All Time Best: Part II

A couple of days after I wrote my "All Time Best" blog, my friend Jenni emailed me the following response:

I didn't see a listing for best animated martial arts movie (or
best animated movie that didn't know it was about martial arts).

-Jenni, the helpful

Jenni and her husband Eric are good friends of ours, and I love 'em to death. But the thing about Jenni is, her sense of humour is as dry as Melba Toast. So any one with common sense would realize that she was making fun of the way I totally geeked out during that blog. Alas it pretty much common knowledge that I am not blessed with much common sense. Much like all movie, comic book and cartoon geeks I am blessed with an overabundance of hope. I was actually hoping that she was interested in my blog entry, just like how, when I was a little kid, I was hoping that my mother was truly interested in my blow-by-blow re-enactment of Star Wars as I kept her company during laundry time.

Being somewhat older that I was then, therefore marginally wiser, I did ask Jenni if she was serious. She admited to being "3/4 joking and 1/4 serious. Go figure." Go figure indeed...

Well my friends, whether she intended it or not, Jenni inspired this latest edition of "All Time Best". For those of you already wearying of my fanboy ramblings, I invite you to move on to another blog. For those of you who are interested in geek culture, read on o' Hyperborean wanderer!

(PS: Jenni, Love ya lots, but I invite you to kindly bite me! :) )

ALL TIME BEST: Martial Arts Movie, Animated.

Ninja Scrolls by director Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
It gest brownie points just for being one of the few anime movies where Japan isn't destroyed by a giant robot, a giant radioactive lizard or a bunch of creepy psychic kiddies. (FYI: The book Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian influence on American culture from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism explains the common theme of giant robot/lizard/armageddon in anime as the re-surgence of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomings in Japanse culture. That sort of thing tends to give a society a healthy fear of uncheked technology.)

The plot centers around a ka-tet of three including hapless ronin named Jubei Kibagami, Kagero, the last survivor of a ninja massacre and duplicitous monk named Dakuan. These three are caught in a power struggle between the Japanese government and the 8 Devils of Kimon, a group of assassins with really creepy supernatural powers. (For example, one of the devils, a mutated hunchback, houses a hive of killer bees in his hump. It's a truly creepy image, which I will not reproduce here.) The story takes place in the legendary "warring states" period in Japanese history, a popular setting for other movies such as the Seven Samurai.

Now in North America, we hear animation and we think "kid's movie", right? Anime is a different breed of cat. In Japan, animation is it's own art form covering many different generes. It's covers mature and adult subject manner, and as such I wouldn't recommend this as a family film.

The movie is violent and is sexual, enough to make the watcher somewhat uncomfortable. I for one don't necessarily think it's a bad thing in this case. For one reason, the violent and sexual scenes are not gratuitous, they are integral to the plot, and each scene is present for a reason. The scenes communicate vital character and narrative information. Another reason why I give this film somewhat of a pass is that these scenes are effective in creating unease. In my opinion, splatter films that gratuitously display sex and violence are truly disturbing becase the scenes in those types of movies lack any lasting impact. They make sex and violence mundane. A truly sinister thing indeed.

Ninja Scrolls is on the All Time Best list because of the obvious craft involved in making the film. It's a truly cinematic piece of work. Despite the fantasy element in the subject matter, the characters have pathos, they come across as real. Also it's a visually stunning film, the imagry is arresting. My favourite part is the last action set piece. The final showdown takes place on a ship, which has been set on fire and is quickly sinking. The lighting and effects serve the subtext of the story. Our hero is facing his ultimate enemy, the final devil, in a virtual hell.So thanks for reading. I welcome any comments/challenges to my All Time Best List, which will probably continue to grow. Everybody thank Jenni for inspiring today's class.

Cheers,

AKW