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 Cinematic Masterpieces: 

 

 

Title Picture(s) Outstanding Paticipants A personal Comment
Samurai Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Tamaki Ogawa (Koharu)

- Mitsuru Fukikoshi (Heishiro)

- Tomoyasu Hotei (Rannosuke, Music)

- Hiroyuki Nakano (Director)

- Yujiro Yajima (Camera)

One more tragic samurai-movie? - by far not! This movie is not placed first without reason. It is my personal No. 1 because of the following reasons: 

-The pictures are great, look to your left, it shows what i mean: these are not the camera-views of a Hollywood-movie. 

-The actors/actresses are new and do an excellent job, Tamaki's smile is the most beautiful i have ever seen in an actress' face. Mitsuro's facial expression is also a great performance. The famous Hotei fits to his role and gives the ronin a raised personality.

-The story is quite easy to understand, in opposite to several other samurai-films, and the director plays with the common patterns of this genre.

Conclusion: You must watch this movie! No way out.

Chinese Box

- Gong Li (of course)

- Jeremy Irons

- Wayne Wang (Director)

As You can see, this film is part of my top 5 - simply great.

No question, it is a melancholic film, and it transfers these feelings very exactly, to give an impression how 6 million people living in Hong Kong may have felt during the last few days before the handover to mainland China.

Farwell my Concubine - Gong Li

- Leslie Cheung

- Chen Kaige (Director)

This film is the definition of an epos itself. Sometimes it's a bit cruel and strange, but it shows very impressive a big part of the Chinese history in  20th century. It's really interesting, what the Chinese filmmakers can get out of their country, although they are censored so much.
Hana Bi - Takeshi "Beat" Kitano (Actor, Storywriter, Director...)

- Kayoko Kishimoto (his wife)

- Ren Osugi

- Tetsuo Watanabe

Yes, its nearly a one-man-show; is there anything Takeshi can't do? - I believe not. First Takeshi decided to title the film "A Takeshi Kitano Film Volume 7" this would have fitted to him absolutely...but it came in another way. His humor is absolutely great. The scene, which I think is the best, is at the stone-garden in the zen-temple, I can't remember, when I have laughed so much the last time. All the paintings in this masterpiece were drawn by Takeshi-San himself. In my humble opinion, it is Takeshi's best film, because it does not only celebrate violence, but there are also some sensitive scenes, which make the film a special one. I hope he will continue creating films like this.
King of Masks (the) - Wu Tian Ming (Director)

- Chu Yuk (Bian Lian Wang)

- Chao Yim Yin (Doggie)

Maybe the best film I have ever seen, every picture is a work of art. I've seen it three times in the cinema - original with German subtitle - a dream. This kind of film can't come from Hollywood, anyway. Before this happens, hell will become frozen. The performance of each actor is great, from the "king of masks" to the monkey and doggie, incredible impressive. These are the unknown cinematic diamonds I am looking for but which are hard to find, only few people know and appreciate this sort of film.
Scent of green Papaya (the) - Lu Man San (Mui at age 10)

- Tran Nu Yen-Khe (Mui at age 20)

- Tran Anh Hung (Director)

A story of beauty, passion and forbidden fruit. That's the English subtitle, that fits fine but the German one strikes it better, I think: A wonderful Film about kitchen, scents, sounds and the sublime ways of temptation. Don't expect long dialogues pictures like these speak for themselves. This film is pure art. Enjoy every second of this masterpiece if You want to regale your eyes and ears. Best viewed with a good cup of tea.
Story of Qiu Ju (the)

Temptress Moon

Red Sorghum

Raise the red Latern

Ju Dou

Shanghai Triad

- Gong Li (in each of them)

- Zhang Yimou

- Chen Caige (T.M. only)

- Leslie Cheung (T.M. only)

These are the Gong Li films I have seen so far. These films made me admire Li's talent in acting and her beauty. The bitter taste which remains after viewing these artworks is really refreshing after being spoiled with numerous happy ends. This is also a characteristic running through all of Li's films as a thin red line, but if You know it, You will get used of it, yes, I love it meanwhile. It's a real good contrast to the Hollywood-stuff. When I saw "Shanghai Triad" the first time I didn't like it, because Li looked so strange, so artificial. But when I saw it the second time I recognized, that there's a quite good story behind, so even if You don't like Li's look in this movie, it's worth to have a look at it. "The Story of Qiu Ju" is the film about what Li says that she likes it best and it is genius even it plays in our modern society.
Sonatine - Takeshi Kitano

- Ren Osugi

- Tetsuo Watanabe

Another really great Takeshi Kitano movie about what yakuza do, when they feel boring (sumo-wrestling at the beach for e.g.). The yakuza seems to be his favourite theme, he made many films about it. Opposite to "Brother" this movie does not only consist of violence and brutality, although there's a lot in it, I can still recommend it.
Beyond Hypotermia

As Tears go by

Days of Being wild

Kitchen

Hong Kong Love Affair

In the Mood for Love

- Maggie Cheung

- Leslie Cheung

-Yasuko Tomita

- Jordan Chan

- Wong Kar Wai

This is Hong Kong cinema at its best, I think. Maggie Cheung acted very well in each of this films, including "Chinese Box". Not without a reason she is the most popular actress from Hong Kong. In all of this three films, You will search for a happy end without success, and I think it won't be a real Hong Kong movie without this sad ending.
Il Nome della Rosa - Sean Connery

-Christan Slater

- Jean Jaques Annaud

And now I'm coming to the exceptions of the rule, that good films have to come from asia. This first one is very good because it gives You a feeling for this time - the dark age. In addition it is the best role I have Connery ever seen in, the old wise monk is the role that seems to be made only for him. So it is a really thrilling piece of celluloid.
The Crow - Brandon Lee

- Greame Revell (Music)

- Alex Proyas (Director)

This one was my favorite movie for a long time until I have seen my fist Gong Li film. Well I think it is a really unusual film for Hollywood. Naturally I'm speaking about the first part with Brandon Lee . It was his best - and what a pitty his last performance in acting (the best ones always die too young). The things which made this film so different are the light, the music and the genius dark atmosphere. The second part was half as good as the first one was, and the series...forget it!
Jenseits der Stille - Silvie Testud (Lara)

- Tatjana Trieb (Lara as child)

- Mathias Habich

- Sibylle Canonica

What is this? A masterpiece of cinematography made in Germany - unbelievable - but it's true. It's a sensible film about a family in which one the father and the mother were both deaf, and the daughter wants to start studying music. As You can imagine, there's much space for conflicts. Really good performed by the actors.
 

 

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