MILK

English

129 minutes

5 Stars

This is the inspiring and emotional biopic of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the US. My only nit to pick is I don't believe they played the junk food enough for Dan White (his trial coined the expression, "The Twinkie Defense") or what really motivated his actions, though they were fairly apparent. The end of the movie shows photos of the real people, and tells a bit about what they were doing at the time of the filming. Very interesting. And the use of actual news footage inserted is very well done. There is some homosexual sex in the movie, so if you have kidlets, be sure to watch it with them and explain that love is love. Period. Keep the tissues close.

Trailer 

Western, Surreal Style

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride

English

83 minutes

5 Stars, Violent

This is a movie you'll love—or you'll hate. I loved it. A dark western, a good story, and I loved the high speed cutting of flashbacks. Important: Note the subtitles that give the dates. The cast is outstanding with Dwight Yoakam, Lizzy Caplan, Cote de Pablo, Peter Dinklage and Kris Kristofferson. The story of an outlaw woman who wants to bring her dead outlaw lover home for burial, and all the people who want to stop her. The story is great, the photography, directing, and acting superb. There is nothing romantic about this western, but there is love. If Peckinpah had done movies like this, I would have loved them! The violence is germane to the story, but not dragged out. Oh, did I mention the costumes are great, too?

Trailer, which does not do it justice

Shower

Shower

Mandarin, English Subtitles

1999, 94 minutes

5 Stars

A 'feel good' movie about Da Ming who left his small, provincial town to seek his fortune in the big city, who, when he receives a postcard from his developmentally disabled brother Er Ming, returns home thinking his father was ill. Dad and Er Ming run a bathhouse where the local men come to get a bath, right crickets, and enjoy life at a leisurely pace. However, Modernization rears its ugly head, and the neighborhood is to be destroyed to make way for high-rise buildings and shopping malls. There is much humor and the acting is uniformly excellent. This is a film the whole family can enjoy (there is nudity, but not frontal or sexual). Even if you are not a fan of subtitles, these are so well done they seem to disappear. Da Ming realizes the meaning of family.

Chunyang

Chunyang

2000, 120 minutes

Korean, Excellent Subtitles

5 Stars

Rainy Day loved this Cannes Film Festival nominated movie! The beginning was a bit off-putting as it is narrated by a man "singing" the folk story of two lovers, Mongryong and Chunyang. Rainy Day would have preferred the narrator not quite so loud, and that would be her only nit to pick. This movie is a winner on so many levels, it is a beautiful introduction to Korea. Chunyang is the daughter of a Courtesan, and by law she, too, is a Courtesan. Mongryong is the son of the Governor. When the two protagonists meet, they fall in love and secretly marry, and then the son is sent to Seoul to complete his training, and his father moves on. The new Governor wants Chungyang as his mistress and does not recognize her marriage. To refuse means imprisonment, possible torture, and death.

For a trailer, click here.

Third in the Samurai Trilogy by Yoji Yamada, Love and Honor

Love and Honor

Japanese, English subtitles

2006, 121 Minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day loved Twilight Samurai and Hidden Blade, and when she watched this movie, the third of the samurai trilogy by Yoji Yamada, she was not disappointed. Mimura Shinnojo is a low level samurai, a food taster who dreams of quitting his position and opening his own dojo to teach the sword to any young boys who want to learn. Before he can realize his dream, he tastes poisoned shellfish, and though he survives the poison, he is blind. Though this is part of a samurai trilogy, it is not a martial arts film, it is, rather, a film of love and honor, and how both are met and betrayed and found. Love and Honor is a touching movie, great acting, beautifully photographed, and filled with drama. If you saw the other two, this is a 'must see movie.'

For the trailer, click here.

