Our last thread went for two years!
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ebossert — 10 years ago(March 20, 2016 07:22 AM)
Part 10 of my Asian Horror Year In Review playlist is now up. It covers movies released from 1992-1993:
Here are the films I saw this week.
Highly Recommended
Flash Point (2007) (Chinese Action) (repeat viewing) After being exposed, an undercover cop (Louis Koo) enlists the help of Donnie Yen, who then promptly beats the living hell out of anyone who stands in his way. The pacing is back-loaded toward the final half hour (offering a 15-minute finale), but its well worth the wait. Dramatic elements are weaker than Kill Zone, but never get boring. The action presents itself in a variety of ways: a great footchase; a tense shootout in a high grassy field; and a stunningly brutal one-on-one fist-fight in an abandoned house with so many bone-crunching moves that even the most hardened action fans will lose count. The choreography is a refreshing mix of kickboxing and grappling that is rarely seen in cinema. And dont forget Donnies over-the-top mannerisms, which do provide some laughs now and then. This film helped to propel the Yensters red-hot streak of awesomeness over the past decade. Director Wilson Yip is a key reason for this.
Recommended
Sa-kwa (aka Sorry Apple) (2005) (Korean Romance) Fresh off a painful break-up, a woman gets involved with a man in a rushed attempt to get married but relationship problems later arise. This film is anchored by the presence of three very good actors So-ri Moon, Tae-woo Kim, and Sun-kyun Kim. The supporting cast is solid as well. The female lead does come off as a selfish wench at times, but it makes her character interesting. This film is not concerned with plot, so the interaction is key and it delivers, but the runtime of two full hours does feel a bit too long. Regardless, this is good quality stuff.
The Tiger: An Old Hunters Tale (2015) (Korean Thriller/Drama) Set during the early 1900s, during Japans occupation of Korea, some hunters are dispatched to take out a vicious tiger that is killing workers. This film stars Min-sik Choi and Man-sik Jeong, who are both really good in this (not surprisingly). Natural environments are nicely captured, especially during the winter scenes. The tiger effects are also shockingly convincing, which yields many attack sequences. There are some intense scenes to enjoy, as well as some dramatic interaction between the humans and animals. The runtime of 139 minutes does feel a bit too long, leaving some dull patches along the way.
Pitch Black (2000) (American Sci Fi Horror/Thriller) (repeat viewing) A commercial transport ship and its crew are marooned on a planet full of bloodthirsty creatures that only come out to feast at night. (The premise reminded me in some ways of the Isaac Asimov novel Nightfall.) Unorthodox sunlight and sand effects do make you feel like you are on a distant planet. The horror elements dont even really pick up until after the one-hour mark, but the script successfully maintains interest throughout. Radha Mitchell and Vin Diesel really drive things forward and I enjoyed both of their characters. There are a few cool moments down the stretch too, with the line of sight moment being my personal favorite.
Baptism of Blood (1996) (Japanese Horror/Drama) (repeat viewing) A fatal skin disease forces a beautiful actress to retire from the silver screen. Decades later, this woman attempts to prolong her life through her daughter. Despite the title, the violence in this film is almost non-existent with the exception of one excellent surgery sequence involving archaic-looking machinery. The structure of the story is unorthodox, with the two halves of the film focusing on two different characters, separated by a defining moment between them. There are flaws (some of the early moments come off as fairly cheesy), but they dont take away much. Dramatic and story-driven horror, with a few very unexpected moments. This based off of the works of Kazuo Umezu.
Shopaholics (2006) (Chinese Comedy/Romance) (repeat viewing) Cecilia Cheung, Lau Ching Wan, and Jordan Chan star in one of the most frenetically paced Hong Kong comedies of all time. A girl woos a psychiatrist and a billionaire while attempting to cure her demonic-compulsive shopping syndrome. Yes, this is silly stuff that uses fake psychology throughout (and the romance is extremely shallow), but it is very breezy and very easy to sit through. The actors are energetic and fun to watch. The wedding finale is pure craziness.
Paris Holiday (2015) (Chinese Romance) A wine company executive (Louis Koo) flees to Paris after his marriage proposal is denied, but is forced to share a flat with a lady artist (Amber Kuo). This is a bit cheesy at times with its melodramatic music, but the leads are properly developed, have good chemistry, and are likeable. Nice views of Paris are an obvious plus.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) (American Sci Fi Action) (repeat viewing) The wanted criminal Riddick arrives on a planet called Helion Prime, a -
sitenoise — 10 years ago(March 26, 2016 11:24 PM)
It's been like Halloween around here with six degrees of
Ryuichi Hiroki
.
The Creepiest
An Adolescent
Shôjo (2001)
Japan
Director: Eiji Okuda
5/10
The guy who directed this film is
Sakura Ando's father
. He directed Sakura's nude scene in her feature film debut,
Out of the Wind
(
Kaze no sotogawa (2007)
). In show-biz families that may be a non-event, or even a bold and smart thing to do. It's a little creepy to me. He directs and stars in this film about a 40-something cop and a fifteen year old girl who fall in love. This thing got "good press" when it ran the festival circuit for the great lengths it went to in trying not to be creepy: like making the girl tough, smart, and the aggressor. Yeah, poor cop, what's he supposed to do?
I applaud the convoluted script which allows for this kind of synopsis (from IMDb):
Tomokawa is a tough guy turned bored cop who spends much of his time sating lonely housewives and looking after retarded teen Sukemasa. One day while hanging out at a bar, he is approached by a 15-year-old enjo kosai named Yoko, offering a round of illicit sex in exchange for cash. Though he demurs, their paths cross again and soon a relationship of sorts forms. Yoko, it turns out, is Sukemasa's sister; and both are the children of his old flame Yukie, a grasping, self-centered woman. Moreover, Yoko's grandfather is responsible for the massive tattoo sprawling across Tomokawa's back. Tomokawa soon takes both teens under his wing, protecting them from their heartless mother, and their lecherous stepfather. Soon, Yoko gets a similarly massive tattoo illustrating her bond with her policeman savior.
It's all true. The savior cop demurred, and etc. Tomokawa kidnaps runaway dogs and keeps them for a long time so that when he finally returns them to lonely housewives they are so grateful they have sex with him. That's in the script. But he's friends with a retarded teen. See how balanced he is? The cop and the girl are both so far out there
misunderstood-with-baggage
they were destined for one another.
Lolita
films are nothing new and this might be a good one as far as they go. It's restrained, not too graphic; there's interesting photography and directorial choices made; May Ozawa (~20) is "daring" and "courageous" [festival-speak for 'does nude scenes'] as the young girl; the script is well-contrived; there's spiritualism. Great lengths.
Watching Eiji Okuda direct himself and show his butt as irresistible to a fifteen year old girl was never going to work for me. YMMV. I watched it as a geezer-fantasy anecdote to the teen-fantasy poison I'd just gone through.
To wit:
I watched a couple more by
Jinkusu!!! (2013)
director
Naoto Kumazawa
to see if we had another
Ryuichi Hiroki
type who could do these pure love teen flicks.
Close Range Love
Kinkyori ren ai (2014)
Japan
Director: Naoto Kumazawa
4/10
A twenty-something teacher and a 16 year old student fall in love.
Too soon.
Nana Komatsu
(Kanako, from
World of Kanako
Kawaki (2014)
) nails the "model gaze". That is if you have to turn your head and look up at someone, you do so by turning your head first with your eyes closed, and then when your lined up with whomever you're going to look at, you open your eyes and Bang! I saw
Gary Oldman
demonstrate this move on the Conan O'Brien show. It's very effective: Scary if you're a guy; sexy if you're a girl.
From Me to You
Kimi ni todoke (2010)
Japan
Director: Naoto Kumazawa
5.8/10
This is really good at what it is: an afterschool special that aims to promote and show what friendship is. Schoolgirl
Sawako
has a
Sadako
haircut. Whoa! Good work, parents. She's delicately bullied by negatively portrayed characters. Her ultra low volume baby talk, with stuttering, is unbearable. After she comes out of her shell she's okay. Of interest are actresses playing two side characters:
Misako Renbutsu
as one of her friends; and
Mirei Kiritani
as beotch girly-girl who wants the affection of the stud who likes Sawako. After he rejects her, Kiritani says to the stud, "
You really don't have the eyes for women. This cute girl won't appear before you again
." So heartfelt. Kiritani rocked it. It was her Ryuichi Hiroki money shot. More on her later.
Misako Renbutsu
first caught my eye in
Switching: Goodbye Me
Tenkôsei: Sayonara anata (2007)
. Then in Ryuichi Hiroki's
River (2011)
. Those were starring roles. She's in a supporting role here but adds to the film. I think she's going to be one of these kids who turns into an actress.
Heroine Disqualified
Hiroin shikkaku (2015)
Japan
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa
6.3/10
This is the closest the Japanese may get to a krom kom, even though it moves at a snail's pace comparatively, and it's with kids.
Mirei Kiritani
brings energy to the 4th wall breaking princess who wants the stud who likes the delicately bullied girl. Wait! Didn't I already see this? Kiritani's character and Ryuichi Hiroki money shot from the aforementioned
From Me to You
got her this starring role. She delivers exaggerate -
zelena33 — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 10:26 AM)
Hilariously well-written reviews I want some of whatever you put in your coffee this morning.
