A visually strong movie that makes your head spin.

A prominent author Min-woo is preparing to release his latest novel, but is suffering from nightmares and hallucinations. The nightmares and hallucinations are influencing his work and personal life, which eventually makes him delusional and not being able to tell the difference anymore between reality and fantasy.

He’s becoming paranoid and imagines being followed by someone. His own paranoia leads him into a cafe in dark and gloomy alley where he meets the beautiful MiMi. Min-woo starts to wonder what he and the girl have in comon and what the connection is between the 2 of them. He starts digging into his past and unravels a hidden mystery.

M is directed by Lee Myeong Se, known from movies such as ‘Nowhere to hide‘ and the acclaimed ‘Duelist‘. He has shown before that he has a own style and with ‘M’ he definitely proves that once again. For me there are only a few Korean directors whom can realise that and Lee Myeong Se is one of them.

The lead is played by Kang Dong-Won who isn’t a stranger for Lee Myeong Se. They worked together before in ‘Duelist‘, where Kang Dong Won also had the leading role. Kang Dong-Won already has an expetional curriculum with other movies like ‘Too Beautiful to lie’, ‘Temptation of Wolves‘ and ‘Our Happy Time’.

For the role of Mimi we have actress Lee Yeon-hee. Opposed to Dong-Won, Yeon-Hee has more experience with Korean Drama’s instead of movies. Her female counterpart ‘Eun-Hye’ Kong Hyo-Jin on the other hand has already build up a huge reputation as an actress with movies like: “Volcano High“, “Memento Mori”, “Guns & Talks“, “Heaven’s Soldiers” and many other movies. I still missed alot of chemistry between Dong-Won and Eun-Hye. Perhaps thats because there is more emphasis on the visual look than the link between the two characters.

The sets are really impressing and with the help of the amazing cameraangles, the soundeffects and the cinematography, the whole look is a real allusion on your fantasy and thoughts. Like really experiencing the surreal world of Min-woo. Especially the scenes in the small restaurant and the alley are really amazing and have a really keen atmosphere. Because of that typical look and the combination of the soundeffects makes that particular scene really amazing.

As said above, the soundeffects have really helped improving the movie and making Min-woo’s fantasy come more alive. Experience how Min-woo becomes dellusional and see’s his own paranoia. Give the whole movie a more realistic experience of how he loses his mind and control over his dreams.

M is a movie with a great build up and style. It will your fantasy and mind and leaves a deep impression. Definitely a movie to look out for.

score 7,5 out of 10 stars

Like a Dragon is one of Takashi Miike’s most recent movies and is a onscreen adaptation of the Playstation 2 game ‘Yakuza’.

On a hut summernight in Japan we meet Kiryu Kazuma (Kazuki Kitamura). Kiryu has just been released from prison after a 10 year incarceration. Planning to get his life straight and quit the Yakuza, he encounters a little girl ‘Haruka’ who is looking for her mom ‘Mitsuki’. He decides to help Haruka, but is soon confronted with a former Yakuza associate, the psycho ‘Majima Goro’ (Kishitani Goro) who always carries a baseball bat with him and still has a score to settle with Kiryu.

The same night we also meet 2 bank robbers trying to hold up an empty bank, a Korean hitman, a young couple Satoru (Shioya Shun) and Yui (Saeko) who are inspired to become bankrobbers to pay of their debts and a masochistic armsdealer (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa). This night, all their paths will cross.

Like A Dragon is a very entertaining movie with over-the-top cartoon-violence and some Japanese style of comedy. I dare not say that this is a great onscreen adaptaion of the actual game, because I haven’t played it, but for a movie itself, it’s really good. Mostly because of the great cast and the nice cinematography.

In opposite of what you’re used to watch from Miike, this movie is less brutal and bloody (f.e. D.O.A., Yakuza Demon and Ichi the killer). Probably because it was destined to be viewed by a larger/younger audience and or because it is based on a videogame. And because the action is really over-the-top it’s a given that it will more likely to put a grin on your face instead of watching in shock or suspense.

As for the cast choice, Miike did a pretty good job there. For the lead the choices where spot-on. Kazuki (Kiryu) really has that charismatic look to play a cool Yakuza member.

His opponent Majima Goro performed by Kishitani Goro is another example of good casting. Kishitani who’s known mostly for his parts in Taiyo no Uta and Returner was already familiar with playing the baddy and puts down again a splendid psychopatical Yakuza, but in do times he has his moments that might make you like him aswell.

