Saturday, May 31, 2008

Last life in the universe / Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (Thailand & Japan, 2003)



Last life in the universe by director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang was everything I could hope for!
This is art, this is the art of making a movie! And yes, again Christopher Doyle is responsible for the camera work. When you don't know him you should be ashamed! He is also has done the cinematography of In the mood for love and 2046 (I doubt if there ever will be a better movie than these ones).


The story is about the accidental meetting of a suicidal Japanese librarian and a Thai hooker. It's difficult to explain the storyline because this movie is just pure poetry, it has some kind of hypnotical influence. The entire movie you will hear mostly English and Japanese, the director never choses one of them really and also you wil lface some Thai. This also adds some strangeness to this movie, and believe me, it is really weird.

It all started with a book about the last lizard on this planet. Why does Kenji like this book so much? Maybe because the author committed Harikiri (seppuku).
The acting by Tadanobu Asano is truely amazing, but has he ever done different? Well just watch this movie, this ride of art, this ride of poetry and lose yourself in the scenery and the relationship that grows between two completely different persons.

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