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| The first ever PUBLIC screening of the English-language version of LOS CAMPEONES will be February 5th at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre.
February 5th is celebrated in Mexico to honor the passing of El Santo, and this is the 25th anniversary of the silvermaskedman's death in 1984. I chased this date, and luckily the Egyptian had it open. After Campeones, we'll be screening a monster-filled surprise second feature starring El Santo.
Eddie and Lili will be presenting some never-before-seen production art and designs on the big screen, and I may have a few surprises of my own. AND, I'll be giving away FPU back issues to everyone who comes through the door!
It'll be a big full night of Mexican masked wrestlers and monsters, with insight from the creators to boot.
Event details and advanced tickets will be up on the Egyptian's web site in the next week or so:
The American Cinematheque
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| Although the band members in souvenir hoods thing is a MAJOR peeve of mine - actually it's total bullshit, seriously - this book from Deadilicious looks pretty damn great!!!
TIGRES DEL RING
If the text is anywhere near as good as the photos, this'll be pretty great.
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Just found a great review on Teleport City of arguably the best Mexiluchahero film to introduce people to the genre - Santo y Blue Demon contra los monstruos here.
If all goes right, I MIIIIIGHT be putting together a screening of this amazingmess and a certain animated lucha movie in LA in February. Then again, it might be something like a certain animated lucha film and THIS...
Stay tuned...
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| The one or two long-time readers of this oft-neglected blog may remember the days it was called "Lucha vs. Ninja: Who Will Win?" - as I was splitting time between regular FPU web stuff and an upstart vintage ninja movie project that never really got off the ground.
Well, I've been full of beans about said ninja project a few years later, and that's where most of what little spare time I have goes now. This is not to say the masked wrestler isn't still dear to my soul, and I was pretty pumped to see the lauded Japanese comedy GACHI BOY: Wrestling With a Memory as part of this year's AFI Fest in Hollywood.
Thing of it is, I go into lauded Japanese films with a certain sense of dread, having been let down WAY more often than I've been pleasantly surprised. For example, Sukiyaki Western Django has to be the biggest life-force draining piece of shit I've ever had to endure. The only comfort I receive from having taken five years off my life by sitting through a screening of that turd is I've been able to steer all my friends away from it.
Then, there's my, by now, automatic defensiveness when viewing any new wrestling related films. They just always seem to let you down, somehow. Or outright offend. I don't understand what's so hard about getting a wrestling movie right. For every amazing gem like Korea's Foul King or Japan's Calamari Wrestler, we're outnumbered and pissed-on by abortions like (and I'm not linking here on purpose because these films don't deserve web traffic!) No Holds Barred, Ready to Rumble and Nacho Libre...
So with the inevitable guarded pessimism unfortunately murmuring in the background of my head, I sit down for Gachi Boy and godammit the BEST thing in the world happens - the film DELIVERS IN SPADES!!!
Not sure I should admit this in public, but I was nearly brought to tears two or three different times during what turned out to be a perfect blend of dead-on perfect pro wrestling humor and emotionally stirring explorations of mental handicaps and their effects on families.
I won't get into a full review here, as a lot has been written on this film already, but here's my lucha-cinema-snob take on the minutae I'm always obsessed with:
The Ring Gear - perfect, pro quality stuff. Wouldn't be surprised if Cacao Planning did it. There's nothing worse than a decently budgeted, professional movie getting the ring gear wrong, when down the road a bush-league indie wrestling promotion without a cent to their name can do it with ease. WTF?!?!? But man did they get it right here! Not only that, the ramshackle dojo, the lucha ephemera-laden club house, the fake posters... everything was perfect.
The Gimmicks - You always know when a non wrestling fan creates ring personnas and character designs. It's the first sign you can call bullshit on a film. Here, the gimmicks are SOOOO astute to the puroresu industry, if you're in the know, you're in hysterics!
The Respect - The fundamental flaw with most wrestling films is the lack of respect for the industry and artform that pro wrestling is. Again, Gachi nails it - from minute one the craft is seen as positive, something to strive for and not be embarrassed by if it entertains you. THANKS!
But then, on top of this perfect wrestling comedy, there's a genuinely moving theme of mental illness, and at times it really got to me. Basically, the kid has the same condition Guy Pierce has in the superb Memento - he wakes up every morning a blank slate and needs to re-educate himself as to who he is via notes and diaries. Makes for some hairy situations both socially and in the ring! The only memories he has are the bruises left on his body by his training...
Can't say enough good about this film. It looks great, the performances by the young actors are just superb, everyone did their own wrestling stunts, the sound design is awesome, and... yeah, I mighta shed a tear or two. Seriously.
So this year, we have three of the best wrestling films ever made touring theaters: Gachi Boy, Aronovsky's The Wrestler, and if I do say so myself, LOS CAMPEONES DE LA LUCHA LIBRE!
Get out there and see them all!!!!
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| Yep, an audience has sat through the film in a dark room, popcorn and Raisinettes aplenty. So I guess it's a done deal now, a reality. A film is born unto the world!
I took some really shitty pics at the event, in between meeting voice-over artists and producers for the first time and re-uniting with old friends from my days in the animation industry. WAAAY fun, and rewarding as hell.
See a full set of great photos on Lili Chin's flickr site:
Los Campeones: the official screening pics
But for what they're worth, here's mine:
That's a nervous Lili Chin standing in front of the illuminated movie poster. Poor thing had a hard time watching the film, divorcing herself from the glitches and compromises that one has to go through in the production process. The audience didn't notice anything wrong though!
The poster is just something I whipped out for this event, maybe some other promo work, but nothing for official studio marketing use. That's in the hands of other people for once! Can't wait to see what the home studio comes up with when the time comes.
The crowd gathers out front. That's Daddy-O Grande of Los Straitjackets, one of the film's music providers and long-time masked compadre.
The father-son combo that is the real heart of the film - Armando Valdes-Kennedy (the voice of Dragon Rojo Jr.) and Eduardo Antonio Garcίa (the abusive Dragon Sr.). These guys are way too handsome for voice-over careers. Eduardo pointed out something I hadn't thought of - the scenes where father and son bicker about the traditions of lucha libre and the tough road of being a masked hero are basically Enmascarado Sanford and Son. Too funny!
That the lovely Ruth Livier (familiar to 90210 fans) who voiced Sorpresa, and Richard Green - aka Mr. Profesional (and the voice of UFC and Spike TV). Poor Richard had this crazy night where one of his kid's friends broke a jaw in a bizarre kitchen accident, so he got there late, rushing right from the emergency room. Sounds like a "don't try this at home kids" moment to me...
The Vista Theatre's patio - **How did Ray Harryhausen do such wonderful stop-motion, with such massive hands???** (Blazing Saddles gag there).
And there's the Vista filling up! Great crowd for a midnight show of a niche flick...
Mariachi's los Toros played not only in the film's soundtrack, but live before the film as well. How 'bout that gorgeous Vista...
This is a special pic. That's "American Wild Child" Ron Rivera with some of his worker friends (I believe that's XPW standout Angel) who came up from Orange County. Ron ran the Revolution Pro wrestling promotion putting on amazing Michinoku Pro-style shows in SoCal in the mid to late 90's. One of his shows was the first wrestling I saw out here the month I moved out in 2000. Really feuled my love of live lucha, and it's great to entertain these guys with my work for once. Full circle indeed...
More later.
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