Friday, June 8, 2007

Jason goes to Holehead--day 7

Two movies last night.

First up was "Id", which looked like an exciting mind-fuck. It's directed by Kei Fujiwara, who played the girlfriend in the classic "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" and directed "Organ". However, this took an interesting premise--humans are just animals (unless they cry out to Amida Buddha, they are just flesh that breathes)--and turns it into a heaping mound of "what-the-fuck?" Yeah, there are some gross scenes, but the vomit is more impressive than the gore (and force-feeding a guy bloody pig vomit to toughen him up nearly set me off vomiting). There are a few genuinely inspired moments, like the various implements used as replacements for penes. But mostly it's just confused, inconsistent (moments of pure slapstick destroy any creepy atmosphere she was going for), and just trying to hard to be disgusting, without giving me enough reason to care why it's disgusting. Somewhere there's a semblance of a story, about pig butchers, cannibalism, murder, and revenge. And it's set up as chapters in a book with no words, with titles referring to the "monster in the id well." Ultimately, the ending plea to Amida Buddha sets up an interesting question of forgiveness. Not whether man can be forgiven for his animal nature, but whether Kei Fujiwara can be forgiven for making this movie.

Perhaps if I thought about it more, there might be something subliminal in "Id" to make it worthwhile. But I preferred to wash it down with a crowd-pleaser, "Blood Car". I loved it at Cinequest, and I'll stand by my review (scroll down), but add a random non-sequitur about tarantulas in vending machines. And I'll say that you can tell who has seen "Blood Car" by who can finish the line, "Stick a taco in my mouth, and...."


Oh, and "Blood Car" also came with an awesome short, "Splitting Hairs" about how much it sucks to be bald and how awesome it is to have a rich, full head of hair. I agree!

No comments: