3 posts tagged “dvd”
OK so here's the update page for the Pony Canyon stuffs.
Yep, the CoCo DVD box set is still there. But what the HELL happened to ribbon? Kaput: it's off HMV and now Rakuten. I already began to set some buck$ aside for BOTH sets (assuming a Y30,000 MSRP each) so I wish they'd hurry up and allow me to budget my funds more wisely.
If it's only CoCo in 2009 then I'm spending the rest on Princess Princess...
以上
Kono Mune Ippai no Ai wo (A Heartful of Love, 2005)
Ito Hideaki, Mimura, Katsuji Ryo
Dir. Shiota Akihiko
A time travel picture that in the end, for me, wasn't really about being out of time as much as about second chances. In this latest "time slip" chapter, Ito Hideaki takes a business trip back to his hometown in Kita-Kyushu, a place full of haunted memories. Upon closer inspection he discovers that he has taken a ride 20 years in the past, evidenced by calendars, newspapers . . . and seeing his 10-year-old self stumbling out of his old home.
I was all set for the 80s revival and a chunk of Kyon-kyon tunes but I was spared, perhaps mercifully. He glides almost too easily into his old home and reacquaints himself with an old mentor, played by Mimura, who is his shogi partner, violin teacher and first love. Of course there are reasons why time and space bend backwards for un/lucky movie characters and soon he is confronted with his destiny.
I suppose this movie could fall into the pure junai lub story that seems to be a the anchor of every other Japanese movie I come across these days. Some are easier to take and accept, others try my patience. The way in which Ito becomes buddy-buddy with his 5th-grade self is almost too easy for me to accept (am I the only one who would be tempted to find some way to influence a kiddie version of me in a more corrupting fashion?).
Mimura plays a passable old crush (I like how the young kid ogles her at first cause that's what young boys do), although I wonder if her hair would have been more poofy in the mid-80s. This story has some reasonable twists and doesn't stray too far beyond the delicate fantasy construct (this isn't "Back to the Future," after all). I thought some of the supporting cast was given the shaft in terms of character development and their stories concluded a bit too swiftly to move the plot along. Of course these days it would take a TV drama of 10 episodes or so to draw all that out in a fair way and I'm not sure I would have wanted to extend my stay in 1986 THAT long.
*** (out of ****)
It's a wonderful thing to be able to watch a movie that's over 200 minutes in length and not have to change the disc in the middle of the movie. I guess you can pack a lot more digi-info on a DVD when you don't have to deal with color information. Seriously.
Anyway for those of you not into old-fut movies and still want to get a bite of hip, cool J-stuff, you MUST see this movie. Not only is it treasured by nerdy film critics like Roger Ebert but it contains virtually everything you need in a movie:
Action: sword fights, chase scenes on horseback, epic battles like in "Last Samurai."
Comedy: Mifune and Chiaki Minoru provide wit and charm to an already diverse cast.
Sex: OK no boobie shots but there are undercurrents of sexual tension here. No, really! That shit don't happen in "Citizen Kane."
Mystery: the lives of critical characters affect those of the village and the samurai, and the secrets held are brought to tragic climaxes when they are revealed.
Film snob references: stuff that the Tarantino generation can spout off by the barrel. Well more so the likes of the forementioned Ebert but there's no doubt that the influences generated by this film are more important than other mislabeled "film classics."
Anyway, it's one KEWL movie. Trust me. The only thing it ain't got is color, a widescreen look and nekkid women.
