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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Comics That Should Be Translated: Ibicus

Russia, 1917, Simeon Nevzorov was once told by a fortuneteller that during a time of great upheaval, he would be rich. Now, the revolution is here and the czarist regime is about to be swept away forever. Its the moment Simeon's been waiting for! Believing wholeheartedly in the fortuneteller's prophecy, he embarks on a quest for the wealth and power that he believes is his destiny to obtain.



Ibicus is an adaptation of the novel written by Alexei Tolstoy, made by french cartoonist and movie director, Pascal Rabaté. Rabaté bought the book, thinking that it was by Leo. When he discovered his mistake, Rabaté put the book aside, to save it for a time when he was out of things to read. Naturally, such a thing occurred eventually, and soon Rabaté found himself reading the book he had bought by mistake. He ended up liking Ibicus so much, that he decided to adapt into a comic.
Having not read the original novel, Ibicus (in fact, before discovering the comic I had never heard of it, nor of Alexei Tolstoy for that matter), I can not say how faithful the adaptation is to the source-material. On the back of the first volume (which is also where I got the above information from), Rabaté states that its a free adaptation, but that he has tried to respect the spirit of the author. I can say, that it made me curious about checking out the novel, though, if I can manage to get a hold of a copy.



The first thing that strikes a reader upon opening the first volume of Ibicus is Rabaté's artwork.  I must admit that it took me awhile to get used to the style used by Rabaté for this comic, which is strongly influenced by impressionistic painting, but it soon grew on me. Rabaté is especially good at using light and shadow to convey atmosphere and there are certain scenes and panels in Ibicus, that, in my opinion, has a cinematic quality to them. That said, the artwork of Ibicus is definitely an acquired taste, but than again, can't you say that about pretty much everything?

That said, at the end of the day, yours truly is a plot-guy more than an art-guy (even if he obviously appreciates good art, comics is a visual medium, after all). So, what did I think of the story? Well, I doubt that I will surprise many of you, if I revealed that I found the writing of Ibicus to be great. Once again, I can't say how much that is thanks to Tolstoy and how much of it is Rabaté (once I've read the novel, I should write something about it, in order to compare it with the comic). but the plotting and characterization is both of a consistently high quality and succeeds both at the big, suspenseful moments and the quieter, more character-focused scenes.

The best thing about Ibicus though, at least writing-wise, is its central character. Simeon Nevzorov makes for a great protagonist. Like most anti-heroes, his character is stained with flaws, among which we may count greed, opportunism and pretentiousness (he styles himself as count Nevzorov, a title no-one buys; at one point, another character mockingly says "Count? Why not Czar while you're at it?"). In short, he's the type of character that you probably wouldn't want to be around in real life, but who is very interesting to read about.

In the end, regardless whether its faithful to its source-material or not, Ibicus remains a great comic and one that is definitely deserving of getting an English translation.

Monday, September 21, 2015

What I've Watched 2

Welcome, dear reader, to another installment of What I've Watched, where I will share some brief thoughts on the shows and sometimes, movies, that I've focused on recently. Before we begin however, there are a few things I believe I forgot to mention last time. First of all: I will only do a write-up if I feel that I have something to say about the show/movie in question. Second of all, while I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, sometimes they're pretty much inevitable.
That's all, thank you for reading this. Now, on to hopefully more interesting stuff:


Ripper Street Season 2

I've only seen the first two episodes of Ripper Street's second season, but so far, its shaping up to be a worthy follow-up to the first one. This season has a more serialized feel than its predecessor, thanks in no small part to the introduction of our first seasonal big bad in the form of the diabolical Jedediah Shine, who makes a worthy foe for Reid, Bennett and Jackson. Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, appears a supporting character in these episodes and his bravery and compassion for others stands in sharp contrast to Shine's loathsome evil. Merrick also gets what has to be the most emotionally powerful scene the show's had, so far, in which he manages to persuade another man not to commit murder-suicide with his infant son. I confess that I got something in my eye during that scene.
On a more negative note, there was one moment in the first episode that made me groan audibly: Its the scene where Reid tells Shine that they have a witness against him. Said witness being Shine's hospitalized partner-in-crime. Naturally that leads to Shine murdering the witness, while casting suspicions on Reid in the process. Yeah, that struck me as an uncharacteristically dumb move on Reid's part. 

