The films of Jean-Pierre Mocky

Notes on three films directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky:

Les Dragueurs / The Chasers (1959)

Litan (1982)

À mort l'arbitre! / Kill the Referee (1984)

I hadn't heard about Jean-Pierre Mocky until I came across Radiance's trilogy.

The title Kill the Referee stood out because but it was the same title of a Belgium documentary released in 2009. The Belgium doc Kill the Referee (co-directed by Yves Hinant, Eric Cardot, Delphine Lehericey) changed its title to The Referees, which is closer to the original title of Les Arbitres. The change felt appropriate given the hostility towards some refs in European competitions. Of course, back in 2009,  I had no idea that the title actually referenced Mocky's film title as I didn't come across Mocky's name when reading reviews about the Belgium documentary. The documentary touched the real life outrage and death threats directed towards referees, a similar idea used as a launching pad for Mocky's film which is based on the book The Death Penalty by Alfred Draper. 

In Mocky's Kill the Referee, a referee (Maurice Bruno played by Eddy Mitchell) gives multiple penalties against the away team causing their supporters to be enraged. Their supporters, led by the spirited Rico (Michel Serrault), blame the ref for the defeat and want to teach the ref a lesson. When they see the ref being interviewed by a local tv station, they arrive at the station and chase the ref and his girlfriend Martine (Carole Laure). Their chase leads them to a mall where Maurice and Martine are hiding. During their chase, Rico accidentally kills Béru, one of their group members. Instead of admitting his guilt, Rico tells everyone that ref killed Béru and now the entire group is out for the ref's blood. The chase for Maurice leads the group to Martine's apartment building, where there are some fights, death defying escapes from the building, and ultimately the group find themselves in a mine with Rico driving their team bus towards Maurice and Martine's vehicle. 

The film does exhibit the satirical style of Jean-Pierre Mocky with some over-the-top scenarios which results in an unexpected ending. In addition, there are some pertinent messages embedded in the film about mobs, the ref's behaviour, elites vs locals all depicted in B-style production values. The low-budget production values don't take away from the film's message and importance. 40 years after its release, the film is still highly relevant as refs find themselves under more fire in today's climate.

Welcome to Litan

Sci-fi, horror, mythology, folk stories are all meshed up in Jean-Pierre Mocky's film set in the village of Litan where strange occurrences take place. Litan starts off with a nightmare yet that pales in comparison to the events the main characters find themselves in. The scenarios need to be seen to believed as elements are taken from a blend of films such as locals' mind taken over by an entity, locals are frozen in a trance like state, acid waters which vaporizes a person's body.

There are plenty of creative ideas in Litan yet not all are coherent with scenes edited in a way that make it look like a real film exists somewhere on an editing table. Of course, given the low-budget nature of the production, the highly edited scenes are likely the final product.

The Chasers

Mocky's first film Les Dragueurs is the most polished of the three and a top-notch film that could easily be an extension of the French New Wave style, with the exception of the final third which depicts a sex-party / orgy set in a manor. The final third and the characters' journey through the Parisian night life is akin to the territory that Kubrick explored in Eyes Wide Shut (1999), a film based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Dream Story.

Pushing boundaries

Mocky's Radiance trilogy is called The Agitator and the three films called provocations. A sentiment echoed by Emmanuel Macron who called Mr. Mocky “an eternal provocateur". The other description of his films center around low-budget nature of his productions and prolific nature of his films. He directed over 60 features, releasing a film every year, or twice a year.

Daniel E. Slotnik had this to say in Mocky's obit in 2019:

"Mr. Mocky was a contemporary of the French New Wave directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, a longtime friend. Like them, he relied on inexpensive equipment and swift shooting schedules. But his films, unlike theirs, were decidedly more grindhouse than art house. He subverted the perceived sophistication of French cinema and made unapologetically raw films that could alienate critics but draw audiences."

These words calling his films grindhouse may apply to Mocky's later films but Les Dragueurs is an exception to the above as the 1959 debut film is a work of art.

The Films of Vittorio De Seta

Spotlight on Vittorio De Seta with 10 short films and 1 feature film:

Islands of Fire (1955, short film)

Easter in Sicily (1955, short film)

Surfarara (1955, short film)

The Age of Swordfish (1955, short film)

Sea Countrymen (1955, short film)

Golden Parable (1955, short film)

A Day in Barbagia (1958, short film)

Orgosolo’s Shepherds (1958, short film)

Fishing Boats (1958, short film)

The Forgotten (1959, short film)

Bandits of Orgosolo (1961, feature film)

Essential films of Italian Cinema are more easily available than works of many other nations. However, this abundance still results in essential works being hidden away from the spotlight. Such is the case of Italian Director Vittorio De Seta whose films were not available until a restoration by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2019. The 10 short documentary films are part of a programme called ‘The Lost World’ and available for viewing via criterionchannel.com and also bundled together with Bandits of Orgosolo via Radiance films.

