Reviews (69)

Not your typical HK flick....
This movie (directed by Wong Kar-wai) tells two separate stories. In the first one, a lonely cop who has just been left out in the cold by his girl-friend May, buys and eats expired cans of pineapple and meets a woman who turns out to be a ruthless heroin dealer (Brigitte Lin) who wears a blonde wig. In the second story, a cop who has been dumped by his girlfriend is really unhappy, moping round his apartment all day. Then he meets the waitress at the local fast food joint (Faye Wong), who dreams of going to California.

I really liked watching this film. The imagery and camerawork is stunning, and it is amusing and sad in equal parts, telling the story of how lonely the people are. Another striking thing is the inventive use of music within the stories which is used to illustrate certain points - listen out for songs like "What A Difference A Day Makes" and the Mamas and the Papas classic hit "California Dreamin`". I didn`t expect to hear English songs in a Hong Kong movie.

I think it's a nice change to see another type of Asian movie, one which isn`t all shooting or kung-fu. It has an experimental style, lots of energy, and is not afraid to be different.

I highly recommend this tape to people who want to check out a different sort of HK film. If you pass it up, you`re missing out on a gem.

NOT A MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION MOVIE
Great date film.... Urban isolation, bad break ups, and quirky humor characterizes this film, with some great perfomances by Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and "the Madonna of Mandarin," pop star, Faye Wong. Bridgette Lin also has one of her best roles ever, although she's incognito in a blond whig and sunglasses. Told in the two seperate halves that comprise the film, Kaneshiro and Leung both play H.K. cops who have been dumped by their girlfriends, with both coping in different ways. Kaneshiro persistant in his hopes his ex will change her mind, Leung forlorn and down. Almost universally, most people prefer Leungs half of the movie. Leung is so down about his girlfriend's rejection of him, that he's totally unaware that the woman (F. Wong) working at the fast food stand where he eats has fallen for him and is sneaking into and redecorating his appartment. On a more personal note, Valerie Chow, my favorite H.K. Cinema uber-babe and the only one who could possibly eclipse Rosamund Kwan, has a minor role as Leung's airline stewardess ex-girlfriend (I never understood why she was never more prominant in H.K. Cinema-she could make it just on looks alone-she also appears in Tsui Harks The Blade). Very intelligent, thought out, and entertaining.

Wonderful inside view of Hong Kong
Hong Kong is often a study of the absurd, but it always has a way of captivating you. This movie manages to capture much of both sides of this. While those who know Hong Kong find some of the continuity a little jumpy (how do they get from Hong Kong to Kowloon and back so fast?), it is a gem of a visual introduction to living in the real Hong Kong. Filmed almost entirely within a few blocks around Wellington Street, the escalator and Lan Kwai Fong, you can almost smell the streets as they were 10 years ago. The 2 stories that make up the film are also contrasts - between the sheer pace and mayhem of one to the simple minded childishness of the other. Brilliant.

Love and obsession....
This movie brings together a great cast, including the legendary Brigitte Lin, and the indelible Faye Wong. Loosely speaking, Chungking Express is the unraveling of two not-so-separate stories about love and obsession. The connection between the two stories is like a subtle undercurrent. At more than one point we see the characters of the two stories cross path, much like anyone of us cross paths with hundreds of unknown faces everyday. They are unaware of each other...why should they?

The film explores the nuanced boudaries of love and obsession, of fantasy and reality. The characters are cops, a drug dealer, and a fast food clerk. Their lives occur against the backdrop of the urban jungle that is modern day Hong Kong, where escalators are built so close to apartment buildings that when you look out your second floor apartment, you see shadows of strangers riding up and down your neighborhood. In this postmodern and unreal landscape plays out the primal desires of love and obsession where hope, disappointment, rationality, irrationality, reality, and fantasy plays tricks on our minds. All this is well put together in a tantalizing and sexy film. (spoiler alert) It pits one conventional love story ending with one not so conventional. I've watched this film numerous times, and every time I come away with a reminder of how my desires is a delicate balance between sense and non-sense. Check this film out!

Different? Yes. Good? Well...
This overrated film by hip oriental director Wong Kar-Wai manages to be mildly intriguing and interesting at times but for the most part it just misses its target. Yes, there is some stylish and neat directing to find here, as well as some weird and offbeat scenes once in a while, yet the movie is ultimately too long and it seems to lack a point. What begins as an appealing story (or stories) about urban alienation and the isolation of some japanese youngsters soon turns into a repetitive, tiresome and, at parts, irritating cinematic experience ("California Dreaming", anyone??). The characters range from frustrated daydreamers to annoying and erratic losers who can`t seem to find a goal for their lives. "Chungking Express" is quircky and kind of amusing here and there, still overall it fails to convince.
Average. ... Read more

Reviews (40)

An Entertaining and Clever Landmark
Breathless, or A Bout de Souffle, is arguably one of the ten most important films of the last fifty years because it demonstrates a new, and eye-popping editing style that has now become common-place among Indie and European cinema.

Francois Truffaut, who is responsible for the script, once said all that you needed to make a movie was 'a girl and a gun.' Breathless appears to be Truffaut putting his theory into action, but there's a little more going on than that suggests.

It is a film that transports classic era Hollywood to the Paris of the late 50's. Jean-Paul Belmondo's character is obsessed with Humphrey Bogart. He is also on the run from the police, and off to visit his girl, Jean Seberg in Paris.

So far, so blah. But what director Godard does with this simple 40's noir plotline is to treat it in a way that feels intuitively wrong. He promotes the relationship between Belmondo and Seberg to centre stage and leaves the man-on-the-run-from-the-police story as a virtual subplot. To this end there is a lengthy scene of the couple talking in a bedroom - it must last twelve minutes. You practically forget that there's a Hollywood B-movie plot somewhere in the background.

It is testament to the performances, and particularly to Truffaut's script that you really don't mind. You just sort of get carried along by the thing.

It's important not only because it's dead, dead good and genuinely entertaining rather than just clever for the sake of it, but also because it plays so loose with genre and structure, it gave subsequent directors the right to experiment as well. No Breathless, no Pulp Fiction - despite Tarantino's claim to prefer the (much inferior) American remake with Richard Gere.

Jean-Luc Godard subsequently disowned the movie, considering it to be far too conventional. Perhaps he also disliked Truffaut's humanism, which shines through as it does in everything he was involved in.

Godard went on to make more challengingly, more confrontational pictures but never really recaptured the youthful exuberance of Breathless.

Think of a movie like Citizen Kane. If you've seen Kane you'll recall that the viewer feels Welles's joyful iconaclysm, even sixty years or so on. Same deal with Breathless. Even though the jump cut and gleeful genre-bending have both become standard you can still feel the exhiliration from everyone concerned in doing something genuinely new.

A must own.

Yes, the film is important, but it's also a lot of fun.
"Breathless," Jean-Luc Godard's tribute to moviemaking itself and one of the seminal titles of the French New Wave, is, jump-cuts and all, a film that changed the way movies were made. It introduced audiences and critics alike to new voices in the cinema, to a newer and cheaper guerrilla-style film made on location and to the sort of movie aware of the fact that it was just a movie.

That said, though, this movie is a lot of just pure fun. In the leads, Jean-Paul Belmondo and the absolutely gorgeous Jean Seberg seem to inject their portrayals of young thief-and-killer Michel Poiccard and his indecisive American girlfriend Patricia with a sense of humor and joy. The couple they portray are given moments where they're not really pushing the action forward, where they're reveling in what it feels like to be young and in lust, if not love. The scenes where they're lying in bed just talking or riding together in a car and talking about Paris are perhaps the most delightful aspect of the film.

Even though the character of Michel is almost certainly doomed from the moment he steals a car and guns down a police officer, he has a lot of fun with his last days, wandering the streets, stealing from friends and trying to get Patricia to sleep with him. Patricia, likewise, is given moments of joy, despite worrying about her pregnancy and job, wondering if she should betray the man she loves to the police or run away with him to Rome.

That spirit, in addition to its technical wizardry and the passion of its makers, is what made the film different in 1960, and it's the spirit behind it that just makes "Breathless" fun Sunday-afternoon viewing now.

