Reservoir

15 May from Manga Entertainment.

I bought the Japanese DVD set of this wonderful film. My favourite film of last year.

Review over at Twitch

Sifu

You might want to remove that picture instead of possibly spoiling one of the best parts of the movie for people.

Jah-Wren Ryel

Nah, that picture isn't really a spoiler - it is far too suggestive of something else that no one who has not already seen the movie would ever guess what is really happening in that shot.

flixtime

That picture is the final straw..........I give up on Hollywood. How can they justify awarding Ang Lee an Oscar when all he did was plagiarize a Japanese film?

Reservoir

I doubt that image would waste anything but you never know, so I've changed it.

logboy

more than worth seeing - great odd film. dont let vinnie jones put you off! ... anyway, theres a reduce-price reissue in japan the end of march which is still more expensive that the UK disc thats coming...

Frenzy

"Come, baby!"

Survive Style 5+ is a quite entertaining movie with great visual style. Yet is obvious that the director was responsible for some commercials before. But that hasn't to be a bad thing...

toddly6666

It's an excellent bizarre film - sort of like a Japanese MAGNOLIA

flixtime

To try and add something a little less useless (or maybe not) than my previous post in this discussion.........I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it. At the same time however, it wasn't as good as I was expecting (based on what I'd read). I really enjoyed it in the beginning and I thought it was creative, energetic, and boy was it colorful. But after the initial sizzle it started to feel a bit stale and certainly way overlong. I sort of had a feeling of "great and lots of style........but is there going to be anything else". I really liked 2 of the 5 storylines (Tadanobu Asano & also the family (loved the Dad)), the Vinnie Jones one was decent, but the other 2 (ad exec & 3 guys) didn't do a whole lot for me. In all, I have a strong measure of admiration for what the filmmakers attempted but would ultimately conclude that they were only somewhat successful.

For what it is worth, I also found "Taste of Tea" reasonably enjoyable. But likewise felt it didn't nearly meet my expectations. Of the two, I preferred "Survive Style 5+" over "Taste of Tea".

meritocracy

I'd have to agree with flixtime on this one. I was rather disappointed considering all the panegyric hype being tossed around this film. Visually creative, wonderfully entertaining soundtrack, and some enjoyable bits here and there, particularly the Tadanobu Asano storyline which contained some intriguing aspects of Lynchian oddness, but as a whole, rather ho-hum in my estimation.

logboy

opinions are opinions - some will like it, others will not. i think its a great movie, love this overly-sweet visual style, similar to that of 'kamikaze girls' which i also really enjoyed last year...

meritocracy

Opinions are indeed just that. Still, in contrast to our differing sentiment regarding this film, I too quite enjoyed 'Kamikaze Girls'.

logboy

i'm glad you understand. thing is, from what you said (as quoted here by me) its possible people will read differently - theres no point stating you disliked a film, when others like it, if you understand theres just a difference of opinion. makes the appreciation of films like they can only pull one way or another instead of in numerous directions.

RichC2

I rented this movie on a whim, having heard nothing about it priorly.

I enjoyed the hell out of it. As just a random rental, it was hugely entertaining and very memorable. That said, I agree the storylines vary in quality, but they all have their strong points, even if I didn't particularly care for all of em.

I'm still hoping for an eventual R1.

meritocracy

I certainly didn't mean to intimate that my somewhat dissenting view makes the film as a whole unworthy of viewing. Disappointment doesn't equate to dislike. I tend to believe those here realize that opinions are mearly what they are...random perspectives of a diverse crowd, and thus, my particular point-of-view isn't exactly so highly regarded as to dissuade anyone from taking it in and forming their own. As I alluded to earlier, there's actually quite a bit of enjoyment to be gained from the film.

Slumbering Fist

I liked it. Very funky, fun, nonsensical film. Nice part of the whole wave of... well, I call it "style is the substance" trend in Japanese cinema. Last I recall reading there might be some rights issues with music or something keeping US distributors form picking it up. Hope that gets cleared up.

Reservoir

Some more info here

Manga Entertainment and not Anchor Bay as I said.

logboy

manga is owned by anchor bay.

Reservoir

Are they?

Never bloody knew that!

Richard Malloy

Agreeing that opinions are opinions... but mine seems to be fairly close to many of yours. I love the Avant-Garde, the absurd for absurdity's sake, and any sequence of non sequiturs that knocks me completely askew and plasters a cockeyed smile on my face.

"Survive Style" starts well, seems to be developing into something interesting if not quite brilliant, and then devolves into a series of skits of varying degrees of forced whimsy that became simply tiresome. I'm only happy that I paid practically zilch for an eBay "custom" DVD, and not the ridiculous price for the Japanese official release.

What is my function in life? In part, to watch better movies than this one.

PotVsKtl

I believe this may mark the first time I've ever learned a new (real) word on a message board. I have nothing else to add at this time.

logboy

many contrafibulations...

izatright

I bought this around 2005 or so on a whim. This is my favorite film of all time (at least for now)! I bought the two-disc Red Sun set, even though all the extras aren't translated. I hope The USA release comes out soon! This UK release seems like a positive step.

Cardiac161

Which Japanese movie did Ang Lee plagarize?

Tuan Jim

IIRC Red Sun is a bootlegger. It's probably just a rip of the Japanese edition - unsubbed extras.