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Elsewhere on the Web
Scrap Heaven (2005)
Scrap Heaven is exactly the kind of title that you often see attached to the sorts of horribly angsty indy movies that this one almost is. While the movie certainly goes downhill after its very nifty opening act, it’s above average for what it is.
Singo (Ryo Case) is a meek, disenchanted cop who fantasises about heroism as he drives his desk. One day he finds himself on a bus with a hyperactive and mischievous toilet cleaner, Tetsu (Jô Odagiri), … (read more)
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Sad Movie (2005)
Don’t say the title didn’t warn you. Provided you are willing to give yourself over to this shamelessly manipulative fluff, you’re in for a very emotional experience indeed. But, surprisingly, even if you’re too cynical to take it seriously (and for that you wouldn’t need to be very cynical at all, to be honest) there’s still much to love about Sad Movie.
I’ve heard once or twice from individuals better travelled than I that Koreans are the best looking … (read more)
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Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006)
A current output of two feature films a year must feel like a holiday for workaholic director Miike Takashi, who pumped out an astonishing total of seven features in 2001 alone. If you do the maths — at that time in 2001, this equalled Wong Kar-wai’s output of feature films for his entire 13-year career since his first film in 1988. Despite his output, Takashi has not been content to stick to a particular genre and has tackled family dramas … (read more)
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Seven Swords (2005)
Seven Swords is another enormous film from Hong Kong’s prolific master producer/director Tsui Hark, whose Once Upon a Time in China and Chinese Ghost Story series are regarded as classics of HK film. This film brings together a lot of talent: Tsui Hark as director, Keung Kwok Man as director of photography, Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (best known for Ghost in the Shell) and a trio of big names in action choreography — veteran martial arts director Lau Kar … (read more)
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Chinese Gods (1976)
Weird. This is a real oddity. A feature length animation released during the Shaw Brothers heyday, the 1970s. Unlike Japan, Hong Kong isn’t known for its booming animation industry. This is one of the very few (and the earliest) to have been made; it’s rushed, rough and a tad incomprehensible — and also quite a bit of fun.
The filmmakers have clearly used the creative freedom of animation to explore some of the more fantastical elements of Chinese mythology that … (read more)
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Izo (2004)
I like pointless carnage as much as the next person, which is why my reaction to this movie surprises me so much. I would not have thought it possible that such a relentlessly gory movie could be so dull. This is not a moral objection at all, you must understand. It’s just… well, it’s so boring even Takeshi Kitano can’t revive it. Izo gives gratuitous violence a bad name.
A change of pace for prolific weirdo maestro Takashi Miike, Izo… (read more)
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The World (2004)
I would’ve thought it impossible that such a beautiful movie could be produced in such an inescapably tacky setting. But after all this is the work of perhaps the most important film maker of China’s “sixth generation”, Jia Zhang-ke. Jia released his Cultural Revolution masterpiece Platform in 2000, and with the contemporary The World he may even have outdone himself. In any case, the two movies stand as a magnificent, if sobering, portrait of modern China.
World Park is a … (read more)
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Maburaho (2003)
Where do we even begin with Maburaho? It’s probably best to begin with the synopsis from the back of the DVD jacket (written above) and basically go downhill from there. The synopsis pretty much sums up the entirety of the first disc, and I’d be willing to gamble that there are very few surprises in store for the rest of the series. To this end, the rest of this review is pretty much padding, since with Maburaho, what … (read more)
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