I heard quality of the films at Berlinale this year was one of the worst in years. However, there were some gems such as United Red Army, Jesus Christ Saviour (documentary of Klaus Kinski’s performance to recite his own idea about Jesus in Germany in 1971), and Om Shanti Om (the film was a sheer joy! you will fall in love with Shah Rukh Khan, India’s mega superstar).
It is such a shame that the nominee of “Lust, Caution”, my best film of the year 2008 (yes, it is just the beginning but I decided already) as a best foreign language film due to the nationality of the crew! I was very impressed with There Will Be Blood but personally I would vote for Atonement based on the novel written by Ian McEwan, who I believe is the best contemporary writer in UK.
I think I missed writing “was canceled” in my comments. Yes, Halim, “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” is an excellent film and it was my best film in 2007. I have been carried away from the very beginning to the very end of it. I don’t believe in Oscar. It is a show biz and they pick up emerging stars of the year in turn to make them shine. On the contrary, you find humanistic decisions at film festivals like Cannes, Berlin and Venice. I would go for them.
Snow in spring. Produced by Toho. Directed by Isao Yukisada.
Adapted from a novel by Yukio Mishima.
It is the most beautiful Japanese film I have seen in years.
Sadly it didn’t get any distributor in US or Europe.
I saw Glasses at Berlinale, a new film by Naoko Ogigami.
She is good at creating so-called ”healing" films which young Japanese women adore.
Nothing much happens in her films so I found it a bit dull
as I like emotional films myself. Still I admit she has talent.
I saw Mourning Forest in Cannes and met Kawase-san at Japan reception.
Though beautiful shots of the forest in Nara,
again this is a film which select viewers. A bit tough for me for various reasons.
Still I admire her conviction and should not deny the idea of supporting her
as one of few female Japanese filmmakers.
How about All About Lily Cchou-chou by Shunji Iwai?
Has anyone seen it? Good soundtrack.
http://www.lily-chou-chou.jp/world/
Juan,
Ishii also made “Party 7” and “Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl.”
He is influenced a lot by Tarantino. Over the top as Takashi Miike.
Not my cup of tea.
I love to see “Love Story”
“Heaven Can Wait”
“5×2” by Francois Ozon.
German documentary film “Our Daily Bread” is a surreal stuff,
capturing how our daily food is produced within beautifully framed shots.
It has been a long run in Japan, quite unusual for this kind of film.
It’s been released for several months in UK as well.
I still eat meat occasionally at restaurants but stopped buying it from supermarket
since I watched this film in Tokyo last month.
His film Skiyaki Western Django was screened in competition at Venice 2007.
Tarantino is in the cast too.
http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/sony/jyango/
If you love Funky Forest, you will like Dead or Alive by Miike.
Have you seen his notorious horror “Audition”?
Its DVD was tip-top selling hit in UK over Christmas in 2000.
I interviewed Miike at Rotterdam Festival then.
He is a quiet type
You would never imagine he makes such crazy films!
As an adult, I find those princes in Disney films are wheeler-dealers.
Films by Elia Kazan, especially Splendor in the Grass, was a great blow to me.
It has shaken up my soul.
That’s sad as Oscar is nowadays treated like the best film awards in the world.
Oscars are nominated and awarded by AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) members.
Dropping “4 Months…” from Best Foreign Film reflects Americans really don’t care about Romanian issues.
However, I was touched by the speech given by Forest Whitaker who won the best actor last year.
I thought he deserved it.
Ah, Cary Elwes!
His career enjoyed its peak at “Machenka” and “Princess Bride”
and then went downhill.
He was completely damaged with the first film of SAW series. Oh, no…
How can No Country for Old Men win the best film?
Have many senior Academy members voted just looking at the title?
The Best Foreign Film went to “Counterfeiters” of course,
the true story of counterfeiting operation by Nazis.
The Academy is inseparable from Jewish industry.
My friend is celebrating the best documentary film for “Taxi to the Dark Side,”
which her company commissioned as part of the series of “Why Democracy?”.
Meanwhile, I am meeting a cinematographer this week
who DOPed “Peter and Wolf,” winner of the best animation film.
Day-Lewis’s remark, “the closest I’ll ever come to getting a knighthood” was hilarious.
I love English sense of humor…
“There Will Be Blood” could not win the Best Film
because of the way it portrayed the priest, I think.
I found No Country was too depressing and hopeless
in terms of humanistic perspective.
Americans love Cohen Brothers after all…
Yes, Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.
I can sing all the songs in them. And Bond films too.
There is a popular event called “Sing Along Sound of Music”
at Prince Charles Cinema in London.
All the lyrics appear as subtitles
and audience sing aloud as you watch the film.
