Hiff 2008
Uncle’s Paradise (Japan, 2006) – 3/5
Shinji Imaoka’s pink feature sounded a bit dubious, but the pic makes it to the positive side. Imaoka obviously possesses decent audio-visual skills, and some single scenes of pure insanity make comparisons to the works of Takashi Miike and Teruo Ishii seem at least half-justified. There is – to quote a reviewer who’s name I’ve forgotten – enough sex to put the main character into grave, but the film is humoristic and blessed with a sympathetic cast. The storyline follows and elderly man who’s too afraid of his horrible nightmares to sleep, and only finds consolation in overuse of vitamins, and sexual adventures, sometimes provided by his fisherman nephew’s cute girlfriend.
Death Note (Japan, 2006) - 3/5
Former pink director Shusuke Kaneko’s Death Note stumbles a bit in the beginning – especially with one cgi generated character that caused some amusement in the audience – but the quality improves before long. The fantasy tale of a man who is granted an opportunity to take the justice into his own hands is surprisingly dark and captivating. Teen idols Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama both convince in the lead roles. Not being familiar with the source material the true success of the adaptation process remains a mystery, but as an enjoyable and occasionally silly mainstream effort Death Note more than does its job.
Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (Japan, 2008) – 4/5
Another adaptation of a source material I’m not familiar with. The opening is fast and confusing, but the pic soon finds its track and gets better scene by scene. The scifi action becomes secondary next to themes of war and loneliness. Carefully crafted characters provide a good grounding for the epic final battle.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) – 1/5
More old Miyazaki hitting the Finnish cinema screens. While I consider My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service delightful pieces of cinema, this Miyazaki doesn’t convince, appart from the opening scene. The dialogue is miserable, mostly repeating things that have already been already seen on screen and understood by the audience, and the preachy storyline doesn’t reach its end in acceptable time. Not even Joe Hisaishi score manage to stand out.
Big Bang Love – Juvenile A (Japan, 2006) – 2,5/5
Miike’s prison set murder mystery, also going by a more lyrical title 4.6 Billion Years of Love, is loaded with gay themes and skilfully light images. It suffers from intentionally artistic outcome, but still manages to entertain even on repeated viewings. Worth mentioning is also the ending, which is one of the best in recent memory.
Vexille (Japan, 2007) – 1/5
A prime example of the worst type of animated garbage Japan has to offer. Although the setting – future Japan completely isolated from the rest of the world - sounds interesting, the film achieves nothing. It’s loaded with nerve wrecking slow motion action scenes and fearless heroes and robots that share equal charisma. Worst of all is the loud soundtrack that makes the poor viewer develop suicidal thoughts. The positives of this problem-waste are few and far between; there’s a decent piece of music in the opening credits, followed by a rather exciting â€
