Reviews

Justice and retribution

In the compelling narrative of 'Wolf Hiding,' a nation confronts a powerful business conglomerate engaged in heinous activities such as human, sex, and organ trafficking, along with corruption. The storyline delves into the chilling reality of this formidable group, manipulating law enforcement and endangering those who seek to expose them, resulting in a staggering toll of innocent lives lost in the shadows of these criminal enterprises.

The film takes a bold stance, portraying law enforcement entangled in darkness, hindering justice rather than upholding it. This betrayal creates a vacuum, leaving those who have lost loved ones with no recourse within the legal system. Faced with a corrupt establishment, a few individuals embark on a perilous journey of retribution.

The plot mirrors harsh realities seen in some countries where corruption within law enforcement allows criminal organizations to operate with impunity. This theme adds authenticity, drawing parallels to struggles against influential criminal entities.

What sets 'Wolf Hiding' apart is its unpredictability. The storyline keeps the audience on the edge of their seats with unexpected twists. The revelation of the hidden wolf seeking revenge on the corrupt network adds a sense of surprise and unpredictability to the film.

Characters in 'Wolf Hiding' are driven by justice and a desire to expose hidden malevolence, exploring personal sacrifice and moral complexities. The quest for retribution becomes a visceral journey that resonates with viewers, drawing them into the emotional core.

Cinematography and direction contribute to the film's gripping atmosphere. Dark criminal activities and intense action sequences propel the narrative, with adept pacing maintaining the film's momentum.

While 'Wolf Hiding' serves as a gripping thriller, it also offers thought-provoking commentary on the societal impact of corruption among the rich and powerful, and the erosion of trust in institutions. Parallels with real-world issues elevate the film beyond action, inviting viewers to reflect on the consequences of unchecked power.

In conclusion, 'Wolf Hiding' stands out as a riveting cinematic experience, seamlessly combining suspense, action, and social commentary. Its portrayal of a nation grappling with corruption, where the wicked prosper and the poor suffer, stirs our human desire for the pursuit of justice, making it a compelling and thought-provoking film.

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Painful coming-of-age with frustrating characters

I found this film to be effectively frustrating. Going into this film with the mindset that it's less of a BL and more of a tragic/wistful nostalgic exploration of young boyish teenhood and the rampant ways toxic masculinity and ideas of what is 'normal' and/or 'acceptable' have stifled generations upon generations of queer(?) or potentially bicurious young men will help the viewer understand more about what this movie attempts but it's not made clear from the get-go.

The dynamic between Birdy and Jia-Han is always changing and hard to pin down in any reasonable way. Jia-Han is introduced as the more stoic, less outwardly queer individual who, for the first half, is made to seem by his peers as being under the influence of Birdy and that Birdy would 'gay' Jia-Han. Then this dynamic flips when Birdy actually flips the script and finds a girlfriend in Banban and then becomes very cold, almost as if he's an entirely different character. All of this happens in a en media res narrative structure where Jia-Han is in a violent distress that we aren't sure what the cause of is until we get there in the movie. There are moments of sweetness layered between a lot of meandering and almost schizophrenic scenes of the two boys clashing. Even the shower scene, which should've been the peak of the tension between the two, felt incredibly muted and stifling, although if you stick out to the end I guess that might've been the point but it still feels very unsatisfactory. This ambiguity then gets funneled into a far neater ending where we presume they just went on with their lives and then confess to each other in a painless way but they've already lived their lives and there's nothing to be done. Did anything even need to be done?

What I needed from this film was more structure, more of a sense of belonging to a certain place and more worldbuilding. Everything felt very disparate and disconnected and in the few scenes of coherence we have two men who want to love each other but from circumstance and writing, they are destined to never be together. I enjoyed the ambiguity that it ends on and that there isn't a succinct answer to what happens next, even though they neatly say that they did love each other, albeit only after 30 years of having entire lived experiences apart from each other. This movie is very relatable in that aspect but as a story I also had a hard time enjoying it or seeing any kind of satisfaction from the conflicts.

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Cell shocked

After about half of the movie I just watched in disbelief. I couldn't understand what just happened and sat there with open eyes and shaking my head.

