Category: Suspense

Suspect X 嫌疑犯X的獻身

Japan 2008
Director : Hiroshi Nishitani
Masaharu Fukuyama ... Manabu Yukawa
Kou Shibasaki ... Kaoru Utsumi
Kazuki Kitamura ... Shumpei Kusanagi
Yasuko Matsuyuki ... Yasuko Hanaoka
Shin'ichi Tsutsumi ... Tetsuya Ishigami

A murder case that becomes a mind game between two genuises, one tries to cover up for the real murderer and the other tries to find the truth. The two genuises are actually classmates 17 years ago and respect each other. Will the truth ever be revealed? Why does a top genius go to such length to protect a murderer?

This is not a story of suspense because the truth was already laid out in front of the audience, this is a story of human relationship that will drive people to do the extreme to protect each other. An entertaining and interesting story that also has a twist.

Trick

Type: Comedy Drama Suspense, Japan 2000

Director: K?ji Makita

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Yukie Nakama .... Naoko Yamada
Hiroshi Abe .... Jiro Ueda
Katsuhisa Namase .... Kenz? Yabe

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Yukie is a bad magician, no one watches her show. Her father was a magician too. One day she was asked by a couple from a very strange village to go to their village and pretend to be god. She is so down and out of luck that she decided to take this assignment. Her friend Hiroshi who is a professor who is also going to the same village trying to unearth some hidden treasure. The villagers believe that the village is cursed and every 300 years there will be a big disaster and this is the year. Yukie and Hiroshi are going to meet with some strange people, some of the them like Yukie are here to pretend that they are god...

My review:
A funny black comedy, quite entertaining. There is a TV drama of the same name. This is the movie edition.

Belph?gor - Le fant?me du Louvre

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Belphegor: Le Phantom Du Louvre (buy from Amazon)
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Belph?gor - Le Fant?me Du Louvre (Widescreen - Original French with subtitles) (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama Suspense, France 2001

Director: Jean-Paul Salom?

My rating: 2
Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Lisa/Belph?gor
Michel Serrault .... Verlac
Fr?d?ric Diefenthal .... Martin
Julie Christie .... Glenda Spender

Posted by Dominic
Story:
In 1935 a French archaeologist brought back an unnamed mummy from Egypt to France and stored it in Louvre, little did he know that this mummy has been condemmed and shall be stuck in the in-between worlds. The mummy becomes known as the phantom of the Louvre and has killed many guides and it is trying desparately to get to the next world...

My review:
I must say the initial story line looks quite interesting but the actual movie was not that exciting.

The Cube

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Cube (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama SciFi Suspense, Canada 1997

Director: Vincenzo Natali

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Nicole de Boer .... Joan Leaven (The Math Student)
Nicky Guadagni .... Helen Holloway (The Doctor)
David Hewlett .... David Worth (The Architect)
Andrew Miller .... Kazan (The Autistic Man)
Julian Richings .... Alderson (The First Victim)
Wayne Robson .... Rennes (The Fugitive)
Maurice Dean Wint .... Quentin (The Cop)

Story:
7 completely strangers with very different background found themselves woke up in a strange place - a cube with doors on each of the 6 surfaces and each door leads to another cube and there seems to be endless number of cubes and many cubes have deadly traps. Why are they here? How or will they ever get out of the cube?

My review:
Interesting concepts and story lines. Very different from mainstream movies, refreshing. Though this is not to everyone's liking. I quite like it.

Jam Films (7 short movies)


Type: Comedy Drama Romantic SciFi Suspense, Japan 2002

Director: See below

My rating: 5

Key actors/actresses:
Directors: Daizaburo Hanada ("Opening"), J么ji Iida ("Cold Sleep"), Shunji Iwai ("Arita"), Ryuhei Kitamura ("The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead"), Rokuro Mochizuki ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg"), Tetsuo Shinohara ("Kendama"), Yukihiko Tsutsumi ("Hijiki"), Isao Yukisada ("Justice")

Natsuko Akiyama .... ("Hijiki")
Kuranosuke Sasaki .... ("Hijiki")
Megumi Takahashi .... ('Hijiki')
Megumi Uziie .... ('Hijiki' & 'Kendama')
Masayoshi Yamazaki .... ("Kendama")
Ryoko Shinohara .... ("Kendama")
Hirofumi Arai .... ('Justice')
Haruka Ayase .... ("Justice")
Hitomi Kurihara .... ('Justice')
Akifumi Miura .... ('Justice')
Christian Storms .... ('Justice')
Satoshi Tsumabuki .... ("Justice"
Ryoko Hirosue .... ("Arita")
Kazuki Kitamura .... ("The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead")
Tak Sakaguchi .... ('The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead')
Kanae Uotani .... The messenger ('The Messenger - Requiem for the Dead')
Akaji Maro .... ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg")
Takami Yoshimoto .... ("Pandora - Hong Kong Leg")Takao Osawa .... ("Cold Sleep")
Samuel Pop .... ('Cold Sleep')
Albert Smith .... ('Cold Sleep')
Tomomi Tsunoda .... ("Cold Sleep")
Yasutaka Tsutsui .... ('Cold Sleep')

Posted by Dominic
Story:
7 stories by 7 different directors, comedy, suspense, sci-fi, romantic, you name it. Quite fun to watch 7 short pieces.

My review:
Quite fun to watch 7 short pieces. All nicely made, since each has only about 15 mins, they have to impress the audience pretty much from the beginning. I won't spoiled you with the details of the storyline.

