It would have been better if I hadn't seen VERTIGO
I suppose the plot would have been more of a mind-bender if I hadn't seen Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO. As it was, many of the plot twists were the same, and the character construction just couldn't live up to Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. I'm always on the lookout for another director with the ability to present complex human emotions and incredible character depth while weaving plot twists that make you dizzy. I just don't think I've found it with this movie.
Hideo Nakata brings more suspense to the audience...
Hideo Nakata, who was behind Ringu (1998), has created an interesting and suspenseful story in Chaos as the beautiful wife of a wealthy businessman vanishes. It appears that she is kidnapped, and she is brutally handled by the kidnapper. As the story reveals itself, it develops into a thriller in the spirit of Hitchcock, yet the film has its own character. Throughout Chaos there are several twists and turns which the audience has to squirm through in order to reach the films conclusion. In the end, Chaos is a pretty good criminal drama that offers a fine cinematic experience.
It'll run rings around you
There are many sly tricks played on the viewer during the unfolding of the plot in Chaos. Like The Usual Suspects, Best Laid Plans, Memento, Identity and even Wild Things, there's a such a sheer delight in unravelling the tangled web of narrative twists and turns that you never (quite) feel cheated.
Nakata's better known for his horror genre entries (the first two Ring films and Dark Water), yet genre definitions hardly seem important, as he brings to bear the same technique to imbue this neo-noirish film with tension and intrigue. There are scenes which pull the rug from beneath your feet and slap you for feeling smug for trying to second guess what's going on. Not to say that some of the twists aren't obvious, but there enough surprises to keep you doing mental gymnastics to keep up.
A fractured, yet coherent, narrative just short of Nic Roeg's earlier kaleidoscopic filmic puzzles, Chaos leaps about through time to dissect what appears to be a simple case of kidnapping. However, nothing, and no-one, are quite what they seem.
Life may seem chaotic but there's an order to everything - which in itself creates chaos (another ring?). This is in essence the nub of the films' thesis, and a neat correlation to chaos theory - the character's actions throw their worlds in to disorder, but tracing the path through events you can see the structure that forms the chaos and in the end order is restored.
The ending is perhaps a little too poetic for it's own good - but mainly that's because you want there to be more twists and for the story to continue - in itself a kind of underhand compliment.
Chaos is in some ways more satisfying than the Ring films and is much tighter and powerfully executed than most Hollywood films.
Oh and whoever it is in Hollywood who keeps deciding to remake Hideo Nakata's films (Ring already, Dark Water and now Chaos) - please stop. Donate the production money to charity of something and just give the (excellent) originals more press. Anyone who can't follow subtitles doesn't deserve to watch.
Like Ring catch the original and Boycott the upcoming remake.
In the hands of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a serial-killer movie is not merely a serial-killer movie. Cure doesn't so much scream and shout as drive the audience slowly crazy--much like Kurosawa's subsequent creepfests, Seance and Pulse (a.k.a. Kairo). Koji Yakusho, the happy-foot husband in Shall We Dance, plays a weary detective on a baffling murder case, which paradoxically becomes even more puzzling as the solution begins to emerge. Kurosawa's use of empty spaces, and his uncanny command of the soundtrack (the eerie collection of hums and drones would win David Lynch's approval) makes for a shivery experience... though not one interested in resolving itself in a conventional manner. And why should it? At some terrible point in this movie you realize... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Masato Hagiwara Director(s): Kiyoshi Kurosawa DVD Release Date: Released the 06 January 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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I read quite a bit about this movie before actually seeing it. I was expecting some incredibly depraved, unholy sickness, just flowing over me and making me wonder why I wasn't turning the film off.
Eh.
That sure didn't happen. There's some unhappy stuff, but nothing shocking to me. It's not disturbing.
There is gore. I like that. I don't like that it's CGI. That about ruined it.
Then there's the story. Whatever. I didn't find it all that interesting, to be honest. WOOHOO SADOMASOCHISM. Yeah, ok. They got the point across fairly early on, and then the movie last another two hours. Really, this film kinda dragged near the end.
At least(MINOR SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) we got to see a little kid die. And in the end, that's what... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 18 November 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A grainy, enigmatic videotape has the power to kill people seven days after they watch it. This brilliant premise fueled the 2002 Hollywood hit The Ring, but before that it conquered Japan in Ringu, Hideo Nakata's quietly unsettling study in terror. Fans of the U.S. version will find a less elaborate storyline and more primal fear in the original; the basic plot, however, still has a worried reporter (Nanako Matsushima) tracking down the meaning of the video--and, having watched it herself, she has only a week to work. The film's calm, economical style actually adds to the creeping sense of dread throughout, and the hair-curling set-pieces stand out in contrast. Like an old photograph of something evil, Ringu has the strange-but-familiar power to unnerve. Guaranteed,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hideo Nakata DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This has to be the most outrageous and funnist movie I have ever seen. I think that the only taboo that wasn't covered was bestiality - maybe Takashi Miike's next movie. And to think that this film was actually shown on television in Japan - which I suppose is why (at least in my NR-version of the film) genitals were blurred out. Makes you wonder what type of subject matter the Japanese would consider as poor taste or out of bounds. In the U.S. this movie wouldn't even make it past the ratings board without getting an X rating. Some of the other reviewers wrote thorough enough synopses, so I won't repeat all that. I'll just say what I liked about the movie.
For one one thing I liked the way the movie keeps you off balance. As soon as you think you've got a line on what's... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 26 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch--even hardcore horror fans may have trouble--but it... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ryo Ishibashi - Eihi Shiina Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 This item is currently not available.
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