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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Seeing your unenthusiastic reviews of Hanagatami, guys, and what problems you had with the film, I have to say Ueno is the only person worthy of naked full-moon horseback riding with me. Sorry, but you can only look.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Seeing your unenthusiastic reviews of Hanagatami, guys, and what problems you had with the film, I have to say Ueno is the only person worthy of naked full-moon horseback riding with me. Sorry, but you can only look.
Lol, quit simpin' bro.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Hello Hall of Famers, please don't forget to submit your foreign language ballot by June 10th!

click here for the thread
THANK YOU so much for the reminder!!!
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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio



Black Rain: A film about the effects of the Hiroshima bombing on a woman and her aunt and uncle. For a film that's mostly a quiet drama, it really goes hard on the bombing scenes: Rubble as far as the eye can see, burned bodies, empty eye sockets, very impressive and shocking. It's so odd to go from a Kurosawa film, where everyone shouts all the time, to another film where all of the performances are more realistic. On that note I think everyone did a good job with their performances. Love all of the scenes of the beautiful, green landscapes with the sound of the cicadas over them.

WARNING: spoilers below
The last 30 or so minutes are interesting, cause it's just a steady decline as the family's situation keeps on getting worse by the minute, with the abrupt ending of Yasuko's possible death being the apex of it. I guess i would've preferred it to have a bit more story, but that's just a preference.
If I had any point of contention, it's that I wanted to see more of the relationship between Yasuko and Yuichi, though I guess its abrupt end was an intentional narrative choice to show that neither of them can get what they want due to the effects of the bomb.


Good film Citizen, I wouldn't have seen it if it weren't for you.



The trick is not minding
Dust in the Wind

Hou Hsiao-hsien
Is a evocative director. His films are told in pretty straightforward, and allows gestures and dialogue to move the story along, while also weaving seamlessly into beautiful shots involving the landscape.

Dust is just a story of two friends, a girl and a boy, who may or may not be dating. It’s clear they have feelings for each other, but we never see anything romantic. Their life in Taiwan is shown as dispassionate as possible. There’s nothing exciting about it. But Hsiang-shine isn’t interested in being exciting. He tells a simple story here, and shows their interactions with each other and their family.

Or shouldn’t work but it does, and I can’t help feel a sadness for them by the end, as they both have gone their own ways. There is no real break up scene, although again I wonder if they were truly together or not. Just an announcement, a moment of sadness from the boy (Wan) and what’s seems like regret.

But this movie shows so much emotion rippling underneath its surface. And that emotion moved me.

I’m just sorry not everyone enjoyed it, but it is, of course, not for everyone.
Simplicity on its face, but much more then that.



Dust in the Wind

...There is no real break up scene, although again I wonder if they were truly together or not....
They weren't ever together (IMO of course). There was like this connection but we never see it go beyond a glimpse of what might have been. And that 'what might have been' aspect is pretty cool in my book, it's like the words into between the lines.

I’m just sorry not everyone enjoyed it, but it is, of course, not for everyone. Simplicity on its face, but much more then that.
I enjoyed it...Simplicity is often what I want out of a movie (depends on the movie of course.) Good nom.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I'll be checking out Black Rain this evening or, maybe one of the other two. . . But I will be doing one, and perhaps beginning another this evening.



Paprika: First off, the soundtrack is fcking fantastic, it sounds kind of muddled but also melodically normal (just like dreams!), probably the best element of the film. I see some people took issue with the film's story, as in that it was too much and it was confusing. I personally didn't find it that confusing because I knew that even if certain parts were ambiguous, the scene would still fit into either 'The group trying to find the villain' or 'Konakawa confronting his trauma'. Use of animation and colour are awesome of course, Kon is very experienced and talented. I liked the story and the way it was written to have tons of interesting and fun visuals.

I didn't really have any issues with the film, but I do have some questions:
WARNING: spoilers below
-This part may have come up in the film but maybe I didn't catch it. Chiba is able to control her actions in her dreams (like lucid dreaming) because she uses Paprika as a persona, allowing her to defeat the villain. Is she the only one who can do this? If so, why? Couldn't she have used this autonomy to defeat the villain in the dream sequences earlier in the film? (Considering that dreams basically have no laws of physics, she could simply will herself to kill him like she does at the end).
-I'm not sure why the films tries to connect Konakawa's resolution of his trauma with his shooting of Osanai; they both have nothing to do with each other.


Great film Rbrayer



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Paprika: First off, the soundtrack is fcking fantastic, it sounds kind of muddled but also melodically normal (just like dreams!), probably the best element of the film. I see some people took issue with the film's story, as in that it was too much and it was confusing. I personally didn't find it that confusing because I knew that even if certain parts were ambiguous, the scene would still fit into either 'The group trying to find the villain' or 'Konakawa confronting his trauma'. Use of animation and colour are awesome of course, Kon is very experienced and talented. I liked the story and the way it was written to have tons of interesting and fun visuals.