The beginning was realistic, the whole story felt too real sometimes, never over the top. I would love to see more, about their past and more of their relationship.
The story is beautiful, the acting naturel and everything is just right. The music helps with setting the mood, the lightning and coloring makes it feel real, the pacing is really good. 2 hours went by, but I didn't feel it.

Those with a soft heart will get hurt and not in the good way. The ending was bittersweet, but lovely.

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A few plot holes

I had hoped for a more murder mystery movie. This was like here's the murderer and you saw everything around them. There was a plot twist at the end though, but that wasn't well executed.
The actors did a fairly good job.

But let's get on to the plot holes.
Weren't the married couple (Misaki and Sohei) reliable for anything at all. They hid the body for a few days and was trying to rewrite the will. Misaki should be arrested for attempted murder or at least assault for the pool and the same for Sohei for the attempt on the caretaker/maid at the stairs. She must have remembered that incident or her walking in on the dead body.

The more I wrote the lower the stars got. I thought of giving it a 6 in the beginning, but now it's a 5.

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Gosh the chemistryyy

I really do not expect that much from this movie but dang! What did they two do to my weak heart? Watching them play all along, walking, talking, laughing together so intimately make me feel SSSSOOOOO SINGLE. The last time I felt like this was with When I Fly Towards You. But nah this couple fr have their chemistry even just by their eye contact.

Don't watch this when you're single. Just kidding. There's not a lot of angst. The angst is kinda cute tho, cause Akane is actually just an innocent girl who wants to be free lol.

It's kinda slowburn in the first half but ended up sooo good, I'm so satisfied. The pretty colors made the cinematography so lovely. Will probs rewatch it when I need to color my life lol.

Definitely recommended esp for everyone who likes arts and paintings. Don't forget about the cute plot-twist cause it's kinda shocked me a lil bit tho. Just watch this masterpiece asap.

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A simple story that moves nicely through its leads’ interactions.

Was not expecting much (apart from the Ruki-biased lens I was wearing for the trailers) but this turned out to be one of the best coming of age romances I’ve seen in a while.

The film is pretty dialogue-heavy. Though majority of Akane-Seiji’s relationship happened through conversations, it still felt like it grew naturally and they “showed more than they told”. The film’s cinematography and scoring lent a lot to that achievement.

I loved the subtle changes made to the source material. The additional subtexts allowed them to weave certain elements more seamlessly.
(E.g., color grading and key scenes mirroring Seiji’s art preferences; “Plot-twist” ties closely to Akane’s arc.)

Overall, it’s the type of film that will probably make you feel differently every time, as you discover something new each watch.

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They don't call me kamikaze for nothing!

With Star Wars marking a turning point in cinematic blockbusters, it's only natural it would spawn countless imitators and knock-offs. I've taken a look at Toho's answer with The War in Space before and I thought it high time to take a look at Toei's attempt. Often unfairly slagged as a cheap rip-off of the previous year's Star Wars, Message from Space actually has way more going for it than what initially meets the eye.

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

Considering how much George Lucas lifted from Japanese culture and cinema for Star Wars, consider Message from Space a case of, ahem, striking back. In a narrative sense, the story is completely baffling and at times indecipherable, taking the core elements that makeup Star Wars' story but delivering it in a way that a viewer is left in a state of confusion. A white-clad princess on the run, an evil empire, armoured bad guy troopers, an obnoxious beeping droid, a trench run, a cantina, and spaceships flying in formation. There’s even a long shot of an enemy starship cruising into the frame. And while Darth Vader may have drawn visual inspiration from samurai, Message from Space has full-on space samurai as the villains.

Where this film shines, and boy it does shine, is in its incredible visual and production design. Given this was the most expensive Japanese film at the time, and yet was made for half the budget of Star Wars, it looks mighty impressive. Be it the gorgeous, elaborate sets and costumes or the highly detailed and genuinely incredible and increasingly complex miniature special effects work by Nobuo Yajima, the ethereal and dreamlike fantasy nature of the film is present from the encapsulating opening titles. The very literal "spaceships" are a real work of art and wouldn't be out of place from a Gerry Anderson production.

