Comedy

Kamikaze Girls

Kooky, kinetic, and colorful, 2004's Kamikaze Girls is a delight, and one that could only have come from Japan. Our principal character and narrator is Momoko (Kyoko Fukada), the 17-year-old product of a highly dysfunctional marriage who wishes she'd lived in 18th Century France, during the Rococo age; instead, she and her bonnets and frilly dresses are stuck in Japan's rural outback, where she abides by a philosophy that claims, "If I can't live independently, I'd rather be a water flea." Enter Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya), a tough-talking, head-butting, scooter-riding thug who doesn't know rococo from rock & roll, and whom the haughty Momoko deplores and mostly ignores--at least until they're brought together by, of all things, embroidery (Momoko's good at it, Ichigo needs some for her biker threads). Suffice it to say that these two oddballs form a union of sorts, and Kamikaze Girls (entitled Shimotsuma Monogatari in Japanese) ultimately delivers a fairly straightforward message about independence, loneliness, and friendship. But getting there is quite a trip. Director and co-writer Tetsuya Nakashima combines live action, animation, special effects, fourth-wall asides, fantasy sequences, and more in a dazzling onslaught of images; in that way, as well as in its overall outlook ("Humans are cowards in the face of happiness," says one character), the film is somewhat reminiscent of Amelie. True, Kamikaze Girls lacks the full measure of that French film's grace, heart, and charm. But for sheer imaginativeness and cinematic virtuosity, this one's hard to beat. --Sam Graham

Last Life in the Universe

DVD Features:
5.1 surround sound
Commentary track with Cinematographer Christopher Doyle
Interviews with cast and crew
Behind-the-Scenes footage
Storyboards and original drawings by Christopher Doyle
Theatrical trailer
Previews
Weblinks

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Lost In Translation
The Last Samurai
Bridge on the River Kwai

Visitor Q

Eiken

Densuke just enrolled at the exclusive Zashono academy. He's eager to participate in extracurricular activities, but he never expected to join the mysterious Eiken Club. Strangely enough, every other member is a busty co-ed, and many of the club activities involve bikinis. But Densuke isn't interested in anyone but the the shy and beautiful Chiharu. Will he overcome the wall of women that stand between him and true love? Or is he doomed to a lifetime of riding watersides with a jumble of half-naked women greased with yogurt?

A Film By Hiroyuki Nakano: Samurai Fiction

Heishiro, a noble Samurai, sets out in search of the renegade who stole his clan's treasure and killed his best friend. Heishiro should be able to hold his own against the villain Rannosuke, who has only killed hundreds of men and fought entire armies while simultaneously defending himself against dozens of deadly ninja assassins. This is Samurai Fiction. Don't believe everything you see in Chambara movies!

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

What better way for writer-star Woody Allen to cash in on the success of What's New Pussycat? than to write a quickie exploitation comedy that makes fun of quickie exploitation films? In some respects What's Up Tiger Lily? is a forerunner of Mystery Science Theater 3000, only instead of having actors sit back and make sarcastic comments about a cheapo movie, here they dub new dialog onto a ridiculous Japanese spy extravaganza. Allen's exquisite sense of the absurd is in fine form as espionage professionals pursue a top-secret recipe for egg salad. At one point during the planning of a break-in, a spy unfolds a map of their quarry's residence, explaining that the man "lives here." "He lives on that small piece of paper?" questions one of the henchmen. It's that silly. But it's often uproarious. Louise Lasser, Allen's former wife (and co-star of Bananas and future star of TV's Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) is among the voice actors. --Jim Emerson

An evil mastermind with an addiction to egg salad! Sadistic, torture- hungry double crossers! Gorgeous girls hungry for lovin'! A weird marriage between a cobra and a chicken! Only one man is daring, clever and sexy enough to take on this kind of mission: superspy Phil Moscowitz! Woody Allen spoofs the spy thriller in one of his funniest films, a nonstop frenzy of skewed wit, hilarious parody and sidesplitting wackiness. With dialogue rewritten and redubbed for a Japanese James Bond-style movie, What's Up, Tiger Lily? turns the sex-and-danger world of filmdom's spy game upside down!

