Zatoichi, Kitano-san's new movie.

[SKiNiToToRo]

Hi,

I just saw the trailer for Zatoichi which opens in Japan on 6th of Sept. It looks really good, Kitano-san looks pretty cool with his hair bleached. It looks like Tadanoubo Asano is in it too, I think I recognised him in the trailer.
What's the buzz like in Japan on this movie? Is it expected to do very well?
I hear there's something of a trend again for Kimono's and other traditinal Japanese fashion, is this true?

It's also be nice to hear from people once they've seen the movie to see what they thought of it.

I'm a pretty big fan of Kitano Takeshi's films and am trying to get them all on DVD which isn't easy here in England, but i've got about 9 so far, anyway, here's a link to the trailer, enjoy!

^_^


http://office-kitano.co.jp/zatoichi/trailer_f.html

[sake]

Hi. I just saw Kitano's Zatoichi yesterday in Roppongi, Tokyo. It was with English subtitles, so I guess I could see the movie from the viewpoint of a non-Japanese speaking audience, at least some of the times. The movie was very good. Well, that's an understatement; I don't want to praise it so highly that I might spoil someone's joy of watching it without too much expectations. Having said that, allow me tell you, it was incredible! "You can do it, Mr. Kitano!" was how I felt about it. Having watched some of his other works and not being impressed much by any of them, I wasn't prepared for its... smoothness or rythmic flow, and the sheer entertainment the film provided. The story itself is simple. Someone called the film "accessible" and I agree. It must have far, far greater appeal to the general audience, and I bet it'll be a sensation in the U.S. and other major western markets, much more so than the anime films. When I was in my teens, I would watch his comedy shows and think he was just one of those manzai guys, with just a little more intelligence. But now I respect him as someone who has followed his inner traffic signals and has reached the current point in his life...yeah, he's a genious and I'm not, but I guess I learned a lot from his words in prints and elsewhere. Sorry I can' t tell you anything about kimono.

[sake]

Gee, my reply is much too long... sorry guys, I was overexcited! Wanted to make it shorter but too late.

[Taruru~]

sake, do not apologize for writing a long answer. Geez! :mad:

This is a forum. You're supposed to say what you want. Long answers are good~~ ! After all, there's a bigger chance of getting responses if you write more of what you think, then if you write just a short comment. Ne?
Short comments are of course not especially bad or something, but too often you see somments like; "Yeah, me too." or " I agree". That doesn't make much of a discussion, does it?

Ah~ but getting too serious isn't good either.. >_< Going Off Topic is human~ Just like I am right now, whee.. :p

(( I ave nothing to add to this discussion, eheh. ^_^;; I haven't seen the movie, but Beat Takeshi rocks~~~ ))

[sake]

Thanks, Taruru~.

But when I looked at what I wrote the next day, it looked like a monument or something, maybe with the deceased's names on it, solemn and all; I had to say it was not meant to be!

So. You live in Japan, right? The "buzz" here isn't big, is it? Actually the theater in Roppongi I went to was almost deserted, on a Friday evening. Tell us what you think.

You like Hanawa? I like Dandy Sakano better. He's more like me (Oh, how I love his nearly destructive timing in speech).

[budd]

what is the razor called in japan? tia!

[sake]

higesori, no. yakitori, no. tottori, no. kamisori. tia!

[Taruru~]

GETS ! :D

Wai wai, both Dandy and Hanawa are really funny, and so cute~
But I like Hanawas music a lot, and he's fresh... and his Hideki Matsui-imitation is adorable~ http://forum.japanreference.com/images/icons/icon28.gif
I saw him on,I think it was Hey! Hey! Hey! last week. I didn't watch from the beginning of the program, but Hanawa, who was supposed to perform was late because he came from the airport. So they sent a couple of camera-men to follow Hanawa on the tourist bus, on his way to the show.
He went through all the passengers, asking them where they came from, and then sang a song about it. :giggle:
( Though in the end he didn't make it to the studio in time... >_< )

I've been here for almost 2 months, so I've only been to the movies once, (I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean" with a friend *^_^* ) at a movie theater in Ueno. It was reeeal tiny... I think cinemas should be either large and luxurious, or just clean, and cosy.. >_<
Hey, aren't there like, really lux cinemas in Roppongi?

