The Happiness of the Katakuris is a comedy musical that highlights the trials and tribulations of everyday life, as well as the importance of family values. It is also the product of directorial talent Takeshi Miike, who gave us Ichi the Killer and Audition and has a penchant for the absurd. This should be enough to tell you that while it IS a comedy, normal it most certainly isn’t.
In the near-future the US government is facing a drugs epidemic. One of its undercover operatives, codenamed ‘Fred’ but working amongst the junkies and dropouts as Bob Arctor, finds himself drawn too closely into the world of the addicts as he tries to locate the source of the notorious narcotic Substance D. Arctor’s work causes him to become as addicted as the very people he is investigating as he attempts to unravel the shocking truth behind the nation’s drugs problem.
The title and setting of this film might suggest a two hour helping of superhuman swordplay, cheesy bravado-laden dialogue and blood-soaked violence; if that’s the only kind of samurai film that floats your boat you might as well stop reading now. The Twilight Samurai is a remarkably touching and tender take on the life of the samurai during the twilight years of their culture during the middle of the 1800s from veteran director Yoji Yamada.
The tagline ’schoolgirls by day…call girls by night’ has to be one of the most misleading sales pitches of any film I’ve yet seen. Ignoring the sensationalist waffle on the DVD case, this is a film that is innovative in the extreme and explains why I think Hideaki Anno is one of the best film directors of recent years.
The third in Park Chan-Wook’s thematically-linked ‘revenge trilogy’, Lady Vengeance shows a more calculating and visually sumptuous take on the subject of revenge. Framed for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy and with her own daughter taken away from her as a result, prison inmate Geum-ja (played to perfection by Yeong-ae Lee) spends her time inside hatching a complex and elaborate plan to exact revenge on Mr. Baek, the man who is responsible for it all.Those who have seen the likes of Oldboy and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance will be familiar with Wook’s thematic and visual styles: black-as-pitch humour and shocking violence, portrayed through very artistic camerawork. Lady Vengeance is no exception, showing some of his most stunning visuals to date, not to mention portraying the act of revenge with a very feminine face. The colours and landscapes glow with beauty and optimism, not unlike Amelie or The Royal Tenenbaums; later the backgrounds become darker as the lead is drawn down a cold and lonely path by her own actions.
Anyone who remembers the second half of End of Evangelion and various bits of Kare Kano may have suspected that within the mind of Hideaki Anno lurked a live-action director anxious to get out. I was interested to see how his own distinctive style (complete with what I’ve come to call ‘Anno-isms’) transferred from animation to live action, which includes the feature Shiki-Jitsu, a.k.a. ‘Ritual’.
A burnt-out film-maker returns to his home town where he meets a strange young woman who has a habit of saying “It’s my birthday tomorrow!” every day. She is clearly suffering from some form of mental illness, and the nameless film-maker (referred to simply as ‘Director’) spends a month with her, filming their daily experiences as he tries to make sense of their respective situations and feelings.
In his short introduction to the film director Joss Whedon calls this a “film that should not exist.” That is to say, he never originally intended to make Serenity: had the sci-fi TV show Firefly not been cancelled after one series, had the fans not signed a petition to see the story continue, it would never had happened. With all this taken in consideration though, what is Serenity like as a film?Fans of the Firefly TV series will know all about the United Alliance, the colonisation of a distant solar system and the escape of a young psychic River Tam and her brother Simon from an Alliance research facility. We know how, on the run from the Alliance, River and Simon seek refuge on the humble transport ship Serenity while the Alliance hunt down their escaped human guinea-pig. We are familiar with the Serenity’s misfit crew and their colourful histories, and their constant struggle to make a living on the fringes of space. Serenity kicks off with a breathtaking portrayal of River and Simon’s flight from the Alliance, but then picks up from where the TV show left off.
Five hundred years into the future, a United Alliance has brought the people of Earth together after they had left their home to colonise distant planets. The crew of a small Firefly-class cargo vessel Serenity ekes out a living in the lawless outer reaches of the galaxy, taking on jobs that are either illegal or too dangerous/foolhardy for most. After taking on two fugitives as passengers Serenity is persued by the Alliance, double-crossed by numerous employers and continually hunted by the mysterious and savage Reavers who inhabit the dark fringes of the galaxy.
Two thousand years ago, the nation of China was divided into a number of warring states. The king of the Qin province wished to unify them all and bring about peace: unfortunately his noble objective could only be brought about through war and as a result he had made many enemies. When a nameless warrior arrives at the palace claiming that he had killed three of the most notorious assassins of the neighbouring Zhao kingdom, it appears that he has saved the king’s life. But could this supposed hero be yet another enemy who wants the king dead?
An archaeological dig in 1928 unearths a strange artefact that is decorated with indecipherable symbols, buried near the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Years later, Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader), an Egyptologist working in the USA, is recruited by the military to study the symbols and work out the artifact’s function. It turns out to be a ’stargate’: a device that allows instant travel between distant planets. Dr Jackson and a team of US soldiers led by Colonel Jack O’Neill (Kurt Russell) are sent through the stargate to explore what lies on the other side, and encounter a civilisation ruled by an alien race who threatens the safety of human life back on Earth.
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