The first of the New Wave, but not the best...
All right - Breathless is an important film and I can see why. This is the film that gave birth to the French New Wave. Before this, films look like they were shot in a studio. This film made the gritty look of seventies filmmaking - and indeed, today's independent filmmaking - possible. This film has a guerrilla feel to it, which makes it seem very modern. Goddard films on actual locations with handheld cameras. The most obvious innovation is the deliberate use of "jump cuts", which goes against the traditional theory of "invisible edits." The story itself (by Francois Truffaut) is innovative - it foreshadows Quentin Tarantino with its non-moralistic account of a cold-blooded, Bogart-worshipping killer (wonderfully played by Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his crazy/beautiful American girlfriend.

That having been said, the style of this film is really what is important. Looked at today, when its innovations have been absorbed into mainstream film, TV, and commercials, some of the flaws are more apparent. Especially towards the end of the film, when the story gets wackier and the style gets over-the-top, it became hard to restrain my Mystery Science Theater comments. That is the problem with being the first in anything - you go too far and you date yourself. Although Goddard started the Nouvelle Vague, I think that Truffaut - as evidenced by his script here - is the more important artist. This is the film that paves the way for better films like The 400 Blows. However, Breathless is still a good film and a must for any serious student of cinema. Although there are few extras on this DVD, the film looks great. For all its flaws, Breathless still has an air of authenticity that few films today can dream of.

Slow moving crap
This movie is full of a bunch of slow moving character developments. There's a bunch of long dialogues between men and women that are very drab and superficial. People tell me to watch this film for the amazing jump cut edits...well I did and big deal. Let's face it this guy is no Scorcese when it comes to doing innovative stuff with the camera, writing compelling scripts, and getting a likable cast up on the screen. Personally I think this guy just writes films for film school types and completely ignore us the audience.

Of Historical Interest Only?
The reaction of someone who is not a film historian:

This is obviously not intended as a work of surrealism or Dada. Godard has a story to tell, and two characters to introduce to us. I suggest that the film techniques be measured by whether they contribute to these goals. The use of handheld camera, long shots, candid shots of Paris do. They give the film a sense of energy and reality, and have perhaps been adopted by others because of this. The "jump cuts" (which I take to mean the abrupt cuts in the middle of scenes, with no attempt to maintain continuity) do not. They are distracting and remind you, with a jolt, and indeed never permit you to forget, that you are watching a film. This is not like noticing that a great painting is made up of the artist's individual brushstrokes; more like brushstrokes that keep you from seeing the overall picture. It just comes off as amateurish, and interfers with plot and character development.

Seborg didn't seem to me to work in this role. I think Godard means to tell us that she is not vulnerable but in fact the same sort of animal as Belmondo, but the toughness was not persuasive (esp. the obvious self consciousness of the closing shot). If this is not what was meant, then she failed to communicate to this viewer what exactly it was that motivated her character. Does that mean she is "deep"? ... Read more

Description

One of the most celebrated screen adaptations of Shakespeare into film, Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood re-imagines Macbeth in feudal Japan. Starring Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune and the legendary Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife, the film tells of a valiant warrior’s savage rise to power and his ignominious fall. With Throne of Blood, Kurosawa fuses one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies with the formal elements of Japanese Noh theater to make a Macbeth that is all his own—a classic tale of ambition and duplicity set against a ghostly landscape of fog and inescapable doom. ... Read more

Reviews (83)

Akira Kurosawa's Japanese version of Macbeth
I'm a student from Nagoya International School and have just seen the movie "Throne of Blood" in our unit in Shakespeare's Macbeth. By watching the movie, I saw how Kurosawa has adapted Shakespeare's Macbeth to a setting in the Japanese feudal time period. As a person who reads and speaks Japanese, I felt the Japanese title "Kumonosu jou", meaning Spider-web castle had a strong impact on the film. One of the most interesting characters in both Throne of Blood and Macbeth was the witch. The witch took a big part in the story where he/she tells Macbeth his destiny. This drives Macbeth to his tragic end. In the original version of Macbeth, there were 3 witches telling Macbeth his future which motivated Macbeth to his murders. But in Kurosawa$B!G(Bs Throne of Blood, when Washizu was lost in the woods, he meets an old man spinning a wheel and making thread. By seeing that, I thought Kurosawa recognized that the witches controlled the story in the original version of Macbeth. So the old man spinning symbolized that the witch had everything in control. I think that is another reason that Kurosawa named his film Spider-web Castle, with the idea of spider-web suggesting the witch was in control of everything. I recommend this film to students who have read Macbeth and studied the play carefully, as they will be are able to compare this film to the original version of the play and enjoy the differences between the two.

witches counts as 'mononokes'?
I am a student at Nagoya International School, and have recently studied Shakespeare's Macbeth in my English class. After reading the original Macbeth, we watched several versions (Polanski, BBC, and RSC) which included Kurosawa's version of Macbeth, "Throne of Blood". Each of Polanski, BBC, and RSC version reflected Shakespeare's original version of Macbeth, its rich and fluent language, and its fabulously distributed plot. Because of language difference, and difficulty to transfer Shakespearian language directly into Japanese, it seemed as though the value has been lost, but as a Japanese citizen, I was eager to understand that Kurosawa had used old fashioned Japanese language in his film, which created an harmony which can be compared to or to support the lackness of Shakespeare's language. I also enjoyed the way how Kurosawa transferred the witches of the original version, into 'evil spirits' or what is called 'mononoke' in Japanese. Kurosawa probably named the forest and the castle to match the evil spirit , or Macbeth's (Washizu) fate. The evil spirit appeared in white robe, with white messy hair, spinning a wheel in its hand, a stereotype of what a Japanese would imagine as a 'mononoke'. Cobweb or 'spider' was such a great aspect to extract the evilness of the original witches of Macbeth, because of the replacement of the witches to a 'mononoke'. The black and white film also contributed to express the 'spookiness' in the evil spirit. With some of these changes, Kurosawa perfectly fitted Macbeth itself from an English story into a brand new Japanese film, using ancient Japanese culture (ex. feudal systems, japanese chivalry). He was successful in translating the original Macbeth for the Japanese, to spread the wonderfulness of the Shakespearian plays to a new and wide ranged people.

I just read Macbeth in British Lit class
After reading Macbeth in Lit class, I wanted to watch a movie adaptation and I happened to run into this one, I had heard on amazon.com that this was a Japanese adaptation of Macbeth and I picked it up, I really enjoyed it, much more than I expected to. Akira Kurosawa did a great job in this, it is old and the technology is limited but I loved it, I showed it to my friends who had not read the book but they loved the film as well, especially the ending, if you have seen it, you'll know what I mean, I do not wish to ruin it for anyone, anyway, the DVD price is quite high but if you are thinking of buying it, I suggest trying to rent it somewhere or obtain it temporarily from somewhere or someone and then decide to buy it or not, good movie, enjoy.

Akira Kurosawa just knew how to make great movies.....
Akira Kurosawa's Throne Of Blood may very well be his best, ranking up there with Seven Samurai, Ran, Yojimbo, Rashomon, and The Hidden Fortess.
A telling of Macbeth the film takes place in the time of the samurai. Tashiro Mifune plays Washizu a worrior who betrays his master and friend on his climb to the ultimite of power.
After encountering a witch in the woods who tells Washizu that he will take the place of his master Washizu, with the not so suddle proding of his wicked wife, dose everything in his power to gain, the lose control, of everything.
Kurosawa had done Shakespear before, quite possably the best telling of King Lear was Ran, but this time he strips everything down to the bear bone and unlike some films from Japan, the acting, manic and frantic, seeems only to enhance the film. Mifune is fantastic as Washizu, the ill fated worrior.
The movie grabs you right from the beggining and never lets go. It's a very violent film for it's time but if you ever want to see a master at his craft look no further than Akira Kurosawa'a Throne Of Blood.

