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: * * +
This ones figured in my list for a while - its been considered a cult movie of its times. A good watch indeed - panoramic insight into the NYC underbelly of 1969.
The movie apparently was and is the only the X rated flick ever to win an Oscar for best picture. Besides it being a story of a wannabe hussler who is confused over his sexual identity, its also another one of those guy bonding story - a theme often used in movies, before and after this one. Ironically, the movie that this one knocked off to win the Oscars was the other famous brudder movie - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
It starred couple of relative novices at that point - Jon Voight as the Midnight Cowboy and Dustin Hoffman as the crippled peddler of anything. Have never seen a performance of this sort from Dustin Hoffman - which I now realise set the pattern for his contemporaries for time to come. Which includes, Mr. Al Pacino. Watch the movie, and you'll know what I am talking about.
Rating: * * *
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..
