Some of you may remember I was hoping this movie would play at Fantasia last year, but apparently it wasn't ready in time. However, it played at this year's festival, and I just saw it last night with a very enthusiastic crowd at the sold-out Montreal premiere.

As Zab already mentioned here, this movie isn't actually going to rival anything in terms of widespread commercial appeal. But I thought it was quite good, better than I expected from the trailer, actually.

I just posted a review on the profile, so I'll just copy it here:

This was much, much better than I expected. The special effects and costumes are rather cheesy, but two things save the movie: 1. the charismatic young lead gives a pretty good performance and manages to make you care for the character, in spite of the cartoon-like that the movie often has; and 2. Miike infuses the narrative with his trademark brand of insanity, grotesque violence, potent sexual symbolism, and outrageous sense of humour. Viewers familiar with Miike's work will recognize his usual concern with themes like the clash between traditional values and our alienating, technology-driven, post-modern condition, although if you're not looking for it, it'll probably just go over you head. Overall, though, if you can get past the over-the-top action, this is a pretty good movie with a lot more substance (and a lot more adult-oriented) than something like The Power Rangers.

*

PS: I agree with Zab that there isn't much of an attempt to explain the Japanese folklore elements to the Western audience, which is understandable since the movie's target audience is primarily Japanese and they would already be familiar with this stuff. But I always kind of expect that from any fantasy film from Japan, and it didn't really take away much of my enjoyment of the film. I'd say if you can enjoy something like the immensely popular animation film Spirited Away, then you shoudln't have any problem with this either. (Both are based on the same mythology.)

And suprisingly, even though this is a fantasy film, the narrative was much more straightforward and conventional than most Miike films I've seen, though not without its moments of disorienting meta-cinematic cleverness.

One last note: I'd love to see Ryunosuke Kamiki in something else. He's cute and I thought his performance was really good.

Quote:

On video this week.  Did you forget yet?

I have seen again this japanese movie this afternoon. Ryunoske KAMIKI have a very good play in part od Tadeshi. My movie rating is 7/10.

I have also in my DVD the movie of 1968. I think to see his this evening. The DVD with  the 2 movies is now available in France by amazon.fr in japanese with french substitles.