melvin-18 Reviews

Last Scene (2002)

5.7 for such a beautiful film?

[9/10 · 25 March 2004]

I cannot understand how 6 people (at the time of this writing) can rate this movie 5 and below. It might be a slow movie but I think it's a quite entertaining and satisfying human drama that should at least bring warmth and hope to the audience's heart after they have watched it. Well, I know people have different opinions; but as it will be a shame if someone got interested in this film and come here to check how people're thinking about it, only to find that 5.7 might be too risky for a rent, so I think I will at least have to make my say.

Last Scene is the latest work from the wonderful Nakata who created The Ring waved which shake the horror world. This time, he has proved that not only he can play with people's fear but he's also capable of delivering heartful piece of film that is itself a letter of complaint to the Japanese movie industry and also a love letter to all movie lovers. Last Scene opened with a very clever scene, a production of a 60's horror film where Nakata show the power of horror (as a proof to what he's capable of) and after that provide us with the sarcastically cheap making of that fear only to serve as a background to the condense dramatic plot between an arrogant actor who is being shed by the studio under the setting of movie industry facing threat from the spread of TV. Nakata utilize this first part of the film very economically; under the first 20 minutes he make us hate this main character while at the same time make us pity of his fate and then wonder what will happen to him. This part serve as a very good short film itself; however, the coming hour and a half only make it shine more gloriously. The present condition of Japanese movie industry is portrayed from the viewpoint of a pure movie lover working heavily under the unchanged hierarchical studio system. Her hard contribution is unnoticed, in contrast to other bigger players in the business's arrogance and negligence. Her fed up with her dream job come to a big break through when she was made to take care and nurse and old actor who came to work as a fill-in for another supporting actor. It is not difficult to guess who this old actor is or how his role in the movie will end, but Nakata orchestrated this cliche plot in such a moving and sarcastic way that we cannot help but only feel for the characters and in the end rewarded with such an incredible dramatic climax that will warm our heart and make us feel the meaning of living for what we love to do.

Last Scene might not be perfect, some of its parts and acting are a little pretentious while others are too melodrama for 21 century but I can guarantee that this is at least a 7+ drama, one of the very well made movies about movie that will make you love movie even more.

One Missed Call (2003)

A fun ride into Miike's more commercial world

[19 March 2004]

It is hard to do something new in the world of horror these days. Even Japanese horrors which were deemed fresh in the late 90's got more and more repetitive, and we can say that after Kairo, there is nothing really fresh coming out of the horror department of Japanese films. The quiet atmosphere and the fear towards darkness within colorless world possessed by vicious female ghosts is no longer new to both Japan and the rest of the world. Ju-ons (all of them except the part 2 of the one made only for video which sucked badly) are scary; the series break the silent rule of Japanese horrors, its director even say that he tried to go the opposite way Nakata and Kurosawa went, he will scare the audience by showing the ghosts and gore as much as possible. And Ju-ons worked, to some extent; the director is successful in creating the world of nightmare that co-exist with the ordinary world that people live in. He use a normal house/apartment as his stage of fear and bring out all the every possible scare out of every corner of that place. But one can also say that Ju-ons are good only in parts; its strength is just the sum of a few very scary scenes that the director successfully created and not the overall atmosphere or the story of the films. Now it's time for the ever creative Miike who once scared the hell out of the audience, not by using ghosts, but using a sadistic but innocent-looking girl, to put some new blood into Japanese horrors. As a big fan of J-horror and Miike, I was so looking forward to the film and that I was afraid my high expectation will kill it, but the result was beyond my expectation, I enjoyed this thrill ride so much I wish it would never end.