Given my love for Kinji Fukasaku's final film, Battle Royale, it's no wonder that I would love this as well. With the sweeping and evocative landscape shots, the gritty and intense yet easy-to-follow fight sequences, the expert choice of shots and thanks to regular collaborator Tôru Nakajima the film isn't without a bold use of colour from brilliant orange to deep blues, its most certainly a visual treat for the eyes.

The film's cast is populated by many faces you may recognise, be it the always reliable Vic Morrow or Sonny Chiba to a baby-faced Hiroyuki Sanada. There are hardly any complaints to be had on the talent front and they all perform the film well even if what is being delivered is a bit too much at times. The music by Ken-Ichiro Morioka is pretty good, there's plenty to love in its more fantastical elements and less synth-laden than you'd expect but it matches the visuals well and does a good job, lends itself to easy listening so maybe I'll give it another listen one day.

Overall, Message from Space is a very bold attempt at the Star Wars formula and makes up for its shortcomings with devil-may-care energy reminiscent of '40s-era serials. The Blu-ray set I bought comes with both the English version of the film, the spin-off show Galatic Wars and the compilation movie of that show, so I'm hardly done with Message from Space for a while yet.

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The title says it all

Even at the height of his popularity, Kinji Fukasaku never forgot what put him there in the first place, he can populate a frame like no one else and tackle an unflinching view of society with lines unclear and blurry. Cops vs. Thugs doesn't need a summary, its summary is its title. In Fukasaku's world, there's no honour among thieves or lawmen alike and the only thing that matters is personal honour and duty between friends. It plays like some of the great crime films of Sidney Lumet and Jean-Pierre Melville but with the fabulous additions of Kazuo Kasahara's shattering screenplay and Fukasaku's dynamic dedication to supporting an all-star ensemble cast of likeable undesirables with Bunta Sugawara once again leading from the front.

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A forumla perfected

Even with its sombre and bleak tone that puts many of his other works to shame, once the smoke clears, there are more than enough corpses to fill this graveyard. Yakuza Graveyard is one of Kinji Fukasaku's more psychological approaches to his Yakuza films, dripping with nihilism and crammed full of energy, the film has all the hallmarks of Fukasaku's other movies. Here, he chooses to focus on the complicated and damaged psyche of Tetsuya Watari's investigator Kuroiwa with the chemistry he shares with Meiko Kaji's Keiko adding some beautiful tenderness to this gripping tale of violence and interpersonal deception. The camera tilts, dives and chases after the exceptional action, at no point becoming lost in the haze of bloody knuckles and muzzle flashes; combining this with Toshiaki Tsushima's prog rock style score and Yakuza Graveyard remains just as emotional, hard-hitting and badass as Fukasaku's other works, maintaining a standard of quality few could rival.

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Watch this years ago in the school as part of class if I'm not mistaken. But this movie imprint in my mind so strong, that's why I still remember until now.

The natural disaster is really scary for who experienced it first hand. And this movie can quite capture it. There're 2-3 things that really imprint in my mind about this movie.

1. How in chinese culture, son, always be priorities. Like in the summary already stated, the mother prefer to save her son over her daughter. But even before that, we can see in the movie how their mother prefer son over daughter.
2. The word comes from the son, Fang Da, years later when there's another earthquake. More and less... You can't outrun disaster (earthquake), the small one not gonna effect you & the big one even you want to ovoid sometimes it's nust avoidable.
3. The meeting between Fang Deng and her mom & how the forgiveness work is just imprint deep into the heart....

Overall this is a really good movies. Just prepare ur heart to watch this...

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Parasitic Society Metaphor

Ominois and claustrophobic movie telling the story of a poor, low class family using their wits to con their way into getting what they want such as employment, their employers' house and wealth, the way upper class people lives, etc.

It depicts the judgmental gullibilty of this rich family made them an easy target for the cons. Oddly, none of the characters in this film will make you feel love or sympathy for them.

This film was done in a way that deserved an 8 minutes standing ovation in Cannes Film festival. Although it is not my kind of film to watch, due to the hype, it got me interested enough to devote my undivided attention and it didn't fail me.

Whatever genre of films you enjoy, I suggest giving this film a chance and see for yourself the reason why it garnered so much award and attention internationally.

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