Blog Archives

Why Don’t You Play in Hell (2013)

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Posted on November 24, 2013 by Deni

Sion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell is, I think, a little like modern art – staring at it, you’re pretty sure you’re missing the point. Not that Sono’s work has necessarily been thematically deep to date, but it’s hard to look at a film about a filmmaker making a film without trying to read into it a little industry commenatary. The problem is, if you are, it’s difficult to work out what the hell Sono is trying to … (read more)

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A Lone Scalpel (2010)

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Posted on October 25, 2010 by Samson

Imagine this: You are in a situation where you could save someone’s life, but in doing so you risk losing everything (and I mean everything) that you have. Would you do it? ‘Perhaps not’, I hear you say. How about if you are a doctor and that person you could save is your patient, would you be prepared to carry out your duty by performing that life-saving operation despite the possibility that you may lose your medical licence and … (read more)

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One Missed Call (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

I can imagine director Miike lecturing a group of open-mouthed students: “Just because a film has a supernatural evil killing people in grisly (and gristly) ways, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.” And this is, both grisly (and gristly) and fun.

The central theme of this film is the cell phone warnings of impending death, which comprise a message, from the doomed to themselves, containing their last words. Now I don’t know about you, but if I received a message … (read more)

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Drive (2002)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Alison

Sabu deserves to be much more famous than he is: he’s a master of coincidence comedy, he has a soft spot for the underdog, and his storylines go where no storyline has gone before.

We’re introduced to our uptight hero straight up, via his doctor explaining the cause of his headaches. Yet another Sabu salaryman, whose parents suicided and left him, whose job is unfulfilling, and whose personal life is non-existent, is the victim of tension headaches. No, really? His … (read more)

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Monday (2000)

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Posted on October 23, 2003 by Alison

What can you say about a film that starts with a funeral? Well, almost starts with a funeral: our hero (an unassuming salaryman) wakes up in a hotel room, discovers that it’s Monday instead of the Saturday he was expecting, and tries to remember his weekend.

While this might be a familiar experience for some of you, what he gradually pieces together of his action-packed 60 hours would not be familiar. It starts with the funeral, at which, in the … (read more)

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