5 posts from November 2007

How does a woman make their revenge? By tears, cursing, or by slapping? Yes, probably these are all true and usual, but in this uniquely weird film, The Audition, made by Miike Takahashi, you will all be shocked and terrified unto what extent a woman will do just to get revenge.

It all began with an audition held by a widowed man and a director. The soul purpose of the audition for the man to find and choose his soon to be wife. And so he found an interesting candidate. Not knowing that the woman he chose to be his soon to be wife was a psycho, he brought her home. While they were sleeping, she inject him with a substance to paralyze him and began torturing him. As she was torturing him by cutting piece by piece of his body parts, she shared her unfortunate story of her life and why she became a psycho. She also shared the reason what drives her to do this and how he killed, tortured and avenge herself to her first victim, her piano instructor, who molested her. She then, one by one, using a fine string, cut his fingers, hand, feet, legs, as she was about to finish him off, his son visited him and saw what happened to his father. defending his life and his father's life, he pushed her onto the stairs and unintentionally killed her. And so the movie ended with the widowed man not having a new wife and not having his complete body parts with him.

Ever tried to explore the realm of audio-visual violence? Perhaps you’ve heard of the term gore movies and the man behind them, Miike Takahashi. Miike is a highly creative and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over 70 theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing no fewer than 14 productions.

Here is a brief biography of Miike Takahashi:

Miike Takahashi was born August 24, 1960, in Osaka, Japan. His earliest venture into filmmaking was as an assistant director on ZEGEN, with Shohei Imamura as the master director. In 1989, Miike returned to assist on BLACK RAIN (KUROI AMEI), Imamura’s devastating masterpiece on the A-bombing of Hiroshima, its victims and the aftermath.

Miike directed his first film in 1991 for direct-to-video release.  In early 90’s, he made and directed films like A HUNDRED MILLION YEN’S WORTH OF LOVE AND BETRAYAL (1991), LADY HUNTER: PRELUDE TO MURDER (1991), A HUMAN MURDER WEAPON (1992), and a well improved version of the BODYGUARD KIBA stories (1993-1995).

The first film that made him controversial outside Japan was SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY in 1995. After that, film festival around the world long and screech for Miike’s product. Booking SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY and its sequels RAINY DOG (1997) AND LEY LINES (1999).

1999 was a good year for Miike.  It was the year where Miike breaks out on the international front with the movie, AUDITION, a gaily-subversive horror romance film, and exhilaratingly deconstructive action hit DEAD OR ALIVE. These films were followed by phantasmagorical bedlam-and-beauty movies such as CITY OF LOST SOULS (2000), ICHI, THE KILLER (2001), GRAVEYARD OF HONOR (2002), GOZU (2003), ONE MISSED CALL (2003), THREE…EXTREMES (2004), and IZO (2005).

Miike Takahashi is an intuitive filmmaker, who always wanted to deliver the unexpected. He also has a wicked sense of black humor, enlightening in destabilized genres like the horror and yakuza film, colonizing his films with very modern characters who have suffered mentally and emotionally. He could easily transform a ruthless monster into a very vulnerable and helpless human being. A good example of this is the concurrently horrific yet hilarious manga-based yakuza thriller, ICHI, THE KILLER. He can slice up one whole Japanese family with a certain, merciless but eventually, with a compassionate eye, like the one in 2001, entitled, VISITOR Q (an agonizingly humorous film that breaks every taboo including incest and necrophilia, and also features a lunatic father, a drug-addicted mom, a bullied son, and a young whore daughter. How sick and twisted is this family, right?

These are only some of his brilliant ideas. And if you were intrigued just by reading this post, I mean article, what more if you have watched one, two, or three of his masterpiece? Believe me, once you start watching with one movie, you’d thirst and crave for more Miike Takahashi movies and products. Think your tough enough? Wait till you see his gore movies. It’ll probably make you sick and make you laugh all at the same time. So, better get your own copy now, it’s an investment!

Watch out for my upcoming articles about Miike Takahashi's movies.

