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Post by acsenger on Nov 19, 2012 5:55:10 GMT -5
Anyone seen the Beyond Ultra Violence - Uneasy Listening by Merzbow movie? I think it was made in 1998 and it's up on Youtube.
I thought it was a pretty bad movie, I must say. It's all the more annoying since a movie about Merzbow/Akita could be fantastic, given the range of topics that he could be asked about (his interests, his books, his favourite musics, his view on other noise musicians etc.). Instead Akita doesn't get to talk too much and when he does, a lot of it is not put in context and therefore is a bit out of place (like when he talks about the writer Bataille: it could be very interesting if it was put in a proper frame by an interviewer, let's say, but as it is it just comes across as vague). Why the movie has to be full of non-relevant crap, like scenes from Tokyo streets, annoying visual effects, Kraftwerk and Charles Manson songs, I have no idea. At the end, if you stop the movie at the right frames, you can read notes (presumably by the movie's creator) about various topics that Akita should've been asked about and wasn't, like Whitehouse, Han Bennink, his books etc. -- I just can't understand why these notes were made if they weren't used...
All in all, this movie is a huge missed opportunity that at the same time is still recommended (as there are interesting parts in it), but be prepared to be left immensely dissatisfied by it. Curious to read others' opinions about it.
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Post by trollh on Nov 19, 2012 7:10:48 GMT -5
Its on Merzblog for download too!
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 19, 2012 13:57:53 GMT -5
I've seen it. It was interesting, but yeah, a better documentary could be made. I'd like to see a new, good, retrospective one with more interviews! : D
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 21, 2012 16:32:21 GMT -5
i think it has a certain appeal. i especially enjoy the shots of masami akita in bedroom, tokyo with jenny akita. it would be great to get some 2012 pictures of his home set up now at various times of day. i'd like to see how it looks when he is there during day, during night. it would have been cool to have seen a camera recording him without anyone else in the room, getting a view of the inner process in bedroom, tokyo, totally isolated from the world. i wonder if masami akita admires issei sagawa? perhaps he has written about him.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 22, 2012 2:40:58 GMT -5
I don't think he would admire Sagawa -- after all, why would he? He could've written about him though, which is another thing.
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Post by andypandy380 on Nov 22, 2012 16:24:16 GMT -5
I'm beginning to wish i hadn't watched it.... what the fuck was with the girl jamming the knife in her stomach?
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 22, 2012 19:31:18 GMT -5
Don't you know? Masami's been involved in the production of more than one harikiri film. Fetishized ritualistic suicide.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 22, 2012 21:52:09 GMT -5
I've seen that suicide movie. It was directed by Akita. I forgot the title but I downloaded it from the net (maybe the Merutsubau blog?). It's showing the suicide of a girl, so it's an acquired taste to say the least . I think the soundtrack (by Merzbow) is on the first Music for Bondage Performance CD.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 22, 2012 21:52:43 GMT -5
I'm beginning to wish i hadn't watched it.... what the fuck was with the girl jamming the knife in her stomach? as ashessehsa said, masami akita has made no secret of his fascination with such things in general and it would seem logical that with issei sagawa being japanese, and the case occuring during merz' time, it would have intrigued him greatly. not only that, but it turns out that isseu sagawa [seee 'interview with a cannibal' on youtube] has a life that parallels masami akita's in several ways. he is ostracized from the culture for his crime, yet accepted in the underground with a cult interest. he has made a living out of himself as a perverse icon, selling literature indulging in the details of his obsessions and crimes. masami akita is an author who writes on similar subjects [although, i suppose, objectively], whose work as people here have suggested may be considered too taboo to discuss with, uhm, normal people. i wonder how merz would react if an interviewer asked him "so do you ever think about biting into a girl's ass like issei sagawa?" Attachments:
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Post by acsenger on Nov 22, 2012 22:17:33 GMT -5
Interesting comparison, but for me personally the difference between the two is bigger than the similarities: Akita has written about extreme subjects in a way we don't know (since we can't read his books) but supposedly in an objective manner, whereas Sagawa has killed and eaten someone (whether he has regretted it or not -- which I don't know -- is irrelevant from this point of view). Besides, we don't know how isolated Akita from mainstream society is (he probably is to at least a certain extent). And I doubt he's a cult celebrity in Japan (he might be in the noise scene or other circles, but not for a twisted reason that Sagawa is).
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Post by andypandy380 on Nov 23, 2012 5:04:42 GMT -5
Yeah, I can't believe I've not heard about this before, obviously I've known about his literature and stuff but maybe it was naive of me to think it wasn't much past being tied up and humiliated. Either way I'm pretty sickened by the whole idea of it, after watching that clip I spent a half hour or so feeling like I was gonna chunder and pass out. What goes through his head then? ' a zoo keeping a giant seal is just about the most disgraceful thing ever, but watching a woman bleed to death is sexy as fuck'? Honestly made me pretty angry, I can't help feeling that way about it...
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 23, 2012 18:36:54 GMT -5
Yeah, I get where you're coming from, Andypandy. I don't know what his logic is on the whole fascination with both ritualistic suicide and animal rights. There is a key difference between the two: the fascination with ritualistic suicide doesn't lead to anyone getting hurt directly (it's all fake, of course), but his animal rights work deals with very real animal suffering, whether you agree with his views on that subject or not.
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Post by andypandy380 on Nov 23, 2012 20:46:15 GMT -5
I've done some research on the film, quite honestly I wasn't really sure what I was watching, I've never heard of the harikiri ritual before or indeed that kind of thing as a horror/fetish film... I suppose I just found it shocking as I've never heard of merzbows involvement in all this before now. Safe to say its not really my cup of tea though.
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 23, 2012 23:45:00 GMT -5
Heh, it certainly isn't mine, either.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 24, 2012 11:29:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I can't believe I've not heard about this before, obviously I've known about his literature and stuff but maybe it was naive of me to think it wasn't much past being tied up and humiliated. Either way I'm pretty sickened by the whole idea of it, after watching that clip I spent a half hour or so feeling like I was gonna chunder and pass out. What goes through his head then? ' a zoo keeping a giant seal is just about the most disgraceful thing ever, but watching a woman bleed to death is sexy as fuck'? Honestly made me pretty angry, I can't help feeling that way about it... I recommend reading the article I linked to in the Books thread. It is written by M.A and gives a good outline of the history of it. What must be kept in mind is that ritual suicide has had a long history in Japan and is closely linked to honor and shame. It is easy to see how the ritual suicide of women could become fetishized in such a way. Personally I don't understand the sexual appeal of bondage erotica or anything related. It is just not arousing for me to see a female tied up or whatever else. I still explode to a regular old butt shot.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 24, 2012 11:31:02 GMT -5
wait, does andypandy380 know that the girl didn't really die and was acting?
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Post by andypandy380 on Nov 24, 2012 13:02:19 GMT -5
I do yes, it was just a shock going on youtube and watching merzbow knob twiddling one minute (which was awesome btw) and seeing a girl stabbing herself the next lol, i didn't really know what to think given all the talk of Sagawa and extreme bondage and stuff.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 24, 2012 14:15:37 GMT -5
very interesting merzbow/sagawa connection i just happened to find:
"That’s what they all say. What’s wrong with eating, though? Georges Bataille believed that the kiss is the beginning of cannibalism, and I agree. I feel like it stems from the same instincts of wanting to “taste” the other. Although I guess this is just my personal opinion." - sagawa
masami akita also <3s george bataille.
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