Saturday, April 18, 2009

"Vibrator" (2003, Dir: Ryuichi Hiroki)

Grade: A+

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow; a rare A+. What made "Vibrator" so worthy and magnificent?

Slayton said...

I'm trying to beef up my Best Actress ballots for the 00s, so I queued this film (it won Shinobu Terajima the Best Actress award at Nantes 3 Continents). I didn't expect this film to affect me so deeply - the main character's inner monologue really syncs with the way I see the world, and I felt a real personal connection to the narrative.

My personal liking for it aside, it succeeds on a technical standpoint too - Hiroki's use of V.O. and intertitles is daring but completely works. The acting is great - Shinobu was great (and had me bumping Kidman off my '03 ballot) but I think that leading man Nao Omori (he was Ichi in Ichi the Killer!) was even better. They had a great rapport and kept me consistently entertained. A great film, and it is now on my Top Films list!

And that scene in the hotel bathroom was just... wow