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david.widlake
Reviews
Donkey Xote (2007)
Truly crap
I've just seen the English dubbed Spanish DVD. With Pixar raising the bar and Disney and others raising their game to produce high quality animated movies with great stories it is hard to comprehend how this got made. The animation is fine but the story ... oh dear. Set some time after the well known story of Don Quixote this follows the same group as they try to find Dulcinea but the story is told from the point of view of their steeds - a brave donkey and a cowardly horse. Was this only made with Government/European Union taxpayer subsidies to help the Spanish film industry (a 'europudding')? I suspect so as the number of logos appearing in the credits is amazing. If you are a fan of Don Quixote you won't like this - If you aren't a fan you still won't like this!
Aiki (2002)
See this film!
Taichi is a high school drop out hoping to be a pro boxer when a road accident leaves him paralysed from the waist down. During a long stay in hospital and an even longer convalescence, he wallows first in thoughts of suicide, then in aggressive and self-destructive behavior. Things begin to look up when he's mistaken by racketeers for the attempted rescuer of a rape victim: he's offered a job, meets a great woman and gets accepted as a pupil by a master of aiki-jujutsu, the martial art which channels aggression back to the aggressor, who takes him on because he's intrigued by the challenge of teaching someone confined to a wheelchair.
Very uplifting picture which never depresses the viewer. If you've seen The Karate Kid (and who hasn't) you'll love the martial arts tournament where our hero fights a thuggish karate master who wants to kill him.
37°2 le matin (1986)
Out to buy on DVD
Betty Blue (37.2 le Matin) is out to buy in Australia on DVD. The disc contains the 3 hour directors cut and is in the PAL format which might prove a problem to people in the US - though if your TV/DVD player can cope with that the good news is it is region free so can be watched anywhere.
Get hunting on the Internet - An ESSENTIAL purchase.
Nabi (2001)
The Butterfly is not 12 Monkeys
A woman named Anna arrives in a city afflicted by lethal acid rain in search of the oblivion virus - an virus which erases memories. An agency provides two staff to help her: the guide Yuki, who tracks outbreaks and rushes clients to the scene to seek infection, and their driver K, an orphan who is desperate to find his family. But the virus proves elusive, and Anna (whose bad memories are triggered by guilt over her dead child) is ready to give up - until she comes across evidence that this may not be her first visit to the city. Shooting fast and cheap on DV, Moon Seung-Wook creates a powerful dystopian vision in which the longed-for salvation is amnesia. The imagination on display here is impressive - I thought the film was going to match 12 Monkeys but it was all a little too experimental for that. The performances are excellent - It has Best Actress prizes from Puchon and Locarno festivals to prove it.
Wana (1996)
Very haunting film
Part three of the Mike Hama Private Investigator trilogy is completely different to what we've enjoyed before. While there are still laugh out loud comedy moments this is more like the film Audition by Takashi Miike. It is very, very disturbing viewing and will give you nightmares if you dare to watch it alone!
Harukana jidai no kaidan o (1995)
Essential viewing
Stairway to the Distant Past is the second film in the Mike Hama Private Investigator Trilogy. If you've seen part one The Most Terrible Time in My Life you must seek this out to find out how all your favourite characters are getting on. The films themes are age and family as Mikes mother "Dynamite Sexy Lilly" returns to Yokohama with her strip act many years after deserting Mike and his sister Akane. She reveals who Mikes father is and he sets out to find him. This films DoP deserves an Oscar as the picture is stunningly shot - it reminded me most of the Cinema du Look of Luc Besson and Leos Carax. Be sure to watch The Trap part three of the series.
Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô (1995)
Hunt this out on DVD as you'll never see it at a multiplex!
Shinjuku Triad Society: Chinese Mafia Wars is unlikely to get distribution in the West outside film festivals. Why? Could your censors stomach a film where policemen anally rape male and female suspects to get them to talk (and the victims enjoy it) or see an old lady have her eye torn out of her skull? These are just a few of the shocks in store for viewers of this ultraviolent cops and gangsters story. It makes Clockwork Orange which was banned for years in the UK look like a Disney cartoon.
Should you see this film? YES It is fantastic and essential viewing for fans of Asian cinema. The shocking moments are there to illustrate what goers on in the world of these characters. If you like this make sure you catch Dead or Alive which is very similar (barring the insane ending in DOA of course). Great for Japan that they have a talent like Miike working at the same time as Takeshi Kitano. The best chance of seeing this film outside a Takashi Miike retrospective at a film festival is on DVD. If I haven't put you off try hunting for a Hong Kong version on the web as I'm sure it will come out in that country.
Nihon kuroshakai (1999)
Youths struggling in Japan
Ley Lines (the English title of Japan Triad Society) is the third part of Miike's Triad Society Trilogy but it (and the other parts) can be seen out of order as they contain no recurring characters or storylines. A funny, sad film about bored small town delinquents travelling to Tokyo and being outclassed by the big city criminals. Beautiful camerawork.
Perdita Durango (1997)
A psychopaths wet dream
De la Iglesia is the Spanish Tarantino. I hope that remark would not offend him and that it makes more people check out this amazing picture. If guns, knives & ultraviolence, nudity, sex & rape, shocks, laughs and surrealism are your thing you'll love this movie. It has great characters, actors, music and cinematography. I'm now going to buy the Spanish edition region 2 DVD as it contains the longest cut. (British viewers will get a kick from the everchanging accent of film maker Alex Cox who plays James Gandolfini's sidekick.)
Gojô reisenki: Gojoe (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Japanese style
At two and a quarter hours this is a sometimes slow moving thoughtful film interrupted by vast sword battles. The battle between darkness and light is signified by the constant motif of the blazing sun and is superbly demonstrated by a three way fight between 'demons', bandits and soldiers in a forest during an eclipse.
Be prepared: following a stunning sword fight under lightning filled skies the end of this picture will have you scratching your head in puzzlement.
Juyuso seubgyuksageun (1999)
Don't miss this film!
Hilarious comedy of disaffected youth in Korea. Stylish and action packed (and a close second to Glengarry Glen Ross in the most swearing stakes). Bored again after their first attack on the gas station our 4 heroes return and start running the place with the staff held hostage - the situation begins to go out of control after run ins with the local gangsters, the "delivery boys union" and the cops. If this film comes within 100 miles of you don't miss it!