Karaoke cinema! It was a great fun.
Do you have this in the States too?
The Girl on A Motorcycle (1968).
It caused a stir, was rated R,
cut enormously when it was released
as the censorship in US was extreme at that time.
I recently saw a non-cut European version on DVD
and thought it was a masterpiece.
Marianne Faithful was a singer at first
and a girlfriend of Mick Jagger.
The trailer is below (don’t know how to establish a link):
Do you know a French film Baise Moi (2000)?
It was controversial when it came out in UK.
(Has it been released in US?)
I am not sure the girls in the film are teenagers
but they are quite young and embark on a vengeful journey
as a consequence of rape and murder.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249380/
DKAZ, when you say Japanese horror from 90s,
are you talking about films such as Battle Royal?
The most well-known film by Godard must be Breathless,
but my favorite is Vivre sa vie, which is so beautiful.
Éloge de l’amour also won my heart.
Godard came to Cannes to speak about this film 8 years ago.
He gave comments on philosophy and politics in general.
I guess most of the press didn’t understand what he was talking about.
But he’s great and still making films!
That’s a very interesting comment.
Most of the people who didn’t like TWBB didin’t understand
the character Day Lewis performed.
I don’t understand him either, very complex.
That film was also about sin, who is the sinner,
who is eligible to judge others’ acts, that sort of issue.
However, regarding this film,
the praise didn’t go so much to Anderson as to Day Lewis of course.
The people who supported TWBB didn’t think
the script of NCFOM was good enough.
Do you guys watch Woody Allen’s films?
Or is he becoming out of date and forgotten these days?
I still go to watch his films actually and enjoyed his recent film Match Point
though some people say it is so cliche about British society.
Can I hear your favorite Woody Allen film if you have one?
My best three are Annie Hall, Purple Rose of Cairo, and Sweet and Lowdown.
I saw India Song by Duras in Cannes 2 years ago when there was her retrospective.
She was against all the conventional film rules and styles.
She wanted audience to have their own visual images with her books
(why did she make films then?).
Her films are consisted of repetitive scenes and static shots, or her voice with black screen.
As I had known this, I didn’t get disappointed but otherwise, you may find it quite boring.
I admire Duras as a writer, not as a filmmaker.
I rather would like to see The Long Absence (1961) directed by Henri Colpi, based on Duras’ novel.
It is such a moving story. Highly recommended.
I just have been to watch this film and I loved it!
Gondry’s version of Cinema Paradiso.
Sweet and an hommage to video shops
and full of ironies related to film industry,
such as piracy, filmmaking culture and so on.
Very politically correct too.
Jack Black never disappoints you.
Must be seen!
They were not supposed to love each other.
The man was a Chinese collaborator for Japanese government.
The girl was a spy sent from a group of students who were trying to assassinate him.
She approached him, became his mistress. Their encounters became passionate
and the girl realised she was emotionally involved with him, and so was he.
Audacious but classic, very well acted by Tony Leong
and Tang Wei, who has a figure broken out from Chinese ads or posters in 40s and 50s.
She was just an innocent country girl first, then followed her handsome senior at college
to join this group and got beyond the point of no return.
Lust, Caution is a very emotional film which I adore, soul-stirring forever.
Best Film over 4 years ago
I heard quality of the films at Berlinale this year was one of the worst in years. However, there were some gems such as United Red Army, Jesus Christ Saviour (documentary of Klaus Kinski’s performance to recite his own idea about Jesus in Germany in 1971), and Om Shanti Om (the film was a sheer joy! you will fall in love with Shah Rukh Khan, India’s mega superstar).
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) over 4 years ago
It is such a shame that the nominee of “Lust, Caution”, my best film of the year 2008 (yes, it is just the beginning but I decided already) as a best foreign language film due to the nationality of the crew! I was very impressed with There Will Be Blood but personally I would vote for Atonement based on the novel written by Ian McEwan, who I believe is the best contemporary writer in UK.
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) over 4 years ago
I think I missed writing “was canceled” in my comments. Yes, Halim, “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” is an excellent film and it was my best film in 2007. I have been carried away from the very beginning to the very end of it. I don’t believe in Oscar. It is a show biz and they pick up emerging stars of the year in turn to make them shine. On the contrary, you find humanistic decisions at film festivals like Cannes, Berlin and Venice. I would go for them.
Go to Comment
Best Film over 4 years ago
Congratulation for Golden Bear for Tropa de Elite!!
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
Snow in spring. Produced by Toho. Directed by Isao Yukisada.
Adapted from a novel by Yukio Mishima.
It is the most beautiful Japanese film I have seen in years.
Sadly it didn’t get any distributor in US or Europe.
http://www.harunoyuki.jp/
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
I saw Glasses at Berlinale, a new film by Naoko Ogigami.