Fighting Elegy - Criterion Collection

High schooler Nanbu Kiroku yearns for the prim, Catholic Michiko, but her only desire is to reform Kiroku's sinful tendencies. Hormones raging, Kiroku channels his unsatisfied lust into the only outlet available: savage crazed violence. Fighting Elegy is a unique masterpiece in the diverse career of Seijun Suzuki, combining the director's signature bravura visual style with a brilliantly focused satire of machismo and fascism.

Puni Puni Poemy

The two-part OVA Puni Puni Poemy retains the tone but not the plot of the 2000 series Excel Saga. The only returning character is Nabeshin, the caricature of director Shinichi Watanabe. Poemi Watanabe has two missions: to become a voice actress and to save the Earth. When evil aliens who have tether balls dangling from their crotches kill her parents, she moves in with the nutty Aasu sisters, who command useless superpowers. As in Excel Saga, there are some funny parodies: an old fish becomes the bejeweled sword Poemi uses when she transforms into her super-guise of Puni Puni Poemi, and adoring Futaba Aasu spoofs Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura. Unfortunately everything is pitched at a breakneck pace, with the actors hysterically screaming their lines over "fan service" nudie shots. The results are more exhausting than amusing. (Rated 17 and older: nudity, violence, gross humor, profanity) --Charles Solomon

Good Morning - Criterion Collection

By the time he made Good Morning in 1959, Yasujiro Ozu had completely eliminated camera movement from his uniquely simple but elegant directorial style. He chose instead to emphasize static but meticulously purposeful compositions that rarely, if ever, wavered from their recognizable low-angle perspective. In Good Morning, this observational approach is put to sublime use to establish setting (a late-'50s Tokyo suburb) and to view the world through the eyes of the film's central characters—-two young brothers who take a mutual vow of silence to protest their parents' refusal to buy a TV set. Their father claims that television will create "a million idiots," while their mother is angered by the boys' neglect of schoolwork in favor of watching sumo wrestling on a neighbor's TV.

In Ozu's hands, this sublimely simple conflict inspires a comedic exploration of Japan at the dawn of its electronic age, when consumerism and materialism are in vogue, salesmen solicit their wares in constant door-to-door visits, and even the purchase of a washing machine can prompt neighbors into a frenzy of gossipy speculation. Funniest of all are the conspiratorial brothers, who play an amusing variation of "pull my finger" (proving that even great directors can indulge a fart joke if they choose), and employ their silent strategy with the stubbornness that only children can get away with. Through it all, Ozu develops a handful of intermingling themes of love, communication, goodwill, and the changing of societal traditions. Utterly simple on the surface, Good Morning reveals its complexity in careful proportion, with the affectionate humanity that was Ozu's greatest gift. --Jeff Shannon

Ozu's hilarious Technicolor re-working of his silent I Was Born, But. . ., Good Morning (Ohayo) is the story of two young boys in suburban Tokyo who take a vow of silence after their parents refuse to buy them a television set. Shot from the perspective of the petulant brothers, Good Morning is an enchantingly satirical portrait of family life that gives rise to gags about romance, gossip, and the consumerism of modern Japan.

Urusei Yatsura - Movie 2 - Beautiful Dreamer (Collector's Series)

Originally released in 1984, the second Urusei Yatsura feature offers characters created by Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) and a screenplay and direction by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell). As the perpetually lecherous Ataru and his friends prepare for a carnival at Tomobiki High School, they gradually realize the days are literally repeating themselves. Any effort to break the pattern dumps them back where they started. They later discover their town has been reduced to a circle of land a few miles across, poised on the back of a gigantic sea turtle--a reference to "Urushima Taro," a Japanese Rip Van Winkle story. Takahashi and Oshii weave elements from other Japanese folk tales into their science fiction adventure. Although she's described as an alien princess, Lum has many of the attributes of an oni (demon), including horns, the ability to fly, and a tiger-skin costume (although hers is a bikini). The character designs reflect an interesting moment in animation history, when the influence of Western TV shows was giving way to the familiar anime style. Lum has large eyes and long viridian green tresses, but Ataru and his pals sport more Caucasian-looking hair and features. Unfortunately, the good-natured story runs out of steam after about an hour, and the film falters to a conclusion in an annoying series of false endings. Unrated; suitable for ages 12 and up: minor nudity, profanity, and cartoon violence. --Charles Solomon