[Arch]

wow that movie does look cool, lol your right SKiNiToToRo these movies are hard to get in England, i have seen very little of these kinda movies, only thing i see in this category is Jet Li movies !!

[sake]

GETS!! (How did you get those big and bold letters?)

Hanawa is funny, alright. I wish he would go international and do his stuff on a U.N. basis. You know, singing satires for one nation to another, maybe getting polical on the way sometimes...

Ueno? They only show porn and yakuza, don't they?

Hey, you should try Roppongi Hills. "Lux. Superrich". Very new, very clean, very nice. You're gonna like it.

GETS!!

[Taruru~]

[*size=3][*b]GETS ![/size][/b] without the *

Yah. I'd like to go see Roppongi Hills some time.. ^_^;;
"Lux superrich"? lol..like the shampoo? >_<
How much did you pay?
In Ueno, they have a "girls' day" at the cinemas. Wednesdays, All movies: 1000 yen for the women. ehehe~n.
Oh, and on the 1st of every month, it's 1000 yen for everyone. ^_^

[sake]

BIG AND BOLD!

Did I get it right?
No, "Lux superrich" simply means the place is a little bit better than other theaters I've been to. The price is the same old 1800 yen for adult. Hedious, isn't it?

Is the shampoo that good? BTW, I use shampoo on my body. Economical and efficient, don't you think? This should be the normal thing to do everywhere.

Girls' days and movie days, they come up with that kind of thing to make a fool of us to the fact that their prices are hedious. It should be like 1000 yen every day!

GETS!

[sake]

thank you for letting me know how to get the big and bold GETS!, taruru~!

Getting Any?, Kitano's DVD i ordered from Amazon US, arrived yesterday but my cheap DVD player does not play it!
different region code.

what's that for, anyway?

[SKiNiToToRo]

Hey Taruru,

love the GETS! I saw that guy on a tv show on satelite here in the UK, it was well funny! We've been having a laugh about it at my Japanese class too! gets GETS GETS!

Hi Sake,

I got my copy of "Getting any" the other week from Sensasian.com, it was region 3 I think. If you are from Japan, how come you don't just get a region 2 disc? It must be out there, prolly better than my region 3 dvd, the picture quality is pants! and the sound has a hum on it!?!

Still haven't seen Zatoichi yet. It played here twice at the London Film Festival but I couldn't make it to either show. It'll go on rlease next year in london anyway so I'll see it then, can't wait.

Ja mata ne!

[sake]

Hi SKiNiToToRo!

Thanks for starting this thread. Just the right timing for me.

You know what?

My cheap DVD player, which I said didn't play Getting Any? is now fully region-free!

You might not believe this, but I searched the Net for tips on how to go region-free until the wee hours last night and I found this trick, tried it, and GETS !

Many people are already aware of this but it was a revelation to me. I'm now enlightened! NIRVANA !

I got a region 1 because I wanted to see how the lines were translated. Not bad, I guess.

[jovial_jon]

Originally posted by SKiNiToToRo
I saw that guy on a tv show on satelite here in the UK, it was well funny!

me too! it was amazin...we are talkin about the rock,paper scissor style game where u guess where the others gonna point? do u just say 'gets gets, GETS' to play. cos i was tellin some1 about it but forgot how u did it :)

[budd]

"In Ueno, they have a "girls' day" at the cinemas. Wednesdays, All movies: 1000 yen for the women."
yah, i heard about that somewhere! thanks for confirming it!

[CFP]

Originally posted by sake
Hi SKiNiToToRo!

Thanks for starting this thread. Just the right timing for me.

You know what?

My cheap DVD player, which I said didn't play Getting Any? is now fully region-free!

