Asian Cinema

On Monday it was announced that Shusuke Kaneko’s upcoming teen survival thriller Ikenie no Dilemma will actually be a trilogy, following the format of Shinjiro Dobashi’s original novel series. The first film, which was announced last month, will get a limited release at United Cinemas Toyosu on July 13, 2013. Then on August 2, the first film will be released on DVD along with two DVD-exclusive sequels. Like the original book trilogy, the three movies will be referenced by their sub-titles:...

It’s a bittersweet win for Nadech as people are debating whether he should have won or not at Pantip and even at Sanook, it should have gone to ‘Porche’ Saran Siriluksana for his highly popular lakorn ‘Yok Luerd Mungkorn’ on Ch7 or even to Aum Atichart for his leading role in the historical Thai lakorn ‘Khun Seuk’ on Ch3 by TV Scene productions. Personally, I did not watch either of those lakorns I can’t make a comparison. I did however watch ‘Torranee Nee Krai Krong’ with Nadech and Yaya, I thought Nadech did well. Besides the whole Pinky and Tanya issue, this seems to be a hot topic. Some argued the Nataraja awards is not voted by popular vote it’s voted like the Oscars by people who work in the industry. Maybe they saw something in Nadech that a normal viewer might not have seen. The 4th annual Nataraja Awards 2012 took place today at the Royal Thai Navy Convention Hall in Bangkok, it aired live a few hours ago on Modern 9 TV. Channel 3 like always dominated the award show, winning nearly every category. Winners for lakorns: Best Lakorn:’Khun Seuk’ by TV Scene productions on Ch3 Best Director: Chanintorn Prasertprasat for ‘Rang Ngao’ on Ch3 Best Actor: Nadech “Barry” Kugimiya for ‘Torranee Nee Krai Krong’ on Ch3 Best Actress: Noon Sirapan Wattanajinda for ‘Buang’ on Ch3 Best Supporting Actor: ‘Pip’ Ravit Terdwong for ‘Rang Ngao’ on Ch3 Best Supporting Actress: ‘Tanya’ Tanyares Ramnarong for ‘Rang Ngao’ on Ch3 Best Cast: ‘Rang Ngao’ from Broadcast Thai Television on Ch3 Best Set: ‘Sin Chronicle’ on Ch3 Best Song: ‘Ngao Tee Mee Hua Jai’ by Min for ‘Rang Ngao’ on Ch3 Best Script:Wisuthichai Bunyakanjon for ‘Rang Ngao’ on Ch3 Best Cinematography:’Khun Seuk’ on Ch3 Best Editing: ‘Raak Boon’ on Ch3. Best Art Direction: ‘Khun Seuk’ on Ch3 Best Costume: ‘Khun Seuk’ on Ch3 ‘Mew’ Nittha Jirayungyurn from the Gentlemen series looking like AFf Taksaorn Pinky Savika with her friend Paul Michio  Nok Sinjai and husband Nok Chatchai Pip showing off his award The winners. Actress and singer ‘Mint’ Mintita Wattanakul with her award Mr. Porche Saran looking mighty handsome in a simple black suit. The ladies of the Sixth Sense Taew went goth for the  award show and it is got to be the weirdest dress of the night.  Is that fake hair? Nadech happily showing off his trophy on the way home? Source: Sanook

The feud  between Pinky Savika the mia noi (mistress) and the mia luang (head wife) ‘Tanya’ Tanyares Ramnarong will never end as Tanya takes a jab at her husband  ‘Peck’ Sanchai Engtrakul at the 4th annual Nataraja Awards today May 19, 2013 after winning the best supporting actress trophy for her portrayal of Nopnapa, a woman crazed by her cheating husband in ‘Rang Ngao’. After thanking the script writer, the producer, CH3 for her award, she thanked her husband and it got a lot of cheers, embarrassing Pinky Savika in the process who was also in the audience with her new boyfriend Paul. ”The last person, I REALLY have to thank my husband ka. My husband P’Peck who made me reach the emotions of Nopnapa consequently making me feel like a real mia luang (head wife) ka,’ said Tanya up on stage. It’s saying you cheated on me with Pinky Savika and it helped my acting with a crazed character in Nopnapa who is also being cheated on repeatedly in the lakorn ‘Rang Ngao’. Ouch. There have been some post on Pantip on how it was inappropriate and Tanya doesn’t know when to stop. You can watch her thank you speech clip at youtube, her thank you message to her husband starts around the 3:50 time mark.

