Bichunmoo (2000)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alison

Bichunmoo is a sweeping, historical tragedy, with ferocious whirling swordplay and lavish scenery. The hawk-faced hero, with flowing hair and brooding eyes, grows up thinking he’s from a low-class family, but discovers he’s the son of a Korean noble. The heroine, exceptional in a land where all the women are lovely, is the daughter of a Mongol general, and betrothed to a Han noble.

The story of their love, and the forces that conspire against them, is compelling. There’s the … (read more)

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The Big Swindle (2004)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alan

The Big Swindle certainly owes a lot to The Usual Suspects. I am not the first reviewer to recognise that and it is pretty darn obvious — there is a team of dangerous men, hints that not all is as it seems and much of the plot is revealed by its participants in flashbacks. And there is a real Keyser Soze moment around half-way through. Nuff said.

But the film also owes a good deal to the great heist … (read more)

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Horror Hotline: Big Head Monster (2001)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by James

Horror Hotline’s big head monster is a deformed infant, abandoned at birth, described in the dialogue as having seven or eight eyes, a head as big as a rubbish bin and a body the size of a three year-old boy! Unfortunately, we never get to verify this information. The monster appears just once, and then only in the form of an apparition: imagine the ‘floating-foetus’ image from the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey but enlarge the shape of … (read more)

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Bet on My Disco (2000)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Jonathan

Bet on My Disco is a movie of simple pleasures, but it doesn’t entirely do the film justice to reduce it to the (simple!) level of the plot summary above. There are plenty of laughs in Disco, but it’s not an out-and-out comedy; instead, director Kim Dong-Won has made a film that is, bizarrely, almost as much a realist drama as it is a dance pic.

Lee Jung-jin (as our hero, Hae-juk) mixes a broad — and very physical … (read more)

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Cowboy Bebop the Movie (2001)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Deni

Cowboy Bebop. If you haven’t heard it said by now, then you haven’t been listening. Pretty soon, everyone’s going to be saying it, so I’m gonna get it out of the way now.

COWBOY BEBOP ROCKS!!!

This film is not, under any circumstances, to be missed. Ever.

To bring you up to speed if you’ve never seen the series (and my brain is trying to grasp that concept without much success…) then what you have to look forward to … (read more)

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Aragami (2003)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alison

Aragami is absolutely vintage Kitamura. A small cast (of three, unless you count one who dies about two minutes into the film). An unfolding mystery. And a couple of surprise twists which will jolt a surprised laugh out of you.

This and 2LDK were made as part of a friendly competition between directors, and of course being a Kitamura fan I like this one best. It’s odd, though, because not much really happens. There’s talking, eating, fighting, more talking, more … (read more)

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Ardour (2001)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alison

Ardour is a steamy tale of love, betrayal, sex, more love, and more betrayal. From Korea, this film tells the tale of a happily-married woman who is confronted by her husband’s young mistress, who gives her a right cosh on the head. The couple retire to a small town, the husband all contrite, the wife prone to constant pain from the healing wound.

There she meets a local doctor, who suggests they embark on a physical affair in which neither … (read more)

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Nine Souls (2003)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alison

Japan has over a million shut-ins, mostly young men, who can’t face the world outside their bedrooms. At the beginning of 9 Souls, one of them kills his father. His stay in prison is mercifully brief. He and eight cellmates escape one night, and take off in search of the stash of cash hidden by an ex-prisoner, the Counterfeit King.

While you might think a prison break film would be full of gun battles and exciting car chases, in … (read more)

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