Macbeth around the globe
Throne of Blood is an Akira Kurosawa's rendition Shakespeare's Macbeth. The story pretty much is the same with a few minor character changes, one sprit instead of three witches for example, and some obviously included contextual changes, set in pre-modern Samurai Japan. I understand that it has historical relevance and all, but really the movie itself is nothing too special. It is just an ok movie.
Now that I have said that, I feel I need to warn the viewers out there who do not usually watch foreign films. These people must be wary of, if it bothers them, the fact that the film in black and white. I understand that some people cannot sit through black and white films. There is also lack of ongoing action, typical Shakespeare, that we are used to, and that puts some people to sleep, so be warned about that too. I feel that you should watch it for your own cultural and mental advancement, but unless you like the genres of Japanese/Samurai films or Shakespeare adaptations then you probably will not like it. In addition, it is in Japanese, so if you do not like subtitles then you should be warned once again. I recommend you watch it, but at the same time I feel that once is enough. ... Read more

Description

After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar Bergman's stunning allegory of man's apocalyptic search for meaning remains a textbook on the art of filmmaking and an essential building block in any collection. Criterion is proud to present The Seventh Seal in a pristine new transfer. ... Read more

Reviews (109)

Death and a masterpiece
After ten years in the crusades, Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) returns to his homeland with his squire (Gunner Bjornstrand) to find it is blackened with plague. Upon his return he is faced with a meeting with Death and the realization of his ultimate fate. The clever knight prolonges his destiny by challenging Death to a game of chess. Through the film Antonius strives to find the meaning of life and the existence of God. The story is joined by several other intriguing characters played by many of the familier Bergman Actors and Actresses.
Truely a masterpiece by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. This film displays the true soul of man and his ignorance and acceptance of his existance. I was particularly marveled by the contrast between the beliefs of the knight and the squire. Whenever Antonius' search for faith became too ambitous, his squire always levels him with reality. Through the charcters of the film, Bergman shows us the living fabric of man's contradicting natures and ambiguous answers to life. As an avid film viewer I strongly recommend this film to serious movie spectators. This DVD is truely a treat as all the films in the Criterion Collection. The transfers are considerably noteworthy. If you have already seen this film and found that it was enjoyable, check out other Bergman films or look into some of the other Criterion titles.

A Compelling, if Somewhat Dated, Classic of Existentialism
I recently watched the Criterion edition release of this film, The Seventh Seal, with some friends. Although the film's techniques -- innovative and startling in 1957 -- are somewhat cliche today, the film still packs a powerful message, which is that although we cannot know if God exists, it is still possible for us to perform meaningful acts in the time allotted to us.

The story focuses on the story of a Swedish knight, Antonius Block, returning to Sweden from the Crusades -- played by the ageless Max von Sydow. The knight and his squire, Jons, are on the way home through a land ravaged by the Black Plague. On a lonely beach, the knight encounters Death, played with admirable restraint, and a good dose of dry humor, by Bengt Ekerot. Before Death claims Block's life, the knight challenges him to a game of chess -- if Block wins, he goes free; otherwise, when the game is over, Death will come for him. In that Death is busy, the game is renewed throughout the movie.

The movie also focuses on a troupe of actors who are traveling along the same road as the knight. Block knows that Death plans to come for the young actor and his family, and by prolonging his game with Death and thereby distracting him, he enables the young family to escape.

The movie, although obviously shot with a very small production budget and featuring a very minimalist approach (it could well be a stage play), is haunting -- one thinks about the movie's simple lessons for days afterward.

The film has often been parodied -- by Woody Allen in Love and Death, or in the recent "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" where Death is forced to play games such as Twister and Battleship with the film's heroes -- but it is still well worth watching.

The Criterion edition features both a Swedish and English-dubbed soundtrack, as well as a commentary track from a noted film critic.

An amazing and thought provoking movie.
This film is absolutely amazing. It is one of the few movies I watch more than once or twice.
It is an achievment in style. The film manages to look amazing by virtue of Bergman's skill with lighting and cinematography alone. Especially compared to the big budget, color Hollywood titles of the time (such as The Ten Commandments) which look plastic despite their "special effects" and use of color (this film is black & white).
The subject of the movie is man's search for the meaning of life and the question of whether or not God exists. The film is both thought-provoking and blunt in its presentation of this subject and the answers which Bergman provides are suprisingly blunt.
The DVD quality is great, as it always is with Criterion Collection DVDs, and Peter Cowie's commentary is particularly good.

However, I will admit that this film is not for everyone. It also seems to require (for me anyway) one to be in a certain "mood" to view it. If you want to simply be entertained then this is not a film for you, but if you want to view a skillfully directed and wonderfully thought-provoking (if a bit dated) film then go for it.

The silence of God!
Ingmar Berman(1918) established a challenging premise a chess mate between a knight from the Crusaders and the Death (Bengt Ekrot). If he wins, he'll live ; otherwise the Death will claim him . And this original duel happens after Sydow has left behind the misery, the plague and an unending war. He's deeply dissapointed with God and certainly he concludes that it doesn't exist.
This game will let exchange , scrutinize several ideas concerned with the faith , the silence of God and its own existence. God is a comfortable idea for the mankind ; it keeps them warmth , besides the man can dream with the hope of a celestial Paradise after this journey through this awful and miserable world. The ending sequence with the Dance of the Death is one of the most captivating and fascinating images in all the cinema story.
Many people state this is the Masterpiece : and obviously to me it's one of the three major achievements ; Persona and Cries and Whispers would be the rest .
But I've watched almost forty films of this brilliant swedish film maker and in his particular case ; a minor film from Bergman is above the average . So my advise is try to find out and watch all you can from this outstanding director.
This film won the Special Jury Prize 1957.
A timeless cult movie.

Absolutely Brilliant
A profound, affecting movie. Excellent dialogue and performances. Stark black and white cinematography. One of Bergman's greatest films. In fact, one of the greatest films of all time. ... Read more

Description

Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife. Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world. ... Read more

Reviews (90)

Kurosawa's breakthrough film
Akira Kurosawa, known as one of the greatest directors of all time, got international attention with this film, that opened up the Japanese film market to the world. Released in 1950, this film, along with the director won many coveted awards. The story is simple, but at the same time the film is very complex. Tajomaru, a bandit, played wonderfully by the great Toshiro Mifune, is accused of raping a woman, and murdering her husband, in the woods. Tajomaru, the woman, a witness, and the man himself (speaking through a medium) tell their version of the events. The thing is each one tells a different story, with their own perspective on the events, and perception of those involved. So as each story is told we go into flashback and see the different events, and how the characters act differently.

The film from a technical standpoint is perfect, with innovative use of the camera, and editing. Acting is done superbly, with each actor, playing a slightly different version of their characters in each flashback. The script cannot get better, based on two short stories. The film is very serious, and is a meditation on the nature of truth.Its about how truth is relative, and how we each have a different viewing of events, tastes, and concepts. It is also about how each person makes up their own truth, lies, to deceive themselves. Our ego is so big we need to comfort it, and keep it safe from harsh reality. In all this film is perfect, and is even sometime called Japan's Citizen Kane, in the way it impacted Japanese filming. The two films have many similarities. If you enjoy serious films, investigating the nature of truth, and ourselves, see this film. 5 stars.

Truth is elusive, reality subjective. A tale well told.
I've heard about this 1950 Japanese film all my life and have even incorporated the word "Rashomon" into my vocabulary. It means that the truth is elusive and people will remember things with their own particular spin. When the film first came out it was nominated for an academy award and is still considered the masterpiece of the director Akira Kurosawa.

Shot in black and white, the mood is set right at the beginning, as there's a rainstorm going on and a priest and a woodcutter are seeking shelter in an ancient temple. Both of them are troubled, as they have heard witnesses to a crime explain events that they just "don't understand". When a third man joins them, they tell their stories. Eventually the audience watches the reenactment of four different versions of the same incident. At the end, there is still confusion.

The acting is done in classical Japanese style, which is more appropriate for a large auditorium than for a small screen. The actors shout, they roll their eyes, and every gesture is exaggerated. There's passion throughout and a great mythic theme. It seemed all to be set on a great stage. And the interesting part is that three out of the four people telling the story claim to be the killer. The cinematography is also special, using the rain as one realm of reality and harsh sunlight as another. The woods in which the crime takes place look hot and stifling, and the actors are all excellent.

However, once the novelty of the setting and the dramatic elements of this stylized film wore off, I found myself restless. It was only 83 minutes long but it seemed much longer. I do applaud its art and its message. I therefore recommend it. However, I just can't help the fact that it didn't engage me completely.

