Monday, June 30, 2008

REC 100: 2LDK [2002] + Aragami[2002]

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2LDK is a 2002 Japanese film directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi starring Maho Nonami and Eiko Koike. It was coupled with Ryuhei Kitamura's film Aragami to form the Duel Project (a challenge issued by producer Shinya Kawai to both directors to film a feature length movie with only two actors, battling in one setting, in only the time frame of one week). 2LDK was filmed in 8 days, with the cast and crew often working throughout the night.

The title is Japanese shorthand for an apartment with 2 bedrooms, a living-room, a dining-room and a kitchen.


Aspiring actresses Nozomi (Koike) and Rana (Nonami) belong to the same talent agency, share an apartment, and have just auditioned for the same part in a film called Yakuza Wives. Nozomi is a country girl who has come to Tokyo with big dreams of becoming an actress, while Rana’s sharp tongue and flashy appearance is completely at odds with soft spoken, demure Nozomi. Waiting for the phone call that will decide their future, petty arguments escalate into hysterical violence, bringing the girls’ hatred of one another to the surface as they confront the reality of their empty, unfulfilled lives.





- a movie that perhaps monsieur Quentin Tarantino has it in his personal collection of favorite gems.

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REC 90%: Renai shashin [Collage of Our Lives / Love collage - 2003]

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Regizor: Yukihiko Tsutsumi [2LDK - film pentru care pe rottentomatoes.com a primit 100%]

Incep cu a spune ca incercand sa gasesc un rezumat rapid revelator pentru actiunea din film nu am reusit sa dau decat peste pareri proaste si dezamagiri (recunosc ca nu am consultat si critica de specialitate). Astfel, imi incep scurta pledoarie pentru acest film (da, rectific, i-am dat 90% din 100%) prin a sublinia ca perspectiva este deosebit de subiectiva.

Comedia romantica, ce da in partea a doua a filmului intr-o drama, din Collage of our lives, de unde si componenta a titlului, "collage", este un amalgam de imagini incredibile, bucati din viata noastra, lumea filtrata printr-un obiectiv de aparat de fotografiat. Pentru ca de altfel personajul principal interpretat de Matsuda Ryuhei (Gohatto, 9 souls, Cutie Honey, Nana, Rampo Noir, A Big Bang Love Juvenile/4.6 billion years of love) este un fotograf tanar ce viseaza sa ajunga un profesionist, si care la un moment in viata lui se loveste de imprevizibila Shizuru Satonaka (interpretata de Ryoko Hirosue), relatia lor evoluand din acest punct. Filmul atinge subiecte sensibile si oarecum reia idei din 2LDK, si anume, de continua competitie dintre oameni si cum senzatia de inferioritate poate distruge relatii si chiar conduce catre finaluri tragice. In aceeasi masura, filmul vorbeste si de o oarecare perceptie a Americii, mai exact a New York-ului, cheia inspiratiei si trimiterii la aceasta idee fiind nu numai actiunea in sine ci si prezenta in cadrul portretizarii personajului lui Matsuda a afisului la filmul respectabilului Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than paradise (1984 - film care de altfel vorbeste ironic despre "paradisul" imaginat si complet de negasit al Americii pentru emigrantii balcanici), adaugand aici si pasiunea personajului de urmari filme americane si a vorbi o engleza invatata din flick-uri de anii '70. In acelasi tip de abordare a lui Jarmusch insa alb-negru si insistand mai mult pe partea violenta a vietii in ghetou, a vietii pe langa comunitatile de emigranti si mafiile locale, ne este redat insa cu acelasi absurd al situatiei si comedie neagra calatoria initiatica pe care personajul lui Matsuda trebuie s-o faca pentru a o intalni pe Satonaka.



...si ca tot am vorbit de Stranger than paradise a lui Jim Jarmusch ca inspiratie/precedent pentru acest film:

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Freaka Night III, 27.06, Centrul Ceh, Bucuresti

Ca si anul trecut, noaptea alba a institutelor culturale este o noapte neagra la Centrul Ceh.Freaka III - Zombie outbreak / 27 iunie / 23h00 / Centrul CehMortii vii vin din medii foarte diferite, varste diferite si regiuni diferite.


Fie ca e vorba de studenti, houser-i, artisti, liceeni sau afaceristi, angajati in cadrul unor banci sau companii de telefoane mobile, dj-i, patroni, controlori de bilete, manageri, chelneri, copii de la gradiwnite particulare, prelati ai bisericii, agenti de PR, diplomati, parlamentari si cadre didactice. Compartamentul de grup, pofta de produse, bunuri de consum si capital caracterizeaza mortii vii...

La eveniment, pe langa filmul cehesc, vom avea si o avanpremiera si anume filmul "...and Bob's your uncle", un film de Michele Bressan si Nicu Ilfoveanu, starring Megatron as Bob Gezu. Motto pentru acest film: "Orrore, Spavento e Raccapriccio, lasa-te cuprins de frica".


