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Gantz (2004)
Imagine, if you will, the afterlife. Guns, nano-suits, a black sphere in a blank room and a mission that makes no sense with a group of strangers you’ve only just met.
Not exactly Old Testament, is it, but it’s not as much of a stretch between theology and this series than you might think. When something of a reluctant selfless deed results in tragedy, Kei and Kato are transported, not to the Pearly Gates, but into a 2DLK apartment and … (read more)
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Fear and Trembling (2003)
“In old Japan, the Emperor was to be approached with fear and trembling”. Thus the title of this French/Japanese film is justified. And if you don’t think while you’re watching, it’s reasonably watchable.
But once you engage the brain, you’ll find this film rather irritating, as I did. The lead character, Miss Amélie, is probably supposed to have a quirky charm, although she often just looks dishevelled and confused. The Japanese characters are all one-dimensional and uninspiring, and it’s hard … (read more)
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Escaflowne (2003)
On an evening when both her athletic skills and confused lovelorn feelings are put to the test, Hitomi is transported to a planet located behind the far side of the moon. What she encounters there reconfigures her coming-of-age problems; the imaginary subordinates reality, enabling her more time to experience, understand and judge herself. Through her eyes we encounter the world of Gaea, a place populated by feudalist human factions, furry half-breed creatures and ‘dragons’ of both classical and mechanical robot … (read more)
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Equinox Flower (1958)
The first colour piece by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, Equinox Flower is a flawless movie: funny, charming, and gently moving. It is built around one of the oldest stories in the book: “father disapproves of daughter’s fiancé”, and as trite as such a story may sound these days, this is probably the most deeply felt and well observed version of it ever made. At the centre of the film’s success is its uniformly wonderful cast, with every performance pitched perfectly … (read more)
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Doing Time (2002)
When we evoke the prison movie as a genre, most of us recall images of tough men, butch women and their helpless, puny victims in the washroom. Prisons are where social outcasts hatch remarkably intelligent and daring escapes and where frustrated wardens exemplify the injustices of power hierarchies. Prisons are low culture, high function institutions. In a prison, life is bleak.
Doing Time is a wonderfully gentle subversion of the despairing prison movie. How gentle? Replacing the starkness of the … (read more)
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D.N.Angel (2003)
There’s something strange about D.N Angel, something that seems to defy its simple shoujo narrative the way a cute little puppy defies all logic. You know it’s just a dog, but it gives you that look, and it wags its tail eagerly and bounces excitedly on its oversized front paws and ohmygod that’s it; you’re smitten and let this be a lesson damn it — never underestimate the power of cute.
That’s what D.N Angel, based on … (read more)
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Dersu Uzala (1974)
This is an interesting film. Akira Kurosawa is one of cinema’s most impressive directors, and I’ve a tendency to dribble superlatives when writing about him — my apologies. In any case, you will (or should) know him as the director responsible for The Seven Samurai, Ran, Sanjuro, and many other well-known Japanese films. Most of the films he is famous for are shot in Japan and often set in feudal Japan, telling tales of the samurai and … (read more)
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Deadly Outlaw Rekka (2002)
Takashi Miike is the quintessential maverick film maker who just happens to have made a number of films about quintessentially maverick psychos. There is, no doubt, a connection, but Deadly Outlaw Rekka, for all its occasional bent humour and oddities, is actually one of Miike’s more straight forward efforts.
Like much of Miike’s yakuza work the film opens in a blaze of violence. We watch a series of fast seemingly unrelated cuts which jump in time but mainly focus … (read more)
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