Still the Water (2014)

Directed by Naomi Kawase
Country: Japan / others

Movie Review: Under the direction of the little-known Japanese filmmaker, Naomi Kawase (also credited as screenwriter, producer, and editor), “Still the Water” moves using a languid pace and embraces a strange intimacy. Set on one of the limestone islands of the Amani archipelago, it tells the story of a quiet 16-year-old kid, Kaito (Nijiro Murakami), who’s not happy with his mother, disapproving her behavior since his father left home a few years before. It’s not that she’s not gentle or cares about him, but because the most of her time is spent with lovers and not much is left to her son, who often wanders alone or hangs out with his best friend, Kyoko (Jun Yoshinaga). The film’s opening scene leads us to foresee a mysterious tale that never actually happens. During one night of traditional festivity, Kaito finds the body of a back-tattooed man floating on the waters of the seashore. This incident becomes the talk of the population who wonder if it was an accident or a crime, and if the man was a tourist or one of the common surfers that come to the island. The curiosity comes from Kaito’s strange behavior that indicates he knows this man from somewhere. The sincere friendship between Kaito and Kyoko tends to evolve into a beautifully affecting love, but Kaito’s problems hamper him from diving completely in a full physical relationship. Kyoko has also problems of her own since her mother, a shaman who stands on the threshold of Gods and humans, is dying sick. Her father, a man of the sea and experienced surfer, offers all his support and love, enabling a family cohesion that Kaito lacks, even when occasionally contacting with his likable father, a tattoo artist now living in Tokyo. A sweet sensitivity streams from the images, even from the most painful ones - those related to death - in a film that is culturally strong in its dual elements of life and death, family and love, Gods and humans, and nature and reason. However, and despite some impactful moments presented over tranquil landscapes and at the sound of melancholic piano tunes, I found certain parts not only long and occasionally vacillating, but also intricate in its philosophical considerations. Sort of lost in translation. Patient viewers may be able to find something worthy to dig out from this cryptic coming-of-age drama.

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Japanese director Takashi Miike doesn’t give up trying to shock us with abhorrent films suffused with physical and psychological violence in addition to a few obnoxious scenes whose only goal is to make you feel nauseous. In “Yakuza Apocalypse”, his new maniac Tarantinoesque exercise, he bridges the yakuza underground scene with zombie horror. The result is darkly unsubstantial, disgracefully unfunny, and chaotically absurdist. The excruciating action scenes, despite kinetic, soon becomes highly tiresome while the script by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi is clearly trying to gain followers among younger crowds. The fantasy is centered on Kageyama (Hayato Ichihara), a young and brave yakuza who ambitions to be like his popular boss, a vampire who passes him the curse of becoming an immortal sanguinary criminal. The thing is that not every blood is nourishing – the civilians are good blood suppliers while the yakuza are to avoid. Along with these preoccupations, Kageyama has to fight the opponents of his gang, a bunch of crazy characters that include a dark medieval cowboy who speaks only in English and carries a sophisticated gun inside a coffin, a fierce Indonesian warrior (Yayan Ruhian from “The Raid”) who hauled the boss’ head after twisting it a dozen of times, and a destructive giant frog with superpowers. As allies, there’s a woman known as Captain whose lethal weapon is a slimy white liquid that she spouts out of her ears. But of course that “Yakuza Apocalypse” has something else besides gangs and fighting. There’s also love since Kageyama is trying to figure out the best way of dealing with his passionate impulses (both of the heart and thirst for blood) when he’s in the presence of the damaged Kyoko who’s recovering from a traumatic experience at a local hospital. It’s sad to realize that so many good ideas are wasted amidst repetitive graphical blood-spattered scenes and human torture. Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike pulls out a tedious finale, in an ignominious head-to-head fighting sequence that determines which fighter punches harder and screams louder than the other one. The cinematography by Hajime Kanda is the only aspect that deserves attention in this pathetic vampire yakuza tale.