I didn't really have any issues with the film, but I do have some questions:
WARNING: spoilers below
-This part may have come up in the film but maybe I didn't catch it. Chiba is able to control her actions in her dreams (like lucid dreaming) because she uses Paprika as a persona, allowing her to defeat the villain. Is she the only one who can do this? If so, why? Couldn't she have used this autonomy to defeat the villain in the dream sequences earlier in the film? (Considering that dreams basically have no laws of physics, she could simply will herself to kill him like she does at the end).
-I'm not sure why the films tries to connect Konakawa's resolution of his trauma with his shooting of Osanai; they both have nothing to do with each other.


Great film Rbrayer
FULL agreement here!
Though I think I have a handle on your question, I'm very sure someone here will be able to answer more accurately than I could attempt regarding the program and Chiba's interaction with it via Paprika.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé




Black Rain aka Kuroi ame (1989)

A truly, TRULY exquisite visual composition of a heart-rendering time and one of the countless families decimated by the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Director Shohei Imamura beautifully illustrates my love of the poetic symmetry of Asian film. Balancing Beauty and Horror. Death and how Life continues. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous bit of cinema shifting effortlessly between the immediate time from the explosion and its horrific results that continue claiming lives five years later.
The poetic symmetry playing out in the balance of such loss with the tenacity and beautifully astounding will to live, love, and cherish one another as this family does, and those whose lives intersected theirs.

I would be - should be, devasted by all that I had witnessed in this film if not for the artistic haven of truly captivating composition. Scene after emotional scene. Only in Asian Cinema is that symmetry so masterfully executed that I would revisit, wholeheartedly, into such a film as I would with this.
I am that amazed and inspired by such Directorial and cinematic skill that I've picked out another of his films to experience:
The Insect Woman Nippon konchûki (1963)

To further experience Imamura's skill via a different setting.


BRAVO CR!! This was mesmerizing!! I adored the family's interactions in this Slice of Life during such a cataclysmic time. Healing my heart with moments of lovely comedic moments blended amongst the moments of sadness and continual loss.
Reminding me of a less graphic, but similar story of new life amid devastion, In This Corner of the World (2016) REVIEW.

My first stop in the more serious venue of this diverse HoF has been a wonderfully exceptional one. THANK YOU, CR for that!

Again, BRAVO



Black Rain aka Kuroi ame (1989)

My first stop in the more serious venue of this diverse HoF has been a wonderfully exceptional one. THANK YOU, CR for that!

Again, BRAVO
Glad you appreciated Black Rain, Ed. This HoF sure has had a lot of choice films in it, films I wouldn't have seen otherwise.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Glad you appreciated Black Rain, Ed. This HoF sure has had a lot of choice films in it, films I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Yes it does
yes it does
YES it DOES

Thank you good sir for this contribution to said films





Rashomon (1950)


I feel like this was a film of it's time, something that is more important than actually good. Rashomon is about a murder and rape and the stories of four different people. While the film is great in theory it to me fails on a technical level. Kazuo Miyagawa is just a bad cinematographer it's especially notable when compared to the works of Asakazu Nakai and Kazuo Yamasaki. I seriously wondered several times if the camera was even in focus during the forest scenes.


The film also uses a supernatural element to the film that is just so out of place for this type of story. If you are making a film about honesty you should likely leave the ghosts out of it. But that's not to say that I hated the film, I'm just ambivalent to it. Kurosawa has so many great dramatic points in the film that the work is elevated. Some lines of dialogue are truly devastating and I can understand how some view this as a classic.



I enjoyed the climatic fight scene near the end of the film, the idea is right but the execution was in my opinion lacking.






Daimajin (1966)



In Friday the 13th their is a theory that Jason is neither good nor evil but rather a force of nature. That Jason is symbolic of retribution, that you will pay for your sins. Daimajin is basically the same idea which is why I really connected to this and nominated it. Kaiju films have a certain stigma to them but Daimajin is not just a Kaiju film but it's also a period piece and morality tale.


The villain of the film is Samanosuke who decides to stage a coup against his lord. The lord dies but the family escapes into the woods, 10 years pass and the surviving family comes back into conflict with Samanosuke. This film has incredible production values...partly because the studios smartly shot it as a trilogy and released all three films in the year.


It should be said that almost every shot in this film is well thought out. It's quite remarkable the use of imagery, it's one thing to have a budget it's another thing to take the time to make every shot look good. It's very important to also note that Damaijin doesn't really show up till the final act..so the first hour of the film is filled with these gorgeous set pieces.