*Spoiler Warning*
Plot in boldSo I've watched some Asian movies this week, they're were all pretty good, some even super, but what connects all of them is the constant weirdness, the stories are weird, the characters are weird, we can all safely say that Asians are just a little weird.
I began the screening with "Howl's Moving Castle", a movie by Hayao Miyazaki, I borrowed it from a friend because well a moving castle is pretty cool, whenever I had to draw castles in primary school you can be sure as hell that they moved! The movie was nominated for an Academy Award and for once I can see why. A short summary:
The film starts off with the protagonist of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie, a timid and unsure 18-year-old girl who works in her late father's hat shop. One day she encounters the wizard Howl, they have a brief "moment". But later the Witch of the Waste, who is jealous, makes Sophie 72 years older and Sophie can't tell anybody about the curse. Sophie doesn't know what to do and so she goes on to search Howl's castle (you would think it's pretty hard but the 90-year old almost immediately finds it). Once there she hires herself to be the maid and together with Calcifer, the firedemon who keeps the house moving, and the young rascal Markl she brings life to the castle. After a while Howl is summoned by the king to fight in the war as a war magician, he refuses and by this the hunt for Howl is opened, but Howl decided to fight back, he fights the war no matter what side. Huge battles follow, the castle is destroyed, Sophie finds some things out, she kisses a scarecrow named Turnip, who has helped her from the beginning but everyone thought it was just a meaningless side-character, he actually turned out to be the prince of the other country and in his human form he can stop the war. Sophie is returned to normal and everyone lives happily ever after.I might have left out some details but you get the point, it's a great movie but when you think about it, it get's really confusing. So for everyone who still doesn't understand the first Matrix, don't even think about watching this movie! (P.S. Turnip, the scarecrow, is the coolest character ever!)
The next day I still hadn't had enough of those little Asians so I searched my room for another movie borrowed from another friend, "Battle Royale", this is a movie most people know because it made quite a commotion. And it was justified, the movie's theme is so unreal, sometimes while you're watching you can't even believe they made a movie about it.
So in the future every child in Japan is a danger for adults, and because of this the government made a law declaring that every year a class will be chosen to play a game called "Battle Royale", 42 contestants are needed so they also transfer students, the game itself consists of dropping them on an island with weapons and saying that they all have to kill eachother and the last one standing will go home.
"At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act - AKA: The BR Act..."The class in the film is chosen because of a former teacher who was agressed with a knife by a student and then resigned because he was tired of being disrespected. Through the whole thing he talks to the students telling them where to go, where not to go and which of their costudents died. When the students are first dropped they can't believe what they're hearing, but soon a lot of them get in the game and start thinking about that first prize. Others chose to end their own life and a few try to restore peace, forgetting that if more than one is still alive after three days they all die because of their magnificent collars. A few students put on a counterattack, they hack the computer of the government and make bombs, but this miserably failes. In the end three students remain, a couple, the two protagonists, and the guy who helped them and enlisted himself in the game for avenging the death of his girlfriend in a previous game. The guy finds a way so they can all survive, they kill the teacher and escape from the island. Sadely he dies from his wounds and so only the couple remains. They become wanted criminals and have to disappear.You can be sure if you like violence, you will love this movie. But it's not all mindless violence, behind all the blood and limbs getting cut off there's a really good story, the actors are good and convincing, and the whole teaches you a lot about human nature. I really liked this movie and it has already become one of my favourites.
So today I watched the sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, you never know what to expect from sequels, most of the time they're crap but this one wasn't that bad, it was a bit more conventional, but don't worry there are still plenty of children being blown to bits.
It takes place 3 years after the last BR, the survivors have formed a terrorist group called "Wild Seven", they have declared war on all adults! But the government decided not to accept this war instead they make a new law commonly know as BRII, this time a class is chosen to fight the rebel children, they receive weapons and it's the same drill, kill or be killed, this time the group gets a lot smaller a lot faster! But eventually the few that survive team up with "Wild Seven" and fight the enemy troops. Some of them manage to escape and promise to keep fighting the battle for children around the world.There were two downsides in this movie, the teacher was a theatrical prick and the few completely unnecesary jabs at the U.S.A.'s foreign politics, but both are still quite funny. So overall it was still kinda nice. The story was far more idealistic and political this time, I liked it.
And tonight I've seen "Spirited Away", another movie by Hayao Miyazaki, this one even won an Oscar for best animated picture. But it's just as weird as the other one, and I was less enjoyed, it was often rather boring but still remains a really good movie.
A girl named "Chihiro" is moving with her parents, they get lost in the forest and find a sort of gate, this takes them to the spirit world, her parents don't realize this and they think they're in a theme park, they eat the food they find and change into pigs. The little girl soon realizes she's in a lot of trouble, luckily she gets help from a few friends, because of this she can get a job in the bath-house and can think of a plan to save her parents. Eventually by doing what her heart tells her, she saves a lot of people including herself and her parents. They are able to escape and safely return to their new home.A beautiful story, beautiful drawings, a beautiful idea, that about sums up this movie. And still this was the most disappointing one. I don't know why but it just seemed to long for such a short story.
That's all for Asian Screen, maybe one day I'll make another episode but in the meantime you should also really check out these movies: "Shoalin Soccer", "Kungfu Hustle" and "The Host"! The first two are comedies by Stephen Chow, they're hilarious, and the last one is a great Korean monster film. It's one of the greatest ever made and it revived the genre. Well enjoy!
