Member Vegeta84 Posted November 17, 2012 Member Share Posted November 17, 2012 What a cast and a pretty cool concept. This one looks good. http://twitchfilm.com/2012/11/fujiwara-tatsuya-turns-child-killer-in-miike-takashis-shield-of-straw-watch-a-teaser-and-clip-now.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted November 18, 2012 Member Share Posted November 18, 2012 It looks really good, the scene with the money on the table reminds me of the movie Ransom with Mel Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted November 18, 2012 Member Share Posted November 18, 2012 All I see in that teaser is another typical TV level theatrical movie with your usual pretty boy / pretty girl idols cast as killers and agents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Vegeta84 Posted November 18, 2012 Author Member Share Posted November 18, 2012 Goro Kishitani and Tsutomu Yamazaki. 'Nuff Said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 18, 2012 Member Share Posted December 18, 2012 Lesson of the Evil turned out quite good. I a bit was scared of seeing it after Miike's previous effort Ai to Makoto (For Love's Sake) turning out a worthless drivel and Windgrouds' typically pessimistic press recap finding so many negative reviews/phrases to quote. But, to my relief, even the 129 minute running time and lack of any deeper sub-context couldn't prevent the film from being one of the year's more entertaining rides. With most Japanese films these days looking like ass because of either low production values, or that dammed fashionable "contrasts to hell" look (which also make Ai to Makoto pretty ugly to look at), it felt like a bucketful of fresh air to see Lesson of the Evil's razor sharp, natural and colorful visuals. This by far the best looking film Miike has ever done. It's true there isn't much character dept and none of the sharp satire of Fukasaku's Battle Royale (which feels an oddly close comparison) but is that really such a big sin? Lesson of the Evil is a slick thriller with goregeous visuals*, some silly back story, outrageously violent massacre finale, attractive youth cast, and Hideaki Ito's utterly charming performance as The Bold and the Beautiful's Ridge gone shotgun psycho in high school. Yes, it could be better, but who expected Miike's shotgun slasher to aim for the intelligence award of the year? Seeing the lovable English teacher electrifying crows to death at his forest cottage, and listening to Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (1928) you know Miike's not dead yet! Lesson of the Evil should also restore the producer's faith in Miike after the miserable box office failure of Ai to Makoto. In one month Lesson of the Evil has done more money at the domestic box office than The Dark Knight Rises in all year! In the light of the recent real life event all US screening seem destined to be cancelled, though. * a typo that, in closer look, turned out not to be that much of typo anyway. trailer: T-K9LMo2Ojw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yakuza954 Posted December 18, 2012 Member Share Posted December 18, 2012 Glad to hear that Lesson of the Evil is worthwhile. I was pretty much sold on this film from the very beginning -- even when I only knew it was some kind of Confessions/Battle Royale mash-up. Just seemed like a formula tailor-made for Miike to execute. Also, it's something that hadn't crossed my mind at all, so good call about the recent school murders; no doubt this is going to be a movie that us Americans are going to have to import. and Windgrouds' typically pessimistic press recap finding so many negative reviews/phrases to quote. I wouldn't put much stock into what Wildgrounds or European film festival reviewers are either saying or are going to be saying about this kind of film. Wildgrounds in particular seems to have an aversion to anything that isn't Japanese Animation or which doesn't include specific Art-house sensibilities. Hence why something like For Love’s Sake would get glowing remarks for things obviously geared toward being unconventional: "hey, this is abstract! It has lots of colors! Oh, and musicals, too!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Vegeta84 Posted December 18, 2012 Author Member Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm glad this turned out great. Hopefully it comes out in the US soon and hopefully the shootings don't get in its way. Japanese films have had a HUGE DECLINE in quality in the last few years, so it's nice when something actually good comes out. Hopefully Japanese films will have another golden age like 50's-70's when almost every Japanese made felt like a classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted December 19, 2012 Member Share Posted December 19, 2012 @Takuma are these the same 2 movie with the title changed? Because the thread was of Straw Shield?? I mean Lessons of Evil looks really good as well. I just wanna know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 19, 2012 Member Share Posted December 19, 2012 @Takuma are these the same 2 movie with the title changed? Because the thread was of Straw Shield?? I mean Lessons of Evil looks really good as well. I just wanna know. No, they're not. I just didn't bother making a new thread for another Miike film. I Japanese films have had a HUGE DECLINE in quality in the last few years out of interest, when exactly would you say the decline took