The greatest movie ever made..!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is the first Miike movie i have watched, and for me this is really work of art. The movie is very slow paced and even meditative at the times,which i like it the most, story is not to complicated, but it has the heart and the soul. Acting in the movie is amazing, my favorite character in the movie is Ujiie (the yakuza) played by Renji Ishibashi, he was so fun to watch, also Mako and Masahiro Motoki are great in their roles. The Landscapes of Yunnan gives me chills, i was amazed by beautiful landscapes, worth watching only because of that.I recommend this movie to everyone who loves Japanese/Asian cinema, nature and locations out of modern world, you will enjoy for sure.I am looking forward to see more movies from mister Takashi Miike.My grade: 8/10.

Not boring to me and not empty, but disappointing. Why?1) Flashing images of Yakuza "dream sequence" - it spoils the atmosphere and is simply tense and harmful for the eyes of the viewer. Come on, Miike, it's not "Koroshiya 1". 2) Violence that takes place from time to time - it's out of place. In "Rainy Dog" it's fine, but not here. 3) Unfunny funny stuff. A van falling apart is something too hackneyed (cf. Takeshi Kitano comedies, American cinema & cartoons) to be funny, while it's often mentioned as the "peak" of this comedy. 4) Too little of actual flying. If it's supposed that the kids can fly in that distant area, show some footage, at least from distance (if you have a very limited budget). Not just a few seconds of that before the final credits. 5) The connection with the real world (the poem-ballad taken from the history and the war plane that had crashed into the pond) is destroying the eerie feel of the production - would prefer the verse created specifically for this movie and the connection to the wild nature (why not actual birds?), not to the downed plane of the WWI or WWII times.It's got to be tweaked to become an excellent movie: more nature, less quirky violence, more funny and natural jokes, and more actual flying. To my view, Japanese "Dreams" & "Dolls" and Russian "Stalker" surpass this one in every aspect, while dealing with similar topics.A 5 out of 10 - a good but mediocre try. Thanks for attention.

Miike has a pretty solid pattern. He makes films for a distinctly Japanese audience, teasing out some issue or two that seems culturally rooted. This is his context. He shifts it into a magical, cinematic world and imagines scenes as episodes within this containing structure.So we get impressed by the big idea — moreso if Japanese — and also impressed by some of the episodes, those that work. Oddly, the general audience thinks that Miike prefers violence but I think he will simply do anything that has cinematic power that fits his large-small vision.Japanese have a strange relationship with the mainland. They know they (the main "race" on the islands) originated in Korea. The urge is to project back beyond that and posit a people who came as a group from some magical location deeper in the mainland. This story in the large hangs on the myth that the race came from a remote mountainous region in China, Yunnan. It isn't quite China, with the people and traditions being a melange of China, Tibet and Indochina. A dear Japanese wise man explained to me that the indigenous people on the islands came from Polynesia and had a "horizontal" cosmology, while the later migration from the mainland — being mountain people — had a vertical cosmology. This subtle insight advises all sorts of things: architecture for one, cinematic composition for another. In this case, it includes the myth that the proto-Japanese could fly.Here we have two stereotypical characters (plus one who appears briefly) on a quest to find this magical source. The film is clearly in two halves. The first half is reality-based and full of jokes. Then in the midst of a flood after crossing mountains, the thing takes a shift into magic. They are transported the final leg by harnessed turtles, itself referencing an ancient story.Into this they carry all sorts of things associated with Japan (by modern Japanese), and little of it makes sense in this new place. A simple view will see a simple ecological message, but that is not the case here. It is about what is pure; its attractions and curse. The final scene is very nice, but what matters is the narration of our "reporter" right before that. The longing is pure.Li Li Wang, plays the woman at the center of this place. She is amazing.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is my second comment on a movie on this board. But after finishing this movie yesterday, I just had to write something about this fantastic movie. I have seen about 6 movies from Miike but this one was hard to find. I couldn't rent it anywhere but I really was interested in this piece of cinema because I liked the story and that it was something completely different from other Miike movies (although none of his movies are alike). So I ordered the DVD (artsmagicdvd version).From the beginning I was really into the movie. And after finishing it, I enjoyed every second of it! It has humor, adventure, a little action and emotion! The scenery in this movie is fantastic and I want to visit these places in the movie If I know where they are! Miike takes you into his dreamworld and you don't want to leave. It is fantasy but believable and not over the top. The story is surrounded by mystery and I wanted to know all about it. I won't tell about the story because you can read that on this site. I just want to recommend this movie to every fan of Miike, well....to everyone who can enjoy a piece of rare cinema with a great story and beautiful scenery. Sometimes a movie is great but the ending is a let down. I think this movie is really completed, from beginning to end. Ohh....and the music is great as well. It is one of those movies you want to see again the moment you finish it. I hope Miike makes a movie like this again in the future; slow, beautiful, mysterious.....I think it is very strange that a lot of crap is put on DVD but a fantastic movie like this is hard to find. I had to import the DVD and I can imagine not everybody likes to do that. So in Holland this gem isn't released. So I hope people just order a copy, just get one anyway you can, you won't regret it! On the DVD there is an interview with Miike, an audio commentary and some extra stuff. There is a trailer of this movie on the disk as well. But I STRONGLY suggest not to watch that before watching the movie. Why? Because the ending is in the trailer!!! I think that is very strange and I am happy I didn't watch it before the movie otherwise it would have spoiled the ending for me.So you get the idea, I am very enthusiastic and I think you will to after seeing this beautiful film. What are you still doing behind your desk? Go get a copy!