BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

cucina Underneath the dense green glop of computer graphics there gleamed the astounding art and skill of Ichikawa Somegoro. Alas: it got lost in all the goo. The scenes of Old Edo -- with the courtesan, drifting on the Sumida, rehearsing and acting in the Nakamura-za -- were all exciting and engaging, taking you back to an interesting and rich era. The action on the Kabuki stage, in which Somegoro excels and excites, was more enriching than any of the absurd high jinks that followed. The skill, the energy in the audience, the colors of the sets, were far more satisfying than all the nonsense that took over plot and performance. What a wasted opportunity! One of the best kabuki actors alive, and he gets lost in the dreck.

Jessica Carvalho 'Ashura-jô no hitomi'takes place in the Japan of some centuries ago. Demons have infested Edo, the main city, taking human form and being hard to recognize. That's why they have the Demons Wardens, the guys who hunt and kill the demons to bring some peace to Edo.Even being a necessary job, being a Demon Warden is not easy, since you need to have a lot of cold blood and a sixth sense to recognize demons. Izumo is a charming and well known Kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past. He eventually meets the mysterious girl Tsubaki and falls in love with her. The problem that neither he or Tsubaki knows, is that she is a demon, the reincarnation of Ashura, the Queen of all the demons. And as the mysterious mark in Tsubaki's body increases her size, more strange things starts to happen to her. To make things harder, Jaku, who was Demon Warden working with Izumi, is corrupted by Bizan, a demon lady who is a kind of Ashura's advisory and follower.'Ashura-jô no hitomi' looks an incredible movie for it's reviews, but I need to be honest and say that I expected a little more excitement from it. (It's is not that the movie is terrible or anything like that, I thought it was fun and I liked some actors and actresses, I just thought it would be FANTASTIC.)Some of the special effects (specially the first ones in the demons eyes and mouths)were bad, but you can forget that when you see the charming Izumo Wakuraba trying to get Tsubaki's heart.Ps: I think this is the first Japanese movie I see a sex scene.Ps2: Even enjoying the acting of the actor Somegoro Ichikawa as the character Izumo Wakuraba, I found his looks a little odd, looking he did plastic, botox and lip collagen. Can someone who is familiarized with the actor Somegoro, send me a PM telling me if he did those procedures or not?

hansbearnl The movie only enter the cinema in Indonesia this year (2007), two years after it's official release, and after many illegal DVD's had found its way to the public. Apparently the popularity of the illegal DVD's lead to the release into the theaters, with still public coming to watch.The movie is a great epic, bringing Japanese culture into your house in an exiting way. In a sometimes humorist way, the story is told about a theater writer who writes a story for his theater, since the regular Kabuki theater plays is something he finds boring.At first, the audience might be a little bit confused about which story we are following, but when the story unfolds, we see that the love between a male human and a female demon leads to a great story for a new Kabuki theater piece.The audience is left in the dark if this is a story that is supposed to really have happened in Japanese traditions and mythology, but that doesn't matter.The way the story is told with a love for theater, expression, vivid colors, humor and tragedy, makes this a great ride on the roller-coaster of Japanese cinema as well as theater.Let yourself go completely when you watch this movie, try to see it in a cinema instead of on your television at home.One critical point though: the soundtrack is sometimes a little bit annoying. Though most of it is great music, there are a few moments in the movie that I think they should have chosen some more dramatic music. But maybe the fact that the story contains moments of humor made the director choose for lighter moments in music as well.

benoitlelievre I went to see Ashura as 2005 Fantasia Festival Kickoff. Man, that was one cool kick off. The director was supposed to be in Montreal for the Canadian premiere, but due to health reasons, he's still in Japan...oh lord I hope he gets better and makes plenty of other movies.The plot is pretty simple, but somewhat original...the demons are roaming in Edo in Japan and Swordsmans called "Demon Wardens" are slaying them and fearing the rebirth of Ashura, the demon goddess who's sleeping and supposedly is very kick-ass.It brings us to Izumo...some kind of elite swordsman called "Demon Slayer" and his buddy Jaku who's the typical violent jealous asshole...Seems boring? Well now it thickens....Izumo took his retirement from killing demons since he slayed a young kid on the "impression" that he was the demon, he never knew, but he did killed her. So Izumo went on with his life and recycled himself in Kabuki theater. In a boat joyride on a nice night, Izumo spots a girl hiding on a bridge and it changes his life and restart to slay demons...for the good cause, the cause of love...and damn...the guy knows how to handle a sword and to pull an entertaining massacre.Izumo carries the movie as far as playing goes...he is the total package...he knows how to fight(hell yeah he knows), he's witty, he's intelligent and he has that grit. You never have to yell :"NO IZUMO, IT'S A TRAP" The guy already knows it he has that common sense. He's really the perfect hero.As far as cinematography goes, the esthetics are pretty interesting. It's by far, the movie that looks the most like a manga. It's creamed full of special effects and nothing, at all cost will prevent this movie to look realistic...it's pretty amazing. Lots of colours an "unreal" photography, other than that...it's pretty straightforward...but like I said, the main character is carrying the movie A must see, a tale lead by masterful hands