Originally Posted by oildude
I'll chime in with a few recommendations. Up until four years ago, I was pretty much ignorant about Japanese cinema except for late night monster movies and the occasional Kurosawa. Then I picked up Still Walking as a blind buy on a whim. From that point on I went on a journey of discovery into the wonderful world of Japanese films and have never looked back. I think it is pretty awesome when a movie can take you in new directions like that.
Still Walking - From reading the description on the back, it sounded like a slow-paced talkie film that I would have to be in a certain mood to watch. I had my doubts about it but bought it anyway.
Was I ever wrong. The story centers around an extended Japanese family's annual gathering on the anniversary of the oldest son's death. The acting, dialogue, and family dynamic are superb. The whole film has an intimacy to it that is very real and touches all the right emotional chords of family life - joyous and talkative, sometimes irritable, sometimes sad and contemplative, often touchingly humorous, and ultimately redemptive. I especially liked how the director frequently used the camera to show detail and mood.
In my opinion, the film is brilliant. The director, Koreeda, takes a low-key approach to a slice of everyday life, showing us the gathering of the family, their interactions over several meals, interpersonal tensions, quiet demons, and conflicts involving modern vs. traditional cultural themes, and makes such a totally compelling and identifiable story that it easily resonates with a non-Japanese audience.
Harakiri - Although I had seen and enjoyed Seven Samurai, I did not consider myself much of a samurai movie fan when I blind bought Harakiri, It was viewing experiences like this that ultimately changed my perceptions. Now I love a good samurai story. Harakiri is a superb film in which the main character, a proud but poor ronin, seeks to find salvation from the pains and injustices that life circumstances - and wicked men - have done to him. Being a samurai, he chooses the warrior's ritual suicide. And that is just the beginning of the film.
The tension is ramped up so skillfully that what starts out as a slowly unwinding tale of misfortune becomes bit by bit a dark quest for redemption and revenge. The result is an edge-of-your-seat experience. The climax is unforgettable. Harakiri is done so well on so many levels, an emotionally affecting film, where the beauty in life may be found in the manner of death itself. As much as I have grown to love and appreciate the samurai films of Kurosawa, this is the one that I rank as the best samurai movie I have ever seen. I also consider it one of the greatest films ever.
Pale Flower is another extraordinary film (I seem to use that word a lot to describe Japanese cinema). The opening scenes with their chaotic Japanese percussion mixed with jazz riffs hooked me in, the stylish visuals, the cool menace of the main character Muraki, the self-destructive thrill junkie Saeko and the effect she has on Muraki, the slow building suspense culminating in operatic violence. Just a very well done noir film. The ending is perfect. Pale Flower is the only Shinoda I have ever seen, so I need to explore more of his work.
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was alright... keeping it for my baseball movie collection.
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