ALL NEW VISUAL VICTUALS (Volume 5)

*映画に関するポストは日本語書き込みません。

I didn't think I watched enough films to write another movie review essay but as I look at my recently watched flicks, it seems there's more than enough material to do so. There really hasn't been any film that I feel I just must see at the theater (except for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" which we will go see eventually) and I was getting a little bored with Hollywood so I started renting films from the Mini Movie Theater corner of my local DVD rental store. Unlike the States, where I found my local rental store (Movies To Go) to have a rather small foreign film section, I think I have a wider variety to choose from. And for those of you who will say, "But Ern, there's Scarecrow Video" in Seattle. Um, did you see the sentence that says "local"? which would be Lakewood for me, but I digress. Unfortunately, all the foreign films I rent in Japan are subtitled in Japanese (or I can choose the Japanese dubbed option as well) but dubbed movies just don't sit right with me (unless they're really bad Chinese kung-fu flicks). I have also been finding myself more interested in seeing more Japanese films aside from Kurosawa and Juzo Itami. There's a whole untapped world of entertainment I have yet to indulge in. I have rented quite a few in the past, and let's face it, they are just not up to Hollywood standards. I've had more misses and plain God awful when it comes to renting Japanese films. Even my Japanese friends hardly ever watch Japanese movies - that must tell you something about the state of the industry here. Anyway, for all you film lovers, as with my choice of reading materials, I have an eclectic taste in movies as well. I don't mind watching a rom-com flick right after an action packed shoot 'em up, but that's just me. You might even find yourself wanting to check out some of the lesser known marvels I've managed to come across. And now for the films:

1. 裸の大将：宮崎の鬼が笑うので 「Ｈａｄａｋａ ｎｏ Ｔａｉｓｈｏ：Ｍｉｙａｚａｋｉ ｎｏ Ｏｎｉ ｇａ Ｗａｒａｕｎｏ ｄｅ」 (2007) - As you can surmise from the title, this is a Japanese movie. But I must give you a little more background. The movie has the English title of "The Naked General" and was originally made in 1957. The story is based on the life of an artist named Kioshi Yamashita. However, when things get difficult for Kioshi, he then travels without any destination in mind. "Hadako no Taisho" was also a television drama that started in 1980 and lasted for 17 years. The first made-for-television remake was titled "Hadaka no Taisho: Horou no Mushi ga Ugoki Dashita no de" which translates to something like "The Naked General: The Wandering Bug has Awakened". This is the second made-for-television movie where once again Kioshi gets the itch to go a wandering and finds himself in Miyazaki Prefecture. Here, he befriends a little boy who seems to be an orphan but turns out, the kid is searching for his mother. His grandfather made his father divorce the mother while retaining the custody of the boy so the boy will learn to take over Grandpa's sake making business when he gets older. The father has no desire to stay in the family business. Oh, the translation of this features title? It would be something like "The Naked General: The Devil of Miyazaki will Laugh". Cute family entertainment.

2. SALVADOR (2006) - Mikako had been wanting to watch this film for a while and we finally got around to renting it. This is one of those non-Hollywood films we've been watching. This is based on the true story of Salvador Puig Antich who was a bank robber and anarchist who was condemned to death in 1974 during the Francisco Franco years in Spain. This won many awards and accolades in it's native Spain, but I must be honest, it had dull beginning and Mikako nearly lost all interest in it. Fortunately, she managed to watch it till the end. This is one of those films where the last thirty minutes are the most intense and makes you glad that you watched it the movie all the way through. If you want me to put it in really simple terms though, this would be the Spanish version of "Dead Man Walking". But if you want the flick to be more worthwhile, I recommend studying up a bit on Franco and the Anarchists in Catalonia.

