Blog Archives

Tokyo Story (1953)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Ben Jennings

“These are your grandparents”, Fumiko tells her sons, Isamu and Minoru. Minoru looks about ten years old, and we gather that if he’s ever met his grandparents before, it was so long ago that nobody expects him to remember. Isamu, the younger brother, just runs away from the unfamiliar old couple. This is part of an early scene in Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story. And where better to begin reviewing one of the greatest movies ever made than with a … (read more)

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Offside (2006)

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Posted on March 4, 2007 by James

For almost ten years Australian football supporters have held a grudge against Iran, who qualified for the World Cup in 1998 at the expense of the Socceroos after mounting a thrilling two goal come back late in the second playoff match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. I was one of those supporters. Even when Australia finally qualified for the World Cup again in 2006, I still shuddered at the bad memories from that awful evening (the first Iranian goal was … (read more)

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2046 (2004)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by James

Astonishingly lush images lend 2046 a surface beauty unparalleled in previous Wong Kar-wai films, giving it a distinctive grainy ‘look’ that is difficult to faithfully describe. Production designer (and film editor) William Chang and cinematographers Chris Doyle, Lai Yiu-fai (Love Will Tear Us Apart, Infernal Affairs) and Kwan Pun Leung (Lavender, director of The Making of Happy Together) create textured, absorbing visuals that envelop the screen and make it shimmer, suffocating 2D space. This … (read more)

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Ikiru (1952)

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Posted on April 30, 2006 by Ben Jennings

You know the story. The terminally ill protagonist is going to spend the final months of his life on a quest for redemption, right? Well, sort of. The thing that distinguishes Ikiru from its countless imitators (I reviewed one of its more distant descendants, the South Korean Short Time, a few months ago) is that the main character, Watanabe, is not such a bad guy to start with. Yes, he is a bureaucrat who has spent his entire life … (read more)

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An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

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Posted on March 5, 2006 by Ben Jennings

If you’ve never seen an Ozu film then, ironically, the final one he ever made is probably a good place to start. An Autumn Afternoon will never be recognised among Ozu’s absolute masterpieces, yet it has an agreeable accessibility and humour that make it a very fine initiation into his world. And for Ozu’s many fans, the movie represents a perfect crystallisation of his famous thematic obsessions and legendary film style. Telling (surprise surprise!) a story of familial tribulation in … (read more)

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Hana-Bi (1997)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Alison

Hana-Bi can be considered quintessential Kitano, and is one of his most acclaimed, and most frequently acclaimed, works. It was made after Kitano’s brush with death in a motorcycle accident that left him partially paralysed for a time, and carries the painful awareness of irrevocable loss that I’ve come to associate with Kitano films.

Kitano is probably best known as a director of yakuza films, or at least is perceived that way. While there is a certain amount of gangster … (read more)

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