Shunji Iwai DVDs
04-23-05 | 01:05 PM
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Shunji Iwai DVDs
I've enjoyed Shunji Iwai's newer movies. Are his earlier movies on DVD worth importing from Japan: "Ghost Soup", "Fried Dragon Fish", "Undo" and "Picnic"? I know most of them are TV shows or short films and are less than hour so I wanted to know if anybody has seen them and can comment on the quality of the DVDs and replay value. Thanks!
04-23-05 | 07:02 PM
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From: Lakewood,OH,USA
I picked up a box of 6 Iwai films on EBay for 25 or 30 bucks. Excellent quality and wonderful films.
LOVE LETTER ( 1995 )
APRIL STORY (1998 )
SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY ( 1996 )
PICNIC ( 1996 )
ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU (2001 )
UNDO(1994)
LOVE LETTER ( 1995 )
APRIL STORY (1998 )
SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY ( 1996 )
PICNIC ( 1996 )
ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU (2001 )
UNDO(1994)
04-24-05 | 07:33 AM
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From: Northern Virginia
Yeah, that box set on eBay is a boot.
I have the R2 editions of Picnic and Undo. Picnic stars Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Last Life in the Universe, etc.) and the pop star Chara (who was also in Iwai's Swallowtail, and is now married to Asano). It's about three mental patients who leave the hospital and try to make sense out of the world. It's darker and weirder than most of Iwai's projects (especially a bizarre scene with a urinating puppet). I prefer Undo, about a woman who can't stop tying things up, and the boyfriend who tries to help her. Visually, Undo is very impressive. Picnic clocks in at just over an hour, so I suppose it qualifies as a feature, but Undo is only about 45 minutes. I don't think Undo would have benefited from being any longer, though - it's just the right length for the story it wants to tell. Neither of these films probably has high replay value just because they're both pretty depressing. April Story and Love Letter have more replay value for me.
I have the R2 editions of Picnic and Undo. Picnic stars Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Last Life in the Universe, etc.) and the pop star Chara (who was also in Iwai's Swallowtail, and is now married to Asano). It's about three mental patients who leave the hospital and try to make sense out of the world. It's darker and weirder than most of Iwai's projects (especially a bizarre scene with a urinating puppet). I prefer Undo, about a woman who can't stop tying things up, and the boyfriend who tries to help her. Visually, Undo is very impressive. Picnic clocks in at just over an hour, so I suppose it qualifies as a feature, but Undo is only about 45 minutes. I don't think Undo would have benefited from being any longer, though - it's just the right length for the story it wants to tell. Neither of these films probably has high replay value just because they're both pretty depressing. April Story and Love Letter have more replay value for me.
