Sublime and Surreal
Added 6/12/2009
Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (Last Life In the Universe) is an interesting film that manages to captivate and engage its audience even though not a lot happens.
The film presents a weekend in the life of Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) a quiet, suicidal librarian who may or may not be what he seems at first glance. Kenji witnesses an accident that takes the life of a Thai hostess and becomes involved with Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak ) the sister of the dead girl. As the two become friends we get a powerful yet simple film about second chances and eventual love mixed in with some surreal imagery. Throw into the mix a Yakuza killing and an appearance by Japanese cult director Takashi Miike and you get a pleasant evening in the theatre.
The standard definition disc presents a decent transfer of the film with good subtitling of the Japanese and Thai dialog Included as extras are an interview with director Pen-ek Ratanaruang and a somewhat dry commentary by master cinematographer Chris Doyle.
If you have an interest in modern Asian cinema you may want to check this one out.
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Just as one gives up on life
Added 2/28/2009
I have seen this film a couple of years ago and then for no particular reason, I decided to see it again. It is a story about librarian of Japanesedescent who lives in Thailand. He is working in the Center for Cultural Exchange and his only activity seems to be reading book. His own apartment looks more like a library than a place to live. It is obvious that our character is obsessive compulsive but it is hard to determine why is it that he is motivated to commit suicide when he has no broken heart, money problems and is not suffering from hopelessness - the usual reasons for killing oneself.
It is also darkly comical that every time he seems to want to kill himself something gets in the way - his brother visits him, the phone rings, or someone else gets killed instead. By chance he runs into a young Thai woman, who along with her sister works as a call girl and has good for nothing (thug) boyfriend. As librarian and young woman get to know another in a string of the most unlikely (and sometimes undesirable) circumstances; we start to worry for both of them since their bond is likely to be broken. A young woman is planning on leaving Thailand and moving to Osaka, Japan in order to start a new life.
Soon, things turn out to be compeletely different from what they seem. Perhaps the librarian we thought we knew is not what he seems to be. I loved the end - director seems ot love to be playing with having his audience guessing on how this wonderful story should end.
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Last Life in the Universe
Added 2/16/2009
A quietly funny movie chronicling an obsessive complusive potential suicide's return to life through a quirky relationship with a Thai woman. The funny observations of the lives of these characters outline the desperation in both of them. Well worth the time invested.
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Third Time Is Not A Charm
Added 2/6/2009
I really enjoy a good art-house romance. The Road Home, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, White Valentine, Beyond Our Ken, and 3-Iron were all very enjoyable. I've seen Last Life In the Universe (LLITU) now three times. I keep hearing all sorts of excellent references to this film, so I keep watching it to see if I'm missing anything. It's now safe to say that I'm not. It's not a bad film, but it's not a great one either. In a nutshell, it's a well-made movie that stumbles in both its conceptual and relationship development.
The theme of suicide is important in LLITU, but I was never convinced that Kenji was suicidal. His friend stops by his apartment, sees the noose, and says "suicide again?", inferring that Kenji keeps implying that he wants to kill himself, but lacks any sort of seriousness about it. His roommate then pulls the noose and it easily slips away from its foundation, thus implying that Kenji is so devoid of resolve that he fails to tie the rope tightly to the ceiling. Later on, the yakuza points a gun at him and he cowers backward, thus implying that he is, in fact, afraid to die. All of this contradicts the claim that Kenji was somehow suicidal before he meets Noi. In my opinion, this prevents LLITU from establishing even the slightest dramatic weight from the theme of suicide. The concept itself becomes superfluous and useless.
The same is true to a lesser extent with Noi's guilt over her sister's death. One minute she's crying over it, the next minute she admits that she thinks of her sister "sometimes", even though she died only a few days earlier. She also refuses to return to the hospital and witness her sister's burial/cremation. These events mitigate some of the impact of guilt on Noi's character. Basically, she was "getting over it" too quickly.
Some may feel that I am nitpicking, and that's fine. Where this film truly stumbles is in the romantic development between the two leads. There is a patent lack of important narrative. This is not a problem, in and of itself, if the film is capable of establishing non-narrative maturity (i.e., Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron). This is not easy to accomplish, however, and requires particularly clever scriptwriting to provide interesting events and scenarios that allow the characters to use physical interaction and subtle, non-verbal communication. No such memorable events are forthcoming here. Kenji cleans Noi's house, hits her boyfriend, then they go out for a generic night on the town. That's about it.
If the filmmakers wish to convince me that two people could somehow develop a deep caring for one another over a single weekend, they had better provide some compelling moments with significant emotional/dramatic weight. Lots of uninteresting, everyday events fail to do the job. Relationship development is not earned by characters washing dishes, doing laundry, or strolling around an empty house. Sure, it's all very pretty, very slow, and distinctively "art house", but it's also very tiresome, and frankly a waste of time.
I'm not sure exactly how people fall in love - if love exists at all in this world - but I sure as hell know that it requires something special. This film trivializes it and turns it into something so inconsequential and easy to obtain that it effectively becomes a meaningless, petty incident. I've personally been searching my entire life for someone to care for. It's nice to know that I can simply invite a girl to hang out for the weekend and do my laundry. I'll be married by the end of the month.
LLITU is not horrible by any means. The acting is solid, the women are sexy, and the atmosphere is calm and effective, but I honestly cannot think of one truly memorable scene in this 104-minute film. Needless to say, it left no emotional aftereffects. It ended, I put the DVD back in its case, wrote this review, and forgot about it instantly. Although something tells me that I'll be constantly reminded of its "greatness" by its many loyal fans.
(On a side note, here again we have another art-house film attempting to convey the concept of loneliness, ala Tsai Ming-liang. While this film is not nearly as bad as Tsai's films, it still ultimately fails to say much of anything or contribute any depth or insight to the concept of loneliness, and only provides a very vague, superficial treatment of an implicitly interesting topic. Kiyoshi Kurosawa should again be commended here for creating a deliberately-paced yet interesting exposition on loneliness in his film Kairo. It is interesting to note that his horror film accomplishes more maturity and conceptual development than art-house dramas that attempt the same.)
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A different kind of role for Tadanobu Asano
Added 12/28/2008
Quite surprised by how much I enjoyed Last Life in the Universe. The clash of Thai and Japanese cultures as the back drop for a suicidal Asano's search for purpose made for an enchanting story.
While it won't please a mainstream, those of us who are beguiled by melodic pacing and understated Asian acting will love the interaction between the two main characters.
If you have seen and enjoyed "The Taste of Tea", "Sonatine", or "The Man on the Train" then this is the film for you.
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