Reviews written by Fabrizio
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A Bloody Aria Special Edition
A Bloody Aria Special Edition DVD Region 3
(3)Our Price: US$27.99List: US$35.99Save: US$8.00 (22%)Related promotions:1 people found the following helpful
October 4, 2006 Disturbing? Hell yes!A Bloody Aria pay tribute to one of the most sickest thriller ever created that is "Deliverance".
It's a wonderful directed (with an awesome photography too) thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat 'till the end, it's a story of human nature, lot of sadness and irony, any characters can be defined properly because everyone is good and wicked at the same time. Really enchanting.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Tsukino kakera furi sozoku Tour Final Tokyo (Japan Version)
Tsukino kakera furi sozoku Tour Final Tokyo (Japan Version) DVD Region 2
(1)Our Price: US$52.15Related promotions:September 17, 2006 Awesome!Even if the sound mixing is a little confues and so the picture is a little blur this is the best showcase from Ayabie so far.
It contains the best song ever wrtitten since their birth and their energy on stage is always pure entertainment. Can't wait to see them in Paris!Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
All About Ah Long (DTS Version) (Digitally Remastered) (Joy Sales Version) (Hong Kong Version)
All About Ah Long (DTS Version) (Digitally Remastered) (Joy Sales Version) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(2)Our Price: US$14.49Related promotions:September 17, 2006 Extremely good dramaAll About Ah-Long is a well crafted drama, it alternates funny moments to very sad ones. The acting is gorgeous, both Chow Yun Fat and Sylvia Chang are outstanding, one of the best couple of lovers I've ever seen. The little Porky were also good, a pity that he doesn't found a bright future in cinematography. Johnny To is (once again) very skillful in not exceeding in both side of the charming story between the lovers, no cheesy moments nor too unbelievable plot twists. The ending is simply outstanding and one of the most dramatic I've ever seen. That's a great example of what are Hong Kong dramas and a very good effort from one of the most prolific HK directors ever. See it! Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Iden & Tity (Japan Version - English Subtitles)
Iden & Tity (Japan Version - English Subtitles) DVD Region 2
(1)Our Price: US$44.99Related promotions:2 people found the following helpful
September 17, 2006 Anthem to non-conformismDirectional debut by the legendary Tomorowo "Tetsuo" Taguchi, once member of punk/rock band " Bachikaburi", is a great tale about, as the title suggests, keeping your identity in a world where money and fame rules undisputed. Taguchi chose wisely to put a real rock player as Mineta Kazunobu (former member of "Going Steady") in leading role. The starring cast is overall pretty good though and their performance on stage (of which there is many additional footage on the extras of Japanese DVD) is great and engaging. This is a movie intended to be a real hymn to the essence of rock, metal or whatever, nonconformist music/thinking/speaking.
Metalheads, rebels: this movie is for you.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Beyond Our Ken (Hong Kong Version)
September 17, 2006 A look at modern relationshipsI was expecting much from director Ping after that great, inventive comedy that was Men Suddenly in Black. And my expectations were totally satisfied.
Beyond Our Ken is a magnificently crafted movie about 2 girls, Shirley and Chan who teams up together against the arrogance and hypocrisy of Shirley's boyfriend Ken which happens to be Chan's ex boyfriend.
What will hit you the most about this movie is the extremely cynical and disillusioned look that gives to the modern relationships, all full of joy and sweet things but filled with lurking sadism ready to break out once the relationship is over. Sometimes that will to hurt each others when a relation is broken is justified.. but sometimes it isn't. Trust in a relationship, as this movie rightly observes, is not the simplest thing to attain, and sometime it's nearly impossible, despite the will of the partners..Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
All About Lily Chou-Chou (Hong Kong Version)
All About Lily Chou-Chou (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(12)Our Price: US$13.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:September 17, 2006 Ultimate slice-of-life movieAll About Lily Chou-Chou went on the first position of my top 10 soon after the first view, let me tell you why: AALCC is a movie absolutely like nothing else, it's a story that can be perfectly reflected on some of our lives, our youth.
