Friday, August 27, 2010
The Brothers Pete
Time is a concept most abstract here in Gallowmere. From the sparseness of my posts lately and unfulfilled deadlines, it's pretty obvious. And to let you in on a secret, my books don't have timestamps, they are somewhere between anachronistic to just simply "achronistic". I avoid pop culture jokes, or commenting on events from present day in them. Though I may have elements which parallel certain things but take them to new ridiculous planes. But I often throw in objects and elements from time periods a little far back, and also make up technologies, cultural, and political customs which could be considered futuristic.
In my life, I am like Billy Pilgrim from Slaughterhouse Five; I'm unstuck in time. And right now I'm back somewhere in the mid-90s. A child approaching the double digits, a Canadian living in America, already weird, so I feel like a space alien. I'm home from school, and what's this I see on TV? Two brothers with the same name planting landmines on people's lawns and disguising themselves as lawn inspectors to con people into getting them to remove the mines from their lawn so that the little brother could buy a jetpack. A superhero who might just be a madman who lives in a port-o-john, helping the boy out with a paper route and throwing the paper's so hard they almost go through people's chests. The same superhero later becoming a bowler using a ball that has a hamster in it that he communicates with telepathically. A crossing guard who can make people physically incapable of moving forward by holding up his sign. This is all in one episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete. It instantly becomes one of my favourite shows.
It's about two redheaded brothers named Pete Wrigley living in the fictional town of Wellsville in "The Sideburn State". Big Pete is a slightly dorky teenager who deals with sinister teachers such as a psychotic wood shop teacher who attaches different parts to his prosthetic hand (he lost the real one in an accident), and with the typical problems of growing up, figuring out if he wants to date his best friend Ellen, and dealing with his nemesis Endless Mike, a bully who has been in high school forever. Little Pete is who makes the show for me. He's a weirdo and a rebel who wears flannel hats, clothes too big for him, and has a different way of looking at things. He uses his own cuss words like "Blow hole" and constantly tells people to bite his neck hair. He often goes on surreal adventures, such as beating up the ocean, travelling back in time by crossing states during daylight savings hours, and befriending the elusive man who inspects underwear before packaging them.
Their father is pretty much Homer Simpson. He's fat, bald, mediocre at everything, and can be idiotic though well meaning. Their mother is a quirky character who has a steel plate in her head which is featured as a character on the show and is able to receive radio transmissions from around the world.
It has a very quirky and surreal sense of humour which I don't normally see in children's shows, hell, on TV altogether. Children's shows tend to be loud and silly, and deal with asshole kids who are unpopular but who would sell out their friends at the first opportunity to be popular. The Adventures of Pete and Pete has a sense of humour sort of like what can be found in Get A Life (which I might review later) or The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, though maybe not as outrageous. What makes it work was that though it is so ridiculous, it's played straight. As outrageous as the things are that happen, and as bizarre as the characters are, nobody ever seems to be winking at the screen, or being outwardly jocular in tone. It also had a fairly decent production value. It has a feel which is organic, and kind of cinematic. That's to say, it doesn't seem like it was just shot on a sound stage like the children's shows which will show in the 2000s like Hannah Montana and iCarly. And it has some interesting stylistic choices, especially episodes like "Tool and Die", "Halloweenies", and "Pinned!" (an episode where people actually get murdered, and murdered in ridiculous ways).
While I personally have no heart, the show has some heart too it. Not at all saccharine, but its way of showing the close but sometimes wavering bond between the Petes who are year apart in age is very compelling. They're best friends, but Big Pete often has to deal with teenage bullshit and Little Pete has to deal with the oppression of being a kid. They also often give serious dimension to people you'd never expect, like the weird superhero, a crossing guard who never goes home, and the solitary Ice Cream truck driver whose head is a giant scoop of ice cream.
The musical choices are also pretty interesting. It doesn't go for music which was popular for the time, and it doesn't go for having the hippest playlist. The music mostly matches the quirkiness of the show. Such as the instrumentals of music from Stephen Merritt. The theme song "Hey Sandy" being played by grunge band Polaris on the Wrigley's lawn perfectly encapsulates the '90s. The show itself is the '90s; fuzzy, sophisticated but not high tech, slightly innocent but a lot of strange things under the surface.
Not too many people I know even know of this show. I don't think it ever came on in Canada, but season 1 and 2 are on DVD. Paramount put season 3 on hold, but I have ehrm... taped versions of that one.
