"Confessions" (告白) really caught my interest and I was wondering if anyone of you could recommend as thrilling movies to me.

I am also happy to get recommendations for Takeshi Kitano movies

Crow zero both part 1 and part 2... Such a good movie.. Though, maybe you already have watched this because it is a famous movie, but just in case.

Have you seen Death Note? Also, a good Takeshi movie is Zatoichi.

Sorry, I have never seen anything quite like Confessions. I don't know whether to recommend Death Note as well, Memories of Matsuko because it's visually stunning ( as is anything by that director), or Audition and 13 Assassins. Ichi is pretty good, it's the only blind swordsman movie I know that's not a Zatoichi flick.
Actually Love Exposure felt crazy to watch in a similar way to Confessions. And Himizu might fit the bill in some ways. Sorry if I told you all movies you know.

Japanese movie directors are much better at producing conventional dramas & quirky/strange stuff. Confessions is an exception, you won't find anything like that in japanese i'm afraid, at least no revenge movies of similar quality.
If you're open for Korean movies: 'Oldboy' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/) is probably even better. 'A Bittersweet Life' is amazing too. South-Korean thrillers & revenge movies are pretty exciting in general. So many masterpieces... like The Chaser, I saw the Devil, The Man From Nowhere (all available on Blu-ray) and many more.
You know, I actually got into Korean cinema because of Confessions - when I was desperately looking for similar movies

although i didn't like 'confessions' at all, here are a couple that i enjoyed:

2LDK is fast paced and fun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2LDK

'cure' is kurosawa's best and a great mystery/thriller
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123948/

'the inugami family' is kon ichikawa's adaptation of a classic mystery/thriller novel
https://www.japansociety.org/event/the-i...amily-1976

'perfect blue' is an excellent thriller, in the vein of dario argento, that influenced 'black swan'. just ignore the fact that it's an anime
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156887/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

if you're in for bizarre erotic thrillers, then i would recommend 'snake of june'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330904/


kitano's best film is 'sonatine', imho.

My favorite Japanese movie is Miike's Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (一命). It's a remake of Harakiri, but imo it's even better. But it's not really a thriller, it's a brilliant drama. There is a mystery element to it, but it gets resolved pretty early on.

蛇にピアス

@pauro02: Crow Zero does not seem to be my taste really, but thanks for the recommendation anyway!

@Stansfield123: I have seen Death Note (anime) and that was ok. I am not a fan of live action movies after I have seen the anime :> Sorry for being so picky.

@Tashippy: I loved "Ai no Mukidashi" by Shion Sono. It was the longest film I have ever seen up to now but it was really worth watching it. ヒミズ was very stunning, too.

@Keikei: You are my hero really!! "Oldboy" is a very dark film and I have watched half of it and it is so cryptic and tension building! Thanks for the recommendations. If you have more, feel free to pm me -- I think we have a similar taste on this

@umetani666: "Debbie Does Dallas" was my first and last (?) adult film.. so I don't think I would touch any erotic film in a while. But thanks!

@Tokyostyle: I have the book lying around somewhere in my room if I recall correctly. I want to read it first.

Tori-kun Wrote:@umetani666: "Debbie Does Dallas" was my first and last (?) adult film.. so I don't think I would touch any erotic film in a while. But thanks!

errr...none of the films i recommended were porn. i don't know where you got that idea...

'a snake of june' and 'cure' are dark and surreal takes on thriller genre conventions. where 'confessions' made everything explicit and explained even the simplest plot points ad nauseam, these two actually leave some room for viewer's imagination.
'inugami' is a more conventional whodunnit, while '2LDK' mixes suspense and stylized violence.

but keikei is right, koreans make the best thrillers these days. but then the title of the thread is a bit misleading...

I thought Confessions and Love Exposure were both soooo boring. oh my god they went on forever and none of the characters were interesting/identifiable at all.

13 assassins (十三人の刺客) was kinda great tho I thought...

Indeed those movies aren't exactly about character development, but for something that drags on an on, how about a 45 minute fight scene in 13 Assassins. Admittedly it was more epic than laborious.
I really thought 蛇のピアス was cheesy. It's about a regular girl who looks beyond the outer trappings of her rebel boy's piercings. barf.
I think Sabu's films are enjoyable. His movies have a clever structure and parody the yakuza genre in which Sabu himself was often typecast as an extra before becoming a director.
I've never watched Gantz or similar stuff. Does anyone like the Gantz live movie or could recommend a similar alternative? I know Tori-kun said he doesn't like anime to live-action stuff.
On that note, is there anything along the lines of The Matrix or Blade Runner or Gattaca that anyone can recommend? Some interesting future movies which I guess naturally means also dystopian. I enjoyed the anime No. 6, although I know some people think it's corny.
The featured J-torrent on asiatorrents right now, Summer Time Machine Blues, was pretty entertaining too, but it's a comedy about time travel with Eita and Ueno Juri.

I can only suggest some Takeshi Kitano movies, since honestly I'm indifferent about both Confessions and Oldboy (saw both movies once, thought both were overhyped IMO. That being said, Takako Matsu was fantastic in it). Toshiaki Toyoda's "9 Souls" has some angst to a similar vein of Confessions, but not a thriller more like a "Dirty Dozen" type of film.

