So, I'll just point out only some aspects:
* Trigger warnings for excessive violence, suicide, human trafficking, drug use and sex work.
* The movie is very slow and quiet, except where it's not.
* The movie is definitely not fluffy. But heartwarming all the same.
* There's a love story that is told in less than six minutes, from beginning to the end -- and I still cried for both lovers. (But it's still not a romance movie.)
* The young boy actor was impressive.
* A lot of the story is told not in dialogue but in silence. The movie expects the viewer to pay attention not what the characters say, but what they do.
* When people are victims, over and over, all of their lives, is there a chance to get up again? -- The story can be read as some social commentary. But maybe not.
* The sombre tone is lightened by the group of neighbours, whose loving antics are hilarious.
This is not a movie I will rewatch any time soon, it's just too intense for that -- maybe in a few years. But I can recommend it for anyone who is not disturbed by the themes mentioned above and wants something different that engages the mind.
It's probably best if you see for yourself.
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He wants a normal life?
Mr. Long is an experienced and skilled murder, his boss tells and he goes and get the person dead, highly confident he goes, but things won't go his way, running away he get stuck in an abandoned neighborhood in Japan,while he tries to came back to his place he meets a young boy, the boys mother is a drug addicted. The others neighbors starts to meddle with his life since he does not speak Japanese, then we start to know more about the neighbors and the mother history.The history in itself is not original, there are many like that, a guy with a dark past that gets regular people involved with them, but the way is played here is very soft and the director took his time in delivering his view, but as a regular watcher of mafia movies, I must say the first scene was slight better than the last, may be I expected more violence? or stronger choices? My favorite scenes were the first and the last one.
The nice content here just didn't caught my attention, but the ones who likes loving things, there is some good content here, like the friendship of the neighbors and the fatherly relationship Mr. Long has with the kid.
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Yojimbo made by Kitano
This is very nearly a perfect film.It is what Yojimbo would be if it was made by Kitano.
- artsy
- gorgeous male lead
- who doesn't say much
- but does stuff
- which you can watch him do
- for 2+ hours straight
- asmr
- stripped down storytelling
- quiet
- tender
- found family
- japanese
- female gaze
- style plus substance
- slow moving
- hypnotic
- visual
- gorgeous score
Tired of "slow" used as pejorative, qualified with a "but".
Chang Chen doesn't need dialog, in fact he is better without.
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