For all the praise heaped upon Oshima's admittedly ambitious film about East-West relations in the microcosm of a Japanese PoW camp during World War II, it's far less satisfactory than most of his earlier work.
Comment
06/24/06
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)
77 %
Reviews Counted: 13 Fresh: 10 Rotten:3 Average Rating: 6.2/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Synopsis: Transferred from a military prison in Batavia, a British major is sentenced to a Japanese prison camp on Java in 1942. There, he clashes psychologically, culturally and physically with the camp's commander who is, in truth, infatuated with him. Despite the harshness of life in the camp, the... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Reviews
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top CriticClick to read the article
05/24/03
Top Critic
David Bowie is outstanding as the defiant British prisoner whose erotic appeal undoes the Japanese commandant, played by Sakamoto, who was at the height of his fame as a musical icon in Japan
05/01/08
Top Critic
Mr. Oshima has staged the film in a spacious tropical setting and filled it with a great number of extras. Even so, Mr. Bowie always stands out from the crowd.
08/30/04
Top Critic
Fine performances by Conti, Takeshi (brilliant in his first dramatic role), Sakamoto (a Japanese pop star in his film acting debut who also contributed the memorable score), and Bowie enhance this provocative film.
07/30/03
Top Critic
The context and frequent incontinence of the execution bring the film uncomfortably close to the pseudophilosophical bondage fantasies of Yukio Mishima.
01/01/00
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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