Bunraku

Bunraku_720p(480P)

source: Bunraku

'BUNRAKU': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Ambitious fantasy martial-arts action film from writer/director Guy Moshe (based on a story by B movie vet Boaz Davidson). The title is a style of Japanese puppet theater that's been around for over 400 years and refers to the film's odd visual style, which also greatly seems influenced by films like 'SIN CITY'. It's sort of a martial-arts western set in a world where guns have been outlawed and criminals use different swords and knives to rule the land. It stars Josh Hartnet as a Clint Eastwood type drifter who drifts through town bent on revenge. It also stars the likes of Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore, Ron Perlman, Kevin McKidd and popular Japanese singer Gackt in his American film debut. Despite all the talent attached and (what appears to be) the best of intentions from the filmmakers the film is a mess and sometimes painful to watch, despite it's seemingly fun nature. The film is set in the wake of a global war which resulted in the outlawing of guns. Towns are now ran by crime lords using sharp blades. Perlman plays one such crime boss known as Nicola the Woodcutter. He rules all nearby land with the help of nine assassins and his right-hand man 'Killer No. 2' (McKidd). Hartnet plays a drifter who wanders into town (known only as 'The Drifter') wanting to kill Nicola. He joins forces with the bartender of a local saloon (Woody Harrelson) and a samurai named Yoshi (Gackt), who wants to avenge the death of his father by regaining possession of a talisman Nicola stole from his people. Moore plays Nicola's twisted girlfriend. The movie is even more silly than it sounds. I usually enjoy cheesy but creative B action films like this but I just couldn't get into this one. I really didn't care for the look of the film (found it pretty boring) and I never felt for any of the characters or became involved in any of their dilemmas. Despite all the stars none of the actors gave very decent performances and the directing just didn't work in my opinion either. Moshe's last film ('HOLLY') was a well liked indie darling and helped attract some of the big names to this film but here he must have suffered the sophomore jinx. I admire the film's effort and attempts at creating something unique and cool but it just didn't work for me. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXJ6wkPwN0

Where do I start...Bad acting, horrible script, white belt karate spliced together with better pop up footage. Did Godfrey Ho make this? Imagine the Warriors if they cut their hair, and traded their tough gear for Dick Tracy suits and were a Bunch of wimps and it was filmed in France and you have this pile of steaming hack. Imagine watching west side story and the sharks and the jets trying their hardest to make dancing around with no talent look like action and then some editor tried his hardest to use flashy cuts and pop up book intermissions to make up for the dry nonsensical plot and you would have a tiny clue of the mess that is Bunraku. The dialog never makes you say ah ha except one line at the end and by then I stopped caring! The characters are mumble jumbled together so as to never let any of them shine. None of the back stories add anything to the heart of the movie (oh it has no heart)or emotion. Like others have pointed out the fight scenes are sad, sad, sad, boy go watch City of Violence or Invisible Target then watch this and weep!!! But for anyone claiming it isn't that bad can anyone of you explain to me how someone who loves movies and from every genre and country could have wanted to gouge my eye's out by about 30 minutes in after I realized the flashy cinematography was trying to cover a terrible script with no humor, no wit and none of the sets or cool pop up tricks in the back ground ever added to the story, except for the lame the sun came up and turned into a clock at sun up oohh what a master of the archetypal! Oh and then out of no where a medallion that never gets an explanation? Japanese film makers have the power of story telling and the skill of directing and they have really tight actors this film tries to be Japanese and misses every mark. If Quentin Tarantino Directed this he would be found dead in his hotel room from suicide after seeing the premier. Take that back there was no directing so he would have had to kill himself in pre production. This should have been called Moulin Rouge 2 electric boogaloo and they should have dropped the three main characters for Scott Pilgrim and the super bad geeks. Poor Shun Sugata whose been in the best Japanese movies like Organ, Marebito, Izo and Ichi and goes from kill bill to Scott Pilgram vs Godfrey-Ho this movie sucks the fights are lame the colors suck the costumes blow the acting is dry and emotionless characters and plots keep manifesting but never amount to anything? This director never need attempt to try any sort of make a motion type thing again!!! PS flashy cinematography doesn't equal good film that's production visualization 101 the cinematographers and editor were excellent and deserve all the credit for this film period the director should have been replaced and the script should have been used by craft services and handed out for kids to color on while they wait for their food.

Depicting the history of man's taste for intraspecies slaughter, the rather nifty, silhouette-animated opening sequence sets up the events leading to the movie's post-apocalyptic, gun-controlled future setting. In these surroundings arise two warriors, each seeking out the villain of the piece for a reason of his own. This star-loaded feature seems to have everything going for it: a cast of proved pedigree (including Ron Perlman done-up like Rob Zombie); a stylised comic book setting (with the use of modern-day comic heroes as "ancient" legends); and some nifty narration. Unfortunately, I found it quite difficult to give much of a shi t about the story and characters, insipid and generic as they were. The action sequences, whilst hardly the worst I've seen, fail to make much in the way of impact, and half the lines delivered are mumbled, necessitating quite a bit of frustrating backscanning. Admittedly, Harrelson's bartending mentor and Perlman's ennui-stricken Big Bad provide a smidgen of interest, but they're no match for the aesthetically-appealing mediocrity of the film they find themselves in...and can someone tell me what the point of Demi Moore's character was? In summation, a beautifully bland beat 'em-up which took up two hours too many of this viewer's life.

