'tis the season for yet another movie marathon...the japanese film festival called "
friendship" organised by the
singapore film society is now ongoing at the national museum of singapore (the one next to ymca...not to be confused with the singapore art museum).
i had already gone to one of their films on sunday...this show called "fifteen", directed by yamada yoji. here's the synopsis:
"15-year-old student daisuke refuses to go to school. one day, without a word to his parents, daisuke sets out on a journey to see a 7,000-year-old cedar tree. hitchhiking his way to the tiny yakushima island at the southern tip of japan, the journey is set to be as unforgettable to daisuke as it is to the characters he meets along the way."one of the better films i've seen recently...seriously. it's a story about family, travel, adventure, friendship and maturity, which will bound to bring out the tissue in you. too bad the only showing for this picture during the festival was last sunday afternoon. if you can, try to get the vcd / dvd...i recommend it. =)
as for today, in order to celebrate the day off from work, we decided to go for a 3 movie marathon, starting from 11am. they were all different genre of movies directed by kitano takeshi, who is very talented i must say.
the first movie was called "kids return". here's the synosis:
"kitano's semi-biographical work. masaru and shinji are high school buddies. the mischievous duo often creates trouble in school. one day masaru is floored by one of his victims' elder brother. humiliated, he decides to take up boxing and makes shinji join him. shinji begins to excel in the sport whereas masaru quickly loses interest. their paths begin to diverge as masaru joins a yakuza outfit."film of the day i must say. i must admit that i love buddy-buddy movies like this...the actors are good-looking and cool, the plot is well built, the storyline has enough suspense and action, but is easy enough to follow, the screenshots are immaculate...the only complaint i have was that we were seated in the very first row...which made it a bit strenuous on my neck...though it was mostly our fault for going late.
oh, btw, did i mention that the jap film festival is free of charge up to the 26th of this month? hehe. that's why we were only on the waiting list when we reached the museum at 1055am. hehe. but we were lucky enough to get the very last available seats in the house for "kids return". once again, get it on vcd / dvd if you can. it's well worth whatever you pay. (p.s. - if you bring an over-enthused companion with you to watch this particular film, don't please forget to duck when you hear a *bish!!!* sound coming from his / HER left "elbow cut" aimed at your ribs. trust me.)
the next movie was at 230pm..."fireworks"...synopsis:
"detective nishi visits his hospitalised wife miyuki instead of accompanying his partner and close friend horibe on a stakeout. he receives a double blow when first told that miyuki's illness is terminal and later learns that horibe was shot at the stakeout. to redeem his friendship and out of love for his wife, nishi travels down a road of no return."kitano takeshi (aka "beat takeshi") is known for the violence in his films. however, "fireworks" was the only film that i saw today which displayed this. kitano was also known as a painter...and quite a few of his paintings were featured in this film. when i read about that in the programme given out, i thought it meant that these paintings would be in the background somewhere in some room...but i guess when they say "featured", they really mean feature. a good 5-10 minutes of the film was dedicated to exhibiting these works of art, and these works of art only. interesting i must say.
anyway, this film was a bit slow for me...the scenes could have been cut a bit shorter than they actually lasted...which led to me fidgeting a bit in my seat (or that may be the result of the hard-ass cushion seats in the gallery theatre). even so, the film had a bit of a twist, a bit of humour, and a tinge of being too artsy...but still watchable though...
the last takeshi film we watched at 5pm was "kikujiro". synopsis:
"the 9-year-old boy has nothing to look forward to during the summer vaction. living with his grandmother, he decides to go on an adventure by travelling to visit his widowed mother who works in another city. the boy soon finds himself in the company of a middle-aged unemployed man. an unlikely friendship develops as the odyssey begins..."kitano actually began his career in show business as a stand-up comedian. the results of which could be seen in this film, which to me, was an effort to rope in the younger viewers with the slapstick, deadpan humour style shown in this film. while i wouldn't call it a comedy per se, but towards the end, when all the kids in the cinema were sniggering their heads off, i was still trying to grasp what significance those parts had to the movie as a whole...especially with the bald naked guy (don't wanna ruin the vcd / dvd viewings for those who haven't watched, so i shall not elaborate).
it's not that i didn't laugh lah, but i guess watching a movie at a film festival in the national museum is kinda different from catching "dumb and dumber" at lido...you somehow wanna get more out of it. so shoot me if i'm wrong. haha. but anyway, it was a good movie...if you wanna entertain the kids on a tuesday public holiday evening. ok ok...it definitely beats any jim carrey movie...hands down.
as i mentioned before, kitano takeshi is a very talented individual...apart from being a comedian, actor (a career he is still prusuing and excelling in, both in his own works and others'), director and painter, kitano's other talents include writing, tv-presenting and video game designing...that's like almost every man's dream as a kid...he's a cool guy. go catch his films. i know i'll be looking out for more of his stuff in the future.
there're still a few more days left in this japanese film festival...it runs on till the 29th of this month...but do note that it'll be S$10 per ticket for films after the 26th (thurs)...i'm sure it'll be worth it though. see ya there!
cheers. =)
(p.p.s. - prepare to
want to eat japanese food after viewing of movies...any of them...it's inevitable...trust me. korean's the next best option...and again...trust me.)
