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Poison Berry in my Brain (2015)
Director: Sato Yuichi
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Loved it!! A funny rom-com that doesn't do the cliche thing of trying to build a story on a quirky girl stuck between choosing the "right" man to be happy with. It instead asks a more important question "are you happy with yourself?" The romance angle is the least important part of the film. In Poison Berry in my Brain there are no quirky caricatures or good or bad men. It's just an honest and funny film about how people sometimes allow love to kill the part of themselves that felt happiness.
Neko Samurai 2: A Tropical Adventure (2015)
Director: Takeshi Watanabe
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: She's back! Cute and cuddly Tamonojo returns! This sequel has more cat goodness. Great fun.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Number of viewings: ~5
Comments: I have always had an ambivalent feeling towards this film. I hated it during my first viewing and over time I've grown to love it, but even though I now believe this film to be an essential Kubrick the film's length precludes me to doze off in some scenes.
That Thing Called Tadhana (2015)
Director: Antoinette Jadaone
Number of viewings: 2
Comments: Brilliant. Favorite Romantic comedy of the year. Jadaone takes a very well-worn genre and, though not reinventing the wheel, adds fresh life into it. You actually root for the two leads to get together. Beautiful cinematography.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Director: George Miller
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Favorite action film of the year so far. I hope the franchise continues if this is the direction George Miller is taking it. The almost 2 hour runtime flew by so fast. Modern action filmmaking should start with this film. CGI in service of the story and action.
It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (2014)
Director: Emily Ting
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Godawful. White guy teaching Asian girl how to get in touch with her Asian roots. Jamie Chung's character is so helpless in this film. Not even close to approaching Linklater's Before trilogy. So many cliché shots. Terrible on the nose dialogue.
Round Trip Heart (2015)
Director: Yuki Tanada
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Fascinating film, but began to lose interest after awhile. Nothing particularly special or memorable about this film. Loved Yuko Oshima and Koji Ookura's performances though.
A Farewell to Jinu (2015)
Director: Suzuki Matsuo
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Hilarious. A farcical look at small town politics. Definitely one of the films that can be said to be a product of the recession.
This Country's Sky (2015)
Director: Haruhiko Arai
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: A theatrical film that doesn't feel stage bound. Another film about the war, but this time focused on the Japanese home front. Fuji Nikaido subtly conveys the character's unhappiness through action. Last shot of picture directly reference's Francois Truffaut's 400 Blows (1959). Slow, but done to convey the languid pace of the war.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Director: Doug Liman
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Starship Troopers meets Groundhog Day. Emily Blunt gets to do her own looping. She is truly a Full Metal Badass. Exciting action choreography. Actual funny dialogue. Tom Cruise yet again plays a jerk who learns to care about other people through the love of a woman.
Stranger by the Lake (2013)
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Number of viewings: 1
Comments: Poisoned love. A film that could have been penned by Patricia Highsmith. Guiraudie's use of unassimilated sex and nonchalant attitude towards it points to the loneliness that all these gay men feel. The use of a singular location, the lake, illustrates just how removed these men are from the world. Are they hiding?running away? I don't think so, or at least maybe not all of them are. All these men are so mysterious. Michel, is he a self-loathing homosexual or does he murder only when he grows tired of his lovers? So many questions.
Finding Vivian Maier (2013)
Director: John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Number of viewings: 1
Comments:Inspiring documentary about recently unknown artist Vivian Maier. The film is just as much about Maier as it is the filmmakers journey to uncover the story of the artist. The picture revels in the myth of the artist as an outsider. Maier's pictures are beautiful though. A female Robert Frank? I think so, too.
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