Classic stuff
A man travelling with his wife in feudal Japan is murdered by a bandit... or is he? As the main protagonists - the bandit, the wife, a passer-by and (I kid you not) the man himself - tell their versions of events, a series of contradictions emerge. Who, if anyone, is telling the truth?
Rashomon's Byzantine plot structure was unique at the time, and still feels fresh over half a century down the line. Presenting no easy answers (there is reason to doubt the motives, and thus the stories, of all of those involved), it leaves the audience to make up their own minds about who to trust. Fans of latterday head-spinning efforts such as The Usual Suspects and Memento will find plenty to get their teeth into here.
It all looks gorgeous, to boot (Kazuo Miyagawa's cinematography is done justice by an excellent DVD transfer here), and the performances - especially Toshiro Mifune, as the bandit Tajomaru, cackling hysterically and pausing mid-fight to swat mosquitoes on his neck - are superb. If I've got one gripe, it's the slightly pat "redemptive" ending, but that's a minor fault at best.
Otherwise, Rashomon is downright essential. It's too easy to get all rose-tinted when trying to assess a long-established "classic", but this is one that's more than stood the test of time.

The one that set the standard
When Akira Kurasawa released this film in 1950, it was not expected to do well. When it won various awards around the world, including the Academy award for best foreign film, the reaction was one of some surprise. Now, over 50 years later, Rashomon stands as a benchmark in cinema, a film that has been copied and ripped off countless times, but never duplicated. The camera work, storytelling, script, and setting are flawless, giving us the proper mood right from the start.

The start is a torrential rainstorm, where several men sit around discussing a trial they have either witnessed, or taken part in. The trial concerns the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife, apparantly at the hands of a famous bandit (played by Toshiro Mifune, a Kurasawa favorite). The story of what actually happened is told through the point of view of the bandit, the woman, the dead man (through a spriritual medium) and a woodcutter who was there and now is standing with these men at the beginning of the film.

The interesting thing is that we as the audience are left to assume what really happened, as the film gives no definitive solution. The subject is really the nature of man, and how point of view will change the perception of a scenario to favor or in some cases, cast a negative light on events that transpire.

This was the first film to shoot directly at the sun. In fact, the beginning shot of the woodcutter traveling into the woods to cut lumber is breathtaking, the camera weaves in and out, up and down, through branches and leaves, showing just how far out of the way these things will be happening. The excellent DVD has a feature on the camera work, which you will find interesting and will help you when you go back to the film for a second viewing.

Also included with the disc is a booklet with the two short stories Kurasawa used as the premise for the film (most notably "In the Grove")along with an excerpt from Kurasawa's book about the shooting of the film and the apprehension of the Japanese film companies about the fact that the story seemed to have no good ending. Kurasawa explained that the story was not about the solution of the murder as it was about the nature of man.

Film fans need to see this movie. So many movies made in the last few years (Snake Eyes, The Usual Suspects) owe themselves to Rashomon, movies which show us points of view that are not necessarily the truth. The fact is that four people can see a situation but report it four completely different ways. What's the truth? The truth is--that's just human nature.

A milestone in the story of cinema in any age
Rashomon is a masterpiece. This film shows us a hard statement that maybe disagree to many people; the truth doesn't exist. We see always fragments of it no matter how old you are.
Aesop in his fables states: in every man always there are three ; that who he thinks he is; what other people think he is and finally that one who really is. In that sense Goethe talked about four levels of the reality; lineal, literal, methaporical and finally the cosmic.
In what level are you when you assume the judgement about a fact?
Remember his beliefs are always relative; your ethical world depends about a lot of issues; such as your social status; your religion; your birthplace; your culture and even your age; so be careful when you say are in possesion of the absolute true.
And that's what the movie shows us; a terrible murder; five persons state about the fact ; and before you five different versions are given. So, the questions is; who of these persons is lying and who is true?
All of us have a sight blind; and because of this you may agree with some of these people; and your close friend or even your couple may be perfectly disagree with you.
The reasonable doubt is a very well konwn device employed by all the lawyers in their cases . Indeed, this term inspired to Sidney Lumet for making his opera prima "Twelve angry men" in 1957.
Back to Rashomon we find to Akira Kurosawa in one of his major achievements. The handle camera is superb; and this is the first film in the story where , by the first time the camera shows us the sun; a brilliant methapor and also a challenging aaproach by this master director.
Mesmerizing ; unforgettable ; you'll be shocked every time you watch. Remember what the woman says uin a sequence: "The men lie because they are weak".
And this point is remarkable, just because the fragile human condition; the human being always will keep his dignity, pride and a set of values above all the odds; and through this process, the truth is always put in a second place, by obvious reasons.
Heissenberg established the uncertain principle in 1930 and this review is far to explain about this issue, but what it deserves to call your attention at the time you say ; I found the truth; or even worst; I represent the truth.
This procedure is typical of dictatorial regimes; the state is me and other similar statements reveal a syntom of being out of the life and even the nature, a wise mind always thinks and acts; after rethinks and reacts; but never remains quiet.
Kurosawa adapted this film from a novel from the same title Rashomon from 1927 written by Yabu no Naka.
This film is a wonderful exploraton of truth and human weakness.
In fact this film is watched and analyzed in Post Grade School of Management, for purposes related with another goals.
This film was remade in 1964 as Outrage for Martin Ritt, where Paul Newman plays the role of Toshiro Mifune in the original version.
A true landmark. Don't miss it.
A superb classic! ... Read more

Description

One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (Otto e Mezzo) turns one man's artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a director whose film-and life-is collapsing around him. An early working title for the film was La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion), and Fellini's masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the 1963 Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign-Language Film-one of the most written about, talked about, and imitated movies of all time-in a beautifully restored new digital transfer. Disc two features Fellini's rarely seen first film for television, Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969). Produced by Peter Goldfarb, this imagined documentary of Fellini is a kaleidoscope of unfinished projects, all of which provide a fascinating and candid window into the director's unique and creative process. ... Read more

Reviews (78)

We invent ourselves endlessly!
1. Federico Fellini. Sensitive, vulgar - il maestro.
2. Saraghina - beauty and repulsion just a few jiggles away.
3. Sandra Milo is dimples dangerous and blessed.
4. Marcello M. as Guido Enselmi, loveable hypocrite.
5. Guido's father moaning about his burial arrangements.
6. A little fantasy in reality or a little reality in fantasy.
7. Claudia Cardinale carrying mineral water.
8. Crappy musical inspired by film. How many movies claim that honor?
1/2. The spaceship - masculinity/identity in progress of going up or coming down?

The "close but no cigar" portion of the list:
Terry Gilliam carries on about how scenes in this movie have influenced his career (see no.2); Nino Rota's music, brilliant as always, probably should have been included in my top eight list; DVD extras - especially lost gem A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK; boring commentary; when this picture first opened in Italy, the anticipation was compared to the excitement over a new Rossini work in his time; Fellini was like a fish in water when it comes to film design and invention - a true master; It moves at its own pace and logic, critics be damned; Fellini was brilliant because the people who worked on his films were equally brilliant - the best in their respective fields; the whip-master fantasy, I can actually agree with the impulse behind that one; it's an epic about one man's over-sized ego - what a wonderful subject to create a brilliant film about! The perfect movie for a century that has been incredibly affected/effected by the ideas purported by the science of psychology. Fellini had stated he was a great admirer of Carl Jung's work, and it is no surprise he would take up that banner.

If you can, check out CITY OF WOMEN - another film by Fellini that works on a similar logic, but takes it several steps beyond what he did with 8 1/2. Ciao!

Life is our greatest invention!
1. Federico Fellini. Sensitive, vulgar - il maestro.
2. Saraghina - beauty and repulsion just a few jiggles away.
3. Sandra Milo is dimples dangerous and blessed.
4. Marcello M. as Guido Enselmi, loveable hypocrite.
5. Guido's father moaning about his burial arrangements.
6. A little fantasy in reality or a little reality in fantasy.
7. Claudia Cardinale carrying mineral water.
8. Crappy musical inspired by film. How many movies claim that honor?
1/2. The spaceship - masculinity/identity in progress of going up or coming down?