Woman in the Dunes

Woman in the Dunes

Japanese, English Subtitles

1964, 127 minutes

5 Stars, B&W

Rainy Day admits she has NO idea why she picked this movie, but she is soooo glad she did! This movie, based on Kobo Abe's novel, is erotic, allegorical and earned the Cannes Special Jury Prize and two Oscar nominations. It tells the story of an entomologist captured by locals who trap him in a sand pit with a woman where he must come to terms with what is and isn't important in life. Does he escape the pit? If so, will he return, or fetch the feds down upon the town? The photography is some of the most beautiful Rainy Day has seen, especially the cascading sand; and the music is hauntingly beautiful-metallic and percussion-think Taiko drums. Two actors and a great story. Think Alfred Hitchcock type of movie. Riveting.

Click here for a sample of taiko drumming.

Click here for the original Japanese trailer (no subtitles)

Click here for the movie (subtitles)

Samurai Assassin, Mifune Toshiro

Samurai Assassin

Japanese, English Subtitles

1965, 122 Minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day rates this 5 stars because the acting was superb, and the photography pretty darned good. The story is based on history, about the end of the Samurai times. Adm. Perry and his Black Ships were already nosing around Japanese harbors. Mifune Toshiro stars as the ronin Niiro Tsuruchiyo, who is not really a ronin because he is not really a Samurai. He becomes involved in a coup attempt in order to become a Samurai. He is an angry, broken, and almost animalistic man who never knew who his father was, and neither his mother nor his stepfather will tell him. He seeks to become a Samurai by killing a daimyo, thereby setting off a chain of events ending the Samurai period. Rainy Day has no idea how historically accurate the movie is, but thinks it's worth the watch.

For a trailer of Samurai Assassin, click here.

Samurai Banners, starring Mifune Toshiro

Samurai Banners

Japanese, English subtitles

1969, 166 minutes

4 Stars

The Netflix blurb describing this movie is totally messed. And, in a way, she found the title also misleading. Rainy Day expected lots of classic sword fights, and instead had chaotic wars, with the Samurai Banners being on the fighters. According to one reviewer on Netflix, it is a prequel to the Kurosawa movie, Kagemusha, which Rainy Day saw and enjoyed. Mifune Toshiro is the lead in this movie and, as usual, his performance is excellent. If you like epic stories, fictionalized history, and the strategies leading up to and fighting of wars, this is definitely a movie you will enjoy. Just don't expect the romance and fatal sword fight between the two men who love the same woman.

For a clip of Samurai Banners, click here. This clip shows the entertainment leading up to the assassination of Lord Suwa. Gives you a chance to practice your French;-)

The Red Violin

The Red Violin

English

2000 Academy Awards: Best Music Score

1998, 130 Minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day loves, Loves, LOVES this movie! Rainy Day had to take violin lessons when she was young. Rainy Day has no musical talent, but she does have a great appreciation for music of all kinds, and this movie is chockablock full of some of the most gorgeous violin music she's ever heard. The star of the movie is the Red Violin, with strong supporting role by Samuel L. Jackson. In a series of flashbacks, we follow the history of this most amazing instrument as it reveals love, romance, and some of the most gorgeous violin music ever. There are a couple of sex scenes, enough to warrant an R rating, so it may not be a 'family time' movie if your kidlets are young.  Each story the violin 'tells' is beautiful and believable.

Click here for a two minute trailer. 

Dancing By The Star!

Mao's Last Dancer

English

2010, 117 Minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day seems to be on a run for Biopics. This movie is based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, a peasant villager taken at age 11 to study ballet in Beijing. From there, he is 'seen' by Ben Stevenson, Director of the Housing Ballet Company, and brought to the US on a temporary Visa. The music ranges from Chinese traditional to Ballet classical; the dancing is breathtaking in its beauty. Li's decision to remain in the US is heartfelt, and sad, and joyous all at once. There are many scenes to bring forth laughs, and a few that bring forth tears.  From the poverty of China in the Cultural Revolution to the excesses of Houston, this is a great movie and a terrific story. 

