Loft (K. Kurosawa 2005)

Yani · #1 17th January 2005, 04:32 PM

I decided to make a separate thread for this movie. Like Mandi mentioned in the KK thread, the two members of the cast are Etsushi Toyokawa and Miki Nakatani. Official synopsis:

A prize-winning writer, Leiko (NAKATANI Miki), moves to a quiet sub-urban house to finish up her new novel with a help from the editor. That night while sleeping, she sees a man in a storage room transporting an object wrapped in cloth. She soon finds out that he is a renowned archaeologist, Professor Yoshioka (TOYOKAWA Etsushi), researching ancient mummies, and that object was a recently discovered mummy. Working late on her book, Leiko witneses a ghost and finds out that her room once belonged to a woman who had been misssing for a while. This brings unexplainable fear to Leiko as she starts to uncover more stories from the past.

Sounds rather odd, to be honest. Maybe it's the mummy...

High-res picture of the poster here.

"Official" site.
http://www.mirovision.com/english/mo...p?movie_sno=77

Mandi Apple · #2 17th January 2005, 04:45 PM

Thanks for the info Yani - I think this sounds really different, actually, which I am seriously glad about - I think this looks amazing already

Happy happy joy joy for a new KK horror film!

Chryse · #3 18th January 2005, 12:32 AM

From what I understand, Judas Priest is doing the theme song, "You've Got Another Misery Coming."

Okay, made that up. But I have heard that this is Kurosawa's long-awaited remake of Weekend at Bernie's. Whether or not this will incorporate materials from both films remains to be seen.

It's been rumored that he will also include material from the hugely successful Mannequin series, thus effectively killing two to four birds with one stone. While sources close to Kurosawa have vehemently denied this, he has been heard to mutter of late: "Hijinx. My movies need more hijinx." And: "Andrew McCarthy is my muse."

When asked, at a recent press conference, what his purpose was in remaking the film, Kurosawa's sole, cryptic reply was: "Let's see how they like it." Then he laughed. A lot.

Later, he let slip that Adam Sandler had recently optioned the remake rights to Bright Future. "There's going to be a scene where he slips on the jellyfish. It should be very funny."

Anyway, that's what I heard.

coffeeboy · #4 19th January 2005, 02:38 AM

okay, that poster is my new wallpaper.

scorchedblood · #5 19th January 2005, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chryse

From what I understand, Judas Priest is doing the theme song, "You've Got Another Misery Coming."

Okay, made that up. But I have heard that this is Kurosawa's long-awaited remake of Weekend at Bernie's. Whether or not this will incorporate materials from both films remains to be seen.

It's been rumored that he will also include material from the hugely successful Mannequin series, thus effectively killing two to four birds with one stone. While sources close to Kurosawa have vehemently denied this, he has been heard to mutter of late: "Hijinx. My movies need more hijinx." And: "Andrew McCarthy is my muse."

When asked, at a recent press conference, what his purpose was in remaking the film, Kurosawa's sole, cryptic reply was: "Let's see how they like it." Then he laughed. A lot.

Later, he let slip that Adam Sandler had recently optioned the remake rights to Bright Future. "There's going to be a scene where he slips on the jellyfish. It should be very funny."

Anyway, that's what I heard.

LOL - That's hillarious.

Mandi Apple · #6 19th January 2005, 08:57 AM

That made me laugh so much Chryse

The mere concept of Kurosawa-san and "hijinx" made me spray tea almost out of my nose

Quote:

Originally Posted by coffeeboy

okay, that poster is my new wallpaper.

Isn't it gorgeous?

That face on the left hand side is well creepy - I like the look of this already (not biased at all, noooooooooo)

coffeeboy · #7 4th February 2005, 02:17 AM

finally got around to making that LOFT wallpaper. hope you guys like it.

Mandi Apple · #8 4th February 2005, 06:57 AM

It's fantastic - thank you so much for posting it Larry!

Yani · #9 4th February 2005, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coffeeboy

finally got around to making that LOFT wallpaper. hope you guys like it.