She is good at creating so-called ”healing" films which young Japanese women adore.
Nothing much happens in her films so I found it a bit dull
as I like emotional films myself. Still I admit she has talent.
I saw Mourning Forest in Cannes and met Kawase-san at Japan reception.
Though beautiful shots of the forest in Nara,
again this is a film which select viewers. A bit tough for me for various reasons.
Still I admire her conviction and should not deny the idea of supporting her
as one of few female Japanese filmmakers.
How about All About Lily Cchou-chou by Shunji Iwai?
Has anyone seen it? Good soundtrack.
http://www.lily-chou-chou.jp/world/
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
Katsuhito Ishii is a hip director in Japan at the moment.
Yuko san, I think you will be able to see Mourning Forest on out site soon
as it has been produced by Celluloid Dreams.
I would love to watch all-time best classic films on this site.
Go to Comment
Best of Coming-Of-Age Cinema over 4 years ago
“Pretty in Pink”, “Boys Don’t Cry”, “Virgin Suicides”, “Almost Famous”, and “Little Romance”…
American directors seem to be the experts of this genre.
Where has Andrew McCarthy gone?
I saw Molly Ringwald on West End stage in London. It was sad.
James Spader in “Secretary” was absolutely gorgeous.
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
Juan,
Ishii also made “Party 7” and “Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl.”
He is influenced a lot by Tarantino. Over the top as Takashi Miike.
Not my cup of tea.
I love to see “Love Story”
“Heaven Can Wait”
“5×2” by Francois Ozon.
Go to Comment
Which film has changed your life forever? over 4 years ago
Has any film ever changed your life forever?
German documentary film “Our Daily Bread” is a surreal stuff,
capturing how our daily food is produced within beautifully framed shots.
It has been a long run in Japan, quite unusual for this kind of film.
It’s been released for several months in UK as well.
I still eat meat occasionally at restaurants but stopped buying it from supermarket
since I watched this film in Tokyo last month.
http://www.ourdailybread.at
http://www.ica.org.uk/Our%20Daily%20Bread+15759.twl
Go to Comment
Best of Coming-Of-Age Cinema over 4 years ago
I forgot to add “Sweet Sixteen” by Ken Loach
and “Melody (aka S.W.A.L.K.)” which is a cult classic hit in Japan!
Go to Comment
Which film has changed your life forever? over 4 years ago
Thanks Juan. Yes, as you point out,
there are a number of films
which influence you internally
and shake your view of the world.
When I saw Walt Disney animation as a little girl,
I truly believed one day
the prince would come to get me riding on a white horse…
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? over 4 years ago
Do you also like Takashi Miike, Juan?
His film Skiyaki Western Django was screened in competition at Venice 2007.
Tarantino is in the cast too.
http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/sony/jyango/
If you love Funky Forest, you will like Dead or Alive by Miike.
Have you seen his notorious horror “Audition”?
Its DVD was tip-top selling hit in UK over Christmas in 2000.
I interviewed Miike at Rotterdam Festival then.
He is a quiet type
You would never imagine he makes such crazy films!
Go to Comment
Which film has changed your life forever? over 4 years ago
As an adult, I find those princes in Disney films are wheeler-dealers.
Films by Elia Kazan, especially Splendor in the Grass, was a great blow to me.
It has shaken up my soul.
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) over 4 years ago
That’s sad as Oscar is nowadays treated like the best film awards in the world.
Oscars are nominated and awarded by AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) members.
Dropping “4 Months…” from Best Foreign Film reflects Americans really don’t care about Romanian issues.
However, I was touched by the speech given by Forest Whitaker who won the best actor last year.
I thought he deserved it.
Go to Comment
TOP 5 Childhood Films over 4 years ago
Ah, Cary Elwes!
His career enjoyed its peak at “Machenka” and “Princess Bride”
and then went downhill.
He was completely damaged with the first film of SAW series. Oh, no…
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) over 4 years ago
How can No Country for Old Men win the best film?
Have many senior Academy members voted just looking at the title?
The Best Foreign Film went to “Counterfeiters” of course,
the true story of counterfeiting operation by Nazis.
The Academy is inseparable from Jewish industry.
My friend is celebrating the best documentary film for “Taxi to the Dark Side,”
which her company commissioned as part of the series of “Why Democracy?”.
Meanwhile, I am meeting a cinematographer this week
who DOPed “Peter and Wolf,” winner of the best animation film.
Day-Lewis’s remark, “the closest I’ll ever come to getting a knighthood” was hilarious.
I love English sense of humor…
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) over 4 years ago
Sure.
“There Will Be Blood” could not win the Best Film
because of the way it portrayed the priest, I think.
