Hi there, everyone This is Suda
Hello My name is Sekine
At night I run a pub called Bar Plastic Model
It’s great to be here
So getting started...
It’s been a while
How many years has it been?
I can’t even remember
COVID...
Maybe before COVID?
It’s been about three years
Probably a bit more
Somewhere around there
Yeah Well, it’s been a long time
Anyway, we decided to bring back Cinema51
We used to do this as a serialized thing with 4Gamer
Yeah, that's right
You did it before, too, right?
First it was in “Famitsu Wave”
Right
Was that “Cinema51”, too?
I don’t remember
Me neither
At Grasshopper, we’re using our own content to create
a sort of brand called the Grasshopper Archives
We only have about 100 or so people or so watching, but...
No, that can’t be true
Well, let’s just assume those 100 people are watching this
And we haven’t decided on a title yet
Yeah, yeah
We want to keep the “Cinema51” thing going
and I’m about to mail 4Gamer to make sure it’s OK
Oh, right on
We haven’t actually gotten permission yet, so...
and people like to use words like “... Returns,” you know?
But I like “Resurrection,” myself
“The Resurrection”
Like “The Resurrection of Golden Wolf,” for example
Not the “Shin- (New)” thing you see a lot these days?
Nah, not "Shin"
It’s gonna be “Cinema51 Resurrected...
...Korakuen Viewing Room”
That’s hella long
Yeah it is
“Cinema51 Resurrected: Korakuen Viewing Room”
That’s the title
Yeah, we’ll probably use that
Let's get started
KK Yabukiri
Cinema51 Resurrected Korakuen Viewing Room
OK, so our first film is The Iron Claw
So “Resurrected”, like the Iron Claw
Yup, that’s right Do you know what this movie’s about?
Pro wrestling
To be honest, I don’t really know much about pro wrestling
But of course I know about the Iron Claw
Oh really?
Back in elementary school, everyone was doing it
Yeah, obviously we were probably doing it wrong
but we messed around with that a lot when play-wrestling
Pretending to pro wrestle
Oh yeah We did that a lot
It wasn’t exactly in real time though, you know?
It was originally the father’s move
Originally it was the father, Fritz Von Erich, back in the day
So we weren’t doing it in real time back then
But when you think pro wrestling, you think of the Iron Claw
I used to watch the sons’ matches in real time...
We haven’t even started talking about the actual movie yet
Oh yeah
To explain, this movie was based on a true story
Yeah, that’s right
A legendary pro wrestler with a move called the “Iron Claw”
The father and his sons all became pro wrestlers
and this movie portrays the legends and tragedies of their lives
So it’s mainly about this particular family
Yeah, it’s a family story
Knowing that it’s based on a true story
it reminded me of the phrase “Truth is stranger than fiction”
This movie perfectly encapsulates that idea
I mean, the actual story of this family is even crazier
than the movie portrays it to be
This family was seriously messed up
That’s all I could think about
It must’ve been really hard to make this into a movie
The story is so crazy that it’s almost unbelievable
But it’s pretty much all true
It’s really impressive that they were able to make this film
Oh yeah They really nailed it
Even at the time, they were like this “cursed family”
and the Von Erich brothers dying off one by one
was this really deep, disturbing mystery
They put all the parts of this mystery of this family together
and provide a real close-up look at it in this movie
I really appreciate what the director did with this
I’ve seen lots of comments from famous people saying so, too
Everyone keeps saying “thank you”
This stuff wasn’t very well-known at the time
back in the 80s
This story of this family facing all these tragedies
Especially since at the time, pro wrestling had a real
sense of fantasy to it
And the ways they died...
They didn’t put much of it into the movie
but I’m sure they were using lots of steroids back then
I feel like that probably had something to do with it, too
Everyone shooting painkillers... Well, that’s pretty normal, though
At the time, yeah
Oh totally It’s pretty messed up
but at the time, the stuff that pro wrestlers just did normally
sort of backfired for this family in the end
Yeah, exactly
It’s an amazing story
The bonds of this family...
