Advantages: Kurosawa, Mifune, gripping story, impressive Noir direction & acting Disadvantages: None, only maybe for those who dislike subtitled films
Starring:
Toshiro Mifune as Detective Murakami
Takashi Shimura as Detective Sato
Keiko Awaji as Harumi Namaki
Isao Kimura as Yusa
This is an impressive early film from 1949 by brilliant renowned Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, one of the first to star actor Toshiro Mifune with whom he would go on to make many more throughout the span of both their careers. As well as directing this film, he also co-wrote it, and has created a thoroughly gripping, suspenseful and immersive experience as a result.
Stray Dog (original name Nora Inu) grabs you from the moment the opening credits begin, with their distinctive background of a screen-filling close-up of a panting dog's face. A voiceover comes on to explain that it was a very hot day, and then we see a very young (and handsome!) Toshiro Mifune standing before a man at a desk, looking ...
just after coming back from rehabilitation. There is obvious scrutiny of her character, mostly by the relatives and invitees. The family is divided, with her being her dad's favorite daughter, and her sister not liking the fact. The relations seems real, not in contrasting white and black, but rather in the gray region. There's love between sisters and yet there is this jealousy(well,jealousy is not the precise word here),probably sibling rivalry is better. Add a pair of divorced parents, it just makes it more complicated and interesting.
Rachel getting married is subtle and probably will linger on your mind if you have a sister.Girls might like this film more. I am not sure of repeated viewings for this film, but its worth a watch!
---Also on ciao under the same name---- ...
Advantages: The back drop of LA at its best at night-time and dialogue scripts Disadvantages: 120 minutes flew by
Vincent Bang Go
Director Michael Mann
Run Time 120 mins
Cert 15
Year 2004
'This is a collision of two lives? All collapsed in the events of one night? '
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Michael Mann explored the night scenes to limit with this epic. Unquestionably riveting from the off; the scenes fill the air with night-time shifty-ness and blatant testosterone overload. Mann made it artistic, chic to the bone; an exploration of circumstances that catapult lives together, thrown to the mercy of fate.
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There is a genre that Mann certainly can nail and that is ?crime? ?suspense? and I?m going to add artistic flair to the trio. Jamie Foxx with two exs, that?s not a typo. Foxx got an award for his role as ?Max? the cabbie; a dreamer ...
1st2thebar 16.11.2009 (17.11.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Collateral (DVD)
