WAKE IN FRIGHT

4 out of 5. This is one of those movies from the 70s I remember as a kid. A stranger in an even stranger small town and things just go wrong. Ted Kotcheff is bold and daring in WAKE IN FRIGHT. Gary Bond as the lead is great but Donald Pleasance somehow gets under your skin. There's some excellent cinematography and lens choices that really create paranoia and fear. I have to admit though, it's a little rough around the edges, especially during the kangaroo hunt which was relentless and real. There was a real mix of that relentlessly male dominant culture verging on the edge homoerotic and then obliterating that line. It's raw, it's rough and it's a significant Australian film worth a watch.

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THE HUMAN CONDITION I-III

4 out of 5. Masaki Kobayashi's THE HUMAN CONDITION 1-3 was a masterfully done almost 10 hour epic telling the tale of a pacifist in  totalitarian Japan during WWII. The cinematography was gorgeous and the acting was fantastic. You follow the main character Kaji, played by Tatsuya Nakadai (of SAMURAI REBELLION) as he's given a job in a mining town after marrying the love his life. He doesn't want to run things the way his bosses want him to. It's a clash of ideals and he spends most of the film trying to keep the humanity of his men in tact while almost losing his. Having to watch it in 2 hour chunks a night, made it feel quite episodic and gave one much food for thought. Highly recommended.

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