The "close but no cigar" portion of the list:
Terry Gilliam carries on about how scenes in this movie have influenced his career (see no.2); Nino Rota's music, brilliant as always, probably should have been included in my top eight list; DVD extras - especially lost gem A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK; boring commentary; when this picture first opened in Italy, the anticipation was compared to the excitement over a new Rossini work in his time; Fellini was like a fish in water when it comes to film design and invention - a true master; It moves at its own pace and logic, critics be damned; Fellini was brilliant because the people who worked on his films were equally brilliant - the best in their respective fields; the whip-master fantasy, I can actually agree with the impulse behind that one; it's an epic about one man's over-sized ego - what a wonderful subject to create a brilliant film about! The perfect movie for a century that has been incredibly affected/effected by the ideas purported by the science of psychology. Fellini had stated he was a great admirer of Carl Jung's work, and it is no surprise he would take up that banner.

If you can, check out CITY OF WOMEN - another film by Fellini that works on a similar logic, but takes it several steps beyond what he did with 8 1/2. Ciao!

A CONTROVERSIAL MOVIE.
Frequently, the name or label "Art film" is given to a movie that presents innovative techniques, an experimental narrative, abstract and ambiguous characters, complex dialogues...and slow pace, with complicated scenes, so complicated that the audience doesn't quite know what's happening, sure you can say a theory or what you think might be happening, but in the "Art films" sometimes even the director can't give an accurate explanation. Anyway, since "8 ½" presents all those elements, "8 ½" is an art film.

Federico Fellini's cinema is one of the most mysterious and influent styles at the same time, modern filmmakers such as David Lynch owe a lot to the italian director. With "8 ½" happens something very interesting, there are a lot of scenes that are almost incomprehensible, but they are very interesting to see, because since the movie offers few explanations, the audience must be thinking most of the time, trying to solve the puzzle, so "8 ½" requires an active audience.

The cast is very good, the obvious mentions are Marcello Mastroianni and the gorgeous actress Claudia Cardinale. "8 ½" presents some of Fellini's trademarks: there are a lot of surreal scenes that look like a complicated Dream, or a Nightmare if you wish. The use of the camera is very artistic and groundbreaking. And the pace is slow.

The thing with the "Art cinema" is that for some, it's the only way of cinema that really counts, and for others the art cinema is just a pretentious way to call a slow and boring movie. I choose not to be in any of those extremes, I rather be in the middle because to me "8 ½" is a very, very interesting movie, worthy of study and analysis, but sincerely I think that Fellini did better movies, like "La Strada" or "La Dolce Vita".

Anyway, "8 ½" definitely is not for fans of the "American Pie" trilogy or the Adam Sandler's comedies. "8 ½" is for lovers of the cinema in its more artistic expression.

Fellini's fragmented masterpiece of an internal crisis...
The prominent film director Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) finds himself overworked, harassed, and fatigued in all aspect of being. Guido is sent to a health spa where he is supposed to recover from his stressful life, but instead is continuously pursued by people around him, by his past, and by his conscious. The people around Guido are either dependent on him, desire his company, or merely try to advertise themselves in his presence. In order to cope with a large number of people Guido has developed a social dance where he is able to circumvent or approach the individuals of his choosing. This dance is also Guido's way of dealing with life and its complications, which affects him physically, psychologically, and socially.

8½ fragmentally displays Guido's life as he dances between reality, dreams, and memories in the developmental stage of a film production. This cerebral dance helps him to avoid what is deemed as uncomfortable as he escapes into his memories where he can find some joy and peace. However, Guido often reminds himself of how his past sometimes plagues him as he can recollect deep memories of discomfort and guilt. These negative emotions lead Guido into an internal crisis where he struggles with his decisions in the light of moral judgment that is heavily weighted by his Catholic upbringing. Despite the internal crisis, the dance continuous as Guido is compelled to flee his painful memories by seeking company outside of his marriage as he seeks self-affirmation when he is alone. The cheating provokes further guilt which urges Guido to remain dancing as he escapes into a dream world where he attempts to unify memories with the present where his consciousness sets the rules. But to Guido's dismay he finds the dreams forcing him back into reality as his dreams rebel against himself. This is due to his conflicting ideas that are simultaneously rejected and approved of in order to find temporary happiness and please those around him. In essence, it is Guido's denial of his own lies that is the root to his guilt and unhappiness.

Fellini's 8½ is a cinematic masterpiece, which encourages analytical and artistic thinking as it dives into a dense fabric of inventive imagery. Vividly Fellini paints Guido's moral crisis onto the silver screen, which offers a surreal cinematic experience as it drifts between reality and dreams. In addition, 8½ shows Fellini's profound understanding of human psychology, which possibly could have been based on himself. The fragmented story line enhances the visual feeling of the stress that Mastroianni's character experiences as well as developing a deep understanding for his mind. The opening shot where Guido dreams of being enclosed in a smoldering car stuck in traffic displays Fellini's true cinematic genius as he develops an image of panic, anxiety, and fear. This visualization is something that can be discovered in every film that Fellini has directed as well as his trademark of having a circus-like atmosphere. 8½ has everything of what makes it a Fellini film, which offers a unique experience that could only have been accomplished by a true cinematic artist.

Best Movie About the Artist
I saw 8 ½ (1963) for the first time on South Street in Philadelphia at the old TLA theatre. I was in my mid-twenties and liked the big-breasted women. Saw the movie again yesterday at the Colonial in Phoenixville, PA, a wonderfully restored small town theatre, and reentered the world of the great director Federico Fellini. The cast consisted of Marcello Mastroianni (mid life crisis of the great director), Claudia Cardinale (the perfect woman), Sandra Milo (the chesty but dim lover) and Anouk Aimée (the ordinary wife he cheats on).For Fellini, 8 ½ continued a trend away from the realism of his early movies to a surrealistic view of his own life. The film has a simple premise. The great director has no idea what his next movie is about, while his producer and film company wait for Mastroianni to tell them what the movie is about. It does not help that Mastroianni falls in love with every woman in the cast and every woman he ever knew. The famous harem scene is near the end of the movie, where all the women in his life await his every whim. The older ones get banished upstairs. When the women revolt, he gets his whip and regains order. The women love him again. Oh, irony, but in Surrealism, Freud reigns supreme and dreams are a wish. I rate 8 ½ one of ten best movies ever made. ... Read more

Description

In this film, considered by some critics to be Akira Kurosawa's greatest and most compassionate achievement, Takashi Shimura (Seven Samurai) portrays Kenji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer forced to strip the veneer off his existence and find meaning in his final days. ... Read more

Reviews (63)

A powerful meditation on the fragility of human life.
As a big fan of Kurosawa and the Criterion Collection, I couldn't wait to recieve this DVD in the mail.

Human life can be lost before a person dies, Kurosawa's film shows, and it is difficult for anyone to remain truly alive with all of life's challenges and setbacks. Like a thin thread, life's inspiration is easy to lose. But what happens when a man loses that thread for decades and discovers it again only months before dying?

The answer to this question is both heart-warming and heart-breaking. But ultimately this film will burn brightly in the viewer's mind.

Two years after becoming world famous for Rashomon, Kurosawa released this thematic sequal - a meditation on truth and meaning in the modern world. While Rashomon became a cinematic landmark, I think this film blows rashomon away. It, along with Ozu's Tokyo Story, are the most moving films I've ever seen.

What makes Kurosawa so great here? It is the centrality of the movie's meaning. We all die and we all struggle to find truth. Watanabe, a placid and unquestioning bureaucrat, glimpses the truth about his life when he finds that he has only months to live. He immediately sets out to live his life to the fullest - eventually granting the dearest wish of the citizens that the other bureaucrats would just rather ignore.

But like the man who emerges into the sunlight from the cave in Plato's allegory - none of the other cave dwellers understand his actions.In fact, it's worse, the grandstanding officials claim credit Watanabe's inspired actions, despite having stood in his way.

But ultimately the truth saves Watanabe before he dies. This is masterful filmaking - more on par with Kurosawa's heroes Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare than his cinematic peers. It is a must purchase for his fans and, I think, a story that will move the viewer towards greater compassion and consciousness of life passing by.

Perhaps it's no wonder Criterion chose this fim to include two feature documentaries on Kurosawa on a second disc. And the commentary track is done by the always entertaining Stephen Prince. You can't go wrong here.

