Hana (2006)

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Posted on September 9, 2007 by Deni

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest work, and his first foray into the period piece, is one of those films that before you see it, you find yourself wondering: what on earth could a semi-realist director best known for emotionally honest documentary style films do with the samurai genre? How will his organic style show through? How will he achieve the unexpected charm and humour that is such a strong characteristic in all his films to date no matter what the content?

But … (read more)

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Tomie 3: Rebirth (2001)

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Posted on August 26, 2007 by Alison

Well, there’s a thing: a Tomie movie with a plot! And I have to say it’s not at all bad, despite being made on a budget that would make a grown director weep.

Perhaps some of this giddy enthusiasm comes from having sat through the interminable Tomie 2. Sheer relief at not being faced with another whey-face, smirking teen queen may have led me to see this one as better than it is. Or perhaps it’s because some of … (read more)

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The Quiet Duel (1949)

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Posted on August 17, 2007 by James

It’s not every day you get to see a film focusing on the medical response to syphilis and the emotional torment of one of the disease’s sufferers.

I can’t say this particular absence in my film viewing habits to date particularly irks me. There’s only so much a spectator can tolerate when submitted to endless studies of a pent-up and remorseful Toshiro Mifune (infected with syphilis) pining in sexual frustration over his (spotless, timid, frail, i.e. stereotyped) wife to never … (read more)

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Flash Point (2007)

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Posted on August 5, 2007 by John Snadden

The long-awaited sequel to the excellent 2005 crime-action drama Sha Po Lang (SPL) has finally been released – and what a truly disappointing film it turns out to be. Flash Point is one of the cinema’s low points for 2007.

Flash Point is a lazy and unoriginal movie with routine performances from major HK stars and a storyline culled from recent Chinese crime flicks. Plus the near unbelievable fact that this high budget thriller was filmed on digital video. The … (read more)

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Tomie 2: Replay (2000)

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Posted on August 5, 2007 by Alison

Alas, poor Tomie: I knew her, Heroic Cinemanauts. A girl of infinite flirting and fancy, with a side order of cutting a bloody swathe through the teen male population. I was pleasantly surprised by the original Tomie, and so settled in for a marathon of Tomie-watching.

Alas for my expectations, this sequel is a poor imitation. We’ve lost the bewitching Miho Kanno, who was capable of making a psychotic, unkillable, regenerative boy-killer seem like a poor misunderstood girl (at … (read more)

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Infection (2004)

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Posted on August 5, 2007 by Alison

Welcome to Twilight Zone Central Hospital. From the first few moments, it’s clear that this isn’t going to be your average horror film set in your average hospital. The staff haven’t been paid, nurses are quitting in droves, everyone’s working extended shifts and then some, the hospital’s buying new equipment but not technical staff to operate it, and the director’s apparently headed off to parts unknown. Put that together with corridors that look like the typical spooky basement set, complete … (read more)

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Robotech: Shadow Chronicles (2006)

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Posted on August 5, 2007 by Eugene

I have been a Robotech fan. I followed the Macross Island saga religiously and my affection for anime has no doubt been largely influenced by my one-time membership amongst the fanatics of Robotech.

However, once the Macross Saga ended, the enthusiasm that had driven this obsession waned, and interest in the adventures of Maya Sterling declined in parallel to Saturday morning Television programmers’ willingness to air just the episodes, without the long and uninteresting fluff of ‘kid’s TV’ in amongst … (read more)

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Le Chevalier d’Eon (2006)

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Posted on July 22, 2007 by Deni

Set against the backdrop of pre-Revolution France, Le Chevalier D’Eon, by Production I.G, really is a series that earns the right to superlatives like ‘sweeping’ and ‘gripping’. The period in which it is set – the ambiance of pre-Revolution Eighteenth Century Paris – immediately identifies it as something different, something with aspirations. Of course, period settings in anime are hardly uncommon, and certainly there are plenty of series where style elements have been borrowed from foreign sources (the Grecian … (read more)

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