Japanese Movies/Discussion/Recommendations

^interesting

I watched another movie, which is perhaps difficult to swallow for the averager Western movie go-er.

Megane starring Ichikawa Mikako and Kobayashi Satomi. About a woman staying in a very tranquil pension on an Okinawan island. ItLs about dazing and eating shaved ice. :victory: Nothing really happens at all!

Recommended to get that tranquil and relaxed feeling.

EstherM wrote:^interesting

I watched another movie, which is perhaps difficult to swallow for the averager Western movie go-er.

Megane starring Ichikawa Mikako and Kobayashi Satomi. About a woman staying in a very tranquil pension on an Okinawan island. ItLs about dazing and eating shaved ice. :victory: Nothing really happens at all!

Recommended to get that tranquil and relaxed feeling.

Haha. I actually saw that film. It was very different, but it was entertaining.

Tu_triky wrote:Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
The three leads \ Ryoko Hirosue ("Okuribito"), Tae Kimura ("Gururi no Koto") and Miki Nakatani ("Kiraware Matsuko") \ were cast for their acting skills as well as their star power, as indicated by their shelves of Best Actress prizes. Nakatani, however, gloriously dominates as an upstart provincial aristocrat, her icy, imperious gaze masking a raging ambition \ and knawing insecurity. Sirk would have loved her \ his Japanese Barbara Stanwyck.

Comparing Nakatani Miki to Barbara Stanwyck is a helluva compliment, don't you think Geezer?

Hirosue and Kimura are both at best run-of-the-mill actresses imo; they aren't in Nakatani's league.

EstherM wrote:^interesting

I watched another movie, which is perhaps difficult to swallow for the averager Western movie go-er.

Megane starring Ichikawa Mikako and Kobayashi Satomi. About a woman staying in a very tranquil pension on an Okinawan island. ItLs about dazing and eating shaved ice. :victory: Nothing really happens at all!

Recommended to get that tranquil and relaxed feeling.

If you liked Megane, you're sure to like Kamome Shokudo (Seagull Diner); it's written and directed by the same person who did Megane and stars some of the same actors, including the outstanding Kobayashi Satomi. Same kind of quirky, laidback slice of life film in an unusual setting (Finland!), and an even better movie imo.

shin2 wrote:

If you liked Megane, you're sure to like Kamome Shokudo (Seagull Diner); it's written and directed by the same person who did Megane and stars some of the same actors, including the outstanding Kobayashi Satomi. Same kind of quirky, laidback slice of life film in an unusual setting (Finland!), and an even better movie imo.

Saw that one too. Kamome is a bit more engaging so I think it makes for a better film. Finland as a locale makes for some interesting film, especially when you get the Japanese character and the Finnish ones both onscreen.

Tu_triky


Ooo! Something to obsess about. "Zero no Shoten". Thanks for the heads up.

shin2

Comparing Nakatani Miki to Barbara Stanwyck is a helluva compliment, don't you think Geezer?

It was probably meant as such, what with all her Oscars, and the undying affection of her fans... but the truth is, I could never stand Barbara Stanwyck.

It's weird. I'm forever comparing one actor or actress to another. Yamaguchi Tomoko to Irene Dunne. Uchida Yuki to Natalie Wood. But for the life of me, I can't think of anyone to compare Miki to. Probably just my massive crush getting in the way.

Along those lines... I've been watching the jidai-geki films you sent, and just having a ball. And one of the things that's making them great for me is that every time I see Kataoka Chiezo, I'm blown away by his resemblance to Hugh Herbert. I don't know if you remember old Hugh, but he's one of my favorite all time comedians. And just the idea of Hugh, dressed up as a Samurai, and battling evil in old Edo.

If you don't know him, or have never heard of him, check out "2 reelers" over at youtube. Herbert made like a thousand 2 reel shorts of Columbia back in the 40s and 50s.

Geezer wrote:Tu_triky


Ooo! Something to obsess about. "Zero no Shoten". Thanks for the heads up.

No problem.

shin2 wrote:

If you liked Megane, you're sure to like Kamome Shokudo (Seagull Diner); it's written and directed by the same person who did Megane and stars some of the same actors, including the outstanding Kobayashi Satomi. Same kind of quirky, laidback slice of life film in an unusual setting (Finland!), and an even better movie imo.

Thanks for the recommendation! I havenLt seen this one! :victory:

I had a crappy day, I feel like beating up somebody. Instead, I am going to watch Crows zero 2 and let the idols do the nasty work for me. :beatyou:

Just saw a trailer of Yamada Yoji's new film Ototo which will be coming out the end of January 2010. Some famous and familiar faces, including Yoshinaga Sayuri, Shofukutei Tsurube, Aoi Yu, Kobayashi Nenji, Kase Ryo, Kohinata Fumiyo, Sasano Takashi.

Speaking of Aoi Yu, she has a brief role in a movie I saw the other night, Honoka'a Boy, a neat evocative little film which takes place entirely on the Big Island of Hawaii. Baisho Chieko, one of my all-time favorite actresses and a Yamada Yoji favorite, is great in this movie. Other notables in the film include Hasegawa Jun, Matsuzaka Keiko and, playing not one but two different characters in over-too-soon cameos, Fukatsu Eri.

shin2 wrote:Baisho Chieko, one of my all-time favorite actresses and a Yamada Yoji favorite, is great in this movie..

