Finally after a hiatus of going to concerts, I got the chance to watch one of my favourite band for the first and last time ever. It’s been a while since the rumour about the band is going to split up running around the web. And now, its down to this, their last tour. As the front man James Murphy said,

“This is our last tour. So this is our crazy, no punches pulled… we have to do the weirdest stuff. It’s like the most ramshackle basement show ever. It’s the end of this type of thing for us.“

They played all their singles from Daft Punk Played in My House, Losing My Age, and All My Friends. The encore was superb, they mixed their classic New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s Empire State of Mind.

Not to be forgotten, Hot Chip as the opening act was tremendous themselves. Playing songs mostly from their latest album One Life Stand.

Beautiful, sexually explicit film made by NagisaOshima based on a true story of Sada Abe. It remains a controversial and daring film to this day in which unstimulated sex scenes were performed and the most edgy use of a hardboiled egg.

Synopsis:

Based on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life itself. (IMDb)

In The Realm of Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)

Virgins from Hell aka Perawan di Sarang Sindikat. An Indonesian Women-In-Prison genre featuring many legendary actors i.e. Dicky Zulkarnaen, Yenny Farida, Harry Capri. Rapi Films at their hey day. Check out Mr Tiger’s outfit!

Synopsis:

Two sisters plot for revenge against the drug-lord who murdered their family and took their home, now being used as a base for their experiments on aphrodisiacs.(IMDb)

Virgins From Hell (Ackyl Anwari, 1986)

Another magnum opus of oddities from Seijun Suzuki. Pistol Opera is a fandango of characters from Guild assassins whom No.3 encountered on her way to kill No.1. Some visuals will remind you of El Topo.

Synopsis:

Pistol Opera is a 2001 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Makiko Esumi. As one of Seijun’s last fims, it is related to Suzuki’s 1967 Brander to Kill, either as a remake or sequel. The plots of both films involve a third-ranked hitman deposing the top-ranked hitman to claim the top rank.

Pistol Opera (Seijun Suzuki, 2001)

Produced by Shaw Brothers, it’s a blatant rip-off of some famous movie. Sheena’s dubbed voice sounds Thai. The Indians are Chinese extras lightly smeared with body paint. Danny Lee in his early years. Definitely watch it with zero reservation and tones of fun will be guaranteed.

Synopsis:

Word of a monster ape ten stories tall living in the Himalayas reaches fortune hunters in Hong Kong. They travel to India to capture it, but wild animals and quicksand dissuade all but Johnny, an adventurer with a broken heart. He finds the monster and discovers it’s been raising a scantily-clad woman, Samantha, since she survived a plane crash years before that killed her parents. In the idyllic jungle, Johnny and Samantha fall in love. Then Johnny asks her to convince “Utam” to go to Hong Kong. Lu Tien, an unscrupulous promoter, takes over: Utam is in chains for freak show exhibitions. (IMDb)

The Mighty Peking Man (Ho Meng Hua, 1977)

Click here to watch the trailer.

Based on a true story in Iranian village where a woman was stoned to death after being accused of adultery, set up by her husband so he can take up a new wife. The victim’s aunt told the bloody event to a traveling French-Iranian journalist who then wrote a book out of it. Very poignant and a stark reminder of how powerless women are in certain parts of the world.

Synopsis:

A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant had a tragic ending. (IMDb)

The Stoning of Soraya M. (Cyrus Nowrasteh, 2008)

From the director of In the Realm of Senses, came his last film. Homosexuality was rampant in the samurai training school in which the issue was dealt with deadly results. Tadanobu Asano had a small yet effective role. First-timer Ryuhei Matsuda was excellent. Rounding off the team were Beat Takeshi who gave his subtle emotions in his usual deadpan way and Ryuichi Sakamoto doing the score.

Synopsis:

Set during Japan’s Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school’s stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path. (IMDb)

Gohatto (Taboo) (Nagisa Oshima, 1999)

Woman in the Dunes’ director directed this beautiful masterpiece (also) adapted from a novel by Kobo Abe. The film told of a new life that a scientist had after he received a face transplant. It was a social commentary that was very valid in today’s modern society. Set design was breathtaking with surreal feel and keen eyes on details. The doctor’s room was a sight to behold with transparent charts and Vitruvian drawing. Shots of ‘faces in the crowd’ were amazing. Soundtrack was done by the master composer and frequent collaborator Toru Takemitsu.

Synopsis:

A plastics scientist loses his face in an accident and proceeds to obtain a new face for himself. With a new ‘mask’, the protagonist sees the world in a new way and even goes so far as to have a clandestine affair with his estranged wife. (Wikipedia)

The Face of Another (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966)

Good music needs good video. That’s why Jesse Brown and Christian Hansen created a pleasant stop motion video for Grieves & Budo. Knowing that making a stop motion video is a grueling process, we highly appreciate what they have done here. It really comes down to how well they unify the music with movements, and persistent, of course. They are also brave enough to present Grieves & Budo in a different way.

Image reference: Plastic Studio

Grieves & Budo “Cloud Man” Music Video from Jesse Brown on Vimeo.

The director won this year’s Palme d’Or award. This film tells of the director’s parents love life in 2 different era and setting. Shots are the same in both stories. It was banned in Thailand due to the showing of monks playing guitar and playing with a remote-control flying saucer and inappropriate behaviors in the hospital (smoking and kissing). The openly-gay director is known for his static, long-take aesthetic and a knack to cast non-actors.

Synopsis:

The film is a tribute to the director’s parents and is divided into two parts, with the characters and dialogue in the second half essentially the same as the first, but the settings and outcome of the stories are different. The first part is set in a hospital in rural Thailand, while the second half is set in a Bangkok medical center. “The film is about transformation, about how people transform themselves for the better,” Apichatpong said in an interview. (Wikipedia)

Syndromes and A Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul aka Joe, 2006)