Round Two Resurrection Forecast, Films 46 - 60Taboo (Nagisa Ôshima, 1999)
Won over Yumeji (verdict by worm@work)Lost to Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old (verdict by Bill Thompson)I've seen all four of the films involved in the two matchups above, and I agree with the verdict in each case.
Taboo is an okay movie that I think went exactly as far in this bracket as it was meant to.
(Eliminated)God of Gamblers Returns (Wong Jing, 1994)
Won over Fist of Fury 1991 II (verdict by roujin)Lost to Ju Dou (verdict by ProperCharlie)God of Gamblers 2,
God of Gamblers 3, and
God of Gamblers Returns all lost their second round matchups. As I delve back into the verdicts, I'm kind of rooting against them to sound worthy of resurrection because my completist tendencies will have me wanting to watch all four of the main films in the series, and that's a big time commitment. Luckily for me, this entry sounds fun but not quite fun enough to merit resurrection consideration. Well, unless roujin was serious when he confessed, "I'm actually just making all of this is up. Chow Yun Fat has sex with a sheep for 90 minutes." Then I'll have to reconsider, obviously.
(Eliminated)Nabbie's Love (Nakae Yuji, 1999)
Won over Doctor Mack (verdict by Tequila)Lost to Musuko (verdict by roujin)Tequila built up a good deal of enthusiasm for
Nabbie's Love with his first round verdict, memorably calling it "a gem ... the kind of film I don't want to write about but instead just show you some screenshots and go 'there - don't you see?!'" roujin was kind to it in the second round as well, except when it came to the performance of the lead actress and the presence of Ashley MacIsaac, against whom roujin has some sort of untold grudge. All things considered, I'm very prepared to be delighted by this movie.
(Resurrection Candidate)The Blue Kite (Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993)
Won over Kite (verdict by 1SO)Lost to Green Fish (verdict by Bill Thompson)I've seen
The Blue Kite, but all I really remember of that experience is the sense that I was watching what in the abstract seemed to be a good or even very film but in the moment didn't really affect me much at all. It sounds like 1SO had a similar experience, and maybe Bill a little bit, too. As such, it's a movie I'm reluctant to revisit but also one I don't feel comfortable dismissing out of hand.
(Waitlisted)Intimates (Cheung Chi Leung, 1997)
Won over Kitchen (verdict by tinyholidays)Lost to The Scent of Green Papaya (verdict by ProperCharlie)I have no idea how to reconcile tinyholidays' experience with this movie with that of ProperCharlie. I'm picturing
Intimates as a guilty pleasure romantic melodrama that can emotionally floor you if you go along with it (one scene reportedly had tinyholidays "gasping and clutching a pillow over [her] face") or frustrate the hell out of you if you don't. If the other reviews I read had been a little more positive, I might have given this film a chance, but they were similarly mixed. Plus, one
review claims that "a good thirty minutes were edited out when transferring the film to laserdisc and DVD." That scares me.
(Eliminated)Art Museum by the Zoo (Lee Jeong-hyang, 1998)
Won over Alan and Eric Between Hello and Goodbye (verdict by Melvil)Lost to Sleeping Man (verdict by Bondo)Aw, this sounds like such a nice, sweet little movie. I'm upset that it doesn't seem quite like third round material because I really wouldn't mind the excuse to watch it. But Melvil labeled it "a little better than the average," as romantic comedies go, and Bondo was "largely unimpressed." So I guess that's another pleasant-sounding film that I won't have the privilege of being slightly underwhelmed by. Damn.
(Eliminated)Living on the River Agano (Satô Makoto, 1993)
Won over The Weald (verdict by matt tmw)Lost to Summer Snow (verdict by tinyholidays)I already resurrected the film that
Agano beat in the first round, and it seems likely I'll consider resurrecting this documentary as well — especially since I had trouble turning it off after the
first five minutes. In his verdict, mañana praised it as "totally compelling, bittersweet, and at times powerful," which is about as strong a recommendation as any bracket film has had. tinyholidays didn't find it quite as compelling, with the narrative seeming a bit too shapeless, but she still had "plenty of respect" for it, and that's good enough for me.
(Resurrection Candidate)Dead or Alive (Takashi Miike, 1999)
Won over Swordsman (verdict by FifthCityMuse)Lost to Postmen in the Mountains (verdict by ProperCharlie)Ha, this is an interesting case. Both the film that
Dead or Alive beat and the film that it lost to were first round resurrections; and
Dead or Alive might well be resurrected itself. FifthCityMuse praised its "audacity," and that's a word that always piques my interest. ProperCharlie summed up the film as "festival of eyeball-infecting filth and depravity with pacing issues and sense of ennui permeating every frame" — and that description intrigues me as well — but he also mentioned "a knife-throwing clown" and that's a f—king deal-breaker. I don't subject myself to clowns unless I absolutely have to, sorry. But I give the movie huge points for being upfront about that in its
tagline: "WARNING: This motion picture contains explicit portrayals of violence; sex; violent sex; sexual violence; clowns and violent scenes of violent excess, which are definitely not suitable for all audiences."
