 Nostalgic Nebula String Quartet REGGIE PERALTA Creative Director - Los Angeles Arts Society November and early December may have been busy for Los Angeles Arts Society with preparation and production of our successful screening of Godzilla, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t make time for appreciating the work of others! Au contraire, I made time to see Nostalgic Nebula’s screening of The Addams Family at the Frida Cinema just two weeks before our own event! Hosted by my friend Cody Chavez, the show sounded like great fun to me and, having attended any number of his previous events from Killer Klowns from Outer Space to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I went in with high expectations. Having established this, it gives me great pleasure to say my expectations were exceeded right off the bat. Opening the show was the Nostalgic Nebula String Quartet, performing a stirring arrangement of the original Addams Family theme by Vic Mizzy as well as selections from Marc Shaiman’s score for the film. The original theme is a goofy song, but thanks to conductor Florence Chang’s direction and the quartet’s musicianship, they added a level of spirit to the music that one doesn’t really associate with The Addams Family. The point where this was most palpable was the reprise of the original theme, with the musicians playing with such emotion that it was almost incongruous with the comedic romp that followed. I’ve seen the quartet perform at other Nostalgic Nebula events, but I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as wowed by them as I was this time around. Following the opening performance was a short but fun seance. Cody led the audience as they lifted electronic candles handed out at the door and tried to make contact with Uncle Fester. While we did manage to make contact with a spirit, it was the wrong Christopher Lloyd character: we reached none other than Doc Brown from Back to the Future, playfully realized through audio played over the theater’s speakers. The whole thing probably lasted a minute or so, but it was a fun little touch that helped viewers get in the mood of the movie. I’m going to be honest and admit that prior to this event, I had never seen The Addams Family before. Heck, I’ve never even seen a full episode of the show (I was more of a Munsters guy growing up). I HAD seen Addams Family Values though, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I expected the original to appeal to me the same way, but although I liked it, I couldn’t help but feel that the sequel was superior. Interestingly, I would later learn that this seems to be the consensus among fans of the movies, with the macabre, biting humor of the sequel gelling more with viewers than the absurdity of the original. That being said, I liked both films and appreciated the opportunity to see the first on the big screen with a crowd that also seemed to really appreciate it. Speaking of the crowd, some people had the bright idea of coming in costume, with one couple dressing up as a very convincing Gomez and Morticia Addams. If I had been more familiar with the film, I think I might have joined in and come as Tully, the incompetently-treacherous lawyer played by Dan Hedaya (who played another lawyer in the form of Cher Horowitz’s dad in Clueless). Aside from a group picture taken at the end, there wasn’t really any part of the program that emphasized the costumes but it was heartening to see people getting into the spirit of the show and contributing in their own small ways to make it pop. Overall, it seemed like the crowd wanted more, because quite a few people hung around in the lobby after the film like they were expecting someone to direct them to the nearest bar or something. I myself ended up in extended conversation with a few of them, a good indicator of the communal energy in the room considering that making small talk with strangers doesn’t come easily to me. What I think it needed was an after party, not because it would make the event (everything described above already did that) but because it would cap it off so to speak. It would turn out that I wasn’t the only one who considered this idea, and I certainly anticipate something like it being added to future Nostalgic Nebula events. Of course, I anticipate future Nostalgic Nebula’s events in general, it’s just that I anticipate them even more so in the wake of the high notes hit by this one. The Mummy (1999) is next on their slate and I plan to see that as well on 1/4/19, but I like to think that they’ll be able to screen Addams Family Values at some point down the line and make it a reunion to remember! Just click on the following link for more information on Nostalgic Nebula's upcoming "The Mummy (1999)" screening. The Mummy (1999) Nostalgic Nebula The views expressed in this review are those of the author’s and not necessarily the views of LA Arts Society. Let us know what you think of it in the comments section below. For more reviews, events, and other news from LA Arts Society, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you’d like to book an event, volunteer with LA Arts Society, or have any other questions, feel free to reach us on our Contact page. 12/2/2018 Event Review: GODZILLA (1954) @ Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles 10/25/18Read Now 1954 Godzilla - Outdoor Screening at Japanese American National Museum - Los Angeles, CA 10/25/18 REGGIE PERALTA Creative Director - Los Angeles Arts Society When I learned that the Japanese American National Museum would be holding an outdoor screening of Godzilla (or Gojira, in its original Japanese), I had already pitched the idea of doing our own screening of the monster movie classic to Alex, my friend and LA Arts Society’s Founding Director. Coming off the heels of our screening of the Elvira’s Movie Macabre presentation of House on Haunted Hill, I thought Godzilla was a good follow-up in that it had a similar cult appeal yet was different enough from Elvira that it would feel fresh, perhaps even pleasantly surprising to potential viewers. I expected it to be a tough sell, but Alex accepted it with enthusiasm and the next thing I knew, we were not only drawing up Godzilla plans but also on our way up to LA to see the Museum’s own screening. In another funny coincidence, just days before the event, I had reached out to Steve Ryfle, one of the co-authors of Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa, to see if he would be interested in appearing at our screening. Imagine my surprise and delight when the event staff announced that he would be introducing the movie and, lo and behold, he stepped up and began discussing the context in which the movie was made. He didn’t speak for very long, but he got a lot in within the few minutes he was up there and, impressively, drew attention to parts of the film that modern viewers usually overlook. No, not the political subtext of atomic testing and radiation poisoning (over which countless articles and commentaries have pored over), but rather, the abysmal living conditions that the Japanese people endured during and after World War II. Sure, there are plenty of indications that Tokyo is a modern city teeming with life and culture such as electric locomotives, neon signs, and young people partying, but there’s also towering firestorms, military men mobilizing, and civilians dead or dying, shadows of the war that a handful of men dragged Japan into and made its people pay for. It’s difficult not only for viewers watching the movie over 60 years later but for American viewers especially to appreciate these aspects of the film, yet it’s necessary to understand the place it was coming from. Regarding the presentation of the film, it looked pretty darn solid, or at least as solid as a 50’s Japanese film that wasn’t directed by Akira Kurosawa could. My suspicion is that they used the Criterion Collection Blu-ray, which uses what is almost certainly the best print of the film available. Non-fans would do well to know that this is a major improvement over the presentation offered by the videotapes that I, like many others, grew up watching Godzilla (or rather, the American edit Godzilla: King of the Monsters!) on. Pillarboxing (or reverse letterboxing) was in full effect but this was necessitated by the film’s original aspect ratio of 1:37:1, a long-standardized format that had started on its way out when the project was shot. On the audio front, the movie sounded great, playing out over speakers flanking the screen. It was loud and clear enough that I was able to tell what was going on even as Alex and I chatted with Mr. Ryfle off to the side of the event. There was a bit of competition in the form of cars, helicopters, and, at one point, a yelling homeless man, but the film was subtitled anyway and we had no trouble hearing Akira Ifukube’s masterful score or Godzilla’s foreboding roars and footsteps. Being an outdoor screening, there wasn’t a snack bar or proper concessions area. There was, however, a taco truck, parked towards the periphery of the museum grounds so as to minimize distraction from the film. Although I didn’t get anything, I appreciated that the option was there even as there was any number of restaurants and shops already in the area. It showed proactive thinking on the part of the organizers and a willingness to go beyond the bare minimum of planning and running an event to make it a fuller, more memorable experience. The crowd was pretty diverse and largely respectful of the film. Someone chuckled at a few moments like the jet miniatures and female lead Momoko Kochi’s crying, but everyone else was mostly silent and responsive to the different emotional beats that director Ishiro Honda tried to hit. There was a kid who kept asking questions throughout the show, but he wasn’t too loud and in any case I suppose I should be happy that he was expressing interest in what he was seeing. For what it’s worth, my parents weren’t in the habit of taking me to see black-and-white Japanese movies when I was that age, so I can hardly imagine that I’d conduct myself nearly as well as he did. There was only one real shortcoming that night and it, funnily enough, was Alex and I’s fault rather than anyone involved with the event. Originally, we were planning to catch the museum’s Kaiju vs. Heroes exhibition before the show but time and traffic conspired to get us there right as the movie was about to start. I was kind of bummed because I was looking forward to checking out all the vintage toys and action figures on display, but with better planning we’ll be able to catch it another day. With any luck, we’ll also be back to the Japanese American National Museum for more screenings like this one. There’s a whole sub-genre of Japanese cinema for them to dive into, maybe even create a series around (Tokusatsu Tuesdays, anyone?) Not only that, but the laid-back nature of the event and the smoothness with which it was run inspires confidence in the ability of the planners to hold similar ones in the future. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for more like it, that’s for sure. The views expressed in this review are those of the author’s and not necessarily the views of LA Arts Society. Let us know what you think of it in the comments section below. For more reviews, events, and other news from LA Arts Society, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you’d like to book an event, volunteer with LA Arts Society, or have any other questions, feel free to reach us on our Contact page.  From Left to Right: Steve Ryfle, Reggie Peralta, & Alex Martinez.  Matango (1963) REGGIE PERALTA Creative Director - Los Angeles Arts Society Matango Review Please be advised that the following review contains spoilers. If you’re a fan of Godzilla or Japanese cinema in general, then chances are you’ve at least heard of Matango. One of a number of non-kaiju science fiction productions from Toho, the film was the first of director Ishiro Honda’s monster movies to not receive an American theatrical release, being packaged in edited form for television instead as Attack of the Mushroom People. Although it enjoyed a decent half-life as a midnight movie, Matango has enjoyed a certain resurgence in the past decade or so, with critics and audiences alike regarding it as something of an under-appreciated classic. This development was obviously occasioned by the original Japanese version being made available to Western audiences in the 2000’s, but Honda’s own regard for the film (he reportedly named it as his favorite project) as well as the aborted efforts of one Steven Soderbergh to remake it likely played some small part as well. Against this backdrop of critical reevaluation and with revived interest in the Godzilla franchise that Honda helped mold, it’s worth seeing if Matango warrants the critical evaluation. Despite what the American TV title might have led you to believe, the primary threat comes not from the mushroom people or any attacks they launch but from the protagonists themselves, shipwrecked on a remote island and unable to contact the outside world. Indeed, the first two thirds of the film play more like an adult version of Lord of the Flies (the film adaptation of which, incidentally, came out the same year as Matango) with light horror elements thrown in than any of the other sci-fi films Honda made in the 50’s and 60’s. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how invested viewers feel in the characters and their plight: those who do may appreciate the time spent developing them and focusing on their interactions while those who don’t may find themselves bored and wondering when the titular monsters are going to show up. I found myself inclining to the latter tendency, but I recognize other viewers’ mileage on this matter, so to speak, may vary. As time goes on and chances of rescue look increasingly remote, tensions between the socially-stratified castaways boil over and they fight over food, control, and even, as I’ll discuss later in this review, the attractive young singer Mami (Kumi Mizuno). This breakdown is all very Hobbesian in its brutishness and nastiness, but it’s not at all subtle, with one of the characters outright stating in a voiceover that man reverts to a state like theirs in the absence of civilization. Considering the clarity with which the preceding events made this point, one wonders why anyone thought it necessary to verbalize it. Though the movie takes place primarily on the island, it’s bookended by shots of the neon-lit Tokyo skyline, creatively realized by special effects guru Eiji Tsuburaya’s miniatures. A seemingly random sight to open and close on at first glance, but in the context of both the events in between and the film’s final lines, it takes on new significance: namely, that there is no difference between the phantasmagoric world of the Matango, with its encroaching mists and maddening laughter, and the consumer-driven existence of post-war Japan, with its bright neon signs and endless traffic hum. It’s a pre-Cannibal Holocaust example of the “Humans are the real monsters” deepity that was later refined to lurid perfection in that film, but, as was the case with Cannibal’s closing query of “who the real cannibals are,” it falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. It may be compelling to draw a equivalence between the two, but the fact that Honda and Kimura refuse to see the difference between people being influenced by other parties competing for their attention, time, and resources and mutants who apparently have little else to do than eat a single substance that dominates their lives and bodies says more about them than it does about mankind or Matango. It’s not entirely surprising however, as Honda expressed a populist anti-consumerism in such films as King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra. As for Kimura, a reported member of the Japanese communist party, it would be a surprise if he had anything good to say about the soul of man under liberal capitalism, much less mutated mushrooms. This isn’t to say that Honda is a poor filmmaker. Far from it, he actually captures a couple shots in this film that are more engaging and more memorable than any seen in any number of recent movies helmed by big name directors. The first that comes to mind involves one of the female characters going below deck on the yacht. To capture the motion of the boat, the camera slowly sways back and forth as she makes her way into the cabin, tracking her as she comes down the stairs and across the room. Simple, yes, but the effect is hypnotic, strong, and reflect a level of cinematic technique and thought that is not always seen in A-list productions today, much less genre films. The other money shot consists of Mami pondering at a makeshift grave for another castaway. Standing alone in the rain, Mizuno affects a stone-faced countenance that contrasts strikingly with the warm type of roles viewers are undoubtedly accustomed to seeing her in and stays with them long after the momentary horror of the mushroom men she plays against fades from consciousness. Mizuno’s character stands out further from her other Toho roles in how blatantly sexualized she is by the male characters and even herself at one point. Sure, any Godzilla fan worth their salt will fondly recall her skimpy turn as Dayo in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, but Dayo was an innocent island girl at heart. Mami, on the other hand, has no heart to speak of, powdering her face as she boasts that the men all want her and are at ends with each other on account of it. This sexualization goes beyond the verbal when, in what might be the two most brazenly sexual moments in a Showa-era Toho film, she is passionately kissed by a half-naked Yoshida (Hiroshi Tachikawa) and has her bottom grabbed by a pleading Kasai (Yoshio Tsuchiya). Again, it’s not like sex is something that’s never been invoked in a Toho film before: Honda’s earlier H-Man infamously featured a scantily-clad nightclub dancer getting melted down to little more than her bra and Matango itself includes similarly-attired dancers in flashback scenes. What differentiates these moments from these other instances is the intimacy they're infused with. The darkly-lit ship interior is itself suggestive of the shady nature of Mami and Yoshida’s embrace, while the tightly-framed camera that captures Kasai’s slow, deliberate movement down Mami’s body conveys the desire and desperation he feels. It’s not just sexy, it’s sexy in an voyeuristic, illicit way. While its suggestive elements are certainly dangerous, the same can’t really be said for its monsters. That is, until the very end, when they emerge in all their morbid glory and emit an unforgettably disturbing sort of laughter. It may seem like a small thing to get creeped out by, but it emphasizes not just how important sound is to a movie, but how well this particular one utilizes it. Prior to this point, the film made excellent use of its sound and music, effectively deploying an ominous boat horn early on and allowing Sadao Bekku’s off-beat score to cover a wide amount of musical ground as it retains an unsettling quality all the while. But even these feats would be for nothing without that slow, distorted laughter that sells the menace at the end. Without it, the Matango are just men in goofy rubber-suits. With it, they become something hideously, deeply evil, and even as I write this review I find myself more chilled by it than by anything they actually do in the film. Would I say Matango is Honda’s best film? Compared to the perfect balance the original Godzilla struck between monster mayhem and sociopolitical allegory, it leans too heavily on the latter and treats the former as almost an afterthought. That being said, the mushroom people do manage to leave a lasting impression and there is much of interest from a filmmaking perspective. Even if one isn’t completely sold on the story, the camerawork and sound design are compelling and speak to the director’s dedication to his craft. It may not be Honda’s best film but it’s certainly not his worst, and if you go in with the right mindset you’ll find plenty of bright spots amidst the murky gloom of Matango. The views expressed in this review are those of the author’s and not necessarily the views of LA Arts Society. For more reviews, events, and other news from LA Arts Society, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you’d like to book an event, volunteer with LA Arts Society, or have any other questions, feel free to reach us on our Contact page. |
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