Leglessbird Movie Guide

Type: Drama, Comedy, Japan 2005

Director: Kenji Uchida

My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Yasuhi Nakamura .... Takeshi Miyata
Reika Kirishima .... Maki Kuwata
S? Yamanaka .... Yusuke Kanda
Yuka Itaya .... Ayumi Kurata
Kisuke Yamashita .... Asai

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Faith has brought a self-pity woman who just decided to leave her fiance, a salary-man who still misses the woman that dumped him 6 months ago, a private detective, a con woman and the gangster leader together, though they don't know it themselves. Their story intertwine and it all happens in one strange evening. As the story unfolds, you will know things are never as simple as they look.

My review:
Very clever plot and the story is being told backward, as we go back in time, the dots are connected. This reminds me so much of "Momento", though completely different story. Highly entertaining!

Tae Guk Gi - The Brotherhood of War (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, South Korea 2004

Director: Je-gyu Kang

My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Dong-Kun Jang .... Jin-tae
Bin Won .... Jin-seok
Eun-ju Lee .... Young-shin

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Two brothers happily living in a small city with their mother. The elder brother, Jin-Tae repairs shoes for a living to support the family and the younger brother Jin-seok to study. Jin-tae has planned to married Young-shin soon. The Korean civil war broke out on 25 June 1950, the two brothers have been unwillingly drafted to fight in the army. Jin-tae sworn to protect his younger brother, he intended to fight hard and obtain the Medal of honour in order to secure Jin-seok's early return to home. But Jin-tae did not have the understanding of Jin-seok and the war has turned Jin-tae's world upside down...

My review:
This is Korean's answer to USA's saving private ryan. The war scenes are intense and well filmed.

The brotherly love during war time creates very strong bonding and can change people's value and perception. It shows how the war can make people crazy. The Korean war is a very sad tragedy in Korean history where people of the same race are fighting and killing each other. It has been used as countless storyline in Korean movies.

Overall, Taegukgi is well filmed and well acted. Very entertaining. Though I think the mis-understanding between the brothers was a bit far-stretched.

Zatoichi /Sonatine Double Bill (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama Thriller, Japan 2003

Director: Takeshi Kitano

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Takeshi Kitano .... Zatoichi/Ichi (as Beat Takeshi)
Tadanobu Asano .... Hattori Genosuke
Michiyo Ookusu .... Aunt O-Ume
Gadarukanaru Taka .... Shinkichi

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Zatoichi is a blind swordsman who earns his living by giving massages and gambling. In this movie, Zatoichi is up against a gang which runs the town and has a very able swordsman in the gang. Zatoichi is helping a brother and sister whose parents were killed by the gangsters many years ago.

My review:
Very good performance by Takeshi as you would expect. The blind swordsman is a very well known story in Japan, this is yet another blind swordsman story played by a fine actor.

A Very Long Engagement (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama Romantic, France 2004

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Audrey Tautou .... Mathilde
Gaspard Ulliel .... Manech
Jean-Pierre Becker .... Lieutenant Esperanza
Dominique Bettenfeld .... Ange Bassignano
Clovis Cornillac .... Beno?t Notre-Dame
Marion Cotillard .... Tina Lombardi

Posted by Dominic
Story:
During War war I, 5 French soliders were sentenced to death for self-inflicting wounds in the hope of early release from the army. Instead, they got caught and were sent to the front line, a no-man land between the German and French battlefield, unarmed and constantly in the cross-fire, they were going to die for sure. One of the 5 soliders was a young man by the name Manech who had a fianc?¦called Mathilde. After the war ended, Mathilde was determined that Manech survived and she embarked on a journey to find out what really happened and to search for Manech.

My review:
I am a big fan of Am?lie and this film was made by the same team that brought us Am?lie. The story is fairly complicated and it can be hard to follow, you really need to pay attention in order to understand it. The film has done a great job in bring back the 1910s/20s feel of France. The war scene pretty impressive.

All in all it is a good film with a complicated storyline. I won't spoil it by telling you the ending.

The Dinner Game (buy from Amazon)
Type: Comedy, France 1998

Director: Francis Veber

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Thierry Lhermitte .... Pierre Brochant
Jacques Villeret .... Fran?ois Pignon
Francis Huster .... Just Leblanc
Daniel Pr?vost .... Cheval
Alexandra Vandernoot .... Christine Brochant

Story:
A bunch of friends play a dinner game every Wednesday, each one brings a guest and whoever's guest is the most stupid idiot wins. So they all look out for idiots. With a little help from a friend, Pierre finds at the last minute an idoit called Pignon, Pierre thinks he has a winner! Pignon arrives at Pierre's place and they are going to leave for the dinner party, the problem is Pierre hurt his back and he is going to miss the dinner. Pierre soon realises his nightmare has just begun from the moment he invites Pignon

My review:
A very funny storyline and carefully crafted script, highly entertaining!

Zatoichi 20 - Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, Japan 1970

Director: Kihachi Okamoto

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Shintar� Katsu .... Zatoichi
Toshiro Mifune .... Yojimbo
Ayako Wakao .... Umeno
Osamu Takizawa .... Yasuke Eboshiya
Masakane Yonekura .... Boss Masagoro (as Sakatoshi Masakane)

Story:
Zatoichi, a blind but very skilled swordsman, is tired of killing and drifting from places to places. He returns to a place that he visited 3 years ago, he remembers it as a nice and quiet town. Not anymore, the town has been occupied by gangsters and the secret police also has their eyes on this town to search for gold. The gangsters want to send their Yojimbo to deal with Zatoichi.

My review:
Two of the most famous swordsmen in Japanese movies, Yojimbo and Zatoichi played also by the 2 most appropriate actors, all in one movie. One of the reasons that the Zatoichi series is so attractive is that a seemingly handicapped person is so powerful that he possesses the ability to right the wrongs and the baddies are always punished.

The Hidden Blade (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, Japan 2004

Director: Yoji Yamada

My rating: 4

Key actors/actresses:
Masatoshi Nagase
Takako Matsu
Hidetaka Yoshioka
Yukiyoshi Ozawa

Posted by Dominic
Story:
At the end of the Edo era, a kind hearted samurai called Munezo was living in a rapidly changing time where Japan was full of corrupted warloads and the Western world was starting to influence Japan. Munezo was a highly skilled swordsman who had not killed a single person and he was forced to confront his friend, a fellow student under the same sword master, his friend had turned into a rebel. He became very tired of the injustice in the system...

My review:
Very well filmed with the finest actors. It brings out the emotion of the character very well, Munezo's kind, warm character and his love and affection towards the housemaid Kei, his reluctant to fight his old friend and in the end he decides to take justice in his own way. Not a typical samurai with blind obedient towards the warload master.

I like the fighting scene between Munezo and his friend, so reluctant yet inevitable, he was so unsure of his new trick that he recently learnt from his sword master just for this fight, his heart was full of contradiction. I also like the relationship development between Munezo and Kie, though predictable. Was Munezo a good samurai? Probably not.

Osama (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, Afghanistan 2003

Director: Siddiq Barmak

My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Marina Golbahari .... Osama
Arif Herati .... Espandi
Zubaida Sahar .... Mother

Story:
Another movie about Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. A woman who worked at the hospital that was closed, so she lost her job and the only way to continue to feed the family is to ask her 12-year old daughter to pretend to be a boy and work. It was no easy and soon she got caught...

My review:
A poor country in a turbulent time. This is the second movie about Afghanistan that I watched recently. I can't help but feel really sorry for what this country is going through and how thankful that we are living in a comfortable stable society.

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 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.