BATTLE ROYALE + THE STORY OF RICKY at the NYAFF – Day 8 – Doubleheader of destruction!
July 10th, 2011 by Mr. C
The doubleheader of destruction on day 8 – July 8th of the NY Asian Film Festival with BATTLE ROYALE batting leadoff at the sold out 9:15pm screening at the Japan Society and THE STORY OF RICKY: RIKI OH stepped in as the Carl Lewis actuator of the midnight show at the Walter Reade Theatre was a complete success! We transversed from one side of manhattan by the east river to the other side of manhatty by the hudson river with one big home alone park acting as the geographical mediator.
Watching Battle Royale for the 2nd time almost a decade later yielded the same type of what the fuck reaction as select 10th graders were called upon to take part in the kill or be killed scenerio on a remote island. I couldn’’t help but to be a little bit desensitized with the murders on the 2nd viewing all around, however you can still smell death as the tears for fears of life would populate the mind upon the announcement of the BR act from the teacher of destruction! Takeshi Kitano will once again provide the moxy of being insane in the membrane as his obsession over one of his students will soon garner a few laughs among the bloodshed. In the end, it was not a complete surprise to see who the last person or persons standing were. Having the chance to see a released version of this movie in the theatre especially at the Japan Society was a treat!
The midnight screening of the Story of Ricky satisfied my appetitite for destruction as well as provide a whole host of chuckles on a depressing and dreary night especially after a movie of teenagers descending on a mission of mass murder! The english dub of this movie provided a fresh new look on the superpower techniques of chi gung & kung fu from the venerable Ricky as he works through the prison ranks in the name of survival and vengeance! Cameos in the film from one of the 5 deadly venoms, Kuo Chui (Philip Kwok), Suet Lam, & Japanese legend Tetsuro Tanba (subway cinema staff fave) provided a kick in the ass for this manga inspired movie as I cheered my ragged ass off when they appeared on the screen! I felt like I was drunk but I wasn’t drinking?!!! I noticed a few add ons to some scenes in this 35mm dubbed print besides the funny english translations such as the reddening of the image when Ricky’s fist broke through flesh to reveal internal organs which was plenty in the movie. I thought it might of been a technique to add this tint to signify blood like some directors of the shaw brothers clan would use, but a mondo friend pointed out that it could of been for censorship & rating purposes which made sense. Another new thing I noticed was when one of the bald inmates finished taking a crap or maybe lack thereof, he was singing to the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction. “I can’t get no satisfaction”. I thought that was hilarious! It was definitely a great movie to watch on the big screen, sharing laughter and funny comments among the audience with fanboys & girls such as ourselves! If you martians have NOT seen The Story of Ricky yet, then you must get off that rocker and secure a copy of this funny train wreck!
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