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Reviews
Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002)
Fascinating and fun look at a phenomenal career
David Gulpilil is the quintessential Australian Aboriginal actor, and the first actual Aboriginal to play a role in a movie. He also was instrumental in advising Australian filmmakers on authentic Aboriginal customs, language, and folklore. It was through him that the depiction of Aboriginals in Australian films went from being stereotypes played by white actors in black face to truly authentic depictions.
From his humble roots as an aboriginal dancer at a tourist attraction, Gulpilil's innate skill was recognized -- his traditional dancing techniques were as refined and athletic as any Ballet star, but it was his charm and personality that stood out above all, and young Australian film director Nicolas Roeg knew that Gulpilil would be perfect in his 1971 film, "Walkabout". What Roeg didn't realize was that Gulpilil would not just make the aboriginal character in the film authentic, but he would go on to start a revolution in Australia's film industry.
David Gulpilil brought so much authentic aboriginal motifs to his role in Walkabout, that no white actors in black face would ever be seen again portraying Aboriginals. From now on, only Aboriginal actors and actresses would portray Aboriginals in Australian films. Not only did he open the door to Aboriginal actors, but he also made the film industry conscious of their portrayals of Aboriginals in film. From that point on, the language, customs, dances, and music of Aboriginal people would be portrayed as they really are, as opposed to how white settlers imagined them.
What makes this film fascinating, apart from all the archival footage, and interviews with actors and directors whose pleasure it was to work with David, is the look at his life as it is now. Gulpilil still lives in the Bush, hundreds of miles from any roads, cities, or hospitals. He swims across alligator-infested waters to get to the nearest airport, and he lives in a shack that he built with his own hands. He gave all of his money to his tribe, and is content to live a traditional existence of hunting and gathering -- much like many of the characters he portrayed on film.
At first, we are shocked at the lifestyle of this legendary actor whose smiling face has charmed us in so many Aussie films -- We pity him, and start assuming that he was ripped off by his greedy agent. But as the film progresses, our pity turns into pure admiration -- he wasn't ripped off. He prefers to live this way, and has used his money to help out members of his family and tribe. We marvel at his family values, and how modern civilization has not spoiled him. He has and still lives an amazing life. Though already a legend, he may yet become more legendary before long.
Ju-on (2002)
I have a grudge against this movie!
(Spoiler alert! but read on because you may save money)
I know why the movie was called "The Grudge". After seeing it, you will carry a grudge against the distributor, director, and publicity company which advertised this as a scary movie, and all the critics who claimed that it's a remarkable film. You may also hold a grudge against them for simply spending your time watching this celluloid bowel movement.
Let me start off by saying that this movie has no plot. It's just a bunch of scenes of people seeing ghostly shapes, or one of the ghosts (a small boy with a cat, a woman, and a crazy man). We never learn why these ghosts are haunting the house that the film takes place in, or why these people seem to be afraid of darn near anything. At one point, a women is frightened to death of harmless, banal things like her cell phone ringing, and her teddy bear. Nothing scary happens. She just picks up her teddy bear and scream s at it, then throws it away. Her cell phone rings, and she gasps in horror. Why? Is she insane? Did she suddenly become retarded? Why does everyone in this film make great big bug-eyes at everything?
There's a lot of scenes like that -- scenes where nothing scary happens at all, but the characters react as though something did. You'll be rewinding the DVD (if you were fortunate enough to not pay to see this in a theater) to see what happened, only to find that nothing happened at all.
The film suffers from bad acting, lack of continuity, lack of any discernible plot, and most annoyingly, a total lack of any horrifying atmosphere. Everything is brightly lit and clean. There is no shadow. There is no substance, and anything resembling a frightening, threatening atmosphere is totally missing.
There really is nothing scary in this film at all. If your idea of scary is seeing a small, naked boy, whose body is white because he's apparently dead, hide in the shadows, or seeing a white woman crawl down the stairs with blood on her face, then go for it. I found the scenes with these ghostly characters to be very unfrightening, and the reactions of the characters to these ghosts to be contrived and phoney at best. I was never convinced that these people were being scared by anything, or had anything to fear -- nobody gets killed or put in danger.
We hear lots of strange noises in this film, and some say that the sound design of the film is one of it's most frightening aspects. None of the sounds are frightening, and most importantly, we never really see the connection between the sounds and what they're supposed to represent -- they just become annoying and repetitive.
I am convinced that the people who are heralding this film as some kind of horror masterpiece are either crazed Japanese Animation fans who think that anything produced by Anime directors or studios must be superior to western films, or Asian cinema fans who haven't really seen a lot of actual horror films. "The Ring" and "The Others" are far superior horror films in every way. The grudge can't even compete on their level.
I was upset that I wasted 90 minutes watching this over-hyped trash. This film is a waste of time for film buffs as well as horror buffs.