Excellent movie, but terrible transfer
I should start by saying that I think Ikiru is the best movie I've ever seen, but I'll try to address some of the negatives.

The story of Ikiru is that of a bureaucrat who upon learning he has stomach cancer begins a desperate search for meaning in his life. He tries family, liquor, and women, but eventually finds purpose in a cesspool that troubles a local community, and their attempts to have a playground built on the site.

The story is absolutely compelling, and the intricate subtleties of Kurosawa's direction make this film very powerful, especially in the second half of the film, where Watanabe's (the protagonist) coworkers discuss his final few months at his wake. The acting is superb. Takashi Shimura gives a performance that is stand out.

Ikiru is not a universally liked movie, for several reasons. The movie is black and white and has subtitles. The cuts and scene changes have a very old-fashioned feel to them (quite rightly... it's old. But this gives a lot of people trouble). The pacing of this movie is deliberate, and by that I mean slow. It is not quick or action-packed. It moves subtlely.

While most all the reviews rave about it, I'd caution that this movie will not beat you over the head with its brilliance. It is a gentle story with subtle nuances, and often, the meaning is conveyed more in facial expressions and quiet moments than in anything said or done.

That being said, I thought the transfer of this movie to DVD was terrible. It is my understanding that this was the best that could be done, which is a shame. Many feel this to be Kurosawa's best work, and to know that this terrible transfer is the best it can ever get, that's sad. Specifically, the vertical lines noted in previous reviews are definitely there, and definitely problematic. There is poor contrast, and it is often difficult to see the actors defined well at all.

The bonus material on this DVD is so so. The commentary is certainly interesting, but the documentaries didn't thrill me too much. The main sell of this DVD is the movie itself.

If this movie sounds like something you can sit through, you should watch it. It's a great movie. I really do think it's the best movie I've ever seen. But it's not for everyone. If you've already seen it and want to own it, this DVD set is fine, but it comes with the caveat that the quality of the transfer is not impressive.

Occasionally quite moving but a bit too sentimental
I don't profess to be an expert on the films of acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, but I will say that, though I haven't seen a great many of his films, I've definitely admired the ones I have seen. Films like RASHOMON, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, and THRONE OF BLOOD show a director that not only has an acute visual sense---I have never seen equalled the unforgettable images of the moving trees and then Toshiro Mifune with all the arrows launched at him at the end of THRONE OF BLOOD---but also a human sensitivity that may be more flamboyant and theatrical in style than his Japanese counterpart Yasujiro Ozu, but is no less impressive. He is a true film artist, to be sure...but, though IKIRU is often called one of Kurosawa's most human film achievements, I personally would not quite put it in the same level as those aforementioned three.

Not that it's not moving. The first half of the film actually made me shed quite a few tears, watching poor Kanji Watanabe first find out he has stomach cancer, and then try to actually have some fun with his life. His attempts to do so are quite touching, even though it does not always work out---esp. with the girl that eventually gets annoyed with him b/c he insists on hanging out with her so much. Finally, he decides to do something noble for the people he works for, and thus we get to the second half of the film: Mr. Watanabe's wake, in which colleagues reminisce about the noble act he accomplished for a town before he died. His act---he steps over bureaucratic lines and gets built a children's park in an area where there was only a dirty pool of water previously---slowly inspires the others to perhaps break out of their bureaucratic mold...and perhaps will inspire you too, in a different way.

I dunno, though...I was inspired but only sometimes moved by this film. For me, I think Kurosawa's penchant for lack of subtlety and heavy-handed sentimentality sometimes mutes its power. Kurosawa, for example, is not content to simply allow us to visually observe how lifeless our hero truly is at the beginning: no, he must give us a voiceover that drums it into our head that "this man has not truly lived." And then there is the scene in the bar in the middle of the film, in which Watanabe sings, with tears coming out of his eyes, a mushy song that expresses his feelings of hopelessness and despair. If nothing else, though, the second half of the film seems to expose this unfortunate tendency---a very long scene, intercut with flashbacks, set in Watanabe's wake in which his fellow workers first try to deny Watanabe's deep heroism, but then eventually resolve to be as noble as he was in his last months of life. It is certainly intriguing structurally, as we see the effects of his death on fellow workers and the townspeople Watanabe helped so greatly. And yet I think, could this scene not have been just as effective as simply an epilogue rather than the focus of the entire second part of the film? I'm sure Kurosawa could have made his point---he is showing how one man's heroism can deeply affect other people---without becoming as repetitious and even preachy as this portion of the film sometimes seemed.

And yet, if IKIRU is a flawed film, at least its flaws always spring from an honest desire to lift up his audience in a way that SEVEN SAMURAI and THRONE OF BLOOD do not even try to do. It may be sentimental, but it is always honestly felt, and perhaps you might be much less resistant to Kurosawa's sentimental excesses than I occasionally was. As Watanabe, Takashi Shimura gives an unforgettable performance (esp. with that hauntingly raspy voice of his); and Kurosawa does create a final moving image of Watanabe swinging on the swing in the new park, singing that same song he sang at the bar, but in a different, perhaps more joyful manner.

That image just goes to show you that Kurosawa was, above all else, a masterly visual artist in his films. If he had relied more on his sense of powerful imagery to make his point, IKIRU might have been a truly great film, instead of one that perhaps tries too hard to be deeply moving. And yet I would be lying if I said that I wasn't affected by the film. Perhaps some of you might not mind the occasional preachiness in this film and will find this a truly transcendant film experience. For me, it almost got there, but not quite. Still, IKIRU is a good film that deserves to be seen for its powerful message, if nothing else. Maybe it will really change your life. Recommended (with some reservations).

5 stars not enough...
... for rating this one. I can't but than agree it might well be the most compelling film by Kurosawa. As well Criterion have to be hailed for bundling the most interesting 'Extras' I've ever seen on DVDs. But afterwards I couldn't help thinking why, after half a century since it was released, nobody realized that giving stomach cancer to civil servants and politicians might get them doing their work: and if even for a short while, at least tax-payers won't regret the money they're usually conned of. Since the bulk of most civil servants' work is waiting retirement, and almost all politicians think (???) they've been elected so they can be paid while preparing their next campaign, it would be worth giving it a try.

Masterpiece
I'm only 19 so perhaps some may say I can't really comment or fully understand all about living life to the full, because I have barely lived. But one thing this film makes you realise is that a job, is just a job! This film was so heartful and beautiful,it can make any age group realise that life is for living and how correct it was to say that 'only when you know you are going to die do you begin to live'..we should learn to live before that moment comes! I recommend this film for everyone, I love Japanese films and this was by far one of the best films.
It's an eye-opening film and one that should not be disregarded! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski), known as Fitzcarraldo to the native Peruvians, is an avid opera lover and rubber baron who dreams of building an opera house in the Peruvian jungle. To accomplish this, he plans to reach an isolated patch of rubber trees and make his fortune. But these trees are not directly accessible by river because of dangerous rapids, so Fitzcarraldo runs his ship as close as possible via an alternate river and then enlists the aid of the native Peruvians to drag his ship over a mountain to the desired area. However, the natives seem to have their own agenda in so mysteriously acceding to Fitzcarraldo's wishes. The results manage to both mock and affirm the dreams of determined figures like Fitzcarraldo, making absurdity out of the stuff of human endeavor without negating the beauty of that effort. There is hardly a more awe-inspiring or arresting image than that of Fitzcarraldo's ship pulling itself up the mountain with cables and pulleys, or of the ship resting in mid-ascent as seen through the thick morning fog of the jungle.

The tortured production history of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo (ably recorded in Les Blank's documentary Burden of Dreams) tends to take the spotlight away from this deeply mesmerizing film. And that's unfortunate, because the film itself is even more fascinating than the trials and tribulations, amazing though they might be, that led to its being made. Part of the problem is the film's deliberate, some might say ponderous, pace, which invites the viewer to experience the slow immersion into the jungle that Fitzcarraldo and company experience. Herzog did something similar in Aguirre, the Wrath of God, sometimes aiming his camera at the river rapids for extended periods of time, with hypnotic results. This could never happen in a Hollywood film, and it should be treasured. --Jim Gay ... Read more

Reviews (34)

One of the Greatest Films Ever...I Was Stunned
It shocks me that I had never even HEARD of "Fitzcarraldo" a week ago (nor did I know who Werner Herzog was), and now that I've seen it I consider it to be one of the 10 best films I've ever seen in my life, right up there with "Vertigo," "Once Upon A Time In The West," and "Rashomon."

