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25 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Misunderstood movie, 8 June 2005 Author: Andreas Moss from Tromso, Norway
Monday is an existentialist movie. For those who are comparing it to Tarantino, please stop reviewing movies. This is more like an anti-Tarantino movie, if it is anything. It questions the use of law. It questions the use of weapons. It questions alcohol. It questions justice versus moral. It questions things that went over my head as well. Does that sound like a Tarantino movie? No, not at all. Please give Sabu the right to call this his own movie, and let this compare-everything-with-Tarantino-nonsense slip away. Its about a person waking up in a hotel room, not remembering who he is or how he got there. Gradually he remembers more and more, and it kind of goes way over-the-top, but in a way that is both funny and thought provoking. It also has quite a surreal laugh-at-life quality in some scenes that should be mentioned. Its kind of an intelligent action movie. Let there be more of these!
17 out of 21 people found the following review useful: I was only drunk...and I did it for justice!, 10 July 2001 Author: Patrick (pat.m@balcab.ch) from Basel
Wakarimasen deshita....Any Japanese movie involving alcohol, beautiful Yakuza brides and guns will be a funny ride into the Asian subconscious, and this movie is no exception.It amalgamates plot elements such as drinking Whisky, hands-free peeing, Yakuza bashing, pacemaker bomb defusing, drinking Whisky, lynching street muggers, Devils, Sprites, an obnoxious but finally sympathetic girlfriend, drinking Whisky, Japanese twist dancing, smoke grenades, drinking Whisky, palm reading, fake laughter and moronic TV talk shows into an adventure of the absurd. A ride into the cesspools of one man's private hell. A blatant appeal against alcohol and weapon abuse, or a devilishly clever satire about modern day Japan and its underworld. Oh...and did I mention drinking Whisky?If you're a fan of Takeshi Kitano's movie, you will like "Monday".If you are a fan of Bruce Willis and expect a Japanese "Die Hard", you won't find it funny! But if you're open minded, can appreciate satire for what it really is, then you will enjoy this movie thoroughly!
14 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Fifteen minutes was all this film needed to convince me of its brilliance., 20 August 2002 Author: seldom- from Amsterdam
Without these "enlightening" fifteen minutes (at the very end) this movie may seem quite hopeless, though. It may seem too simple, too odd, too surreal... phony even. But make no mistake: MONDAY is plotted out much more clever than it appears.It is about a guy waking up in a hotel room with bit of a cloudy memory. Things start to come back to him as he bumps into all kinds of leads he find in his pockets. I imagine that the main thought behind it was, what the human mind capable is of doing with the means it has, and how it could be shown in a film. I can say that the creators have come a long way in showing the answer to this.As said, it will takes time to see there is more to it than it seems. Fortunate enough, the retrospective march of events that made the guy end up where is now, makes it perfectly clear that the unrolling celluloid is to be sure of revealing a well-thought-out plot. Second, the whole story raises enough questions about the sanity of the characters as well as the people who wrote the story, that one will sit it out no matter what, if only excited with hope for a plausible explaination for it all.It is unlikely that MONDAY (by Hiroyuki Tanaka) will be a boring experience to anyone. To many, especially those unfamiliar with Japanese cinema, it will be something different than usual, perhaps less exciting, a bit clownish, here and there the surrealistic texture will be a bit hard to swallow, but it surely will keep one curious. And that is the only thing this film needs.This is a movie, and, I think, Japanese directors, Tanaka in particular, have well understood what this means. It isn't real life and it doesn't have to appear this way. Even though some characters and their actions seem to be right from out of a comic book, this movie is as real as (a movie) can be.I heard someone comparing aspects in this film with Tarantino. I'm not entirely sure about that. Frankly, I believe the approach Tarantino uses in his work isn't that unique to begin with. I think it was to be expected that directors would make films the way he does some day. As for Japanese movies like that of Tanaka, I think it has little to do with Tarantino. I actually think we should speak of it as the 'Japanese approach' than the 'Tarantino approach', anyway. Was "Reservoir Dogs" not a remake of an underrated Japanese gangster film??? I think is was.Well. Tanaka is nowhere near Kurosawa yet. But surely no less than Miike, Kitano or Nakano. I therefore rate it 7.5!Watch it and be patient, enjoy it and be astound ;)
12 out of 16 people found the following review useful: Great mystery., 25 March 2004 Author: blindg from Italy
This one is definitively stunning. I've already heard about this director, under the pseudonym "Sabu", reading some reviews about his late work "Drive" that I hope to see asap.. In fact, this is a very talented director. "Monday" is a story of mystery, misfortune, hope and strangeness. I think the comment of the director explain clearly what is really "Monday": "I've just decided to do what I wanted to do, and that was ... a comedy, an action film, a painful story, imaginary with a bit of horror and also a "dancing" film very rigorous, intransigent, with much, much, much dancing. I wanted all of these elements to be putted into this movie, I wanted that was full of cynic laughter and also to be less long than 100. I've tried and I made it!" Just watch it!
