Leglessbird Movie Guide

Crying out of Love in the Centre of the World (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama Romantic, Japan 2004

Director: Isao Tukisada 行定勲

My rating: 5

Key actors/actresses:
Sakutaro(Today) 朔太郎...Takao Osawa 大澤隆夫
Ritsuko 律子...Kou Shibasaki 柴崎幸
Sakutaro(High school) 朔太郎...Tsutomu Yamazki 森山未來
Aki 廣瀨亞紀...Masami Nagasawa長澤正美

Story:
Sakutaro is getting married soon, one day his fiancee Ritsuko found a long lost tape that she was supposed to have given to Sakutaro 17 years ago, it is the last recording of Sakutaro's first love at high school - Aki who died 17 years ago of leukemia (blood cancer). Sakutaro has never been able to forget her but simply trying to bury his feeling. Ritsuko goes back to the home town and independently Sakutaro is doing the same, he returns to his home and went through all the tapes that he and Aki recorded for each other and their story is re-told once again.

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Returner (buy from Amazon)

Type: SciFi, Japan 2002

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Takeshi Kaneshiro .... Miyamoto
Anne Suzuki .... Milly
Kirin Kiki .... Xie
Goro Kishitani .... Mizoguchi
Yukiko Okamoto .... Dr. Yagi

Story:
A young girl came from the future to present time, human race at her time was almost wipped out by aliens. Her task is to stop the first incident of alien encounter and the chain of reaction that happened there after. Would she succeed?

My review:
Pretty entertaining, this is the Japanese's answer to ET, independence day, time travel and else. Quite entertaining, nevermind about the logic of the movie,just enjoy the story.

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 »

36 Quai des Orfevres (Original French Version with English Subtitles) (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 2004

Director: Olivier Marchal

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Daniel Auteuil .... L?o Vrinks
G?rard Depardieu .... Denis Klein
Andr? Dussollier .... Robert Mancini
Roschdy Zem .... Hugo Silien
Valeria Golino .... Camille Vrinks
Posted by Dominic
Story:
For months, Paris police is trying to solve a gang of violent armed robberies. Vrinks and Denis are both top police officers who are competing to be the next chief. The race is on, Vrinks takes the risk and relies on a tip-off of a convic, though solves the case but got him into serious trouble. Denis disregards the protocol and results in deaths of fellow officers during gun fight. Denis in defending himself, pushes Vrinks deep into trouble and gets thrown in jail. Denis becomes the new chief...

My review:
Good actors but with such an interesting plot, I expect the movie to be more intense. I didn't find the movie was capturing my attention.

Type: Thriller, Japan 2002

Director: Yoshimitsu Morita

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Masahiro Nakai .... Koichi Amikawa
Kanji Tsuda .... Hiromi Kurihashi
Takashi Fujii .... Kazuaki Takai
Tsutomu Yamazaki .... Yoshio Arima
Yoshino Kimura .... Shigeko Maehata

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A seriel killer is on the loose, the victims are all young woman, tortured then killed. The police has no clue, the killer even calls the TV station during live shows to challenge the policy. The killer contacted an old man who's daughter was one of the victims, the old man is determined to find out who he is...

My review:
I won't spoil it by telling you the plot, the seriel killing is not so straight forward. Interesting way of telling a story, certainly non-linear and the director slowly connecting the dots for you, the movies didn't grasp my attention at all time, at points, it can be confusing to some as the story was told twice from different perspectives.

8 Women (buy from Amazon)
Type: Suspence, France 2002

Director: Fran?ois Ozon

My rating: 4
Buy it now:
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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 Twilight Samurai (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, Japan 2002

Director:Yoji Yamada

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Hiroyuki Sanada .... Seibei Iguchi
Rie Miyazawa .... Tomoe Iinuma
Nenji Kobayashi .... Choubei Kusaka
Ren Osugi .... Toyotarou Kouda
Mitsuru Fukikoshi .... Michinojo Iinuma

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Seibei Iguchi is a low-rank Samurai who suffers poverty as he spends all his money for the family,include a bed-bound wife who is sick, 2 daughters and an old mother. Wife died out of illness and put the family further in debt, but they are happy as a family. Tomoe is Seibei's long time love and childhood friend, Tomoe was just divorced from an abusive husband.Just Tomoe and Seibei may start to develop some special relationship, Seibei decided that Tomoe will suffer too much if she follows him. Until one day, Seibei's brilliant sword skill was discovered and he was sent to deal with a very strong enermy, facing a live or death situation, Seibei confessed to Tomoe that he really loves her...

My review:
The second movie that I watched directed by Yoji Yamada, simply excellent, well directed and well acted. Aduience can feel for the characteres in the movie and the sword fight was very impactful and so was the numerous scenes with Seibei and Tomoe.

Nathalie (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 2003

Director: Anne Fontaine

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Fanny Ardant .... Catherine
Emmanuelle B?art .... Nathalie/Marl?ne
G?rard Depardieu .... Bernard

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A woman is suspious of her husband being the type of men that cheat on their wifes. She went as far as hiring a show-girl to seduce her husband and to report back to her everything that they did. Would the husband fall for it?

My review:
Is my partner faithful? Do people often ask themselves such question? How will one know for sure? Do we need to test our partner to find out? What if we don't like the outcome?

Type: Drama SciFi, Japan 200x

Director:TBD

My rating: 3
Buy it now:
Key actors/actresses:

Posted by Dominic
Story:
In a small Japanese village, some dead people begin to return to life, some were dead for years and some died only very recently. Why is this happening? And what does that mean? What is the impact of their living friends and relatives? A young man who was from this village was being sent to investigate, something most unexpected awaits...

My review:
Interesting film, I particularly like the message. Knowing and understanding death allows us to comprehend and appreciate the meaning of living.

Type: Drama, Japan 2005

Director: Isshin Inudou

My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Masami Nagasawa .... Minami Asakura
Keita Saito .... Kazuya Uesugi
Syota Saito .... Tatsuya Uesugi
Posted by Dominic
Story:
Based on the comic book by Mitsuru Adachi. Kazuya (younger) and Tatsuya (elder) are twin brothers, Minami is the girl next door, the three of them were born in the same year and grew up together. Both brothers love Minami. She has a wish which becomes the common goal of the twin brothers that is to go to Koshien Stadium to play baseball. To do so, they must represent their high school and win the regional competition. Tatsuya doesn't want to compet with his brother and quit baseball, Kazuya is a great baseball player and has led the school team to the regional final, soon Minami's dream will be realised and she is clear on who she loves. On the day of the final game, something happened and Kazuya did not turn up...

My review:
I have always loved this comic by Mitsuru Adachi, also the TV edition which has become a classic. Kazuya and Tatsuya are good and loving brothers, Minami is the kind of girl where every boy dreams about. Mitsuru has created many touching and clever plots in the story with many other interesting characters surrounding Kazuya, Tatsuya and Minami, including the star players in the other baseball teams. I think there is too much in the originally story to be put in a 2-hour movie, the film has done a good job in bringing out the essence, but if you like the movie and have not read the comic or watch the TV series, I'll encourage you to do so.