Cruel Gun Story [dir. Takumi Furukawa]

Cruel Gun Story (CGS) was a pretty good heist caper in the veteran Nikkatsu Studio's crime filmography. Joe Shishido (he of puffed cheeks fame from Branded to Kill) heads the gang meant to carry out the heist. But Joe is not calling all the shots - a big fish gangster is bankrolling the caper and has assigned a motley of crew-mates to Joe, who may not all be trustworthy.

As South East Asian film expert Tony Rayns says in his video essay included on the blu-ray from Radiance Films, CGS shares a kinship with Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, in which also a gang plots to steal the receipts of a horse racing derby. In other film references, there is a chase through sewers a la Carol Reed's The Third Man. 

As can be expected, the heist does not go as planned. The gang face unexpected stumbling blocks - including a guard that refuses to leave the bulletproof money van, and there are double and triple crosses galore. CGS is based on a story by Haruhiko Oyabu, who also wrote the sources behind several Seijun Suzuki movies. The overall mix is delirious, and while there are logical fallacies and contrivances of melodrama, it does not prevent the film from being entertaining.

Shishido as the tough-talking leader holds our attention (and his cheeks don't look as ridiculous as they did in Branded to Kill). I noticed that the environment around the characters had predominantly English signage; Rayns explains that the film is set in and around an American military base (Shishido's contact even obtains a sniper-scope rifle from a GI) and is indicative of the corruption culture prevalent in the period.

A few words on the Radiance blu-ray:

Video quality is solid but not spectacular. The master appears dated, with middling detail and limited contrast / grayscale; it might be the same that was sourced for The Criterion Collection's DVD release as part of their Eclipse box-set on Nikkatsu Noir). Initially, the audio seemed to have some distortion, but that feeling went away afterwards, and the brassy score punches hard. Extras include two video essays (one being the aforementioned Tony Rayns piece and one by Jackie Scanlon on the Nikkatsu Noir period), a commentary by expert Jasper Sharp and a short interview with an older Joe Shishido who looks a lot more handsome after having removed the cheek implants.

Die Katze aka The Cat [dir. Dominik Graf]

Dominik Graf's 1988 thriller The Cat begins with the visual of a man and woman having sex to the strains of Good Times by The Animals, then craftily segues to a couple of blokes in a car singing along with the radio. All these people will play a part in a planned heist. The woman is unhappily married to the bank manager and a willing accomplice in the plan. The two blokes are henchmen that will carry out a robbery and later hold the manager and employees hostage for a hefty ransom. The man - played by German star Gotz George - is the cold-blooded brains behind the operation.

What follows is a multi-layered scheme in which the man arranges for the henchmen to ask for the ransom to be carried by the manager's wife (Gudrun Landgrebe). From his hotel room window opposite the bank and access to police radio communications the man can clearly predict the police operations and accordingly issue counter instructions. Later in a thrilling interlude, he himself navigates fire escapes and narrow ledges, and even slinks under trucks to sabotage them (Gotz reportedly performed his own stunts). But his mistress complicates his scheme by demanding that he kill her husband in return for her cooperation.

As can be gleaned from the above summary, The Cat is a tense noir thriller, and brilliantly done at that. Because of the gray shades in all of the characters, the film is able to constantly play with audience sympathies. The calculative intensity of Gotz's character, the frustration that builds among the henchmen when events start to overwhelm, the tactical games with the police, these make for a boiling mix. This visual texture of the film reflects this element - it unfolds over the course of a sunny, humid day and the characters are frequently bathed in sweat. There is constant cross-cutting between the events inside the bank, Gotz's hotel suite and the police control room; the overall effect is of a constantly tightening grip.

I had not previously heard of the film, and was able to experience it thanks to Radiance Films' excellent blu-ray. A few words about it:

The high-definition transfer beautifully represents the evocative cinematography (Martin Schafer, who did camera duties for Wim Wenders on his Road Trilogy, Paris, Texas and The American Friend). The stereo track comes across strongly in the action scenes and in the soundtrack. There are a number of meaty extras, including a lengthy conversation with Graf (in which he details his early career, the Robert Aldrich influence, how this project began, the contributions of star Gotz George etc) and shorter ones with writer Christopher Fromm and producer Georg Feil. There is also the usual limited edition booklet.

