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Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

Itaya Yuka (Actor) | Yamanaka Satoshi (Actor) | Nakamura Yashui (Actor) | Kirishima Reika (Actor)
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Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version)
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Customer Rating: Customer Review Rated Bad 9 - 9.5 out of 10 (2)

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Product Title: Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version) 遇人不熟 (香港版) 遇人不熟 (香港版) 運命じゃない人 （香港版） Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version)
Artist Name(s): Itaya Yuka (Actor) | Yamanaka Satoshi (Actor) | Nakamura Yashui (Actor) | Kirishima Reika (Actor) 板谷由夏 (Actor) | 山中聰 (Actor) | 中村靖日 (Actor) | 霧島麗香 (Actor) 板谷由夏 (Actor) | 山中聪 (Actor) | 中村靖日 (Actor) | 雾岛丽香 (Actor) 板谷由夏 (Actor) | 山中聡 (Actor) | 中村靖日 (Actor) | 霧島れいか (Actor) Itaya Yuka (Actor) | Yamanaka Satoshi (Actor) | Nakamura Yashui (Actor) | Kirishima Reika (Actor)
Director: Kenji Uchida 內田賢治 内田贤治 内田けんじ Kenji Uchida
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Release Date: 2006-02-24
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
Country of Origin: Japan
Picture Format: NTSC What is it?
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1, 1.85 : 1
Widescreen Anamorphic: Yes
Sound Information: Dolby Digital
Disc Format(s): DVD
Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan) What is it?
Duration: 99 (mins)
Publisher: Kam & Ronson Enterprises Co Ltd
Package Weight: 120 (g)
Shipment Unit: 1 What is it?
YesAsia Catalog No.: 1004137180

Product Information

* Screen Format: 1.85:1, 16:9 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
* Screen Format: Dolby Digital

導演：內田賢治
Director: Kenji Uchida

《囊括國際7項電影大獎 2005年康城影「影評人周」入選作品》
．第30屆報知映畫賞「最佳導演」
．2005新藤兼人賞「最佳新人導演」銀獎
．2005年康城影展「影評人周」入選作品
．法國作家協會「最優秀劇本獎」
．法國中學生選為「最優秀年青影評人大獎」「德國影評人大獎」

失竊了的2,000萬現金尤如引子般把五個命運截然不同的人連上，隨著一夜的告終，每件看似無關重要的事情竟然又千絲萬縷的交遇糾纏；導演內田賢治像時間的魔術師般把各人各事拆散抽離、再裝崁重組… 玩出比想像更為複雜的時間遊戲，「真相」就只有你能看出！

** Awards **
- 2005 International Critic's Week in Cannes
- The 14th Pia Film Festival Scholarship Fund Film

When scattered strings of time converge, good fortune is sure to follow

It all started one Friday night when broken hearted and lackluster businessman Miyata returned home after losing the love of his life, only to be called out again by his private investigator friend. The two meet at a restaurant, where Miyata runs into a woman and falls in love, but in the shadows something unbelievable awaits them all... Three episodes as seen from the viewpoints of five people - a devastated Miyata, a detective who is tired of his job, a yakuza boss having trouble running his organization, a woman thrown into despair by a two-timing fiance, and a con woman who twists men around her finger - are sandwiched between a short prologue and epilogue. The relationships between seemingly simple and isolated episodes begin to surface one after the other as the story progresses, bringing friendships to light and exposing the complicated nature of human beings. While Miyata remains oblivious to the events happening around him, surely his kindness and braverywill encourage broken hearted guys everywhere to keep trying.

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Awards

This film has won 2 award(s). All Award-Winning Asian Films

YumCha! Asian Entertainment Reviews and Features

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Editor's Pick of "Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version) "

Picked By Siu Heng
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January 11, 2007
The Playfulness of Narrative
Promoted as the Japanese version of Memento and Pulp Fiction, Japanese new generation director Kenji Uchida's debut feature A Stranger of Mine also plays on a fragmented narrative structure, which is indeed the biggest attraction of the film. Uchida quickly rose to fame with A Stranger of Mine winning the Best Director or Best Screenplay awards at various local film festivals, and the film shared the SACD Screenwriting Award and the Young Critics Award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

The story starts with a boring office worker Miyata (Yasuhi Nakamura), whose girlfriend Ayumi (Yuka Itaya) deserted him shortly after they moved into an expensive apartment. On a Friday night, his detective friend Kanda (So Yamanaka) calls him for dinner in a restaurant, where Kanda invites a homeless young lady Maki (Reika Kirishima) at the next table to join them. Kanda never returns after excusing himself to use the bathroom, but what's more surprising is that all these weird happenings have to do with 20 million cash owned by a triad boss (Kisuke Yamashita)...

