| Page 1 2 3 SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE by Russell Bartholomee, Adam D. Miller, & Zayne ReeveHere at Being There, we do our best to stay on top of new music, film, and DVD releases. We strive to keep you, our much-appreciated readers, abreast of new stuff worthy of your attention. It’s not easy; there are so many new releases each week, and it’s just not possible to cover them all. Looking over this past, first year of the magazine’s existence, I think we can take pride in the fact that we’ve reviewed (for the most part) a great many of the CDs, DVDs, and films that really mattered—vital works that we take great pleasure in sharing with our readers. But despite our best efforts, sometimes we miss something that clearly belonged on the pages of Being There. We won’t insult you by offering some lame excuse about being too busy or just not having enough space. Truth is we blew it. We know it, and we’re corporate entity enough to admit it. But we want to make things right. So from time to time, we’ll gather together a compendium of the ones that got away—the albums and DVDs that were released a couple of months ago, and that by all rights should have been there. (Hey, that’s not a bad title…)  Kagemusha: The Criterion Collection Criterion Directed by Akira Kurosawa     Kagemusha is a great film that almost didn’t get made for lack of financing. It’s hard to believe that the creator of undisputed masterpieces like Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, and Throne of Blood would ever have to prove his worth as a director, but after creative and financial disappointments in the 1970s, Akira Kurosawa could not find investors to back this 1980 meditation on the nature of honor, duty, and power. Thankfully, directors Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas (both of whom had been, um, strongly influenced by Kurosawa’s work) found out about his plight (having been reduced to making Suntory Whiskey commercials to raise cash) and gave him the money he needed to bring the three-plus hour samurai epic to the screen. His credibility firmly re-established, the film went on to win the coveted Palm D’or at Cannes, making possible the future color masterpieces Ran and Dreams. Kagemusha tells the story of the Takeda clan, ruled by Lord Shingen, a feared and respected warlord in sixteenth-century feudal Japan. Shingen is locked in a three-way struggle for control of the country with two rival clans. When he is shot and about to die, Shingen orders his most trusted followers to keep his death a secret, fearing that the other clans would wipe the Takedas out if they knew of his passing. To pull the charade off, a thief who exactly resembles the lord is trained to impersonate him in every conceivable setting. At first unwilling and selfishly motivated, this shadow warrior comes first to admire the legacy of Shingen, then to emulate his fallen lord, finally growing to fill the shoes he had been unworthy to wear. By the final scene in which the thief leads his troops into battle, the shadow has become the man. The film receives the full two-disc Criterion treatment, with features that redefine ‘generous.’ Most importantly, the film is presented for the first time in the US in its full-length version, and the transfer and sound quality are flawless. The cinematography of Kazuo Miyagawa and Asakazu Nakai is absolutely breathtaking. The color is alive. The set also includes a captivating commentary by Stephen Prince, interviews with Coppola and Lucas about their roles as executive producers, an excellent documentary on the making of the film, and even the whiskey ads that helped pay for the project. My favorite special feature is the inclusion of Kurosawa’s hand-drawn and painted storyboards, which make crystal clear how fully realized Kurosawa’s vision for the film was before he ever shot the first frame. A must have for any serious film fan. --Russell Bartholomee Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez - Red Dog Tracks Train Wreck Records  I am a little late getting to the Taylor & Rodriguez party but I'm sure glad that I finally made it, beer and delicious ranch dipping sauce in tow. Chip Taylor (author of such 60s classics as "Wild Thing" and "Angel of The Morning," highly successful professional gambler, and younger brother of Jon Voight) and Carrie Rodriguez (a classically trained violinist) were such an unlikely duo from the start that the novelty of it alone would have been enough to carry their first record, 2002's Let's Leave This Town, even if it had been a bad record. Instead, they surprised critics and audiences alike with the natural ease of their harmonies and the strength of Taylor's songwriting and their follow-up, The Trouble with Humans, was even better. With Red Dog Tracks, Taylor & Rodriguez smooth out the rough edges of their sound a little without sacrificing any of its charm or lived-in beauty. "Keep Your Hat On Jenny" is a rollicking piece of toe-tappin' Americana while the achingly gentle "Big Moon Shinin'" boasts my single favorite line of the year thus far: "I'm some sweet words from the sky floatin' down from a Van Zandt star/Waitin' for you to think me up." They harmonize with such a playful, confident friskiness that they could sing the phone book (or the Lee Greenwood songbook for that matter) and have the listener riveted. Luckily, songs such as the devastating "Private Thoughts" are quite a bit more than that. I think it's also worth noting that Bill Frisell, fresh off some pretty amazing work on Vic Chesnutt's Ghetto Bells, adds immeasurable depth and shading to Red Dog Tracks with his world class guitar chops. Along with a glass of sweet tea, this record is the perfect way to end a long, sweaty day. --Zayne Reeves Page 1 2 3 |  |
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