Halfway [Harufuwei - 2009]

Tokyo! [2008]

In TOKYO!, three visionary directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho) come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as its shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and run amok) inside an enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated Japanese megalopolis — the enchanting and inimitable Tokyo. INTERIOR DESIGN (Michel Gondry).
A young couple tries to set themselves up in Tokyo. The young man's ambition is clear — to become a film director. His girlfriend, far more indecisive, cannot escape the vague feeling that she's losing control of her life. Directionless, both are beginning to go under in this vast city until the young woman, utterly alone, becomes the object of a bizarre transformation... MERDE (Leos Carax)
A mysterious creature spreads panic in the streets of Tokyo by means of his provocative and destructive behavior. This man, dubbed "The Creature of the Sewers" by the media, arouses both passion and repulsion...until the moment he is captured... SHAKING TOKYO (Bong Joon-Ho)
For more than 10 years, he's been a hikikomori. He lives shut up in his apartment, strictly limiting all contact with the outside world to an absolute minimum. When a pizza delivery girl faints in his home during an earthquake, the unthinkable happens — he falls in love. Shortly after, he learns that the girl has in turn become a hikikomori. Will he dare cross the threshold that separates his apartment from the rest of the world?

Rhapsody, psychogeography, urban valentine, freak show, mindwalk and many other things, TOKYO! is a fantasy in three movements that will make you see one of the worlds greatest cities — if not any city — with a new point of view.

In the tradition of such films as NEW YORK STORIES, NIGHT ON EARTH, PARIS JE TAIME and its forthcoming sequel NEW YORK I LOVE YOU, TOKYO! addresses the timeless question of whether we shape cities, or if cities shape us — while in the process, revealing the rich humanity at the heart of modern urban life.

REC75%: Bugmaster [Mushishi - 2006]

director: Katsuhiro Otomo

From the acclaimed director of Akira and Steamboy (anime).The much-anticipated adaptation of the bestselling Japanese manga, Mushishi is a sumptuous blend of CGI animation and incredible live action.

Ginko is a mushishi (a bug master) and a gifted healer. Whilst travelling through pre-modern Japan he meets the beautiful Tanyu, who records the history of the supernatural bugs by locking them into scrolls.

When the bugs escape the scrolls and attack Tanyu, it is left to Ginko to save her and rescue the traces of a vanishing age.

A visual feast of the senses, which will leave you truly astounded, Mushishi transports us into a mesmerizing, disturbing, fantastical world.

Dogura Magura (1988) - dir. Toshio Matsumoto

"A man is confined to a mental institution after trying to murder his fiancee. Two doctors relate his problem to an Asian philosophy that states that mental defects are transmitted from generation to generation. He learns that one of his distant ancestors murdered his wife as a way of demonstrating a point to his lord about the importance of love over the emptiness of lust and to drive home the point further, created a series of illustrations of the dead woman decaying which in turn trigger the memories of his distant descendent. But is the whole thing merely a game concocted by the two doctors, who may even have driven themselves mad?" (imdb)




Based on a classic Japanese underground novel by Kyusaku Yumeno.

Interview with Toshio Matsumoto

Some reviews:
@ depauw.edu
@ forum.dead-donkey.com


Japanese band Dir en grey make a reference to Dogra Magra in their song Vinushka, from their 2008 album Uroboros.



Dir en grey - Vinushka

I exchange thoughts with the clouds
I hold my breath
Ahh, it's just hard shell you can't see
Is that where the bottom is? The shadow burns me
Ahh, I just want to keep forgetting
Slip your desires into the ants' nest
Come now, all you have to do now is be reborn again

Let tomorrow sleep and peacefulness will turn to you
Free yourself and go with your razor sharp emotions
Even the twisted flow is the proof that you're alive
I invite the tearfully-indulging sorrow

The inculated Dogra Magra
The pain of the mark and the one and only personality
And those colorful eyes all decorated I don't want them anymore
Is hypocrisy going to come and take it all away?
The lonely red stage at night
I dedicate the following to the aspiring leading actor
That's where the truth is

The small corner of my un-cheatable heart says "I still want to be here"
Who can't we forgive?
I let them hear my cold voice
And I swear

I will live with my work I scream with this body of flesh that separates heaven and hell
I carve the sins What will be the proof of my existence if it disappears with the wind?