I have read some criticism against the film for lacking in depth, which, I think, is unfair to A Stranger of Mine. The greatest fun of the movie lies in its narrative structure, which should not be seen as vehicle for a more profound message. The process to uncover the truth, stitching bits and pieces together, offers a unique and entertaining experience. The film repeats the same story three times, one in each episode - that reminds us of Run Lola Run - with a little more truth revealed each time. Amusement comes from how simultaneous incidents affect each other, and the audience only learn this when the scenario is repeated.

It was amazing how carefully the storytelling is arranged, with every single scenario repeated but from a different angle. One might argue that such arrangement appears too symmetrical, but it does achieve a certain artistic playfulness that is in itself interesting. This, when combined with Uchida's sense of humor which greatly spices up the film, makes A Stranger of Mine a low-budget film with high quality.

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Customer Review of "Stranger Of Mine (Hong Kong Version) "

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Average Customer Rating for this Edition: Customer Review Rated Bad 9 - 9.5 out of 10 (2)

Kevin Kennedy
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November 13, 2009
Ingeniously conceived romantic comedy Customer Review Rated Bad 10 - 10 out of 10
"A Stranger of Mine" is a delightful surprise. It opens as a quirky comedic romance, then splinters Rashomon-style to examine fragments of that theme through strangely different perspectives, and closes by bringing those strands back together in a masterful exposition of fallen human nature. If all of that sounds too high-faluting for you, don't worry. "A Stranger of Mine" also happens to be very entertaining.

Crestfallen office drone Miyata (Nakamura Yashui) has just been dumped by his gorgeous girlfriend. His old schoolfriend Kanda (Yamanaka Satoshi), now a scruffy gumshoe, invites him to dinner at a restaurant. Kanda urges Miyata to start seeing other women, then asks a disconsolate woman sitting alone at another table to join them. Kanda then vanishes, leaving Miyata and the young woman Maki (Kirishima Reika) to get acquainted, which they do in their shy, awkward manner. Maki, it turns out, has just broken up with her fiance and has no place to stay. Miyata offers to let her spend the night in the spare bedroom of his apartment. However, after they arrive, Ayumi (Itaya Yuka), Miyata's old girlfriend comes to pick up some of her things and Maki takes the opportunity to leave. Miyata, in an uncharacteristic act of boldness and determination, sprints after Maki's taxi and, after finally catching up to it, persuades the hesitant Maki to give him her phone number.

At this juncture, the story fractures into wild subplots involving the old girlfriend Ayumi, who turns out to be a grifter, the detective Kanda who becomes entangled with her scheming, and a yakuza boss (Yamashita Kisuke), from whom Ayumi unwisely seeks to steal a pile of cash. These subplots are tautly menacing, yet laced with wild humor, putting one in mind of Itami Juzo's great films. In the end, defying expectations, all roads lead back to Miyata and Maki and their nascent romance.

Kudos to director Uchida Kenji (who also wrote the script) for pulling off an exciting, edgy, funny, and friendly little romance. "A Stranger of Mine" deserves a wide audience; I recommend it very highly.
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numinair
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June 6, 2008
Fragments of a Bigger Picture Customer Review Rated Bad 9 - 9 out of 10
I watched this film some months ago and have been meaning to mention of what a highly satisfying and enjoyable film this is. If a romantic drama infused with humorous overtones and an intriguing and intricately interwoven plot whets the appetite, I'd certainly recommend this gem of a movie from director Kenji Uchida. Its another film, too, that you know that you are going to enjoy from the onset, by the intriguing opener, interesting and mysterious characters, the solid and tight pacing - all providing to keep you engrossed and charmed throughout. Although essentially a feel good romance movie about a boyish businessman named Miyata and a lost and homeless girl named Maki - this film also portrays the individual byways of 5 separate people who each have their own specific agendas connected to each other, that are alloyed to a central set of circumstances within a single Friday night. These agendas are shown as fragmented episodes by one character, that are then re-shown and repeated from other perspectives with the following four characters - interchanging the plot narratives as each character adds and increase the story line plot. With ever more revelations to what is really going on here, as each character is introduced.

At first "A Stranger of Mine" candidly intrigues about the plight of a sad and lonely young girl named Maki (performed by Reika Kirishima), who after being ditched by her finance that she was to marry, decides to sell her engagement ring at a pawn brokers, and then settle for a miserable life alone. Maki after selling her ring (with a bit of beseeching to the proprietor to raise the amount of money given for her ring), enters a restaurant and sits forlorn at a table, distraught about her rejected circumstances and convinced she is fated forever onwards to be totally alone. She begins to talk to herslef of her plight at the table, conjecturing that he life is null and void. But as Maki's pitch of despair reaches a crescendo of muted emotion, a man at an adjacent table suddenly turns around to face Maki and pointing his finger at her says "Alone!" He then elucidates to her that food tastes a lot better in shared company, and that Maki should join him and his male friend at their table. So reacting immediately to the man's offer, Maki countering her dismal thoughts of isolated moments, joins the two men for a shared meal.

