Bettie Page is undoubtedly a legend known worldwide for her pinup, nude, and campy bondage photographs and her trademark bangs. Beloved by many different subcultures and an endless source of inspiration for artists, including the new documentary film Bettie Page Reveals All by Mark Mori, Bettie Page is clearly an icon. Read the full, unedited interview with director Mark Mori which was not included in its entirety in the issue.

interview by : Ashley Godwin

AUXILIARY ONLINE CONTENT
[ the full interview not included in the February/March 2013 Issue ]

What initially attracted you to Bettie Page’s story? Why did you think her story was important enough to produce a documentary about her?
Mark Mori : When I first [heard] about Bettie Page, my entertainment attorney had taken me to lunch, and he had a prepublication copy of Bettie Page: The Life of a Pinup Legend. That was in 1996. I recognized her image, but I didn’t know her name, and I didn’t really know her story until I read the book, but he was able to put me in direct contact with her. I just thought it was a great subject for a documentary.

What do you think is the single most important aspect of her life that has caused her to stand out so much in history?
MM : The most important thing to me is her attitude, her spirit, who she was. Just the force of her personality… and she’s completely unaware of the affect she has, and that’s part of her charm. This very intense sexiness combined with this disarming innocence, so it has an appeal to everybody. Like, Marilyn Monroe is a big unreachable movie star, but Bettie is, like, the every-person’s sex symbol.

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Another year, another underwhelming Oscar ceremony. Sure thing The King’s Speech cleaned up, as expected, winning four of the Big Five. Inception did well with the tech awards, but as it is a genre picture (and thereby considered only slightly above pornographic movies in the eyes of the Academy), it was otherwise snubbed.  Here’s a breakdown of the awards that I had particular gripes about, or was wholeheartedly behind. (WARNING : Enormous shitstorm about Inception’s poor performance ahead.  Proceed at your own risk.)

Best Art Direction : Alice in Wonderland
If you read my piece on this film (in the April/May 2010 Issue), you know how I feel it film and anyone involved in its creation. If you haven’t, here’s the short of it: Motherfuck all of you. But speaking about the art direction in particular, this was easily the most visually underwhelming and outright godawful looking of Burton’s films. You know, the director who made his name crafting visually striking films? I dunno if I blame the art department or Burton for putting them on a leash; either way, this was far from award-worthy.

Best Cinematography : Inception
Absolutely no complaints here. Goddamn beautifully shot film.

Best Supporting Actress : The Fighter (Melissa Leo)
Complete upset for me. I felt sure that Hailee Steinfeld had this one in the bag. No slight against Ms. Leo; she delivered a great performance, but Steinfeld stole the show right out from under Bridges and Dammon in True Grit, and for a fourteen-year old newcommer, that’s quite the accomplishment. Regardless of this loss, I expect nothing but good things from this little lady in the future, and look forward to seeing her grow as an actress (there was absolutely no way to say that without unintentionally sounding like ten tons of pedo-creepy, believe me, I tried).

Best Screenplay : The King’s Speech
And so the bitching commences. Lemmie get things straight before I proceed. I didn’t hate The King’s Speech. I felt it was an all-around well made movie. It just did nothing for me. It was just too safe. Too, at the risk of sounding immature and uncultured, boring. That said, David Seidler did an adequate job with the script. It’s just that neither the script, nor anything else about the film seemed all that remarkable. More to come on that later. My hopeful was of course Nolan, but it was clear long before the actually ceremony that there simply wasn’t a chance in hell of that going down.

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I love Tetsuo: The Iron Man. I mean, really love it. Like, filthy bathroom stall love. It’s easily my favorite cult film, if not my absolute favorite film of all time. Director Shinya Tsukamoto (A Snake in June, Nightmare Detective) used stark B&W photography, a combination of stop motion animation and live action, and a hyperkinetic editing style seemingly designed specifically to induce motion sickness to tell a tale of ever-encroaching technological malevolence, obsessive erotic desire and MOTHER FUCKERS TURNING INTO METAL BEASTS AND DUKING IT OUT ON THE STREETS OF TOKYO. It’s wonderfully nonsensical and supremely disturbing (one legendary sex scene gave horrifying new meaning to the colorful euphemism “drilling a girl”) nature has earned it accolades from the likes of cyberpunk author William Gibson and NIN’s Trent Reznor, and cemented it as a bona fide classic among fans of underground Japanese film and extreme cinema in general. Tsukamoto’s follow up, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, was disappointing by comparison to the instant classic that came before it, but not without its own merits. Now, 22 years after the release of the original, Tsukamoto returns to the film that launched his career with the release of Tetsuo: The Bullet Man.

