This is one of Toshio Matsumoto’s most energetic experimental films, relatively tame by today’s standards, but I’m sure it was quite cutting edge three and a half decades ago. Atman is a 13 minute color 16mm film of a seated figure wearing a Japanese demonic ‘Noh’ mask (the demon Hannya, … Continue reading
Also known as Belladonna of Sadness or just Belladonna, this is a Japanese animated film by Eiichi Yamamoto. Some would categorize this as ‘anime’, but its style is very little like Akira, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, or Grave of the Fireflies, so that might have the wrong connotation. … Continue reading
Never having heard of Lavinia, this was one of those rare CDs that you purchase blindly and, for some undefined reason, you know you’re going to dig on it. I saw the minimalist album cover, flipped the case over, read the tracklist, and could imagine exactly what it sounded like. … Continue reading
Pure nihilistic ferocity. Existence rending desperation. Channeled misanthropy culminating in the ultimate isolation. This is Dragged Into Sunlight. There are so many metal reviews out there that mention how ‘brutal’ and ‘sick’ a particular music release is, that it can be hard to take anyone seriously when they make claims … Continue reading
Begotten is an experimental film by E. Elias Merhige with bleak, alien, grim, horrific and hallucinogenic imagery. Visually similar to Pi, Eraserhead, and Tetsuo, this was shot on high-contrast, B&W film stock then heavily processed. An extreme amount of post-production work went into achieving the unique grainy ‘no-grayscale’ look, as … Continue reading