“The word is out! Tennis shoes are all the rage”. And to be more specific, sneakers in general, is what’s at rage. So the question here is, what qualities does a sneaker has to possess to be able to be collectible? Well it all depends on the collector. I for one, am not a collector but more of an admirer or let me say, semi-collector. As of this moment, I own about 20 pairs from adidas to new balance. And my love story, between me and sneakers, all started when I was still in high school. I remember the first pair I never wanted to let go of, it was a pair of nike air max and it felt really good to wear. The cost of it was as much as how comfortable the shoes was when you wear it, and for someone my age $150 was too much for me to handle. And so my loving aunt just donated money for me to be able to possess it. I rocked those shoes until my senior years. That is why I got really depressed when they were no longer usable. After graduating from school, I got a small gig at an ad agency and was making a small amount of money. One day, as I was on my way home, I passed by a shoe boutique and noticed a pair of nike air max which was identical to the ones I used to own. In that instance, I pulled out my wallet, handed the clerk my credit card, and bought it. I didn’t mind how much it cost, since I was already making money of my own. After that, I had a brilliant idea of reclaiming and claiming all of the shoes I ever wanted, but never got because I couldn’t afford it. Thus, started my thirst for sneakers. Before, I used to hate the idea of buying so much shoes. I felt like I was a woman or for that matter, Imelda Marcos, a famous woman from the Philippines who was rumored to have owned about 200 pairs of shoes. I saw this documentary about her when I was in New York. Anyway, it sort of snapped my brain that, “hey, maybe I shouldn’t be buying all the shoes I could lay my eyes on, but instead buy the pairs which had a significant meaning in my life. You know, like for instance, what pair you were wearing when you got your first kiss, the first time you knew what you wanted to do with your life, and of course what pair I was wearing when I knew why I wanted to make movies. So in conclusion I stock the pairs that means the most in my life.
Included in this post are some of my favorite and well taken care of sneakers.

As I was browsing through youtube, I stumbled into this great film and was deeply moved by it. The wonders of music were greatly imposed here. August Rush is a film for all audiences.

The story all started when Lyla Novacek, a cellist, and Louis Connelly, an Irish singer-songwriter, met in a street, where a street musician was playing his own rendition of Moondance. They instantly fell inlove with each other.  After the night where they’ve shared the most romantic night of their lives, they have never seen each other again for Lyla’s father forbids her to see him again so she could concentrate on her next concert. Little did she know that she was pregnant with his child. Thinking that Lyla abandoned him, Louis was dismayed and gave up his passion for music, while Lyla was devastated, believing that she had lost her unborn child in a car accident. She didn’t know that the truth is, her father secretly gave her son away. Years have passed without them knowing the truth.

Their child (August Rush), who has a gift in music, ended up on a shelter.  He has always believed that his parents were alive and that they want him as much as he wants them. And so he started to search for them and makes his way to New York City. In an abandoned theater, he was welcomed by children like him, who were protected and well taken care of by a mysterious Wizard. There, he picks up a guitar, and played it for the very first time. Wizard witnessed his greatness and named him August Rush. With August Rush's extraordinary talent, Wizard has high hopes for him. But August Rush's soul purpose for playing is the belief that if his parents can hear his music, they will find him.

At last! I have a blog of my own. I really wanted to make a nice, and blogger-friendly blog site but never got the time, since I was in school, and spend my free time working, haha (is that even called free time, not!). Now that I'm just training to become a director and producer, I have it all under control.
Since I am into the industry of film, media, advertising, etc., having a blog is really helpful to be associated with people with the same interests that you're into. I would go crazy for movies, independent films, sneakers, music videos, anything and everything that interests me.

I am an outgoing person, I love talking, discussing, debating, conversing with different kinds of people about different topics. People bore me when they have nothing else to talk about. I like talking with people who are political, and with sense. I want to make and meet new friends, mostly here, since I'm a newbie. Everybody's welcome to chat and make comments about my blog. Positive or negative commentaries and feedbacks are very much welcome!