Samehada otoko to momojiri onna

My main impression with this movie is that something, somehow, has got lost on the way.

It might be that the script has been adapted from a manga; some situations and some of the characters antics, dragged out from their context, look so wacky they end to be grotesque. Nonetheless, one of the strongest point of the movie are the characters themselves - Yamada in particular.

The plot is the weakest one, it doesn't really make sense and I ended up suspecting that some elements has been simply cut because they didn't fit in the run time.

However, I've seen this movie in Japanese with subtitles, so I really can't comment about the "witty dialogs" which are supposed to be another strong point.

This movie is occasionally entertaining, but fails to leave a mark: it reminded me somehow of "I Went Down" (1997), which is definitely more entertaining than this one, tough.

Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl was one of the best Japanese films that I have seen in a while. The fast pace, quick cuts, and awesome soundtrack made for a great movie. Not to mention the cool characters and decent plot. Tadanobu Asano wasn't as cool in this movie as he was in Ichi the Killer, but then again who could top anything from that movie. At first I didn't know if I would like the movie, being a fan of older samurai films and not much for no-plot action movies, but I'll have to hand it to this film, because even though the plot was a little main stream (man steals Yakuza money and then the gangsters go after him) the cinematography and the fact that the story wasn't really told in chronological order really made this movie stand out from the stereotypical action movie. The way the director would occasionally slow down or speed up the film, or intentionally put in serious jump-cuts, really added to the feel of the movie. I thought that it was a great movie and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Japanese cinema.

Some great characters in this film enjoyed the costumes and comedic characters especially the big tough guy at the beginning and the scene where he's messing around in the Jeep that he found like a seven-year-old boy was hilarious,short but incredibly violent the shoot out scene in the bathroom window I like to lick my car frame of a country like oil painting when he moved out of the frame of the window. Plot was bit cliche, this film felt like a bit of a mish mash of Tarantino guy Ritchie and Japanese gangster films, weird Britpop rock soundtrack thing going on kind of enjoyed it for the 90s vibe but all in all felt like a original film with clear influences from many other directors.

I'm no stranger to Katsuhito Ishii's work. I think we've all seen his The Taste of Tea, which I didn't like at all. It's been a long time since I saw it but I remember it feeling too long and slow and incoherent. Some of that is on this film as well but this film has a very likeable element that despite its quirks it feels more relatable and fun.

There's no denying that Katsuhito Ishii has a fantastic sense of style and aesthetics. His characters are brimming with colour and wonderful. This clashes with how he really does movies which is a very surreal and slow style and you can see that he's really aiming for a Tarantino-esque type of approach which serves the movie good!

As I said, the characters are the focal point of this. I just wish they had more to say and more to do on screen. There's a few moments of this film where you feel there's a momentum and it lacks that for a lot of the movie's runtime. Sure, things happen but it feels very slow. Tadanobu Asano and Sie Kohinata make an excellent lead couple, I honestly wish the movie was more about them.

This movie also has a very weird comical vibe throughout it as to puncture this whole bizarre situation. It mostly serves to give it a lighthearted feel, I wouldn't say I laughed a lot at this.

All in all I'd say this movie is a worthy watch because it has a lot of style and it's just pretty neat! But if you want a fast paced silly action film then you might have to check somewhere else cause this is not it.

After reading the other comments, then actually seeing the film, it simply doesn't measure up.

The first 1/3 of the film is quite a blast, with nearly everything the reviews mention - fast editing and sassy dialogue, wacky characters and, for good measure, perhaps cinema history's shortest explicit sex scene (about four seconds).

But after this part, it loses most of its puff and all of its potential originality. A bit like getting on a rollercoaster, having a ripper ride, but the machine slowing to a crawl just before the first big dip, and crawling home slowly.

In conclusion, it does have good stuff, mostly at the beginning. Looks like it wanted to be a weird take on Pulp Fiction but got seriously lost.