You might not believe this, but I searched the Net for tips on how to go region-free until the wee hours last night and I found this trick, tried it, and GETS !

Many people are already aware of this but it was a revelation to me. I'm now enlightened! NIRVANA !

I got a region 1 because I wanted to see how the lines were translated. Not bad, I guess.

So sake, please tell me where you found this info on making a DVD player region free! That will really rock!
Takeshi Kitano as Zatoichi. I just found out about that yesterday. If anyone could reprise that role it would have to be Beat! He is the best!

[sake]

Hi, CFP,
I found it here and there on the Internet in Japanese... there must be similar sites in English too I guess...just enter some relevant words in Google and there you'll have it...I'm not sure if I should elaborate on exactly how to GETS! 'cause I don't wanna see the manufacturer being pressured by those men in black or grey or khaki or whatever not to produce the product anymore...or am I being too cautious?

Some crazy people are throwing mud or s*** against one another over Zatoichi in some of the Japanese discussion threads...just crazy stuff...makes me feel like emptying my bowels...

[CFP]

I understand that.

I did the search and found a couple of sites. Thanks for the idea! I never would have thought of that!:bow:

[budd]

"I hear there's something of a trend again for Kimono's and other traditinal Japanese fashion, is this true?"
i hear that too

[sake]

Mmmm...I don't see that trend...anyone? It's nice to see though a lady in kimono on the train once in a while...but generally I think kimono is too expensive and not practical...
BTW, this manga is good: http://www.naniwa-kinyu-dojyo.com/friendship/index.html
May the spirit of the author Yuji Aoki rest in peace, who passed away recently.

[howabe]

Apparently, Zatoichi's now available to pre-order at Yes Asia (http://www.yesasia.com)
It'll be released around March i think, but it'll obviously be the Japan Edition, meaning it'll be Region 2, and won't have the vital English subs for people like me
:D

[SKiNiToToRo]

Apparently it does have English subtitles:

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1002991839/did-0/code-j/section-videos/

I reckon I'll be ordering it, looks like this will be available before it gets a cinema release here in England.

L8r!

[howabe]

It does have English subs??? Well in that case, I'm gonna order it in about... 5 minutes

[Ichi]

Hi!!! I'm Japanese and I really like his films but I haven't seen
Zatoichi yet cause I'm living in Ireland now...
However I saw the advertisement of the film in the cinema
and it says it's "coming soon"!!!!
I don't know the exact date but I suppose it's coming to England and Ireland in March!!! can't wait to see it!!

[lineartube]

I've seen it at the cinema a few weeks back with some friends and I enjoyed it very much. It was that Kitano's dark humor but the ending was really surreal. Even to this day I don't know if I liked or hated that ending. It was at best, very... puzzling.... and that music hall scene... WTF?!?!?! I think that ending was Kitano's way of messing with the audience.

Overall, I liked it, and anyone who love's samurai movies, with lots of blood and gore, will love this one. The plus, is the dark humour all over the movie.

[sake]

The other day I bought the Zatoichi DVD that came with a special "making" DVD, including interviews with Kitano and others. Before watching it, I was a little bit worried that maybe I had praised it too much the last time I wrote here, what with the "smoothness," "rhythmic flow," "sensation," etc. :p But after watching it, which has English subtitles, my praise for the film remains unchanged. :cool: It's a great entertainment movie, and deserves the same kind of hype that the Last Samurai received.

The tap dance scene in the finale might be puzzling or seem unnecessary to some, but I liked it very much. The usual samurai film typically ends with the main character walking down the country path by himself, with the peasants working the field or may be celebrating an yearly festival, as Kitano himself says in the interview. He took it, twisted it to his own liking, and there he presents a traditional ending in a hilarious package. :ramen:


(K.K., you are special to me! :bluush:

[Zero-sen]

Seen it, loved it!! I thought "Azumi" was cool until i saw Zatoichi. Fantastic pretty much sums it up!! :giggle: