Since I noticed a lack of gore on our humble little blog, I hereby introduce Kakihara, a sadomasochistic yakuza member — that’s the Japanese mafia if you were asking. When his boss Anjo disappears with 300 million yen, they soon get to know his disturbed killer Ichi. Who is manipulated by Jijii with false memories of his childhood.
As soon as Kakihara hears about Ichi, all he wants to do is find him. Maybe even more excited about the pain this man can give him than anything else.
This is probably one of the most brutal, but stylish movies you'll see in a long time. Let me first say to skip this if you can't handle blood, sadism or any of that stuff. It's definitely not for the lighthearted. But if you can handle a doses of gore that will last for a year, this is an unique, stylish and comical movie you should really check out.
Staying true to the manga strip, the story of this very wrong sadistic relationship is brought to you in a very Takashi Miike way. Combining his view of the yakuza world with a lot of style, humor and a cryptic story.
During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in WWII, Wong gets asked to act in a political play. When the group realizes they want to make a greater impact, they set up a plan to assassinate the Japanese collaborator Yee. Using her acting abilities, Wong has to go extremely far to satisfy his needs and keep him unsuspicious. But how far is too far for her?
Taking a break from all the Hollywood fanfare, Ang Lee is back in his homeland to bring us another intense drama. Through the eyes of a young woman, he shows us nothing can be done without feelings. You can be the best actress around, but if you go in too deep, you will get sucked in. Setting this story during the Japanese occupation in WWII must have been a brave choice too. While he could have easily chosen a Hollywood blockbuster instead.
During the movie Ang Lee masterly skates on the line of friendship, sacrifice, betrayal and lust. Not only displayed flawlessly by actress Wei Tang, but even more so by actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai (2046). The only downside to this is, that the story needs a good hour to really develop. So take something to read with you if you're not up to that.
Driving to their new house, Chihiro and her parents stop by an interesting old road. After inspecting it for a while, they suddenly find an open-air restaurant in some sort of town. But except for the food, it is totally deserted. Hungry as they are, Chihiro’s parents can’t wait to dig in and start eating all the delicious meals. Chihiro is not so sure they can be eating all of this and wanders off.
When trying to get back to her parents after a while, she finds them turned into dirty eating pigs. And as the night falls, the place is filling up with strange gods and spirits. In her first steps to breaking the spell on her parents, Chihiro has to start working in a bathhouse nearby. But the gods and spirits turn out to be the regular guests over there too.
Spirited Away is one of the first adult anime features I've seen and well, I can't say anything has topped it yet. It is set in such an extraordinary world, with such beauty and wisdom. With all these fun, unusual and evil characters and brought with all sorts of layers. With Chihiro you first feel totally lost in this strange town, but as it goes you adept to this amazing place you got yourself into. An epic experience, which well deserves its Oscar. And as with every of these great experiences, you come out just a little different than before.
A little boy lives together with an old Buddhist monk at a floating temple — this may sound very wrong after doing my last post about Capturing the Friedmans, but bear with me, this is something totally different. The old man teaches him the lessons in live. But at a certain point, one has to find out for himself, right? In five episodes we see what happens to the boy when he grows up to be an old man himself.
I'm sure this won't be the last movie by Kim Ki-Duk proposed on Asian Thursday. He must be one of the most critically acclaimed South-Korean directors. Outside his own country that is. Surprisingly, in his own country he's not popular at all and they'd say 'Kim Ki-Who?'. Well, that's what you might be saying too. But if that's the case, at least consider this pearl of his collection and stick with me.
The latest works of mister Ki-Duk are chuck full of amazing cinematography. And the drifting temple in the middle of this beautiful deserted place is certainly one of them. This perfect display is combined with a profound and touching story about the life of a Buddhist monk. It's one of those stories that keeps you silenced for a couple of hours after watching. One of those that makes you rethink what you are doing. Or what we are doing. I... this will be my last post. I'm going into the forest tonight and live in peace with nature.
Byung-Doo is a young gangster struggling to create some income for himself, his mother and his siblings. Failing to get up in the rankings, a wealthy industrialist offers him a one time chance, but at a cost. This while his forgotten childhood friend is getting in contact, to know more about his gangster life for his next movie.
English subtitles by me, sorry for any errors.
This Korean production isn’t your average stylish over scripted gangster fight movie, but a well scripted drama about the rise and struggle of a career criminal. While Byung-Doo goes around his ordinary gangster life, director Yu Ha makes it painfully clear a gangster life and a casual life don‘t mix well together.
Rich characters, a great ambiance and deep performances makes this a human gangster movie that's out to impress.