Isn't she that actress that played that woman who single-handedly takes care of this farm...and then this drifter rolls into town and ends up helping her on the farm? I forget the name of the movie...I think the drifter is played by Takakura Ken.

shin2 wrote:A few nights ago I watched another terrific Yoji Yamada film--Haruka Naru Yama no Yobigoe (A Distant Cry from Spring). This 1980 film starred movie icon Ken Takakura and Yamada's favorite lead actress Chieko Baisho. A simple story, it takes place in rural Hokkaido where a widow and her young son, struggling to make a go of their dairy farm, are visited by a stranger with a mysterious past who becomes their hired hand, a father figure to the boy, and a trustworthy companion to the lonely mother. It is a typical Yamada movie: very much character-driven, alternately sad and hilarious, and comfortingly sentimental. You know, it's a shame Yamada isn't more well known in the West; he certainly receives scant attention on this site. But he's a prolific director/screenwriter who has done a mindboggling number of movies and, in his late 70's, is still creating high quality films. I mentioned this on a previous post, but I think it bears repeating: as a filmmaker, his works have collectively won more Japan Academy awards and earned more money in Japan than the works of any other filmmaker in the history of Japanese cinema.

Is this what you're talking about, Tu_Triky?

shin2 wrote:

Is this what you're talking about, Tu_Triky?

I knew you'd know the title of the film...heck, you're the one who provided me with a copy. Thanks, shin2.

Tu_triky wrote:

I knew you'd know the title of the film...heck, you're the one who provided me with a copy. Thanks, shin2.

You're welcome.

shin2 wrote:

You're welcome.

That film was great by the way, as I'm sure I must have stated eons ago.

I boycotted the weekly team drink after work. I was just too tired to care.

Plus I have two movies to watch this weekend.
Audition, which I have seen many years ago, and which I remember as being quite violent.

Knocking on heavens door: The Japanese remake of a great German movie I watched also many years ago.

Hopefully ILll like them ...

EstherM wrote:
Knocking on heavens door: The Japanese remake of a great German movie I watched also many years ago.

Tell me how it is, I have this movie sitting on my computer.

Tu_triky wrote:

Tell me how it is, I have this movie sitting on my computer.

Watch it :victory: one of the better terminal illness stories as far as I am concerned. As you know Nagase Tomoya is often cast as the loud and funny gangster type, which he overplays. Here, he gives a more quiet and nuanced performance. :victory:

The main difference with the original is that instead of two men with cancer, we have a young man (Nagase) and a 14-year old girl (played by an outstanding Fukuda Mayuko). Now, the story remains very close to the German movie, some dialogues are almost identical as well as some sets, but the tone is somewhat sadder. Less puns and almost no comic relief.

EstherM wrote:

Watch it :victory: one of the better terminal illness stories as far as I am concerned. As you know Nagase Tomoya is often cast as the loud and funny gangster type, which he overplays. Here, he gives a more quiet and nuanced performance. :victory:

The main difference with the original is that instead of two men with cancer, we have a young man (Nagase) and a 14-year old girl (played by an outstanding Fukuda Mayuko). Now, the story remains very close to the German movie, some dialogues are almost identical as well as some sets, but the tone is somewhat sadder. Less puns and almost no comic relief.

Thanks for the insightful review. Given the somber nature of the movie, I guess I better be in the mood for it before watching it. I liked watching Nagase Tomoya in some of his comedic roles, so it will be interesting to see him get serious.

Tu_triky wrote:Has anybody seen the 2009 film Shonen Merikensack starring Aoi Miyazaki?
It's a pretty funny film.

Watched this the other night. It does have a number of humorous moments, and the premise is interesting. Kudo Kankuro has talent, but I think he could do with reining in some of the deliberately gratuitous excess/exaggeration which characterizes most of the work of his I've seen.

As for punk rock which is a key element of this film-- how anyone can get into noise pollution, wasted energy, and brain cell massacre is beyond my ken.

In marked contrast to Shonen Merikensack, I also saw Shiawase no Kaori (Flavor of Happiness) the other night. A good performance by Fuji Tatsuya as a master Chinese chef of a small, much appreciated restaurant in Kanazawa and an excellent performance by Nakatani Miki who initially visits his restaurant on business in an ultimately failed attempt to contract him to sell his meals to her department store but then becomes his apprentice after he is felled by a minor stroke. A visually appealing nice little film.

shin2 wrote:

Watched this the other night. It does have a number of humorous moments, and the premise is interesting. Kudo Kankuro has talent, but I think he could do with reining in some of the deliberately gratuitous excess/exaggeration which characterizes most of the work of his I've seen.

As for punk rock which is a key element of this film-- how anyone can get into noise pollution, wasted energy, and brain cell massacre is beyond my ken.

In marked contrast to Shonen Merikensack, I also saw Shiawase no Kaori (Flavor of Happiness) the other night. A good performance by Fuji Tatsuya as a master Chinese chef of a small, much appreciated restaurant in Kanazawa and an excellent performance by Nakatani Miki who initially visits his restaurant on business in an ultimately failed attempt to contract him to sell his meals to her department store but then becomes his apprentice after he is felled by a minor stroke. A visually appealing nice little film.

Thanks for the counterpoint review. I'll check it out. I haven't seen anything with Nakatani in it for a while.