[Movie Discussion] Japan Sinks movie

Talk about the culture and entertainment from Nihon.
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Hero
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[Movie Discussion] Japan Sinks movie

Post by Hero » Jul 13th, '06, 12:17

Just saw the trailre for this looks really good, it bis the most expensive movie from Japan ever.
Featuring Kou Shibasaki and Kusanagi Tsuyoshi

expo1970
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Post by expo1970 » Jul 21st, '06, 16:46

just saw it.

i usually don't like japanese movies (despite being japanese) because japanese directors seem to hold a false belief that the less people understand their movies, the better their movies are. HOWEVER, this movie follows Hollywood traditions in that movies that are easy to follow, have good action, good plot, and famous celebrities in it are just plain more entertaining (which is what a movie should be).

But what really makes Nihon Chinbotsu really good, is that it's a very unique story despite it being a disaster flick. Never in a disaster flick, does the country lose its land. Japanese people are forced to leave the land or die. When other countries refuse to accept japanese refugees, viewers are forced to think, are japanese people today, if they are stripped of their factories, their technology, everything... are they still worth keeping?

Viewers are also forced to think about whether Japanese history and culture is more valuable than the people themselves. Then there's the usual questions like, would you stay and die or would you rather run away? THe prime minister is an interesting character played by Ishizaka Kouji who suggests that perhaps the Japanese solution is to sink and die along with the land.

There's action, amazing CGI, pretty good screenplay and soundtrack (kubota toshinobu with an upcoming korean singer), throughtprovoking questions, drama, a little romance (not too much that it slows it down), but most importantly originality. It's not just another disaster flick.

I think it's one of the rare japanese flicks that would do pretty well in the US as well.

magicbulletgirl
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Post by magicbulletgirl » Jul 22nd, '06, 05:05

I would see that movie *very american here* it looks so awesome and I'm sad that I might not ever get the chance cause sometimes these movies are hard to find >.< (there's another movie I wanted to see that had a trailer earlier this year but I don't even know what it's called.)

*goes to find song*

Schala
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Post by Schala » Jul 22nd, '06, 18:40

That looks really good. o.o I want to see it. Maybe I can find a dvd with English subs on Ebay or something...

EDIT: Wait a sec, IMDB says it's still in production. How did you see it then? :scratch:

Li-Mei
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Post by Li-Mei » Jul 22nd, '06, 18:50

it looks interesting to me. i would watch it if it came out, but i just hope the movie is better than the preview. Lately, movies that i've seen so far, the previews were more interesting than the movie.

AngelicLayer
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Post by AngelicLayer » Jul 22nd, '06, 20:07

i don´t really like this genre of movies, but it seems to be very intersting! But, I won´t watch this movie!

No, it´s not the fact the movie is japanese, the fact is that I don´t like Kou Chibasaki at all! Sorry and for those who are her fans, don´t be angry with me...

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PhilsterT
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Post by PhilsterT » Jul 22nd, '06, 22:26

Looks like the Day After Tomorrow, which sucked. I do not hold it to high hopes, but maybe worth stumbling into.

And, that's weak-sauce that you won't see it just because of an actress you dislike. :glare:

20centuryboy
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Post by 20centuryboy » Jul 23rd, '06, 06:05

AngelicLayer wrote:i don´t really like this genre of movies, but it seems to be very intersting! But, I won´t watch this movie!

No, it´s not the fact the movie is japanese, the fact is that I don´t like Kou Chibasaki at all! Sorry and for those who are her fans, don´t be angry with me...
You don't have to be sorry! You advice is not so important that it will put her fans into depression! :wink:

Expo1970, I guess you're a fan of Urasawa Naoki's "20th century boys" :wink:

canon05
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Post by canon05 » Jul 23rd, '06, 06:23

Schala wrote: EDIT: Wait a sec, IMDB says it's still in production. How did you see it then? :scratch:
It's just released on July 15. http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/education ... 2000c.html
IMDB isn't quite reliable. You'll have to check out the official site or Japanese sites.

captain-nippon
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Post by captain-nippon » Jul 23rd, '06, 09:14

this movie only cost about $ 20 millions USD to produce..Hollywood wish they could do a movie like this for $20 mils...I saw the original released in 1973.......

I hope this movie do well in japan...it better or Toho are in the RED for sure...

expo1970
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Post by expo1970 » Jul 23rd, '06, 11:17

Day after tomorrow, if watched purely for entertainment purposes, is a perfectly good movie. People who go to theaters with the intention to rate how "good" a movie is, will, of course, not enjoy movies as much as people who hold reasonable expectations. Of course, the best kind of movies is the kind when you hold a certain expectation and you get more. Day after tomorrow, you expect CGI, action, disaster not much character development or sophisticated plot. Out of a disaster flick, you wouldn't want tiring character development, monologues, or sophisticated story. If these are the things that make a movie good, well, you're not really going to find all too many "good" disaster movies.