One of the downsides of the movie is that the story is mostly covered by the amount of action. This also includes the other storylines, which also don’t get the chance to develop, and thats a real shame because it could’ve given the other characters more depth. Especially if you cast a Korean Superstar Gong Yoo (My Tutor Friend & S-Diary) en de famous Japanese actor Yoshiyoshi Arakawa (Kamikaze Girls & Survive Style 5+).

The film looks really good, and theres alot of usage of the birdseye view which gives you a view of the street of Osaka and at the same time the area of where the story is taking place. The special effects however are a little dissapointing. Just like in Deadly Outlaw Rekka (the attack with the RPG) the special effects look really cheap and unrealistic and thats a shame.

There’s also no complaining about the background music. Great J-rock tunes with here and there a Japanese vocal all in the same style of the movie itself and the same category of music as in Deadly Outlaw Rekka.

(special attention for those who have already seen the movie. Notice the shot where Majima takes his man through the streets of Osaka kicking ass. In one shot you can clearly see a policeofficer standing there and doing nothing. Apparently he wasn’t in the cast and you can also take for acount that the scenes have been shot without blocking a area and while people are walking there daily. )

score 7,5 out of 10 stars

It’s been a while since I updated this blog, but fret not, I haven’t forgotten about it. In fact, I just really had to make this entry for one of the latest movies I’ve seen.

As the title says, I have gotten my hands on a copy of “Byousoku 5 centimeters”……and boy what a treat it is.

“Byousoku 5 centimeters - A Chain of Short Stories About Their Distance” is the latest anime from director Makoto Shinkai, who previously created the visually stunning “Voices from a distant star” and the critically acclaimed “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” which even made fans so crazy, that they started calling him the new Hayao Miyazaki.

Byousoku 5 centimeters consists of 3 sequential short stories all about the distance between the main characters Tohno Takaki and Shinohara Akari. The term “5 Centimetres per Second” is a reference to the speed that a Sakura (Cherry Blossom) petal will undergo when falling to the ground, an occurrence that always happens during the Spring period when the flowers bloom and eventually fall. thnx to Eternal Snow

Part 1: Oukashou (桜花賞） tells the story about the friendship between Tohno and Akari, how they get seperated and how they finally get reunited again.

Part 2: Cosmonaut (コスモナウト） continues after the reunion of the two, where we now see Tohno pick up his life at a new college far away from Akari. This story is told from the perspective of his classmate Kanae Sumida.

Part 3: 5cm Per Second (秒速５センチメートル）　in a summary captures the wayward journey of Tohno and Akari in both the past and the present.

The movie is audio and visually….SPLENDID!!. Everything is worked out in the smallest details. One of the most impressing things was the lighting and light-effects, which added so much realism, even for an anime. After having visited Japan it was really nice to recognize the many smiliarities with the real life Japanese environment.

Weird to see though that big brands had a metamorphose. F.e. “the small supermarket from AM/PM into BM”, “Casio into Ocasi” and even “Starbucks into Starberks”, while the smaller brands where left in their original state.

The visuals are a real pleasure for the eye, with beautiful coloring and awesome cinematography, where Makoto Shinkai shows more of the environment than the characters self, and even that doesn’t take away the pleasure of watching the movie.

Which brings me to one of the dissapointing factors of this movie. Every shot is absolutely gorgeous, so it’s really a damn shame you get to see the shot for only a second or two, and that makes it hard to enjoy the beauty of the images. Off course you can watch the movie over and over a couple of times, just as I did.

Another plus factor of the movie is the nice background music and the great soundeffects which really hit SPOT ON. Small sounds to the bigger soundeffects: “Cars with music that fade to the background, trainstation announcements and especially the environmental sounds” which really make the movie feel ALIVE. Everything mashed up together with the awesome graphics makes it a pleasure to watch.

Unfortunately I was dissapointed by the story though. I wished Makoto made this movie to be 1 continuous part only. The 3 parts add a lot of confusion to the storyline and with a part 3 being mainly a summary of quick flashes in the lives of both Tohno and Akari, you lose alot of valuable time for it being a proper movie.

Nonetheless, the movie deserves a high score for being one of the most beautiful anime’s created ever.

score 8 out of 10 stars

Buy your copy of this movie here