by Earl Jackson
For years lesbian feminist film scholarship entailed archeological detective work, most notably excavating the subtexts of Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock 1940) and The Haunting (Robert Wise 1963). In a peculiar reversal, I am going to try a similar dive into a film to salvage its male homosexuality. While Rebecca and The Haunting may have repressed latent desires under a gothic mood piece, Marry My Dead Body ( harbors a sexual ambivalence within a blatant coming out wake. In doing this, I am actually not faulting the film but rather the limitations on sexual legibility under even the most seemingly benign, apparently inclusive heteronormative social order. Moreover, while exposing what the film cannot do, I want to underscore what it does beautifully: it dramatizes as a default aspect of contemporary life, a kind of habituated melancholia interrupted by an intimacy that at first seems like an assault.
The basic plot is actually...
For years lesbian feminist film scholarship entailed archeological detective work, most notably excavating the subtexts of Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock 1940) and The Haunting (Robert Wise 1963). In a peculiar reversal, I am going to try a similar dive into a film to salvage its male homosexuality. While Rebecca and The Haunting may have repressed latent desires under a gothic mood piece, Marry My Dead Body ( harbors a sexual ambivalence within a blatant coming out wake. In doing this, I am actually not faulting the film but rather the limitations on sexual legibility under even the most seemingly benign, apparently inclusive heteronormative social order. Moreover, while exposing what the film cannot do, I want to underscore what it does beautifully: it dramatizes as a default aspect of contemporary life, a kind of habituated melancholia interrupted by an intimacy that at first seems like an assault.
The basic plot is actually...
- 10/24/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
By Earl Jackson
In 1939, Sadaho Maeda was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children to an Imperial Army pilot and a retired track-and field runner. While still a toddler, the family moved to Chiba Prefecture where Sadaho grew up. Perhaps that location was the inspiration of the publicity people at Toei in 1960 to rename this “new face” – Shin'ichi Chiba. He became a teen favorite as a “funky hat” detective in a series directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and then gained another fan base with his pursuit of serious martial arts training. Chiba was already a powerhouse by the time the three “Street Fighter” films in 1974 introduced him to the world as Sonny Chiba.
If the world had granted him more time, Toru Murakawa's “Game Trilogy” in 1978-1979, might have done the same for Yusaku Matsuda. Although it was always already too late for Matsuda, we now have time to...
In 1939, Sadaho Maeda was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children to an Imperial Army pilot and a retired track-and field runner. While still a toddler, the family moved to Chiba Prefecture where Sadaho grew up. Perhaps that location was the inspiration of the publicity people at Toei in 1960 to rename this “new face” – Shin'ichi Chiba. He became a teen favorite as a “funky hat” detective in a series directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and then gained another fan base with his pursuit of serious martial arts training. Chiba was already a powerhouse by the time the three “Street Fighter” films in 1974 introduced him to the world as Sonny Chiba.
If the world had granted him more time, Toru Murakawa's “Game Trilogy” in 1978-1979, might have done the same for Yusaku Matsuda. Although it was always already too late for Matsuda, we now have time to...
- 5/26/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
By Earl Jackson
For a long time, Japanese cinema of the 1980s was a closed book to me. I just could not engage with the soft-focus, candy-pastel dreamscapes, the ubiquitous permed hair for both sexes, the relentless innocence of the idols who seemed to have learned acting from hostage ransom videos, and the ramshackle macho veneer concocted with crayons and a bullhorn. But in 2004 I attended an immense and beautifully curated 1980s retrospective sponsored by the Japan Foundation held in an upscale shopping mall in Seoul. That intense exposure was a real education which included an introduction to the almost preternatural, haunting countercharm of Yusaku Matsuda, amplified by the devoted Korean Matsuda fans I met there.
In recent years, international attention to the work of Shinji Somai and Nobuhiko Obayashi has filled in vital pieces of the 1980s, however Matsuda's cult status in Japan has yet to spread beyond domestic screens.
