Hello and welcome to my June newsletter! I’ve already shared the big zine news here and I hope several of you have zines in hand and are enjoying them. I’ve already had some generous positive feedback from people on the new issue which is fantastic. I’d of course love to hear what people think of the writing and if you either have seen or decide to hunt down any of the movies covered in the new issue. Also, feel free to reach out if you are having a hard time tracking down copies of anything I reviewed. If you haven’t picked up copies of either zine, I still have them in stock online or there are several at Odd Mart in Minneapolis and some should be turning up at Videodrome in Atlanta in the near future. I’ve been writing some spots to see if they’re interested in carrying copies, but hit me up if you have any suggestions or connections. Buying directly from me is the best deal for me financially, but I remain enthralled with the idea of someone stumbling across the zine on a shelf somewhere. Last issue, I was able to get the zine into a bunch of book/comic/zine shops, but I’m trying to stay more movie focused this time around so AR doesn’t get totally lost in the avalanche of incredible DIY publishing out there.
Speaking of local shops and incredible DIY publishing, I tabled my first show at FLOP! this year. I had a terrific time and sold more zines than I anticipated being kind of a niche within a niche. I had a good time talking to people about zines and movies and have a small mountain of stickers, comics, and assorted goodies I picked up at the show. Unsurprisingly, Odd Mart were excellent hosts and hopefully I’ll do another show or market there sooner than later. Things have been a little quiet on the blog review front both because I’ve been busy with zine things and honestly because of the movies coming out this spring. I think there were several weeks where everything was either the Michael Jackson biopic, Devil Wears Prada 2, or things I’d already seen at MSPIFF. I did manage to watch the new crime/thriller/romance film Tuner which I reviewed on the blog and give a hearty recommendation even if I didn’t think it was perfect. I also caught I Love Boosters which I’d give an even more enthusiastic recommendation. To steal a line from local film reviewer Keith Harris “Every time I see a movie with Keke Palmer or LaKeith Stanfield in it, I think about how much of our time directors waste by making movies without Keke Palmer or LaKeith Stanfield in them.”
May was a terrific month for reading. I DEVOURED Jordan Harper’s latest, A Violent Masterpiece, in a matter of days. I think Everybody Knows is often considered Harper’s most successful work so far but I’ve personally been a fan of his more weirdo, alienated loner noirs about the California outside of L.A. that almost nobody talks about. Masterpiece is part of the same milieu as Knows but it’s heavy with the potent disenfranchised rage against the modern dilemma that feature so prominently in his other books. I definitely want to re-read Knows and would absolutely insist that Harper is mandatory reading for crime fans. Earning my better-late-than-never merit badge, I finally got around to S.A. Cosby in his latest, King of Ashes. It’s a tremendous family/crime story with a very specific sense of place and history so you know that I loved it. Unquestionably brutal and goes to dark places but surprisingly fun at times. Similarly to the thrill of watching a cinematic heist, I couldn’t help but enjoy some of Roman’s scheming and manipulations even if they ultimately lead to more death and violence. I re-read Stark’s The Hunter and The Man with the Getaway Face as well as Darwyn Cooke’s Hunter adaptation. I’m going to re-read the whole series and fill in any gaps in my memory and my shelf this year. Just an absolute joy and as compelling as ever. I don’t know that crime comics ever got better than Cooke’s Parker books, total classics. Finally and on the classics front, I learned about, acquired, and read Jim Steranko’s CHANDLER - Illustrated Fiction - Volume 3. This is an original noir story written and illustrated by Steranko and published back in 1976. It has a very unusual but cool four panel layout and the influence of it can easily be seen in crime comics from the 80s up until present day. I bothered to track down a copy because that’s the kind of person I am, but you can read the whole thing on the museumofintlcomicart Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYLTvJMFkfY/
Last and hopefully not least, I wanted to share something else with newsletter subscribers because you folks are awesome. This is a review that I wound up cutting from AR #2 for space reasons. I suppose I could add it to the next issue, but I’ll probably have a bunch of new ideas fighting for supremacy in my brain by then. Hope you enjoy it. As always, I’d love to hear from you. Could be feedback on the zines/reviews, could just be what you’re watching or reading. Cheers!
The Red Silk Gambler (1972) - An interesting entry into the “lady gambler” genre from Teruo Ishii; a director more widely recognized in the Western world for his wild and often gruesome ero guro films such as Shogun’s Joy of Torture or Orgies of Edo. Gambler does not feature nearly as much gambling action as other examples of the genre (Red Peony Gambler, Wandering Ginza Butterfly) but instead delivers a compelling, female-centric, take on the seedy yakuza milieu, bloody sword battles, and bitter vengeance. Set in the early Meiji period, Eiko Nakamura stars as Okatsu; a young woman born to a criminal organization who is a capable gambler and even more proficient with a blade. Okatsu faces imprisonment after performing a gory contract hit that opens up the film. In prison she meets Ohide, an established yakuza operative and tattoo artist, who helps defend her from the abusive guards. The two swear loyalty and sisterhood to one another and Ohide marks Okatsu with an elaborate tiger lily tattoo. After an early release on bail, Okatsu commences to wandering with a somewhat mysterious agenda and meets a series of new (mostly) women as well as reuniting with Ohide. The interconnectivity of personal histories and loyalties unfolds between the various people in Okatsu’s orbit and intrigue gives way to a myriad of overlapping and conflicting revenge plots.
While Ishii is probably best known for his ero guro films, he worked in a variety of genres including crime films, chanbara films, and various hybrids. Ishii’s films often focus on strong female characters but Gambler especially highlights the solidarity they demonstrate towards each other; resisting prison guards, helping with finances, and generally providing a bulwark between them and exploitative men. In one such scene, Okatsu defends a young girl who has been sold into prostitution from physical abuse by her new master; these different women become a sort of loose entourage for her throughout the film. Ishii does eventually introduce some era guro elements via some exceptionally depraved yakuza who “train” the women in their employ in a sex dungeon and stage theatrically stylized gang rapes for entertainment. Ishii creates a dramatic contrast between strong, essentially honorable, and violently capable women in Gambler versus the male characters who are either absolute degenerates, oafs, or both. The male yakuza are powerful in the context of the film, but perverted and cruel to the point of near ineptitude. The one glaring exception to this is a swordsman played by genre stalwart Bunta Sugawara who seems to associate with the other men only reluctantly.
While there is one significant gambling sequence, most of the set pieces Ishii hangs the narrative intrigue on are sword battles. Ishii’s approach to combat isn’t as frenetic or stately as some of his peers, but he does possess a painterly flair that results in memorable, striking moments. Some of this is achieved with unique weaponry (Okatsu utilizes a rope and pillbox to great effect), interesting angles, or old-fashioned high velocity blood spray. One of the film’s best sequences is when a blind gambler/swordswoman extinguishes all the candles in a yakuza den and scatters bells across the floor so she can perceive her opponents’ movements in the dark. As with any great revenge film, Gambler features an action-packed finale where Okatsu and Masa (Sugawara) battle it out with the much larger gang of yakuza thugs. This melee isn’t quite as epic as Chiba and Kaji’s last stand in Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2 but it’s still terrific and filled with blood-soaked mayhem and dying confessions of love and loyalty. The Red Silk Gambler isn’t that much of a gambling film nor does it contain an overabundance of sexually taboo material, but it’s still a notable hybrid of those themes meshed with a more conventional yakuza/revenge film and the female cast distinguishes it even further.