Mojuru
varishangout.com
I thought of making a thread about old obscure movies that most people haven't probably seen or heard of. I watch on a regular basis old movies out of curiosity. I started this by watching Hausu and finding myself wanting to watch more movies that have that type of feeling to it. In that search I stumbled on what I would consider some real gems over the years and thought to share these movies so others maybe find something they like and just to have somewhere I can write about what I like because I enjoy writing.
Mostly it’s going to be old asian movies that I will write about, because that is what i'm most interested in. But from time to time there will be western movies and probably some lesser old movies when I find something that is interesting enough to write about.
I will write a short movie summary of every movie, what I liked about the movie. What I dislike and generally just details like camera work, pacing, music and more. Remember in general these movies will have slower pacing than movies nowadays, so if you are used to marvel movies where there is action every single second on the screen then you may find these movies extremely slow. So when I write about pacing, have in mind that what I consider to be a good paced movie can to somebody else be considered an absurdly slow movie.
Anyhow, feel free to add to this thread if you have some movies you think not many people know about. You don’t need to format in the same way that I do with the summaries and all that. That's just how I like doing it. Do as you please.
The first one I’ll recommend is:
Inugami-ke no ichizoku aka The Inugami Family (1976)
Length: 2h 25m
Tags: Mystery, Drama, Horror-esque
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Story Summary: A detective named Kidaichi gets hired by Wakabayashi a man that gets murdered before he can talk to him. The reasoning for his hiring is because Wakabayashi implied that something awful will happen to the Inugami family. The family is in the middle of getting to know what will happen to the family fortune now when the master has passed away. The will the master left behind surprisingly says that on the condition Tamayo (an outsider of the family) marries one of the grandsons, she and her husband will then be the inheritor of the fortune. Something that will spike a conflict between the family relatives that will lead to bloodshed.
The good: The setting really gives this movie a color full atmosphere. The daytime scenes with the forest and flowers make for some beautiful filmed scenes while the inside scenes with the earthy toned walls and furniture give a good contrast. For being a very long movie it’s still good paced from the beginning to the end. The plot is always progressing even when it’s down time. The soundtrack is genuinely good, perfectly suited for the mystery feeling that the movie is trying to create. The camera work is not amazing but still good, the director kinda kept the camera work simple for the most part. The stillness of the frame works well with the stillness of some scenes. Some scenes where the director was experimenting with some extreme black and white was a cool touch.
The bad: Some parts of the plot are hard to follow since there are so many characters that are juggled back and forward in conversations. And it doesn't help that a lot of characters that get named don't get that much screen time so it’s hard to keep track of which person the characters are talking about at some movements. Which makes the plot more convoluted then what it really is. I also feel that the director should have clued in the viewer more on how could be the murderer. If you have ever read or seen a movie with a detective mystery plot, they usually give clues through the book / movie that points to who could be the murder. Something I feel didn’t happen enough here. Some scenes felt a bit overdramatizing in the sense that the acting doesn't add up with the action on the screen. Good example of this is in the beginning of the movie where a woman is on a rowboat that is sinking. When she sees that the boat is sinking, she just collapses and gives up. It’s like the realization of the boat sinking makes her faint which is absurd and kinda hilarious. Also Imdb lists this movie as a horror movie, something I wouldn’t say it is. It has some horror elements in the way that the masked man has a somewhat disturbing looking mask. But disregarding that I wouldn’t call this a horror movie. More like a mystery with one single horror element.
Score: 7/10
Some parts could have been better but for the most part it was worth seeing.
Mostly it’s going to be old asian movies that I will write about, because that is what i'm most interested in. But from time to time there will be western movies and probably some lesser old movies when I find something that is interesting enough to write about.
I will write a short movie summary of every movie, what I liked about the movie. What I dislike and generally just details like camera work, pacing, music and more. Remember in general these movies will have slower pacing than movies nowadays, so if you are used to marvel movies where there is action every single second on the screen then you may find these movies extremely slow. So when I write about pacing, have in mind that what I consider to be a good paced movie can to somebody else be considered an absurdly slow movie.
Anyhow, feel free to add to this thread if you have some movies you think not many people know about. You don’t need to format in the same way that I do with the summaries and all that. That's just how I like doing it. Do as you please.
The first one I’ll recommend is:
Inugami-ke no ichizoku aka The Inugami Family (1976)
Length: 2h 25m
Tags: Mystery, Drama, Horror-esque
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Story Summary: A detective named Kidaichi gets hired by Wakabayashi a man that gets murdered before he can talk to him. The reasoning for his hiring is because Wakabayashi implied that something awful will happen to the Inugami family. The family is in the middle of getting to know what will happen to the family fortune now when the master has passed away. The will the master left behind surprisingly says that on the condition Tamayo (an outsider of the family) marries one of the grandsons, she and her husband will then be the inheritor of the fortune. Something that will spike a conflict between the family relatives that will lead to bloodshed.
The good: The setting really gives this movie a color full atmosphere. The daytime scenes with the forest and flowers make for some beautiful filmed scenes while the inside scenes with the earthy toned walls and furniture give a good contrast. For being a very long movie it’s still good paced from the beginning to the end. The plot is always progressing even when it’s down time. The soundtrack is genuinely good, perfectly suited for the mystery feeling that the movie is trying to create. The camera work is not amazing but still good, the director kinda kept the camera work simple for the most part. The stillness of the frame works well with the stillness of some scenes. Some scenes where the director was experimenting with some extreme black and white was a cool touch.
The bad: Some parts of the plot are hard to follow since there are so many characters that are juggled back and forward in conversations. And it doesn't help that a lot of characters that get named don't get that much screen time so it’s hard to keep track of which person the characters are talking about at some movements. Which makes the plot more convoluted then what it really is. I also feel that the director should have clued in the viewer more on how could be the murderer. If you have ever read or seen a movie with a detective mystery plot, they usually give clues through the book / movie that points to who could be the murder. Something I feel didn’t happen enough here. Some scenes felt a bit overdramatizing in the sense that the acting doesn't add up with the action on the screen. Good example of this is in the beginning of the movie where a woman is on a rowboat that is sinking. When she sees that the boat is sinking, she just collapses and gives up. It’s like the realization of the boat sinking makes her faint which is absurd and kinda hilarious. Also Imdb lists this movie as a horror movie, something I wouldn’t say it is. It has some horror elements in the way that the masked man has a somewhat disturbing looking mask. But disregarding that I wouldn’t call this a horror movie. More like a mystery with one single horror element.
Score: 7/10
Some parts could have been better but for the most part it was worth seeing.