The film then moves on, by going backwards in time to the Friday afternoon, to the second of the five protagonists here, Miyata (acted excellently by Yasuhi Nakamura), an unassuming and introverted man who has also just been ditched by his girlfriend he was also to marry. After returning home later on, Miyata gets a telephone call from his private detective agency friend Kanda (played by So Yamanaka), who wants to meet him in a restaurant. Miyata is reluctant after his tired hard days slog, but relents and goes to the restaurant to meet up with Kanda. While there, Miyata meets the forlorn and lonely girl Maki at an adjacent table, after his detective friend Kanda asks Maki over to join them at their table. Kanda does this after the two men were previously discussing issues about Miyata's break up with his girl friend and random dating (interestingly, too, Kanda tells Miyata that he needs to get over his past girlfriend soon and meet someone else, or after age 30 he will have no chance meeting a woman at all. Logic? So, then before 30 you can be After Shave Man - but after 30 its Too Wrong to Date.....lovely). After Maki joins them and Miyata and Maki get to know each other, Kanda abruptly gets a telephone call where he as to leave the table and make his way to the restaurant's public toilet, where an important call about his present situation is at hand. These two men's circumstances, all add to the previous episode concerning Maki's solitariness, and begin a ever widening picture of events towards a central theme. As the movie progresses, these simple episodes get ever more involved and revelatory to aspects of the characters you didn't initially see, and as newer story elements are added by the fragmented character episodes - the picture gets much bigger. As the film continues you are introduced to more of the five central characters, who are only fleetingly mentioned on the outset. Miyata's girl friend Auymi, who ditched Miyata, has her story revealed and who is hiding some money that she has stolen from a yakuza gangster boss she works for. Private Dic Kanda's tale is also added and of his curiosity about Miyata's past girl friend, and gets involved with her situation of the stolen money. Eventually, the gang boss himself gets his perspective added. All revealing added portions of the drama that you were unaware of at the beginning. In a certain way, this is similar to the recent Korean film called "Cheaters" in how the plot develops through numerous characters (although not the same thematic of inter marital liaisons) to a more complex conclusion. So plays out this multi faceted tale of extraordinary circumstances of 5 people meeting in one night.

Although this film's multi angeled plot is the most interesting, the romantic elements are also as crucial to this film as the revelations, and are all endearing. The most charming of people is Miyata, who boyishly wishes that the lovely Maki will fall in love with him (or at least give his mobile ring tone something to do), after he meets her in the restaurant. Maki seems so helpless and alone, but Miyata soon learns that Maki is troubled by much more than loneliness. Maki stays at Miyata's apartment due to her having no where to stay, and here both characters share their tales of rejected love. At one point Auymi returns and asks Miyata for her belongings, fracturing the delicate words he was having with Maki. But all is not what it seems. Miyata gives Maki his mobile phone number, but Kanda later keeps insisting on his friend's naivety that Maki will have given Miyata a false number, and is only a passing ship in the night. Still, some of the superficial situations in this story aren't meant to be taken too seriously or literally, as the overall premise here is something more afoot than a group of people merely trying to find a solid romance.

Although having a complex type of plot line, this film is certainly light and easy to watch and isn't anything to take too deeply into. But even so, in many ways "A Stranger of Mine" provokes the question, as we watch the outcomes here, that when witnessing actual events either by immediate close proximity or by second hand proxy, do we really know what is behind the happenings and meanings of circumstances? For instance, you see a situation in the street or read an internet gossip column (unfortunately which can sometimes be repositories of false mythologies), where all of this is mere superficial information our brains tell us from that limited information. But is most of it illusion or so limited as to be void of the initial ascertainment? Like a news report that is like a piece of fragmented broken glass, but never the whole panoramic window pane of completeness. Its like similar to spotting a girl crying in a subway station and distraught; could she be sad in the way 'we', 'you' or 'I' first perceive her and superimpose an assumption onto the scene - or is there a complete set of otherwise unknown aspects to that sadness? The girl could have lost her favorite kitten or boyfriend, but she could have also lost her chance of killing her husband due to his adultery - and is upset about it. How can you deduce a simple scene and be sure about it? It may be neither of those of course, and that the girl is upset due to her lack of confidence in herslef losing out on a job interview, or in a reversed sense she could be a female employer who is upset by rejecting 3 women for a job position, who weren't suitable - but were also bringing up children and unemployed. More possible facets to a single diamond. This film is more light hearted really and not at all deep like that, but it does suggest in ways of how these five characters are perceived in themselves, that there is more to things than first revealed.

The DVD here has only a trailer to offer, but this is such a good film you definitely should watch it and not let it pass you by. An essential viewing experience.
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