As the Gods Will (2014)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Prolific and talented, but often inconsistent, is how I see the Japanese film director Takashi Miike, who recently launched “As the Gods Will”, a loony computerized adventure targeting teen audiences, based on the manga work created by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Akeji Fujimura, here adapted to the screen by the hand of Hiroyuki Yatsu. The film basically consists in a videogame, or if you prefer, a word-chain death game, with many different levels, whose players are High School students denominated ‘Children of God’. A certain day, and out of the blue, the head of a teacher blows up in the classroom being substituted by a Daruma doll that keeps bouncing on his desk while the heads of the students keep bursting one after another. This first level only finishes when someone pushes the button located on the back of the irritating doll, before its clock reaches zero. Highly popular among the girls, Takahata Shun (Sota Fukushi), who first complained to God about his boring life, is the student showing more capabilities. His strongest opponent is a tricky boy he has met at a videogame store, called Amaya (Ryunosuke Kamiki). The film starts and finishes as pure nonsense, a distasteful goofiness that increases from level to level. Its absurd episodes include a big cat in a gym, eating students dressed as rats and yelling ‘scratch me more, meow’; a flying white cube that could be related to terrorism or aliens; four playful Japanese dolls that punish with death the player who can't tell which of them stands behind his back; an allegedly pure white bear who demands the truth; and the final stage whose tedious game is called ‘kick the can’. Miike sets up some great scenarios but plunges into absurdity with a plot that revealed to be a complete disaster. I don’t know about the Gods, but my will regarding this one is: ‘game over’.

Tokyo Tribe (2014)

Directed by: Shion Sono
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Shion Sono’s latest, blends street gang action with hip-hop musical, and the effect is no less than effervescent. Based on Santa Inoue’s manga series of the same title, “Tokyo Tribe” opens with a kid on top of a slum’s barrack in Bukuro, saying to another: ‘when I grow up I’ll bring hope and joy to this city’. As you can imagine, the words hope and joy hardly fit here, and not even a minute later, we can witness the decadent reality of these colorful streets – drug trafficking, prostitution, crime, violence, and police negligence. We are introduced to the numerous rival gangs (called tribes) that control the different areas of Tokyo at the sound of rap tunes. From all the 23 existent gangs, Wu-Ronz and Musashino Saru got more attention. Wu Ronz’s bosses, the cannibal assassins and sex exploiters, Lord Buppa and his son Nkoi who uses sculptural women as his furniture, together with the savage expert in blades, Mera, are planning to destroy the remaining tribes and take total control of the city. After Musashino Saru’s leader has been killed, is Kai, Mera’s mortal foe, who will assume the leadership of his gang and try to unite the tribes for a bloody street battle without precedent. Among the large number of characters, some are memorable: sexy kung-fu fighter Erika, filthy grotesque Lord Buppa, and the ultra-brutal corpulent warrior who are constantly asking for sauna. “Tokyo Tribe” it’s pure fun from start to finish, a hive of lust, power and crime, depicted with a furious hilarity that I would never think possible in Sono. The songs are great, the digital treatment of the images is perfect, and the camera gets as wild as the gang members. Flashy, funny, insolent and vicious… this is Sono at his best.

Why Don't You Play in Hell? (2013)

Directed by: Shion Sono
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Presented as the Japanese “Kill Bill”, “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?” is a virulent action film and slapstick comedy, written and directed by Shion Sono, which works as a sort of incendiary homage to cinema. The inventive yet sometimes exhausting plot centers on Hirata, a young filmmaker whose dream is to direct a masterpiece for the sake of art, not money. He and his crew will find the perfect character, Sasaki, a quarrelsome young man who keeps fighting in the streets. The goal is to turn him into the new Bruce Lee from Japan. In the other side, authoritarian yakuza boss, Muto, and his vengeful wife, are capable of everything to turn their daughter Mitsuko into a successful actress after her first TV ad for a toothpaste brand has became noticeable ten years ago. At the same time, Muto will fight his fierce rival, Ikegami, who also developed an uncontrollable obsession for Mitsuko. Shot in an unstoppable rhythm and creating unrestrained scenarios, this samurai-yakuza extravaganza doesn’t dispense violent blood baths and a keen humor that keeps us watching it. The issue isn’t the madness conveyed or even the electrifying hysteria of some characters; it’s more the mess, sequentially created by overdone scenes that form a mix of poetic, crazy, and grotesque parody, not always gratifying or endurable. Unlike the ambitious Hirata, I didn’t feel any blessing by the ‘Movie God’ here, but in turn, we can witness Sono’s rebel attitude and creative screenwriting.

