Modern Mondays: Last Life in the Universe (2003)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 21, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, Modern Mondays, Tadanobu Asano

Is it Monday already? Lately the weeks seem to fly by but I managed to pull a little something together for Modern Monday. Forgive the brevity of my blog posts lately, but house hunting continues to consume most of my free time at the moment. With that in mind I figured I’d share a little something about a film that is much more interested in images than words.

Last Life in the Universe (aka Ruang rak noi nid mahasan, 2003) is a beautiful and thoughtful meditation on life, death, alienation and reconciliation written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang with breathtaking cinematography by the impeccable Christopher Doyle. It also features an wonderfully subtle performance by one of my favorite working actors, the brilliant Tadanobu Asano.

Last Life in the Universe forgoes familiar storytelling techniques and uses it’s own surreal language to examine familiar themes in an unconventional way. This macabre and melancholy movie is touching but never sappy and it always maintains its sense of humor. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s innovative film occasionally recalls the work of filmmakers such as Louis Bunuel and even Jean Cocteau but Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Thai background gives his film a unique perspective and tone.

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Modern Mondays: Bright Future (2003)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 29, 2009

Categories | Japanese Cinema, Modern Mondays, Tadanobu Asano

My regular readers may have noticed that my blog was impossible to access for 3 or 4 days. This was due to a major problem with the blog servers. They’re still ironing out the bugs so don’t be surprised if Cinebeats disappears again. Hopefully the problems will be worked out soon.

In the meantime, Modern Mondays has sort of snuck up on me. Since I’ve been unofficially counting down my favorite films of the last decade I thought I’d continue to do so with some shots from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Bright Future (aka Akarui mirai; 2003). Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of my favorite Japanese directors at the moment and his chilling 1997 film Cure made my list of “31 films that give me the willies.” Bright Future is another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s best films and it features a stunning low-key performance by Tadanobu Asano.

I didn’t have time to write anything substantial about the film, but here’s a bit of text borrowed from the Bright Future DVD box: “Friends Mamoru and Yuji are aimless young men stuck in dead-end jobs in a dreary factory in Tokyo. Mamoru, the more antisocial of the two, is obsessed with his pet project of acclimating a poisonous jellyfish to fresh water by gradually changing the water in its tank. One night, he inexplicably murders his boss’ family and is sentenced to death. Yuji, left to continue the jellyfish experiment, befriends Mamoru’s estranged father, and the two form a bond. But Yuji’s attachment to the jellyfish is even stronger, and problems arise when he accidentally releases the poisonous creature into the canals of Tokyo ”

Of course the film is so much more than that simple plot outline, which is why Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s films have garnered a lot of praise in recent years. Much has been written about Bright Future already and if you’d like to read more about the film I highly recommend visiting Michael Guillen’s blog The Evening Class. During last year’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa Blogathon Michael put together a great collection of links to some of the best writing about Bright Future that’s available online.

More images from a film filled with stunning imagery. . .

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Rebels Artists Superstars

by Kimberly Lindbergs | February 24, 2008

Categories | News, Actors, Oscars, Tadanobu Asano, Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano

I’ve only had the opportunity to see a few of the films nominated for Academy Awards this year and besides David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, I haven’t been all that impressed with what I’ve seen. Since I don’t write about modern film that often I wasn’t going to mention the Oscars this year, but I will be watching the award show tonight and I hope to catch a glimpse of two of my favorite modern actors; Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano.

I’ve been following Viggo Mortensen’s acting career closely since I first saw him in the entertaining horror film Prison back in 1988. Viggo really stood out and it was clear to me back then that he had the good looks and acting abilities to become a major star so I’m not sure why it took so long for everyone else to notice him. Besides acting Mortensen is an accomplished poet and artist, and he’s also recorded multiple albums. He’s a truly talented individual and an American original who’s not afraid to speak his mind and stand up for what he believes in.

After enjoying Mortensen in somewhat lackluster films like Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) and Young Guns II (1990), he went on make some of his best films in the early 1990s such as The Reflecting Skin (1990), The Indian Runner (1991) and The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995). By the late 1990s, I had sort of lost track of him and stopped paying attention to the films he appeared in until his name was suddenly everywhere following the success of the Lord of the Rings movies. I naively assumed he would continue making blockbuster action films in Hollywood after that so I was completely caught off guard by his incredible performance in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005) and I’m really happy that the director and actor seem to have forged an interesting creative bond that I hope will continue to evolve over time. I’d like to see Viggo Mortensen take home the Oscar for Best Actor tonight, but the odds are not in his favor.

Top: Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises
Bottom: Tadanobu Asano in Mongol

Much like Viggo Mortensen, Tadanobu Asano is a true “Renaissance Man” and besides being one of Japan’s most accomplished modern actors, he’s also a talented artist and musician.

I first discovered Asano’s talent back in 1998 (exactly 10 years after I came across Viggo Mortensen in Prison) when he starred in the excellent Japanese crime thriller and dark satire Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (Samehada otoko to momojiri onna) followed by his impressive role in the samurai drama Taboo (Gohatto, 1999). I lost track of Asano for a few years until I caught him starring in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1, 2001), but he was hard to recognize at first. His hair was bleached bright blond and it took me awhile to figure out that he was the same handsome actor that I had been impressed with in earlier films. From that moment on I was determined to know more about Asano and I’ve made an effort to see many of his early films as well as his newest efforts whenever I can. Some of his best movies in recent years include Bright Future (Akarui mirai, 2003), Last Life in the Universe (Ruang rak noi nid mahasan, 2003), Zatoichi (2003), Vital (2004), Survive Style 5+ (2004) and Rampo Noir (2005).

Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to see Tadanobu Asano’s new Oscar nominated film Mongol (Sergei Bodrov; 2007) yet, but it’s up for Best Picture in the much-contested Foreign Film category. I hope Asano will be able to attend the award show tonight on the off chance that the film he starred in might win.

Countless Oscars have been handed out as consolatory prizes for overlooked work and Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano’s ongoing and impressive acting careers have been overlooked by Hollywood and American film audiences for far too long. The odds might be stacked against them both tonight, but I’ll be rooting for them!

Related Links:
- Offical Website for Eastern Promises
- Official Site for Mongol
- Tadanobu Asano’s Offical Website
- Informative Viggo Mortensen Fan Site

Update (2.25.08)
- Unfortunately my guys didn’t win anything and I thought the Award show was dull as dishwater this year (my favorite moment was when the Coen brothers won best director and Joel’s wife Frances McDormand couldn’t contain her happiness!). Oh well, there’s always next year. In the meantime, here are some pics of the most interesting actors who attended last nights red carpet affair. For my money, Asano was the best looking and best dressed man there. Even Viggo looked terrific with his bushy beard.

Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano at the 80th Academy Awards

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