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sugarj1369
Reviews
Eliana, Eliana (2002)
Amateurish Movie By Indonesian Film Students
This is an amateur movie shot on video, not an "electrifying drama" as the DVD liner notes falsely boast. I have seen much better stuff from undergrad film students. The bulk of the story unfolds with an all-nite taxi ride around Jakarta. This movie could have been made using a single video camera, but there are a few sections where two cameras were used and the content was bounced together later. The editing is extremely rough. The final edit was probably done with two cameras, bouncing content back and forth, instead of with a proper editor. Perhaps they did the editing in the taxi too? The English subtitles were written by someone not fluent in English, e.g., "Where you go now?" To say the production quality is on a par with Blair Witch is generous. If you're not scared away yet, this film was an ambitious and creative endeavor, with lots of cool and funky images from all over Jakarta.
Biruma no tategoto (1956)
Dated Movie with Nice Images and Good Choral Music
My wife and I liked this film, but some people may be offended by the liberties it takes with historical accuracy. It is refreshing to see a film from this era where Japanese soldiers are presented as regular human beings, not as sadistic subhuman devils. A lot of attention to detail went into the film score, and there are some nice choral musical numbers. In my opinion, the message of the book gets lost trying to make the movie work as a story, but the images of Buddhist temples and the music somehow redeem it. This film was groundbreaking for it's time, but like most films that are over 50 years old, it seems dated in retrospect. If you are interested in an older Japanese language film with nice black and white images and choral music, you will love this movie. If you are looking for an action packed shoot-em-up, or even just an accurate historical depiction, that is not what this film is about.
Gokushiteki erosu: Renka 1974 (1974)
Exploitation Pseudo-Art
I strongly disagree with the previous reviewer's glowing review. This is an exploitation film cobbled together from the home movies of a disturbed rich Japanese (Hara), who is stalking/exploiting a mentally ill woman, Takeda, with whom he has a child.
Clearly, Takeda wants nothing to do with Hara, but allows Hara and his camera back into her life in exchange for money. There is a fine line between exploitation and controversial art, but Hara doesn't seem to know the difference. The exploitation is hidden here under the guise of love.
Ignoring her obvious mental condition, Hara encourages Takeda to give birth alone without the assistance of qualified people. BEWARE: There are graphic scenes of childbirth that leave nothing to the imagination. You witness a real human birth. Luckily it's in black in white because there is blood everywhere.
While giving birth, Takeda asks Hara for help, but Hara ignores her and continues filming. Encouraging someone with a fairly obvious mental condition to give birth alone without any experienced persons around is reckless and irresponsible. Hara could have easily killed her and the child.
In my view, Hara is an insensitive exploiter of the most vulnerable people, not the self-appointed "maverick of Japanese cinema" as his own pompous biography tries to claim.
I had hoped this film would be something worth watching, unfortunately it wasn't.