Runner and the first Star Trek Movie was responsible for the effects in this film.

Then again, the film has its shortcomings. It demands a lot from its viewers, leaving others wanting. This is definitely not a film that anyone can watch. Junkies waiting for the next boob or explosion need to look elsewhere (and there's nothing wrong with that.) The existential angst piles up almost to the point of pretension. Whether it crosses the line by being too heavy handed, I leave it to your own personal interpretation. Again, that's the beauty of this film - people may love it or hate it, but they will have an opinion of it, good or bad.

Towards the end of the film, one may ask oneself: have I come to terms with my own life? What about the people I've left behind? The film may not give any concrete answers to life, the universe and everything, but that's because there really are no concrete, generalized answers for any of us. So maybe the scenes of cosmic birth and destruction means that our lives are infinitesimal in comparison to the rest of the universe. So then, what gives our lives meaning? Is it love?

Now excuse me while I watch some boobs and explosions.

Sucker Punched

You have to hand it to Zack Snyder. After directing a slew of music videos and car commercials in the nineties, he moved on to making feature films. He was pretty successful with 300, based on the Frank Miller comic book series, and made works based on other franchises like Dawn of the Dead, or Watchmen (one of this reviewer's personal favorites.)

But that's the thing.

Prior to this movie, we really haven't seen Zack Snyder do anything that wasn't a remake or an adaptation of (admittedly awesome) source material. He has only existed as a shadow or extension of his previous job - to present something that already exists, package it and present it with style. The film-as-concept then evolves into something completely different, a commercial, a picture that tells no words other than accounts of its own beauty. Pictures worth no words. Who would have ever thought?

This brings us to his latest film, Sucker Punch. It's his first film that is original, not based on a comic book, a book or an old movie. I won't talk that much about the movie because a multitude of people have already shared their views on it: it's weird, it's brainless action, the plot is obtuse, it explains nothing, it's slow and awkward whenever the hot girls aren't blowing up zeppelins or robot samurai.

Instead, I offer this: what constitutes a 'director?' Is it simply someone who handles the technical presentation of the film? A film does not exist on style alone; plot and characterization are two important things filmmakers seem to be forgetting these days. With a glossy exterior we get films like the new Star Wars Trilogy, lush fantasy worlds populated by cardboard cutouts and paper thin plots. With rich and deep plots and fleshed out characters the movie that emerges from it far outshines its hollow kin.

Somewhere along the line, something went wrong with this movie. Perhaps it was the screenwriters explaining too much, or the other way around. Zack Snyder wants us to read between the lines in an film that promised us brainless action. Between serious drama and eye candy explosion fests, the film transforms into something that is neither one - ultimately alienating the audiences of both.

I wish I could tell you how badass the sequences are. They are indeed, but that alone constitutes not a true movie. You could edit out the rest of the parts and still see something probably worth watching on Youtube. One could praise the visual and musical flair taken in the presentation of the product, featuring absurd amounts of detail and songs from the Pixies all the way to Bjork. But again, the gift is only as good as what's inside - not the wrapping that covers it.

Zack Snyder has yet to prove to audiences that he is a true director - someone who not only gives us the pretty packaging, but tells us the story behind it. Unfortunately we may not be able to know just yet; his next project is a reboot of the Superman series.