The pacing of this film is slow, languid, and dreamlike, and allows the viewer to really immerse him/herself in the brooding jungle atmosphere. I never realized how contrived most American movies felt, until I experienced the stark reality of Werner Herzog's documentary-like style. "Fitzcarraldo" blurs the line between reality and drama, utilizing actual natives in conjunction with his character-actors (including the brilliant and intense Klaus Kinski), who subject themselves to real hardships in order to lend the film legitimacy. The result feels like a cross between a surreal daydream and something out of National Geographic.

The transfer to DVD is virtually perfect. I was awestruck at the quality of the video and audio on this disc. The picture is gorgeous, in sweeping, flawless widescreen, and the sound is bright and alive. There are few extras on this disc, but the film itself was so satisfying that I didn't care.

I highly recommend the boxed set entitled "The Herzog/Kinski Collection," as it contains excellent DVD versions of all 5 of their collaborations, as well as Herzog's tribute to Kinski entitled "My Best Fiend," a fascinating portrait of their bizarre, yet intensely creative, working relationship. It will add to your appreciation of "Fitzcarraldo" and all of their films.

" Life without music would be a mistake"---Nietsche.
Documentaries have been made about the love/hate relationship between the greatest German director and the greatest German actor of the twentieth century. Kinski claimed that he kicked Herzog during the making of this film and that "Herzog groveled." For his part Herzog claimed that when Kinski threatened to walk off the set, Herzog took a high powered rifle and swore to Kinski that he would shoot him as his motorboat passed around the bend.( They were filming in the The Amazon ) Kinski stayed.

Only these two superbly talented megalomaniacs could have pulled off this tour de force of directing and acting.

Fitzcarraldo is, quite simply , one of the greatest films of all time. No other actor could have played the lead as well as Klaus Kinski, and no other director could have conceived eschewing props and actually hauling a 300 ton steamship over a mountain, or, for that matter, hiring warring tribes of headhunters as extras.

It works.

The story is set in the late 19th century when rubber (and robber!) barons created great wealth in the remote jungles of South America, built on the monopoly of the rubber plant. We moderns know that this artificially created civilisation will soon collapse, when the plant is smuggled out; so what better setting than these ephemeral cities of gold and palaces of opulence to tell this tale of man's capacity to dream?

Here is a world where elegance mingles with crudity. In one scene, a millionare, proud of his collection of rare carps, tosses them them large bills, while he jokes in front of an impoverished Fitzcarraldo about how fond the fish are of the taste of money.

Fitzcarraldo has a passion for opera. If the viewer does not share this, the film can still makes sense, provided the viewer has a passion for SOMETHING. If not, forget it. It'll be incomprehensible to anyone without blood in his veins. Just the story of a nut.

Not that Fitzcarraldo is not er . . .speculative in his business schemes. When he announces to his lover, a successful brothel keeper, (Claudia Cardinale) " I have an idea! " She responds with: " Oh, no! Not another one! "

But she bankrolls him, nevertheless. Now all he has to do is--well, as Einstein once eloquently said, to achieve the impossible, we must attempt the absurd.

Caruso on the Amazon!
It seems almost ridiculous to add yet another praise-filled review to the heaps already expressed here, but such a consummate piece of art like, 'Fitzcarraldo,' deserves the most it can get. Since others have brilliantly summarized the plot, I'll concentrate instead on why one should 'treasure' the three perfect hours of this film.

Rare is the film nowadays that says so much with so little. Dialogue is used very sparingly throughout Fitzcarraldo, but that's all the better, for Kinski's Fitzcarraldo doesn't need words to express his dream. Every close-up of that intense face tells more than two hours of annoying chatter ever could. With his sharp features, searing gaze and untamed mane, Kinski is indeed Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald. A man possessed by his dream, by his mission to bring one of the most delectable of human creations, opera, to the 'wilds.' I agree most wholeheartedly with that reviewer who mentionned the role of Kinski's hair. It indeed has a life of its own and it mesmerizes the viewer. Like the antennae of Fitz's spirit, it stiffens in determination to see his passion come to bear, and then flys off his head, when the dream is realized. Every single second of this masterpiece is artfully necessary. Every stony gaze from the Indians, every sweeping shot of the misty jungle fits perfectly into place, creating a mosaic of colossal proportions. The scenes of the boat being painfully nudged over the hill mirror the struggle of creation itself. Or my favorite: when the Indians board the boat and meet Fitz for the first time. Herzog closes-up on how the chief gently touches, then rubs Fitz's palm. Two minutes that cast us into eternity. What could it mean? A symbol of our underlying brotherhood, a first 'clash' between 'the civilized' and 'the wild?' I don't even pretend to know, nor do I particularly care, for the soothing, almost sensual warmth of the scene brings that inner peace that all great art should.

Ponderous? Deliberate? Yes and rightly so. Good things, great things, whether they be an exquisite meal, passionate lovemaking or the creation of a masterpiece, take their own time, irregardless of the frantic chaos that surrounds them. Fitzcarraldo is one such 'time-less' experience. Dive in and revel in its every breathtaking second!

Not only does this film enrichen our senses, it strengthens our hearts. Fitz instructs us on we should pursue our dreams. With relentless faith. Believe and yes, we can move mountains! And move our weighty burdens over them as well. Yes, they are painstaking and for every inch gained, we lose two more. Yes, there are casualties. For ourselves and for others. And yes, nobody believes you can really pull it off, but in the end, you shall have your vindication as did Fitz. Caruso on the Amazon? Watch and believe!

Towering!!
What can one say about this unique film experience. Herzog takes the viewer along for the great "ride" and we must pay attention.

The love of opera here is manifest in a way that is so compulsive and thereby so compelling that we have to take breaths often during this film.

All you F(x) experts can stay home and ponder your next bit of software on your bland and insufferable computers which dole out dreams as emotional as Hexadecimal!! Everything you see here is real and the passion of the vision is evident with Mr Kinski giving one of his Dr. Pretarious performances.

Hollywood bean counters and executives beware..This is a real film, this is cinema not the pap you have been shoveling the last 24 years. Finally, I would like to quote a,line by Paul Scofield in " The Train" to Burt Lancaster...and transpose the thought to those same hollywood bean counters " Letting you look at this film is like showing a " String of Pearls to an Ape"!

Fitzcarraldo a Rare film experience

Obscure history, writ large
Among the things that distinguish Werner Herzog as a film-maker are two qualities that he shares with William Shakespeare: he knows the human heart better than most dramatists, and he never lets the facts get in the way of telling a good story.

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called "Fitzcarraldo" by the natives) was a real guy, who really loved opera, and really did drag a ship over a piece of land to get it from one part of a South American river to another. He did it to bring opera to middle of the jungle. That's history. What drove this guy to do such a frankly outrageous thing in the name of art? What kind of fever siezes a visionary and brings him to the brink of insanity to attempt such a thing? That's the stuff of drama. Herzog knows the difference, and his choices in bringing the story to the screen were flawless.

Fitzcarraldo, like all of Herzong's films (even Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht), uses the theme of cultural clash as a macrocosm of the conflicted human mind. So what if the real boat was much smaller than the one in the film? Who cares if the real act of dragging it across land - though arduous - was not nearly so grand as the film depicts? The resultant images are what count, and they would not have the stunning effect Herzog pulls off in this film were it more "historically accurate".

All film directors do things for effect. What separates the good ones from the great is their reason. The once-great Frances Ford Coppola seems to be aiming for empty aesthetics with his last few films; Herzog wants nothing less than to illuminate the soul. It's a grand, quixotic goal; prone to failure - much like dragging a boat through the jungle. But he seems to pull it off time and time again. You remember the images, yes - they're hard to forget. But you also remember the passion of the characters - their desparate dreams, wild fantasies, great achievements, and devastating failures.

Klaus Kinski perfectly embodies the obsessive madness of the title character - albeit in a far less sinister way than in Aguirre: The Wrath of God. His performance is no less brilliant. Claudia Cardinale plays his love interest, the kind of woman whose heart every visionary dreams of winning.

