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“To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Nicolas Cage, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, from the usual garbage Cage has been making during the last 20 years, I actually think this movie could have worked. Unfortunately, it was still ” read more
Notes: I already saw ‘Genroku chûshingura’ from the same director and it’s interesting how both movies were so vastly different from each other. Indeed, while ‘Genroku chûshingura’ was a massive samurai epic lasting almost 4 hrs and involved dozens of different characters, this one was a rather minimalistic romantic drama lasting barely 90 mins with only 3 characters. The common thread between the 2 movies, in my opinion, was how the Japanese people seem or seemed to be stifled by ancient traditions and rules. On the other hand, you could argue that there is something beautiful or admirable about sacrificing yourself which is basically what the 3 main characters did here but, eventually, they all ended up feeling rather miserable after all. In fact, I thought that Shizu was more attractive than Oyu but I guess Shinnosuke saw something in Oyu that eluded me. To be honest, the reason why he was so obsessing about her was never really clear though. It was also interesting that, even though Shizu married Shinnosuke for her sister’s sake, Oyu really thought that her marriage was actually genuine. In the meantime, Shinnosuke was basically played by both women but he eventually didn’t get any of them after all. Still, even if it was well made and intriguing enough, at the end of the day, it was pretty much a vintage Japanese soap but, to be honest, not really much more than that though.
Notes: I already saw ‘Genroku chûshingura’ from the same director and it’s interesting how both movies were so vastly different from each other. Indeed, while ‘Genroku chûshingura’ was a massive samurai epic lasting almost 4 hrs and involved dozens of different characters, this one was a rather minimalistic romantic drama lasting barely 90 mins with only 3 characters. The common thread between the 2 movies, in my opinion, was how the Japanese people seem or seemed to be stifled by ancient traditions and rules. On the other hand, you could argue that there is something beautiful or admirable about sacrificing yourself which is basically what the 3 main characters did here but, eventually, they all ended up feeling rather miserable after all. In fact, I thought that Shizu was more attractive than Oyu but I guess Shinnosuke saw something in Oyu that eluded me. To be honest, the reason why he was so obsessing about her was never really clear though. It was also interesting that, even though Shizu married Shinnosuke for her sister’s sake, Oyu really thought that her marriage was actually genuine. In the meantime, Shinnosuke was basically played by both women but he eventually didn’t get any of them after all. Still, even if it was well made and intriguing enough, at the end of the day, it was pretty much a vintage Japanese soap but, to be honest, not really much more than that though.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Actually, last week, I already saw ‘Genroku chûshingura’ from the same director and it’s interesting” read more
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have a weak spot for Elizabeth Banks and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing after all. Basically, they went for the e” read more
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. As very often, I actually had no idea what this movie was about before watching it and, to be honest, right from the start, I was just so annoyed by the whole co” read more
“To be honest, I didn’t have some huge expectations concerning this movie but I still ended up watching it in the movie theater. The main issue is that these live-action remakes of the Disney classic animated features is such an obvious cash-grab from the entertainment juggernaut, as a result, it” read more
Notes: In fact, I might or should have watched it much sooner but, because of its huge running time, I kept postponing it for a while. Indeed, the version I saw was 210 mins long so it’s not a movie you can watch just like that, it will take not only a lot of your time but also a lot of your attention and focus. Eventually, did it really need to last so long? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I mean, the damned thing was really good, no doubt about it, and it’s always interesting when a director of Mizoguchi’s caliber decide to increase the running time to such extent. It does also automatically gives the whole thing some epic dimensions and you also get lost in this world when you spend so much time in it. And, yet, 95% of it was about a bunch of dudes sitting on their knees and having some conversations, not really much more than that after all. For example, if you would expect some badass action scene during which the famous 47 ronins would finally attack and kill Kira Yoshinaka, well, you will be rather disappointed since all this actually happened off-screen. What was so interesting with this movie, at least to me, was how they displayed the samurai as strong and proud but also how they became stifled by all their rules and protocols. As explained at the beginning of the movie, at the time, they were going through decades of peace and, since there was no fighting left, all they had left was these rules and protocols which, at the same time, gave sense to their lives but also actually ruined it for them.