Authors: Loren Portillo, Sean Kotz Photos courtesy of Loren Portillo Ray Harryhausen, doing what he did best. Ray Harryhausen, the pioneering filmmaker and special effects master of such classic films as THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, VALLEY OF GWANGI, and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, passed away peacefully Tuesday May 7th in London England from an undisclosed illness. He was 92 years old. With Ray Harryhausen’s passing came an instantaneous ritual litany of recognizable names testifying to his influence -- Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, to name a few. But by the same token, there was practically no real discussion of why he had that impact. That’s predictable, really. For most people, this is just a news sidebar, including the legions of web-bound entertainment beat writers frantically culling fragmentary and unchecked sources to adopt a posture of authority for his impromptu obituary. Harryhausen is simply not familiar to most of the new breed of writers cluttering online news services and blogosphere. He outlived his career by 30 years, and for the bulk of the obit writers, his death detoured them from their real concerns, like whether Mylie Cyrus is hotter than Lindsey Lohan. But, the simple fact that Harryhausen’s death resides largely on entertainment pages betrays how poorly his contributions are understood. Continued...

Keenan Wynn, Shelley Winters, Gary Merrill and Michael Rennie in Phone Call from a Stranger (Jean Negulesco - 1952)

Hideo Nakata’s latest foray into the horror, The Complex, opened in Japan yesterday so we thought we’d round off our coverage (until some bright spark of a buyer finally gets off their butt, and buys it for distro in an English speaking territory) with a peak at the latest TV spot for the film. It’s short, but definitely packs a punch. Cant wait to see it! The Complex TV spot The Complex official site

Some people enjoy a slow, experimental, rub-your-nose-in-it indy flick, while others would rather be entertained by something more down-to-earth that moves fast and doesn't require you to figure out what the hell's going on with every cryptic movement or utterance. TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE (2012) might as well have a dividing line between these two groups of viewers painted right down the middle of it.Stephen Dorff (IMMORTALS, BLADE) is compelling as Charlie Rankin, a soon-to-be-released convict whose mentor, The Buddha (Willem Dafoe), promises to take care of Charlie if he'll just do him the favor of rubbing out one of his enemies. But the hit goes dreadfully wrong, and Charlie dreads the prospect of returning to the crime scene the next night to fix it. Especially after meeting Florence Jane (Michelle Monaghan, (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, MR. & MRS. SMITH), a sweetly eccentric porn actress who falls inexplicably in love with Charlie and tries to bring out the good qualities buried deep within him before he destroys himself.Charlie is troubled with a capital "T"--director David Jacobson (DAHMER) has a field day depicting how constant mistrust, paranoia, and nightmares from his past skew his perception of reality until viewers themselves can't really tell what's real and what isn't. This calls for a variety of camera effects that some will find irritating, along with some creative editing that plays around with reality (he sees people who aren't there, including himself) to the point where you start wondering if you're watching an extended "Twilight Zone" episode.After their "meet-cute" on a bus (actually, it's more of a "meet-weird"), we also wonder what the deal is with Florence and why Charlie is so instantly, irresistibly appealing to her. Is she an angel? Is she a figment of his imagination? Or is she just totally nutso? After the botched hit, the film becomes a mini-road movie when they buy a car and drive around the city all day waiting for nightfall when Charlie will deal with his unfinished business once and for all. In one scene, they end up in a church as Florence urges him to open up a line with God and see if it isn't too late for a little redemption of his tortured soul. The rest of the time she's cajoling him to have sex with her as though she'd just gotten out of prison instead of him. I like her character, and Monaghan is very appealing in the role, but Florence is just too good, or too wild, or too weird to be true. Eventually, the inevitable hour arrives when Charlie must either make good or lose his soul forever, with Florence and The Buddha (Willem Dafoe with his usual menacing performance) representing God and the Devil. After all the existential angst and art-house tomfoolery, it's nice that this meandering, disorienting character study manages to give us a semi-satisfying resolution that I found emotionally resonant. The DVD from RLJ Entertainment is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish. No extras.I liked TOMORROW YOU'RE GONE enough to watch it again and found the second viewing much more rewarding than the first, mainly because I could stop trying to figure out the plot (such as it is) and concentrate on all the hidden meanings (such as they may be). But a lot of you won't like this movie at all, and to you my description of it alone should serve as adequate warning.Buy it at Amazon.comDVDBlu-Ray

