This film, more than any other, has me convinced the critics are completely clueless. It is a perfect blend of everything great about French, Hong Kong, and Japanese storytelling.
Hinano Yoshikawa is vulnerable--and beautiful--throughout. Saying her acting was bad is like saying Juliette Lewis was bad in Cape Fear. If she really is so clueless in real life, well that was just genius casting. Shinji Takeda also gives a great, naturalistic performance.
The last 15 minutes is often criticized or misunderstood. This is really a case of French "who cares what it means, it's beautiful" meets Japanese "you should know what it means, we don't have to explain it." From an American screenwriting craft POV, one may say that it diverges too much from the preceding story, but...I was rapt to the screen and deeply satisfied when the credits rolled.
Critics of this film--and you should watch for this in the future--use phrases such as "something like" and "more or less." In criticizing Kitano's cameo, in particular, it is clear they have no idea what they're talking about. Anyone who is a big enough fan to have actually seen Kitano hit someone on the head with a giant hammer--purposely--will know that this is a classic Kitano performance.
Hinano Yoshikawa is vulnerable--and beautiful--throughout. Saying her acting was bad is like saying Juliette Lewis was bad in Cape Fear. If she really is so clueless in real life, well that was just genius casting. Shinji Takeda also gives a great, naturalistic performance.
The last 15 minutes is often criticized or misunderstood. This is really a case of French "who cares what it means, it's beautiful" meets Japanese "you should know what it means, we don't have to explain it." From an American screenwriting craft POV, one may say that it diverges too much from the preceding story, but...I was rapt to the screen and deeply satisfied when the credits rolled.
Critics of this film--and you should watch for this in the future--use phrases such as "something like" and "more or less." In criticizing Kitano's cameo, in particular, it is clear they have no idea what they're talking about. Anyone who is a big enough fan to have actually seen Kitano hit someone on the head with a giant hammer--purposely--will know that this is a classic Kitano performance.