mmuchall Reviews

Gô-hime (1992)

Wonderful Companion Piece To Rikyu

[8/10 · 29 September 2005]

Usually when I read reviews that recommend a movie on the strength of its visual qualities alone I become suspicious. But in the case of Go-hime and its predecessor 'Rikyu' the exquisite composition of many of the shots was sufficient in itself to sustain my interest. There are also some excellent exchanges between the characters to contemplate and so, all in all, I have to say that the director has surpassed himself. Kurosawa can infuriate as well as delight with his somewhat mannered and overbearing direction but somehow Teshigahara gets away with something similar here and in the process reveals himself to have the edge on his rather better known contemporary.

Mohou-han (2002)

Above average contribution to a tired movie genre

[7/10 · 4 September 2005]

Most of us have probably seen enough serial killer movies by now and the various possible plot permutations in the genre have more or less been tested to destruction. Nevertheless, the non-linear storytelling in this film and its refusal to pander to the average intelligence level of a cinema audience makes for intriguing viewing on this occasion. Plus, it explores the psychological impact of having a loved one murdered in more depth and more convincingly than any other movie I can recall. The source material is a novel by the excellent Japanese crime writer Miyuki Miyabe (who in turn seems to have drawn on the famous Leopold and Loeb case for inspiration) and although the film is a vehicle for aging boy band singer Masahiro Nakai he copes well in a major role. The other performances are also impressive and I am surprised that this movie is not more widely known.

A Taxing Woman's Return (1988)

Mega-Spoiler Ahead: Only Read After Watching Movie

[7/10 · 18 February 2005]

Although some of the acting & situations were a little contrived this movie was enjoyable and is definitely worth seeing. However, it took a 10 minute discussion with my Japanese wife and a review of the first and last few minutes to really make sense of the ending which is, in some ways, vaguely similar to 'The Usual Suspects'. As far as we could tell, the opening scene where a group of men are sharing a meal of crab features some powerful politicians, one of whom appears later (with sideburns). These politicians are the real power brokers with the 'Minister' shown in the last few moments possibly being the top guy. They want to cash in on the Real Estate deal around which the plot of the movie takes place but don't want to get their hands dirty. The boss of the religious cult is several rungs on the ladder below them and they only try to kill him so that the audit trail doesn't lead to them. So the Cult leader pays the tax but gets to keep an even more secret valuable legacy in his grave. Meanwhile there's not enough evidence to implicate the high ranking 'Minister' at the end while the two guys discussing the Land Deal are bankers, aware of the 27 billion cost of making the land available and the 10 billion profit that was made when the land was resold to the Insurance Company, much of which presumably ended up in the pockets of the politicians involved. Hope this makes sense! It's what we thought was going on but we could be wrong.

Cure (1997)

This is a profound, thought-provoking movie

[19 April 2004]

#POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW#

I agree with BusterB's comments (below). As in Tarkovsky's movies there were Christian overtones: the 'cross' and the transmission of original sin as the 'evil' elicited and spread by the drifter. Philip Pullman said that religion alone has the power to make good people do bad things and this movie helps us to see why (think of the hypnotic power of its bin Laden's, Shoko Asahara's, Koresh's and so on). I watched this movie partly to humour my Japanese wife and was duly 'suspending disbelief' as they say when about 2/3 of the way in it suddenly dawned on me that the film was working on a number of different levels. I also loved the final scene. It will be interesting to see whether Kurosawa's other movies turn out to be as good.