Paranoia Agent
We're fans of Satoshi Kon, especially Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress so it was really cool to get a longer and more expansive surreal/psychological anime in the style of those films. Story was great and the whole thing was consistently surprising and intriguing. I've also had the intro song stuck in my head for some time now.
Berserk
Completed Elden Ring recently and although I wasn't compelled to play through New Game Plus, I did want to dive straight into another similar world or series. Glad I picked Beserk up again as I'm enjoying it a whole lot and it feels like the plot and character arcs just get better and better, and the art is incredible. Planning on starting the original anime series soon too. Also watched Disney's Black Cauldron for a similar reason and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, given the general consensus. Also watched the 2018 indie film The Head Hunter which I thought was fine.
Gakuryu Ishii
Came across this article from Another Magazine on Japanese Cyberpunk cinema the other week and we've been gradually making our way through the films on the list. Forever grateful as it helped us to discover Gakuryu Ishii. We watched Electric Dragon 80,000v and thought it was great. We've since watched several of his other films including Labyrinth of Dreams and Mirrored Mind and thought all of them were five stars and felt mostly like nothing we'd watched before. Wasn't a huge fan of The Crazy Family though. Other films from the list we watched were Death Powder and Anatomica Extinction and although not quite as great as the other ones mentioned, we still enjoyed them a lot.
Penguin Book of Hell
Not got fully absorbed into any of the books I've read recently so it was nice to find myself completely immersed in The Penguin Book of Hell. Essentially a compendium of historical and cultural depictions of hell with extracts from The Aenid, Inferno, Paradise Lost and others. I've found it a genuinely exciting and interesting read and its been one of the most creatively engaging books I've picked up this year. The image below is one of the prints John Martin produced for an 1827 edition of Paradise Lost.
Elvis
Really enjoyed the recent film and its kickstarted another era of listening to a lot of Elvis and Nick Cave, helped along by watching Wings of Desire just a few days after. Also got me playing guitar a lot more which I'm enjoying and I've just ordered the '68 Comeback Special on DVD as I've not been able to find it online. Caught up on a few Presley films we hadn't seen before too. Follow that Dream was genuinely funny and I didn't expect to like it as much I did, and Wild In The Country is probably his second best straight drama after King Creole and might be one of the best overall films. Loving You however didn't do much for me and I didn't feel like Elvis had much to work. Though the red and white cowboy costume he wore for Let Me Be (Your Teddy Bear) was cool.
Stanislaw Szukalski
In the notes to Mignola's B.P.R.D Volume 01, he mentions Szukalski's art as the primary inspiration for the look and design of the book's Hyperborean civilisation. After browsing some of the artist's paintings and sculptures, I've fallen in love with his work too. Some of the colour palettes remind me of William Blake's work and I can definitely see an influence on the world of Hellboy. I've shared some of my favourite pieces below.
Playlist
Can't find the full version of the '68 Comeback Special online but I've had the album version playing on repeat all week after watching the recent film. Here is a playlist someone compiled on youtube of the performance.
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