3. THE BRIDGE (2006) - Such a non-threatening title for a film until you realize that the subject is suicide and the bridge is none other than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This is a documentary on people jumping off the bridge. Director Eric Steel had a crew focus on the bridge during the daylight hours for the entire year of 2004. Those are real people jumping to their deaths, no stuntman, no wires, and no joke. He interviews friends and families of the victims and gets people to debate about a delicate subject most people would rather avoid. Although the Golden Gate Bridge may be one of the most popular destinations for ending one's life, I had to disagree with it being labeled as the most popular suicide destination in the world. Granted, there were over a dozen suicides in the year between 2004 and 2005 and we may never know the exact count, but as of May of this year, there has already been over 100 suicides accounted for in Japan's notorious Aokigahara Jukai located near the bottom of Mount Fuji. The word jukai is written with the kanji characters for “tree” and “ocean” and the area is truly an “ocean of trees”. If you leave the nature paths, you definitely would not be able to find your way back without a guide. We were watching a special on Aokigahara Jukai when the reporter saw a man standing in the distance. When the crew took a closer look, the man had hung himself but the with the pull of gravity, his body was standing on the earth, but he was no longer alive.

5. ANYTHING ELSE (2003) – Ugh, I should have known better than to watch one of the later Woody Allen flicks. For me, he hasn’t made anything worthwhile since “Sleeper” – does that give away my age? This movie was so bad I wished I was watching “anything else” or rather “anything else” would have been better than this Godawful waste of time.

6. FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007) – One of the few Hollywood blockbusters we did watch. Mr. Fantastic is still a dork. The Human Torch is still a narcissistic misogynist, the Invisible Woman is still virtually invisible to Mr. Fantastic even though they’re engage to be married and The Thing retains his sense of humor. But this time they must pull together to save the world from a world devouring thingy that’s being led to Earth by the mysterious Silver Surfer. Lots of cool effects and stuff. Nothing you haven’t seen before. I can’t wait to rent “Iron Man”!

7. SUKIYAKI WESTERN: DJANGO (2007) – I almost went to see this at the theater because I liked the premise of it (and I love the old Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone with Clint Eastwood – oh, the Japanese call them Macaroni Westerns) and even Quentin Tarantino makes an appearance in it. Aside from him, the stars are all popular Japanese actors who’s dialogue are all in English and because English isn’t their native language, the dialogue is a little drawn out and slow and very thickly accented (not that I had a problem with that, my mother being Japanese and all). The story? A “High Plains Drifter” like character comes into town that’s separated by the red Heike clan and the white Genji clan and both clans try to get the drifter to join them to help them find some legendary buried treasure. How can you not enjoy a samurai who loves Shakespeare and wants everyone to call him Henry. The film has its moment, but overall, I’m glad I didn’t pay the full fee to see it on the silver screen.

8. MURDER BALL (2005) – I had a sample of the DVD and thought it would be some B grade action movie with pathetic effects. The sample copy didn’t have a package so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a documentary about the sport of wheelchair rugby. One of the players said it was originally called “Murder Ball” but you couldn’t really market a name like that. This film features the U.S. para-Olympic team’s road to Athens along with their rivals, Team Canada, which is coached by a former U.S. team member. A pleasant surprise.


9. BRIDE FROM HANOI (2007?) – A Korean drama that was shortened into a 110 minute movie. The story flew by so fast that you really couldn’t get to know the characters. I’m sure the drama itself would have been a joy to watch (especially for Mikako as she’s hooked on Korean dramas as much as my mother). The extremely short version – Korean doctor working in Hanoi falls in love with his Vietnamese interpreter. But she doesn’t return his love at first until she finds that he has to go back to Korea for some reason or another. She says don’t leave. He leaves and thinks she didn’t see him off at the airport on purpose. It turns out, older sister never passes along his message about his flight, because she had a bad experience with a Korean man and doesn’t want her sister to suffer the same fate. Then, Vietnamese woman decides to take part in one of those “find a bride” services and finds herself in Korea engaged to…the doctor’s older brother. I think you can guess the rest and for once, there is a happy ending. Doesn’t really work as a feature-length film though.