I also kind of enjoyed
the Revenant
, but just for the photography. Because there ain't no plot, except maybe "me kill bad guy." I had to look it up, and apparently this was the first feature shot on the new Arri 6k digital cinema camera, which they won't even sell to you. You have to rent it. This is what digital cinema will all look like in five years or so. I have to grudgingly agree with everyone else about dicaprio - let the guy have his oscar. But Iñárritu, I'm not a fan. I hated
Birdman
a lot, and generally the guy's stuff strikes me as vapid and pretentious.
Your incredibly sardonic review of
the Adolescent
almost makes it a must-see, although from the trailer, a tough-guy cop on a bicycle is never gonna work for me. The Lolita subject is a bottomless goldmine of bad fiction, because oh man, too big a subject. Really only Nabakov could do it, and I'd probably rather read the novel for the third or fourth time. If a writer doesn't have the intellectual firepower to take on all of society, he can't confront this subject.
And yes, the
Heroine Disqualified
trailer looks like that girl is doing just enough histrionic shouting and foot stomping to make me happy. She almost has to say "yah!" in Korean, doesn't she? Might check that one out just to see the Japanese doing kdrama.
From Me To You
was somewhere down on my watchlist and will now probably get the boot. -
sitenoise — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 11:47 AM)
I admire something you bring up from time to time which floats in above my pay grade: cameras. You wrote about the Korean
Treacherous
's cell-phone ready digital lensing (I think), and Zhang's first foray into digital film making. This is all lost on me. I can walk into any number of friends' house and notice immediately that the aspect ratio on their TV is off (amazing how many people suffer through this, although I think newer TVs auto-adjust), and there was a period where something was going on and all HDTV had a Soap Opera look to it. But beyond that, I got nothing.
I've noticed that a lot of Japanese indies look like they were shot on VHS handhelds but it hasn't bothered me much. It sort of adds to their charm.
A Drowning Man
is a good example. And I've noticed that even the indiest of indie Korean films look like a million bux. Why is that?
I watch a lot of movies on my laptop, and a lot on big TVs (25"-55", via HDMI from my laptopI was never happy with earlier connections). I've never noticed a digital coldness, but I also don't watch many "old" movies that might provide comparison. (I'm presently trying to work through
The Human Condition
finished part 1 of the first film, but the acting is so stiff and Western to me and the music is horrible, I'm not sure I can go onbut I digress .).
How do you watch most movies? When you say "This is what digital cinema will all look like in five years or so", is that a good or bad thing? I watched
Revenant
on a 55" and found it jaw-droppingly beautifuleven looked all warm and analoggy to me. (Great plot synopsis on that one, btw) I'm afraid that if you explain this to me it might ruin my film watching career. lol -
zelena33 — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 03:04 PM)
Oh yeah, I'm what they call an 'impassioned amateur' photographer
and pretty obsessed with the technical end of that stuff. I know exactly what you mean about the soap opera thing, and you hit the nail on the head. Recently I tried to watch Apocalypse Now with a friend on his fancy huge TV, and it looked unbearably intolerable. At first I really thought his TV was converting the 24 frames per second (which is what film is) into 30 frames per second (which is television). But that wasn't it. It is a color setting on the TV which tends to really juice the color for TV, whereas film has a certain gramma curve (contrast setting), meaning blacker blacks and whiter whites. Everybody needs to find that 'film' color setting on their TVs, like STAT. It solved it instantly.
I really have mixed feelings about digital. A lot of photographers say resolution of cameras is overrated, and it doesn't really make sense to shoot in say, 8k, if your TV is 1080p. You won't see the detail. But there is another factor. Look at your jeans right now. What color are they? If you sample a 1 cm square area, it will be on average, "blue." But when you look closely at it in detail you can see that it's white, blue, black, grey, white, blue etc. So the resolution of the camera initially effects the realism of the color, even when it is downgraded to say 1080p. That's part of why the Revenant looked so awesome to you.
The other thing with that camera which they were "showing off" with The Revenant is the sensitivity. It's getting to the point where some digital cameras are more sensitive in low light than film. This new ARRI is two clicks more sensitive than anything else, so they shot in dusk/dawn natural light outdoors, and it's something you have literally never seen before. Total eye candy. I should add that all cameras and TV/projection systems still have significantly less of this 'dynamic range' than the human eye, so this is somehting you can expect to see vast, mind-blowing advancements in your lifetime. Think of when you get pulled over by the cops and there is that flashing light in your mirror. Nothing that bright has (or could) ever popped off a movie screen. But eventually.