"I've stared at the strong shining moon long enough to be bored
Can't even turn myself into a werewolf
But just enough to become crazy by the darkness
I want to suck the neck
The emptiness of the remains
I won't let you sleep
At the age where you just want attention... tonight, I might go crazy for you"

Everyone wants to reach out their hand and grab happiness
But they just end up becoming the monster that lies deep in darkness
The end has already come to life
It will take form at zero and will crawl back into the uterus and rot
Every time this happens, your faces crumble

No one wants to talk about the truth that hurts the ear
The suppressed minds

Compensate the sins and let life be gone

The emptiness of the antithesis
Becomes the choking and crying land
Bury the bones in the common land immersed in thesis
Be burdened by depression
The gritty tsunami takes me away and I smile with bitter tears
Couldn't understand the value of things
The hanging of the necks at the 13 stairs
Seeing people becoming friendly while clapping hands
That mixes in with sissy thoughts and hurts others
Seeing you like this, it's just too sad

Splash of blood
Squashing basic instincts
Talk about death

I will live with my work I scream with this body of flesh that separates heaven and hell
I carve the sins What will be the proof of my existence if it disappears with the wind?

No one wants to talk about the truth that hurts the ear
The suppressed minds

Compensate the sins, and let life be gone

Is it a sin for me to live because I am evil?

DORAMA: REQ 80%: Last friends [Rasuto furenzu - 2008]

Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlor assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life.

11 Episodes + special

What we are expecting from 2009: Nobody to watch over me [Dare mo mamotte kurenai]

REC 80%: Laundry [2002]

A young man named Teru, mentally altered by a childhood injury, runs a laundry and falls for Mizue, a lonely young woman with internal scars

REC 71%: Kids [2008]

Asato(Teppei Koike) who resembles an ordinary youth, actually has an unknown ability, he can take others' injury and pain , but the price will be its pain will shift to his own body.

Takeo(Hiroshi Tamaki) who discovered Asato’s ability to shift things brought him to a game shop to test his ability. While Takeo was inside the shop, Asato was grabbed by a few thugs to rob him of his money. Takeo had a sscuffle with the thugs and injured his hand. With gratitude, Asato’s healed Takeo’s hand, thus taking the pain and injuries onto himself.

Thus , this is the beginning of a strange friendship…..

TRAILER

REC 67%: Mezon do Himiko [2005]

Director: Isshin Inudou

How a culture deals with its aging population and how it relates to its gay community are two measures of its humanity. The latest film from Isshin Inudo, who specializes in offbeat comedy, asks how Japan's aging homosexuals will fare, and the answer is, with the same outsider resilience that got them through life thus far. The House of Himiko is a beautiful seaside rest home for gay men, founded by the former proprietor of a legendary Ginza transvestite bar. Moving slowly through his domain, the stone-faced aging beauty in flowing kimono faces death from cancer. A devoted young assistant, Haruhiko, tricks Himiko's long-estranged daughter Saori into working at the home, which is populated by everyone from gentlemen chess players who spent a lifetime hiding their sexuality to cross-dressers whose burden of female identity has driven them “flaming.” Mezon do Himiko is a movie about the desire to love, and to die, as one chooses.

REC 70%: Vital [2004]

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto [Nightmare dective, Nightmare detective 2, Welcome to the Quiet Room, A Snake of June, Ichi the Killer, Blind Beast vs. Dwarf, Tetsuo, the Iron Man]

Director Shinya Tsukamoto delivers an effectively haunting tale with VITAL, a macabre story in which life, death, love, and memory all interweave. When Hiroshi Takagi comes home following an auto accident that robbed him of his memory, he is looking for clues regarding his old life. Strangely attracted to an old medical textbook on the subject of dissection, Hiroshi signs up for med school on the impulsive hunch that it may bring him closer to his past. Once there, the young man finds himself in the oddest of love triangles, stuck between his relationship with a fellow student and with the cadaver he is assigned to carve into.

Nightmare detective 2 [Akumu Tantei 2 - 2008]

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto [Welcome to the Quiet Room, A Snake of June, Ichi the Killer, Blind Beast vs. Dwarf, Tetsuo, the Iron Man, Vital]

REC 55%: Nightmare detective [Akumu Tantei - 2006]

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto [Welcome to the Quiet Room, A Snake of June, Ichi the Killer, Blind Beast vs. Dwarf, Tetsuo, the Iron Man]

Japanese detective Keiko Kirishima discovers that two suicide cases were in fact murders after the evidence reveals that both victims were attacked in their dreams. This supernatural thriller follows Keiko as she tries to enlist the help of the NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE, her only hope against a paranormal serial killer.

