Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

greyfire This movie had an impact on me like no other film had before. Two 14 year olds coming from abusive homes are forced to look at their lives and see where they plan on taking them. The main character, Yuichi Sumida, claims early in the film that he just wants to be ordinary. Keiko Shazawa happily agrees with him since she is infatuated with him. Neither of the teen's parents could care less about them. The girl's parents go as far to create a noose from which they want their daughter to commit suicide, since she is only a disappointment in their eyes. Yuichi and his mom run a boat shop which he runs on his own after she abandons him. His father shows up only to ask for money and abuse his son. The bad parenting in this film may be an exaggerated representation of Japenese culture, in how much pressure children are put under in order to succeed. The teens in this film have obviously given up on any dreams of success they may have once had. The Yakuza comes to collect the debt that Yuichi's father owes them and this pushes his mind to a point where he becomes confused and violent. After this point, the film takes a turn. The first third is filled with comedy - the scenes with Yuichi and Keiko fighting, I found the most amusing - but the second two thirds are dealing with dark subject matter. Things become more shocking and also more intriguing. Anger and that has been built up in Yuichi is let out in unhealthy, though sometimes helpful ways. He commits an act that he feels guilty about and isn't sure what to do, leading him to try to find himself in scenes that I found very powerful. The sorrow, frustration and hopelessness I saw on screen resonated with me in ways incomparable with any other works of fiction. To put it bluntly, Himizu is a coming-of-age story for angsty teens that aren't sure where their life is headed. By the way this isn't an insult, given how much I could relate.

Turin_Horse Senseless violence, histrionic personages, forced situations repeated once and again, a pointless script plot and story, unjustified brutality, incoherent and unconnected scenes just piled up together... A bunch of personages seem to have lost any leitmotiv in their lives along with all their possessions after the Tsunami that swept away their belongings. The protagonist is the one in the neighborhood who lost less and still keeps a house and a small boat renting business, yet he is the one with a more bleak attitude towards life and his own future, something that is comprehensible on the basis that he is an adolescent with a fully broken family and a father coming home just to insult and beat him up. Basically, during the first half of the film we witness a series of violent, close to sadistic acts exerted on the protagonist, and in the second part it is time for the protagonist to exert the same violence on whoever he considers deserving of it... ¿what conclusion can we draw from all this?... none really, unless someone wants to find some overall sense to the film in the last (pathetic and ridiculous!) scene. Besides, there is not a coherent story line anywhere, we hardly ever get to know the why of particular actions in the different personages, actions that systematically stem from or lead to a completely senseless violence.The female protagonist, a classmate of the guy, is the total reverse of him; she loves him, and tries by every means to draw his attention (despite his hostile, dismissing and abusing attitude towards her), making for him things that go far beyond what can be considered reasonable. Yet some funny scenes with this female character as protagonist are the only ones in the film that can be watchable (and the only reason why I give it 2 stars instead of 1).Some pieces of classical music used pointlessly with tiresome insistence in every part of the film complete this terrible more-than-two hours movie theater experience. Please skip it.

syd_barret65 For those who have watched Ki-Duk Kim's Address Unknown, wild animals, bad guy or others, this Himizu could fit in that series of films. Personally, as I just mentioned, I find this movie highly influenced by Ki-Duk Kim's style in the first hour and then by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel: Crime and Punishment in the second hour, with the girl encouraging the boy to turn himself in. This mixture between the korean director and the classic Russian novel makes a superb drama that can please both sono & Kim's fans. I also find Sono away from his classic films such as Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table, Coldfish, Strange Circus, etc. In Himizu there's the tendency to a drama more than a bizarre film like the classic ones of this director, yet a superb one.

Fotodude Some of you already know I'm a huge fan of Love Exposure, but I hadn't seen anything else from Sono until this, so I was greatly anticipating it. It's set in post-tsunami Japan, and this setting is not only a context but a very important part of the plot, perhaps too much so especially at the ending when the film turns a little into a moralizing or even propaganda piece, with the main character crying "Don't give up!" repeatedly while we see images of the ravages of the flood. I gotta say those last minutes moved me to the verge of tears though, but that has more to do with how it builds up and connects previous elements shown in the film in a rather messy way. But I think that's the Sono way, with quick shots and thoughts put together, unexpected transitions, poetry mixed up with violence, sometimes inscrutable characters... This film also has some powerful cinematography going for it, with thinned down and warm colors, probably with some filter involved or maybe just postproduction grading to create this beautiful effect. Also worthy of notice is the soundtrack, with pieces from Mozart and Barber that enhance the poignancy of the film. So in the end it's a tragic and also hopeful love story, with different situations involved that make true sense only towards the end. It has some disturbing scenes, with parents who want their children dead or people who want to kill other people in the street for no rational reason... Situations that are quite effective in portraying not only the material but also the moral and mental damages that can be caused by such an event as last year's tsunami. Still, it's no match to Love Exposure, and I don't think anything else from Sono is/will be.****