In my last post I mentioned I wasn’t a big comic book fan. As far as the traditional superhero comics go, this is a true statement. I was never a fan of their infinite episodic nature, the endlessly complicated back stories and their clunky expository dialogue style. However, in recent years I have started purchasing the hardback collected editions of some of the more interesting and self-contained comics (or graphic novels). Titles such as Sandman, Hellboy, The Last Man and Fables manage to combine striking artwork with interesting and complex storytelling.
By far my favorite purchase to date has been the Frank Miller library edition of Sin City. The story is ridiculous, the violence excessive and the morality dubious. But I love it. The artwork is both distinctive and beautiful, and the dialog has the staccato brutality of James Ellroy crossed with the romance of Raymond Chandler.
There’s certainly no shortage of characters with a fetish or BDSM slant. But my personal pick would have to be Miho, the sadistic Japanese assassin. Silent, lethal and unstoppable, she toys with each man she fights, before finishing him off in spectacularly violent fashion. She may not be a domme in the commercial sense, but she’s undoubtedly a beautiful dominant woman.
The first image below is taken from the film version, starring Devon Aoki as Miho. The second image is Frank Miller’s drawing of her from the cover of the Family Values story.
You and I have similar tastes in many things. I loved the film “Sin City”. First saw it in the theater, then bought the DVD and after that the Blu-Ray. I don’t own the books yet but probably will someday.
Rosario Dawson was unbelievably sexy in that film as were many of the other denizens of Old Town including deadly little Miho. Jessica Alba has never looked better than she did in those leather chaps.
The art direction is spectacular especially the use of black and white offset by little unexpected splashes of color. The dialogue is beyond campy in a Raymond Chandler kind of way. Who can forget little gems like; “She made a Pez dispenser out of him!” 😉
I am a big fan of Robert Rodriguez and (notorious foot fetishist) Quentin Tarantino who was credited as special guest director in Sin City. Salma Hayek’s sultry snake dance in “From Dusk Till Dawn” is one of my favorite movie sequences of all time! 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVGKiYZ0SM
The movie is actually very faithful to the books, both in storyline (although it only covers the first few stories from the books) and in artistic style. Frank Miller’s drawings are beautifully minimal black and white creations, with just splashes of color for certain characters (like the yellow bastard). If you can find the library edition box set cheap (it’s horribly over-priced at Amazon right now) it’s definitely worth getting if you enjoyed the movie.
As a fan of LA noir (both classic like Chandler and modern like Ellroy), stylish art direction and over the top tongue in cheek violence, it was pretty much a perfect movie for me :). As you say, all the women were great in it, but the cast in general was impressive. Clive Owen and Benico del Toro in particular.
Tarantino and Rodriguez can be a bit hit and miss for me. Some brilliant stuff (Kill Bill, Sin City, Pulp Fiction, El Mariaichi) and some misfires (Grindhouse).
As you might expect, I have to agree about the snake dance in ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ :). I’ve watched that scene than once or twice in the past. Definitely the highlight of the movie. And odd how QT managed to both and write and cast himself as the man getting the foot in the mouth (and beer from the mouth) of Salma Hayek. Wonder how many times he got them to re-shoot that scene?