The tale of the unusual

Type: Comedy Drama Horror SciFi, Japan 2000

Director: Mamoru Hosi, Masayuki Ochiai, Hisao Ogura, Masayuki Suzuki

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Kazuyuki Aijima .... Manabe (segment: One Snowy Night)/Salaryman (segment: The Storyteller)
Izumi Inamori .... Chiharu Takajo (segment: The Marriage Simulator)
Renji Ishibashi .... Old Man (segment: Chess)
Takashi Kashiwabara .... Yuichi Tokunagi (segment: The Marriage Simulator)
Narumi Kayashima .... (segment: The Marriage Simulator)
Masahiro Komoto .... Seiichi Tomoda (segment: Chess)
Kiichi Nakai .... (segment: Samurai Cellular)
Yukiko Okamoto .... Kumi Kato (segment: Chess)
Megumi Okina .... Karu (segment: Samurai Cellular)
Ren Osugi .... Yoshiaki Yamauchi (segment: One Snowy Night)
Kazuma Suzuki .... Takuro Yuki (segment: One Snowy Night)
Saya Takagi .... (segment: The Marriage Simulator)

Full story »

8 femmes

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8 Women (buy from Amazon)

Type: Suspence, France 2002

Director: Fran?ois Ozon

My rating: 4
Buy it now:
Barnes And Noble online
Key actors/actresses:
Danielle Darrieux .... Mamy
Catherine Deneuve .... Gaby
Isabelle Huppert .... Augustine
Emmanuelle B?art .... Louise
Fanny Ardant .... Pierrette
Virginie Ledoyen .... Suzon
Ludivine Sagnier .... Catherine
Firmine Richard .... Madame Chanel
Dominique Lamure .... Marcel, the husband

Other similar movies: La Fid?lit?, Anthony Zimmer, Swimming Pool, Needing You, l'Etudiante, more
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Country: France
Type(s): Comedy
Drama

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Eight women in the house with one dead man, who is the killer? What are the relationships of the man with these 8 women?

My review:
Very entertaining and amusing. Fun to watch, full of twist and turns.

The Butterfly Effect

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The Butterfly Effect (Infinifilm Edition) (buy from Amazon)

Type: Thriller, Suspense, USA 2004

Director:Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Ashton Kutcher .... Evan Treborn
Melora Walters .... Andrea Treborn
Amy Smart .... Kayleigh Miller
Elden Henson .... Lenny Kagan
William Lee Scott .... Tommy Miller

Posted by Dominic
Story:
It is said that the moving of the the butterfly's wing can trigger a storm far far away.

Evan's father is locked up in a mental institution and Evan himself is having black outs at critical moments, his mother is worried that Evan will follow the footsteps of his father. Doctor suggests that he should keep a dairy to record the events before and after the black outs. When Evan grows up, he soon realises he is able to alter his past by reading his dairy, but can he control the results, the changes have far reaching consequences that is totally un-anticipated...

My review:
The beginning of this movie was quite scary and I like the plot very much, particularly the ending of the movie.

Don't we all want to be able to change something in the past, but how can we control the consequences, how do we know that what we are experiencing now is the optimal result? Be content with present!

Anthony Zimmer

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Anthony Zimmer (Original French Version with English Version) (buy from Amazon)


Type: Suspense Thriller, France 2005

Director: J?r?me Salle

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Chiara
Yvan Attal .... Francois Taillandier
Sami Frey .... Akerman
Gilles Lellouche .... M??ller
Daniel Olbrychski .... Nassaiev

Story:
Anthony Zimmer is one of the most wanted man in France by the French authority and the Russians, because he helps big international criminal organisation to laundary their money. Very good at his work and smart to avoid getting caught, changing his face from time to time. The only weapon French government has is Chiara, a French agent sent to approach Zimmer before, and they are still in love. Unsure about Chiara's loyalty, she is asked to hunt down Zimmer, or better Zimmer will come to her. To disrupt the chase, Chiara picks up a random guy on the train called Francois and claims that he is her lover Zimmer, landing Francois in deep trouble...

My review:
Full of twist and turns but no real surprise, Sophie Marceau is as beautiful as ever.

Yureru

Posted by Ryoko

Type: Drama Suspense, Japan 2006

Director:Miwa Nishikawa

My rating: 5
Key actors/actresses:
Joe Odagiri : Takeshi
Teruyuki Kagawa: Minoru

Story:
"Yureru" (literally "swing") is a story of two brothers. Minoru works for the family business, a gas station, and takes care of his father in Yamanashi, the suburbs of Tokyo. On the other hand, his younger brother, Takeshi, works as a photographer in Tokyo. However, their world got upside-down by an accidental death of a female friend of their childhood.
"Yureru" was invited to Fortnight Program at Cannes Film Festival this year.
You can see its trailer here: http://www.yureru.com/trailers/

My review:
I?m proud of those great actors in Japan: Odagiri and Kagawa. Especially as for Odagiri, he is very popular here but I was not interested in him at all until I watched this film.
Why did I watch this film? Because I heard a good reputation for ?Yureru?, in addition, happened to read Odagiri?s interview on a magazine, which made me feel curious: he mentioned that he felt so jealous toward Miwa Nishikawa, the young female director of this film because ?she is in the nearly same age but she is so talented. Amazing!?.
Last August, my friend and I watched this film at a small theater in the afternoon on a weekday, and every seat was full up with many men & women of all ages. Its story is trilling and creeps up on you. It?s not a horror movie but a psychological drama. You may feel something tense between Odagiri?s and Kagawa?s plays from the beginning to the end. There is no room for poor players for this movie.
Well, I?m really looking forward to reading Dominic?s review of ?Yureru?, and will let you know my review after watching ?Shinobi? starring Odagiri.

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