hakopais my name in Maori.

Received some sad news last week regarding the passing of Japanese anime director Satoshi Kon at the relatively young age of 47. The director of disturbing fanboy-paranoia-film Perfect Blue, memory-hopping film Paprika and the deep Millenium Actress, I first came across his work through the excellent OAV series Paranoia Agent.

For a taste of how random his work has been, here’s the intro to Paranoia Agent:

And the trailer to Paprika:

I’ve been watching both as a tribute to the man. If you’ve never seen any of his work, now’s the time to make the effort.

When the credits finished and the lights came up at the theatre, the first thing Piers said to me was “was it worth it?”. My answer was along the lines of “fuck, yeah!” for quite possibly the most expensive film I’d ever paid to see didn’t disappoint in any sense except the ridiculous (think: “surely they can just replay it again for us”).

This is a film about a film being viewed like no film I’ve ever known by people I really didn’t understand. If that makes very little sense, then welcome to the entire premise behind Rubber. The image above comes from the introductory monologue that describes this film as an homage to “no reason”.

This isn’t a film for the ages, nor is it life-changing or ever likely to be considered Oscar-worthy. This is however one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen in recent years and every fibre of my being resonates with unhealthy desire to see it again.

Take from that what you will.

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain