First movie : Ichi
Ichi is about a blind girl named Ichi (d'uh) who roams from town to town looking for someone she holds dear. On the way, she meets a ronin named Touma and a small child.
As far as my review of the movie: 3.5 out of 5
Plausible storyline. Comedy in this movie has been well spread and the fight scenes are nice. It goes without saying this is inspired of Zatoichi. He, also, is a wandering blind skilled swordsman like Ichi. Some elements of the movie, apart from blood always disappearing from swords, were a bit displeasing. For example, Ichi, apart from her ''inner demons'', is shown almost flawless and can predicts stuff and even hear a fish biting bait. Also, Touma cannot draw his katana due to some ''circomstances'' (spoiler censorship) I know that it was about symbolism but you often see him struggle with both arms of the goddamn thing like someone trying to open a locked door. I found that element too much present in the movie and the fight where he does draw his sword, doesn't really show all of his fighting capacities and thus, was a disappointment for me. Overall, this is overlooked easily by the atmosphere of the movie which mixes comedy, drama, and action quite well. It is suggested for people who is into the lone wolf kind of movies.
Second movie : Ju-on Shiroi Rôjo (old lady in white)
Benig a huge Ju-on. I came buckets when I knew that new movies came out recently in japan.
Old Lady in White (which I gonna abbreviate OLW). Both were released at the same time. I will review Ju-on Kuroi Shojo at a later date because I am tired
I rate OLW 2.5 out of 5
I was disappointed of the whole movie. It had a decent plot to make the whole thing grow out of control and truly be like a ''grudge virus'' infecting everyone but it did not achieve such prowess.
For one, too many loose ends and too many barely suspenseful deaths. The story, like previous Ju-On movies has been told in a scrambled way through several individuals. Together, they make a storyline, which is ok. However, some elements were loose or didn't meant much to the movie. Some parts like the cassette tape reminded me of the Ring series which I am also a fan of. OLW is about a guy who killed his whole family because he went mad after failing his university entrance exam and we see before it all and the aftermath. There is a scene about two policeman talking and one says to the other : ''Do not listen to the tape, someone went mad because of it'' This sequence could have introduced a valid subplot to explore but no such luck. Some parts are also, just plain weird. For example the ''ghost'' carries a basketball. We know in the movie it has a connection to it but carrying it even dead is really WTF?. Thank God it doesn't not kill people with it. Also, the fact that Toshio (the kid screaming like a cat) just randomly appears for a few seconds in each movies and doesn't even have an impact on the story or killing whoever is also very odd. It is, just, there like some weird reminder. Thirdly, we don't know exactly why the ghost became that ''grudge'' thing. It just... did. After being killed, of course. in the original Ju-on movies, we knew why and how they became so. Here, no.
On the plus side of the story, some death scenes have been really creative and entertaining with sudden twists and graphic effects. Some gruesome scenes were brilliantly executed and had very powerful imagery for me contrasting between the grudge and the other side of life it has destroyed. The scenes about the guy and the christmas cakes was, for me, the best scenes
Only recommended for those who are hardcore fans of the series and even so, it is a bit disappointing to watch nonetheless.
I will probably continue with my reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned for the other Ju-on movie and the worst b-movie I ever saw : Attack girl swim team VS the undead
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