Ame Agaru (Japan) (1999)
Shortly before his death in 1998, Akira Kurosawa completed a screenplay entitled Ame Agaru, based on a short story by Shugoro Yamamoto. Kurosawa passed on before he could bring this story to the screen, but one of his assistants, Takashi Koizumi, has directed a film adapted from the script, following as closely as possible the style of the master. This traditionally styled samurai story harkens back to Kurosawa’s best-known works, and features Shiro Mifune, the son of Toshiro Mifune, one of Kurosawa’s favorite actors, in a key role.
Synopsis:
Ihei Misawa and his wife Tayo, stranded by rains at a country inn, bring a great deal of happiness to the other residents of the inn by means of Ihei’s generosity and good spirit. Ihei is a masterless samurai and fencing expert. Ihei comes to the attention of Lord Shigeaki, who hires him as fencing instructor for Lord Shigeaki’s men. But Ihei’s expertise causes friction and jealousy in Shigeaki’s castle and his future there comes into doubt.
Cast: Akira Terao, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Shiro Mifune, Fumi Dan, Hisashi Igawa, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Directed: Takashi Koizumi
Genre: Drama/Action/Historical
Also Known As: After the Rain, Après la pluie, When the Rain Lifts
Runtime: 91 min
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
IMDB: www.imdb.com/title/tt0181960/
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Kubrador (2006) (Philippines)
Plot: The story of a woman who makes her living as a bet collector of an illegal game in the Philippines.
Synopsis: Kubrador revolves around ‘jueteng’, the game of numbers dating back to the Philippines’ Spanish colonial period (1521-1898). It chronicles three days in the life of Amelita, a jueteng kubrador or bet collector. Despite the regular crackdown on this illegal game, she continues to collect bets from her regular patrons every day. On the third day, a holiday, she takes a break from work and visits the grave of her soldier son who perished in war–It is All Saint’s Day. One day she is apprehended by the police. She joins the other kubradors in the police station until their handler bails them out. The following morning, Amelita returns to the streets and continues her clandestine activity. She meets the parish priest who informs her of a young neighbor’s sudden death in an accident. He asks her to collect donations from neighbors and friends. But then, a series of events turns her mundane existence into a perplexing game of life, luck and death.
Cast: Nico Antonio, Soliman Cruz, Ran del Rosario, Fonz Desa, Fonz Deza, Nanding Josef, Domingo Landicho, Johnny Manahan
Directed: Jeffrey Jeturian
Genre: Drama
Also Known As: The Bet Collector
Runtime: 1:42:29
Country: Philippines
Language: Tagalog
Subtitles: English (External) [Custom Subtitle Created by: Gardol²]
IMDB Link: imdb.com/title/tt0782053/
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True North (International) (2006)
AvistaZ has allowed this posting of a non-Asian film due to the subject matter and the movie’s uniqueness. It is a rare independent film that deserves to be seen.
Plot: The crew of a bankrupt Scottish trawler turn to smuggling illegal immigrants over the stormy waters of the North Sea.
Review:
Writer/director Steve Hudson patterned his debut feature, True North, after classic Greek tragedy. This bleak and despairing drama concerns the Skipper (Gary Lewis) and Sean (Martin Compston), a father and son from the U.K. who co-pilot a small fishing boat called Providence. Though the Skipper remains aboard, Sean inherits all financial responsibility from his dad. But times are hard and the catch so inadequate that it cannot sustain the men. Terrified of being regarded as a failure by his father, Sean devises a dangerous scheme: he and deckhand Riley (Peter Mullan) will illegally pull Chinese immigrants from the far side of the North Sea while the Skipper sleeps, collect money from the stowaways, hide them in the ship’s hold, and deposit them in northern England. All goes according to plan until Sean realizes that they must locate some actual fish to mislead the British authorities. Meanwhile, the Chinese passengers begin to waste away below deck, while a storm and other unforeseen catastrophes threaten the lives and safety of everyone aboard.
Cast: Peter Mullan, Martin Compston, Gary Lewis, Steven Robertson, Angel Li, Hark Bohm, Wang Li Jun, Ren Hao, Shi Ming, Pat Kiernan
Directed: Steve Hudson
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Also Known As: Dragnet
Country: International
IMDB: www.imdb.com/title/tt0497365
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Harakiri (1962) (Japanese)
Following the collapse of his clan, unemployed samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to commit ritual suicide on his property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for charity, try to force him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his honor and his past. Winner of the 1963 Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri is a scathing denouncement of feudal authority and hypocrisy.
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai || Shima Iwashita || Akira Ishihama || Testsuro Tanba
Directed: Masaki Kobayashi
Genre: Drama/Samurai
Runtime: 134 mins
Also Known As: Seppuku
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English [idx/sub]
IMDB rating: 8.5
IMDB:USER COMMENTS http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058/usercomments
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The Tokyo Trial. (2006) (Chinese)
Notable Mainland Chinese director Gao Qunshu brings a historic event to the silver screen with The Tokyo Trial. Gao, whose previous works include Conquest and Wrestle, is famous for directing suspenseful cop-vs-criminal thrillers. The Tokyo Trial brings acting talents from Taiwan and Hong Kong together. Ken Chu from F4 and Kelly Lin Hsi Lei lead the cast, which also includes Tse Kwan Ho, Damian Lau Chung Yan, Kenneth Tsang Kong and multiple award-winning actor Eric Tsang.
