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Wednesday, January
16 (8:30pm)
Friday, January 18 (10pm)
Admission: $5, $10 minimum
reservations
are recommended
(If you're going to see The Taste of Tea, you should probably
also see Ishii's Funky
Forest: The First Contact.)
It's strange, there are zero online reviews from major newspapers,
television or radio film critics. So we must rely on "other" critics,
many of them very astute and well-spoken/written. But they also
rely on some fairly corny "Western" comparisons to flesh out The
Taste of Tea's forebearers or progeny. Like: Babel, My
Life As A Dog,
The Straight Story, or La Belle Epoque.
But that's not what's going on, is it? Asian Cinema is sui
generis right now. And most of American Cinema is simperingly
awful. And the reason is: Narrative. Too much fucking NARRATIVE,
Paul Thomas Anderson, ruins the goddam soup unless you're the goddam
Coen Brothers. Instead, let us reference Ozu or Miike or
even Sasanatieng.
Here's part of one review from Twitch:
"Wow. Can The Taste of Tea really be a film by the same man responsible
for the atrocious Party 7? After a promising debut with Shark
Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl director Katsuhito Ishii took an enormous
step back with Party 7 - a noisy, pointless, vapid film so bad
that even the normally reliable Tadanobu Asano is virtually unwatchable.
After that film received a sound critical roasting Ishii took a
break of several years from live action film making, returning
to the anime world that was his original home. And, frankly, nobody
particularly missed him...
...The film itself is beautifully crafted. The cinematography is
excellent and the use of CG effects – often in play as Ishii
uses effects sequences to bring his characters’ inner lives
out into the open – blended in perfectly. He manages to even
make the obligatory anime sequence – he is, after all, an
anime artist himself and every film he has done so far has featured
at least a small dose – fit tightly and organically into
the narrative. His actors all put in brilliant performances, giving
each of the characters – yes, even the wacky grandfather – a
sense of depth that ensures the film never strays from it’s
emotional core even during the most heavily stylized or comedic
moments. And, yes, for all the talk of this being a quiet and subtle
film you will laugh aloud several times."
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