Thor: The Dark World

Loki is locked up and Thor with is warrior friends are forging a peace across the nine realms following the rebuilding of the Bifrost after the previous debacle. But the calm is not allowed to build as Dark Elves, who are thought to be obliterated eons ago are re-awoken by an unwitting Earthling. You are then treated to some heavy CGI magic and loads of hammer wielding Thor action resulting in an enjoyable shallow action flick. 

Rating: * * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Thor

The premise of this film is simple. All conquering immortal warrior, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cast down to Earth by the Allfather Odin (Anthony Hopkins). It is now up to the new Earth hero to pick up the pieces and restore himself to full light while putting up with nattering of a very hot ineffective Natalie Portman. Thankfully it doesn’t take much away from the film as this Marvel franchise is being handled with aplomb by Kenneth Branagh. If only they had borrowed more from the Ultimate side of Thor…

Rating: * * +
PS: It seems like Tadanobu Asano is really hard up on cash!

Villon's Wife

After reading Osamu Dazai's masterpiece last year, it was a pleasant surprise to watch an adaption of his earlier novel on the big screen. It does appear that all his works were an attempt to understand the darkness that engulfed him. Unlike 'No longer human', this story is narrated from the point of view of Otani's long-suffering wife - besides capturing all the sacrifices she makes to keep him, one, through Sachi's eyes, comes face to face with the devil that Otani is.

Tadanobu Asano as Otani shows yet again why he is one of the finest actors in the world today. Takaka Matsu plays Sachi with the kind of honesty and loyalty that would have made the Villon's wife proud. With brilliant performances, a plot that completely draws one in and fine directing by Kichitaro Negishi, Villon's wife slots into the top draw quite comfortably.

Rating: * * * +

PS: I really hope nobody attempts to adapt 'No longer human', as it would take away all the attention that the novel deserves. Update: wikipedia says the movie is on its way. Fuck it.

Kabei: Our Mother

It is the 1940s and nationalistic fervor is raging across Japan. The Nagomi family's foundation is brutally shaken when the father, Professor Shigeru, is carted off as a thought criminal. The burden of supporting the family falls on his frail wife, Kayo (Sayuri Yoshinaga). She finds buttress from an old student of her husband, Yamazaki played brilliantly by Tadanobu Asano. But the focus of the film is the relationship between the mother and her two young daughters.

I was unsure as to what to expect from Yôji Yamada in his first film after the Samurai trilogy. To make things worse, the film eerily reminded me of Akashadoothu. But difference here was that the sadness was not forced nor did it seem like it was Yamada-san's plan to shove melancholy down our throats. The end result was a natural progression of events that gave us yet another window in to the Japanese psyche.

Rating: * * *

Bright Future

Kogi K's favourite actor Tadanobu Asano stars as an anarchist, 20 something, young-nothing - whose only objective in life, it seems, is to deliver the poisonous red jellyfish into the Tokyo water system. Along with his spaced out friend and the meaningless routine of their daily life, the movie settles early, and elegantly, into an other worldly feel which apparently is the hallmark of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The movie also features another legend of Japanese movies, Tatsuya Fuji as the father of Asano's character - who takes a keen interest in the zombie friend as he struggles to exist. But where does it take us? Down to an issue that Kurosawa seems to grapple with - the eternal conflict between 2 generations. Well..

Rating: * * +

Hana

Soza (Junichi Okada) embeds himself in the poor quarters of Edo, seeking vengeance for the death of his father. But life in the row houses slowly starts to grow on him especially when he starts to tutor the neighborhood kids. Hirokazu Koreeda's film is an anti-thesis to most movies depicting the jidaigeki era. The protagonist is better at wielding a pen rather than a sword and is heavily conflicted about his duty. The other characters in the film are quirky and fit seamlessly in the scenes of comic realism. Koreeda's masterstroke is in juxtaposing the story of the  47 ronin by having a couple of them hiding out in the row houses. Putting Tadanobu Asano in a small but important role just adds to the class of the movie. And to really sweeten the deal there is Rie Miyazawa... enough said!