Sirai aka Prison [dir. Suresh Rajakumari]

In Sirai aka Prison, Kathiravan (Vikram Prabhu) is a policeman involved with the escort of prisoners in transit. These escort cops must often rely on public transport, and during the entire journey they are responsible for keeping the prisoner confined and the public safe. At the beginning, Kathir is shown to open fire in a public place to stop an escaping convict. He is placed under enquiry. In the meantime, he takes on another escort job, of an under-trial Muslim boy called Abdul Rauf (a stunning LK Akshay Kumar, who reminds me of a young Basil Joseph).

Kathir's two teammates in the mission treat it more like an outing where they can drink and make merry. When they are caught in a public scuffle after one such carouse, Abdul is unsupervised in the bus. It gets worse: Even the rifle meant for guarding the prisoner is left behind with him. The cops chase after and catch up with the bus, only to find both Abdul and the rifle missing. It is at this cliffhanger moment that the intermission comes.

Sirai's second half deals with Kathir and his team meeting again with Abdul, and learning the circumstances that led to his incarceration. It is not a novel story; 70's and 80's mainstream Indian cinema was rife with narratives where an upright cop finds sympathy for a law-offender and they ultimately team up against the actual bad guys.But within this archetype, Sirai imbues its characters and situations with sufficient substance for them to engage the audience.

Abdul's situation comes about as a consequence of the communal divide in his village, and the opposition to his transgressive romance with the Hindu girl Kalai (Anishma Anilkumar). Supporting characters like Abdul's mother (Remya Suresh) and Kathir's wife (Ananta Thambiraja) show a welcome fire instead of being the stereotype doormats. I also loved that the Sirai did not feel obliged to have a climactic showdown reinforcing the cop's badasserie. This is a refreshing change from the ultra-macho 'my beard/dick biggest' leanings of today's masses-oriented cinema.

Of course, all is not great here. The second half of Sirai leans hard into sentimentality - sometimes to the point of obvious manipulation - with repetitive scenes of characters being oppressed or bursting into tears. Also, the visual grammar becomes unnecessarily jerky, insisting on cross-cutting flashbacks where a few lines of dialog would have sufficed to convey the information. It is as if the makers felt that the audience constantly needs to be shown stuff happening. But there is enough goodness here that flaws notwithstanding, Sirai is an excellent example of what I wish more mainstream cinema would aim for.

PS: The film is also an example of how using people born within the industry does not in itself constitute nepotism. Vikram Prabhu comes from an acting family that includes father Prabhu and grandfather the late Sivaji Ganesan. LK Akshay Kumar is the son of the film's producer SS Lalit Kumar. But both are so well-suited for their parts that you do not see them as privileged insiders denying more deserving candidates.

Tokyo Godfathers [dir. Satoshi Kon]

Occasional violence notwithstanding, Tokyo Godfathers - Satoshi Kon's 2003 Xmas themed movie - is his most family-friendly effort. The title is a hat-tip to John Ford's 1948 Western Three Godfathers, in which a trio of thieves led by John Wayne are landed with the care of an orphaned infant.

Kon's heroes are three hobos that find the baby while scavenging in a dumpster. Hana the melodramatic transgender is overjoyed at the prospect of being a 'mother' although it is soon clear that she is less prepared for the practicalities than the middle-aged taciturn alcoholic (ha!) 'Gin', who has a tragic backstory that may not necessarily be true. Rounding out the trio is morose teenage runaway Miyuki.

Initially, Gin and Miyuki want to hand the baby girl over to the police, while Hana - who names the child Kiyoko - is determined to raise her, even if it means striking out on her own. They reach a compromise in deciding to hand the girl back to her parents using the meager clues they find to their identity. Their winding journey includes meeting a mafioso, bearing witness to an assassination and learning about a former bar girl that may be Kiyoko's mother. In this process they also learn more about each other and about their own selves.