Also an overwhelming father made these kids what they are
The sons look up to him
but they have to take over for him at the same time
The father in this movie is really pretty messed up
He’s messed up, but the movie doesn’t portray him as “bad”
Things were definitely rough, but it seems clear they were loved
They don’t make a theme of whether Fritz Von Erich was good or bad
Yeah, it’s a movie about family
It’s about familial bonds, but they do some messed-up shit
What surprised me was Fritz...
This goes for the WWE as well as the AWA
and the NWA, too which was #1 at the time
but Fritz’s obsession with not becoming the NWA champion...
This was really surprising
Also... At the time, for a pro wrestler
becoming the NWA champion was like the zenith of your career
And his fixation on making his sons champions
was really something else
The resentment when they weren’t chosen...
He spent his whole life trying to accomplish that
Doing whatever he could to make sure his kids
avenged him, basically
That wouldn’t fly these days
Nope
In this day and age... it wouldn't really be accepted
These days it wouldn't be acceptable
Nowadays it would be totally unacceptable, but somehow
you kinda can’t totally fault the guy, you know?
You can really feel him doing it out of a father’s love
So what did you think?
Seeing the sons’ styles, what did you think of them as pro wrestlers?
I don’t really know much about pro wrestling...
Today, I’ve brought the one single piece of pro wrestling
merchandise that I own
What could it be?
What’s this?
“Onigiri Pro Wrestling”
“Onigiri Pro Wrestling”?!
There’s this organization called "Gatoh Move"
"Gatoh Move"?
Yeah, a female pro wrestling group
Onigiri Pro Wrestling was an idol group
formed by two of the girls in that organization
Theirs is the only pro wresting match I’ve ever been to
That’s how little I know about pro wrestling
I see
So asking me what I think about pro wrestling styles
is kinda pointless
But seeing those sons following their father
into pro wrestling, despite clearly not being properly bulked up yet
that was an impressive decision
Some dude in a band suddenly deciding to be a pro wrestler...
I mean, it’s probably in their blood, but it feels kinda...
Anime-ish?
The good guys keeps getting their asses kicked in fights
then it’s like, “It’s all up to you” “You can do this”
These brothers...
Working together like this...
It almost feels like a fictional drama or something
When I watched them in real time, they were like demigods
When I heard that Fritz Von Erich and his sons
these American superstars were coming to Japan
I was just so totally stoked
Both New Japan and All Japan did lead-ups to it
They announced the wrestlers for the upcoming season
and as they introduced them
it was like “Coming Soon”
with the music and everything
The name “Von Erich” appeared, and I went absolutely bonkers
Is that because their father was so big and famous?
There was that, too, but also they were just so damn cool
Kerry Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich, and of course David came, too
They were just so cool, everyone was so tall
and they gave off this aura of badassery
These wrestlers were just amazing
Their moves were so awesome
They had the basics totally nailed down
I guess they’d have to, otherwise they’d be screwed
Yeah. And one thing that really surprised me
was that Bruiser Brody was in the Von Erich group at the time
To a Japanese pro wrestling fan back then
he was a god
And Brody was training these guys
So as the veteran of the organization
Brody was there to...
Yeah, these guys learned to wrestle from Brody himself
so they were even more yoked than in the movie
Even I could tell how good they were at wrestling
They were amazing, absolute superstars
Just as everyone thought these guys were gonna go on
to lead the world of wrestling
First David died
and then Kevin came, and he was at least as yoked
He was really muscular in the movie, too
And he was originally an Olympic athlete
but he wasn’t able to enter the games
Once he debuted as a wrestler, he was already bulked up
He was probably the buffest dude in wrestling
until the Ultimate Warrior came around
You have no idea who that is, right?
Anyway, it was so exciting
to have these superstars come out from America
Then Kevin had his “incident”...
As a fan, I couldn’t believe it
“What the hell is going on with these Von Erichs?!”
It was a total mystery
The media never got into the details of
that kinda stuff back then, unlike now
There wasn’t much coverage...
I bet a lot was covered up, too
We never got any info on this stuff directly from
the States like we do now
So it was all so mysterious
and the word “cursed” seemed to fit the family perfectly
So it feels like these mysteries were solved with this movie
Most pro wrestling fans probably feel the same way
I don’t know just how many wrestling fans saw this movie
but if you watched wrestling back in the 70s~80s
then I definitely recommend this film
It’s like the pro wrestling Bible
There’s another really important factor to this movie
Another factor?
