WEEK 60
Ride the Pink Horse - Ringu
#296 - RIDE THE PINK HORSE
1947; dir. Robert Montgomery; starring Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, Andrea King
There’s an appealing sense of toughness and punchiness in this noir, clearly cultivated by its director and star, Robert Montgomery. When he frames himself in a sturdy medium giving whoever’s in the reverse shot the business, you can’t deny the efficacy.
But for me, the picture doesn’t do anything momentous with that energy. It turns into a series of episodes that Montgomery just kinda deals with one after the other; I don’t get a sense of satisfaction in its narrative (though it comes the closest with the weaving of Thomas Gomez’s tragic performance). Not much of a ride to be had!
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
#297 - RIFIFI
1955; dir. Jules Dassin; starring Jean Servais, Robert Hossein, Magali Noël
This movie’s perfect! And a huge personal influence on me and some stuff I’ve written in the heist genre.
It’s stylish, simple, inventive, and contains at least 3 of the most pulverizing, suspenseful set pieces ever put to celluloid. Its lead characters ride this line between being “cool” and “awful,” always staying interesting.
And, most wonderfully, it features a silky musical sequence where a singer explains the meaning of the title. Every movie should do that. Picture Josh Brolin stopping in the middle of his suburban city to listen to a French songstress sing, “And that’s why we call it Weapons!” Immediately better.
Rififi is perfect.
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#298 - RIGHTING WRONGS
1986; dir. Corey Yuen; starring Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong
Gosh, I love 1980s Hong Kong action cinema! And Righting Wrongs is a pulverizing piece of that history. Its fight sequences are just so well-performed and structured, using such simple “if this is true, what else is true?” logic to pummel the heck out of each other. It all feels real but heightened, silly but grounded. Every action set piece made me sit up and lock in and vocalize out loud.
As for its performances and plotting, Righting Wrongs makes some tonally adventurous choices, shifting between broad comedy and, at times, shockingly vicious and grimy consequences of violence. It’s like Mr. Bean invaded a Greek tragedy with nunchucks. A lot of this era’s Hong Kong action pictures are like this, I’m learning, but with Righting Wrongs, the differences feel starker, and the bitter tastes linger longer.
I like it all a lot!!
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
#299 - THE RING COLLECTION
2002-2017
The home video-based curse of Samara became metatextual, delivering the 4K disc of the first Ring movie - the main reason one would purchase this Shout Factory collection - a deep scratch that made it unplayable!
By default, therefore, because I simply couldn’t watch it:
VERDICT: GOES AWAY
(and no, this isn’t a notch in the “streaming is better” column; I’d rather take “sometimes a disc is scratched” to “art ownership is at the cynical whims of shareholders,” tee-hee)
#300 - RINGU
1998; dir. Hideo Nakata; starring Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rikiya Ōtaka
I was invulnerable to Sadako’s curse, as the Arrow 4K disc of the original Ringu film played just fine to me! I’m gonna live forever!!
Nakata’s seminal work is eerie and creepy, yes, but also elegant and understated; even beautiful at times. It’s a strangely pitched work, eschewing many of the typical rhythms and vibes you find in traditionally “aggressive” horror films (even in the later American remake) for something subtler.
That’s not to say it won’t get under your skin; it will get under there and stay there, especially with the tactile “cursed video” effects. It just does so with uncommon patience or even gentility. There just ain’t nothing like this movie!
VERDICT: STAYS AND PLAYS
THE RUNNING TIME SO FAR
Total Watched: 300
Stays And Plays: 200
Goes Away: 100
Thanks for checking out Greg’s Blu-Rays A-To-Z! Next week: Dystopias and sequels, oh my!