place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yakuza954 Posted December 19, 2012 Member Share Posted December 19, 2012 I felt the huge decline was in the 80's. The 90's are considered the "lost years" of Japan because of the bubble bursting, but in film, the 90's were a really innovative time. You had Shunji Iwai spearheading the Independent film movement, along with guys like Koreeda, Kitano, Kurosawa -- and heck, even Miike, putting themselves on the map. Even though it wasn't quite at the same level as prior to the 80's, I can think of about twenty films from the time period that I would gladly watch on any given day. Lets just say I would struggle to name even half that amount from the 80's.. It's almost counter intuitive to me that the 80's are considered the high point of the Japanese economy and the golden age of Japanese Animation, yet it was the complete opposite in film. Other than Shinji Somai and Juzo Itami, every other Japanese director seemed to be stuck in the rut. I guess it was a by product of the Japanese film industry practically falling apart during the 1970's? Japanese films have had a HUGE DECLINE in quality in the last few years, so it's nice when something actually good comes out. At least it aint the Hong Kong Film Industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Vegeta84 Posted December 19, 2012 Author Member Share Posted December 19, 2012 out of interest, when exactly would you say the decline took place? After the 70's, the overall quality of Japanese films went down. Sure there were good films, but the quality of the output wasn't the same. Around the mid 90's picked up again. A new generation of directors emerged and they wanted to be known. I would say things have been slipping since 2005 or so. Japanese audiences started looking for different things and not for the better. Sure Kitano, Miike, Sion Sono might throw us a bone every now and then, but so many modern Japanese films are simply bad. It's hard for me to get excited about many new releases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 20, 2012 Member Share Posted December 20, 2012 I know the feeling. Going to mainstream cinema in Japan is a pain for having to sit though 10 minutes of awful trailers alone... And yes, I think it was the end of the studio era (late 70's) that killed killed Japanese genre cinema. In the 80's we got a new breed of "serious" action and yakuza films with next to no action, cliched storylines and 2nd grade direction. Aside a random Chiba/Sanada film, the only highlights of the decade were Kadokawa and Fuji TV's idol products, and Shinji Somai. 90's indeed improved a bit... Jun Ichikawa, Shunji Iwai, Shinya Tsukamoto, Takashi Ishii, Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike, Sion Sono, Toshiaki Toyoda etc. emerged Early 2000's was good time for indie and low key cinema... Nobuhiro Yamashita, Ryuchi Hiroki, Hideaki Anno, Hiroshi Ishikawa, etc, and at the louder end more Iwai, Sono, Tsukamoto, Ichikawa and Miike. Then indie kinda died in quality wise and ultra-cheap digital cinematography did lots of damage. Still, for example 2010 was quite a good year IMO (Heaven's Story, Kyojima 3rd St., Sumida City, Sketches of Kaitan City, Boys on the Run, Cold Fish + some other fun Sushi Typhoon, Rubbers: Oou onna, A Night in Nude: Salvation, Outrage, Confessions, Real Onigokko 2...). 2011 and 2012 seems quite poor so far, though... Henge is the only real standout, followed by some interesting ones (Let's Give the Teacher a Miscarriage Club, Kotoko, Tokyo Drifter, Underwater Love, Lesson of the Evil...) ok, time to catch a plane. Back next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 5, 2013 Member Share Posted January 5, 2013 I'm quite amused that my friend, who is a high school English teacher, stated Lesson of the Evil is his favorite movie of 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 27, 2013 Member Share Posted January 27, 2013 Very funny Miike bit: LGsRSPLk408 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted February 16, 2013 Member Share Posted February 16, 2013 Full trailer for Straw Shield: http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/wara-no-tate I'm still not the least bit convinced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted March 1, 2013 Member Share Posted March 1, 2013 Man, i really miss the brilliant, disturbingly funny, experimental Miike of the Visitor Q, Ichi the Killer days. I don't know what it is, his films seem to have lost that razor sharp edge in the last 10 years or so. He used to cross lines, even create new ones. Perhaps as he has aged his vision has changed, it's not that he does not make good films, the films just don't seem as vital, and alive. This is just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted April 26, 2013 Member Share Posted April 26, 2013 A couple of Straw Shield reviews: - http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/feature/7039/Wara-no-Tate - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/04/26/films/wara-no-tate-shield-of-straw/#.UXnkdUqznxU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted May 15, 2013 Member Share Posted May 15, 2013 Lesson of (the) Evil HK BD & DVD: - http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_details.php?ProductID=13633 - http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_details.php?ProductID=13634 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.