A24
Oh yeah, A24
These guys are really crushing it right now
Younger movie fans love them
So even as a movie fan
as a young fan of A24 movies...
The A24 brand
Right now, it’s Blumhouse and A24...
They’re putting out some really awesome stuff
some really cool films
Everything from revivals of old films to new productions
A while back, maybe it’s still out
they did Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, too
That was A24?
“A24 Presents,” yeah
So there are probably a lot of people out there
who’ll see it because it’s A24
Yeah, definitely A lot of younger movie fans
What I thought was really cool about A24 is...
You’re just gonna look it up now?
I wanna show you something
Check this out
It’s an official A24 Kevin figurine
So it’s based on the actor from the movie, right?
Yeah
It’s Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, the main character
Wow
Isn’t that awesome? They’re up for preorder
so I’m gonna order one now
You’re gonna buy it?
Hell yeah
This is a must-buy
Seriously, these are just so awesome
Ideally, they’d release the heel characters, too
otherwise you couldn’t play Iron Claw
Yeah, you’re right
But there’s actually one part of this movie I couldn’t abide
To be totally honest about this
Bruiser Brody, whom I love, is in the movie
He’s a villain, one of the organization’s coaches
Brody... sucks
That actor just didn’t cut it
Not because he doesn’t look like him, but his moves?
His moves were no good
and Brody was known as “The Intelligent Monster”
He really looked kinda like Jesus, with an air of intelligence
He was purported to be a former newspaper reporter
As an act?
No, he really was
He was a really smart dude
and he gave off that impression, too
But in this movie, Brody is just an animal
He’s just a long-haired beardo going “Waaaaah!”
You’re right
He wasn’t like that!
At least his scenes weren’t too long
Yeah they weren’t
But that’s how they made him look
Yeah, I just could not accept that portrayal of him
The director didn’t get him at all
They should’ve called me in
I was thinking...
If an English director can do a pro wrestling movie
like, an American pro wrestling movie
Then maybe it’s about time
for me to make my own pro wrestling movie
Maybe it’s about that time in my career, you know?
The movie was telling me this...
Yeah, that’s just crazy talk
If you’re really getting messages from movies, that’s a problem
Go to some local talent agency...
Here in Japan?!
I’d make it in Hollywood!
So for someone like you, who loves Brody so much
it was the “Brody” part of the movie that didn’t work
That’s right
But Ric Flair was awesome
The actor playing Ric Flair was amazing
Somebody commented on that
Really?
That he looked just like Ric Flair
That guy definitely did his homework
Harley Race was spot-on, too
Harley Race was great
Harley Race was seriously awesome
This movie is just so great
With all the old wrestlers appearing, as a wrestling fan...
Yeah, all those wrestlers...
Man, it was awesome
Seeing a non-pro wrestler playing a pro wrestler
is really pretty impressive
Yeah, it is They really nailed it
Zac Efron really got bulked up for the role
I’ve never actually seen a Zac Efron movie before
so I looked him up, since his acting was so good
He’s a really good-looking guy
Yeah, he was the main character in High School Musical
He looks like a totally different person
He totally became Kevin Von Erich
Maybe he was using real needles for those scenes
No way
That would be problematic
No, he really just did get super yoked
Also, there are a lot of scenes that are really similar
to photos from the time
Making the same poses, etc.
I mean, they didn’t really have to
go that far to make everything exactly the same, but still...
I wanna make a poster out of this photo
This one has all of them
Maybe I could get one from the promoters
Do you get what I mean?
Oh I get it, yeah
But really, Hollywood actors are really skilled
Yeah
It was really moving I actually cried
That last scene...
Well, almost...
That amazing ending, at the very end of the scene...
I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t say anything, but...
They explain where everyone is now at the end
That, too, was just amazing
KK Yabukiri
Cinema51 Resurrected Korakuen Viewing Room
OK, so that’s about it for today, I guess
I think so, yeah
So we’ll do this once a month
Seriously?! Once a month?
Yup, seriously
So come back again next time
How do we wrap it up?
We gotta end with this!
How do I do it properly?
Like this
Like this?
Like this, yeah There you go
This is embarrassing
OK, for those 100 viewers – go!