ThiefHott Too much of everything

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Kirpianuscus old well known story. fight scenes. basic virtues as honor, courage and sacrifice. two cultures. pop art inspiration. memories about "Kill Bill". and few good Romanian actors in small roles. maybe, the last detail is the motif to see, for me, as more than a decent film. because, in essence, it is an embroidery of imagination and a kind of popular philosophy. nothing bad . and , not ignoring Woody Harrelson and Ron Pearlman, the reasonable job of Josh Hartnett and Gackt Camui, it could be an interesting proposition. not real credible but a good visual delight. and this is a good motif to see it.

popcorninhell On the cusp of this deceptively simple film is a near universal acknowledgement of style over substance. It's even in the name Bunraku which is a form of traditional Japanese puppeteer-ing. The opening credits of the film plods with nonsensical narration brought by a cynical voice and colorful puppetry mixed with economical computer graphics. We're submerged into a world of paper mache, all the world is a stage and all the players almost seem to notice. With a wink and a nod they dance around each other; a cowboy, a samurai, a woodcutter, an assassin, a barkeep and a maiden. All the world is a stage and pulling the strings are the dexterous hands and wide eyes of a teenage boy. Deceptively simple because it is an indulgence similar to youth's long hours with toys at the foot of the bed or after midnight's Kung Fu marathons.Yet there's more than meets the eye here. The script's sometimes frustratingly scant dialogue circles around the notion of violence. Its not one of those films that admonishes violence while inviting the audience to enjoy stylized buckets of blood. It's a film that tries to posit violence as part of the cyclical machinations of the universe. What matters is how you use violence; towards selfish ends or selfless ends. Our heroes, the drifter and the samurai fight for good, in a sense. Their families were effected by the woodcutter and his gang, thus they battle to reclaim their family honor. A simple story of revenge told hundreds of times across multiple cultures and mediums. Even the characters in the plot are aware of their place in the larger story. The barkeep, played by an affable Woody Harrelson even props up a pop-up book telling a similar heroic tale. The tale he tells though the names are changed is that of Spider-Man; confirmed by the moral of the story "with great power comes great responsibility."The story goes deeper into the depths of political and moral philosophy with the inclusion of a character known as The General. His Proletariat League remains in the periphery until the third act. The character is treated as a phantom which prods the Woodcutters gang to remove his iconography. Then he appears a withered old man reminiscent of an aging Fidel Castro. He's waited, perhaps too long, to strike against the woodcutter and his gang which control the city. Does he, by the end of the film replace a politically violent reign with another? Maybe, but the movie strongly adheres to the cyclical nature of human politics. When Harrelson's character insists he makes the drinks and fought only so he could continue to make the drinks, our two heroes seems disappointed. As if to say when good men do nothing, evil prevails. The movie then ends with a Rising Sun Flag doubling as the sun itself. Fascism and cruelty still lurks in the shadows or in this case, the light.Yet the draw of a movie of this kind is not a flaccid political statement or a hero's journey we all can recite by heart. Most films, with noted exceptions are like Christmas trees, its not the structure but the decorations that set them apart. And there are a lot of decorations. Bunraku is nearly an entire product of pastiche. The city home to our players is constructed to look cheap as if made on a sound stage, as it likely was. The walls are paper thin, dominated by harsh masculine edges and aside from beer bottles and bifocals, there is no glass in the windows. The unnatural light shifts suddenly from blue to red and orange to create an atmosphere of dread, anger and fear depending on the situation. Its as if The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was remade into a gangster movie. The vibrant costumes take hints from Bollywood, the scene transitions are pop art, the characters an amalgam of ronins, cowboys and grizzled private dicks; east meets west meets points in between.Make no mistake, this movie is a masterpiece and not in an ironic sense either. Frazzled and rough around the edges to be sure, but nonetheless Bunraku reveals a masterful depth. It follows in a cinematic tradition while bringing a rare gust of originality that can make you question how to truly make and interpret a lie that tells the truth. All the worlds a stage and in this case, I'd get a front row seat right quick.

BAD WOLF Unfortunately an awesome cast could not turn this into a great movie, which it really could have been. There are elements that I enjoyed and others that were not very good. I loved the idea of the movie and some of the visuals were great. The cast of Ron Perlman, Woody Harrelson and Josh Hartnett made me expect that this was going to be great but it was lacking. The acting wasn't that bad but it didn't really seem to come together. The narrator's voice also didn't seem to gel with the movie. Was it the direction, the editing or maybe both? It gave me the feeling of 'Sin City' without delivering. The action/western/martial arts aspects didn't meet my expectations as I was hoping for a movie more like 'Warrior's Way' mixed with 'Sin City'. The dialogue was mediocre, coupled with OK fight scenes. Was it a bad movie, NO, but it could have been much much better.

Leofwine_draca BUNRAKU is one of those hyper-fantasy action flicks that looks like a comic book, a la 300 and SIN CITY. The story takes place in some colourful fantasy world where everyone seems to be an expert in the martial arts and has some legend or other connected to them. As the tale progresses the story lines gradually coalesce with the heroes teaming up to battle the big bads at the climax.According to the director, his intent was to make a film that looks and feels like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, with the twist that the dances are replaced by fights. To this end, BUNRAKU is a success. There's a lot of action here, and while none of the fighters are amazing, the choreography is crisp and fluid. The fights look good, at the very least. They reminded me of the famous tea house battle in KILL BILL: VOLUME 1.The producers have also assembled a decent cast for this one, and I appreciate the casting of a Japanese guy in the lead role (even though he's a singer, Gackt looks the part all right). I'm no fan of Josh Hartnett but he's at the very least passable, while Woody Harrelsen brings plenty of charm as the third person in the story. Thankfully Demi Moore's screen time is kept to a minimum, but Ron Perlman and Kevin McKidd make a good tag team as the bad guys. BUNRAKU isn't a perfect film - it's not something I would be tempted to watch again - but at least it looks and feels fresh and invigorating, which is more than can be said for most modern American productions.