(Larry Clark, 1997)
Clark’s follow-up to his controversial debut, Kids, is a surprisingly mediocre and predictable middle-of-the-road drama about a couple of young drug-fuelled criminals taken under the wing by a couple of old drug-fuelled criminals. It has the feel of a made-for-TV movie and progresses in exactly the way you’d expect from beginning to end. Yawn.
Another Day in Paradise @ IMDb
Showing posts with label A. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A. Show all posts
02 January 2007
Anaraifu (aka Analife)
(Kenji Goda, 2005)
Against the background of a constant stream of multiple on-screen images and a hypnotic, pulsing soundtrack, three not-entirely-likeable characters (a rapist; a death-obsessed photographer who's sexually involved with a murderer; and a guy who stalks strangers at a distance by going through their bins) narrate their stories, all of which culminate in rectal injury of one kind or another. Damaged arses in tow, they all end up visiting the same proctologist’s office, wherein they encounter some aliens and sing a song about meeting a bear in the woods. What it all means, I really do not know, but I found it utterly compelling and strangely enjoyable. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and I doubt I ever will again.
Anaraifu @ IMDb
Against the background of a constant stream of multiple on-screen images and a hypnotic, pulsing soundtrack, three not-entirely-likeable characters (a rapist; a death-obsessed photographer who's sexually involved with a murderer; and a guy who stalks strangers at a distance by going through their bins) narrate their stories, all of which culminate in rectal injury of one kind or another. Damaged arses in tow, they all end up visiting the same proctologist’s office, wherein they encounter some aliens and sing a song about meeting a bear in the woods. What it all means, I really do not know, but I found it utterly compelling and strangely enjoyable. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and I doubt I ever will again.
Anaraifu @ IMDb
11 June 2006
Azumi 2: Death or Love
(2005, Shusuke Kaneko)
The original Azumi was based on a popular Manga series set shortly after the rise to power in the early 17th century of the ShÅgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The story follows Azumi (played by actress and J-Pop star Aya Ueto), a female assassin whose mission is to cement the peace established by Tokugawa, and prevent Japan from lapsing back into its previous state of civil war, by disposing of the last few remaining warlords hostile to Tokugawa’s rule.
In Azumi 2, the story continues in essentially the same vein, with Azumi pursuing one final assassination target – only this time she is aided by a band of Robin Hood-style bandits, hunted by a team of super-powered enemy ninjas, and stalked by a treacherous infiltrator (played by Chiaki Kuriyama, who Western viewers will most likely recognise as Gogo, the sadistic schoolgirl assassin from Kill Bill, Volume 1).
Azumi 2, like its predecessor Azumi, somehow manages to have a script and plot that are overly simplistic and needlessly convoluted at the very same time. However, whereas director Ryuhei Kitamura (notable for his entertaining yakuza-meet-zombies romp, Versus) brought a distinctive and inventive visual flair to the fight scenes and overall comic-book feel of Azumi, Kaneko’s Azumi 2 is a limp, wooden, lacklustre, uninspired, and meandering affair. Kaneko clearly attempts to emulate Kitamura’s style by using different cinematic techniques in every fight scene, but the creativity and effectiveness of Kitamura’s deployment of multiple techniques is simply absent. (Strangely, the same can be said for Kitamura’s own Sky High.) Even the snappy, colourful comic-book feel of Azumi is lost in Azumi 2. The whole thing looks like footage of a bunch of people who got lost in a forest on the way to a cosplay convention.
Azumi 2: Death or Love @ IMDb(UK)
The original Azumi was based on a popular Manga series set shortly after the rise to power in the early 17th century of the ShÅgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The story follows Azumi (played by actress and J-Pop star Aya Ueto), a female assassin whose mission is to cement the peace established by Tokugawa, and prevent Japan from lapsing back into its previous state of civil war, by disposing of the last few remaining warlords hostile to Tokugawa’s rule.
In Azumi 2, the story continues in essentially the same vein, with Azumi pursuing one final assassination target – only this time she is aided by a band of Robin Hood-style bandits, hunted by a team of super-powered enemy ninjas, and stalked by a treacherous infiltrator (played by Chiaki Kuriyama, who Western viewers will most likely recognise as Gogo, the sadistic schoolgirl assassin from Kill Bill, Volume 1).
Azumi 2, like its predecessor Azumi, somehow manages to have a script and plot that are overly simplistic and needlessly convoluted at the very same time. However, whereas director Ryuhei Kitamura (notable for his entertaining yakuza-meet-zombies romp, Versus) brought a distinctive and inventive visual flair to the fight scenes and overall comic-book feel of Azumi, Kaneko’s Azumi 2 is a limp, wooden, lacklustre, uninspired, and meandering affair. Kaneko clearly attempts to emulate Kitamura’s style by using different cinematic techniques in every fight scene, but the creativity and effectiveness of Kitamura’s deployment of multiple techniques is simply absent. (Strangely, the same can be said for Kitamura’s own Sky High.) Even the snappy, colourful comic-book feel of Azumi is lost in Azumi 2. The whole thing looks like footage of a bunch of people who got lost in a forest on the way to a cosplay convention.
Azumi 2: Death or Love @ IMDb(UK)
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