10. THE BRAVE ONE (2007) – One more Hollywood film (not sure if it was a blockbuster or not). Jodie Foster stars as a popular radio personality who’s about to get married. When the happy couple take their dog for a walk in Central Park, they are victimized by a gang of hoodlums. Jodie’s fiancée buys the farm and Jodie herself falls into a coma, all this while one of the scumbags films the entire incident. Jodie wakes up from her coma and becomes a changed person. She becomes a reluctant vigilante but finds that she can’t stop herself and wonders why nobody, including the law hasn’t stopped her either. This film reminds me of 1980’s “The Exterminator” that had a similar plot. There also was “The Exterminator 2” in 1984 but I doubt that there will be “The Brave One: Part 2” – Thank God for small miracles.

11. 自虐の詩「Jigyaku no Uta」(2007) – This flick has the international English title of [HAPPILY EVER AFTER]. I found the English title on the IMDb website and couldn’t agree more with the person who left their personal view of the movie.

「This movie is like 3 different films mixed in one. The first half is hard, wacky comedy. Nakatani Miki and Abe Hiroshi's chemistry was great, and I was laughing the whole time. Most of the second half, however, is straight up drama. It was a long reminiscence sequence that I found to be a bit too draggy. The last 15 minutes of this film is inspirational tear-jerker.Although the ending really moved me, I wish they just stuck with comedy for this manga-based film. They tried to make it a bit too deep for a comedy with the drama section, and it just ruined the whole film. The ending features an epiphany scene that I personally love seeing in Japanese films, but it just wasn't enough to save this film.I was once again impressed with Abe Hiroshi's versatility though, he just seems so natural in every single role he takes on. Nakatani Miki also did a very fine job in her rare leading role. Not great, but still a film worth watching.」

This person was right on the money, although I wasn’t really moved by the ending. The movie starts great, loses momentum, then falls flat on its face. This seems to be a problem with many of the Japanese films I’ve been watching lately. But I’m sure I’ll keep renting them because there’s bound to be a treasure amongst the mountain of mediocrity.

12. JAMES’ JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM (2003) – This is an Israeli film with the original title of 「MASSA’OT JAMES BE’ERETZ HAKODESH」. Another pleasant surprise. James is a young Zulu man who was chosen by his village to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. However, when he reaches the border, the customs and immigration official don’t believe and arrest him, thinking that he’s trying to illegally enter the country to work. As he sits in jail, he prays to God for guidance, and lo and behold, some man bails him out, but his bail comes at a price – he is forced to work as an undocumented laborer. But the guy who bails him out takes a like to James who finds it more and more difficult to complete his journey. Will he make it to the Promised Land? Well, I don’t about the availability in the States, but it’s a most entertaining film.

13. KUKUSHKA (2002) – Here’s another little gem I came across. It’s a Finnish movie with the International English title of 「CUCKOO」. It’s September 1944, Finland is about to bail out of World War II. Veikko, a Finnish sniper who no longer wants to kill anybody so is chained to a rock and left to rot. Ivan, a captain in the Russian army is caught by the Front Secret Police and is sentenced to die but the jeep he’s being transported in is attacked and he makes a narrow escape. A Sami woman named Annie gives them both shelter in her native Lappland. The men may be enemy soldiers but for Annie, they are a Godsend, as she’s been alone for the past four years. The only problem is the Finn speaks Finnish, the Russian speaks Russian, and Annie speaks some Lapp dialect. What they say and how they respond to one another is hilarious.


And those were the films I rented. I also watched a couple of movies that were broadcast on television – “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, “Total Recall”, and “Matrix: Reloaded”. But I’ve decided not to review the flicks I’ve seen before. But now that I’ve watched a few mini theater productions, I’m ready to indulge in a heavy dose of Hollywood fare. I can’t believe I still haven’t watched “Rush Hour 3” or “Rocky Balboa”. “Juno” is just about to hit the theaters (hey, this is Japan – they’re always late when it comes to most Hollywood films). We just went to Tsutaya (our local DVD/Game/CD rental/sale shop) and rented “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “ゲゲゲの鬼太郎”, that would be “Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro”. But I also saw another few titles that I want to rent from the Mini Theater section. And I know you all may want to slap me upside the head, but I want to watch “National Treasure 2”. And there looks like a really bad Thai action movie called “Rocket Man” which I may have to check out too. Until next time!!