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CaptainCanada
Reviews
Roozi ke zan shodam (2000)
just because isn't American doesn't mean it isn't terrible
This is one of the dullest and most overrated movies I have ever had to watch - and no, I didn't come into it expecting "Hollywood fare" (god, what a cliché phrase...do all these prissy reviewers merely throw that term into their reviews to remind themselves that they just watched a foreign flick?). I merely came in expecting an interesting film with decent acting and some nice cinematography.
Instead, I was treated to three repetitive vignettes featuring women and children I didn't care at all for, stilted dialogue made ten times worse by the fact that I could understand what they were saying, and hit-you-over-the-head symbolism (WAVES CRASHING, for god's sake). I have nothing positive to say about this other than it had some nice scenery, but even the SCENERY was ruined by the director's insistence on dragging out every shot at least 10 seconds more than was necessary.
Avoid this like you would an angry Persian on a horse.
Come See the Paradise (1990)
Inu desu.
Come See the Paradise was 2 hours too long, a strictly plot-driven movie filled with plot-driven dialogue, and stiffly acted at that. It tried to cram the following into one plot:
- the American Guy/Asian Girl relationship
- World War II
- the Draft
- internment camps
- union workers
- death in the family
- generic family issues
- shady lawyers
It also had "gripping" child acting, hit-you-over-the-head symbolism, horrible, synthesized orchestrated music, flashbacks, characters who didn't look any older "10 years later", a girl whose face changed 3 times as she got older, historical inaccuracy, and unresolved conflict (a conflict which the entire first half of the film was centered around).
Not once did it feel like we were in the 1940's. It felt more like the Joy Luck Club "white guy" story stretched to a full length feature. Without the fun dinner scene. And then it wasn't even resolved.
Best of all, the Japanese families ALL SPOKE IN ENGLISH and threw in easy 3 word Japanese phrases so we, the Japanese 102 students, could feel smart.
Go see The Last Samurai, kthxbye.