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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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"Narayama" director passes

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For me, the Shohei Imamura film that seeped in deeper than the others was The Ballad of Narayama. The 1983 film is concisely summed up in this IMDB sentence: "In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die." Not what I'd call an enjoyable or soothing film, but an unforgettably strong one. I'm mentioning this because of the news of Mr. Imamura's death from cancer, at age 79.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 30, 2006 at 11:15 AM

comment #1

john Santo says ...

This is a real shame. If you haven't seen The Eel or Dr. Akagi, I highly recomend them.

I doubt his death will allow some his other films to see a DVD release, but it would be nice.

The best of these being "The Insect Woman" and "A Man Vanishes." A Man Vanishes is an incredible "documentary". I won't ruin it so I'll leave it at that if you can find it.

Posted by john Santo at May 30, 2006 11:41 AM

comment #2

Lee says ...

Aww....his films of recent years haven't been up to his greatest period around the 60's to the 80's but at his best I think he was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

Everyone SHOULD see "Vengeance is Mine" (ONLY the wide screen version)- which I think is his masterpiece.

Other great films not mentioned above are "Pigs and Battleships" and - though slow going at times - "Intentions of Murder".

He was a filmmaker who used despairing black humor to dig into the ugliest and most savage aspects of human society, but in refusing to 'judge' people usually scorned as villians or outcasts - his films are like rueful celebrations of people in all their variety.

He was reallly one of a kind.

Posted by Lee at May 31, 2006 1:00 AM

comment #3

Alexander says ...

RIP

One of the great filmmakers of the twentieth century--his The Ballad of Narayama and Pigs and Battleships are simply astonishing, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Posted by Alexander at May 31, 2006 8:20 AM

comment #4