Death Note w/Director Shūsuke Kaneko
2007-07-11 9:28AM / BLOG新聞
/ MOVIE/s
/ 會員可以看
4個評論
well, first off, thanks to AnD, i get to know bout NYAFF, and i have no
idea how many times i wrote www.alivenotdead.com on feedback paper
given out during show. so, tht does help promote right?? LOL!!!
anyway, so, it's the Japan Society week (part 2 of the NYAFF event),
and i have heard bout Death Note anime/comic from friends in Malaysia,
and read bout the box office movie as well. so, i decide to check it
out.
--
Disillusioned law student, Light Yagami (Tetsuya Fujiwara), chances
upon a notebook lying in the street one day and he quickly discovers
that if he writes the name of anyone inside its pages they instantly
die. Light embarks on a plan to kill all the criminals in the world and
bring justice to the planet, much to the amusement of his new
companion, Ryuk, a hulking CGI God of Death with the looks and attitude
of a demonic drummer from an 80’s metal band. Light slaughters millions
in his criminal holocaust (“They deserve it,” he justifies) and even
though the global crime rate drops 70% the cops aren’t too happy about
these mass murders, and they’re aided by L (Kenichi Matsuyama), a
mysterious detective who turns out to be a gangly teenager with a big
brain, a sweet tooth and a taste for gamesmanship.
Things get even more
complicated when the Police Chief (Takeshi Kaga, Chairman Kaga on Iron Chef), who is also Light’s father, is appointed to unmask this mysterious killer.
A
web-savvy, Veronica Mars-esque take on an Agatha Christie novel crossed
with an Edgar Allan Poe short story, this flick is a live action manga
that drops the viewer into a world where they have to hit the ground
running. Shusuke Kaneko, who revitalized the Gamera franchise in the
90’s, tells his sprawling story in broad, clean strokes, eschewing
visual dazzle to focus all his energy on getting as many narrative
balls into the air as possible. A head-spinning head game, the DEATH
NOTE movies require so much concentration and focus from the audience
that their running time flies by. It’s J-horror turned into mass
entertainment for a new generation.
--
a little intro bout the director, Shūsuke Kaneko (bio picked from subwaycinema.com)
Shusuke Kaneko has been a lifelong fan of kaiju
and science fiction films and TV shows, both from Japan and the U.S.
After graduating from college with plans to become a teacher, he
changed course and joined Nikkatsu Studios as an assistant director in
1978, where he worked for seven years on the studio's Roman porno films,
while also writing anime scrīpts for other studios on the side. He
directed his first film in 1984, an erotic comedy called Uno Koichiro no nurete utsu, and after several other films for Nikkatsu, he went freelance in 1985. Kaneko's 1988 film Summer Vacation: 1999,
a high school drama with an all-girl cast portraying male students, was
his first to be picked up for distribution outside Japan, receiving a
home video release in the U.S. from New Yorker Video. In 1991, Kaneko
directed the horror/comedy My Soul is Slashed, starring Ken
Ogata, and in 1993 he was recruited by American producer Brian Yuzna to
direct "The Cold," an English-language episode in Necronomicon,
an anthology horror film based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In 1995,
after lobbying hard for the job, Kaneko revived the Gamera series for
Daiei Studios with Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, and
went on to direct two more highly successful entries in the trilogy,
creating what many fans consider to be some of the best kaiju films ever made.
Following 1999's Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris and the Firestarter -inspired ESP special effects movie Cross Fire in 2000, Kaneko was hired by Toho to helm the 25th entry in the Godzilla series, Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, known under the more user-friendly title GMK. Four years later, Kaneko joined the production crew of the 2005 Ultraman Max series,
which was intended as a return to the feeling and nostalgia of the
original late 1960s episodes, and also featured another cameo director
in the form of Takashi Miike. After nearly 30 films and television
projects, Kaneko had the most successful hits of his career in the Death Note films,
which were among the top box office earners in Japan in 2006,
contributing to domestic cinema overtaking Hollywood films at the box
office for the first time in twenty years.
my personal point of view, the movie was just okie. maybe i'm not a crazy Death Note fan, but still, the movie needs more kick to it. from the title itself, Death Note, i was waiting to see all these intense or exciting event tht cause death or watever the note is about. turned out ok. nothing special. just 'write' the person's name and he died. nothing special. ooo and also, the main character, Light Yagami (play by Tetsuya Fujiwara) is not a good choice (again, i haven't seen or read any of the Death Note comic, so, i'm just pointing it out as a normal audience viewing a movie. not intense crazy fan).
Light, Tetsuya Fujiwara
Thus, the detective known as L (play by Kenichi Matsuyama) is BRILLIANT. he definitely has the talent. well, probably another part of it is tht his role has more challenging character compare to the main actor, who i see him being the 'i'm cool' type role.
Detective L, Kenichi Matsuyama (i'm in love with him *blush*)
all and all, i give it 3 out of 5 stars. i wasn't even motivated to check out the next episode the next day. hahaha! also, i didn't get to ask director Shūsuke Kaneko question in the 'short' Q&A session. sigh...i did hang out with him at the launch party after the movie, but i don't know Japanese...and his translator was not around. he is a very humble, nice, laid back person. hahah!!! if you met him on the street, you can NEVER tell he's a director. hahaha!! but he's sweet. smile a lot. :)
alright...off to my next blog!
BLOG評論 (4)