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Better Late Then Never

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Keizoku/eiga" aka. "Keizoku - The Movie" is a difficult film to rate. I haven't seen any episode of the Keizoku TV-series yet, so I cannot judge whether or not the film catches up with the show. The movie is definitely very strange, but neither in a bad nor in a really good way. It is even not quite easy to determine the genre of this film. It is a murder mystery thriller, of course, but then again, the movie features elements of different genres such as some supernatural and surreal elements, and a wide range of comedy elements. There is a somehow tragically hilarious subplot of a retiring police chief who is in love with a teenage schoolgirl Lolita for example. I liked the surrealism and the humorous parts. In-between the plot the film often has some quick video-clip style sequences which I found more annoying than cool. The film also has too many plot-twists, in my opinion, and the whole thing sometimes becomes a bit confusing. The atmosphere is intense, however, and sometimes quite creepy, and I also liked the development of the characters. The main character, female police detective Jun Shibata (beautiful Miki Nakatani) is very likable, almost too cute for a policewoman. The film takes place on an island with a very peculiar looking castle on it, a setting that makes the film quite atmospheric. The performances are good, I especially liked Miki Naktani. Still, it is quite hard to rate this film. The film has some great aspects, but the video-clip style interludes were a bit out of place and the many twists were often very far-fetched. I personally liked the film, but I can't really explain why. My fellow fans of Japanese cinema can give it a try, but I can't guarantee that anybody else is gonna like it. A matter of personal taste, but definitely not your average murder mystery.

A very impressive movie, but on the other hand a very nervy one. In the first half of the movie you have to go through scenes with a REALLY weird (Asian?) sense of humor which leave the whole impression a little bit weak. The actors are OVERacting, which gives this movie a strange attitude. The soundtrack is weak too. The plot/ story is amazingly well arranged and extremely good as well as the camera-work (nervous and effective)and the very well made visual effects.On the DVD-Box (at least in the German version) it is introduced as a mix of "ringu" and "X-Files". I think neither of it is really true, but it is (exceptions above) one of the better Asian productions as long as you don't expect a thriller like "ringu", "darkwater" or "Ju-on: The Grudge".I'd come to the conclusion that "Keizuko" is a mix of mystery, crime and a little bit thriller with a arty touch. I wouldn't mind if they'd cut all "strange-humor" scenes. This would make this movie a favorite.