The Ravine of Goodbye (2013)

Directed by: Tatsushi Ohmori
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Tatsushi Ohmori adapts Shuichi Yoshida’s novel for the big screen, in this depressive drama shaped in familiar tones and hidden mysteries. The film starts with Shunsuke Ozaki (Shima Onishi) and his lover, Kanako (Yoko Maki), sharing intimate moments while their neighbor next door is arrested for the murder of her own little son. The couple seemed not to be much affected by this happening, despite knowing the victim and his mother. A few days later, Ozaki is also arrested for supposedly involvement in the crime, after a phone call from his lover telling the police that he was in a sexual relationship with the neighbor. In order to find all the answers, journalist Watanabe (Nao Omori) whose wife is giving him a hard time, starts his own investigation and coming to the conclusion that Kanako is the same woman Ozaki raped 15 years ago when he was a promising baseball player at college. Not very expeditious in its development, the film moves in sinuous ways, never reaching acceptable levels of discernment or even transmitting truthfulness. Some scenes that were meant to mix sadness, seriousness, and tension, ended up becoming artless and trapped in innocuous dialogues. Awarded at the 35th Moscow Film Festival with the special jury prize, “The Ravine of Goodbye” was imprecise, fastidious, and misrepresented in psychological terms, factors that won’t contribute for us to keep it in mind.

R100 (2013)

Directed by: Hitoshi Matsumoto
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Japanese helmer Hitoshi Matsumoto creates an original and bizarre universe in his latest comedy “R100”, a film that can be seen as a sort of vicious, dark comics about sadomasochism. Katayama (Mao Daichi) is a furniture salesman who becomes inconsolable and depressed with his daily life, deciding to join an obscure S&M club for gentlemen in order to distract himself. While his wife is staying in a hospital for a long time in a vegetative state, their little son is almost exclusively raised by his father-in-law. Katayama seems constantly daydreaming and is frequently beaten up by different ‘femmes fatales’ (implacable Queens who appear without notice to play with his body and mind), but at night he returns to his family, trying to act normally in front of his son. Fed up and exhausted, Katayama decides to quit the club, but not without fierce opposition from the foreign CEO (great show by Lindsay Kay Hayward) who arrives to solve the problem, in a memorable and furious appearance. The film also tries to leave some smart cues in sneering tones, joking with the menace of earthquakes, seen as the reality of modern life in Japan, and presenting us with an inscrutable film inside the film. “R100” was meant for minorities and conceived to be a modern cult-film that can be seen whether as a challenging surrealistic experience or as a pointless macabre feast. With an unruly attitude, Matsumoto combined pale colored images predominantly brownish with a joyful music (including Beethoven) that goes against the sinister happenings.

Like Father, Like Son (2013)

Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Hirokazu Koreeda is certainly one of the most interesting contemporary Japanese screenwriters and filmmakers of our times. His latest film, “Like Father, Like Son”, despite not so irresistible as other previous works, presents us an inspired plot that bestows a different perspective to the so recurrent theme of switching babies at birth. As usual, the concept of family is the central point, here adorned by a quite curious character study of Ryota Nonomiya, a successful businessman but also an absent and demanding father who tries to prepare his son, Keita, to one day become like him. Contrasting with his good-natured wife, Ryota can’t hide his frustration when Keita reveals some difficulties to become the model he aspires. When the Nonomiya’s were informed by a public hospital that Keita is not their biological son, Ryota tries to get the custody of both kids. Once his plan failed by the refusal of the Saiki family, which showed to have a completely different posture in life, he seemed promptly decided to give up the child he raised for six years to recover the one of his own blood. “Like Father, Like Son”, adopting a more direct storytelling, didn’t evince the introspection or subtleness of “Nobody Knows” and “Still Walking”, or the sense of adventure of “I Wish”, but was able to maintain well elevated the levels of sensibility and simplicity of processes. With a fabulous direction and a particular ability to enchant us, Koreeda keeps depicting grounded family stories in a consistent way.

Real (2013)

Directed by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been making a solid career with interesting incursions on thriller/horror (“The Cure”, “Pulse”) and also drama (“Charisma”, “Tokyo Sonata”). In his new film, “Real”, he tries to combine both genres and still add some romance and fantasy, but the final outcome wasn’t what its premise made us to expect. The film tells the story of two lovers, Koichi (Takeru Sato) and Atsumi (Haruka Ayase), a famous distressed manga drawer who tried to commit suicide, remaining in profound coma for more than a year. Koichi will consent to be connected with Atsumi’s brain, through a modern machine, in order to understand what were her motives and try to facilitate her return to the real world. His findings and clues will project them to their past at Hikone island, their hometown, where some truths are revealed. There are some good aspects to be appreciated in this Kurosawa’s cinematic adaptation of Rokuro Inui’s novel, “A perfect day to plesiosaur”, especially in the visual field, but the narrative is inconsistent in tone and its revelations didn’t create significant impact. Among ghostly apparitions, which were not so spooky by the way, and ridiculous philosophical zombies who clearly aim Manga’s enthusiasts, “Real” relies on acceptable dreamlike tones to create psychological tension, but presents a romance devoid of chemistry and some sci-fi moments that were more laughable than atmospheric. Strong production values in an exhausting story that only satisfies partially.

