Rating: 7.6/10 (911 votes)
Runtime: 110 min
Language: Japanese With Hardcoded English Sub
Country: Japan
Color: Colour
IMDb Link:
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| http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0113725/ |
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Cast:
Makiko Esumi ... Yumiko
Takashi Nait� ... Tamio
Tadanobu Asano ... Ikuo
Gohki Kashiyama ... Yuichi
Naomi Watanabe ... Tomoko
Midori Kiuchi ... Michiko
Akira Emoto ... Yoshihiro
Mutsuko Sakura ... Tomeno
Hidekazu Akai ... Master
Hiromi Ichida ... Hatsuko
Minori Terada ... Detective
Ren Osugi ... Hiroshi, Yumiko's Father
Kikuko Hashimoto ... Kiyo, Yumiko's Grandmother
Shuichi Harada ... Cop
Takashi Inoue ... Driver
Description: A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.
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This visually lush but sometimes ponderously slowfilm is a poetic saga of love and loss. Some trimming of the undeniably beautiful, but protracted, sequences in the latter half would probably result in wider acceptance of first-time director Hirokazu Kore-eda's promising first feature. In any case, fest outings are definitely indicated.
Kore-eda acknowledges the influence of contempo filmmakers like Theo Angelopoulos and Hou Hsiaohsien, both given to wondrously visual but elongated work, as well as to Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu. It's not surprising, then, to discover a screnely beautiful piece of filmmaking. Added twist of an unsolved mystery, a la Antonioni's "L'Avventura," gives pic extra depth.
At the age of 12, Yumiko let her senile grandmother run away from her. The woman was never seen again, and Yumiko's sense of loss and guilt for not holding on to the old lady have stayed with her.
When the film proper begins, Yumiko is happily married to Ikuo and they have a 3-month-old son. The couple spend all their spare time together, but one evening police come to tell Yumiko that Ikuo is dead, killed by a train into whose path he'd apparently deliberately walked.
A few years later, she marries again, this time to a widower, Tamio, who lives far away in a fishing village. He has a small daughter, and also lives with his elderly father. Soon, Yumiko is happy again. But a visit to her mother triggers memories of the dead Ikuo, and when a bartender tells her that, just before he died, Ikuo was drinking in the bar and apparently cheerful and quite unsuicidal, the mystery deepens anew. Why did Ikuo die, and how?
These are questions with no obvious answers, though there's a clue in the film's title, which refers to a mysterious light that lures sailors far out into the ocean.
Exquisitely photographed by Masao Nakabori, "Maborosi" is indeed a tantalizing film. The first two-thirds, though unhurriedly paced, are charged with beauty and mystery. Only toward the end, with long shots of a procession by the sea, and characters talking as the sun sets over the ocean, does the drama grind to a halt. The visually pure film contains no close-ups, and a virtually static camera is used.
Makiko Esumi, a celebrated model, makes a strong debut as the life-loving woman who is nevertheless wracked with grief. Chen Mingchang, who has composed music for Hou Hsia-hsien, provides the lovely score.
Download Links:
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http://rapidshare.com/files/132138236/Maborosi.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132138287/Maborosi.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132138297/Maborosi.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132148084/Maborosi.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132148140/Maborosi.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132148170/Maborosi.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132160334/Maborosi.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132160545/Maborosi.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132160478/Maborosi.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132176578/Maborosi.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/132156972/Maborosi.part11.rar |
Rar Password: None
Awards for Maboroshi no hikari (1995)
Awards of the Japanese Academy
1996 Won Award of the Japanese Academy Newcomer of the Year Makiko Esumi
Blue Ribbon Awards
1996 Won Blue Ribbon Award Best New Actress Makiko Esumi
Brothers Manaki International Film Festival
1996 Won Golden Camera 300 Masao Nakabori
Chicago International Film Festival
1995 Won Gold Hugo
Mainichi Film Concours
1996 Won Mainichi Film Concours Best Film Score Ming Chang Chen
Sponichi Grand Prize New Talent Award Makiko Esumi
Vancouver International Film Festival
1995 Won Dragons and Tigers Award Hirokazu Koreeda Tied with Goldfish (1995).
Venice Film Festival
1995 Won Golden Osella Best Director Hirokazu Koreeda Tied with Abolfazl Jalili for Det Yani Dokhtar (1994) Kenneth Branagh for In the Bleak Midwinter (1995).
OCIC Award - Honorable Mention Hirokazu Koreeda
Nominated Golden Lion Hirokazu Koreeda
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