Well, I havent seen many of Kitano's films. The ones I saw were Hana-bi(Fireworks), Brother, Battle Royale and half of Sonatine. All 4 are pretty good, but I will definately recomend Battle Royal and Hana-bi.
Hana-bi is more of a drama than crime movie, but the style, cinematography, characters are top notch. It also has some somewhat action moments, and thos are very violent.
As for Battle Royalle, its pretty much known film, and for more info check its official thread
Those are all fine sources but I’d like to add www.cdjapan.co.jp If you’re a really big fan you might want the expensive ($40-50 w/ shipping and all) and, in most cases, very spiff region 2 DVDs. I'm sure you have the means to play them, but if not let me know.
Two other sources for R2s. I haven't ordered from them though, only CD Japan. Extremely reliable and professional. I've heard they're both on the level of CD Japan, so I'm pretty sure you're safe either way.
Shamefully I haven't seen any Kitano films. I plan to start with Getting Any? on region 3 and Kikujiro on region 1 or region 2 (depending on the availability of English subs).
Well, Kudos, for reccomending CD Japan web site. I've been ordering from them many times, and they always very reliable, but the prices of Japanese dvds and shipping from Japan are very high(my pre-ordered The Returner set, will cost me $60 with shipping).
Still, If you have Region Free capable dvd player, and you interested in picking up some of Kitano's Japanese dvds, then go ahead.
Yeah, I've been using CD Japan for a few years now. Great place. I just ordered Ping Pong in fact (Limited edition 2 disc set ). I noticed Returner and the fact that it has English subs... then I downloaded the trailer... looks pretty cool. Have you seen it? Is it worth the $60?
Well, I havent seen Returner yet, and probably its better to get regular edition, that is abot $10 cheaper, but really looking forward the film, so I decided to get Special Edition anyway
I'm sure I'm going to like it. I'm fan of flashy action films, with cool action scenes and special fx, and thats pretty much what it is. Sure it borrows from movies like Terminator, or uses few Matrix style fx, but I dont mind that as long it is done well.
Plus I like Takeshi Kaneshiro, and want to see him in Japanese film for a change
Heh, yeah, I have to take chances like that sometimes. I'm usually sure that I'll like the movie if I'm ordering it, but in most cases I haven't seen any part of it beforehand. Also, often I'll want to order a movie if I like the director and his previous works, but it won't have English subs. Then I have to search all over the net to find out if it will be comprehensible for me. It can be very frustrating.
I've got a few films without English subs in my collection as well. When Ichi The Killer came out, Japanese dvd didnt have English subs, but since I really wanted to see it, it didnt really matered to me. I picked it up, and had fun watching it. After than I went for 2 more Miike films: DOA3 Final and Full Metal Yakuza, and again both dvds dont have subs, but movies themselves were good.
I also picked up couple Thai films, without English subs recently, and both were entertaining.
And ofcourse, there is Ressurection of Little Match Girl, Korean Action/Scifi films, that was recently released on dvd without subs, but was a very fun movie anyway.
Sausage-in-Training
). I noticed Returner and the fact that it has English subs... then I downloaded the trailer... looks pretty cool. Have you seen it? Is it worth the $60?
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