| 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. |
