jürgen fauth’s muckworld

It sounded like a good idea: a retro Thai western, a pastiche of long-forgotten styles that’s part melodrama, part over-the-top gunslinging, all bathed in madly oversaturated colors. The tears of a waiting lover blur the inscription on a photograph; sad cowboys play forlorn melodies on their harmonicas; villains with pencil-thin mustaches laugh hearty belly laughs. Duels begin with Sergio Leone super close-ups, and then the gun barrels flare in staccato edits. Body parts go flying, and the heartthrob hero can shoot around corners. Even if you’ve never seen a Thai western in your life, most of this will seem mighty familiar from somewhere. (John Woo, Douglas Sirk, George A. Romero, and Lash La Rue have all been rightfully fingered as influences.)

But good looks and a wealth of allusions only get you so far. The pleasures of Tears of the Black Tiger lie exclusively in its winking, high-camp evocation of older movies and styles; there’s not much worthwhile beneath the ironic postmodern attitude. No matter how many lotus-decorated flashbacks and Bangkok beach walks the lovers take, their woes aren’t gripping enough, and scenes without emotional connection stretch out long past their welcome. The shootouts amuse but don’t thrill, and the few attempts at low humor fail–probably because everything is a meta-joke already. Opens Friday.

Fah talai jone. Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000. **

Rotten Tomatoes
[tags]wisit sasanatieng, film, thailand, western, pastiche, postmodern, 2 stars, melodrama, sergio leone, douglas sirk, george romero, lash la rue, john woo[/tags]

Not enough Kinski.

Per qualche dollaro in più. Sergio Leone, 1965. ***

[tags]sergio leone, klaus kinski, clint eastwood, film, 3 stars, italy, western, lee van cleef[/tags]

Once upon a time in Wiesbaden, back in the dark days before VHS, a kid in my class came up with a business scheme involving this movie. He got hold of an abridged 8mm version of Once Upon a Time in the West (aka Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod), invited us over to watch it in his bedroom on a whirring projector, and then asked that we pitch in five Marks since buying movies was very expensive. The rub: the little scammer had only rented the film–apparently there used to be places that rented Super 8 movies through the mail. Later, he showed us a catalog and wanted to know what we wanted to see next (”Krieg der Sterne?”) But we all felt lied to and the butchered 45-minute version of Once Upon a Time in the West didn’t satisfy, so the scheme dissolved. Soon after, Jochen got the first Grundig Video 2000 recorder, Super 8 became a distant memory, and we watched and rewatched Once Upon a Time in America religiously.

At any rate. In all its unbutchered three-hour gory, Once Upon a Time in the West remains a shamlessly great epic, full of outrageous set pieces and carried along by the sweeping Morricone score. Marcy and I particularly enjoyed Claudia Cardinale’s character who, as the Voice quipped, puts the ho back into “Westward Ho!”

Once Upon a Time in the West. Sergio Leone, 1968. ****

[tags]wiesbaden, jochen, western, video 2000, super 8, sergio leone, film, 4 stars, charles bronson, henry fonda, claudia cardinale[/tags]