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Friday 23 September 2011

Bunraku

According to Wikipedia (so I guess it's true) Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre founded in Osaka in 1684.  I don't care much for puppets, though I liked the Muppet Show.

The trailer made me think of Escape from New York, Dick Tracy, Sin City and Blade Runner.  Demi Moore looks incredible for a woman of almost 50.  Ron Perlman is such a bad-ass.  He'll always be Hellboy to me - that's a good thing.  Woody Harrelson is always fun to watch.  I loved him in Zombieland. Josh Hartnett has done some interesting things, but the moustache he sports in Bunraku is the most interesting - not in a good way.

Every so often a film is made that at least attempts to take us, the average movie goer, out of the visually clichéd comfort zone.  You know, opens with long-shot of the city it takes place in and zooms into the apartment or workplace of one of the leads... blah, blah, bore. I'm not saying that Bunraku is not full of clichés or is a truly original story; I'm saying that it seems to take the familiar and place it in an apparently bizarre fantasy setting.  Sometimes a mediocre story is elevated by the acting and setting. 

The synopsis says:

This classic tale is re-vitalized and re-imagined in an entirely fresh visual context...

Classic tale?  Maybe Samurai meets Western?

Thus, in my humble opinion, the quality of the story and acting will be key, but ultimately the audience's acceptance of the story's backdrop will determine whether this film is a box office success, future cult classic, unintentional B-movie or total flop.

This film looks interesting enough for to me see.  I think I will.

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