Kon’nichiwa, minasan, Makkusu, Maiku, eiga, soshite watashitachi no sirīzu `u~ōku za dāku sutorīto’ e yōkoso. Ok, that was supposed to say “Hello, folks, welcome to Max, Mike, Movies and our series, Walk the Dark Street.” However, apparently what it actually says is: “Hello, everyone. Welcome to Max, Mike, the film, and this series, Walking on Dark Paths.” At least, that’s how I hope it translates. If it’s something worse, I deeply apologize and it’s Mike’s fault. I kind of like the name Makkusu, though . . . And why are we butchering the language of the Land of the Rising Sun? Because that’s the origin point of this week’s film, “Tokyo Drifter.” The “Tokyo” part is kind of a giveaway. This is a groovy, swinging scene from the heart of the 1960’s, which proves the 60’s were the 60’s, no matter what part of the world you were in. But how well does this Japanese New Wave film handle the genre of film noir? Slip into your best powder-blue suit, tune up your harmonica, and join your bros/pals Makkusu and Maiku to find out.
Poll question: what is your favorite example of one country successfully making a movie in a genre associated with a different country? An American samurai movie? An Italian cowboy movie? A Russo-Finnish Sinbad movie?
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I don’t have a great answer to this question. I would say many of the spaghetti westerns were better than the American ones, though i don’t like westerns, so what do i know? I find it hard to associate a genre with a specific country since there was always so much cross pollination in film since the silent days and i have always watched more obscure films that cross boundaries than popular ones. So I am stumped! The penguins are not help either as they are watching the Canadian version a squid games which is just reruns of curling competitions.
Hah! We have stumped the Walrus-Master! Victory is ours! All your poutine are belong to us! . . . that’s how it works, right?
I can’t believe you let the penguins watch a brutal, violent, blood-sport like curling. Someone could snap a broom! It angrys up the blood! Won’t someone think of the penguin chicks?!
I looked up Penguins curling online… they are so cute despite the carnage!