Submitted by cinemascope on Sun, 2007-02-25 18:50. :: Cinemascope 5
Movie title:
Letters From Iwo Jima
Starring:
Ken Watanabe, Kazanuri Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara
Directed by:
Clint Eastwood
Written by:
Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
Genre:
War
Year:
2007
Country:
USA
Language:
Japanese/English
Runtime:
2 hours 20 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima, told from the perspective of the Japanese, specifically General Kuribayashi (Watanabe), sent from Tokyo to take charge of the defensive strategy, and Saigo (Ninomiya), a humble baker sent to serve as a private in a battle the Japanese know they will surely lose.
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima, told from the perspective of the Japanese, specifically General Kuribayashi (Watanabe), sent from Tokyo to take charge of the defensive strategy, and Saigo (Ninomiya), a humble baker sent to serve as a private in a battle the Japanese know they will surely lose.
Review
A companion piece to Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers, this is a far superior movie, and benefits from being on a smaller scale: where Flags... dealt with both the battle and the propaganda campaign back home in the States, Letters... focuses almost exclusively on the battle itself, with only a few flashbacks to happier times for the characters breaking up the relentless caranage on the island. The performances are uniformly superb, with Ken Watanabe - known to western audiences for his roles in Memoirs Of A Geisha and Batman Begins - especially good in his role as the conflicted general, who despite his affinity with the Americans following a pre-war visit to the country, is single-minded in his desire to defend the island to the death. Eastwood's direction, as in all his best work, is minimal and pared down, as is the score he composed himself. Only a few shots are shared with Flags Of Our Fathers, depicting the awe-inspiring arrival of the immense US fleet - in my opinion, the best CGI work used in a drama in recent years.
A companion piece to Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers, this is a far superior movie, and benefits from being on a smaller scale: where Flags... dealt with both the battle and the propaganda campaign back home in the States, Letters... focuses almost exclusively on the battle itself, with only a few flashbacks to happier times for the characters breaking up the relentless caranage on the island. The performances are uniformly superb, with Ken Watanabe - known to western audiences for his roles in Memoirs Of A Geisha and Batman Begins - especially good in his role as the conflicted general, who despite his affinity with the Americans following a pre-war visit to the country, is single-minded in his desire to defend the island to the death. Eastwood's direction, as in all his best work, is minimal and pared down, as is the score he composed himself. Only a few shots are shared with Flags Of Our Fathers, depicting the awe-inspiring arrival of the immense US fleet - in my opinion, the best CGI work used in a drama in recent years.