Who has never felt alone and lost in his teen years? Who has never searched for shelter and hope in a particularly music band? Maybe by being influenced by some friends.
Well Shunji Iwai know well this, and he struggled well to create an absolute idol, an hope for his young boys: that's Lily Chou-Chou.
This girl with an unbelievable voice is truly the protagonist of this movie, her music surround every single frame, affecting every single action made by the young guys, she's like a goddess that watches her disciples.
The directing is, as you can expect from Iwai, magnificent: in particular the handy cam work is simply fantastic, you can feel almost to touch the guy's hearts and feel also accomplice for their suffering.
Maybe this is not a movie, maybe it's only a 140 minutes PV, but even is it, I don't care: when you'll hear Lily, you'll never forget her.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Kamikaze Girls (Hong Kong Version)
Kamikaze Girls (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(5)Our Price: US$12.49Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:2 people found the following helpful
September 17, 2006 Amelie x T&L x Excel SagaSimply absurd, imaginative, unreal. A naive Kyoko Fukada in Lolita shape, fan of embroidery and Rococò and its fabulous lacy dresses , meets a bad-to-the-bone female thug that will change her life. The story is the quintessence of pop culture's exaltation, a movie so coloured that makes Cutie Honey a faded charcoal, a demential opera as much as Excel Saga, a reflection on the true importance of friends and dears.
Kyoko Fukada's acting is perfect, she makes what she does better: an ingenuous little girl. Anna Tsuchiya is a very talented actress, can't wait to see her on the new Katsushito Ishii..Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Yaku Sanju no Uso - Special Edition (Limited Edition) (Japan Version - English Subtitles)
Yaku Sanju no Uso - Special Edition (Limited Edition) (Japan Version - English Subtitles) DVD Region 2
(1)Our Price: US$54.99Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:September 17, 2006 When even swindlers have heartYaku san-jû no uso (English title: 30 Lies or So) is one of the most innovative movies I've seen from many years.
It tells the story about a group of swindlers who makes money by selling some fake goods cheating the buyers. You never know how it happens because the movie is totally focused on the feeling of the group of swindlers before and after the fraud has took place.
Love, lust, regret and forgiveness rule the train where the cheaters are travelling to go home with the money, setting up an intriguing scheme where emotions oppose to their first aim, which is obviously the money.
In the end friendship and togetherness seems to be the most important things for them when practically every member of the teams suspects each other to planning to escape with the money at the next stop.
Miki Nakatani is simply gorgeous, imho one the most beautiful woman on earth, she's also a skilled actress and singer.
Don't miss this one, it proves once again that Japan (and of course the rest of Asia) is the future of cinema.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Tropical Malady (US Version)
Tropical Malady (US Version) DVD Region 1
(1)Our Price: US$21.29List: US$24.99Save: US$3.70 (15%)Usually ships within 7 - 14 daysRelated promotions:September 17, 2006 A movie to regain hope"Tropical Malady" from the Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jury Prize in the last Cannes Film Festival, is a movie that really consume the inside, like a terminal disease. Every senses of your body will be over-excited, there is a TERRIFIC use of sound effects, that will render the tropical forest a living entity, intelligent, thinking, speaking. The contrast between the horrors and anguishes of modern time and the most charming folk legends , that awaken the most genuine human side from the bottom of our hearts is something quite unique and unforgettable.
It's hard to tell about the story without spoil it. Watch it, no matter what.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
loved gun (Japan Version)
September 17, 2006 A divine master plan.A divine master plan. Father (Seijun Suzuki), Son (Kensaku Watanabe) and the Holy Ghost (Masatoshi Nagase):
I'll start with no compromise: Loved Gun is one of the best movies of the last decade and I can *HARDLY* conceive a better film to be coming in the next years.
I talked about a divine master plan with 3 leads, let me explain:
The Father - Seijun Suzuki:
Suzuki is well known outside japan for his masterful works of the late '60 like Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifters, two unquestionable masterpieces that merge together highly inventive camera work, theatrical staging of duels, hyper-charismatic characters and solid script background with regular in-depths looks at human emotions and behavior under various circumstances. I can say with no exaggeration that Loved Gun is the natural consequence of all Suzuki's trademark, plus something else provided by...