I found No Country was too depressing and hopeless
in terms of humanistic perspective.
Americans love Cohen Brothers after all…
Go to Comment
TOP 5 Childhood Films over 4 years ago
Yes, Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.
I can sing all the songs in them. And Bond films too.
There is a popular event called “Sing Along Sound of Music”
at Prince Charles Cinema in London.
All the lyrics appear as subtitles
and audience sing aloud as you watch the film.
Karaoke cinema! It was a great fun.
Do you have this in the States too?
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
The Girl on A Motorcycle (1968).
It caused a stir, was rated R,
cut enormously when it was released
as the censorship in US was extreme at that time.
I recently saw a non-cut European version on DVD
and thought it was a masterpiece.
Marianne Faithful was a singer at first
and a girlfriend of Mick Jagger.
The trailer is below (don’t know how to establish a link):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEOwybriej4
Go to Comment
Best of Recent Asian Cinema about 4 years ago
This could be called a Taiwanese American film
but Lust, Caution by Ang Lee, definitely.
Go to Comment
Teenage girls and violence about 4 years ago
Do you know a French film Baise Moi (2000)?
It was controversial when it came out in UK.
(Has it been released in US?)
I am not sure the girls in the film are teenagers
but they are quite young and embark on a vengeful journey
as a consequence of rape and murder.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249380/
DKAZ, when you say Japanese horror from 90s,
are you talking about films such as Battle Royal?
Go to Comment
Your Favorite Godard Film? about 4 years ago
The most well-known film by Godard must be Breathless,
but my favorite is Vivre sa vie, which is so beautiful.
Éloge de l’amour also won my heart.
Godard came to Cannes to speak about this film 8 years ago.
He gave comments on philosophy and politics in general.
I guess most of the press didn’t understand what he was talking about.
But he’s great and still making films!
Go to Comment
Best Picture Oscar for 2008 (?) about 4 years ago
That’s a very interesting comment.
Most of the people who didn’t like TWBB didin’t understand
the character Day Lewis performed.
I don’t understand him either, very complex.
That film was also about sin, who is the sinner,
who is eligible to judge others’ acts, that sort of issue.
However, regarding this film,
the praise didn’t go so much to Anderson as to Day Lewis of course.
The people who supported TWBB didn’t think
the script of NCFOM was good enough.
Go to Comment
VILLAINS. about 4 years ago
Gordon Gekko in Wall Street!
Go to Comment
Your favorite Woody Allen's film? about 4 years ago
Do you guys watch Woody Allen’s films?
Or is he becoming out of date and forgotten these days?
I still go to watch his films actually and enjoyed his recent film Match Point
though some people say it is so cliche about British society.
Can I hear your favorite Woody Allen film if you have one?
My best three are Annie Hall, Purple Rose of Cairo, and Sweet and Lowdown.
Go to Comment
Which movies would you like to see on The Auteurs? about 4 years ago
I saw India Song by Duras in Cannes 2 years ago when there was her retrospective.
She was against all the conventional film rules and styles.
She wanted audience to have their own visual images with her books
(why did she make films then?).
Her films are consisted of repetitive scenes and static shots, or her voice with black screen.
As I had known this, I didn’t get disappointed but otherwise, you may find it quite boring.
I admire Duras as a writer, not as a filmmaker.
I rather would like to see The Long Absence (1961) directed by Henri Colpi, based on Duras’ novel.
It is such a moving story. Highly recommended.
Go to Comment
Your Favorite Michel Gondry Film? about 4 years ago
I just have been to watch this film and I loved it!
Gondry’s version of Cinema Paradiso.
Sweet and an hommage to video shops
and full of ironies related to film industry,
such as piracy, filmmaking culture and so on.
Very politically correct too.
Jack Black never disappoints you.
Must be seen!
Go to Comment
Best of Recent Asian Cinema about 4 years ago
They were not supposed to love each other.
The man was a Chinese collaborator for Japanese government.
The girl was a spy sent from a group of students who were trying to assassinate him.
She approached him, became his mistress. Their encounters became passionate
and the girl realised she was emotionally involved with him, and so was he.
Audacious but classic, very well acted by Tony Leong
and Tang Wei, who has a figure broken out from Chinese ads or posters in 40s and 50s.
She was just an innocent country girl first, then followed her handsome senior at college
to join this group and got beyond the point of no return.
Lust, Caution is a very emotional film which I adore, soul-stirring forever.
Go to Comment
Your favorite Woody Allen's film? about 4 years ago
Has anybody seen Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask?
That was hilarious.
I saw Woody and his Korean wife walking in Hyde Park in summer a few years ago
when he was filming Match Point. I could recognise him immediately!
Go to Comment