Neorealism

Ehsan Khoshbakht describes Bandits of Orgosolo as a film that “revitalized neorealism” and it is easy to see why. Vittorio De Seta has made a film stripped of any excess and one that doesn’t contain any music at all. The lack of music heightens the bleak scenarios the main character finds himself in. Bandits of Orgosolo features shepherds playing themselves and their acting is minimalist to the point that it doesn't even feel like acting. The entire film feels like a documentary, an aspect that owes to De Seta’s background as a documentary filmmaker. Bandits of Orgosolo looks and feels like a purer version of Italian Neorealism than Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves which has more dramatic elements than De Seta’s film.

This brilliant film has resulted in a change in my Top Italian Films of all time list.

Sicilian Lives

Vittorio De Seta’s 10 documentary shorts depict the everyday lives of Sicilians. The shorts show locals engaged in different professions, such as mining (Surfarara), shepherding (Orgosolo’s Shepherds), fishing (The Age of Swordfish, Sea Countrymen, Fishing Boats), farming (Golden Parable). Majority of the films follow the men who go out to make a living so naturally, De Seta also documents the lives of women who look after the homes while their shepherd husbands are away at work (A Day in Barbagia). In addition, De Seta highlights the religious festivals and rituals associated with Sicily such as Easter in Sicily and The Forgotten. Given that Sicily is associated with volcanoes, De Seta documents that aspect as well. Islands of Fire, which won Best Short Documentary at Cannes 1955, shows how people are impacted by the hypnotic yet dangerous volcanic eruptions.

These 10 documentary shorts are precious in their historical cultural recording of Sicilian lives. It is no wonder that Marin Scorsese commented the following:

“It was as if De Seta were an anthropologist who spoke with the voice of a poet.”

“Here was cinema in its essence – where the filmmaker is not just recording reality but living it.”

As an aside, The “Feast of Silver” celebration in The Forgotten is similar to the one seen in Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte (2010). 

Additional reading links

Kent Jones in Sight and Sound.

J. Hoberman on The ‘Lost World’ of Vittorio De Seta.

Kinji Fukasaku Spotlight, Part II

This is a follow-up post to the previous Kinji Fukasaku spotlight which focused on 7 of his Yakuza films. Previously, I associated Kinji Fukasaku’s name with Yakuza films. However, he worked on a diverse range of genres, from monster movies (The Green Slime) to police dramas, war films (Tora! Tora! Tora!, Under the Flag of the Rising Sun), political thrillers, sci-fi (Virus) to even comedy (Fall Guy). This part II looks at the following five films, with 3 non Yakuza films:

Hokori takaki chosen / The Proud Challenge (1962)

Sympathy for the Underdog (1971)

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)

Yakuza Graveyard (1976)

Fall Guy (1982)

Seeking the Truth

Hokori takaki chosen (The Proud Challenge) is a stellar noir film which depicts a journalist’s attempt to uncover an illegal arms trade racket in Southeast Asia. Kuroki (Kôji Tsuruta) works for a small newspaper Tekko Shinpo and we gather from snippets of dialogue that he once worked for a larger newspaper. The reason he isn’t with that larger newspaper is because of Kuroki’s investigation related to a story about the murder of a young woman, a case that has haunted him since then. As it turns out, his investigation of the arms sales finds him crossing path with that old murder case from almost a decade ago. 

The film has a thrilling energy akin to Yasuzô Masumura’s Black Test Car (1962), Black Report (1963), two films released around the same time. Interestingly, Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963) was released in 1963 as well marking a fascinating noir spell in Japanese cinema. However, since The Proud Challenge is a Kinji Fukasaku film, there is a political layer to the film (involving the Americans and an unnamed nation’s forces) and presence of criminal gangs, including both local and international.

Brutalities of War

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun depicts the brutality of war with unflinching honesty. The film centres around Sakie Togash (Sachiko Hidari), a widow, who would like to know the truth around her husband Sergeant Katsuo Togashi’s death during the end of World War II and why she still hasn’t received the pension owed to widows of fallen soldiers. She has spent the better part of 26 years in trying to find an answer but other than visiting the same offices and being the told the same things, she is nowhere near the truth. Her persistence finally rubs off on someone in the Welfare ministry who asks her to track down four comrades of her husband who are still alive. Sakie is told that if any of those 4 men can recount the truth and provide official testimony, then she may finally get the pension.

As Sakie tracks down the men, each of them has a different version of the story. The men don’t even reveal the full story at once but only give her snippets. She has no choice but to pay multiple visits to each person so that she can fact check the stories. What she finds out is beyond her imagination. The men talk of the brutal violence, starvation and deplorable conditions the soldiers found themselves in. They were forced to turn on each other, do whatever it took to stay alive including resorting to eating the flesh of dead soldiers. It turns out that Katsuo did his best to keep soldiers in his group alive, including turning on his superior, defying orders and saving the lives of his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own.

Fukasaku has included historical photographs of these savage wars fought in New Guinea, similar to actual images he used in the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, which lends an air of realism to proceedings. History books in the West have no mention of these incident in New Guinea and the conditions that Japanese soldiers faced. Why would they? For the west, Japan was an advisory and as we know that history is written by the victors. Fukasaku, working from Yūki Shōji's stories of the same name, has made one of the best anti-war films ever yet it is a film that is hardly ever mentioned in the War Genre.

