Comments on: Review: Izo http://thecompany.net/jason/posts/2005/review-izo/ We seem to be haunted by the randomness of life and alternate versions of reality. Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:35:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Ahe http://thecompany.net/jason/posts/2005/review-izo/#comment-30 Ahe Mon, 30 May 2005 18:21:23 +0000 http://thecompany.net/jason/?p=72#comment-30 If you can find Hitokiri (it also goes under the alt title "Tenchu"), I reccommend it. I tried looking Gosha up on netflix, but I don't see a listing for him at all. I have a couple of his films, The Wolves and Hitokiri on VHS...but I taped them off NGN when I was like 13 or something. He's got a cult following for his samurai and yakuza movies. His older gangster-y stuff was in the ninkyo eiga tradition--genre pieces, but in a good way. If you can find Hitokiri (it also goes under the alt title “Tenchu”), I reccommend it. I tried looking Gosha up on netflix, but I don’t see a listing for him at all. I have a couple of his films, The Wolves and Hitokiri on VHS…but I taped them off NGN when I was like 13 or something. He’s got a cult following for his samurai and yakuza movies. His older gangster-y stuff was in the ninkyo eiga tradition–genre pieces, but in a good way.

]]> By: jason http://thecompany.net/jason/posts/2005/review-izo/#comment-29 jason Sun, 29 May 2005 17:33:39 +0000 http://thecompany.net/jason/?p=72#comment-29 Ahh yes, thank you. I was actually wondering about the cultural signifigance of the Izo character -- I figured there may be something I was missing. Ditto for the troubador. And yea, although the lyrics were bizzare, you are right -- they are very meaningful. As for Kristeva -- I want to apply her to everything, even when it's not necessary. Maybe after seeing it again I can better justify my desire to use her. Ahh yes, thank you. I was actually wondering about the cultural signifigance of the Izo character — I figured there may be something I was missing. Ditto for the troubador. And yea, although the lyrics were bizzare, you are right — they are very meaningful.

As for Kristeva — I want to apply her to everything, even when it’s not necessary. Maybe after seeing it again I can better justify my desire to use her.

]]> By: Ahe http://thecompany.net/jason/posts/2005/review-izo/#comment-28 Ahe Sun, 29 May 2005 17:21:18 +0000 http://thecompany.net/jason/?p=72#comment-28 I don't really see applying Kristeva here--I agree more with your last statement of Izo being a "manifestation for the guilt/pain/hypocrisy of war"--it's fairly obvious that Izo, reincarnated endlessly to commit atrocities, is a representation of the human capacity for violence and the neverending cycle thereof. The newsreels interspersed in the narative support this reading, I believe. The troubador or whatever...I don't know what his real name is, but I heard that he's pretty famous in Japan...some kind of counter-culture figure from the 60's. While the lyrics were definitely bizarre, I found that they commented (metaphorically, of course) on what was going on in the film, which was actually pretty cool. Have you seen Hitokiri? It's a late 60's (?) Hideo Gosha flim about Izo Okada. Izo kind of feels like a fucked up sequel to Hitokiri, but I don't know enough about Japanese culture to back that up--I do know that Izo is a well-known swordsman, so it could just be that Miike was working off an historical figure and not an earlier picture. I don’t really see applying Kristeva here–I agree more with your last statement of Izo being a “manifestation for the guilt/pain/hypocrisy of war”–it’s fairly obvious that Izo, reincarnated endlessly to commit atrocities, is a representation of the human capacity for violence and the neverending cycle thereof. The newsreels interspersed in the narative support this reading, I believe. The troubador or whatever…I don’t know what his real name is, but I heard that he’s pretty famous in Japan…some kind of counter-culture figure from the 60’s. While the lyrics were definitely bizarre, I found that they commented (metaphorically, of course) on what was going on in the film, which was actually pretty cool.

Have you seen Hitokiri? It’s a late 60’s (?) Hideo Gosha flim about Izo Okada. Izo kind of feels like a fucked up sequel to Hitokiri, but I don’t know enough about Japanese culture to back that up–I do know that Izo is a well-known swordsman, so it could just be that Miike was working off an historical figure and not an earlier picture.

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