I was tricked into watching this movie by the cover copy on the DVD, plus the fact that it had several excellent performers in it. Well... so far as the cover copy goes ("By far the best film I have seen this year") - either the guy saw it immediately after midnight on January 1st, or... I don't want to know what he was smoking. And yeah, I know I shouldn't be so dumb as to believe DVD cover copy. So, what about the movie. It's sort of like a cross between a high school production of Our Town (complete with UNBELIEVABLY annoying voice over) and a really, really, really bad comic, all visualized by a berserk designer whose main concern seems to be how many extreme color filters he can use. What else can I say. If this description seems appealing to you, by all means go ahead... but be prepared to be endlessly yammered at and patronized, and bored senseless by ham-fisted theatrics, and don't expect anything in the way of realism or sense. Approach this one the way you would a night at a bad amateur dramatic society, with a particularly 'artsy' director... then you won't be disappointed.

This stylized action film can best be described as an orgy of the following films: part Sin City, part Batman (Adam West era), part Dick Tracy, part The Quick and the Dead, and part Enter the Dragon. Squirt some Cirque du Soleil in there and the resulting love child of all these films is "Bunraku". That's really all I can say. Watch it and tell me if I'm wrong. There are parts of this film that are extraordinary, namely the animation, while other segments (or appendages?) are atrocious. It all makes sense in a mad scientist kind of way, where this creature of a film was cooked up in Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory School of Film, Dance, and Animation. It's ludicrous, but very entertaining. I give it 7 full test-tubes of film DNA out of 10!

It was very entertaining, not in any way boring, easy, pure watchable pleasure. 9/10 all thumbs up. After few weeks watched it second time with my girl friend - and it was no less interesting and entertaining and pleasurable to watch as first time (for both of us). It is a pure audiovisual entertainment art show. There is no point in trying to write about what this movie is. The point is not about "what", but about "how" everything is presented. It is a show for the pleasure of public (audience) and for the sake of the show. P.S. Those who search for deep meaning in text (story), or some superior pro fight scenes - please go look sports TV or read some Martin Heidegger book. This movie is to entertain, not to give you a lessons, show sports or point to a meaning of life.

I went to the premier in Toronto Canada I am a HUGE Gackt Fan so this movie has been on the top of my list for awhile now Bunraku (spoiler) This Movie is very Surreal. Gackt (World Famous Mega Jrocker) making his big screen movie debut, does speak some Japanese in it but mainly English and it sounds a bit forced but very understandable and well done. The plot line is a bit thin its your classic western tale of a drifter (Josh Hartnett) out to battle the evil overlord Nicola (Ron Perlman) but with an Eastern flair. On the way THE DRIFTER teams up with Yoshi (Gackt) who is out to reclaim his family's honor after Nicola's henchmen destroy his uncles Japanese Restaurant and steal his fathers amulet; with the help of a wise yet kooky barkeep (Woody Harrelson) they eventually take him out. Now I understand why this film took so long to be released; with loads of visual effects crew this film delivers a stunning picture. Its refreshing to see actual theatrics combined with computer graphics. The scenes change so fast they make your head spin and are reminiscent of Tim Burton as in its really something not seen before or rarely seen in today's movies. It also sports a comic book feel there are pop-up captions whenever Japanese is spoken and you can't help but expect a ZING, BOW whenever a fight brakes out. and speaking of which the fight scenes were amazing and very well choreographed I read in an interview with TIFF that Gackt insisted on doing his own stunts and was even knocked out and taken to the hospital and that is just the kind of guy he is never doing anything Halfway. "The title is amazingly appropriate too, because it's like a mad-cap circus' dark puppet show, all the character's are gathered & manipulated by Destiny's strings, just like the audience is pulled along by a thread"~Leia I would find this movie very interesting even if I had no idea who Gackt was and I can't wait when it is released so I can see it again and again and I hope everyone that looks at this will too -Lena

I really can't understand why those bad reviews about this movie, this was a great entertainment, never been bored for 2 hours. This could just have been directed by Tarantino, nobody would have noticed and everyone would loved it. The story is imaginative, i mean this is not just the story of a a young man who has spent his life searching for revenge like stated in the plot line. (i will not spoil but the beginning says it all). Also the acting is great, every role is carefully, naturally and so damn well interpreted. Demi Moore was a bit unlucky about that not very interesting character, and in my humble opinion like stated before kind of a waste of Demi's talent. Anyway i would even say theatrical, with Kevin McKidd's performance. If i could choose a mix of films to describe this one i would say: Sin City + Kill Bill + A Clockwork Orange + Dark City ...all with a nice perfume of old japan vs wide west western. 8/10