The mega-budget movie depicts the true story of the military tribunal held to prosecute Japanese war criminals for the atrocities committed during World War II. The film is also a love story in which Ken Chu, playing a Chinese journalist, is reunited with his first love, a Japanese reporter played by Kelly Lin. Eric Tsang plays Lin’s big brother, a Japanese military man involved in the invasion of China. Damian Lau and Kenneth Tsang respectively play Judge Mei Ruyi and the prosecuting attorney Xiang Zhejun, both real-life historical figures who presided over the tribunal.
Cast: Damien Liu Sung Yen, Eric Tsang, Kenneth Tsang, Kelly Lin
Directed: Qunshu Gao
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 111 mins
Also Known As: Dongjing Shenpan
Country: China
Language: Mandarin/Cantonese
Subtitles: English
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884868/
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After This Our Exile (2006) (Chinese)
REVIEW FROM IMDB
This film needs no introduction. The latest work from director-writer Patrick Tam, After This Our Exile took home honours from the recent 2006 Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best PIcture, and after watching it today, it’s no surprise why it did.
As mentioned in one of my recent reviews, the storyline of a movie is important, nevermind if the technicalities are great, because if the story doesn’t engage, then it’s a battle lost, in my opinion anyway. In After This Our Exile, the story is extremely simple, but it resonates deeply, and also because it deals with something very personal, very close, and perhaps, family ties always cut closer to home. After all, the Chinese title is Fu Zi, literally translated as Father-Son, which is quite unsophisticated if compared to the English title.
If you raised an eyebrow in Aaron Kwok’s win for his acting in Divergence and thought he probably didn’t deserve it, then his role as Sheng will win you over and justify his back to back win at the Golden Horse Awards. I’m sold. Gone are those teeny-bopper bad hair days and repetitive dance moves. Now, with maturity, he adds a certain gravitas to his roles, and kudos too to his willingness to take on unsavoury characters, instead of playing hero all the time. His dad is the perennial terror, one who blows hot and cold in a whim, full of false bravado, and never hesitant to raise a hand against spouse and kid. Uneducated, loud, uncouth, and worse, a habitual gambler, life for his family is difficult, both in material and emotional wealth. Yes, Kwok pulled off this character with aplomb, with subtle nuances, gestures, mannerisms and attitude all spot on, bringing to life a character you’ll so love to hate, yet sympathize with at the same time.
And since the “Fu” played opposite the “Zi”, and having both of actors pull off their father son relationship so convincingly, with great on screen chemistry, it’s no wonder too that 9 year old Gouw Ian Iskandar took home the Best Supporting Actor award as the Son. His childlike innocence will probably bowl you over with earnestness, as he holds his own opposite Kwok and screen mother played by Charlie Young. He doesn’t come off as irritating, and is so much likable and vulnerable in character that you just want to give him a hug. Intuitive and smart, you’d come to love and pity his character very early in the story.
Charlie Young only had half as much to do as the other two leads, and without makeup, she manages to bring out that average every day weary look of a tired mother and wife who had enough. And herein, the conflict begins, from the beginning of the film. Other supporting cast include Valen Hsu and Kelly Lin, are kept to a minimum, thereby keeping the focus squarely on the principal cast.
As I mentioned earlier, After This Our Exile tells a simple tale with deep themes, and is able to draw out emotions from within you as it resonates. In what could be problems that households face when there’s a gambler in the home, the movie sets to show these issues from the onset, with the breaking down of family ties and values, and the debt causing financial strain on the family. I guess opposition to our Integrated Resorts would see their arguments fleshed out here.
In what could be an oversimplification of the issue, gamblers = debts = strain in family relations, it is this domestic disturbance that ring out vividly. Broadly it can be categorized into two acts (no, I won’t say anything more), but each act focuses on different aspects on the family relationship and dynamics. Toward the end, everything comes full circle, with the son experiencing exactly what the mom has gone through, and it makes the movie extremely poignant. It emphasizes the widely held notion that in domestic squabbles, it’s always the children who suffer the fate of the consequences.
Brilliant cinematography and awesome musical pieces complemented the movie well, with plenty of nice piano pieces punctuating emotional moments. The pacing, though slow, is well measured, and Ipoh never looked more beautiful, becoming a character in itself rather than just another locale to shoot the film in. Attention to details are not spared, and the production brings about Malaysian flavour to it too. Some though I predict, may not enjoy the open end that director Patrick Tam chose to finish it with, but it will allow for post viewing discussion, loads of it.
Director:Patrick Tam
Writers:Patrick Tam
Kai-Leong Tian
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung (Seven Swords)
Genre: Drama
Runtime:150 min
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese
Subtitles: English/Chinese
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768114/
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After This Our Exile.[ENG]subs
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