Tokyo Family (2013)

Directed by: Yoji Yamada
Country: Japan

Movie Review: “Tokyo Family” is Yoji Yamada’s homage to unrivaled master Yasujiro Ozu, and a modern adaptation of his 1953 masterpiece, “Tokyo Story”. This way, and recreating the gentle and smooth Ozu’s universe of family (not without some significant differences), Yamada moves away from the samurai scene (“The Twilight Samurai”, “The Hidden Blade”, “Love and Honour”) that gave him some notoriety in the last decade. The story follows an aging couple who travels from Hiroshima to Tokyo to visit their three children and grandchildren. Their arrival, despite being expected with eagerness by all the family, will cause deep changes in the rushed life and daily routines of the adult relatives who will think in other solutions to get the space and time they are used to. The comparison with Ozu’s original is simultaneously unfair and inevitable - some outdoor compositions of streets and trains passing by, were reminiscent of his serene style, while the indoor ones were a mix of steady shots through a low-positioned camera (a staple in Ozu’s filmmaking) and other own compositions depicting modern family's interaction. The weakest aspect here was the sentimental tendencies of its final part, but the richness of the story, in its whole, was enough to be enjoyed, focusing on problems that seem real and never forced, and with an approach that emphasizes affectionate relationships. In a time where remakes are so in vogue, Yamada’s contemporary Tokyo family, at least, remembers us how simple a film can be.

Beyond Outrage (2012)

Directed by: Takeshi Kitano
Country: Japan

Movie Review: “Beyond Outrage” is the new Japanese yakuza thriller by Takeshi Kitano (considered best director by Asian Film Awards), relying in the same cyclic alliances and betrayals among gangsters and cops. Kitano plays confidently a fearless executioner and old-time yakuza, Otomo, who joins forces with another retired Mafioso called Kimura, right after being released from prison. All this strategy came from the organized-crime detective, Katoaka, whose goal was to gain power by creating a war between the Sanno clan from the East and the Hanabishi clan from the West. Employing dark humor even in the most raging and fiery scenes, “Beyond Outrage” is far less violent than its predecessor “Outrage” from 2009, and showed to be smarter and more appealing in terms of plot. The execution was the weakest aspect of the film, with a couple of questionable camera movements and some awkward shooting scenes that could have been improved to look more reasonable. Even though, the film is entertaining and shows some creativity in a few scenes, particularly a memorable one that depicts a man’s face being smashed by baseball balls thrown by a machine. I’m hoping that the announced third part of this outrage trilogy can follow the lines presented here, but without trying to show off in the shootings, and presenting some more suspense and unusual outcomes. Meanwhile, this second part goes on the right track, and deserves a peep.

Shield of Straw (2013)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Mixing invigorating action scenes with some others often exaggerated or dull, “Shield of Straw” marks the return of prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike, now in a cop thriller that most of time evinced neither head nor tail in its concept. This way Miike continues to punctuate its filmography with ups and downs. Last year was a good example: “Ace Attorney” pleased me with its eccentric courtroom adventures, while “Lesson of the Evil” wasn't what I expected. “Shield of Straw” promised so much but ended up in silliness, telling the story of the police escort of Kiyomaru, one of the most dangerous psychopaths in Japan, responsible for several killings, including a seven-year-old girl whose influent grandfather demands her killer’s death in exchange of a great sum of money. Four agents were assigned with the tough mission of transporting and protecting him from a Japan in fury. By car, train, or walking, the threats come from everywhere and include other greedy cops, nurses, a plane sabotage, a truck with explosive materials, and citizens who were related with some victims. Nothing to say about Miike’s competent direction but the manipulative plot and some performances didn’t convince at all. More laughable than thrilling, and sank in doubtful psychology, the film sustains the moral question: ‘why protect a lousy criminal instead of innocent people’? Notwithstanding some sense here, the situations were addressed with obtuseness and never provided the desirable satisfaction.