The thing with Nihon Chinbotsu is that you get more than you expect.

Expectation: It's a japanese movie. There's going to be lots of boring conversations, an annoying ending that leaves lots of questions unanswered (because the director thinks he's being artistic that way), badly done CGI and SFX.

Actual: Plot is simple and despite how ridiculous the premise is, they somehow managed to make it believable (which is probably the hardest part in making this movie). The pace of the Japanese movies is usually way too slow but this movie had a hollywood pace, meaning no boring/lulling conversations about people talking about their feelings. And like all good stories, it has a happy ending (movies that have sad endings are inherently harder to make "good" because that means the main crisis in the plot is not resolved, which leaves the viewer thinking, "what the hell did i watch this movie for?"). What was surprising was that it actually kept the viewer thinking during the movie and after. Perhaps being Japanese makes this more of a thinker than if you're some other nationality. Like I mentioned before, questions such as whether japanese people are worth saving or not, whether it's the japanese people or the culture and the history of japanese that gives value to japan, whether you would rather die or run away, etc.

Japanese films are targeted for a japanese audience, but this movie, I felt, if not all, at least parts, would be enjoyable universally.

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PhilsterT
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Post by PhilsterT » Jul 24th, '06, 16:33

Come on...puh-lease. The Day After Tomorrow failed even the lowest of expectations. It was a horrible movie. It was justs so dumb. You really like to overanalyze the simplest of things. No, I definitley aws not upset about the movie because I held it to high hopes (that would be absurd with a movie like that), rather it sucked. It was just a dull, boring flick. Just like this movie.

And, I highly doubt this movie was made for an "only Japanese viewership," despite some thematic elements it may have.

nikochanr3
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Post by nikochanr3 » Jul 24th, '06, 17:39

PhilsterT wrote:Come on...puh-lease. The Day After Tomorrow failed even the lowest of expectations. It was a horrible movie. It was justs so dumb. You really like to overanalyze the simplest of things. No, I definitley aws not upset about the movie because I held it to high hopes (that would be absurd with a movie like that), rather it sucked. It was just a dull, boring flick. Just like this movie.

And, I highly doubt this movie was made for an "only Japanese viewership," despite some thematic elements it may have.
i agree, i have very pop culture friendly tastes and can sit and watch a totally silly movie and have fun (i enjoyed the new fast and the furious for example) and i HATE the day after tommorrow with a huge huge passion. So DULL....

~Sy~
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Post by ~Sy~ » Jul 25th, '06, 05:12

kinda interesting but i dun really like watching disaster movies. i saw day after tomorrow, i thought it was fine. i'm not gonna buy it again or even watch it a 2nd time. just one of those movies thats just a once around for me.

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Post by Crazy Penguin » Jul 25th, '06, 05:30

expo1970 wrote:i usually don't like japanese movies (despite being japanese) because japanese directors seem to hold a false belief that the less people understand their movies, the better their movies are. HOWEVER, this movie follows Hollywood traditions in that movies that are easy to follow, have good action, good plot, and famous celebrities in it are just plain more entertaining (which is what a movie should be).
I would disasgree, strongly. The average so-called Hollywood "blockbuster" lives from bad, unoriginal plots (just look at how many remakes and sequels Hollywood is pumping out these days), bad acting and completely stupid action sequences (Hollywood fightscenes -just like the acting- have horribly declined in quality over the decades, today they're just stupid and without "wire-fu" no Hollywood actor can fight anyway; and if he can fight, then he can't act worth ****). Easy to follow certainly doesn't always make it good. Just take the Star Wars prequels as the most famous example. Take the "Star Wars" title away and what do you have? Horrible script, incredibly bad acting and a director who absolutely has no idea of how to direct, not to mention completely stupid action sequences (I only say the Obi-Wan vs Annie fight in Episode 3 was one of the worst I've ever seen). It's easy to follow, yes, but as a movie it's utter garbage.
expo1970 wrote:Expectation: It's a japanese movie. There's going to be lots of boring conversations, an annoying ending that leaves lots of questions unanswered (because the director thinks he's being artistic that way), badly done CGI and SFX.
Boring conversations, well... seems there was a script writer capable of doing a bit more than the usual garbage (which, in Hollywood, either resolves in bad fighting scenes or horrible pseudo-romances (take Pearl Harbor, one of the most stupid -and most arrogant- movies of all time)).

Additionally, shall I start counting Hollywood movies with exactly the same issues? There are hundreds of those. I'd say 99% of the average Hollywood "blockbuster" fall into the category. Not to mention that certain Hollywood movies live only on SFX and, as such, have absolutely no plot (just take the newest Fast & Furious, typical American garbage, again). And if they use something that's non-American in the plot, then it's usually horribly distorted (shall I say... Last Samurai? Dear god... what garbage, someone beat the script writer of that POS with a stick or an iron pipe or a nuke).

