Reviews

From this point forward the film cuts between the events of Giuliano's life as a bandit and the consequences of his death.

The film is a comment on life in Korea, and indeed on all our urban rat race lives.

Firstly I think we knew Aronofsky wasn't going to make a straightforward retelling of the story, he's not that kind of film maker but I do think he has stayed true to the values of the Bible story without sticking to the literal work.

However the film does end on a salutary note and that's how so many of the fish that Jiro used to use are now getting rarer and some almost none existent possibly partly due to the popularity of sushi worldwide.

I hesitate to recommend this film to most people, it's full of the bad things we do to each other However if you want to see Javier Bardem give a massive performance in an imperfect film then go and see this.

Peter Mullan's film world is a dark tough world, witness his earlier films Orphans and Magdalene Sisters and his performances in things like Ken Loach's My Name is Joe.

The film is a series of beautifully framed tableau through which you wholly understand Odd's life even though he hardly speaks all through the film.

Now you know reading my reviews, that I'm not averse to zany Japanese comedy even those filmed at 100 miles an hour in psychadelic colours, but I like these comedies to be filmed with a light touch.

Becker used Giovanni to adapt his story for the film, and such was the support that Becker gave the ex criminal that Giovanni went on to write many more crime stories and also became a director of film noir.

I read a post saying this film was Tarkovsky's favourite film, then I realised we're staying soon very near the place where the original novel was written, so decided to see it for the first time.