In most treatments of this kind of story, one would expect things to end badly. They do for Fitz, but somehow it does not matter. He finds grace and dignity in the struggle, rather than the outcome. He is a brighter vision of Don Quixote, and the feeling of surviving his ordeal is, miraculously, more like that of triumph than defeat. Fitzcarraldo ends in exuberance rather than despair. How can a man lose everything and still raise his head so high, as Kinski does in the last scene?

Without a hint of sappy, artificial feel-good-ism, Herzog has pulled off one of the most authentically moving surprise happy endings in recent cinema.

Failure never looked so good! ... Read more

Description

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are polite and formal-until a discovery about their respective spouses sparks an intimate bond. At once delicately mannered and visually stunning, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments in time. ... Read more

Reviews (83)

Wong Kar-Wai's Masterpiece
If you were to find a fault in Wong's film it would be the pace: slow, methodical, but inspite and because of that pace "In the Mood for Love" is an utterly engrossing tale; a tale of a man who suspects his wife of cheating and a women who suspects her husband of the same. As they secretly share their pains and suspiscions they fall in love, a love which, due to guilt and the society they live in, cannot blossom.

"In the Mood for Love" is a period piece, taking place in 1962 Hong Kong, and it captures the period wonderfully with small details like the snippets of Shanghainese speech and Nat King Cole's melodic voice floating in an American-style diner.

In this movie Wong Kar-Wai achieved brilliance on every level. Not only does he create a perfect mood with his methodical pace, dark yet beautiful camera work, but he tops it off with excellent performances by Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung and an enthralling soundtrack that ties it all together. I have been a fan of Wong Kar-wai for some time, but in all of his films I felt something was missing. Here he has captured it all. With "In the Mood for Love" Wong leaves the label "a good director" behind and becomes "a great director".

The DVD is full of fascinating extras: interviews with the cast, Wong Kar-wai; descriptions of the music used in the film; trailers, posters, images. You can spend hours not even looking at everything but the movie!

Best movie of the year
It's only a shame that this wasn't released several months ago in the U.S. as it was in the U.K. or else it would have been nominated for some major awards. It's actually really hard to fault anything in this movie: the acting, directing, music and cinematography are all world-class.

The story centers around a woman and a man who live next to each other in a Hong Kong apartment complex in 1962. They both suspect their spouses of having an affair with each other, and begin to fall in love themselves. Being in such tight surroundings they obviously cannot show very much affection to each other in public and rely on subtle glances and very little actual physical contact: it is a testimony to the superb acting skills of the two main leads, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, that the relationship is believable. The director Wong Kar-Wai is also brilliant at mixing in slow-motion shots (perhaps to emphasize how slowly their relationship develops) and Spanish music, which fits the mood of the movie amazingly well.

To add to the atmosphere, the movie is almost completely shot indoors except for some shots outside at night and in the rain and the haunting last scene. You really get a sense of clautrophobia after a while, not only of the living space but how confined the characters' marriages and even lives are as well. Futhermore, the movie also has a political overtone which is, like everything else here, subtle, but suffice to say its setting in 1962 is not accidental.

Finally, the lack of a huge amount of dialogue means that those who don't like subtitles won't have to suffer through so many. For those of you like me who were disappointed with most of the junk nominated for Academy Awards this year, finally here's a movie that lives up to its reputation.

An unforgettable journey.
'In the Mood for Love' is a touching, engrossing meditation on, you guessed it, love: what it is, what creates it, what ends it, what keeps it sewn strong together. All of these aspects are collected into a clever, lovely, sometimes devastating piece of artistry directed by the fabulous Wong-Kar Wai. Those of you who love romantic comedies or grand, epic love sagas will be immensely disappointed with his latest film. It is not either. Rather, it is a gem of cinema that strives for emotional truth and absolute realism. Inside of cramped apartments and old diners, that, too, is what the main characters of 'In the Mood for Love' yearn for.

The film takes place in Hong Kong during the year 1962. Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) have just moved into neighboring apartments and have met each other rather casually. But the two progressively realize a secret about their respective spouses and a profound relationship develops almost instantly. From there, the film sets a tone that is cislunar, seeming to float in its own world situated between reality and a sense of disconnection. Kar-Wai perfectly evokes this mood with fleeting slow-motion sequences accompanied by Christopher Doyle and Mark Li Ping-bin's delicately visceral cinematography. What ensues throughout the rest of the film (both plot-wise and technically) masterfully conveys romantic yearning.

The lead performances were breathtaking, namely Maggie Cheung as Su Li-zhen. From scenes of obvious hurt to moments of hidden despair, she ceaselessly astonishes. I'm surprised she did not receive the massive encomium she deserved from 2001 year-end awards groups, let alone the Oscars. But credit must also be given to Tony Leung as Chow Mo-wan, who managed to maintain a quiet, tired loneliness throughout the film. Leung also understood that it was only with Su Li-zhen that Chow Mo-wan felt truly alive with passion.

Another character worth mentioning are the breath-taking sets by production designer William Chang Suk-ping. The claustrophobic atmosphere offered by Suk-ping's dated, tight hallways was as much a part of the emotion and story line as each lead. Collectively, each part of the movie-making process (screenwriting, directing, designing, acting) achieved an assured concinnity; and in the end, what was already a personal, accessible study is lifted by Kar-Wai to a universal level using epic shots of Mayan temples and mysterious landscapes. As the credits role, it becomes apparent that 'In the Mood for Love' is arguably a masterpiece worthy of the all-time lists.

For me personally, the constant flashbacks of wind sifting past vinaceous curtains and artful conversations about love at its core only underscore 'Love's greatness. It is an unforgettably personal journey not to be missed.

Tertiary Love Film at its Highest Form
98 minutes of excellence. I am never a big fan for romantic films. Especially with the current scene filled with countless teen-or-chick flicks, I have become very picky on this category. I watched it with skepticism. 98 mins later, I switch off the TV in great relief, and also with understanding of why a few people do not enjoy it.

Generally, people who dislike this film have the following reasons:
1. Simple plot and no plot twist
2. Repetitive scenes
3. Few and confusing dialogues
4. No significant signs of intimacy or eroticism. Can it even be categorized into "Romance"?

One thing I have learnt from "In the Mood for Love" is also the same thing I wish romantic film directors would learn for a long time: Character Study and Development are often more important than unnecessary plot twist. There are pretty much only two characters in the movie, but by middle the audience could feel as if we know them for real. Thus we do feel the characters' happiness, pain and suffering. Yes, even if the time is set in 1962, Hong Kong.

The repetitive scenes do not represent lack of creativity. In fact it is one of the hardest tricks in my opinion. Although some actions are very similar, each scene has a subtle change in intimacy and impact for future relationship. Not one of the scenes can be taken away because they're all crucial links. As for the dialogue, it is few but every line is to the point. Each word is polished to sharpest and kept to minimum. Every word is a keyword.

Intimacy and eroticism are indications and eye-candy. Audience would understand immediately two people are in love. In my opinion this is director's point of view to choose it or not. Wong Kar Wai deliberately wanted to create a longing relationship without obvious physical contact to add up the sadness. In fact, the film has at least once "Implied Intimacy". ***SPOILER*** When Su told Chow she did not want to go back home in the cab, that "Implies"they would probably spend the night together ***SPOILER***

It could be artistic whether sex scenes are included or not. It just happens that WKW wants to present us a unique experience. I highly appreciate this effot. In the Mood for Love is a ten-level-upped romantic film and I definitely recommend it to every viewer, tertiary or not.

A Masterpiece, flawless, perfect, beautiful!
Simply put, it is one of the more ravishingly beautiful films ever made! Every now and then, a director and his collaborators are so in-tune with each other, so opperating at the height of their powers, that as a viewer watching it, you are aware of watching greatness yet an air of disbelief pervades. Such feelings you get with (to name a few flawless masterpieces) Tarkovsky's ANDREI RUBLEV, Bergman's CRIES & WHISPERS, Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA, Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING, Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER, and Hitchcock's VERTIGO. All of the aforementioned films are flawless works which use everything the cinema can do...such films are perfect; IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is such a film. It is a masterpiece and a must own! ... Read more

Reviews (109)

Can't Remember the Last Time