Japanese Movies/Discussion/Recommendations

Akakage

If you can wait, I've got "Doppelganger" on my Queue with NETFLIX, but they're already telling me it's gonna be a long wait before they send it to me. Could be a couple of weeks.

jholic

Nope, the guy on the cover of Doppelganger isn't the star of the old "Zatoichi" movies.

That was Shintaro Katsu, and he died in 1997.

The guy in "Doppelbanger is Yakusho Koji. As BMW said, a wonderful actor with some of my favorite movies to his credit.

He was in:

Tampopo
Kamikaze Taxi
The Eel
Cure
Jubaku

And he's one of the main characters in "Memoirs of a Geisha".

thanks for the clarification, Geez!

[quote="Akakage"]I'm a big fan of Koji Yakusho..just wondering does anybody here have ever watched "Doppelganger". I intend to buy the DVD since it's out now at Amazon.com.

I have seen the movie, and I thought it was pretty good. As the poster shows and title implies, Yakusho plays dual roles in the film. It's a kind of quasi-horror movie with dollops of humor; I've heard it also described as a "black comedy" and a "psychological drama." Yakusho is a fine actor and he does a good job in Doppelganger.

Don't forget the slice-of-life Yudan Taiteki (AKA, The Hunter and the Hunted), which reunited Koji with his Shall We Dance? co-star, Emoto Akira.

A nice, different take on the cop-chases-burglar film.

just finished watching Ichi the Killer.......
very gruesome and a blood-bath film....
but it's good..... too bad i ahd weak stomach on those movies...
although i love watching war movies......

zchendevlemh wrote:just finished watching Ichi the Killer.......
very gruesome and a blood-bath film....
but it's good..... too bad i ahd weak stomach on those movies...
although i love watching war movies......

dude, that is too violent for me-in a horror type way, saw the dvd/cover at the store...wouldn't even consider renting it.

i do have "Princess Blade" and "Azumi",.....i like those kinds,
Azumi was better of the two, violent, but aya was worth it, and it wasn't gruesome or horror-like film. :sweat:
along with J-Dramas...currently watching bus stop with rina uchiyama, so far it's good. :bonk:

zchendevlemh wrote:just finished watching Ichi the Killer.......
very gruesome and a blood-bath film....
but it's good..... too bad i ahd weak stomach on those movies...
although i love watching war movies......

I hated Ichi. I just didn't have enough sense of humour so that I could enjoy it. I'm not too sensitive but Ichi was just too much for me. But I still find Miike very interesting and want to see more of his films. I loved Audition, even though the ending was hard to watch. I think I should watch Gozu, Fudoh and Bird People in China. Do anyone have any other recommendations?

My favourites (actually all time favourites, all are japanese)

1. All about Lily Chou Chou-
2. Battle Royale
3. Kikujiro no Natsu-
4. The blue light
5. Christmas in august (ok, that one was korean)

Shounen Terrorist wrote:My favourites (actually all time favourites, all are japanese)

1. All about Lily Chou Chou-
2. Battle Royale
3. Kikujiro no Natsu-
4. The blue light
5. Christmas in august (ok, that one was korean)

I've only seen Battle Royale of those film, and it was awesome. I saw The Blue Light on video rental store, I should watch it someday. And you just got me interested in All about Lily Chou Chou, I'll see if I can find a dvd somewhere.

anyone can understand what the poster says it's an upcoming movie w/ rena-chan and abe hiroshi
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Criterion releases Okamoto Kihachi's The Sword of Doom on DVD on March 15... :woot:

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bmw: that cover looks great.

i was also able to continue my ghibli-watching over the weekend. laputa: castle in the sky - which i thought was very imaginative, and tonari totoro - which was a pretty fun and enjoyable movie.

Aww, yeah, Sword of Doom, saw that over at the Criterion 'site awhile ago. Great film. Automatic buy for mine collection DVD.

And, anybody get the skinny? Ain't it Cool News is apparently not giving a favorable 'pinion to Takashi Miike's upcoming Izo: http://aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=19297

Shall We Dance (original japanese version) is going to be released April 8 as 2 disc Premium Edition. English subs included.

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Shurayuki-hime wrote:Shall We Dance (original japanese version) is going to be released April 8 as 2 disc Premium Edition. English subs included.

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I picked up the R1 release of the original the other day and it looks quite good... The suckie part is that it doesn't have many extras and there's a big plug for the U.S. version of the movie... :bleh: :bleh:

bmwracer wrote:
I picked up the R1 release of the original the other day and it looks quite good... The suckie part is that it doesn't have many extras and there's a big plug for the U.S. version of the movie... :bleh: :bleh:

R1 is probably a better choice of the two. This japanese dvd is going to cost a fortune (as usual) and it probably doesn't have subs on extras. But I'm still considering it cause I like collecting all kinds of special/limited edition dvds.

Shurayuki-hime wrote:R1 is probably a better choice of the two. This japanese dvd is going to cost a fortune (as usual) and it probably doesn't have subs on extras. But I'm still considering it cause I like collecting all kinds of special/limited edition dvds.

Same here. I like specials and extras, but not junk to promote other movies like my R1 edition... :bleh:

The Man wrote:Aww, yeah, Sword of Doom, saw that over at the Criterion 'site awhile ago. Great film. Automatic buy for mine collection DVD.

Ooo! finally found a film to disagree with you about Manny. I actually found myself wishing I had a fast forward button to push when I saw that movie years ago. I thought it was about as interesting as watching someone take a weed wacker to a family of rabbits. (May the Easter Bunny forgive me for coming up with that image.)

And, anybody get the skinny? Ain't it Cool News is apparently not giving a favorable 'pinion to Takashi Miike's upcoming Izo: http://aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=19297

A Miike-Kitano collaboration. What a freakin' nightmare. At this point, you couldn't pay me to watch movies by either of those hacks. But both of them together? I loved the reviewer's line about the lady behind him snoring through the second half of the movie, while a quarter of the audience simply got up and left early.

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bmwracer wrote:
I picked up the R1 release of the original the other day and it looks quite good... The suckie part is that it doesn't have many extras and there's a big plug for the U.S. version of the movie... :bleh: :bleh:

Yeah, that was a pain. I had to special-order my R1 copy since the local Suncoast didn't carry it (they had it, but didn't stock our local store with it, since there isn't much interest in foreign movies here-- :banghead: )

BUT! I'm so pleased that Shall We Dance? is finally available on DVD! Great movie, really sweet and fun!

--Maria

Szabotage wrote:Yeah, that was a pain. I had to special-order my R1 copy since the local Suncoast didn't carry it (they had it, but didn't stock our local store with it, since there isn't much interest in foreign movies here-- :banghead: )

BUT! I'm so pleased that Shall We Dance? is finally available on DVD! Great movie, really sweet and fun!

--Maria

Ever try Amazon.com or DeepDiscountDVD.com? They usually have prices that are tough to beat. No sales tax and free shipping, too! :woot: :applaud: :dancing: