Chaos / Kaosu (Hideo Nakata, 2000)

[jim harper]

I don't think this has been mentioned here yet, but I thought I'd pass on the benefits of my purchase. Both the Home Video Entertainment edition of Cure and the Kino On Video edition of Chaos are well worth getting. The prints on both are excellent and Cure is a 16x9 digital transfer while Chaos is 1.85:1 enhanced for 16x9 TVs. Sound quality is great on each one too. Chaos has only a trailer and a trailer gallery (some nice other films on there, including Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl), while Cure has a twenty minute interview with Kurosawa (very information, even if he's a little reticient), a filmography, trailer and Tom Mes's decent liner notes. If you haven't got either of these films, these editions are both worth picking up.

[InHuman]

I agree, Definately check these out (at least cure anyway). Kurosawa's interview is well worth it : ]. Althought Kaos was a bit chaotic for me it was still rad. I dunno if id want to see it again but it was definately fun to follow : ] id recomend that also. Over all id say anything by Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a must buy hehe.

[jim harper]

I enjoyed Chaos for its complexity and many plot twists. A welcome change after too many bland westernized crime thrillers. The remake with Robert De Niro and Benicio Del Toro could be good though.

[d'hypnotist]

Here's a trailer of Chaos I've found: mms://media3.nkino.com/theque/traile...r/1499/300.asf

[onibaku]

I enjoyed this movie throughly.I liked the way that it was presented,the acting,and the brilliant directing by Nakata Hideo.I liked Nakatani Miki's role as the mistress who pulls Hagiwara Masato's character into a game in which they'll never forget.I think the S&M style of the "game" was kinda cool in my point of view,just makes the the movie a lot cooler and smarter in regards to that.Nakata Hideo's direction was superb in capturing the style and feel for the movie and the "game" atmosphere in general.But,unfortunately I think that the De Niro and Del Toro remake of this beautiful film will tone down a lot of the S&M,and stuff which they think is harmful against women sadly.Anyways,I hope that the remake will provide the same top-notch story as Nakata Hideo's liveaction version did.

[d'hypnotist]

I just finish reading the review of Chaos from Bizzare Ingredients, it's a great review of the movie. I love Miki on this still pic from the movie, I thought she's cute here:

http://www.bizarreingredients.co.uk/...aos/chaos6.jpg

[Mandi Apple]

Please read and abide by the forum guidelines, d'hypnotist. Hotlinking is a bannable offence and my friends own that site, so please - no more hotlinking.

[d'hypnotist]

Oh sorry, Mandi, Alex! Ok, I'll be careful next time, PROMISE! I'm so sorry!

[Gemma]

I'm surprised there are few replies in here actually.

I got to watch this movie this morning and was actually quite impressed. I had rented it from Blockbuster and THEN read the review on here so was a little worried about how the movie would be.. but was pleasantly surprised.

The first 45 minutes of the movie is pretty straight forward, the second half a little more confusing as time sequences switch around a lot, twists are following almost every scene and you kinda have to take a moment to remember the beginning plot as it seems to jump around a lot. I think it depends on your own interpretations of it though.

*Spoilers*

The way I interpreted it, after the fake kidnapping got out of hand and (sorry, I'm forgetting names already) the wife was found dead in the bathroom, the kidnapper (who I DID recognise as Cure's Mamiya) panicked and followed the phonecall's instructions to get rid of her body.

Of course, as the movie goes on, we find that it was her husband and his lover, Masato, that killed her and made that phonecall to the kidnapper, leaving the blood on his hands, so to speak.

Then the kidnapper turns it around on them by finding Masato and forcing her to help him set up the husband.

I think Masato's character was quite interesting, as she seemed to live on the edge at all times, tended to take risks and loved the feel of danger around the corner. Even as she was jumping to her death at the very end, she still did it with a twirl and laugh.

*end of spoilers*

I enjoyed it more than I thought it would, though I didn't know much about it and my expectations of it being a fairly straight-forward movie about a fake kidnapping were blown away after the first half of the movie. I wouldn't call it a "great" movie but it was still fairly "good".

IMO the story would have flowed a little better if the twists were a little better explained, rather than just showing them and not giving the viewer time to grasp it.

[angel_from_hell]

I want to have some copy of this film because, like what Jim Harper said that he enjoyed Chaos because of it's complexity and many plot twist, I really like horror films that have many plot twist.

[Gemma]

I advise looking at the review on this site, first.

[angel_from_hell]

Thanks, Gemma.

[Potty Ninja]

I emphatically disagree with the review Chaos received on the main reviews page. I thought it was a very good film -- not phenomenal, but certainly worthy of maybe a 7 or 8 versus a 5. The first half an hour is a bit slow, granted, but that's practically becoming a trademark in extreme Asian cinema. For the review to malign the movie for "playing a game with its viewers" simply because it reveals the plot in an unconventional way isn't really fair. If that was the case, Acacia (which received a very favorable review) would probably have gotten a 5 too.

The movie's not really perfect, by any means. Some of the acting is a little bit wooden, most notably the model and her wealthy paramour, and though the ending is good it doesn't really conclude right. (If that made any sense...I just meant that the last minute or so of the movie just wasn't a good note to end on.) Still, I think it had a lot of strengths, especially the plot and how Nakata divulged it.

I always feel a little awkward bumping a topic no one has posted in for eight months. :S

[Mandi Apple]

Originally Posted by Potty Ninja

If that was the case, Acacia (which received a very favorable review) would probably have gotten a 5 too.

Well, no, because two different people reviewed those movies I've never even seen Chaos, so who's to say I wouldn't have liked it? You cannot compare the thoughts of two entirely separate people on two non-linear "game-playing" styles of storytelling It isn't fair to say "Well that rule applied to Larry reviewing Chaos, so that rule should apply to Mandi reviewing Acacia"!

We're not one big amorphous body here - we're a group of people who like the same sort of movies and mostly share similar opinions, but in no way does that mean that we all feel the same way about every movie!

Besides, in my experience, non-linear plotting has to be handled just right or the film loses pace and interest. Some of the worst non-linear plotting I've ever seen is evidenced in Shinji Aoyama's Wild Life, and that simply renders the whole thing confused and tedious beyond belief. Go rent it if you haven't seen it, and see what I mean - well, actually, don't, because you won't thank me for it

[Potty Ninja]

Yeah, I just realized that someone else had written the review -_-; hi, this is egg on my face.

Still, I do feel that it's a little misleading. That's the tricky part about having multiple people on a reviewing site I suppose

[Mandi Apple]

Well, it does say our name on the top of each one, I'd be hard pushed to know how better to label them

[Potty Ninja]

I didn't mean that the labeling of the authors is misleading (that was just a dumb mistake on my part) :S

Oh well. I'll drop it. He didn't care for the movie, I liked it okay, and that's that.

Anyone else have any opinions about it?