Nippon Saturday

- This weekend's big release over in Japan is the manga adaptation Dororo. Long considered as the first major blockbuster of 2007, it's adapted from legendary artist Osamu Tezuka, stars rumored romantic couple Shibasaki Kou and Satoshi Tsumabuki, and features the talent of Hero choreographer Ching Siu-Tung. A review (link thanks to Ryuganji) by the Daily Yomiuri is out and it's here.



- Saw Blood and Bones last night (review by Twitch here), and it's all true - Takeshi Kitano does play a bastard with almost no redeeming quality and there's no Hollywood comeuppance here, he's pretty much like that all the way up to the end. It's an unflinching portrait of a monster who rules his Korean-Japanese neighborhood with an iron fist, and yet it's compelling enough to hold my attention for all of its 144 minutes, but it's compelling because it's so unflinching. There's no doubt that it's not an easy movie to watch - "Beat" Takeshi literally spends his first scene raping his wife in front of their young daughter - but it's a tragic journey worth watching. Considered yourself warned - it earns its category-III rating pretty early on.