Spoilers Not Yet Seen

clayton-12

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
It recently occurred to me that it's been ages since I've last heard anything about Hur Jin-ho. Five years or so ago I was getting all excited about the buzz surrounding his remake of Dangerous Liaisons - then the film came, the reviews were unanimously "yeah it's good, yeah it's pretty, but it's also redundant next to Stephen Frears' definitive version", and I kinda lost my enthusiasm.

Anyways, I checked up his filmography and was a bit surprised to find that he's done another period piece, The Last Princess, which was mid-2016. Can't recall it coming up in the Recently Seen thread - has anyone seen this, or heard how it was received?
 
sitenoise

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
Variety's Maggie Lee, who's generally pretty professional in her opinions, gives The Last Princess good marks: "Since opening, the film has reigned at the domestic box office and should crown its run with multiple overseas releases, including a Stateside bow."

I'm looking forward to seeing it as I'm a big Hur Jin-ho fan, but I'm mildly concerned that he seems to be on a big-a$$ trend with his last two films. I think his power is in the small details of human interaction, more than opulent whatever.

Having said that, I liked his Dangerous Liaisons a lot (8.3298/10), despite going into it with trepidation. I seem to recall plsletitrain kind of liked it too and we had a discussion about it but I can't recall details.
 
plsletitrain

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
Wow there are actually threads here I haven't visited... Just saw this.

Sitenoise introduced me to him and I was kinda divided on whether I like him or not. Probably in between. And yeah, I liked Dangerous Liaisons I think it got very powerful performances from the leads. Please watch it too, I think you'll like it.
 
sitenoise

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
Seemed too good to be true. I'll stay away for now.


Here's one that came out in 2010 and I've never seen it available anywhere. It's often tagged in the "People who liked this also liked this" section with Cafe Noir. Run for the hills!

Heaven’s Story
2010 ‘ヘヴンズ ストーリー’ Directed by Takahisa Zeze

A senseless double murder resonates eight years later in four intertwined stories.


An interview at Asian Wiki

From a page of madness:

Takahisa Zeze, who made his name in contemporary pinku turned relatively mainstream in the 2000s with films such as Moon Child and Pandemic. With his Heaven’s Story, he’s attempting to craft a sort of Nashville / Babel / Wings of Desire for the second decade of 21st century film going. The first 2 hours are great. The film sputters, albeit with some great moments, and ultimately dies after the second 2 and a half hours. Heaven’s Story is a study in monumental intimacy, revolving around the intersecting lives of over a dozen characters over the course of 10 years. There’s an awful lot of death and tragedy in these stories. Zeze gives ample opportunity for a mess of Japan’s finest character actors to show their chops and pull heartstrings to near breaking tautness. There’s not a throwaway performance in the bunch. Introductory and interlude scenes highlighting Hyakki Dondoro’s puppet performance are truly haunting. The scope, the ambition and the very sure director’s hand are to be applauded. Somewhere in Heaven’s Story is a brilliant 3 hours feature dying to get out.
 
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