The Land of Hope (2012)

Directed by: Shion Sono
Country: Japan / others

Movie Review: Despair and hope walk side-by-side in “The Land of Hope”, the first film to depict the consequences of 2011 Fukushima’s nuclear disaster in Japan. Set in the small village of Oba Town, the story follows a family of farmers through their journey of separation, anxiety, and tough decisions, in order to protect one another and continue living a proper life. Yasuhiko is proud to be a farmer who takes care of his forgetful wife Chieko. With them, lives the rest of the family, their son Yoichi and his wife Izumi who are expecting a baby. As their property stands half in and half out of the evacuation area, the elder couple decides to stay and send the younger away in order to protect the coming child. In parallel, we follow another young couple who was trying to find their home, now transformed in a ghostly place. The images of destruction and desolation revealed to be more subtle than strong, in an intelligent story that addresses the particular instead of focusing in the whole problem. After a faltering start, the film step by step started to reach satisfactory levels. More realistic and dramatic, and less violent and shocking (this time immoderate images were left aside), “The Land of Hope” still is a Shion Sono’s film, carrying humor in the most unexpected situations, depicting the scenes with a strangeness that involves, and making a social criticism to the way people are deceived by the Japanese government.

A Chorus of Angels (2012)

Directed by: Junji Sakamoto
Country: Japan

Movie Review: Junji Sakamoto’s films were never recognized as important in Japanese contemporary cinema, and “A Chorus Of Angels” still isn’t a sign of change. The problems don’t lie in the technical aspects whose photography, lighting, and score (not for my taste) were awarded by the Japanese academy. The plot, with all its twists, flashbacks, and revelations, was the main setback, becoming too convoluted and sorrowful to be pleasant. The story follows Haru (Sayuri Yoshinaga), former teacher in Hokkaido who was forced to leave her job due to an accident that victimized her kind-hearted husband. Since that time, and along 20 years, she has been working as librarian. Unexpectedly, in her last day before retirement, she receives the visit of two policemen who just had started an inquiry regarding Nobuto (Mirai Moriyama), the youngest and most problematic of her former students, now accused of murder. Curiosity makes her travel to Hokkaido again to contact each one of the five students. More will be found about Nobuto’s case, along with other surprising disclosures. Sadly, the story didn’t tease me in any way, with the narrative being presented in somnolent tones and the characters carrying guilt and sorrow along the way. Too tidy, tolerant, and super-dramatic, “A Chorus of Angels” overuses the words ‘my fault’ without ever create truly (in)tense moments. This drama was based on a novel by Kanae Minato, the same author of “Confessions”, published in 2008, and transformed in a cinematic hit by Tatsuya Nakashima in 2010.

Key Of Life (2012)

Directed by: Kenji Ushida
Country: Japan

Review: “Key Of Life” blends humor, crime, and romance in the right proportions, guaranteeing pure entertainment for more than two hours. The story follows three characters who met one another in peculiar circumstances, leading to several misunderstandings and imbroglios. Sakurai (Masato Sakai) is a 35-year-old failed actor who lives in debt and is planning to kill himself. When in a bathhouse, he witnessed an accident involving Kondo (Teruyuki Kagawa), a professional assassin who lost his conscience after hit with his head. Sakurai takes advantage of the situation to swap their locker keys and assume the victim’s identity. In turn, Kondo gets temporarily amnesiac and will have to adapt himself to Sakurai’s life of poverty, a fact that will not prevent him to get to know a beautiful magazine editor who is desperately looking for a good man to marry. The humor was not hilarious, or nothing like that, but its jokes were subtly clever without being strained. The actors seemed to enjoy playing their parts and I felt an eagerness to know what would happen to them next. All the twists and turns concerning this acting/gangstering combination were well thought, leading to prizes for best screenplay attributed by the Japanese Academy and Shanghai Film Fest. Kenji Ushida's third feature film may bring him back the deserved international attention that he once had in 2005 with “A Stranger Of Mine”.

Lesson Of The Evil (2012)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Review: Versatile Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, remembers us that school attacks are an actual concern in our society by presenting a bloody movie filled with sarcastic humor, which often falls in exaggeration. This massive killing of teenagers by a popular teacher suffering from grave psychological disorders can be seen as a freaky parody that reunites many irreverent aspects of Miike’s style, yet without hiding certain weaknesses that let it aside from his best works. The film has a misguided start, showing dispersion and losing itself in jammed cell phones and bullying talks. In the first hour, Miike seemed to use a totally different approach in terms of pace and narrative, showing disconnection while introducing the characters and leaving us adrift for several moments. This phase was just the preparation for the violence that would come next, a fierce blood bath that despite energetic, is a non-suspenseful repetition of chaotic scenes involving teen students being killed by shotgun. At the sound of “Mack The Knife”, a song originally composed by Brecht/Weill for The Threepenny Opera, “Lesson Of The Evil” exposes illicit relationships between teachers and students, and constructs a portrait of an evil man disguised as good soul who no longer can refrain his dark side. Sometimes morbid, sometimes childish, its insensible posture adopted was able to shock at first, but after a while didn't bring about much pleasure.

