BORAT [2006] review

BORAT is the kind of movie that should be seen on its opening weekend. Seeing it some 5 months since its release date, I have already heard of most of the scenes from the movie and/or seen clips of them, so it wasn’t totally fresh for me. The delay in seeing it is due to Japan’s overloaded movie schedule for the few screens (relatively) they have in Tokyo to show movies on.

There were many very funny scenes where the laughs come one after another, but taken as a whole, I somewhat felt the movie to be short and not very substantive. I have watched Sacha Baron Cohen’s TV show Ali G before which is a series of skits involving the title character, Borat and another who I hear will have his own movie soon, Bruno. BORAT seemed to be an extended series of sketches rather than a feature length film and the whole time I was trying to guess if it was a staged scene or real. Many of the scenes were in fact real, which added to my appreciation of the boldness of the comedy. Yet some scenes were far too real, in particular the nude wrestling match which was just unbelievably vulgar and kind of tainted the movie overall I think. A very unnecessary scene.

And I wonder just how much racism BORAT shows to be underlying in America…..how many people interviewed by Borat did not respond in a way suggesting anti-semitism or homophobia? Were the scenes in the movie really representative of the majority, or hand picked for their overt showings of racism?

My favorite scene was a simple one involving a “gypsy.” The scariest was one involving a Pentecostal church showing that a U.S. Congressman and a state supreme court judge do not believe in evolution. Borat showed us many things, from what drunk frat guys really thinks about women, to what an old cowboy would really like to do to all gay people, to that even southern hospitality has its limits.

THE ILLUSIONIST [2006] review

I appreciate all kinds and genres of movies, but in the end, when I go to the movies, or when I watch one at home, I find myself often wanting to watch what I call in my mind a movie-movie. … Let me define what a movie-movie is: one that shows a world that you or I do not live in; one that immediately takes you out of your seat and does not return you until the final credit rolls; one whose score stays in your mind after the final credit, and a score that just hearing one note of it later immediately identifies the film for you. Therefore, present day family dramas, most comedies, and ordinary action movies are to me, not movie-movies. THE ILLUSIONIST is a pure movie-movie on all three accounts, and it was further helped by the fact the turn of the 20th century is one of my favorite time periods, just as science is beginning to explain major mysteries of the world, but yet not so much so that people are not willing to still believe in the supernatural, the perfect era to tell this movie’s story.

From the opening note of THE ILLUSIONIST’s score, I was put into the world. As soon as the first frame appeared, with it’s muted sepia colors and vignetted framing, the movie established its tone, feel and look. The film begins with a small scene from the end, then proceeds in flashback, which I normally don’t like, but it is done very effectively here. The entire film has been finely and elegantly crafted, all reactions and movements by the characters are deliberate, watch for them on the edges of the screen by even background characters.

You may have a hard time taking your eyes off the two leads though, Edward Norton as the enigmatic and supernatural illusionist himself, Eisenheim, and Paul Giamatti as Chief Inspector Uhl. … The focus in Norton’s eyes the entire film, captivating. You can see Giamatti’s mind frantically working trying to keep up with the two dueling minds of Norton’s illusionist, and his rival, the Crown Prince.

The illusions themselves amazed and fascinated me, least of which was a sword trick aping the tale of Excalibur and King Arthur in a most clever and bold way. I do not know if they were real illusions or done with cgi effects, and I do not want to know. I choose to believe neither, rather they were actual magic. For it is far better to be astounded by this movie, and let it flow, than as the Crown Prince repeatedly tries to do, bring to the ordinary the moments of extraordinary the Illusionist shows us. If you view it in this way, then your face at the end will be in perfect reflection of the character on the screen at that time. … This was the best movie of 2006 I’ve seen.

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan trip — VIDEO

Scenes from my 4-day trip to Nobribetsu, Hokkaido

December 30, 2006 to January 02, 2007

Filmed & Edited by Jason Collin

Day 1 || Day 2 || New Year’s Eve || Day 3 || VIDEO

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan trip — DAY 3

When I woke up this morning I didn’t know how I’d spend the day, but as I often do, I quickly came up with a plan, and was off.

…Even with the zoom lens, it was hard to get a good close-up of the sea gulls as they were surprisingly timid. … I spotted a small lighthouse at the tip of a long seawall that extended far out into the water. Of course I wanted to stand at the very tip, but it was a hard walk as I had rarely before felt such a strong sustained wind. … I had to walk on the top of a only 1.5 foot wide wall the whole way between large, Asian style, cement jetties.

…Leaving the windy seawall and now walking on an almost black sand beach I saw some peculiar rock formations jutting out in the Sea. They reminded me a little of the southern coastline of Jeju-do, South Korea with the way they were rectangular in shape, as if machine crafted.

…This led me down an old dirt ride following high upon a hillside flanked to the right far below by an erstwhile creek whispering the end of a winter tale. … Upon the beach I immediately went for the rocks at the foot of a cliff and begin scrambling on them around corners into small cover after small hidden cove. … Scaling walls, rushing as the incoming wave wooshed back out leaving a brief water-free path in front of a far jutting-out cliffside, jumping from up high onto dark brown sand below.

…I was getting quite hungry so I headed back to the beachfront next to the creek and settled rather cozily upon a rock facing west and watched the sea gulls fly into the wind, hang, dig, and then instantly swoosh back 50 yards, almost touch the surface of the water with their wingtips, then repeat.

…I ascended from the beach up a steep hillock to the lighthouse, but was met with a sign that said in Japanese and English “prohibited area.” … The lighthouse was very small actually, no lighthouse keeper could live in it, and there was no way for me to get inside and have a looksy. I strode to the edge of the hillock and behld a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean, so vast that I could discern the curvature of the Earth itself as I looked from the far left to the far right, some 170 degrees of view. … I thought how incredible it would be to have a home upon this very spot and what ease my mind would be having a nearly endless expanse of Sea to gaze upon. … I stared out long from that spot, so long that the sun was almost to the horizon to the west, my right. … When it retired for the day, I made haste back down the hillock, up and along the dirt road, beside the creek, and then out onto the big road leading to town, as I am quite superstitious and not beyond thinking monsters might rise when all light disappears.

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan trip — New Year's Eve

As is customary in Japan on New Year’s Eve, I went to a small hilltop jinja (shrine) at midnight to ring a large metal ball attached to a thick rope. There were only 4 people waiting prior to midnight. When my watch showed midnight I heard no cheers of any kind by hidden revelers anywhere, but just seconds later a taiko drum beat starting echoing from inside the jinja.

Then I heard the first rattlings (it doesn’t really chime or even ring) of the spherical, metal bell as the people who had been waiting on the steps of the jinja began making their respective New Year’s prayers and/or wishes. Being shy, I waited until all the people had come and gone before donating a ¥100 yen coin, rattling the bell, and making my own prayer. This actually has no meaning for me, but I thought I should at least try participating as I was there and didn’t want to just take photos and leave. I was most interested in a fire burning in a tall metal basin. Thusly, 2007 began . . . .

Day 1 || Day 2 || New Year’s Eve || Day 3 || VIDEO

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