In plus vom avea filmulete de pe Youtube cu teme zombies, fantome si consumerism.Vom avea de asemenea lucrari de la mai multi artisti: Razvan Botis si o lucrare din seria poto&cabengo de Alina Popa si Irina Gheorghe.

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The Astronaut Farmer

From the time he was a child, Charles Farmer (BILLY BOB THORNTON) had only one goal: to be an astronaut. Earning his degree in aerospace engineering and joining the Air Force as a pilot, Farmer was a natural for NASA's astronaut training program and was well on his way when a family situation forced him to drop out and return home - effectively ending his career.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Edge Of Love

The Edge of Love is a 2008 John Maybury film starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys from a script by Sharman Macdonald, Knightley's mother.[2] Originally titled The Best Time of Our Lives, the story concerns the famous Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (played by Rhys), his wife Caitlin MacNamara (played by Miller) and their married friends, the Killicks (played by Knightley and Murphy). It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in Scotland.

Tekon kinkurîto [Tekkonkinkreet - 2006]

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Director: Michael Arias [The Animatrix: Beyond - computer graphics]

Based on the comic by Matsumoto Taiyo (also Ping Pong), the story is about Treasure Town a place where life can be both peaceful and violent. This is never truer than for our heroes, Black and White - two street kids who claim to traverse the urban city as if it were their own. But in this town, an undercurrent of evil exists and has its sights set on the pair of brothers, forcing them to engage in battle with an array of old-world Yakuza as well as dangerous assassins vying to rule the decaying metropolis, Treasure Town.

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REC 70%: Byôsoku 5 senchimêtoru [5 Centimeters Per Second - 2007]

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Director: Makoto Shinkai

Three separate chapters, each of them showing different degrees of separation between two people.

The main problem of 5 Centimeters Per Second anime is of entering in the closed circle of animations too much concentrated on the category of touching a higher level of perfection in technique, graphics, effects, and trying to innovate the genre, all that in spite of the story of the anime itself. That's why after seeing it you can't think of it but just as a pretty image but no content whatsoever. The story is too static in dreamy scenes of landscape and atmosphere and not so much dynamic close-ups with the characters.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Thursday [1998]

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They say the past always catches up with you. This could be the day.

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REC 80%: Quiet room ni yôkoso [Welcome to the quiet room - 2007]

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Regizor: Suzuki Matsuo [Tetsuo, the Iron Man, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf, Ichi the Killer, A snake of June]

28 years old freelencer writer Sakura Asuka (Yuki Uchida) wakes up tied in a white room. The white room is a protected room located in an isolated ward of a psychiatric hospital. Sakura first became unconscious because of heavy alcohol use and a druge overdose. She’s confined in the single room because of her high risk of committing suicide.
Sakura tried to talk to the nurses and doctors but they didn’t listen to her. Under the circumstances another patient Miki (Yu Aoi), who suffers from an eating disorder, leads her to understand the unknown world. But, Sakura is looking for the way to get back to the real world as soon as possible.
The film is based from the novel of the same name by director Suzuki Matsuo.

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REC 70%: Rokugatsu no hebi [ A Snake of June - 2002]

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Regizor: Shinya Tsukamoto [Tetsuo, the Iron Man, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf, Ichi the Killer, Welcome to the Quiet Room]

This 2002 film from acclaimed Japanese cyber-punk director Shinya Tsumamoto takes a decidedly different direction in story-telling than his previous works. Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa) is a telephone suicide counselor who prides herself on saving lives on a daily basis. Her husband (Yuji Kohtari) is distant and a workaholic. A photographer (Shinya Tsumamoto) decides he wants to pay Rinko back for saving his life by making her “do what she really wants,” blackmailing her with explicit pictures in order to help her achieve the life she tells others to achieve over the phone.

The film is shot with a grainy blue filter and includes captivating imagery of a bleak urban Japan. Sexually-charged and at times bizarre, “A Snake of June” is nevertheless one of the more accessible of Tsumamoto’s films and a must-see for any fans of modern Japanese cinema.

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REC 60%: Tennen Kokekko [A Gentle Breeze in the Village - 2007]

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Regizor: Nobuhiro Yamashita [Linda, Linda, Linda]

Eighth-grader Soyo lives in a very small rural village of Japan where the primary and middle school share a building for all of 6 students. They spend a happy childhood together playing around the village. Osawa, a boy from Tokyo, transfers to this school. Soyo and Osawa exchange their first kiss through a small incident and naturally become a couple. Adults have their problems but for children, the festival in summer, hair styles, and the ghost tale about a woman who died on the beach are far more important. There is no glamour but the time of purity passes never to be forgotten. After his previous film The Matsugane Potshot Affair, Nobuhiro Yamashita comes back with a peaceful and warm film.

NOTE: a very good for-all-the-family-like movie to watch with, full of calmness, beautiful images, nostalgia for childhood and a very simple realistic plot. I gave it 60% because I found this movie TOO calm. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I waited all along this movie for something to really happen, but it didn't. Everything is very silent, the motion of characters, the way life goes by in the set of the village, nothing disturbing this high quietness. If you're into all of these characteristics than go for it ;).

