Apr

27

2008

Kisaragi

Posted by luna6


Movie Review : Kisaragi / キサラギ
Release Date : June 16, 2007
Country : Japan
Director : Yuichi Sato
Starring : Teruyuki Kagawa, Keisuke Koide, Shun Oguri, Yusuke Santamaria
Runtime : 111 min
Editor Rating : 8.0
Users Rating: 8.19 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (16 votes)

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Imagine if you will, Agatha Christie reborn as a geeky male in the Akihabara area of Tokyo. What kind of story would he write? Well, it certainly could be something along the lines of the zany film “Kisaragi” (directed by Yuichi Sato). The film probably cost no more than a cab ride from Narita Airport to Tokyo to make, but regardless of the budget, the movie just oozes with creativity, fun, and a whole lot of surprises.

In Kisargi, five fans gather in a rented Tokyo room to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Miki Kisaragi’s death. Who is Miki Kisaragi you ask? None other than one of the hottest gravure idols in Japan, who mysteriously committed suicide one year ago. The five fans that have gathered to honor her death are: Mr. Guru, Oda Yuuki, Snake, Yasuo and Strawberry Girl. None of the attendees have met face to face before, but they have all communicated with each other through the Miki Kisaragi website, run by Mr. Guru.

Now that Miki’s most devoted fans have gathered together, they begin to indulge in sweets, beers, and of course their obsession with Miki Kisaragi. They all share their own personal Miki Kisaragi collections and tell their favorite Kisaragi stories. Once the members start to tell their stories, an unattended chain reaction occurs. It seems some of the attendees held closer ties with Kisaragi than what was first revealed and then a flurry of revelations soon tilts the perception of Miki Kisaragi’s death from suicide to murder! But, was it murder?

For readers that wouldn’t know a gravure idol from a gravatar, gravure idols are a distinct Japanese version of the familiar pin-up girls. The models usually wear skimpy costumes and appear in glossy magazines that lines the magazine racks of convenient stores all over Japan. Generally, the models refrain from nudity, but do partake in fetishes like maids, anime and martial arts characters.

With that backdrop, “Kisaragi” than plays off the fictional character’s suicide and the geeky obsessiveness of her fans for an absolutely unpredictable, but tons of fun, mystery film of the Japanese sort. Spot-on performances were given by all, but Keiseke Kode and Teruyuki Kagawa stood out slightly more than others. Keiseke Kode more so because he usually never stands out in any films and Teruyuki Kagawa because of the pure wackiness of his character. There’s a lot of things to like about “Kisaragi,” from its low-budget indie feel, to the quirky Japanese setting, to the core murder mystery set within the scipt. If you watch this on DVD, call your friends over, pop open a few beers and get ready for a blast.

Cast:
Teruyuki Kagawa - Ichigo Musume
Keisuke Koide - Snake
Shun Oguri - Iemoto
Yusuke Santamaria - Oda Yuji
Muga Tsukaji - Yasuo
Kanako Sakai - Kisaragi Miki


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2007 Movie Reviews, Japanese Movies, Movies |

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6 Comments so far

  1. 6 apriL Says: November 6, 2008

    spontaneous, i like it.

  2. 5 sputnik Says: November 5, 2008

    i can’t remember if i used megaupload for the movie. BT has it.

  3. 4 wayer Says: June 13, 2008

    to sputnik, where did u get the movie itself?
    trying to find the movie in megaupload file but cant seem to find any…

  4. 3 sputnik Says: May 3, 2008

    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0YAE2C6H

    Here’s a subtitle file I used, by 8thSin, single file version. I hope providing the subtitle is allowed for this great site.

  5. 2 chair Says: April 30, 2008

    can i ask where you got the subtitles file?

  6. 1 sputnik Says: April 27, 2008

    This was a laugh-out-loud movie, I liked it a lot. It’s amazing that all of it took place inside a room. The cast was great too.