Blog Archives

The City of Lost Souls (2000)

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Posted on April 10, 2007 by Alan

The camera hovers beneath the water of a toilet in which two recently curled out hot ones are still floating. Through the, ahh, murk, we watch as a man is quickly dispatched by a Yakuza killer for hire.

Nice one. Welcome to the maniacal world of Miike, to whom the phrase ‘inventive camera angles’ barely does any kind of justice. And let’s not get started on weird plot twists and oddball scenarios.

OK, let’s. We get murderous games of ping … (read more)

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Lady Joker (2004)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Alison

I’m sorry to have to say that this film was one of the two major disappointments of this year’s MIFF (the other being the execrable Pink Ribbon, possibly the only film in existence to make Japanese soft-core porn completely boring). While promising such excitement, the film devolved into a messy combination of docu-drama and mystery thriller, and failed to live up to any of its promises.

Part of the blame must be laid at the feet of the script-writers. … (read more)

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Drive (2002)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Alison

Sabu deserves to be much more famous than he is: he’s a master of coincidence comedy, he has a soft spot for the underdog, and his storylines go where no storyline has gone before.

We’re introduced to our uptight hero straight up, via his doctor explaining the cause of his headaches. Yet another Sabu salaryman, whose parents suicided and left him, whose job is unfulfilling, and whose personal life is non-existent, is the victim of tension headaches. No, really? His … (read more)

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Sonatine (1993)

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Posted on June 16, 2005 by Alison

This is one of Kitano’s finest films, despite its faults. It’s the first film in which he showed the gentleness and compassionate tolerance of human faults for which he’s become renowned, as well as the playfulness that sits oddly in a yakuza film.

The first half of the film drags a little: it’s mainly setting the scene and delineating the characters. Worthwhile, it’s true, but it could have been done in less time. Had Kitano made this film now, with … (read more)

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