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Elsewhere on the Web
Brother (2000)
I watched over 100 people die violent celluloid deaths today. It may have got to me. 67 of those died by bullet, knife, bomb, piano wire and/or chopsticks in Takeshi Kitano’s new film Brother.
This is actually the first time I’ve watched a Takeshi Kitano film. Gasps of shock, shaking of heads, tuts of tut-tut. Calls himself an Asian film reviewer and has yet to watch the greatest living director of Japanese yakuza as he paint the walls red? … (read more)
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Beijing Bicycle (2001)
Beijing Bicycle is so much more than its synopsis indicates. Almost from the first frame it is a visual love affair with the humble bike, and images that most Westerners have come to associate with the high population Asian cities – that of teeming, treadling travellers choking city streets – do not so much crowd as flow across the screen. There are whole scenes just of this, a graceful, abstracted ballet of hundreds, if not thousands, of bicycles and their … (read more)
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Big Shot’s Funeral (2001)
What I thought about the film. Ahem.
Well, let’s start with what expectations I had coming into the film. Well I hadn’t seen the trailer though a number of my friends had raved about it during Japanime 02 and it was Rosamund Kwan (whom I hadn’t seen since the Once Upon a Time in China series) with a dead Donald Sutherland. So automatically, one thinks an East meets West scenario. And it is. There’s no denying it. However, normally these … (read more)
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The Golden Lotus (1974)
Well, this is a different kind of film for me to review; The Golden Lotus is a Shaw Brothers film that features no kung fu, no roving swordsmen, no cultists, no priests, and no battling for honour or control of the martial world at all. It does (as the synopsis above says) have murders, corruptions and sexual exploits. Mostly sexual exploits, actually — the corruption and murders are generally side-effects in this story. So, consider yourself warned: most definitely not … (read more)
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Whisper of the Heart (1995)
Whisper is the only Studio Ghibli feature film directed by Yoshifumi Kondou. Although adapted from the manga by Hayao Miyazaki, responsibility for the film’s direction was passed on to Kondou, an animation supervisor on several other Ghibli projects. A few years after Whisper’s release, Kondou died.
Precocious, gifted, utterly dedicated children are abundant in Ghibli films but not often are they both supernaturally powerless and portrayed in an everyday physical environment. With the exception of an aerial fantasy sequence … (read more)
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Visitor Q (2001)
Mark’s review of Old Boy starts with the warning that This film contains material that may offend some viewers. Miike’s Visitor Q should really carry a warning that This film is chock-full of material that will definitely offend almost everyone.
Miike’s a weird guy. The theme that underlies most of the film is bullying, but it’s handled in a very Miike way: think John Waters does All About Lily Chou-Chou and you’ll be surprisingly close. Nothing is taboo … (read more)
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The Web Of Death (1976)
The Web Of Death is another entry into the swordplay fantasy genre from a specialist in this style of film, Chor Yuen (The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue and many others). It’s also effectively a remake of (or taken from the same source as) 1967’s The Thundering Sword, starring Cheng Pei-pei and Chang Yi.
However, unlike The Thundering Sword, which is an older-style martial chivalry film, The Web Of Death pulls out all the stops in … (read more)
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Swades (2004)
The story of Swades begins with the introduction of Mohan Bhargava (Shahrukh Khan), an Indian living and working in the USA. Mohan, a scientist for NASA is assigned to the Global Precipitation Measurement Satellite project. From the exterior all seems well for Mohan, but he is troubled with the thoughts of his childhood nanny Kaveriamma (Kishori Balal) who still resides in India. With the thoughts plaguing his mind, he instinctively decides to travel to India and trace the whereabouts of … (read more)
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