Metoroporisu

And since we're on a Metropolis trip, here's a post I did some time ago for Surreal Moviez.

2001 Metoroporisu
aka Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis

Director: Rintaro
Runtime: 113'
Language: Japanese (w/ soft English subtitles)
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293416/
Links here.

Description:
"Metropolis is both a collaboration and an homage to four disparate auteurs. The movie harks back to Fritz Lang’s classic expressionist film Metropolis (1927) but is also directly inspired by the Metropolis manga created by the 'god of manga', Tezuka Osamu in 1949. The movie itself is an interface between the director Rintaro, known for such previous manga adaptations as Galaxy 1999 and screenwriter/ director Otomo Katsuhiro of Akira fame.
The result is a visually stunning and sometimes haunting work, set in a near future urbanized world in which robots and humans interact - always warily and sometimes tragically. The beautiful robot Tima echoes the 'two Marias' of Lang’s film, invoking the specter / hope of the oppressed rising against elite exploitation, but Tima is ultimately a far more complex figure than any of Lang’s creations. The gorgeous quasi-apocalyptic ending also sends us to a darker place than Lang’s vision of hand and heart combining, but that place resonates painfully well with millennium society, whether Japanese or Western."
(from http://austinfilm.org/node/194)


Top aesthetics, top story, top anime. Neither just a simple adaptation of Lang's classic nor a typical techno-fetischistic epic. In its way unique. Just get it.

Modulations - High Tech Soul

For a long time I was searching for 'Modulations', Iara Lee's 1998 documentary on electronic music, in digital form (more info here). As far as I get it there was no DVD re-issue and I couldn't find a rip around the net, until now. For everyone with a decent connection, in this (new) site itechno.tv you can stream and watch it, instead of its drawbacks (focus on US stuff, absence of certain artists-catalysts, loads of drug-fueled egos, etc.) in the end it's worth the time spent. My favorite part is the whole FSOL interview.
There's also a rip from the AudioBforum guys around, though it's temporarily off. I'll try to get back to it later on.

Modulations (1998)
Stream: here on itechno.tv

P.S. The itechno site is off. I'll try to find another copy...


Also posted on itechno.tv is a much more recent (and easily available to buy) docu on Motown techno, 'High Tech Soul'. Due to its more focused subject it delivers better overall, with a lot of interviews (and bitching) by famous Detroit artists and info on the city's history. A must for techno fans.

High Tech Soul (2006)
Stream: Part 1 - Part 2 on itechno.tv
Download either here (from BetterSoundsBelieving blog - zshare),
here (from TribalElectroDance blog),
or from here (RS links).


Original post: 2008-06-26.

Three Ages

A(nother) weird experiment by Jeff Mills, tampering with 'Three Ages', a 1923 silent comedy by Buster Keaton (his first production) and Eddie Cline. The movie follows a simple yet sufficient theme. Keaton tries to win his beloved one from co-star Wallace Beery in three different timelines: in the Stone Age, classical Rome and the Modern Age (the '20s that is). The film besides being funny also gets quirky (in a good way), with all that jumping through the different eras and developing the stories in parallel; you have to like silent films, though.
The release included a CD with the OST and a DVD with a restored version of the original, a Mills interview and some thematic video remixes he did himself on certain film scenes, using a CDJ1000 as controller (there's also a 'making of' on that).

The music is rather typical Mills; techno and atmos, yet obviously less fierce or dark than most of his similar works (say, 'Metropolis'). For fans of hardcore techno it could even get indifferent at times, yet I understand that he willingly understated the weird and groovy percussive elements that make his tracks what they are, focusing more instead on creating a score, a soundtrack for the film, with themes and motifs and all. And the film is more or less comical, so the music is more or less non-industrial, even bright at times. On the other hand it's still Mills we're talking about, so there are good club trax; the Roman theme is definitely wonderful.

I wish you'd watch the film first, then come back to the CD, but connection problems are frequent lately here and I cannot post something so big yet. Hopefully in the near future there will be a repost, I'll let you know.

Jeff Mills - 2004 Three Ages OST
Info here.

Ghost In The Shell

As I said before, I decided to post here some more visually focused stuff, so here is one of my top five anime films of all time.

Ghost In The Shell (1995)

688x348, XviD, 1.4GB, 83'
Language: Japanese, incl. english subtitles (.srt)
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Description: Based on the manga by Masamune Shirow.
Usually mentioned either in comparison with William Gibson's work or for its influence on the Matrix trilogy. It was also the first anime to target the European and US market at the same time as the Japanese, of course. Obviously focusing a lot on technology, cyber fetishism and the concept of the 'ghost', the plot is rather typical; just there to get things rolling, because the true protagonists of this epic are its heroes' and villains' existential quests, reminiscent in a way of Blade Runner (which imo has been the greatest influence on GITS, and not only in its aesthetics).
A classic.

Info and download links here.

I'm thinking you'll need a Premium account for these...

Berlin Calling

I'd like to watch that one when it comes out.

Might be cheesy, like a Berlin reply at "It's all gone Pete Tong". Still, Paul dB+ is the man.

More info on www.berlin-calling.de.

PS. The OST is the new album of Paul Kalkbrenner in BPitch Control.

Films For All

I've been digging some time in the crates of this site. Incredibly interesting and hard-to-find movies from all kinds of fields of cinematography and documentaries, this site really fills my movie time at home (I really hate TV right now, if I watch another ad my head will explode).
From trash to art and back again, contained herein are hundreds of weird and beautiful pieces of work from everyone you can think of and the final effect is actually more than you can handle. David Lynch and Jesus Franco, Terry Gilliam and Wong Kar Wai, R.W.Fassbinder and giallo, Alejandro Jodorowsky and East Europe realism, Brothers Quay and the Emmanuella series, witches and bitches, the list goes on for long. And Pam Grier's '70s films, for the love of your God. And Kenneth Anger and Laloux and blah blah blah.
I think a big THANX should go out for these great movies fans that share their treasures with us. Tread your way with respect in there, because they've surely earned it.

For TV junkies

Something borrowed.

If you don't know it already, there, you'll find almost everything concerning TV series, films, etc. Since I'm a series maniac, I download from there wholesale.

Everything Rapidshare

Guys, you do a great job.


P.S. This site's off... Check this one.

Bob

I finally managed to order the 'Maybe Logic' DVD, a documentary about Robert Anton Wilson, as well as the video recording (in DVD, again) of RAW's almost-a-musical 'Wilhelm Reich in Hell', both by Lance Bauscher for Deepleaf Productions Inc. I totally urge you to buy them, they're good, cheap and were delivered really fast. His Wiki biography you can find here. More you will find at his official website (check my links).
RAW, though a person known to me only through his books, tapes and (later) the net, had HUGE influence on me and defined my mindset in many ways almost as strongly as my family or friends did. First I read the 'Illuminatus' trilogy (which I think that everyone should check sometime) and later all fiction and non-fiction I could find, but it was the 2nd Cosmic Trigger book 'Down To Earth' that really got to me. I've read some autobiographies, but never one so simple and powerful and touching and almost unbiased at the same time. I knew he had post-polio syndrome for a long time, but in January when I heard of his death (age 75) I was sad for a week or so and actually then it did click, how important for me he had been.
I actually prefer to remember him from these last days photos, with the grandfather look and his mind still sharp as a knife, despite of his illness doing all he can to get along without money, to soften the blow of his coming death for his children and friends, to keep everyone happy and make them a little smarter and better.It's my small memorial, I guess. I have lots of recorded audio and video of RAW, some of them you'll find here: RAWilson Fans. If someone wants anything more than that, just leave a comment.