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Tokyo Sonata (2008) - Movie Image
Posted on 10.13.08 by David @ 7:29 pm

A scene from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest film Tokyo Sonata. Frankly, Kurosawa has been spinning his wheels since Bright Future, which represented a genuine step forward. Doppelganger was amusing but not much else, and both Loft (see review here) and Retribution (see review here) were weak echoes of his earlier J-horror masterpieces like Kairo. Tokyo Sonata promises to be a real change.

Tokyo Sonata is playing during the 2008 New York Film Festival hosted by the Film Society at Lincoln Center.

(Click Here To Read More…)


Filed under: People: Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Movie Image and Film Festivals: New York Film Festival 2008
Comments: None

NYAFF Report 5 - “Retribution” and “Dasepo Naughty Girls”
Posted on 06.25.07 by David @ 9:28 am

New York Asian Film Festival 2007

Part 5 of our report on the always-outstanding 2007 Subway Cinema New York Asian Film Festival, which runs until July 8 (schedule here):


Retribution
AKA: Sakebi
Country and Year: Japan (2006)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Rating: 2 ½ out of 4 stars (above average)
Review by: Jeff

Retribution

Retribution is an unusually straightforward horror film from the noted arthouse horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. While Kurosawa’s other films range from the terrifying (Kairo) to the outright goofy (Loft - see our review here, Guard from the Underground), almost of them contain inscrutable elements that defy rational explanation. Not so Retribution, which features Kurosawa’s frequent leading man Koji Yakusho (Cure, Doppelganger) as a cop investigating a series of drownings that he may have committed himself while in a trance-like state. Forensic evidence and Yakusho’s dreams both lead our protagonist to encounter a malevolent spirit who has a number of surprises in store for our protagonist and the audience.

(Click Here To Read More…)


Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Movie News: South Korea and Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Movie Reviews: South Korea and Contributors: David and Film Festivals: News and People: Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Contributors: Jeff and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2007 and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews
Comments: 1 Comment

Loft: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Latest
Posted on 02.27.06 by David @ 8:07 am

AKA: Shi no Otome
Country and Year: Japan (2005)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Etsushi Toyokawa

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars (average)

Pier

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is putting us on. Screwing around. Having a laugh. It’s not at the audience’s expense – there are enough hints throughout his latest thriller, Loft, to gradually let the audience in on the joke. At the screening I attended, at first there were a few titters, then a full-blown chuckle, and, by the end, giggling was rampant.

Loft (the original Japanese translates more aptly into something along the lines of “The Dead Maiden”), a yarn filled with ghosts and mummies, starts off earnestly enough and, unlike Doppelganger, sustains at least an intermittently serious tone. The problem with Loft is that Kurosawa is starting to spin his wheels. His heart is no longer in J-Horror. Always more of an explicitly intellectual filmmaker than his genre colleagues Hideo Nakata (Ring, Chaos) and Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on: The Grudge), Kurosawa has specialized in the existential, supernatural thriller, gaining international attention with the brooding Cure and Charisma. Kurosawa’s career in horror reached its apogee with the brilliant, apocalyptic Kairo (aka Pulse), a masterpiece of mood, isolation and existentialist dread. His next film, Bright Future, eased out of genre and into new territory, successfully transferring his mood, themes and techniques into a more explicit critique of modern society as a whole.

Carrying the Mummy

Since then, Kurosawa has unfortunately seemed to be moving backward. With Doppelganger, and to a lesser extent, with this film, Kurosawa has blended the slapstick techniques of his earlier efforts in low budget direct-to-video cinema like Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Hero aka Katte ni shiyagare! Eiyû-keikaku (which felt more like a Sabu film than a Kurosawa piece), with the atmospheric horror of his Cure/Séance/Kairo days. The results have been mixed. Doppelganger started off as a straight existential horror film, and veered wildly into full-blown comedy mode at the 1/3rd mark. It’s a clever movie, and has its good moments (many of them), but never approaches the heights of Kairo and Bright Future. Unfortunately, Loft continues this trend. (Click Here To Read More…)


Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Average ★★ and People: Kiyoshi Kurosawa and People: Miki Nakatani
Comments: 6 Comments

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