FadedBlue_net

I’ve been pretty busy studying for exams, so sorry for the absence.  I will be watching a lot more DVDs and blurays in the next two months.  Border’s had a 50% off sale on their DVD’s so I picked up a lot!  Right now, I’ve been going through the Ghost in the Shell: SAC 1st season box.  I hope to finish my Ozu box set as early as today.

Here are a bunch of mini reviews of things I watched from the festival and since then:

All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) -4/5 (CIFF09)
Great, though quite slow.  A family-drama that leaves many messages about living life and the connections between loved ones, especially a spouse.  Some characters were a bit annoying, though it can’t be helped if art imitates reality.

Surveillance -3/5 (CIFF09)
Not horrible, but could have been much better, in my opinion.  Some twists in the plot, some of which are predictable.  But this is no action movie.  It’s almost all dialogue, and awkward dialogue at that, for the first three-quarters of the film.  Probably would have been better as a short.

Chaser (Chugyeoja) – 5/5 (CIFF09)
Excellent thriller.  Korean movies contain some of the best psycho-killer/ detective movies and this is one of them for sure.  Though not as epic as a Park Chan-wook film, it has great pacting, characters, tone, and is interesting to watch.  Some gory parts.  Worth tracking down.

Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – 2/5 (CIFF09)
Too slow, and too long.  The plot is not interesting enough to make a whole movie out of, though it did hold my attention.  What was there was executed well and had some nice imagery.

White on Rice – 4/5 (CIFF09)
Good feel-good comedy.  You kind of root for the main character, and definitely grow to like his quirks.  You can see a lot of miscommunications that a Japanese-American may come across, and this really hits home if you have some familiarity with a non-native English speaker.  Plot is a bit uninspired, but serviceable for fun.

Meatball Machine – 1/5
After seeing the excellent Machine Girl, and iffy Tokyo Gore Police… I knew that Meatball Machine could go either way.  And it was bad.  Bad in a bad way.  Even for a B-movie, there is nothing really interesting that goes on.  The characters are beyond boring… enough to make a user manual seem a worthwhile use of time.  Gross out moments are not realistic or that gross if you’ve seen either of the mentioned ultra-gore movies.  Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this movie to even gore fans.

Tale of Two Sisters (Korean) – My 2nd viewing – 4/5
Although it’s probably one of the best Korean horror films I’ve seen, the rewatch isn’t that great.  The characters are a little boring and the pacing slow, but the ending and mystery is pretty good.  Although it’s a must see for asian horror fans, you really probably only need to see it once.  Compare with Ju-On, which I can watch many times and still enjoy.

Hi all.

Once again, I will be attending the Cleveland International Film Festival.  This year I will be seeing 5 films over 3 days.

They are:
All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) – Japan
Surveillance – USA
Chaser (Chugyeoja) – Korea
Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – Hong Kong
White on Rice – USA

I will be twittering from Cleveland this weekend, but will probably not be able to see any replies until I return or get access to a computer.  You can expect reviews of the above movies when I’m back!

Alright, another year of free, great Japanese cinema courtesy of yours truly’s alma mater. I’ve been going to these series (summer and fall) for several years, since I took a Japanese Cinema course at UofMichigan. I highly recommend viewing of any and all of these if you happen to be in the area. I’ve seen half of the films on the list for this summer, and will include my rating for them on the side.

I will really be looking forward to seeing the ones that I haven’t seen yet, and am always up for seeing Kairo again. Don’t be fooled… it’s not the junky American version of Pulse! Retribution was not bad, and Audition is a must-see for any serious fan of film, horror, or Japanese film.

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Summer 2008 Film Series: “Summer Chills: Japanese Horror Films”

Friday, July 18th ~ PULSE (KAIRO) – Rating: 5/5
Friday, July 25th ~ ONIBABA
Friday, August 1st ~ KWAIDAN (KAIDAN)
Friday, August 8th ~ HELL (JIGOKU)
Friday, August 15th ~ RETRIBUTION (SAKEBI) – Rating: 3/5
Friday, August 22nd ~ AUDITION (ODISHON) – Ratin: 5/5
Link: UofM Ann Arbor – Center for Japanese Studies

Title: Dead Time (aka Kala)
Director: Joko Anwar
Year: 2007
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Format Reviewed: Film (CIFF ‘08)

Even among westerners who like asian film, they generally don’t see many films outside of the three “superpowers” of Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. The cinemas of other countries don’t quite have the prestige, and often times quality, of them.  In turn, what they lack in fluidity and polish, they must make up for in other places. Usually this means what most indie films add: creativity. Dead Time does this by blending the lines of genre, as well as injecting a dose of traditional storytelling.

At first, Dead Time seems like a mediocre horror film, because it’s never really scary or engaging. The effects are quite poor for today’s standards. Even looking past them, it is almost impossible to be scared if you are a fan of horror. We’ve already seen all of these things in horror: a ghost in the corner of the screen, a shock during silence. It’s been worked much better before. But don’t be fooled so quickly. Dead Time is not really a horror in this sense. It is a horror similar to the way that The Host is a monster movie. The story revolves around a set of events that lend itself to the given genre, but it isn’t meant to catch your full attention.

Move forward a half hour with no scares, and seemingly no plot development, and you will start to see the hidden beauty of the film. As the story starts to unfold, questions about the plot reveal themselves and turn it into a mystery with some dark & dirty action. And very awesome action at that. The characters are classic, even though they are too individualistic. This turns the entire movie from boring to fun and exciting. Add a satisfying ending tops it all off, and overall it is a great theater experience. Hopefully we will see more original movies like this to come.

Good: Action sequences, Story, Characters, Use of camera, Soundtrack, Awesome weapons, Cool deaths, Original Story
Bad: Boring middle, Horror aspects, Confusing at times

Overall: Definitely worth seeing, just don’t be too quick to judge this one. Like most asian film, the ending will make up for any poor qualities of the rest. Recommended for those who like supernatural mystery and original stories.

Rating: 3 /5

Tonight, I’ve returned from two days in Cleveland for the Cleveland International Film Festival. All together, it was a pretty good trip, and good use of a PTO day from work. I plan to post reviews of the three movies I saw there in the upcoming couple days, as well as general impressions on my first film festival.

In other news, I have signed up for monthly carbon offsets, and am now carbon neutral. Well actually, I’m buying more than I consume, so I guess that makes me carbon negative. If you wish to do the same, here is the site. It’s pretty cheap.