ned38

i probably shouldn't comment on this, as i turned it off an hour into it. absolutely unwatchable. i loved "cure", kurosawa's previous outing with the great koji yakusho, but this one was a mess through and through. it's like they didn't know what to do with it. the premise, about a man who meets his exact double, is nearly foolproof. there're so many ways to approach it, i really can't believe they couldn't make at least a decent movie out of this. but right from the beginning, the tone is all over the place and the plot just completely meanders. even yakusho's acting is weak (never thought i'd have to write that). not good.

"Housekeeping" is one of the best books i've ever read, and this movie gets it absolutely perfect. Christine Lahti is brilliant; I can't imagine another actress in the role. It seems that nobody has heard of this movie, (understandable, I guess, as it's very low-key, hardly the slick product Hollywood usually churns out) but if you're in the mood for an intelligent, incisive examination of human behavior then you could do no better than to rent this.

One other thing. although the box calls it "a tidy comedy", it's far from that. it's a great DRAMA, and my guess is its relative obscurity , and lack of box office success, is more the result of the studios inability to market it than anything.