Kon is normally known for bizarre dream-logic enterprises like Perfect Blue, Paprika and his series Paranoia Agent. His 2001 fictional biopic Millennium Actress - which traces the life of a former film star, and in the process gives a history of the Japanese film industry - was the closest he had till then got to a conventional drama. Tokyo Godfathers is again a more grounded narrative, remaining in a real world, albeit one with some very colorful characters. While Kon does not sugarcoat the melancholy of his characters, this is ultimately a film of hope, and that is what Xmas season is all about, isn't it?

The Breaking Point [dir. Michael Curtiz]

In Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point, Harry Morgan (John Garfield) is a married sailor that leases out his boat for fishing trips. He is aided by his first (and only) mate Wesley (Juano Hernandez), a colored man with whom he and his family share the sort of friendly bond that would surely have raised audience eyebrows at the time. On one fishing trip, he meets the provocative Leona (Patricia Neal), who is accompanying her sugar daddy. Leona throws him strong feelers but he doesn't bite. He also turns down  a proposal from sleazy broker Duncan (Wallace Ford) to carry some illegal human cargo for cash. But fate does not side with our honest family (sea)man. The sugar daddy defaults on his payment (and dumps his mistress), and there are bills that need paying. So Harry has no choice but to take on the job.

Unfortunately things go further wrong and he ends up accidentally killing a man. Harry throws him overboard, and after dropping Leona ashore, goes back to his wife Lucy (Phyllis Thaxter, who I only knew previously as Superman's foster mum, Martha Kent) and two kids. Now the coast guard impounds Harry's boat on suspicion and he still needs to provide for the family. Lucy well-meaningly nags him to give up on the boat and move to her father's farm. Harry loves his wife and daughters, and wants to do his best by them, but he wants none of the farming business: The sea is his lifeblood. He's in the pressure cooker and now it's getting hotter.

Desperate for a paying job, once Harry gets the boat back, he gives into Duncan's new job offer, which actually involves him being the getaway boat for a gang of bank-robbers. Does he actually go through with this? Will he get out alive, and if so, can he face his family again? These are the questions raised in this steamy noir drama.

Early on the film emphasizes the strong romance between Harry and Lucy's married couple. It's the backbone of the drama and one makes believable his actions, be it his rejection of Leona's repeated advances or his resistance to the temptation to make a shady buck. Harry's not a boy-scout but there are lines he will not cross. The threat to his family life is what raises the stakes in how the film plays out. The characters are beautifully written - while Lucy is the 'good wife' pitted against Leona's provocateur, neither of them are archetype 2D cutouts. You completely empathize with Harry's recognition of his fallibility and his resolve to keep certain ties sacred; his monogamy is not a cliche. Leona is also not the archetype 'whore with a heart of gold'; she understands why Harry is committed to Lucy, but does not let that stop her from trying to pull down his defenses. This nuanced struggle between faith and temptation is the powerful engine propelling Breaking Point's drama.

The boiling pot screenplay eventually explodes in the climax with a shootout on the boat. Without spoilers, the end is not a happy return to status quo. But apart from the haunting final image, it is mostly hopeful, and we are glad for that. Shot mostly on real locations, the film carries verisimilitude; Ernest Hemingway, who wrote the story To Have and Have Not, upon which it is based, is supposed to have declared it the best film adaptation of his works. 

A few words about the blu-ray release of the film from The Criterion Collection:

Coming off a 2k restoration by Warner Bros, the transfer is a solid one, with good detail and excellent contrasts that do justice to the visuals by Ted McCord (The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Sound of Music). The mono track is good enough to get the job done. Extras include a 20-min video essay by critic Alan Rode, a shorter piece by the people behind the popular cinephile Youtube channel Every Frame a Painting and a featurette with John Garfield's daughter Julia talking about her father, his rise and fall in Hollywood, and his work in The Breaking Point.

Ronth aka Patrol [dir. Shahi Kabir]

I was excited about Ronth (aka Patrol) because writer-director Shahi Kabir wrote the script for Nayattu and directed Elaveezha Poonjira, two of the most ball-squeezingly tense movies I've seen in recent years. The latter was a terrific Hitchcockian exercise with just two characters for most of the running time.