Lights, Camera, Action, Comedy, Death

Kinji Fukasaku’s Fall Guy has a completely different tone and feel from his other films and features a lot more comedic elements that seen in his other films. The film’s title is both a literal and figurative reference as it refers to Yasu (Mitsuru Hirata), a stunt actor, taking a death-defying fall in the film and also cleaning up the mess for his main actor, Ginshiro (Morio Kazama). When Ginshiro’s mistress Konatsu (Keiko Matsuzaka) is pregnant, he asks Yasu to marry her so that Ginshiro is not dragged into any controversy. Yasu agrees and goes out of his way to provide for Konatsu, including taking on more and more dangerous stunts to pay for Konatsu and their child’s future. This eventually leads to Yasu agreeing to fall down the largest stairs constructed in a Japanese film studio’s history so that Konatsu can live off his death insurance.

Of all the Kinji Fukasaku films, this one feels the most like a studio film, not only because of the studio setting but also because of the presence of the various characters who don’t add anything to the plot except comedic relief or an emotional impact. Yet, even in this studio framework, Fukasaku still shows a creative hand including the finale which is worthy wink to the audience. The film doesn’t have any reference to the US TV series The Fall Guy (1981-86) and in a way Yasu’s main character is a polar opposite to Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers character in the US TV show. Seavers character goes on regular death-defying adventures while Yasu struggles to stand up for himself. Eventually driven by the need to provide for Konatsu, Yasu starts getting braver leading to his legendary finale.

Gangs and Turf Wars

Gangsters released from prison are a common sight in many films. Sympathy for  the Underdog starts with that aspect and elevates depicting the gangster release with a Western genre touch. As Masuo Gunji (Kōji Tsuruta) is released after serving a 10 year sentence, the rustling of the leaves via the wind announces the arrival of a major outlaw who is not wearing a black hat but instead black shades. Gunji indeed fits the bill as a no-nonsense gangster who is willing to go to any lengths to claim what he believes is his right. However, he finds a different Yokohama than the one he left when we went to prison. Gunji’s old turf is taken over by a gang from Tokyo and his men are all split up. He gathers a few of his loyal men and decides to go to Okinawa, the remote Japanese island he believes resembles what Yokohama once was. Once they land in Okinawa, Gunji and his men gets a lay of the land and indeed find that they can easily wedge their way into the mix.

Kinji Fukasaku taps into historical elements in depicting a post WWII Okinawa, one where the US presence was still strong (US only returned Okinawa to Japan in 1972). This is depicted in the film via multiple shots of the American flag, heavy presence of American soldiers at night clubs and the multiple Jazz clubs. The Americans are also involved in the local alcohol business and have their armed men to take care of troublesome characters such as Gunji’s men. Similar to his other Yakuza films, Sympathy for the Underdog has a frantic energy to events and uses Dutch (slanted) camera angles at key moments to propel the action. The film also goes into detail about the logistics needed to run a criminal operation and how to carve out one’s own turf. Gunji is ruthless and doesn’t fear anyone yet he still operates via an unwritten honour code like the Yakuza characters in other Fukasaku films.

Cops vs Yakuza and Brotherhood

Yakuza Graveyard compliments Fukasaku’s other Yakuza films and the title of his 1975 film Cops vs Thugs could easily have applied to this film as well. In addition to showing the cops vs gangs rivalry, Yakuza Graveyard also shows how the two groups work together unofficially via sharing of information and in some cases via bribery/corruption. The Yakuza reward the police through money, alcohol and women but the line is drawn at an official brotherhood between the two. This is what both Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari), the tough as nails cop, and Iwata (Tatsuo Umemiya), the hot boiled Yakuza, form much to the shock of their respective bosses. At first, both Kuroiwa and Iwata are enemies and beat the heck out of each other. However, Iwata sees their similarity and starts to respect Kuroiwa. The two officially take a brotherhood pact which puts both of them in hot water, leading to both the cops and Yakuza wanting to put away the two men. 

Yakuza Graveyard is a brilliant film and stands out from Fukasaku’s other stellar Yakuza films. The film emphasizes the honour and trust code that exist between men and despite all the fighting and blood spilled, the film has an emotional beating heart. This is easily one of the best Yakuza films out there and that is not an easy feat in a very crowded yakuza film market. The film also has a key acting role by legendary Japanese director Nagisa Ôshima.

Part II conclusion

My admiration for Fukasaku has gone up via the 5 films seen in this spotlight. His yakuza films are not just pure violence but instead he uses historical incidents and characters (films have actual photographs inserted) as the basis for his films. In this regard, he is documenting Japanese society post WWII especially that of Hiroshima in the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, Okinawa in Sympathy for the Underdog. Fukasaku documents the plight of Japanese soldiers in New Guinea Under the Flag of the Rising Sun.

There is a planned Part III Kinji Fukasaku spotlight, one which will focus on his other key Yakuza films while highlighting some more non-Yakuza movies.