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Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561562 times)

BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2410 on: August 20, 2017, 06:11:26 PM »
Nice job Pix! I loved the poetic beauty of it. I wish I enjoyed the entire movie more...
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maņana

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2411 on: September 16, 2017, 10:53:55 PM »
The Hole - Tsai Ming-liang, 1998

A fantastic, singular film. I've come to realize that I'm a sucker for a good sound design, and in this case the constant sound of rain and industrial buzzing is complete and total maņana-bait. Along with the constant sense of dampness, the sound design gives the film a unique bleak atmosphere. Combine all that with the grim apartment complex interiors, and the art direction here is totally my jam. Not too far into this, it started to remind me of Jarmusch. Not sure if that comparison is superficial or not, but the tone and odd humour kept bringing him back to mind. As a general rule, the social/spiritual alienation and loneliness of modern urban life tends to bore me (just go take a class or volunteer or something, geez), but the how is too good here for me to take issue with the what.


Kamikaze Taxi - Masato Harada, 1995


Did you know that starting in the late 19th century several waves of Japanese immigrants arrived in Peru looking for work? Well, I didn't. Did you also know that immigration policy changes in the 1980s and 90s allowed for ethnic-Japanese Peruvians to work in Japan to meet labour shortages? Stop pretending you read about this in The Economist. Apparently, though ethnically Japanese, culturally and socially those of Peruvian background were othered. Koji Yakusho plays Kantake, a Japanese Peruvian taxi driver who chauffeurs Tatsuo on his revenge mission (his kamikaze mission, that is), and he is definitely the standout to my mind. The film is rather sprawling and meandering, and though that was discouraging as a viewer initially, once I committed and got on its wavelength, I was rather engrossed. With such little knowledge of the context, I'm hesitant to offer an assessment of how smart its politics are. As commentary on social and political systems and Japanese insularity (xenophobia and brutal, powerful men are elements throughout) I don't know how nuanced it is, but I can say I was along for the wandering ride. Most importantly though, as you might expect, the dirty talk on the Blockbuster Video floor was probably my favourite part. But that would be true of almost any movie.

Verdict: The Hole moves on.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2017, 10:57:43 PM by maņana »
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pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2412 on: September 17, 2017, 12:23:36 AM »
Great reviews to end on! (I don't remember the Blockbuster Video scene in Kamikaze Taxi. I'll have to check YouTube later.)

I'll try to get the last few resurrections reviews posted within the week. In the meantime, for seeding purposes, please send me your ratings (0-10) for any of the following films that you watched since the fourth round began:

After Life
After the Rain
Audition
Blues Harp
Cageman
Chungking Express
Comrades, Almost a Love Story
Cure
Days of Being Wild
A Dedicated Life
Farewell My Concubine
Flowers of Shanghai
Hana-bi
Happy Together
Hard Boiled
The Hole
Like Grains of Sand
M/Other
Made in Hong Kong
Moving
Only Yesterday
Perfect Blue
Pickpocket
Princess Mononoke
The Puppetmaster
Raise the Red Lantern
Rebels of the Neon God
Rice People
The Road Home
The Scent of Green Papaya
Siao Yu
Sonatine
Spring in My Hometown
Vive L'Amour
Whisper of the Heart
Woman Sesame Oil Maker


pixote
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oldkid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2413 on: September 17, 2017, 12:45:28 AM »

After Life-- 8
After the Rain--8
Audition-- 9
Chungking Express--9
Farewell My Concubine--7.5
The Hole-- 8
Only Yesterday-- 7.5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Teproc

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2414 on: September 17, 2017, 03:43:47 AM »
Audition - 7
Blues Harp - 6
Chungking Express - 8
Like Grains of Sand - 7
M/Other - 7
Princess Mononoke - 10
The Puppetmaster - 7
Raise the Red Lantern - 7
Rice People - 8
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ProperCharlie

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2415 on: September 18, 2017, 03:25:27 AM »
Cure 7/10
Happy Together 7/10

smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2416 on: September 18, 2017, 11:18:55 PM »
Great reviews to end on! (I don't remember the Blockbuster Video scene in Kamikaze Taxi. I'll have to check YouTube later.)

I'll try to get the last few resurrections reviews posted within the week. In the meantime, for seeding purposes, please send me your ratings (0-10) for any of the following films that you watched since the fourth round began:

Only since the fourth round began? I forget why this is the case.

After Life - 7/10
After the Rain - 7/10
Hard Boiled 3/10

pixote

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2417 on: September 19, 2017, 06:09:26 AM »
Only since the fourth round began? I forget why this is the case.

Oh, ha. I have everyone's ratings from the previous rounds, so I was just trying to avoid having those resubmitted and creating discrepancies, resulting in my having to send those "Hey, you rated this film an 8.5 back in 2015 but now only a 7.0. Which rating should I use?" private messages. :)

I feel bad having asked for the ratings here, having stepped on maņana's verdict.

I've come to realize that I'm a sucker for a good sound design ...

Are there key examples to this trend?

pixote
« Last Edit: September 19, 2017, 06:11:18 AM by pixote »
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jbissell

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2418 on: September 19, 2017, 09:40:29 AM »
Audition - 8
Perfect Blue - 7.5
The Scent of Green Papaya - 8.5

smirnoff

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #2419 on: September 19, 2017, 09:20:05 PM »
Oh, ha. I have everyone's ratings from the previous rounds, so I was just trying to avoid having those resubmitted and creating discrepancies, resulting in my having to send those "Hey, you rated this film an 8.5 back in 2015 but now only a 7.0. Which rating should I use?" private messages. :)

Oh word. That works for me. :)

 

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