It's grrrrrreat Larry! Thanks for posting it.

gwyddon · #10 13th September 2005, 10:58 AM

Wonderful news, courtesy of twitchfilm: An english-subtitled trailer for Loft can be downloaded here!

Yani · #11 13th September 2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gwyddon

Wonderful news, courtesy of twitchfilm: An english-subtitled trailer for Loft can be downloaded here!

Thanks gwyddon! It looks pretty spooky.

Mandi Apple · #12 13th September 2005, 01:42 PM

Thanks for posting the link gwyddon - it looks, and sounds, rather a lot like Kairo Redux with a spoonful of Ring and Kourei to taste, which can't be a bad thing

There's a tiny - not more than 2 seconds long, I'd say - moment when Miki Nakatani moves very strangely, like Kanae in Ring 2 but in reverse, which caught my interest

Looks like it will be another great atmospheric horror, and I did love that weird final shot - I'm stoked to see this now

johnmcf2005 · #13 13th September 2005, 04:15 PM

I'm glad I've finally been able to see a trailer for this movie - It caught my interest a while ago and I wanted to know more about it. Thanks gwyddon! I hope this movie will be up to the atmospheric standard of kourei and hopefully even more creepy. I'll definitely be picking this one up at some point though.

skhottyboi · #14 14th September 2005, 07:01 AM

Aaaah. It felt so good watching that trailer. This really looks to be the first truly great piece of J-horror cinema to come out in quite a while. When I first got introduced to the genre, there were tons of excellent films to watch, each one seemed better than the last. But for a while, nothing too exciting has come around IMHO, save for a few fairly good movies here and there. But this looks amazing. I've got perhaps more confidence in Kurosawa Kiyoshi than any other director when it comes to delivering the spooky goods, so I can't wait!

Mandi Apple · #15 14th September 2005, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skhottyboi

When I first got introduced to the genre, there were tons of excellent films to watch, each one seemed better than the last. But for a while, nothing too exciting has come around IMHO, save for a few fairly good movies here and there.

*nods* I can appreciate that point of view - it has seemed like diminishing returns lately, but there are still some goddamn amazing movies coming out since the sort of 2000-ish boom - I can think of a lot of titles off the top of my head but Acacia would be the example I'd jump up and down pointing at

Quote:

But this looks amazing. I've got perhaps more confidence in Kurosawa Kiyoshi than any other director when it comes to delivering the spooky goods, so I can't wait!

I look forward to seeing what he's come up with for this one - already from the trailer (despite Miki Nakatani, who I don't really rate) it looks like it has a very good atmosphere, which is always half the battle

Yani · #16 13th October 2005, 02:06 PM

http://www.piff.org/9611_DATA/TRAILE...2005/10018.asx

I believe this is a totally new clip (English-subtitled). I hadn't seen it anyway.

Take a look.

EDIT: And take this! *sigh* That's just so sad... it's being remade too. It's not even out yet!

http://www.asianmovienews.com/?p=269

Mandi Apple · #17 13th October 2005, 04:24 PM

Thanks for the link Yani - I'll watch it later, I'm looking forward to this one

*sigh* It would be nice if we all actually got a chance to see the original before the bloody remake came out, wouldn't it

ghevans · #18 13th October 2005, 04:36 PM

Not sure if its already been posted but there's a screening of LOFT showing at this years Leeds Film Festival for those interested visit:

http://www.leedsfilm.com/2005/liff/page/home

Enjoy you lucky few who can make it!

Mandi Apple · #19 13th October 2005, 05:37 PM

Thanks for the link G - the little paragraph they have there makes me even more champing at the bit to see it!

gwyddon · #20 9th November 2005, 07:20 PM

OK, guess it's time for us to start dampening our excitement over Loft.. found a short comment/review of it on the Criterion forums and it's a fairly negative one

I quote: "Very little visual tension, a cheesy story about a mummy who was excavated, was reburied, and is excavated again"

Although.. even the films by Kurosawa without much tension(his earlier revenge films, Doppelganger and Bright Future) were good and/or interesting so there's still hope.