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.

Be with me (Singapore, 2005)

Be with me is a movie from Singapore by director Eric Khoo. The director made a movie which consist of three stories of love. In the entire film, there are almost no spoken words so the scenery had to make this movie. This is what art is all about, because he succeeded in a perfect way.

The film never gets boring though not too many things happen. The painfull stories of a man who finds it difficult to move on after he lost his wife, of a girl who finds another girls she loves but after a while isn't able to reach her anymore and of a security officer who secretsly falls in love with a woman he sees passing by everyday. Another important story is that of a blind and deaf woman who writes her life story down.

The director made the choice to show some aspects of these different stories, it's not the average beginning and ending. A simple film which will remind people of their personal experiences with love in this life. Eric Khoo has done beautifully, with some really great music in it. I highy recommend this unconventional film.

And to quote: Are there dreams that do not die?

Machine girl / Kataude mashin gâru (Japan, 2008)

Normally I tell something about movies that has some kind of beauty in them. Mostly thes emovies are almost art, maybe even better. But I am making an exception now.

A movie that is very new and is called Machine girl by director Noboru Iguchi. I won't bother with the storyline cause you only will watch this movie for its, gore, gore, gore.

A strange Japanese action movie that had very weird special effects, in Hollywood I guess no one will like this one! But in fact it is rather hilarious! Tons and tons of blood, arms and legs flying everywhere..sometimes it's great t owatch such a movie cause afterwards you are having a big smile on your face. Well, critir=ts will probably hate this film but it's rather great! Minase Yashiro is the star of this movie, with a decent performance and yes ofcourse she wears a school uniform!

Glue - Historia adolescente en medio de la nada (Argentina, 2006)

Glue is a Argentinian coming of age movie by director Alexis Dos Santos. ant the story is about what? Well just like I said... it's all about groing up, discovering sexuality and troubles within your family. It's a very slow movie which just wants to show you a glimpse of an 16 year old Agrentine boy and his frustration with life, like all adolescents have at that age. For me the film was pretty much okay, but it didn't satisfie me completely. Sometimes it was a bit boring and my mind couldn't stay with it all the time (It's plausible that had to do with the sate of mine I am in).

Cinematograpically it was very good, some beautiful scenes were shot with an 8 mm camera, together with some adolescent philosophical texts. The music fitted perfectly as well and maybe this was the best thing about this film. I haven't said anything about the clothes yet but that is totally unnecessary because they are okay, there is not too much attention paid to them. And the title of this film refers to a strange drug scene.

A nice movie to watch, but not the best in town.

City Sharks (Singapore, 2003)

Today I watched City Sharks by director Esan Sivalingam.
I didn't expect too much of it and when I just watched for about 15 minutes I thought the acting was really horrible. does it get better...no..do you get used to it... yes.
And when I stopped feeling irritated by it I really could enjoy it. Not that it is a brilliant movie but some moments it manages to be really hilarious.
It's about three boys who grew up in an orphanage. The orphanage has to shut down or.... they have to raise much money. Well our three guys want to save the orphanage and collect debts in Malaysia. A road movie is the result, with its very good moments.
No sentimental or sadness this movie (well it is a tiny tiny bit though) but just a movie to have a good laugh about. But still..... why did the director wanted the actors to act in such bad ways.....
I couldn't even find an image of this movie!

West Beyrouth (Lebanon, 1998)

'West Beyrouth' is a film by Ziad Doueiri. It's a story that tells about the lives of two boys (in highschool) during the starting of the civil war in Beirut, Libanon, in 1975 when the city is divided between east and west, muslim and christian. The film doesn't focuss on this civil war, why the war started will never be explained so when you don't know anything about the complexity of civil wars in the Middle East you won't get to know more after watching this movie. But, you won't enjoy the movie less because it's a movie about growing up in a time of war. In fact I think you could call it a coming of age movie. At first the war seems exciting and it is brilliant that the school is closed but after a while the mood of the film changes, tragedy seems to take more over in their lives.

It's interesting to see how people just try to move on during those times. People who don't flee but try to stay at their places, try to manage to get some food.

Don't expect a war movie but a movie about two boys who just began to explore life, and now they have to do it in times of war.

Be with you / Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (Japan, 2004)

This movie by Nobihiry Doi is another one of those very good Japanese drama's.

The story of love and sadness, which is so beautiful it probably will make you feel a bit emotional. The love that is meant to be, but roughly taken away, or do you get another chance? a bit of a fantastical twist here that makes it even more interesting.

The last 20 minutes of this film are great too, the story is surely different than you will expect in the beginning.

Everything just seems to be right about this film, one of the best in it's genre. Together with the perfect acting of Takeuchi Yuko, Nakamura Shido and Takei Akashi, the beautiful music it is an amazing ride of love and beauty.