I still find digital cold and clinical in a way, partly because each frame looks exactly like the prior one - there is no randomness like you get from the organic nature of chemicals on film - each frame is different. Also, there is sometimes just way too much detail seen, and photography is much more about what you exclude from the frame yet still manage to plant in the viewer's imagination to me anyway. One of my fav photogs (Alec Soth) said smth like photography is what happens in the space between the photographer and the subject; what you're looking at is the effect the subject has on the photog basically. Sometimes the viewer has the same feeling. Movie magic.
I notice in Japanese film a certain tendency toward big, classical film looking photography, the festival-ready kind of look; in Koreeda, Iwai.. And on the other hand a lot of that uber-modern Japanese TV commercial look. Even Koreeda said he hired the cinematographer for Like Father, Like Son based on a TV ad he had done
http://www.mtv.com/news/2772656/hirokazu-koreeda-interview-like-father-like-son/
. He was like, 'give me that look.' The Koreans, like we have talked about, are pretty much an artist's colony. I think they are all shooting for 'street credibility' with each other for world-class artsy quality. They just got swag.
I'm totally in favor of digital if it means that good scripts get made. A lot of people in the US want to like indie films, but there are really few, because there is so much conformity of thought. They are mostly just small-scale films. But in Asia I think it's different, I think it's a blessing that they can get their stuff done for $0.5-3 million; their films are more honest and real, less ironic and self-conscious than American indie. So digital helps make that happen-able.
I'm gonna ruin your impression of me: I mostly watch everything on my 15" laptop
Did see the Revenant (and a lot of hollywood crap) in the theater though.
As Mark Twain said, I'm sorry I wrote such a long forum post. I didn't have time to write a short one. -
sitenoise — 10 years ago(March 30, 2016 12:00 PM)
The general color palette, lighting, and framing are about all I can grasp about photography. I'm a little color blind (and unobservant) so accuracy or 'trueness' are out of my reach.
When I show someone a picture of my cat they often comment on the little buddha statue 50 feet behind her that's In Focus too. Old cameras have a different 'depth of field' than my iPhone, so people are put off. I like older photographs with that depth of field thing going on. I've lasso tooled a few pictures of my cat and blurred the background to mimic that look. But I'm not put off or disappointed by the digital look. Although that Soap Opera effect is horrible.
I'm simply not trained to see most of these things. Comparing
Revenant
and
Hateful Eight
(which I believe was shot with old-timey cameras):
Hateful Eight
didn't seem better or richer or more accurate to me. It looked like the way movies used to look, a little, I guess.
Revenant
looked warmly amber hued and soft, to me. I read afterwards that the film was shot with only natural lighting and almost exclusively during sunrise and sunset.
Is it that 'everything in focus' that's the giveaway for you? I do sort of get the 'every frame of film is different', and how that subconsciously (and consciously) affects ones appreciation of a film. But in the end
Treacherous
, for example, didn't seem at all obviously digital to me. The photography seemed rather nice. Lots of blurry edges and warm colors. I guess maybe the outdoor scenes did have a digital crispness to them. So now I'm thinking natural light might be a bigger hurdle for digital. I dunno. I appreciate your response, but think I'm just not going to get this.
Thanks for the link to that Koreeda interview. For a fanboy who hasn't read anything about the guy before, it was pretty "sweet". The interviewer was in a little over his head, culturally, at least, but did stumble things into interesting areas of discussion. I especially liked Koreeda's corrective comment about forgiveness re:
Like Father, Like Son
:
I was trying to depict Ryotas eventual understanding, and how he learned from the nurses new family situation. As to whether that might develop into forgiveness, thats hard to say.
Koreeda is clearly not a god-fearing christian.
I read the bit about the photographer differently than you, I think. He didn't say "give me that look". More like, "I know what I want the film to look like and 'this was a look that he could create'." This is more what I would expect from someone as visually creative and skilled as Koreeda. -
zelena33 — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 06:10 PM)
He didn't say "give me that look". More like, "I know what I want the film to look like and 'this was a look that he could create'."
Yes of course you're right, that was a small zelenazation on my part. He's not exactly Samuel Goldwyn, is he? Barking "The kid stays in the picture!"
I read a couple 'sa-weet' interviews with the guy. I liked what he had to say about making universal, international films vs. really Japanesey ones.. goes to the heart of the granularity that makes things universal because they are so specific that they're real. You hear this in a lot of different arts. Can't remember if it was that same interview or what.
Appreciate your comments on photography. Yeah to me it was something about the editing and framing in
Treacherous
that just screamed I'm watching this on a cell phone all the faces were big and up in the camera, super short shots, like 50 per minute something. Digital cameras have had a leg up on low-light sensitivity for a while I think (this contradicts what I said last time). I remember the low-light streetlight scenes in Jia Zhang-ke's
The World
ten years ago being very striking. -
ebossert — 10 years ago(March 27, 2016 07:47 AM)
Part 11 of my Asian Horror Year In Review playlist is now up. It covers movies released from 1994-1995:
Here are the films I saw this week.