8 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Interesting mixture, 16 June 2004 Author: gayzor
The room gets dark, the movie starts and after a short while I thought I knew what kind of movie I was watching. Nothing too fancy. A man awakes in a hotel room, it's Monday and he desperately tries to remember what he as did yesterday. One of those "flashback"-movies you would say, with old fashioned chapters and structure (I think that's why it was compared to a Tarantino movie). But then suddenly something unexpected happens, the movie just changes direction on and on and it's getting interesting. Genre, style and sujet and in the end the movie is an enjoyable mix of various elements, very well combined in my opinion. I'm afraid that for some people the movie might be not straight enough but if you are not completely bored of Japanese cinema I'd recommend to take a closer look on this one.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: After two thirds it changes the tone, 21 January 2008 Author: Markus Pausch from Germany
Two thirds of the movie are filled with grotesque humorous scenes, whereas at end the tone of the movie changes completely and you get a dead serious message delivered. But the good news are: this somehow works. This is brilliant movie and it got to me form the first scenes. I only wished that the two parts where stronger connected. Was there any indication in the first two thirds, that the movie has the subject: "is self defense justified?". No. It was all about palm reading, laughing endlessly and drunk dancing/shooting. I watched the movie now four times, because I can't get enough of the bar scenes. The laughing sequence is the best since Laurel and Hardy's "Fra Diavolo."
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: The intricacies of Japanese society shown by Mr.Hiroyuki Tanaka, 4 July 2008 Author: Lalit Rao (cpowerccc@yahoo.com) from Paris, France
Actors making films is a new trend in Japanese cinema.It is a known fact that many of them are no so successful.The only exception in the history of Japanese cinema is Takeshi Kitano who is good as an actor as well as a film maker.Monday is directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka who is one of the most important actors of Japanese cinema.In this film he has given viewers unfettered access into the minds of various sections of Japanese society.What we see in the film is the way people like a family,a salary man,some yakuzas and some of the police behave in the course of their normal lives.The idea of the film is not to criticize a section to praise a different one.In this film,Sabu wants to show us his protagonists with their real intentions,moods and motives for leading lives which they feel are suitable for them.Monday is also a plea for peace as Japanese people have suffered enormous losses in the past especially during the World War 2.This is the reason why violence has been shunned in this film.PS:kindly watch with close attention the performance of Terajima Susumu who also stars in Sabu's wonderful film "The Blessing Bell".
4 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Monday comes way to fast., 14 May 2006 Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.
