The Sun (Сóлнце) - A. Sokurov

Russian film, Japanese history. Director - Alexander Sokurov, who is best known for his epic Russian Ark -- a film done in 1 take, 1 shot, which would highlight him as slightly more adventurous than most directors we know today. The film is set during the final days of WW2, and is part of a series of films that centre around political figures -- the others being Hitler and Lenin. The Sun's political figure is Japanese Emperor Shōwa Hirohito.

I don't know much about Hirohito, or why he talks really weirdly in this (even when talking Japanese) -- as if his tongue's too big for his mouth, which is intriguing. Perhaps a type of etiquette? The film epitomizes character study. The directory himself claimed not to be interested with politics and what you'd be taught from, say, the History Channel, and so those subjects are partially ignored. Hirohito's in a bunker (as they all are), yet in the Imperial Palace, which is quite cozy, rather than claustrophobic hell. He reminisces not so much on the past, but on his and the future of Japan -- or lack of it. 

It's a film that requires a lot of input from the viewer, introspection on this level is better suited to novels, but Sokurov's work will appeal to (and impress) certain audiences. Refraining from spoiling the plot -- or giving you a history lesson -- this is a film about what the man was or might of been feeling at the time (and throughout his life), his responsibilities, and his reflection on possible war crime accusations, which lead to awkward meetings to dictate peace terms with an American commander. Therefore, this is a film so many viewers will be either bored with, and perhaps bitterly disappointed that they weren't getting a historical romp or a heavy political showing.

Issei Ogata is the best Japanese actor I've seen -- especially in a role like this. What makes this role even more impressive in scale and to accomplish from Ogata's perspective is the fact that this wasn't screened in Japan due to right-wing extremists getting angry over the portrayal of Hirohito, yet Ogata and the other actors still had the guts to work with Russian director (and cinematographer) Sokurov to make this wonderful exploration of a 'human being' in an incredible situation. To think we as individuals, governments, uniting bodies and every country in the world fear atomic warfare -- this was the Emperor of a country watching his world burn before his eyes -- something even the Emperor, who was considered a deity in Japan -- a God amongst men -- couldn't control, or perhaps even understand; little of us can.

Das Boot

Filmed in 1981 by Wolfgang Peterson. This version is 3hrs 20mins long.

I can't really saying anything original about this film. I remember watching "The Neverending Story" when I was a child, and it's surprising the director narrated that as well.

For a film that's thing long, I still couldn't help but feel it was slightly cliched, quite Hollywood. It was better than the recent Israeli film "Lebannon" which was a claustrophobic tank setting. I hated that because it felt like Hollywood.

Obviously if I didn't like this film I wouldn't of watched all of it. You didn't really get to understand this from a German WW2 perspective. There were some emotional responses that could of been portrayed more realistically. I believe this film was very expensive to make.. The most expensive outside of USA and USSR at the time. What does that tell you so far?

It was quite average in most places really. I did think it was going to be more psychological and less on the action, considering its lengthy runtime (but hey, look at LoTR). You're supposed to feel like you're part of the crew, and I can understand where that's coming from, but the characterisation wasn't very good at all, and the dialogue didn't really cover anything you'd expect.

This film doesn't have any gaping holes in it that really make it bad, it manages to pull through and reward you with decent entertainment for over 3 hours but I think the key word there is "entertainment".

"I am categorically against entertainment in cinema: it is as degrading for the author as it is for the audience." - Andrei Tarkovsky

Obviously quite an extreme thing to say but when I think of a film being described as "entertaining" I just think of the hours I had wasted witnessing action or thriller films. On TV I saw a film about some shipsinking and a few survivors making their way through claustrophobic passages... Das Boot didn't totally remind me of that trash, but I think that it doesn't go into the depths of intellectual thought or give itself enough character to be hailed as a piece of art rather than a cliched expensive feature film. That said, you can't call this a bad film at all, if you accept it for what it is.

Ivan's Childhood

This is a Russian film from 1962 directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

It's about a Russian boy whose village is destroyed by the Nazis, and he becomes a prisoner. He manages to escape and ends up convincing the Russian army that he'll spy for them, and he does.

This is a fantastic film, and Tarkovsky's first. Apparently, he's not even credited in this. I can't say much about this film without spoiling it.

It's about the loss of childhood innocence. I knew when I was watching it that if I wanted to say something about it, it would just ruin it.

A lot of directors were influenced by this film (Bergman etc), but Tarkovsky itself wasn't pleased with it. I can understand why to some degree, as there's only small bits that emphasise his style.

Oh, if you've seen Come and See, this is similar, although not as terrifying.

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