Mind Game (Re-watch)

The first time I watched Mind Game, I adored it. This time, however, my feelings for it have cooled somewhat. Visually, the movie is very interesting and its message; that you should live life to its fullest and follow your dreams is certainly a worthwhile one. That said, not all the weirdness of the movie clicked with me and there are some sequences that I felt went on for too long. Its an interesting movie and one that I think every fan of animation should watch at least once, but I wouldn't consider it the best among Yuasa's work.

The Singing Detective

I finally got around to watch this classic mini-series by Dennis Potter and I wasn't disappointed. The Singing Detective is the story of Philip Marlow (excellenty portrayed by Michael Gambon), a writer of mystery-fiction, who is undergoing treatment for his psoriatic arthritis . In order to find some means of escape from the hospital-bed that he's confined to, Marlow imagines himself as the hero of one of his novels: The Singing Detective. The show blends the real-world setting of the hospital with Marlow's hardboiled-detective fantasies, as well as flashbacks to his childhood during World War 2 and the events that shaped him into the man we see in the present.
The Singing Detective is one of those shows that defy easy categorization: It is at once a mystery-story, a character-study a musical with some dash of autobiography (Potter himself suffered from the same ailment as his protagonist) thrown in for some good measure. I enjoyed it immensely, my only minor complaint is that I sort of wished that the actors would have actually sung the songs instead of miming to old recordings.


The Leviathan Chronicles Season 1

I'm cheating a bit here (as much as you can cheat on your own blog) because technically there's no way to watch The Leviathan Chronicles. You see, its neither a movie nor a show, but an audio-drama. However, its easily as good as any show I've listed here (and in certain cases even better than some of them) and ranks among the best audio-dramas I've listened to. The voice-acting and sound-effects for this drama are top-notch and the plot, revolving around a young scientist, who learns that she's a member of a race immortals is well-told and engaging. The entire show can be found here, I strongly suggest that you give it a listen.

Rectify Season 1


Another excellent show. Rectify is about Daniel Holden, a man who spent twenty years on death-row for the murder and rape of his girlfriend, but is released when DNA evidence is revealed that points to his innocence. The show then focuses on Daniel getting reunited with his family (including some new family members) and his attempts to a re-adjust to a normal life, all while resentment against him keeps simmering beneath the surface, because not everyone is convinced of Daniel's innocence.
Let me say this, if you go into Rectify expecting there to be some hint as to "who-done it", toward the end of the first season, you're going to end up being disappointed. This show is not so much a mystery as it is a character drama, something it excels at.

Rick & Morty Season 2

I really liked the first season of Rick & Morty and the second has definitely lived up to my expectations, so far. My personal favorite episode, not just of this season, but the show in general, was the one with the alien parasites. If Rick & Morty continues to uphold this level quality it might well end up being my favorite western-cartoon for adults since The Venture Bros.

Shirobako


Here's something I haven't seen before: An anime that's actually about making an anime and the work that goes into it. Its also the story about Aoi and her childhood friends and their struggle to break into the anime industry, whether its as producers, animators, voice-actors or what have you. This show definitely has potential to become one of my new favorites; the characters are by and large likable and interesting, making it easy to root for them to succeed and as a layman, I find the work-related aspects of the show to be very interesting and informative as well. All in all, an excellent slice-of-life series.



Well, that's it for this time. One final thing: I've decided to drop Yuri Kuma Arashi (or at least put it on hold for awhile). I only have three episodes left, but right now I just can't be bothered with the show anymore. Its not that I think its bad per-se, I just don't feel that it offers me anything that I couldn't get from watching any of Ikuhara's previous shows, like Utena or Penguin Drum again. Those shows also featured much more interesting characters. Sure, you could argue that since Utena had 39 episodes and Yuri Kuma only has 12, the former had more time to develop its cast. However, I'd like to offer a counter-argument to that: Utena didn't need twelve episodes to make its characters interesting.










