I wanted to mention a movie you may have overlooked, a quirky combination of science fiction, punk rock, generational legacies, and living your life with true heart. Fish Story is all of that and more, a wonderful visual outing from Japan that is difficult to describe but surprisingly enjoyable. And yes, this is one of those movies that will have you cheering at the end (OK, I might have even jumped up and down a few times while cheering). I don’t know if it ever got any screen time in a movie theater in North America, but it has been released on DVD, so you can pick it up at places like Amazon, or watch it streaming online at places like Netflix. There are other things out there with the same title, so you are looking for the 2009 release from Japan.
If you are a Studio Ghibli fan, and love movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Howls Moving Castle, or Spirited Away, and you happen to live in the central East Coast portion of the US, the AFI Silver Theater is presenting Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata and the Masters of Studio Ghibli. These masterpieces of animation equal or exceed anything done by the classic Disney studios and have won critical acclaim all over the world. The American Film Institute Silver Theaters in Silver Spring, MD, is not alone in this presentation. The co-presenters are the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Japanese Information Center, a department of the Japanese Embassy. I already own almost all of these on DVD (one has yet to be released in the US), but I have never before seen the ones in this program on the big screen. After this past weekend, I can tell you they are amazing to see in a real theater, and if you have the chance to go there are plenty of wonderful films yet to be presented.
There are no wide releases of note this week, but if you are near a theater that gets limited release films, My Way is the most interesting film out there, and the sad part is it is based on a true story. Two high school rivals, one Korean and one Japanese, become enemies and end up fighting together in most of the major theaters of WWII, and eventually have no one to depend on except each other. They start out fighting for the Japanese in China, one an officer and the other a conscript, where they are captured and forced to fight for the Chinese on the Russian front. Soon they are captured by the Russians, who in turn place them on their western front to fight the Nazi’s. In turn, they are captured by the Nazi’s, who put their new cannon fodder along the entrenched installations in Normandy, to fight the invading Allies. Originally titled D-Day, this is a Korean film which has won some awards around the world and done some serious box office in Asia.
Lockout hits the big screens this weekend. Written and directed by Luc Besson, who obviously loved Escape From New York, since this is pretty much the same story except it takes place in an orbital prison. This one looks like good mindless fun from the guy who brought us things like The Fifth Element and Angel-A.
There are several tasty Korean bands I would like to mention today, the first one being Girl’s Generation. They are more of a pop group than a rock group, but they have worked long and hard at creating a following, as you can tell from their song Run Devil Run. The next track to mention is the band 4Minute doing their hit Heart 2 Heart, and then the song I have been waiting for: I Go Crazy Because Of You by T-Ara. As I said, more pop than rock, but a bit of good music even so. Unfortunately, every one of them was removed from YouTube, so I have removed the videos here as well, in case they were taken down because of copyright issues.
2NE1 keeps creating some amazing rock, and here we have a few more examples for you. The first one goes by the title Hate You, and is a good example of how to animate a live band. It includes a number of classic Anime tropes and characters being inserted into your Real Life environment. The second selection is Ugly, which epitomizes the core insecurities so many people live with every day, even if they are not valid. The third track, Follow Me, is just visually fun. Do not be surprised if you have difficulty following the lyrics; they keep sliding back and forth between English and Korean. If your local brick and mortar doesn’t have this music, you should find it on Amazon, iTunes, and the like…