For revenge/action (yakuza movies) - Outrage and Outrage Beyond. Other great ones are Brother, Sonatine, and Hanabi (my alltime favorite movie ever). I'd even recommend some old ones like Kinji Fukasaku's "Jingi Naki Tatakai" series (if you have the time to invest in it).

Co-sign on Love Exposure, 13 Assassins, Audition, and Cure, all are great films.

I wish I could more Sabu films (like Postman Blues and Monday), I really enjoyed "Drive" though none of his films are ever released here in the States sigh.

I love Japanese films (old and new), so I could recommend more, but most fall in the comedy (Koki Mitani), drama, or yakuza categories.

Stansfield123 Wrote:Have you seen Death Note? Also, a good Takeshi movie is Zatoichi.

I don't like the movie deathnote, they haven't had portrayed perfectly those characters in the anime. xD That's my own comment, anyway.

[RawToast]

kurohachi Wrote:For revenge/action (yakuza movies) - Outrage and Outrage Beyond. Other great ones are Brother, Sonatine, and Hanabi (my alltime favorite movie ever). I'd even recommend some old ones like Kinji Fukasaku's "Jingi Naki Tatakai" series (if you have the time to invest in it).

I would've thought they'd be a few Yakuza based thrillers alongside the usual revenge ones.

@kurohachi: Outrage Beyond was the first Kitano film I had seen and it was a punch into my face. Thanks for the recommendations.

tashippy Wrote:On that note, is there anything along the lines of The Matrix or Blade Runner or Gattaca that anyone can recommend? Some interesting future movies which I guess naturally means also dystopian.

i think 'swallowtail butterfly' and 'hakuchi - the innocent' could be described as dystopian.
maybe even 'tetsuo' and some teshigawara films like 'woman in the dunes' and 'a face of another'.
'eri eri rema sabakutani' if you like art films and noise.

i only watched 'monday' from sabu, but it was pretty good.
'gantz' had an interesting premise and the first 30 mins or so were really good, but after that it suddenly got really dumb and stayed that way till the end. i wouldn't recommend it.

Tori-kun Wrote:@kurohachi: Outrage Beyond was the first Kitano film I had seen and it was a punch into my face. Thanks for the recommendations.

I've seen its thriller but can't watch it online for free because I don't have any source.. Mind if you can give me the source if you've watched it for free? Thanks!

@umetani666: Just watched "snake of june" out of curiosity and it steamingly hot! great cinematography.

Be looking into this movie some time... oh yea.. more stuffs to watch!

tashippy Wrote:On that note, is there anything along the lines of The Matrix or Blade Runner or Gattaca that anyone can recommend?

Those are very different kinds of movies (on the one side, The Matrix and Blade Runner are pretty much a sequence of special effects/ fight scenes in a futuristic setting; Gattaca is a superbly made film centered on the current and yet still timeless philosophical issues it sets out to draw attention to).

If you're looking for scifi action, check out AppleSeed (and the sequel). They're significantly more entertaining than Gantz (except for a couple of scenes in Gantz, like the train fight scene - I think it's from the second movie, but I'm not sure).

If you're looking for ideas and beautiful film-making, check out Ghost in The Shell and Innocence (somewhat of a sequel), both by Mamoru Oshii (these last two are anime).

Tori-kun Wrote:"Confessions" (告白) really caught my interest and I was wondering if anyone of you could recommend as thrilling movies to me.

I was wondering about the opening monologue from "Confessions". The teacher says that a child under 14 years old in Japan can do anything and not be punished by the law. To what extent is that true and is she referring to a certain law or amendment?

Here are some quirky films:

Fisshu Story - great fun and a great song. A song that will save the world . . .

Maiko Haaan! - an in depth look into the geisha culture? Well maybe not. Just a very silly comedy that had me laughing throughout. Deep it isn't but still quite interesting culturally.

Survive Style 5+ - very odd, very funny, five vaguely interlocking stories.

A Stranger of Mine. Seems a very straightforward story but there is more going on than you first realise. I liked this very much.

tashippy Wrote:I was wondering about the opening monologue from "Confessions". The teacher says that a child under 14 years old in Japan can do anything and not be punished by the law. To what extent is that true and is she referring to a certain law or amendment?

Article 41 of the Japanese Penal Code says:

Quote:十四歳に満たない者の行為は、罰しない。

So yeah, seems to be true. It's not that unusual from a global perspective. Many European countries set the age of criminal responsibility about that high.

Stansfield123 Wrote:

tashippy Wrote:On that note, is there anything along the lines of The Matrix or Blade Runner or Gattaca that anyone can recommend?

Those are very different kinds of movies (on the one side, The Matrix and Blade Runner are pretty much a sequence of special effects/ fight scenes in a futuristic setting;

...

If you're looking for scifi action, check out AppleSeed (and the sequel). They're significantly more entertaining than Gantz (except for a couple of scenes in Gantz, like the train fight scene - I think it's from the second movie, but I'm not sure).

If you're looking for action, I think the new Rurouni Kenshin movie is also pretty good, though it's not sci-fi at all.