I take any Japanese movie over a so-called Hollywood "blockbuster" ANY day. Entertaining garbage is still garbage. Kuchu Teien or Linda 3 are a 1,000 times more entertaining than that American Pie garbage, for example.

As for "Japan Sinks", curious how Fukuda Mayuko's performance is.

lilanimekid
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Post by lilanimekid » Jul 25th, '06, 05:54

The plot reminds me of the manga A Spirit of the Sun. If this is a remake then the manga is probably over the same material. I don't really like Japanese movies either, the pacing is way too slow for my taste.

canon05
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Post by canon05 » Jul 25th, '06, 06:04

expo1970 wrote: i usually don't like japanese movies (despite being japanese) because japanese directors seem to hold a false belief that the less people understand their movies, the better their movies are. HOWEVER, this movie follows Hollywood traditions in that movies that are easy to follow, have good action, good plot, and famous celebrities in it are just plain more entertaining (which is what a movie should be).
I'm curious about this line "because japanese directors seem to hold a false belief that the less people understand their movies, the better their movies are." Would you give the title of the movies?

IMHO it depends on aundiences' choice or taste. If a movie is really awful to watch, they would avoid watching the movie anyway. Besides, why should Japan follows American formula? Doesn't every country have their own distinctive style? For example Zhang Yimou, a Chinese director. His earlier works are much simpler yet they contains meaning stories. Now he rises to fame which means that he can make big budget movies, but his latest work (ie House of Flying Daggers) IMHO is just poor though the shots are pretty terrific. This film is one example that is customed to get a share of the Western market. It's better to support their own style as well as their unique creativity.

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Post by ar-a-mach » Jul 25th, '06, 06:09

i was wondering ...
is it the remake of 1973  Nihon Chinbotsu (日本沈没) ????
anyway
<--- downloading the movie now!!! hehehehe

edit: yes it is a remake of the 1973 movie based also on the novel :wub:

AND there is a dorama series too !!! at least 25 episodes

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EMTQueen
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Post by EMTQueen » Jul 27th, '06, 00:09

If you're downloading the 2006 version, share it please! I really wanted to see it, but I didn't have time before I left Japan. :(

itachi666
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Post by itachi666 » Jul 27th, '06, 00:28

AngelicLayer wrote:i don´t really like this genre of movies, but it seems to be very intersting! But, I won´t watch this movie!

No, it´s not the fact the movie is japanese, the fact is that I don´t like Kou Chibasaki at all! Sorry and for those who are her fans, don´t be angry with me...
U HATE KOU SHIBASAKI?!? just kidding. Shes my favorite japanese actress but I here in real life shes a real biAtch.

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Eria
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Post by Eria » Jul 27th, '06, 18:27

for @#$'s sake, can you argue about this movie not other movies. as far as i know only one person saw it. is it worth downloading or is it garbage? different people have different tastes.

koei
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Post by koei » Jul 28th, '06, 00:17

What's the theme song in the trailer? Sounds pretty good.

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Post by TG3 » Jul 28th, '06, 07:42

The theme song is by Sun Min (a Korean artist) and Toshinobu Kubota (who did LA LA Love song from the drama Long Vacation and numerous other songs)

The name of the song is "Keep Holding U"

The PV is cool. It has clips from the movie and has a neat CG effects. I'm glad I'm not the only Fukuda Mayuko fan here. That girl can act! (See Byakuyakou ep 1, one of the best single episodes in drama I've ever seen)

From what i've heard, they changed around a lot of things from the original Japan Sinks. This one is more action driven instead of cerebral, and one critic wryly stated that everyone is "prettier" and "younger" in the new version.

Reflecting the times, there's also a bigger role for women characters. Originally, Shibasaki Kou's character was just a politician's daugther (kinda a damsel in distress character). Here, she's a rescue worker.

captain-nippon
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Post by captain-nippon » Aug 19th, '06, 22:12

Well, this movie is doing really well after 3 weeks in Japan. It made over $31 millions USD, since it cost around $15-20 millions. So Toho came even, there's also DVD sales and TV deal, so it save to say Toho will make some serious money on this movie...

Thats's a very good things, because FX movies that made money can be reinvested into future productions. Japanese FX movies are years behind hollywood productions. Than again Japanese market can't support a $100 millions prodction.

captain-nippon
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Post by captain-nippon » Sep 19th, '06, 06:56

Good news, this movie is now at $ 43 millions USD in Japan. Toho will be cashing in a lot of cash this summer. I am just guessing here, but I think Toho might be pocketing around $15 millions on the box office revenue and of course there's the DVD sales and international gross as well.

a good sign for high budget productions in Japan.

ahibba
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Post by ahibba » Dec 14th, '06, 08:37

When will it be on DVD?

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