Highly Recommended
Eye in the Sky (2007) (Chinese Suspense/Thriller) (repeat viewing) This is the ultimate surveillance film that revolves around the covert operations of an undercover police unit attempting to gather intelligence on a highly sophisticated crew of jewel robbers. From minute one the cloak-and-dagger shadowing begins and continues right up to the final moments. The pacing is fast and is assisted by fluid camerawork that keeps things moving while safely avoiding the subpar editing so prevalent in modern filmmaking. The acting is solid (Simon Yam, Kate Tsui, and the other Tony Leung are all great), the score well made, and the ending very satisfying. Fans of realistic, suspense-driven tailing sequences ala The French Connection will drool all over themselves.
Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (2004) (Japanese Anime Romance/Horror) (repeat viewing) A young man uncovers a delicate Venetian glass that holds a startling secret within: a haunted beauty, Cossette, has been waiting 250 years for someone to set her spirit free. The man soon becomes obsessed and determined to help the girl trapped inside the crystal, but the necessary sacrifices might be too great for him to bear. This outstanding film is one of the most visually stunning anime ever made as virtually every frame is saturated with fantastical gothic eye candy. Scoring is no less than phenomenal; a true accomplishment that should be mentioned more often. There is much in terms of surreal, nightmarish imagery that may confuse some viewers, but the storyline is nevertheless gripping because it develops the characters and conflicts in absorbing ways. Most interestingly, there is a dense romantic tone that mirrors the horror. The themes of love, sacrifice, and haunted imagery are expertly blended together. As one online reviewer noted, The result is a creepy riff on beauty, love, the madness of artists and the treachery of images. This is a work of art.
Cold Eyes (2013) (Korean Thriller) (repeat viewing) A high-tech police surveillance team attempts to take down a gang of ruthless bank robbers in this remake of the excellent Hong Kong film Eye in the Sky. Events play out in a very similar fashion here, but there are also a number of differences (e.g., the ending, etc.). In any case, there are a lot of positive qualities that make this a very entertaining movie. The focus on realistic, suspense-driven tailing sequences is preserved and proficiently executed. Pacing is brisk and all three leads (Hyo-joo Han, Kyung-gu Sol, Woo-sung Jung) give very good performances. Theres also a bit more action and bloody violence in this one. I still prefer the original, but thats likely because I saw that one first. Regardless, these two movies would make an outstanding double-feature.
Recommended
Skyline Cruisers (2000) (Chinese Action) Wilson Yip directs this action adventure in which the formula for a cancer-curing medicine is stolen, and a kung-fu fighting team must overcome rivals and doublecrosses in order to get it back. This has a loaded cast of recognizable names: Leon Lai, Jordan Chan, Shu Qi, Sam Lee, etc. Its really cheesy stuff, but totally entertaining (I laughed a lot). There are some really cool heist sequences that use creative tactics that are totally unrealistic but still very interesting to watch. Some unexpected twists are introduced along the way. Look out for the scene involving red laser-sights, which has some smart camerawork.
Ingtoogi: The Battle of Internet Trolls (2013) (Korean Drama) A young man is ambushed in public, physically beaten by an internet message board rival, and his personal information is hacked and released to the public. Afterwards, he trains in kickboxing and seeks out the perpetrator for revenge. The film does a good job of showing that the protagonist has been psychologically affected by the incident, but it also blends in some bits of humor as well. The lead actress (Hye-young Ryoo) is highly entertaining; shes got an attitude problem and shes quite funny. The ending is different from what I had expected.
Spectre (2015) (British/American Action) A cryptic message from Bonds past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE. This begins with a lengthy, cool tracking shot and a good fist fight within a helicoptor. The film really pops during the action (and there are at least 4 solid sequences to enjoy), but the story is rather bland. Almost every non-action scene involving the lead actress is boring. The runtime of 148 minutes is also a bit too long. However, theres one particularly hilarious sequence where Bond subtly threatens the lives to two cats. A good film that feels lik -
plsletitrain — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 12:48 AM)
I'm late to the party. All this Koreeda talk has got me scrambling to the nearest copy of his latest film and I watched it.
I'm with sitenoise on this (I read zelena's thoughts on the film and he didn't like it as much as we did) and I would also rate it a 10/10. Sitenoise and I usually don't meet when it comes to our favorite directors but we're on the same boat on Koreeda and I think he's the one of the few directors I never get bored watching their films even if nothing much is really going on or there's no eventful twist or mystery that would make me attentive as a viewer.
