movie night

[ellen_datlow]

Boiler Room--yeah! liked it, with Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Affleck, and Vin Diesel --all very good and the post Wall Street movie in which the principals, who are eager sharks, can recite Gordon Gekko's lines as he says them. Odd seeing the twin towers on the NYC skyline. I'd heard it was a good movie, and it is.

And Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind--also terrific. But what's with the round-eyed Japanese humans who populate all these films? Where has this weird tradition come from? And am I the only one who thought Nausicaa was bare-assed through the first third of the movie until I finally figured she MUST be wearing some kind of weird tights????Or do I just have a dirty mind?

I have the first disc of the last bunch of Sopranos but figured I'll wait till I get the rest so I can have a Sopranos orgy when I get back from WFC.

Comments

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

The round-eyed Japanese humans are pretty much a staple of anime at this point. And--LOL--I know what you mean about the weird look of those tights. I thought the same thing the first time I saw and picked up the dvd box to make sure I had got the right anime and not a hentai (perverted) anime by mistake. ;-)

I saw Boiler Room a few years back and loved it too.

[shadowsandice.livejournal.com]

....as far as I know she's going commando. It's just the Japanese thing. If you have the same cut of the movie as here, then a lot of her butt flashing has actually been removed.


Not all anime characters have round eyes. You can tell the bad guys by that fact alone.

[nballingrud.livejournal.com]

I just picked up the last Sopranos set, and just finished watching the first two. I'm savoring every minute. Six Feet Under, Deadwood, now The Sopranos ... once The Wire is over, it'll be the end of an era of great tv.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

And am I the only one who thought Nausicaa was bare-assed through the first third of the movie until I finally figured she MUST be wearing some kind of weird tights????

You aren't the only one: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/nausicaa/faq.html#bottom

As far as I know, no one has actually complained about it though :)

As for the big eyes, here's a more complete response: http://www.abcb.com/ency/t/tezuka_osamu.htm

Basically, much of the aesthetic originated from the "father" of anime, Tezuka Osamu. He actually borrowed those character elements from Disney movies, supposedly. A lot of current anime departs from this somewhat; Satoshi Kon (director of Perfect Blue) often favors more realistic characteristics with smallish eyes and harsher faces in his work.

[cinriter.livejournal.com]

I just always assumed in NAUSICAA that underwear was too hard to get in the future! In other words...yep, I still think she's bare-assed.

The round eyes thing in anime is one thing, but so is Miyazaki's interest in both eastern and western culture. Look at something like KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE or PORCO ROSSO, and the settings and characters are all completely European. In those cases, the large eyes work.

It is slightly odd, though, in a film like MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO - in which both characters and settings are clearly Japanese - to see the round eyes on the characters.