[rottentomatoes.com]

Plastic Tree [プラスティック トゥリー]

Japanese rock band Plastic Tree (aka PuraTuri / プラトゥリ):

Andro Metamorphose



Ghost



Kuuchuu Buranko



Makka na ito



Aoi Tori




SOUND

Early in their career, their music was dark and had heavy visual kei influences. As time went on, their sound seemed to change and evolve with every album. Due to this, the band does not think that they should be placed into any certain genre.

Plastic Tree has also stated that their sound has been considerably influenced by British bands such as Radiohead and The Cure, though the most recognizeable signature of Plastic Tree is the melodic, child-like voice of Ryuutarou. It is often described as very 'ethereal', and adds to the unique quality of their music. Their sound is also aided by Ryuutarou's unique lyrics.

Plastic Tree's current sound ranges from hardcore rock to pop. Before the album Träumerei (2002 - the band being formed in late 1993) was released, Tadashi (bassist) wrote nearly all the songs, usually with Ryuutarou writing lyrics. However, more recent releases have had Akira (guitar) and Ryuutarou writing both lyrics and music more frequently.

[source: wikipedia.org]

REC 90%: Karaoke Terror / The complete Showa Era Songbook [Shôwa kayô daizenshû - 2003]

Director: Tetsuo Shinohara (Heaven's Bookstore)

"One of a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women is murdered by a young man. Her friends track him down and kill him. His friends track them down and kill the killer ..... and it escalates!

The story comes from a novel by Ryu Nurakami, the writer of Audition, Happiness of the Katakuris, Ecstasy, Coin locker babies. Like that film, this one is a quite literal battle of the sexes that does have something to say when you strip away the black comedy, with commentary about both sides: The young men have no sense of purpose, finding profundity in pop songs because they've got no sense of it from anywhere else; indeed, murder is the first substantial thing any of them have ever done. Meanwhile, the women initially have little self-esteem, since they're treated like they should be grateful for any notice or attention given them, no matter how crude and self-serving it is. It's only when they unite to seek their revenge that they recognize that they are not failures for being divorced; they contribute to society and deserve some respect and support. When they lay in wait for the boys, only to see them emerge in lipstick, leather, heels, and sheer body stockings, a substantial part of the audience is going to be with them - these young punks don't have any conception of how good they've got it, so it's time to strike back."

Karaoke Terror in my opinion is a closer sister of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK, as they're both in the same genre of black comedy and insane killing until there's no man standing. I don't remember laughing this much at the whole absurdity of situation not even in any comedy genre movie. The songs of the Japanese Showa and the whole karaoke theme will make you probably think of Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat!Kill!Kill! as much as the behavior of the not so innocent women, as I for one took the side of men the entire time of the movie (and yes, I'm a woman) as their primitive ways of dealing with the women bought pity out of me.

Shiki-Jitsu [Ritual day / Ceremonial day - 2000]

Director: Hideaki Anno [Neon Genesis Evangelion, Karekano, Love & Pop, Cutie Honey]

The film tells the story of a director who meets an odd young woman in his home town. The story takes place over a period of 33 days. The film was both written and directed by Anno.

The actor playing the director is portrayed by famous indie Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai. In the original story, the character wasn't a director but a shopkeeper; Anno decided to change the plot.

The woman is played by Ayako Fujitani, who also wrote the original novel Tohimu on which Anno based his screenplay. Fujitani, the daughter of actor Steven Seagal, was inspired to write the book after an emotionally difficult time spent in Los Angeles, during which she played a small role in her father's 1998 feature, The Patriot.

Shiki Jitsu is characterized by beautiful photography, strongly contrasted psychological characters, and known psychological disorders. During the film there are many instances where animation and drawings are used to show the inner thoughts of "the Woman". Some people believe this is a result of Anno having an animator's background.

The film tells the story of a young Director returning to his home town (a suburb of a big Japanese city) and a strange young girl. At first the girl seems very eccentric. For example her saying "tomorrow is my birthday" every day, and wearing very unusual clothing.

But as the days go by, it appears that the woman has little touch with reality, and is constantly escaping into a fantasy world. The Director is a former anime director who is seeking to do a "real film" and embrace reality. The two eventually fall in love. Many parallels can be drawn between the Director and Hideaki Anno, particularly in regard to his relationship between anime and live action films.

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

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.

visit videodetective.com for more info

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

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

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:

Tekon kinkurîto [Tekkonkinkreet - 2006]

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.

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

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.

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

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.