True, the film reached utopian levels that it made me wonder if Koreeda is a real person who watches the news about how cruel the world is (that's why I made mention about looking at his face on his IMDb photo which really looks like he's a kind soul who has experienced nothing but sunshines and rainbows). I see his movies as someone made by a child (I'm not saying it's childish and immatured) who has this simple and innocent view of the world and it effectively reaches out to me. I personally would not have wanted that a "problem" would occur on "Our Little Sister" because I can personally relate to the story somehow so on a personal level the movie was a "hey the world still has beautiful traits left after all" testament to me.
I think Koreeda has this "magic" on how he does that that even if there's not much action and thriller/mystery elements, I'm still going on with the film and not bailing out. I'm trying to figure out if it has something to do with the scenery, his love of nature, but definitely has something to do with his background music. Yes, the music. And the nature, sceneries..that helps. It's like you're watching through a life of your neighbor, or someone you know, someone that exists in the real world, then you get attached to his characters and you're curious as to how their story will go.
The movie could be labelled as monotone-ish (i.e. its just same flatline story without a climax and a resolution) but I could say it was a successful movie. It well-conveyed its message, its message and story was clear, the actors were good, the sceneries helped me to "breathe" (I'm biased for movies with green sceneries), and the music was a big plus.
Sidenote: Kudos to zelena for his post "Koreeda sometimes thinks he can just Ozu his way through films.". If that's not trademarked, I'd like to borrow that in the event I get involved in a confrontation and I'd say "Hey you think you can just Ozu or you way out???!!!!! or Hey you think you can Koreeda your way through work?????!!!" lol.Silentium-
-
zelena33 — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 05:47 PM)
the film reached utopian levels
That's an interesting observation and choice of words. I think maybe that is the perfect word. There is indeed something utoptian about it. I think that is an excellent 'lens' to view it through. I just don't have sensors to pick up that kind of thing (cynical New Yorker) and I'm missing something going on in this film that others pick up on. Almost reminiscent of a hippy commune or something. Everybody just holding hands and singing kumbaya, so to speak. There is a consistent harmony and calm. And obviously is takes a certain huge artistic imagination to conceive of a world where people are not scheming and being crappy to each other. For me it's just hard to see why this is a "10" for three or four of you, while to me, it's just like any other arthouse film where people chat and nothing happens. But this stuff about "hey the world still has beautiful traits left after all" I'm like, huh? No it doesn't!
I share your appreciation of music in films, it's so important. And also the nature and outdoor shots. Sometimes directors forget that we are watching, not just listening to the conversation, and it's so boring when it's just people in a room talking. I want to see some natural splendor or good architecture.
Señor Sitenoise is definitely going to gag, but I would suggest that there is a similarity between Koreeda and Steven Spielberg in some ways in how he directs children and can channel their point of view. It's a very warm and simple concept around children. I'm thinking of E.T., not Saving Private Ryan So no surprise Spielberg is a fan and bought the rights to the hollywood remake of Like Father, Like Son. And also some of Koreeda's shots have that Movie Magic transcendent quality, like the last shot in Like Father very big.
Like I said before, I love Koreeda's
movies
. I just don't love his
home movies
of the family hanging out in the kitchen making tofu. He seems to make those two types. What I like about him is the massively adult maturity, which is rare in people, not just filmmakers. But I do think he's a little too conscious of Ozu and trying to well, Ozu his way through a film
By the way, did you see Floating Weeds? -
plsletitrain — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 08:18 PM)
"Everybody just holding hands and singing kumbaya, so to speak.
I just don't love his home movies of the family hanging out in the kitchen making tofu."
I should have been warned before reading these parts. I literally laughed out loud!
"while to me, it's just like any other arthouse film where people chat and nothing happens."
I understand what you mean as I'm one who's more into visuals rather than dialogue. But I think Koreeda reconciles the two: His visuals aren't the conventional type. But the visuals talk. Then he has this dialogue that's..natural. Its hard to describe but I see that as magic because I'm usually the first one to bail out when there's nothing much going on in the movie.
"By the way, did you see Floating Weeds?"
Unfortunately, I haven't. But if you recommend it, I'll include it on my priorities list.Meadows of Heaven-
-
sitenoise — 10 years ago(April 02, 2016 12:14 AM)
You've seen
After Life
Wandâfuru raifu (1998)
,
Our Little Sister
Umimachi Diary (2015)
, and
Air Doll
Kûki ningyô (2009)
. All 10s, or thereabouts. You've yet to see my favorite,
zelena
's favorite (I believe), or Koreeda's two highest rated ones on IMDb. That's a ridiculously good batting average and on deck circle for a director.
His visuals aren't the conventional type. But the visuals talk.
Likers gonna like. -
ebossert — 10 years ago(April 03, 2016 08:17 AM)
Part 12 of my Asian Horror Year In Review playlist is now up. It covers movies released in 1996:
Here are the films I saw this week.
