The Nanking Massacre is a historical event also known as "the rape of Nanking", in which the Japanese army invaded the city of Nanking, which was China's capital at the time. Over the course of six weeks, 100,000 - 200,000 Chinese citizens (including men, women, and children) were murdered, 20,000 cases of sexual assault were accounted for, and an unknown amount of property damage was committed. The horrors of the massacre are unbelievable. To add to it, the Japanese government has never fully admitted to the atrocities that they committed during this time period. (For a further explanation of the happenings of the massacre there is a link at the bottom of the article, that gives a more detailed description of the happenings.)
Now that the history is out of the way, onto the actual review of the film. Considering the subject matter of the Nanking massacre, it's difficult to believe that a filmmaker would want to tackle it. But T. F. Mou not only tackles it, he shows it in a realistic manner, and shows it respectfully, mixing faked footage (the movie itself) and authentic video/pictures of the massacre. This and the addition of facts placed on the screen throughout the film (beginning, end, and during the film) make the viewer feel that T. F. Mou didn't go out to make a viscous film to get butts in seats, but wanted to actually educate the viewer about the Nanking massacre. This I have to tip my hat to.
With the film being so moving, I have to highly recommend this film.
Genesis (product link) Horror / Thriller Now this in my opinion is a gem. It's a romantic story, about a guy that loses his wife in a car accident, and builds a statue to look like she did. The statue starts to come to life, but as the statue comes to life, he starts to turn into a statue himself. So in essence he is dying while she is coming to life, and it shows us what happens while all this is happening. It's a really great flick if you have a romantic nerve, also there are things in the movie that show irony, such as the use of an unfinished symphony by I believe it's Mozart. The camera work in this one, like "Aftermath", was phenomenal--every time I watch it I notice things I never noticed before, which to me is a sign of a wonder film.
Nekromantik 2 (product link) Horror / Erotica I'd like to first state that I loved "Nekromantik". But with that, I walked into "Nekromantik 2" with the same expectations of the film--a nihilistic, sick and twisted film about the love for the dead. It is still that, but on a much more toned-down level. "Nekro 2" plays more like a dark romantic comody (in my eyes, at least), where the lead character has to chose whether she wants to be in a relationship with the living or the dead, with an ending that would be expected for a film by Jorg (the director).
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Spot on. A great film but not in the same vein as the original.
Cannibal (product link) Horror / Thriller If you are reading this, you probably know what this is based upon, so I won't go into that too much. But the movie is a slow dragging artish flick, which is not at all a bad thing. There are a lot of wonderful images throughout the movie. The movie is mostly a silent film, very little spoken word for about half the movie.
Autopsy: Through The Eyes Of Death's Detectives: Voices Of Death (product link) Documentary The description of this DVD states that it's of Dr. Thomas Noguchi doing an autopsy. That it delivers fully, with actually a funny twist (in a sick way). But what the description does not state is that the actual autopsy only takes about 1/3 of the DVD length. And the rest of the DVD is basically a real life C.S.I. cases. Interesting, but thought that I would warn of this.
Kilink In Istanbul (product link) Fantasy / Action/Adventure Zero stars for plot/technical aspects/acting and whatnot. Four stars for fun. Lots of fun for crap movie watchers.
This is the movie that put Nacho Cerda's name on the map. The movie, if you did not know, is about a doctor performing an auptopsy, and ***START SPOILERS*** ends up with the doctor, sleeping with the corpse. ***END SPOILERS*** The film is supposed to show how vunerable the body is after life, which it does a great job at, with such effects as the doctors, just messily placing the organs back into the corpse, and slamming the ribcage down, and trying to smash all the organs back into the chest. This really in my opinion did a good job. And also showing how rough the doctors are with the corpse, really makes you not want an autopsy. Now my personal problem was the necro part of the movie--not that it was too far, just personally I do not wish to see this, it was majorly effective. The camera work in the film is amazing, the one part I remember being majorly impressed by is the use of reflections, in eyes, and the lens of a camera used as a prop in the movie. This was a major upgrade from the director's first film. All and all, I have to say I really enjoyed the flick.
The Awakening: 2 stars. This short has a good concept but you can tell that this was one of Nacho Cerda's first attempts at making a movie. The use of the all-seeing eye was a good effect. Not the best short I've seen, but also not by far the worst I've seen.
Aftermath: 4 stars. This is the movie that put Nacho Cerda's name on the map. The movie, if you did not know, is about a doctor performing an auptopsy, and ***START SPOILERS*** ends up with the doctor, sleeping with the corpse. ***END SPOILERS*** The film is supposed to show how vunerable the body is after life, which it does a great job at, with such effects as the doctors, just messily placing the organs back into the corpse, and slamming the ribcage down, and trying to smash all the organs back into the chest. This really in my opinion did a good job. And also showing how rough the doctors are with the corpse, really makes you not want an autopsy. Now my personal problem was the necro part of the movie--not that it was too far, just personally I do not wish to see this, it was majorly effective. The camera work in the film is amazing, the one part I remember being majorly impressed by is the use of reflections, in eyes, and the lens of a camera used as a prop in the movie. This was a major upgrade from the first film. All and all, I have to say I really enjoyed the flick.
Genesis: 5 stars. Now this in my opinion was the gem of the DVD. It's a romantic story, about a guy that loses his wife in a car accident, and builds a statue to look like she did. The statue starts to come to life, but as the statue comes to life, he starts to turn into a statue himself. So in essence he is dying while she is coming to life, and it shows us what happens while all this is happening. It's a really great flick if you have a romantic nerve, also there are things in the movie that show irony, such as the use of an unfinished symphony by I believe it's Mozart. The camera work in this one, like "Aftermath", was phenomenal--every time I watch it I notice things I never noticed before, which to me is a sign of a wonder film.
Extras: The DVD itself comes with a four-page insert, which explains the history of the films, and the feeling of the editor of the movie ultra violent. It's a very informative little booklet. The commentaries are also a great way to find things out about the filming of the shorts.
A Deadly Secret (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure I'm not much of a kung fu fan, but I will say that this was pretty good, if stereotypical. But overall it's a fun watch.
Exitus Interruptus (product link) Horror / Thriller I got this on a blind buy, looked interesting. But it sat on my shelf for serveral months 'till I found a review that basically stated it was sicker then "Nekromantik". This peaked interested in watching it, but sadly it was just a boring shot on video movie that had a sick idea behind it, but was poorly pulled off.
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