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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Glad you liked Tears of the Black Tiger, Ed. So that was your second watch, did you see it in prep for the western countdown?
Not for the Western, though for Asian films I did initially have The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, it ended up not making the final list.
I saw Tears around ten years ago, give or take. The colors and bright costumes were what I remember from it.
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The trick is not minding
Not for the Western, though for Asian films I did initially have The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, it ended up not making the final list.
I saw Tears around ten years ago, give or take. The colors and bright costumes were what I remember from it.
The Good, The Bad and The Weird is another good one!

I’ll have a review up for Chocolate tonight.



The trick is not minding
Chocolate

A pretty standard martial arts flick from Thailand that pits a child against a gang. In dire need of money, to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, and medicine. Her mother was involved with the gang previously but her role was never quite defined as far as I could tell. Perhaps the boss’s lover?
She falls for a rival Japanese yakuza member and are forbidden to see each other. But ultimately, old grudges never die....

The action was good, although the CGI flies were dumb. It was odd to watch all of these adults go after a young girl with any sharp tool they could get their hands on as if it was an after thought.

I mean, the firm was pretty good. Her portrayal of autism (?) was decent. As were her martial arts skills. But really, that was it.

Ok movie...not bad, but not good either. A near miss. Somewhat entertaining.

Ok, I’m tired and I’m apparently rambling as I type this.
Night.
*zzzzzz*



Let the night air cool you off


Not quite as good as I remember, but I was still won back over by the end of it. For some reason I remember the film being beautiful, but that's not exactly what I would call it. There was a lot of interesting imagery and a lot of very Japanese imagery, and a bunch of weird sh*t happened, Inception ripped it off and it's pretty cool. The movie is about dreams, but I was thinking a lot of about people having alternate identities on the internet, like going from Chiba to Paprika. I don't have too much to say about it, I'm sure there are some cool videos on youtube that dive into the philosophy of it or whatever. It's a strong film.



I started Dust in the Wind today, but it'll be another two-day endeavor for me.
That one went quickly for me, it's slow paced but I was always interested....I have one more nom left and it's nearly 3 hours long, so I might have to break that one up over a couple of days.



I have one more nom left and it's nearly 3 hours long, so I might have to break that one up over a couple of days.
Hanagatami is conveniently broken up into acts, so if you're going to watch it over a few days, it has built-in stopping points.



Hanagatami is conveniently broken up into acts, so if you're going to watch it over a few days, it has built-in stopping points.
Good, do you remember how many acts it has? Maybe I can plan out my movie watching week around it.



Hanagatami: I'm genuinely curious why Ōbayashi's other films are barely recognized, considering that he made an absolutely beloved film in the 70's. Is it simply due to how difficult it is to find copies of them? Anyway, onto the film. His style has changed since Hausu but it still similar. I liked the usage of the strong colors and purposefully bad effects, it adds a really high level of uniqueness and character to the film. Some of the music was really good, but other times I found it very intrusive and out of place. All of the acting is very good. One thing I didn't like was how half of the dialogue was just characters stating vague philosophical viewpoints (in a somewhat monotone voice) that aren't elaborated on or factored into the film. I also agree With Cosmic's comment, the bit where a certain character tries to romantically kiss their relative was VERY weird.

There is one element of the film that really tainted it for me though:
WARNING: spoilers below
I hated Kira with a f*cking passion. The film tries to depict him in the same way that American coming-of-age films depict the bully character: a jerk that is still likable and sympathetic. I'm sorry, but you really cross the line of likeability when you kill the dog of a main character for no reason and laugh about the fact that you caused your mother's suicide. This also doesn't seem to bother any other character in the film; they continue to associate themselves with him despite the fact he's done and said these horrible things. How can I be expected to sympathize with these characters when their moral compasses are out of line in regards to Kira? Because of this, it tainted my view of the film a lot and I don't know how likely I am to rewatch it.


I still enjoyed the film though and I'm excited to check out Labyrinth of Cinema. Great pick Ueno.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
SWEEEEET

VERY much obliged!! Thank you, good sir!!


As I remarked in private message; SERIOUS peckish to check this out tonight
Well, that was pretty freakin AWESOME
Hitting a top-ranking, facing off against Millennium Actress and above Perfect Blue when it comes to Satoshi Kon for me.
Have yet to see Tokyo Godfathers so there's that wild card. But, yeah, f@ckin great anime.
Should be a review in the next couple of days.



Well, that was pretty freakin AWESOME
Hitting a top-ranking, facing off against Millennium Actress and above Perfect Blue when it comes to Satoshi Kon for me.
I feel similarly. Millennium Actress and Paprika are very, very close. Perfect Blue is at the bottom, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Kon just made even better films. I'd probably rank what I've seen like this:

1. Tokyo Godfathers
2. Millennium Actress
3. Paprika
4. Magnetic Rose (from Memories)
5. Perfect Blue

Though it's worth noting that I've only seen Tokyo Godfathers once, so it definitely needs to be rewatched. It was, however, the only one of his feature length films that I loved from the start.

I actually hated Paprika when I first saw it, but liked it much more upon rewatch. I've now seen it three times. I found Millennium Actress boring the first time through as well, but again, a second viewing seven years later completely changed my mind. I thought Perfect Blue was okay the first time I saw it, and I rewatched it after my mind first changed on Paprika, and while I did like it a little more, I just prefer his other work.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I feel similarly. Millennium Actress and Paprika are very, very close. Perfect Blue is at the bottom, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Kon just made even better films. I'd probably rank what I've seen like this:

1. Tokyo Godfathers
2. Millennium Actress
3. Paprika
4. Magnetic Rose (from Memories)
5. Perfect Blue

Though it's worth noting that I've only seen Tokyo Godfathers once, so it definitely needs to be rewatched. It was, however, the only one of his feature length films that I loved from the start.

I actually hated Paprika when I first saw it, but liked it much more upon rewatch. I've now seen it three times. I found Millennium Actress boring the first time through as well, but again, a second viewing seven years later completely changed my mind. I thought Perfect Blue was okay the first time I saw it, and I rewatched it after my mind first changed on Paprika, and while I did like it a little more, I just prefer his other work.
Haven't seen Magnetic Rose and most likely should. Though Godfathers is the priority for me.
Millennium is slow, but there is an inherent beauty that sorta sneaks up on ya, so by the end, I was pretty endeared to it.
Blue took a couple of watches for me too, to, well, TRY to figure things out, and then the following time or two I just went with the experience instead of deciphering it all. Though, in all honesty, it's more the subject matter at certain points that lower it for me. Like all of Kon's the work is exceptional.



Haven't seen Magnetic Rose and most likely should. Though Godfathers is the priority for me.
Tokyo Godfathers isn't a lot like the ones you've seen, so keep that in mind if/when you watch it. There isn't really any blending of fantasy and reality, which is something I enjoyed in his other features. Magnetic Rose definitely does have that, but it's also the only good part of Memories, so it might not actually be worth tracking it down since last I looked, it wasn't as easily available as his other work.