Skip to content
Tartan Video
Posted: November 9th, 2007.
Invisible Waves: A moody, violent and atmospheric thriller that follows the desperate Kyoji – anotherwise unassuming and quiet Japanese chef – on the run after killing his lover Seiko.Having undertaken the gruesome task purely as an attempt to redeem himself with his gangster boss whose wife itwas, the crime weighs heavily on his mind. Seeking solitude in new surroundings in Thailand, Kyoji’s guilt turnsto anger as he soon discovers that his problems are deadlier than first thought.
Part-crime story and part-morality piece, Invisible Waves is about surviving the darkest of life’s emotional waters – and then goingback for more. From director Pen-ek Ratanaruang and cinematography from favoured collaborator Christopher Doyle(In the Mood for Love, 2046), Invisible Waves will leave you pleasure-soaked to your very core.
Special Features include: Behind the Scenes Featurette, Original Theatrical Trailer, Film Notes,DTS Digital Surround 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround soundtracks.
Bright Future: Tadanobu Asano and Joe Odagiri star as two friends who work part-time in a laundry factoryin Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s highly original BRIGHT FUTURE. Odagiri is Yuji Nimura, a messy, lazy slacker who has odddreams at night of a future of hope and peace. His best friend, Mamoru Arita (Asano), meanwhile, is obsessed withhis pet red jellyfish, a poisonous creature he is training to be able to survive in fresh water.
After mysteriously presenting the marine invertebrate to Yuji, he even more mysteriously viciously murders his bossand willingly accepts his fate. While Mamoru is in prison, Yuji grows attached to the jellyfish and to hisfriend’s estranged father, who repairs old televisions, radios, and lamps in his own cluttered shop.
The very busy Asano (ICHI THE KILLER, THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE) and Odagiri areexcellent in the lead roles, filled with a quiet ennui and disassociation from the rest of the world. Long-timeactor Tatsuya Fuji provides outstanding support as Mr. Arita, who becomes a kind of surrogate father to Yuji.
Kurosawa, the director of such successful thrillers as DOPPELGANGER, PULSE, and CURE, here alternates betweenbeautifully shot scenes and grainy set pieces, steady camerawork and handheld moments, keeping the audienceperpetually off balance yet mesmerized. BRIGHT FUTURE, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, isa slow-paced, introspective, intelligent film that has a dark underbelly lurking just beneath it, like thepotential lethal bite of a jellyfish.
Special Features include: Behind the Scenes Featurette, Original Theatrical Trailer, Film Notes, DTS DigitalSurround 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround soundtracks.
Both films are out on November 19th on DVD and retail for £24.99 each.
Click on the packshots above for more information.
News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2007.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.