For a long time, Japanese cinema of the 1980s was a closed book to me. I just could not engage with the soft-focus, candy-pastel dreamscapes, the ubiquitous permed hair for both sexes, the relentless innocence of the idols who seemed to have learned acting from hostage ransom videos, and the ramshackle macho veneer concocted with crayons and a bullhorn. But in 2004 I attended an immense and beautifully curated 1980s retrospective sponsored by the Japan Foundation held in an upscale shopping mall in Seoul. That intense exposure was a real education which included an introduction to the almost preternatural, haunting countercharm of Yusaku Matsuda, amplified by the devoted Korean Matsuda fans I met there.
In recent years, international attention to the work of Shinji Somai and Nobuhiko Obayashi has filled in vital pieces of the 1980s, however Matsuda's cult status in Japan has yet to spread beyond domestic screens.
- 5/16/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
A number of academics and film historians have written about the genesis of Japanese cinema and its progression through the 20th century, with Donald Richie, Aaron Gerow, Isolde Standish being some of the most renowned. Daisuke Miyao, however, who seems to have studied everything his predecessors had written before him, deals with the particular subject through a rather unique approach, by focusing on the ways of implementing light and shadows on film highlighting its progress. The result, as Earl Jackson who suggested the book mentioned, is truly magnificent
on Amazon
To refer to the huge amount of info presented on the 281, small font pages of the book would be truly futile, so instead I am going to focus on some key events of the story Miyao shares here, and the ways he implemented them in order to unfold it as artfully as possible. As such, the story...
on Amazon
To refer to the huge amount of info presented on the 281, small font pages of the book would be truly futile, so instead I am going to focus on some key events of the story Miyao shares here, and the ways he implemented them in order to unfold it as artfully as possible. As such, the story...
- 6/8/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Writer Jesse Andrews and director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon overturn the formula for the modern teen comedy: they lay on the quirky storytelling and goofy movie parodies, but also give us characters that are reasonably human and complex. We're soon invested in a warm and rewarding drama. Young actors Thomas Mann, Rj Cyler and Olivia Cooke deal with real problems, and the movie doesn't try to change the subject to sex in every scene. A charming show, very worthwhile. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Blu-ray 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 2015 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date October 6, 2015 / Starring Thomas Mann, Rj Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Jon Bernthal, Katherine C. Hughes, Matt Bennett. Masam Holden. <Cinematography Chung-hoon Chung Film Editor David Trachtenberg Original Music Brian Eno, Nico Muhly Written by Jesse Andrews from his novel Produced by Jeremy Dawson, Dan Fogelman, Steven Rales Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon...
- 10/20/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
New York, March 1: A man, working as a PR rep in NYC, has filed a lawsuit against his former female bosses after they fired him for supposedly turning down their sexual advances.
Joseph Earl Jackson has claimed in his lawsuit that his supervisors at Open Communications Omnimedia fondled, kissed and flirted with him, and asked him to take part in a "bang sesh," the New York Post reported.
Jackson said that one of his supervisors, Sally O'Dowd, told him "she loved young black and Hispanic men" and "that she loved how sexy his chest and deltoids were in his white shirt".
According to the Manhattan civil suit, O'Dowd even.
Joseph Earl Jackson has claimed in his lawsuit that his supervisors at Open Communications Omnimedia fondled, kissed and flirted with him, and asked him to take part in a "bang sesh," the New York Post reported.
Jackson said that one of his supervisors, Sally O'Dowd, told him "she loved young black and Hispanic men" and "that she loved how sexy his chest and deltoids were in his white shirt".
According to the Manhattan civil suit, O'Dowd even.
- 3/1/2014
- by Shiva Prakash
- RealBollywood.com
Looks like the whole Jolie-Pitt brood is taking it easy in the Big Easy. Brad Pitt, who is on set in New Orleans filming crime thriller Cogan's Trade, was joined by Angelina Jolie and kids Maddox, 9, Pax, 7, Zahara, 6, Shiloh, 4, Knox, 2, and Vivienne, 2, for a family outing on Sunday to Louisiana's staple VertiMarte Deli. "They came in and got some juice and chips and stuff like that for the kids," a source tells People. "They don't get a lot of pop for the kids. They like to get the whole family out and walk around on a pretty day like today.
- 3/20/2011
- by Mark Lambert
- PEOPLE.com
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