Starring: Ryoko Asagi, Yumeka Sasaki, Horyu Nakamura, and Seiji Nakamitsu
Reviewed by Vance Aandahl
Japanese director Daisuke Goto’s A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN left me with seven questions.
1) Is A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN a somber art-house tragedy, intelligently scripted, well acted, esthetically filmed, and full of deep insights into love, senility, selfishness, and devotion?
2) Or is A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN a kinky soft-core porn flick based on a sick-joke premise?
3) Or is A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN an avant-garde spoof of movies that combine two totally incompatible genres?
4) Can an art-house tragedy really be an art-house tragedy if the developing story is interrupted every five or six minutes by a sex scene?
5) Can a porn flick really be a porn flick if the sex scenes are counter-erotic and meant to disturb the viewer, not to turn him on?
6) Can an avant-garde spoof really be an avant-garde spoof if it is totally devoid of wit, humor, intellectual playfulness, and specific references to other films?
7) Finally – who the hell names a movie A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN anyway? Sheesh.
All I know for sure is that the mystical surrealist genius Alexandro Jodorowsky, director of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, co-founder of the Panic Movement, and creator of THE INCAL comic stories, would adore A LONELY COW WEEPS AT DAWN. No doubt about it. I can see the awards ceremony now. Eyes flashing, cape swirling, crazy Jodo would stride to the podium, give a grand speech, then call director Goto onto the stage to receive a gold-plated turd and a standing ovation.
That’s good enough for me. Never mind the questions – I’m giving this one two thumbs up.
