Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani? (Shinji Aoyama, 2005)

[Steven H]

cdjapan's listing here. Opening remarks from Strictly Film School, which have me interested:

Shinji Aoyama returns to the desolate geographical and spiritual landscapes of Eureka to create a thoughtful and idiosyncratic - if patently offbeat and unclassifiable - concoction of doomsday angst, picaresque humor, synthesized cacophony, natural communion, and even redemption in Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani?. The film's allusive title, taken from the Aramaic transcription of Jesus' ninth hour utterance upon the cross ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"), provides an insightful framework into the isolated lives of a rural hamlet's increasingly dwindling population after a flu-like, suicide-inducing virus causes a global epidemic called Lemming's Disease (presumably named after the popular misconception that lemming herds commit mass suicide by jumping off cliffs as a means of self-regulated population control).

Grimfarrow? Tony Rayns? Who's seen this, and has a comment?

[Michael Kerpan]

I haven';t seen it -- but believe it is coming out on DVD in Japan soon. Not sure whether this release will have English subs.

[shirobamba]

I haven';t seen it -- but believe it is coming out on DVD in Japan soon. Not sure whether this release will have English subs.

It will have subs and it has a hefty price tag!

[Steven H]

And it has a hefty price tag!

Unfortunately.

There's a less special edition listed with no mention of subs. Usually, both special and regular editions are subbed or unsubbed, so one of them is probably incorrect. Eventually this will be ironed out, we'll just cross our fingers that the english subtitles will be on it (the yesasia listings, here, and here, however, don't entice optimism).

[putney]

it's an interesting film... it's my favorite of his in a while...the family theme is getting stronger and stronger in his films. last year's "lakeside murder case", then this. a lot of good sequences with Nkahara (who was "violent onsen geisha" one of the better noise acts in the 90's) , well, making noise. it's a curious film...
i'll check on the sub thing...it's　much much much less talkative than "lakeside murder case" it's pretty watchable without understanding the dialogue, i'd say.

putney

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

a lot of good sequences with Nkahara (who was "violent onsen geisha" one of the better noise acts in the 90's)

This was already pretty high on my most anticipated list -- it's a movie about noise musicians, how many of those do you see? -- but reading this put it near the very top. I'm kind of embarassed I didn't make the connection before (I never bothered to learn his real name).

Going off on a bit of a tangent: I don't want to make too much of this since I haven't actually seen the Aoyama film, but I can't help but wonder if he wasn't partly inspired by Waiting -- an odd KLF short film that consisted entirely of Jimmy and Bill wandering around by the seaside recording sounds and incorporating them into various kinds of music (noise, ambient, house, etc.). From what I've read Eli, Eli etc. sounds a lot like Waiting with a sci-fi wrapper.

[putney]

well, it def. starts that way, but there is a whole other element to it that's not that far from aoyama's "desert moon" and "an obsession."
these days Nakahara doesn't do as much of the noise, although i saw him do a concert last week which was surprisingly old school, he's mostly a writer now. in the film, don't expect old school onsen geisha, it's definitely digital era age noise (which was actually my problem with the film, hahaha, but i'm a little to close to it all to not have a the "rooting for the old noise team" problem.) and, hahaha, i don't think asano isn't very good at noise, hahaha. i know that won't bother a lot of people, but haha, it bugged me. sorry it makes me laugh, one of the few films i can think of where i was bothered because the nosie was too "new school" hahaha. he's already finishing up a new film, he works fast these days!

i'll let you all in on the dvd details as soon as i find out.

[Steven H]

Twitch Film.net has confirmed english subtitles on both Standard and Deluxe editions of this film. They also have some trailer links.

[sevenarts]

What are the chances of this making it into R1 or R2 anytime soon? I really want to see this (Violent Onsen Geisha, holy shit!!!) but $40+ from Japan for 1 DVD is a bit steep.

[yoshimori]

I heartily recommend this release. My two-disc set has a beautiful transfer, English subtitles apparently prepared by the filmmakers themselves,* and a 90 minute "making-of" that really does put you on set, in scenes, in a realistic way.**

The movie is by far my favorite Aoyama.*** Beautifully composed, great production design, a couple of haunting lighting effects, and it's got that whole creepy desolate end-of-the-world thing going too.

*There are a couple of subtitle jokes during a scene in which one of the characters tries to speak German.
**No subs there though, sadly.
***fyi, I thought Eureka so-so; Desert Moon, a bit more interesting; all the others, pretty much unbearable.

[Michael Kerpan]

Interesting film. But unlike yoshimori, I think Eureka outclasses this by a considerable margin. The DVD looks fine and sounds great (but my wife kept making me turn the volume down). ;~}