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The Headless Eyes (1971)
a true schlockfest
Regardless being his first screen credit, Kent Bateman, the future father of Jason Bateman, has slapped together a true schlockfest.
But once you peel away the bad editing, cinematography, direction, and acting, there is a compelling story underneath. Bo Brundin, who would later appear in the Great Waldo Pepper (1975), as well as the miniseries Rich Man Poor Man (1976) and Centennial (1978), turns up the psychosis to number 11, playing a tortured artist. And his obsession with eyeballs is reminiscent of the main protagonist in the Richard Burton vehicle Equus (1977).
As for the murder scenes, they are not too out of the ordinary from what you expect from a '70s slasher film, albeit one that was made long before the arrival of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees.
And yet, his focus on Ann Wells, AKA Mary Jane Early, appears to be the main subplot. Discovering her by chance, he stalks her repeatedly throughout the story, to the point where he discovers that she is an actress named Catherine. Unfortunately, Wells's character doesn't follow the usual "final girl" trope in the finale.
In that set-piece scene, she makes a series of ridiculous blunders, resulting in her being trapped in a frozen meat locker where the killer liquidates her mercilessly.
And yet, the very end of the story is reminiscent of the Clock Tower scene in Niagara (1953), where Joseph Cotton murders his unfaithful wife, Marilyn Monroe, only to discover he's trapped in the Tower with her dead body. But unlike Joseph Cotton, who miraculously escapes from the Tower the next day, Bo Brundin's character is discovered frozen along with his murder victim by the butchers.
With all that said, despite having a gritty early '70s New York as his backdrop, Bateman could've had a classic slasher film on his hands if he had more resources and the skills of John Carpenter or Tobe Hooper to back them up.
Koi kaze (2004)
it was a lot like Nabokov
I only read the synopsis for this anime when I first rented it but I must say once I started watching, it was nothing like I've ever seen before; and I've seen all kinds of anime.
Like some of the other reviewer's I also notice the high production values, the hand drawn animation style reminded me of Miyazaki, but not quite. And some of music was similar to Sigur Rós, but not quite.
As for the story it reminded me a lot of Nabokov's Lolita in that you have a grown man infatuated with an under age girl; and I thought it was odd that that aspect of the story wasn't really touched on at all. But of course the main focus was the fact that the grown man and the young girl were brother and sister.
And yet, knowing anime's reputation, the story could've easily gone into total hentai mode, but didn't.
In fact, just like in Lolita, the whole story rested on Koshiro's shoulders as you see a man totally falling apart. First, breaking up with his longtime girlfriend who at the time he couldn't admit that he did indeed love her. Follow by crossing paths with Nanoka, first on a commuter train and then later after a business meeting. Taking her to a next-door amusement park Koshiro breaks down in front her over his failed relationship, and Nanoka admits she also was heartbroken which sealed the emotional connection between the two.
Thus when they find out they're blood relatives you see him on this downward spiral as his head is in a losing fight with his heart. He knows his feelings for Nanoka are just plain wrong but he can't resist the true love he feels for her.
You can't help feeling sorry for these two even though logic says nothing good can come out of their relationship, especially when it turned sexual in the end. In fact it was the ending I had a real problem with. I'd never read the manga so I don't know if this was supposed to happened but it seemed as if everything stopped in mid-sentence with no resolution that all. If the producers were planning a sequel that would explain the way it ended. But if not ,then I feel the ending is a total cheat. Which is a shame because I think that Koi Kaze is the first honest anime ever made. And what I mean by that is that it's an animated adult drama without any kind of gimmicks like monsters, robots or lots of nudity.