すずめの戸締まり
Watch afterEvil Dead Rise (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
Like the Oracle said to Neo, "Everything that has a beginning has an end." But "ending" is not synonymous with "annihilation." Whether it's a literal, physical remnant (say, an amusement park that remains standing even years after being shut down) or patterns that folks continue out of habit or the hopes of feeling something (think Yūsuke Kafuku continuing to rehearse for Uncle Vanya with his late wife's recording years after her death in Drive My Car—whose co-lead Tōko Miura was a key contributor to the soundtrack of Makoto Shinkai's last film, Weathering With You). Continue Reading →
Mona Lisa no Hohoemi
Welcome to the Criterion Corner, where we break down some of the month’s new releases from the Criterion Collection.
#107: Mona Lisa (1986), dir. Neil Jordan
Some directors, even after moving on to much more acclaimed, prolific careers, never come close to topping their earlier stuff. Strangely, that's also true of novelist turned filmmaker Neil Jordan, whose sumptuous films like The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire, and even Greta blend that kind of lyrical tragedy with a deep understanding of character. Even so, they don't hold a candle to his second feature, 1986's Mona Lisa, an incredible romantic tragedy about a recently-freed ex-con and bruiser (an Oscar-nominated Bob Hoskins) who's tasked by a crime boss (Michael Caine, imperious) to chauffeur a Black escort (Cathy Tyson, mesmerizing in her first film role) back and forth across the moody darkness of London Town.
What's tragic about their romance isn't that it doesn't dare work out, or that external forces get in the way; it's that Tyson's Simone doesn't reciprocate the feelings Hoskins' George clearly holds for her. Theirs is a sweet, oddly charming, yet ultimately manipulative relationship in which Simone plays on his adoration to secure the safety of her real lover. And yet, despite this eventual betrayal, Mona Lisa still plays as something dreamlike and elegant, a dark fairy tale mixed with the rhythms of the British gangster film genre that arose in this period (Hoskins, as the lead in The Long Good Friday, would play a literally heavy part in its popularity). That such a tale of sex workers and spurned enforcers would make room for heart-to-hearts along a lonely pier, ironically wearing goofy novelty sunglasses, is a testament to Jordan's playfulness with the material, and the inexplicable charms that make the film one of his best. Continue Reading →