YouTube Talk

YouTube Innerview    

Have you ever considered how difficult it would be to leave your country, your family, your very language, to pursue your dream? Could you? Would you? 

As A Poet, Rainy Day Just Had to Watch

Poetry

Korean, English Subtitles

2010, 139 minutes

5 Stars

This is one of the most touching movies Rainy Day has seen. Grandmother Mija is raising her grandson, Wook as his mother lives and works in another city. Wook is a pain, and his story is always in the background. Mija works part-time to make ends meet, and is alone when diagnosed with the beginnings of Alzheimer's Disease. She enrolls in a class to learn to write poetry, a passion with her. This touching drama follows her through her job, her diagnosis, and the writing of her poem. It's a quiet drama, no fights, but understated tension. Spoiler Alert! The ending is open. If you must have everything tied into a neat package, this is not for you. A beautiful and well-told poignant story of the meaning of Love and Life, and how some face their mortal end. A haunting movie.

For the trailer, click here. There are no subtitles on this trailer.

Sometimes you just need a good story...

Kabei: Our Mother

2008, 133 minutes

Japanese, English Subtitles

10 Stars out of 5)

Based on Teruyo Nogami's autobiography, this film focuses on her childhood years in 1940s Tokyo. Her father, Professor Nogami is jailed on suspicion of being a Communist, leaving his wife and two young daughters to fend for themselves. Directed by Yoji Yamada (Twilight Samurai, the Hidden Blade) this quiet drama focuses on life as it existed before and during WWII. Although a tearjerker, Rainy Day never felt the story contrived; instead, she saw a great deal of beauty in the human situation, replete with honest laughter to balance the honest tears. The music is gorgeous, and fits the story. Yoji Yamada is rapidly becoming one of Rainy Day's most favorite directors. Teruyo Nogami is not without credentials on her own having spent 50 years with Akira Kurosawa.

Click here for trailer.  

Mifune Toshiro in Another Great Movie

Samurai Rebellion

2 hours 1 minute

Japanese, English subtitles

5 stars

As you know, Rainy Day has a deep and abiding lust for Toshiro Mifune. She was not disappointed in this film. This is the story of an aging samurai vassal and how he defies, with quiet calm, his lord, in order to save his honor, his son and his wife, and his family. Basically, the lord forces the son into marrying a concubine who displeased him, after she produced a son, and then, when that child becomes the heir apparent, the lord demands his concubine back. Unfortunately she and her new husband love each other. Mifune's character had been henpecked for twenty years, and he quietly defies his wife and her family, his lord and his minions, and fights for what he believes is right. A study on Japan and the feudal system, and doing what is right.

Rainy Day would like to know if you've seen this movie, and what you thought about it.

For a trailer, click on the title, above

labels: Drama, Japanese movie, Mifune Toshiro,

Flying Fox of Snow Mountain (Fox Volant of...)

Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain

Disc 1 of 8 discs (series)

Mandarin, English subtitles

5 stars

After the previous series try, with so much "Gu Gu" and "Gor," Rainy Day admittedly hesitated to start another series. However, Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain found her on the edge of the sofa more often than not. The costuming isn't all that rich (it's called Snowy Mountain for a reason) but is interesting, the photography great, and the sword fights are plentiful and wonderful (and all do not end in death or dismemberment!) This TV series was adapted from the popular novel of Louis Cha. The subtitles are a little odd, but passable. Actually, they add to the humor with quotes like, "a teeth for a teeth." Each disc has 5 episodes, and Rainy Day eagerly awaits Discs 2 & 3. If you like Asian movies/TV, this is a feast.

Rainy Day finally had to look up the word, 'volant' just to be sure she had it right. It means: 1. having the wings extended as if in flight – used as a heraldic bird, 2. flying or capable of flying, 3. quick, nimble. Which should give you, gentle readers, a fair guess as to the kinds of kung fu you will see in the movie!