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REC 80%: The taste of tea [2004]

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A spell of time in the life of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Though her husband is busy working at an office, Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project at home. Uncle Ayano has recently arrived, looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo for several years. Meanwhile, Yoshiko’s daughter Sachiko is mainly concerned with why she seems to be followed around everywhere by a giant version of herself.

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What time is it there [2001]

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Regizor: Ming-liang Tsai [I Don't Want to Sleep Alone]

A young Taipei watch vender reluctantly sells a pretty Paris-bound girl his own watch, then finds himself longing for her, so much so that he begins setting the clocks all over the city to Paris time. Meanwhile, his recently widowed mother is looking for signs that her dead husband has returned to her. The director Tsai Ming-liang's haunting meditation on loneliness and time is a lovely, mordant piece of moviemaking. His immobile camera compositions and bare-bones use of dialogue allow the performers to play out their complicated emotional lives with a dramatic stillness and a dotty humor that is, at times, breathtaking.

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Monday, June 02, 2008

REC 100%: Heima [At home - 2007]

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After completing a 13-month world tour in which they promoted their fourth album, the rock-oriented "Takk", the band Sigur Ros came home to Iceland in the summer of 2006 to give free concerts as a sign of their gratitude to Iceland. Director Dean DeBlois (Lilo and Stich) was there to film them as they toured the stark, almost alien-looking landscape, performing a series of mostly unannounced concerts in a variety of locales throughout the country.



Si ca tot suntem la capitolul Sigur Rós sunt bucuroasa sa anunt data de 23 iunie 2008 ca data lansarii celui de-al 5-lea album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly):

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TRACKLIST

1. Gobbledigook
2. Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
3. Góðan daginn
4. Við spilum endalaust
5. Festival
6. Með suð í eyrum
7. Ára bátur
8. Illgresi
9. Fljótavík
10. Straumnes
11. All Alright

Pentru alte detalii, vizitati site-ul si nu uitati sa downloadati de la ei de pe site, gratuit, prima piesa a albumului, Gobbledigook, si sa vizionati videoclipul pentru acesta.

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Zee-Oui [The Man-Eater - 2004]

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In 1946 a young man from China named Zee-Oui immigrated to Thailand in hope of a better life. His only possession was the knife inherited from his mother. However, everything did not turn out as he had thought. He was bullied and humiliated from everyone around him. He tried desperately to survive in this world. He became ill. He missed his mother… At the same time, his instincts increasingly oppressed his thoughts and behaviors. He began killing children, consuming their heart and liver in the believe that it would make him stronger. Whenever he felt weak, he would kill again and again just to avoid the insecure feelings. At the end, he was caught and confessed to all the killings he had done. He was sentenced to the death penalty as the society returned to serenity. But why there were still missing and murdered children ?

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REC 75%: PK.COM.CN [2008]

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Helmed by Electric Shadows director Xiao Jiang, PK.COM.CN tunes in to the mind and mode of China’s contemporary urban youth with visual panache, black humor, and Fight Club spirit. Adapted from an immensely popular award-winning internet novel, PK.COM.CN has been touted as China’s first “interactive” film as the final screenplay was determined through internet voting, but what really sets it apart from other works is the visual and narrative freshness. A reflective piece punctuated with punk sounds, slick art direction, and nonsensical humor, PK.COM.CN convincingly portrays the dreams, conflicts, and language of the post-80s urban generation, lost somewhere between dream and reality. Teaming up again after Twins Effect 2, Hong Kong actor Jaycee Chan (Invisible Target) and Taiwan heartthrob Wilson Chen (Blue Gate Crossing) are the stars of choice to play the film’s pair of doting, battling college buddies who go through the rites of chaotic youth and post-modern self-searching with unexpected results.

No matter how much time has passed, doctor Zhang Wenfeng (Jaycee Chan) can’t forget about his college buddy Yinchuan (Wilson Chen). During his college years, Yinchuan was always by his side, there to support him through the novel adventures and the lowest moments. After graduation, however, Yinchuan disappeared. Wenfeng hopes to see him again at the latest reunion, but Yinchuan again doesn’t show up, leaving Wenfeng with only memories of the past. It is only when Yinchuan’s ex-girlfriend (Niu Mengmeng) shows up that Wenfeng discovers the shocking truth about Yinchuan and himself.

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Suspension [2008]

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A man loses his family in an accident but gains an extraordinary power: the power to stop time.

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Zui hao de shi guang [Three times - 2005]

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Three stories of women and men: in 1966, "A Time for Love," a soldier searches for a young woman he met one afternoon playing pool; "A Time for Freedom," set in a bordello in 1911, revolves around a singer's longing to escape her surroundings; in 2005 in Taipei, "A Time for Youth" dramatizes a triangle in which a singer has an affair with a photographer while her partner suffers. In the first two stories, letters are crucial to the outcome; in the third, it's cell-phone calls, text messages, and a computer file. Over the years between the tales, as sexual intimacy becomes more likely and words more free, communication recedes.

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