Vi O'Lent

[jchrisobrien]

Netflix is working out very nicely for me. Many times I can't get to the theater to see a movie, or don't think it's worth my time or money to go see. But, if someone will deliver it to me, that's another story entirely. I can also indulge in watching lots of awful movies just to see Eliza Dusku on screen. But there's a lot of good stuff to see out there too. I've got a lot of classic films lined up, like The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. There are also near foreign films, like Returner or Ichi the Killer.

Ichi is a horrible yet fascinating movie to watch, along the same lines of Irreversible. The films are similar in that both of them take a stand as a vehicle for artistic expression, while being insanely violent. I mean it. American films have nothing on the fucked up things you will see in Ichi. What's worse, is that right after you see something horrible you see something that puts the violence in context, or draws your attention away from it. You are alternately appalled and engrossed, over and over.

Films like this make question the lines between artistic visions and gratuitous violence. Is the violence necessary for the story? Is it necessary period? In the end I think it serves the purpose of the story, but it's not the kind of thing you want to see repeatedly. After seeing Irreversible, I never want to see it again. I might be tempted to watch Ichi again. I'll just skip a few parts.

Comments

[spriggan.livejournal.com]

for me it's totally a matter of if the violence is done to look 'cool', in which context it's performed, and if the movie could be complete without the violence. i enjoy a movie like versus because the violence is the point. (whether you think it's okay to enjoy violence is another question.) angel blowing the guy's head off with a shotgun in ep 1 of this season was, to me, gratutious, because it wasn't necessary and wasn't in line with the rest of the episode. i'm sure it was meant to be 'cool' but that wasn't the point. something like that makes me cringe and a little ill, and makes me mad. also, anything that equates sex with violence really upsets me; slasher movies that combine female nudity with violent acts are on the top of my shit list. then there's a lot of dramatic violence that because of the story or its meaning turns my stomach, but i feel if i feel it's necessary for the story, i think it's okay. even if i don't ever want to watch it again.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

In one case, it wasn't the violence that was cool it was the response afterwards (as a sign of contrition, a yakuza member cut off part of his tongue, then immediately took a phone call from a subordinate, showing very little pain from the experience.)

Yeah, I'd skip this movie if I were you.