(Waitlisted)Shall We Dance? (Suo Masayuki, 1996)
Won over Eighteen Springs (verdict by FifthCityMuse)Lost to Eagle Shooting Heroes (verdict by Bill Thompson)I don't remember much about
Shall We Dance?, but my instinct is that the third round would be incomplete without it, just by virtue of its success at the US box office. It took in an impressive $9.6M for Miramax, outgrossing
Eat Drink Man Woman ($7.3M) from three years earlier. Then again, I've already denied first round resurrection to
The Legend of Drunken Master ($11.6M) and
Iron Monkey ($14.7), so my logic might be problematic. Still, aside from those two movies — and
Supercop, whose $16.3M gross is a bracket best —
Shall We Dance? appears to have had the most successful US theatrical release, with few others film even close to it:
The Wedding Banquet ($6.9M),
Farewell My Concubine ($5.2M),
Raise the Red Lantern ($2.6M),
Princess Mononoke ($2.4M),
To Live ($2.3M),
Shanghai Triad ($2.1M),
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams ($2.0M),
Ju Dou ($2.0M),
Three Seasons ($2.0M),
The Story of Qiu Ju ($1.9M),
The Scent of Green Papaya ($1.7M),
Shower ($1.6M),
Picture Bride ($1.2M),
The King of Masks ($1.1M),
After Life ($800K),
Chungking Express ($600K),
Ghost in the Shell ($516K),
Hana-bi ($500K),
Perfect Blue ($113K),
Sonatine ($58.8K), and
Xiu Xiu ($23.9K). Oh, maybe it's worth pointing out that FifthCityMuse and Bill Thompson both enjoyed the movie.
(Resurrection Candidate)City of the Rising Sun (Kim Sung-su, 1999)
Won over General's Son (verdict by worm@work)Lost to A Scene at the Sea (verdict by smirnoff)I've had a feeling since before the bracket began that the best thing about
City of the Rising Sun was its title. The verdicts by worm@work and smirnoff only reinforce that feeling.
(Eliminated)Ordinary Heroes (Ann Hui, 1999)
Lost to One Evening After The War (verdict by roujin)Lost to Secret Love for the Peach Blossom Spring (verdict by tinyholidays)It's a borderline case, but
Ordinary Heroes likely belongs in the third round of this bracket. Too bad I already had to
resurrect it once. As both verdicts make clear, it's a difficult film, and not without its missteps, but it's one I look forward to revisiting myself someday.
(Eliminated)In The Heat of the Sun (Jiang Wen, 1994)
Won over Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old (verdict by roujin)Lost to Okoge (verdict by Bondo)roujin completely sold me of
In The Heat of the Sun in his first round verdict, and Bondo said he wouldn't mind seeing it resurrected, so this is an easy one.
(Resurrection Candidate)Buddha Bless America (Wu Nien-Jen, 1996)
Won over Fong Sai Yuk (verdict by 'Noke)Lost to Kamikaze Taxi (verdict by tinyholidays)I watched
Buddha Bless America early on in the bracket, and it's possible that I might have already been immune to its beauty by that point. I had already spent hours and hours with it, working on creating and timing the subtitles so that the film could be a part of this project. That's a horrible way to watch a movie, and I thought that when the time came to consider resurrecting the film, I'd give it a fresh look. Thinking about it now, though, and comparing it to some of the other films up for resurrection, I just can't see myself appreciating so much more that I'd send it into round three. I did like the film, mind you; just not as much as 'Noke did.
(Eliminated)Lost and Found (Lee Chi-Ngai, 1996)
Won over Postmen in the Mountains (verdict by smirnoff)Lost to Princess Mononoke (verdict by lotr-sam0711)I'm fascinated by the love-hate relationship that Sam the Cinema Snob seemed to have with this movie. It's as if he kept getting mad at himself for enjoying for he was watching. There's a similar divide in smirnoff's review. With little warning, he goes from saying the movie has "some magic" to saying the movie is "just okay." That's a sharp drop! So, yeah, I'm definitely intrigued, but...
(Eliminated)Dr. Akagi (Shôhei Imamura, 1998)
Won over Samurai Fiction (verdict by smirnoff)Lost to Shanghai Triad (verdict by Beavermoose)I swear I reviewed
Dr. Akagi on the forums way back when, but I appear to be a liar. It was a movie I struggled to like and eventually succeeded in doing so. I would have resurrected it after the first round, but the second is as far as it deserves to go.
(Eliminated)Yay! That was a much better set than the last one. The total number of resurrection candidates is up to thirteen, with another twelve films on the waitlist.
pixote