Cyborg She / Boku no kanojo wa saibôgu (Japan, 2008)

Probably you never hear about a epic cyborg film, but ‘Cyborg she’ (Cyborg girl), by director Jae-young Kwak (My sassy girl, The classic), can not be described in another way This is one of the most interesting love stories I have seen in a while. It starts on 22 november 2008 in a restaurant in Tokyo where Jiro celebrates his birthday on his own. Because my birthday is on the 16th..I immediately was interested in it!

It all is about a boy (Jiro) who meets a girl (cyborg) from the future on his birthday. She saves him from a mad guy with a gun at the restaurant. Normally he would have been badly injured but this is why she comes from the future. The guy in the future created her so he could send her back to save himself.

After this scene, the expected funny part of the film starts. They start to live together and the girl has to learn how to act like a human. This part is really hilarious, one of the most memorable scenes is set in a dancing bar where a guy asks her ‘can you dance the 'robot'?
The next part of the movie is a bit more serious, it is about memories. Some really beautiful scenes about a trip back to the hometown of Jiro will follow and it even gets a bit emotional. And again the story of the movie chances entirely, the next part of the film is more like a disaster film when a earthquake hits Tokyo. Very impressive scenes of collapsing buildings I have to say! And after all this, expect a big surprise in the plot!

The acting of both Keisuke Koide and Haruka Ayase is outstanding, the clothing is stylish and the cinematography is fine as well.
I was stunned while seeing this movie. I did not expect anything of it but it made me laugh, totally surprised by the great scenes (I suspected a small film without any action) and I even felt the emotional part in my heart. A truly magnificent masterpiece!!

Together with Park Chan Wooks 'I'm a Cyborg, but that's okay' a total revival of this genre and better as ever!

Suzhou River / Suzhou He (China, 2000)

Suzhou river, by director Lou Ye, is a film about the journey to find your true love. The story is set in Shanghai, and the Suzhou river is the centre of the film. Everything goes back to this river. What you get are beautiful scenes, a sad love story which, together with the cinematography, hypnotizes you and pulls you into world you never have experienced
Famous Chinese star Xun Zhou acts great as the girl you never know too much about, she is the mysterious girl who never can be yours entirely. For few minutes I had to get used to the semi-handheld camera, I wansn’t very used to this way of filming but after a while you almost don’t even notice it anymore. In fact, it adds much beauty to this film.

An unconventional film with a semi-handheld camera and a unseen narrator who is telling us the tragic story of searching but never able to get hold of the thing you long most for. Spellbinding!