For this Saturday Anime Night, first up is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time: Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), from renowned auteur Robert Bresson (otherwise best-known for A Man Escaped [1956]). It concerns a donkey named Balthazar who just wants to find a good home; why are humans such assholes? This one is a staple of greatest-however-many-films-of-all-time lists, so let’s check it out. After that is Sonatine (1993), a yakuza thriller from prolific violent-dudes-filmmaker Takeshi Kitano about an aging gangster who wants to retire. Unfortunately, the mob won’t let him do so alive. Cue heads rolling. Looks pretty cool, and it is one of Kitano’s most acclaimed films, so we’re watching it.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here: https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Au Hasard Balthazar: https://letterboxd.com/film/au-hasard-balthazar/
• Sonatine: https://letterboxd.com/film/sonatine/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Au Hasard Balthazar: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/27175
• Sonatine: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/20306

CWs for Au Hasard Balthazar:

• Death of animal.
• Animal abuse.
• Stalking.
• Domestic violence.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Implied (offscreen) sexual assault of woman by gang of hoodlums.
• Someone struggles to breathe.
• Torture.
• Someone falls to their death.
• Death of child.
• Cheating.
• Death of parent.
• Kidnapping.
• Audio gore.
• PTSD.
• Misophonia.
• Sad ending.
• Car crash.
• Gun violence.
• Blood and gore.

CWs for Sonatine:

• Torture.
• Shower scene.
• Suicide.
• Attempted rape scene. A man wrestles a woman to the ground and begins tearing her clothes before the protagonist interrupts him. The scene lasts about ~30 seconds, is obscured by shadow (and no nudity is depicted), and the man is almost immediately killed by the protagonist afterward.
• Sad ending.
• Gun violence.
• Drowning.
• Blood and gore.

Links to movies:

• Au Hasard Balthazar: https://vimeo.com/843551155
• Sonatine: https://vimeo.com/843554157