Made specifically for the North American market, Bullet Man is Tsukamoto’s first English language film, and from the looks of the above trailer, he is clearly having an easier go at directing in the foreign tongue than his buddy Takeshi Miike has in the past (see Miike’s Imprint for an idea of how wrong this could have went). A further appeal to Western audiences is the casting of US born actor Eric Bossick (mostly known for his motion capture and voiceover work in video games) in his big screen debut. What little story that can be gleaned from the trailer seem to follow the same beats as the first two films, with a meek salaryman (Bossick) experiencing a traumatic event (here the death of his son), after which his rage fuels his transformation into the titular Tetsuo as he seeks revenge, all the while being pursued by a mysterious aggressor (again played by Tsukamoto himself). The film favors the series’ trademark stop motion and prosthetic makeup effects over CGI, and while I was initially concerned these techniques would not hold up after two decades, after watching the trailer I have no doubt Tsukamoto made the right call, as the special effects are just as effective as they were in the original. The trailer is somewhat misleading in its claim, “Featuring Music by Trent Reznor”, but worry not, hardcore Tetsuo fans. Longtime Tsukamoto collaborator Chu Ishikawa (of band Die Eisenrost) returns to score Bullet Man with his signature brand of percussion-heavy industrial noise, with Nine Inch Nails only contributing the film’s closing theme.

After making its rounds at the festivals this past year, the film is finally getting a release here in the states, courtesy of IFC Midnight, in both Video-On-Demand format starting on January 19^th and a limited theatrical run beginning on January 21^st in NYC. No word yet on how limited of a release this is gonna be, but here’s to hopping more major US cities get a taste of Tsukamoto’s newest work of twisted brilliance.

- Adam Rosina

Throughout USA, January 20 – “A mission to eliminate aliens!” or so the Fathom Events trailer says, they sure do make it sounds cheesy but I’m so exited for this!  GANTZ, anime and manga, has been made into a live action film in Japan and NEW PEOPLE, NCM Fathom, and Dark Horse Comics are bringing the film to the US for a one night movie theater showing.  We have already purchased our tickets!

A little synopsous from Fathom… “College student Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) witnesses his childhood friend Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama) attempting to help a drunk who has fallen onto the subway train tracks and jumps in to help him. However, both are run down by an oncoming train and are transported to an apartment. In the center of the living room is an enigmatic black orb known as ‘GANTZ’. GANTZ forces each of them to take part in a mission to hunt down and kill aliens, providing them with equipment and weaponry.  Is this world, which tests their will to survive, a game or reality?  The film stars two of the most popular actors in Japan today, Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City, Norwegian Wood).”

And now for some trailers!  Don’t watch the Fathom one first!

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Auxiliary Magazine would like to introduce its newest writer and column; Adam Rosina and Unaussprechlichen Kulten, respectively. A new column that looks far too deep into the morgues and mausoleums of of cult cinema for those amazing but unsung movies that just refuse to die.

Six String Samurai is a mish mashed, convoluted mess of a film. It’s also wildly entertaining, if you’re willing to overlook its flaws. Shot by writer/director Lance Mungia, turning in his only feature-length directorial credit (unless you count The Crow: Wicked Prayer, and I don’t), and released in those “anything goes” days of 90s indie cinema.  Six String Samurai stars actor/martial artist Jeffrey Falcon (also known for his roles in, well, nothing anyone’s ever seen) as a sword-swinging Buddy Holly look-alike journeying across the wasteland on a quest to become the King of rock n roll.  Along the way it offers its own take on post-apocalyptic fiction, incorporating elements from such diverse sources as the western genre, Japanese chambara films, bad sci-fi movies, and the modern fairy tale. Which is not to say that the filmmakers simply cut and pasted the best parts from other works to create this film, but rather brought together many different kinds of genre fiction and made it their own.

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