Dreams For Sale (2012)

Directed by: Miwa Nishikawa
Country: Japan

Review: “Dreams For Sale” is nothing more than a dark tale about money and greediness. The story follows a strange couple, Kanya and Satoko, who lost their successful restaurant in a fire, deciding to work in a solution to extort money for a new one. The plan emerged by chance when Kanya brought home a large amount of money after a one-night stand with a drunken woman he met in the subway. After making her husband confess what had happened, Satoko got to know that the woman who has given the money was vulnerable and deprived of her true love. Since then, they decided that Kanya will seduce and scam women who got lonely, desperate for love, or even sick. As the scams were happening, we were able to gather more information about the personality of these two crooks. Kanya revealed to have a heart, often feeling badly and regretting his behavior, but was never able to stop. Satoko, in the other hand, showed her cruelty, tenacity, and indifference regarding the victims. The tale itself intends to show something meaningful and the character studies are well conceived, but the film has its faults. It was extremely long; I wouldn’t be exaggerating if said that at least 30 minutes should be cut off. Other negative aspect was the silly side presented in some moments, leaving us between the gravity of the emotions and a sort of misplaced comedy.

Like Someone In Love (2012)

Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami
Country: Japan / France

Review: Iranian film director Kiarostami continues sharing his personal vision on modern urban dramas. This time he turned to Japan to portray the story of Akiko, a sociology student who also works as a prostitute in Tokyo. Leaving her visiting grandmother waiting in a train station during the entire day, Akiko went to spend the night with a new client Takashi, an elderly widower and former professor. Despite of his intentions to just talk, eat and drink, Akiko falls asleep. On the next day, she accepts his ride to go to University for an exam, where her boyfriend Noriaki was expecting her. After an interesting chat in which the old man pretends to be Akiko’s grandfather and Noriaki admits his intention to marry her, they went to fix a problem with the car. In the garage, owned by Noriaki, someone will recognize Takashi as his former professor, putting the scheme in jeopardy. “Like Someone in Love” is a smart movie of circumstance, made in a sober manner. Applying a moderate pace, Kiarostami builds the characters so well, with such delightful details that they leave no room for doubts; we can gradually be aware of Akiko’s naivety, Takashi’s protectiveness, or Noriaki’s violent jealousy. The natural approach prevented staged situations, whereas the option of using implicit scenes instead of too explicit, is already a stylemark. The levels of satisfaction increased as the story proceeded, in this simple, objective, and engaging film.

Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

Directed by: Keishi Ohtomo
Country: Japan

Review: Adapted from a popular Manga series, what we foresaw in “Rurouni Kenshin” was provided, yet in an uneven manner. The movie tells the adventures of a former assassin who seeks redemption in the beginning of Meiji period. He became a wandering swordsman, known for using a reverse sword to protect people. This new way of life will be challenged, when a wealthy opium merchant gets in his way. A well composed cinematography contrasts with a not so impressive story, where swords and machine guns are mixed. The fights put the energy that was supposed to, yet sometimes look too cartoonish, while the characterization produced a weird effect with the heroes seeming teen-warriors and the villains eccentric. Far from the best samurai movies, “Rurouni Kenshin” can be watchable, but just if we look into it as an animated entertainment.

Ace Attorney (2012)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Review: After two magnificent incursions into the ancient world of Samurais (“13 Assassins”, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”), Takashi Miike adapts a popular Japanese videogame called “Ace Attorney” into film, where the players assume the role of a defense attorney in a fictional courtroom. The novice Phoenix Wright is our hero, always saved in the last moment by a brilliant idea or a little help from his friends. The investigation of a mysterious murder reopens another similar case occurred 15 years before, making the battles between attorneys to be ferocious and extremely amusing. The special attention given to characterization, costume designs and hairstyles, worked very well together with the remarkable futuristic scenarios and special effects. Exquisitely laughable, “Ace Attorney” reveals to be a mess... but with a distinct look and personality.