Monday, September 14, 2015

Favorite Movie Villains

Alfred Hitchcock once said that the more successful the villain is, the more successful is the movie (or something like that) and while a movie doesn't necessarily require a villain in order to be a great, its true that the presence of a great villain can take an already good movie to new heights. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite cinematic bad guys (and girls) presented in no particular order. I hope you enjoy this list and that it will make you curious to check out the movies these evil-doers hail from, unless you haven't already.
Oh, yes, there will be some spoilers here. Although to be fair, some of these movies are so old that the spoilers are pretty much public knowledge and the movies presented here are good enough that knowing some plot-points really shouldn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie in question.


Frank (Once Upon A Time in the West)



My favorite Sergio Leone villain and my favorite villain in a Spaghetti-Western. It was a true stroke of genius on Leone's part to cast Henry Fonda, an actor mostly know for playing morally upright heroes, as the arch-villain of this movie. I can only imagine the surprise of the audience at the time when they witnessed Frank and his henchmen murdering an entire family in cold blood (including shooting a kid in the back) only for the camera to reveal that the man behind this mayhem is none other than Juror #8 himself. Has there ever been a better example of casting against type?

Lady Kaede (Ran)



I've written about her before. Akira Kurosawa's Ran may have been based on King Lear, but Kaede, the wife of Taro, eldest son of Lord Hidetora, leader of clan Ichimonji, doesn't really have a counterpart among Lear's rogues-gallery. After Hidetora relinquishes power to his three sons, Kaede wastes no time convincing Taro to claim sole leadership of the clan plunging the region into civil war. So, she's a Lady MacBeth character, then? Not really, because unlike the Thane of Cawdor's wife, Kaede is motivated not by power (or what she believes is best for her husband), but by a thirst for vengeance: Her family having been killed during Hidetora's conquests, Kaede seeks the complete annihilation of clan Ichimonji. The fact that this would also mean the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives is not something that bothers her very much. Manipulative, cold-hearted and bloodthirsty, Lady Kaede is one of cinema's great villains.

Harry Lime (The Third Man)



Sometimes, a villain can dominate the plot of a movie without appearing that much in it. Case in point; Harry Lime in The Third Man. Lime doesn't get many scenes, but every scene he's in is memorable, from his entrance to his dialogue with former childhood friend Holly Martins aboard the Ferris-wheel, they all count among some of the finest moments in cinema. Personality-wise, Lime is a trickster-character. He's so affable and fascinating that its quite easy to forget that underneath the charm, Lime is utter scum; A racketeer who cares for no-one but himself and the profits he can make. The radio-drama, The Lives of Harry Lime, softened the character somewhat, making him into more of an anti-hero, but its as the villain of The Third Man that Lime will always be remembered.

Phyllis Dietrichson (Double Indemnity)



Well, what can one say? Pretty much the archetypical film-noir femme fatale.

Dr. Mabuse (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse)



I admit that I have a soft spot for the criminal mastermind type of villain and in that category, you can't do much better than Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse wants world-domination (it comes with the job), but unlike most villains of his type, watching him you can't help but feel a bit worried that he might actually achieve it.  In the second movie, Mabuse has spent ten years in a mental hospital following his breakdown at the end of the first, but that doesn't stop the good doctor from sowing more chaos. Yeah, this guy is pretty much my favorite cinematic super-villain.

Hans Beckert (M)



Right below Mabuse, we have another villain from a Fritz Lang movie; Hans Beckert, the first, but certainly not last villain-protagonist to appear on this list. Hans is not the most formidable villain, in fact, he's pretty pathetic. However, he makes up for this being a genuinely interesting character, one that evokes both disgust and pity at the same time. One of the best examples of a tragic monster in film.

