Violence at Noon

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acsdoug D Released during the thick of 1960's Japanese avant garde cinema, Violence at Noon is a little more coherent than most films of that ilk, but the pretentiousness of the genre bores me. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/24/24 Full Review Audience Member life in post WWII war Japan Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Complex story about love, lonliness, lust, and death. Fairly competent performances, but would've benefitted from better performances. Interesting, experimental and free camera work. The two women at the end reminded me of Ingmar Bergman's Persona. But this film falls short of that kind of brilliance. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Oh you women, 'he's a rapist and a killer and he raped me in front of my dead lover but I love him and I can change him!!!' That's a bit more extreme than 'he's a good for nothing lazy bum who treats me like crap but I can turn him into a loving, caring, candy buying built dude who loves me for who I am!!!' Just a bit. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Nagisa Oshima takes a page from the New Wave and chops this psychological serial rapist thriller into a jumble of jump cuts, rapid edits, time shifts, camera trickery, and political satire, and it's one of the most ambitious, mesmerizing films of his career. The late Kei Sato stars as the High Noon Attacker, a farmer who, as flashbacks tell us, has devolved into a rapist and a murderer because of the misguided affections of a local school-teacher and a young, comely maid, both of who know they shouldn't be hiding the man's identity from the police, but that's the nature of psycho-sexual obsession. As the film plunges like a speeding train towards it's disturbing conclusion, Sato and the psychology of a murderer become less prevalent than the budding frustrations and duel psyches of the women, who blend in a "Persona"-esque nightmare. Oshima keeps us guessing as to why the murderer is as he is, and why these two women are so drawn to him (with both hate, and especially, lust), with a narrative that routinely shifts back and forth in time with little indication or physical association for clues, but it's all part of a fascinating cinematic fabric, confusing and exhilarating. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member The story of a serial rapist/killer and the two women in his past trying to protect him. Oshima structures the film by cutting between two different chronologies, one following the investigation and more importantly the communication between the women, and the other flashback, establishing the relationships between the characters and the roots of Eisuke's crimes. It's not really a study of his psychosis, however, but rather an exploration of people bound together by violence, failure, lonelieness and despair. I found the film's cinematic aspects more intriguing than its thematic aspects (which, to be honest, I don't think I've quite deciphered yet). Oshima's compositions can be striking, and the frame is often blown out with glaring sunlight. There's also an unusually large number of cuts, and at points certain shots and pans get looped, flipped, or reversed, a kind of schizophrenic turmoil of camera movement. Although overall the film didn't dig into my soul enough to resonate, it's definitely an interesting piece of work. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Violence at Noon

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