20th Century Boys (2008, Japan)

I rented this knowing nothing about the movie. It's apparently the first installation of a movie trilogy, and it's about a group of elementary school classmates who have grown up and grown apart, but when they were young they did what kids do, and they created a fantasy doomsday scenario.

As adults, they find out that the fantasy doomsday scenario is actually unfolding and they suspect it is someone who was privy to the original fantasy who took the inspiration to make it come true, but they don't know who it is, it may be one of them. The person involved has started a religious cult to support the doomsday scenario and is creepily referred to as the "Friend".

The events bring the schoolmates back together to foil the evil doomsday plot, although complications arise as the main author of the original fantasy, Kenji, the film's main protagonist, gets pegged as a Most Wanted terrorist.

The film is based on a manga which I had never heard of, not being into manga, but it has that hip, cool style to it. I guess the story would be classified as science fiction/suspense. I'll say this for it, though: Knowing nothing about the film, I put the DVD on just to run it for maybe an hour to get a sense of it, and if it was worth it, I'd watch it more closely on a second viewing.

Turns out that it kept my attention for the whole 2 hour plus viewing in the wee hours of morning. It did the suspense thing really well, where it posed mysterious bits of information that I wanted to know more about, so I kept on watching. Is it quality suspense or cheap suspense? That's the million dollar question. I thought the payoff was decent.

I'm not sure where it's going to go in the 2nd and 3rd movies, the 2nd of which is about to exit theaters in Taiwan, and I'm tempted to catch it instead of waiting for the DVD release. I definitely give it a fresh rating, although I'm also going to acknowledge my doubts that it really is a good film and give it 7 out of 10 tomatoes, rather than 8. I recommend this film to fans of Japanese anime, manga, and popular culture.


Broken Flowers (2005, USA)

Director Jim Jarmusch is one of America's great independent/art house film directors. My old boss really liked him and we went to see "Ghost Dog" when it came out. I remember that because I called in sick to work that morning, and she said, "OK, but we're still seeing 'Ghost Dog' later, right?" She was a cool boss. But then she melted down one day and ended up killing herself not long after, which kinda made her even cooler in my book. Or maybe it just made me an ass.

This is a pretty good film, although as far as artsy filmmaking goes, I've been into the Asian scene for a while, which is really out there, so this seemed a bit straight-forward.

It's about a guy, Don Johnston, who was supposedly a bit of a Don Juan in his youth, and he gets put on a journey to seek out 5 past girlfriends from about 20 years ago. Now the Don Johnston/Don Juan thing isn't supposed to be clever or anything; he's watching "The Life of Don Juan" on the TV when we first see him.

So he cold calls on them in succession, and we get the different reactions of these exes meeting him 20 years later: one is welcoming; one is uncomfortable but cordial; one is condescendingly disinterested in seeing him again, but gives him a few minutes before finally bluntly sending him on his way with one last humiliation; one he gets the crap beat out of him. And one is dead, so we actually only get four reactions.

Now I'm not giving anything away by saying this. This isn't a plot that I'm ruining. Jarmusch films aren't so much about plot, and as he is known for road trip movies, this actually kinda does qualify as one. And the important thing about the film is the journey and not any conclusions or destinations.

Fresh 7 out of 10 tomatoes.

It did make me wonder what it might be like if I cold called on my past exes. I wondered how they might react if I suddenly appeared on their doorsteps.

Amina, I really don't know. It could go either way. We did not end well, we never closed, but I'd like to think the extreme degree to which I loved her might carry some currency 20 years on, when any reason she had to break up with me is no longer a threat or imposition.

I'd like to think she'd greet me with a big smile, and I could meet her kids and we could chat over coffee over the course of a lazy afternoon, where we wouldn't even touch on our past. In my dreams. But actually, even though there is a distinct possibility of a negative response, I'm having a hard time conjuring it. Maybe because that aspect of her that I was exposed to which quickly ended our acquaintance was incredibly short. It's just possible.

Now Shiho . . . Shiho's the dead ex. She's the one I'm told died a few years ago, but I still go to her grave, meeting a very kind and compassionate soul on the way. Oh, that's another aspect of "Broken Flowers" – with every ex, there is someone else in the picture who also exhibits an aspect of the response to him.

Yes, Shiho is the dead ex, but that's a copout. I'm not in a film. Any of them could be dead. Let's say she's still alive and I show up on her doorstep. She'd be very, very predictable. But it wouldn't be negative. We could chat and it would be nice. In fact, if her husband was dead and she was raising her kid(s) alone, she might be the one I end up sleeping with for a night.

Hiromi. Hiromi would be the disinterested one who would condescend to me until I reached the end of her short patience with me and sent me on my way. She's a very busy woman.

Luyen might be freaked out at first, but ultimately pleased. I don't think I'd get beat up by showing up at her door. Did I treat anyone so badly that I might? The closest would be Amina, I think, in one of the unimaginable bad scenarios, and might involve her wearing a hijab (I really have no idea which way her life went after we parted ways, but I am kidding).

Josephine. Why on earth would I want to show up at Josephine's doorstep? But, oh yeah, there's something I want to find out, so there I am. I imagine her the uncomfortable, nervous, but cordial one. We won't get anywhere, but she'll quietly wait things out, even letting her husband talk her into having me stay for dinner.

But that's tricky, because she actually did show up cold on my Internet doorstep. She found my fotolog, created an account and said 'hi'. It was me who wasn't the warm welcoming one. I gave measured responses, and I consciously thought that if we were going to continue an acquaintance, it was going to take time.

We exchanged nice words, I actually had closure. She did offer her phone number, but I didn't call – that was too quick. She also offered the number of a psychiatrist because I think I was having some issue then, might have been the insomnia.

And then she disappeared, closed her account. That was the Josephine I knew from way back when. But then several months later, she opened another account, got back in touch for a little while, and maybe I didn't respond fast enough again and she closed the account again. And that was it for us.

If she showed up on my actual doorstep, I can't say my reaction would be too much different. I'd be stand-offish, but I would welcome a chat with her.

OK, now for the others. If Amina showed up on my doorstep, I think I'd be standing slack-jawed shocked for several minutes, but ultimately I think a wave of being pleased would well up. If she was there, it wasn't because she was trying to get rid of me, she'd already accomplished that. She wouldn't be trying to serve papers on me, any statute of limitations would have long passed (that's a joke, folks -ed.). She's the one who could walk into my life for a day and get me into bed for a night. Well, if I were at all interested in physical intimacy at all with anyone.

Shiho might be the one who would get beat up, if I had someone so protective of me that it would come to that. I did lose a lot of respect for Shiho and how she ended it disgusted me. Not that she scarred me that much. But if that were the criteria, then it would be Amina that gets beaten up . . . but I would intervene. Oh, gimme a break, there's no getting beat up in this scenario; something equivalent maybe.

Or if my life were at all accomplished, if it weren't the mess it is, I might even be the one that condescends to Shiho and sends her off without any satisfaction.

It's so fucked up that I'm not the dead one.