The Son - Kensaku Watanabe:
This is truly the natural son of Seijun Suzuki's cinema, it was no surprise discover after watched this movie that he worked as assistant director in Suzuki's "Yumeji" which I'm dying to see now. This guy really know how to direct movies being INSPIRED by someone (Suzuki, of course) without IMITATING.
The "plus" I was telling above is both a question of style and substance:
- Style: He brought the authentic theatrical and spectacular challenges of Suzuki's movie to an higher level with camera works above the usual standard of modern movie-making, he transformed the stage in a multi layered place where the passions and emotions of the leads take the scene in a metaphysical way, challenging common laws of physics and nature in order to make the characters become they're own essence (I say only "BULLETS"...).
- Substance:
* (Youth) Alienation: this really remembered me about the beautiful Akihiko Shiota's "Harmful Insect" where, curiously, the lead is played again by the charming Aoi Miyazaki. Miyuki's portrait of stranded, lost and hopeless adolescent is a view both sad and romantic. The strange romantic feeling is brought by the meeting with killer Hayamada, a figure so distant but at the same time so close to her that creates a unique mood in the spectator: we can understand their feelings for each other and the worlds around, but all of this is presented in a such platonic way that brings an atmosphere both tender and incredibly tragical.
* Respect for the elder, conflict between old and new: well, this really surprised me for the way it was conceived and brought on screen. Taneda is a reckless youngster beginner killer of the newest generation that is forced to travel along with the respected, wise and elder Maruyama. This journey will become for Taneda the most important experience in his life, he will discover what is respect, honesty, reliability and trust: all values that most of the scoundrel newest generations don't ever know the meanings. Taneda is reluctant (even more..) of all these attributes that Maruyama seems to be the proudest bringer, traditions fall apart in the eyes of the young and the elder is only slightly scorned by this. Then something changes in the mind of the young, he realize that he can become the bright future that the grand elder will barely witness because of the age. Values in the world of killer is not nonsense as it seems, because of the human sides of the characters and we know that nobody is born with homicide instinct but are the circumstances in which one grows, and so we got to..
* Vengeance for love/hatred: You'll see lot of vengeance matters, I'll not spoil anything about the plot but only got a line to say: you'll probably know Park Chan-wook, a well known (and let me say, terrific) director that made vengeance movie one of his trademark. Unlike Park's movies in which vengeance is portrayed as a black maelstrom of unavoidable violence and unforgivable sins, Watanabe caught the pure essence of vengeance as an act of love between two man that both have something to be forgiven but they can't forgot, is a two-sided relief. This will be not the case of the little Miyuki as you'll see...
and finally..
The Holy Ghost - Masatoshi Nagase
I say Masatoshi Nagase for he's the main lead, but believe me all the four leads are simply amazing:
Masatoshi Nagase is a passional mask of sadness and hatred, I could not conceive a better actor for this role. Aoi Miyazaki and Hirofumi Arai confirms themselves as the most talented Japanese actors of the new generations (along with Satoshi Tsumabuki and Ryuhei Matsuda), both personify perfectly two different sides of a misled youth. Ittoku Kishibe as a veteran actor is perfect too for the character of the elder Hayamada, clean and methodical, he's the perfect killer.
To conclude, this is an experience you'll never forget for the rest of your life, and personally this became my favorite all-time movie along with All About Lily Chou-Chou.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Father and Son : The Story of Mencius
Father and Son : The Story of Mencius DVD Region 3
(1)Our Price: US$17.99List: US$22.99Save: US$5.00 (22%)Related promotions:September 16, 2004 Fantastic ComedyFather & Son is a great comedy that surprised me a lot. Starring the leading actor of Kim Ki-Duk's "Bad Guy", F&S focuses on the everlasting problem of relationship between father and son. This film gave me great emotions and also a lot of laughs. The beginner actress Yi-hyeon So is a great beauty and also a talented one. Definitively recommended. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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