Manyoshu and Kokinshu art films

Made for a premodern Japanese literature class by me and my friends. Our project (3 separate films) translated poems from the Kokinshu, Manyoshu, and Shinkokinshu (3 Japanese poetry anthologies) into the content and visual styles of our films.  Unfortunately I have lost the Shinkokinshu film file.

See my friend Susannah’s Kokinshu film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlwGXFiapQE

My main influences here were Antonioni’s ‘Red Desert’ and ‘Blow-Up.’ I tried to reflect the ambiguous yet simple voice in the Manyoshu poems in a cinematic style reminiscent of Italian Neorealism.

Concept, Cinematography, Direction, Production – Recca Phoenix
Boy – An Hoang
Girl – Susannah Davidson

Edited in iMovie
Titles edited in Final Cut Pro

(c) 2007 Reccalux

The Mod Show Ep.1: Where to Buy Mod Clothes in the USA

Latest, first, and most likely only episode of my show for mods.  And by mods, I mean those belonging to Mod (subculture), not computer modifiers.

Liberty Eyes – my experimental film

I now present the blogosphere debut of Reccalux’s greatest film to date: my experimental collage animation “Liberty Eyes”.

My main stylistic influence was Ken Jacobs.

My film examines colonialism and its aftereffects in Ghana via handpainted movie posters and Nana Agyemang Ofosu’s poem “Virgin Liberty”. It also comments on cultural “dumping”. “Liberty Eyes” screened at the UC Berkeley Pacific Film Archive in 2010 as part of the Film And Video Makers At Cal program “Fleshed Out.”

Review-let : ‘Beat At Cinecittá’ Vol. 1-3

source: bluebeat.com

Hey there again, fans of lounge, mod, and funky stuff.  Another modtastic set of groovy instrumentals can be found in the three-volume Beat At Cinecittá series of CDs.

All the music on these albums comes from Italian exploitation cinema of the ’60s and ’70s and ranges from bossa to jazz to psych to go-go….with some playful novelty numbers here and there.  If this sounds like your kind of scene, I would highly recommend this set.  Volume 1 has the strongest material of the three, with Volume 2 containing most of the fun and weird numbers.  Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much information on the source films (wherefore art thou, liner notes?), but the songs are enjoyable enough on their own divorced from the content of their visual counterparts.

If you think you’re groovy….in the words of P.P. Arnold….check it out!

Recca 5/12/11