Sakebi (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2006)

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dadaistnun
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Sakebi (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2006)

#1 Post by dadaistnun » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:50 pm

Clip

Official site (Nothing really there yet, but the image reminds me of the opening scene of The Pledge.

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Michael Kerpan
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#2 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:55 pm

dadaistnun wrote:Clip

Official site (Nothing really there yet, but the image reminds me of the opening scene of The Pledge.
Interesting. I can definitely see some affinities (in general) between Durrenmatt and KK.

rs98762001
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#3 Post by rs98762001 » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:27 pm

Sounds extremely exciting - e.g. "The MULHOLLAND DRIVE of this kind of horror film."

Good to see that Kurosawa seems to be back on form after the bizarrely awful LOFT, although I doubt Western audiences will get to see this on the big screen. Reviews below.

Toronto After Dark Review

FILMeX Exacts Retribution

Variety review

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#4 Post by yoshimori » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:25 pm

rs98762001 wrote:Good to see that Kurosawa seems to be back on form after the bizarrely awful LOFT, although I doubt Western audiences will get to see this on the big screen.
Yes. Loft was awful. The new film, called Retribution, however, has been bought, I believe, by Lionsgate, so it should show up on American screens sometime in the next few months.

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#5 Post by rs98762001 » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:33 pm

yoshimori wrote: The new film, called Retribution, however, has been bought, I believe, by Lionsgate, so it should show up on American screens sometime in the next few months.
That's fantastic news. Let's hope they actually give the film a release, and are not just in it for the remake rights, a la The Weinsteins and KAIRO.

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#6 Post by Grimfarrow » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:29 am

I wouldn't call it a "return-to-form", as the film is sitll a far cry from his heady days of License to Live/Cure/Charisma/Pulse/Bright Future. But it's still much, much better than his last two films. I mean, it's still your standard ghost film, and RETRIBUTION may be his most commercial yet, but at least it's well-directed and has some hilarious sequences.

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dadaistnun
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#7 Post by dadaistnun » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:01 pm

It seems that I've read nothing but bad things about Loft, but I'd still like to see it. Is it out on dvd anywhere yet? I feel like I bought the R3 Korean discs of Bright Future and Doppelganger relatively soon after their Japanese theatrical runs.

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Matt
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#8 Post by Matt » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:03 pm

dadaistnun wrote:It seems that I've read nothing but bad things about Loft, but I'd still like to see it.
Same here. Lots of people were disappointed by Doppelganger, but I quite liked it. I'm interested in anything K. Kurosawa does, even if it's a failure.

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#9 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:06 pm

Another Doppelganger lover here.

Haven't seen Loft yet either.

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#10 Post by yoshimori » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:59 pm

Well. Y'all all should watch Loft, even though it's an abomination. I enjoyed Doppelganger the second time around, but Loft is another can'o'worms. For a few brief days the latter was listed, with English subtitles, as a 2/9/2007 release at cdjapan. Seems to be gone now, but I suspect it'll be back up soon.

rs98762001
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#11 Post by rs98762001 » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:17 pm

Grimfarrow wrote:I wouldn't call it a "return-to-form", as the film is sitll a far cry from his heady days of License to Live/Cure/Charisma/Pulse/Bright Future. But it's still much, much better than his last two films. I mean, it's still your standard ghost film, and RETRIBUTION may be his most commercial yet, but at least it's well-directed and has some hilarious sequences.
It's odd how such a short time ago, during the run of films you mention above, Kurosawa was undoubtedly one of the best Japanese directors working. But his recent films (and actually I might even include BRIGHT FUTURE here) have seemed better and more interesting in intent than in execution. I enjoyed DOPPELGANGER, if for no other reasons than Koji's great performance and the incredible final shot of the robot hurling itself to its doom like a lemming. But it was certainly inconsistent in comparison to the frame-perfect CURE or KAIRO.

Kurosawa kind of reminds me of Lynch in the way that there are clearly only a few themes that really obsess him, and this is reflected in the narrowness of his vision (I mean that as a compliment). But, like Lynch around LOST HIGHWAY, it's possible that Kurosawa has kind of painted himself into a corner, and is trying to find his way out. That's why it perked my interest when one of the RETRIBUTION reviews mentioned a similarity to MULHOLLAND DR. in that it acts as both an extension and a summation of the director's previous work.

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#12 Post by Grimfarrow » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:54 am

No. RETRIBUTION is in no way a summation at all (who wrote such a crappy review?). Instead, it's Kurosawa trying to make a commercial hit a la RINGU. So I have no idea how in the world it can be compared to MULHOLLAND DR., in which Lynch never made such a sacrifice to lure in the commercial, popcorn audiences. That said, I think RETRIBUTION is still worth seeing, despite its mass-market sheen.

