骨肉相连

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

　　讲述一个女性主义童话故事，为《一千零一夜》的新编，聚焦两个相爱的女人Cherry（麦卡·梦露 饰）和Hero（艾玛·科林 饰）：Cherry与邪恶的男子Jerome（埃米尔·艾尔-马斯里 饰）结了婚，Jerome与他的朋友、好色的恶人Manfred（尼古拉斯·加利齐纳 饰）打赌，看Manfred能否在100晚之内勾引Cherry，如果Manfred成功，Jerome就把城堡和Cherry送给他。对此毫无兴趣的Cherry与她的女仆兼情人Hero策划了一计：在那100个夜晚，Hero将给Manfred讲述一些吸引人的故事，让Manfred从勾引计划中分心。

　　立志成为漫画家的高中生林明子，经同学介绍来到一个奇怪的美术教室。这个教室没有招牌也没有宣传，甚至在电话本上都查不到，只是一处坐落在海边的小木屋。木屋主人是个手拿竹刀、身穿运动服的美术老师，名叫日高健三。他严厉无比，每次学生们画画懈怠的时候，他只有一句话：“去画吧！”

　　東宝ビデオのシネパック第一弾として、1991年11月8日にリリースされたのがこの『ミカドロイド』である。　　第二次大戦末期、敗色濃厚な日本。その中で帝国陸軍が極秘裏に研究していた秘密兵器、それが人造人間“ジンラ號”。敗戦とともに歴史から抹消されたジンラ號であったが、空襲で埋没した研究所の中、眠り続けていた一体があった。そして今、半世紀の歳月を経て、ジンラ號が東京の地下に蘇る！　ふとした偶然でその地下迷宮に迷い込んでしまった若い男女二人は何を見るのか？　未完成の人造人間として老いる事も出来ずに彷徨い続けてきた謎の男、彼は一体何を望むのか？　本作は舞台となる場所と時間が狭い範囲に限定されているため、物語の密度が濃く、一夜限りの幻想的な悪夢のような作品となっている。　　ジンラ號のデザインを担当したのはイラストレーターの明日蘭。蒸気機関車のような旧式なラインでまとめられているジンラ號は一見ユーモラスで鈍重な外見だが、内に潜ませた悪夢と狂気が不思議な説得力を持ち、印象深い仕上がりとなっている。またジンラ號専用武器として設計されたという設定の“１００式短機関銃改「ベ式」テラ銃”は、当時の落下傘部隊が使用した実銃をモチーフにいかにもそれらしくまとめられており、ジンラ號の設定をよりリアルな物としている。その他、南部十四年式拳銃や９６式軽機関銃などの各種プロップガンもリアルな作動シーンを見せて画面を引き締めている。　　監督を務めたのは特殊メイククリエイターとして有名な原口智生。本作は原口自身が長年あたためてきた企画で、原口の監督デビュー作となった。