In terms of story, Chakushin Ari is nothing new. It's the Ring plus mobile phone plus Miike trademark's world of weirdness. However, it's execution is a very good blend of Nakata's the silent and dark world and Simizu's bang bang ghost is coming style, and the result, IMHO, is very fresh and satisfying. Miike has toned down his weird and over-the-top scenes to suit the taste of wider audiences, but this film is still full of creative and scary scenes (the scene at the TV station which I deem so good it's classic, and the scene at the hospital which is so weird and spooky that I wish it could last longer) with quite satisfying story and (many may argue) acceptable open ending. Although his ingredients are nonetheless recycle of old tricks (everything from dark corners, female ghosts, old apartments, old hospitals, scary-as-hell sound effects, and right out of the screen gore and ghosts), they are orchestrated in such a stylish and enjoyable way that I can't help jumping and flinching while at the same time enjoying the ever rushing adrenalin in my vein. Repetitive, may be, but fresh ideas are still everywhere; Miike stood very good balance between Nakata's atmospheric scare/strong story and Shimizu illogically outrageous and bizarre world. In sum, a very very entertaining grade A pure horror (not psychological thriller in disguise) which is both repetitive and fresh at the same time. This film should satisfied both hardcore horror fans and those who want satisfying entertainment.

Bright Future (2002)

Beautiful look on Japan youth's future

[14 March 2004]

((Small Spoiler))

Bright Future may be hard movie to understand...but not really so if u think of what future and dream, two main themes in the movie, mean to those who doesn't know what to hold on to anymore. Teenagers everywhere will have to rethink about there future once they realize that their dreams might not become true, may be not even close. Also, many old people will have to rethink about their future once they realize that they are alone with no one to share or continue their dreams. I think this movie try to portrait the complex feelings and relationship between these 2 groups of people...their loneliness, their longing for something, or better, somoeone to hold on to. Jellyfish are like teenagers who are jailed in the society they don't belong to...the society try to shape them to fit in with what the society expect from them, just like when Mamoru and Nimura try to make the jellyfish survive in normal water, but their success lasts only for a short time. Those teenagers will only become venomous to the society (like d jellyfish) if they cannot find the place where they belong (in the case of the jellyfish, the sea). They will have to realize that although their dreams might not come true but they can have a bright future if they come to face the reality and try to find their place in the world.

All the deep messages in this film blend perfectly with the beautiful and haunting art directing; the image of the jellyfish are the perfect representative of loneliness and venomousity that lie within every lost teenagers (those who's still in between childhood and adulthood). All the casts played their role with hearts...and that make we care for all of them. Kurosawa has, once again, crafted an art for those who can look beyond the film's superficial beauty to understand its philosophical core. His script might be too open-ended with not enough explanations to satisfy every viewers, but that's also the beauty of it; everyone will at least got some messages from the graphical impact and in the end they can interpret the movie anyway they like. The final scenes in the movie, the image of teenagers walking in the street is no different from the jellyfish swimming in Tokyo's canal, some of them will sting innocent people who came in their ways, but I think Kurosawa, as he has most of those jellyfish find their way to the sea, hope that most of them will be able to find their bright future, eventhough it might be different from what they dreamed.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Just Great

[10/10 · 16 May 2003]

This movie is so real and...just wanna say it made me feel so shocked. After reading lots of comments, I prepared my mind for something depressing, but this movie is just beyond that, its impact is, as one of the commenters here said, at the level of one of the powerful movie of all time. Every actors did their job so great (For me, Ellen should get 2 Oscars for this role) and the directing is not just modern but very effective. I love this movie and just hope everyone can see it.

Girls' Night Out (1998)

Korean Sex and the City with more to-the-ground characters

[9/10 · 17 December 2001]

I watched this film in Bangkok film festival and was surprised by how explicit it was, storywise and sexwise. The story of this film seems so realistic; lives of 3 twenty something Korean girls who are searching for love. It seems that these women are so obsessed with sex, but aren't we all do? In my opinion, this film portrays the inherent side of most modern Asian women, the side that they only share with their closest female friends, or even with themselves only. They went through loneliness, confusion on how to express their sexual desire, and last of all, finding what they want from life. I don't know, but I felt that the script writer is smart enough to make this piece of film so explicit yet not so overdone that it still feels very real. Big applause to all the actors, they dare to act, and they did it to the level that many professional hollywood actors might be put into shame. Great movie for those who are in the mood for some real-life sexual aspect of women. Sex and the City for Korean, I think.