Gojo Reisenki: Gojoe (五条霊戦記 -2000)

Starring:
Tadanobu Asano - Shanao
Masatoshi Nagase - Tetsukichi
Daisuke Ryu - Benkei
Masakatsu Funaki - Tankai
Jun Kunimura - Suzaku-hougan
Urara Awata - Asagiri
Wui Sin Chong - Shoshinbo
Takato Hosoyamada
Ryo Kase - Kamuro
Naruki Matsukawa

“Gojoe” is set in ancient Japan, and the opening narration informs us that it’s a “dark time” for the country. In the aftermath of a bloody civil war for control of a local countryside, a “demon” entity has appeared to slaughter the soldiers of the winning side. Into the fray walks Benkei (Daisuke Ryu), a monk who was once a murderer of some renown. Benkei is intent on stopping the demon, believing that this action may, once and for all, cleanse his tortured soul of his murderous past.

As Benkei sets about hunting the demon with the help of Tetsukichi (Masatoshi Nagase), a former swordsmith who has given up the craft to steal swords of dead men killed by the demon, the film begins to shift gears. When Benkei encounters the demon for the first time, it becomes readily apparent that the “demon” is actually 3 swordsmen with terrifying, but awesome, killing abilities. The trio is led by Shanao (Tadanobu Asano), a Prince who survived the bloody civil war that saw most of his family dead; Shanao is originally intent on vengeance, but that quickly gives way to something else — something much more seductive…

“Gojoe” uses the word, and the meaning of, “demon” in many forms. Benkei himself is called a demon, not because he has monstrous features, but because of his monstrous past. Shanao, by the same token, has become such a relentless killing machine that his soul no longer resembles that of a man’s. Although compared to the brutish Benkei, the effeminate and regal Shanao seems like a mere pretender to the throne. When the two first meet, the intensity boils to unbearable proportions even though they never attack each other.

This was definitely a dark, DARK movie. I guess that would be expected from a Asano film. But respectively, it wasn't overly gory or harsh. The feelings of the movie were that of sorrow and remorse.

Supposedly the dark ages, Japan style, this movie got a wee bit confusing. I guess I really didn't know who to route for. Understandibly Shanao took revenge on the Heike clan because his family were murdered when he was a young boy. So it wasn't like he was just out to murder people because he felt like it, but yet as time went on revenge was no longer a factor. I think at that point his character felt that to become great he had to beat a certain force that was holding him back.....hence, Benkei.

Benkei came across as this great guy who was seen as the bad guy but yet as we go on in the story, he had used to be a bad guy and gone into "monk-dom" (Is that even a word? LOL!) to cleanse his soul of his wrong doings. While in seclusion, a supposed god came to him in a dream and told him to kill the two headed demon.

The story goes on...slowly...but this story was more interesting when it came upon Tetsukichi. I thought he was more fascinating and his history should have been more delved into. Ahh...but that is movie life. Ehh.

But in all, the movie was pretty good. Another best rented than seen at the movies. Asano Tadanobu, again, rocked my world.

Strawberry Shortcakes (Sutoroberii Shooto Keikusu/ストロベリーショートケイクス-2006)

Starring:
Chizuru Ikewaki - Satoko
Noriko Nakagoshi - Chihiro
Yuko Nakamura - Akiyo
Kiriko Nananan - Toko
Ryo Kase - Nagai
Masanobu Ando - Kikuchi
Ayaka Maeda - Michiru
Seminosuke Murasugi
Yoko Ishino


Based on the eponymous manga for girls by cartoonist Kiriko Nananan, the pic follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives. The main characters, impeccably played by four powerful actresses, are modern, self-sufficient women and their stories are told with mild irony and a dash of melancholy. The result is a movie that is lighthearted at times, a little sad at others, crazy and sometimes serious, but always special, that investigates the psychology of its characters and offers an accurate depiction of urban Japan, thanks to its director’s know-how. While many overly ambitious directors struggle to tell even one fairly comprehensible story, Yazaki skillfully weaves a powerful depiction of not one, but four women, creating an indissoluble and moving whole that doesn’t succumb to sentimentalism.
I'm not sure if I liked this movie or not. It was a slow movie and the characters looked so much alike I couldn't tell who was who. So that was really confusing. And just when I thought I was going to start liking it....*boom!*....the movie was over.

It had a strange aura about it. I couldn't really feel any happiness in it. Sort of a gloomy movie. Even the end, even though they seemed to be in better spirits couldn't make up for the "gray clouds" that hung over this movie.

I so desperately wanted to like this movie because it had Masanobu Ando. But his little bit piece in the movie just wasn't enough to make this movie any better. Okay, naked Ando-san was a nice touch. LOL! *smiles*

If you are desperate, depressed, suicidal, or any of the combination of the three, don't watch this movie.

Scrap Heaven (スクラップ・ヘブン-2005)

Starring:
Ryo Kase - Shingo
Joe Odagiri - Tetsu
Chiaki Kuriyama - Saki Fujimura
Akira Emoto
Akira Shoji
Sawa Suzuki
Takama Suzuki
Hidekazu Mashima

Shingo is a frustrated clerk at a police station, Tetsu is stressed out over his mentally ill father and Saki has an inferiority complex over her artificial eye. Together they have the misfortune to be riding the same bus when a terrorist strikes. Shingo is frozen with fear as he helplessly watches Tetsu get shot and the gunman take aim at Saki. A few months later, Shingo is back to shuffling paper at his dead end desk job with no hopes of becoming a detective. He also still suffers guilt over the bus incident. One day, Shingo coincidentally runs into Tetsu and he pours out his suppressed feelings about the shooting.
Together they fantasize about revenge, talk about retaliation and how they can make a business out of it. Their scheme is simple. A client must provide ID credentials. The request for revenge cannot be revealed to the third party. There is no second chance and nobody gets hurt. They scrawl graffiti to solicit customers and begin to get customers.
Their first clients include a patient after a doctor for malpractice and a kid who wants to get back at his abusive mother. Tetsu and Shingo keep playing the revenge game walking the thin line to becoming full on criminals! Shingo starts to crave the feeling of power and omnipotence. He feels some debt to Saki after the bus attack but his efforts to help her always fail.
Meanwhile Tetsu increasingly approaches the revenge game like childs play and hatches a plan to steal guns from police boxes. Eventually, the game goes too far and Tetsu and Shingo dangerously spin out of control.

OMG! It's official....Odagiri Joe....the best damn actor ever!! Damn, he's so freakin' cool and I loved him in this. Sheesh! I can't think of a movie that he didn't do an awesome job even if the movie sucked...he never did. *<3>

Then there is Kase Ryo. First off, he's American....holy shnikeys! I didn't realize. I know I've seen him in other movies but this is the first one where he isn't supporting. He rocked my world.

The first part of the movie I was laughing my ass off. Damn, it was funny. Don't we all wish we could pay back jerks who have done us wrong! I'd have hired them in a second!

I know the reality of it all that "what goes around, comes around" could and should happen. But "what comes around" that being Shingo and Tetsu shouldn't "go around" again. They increased the bad karma upon themselves and it ended up coming back on them. I guess this could be a learning experience for most of us that "an eye for an eye" doesn't necessarily mean that's a good thing.

Extremely well written for both Odagiri and Kase and their acting abilities. Definitely a keeper of a movie!!

Odagiri Joe

69 (シクスティナイン-2004)

Starring:
Satoshi Tsumabuki - Kenichi Yazaki
Masanobu Ando - Tadashi "Adama" Yamada
Yuta Kanai - Manabu Iwase
Asami Mizukawa - Mie Nagayama
Rina Ohta - Kazuko "Lady Jane" Matsui
Yoko Mitsuya - Yumi Sato
Hirofumi Arai - Bancho
Hideko Hara - Kenichi's mother
Ittoku Kishibe - Matsunaga sensei
Jun Kunimura - Sasaki
Kyohei Shibata - Kenichi's father
Noriko Eguchi
Tasuku Emoto - Tatsuo Masugaki
Gen Hoshino - Yuzuru Nakamura
Haruka Igawa - Alpharomeo girl
Ryo Kase - Ryo Otaki
Rinko Kikuchi
Kenta Kiritani - Yuji Shirogushi
Fumiyo Kohinata - Yoshioka sensei
Hidekazu Mashima
Rie Minemura - Fumiko sensei
Yoko Mitsuya
Akifumi Miura - Goro Narushima
Yosuke Miyauchi - Shirai
Yoshiyuki Morishita - Adachi
Jun Murakami - Yakuza
Shunsuke Sawada - Ezaki
Toshiyuki Seyama - Scribe
Kyusaku Shimada - Aihara sensei
Suzunosuke
Kosuke Toyohara - Kawasaki sensei
Yoshiaki Yoza - Kiyoshi Fukushima

Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, 1969: inspired by the iconoclastic example of Dylan, Kerouac, Godard and Che, a band of mildly disaffected teenagers led by the smilingly charismatic Ken (Tsumabuki Satoshi) decide to shake up "the establishment" - i.e. their repressive school and the nearby US military installation. A series of anarchic pranks meets with varying levels of success, until Ken and company focus their energies on mounting a multimedia ‘happening' to combine music, film and theatre. Complications ensue.

This was an all out awesome movie. The version I watched had a few minor subbing boo-boo's (ie....incorrect English grammar) but I got the gist of it.

This was a great coming of age movie set during 1969. The comedy was hilarious. Teenagers, males, who thought of getting their first lay, becoming rock stars, making a name for themselves and all they had to go through to get there. LOL! This was a genius of a movie. Satoshi-san was a riot as Ken...oh, the first 30 minutes of the movie had me laughing so hard. Ken, loves to tell stories and one of them was about a certain particular body part. Then there was when the 3rd year student took over the school and one of the students played a naugty song over the loud speaker about the same particular body part. What a hoot!

Loved, loved, loved this!!

Tsumabuki Satoshi


Masanobu Ando

About Love (Guan yu ai -2005)

Starring:
Bo-lin Chen - Yao (segment "Tokyo")
Mavis Fan - A-Su (segment "Taipei")
Yui Ichikawa - Yuka (segment 'Tokyo')
Misaki Ito - Michiko (segment "Tokyo")
Ryo Kase - Tecchan (segment "Taipei")
Lu Lu - Yun (segment "Shanghai") (as Xiaolu Li)
Ren Osugi - Shop owner (segment 'Tokyo')
Takashi Tsukamoto - Shuhei (segment "Shanghai")
Rui Yang - Min



Consisting of three vignettes about cross-cultural love set in three different cities (Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai), 'About Love' is a film made by three directors with six idols from Japan, Mainland China, and Taiwan. In each vignette, a foreigner and a resident, both in their twenties, try to transgress cultural and language barriers and explore something 'About Love'.
TOKYO
Cast: Ito Misaki, Wilson Chen Bo-lin
A Taiwanese student in Japan yearns to become a successful digital cartoonist. One day he passes by a heartbroken young graphic artist who possesses a quality that intrigues him...
TAIPEI
Cast: Kase Ryo, Mavis Fan
A newcomer from Japan in Taipei who eagerly hopes for a one-night-stand receives a call from a local girl for help. He speeds to her place only to find that his task is merely to help A-Su assmemble a bookshelf...
SHANGHAI
Cast: Tsukamoto Takashi, Li Xiaolu
A young Japanese student lives on the second floor of a general store in Shanghai. The landlady's daughter falls in love with him at first sight, but he is still filled with thoughts of his sweetheart in Japan...

I think I watched this backwards. Didn't mean to. Just didn't know which order was what. Anyway, to an extent it was probably for the best. It made the Tokyo segment more understandible but yet the other two less. I guess if I watched them now in the right order it would all make more sense. LOL!

The other two segments contained a little something that dealt with the Tokyo segment and vice-versa.

I think my favorite segment was Shanghai. It seemed more innocent BUT I was totally lost at the end. I didn't understand what happened to Yun and her building. And I wanted closure between Shuhei and Yun. It was so sweet and poignant when Shuhei discovered what "Te Quiero!" meant. They translated it as "I love you," which surprises me because the literal translation is "I want you." Either way.....it was so sad and sweet at the same time.

Tsukamoto Takashi


Wilson Chen