new movies!

[kij]

looking for some good recent japanese movies! suggestions appreciated.

[Bueller_007]

Anime aside, try:
花火 ("Fireworks"/"Hanabi")
バトル・ロワイアル ("Battle Royale")
タンポポ ("Tampopo")
うなぎ ("Unagi")
夢 ("Dreams")
乱 ("Ran")
シャル・ウイ・ダンス ("Shall We Dance?")

But older movies are better. The golden age of Japanese cinema was the 50's. Start renting out old Kurosawa movies one-by-one.

[kij]

ahh thanks yea i've seen hanabi, tampopo, ran and shall we dance so i'll have to check out the other ones you suggested!

as far as soon new ones i have seen, dare mo shiranai (nobody knows) from 2004 was a great movie.

[Bueller_007]

ahh thanks yea i've seen hanabi, tampopo, ran and shall we dance so i'll have to check out the other ones you suggested!

as far as soon new ones i have seen, dare mo shiranai (nobody knows) from 2004 was a great movie.

"Battle Royale" is absolute madness. The sequel is awful though.

Haven't seen Dare mo Shiranai yet. Heard good things. I'll have to check it out when I get back to Japan.

[SuiteOne]

I like "Kikujiro" and "Zatoichi," and "Onmyouji" I & II are pretty interesting (although I liked I better than II).
I like Japanese horror, but they can sometimes get repetitive.
I also like light-hearted movies like "That's Cunning!"
I know I've seen a lot more, but I can't think of them right now.

Any suggestions for movies will be eaten up!

Nicole

[esp]

I've mainly been watching Takeshi Kitano and Hayao Miyazaki films recently. I'd recommend: Gohatto, Gonin, Zatoichi, Kikujiro, and most of the other Kitano films. Most of the Miyazaki films i've seen have been very good. Watch some Takashi Miike films if you like that kind of thing and I very much recommend getting some Kurosawa films too.

Ive found this website to be good for information about Japanese films http://www.midnighteye.com/index.php

[Henna_Gaijin]

Anybody ever watch any of the old Zatoichi 座頭市 films? It's not top notch cinema, but they are good fun (and good listening practice). In the U.S., they run them on Independent Film Channel on Saturday mornings. Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) did sort of a remake a few years ago, it was good but I didn't think it had the charm of the old ones.

[Squallman]

I've been slowly working through the old Zatoichis and they're great. I don't want to watch the remake until I finish all the old ones, so I can appreciate all the subtlties.

I love Japanese horror movies. Check out Ju-On: The Grudge 2. The first one was pretty good , but I always show this one when a large group of friends come over, and they all agree that it was one of the scariest movies they've ever seen. Though, of course, perceptions of what is or isn't scary is so fickle that you have to take it with a grain of salt.

Other than that, watch anything and everything by Akiria Kurosawa. The topic is about recent movies, though, but my knowledge of those isn't very good. Has anyone seen Operetta tanuki goten? I've been trying to see it, but it doesn't appear to be on DVD here.

[SuiteOne]

Anyone know any websites where I could download/ watch Japanese movies?
Japanese DVDs are very expensive, and I wouldn't want to buy one without knowing it's worth the price.

Thanks!

Nicole

[The Frankensteiner]

Ack!
Don't use the "D" word.

I'm pretty sure on most forums they frown upon users exchanging information on how to aqquire things illegally.

[SuiteOne]

That's true. I should've been more careful.
I put "watch" as another option. There are movie websites that allow you to watch/ sample movies and it's perfectly legal.
Also, I didn't necessarily ask for free downloads.
I'll definitely be more careful as to how I phrase my posts from now on!

Nicole

[Hanspeter]

Writing about japanese films I would like to recommend:

"The Happiness Of The Katakuris" by Takashi Miike

Seeing it on DVD at home I often laughed out loud,
(thinking about that sumo-guy acompaning the cute little school-girl ...incredible)

Hanspeter