Usually I don’t notice  a lot of things, this I noticed–a ‘Domo’ themed backpack near the end of episode 8 of Khun Chai Puttipat. They are at the market to buy food and they are arguing, she is thinking about starting up a shop selling appetizers and sweets in Ayutthaya and he is annoyed she is planning to leave him. Khun Chai Pat:’Why are you always thinking about leaving me?’ He walks away and she follows him. Kaew:’I must be able to raise myself up. I can’t disturb other people from now on.’ Khun Chai Pat:’Who are these other people?’ Kaew utters his name and in the backdrop there are backpacks hanging in a nearby shop, most notably a ‘Domo’ themed backpack. This is annoyed some Thai viewers who complained on Pantip that the Director was careless and this is a period lakorn set in 1961 (2504), why is there a Domo themed backpack when the Domo short-motion animation character was created in 1998 by Japan’s NHK television station. Some found it funny like  this Thai viewer:’5555 (meaning Ha ha ha), my mom found it really funny like huh back then they had Domo too?’ Or this, ‘I didn’t see it because I was too focus on Khun Chai Puttipat.’ Other people started to complain about other details in the lakorn such as the purse (I don’t know which one they are talking about) they didn’t have it back then, Khun Chai Pat’s surgery instruments, his surgery technique,  no blood, guy villain Glai-Lerk (played by DJ Man)’s fixed perfect teeth. ‘Whenever he talks I would notice DJ Man’s arranged teeth,’ wrote a observant Thai viewer on Pantip. And I thought wow, these people watch lakorn in such detail and I was proud I noticed one flaw in the series. One point for me–Oh yea! Some found it distracting, I think most still like the lakorn and are still ‘in’ to the Khun Chai Puttipat and Krong Kaew pair. Back to the scene. Khun Chai Pat:’What are we? Answer me what are we?’ Kaew struggles to answer him. ‘It’s just…’ Khun Chai Pat:’Just a marriage license that makes us husband and wife.’ Kaew:’I will quickly sign the divorce papers as soon as possible. I won’t postpone or delay the process at all.’ Khun Chai Pat:’So you really want to leave me as soon as possible.’–awww she doesn’t. Kaew:’It’s not like that.’ Khun Chai Pat:”Then what do you want?’ Kaew:’You have done a lot for me. You have sacrifice yourself to protect me from danger. You are also caring for my father. I have always been the one who is receiving. I am taking an advantage of you. The thing I want to tell you is that I want to build myself up to have a foundation, to have dignity, to have everything better than what I have now. When that time comes, I want to repay you back.’ Khun Chai Pat playfully:’You are the most conceited and arrogant woman ever.’ Kaew:’A person must stand on their own two feet, they must be beneficial to other people, they can’t just depend on other people forever.’ Khun Chai Pat:’Every word you say is ‘other’ people. Have you  never heard a husband and wife is one person according to the law.’ Kaew:’You keep saying that again.’ Khun Chai Pat:’Because it is the truth.’ He holds up his jade necklace from her neck. ‘Look at this, you are wearing my mother’s jade necklace which was intended to give to her daughter-in-law. Like this, how can we be other people to each other. Most importantly everything I have done is the responsibility of a husband.’ He holds her shoulders and stared into her eyes. ‘Your responsibility is to speak sweetly, act gentle, play the part well.  Don’t forget, the hoodlums are after you, they looking for an opportunity to har

The S.H.Figuarts Toei hero lineup for September/October 2013. Photos courtesy of Bluefin. © Ishimori Pro ? Toei/ © Toei Articulated Bandai Figures to be Sold in Japan and America Source: Bluefin Corp. S.H.Figuarts Official Site: tamashii.jp/shfiguarts (Japan) Special Thanks to Xavier Lim Distributor Bluefin Corp. has provided product specs and high-res photos for three S.H.Figuarts releases coming from Bandai's Tamashii Nations in September and October 2013. Fans of Toei's Kamen Rider franchise will soon be able to purchase Masked Rider Blade and Masked Rider No. 1's Cyclone motorcycle, while Super Sentai fans can look forward to an exclusive Mighty Morphin White Ranger figure. All three items will be released both in Japan and North America. Fans and collectors can purchase S.H.Figuarts figures from authorized Bluefin dealers, including SciFi Japan's sponsors Anime Jungle and Toy Freakz. Continued...

This is one of those rare blog entries that isn't a film review. I've done that in the past, but those were few and far between. I thought I could carry this on indefinitely, writing these reviews for pleasure, which had opened some incredible doors for the good part of my life in the past decade or so. The galas, the premieres, the parties, the festivals, and best of all, getting to meet and