Lope de Aguirre (Aguirre: The Wrath of God)



Klaus Kinski was an actor who was pretty much born to play villains and I had a hard time choosing between his role as the eponymous character in Aguirre and that of Tigrero/Loco in The Great Silence. As you can see, the former won out in the end. Aguirre is a terrifying character,whose thirst for gold and power causes him to slip further and further into insanity. At the end of the movie, he keeps ranting about the dynasty he's going to form (by marrying his own daughter nonethless). Unfortunately for Aguirre, the only ones who can still hear him are the monkeys.

Louis Cypher (Angel Heart)



The Devil as played by Robert De Niro. Never has the simple act of eating a boiled egg come across as more sinister.

Antonio Salieri (Amadeus)



By all accounts, the real-life Salieri was not that bad a guy, he thought several young singers and compositors (one of his more famous pupils was Ludwig van Beethoven) and all but his wealthiest students received their education for free. The Salieri seen in Amadeus on the other hand, is a petty and murderous schemer, motivated chiefly by envy. However, what makes Salieri such a great villain is his complexity; while he despises Mozart, he clearly recognizes the latter's brilliance and acknowledges his genius. Which of course only furthers Salieri's resentment and underlying self-loathing, knowing that he's doomed to forever live in the shadow of his younger, more talented rival. Odd as it may seem, there were times in watching the movie when I felt for the guy.

Colonel Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds)



Quentin Tarantino's filmography contains its fair share of memorable villains. My personal favorite is Hans Landa, the Nazi-villain of Inglorious Basterds. Easily the best character in the movie, Landa is quirky and affable, while also being ruthlessly effective at carrying out his task of hunting down escaped Jews. What's interesting about Landa is that he doesn't care about the Third Reich or Hitler, having no problem in selling them out when opportunity presents itself. This begs the question: What's more horrible? To fully believe in a system or ideology that commits numerous atrocities, including genocide, or to use said system to sate your own greed and opportunism?

Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)



Or "Preacher Harry Powell" as he insists upon calling himself (wonder if that's where the makers of Pirates of the Caribbean got the idea of Jack referring to himself as "Captain Jack Sparrow" from?). The handsome (Robert Mitchum, natch) but incredibly sinister Powell hunts his two step-children (after disposing of their mother) in the hopes of getting the money that the kids' biological father, Harry's cellmate, hid inside his daughter's doll. The Night of the Hunter is a movie that at times has a strange, dreamlike quality to it. However, this self-proclaimed preacher doesn't waste time turning the dream into a nightmare.

Michael Corleone (The Godfather Trilogy)



What's there to say about Michael Corleone? When we first meet him, he's the white sheep of the Corleone family; a war-hero who wants nothing to do with the family business. Unfortunately for Michael, events conspires against him and he's eventually forced to become the next Don, gradually transforming into a ruthless villain. Has there ever been a better portrayal of a man's fall from grace in cinema?

Ryonosuke Tsukue (Sword of Doom)



Out of the evil leads on this list, Ryonosuke is arguably the most evil (though Aguirre comes close). A master-swordsman, Ryonosuke travels the Japanese countryside, using his talents with the blade to indulge in various villainous deeds, mostly for his own amusement. Cruel, violent and ultimately self-destructive, this is one man for whom the term Bushido, simply doesn't exist.

So, there you have it: These were some of my favorite movie-villains. I hope that I succeeded in making you interested in checking out some of the movies these horrible, yet fascinating men and women appear in. Below are a list of honorable mentions; villains that I like, but I didn't write about in detail, because I felt the list was long enough already:

Roy Batty (Blade Runner) - Only not on the list because I'm not sure if he's a villain, as opposed to being "merely" an antagonist.
Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood)
Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)
Capitan Vidal (Pan's Labyrinth)
Archibald Cunningham (Rob Roy)
Noah Cross (Chinatown)
Pretty much everyone except Alais (The Lion in Winter)
Claudandus (Felidae)
Dudley Smith (L.A. Confidential) - Better in the books, but still a good villain.
Col. Kurtz (Apocalypse Now)
Oh, and the following Disney-villains: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Prof. Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective) and Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
And many more.