Rating: * * *

Mongol

Tadanobu Asano is Temudjin, the man who would become the great Genghis Khan. Now why would anyone cast a Japanese as the greatest Mongol is a mystery. This film focuses on his early life as a slave and his struggle to rise and unite the Mongols. Temudjin is portrayed as compassionate and is yet to turn into the bloody Khan. A film that was expected to be bloody given the central character in question, but it turned out to be comparitively mellow. Hopefully that will be taken care of in the sequel to the film.

Rating: * *

Zatoichi

In Takeshi Kitano's version of Zatoichi, the blind masseur wanders into a remote town that is being held hostage by the yakuza. Like always Ichi decides to lend a helping hand or I should say, helping sword. Though following the regular plotlines of an Ichi flick, Kitano cleverly massages other characters and storylines into it plus his own brand of humor. What you finally have is a very slick flick with blindingly fast sword fights and a cunning background score.

For those who are curious as to why Kitano would make a Zatoichi flick, here is a good article that explains it.

Rating: * * * +

Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Samehada (Tadanobu Asano) is on the run after stealing 100 million yen from the Yakuza. The strangest band of Yakuza goons are after him, each one quirkier than the other. While on the run he literally smashes into Toshiko (Sie Kohinata) who is also on the run for other reasons. Together they form Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl and the ride begins.

Asano continues to impress and Katsuhito Ishii is indeed a Japanese Wes Anderson. But it is Tatsuya Gashuin (Grandpa in Taste of Tea) who puts a unique stamp on the film with his role of the most bizzare hitman ever.

Rating: * * +

The Taste of Tea

The Katsuhito Ishii film captures the the Haruno family at a time where all its members are at the peak of their quirkiness. In fact calling them quirky is an understatement. Young Hajime (Takahiro Sato) is in grips of teenage love and angst. Adolescent Sachiko (Maya Banno) can't seem to get rid of her giant self that keeps watching over her. Mother Yoshiko (Satomi Tezuka) is trying to get her anime career back on track with help from crazy Grandpa (Tatsuya Gashuin) who is a master of strange poses. Uncle Tayano (Tadanobu Asano), a famous DJ and music mixer, wanders around lost in his own world. The slightly normal member seems to be the hypnotist father (Tomokazu Miura). A Japanese film which has a very Wes Anderson like feel to it.



Rating: * * * +

Café Lumière

There is a thin line separating a excruciatingly boring film from a very absorbing one. This masterpiece by Hsiao-hsien Hou highlights this fact. It is a movie that cares not for the viewer or in gentler terms includes the viewer as an after thought. It is very interesting to note that Hou plays scant respect to the 180 degree rule just like Yasujirō Ozu to whom this piece is dedicated.

The film trails Yôko (Yo Hitoto, who is a pop icon in Japan), a frail beauty disconnected and floating in her own world. The only time I felt her to be alive is when riding on the innumerable trains connecting various corner of Tokyo. Our friend Tadanobu Asano also makes fleeting appearances in the film. Deftly mesmerizing and completely dangerous for the run of the mill movie viewer.

Rating: * * *

Invisible Waves

The triumvirate from this movie is back with a dream like 2 hour sequence. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang returns to make a story of Tadanobu Asano as a hired killer who increasingly feels that he has been fucked over in more ways than one.

Like the director says, the story unfolds quite naturally and believably, but the core of the movie lies in the atmosphere. Atmosphere and atmosphere. And more atmosphere. Thats where our friend Chris Doyle makes his presence felt with superb footage of overcast Hong Kong, dilapidated Macau and quaint Phuket. Some critics complain about the visual quality - which I dont get at all. Fucking far from it. But am not entirely convinced about Pen-Ek's ability to develop a storyline thats as robust as his atmosphere-creating capabilities.

Rating: * * +

Last Life in the Universe

There are certain books out there that suck you in and you end up living its world for as long you are reading it. This movie did the same to me. You gently float along with the tale of Kenji, a quiet, sensitive and shy young Japanese man living in Bangkok. He wants to commit suicide though not for the usual reasons like heartbreak, despair and loneliness. There are hints of Wong Kar-Wai and Haruki Murakami and having Chris Doyle behind the lenses definitely helps.

I really don't want to say more about the film. The feeling that I have cannot be translated into words. But I would only recommend this to Wenerd and Aromal...

Rating: * * * *