Duel
Submitted by jim on Tue, 11/16/2004 - 11:50
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One of the things I discovered in the aforementioned Twitch wish list is half of this double-feature:
Aragami was released in Japan as the second half of a cinematic "double feature" entitled Duel. The first feature is entitled 2LDK, directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko. The (well-known) story goes that Tsutsumi and Kitamura made a wager as to who could develop the more exciting "duel" film given the following criteria: (a) the film must only involve a duel (to the death) between two individuals, (b) the film set must be limited to a single location, and (c) the film must be shot within seven days.
I watched 2LDK back in September and I've been patiently waiting for Aragami to be released. But it's been Very Long Wait ever since it went live on Netflix. Ryuhei Kitamura also directed an incredible Chop-Socky, Sword-Play, Yakuza, Zombie film called Versus (2000) which is a very fun watch.
Yeah, when I queued them it was a "very long wait" for me too. I'd kinda like to watch them back-to-back, so I de-queued them for now.
I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to rent Versus. For every good review I read at least one pan. Your recommendation may tip the balance.
Really, Versus panned? I would think it's almost pan-proof. I mean it's an incredibly gory, cheesy, weird stupid film but it's incredibly inventive, IMHO. I can't imagine someone who wanted to watch it in the first place, i.e. a fan of the genre and sub-genres that are all mashed together in the film, and then being remotely disappointed. Unless it wasn't over-the-top enough for them. I'd be interested in a reading a negative review of it just to see what it is they were looking for.
I think most mainstream critics would hate it. But us regular Joe online schlubs would love it.
I think I mostly got that impression from the IMDb user comments.