And BRIGHT FUTURE is among the director's best films, so I completely disagree with you. I wish he moved more along this direction than something like RETRIBUTION.

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#13 Post by putney » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:42 am

in re: loft and doppelganger, i honestly think it has been a case of too much comparison to his 96-98 works. if you see them in context of works like the "shoot yourself" series, especially 1,5,and 6, "revenge", and "do re mi girl", his ideas about manipulation of tone are much clearer. (i think this is the case in doppelganger as well...) personally "loft" is one of my least favorite, but i swear the last 15 minutes is amongst my favorite of his work. what i def. don't understand is the lack of love for "barren illusion", one of my absolute favorite works of his. absolutely incredible.
for me the problem with "loft" was it was almost an abstract excersize in the ideas, but the last section really worked for me in much the same way "guard from the underground" works.

the oddest film of all is his "kokoro adoru" a short film he made a few years back. i'm still scratchin my head over that one.

putney

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#14 Post by dadaistnun » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:03 am

For those in the NYC area (from Film Comment's "19 Films to Look Out For" in 2007):
***Retribution
(Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan) Just as the detective in Charisma was ensnared by a forest's strange power, so the detective in Kurosawa's new film is trapped by the enigmatic power of water as he investigates a serial murder case in the Tokyo Bay area. The constant surface vibration of the sea causes him to wonder if he is in fact hunting himself. More than a depiction of an identity crisis, the film offers a mysterious vision of human destiny in which the demarcation between life and death itself is erased. Watch out for a brief, splendid shot dedicated to the memory of the late Richard Fleischer, one of Kurosawa's masters.—Shigehiko Hasumi
***This film will play the Walter Reade Theater on 2/17 @ 8:15pm, 2/18 @ 4:30pm, and 2/19 @ 8:00pm as part of Film Comment Selects. Tickets will be available soon.

rs98762001
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#15 Post by rs98762001 » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:30 am

Did anyone end up going to see this? And any news about a US release? Just rewatched CURE, desperate for some new KK.

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#16 Post by acquarello » Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:50 am

I thought that this was pretty underwhelming, self-derivative work from Kurosawa. It really has a lot of recycled material in it, not all of which really fit together, except to help fill the time. I agree with Grimfarrow, he was doing a lot more interesting things recently with Bright Future than he does with this one. This one isn't really return to form as much as it is bordering on self-parody.

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#17 Post by fred » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:42 pm

While I agree that it's not as strong as Bright Future, I disagree with acquarello's evaluation. I thought this was quite strong. There are a few minor things which didn't quite work for me, but this stood up very well on repeat viewing, especially the ending. Perhaps it comes down to my not being turned off by the "familiarity" of many aspects of the film?

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#18 Post by Barmy » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:58 pm

Boring and dumb as hell. And there was NO justification for the ghost/bitch's attitude. She was murdered 40 years ago and because of that all humanity has to die? Whatever.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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#19 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:26 pm

Kurosawa's currently scrounging up funding for a new project. The synopsis gives off a strong Time Out vibe but that's OK. Nice to see him back to "non-genre" work and not another one of the horror/mock-horror films he's been doing since Bright Future.

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#20 Post by dadaistnun » Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:04 pm

Lions Gate is listed as the film's distributor on the BIFFF website. Call me pessimistic, but they probably just bought it to remake it.

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#21 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:16 pm

Lionsgate got the international rights as part of a package deal before it was even completed. They're starting a J-horror line and picked up six Taka Ichise productions (including this one) to build up their library. One of the six (Shimizu's Reincarnation) was already released as part of the "After Dark" festival. I'm not too worried -- if they're willing to release Renoir and Godard box sets, then a Kiyoshi Kurosawa horror film (a relatively mainstream one judging from the comments here) shouldn't be too outré for them. I think the worst-case scenario is that it makes the festival rounds and goes straight to DVD.

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#22 Post by dadaistnun » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:40 pm

Image

Now available as an English-subtitled region 2 import. Cheap enough, but I think I'll wait & see if any reviews turn up first.

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#23 Post by Cosmic Bus » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:01 am

I went ahead and ordered a copy; sadly, I may be saddled with a terrible copy of Loft to go along with it. Found out about the (lack of) quality on that one afterwards, and am currently waiting to see if Yesasia can honor my cancellation request in time.

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#24 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:15 am

dadaistnun wrote:Now available as an English-subtitled region 2 import. Cheap enough, but I think I'll wait & see if any reviews turn up first.
My copy arrived yesterday -- but I haven't had a chance to even peek at it yet.

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#25 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:20 pm

dadaistnun wrote:Now available as an English-subtitled region 2 import. Cheap enough, but I think I'll wait & see if any reviews turn up first.
No subs after all -- not even Japanese ones.

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