IN THE CINÉMA CLUB OF… JOSHUA CHUQUIMIA CRAMPTON

DEVILMAN: THE BIRTH, Umanosuke Iida, 1987

A feature film adaptation of the first part of Go Nagai’s Devilman story. This movie begins a tragic love story about The Devil who, in their boredom, manipulates a young man into becoming a devil himself under the guise of saving humanity. This young man eventually causes The Devil to experience true love for the first time in the endless regenerative cycle of death and creation that they have lived in for eternity.

BLIND SWORDSWOMAN: HELLISH SKIN aka TRAPPED, THE CRIMSON BAT, Matsuda Sadatsugu, 1969

This movie has a much more nuanced approach to gender and femininity than most other Jidaigeki Eiga of the ‘60s and ‘70s, which makes it stand out among the piles of this era’s films I love, and still features plenty of the stylized violence and set dressing one might crave. Matsumaya Yoko and Matsuoka Kikko give very memorable performances as the main rivals with a dynamic not usually seen in this type of story.

DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS, Bruno Barreto, 1976

I've enjoyed many of Jorge Amado's books and this is one of my favorite adaptations of them. Sonia Braga really brings the character of Dona Flor to life with so much character and depth. I've always felt a special connection to Bahia, so the setting in Amado's books is comfortable to me, even though the version that is brought to life here reveals it to be much more brash, backwards and stuffy. Simone’s version of Chico Buarque’s “O Que Será” in the opening titles, is also very iconic.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: THE END OF EVANGELION, Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki, 1997

The theatrical ending to the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series is an epic for the ages. The beautiful directing style and final scenes have inspired so many other lesser animated works it's probably easy to forget where it came from. Re-visiting it again recently made me notice that Anno’s presentation of Lilith uniting humanity into one consciousness is reminiscent of the cycle of senses being awoken in the Andean cosmovision, which makes those scenes much more megalithic. My only criticism stylistically upon watching this again in the present day is that I find the character designs to be somewhat unpleasant. This led me to almost switch this entry out for another cosmic tale such as one of Leiji Matsumoto’s space opera works or even a common masterpiece such as the original Star Wars trilogy , but I still think this film holds up for what it’s worth. The protagonist's choice to essentially rebuke God in all forms through his mother's words, in the face of what is essentially the Pachamama, causing her demise in exchange for his own individuality/feelings, only for her to give him the gift of continuing life in loneliness and shame is a very interesting take from the director. The music by Sagisu Shiro is great too, of course.

THE GRANDMASTER, Wong Kar-Wai, 2013

I was given a pirated DVD of this movie with a bottle of brutal Thai liquor for my birthday back when it came out. I had never heard of it though I love martial arts movies and didn't know it was a Wong Kar-Wai flick. It ended up becoming one of my favorite movies ever. Not a lot of actual Wing Chun in the movie for being a story about Grandmaster Yip Man, but who really cares, the action plays out beautifully every time it’s ignited. The melodrama is so thick, you can almost choke. Each character is less sympathetic than the last, yet they're played with such emotion and reverence you can't look away. I don’t drink anymore, but I’ve still got that DVD.