Movies: Sex and Fury, ‘Tol, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Heavy Trip

Sex and Fury (1973). Was finally able to watch Norifumi Suzuki’s Sex and Fury, one of the most popular example of Pinky Violence, the Japanese equivalent of America’s grindhouse. This is said to be one of inspirations for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Uma Thurman’s Black Mamba versus the Crazy 88 was probably inspired by Reiko Ike engaging roughly a dozen men in a sword fight in the snow. Though I’m not sure if Tarantino really watched the movie because in Sex and Fury, Reiko Ike fought those men in the nude while in Kill Bill, the Black Mamba didn’t, wasn’t.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). It’s probably ten years already since I watched the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that I don’t remember some plot details when I watched this the other day. Back then, I didn’t understand why there had to be an American remake when the Swedish one, with English subtitles, would’ve been fine. Stieg Larsson’s novels the Millennium series must’ve been that popular. And since movies in foreign language don’t sell in the US, we got this movie. I’m sure a lot of movie-loving people thought this was largely unnecessary at the time. Maybe it was—if only David Fincher wasn’t involved. Of course it helped that I didn’t remember much of the Swedish version and so it was like I was watching the story unfold for the first time. Aside from Fincher’s usual visual flourish, I think this movie is worth watching or revisiting for  what it is about: (1) a journalist bullied by a powerful businessman who was then hired by a wealthy family  to investigate a murder case which then leads to an investigation on (2) crimes against women. As expected, this 2011 version was more stylish than the first one and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander wasn’t bad either.

Heavy Trip (Hevi Reissu) (2018). Maybe this is the heaviest music-themed comedy I’ve seen. Maybe the funniest movie about heavy metal. Maybe both. This is about a group of outcasts in an unsigned heavy metal band from a small Finnish town. They’ve been in a band for ten years, but theirs is an extremely all-covers extreme metal band. That is, they’ve never played outside of their drummer’s parent’s basement, much less write their own song. Until they did and commit it to tape. And they were invited to play in the Northern Damnation, a metal festival in Norway, which made them heroes in the eyes of the town’s people, even earn the respect of those who call them fags. Except, the gig in Norway was a lie. Funny things happen. And band names with the word ‘vomit’ in it, among other things.

‘Tol (2019). This is an all-killers-no-fillers comedy. It’s like There’s Something About Mary but you have three Ben Stillers played by Ketchup Eusebio, Arjo Atayde and Joross Gamboa. The story may have been done thousand times before but when it comes to delivering gag after gag after gag, this movie is just consistent as fuck. Dimitri’s (Joross Gamboa) standee sitting in the toll booth, his plot-inconsistent beard, or him asking whether Elena (Jessy Mendiola) would wear bikini on their trip to the beach, all three of them riding their bikes while carrying an unconscious man… I don’t know man, just watch the movie.