Well, I was getting myself ready to watch Brian De Palma's "Body Double" and when I pressed the play button to my surprise I wasn't watching "Body Double". I had I got the blank tapes mixed up (because they were unlabeled) and on screen was "Monday". To lazy to get up and change, I thought I might as well stick with it since I've been meaning to get around to it anyway.A young salary man wakes up rather confusedly on a Monday morning in a hotel room. He slowly begins to remember what had happened over the weekend - where he attended a funeral, had some drinks with some mafia figures, danced around with one of their girls and finally in a drunken state of mind he murders some petty crooks. This last act has caused a real stir amongst the media with it being discussed on TV and the police have surrounded the building ready to take him into custody."Monday" is my second viewing of a Sabu (Japanese director / writer Hiroyuki Tanaka) film and it was another pleasant surprise, just like "Drive" (2002) was. Three things I have come to notice about his work is that his pieces are highly original, the odd sense of humour is darkly downbeat and there's an expressive message on life. This black comedy / thriller just feeds off it's cynical statement on the influence of guns in society and the power it asserts on people. It questions the morality about justice - even if you're are on the laws side and shoot someone that doesn't mean you're not a murderer. Really, are you any better because you have a badge? Even alcoholism gets a spray at. The violence is raw, but from glorified. The tense moment involving a swat team toys around this question. We even get a quick taste of the media's involvement too that really portrays the differing perception on both sides of the coin. But these serious thoughts play out more in a dreamy vibe because of all the kooky situations that occurred, strange folk he encounters and the quirky dialogue we hear. It's a more a spur-of-the-moment build up with the infectious story unfolding in non-linear narrative. That's because half the film is spent with the protagonist putting the blurry pieces together of what had happened over the weekend. Just like the main character you would like to see how this clouded chain of events eventuated and we feel every minute of his misfortunes. Shin'ichi Tsutsumi as Koichi Takagi, the salary man who gets drunk, while carrying around shotgun is superb in demonstrating flexibility in his emotions and it's hard not to feel for the guy. Director Sabu leisurely paces the film with many comic ideas, dim humour, icy scenes mixed with suspense, provocative camera shots and a spanking rock / dance soundtrack. In the end I guess you could say that was one rough weekend just waiting for the consequences (Monday) to come along.A very glum and low-key black comedy that boldly throws up some thought-provoking scenarios in a satisfying manner.
1 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Cruel exploration of innocence lost, 22 January 2007 Author: Vincentiu from Romania
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
A strange puzzle. Mixture of kafkaesque atmosphere, pieces of black humor, slices of Japanese mythology, pacifist thesis. Ambiguous thriller about fall of a waste world, about normal existence like masks collection, about innocence like result of inactivity. A surrealistic funeral and explosion of corpse. The life broken decent limits and every gesture is a trap. Madness, Oriental Erinyes,an quaint fortune teller, a fascinating woman and Yakuza. Stupid murder and beginning of nightmare.A salary man in a hotel room.Monday morning. Reconstruction of last hours step by step. The sin like oil stain. Fascination, stupefaction, fear, negation of facts. Cobweb of memories. Slow suffocation.Palsy. The resignation.Traces of Sydney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon", Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill", Stone's "Natural Born Killers",David Cronenberg's "Spider", Ingmar Bergman's " Tystnaden". But important is only the Japanese recipes.In fact, subtle exploration of Dostoievskyan sin, exploration of unavoidable failure, impossibility of escape. New page of Old Greek moral lesson.
2 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Crazy Flick. But I wish Takagi Got The Girl, 16 February 2005 Author: yojimboakimbo1 from United States
I've seen this movie several times. But My favorite scenes are the ones at the .Funeral(Exploding corpse), and two bar scenes (Fortune teller, woman in white, no hands peeing, twist/ seductive slow dancing, and a bunch of yakuza).And although Takagi's(Shuichi Tsutumi) life goes a little South in the later part of the movie , I kind of wished for a better fate for him in spite of the four murders he committed(face it ,the first two were accidents). He could have ran off with either the Yakuza girl or something. Anyhow,if this were a normal movie, it probably would not been produced by Sabu(Hiroyuki Tanaka)Also of note in the music. No where does a funky song feel so out of place as in the scenes at the first bar where Takagi meets the Yakuza sexpot (I feel like I wanna get down!!!).But is it really out of place ? Can a straight laced Japanese character be able to get down with his bad self? For the uninitiated, check out the movie and see!!!
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