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Posted on 02.22.07 by David @ 10:13 pm
It took long enough, but The Taste of Tea has finally reached American shores, and is seeing a limited release. This film, from Katsuhito Ishii, director of Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl and last year’s sublime musical freakout, Funky Forest: The First Contact (read review), was one of my favorites from 2004, and has been conspicuously absent from release calendars since. Now, the ImaginAsian Theater will be giving it a one week theatrical run starting on February 23rd, to be followed a DVD release later this year from Viz Media. Go see it - you won’t find much better at the box office this year, let alone this weekend. Filed under: People: Tadanobu Asano and Movie Image Comments: None |
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Posted on 07.14.06 by David @ 7:37 am
Country and Year: Japan (2001) Review By: David Austin
Electric Dragon 80,000 V almost completely does away with plot, dialogue, reducing film to its audio-visual essence. The editing, the music and sound design are as much the stars of the film as Tadanobu Asano and Masatoshi Nagase. It’s an audacious punk masterpiece that would fit in as comfortably as an installation in any museum as it does as a narrative film. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and DVD Reviews and DVD Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Great ★★★★ and People: Tadanobu Asano and DVD Companies: Discotek Comments: None |
Posted on 06.30.06 by David @ 8:00 am
 AKA: Naisu no mori: The First Contact Review By: David Austin  Funky Forest positively defies a critic’s abilities to analyze, categorize, or pigeonhole, leaving nothing to do but describe. It is such a grab-bag, and the humor is so random and arcane, that there are just naturally going to be a certain percentage of people on the correct wavelength who love every minute of it, and a certain percentage of people that should never ever watch it in a million years. I absolutely loved it, and so did the crowd at the Festival. After his amusing but derivative yakuza spoof, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, Katsuhito Ishii struck gold with A Taste of Tea, a sweet and funny look at an eccentric family which deservedly won the audience prize at the 2005 NYAFF (and, sadly and inexplicably, has still not been distributed in the US ). Tea was a family comedy/drama that indulged in all manner of weirdness, but fundamentally hung together as a coherent story. Ishii must have been feeling a little restrained because this time he decided to let it all hang out. The result is Funky Forest, a completely bizarre mélange of sketch comedy, non-sequitur humor, and freak-out special effects. And dancing, lots and lots of dancing. Needless to say, strange dancing. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Great ★★★★ and People: Tadanobu Asano and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2006 and Movies: Funky Forest - The First Contact (2005) Comments: 5 Comments |
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Posted on 07.03.05 by David @ 9:48 pm
AKA: Cha no Aji Review By: David Austin
The Taste of Tea is a whimsical, lovely movie about the members of a strange family and their concerns, fantasies and relationships. I can’t say it truly breaks new ground, but the surrealistic flights of fancy are a welcome touch to the genre, and the incidents of the family’s life are treated with such tenderness, wit and charm, that it is hard not to fall a little bit in love with the Todorokis. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Great ★★★★ and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2005 and People: Tadanobu Asano Comments: 3 Comments |
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Posted on 06.21.05 by David @ 1:39 pm
Country and Year: Japan (2004) Review By: David Austin
Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: David and Rating: Average ★★ and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2005 and People: Tadanobu Asano and People: Sonny Chiba Comments: 5 Comments |
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