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Slahi und seine Folterer - Das Leben nach Guantanamo (2021)
Masterpiece
I don´t say this lightly, but I think this movie is a masterpiece. It´s more than the sum of it´s parts and the parts alone would make an astonishing story. But the interaction between Mr Slahi and his former torturers as well as the insights into the lives of those former U. S. Army members, now broken and mentally at the bottom, are the stuff which elevate this film above any other way to tell this story, no other media could transport the wealth of immanence, the quality of insight the viewer gains by watching these people. Credit to Mr Goetz and Mr Hopkins for pulling this off, finding those people, making them expose themselves on camera in the way they do, encouraging them to speak but treating them respectfully all the while is very good film-making. There is no need to give this any kind of spin, because we see, everyone can see for themselves what this strangely intimate relationship between the victim of torture and his wardens looks like. It´s a strong testament for the futility and inhumanity of torture, for both sides of it.
This movie should be seen by many more people.
Ji hun (2021)
Messy plot with lots of near unwatchable over the top "emotional" scenes
This is more a typical asian TV drama with over-the-top acting and artless attempts to pull your emotional strings than it is a future hightech thriller, as advertised. All underlaid with sappy music and filmed in toned down colors, assumingly to show "its the dark near future". Some good acting, but hard to watch because of bad direction and the less than appealing script.
Not recommended unless you love asian (taiwanese/korean) tear-jerker TV shows. Nothing new to be found here.
Keita Never Die (2017)
Japanese Underground Movie which has some entertainment to offer.
Nice little film, unorthodox script, solid acting, good enough cinematography.
If you like japanese movies and low budget, underground filmmaking, this is an easy watch.
Mirai no Mirai (2018)
Well crafted, with a questionable voice casting decision.
As with all Hosoda-movies, this one is very well crafted as well. Beautiful animation and backgrounds, perfect image composition and a somewhat arthouse story. It was a pleasure to watch. While I watched it I thought it had some lenghty passages, but after I went out of the film I had no regrets whatsoever, the movie grows on you and it shows once again, who is, imho, the new hope of japanese animation. Way better than "Your Name" in my opinion. That one was somehow cold and manipulating. Hosoda, on the other side, manages to always have a warm, friendly baseline and doesn´t have to hammer in the emotional points he wants to show, they come naturally, a fine understatement-way of filmmaking. Truly beautiful.
The only thing that really annoyed me was the japanese voice actress who played Kun, the main character. This voice was a complete miscast. I get it that you can´t (or at least would have to make a giant effort) cast a real child for a part as demanding as this one, but the voice was simply bad and took very much from the experience. Especially incomprehensible with Japan´s giant stock of good voice actresses specialised on playing child-characters (not that I could name any...). More than a mild annoyance.
But overall, very well again, Hosoda!
Yi lu shun feng (2016)
Great Japan-Style Gangster Film
This is a surprisingly great movie! Although quite heavy on dialogues, this movie is entertaining from start to finish. Strong acting makes this a pleasure to watch. The story is not something really noteworthy but it doesn't have to be. Not every new film has to raise the bar for complex and surprising storytelling. And this film has Michael Hui!! An absolute pleasure to see him again on the big screen, as he is one of my favorite comedians of all times. Here he shows (not surprisingly) that he is an all around great actor. This made his older movies so great, his ability to play characters who are funny and touching at the same time, a person to relate to, struggling through life but never giving up. All in all, this has a strong Japanese-movie feeling about it. This kind of movie is, what I typically would expect from Japan: great camera work, great actors, slow pacing and rare but violent action. It's a Yakuza flick from japan-loving Taiwan. Watch it!
Dohee-ya (2014)
Watchable, but slightly unrealistic
This is not a bad movie, I enjoyed especially that not everybody died in the end, as often seen in Korean movies. But I asked myself most of the time, in what world it takes place. Oftentimes I couldn't really grasp the decision making process of the protagonist, our police-lady. I can not imagine, that Korea works like this. First, is it really not possible to be an officer of the law and be homosexual in Korea? Second, why take the girl into her home and not call the authorities to take care of the situation? Are there no welfare agencies in Korea? How can the girl be left alone in her deserted home after her father's arrest? Highly implausible. Either Korea is a lot more 3rd world than I ever imagined or this movie is just crap story-wise with the typical glossy finish like often seen in Korean and even more Japanese films. Those super-professional film productions often hide very very bad stories in those two countries. And the strange and sad thing about it is, that many of those movies are highly regarded in western festivals and by western critics. A misunderstanding really. The looks of those drama movies tick the right spots for the artsy film critic. There are millions of movies with those production values out there from japan and Korea, this certainly is one of the lesser ones. Watch, but be aware it takes place in fairy tale-land.
Xin ling zhi ge (2006)
"The Song of Spirits"
Nicely done drama movie about a sound recording artist from Taipeh who works for a radio station and is ordered to go to a mountain region to produce a radio program about the indigenous population there. At first he is the city dweller mocking the people, but eventually he falls in love with the region and a young teacher of the local school. Very well done in my opinion. And you will learn a little about rural Taiwan, which i found highly interesting. Not much more to say about this, he gets there, befriends the locals, goes back to the city, and finds that his heart yearns for the quiet life in the mountain village, so he returns.
Worth a watch!
Ike-chan to boku (2009)
Forgettable Coming-of-age movie
Not very good Japanese drama. Coming-of-age type movie about a boy and his slime-blob imaginary friend, who struggles to find his place in the village's child community against some odds. Early on, he looses his drunkard (but caring still) father to an accident at his mistress's house, being brought up by his working mother alone from there on. Being beat up on a daily basis by the village's bullies, he manages to unite all the kids in a cliché ridden baseball-game at the end. The tone is trivial, the dialogues not noteworthy, and it tries to be something it can't quite achieve. There's much better movies of this kind out there, so maybe avoid this, chances are you'll be bored by this one. Verdict: forgettable.
Riyû (2004)
Incredibly well made Movie
This is a very original and well made movie.
In a Tokyo tenement building, four people are murdered.
The movie follows a fictitious TV-crew interviewing all the people involved, neighbors, families, police.
The complicated story unfolds before the viewers eyes. I found this movie to be a highly rewarding treat, the actors are mostly brilliant, as is camera, editing and music. The long running time flew by, I was stunned by the directors way of telling the story. It had a surreal feel all about it which I loved.
Don't confuse this Movie with the 2012 TV version, as the other reviewer did, that's the reason for this review. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!