Highly Recommended
A Brand New Life (2009) (Korean Drama) (repeat viewing) After being abandoned at an orphanage by her father, a little girl must adjust to her new life. This is deliberately paced and very realistic. The main characters are very young but their world is captured beautifully by the director, who apparently used her own personal experiences as a guide. The actresses are all good, but Sae-ron Kim is flat-out excellent. Theres a lot of feeling and information that is expressed without words, and the interaction between the girls is very interesting. Quite sad at times but all of the emotion is earned thru minimalism without the need for melodrama. Runtime is perfect at 92 minutes. Awesome.
All Esper Dayo (2013) (Japanese Comedy Television Series) In Notsu, Oita Prefecture, a variety of sexual perverts are inexplicably endowed with supernatural powers in this J-drama (12 episodes, 30 minutes each). High school student Yoshio Kamogawa (Shota Sometani) is one of them and can read other peoples minds. He befriends some other oddball characters and hopes to one day save the world. Sion Sono co-directs, which is obvious due to the number of upskirt panty shots (and leg shots). The humor is relentlessly sex-themed and perverted, but its also delightfully light-hearted. Im not the biggest fan of sex-based humor, but this is phenomenal stuff! Tons of laugh-out-loud moments in this one. This isnt just a compilation of jokes, however, because some dramatic elements creep up at times and are well-executed. The characters are properly developed too. The finale episode is one huge curveball, and I really liked it. Sometani is perfectly cast as the lead. Kaho has played some disturbed characters in the past, but shes totally awesome here as a spiffy, tough-as-nails chick. Erina Mano is smoking hot, by the way.
Run and Kill (1993) (Chinese Thriller/Horror) (repeat viewing) A chubby salesman inadvertently starts a series of violent events that gradually escalate to produce a heaping body count. This is a rarity because it offers a scintillating storyline despite its CAT III classification. The real treat of this film though is Simon Yam, who gives one of his best performances as one of the most sadistic bad-asses in the history of CAT III cinema. His character is a highly trained war vet who breaks out machetes, flammable liquids, and even AK-47s to wipe out victims of all ages and sizes. The violence isnt as graphic as the more extreme movies within this genre, but it does have some rather shocking deaths. The finale is one of the most exciting duels-to-the-death youll ever see.
Spotlight (2015) (American Drama) Revealing a string of cover-ups stretching back decades, a team of reporters exposes the Catholic Archdioceses history of keeping reports about child molestation and other preist-initiated abuse under wraps. This is predictable stuff, but its proficently executed and absorbing. It reminded me in some ways of The Insider with its premise of journalists who fight an uphill battle against a seemingly insurmountable system of cover-ups. This movie does a good job at showing the amount of work that is necessary for such a task. This has a solid cast of Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and others who are assisted by well-written dialogue. Its nice when the Academy awards Best Picture to a film thats not a turd pile.
Recommended
Vendetta (1992) (Chinese Thriller/Action/Horror) (repeat viewing) A police officer kills two violent robbers (a man and a woman, who were twins), but years later his twin children become possessed by the spirits of the dead criminals and seek vengeance upon him. In true Hong Kong style, you get a mix of horror, action, bloody violence, and laughable absurdities. Its an entertaining mix indeed, especially when considering that the children are toddlers! Toss in a sadistic third robber whos a tough son-of-a-gun and youve got a fun romp on your hands.
Mood of the Day (2016) (Korean Romantic Comedy) By chance, a man and a woman meet on the KTX train and spend 24 hours in the unfamiliar city of Busan. This has a nice rhythm to it, with a laid-back mood and good performances. Its simplistic but very focused on the two leads, which showcases a lot of interaction between them. The male character is basically trying to sleep with the lady throughout much of the runtime, but there are some good moments along the way. The script uses a few contrivances and the ending is cliched, but I enjoyed this one. Ill watch Chae-won Moon in anything.
Armed and Dangerous (1986) (American Comedy/Action) (repeat viewing) A fired cop (John Candy) and useless lawyer (Eugene Levy) sign up as security guards and find theyve joined a corrupt union. The story and characters are weakly developed, but this still holds up in terms of fun comedy -
zelena33 — 10 years ago(April 03, 2016 03:59 PM)
Nice write-up, All Esper Dayo (2013) looks completely bonkers. Not sure I'll watch the whole series, but it's kind of kooky with all the signature Marilyn Monroe oops!-my-skirt shots. I just happen to have watched Mood of the Day last night - will give my take next time. I share your take on Mockinjay. Where did all the money go indeed. Malibu, I think. I have a bad habit of paying $10 to see this stuff just for the sake of going to the movies - that makes me an enabler or something..
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ebossert — 10 years ago(April 03, 2016 04:03 PM)
I'm interested in hearing others' opinions on Mood of the Day. I get the feeling that I may be in the minority on that one.
YouTube Asian Movie Review Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/anticlimacus100 -
zelena33 — 10 years ago(April 07, 2016 08:58 PM)
Watched a hell of a lot of films recently:
1.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Not a big fan of Ghibli, but I popped this one on to cleanse the palette from something toxic, and I loved it. Liked it much better than Spirited Away, which I found good but disturbing and pushy. Kiki is put together in a way that is just like how kids play make believe. Just takes kooky ideas and runs with them, in a cutely serious and guileless way. The "city" where it takes place is a real work of imagination. It's funny how everyone sees their own city in it. It's a hodgepodge of European city characteristics, as imagined by a Japanese kid. The beep street signs were a great touch. Fake jumbled Hungarian and Italian, etc. I saw Prague and Dubrovnik in this city. Phil Hartman from SNL as a cat? My girl Kirsten Dunst in the lead, and Janeane Garofalo as artsy aunt saucypants. Great casting. This is a real nice charming film; that characteristic Japanese nicey-nice that many of you like. By the time you get to the end credits, with the bopping 80s Japanese pop song, you think; yeah, that was good. I'm glad I watched that. 8/10
2.
The Wind Rises (2013)
So I also queued this one up. Absolutely gorgeous animation. Not a big anime guy, but one thing I like about animation is the ability to create whole worlds, especially historical worlds. For the audience, it's not important whether it looks real, it's important whether you can "buy it." And animation does that better than CGI when it comes to creating whole cities at specified points in the past. This one is closely related to Grave of the Fireflies. The cameo from
a famous person
is great. It's a big spoiler to say this is a
heartbreaking tragedy
. Sometimes you're in the mood for that. 7/10
3.
Mood of the Day (2016)
I basically agree with everything Ebo-san had to say about this one. It is a little below par for a krom kom, but that's a pretty high bar. I thought this one was going pretty well for the first half. But it fell into the trap that a lot of romcoms do: the first half is just the characters being fun, and everyone including the audience is having fun. Then around halfway, the writer realizes, damn, I'm gonna have to wrap up this plot. And the second half just gets bogged down in tying up the plot, in cliche and obvious ways, when it can only really end in one way:
Smootching on a train platform (duh).
If they just kept being fun, I wouldn't give a damn what happened to the plot. As ebo says, a lot is 'forgivable' in a comedy. Everything except being annoying.
Moon what's-her-name from
Love Forecast
is great - great at facial expressions. But pretty-boy was in over his head. He could handle playing the rake: a charmingly-arrogant-millionaire-who-is-kind-to-old-ladies-and-children, but a lot of guys can handle that. I think that's the easy part. When it came to the moment of deep feelings flashing across his face, he looked like "damn, what do I do with my face again?", and it took me out of the film. An actor needs to know what to do with his face. Hell, I'd rather watch Kang ho-Song as a romantic lead! Any day, and twice on Sunday!
I bet they shot this in two weeks last October and had it in theaters in January. Some nice images of Busan. This movie really had that fresh-out-of-the-oven smell that Korean TV and pop films have, and I do love that. Maybe it was the opening drone shots of Seoul, but it feels incredibly 2017, in a good way. It's like stepping into next year. Korean films do seem to carry a spirit of communal experience, all of us in on it, more than Japanese or Chinese culture exports. Maybe I'm just more open to it, but judging by how korean wave has swept the world, I think there's some magical secret sauce to it. A foreign policy of inclusion and charm. Like Serbia on organic vegetables, but more clean-cut and happy and sober and financially solvent and with fewer machine guns. Yeah. 6/10
4.
My Love, My Bride (2014)
I bail on a lot of films if I'm just not feeling it, so you might want to take this with a pinch of salt. This wasn't that bad, but I bailed at the halfway mark. So I'd say definitely below par for a krom kom. Too much drama. 5/10
5.
A Hard Day (2014)
Watched this one by accident because I confused it with a different film, a comedy.. I think someone here reviewed it recently. I don't normally watch this kind of film - action/suspense/thriller - so it was kind of fun and certainly well done. I think Hitchcock is huge in Korea; this is some well done no-don't-go-in-there suspense and great real (not CGI) special effects. Some violence but not the kind of spurting blood you see in a lot of asian films, which I can't stomach. Jin-woong Jo great as the unkillable baddie. 7/10
6.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Ok, Western Asia? I had somehow managed to not see this film up until now. Just didn't interest me. Arabs? Nah, I don't want to watch a movie about Arabs But this film is simply stunning. It instantly slam-dunked itself into a spot on my list