Ronth is another cop story, but of a different nature. In its premise of following two policemen - sub-inspector Yohanan (Dileesh Pothan) and his constable-driver  Dinnath (Roshan Mathew) - doing their night patrol, it features a more sprawling and episodic narrative. On their rounds the cops, who share a prickly interaction with each other, encounter a series of different situations, which expose their vulnerabilities as well as their hidden strengths. Pothan is especially remarkable as the experienced officer, a credible mixture of bullying and empathy, corruption and integrity to his job. Mathew's rookie is a bit of a caricature in terms of how naive he is shown to be. The situations they face go from the mundane to the bizarre (in one instance they have to deal with a madman that has imprisoned his young child in the belief that it will be stolen from him...a situation similar to the one faced by Takashi Shimura's warrior in Seven Samurai). In the course of the night they learn more about each other, and the audience learns about them. When the morning comes, they face a sudden crisis that may destroy them both.

Where Ronth falls short compared to Kabir's previous efforts is in its lesser subtlety. We already see the inspector's complex nature from the way he handles his psychologically afflicted wife, the petitioners they meet, and the way he reacts to the constable's family emergency. But Kabir feels the need to include a scene where Yohanan has to explain himself to Dinnath; why spend more time telling what you have already shown? As the night goes on, the sheer number of locations the cops have to visit begins to seem a little improbable; it's like they singlehandedly represent the whole force. Also, compared to Nayattu, the crisis of faith/betrayal they face has a more manufactured feel, and is handled with less nuance than one has come to expect from the maker.

But overall, Ronth is very much worth the watch, and I'll definitely keeping a watch for more outings from Shahi Kabir.

10 to Midnight [dir. J Lee Thompson]

I'd first seen 10 to Midnight (10tM) on a pan-and-scan VHS tape in the mid-80's. I always remembered the image of the slasher, naked except for a pair of surgical gloves; effectively scary especially if, like me, you were well below the rating age at the time. Having the film on blu-ray gives me a chance to revisit and see how well it holds up now.

This is another in the long run of movies leading man Charles Bronson made with J Lee Thompson. J Lee had at one point had made celebrated war films Ice Cold in Alex, Guns of Navarone etc. But he was at a different phase of his career when he took up 10tM - the projects smaller in scope and lower in budget. 10tM is lower-tier for both him and Bronson, but not without its points of interest. 

Bronson plays the tough old detective Kessler, on the trail of a murderer of multiple young women. Early on, the killer is revealed to the audience. He is Stacey (Gene Davis), a creepy young man with sexual dysfunction / fragile ego issues who takes violent vengeance on the women that reject his advances. The film is mainly a cat and mouse game between crafty killer and dogged cop. The interest comes from the cop's willingness to plant evidence to lock up Stacey, purely based on his conviction that Stacey is the murderer (Of course, since this is Bronson, he confesses before the trial to the judge, leading to Stacey's acquittal). Later Kessler copies the killer's stalking MO, humiliating him at his workplace. This is referred to in the climax where Stacey, after he is captured, screams about how Kessler's illegal actions forced him into a further massacre that leads to the death of at least 3 women when he goes after Kessler's daughter. The film ends on a note of vigilante justice in which it is left for the audience to wonder if the rule of law works both ways.

10tM is pervaded by a sleazy mean-spirited tone - I can't wholly disagree with Roger Ebert's review in which he says, "What is [Bronson] doing in a garbage disposal like this?". I think Gene Davis does reasonably well as the psycho-killer even though the script and Thompson's direction do not ask for any nuance from him. Bronson coasts along as he did in a million of his latter-day tough guy movies. The supporting cast is either workmanlike or outright pedestrian. The potentially interesting aspect of the the cop's ethics are never seriously called into question. This is a Cannon Films production, and very likely, the budget was not a generous one. Apart from the climax featuring a major police hunt with squad cars and a helicopter, there are no 'big' scenes, and it has a distinct DTV feel.

A few words on the UK blu-ray from 88 Films:

88's release sources its feature presentation from the same 4K restoration that was used on Shout Factory's North American release and also licenses the extras from that one. The widescreen 1.85:1 image is healthy looking and nicely presents Adam 'Terminator 1&2' Greenberg's cinematography. The DTS-HDMA dual mono track is good enough for the film's modest thrills and Robert Ragland's interesting synth score. Extras include a commentary track by Bronson biographer Charles Talbot and several featurettes, all borrowed from the Shout release.