Thin line between quirky & annoying.

[ASaroch]

Japanese cinema has that unique skill of making really quirky, very surreal, rather cute films. However, I just watched 'Instant Swamp' and felt this was just too desperate to be bizarre and came across forced. Same with 'Kamikaze Girls' in my opinion. But when they get the blend right it can be utterly beguiling. (the Shinobu Yaguchi films are mostly a good example of this).

[Phil]

I guess that's the good and bad side of what is essentially still a very in-bred market. A few classics emerge and appeal to an international audience, but they go hand in hand with a flood of inferior copies.

[Charlie Parker]

I've really lost interest in Japanese cinema but it's hard to keep track when you're forcefed infantile gore movies featuring women in pants with guns for bums, or something.

[Phil]

I actually think the whole Japanese VCinema boom is quite a positive move for the industry. While it does have more than its fair share of crap, I see it as a stepping stone that, with a little more time and effort, could soon find the right balance to start creating some action classics. And even if it doesn't, cheesy low budget action films will always have a place in my collection

[Charlie Parker]

Yeah you're right, VCinema in the 90s gave us Miike anf Kurosawa (sp? the Cure guy) so there's hope yet Admittedly I've not checked out a lot, I have Chanbara Beauty but it got turned off. Think I need some beers n' curry for that one.

[Phil]

I thought Chanbara Beauty was alright, a slow starter but it gets progressively better in both action and effects. Machine Girl is probably still the best that I've seen, although Hard Revenge Milly was a half-decent time filler too.

[Drunken Master]

I didn't think too much of "Chanbara Beauty" either, though it was quite pleasing on the eye. I stuck it out, but I was glad it was only a rental. I thought "Machine Girl" was great and "Tokyo Gore Police" was too long. It seems at the moment that Japan is having a glut of this type of gore fueled action with middling results. I think you just have to take one film at a time until it bores you. ( Though I may be pretty close to that mark already. ) "Hard Revenge Milly" is on my rental list so I'll give it a try when it arrives.

I've never been a big fan of the Japanese quirky comedies. I've seen a few but I have to confess that I don't go out of my way to see them. I prefer things like "Cyborg She" when it comes to the lighter stuff. I watched "Departures" last night and really enjoyed it to the point where I would actually recommend that one.

[ASaroch]

'Departures' is excellent. As for quirky Japanese cinema, it can be very charming, but its just that it can try too hard sometimes.

[ASaroch]

I still can't believe that the man behind 'Kamikaze Girls' would go on to do 'Confessions'!