I give this show '95/'90s
See everyone in hell!
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Love Exposure
Sion Sono is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors. His movies blend the subtle sickness and sad undertones of Todd Solondz's Happiness, and the over-the-top violence, sexual kinkiness, surrealism, and barmy horror of Takashi Miike's films of the late 90s and early noughts, you know, before he decided to become a jobber. The first movie of his I saw, Suicide Circle, got under my skin before I could realize it. And when I watched Strange Circus, I had to get back to it a year after watching the first 10 minutes of it because it had already gotten under my skin. Though of course, when I did watch it, it went in a completely different direction than I had imagined... then a million different more after that. That was the film where I started to feel the love. I've gone on to watch as many movies of his as I can find.
Two weeks ago, I sat down to watch one of his latest releases, Love Exposure, and my mind's still smoking and wobbling around like hot rubber. This movie is a four hour long romance/black comedy/action/coming-of-age/religious satire, not particularly in that order, though at times, all of these things at once.
Love Exposure is novelistic in scale with its wide and wild plot which really allows the story to breathe. Its protagonist Yu Tsunoda is a young man whose mother dies only after telling him that the girl he should fall in love with should have the traits of virgin Mary. After becoming a widower, his father Tetsu, a devout catholic, becomes a priest. He is dedicated to his job, and adheres to his duties until a troubled woman literally barges into his life. They have a love affair in a house they rent far away from the church. The relationship goes to shit quicker than relationships usually do, and it sends Tetsu off the rails. His sermons become harsh and accusatory, and he squeezes confessions out of his son. Yu eventually commits transgressions which become increasingly more sinful to win his father's attention. This eventually leads him to getting caught up with a band of troublemakers who get into fights and shoplift. From there, it leads to him getting upskirt photos of girls, flipping and rolling around like a ninja and taking snapshots of their panties.
His father reacts extremely negatively to this, causing Yu to take even more pictures. His pastime eventually leads to him making a bet with one of his friends to see who can take the best upskirt photo. He loses, and has to dress up as a woman and kiss a girl while speaking in an effeminate voice. So dressed up as a woman named Ms. Scorpion, he sees a girl about to be attacked by a gang of thugs. He intervenes, kisses her, sees traits of Virgin Mary in her, and gets his first erection. The girl is Yoko, and it later turns out that this girl is the step daughter of Koike, the woman who had an affair with his father. To complicate things, his father falls back in love with Koike after she chases him down and knocks his car into a lake. Yoko is in love with the woman Yu was dressed up as, but has no interest in Yu himself. Complicating things even further is a creepy girl named Saori who has a profoundly fucked up past. She has been keeping a close eye on Yu, and eventually wedges herself into the relationship, saying that she is actually Ms. Scorpion. This is only the first hour and a half of the movie, and from this point on, it only gets weirder...
Having spoiled enough, I will just say that it leads to a genre hopping journey which involves a sinister cult, shady porn dealers, sex, seppuku, blood baths, and a whole lot more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and it has easily done for me what Taxidermia, Ex-Drummer, and Synecdoche, New York did for me last year in being the most wild and refreshing movies which pulled my intestines out of my navel and smacked me with them. The plot is weird, original, sprawling and unpredictable. The acting is over-the-top. The humour is absurd beyond belief, yet it has real heart (and various other body parts) to it. It had a decent soundtrack. I will always hear the second movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony anytime I think of this movie. The J-Pop wasn't too bad either. I think a couple songs did annoy me.
As for the cinematography, it was decently shot. There weren't any awe-inspiring shots, however, and I'm not too wild about it being shot digitally, and everything does look a little bright and colourful, but it doesn't really contradict the movie's tone. Also, a part involving a penis amputation sort of had its impact dampened by the fact that the penis was blurred out. I understand it's a legal issue as to why genitals both male and female can't be shown in their films, but it's a little disconcerting. And I find the law stupid.
If it's necessary for the theme, or subject matter, parts shouldn't be blurred out for the sake of a stupid law. Not that I personally need or desire to see full frontal nudity in every movie I see. Heaven knows I felt pretty sick after seeing Shortbus, but that might have to do with the movie being total trash.
I'm doing it... I'm going off topic big time. But anyway, Love Exposure: Brilliant movie. I like movies which are a little messy and loose, and as long as they're not too much so. That's what this movie was, and that's why I found it to be perfect.
10/10
See everyone in hell!
