Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Akame 48 Waterfalls (2003)

Director: Genjiro Arato

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Adapted from a novel by Choukitsu Kurumatani, this is remarkably similar to the many recent adaptations from manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge (Nowhere Man is typical). As always in these things, the protagonist is a blocked writer. Ikushima (first-timer Onishi) arrives in Amagasaki to be confronted by an ominous quote from Dante and a job threading raw meat on to skewers. He lodges in a seedy apartment where his neighbours include the enigmatic tattoo master Mayu (Uchida), his angelic mistress Aya (Terajima) and a gaggle of hookers. Drawn into sex with Aya and increasingly feeling that he's acting in someone else's drama, Ikushima agrees to accompany her to the famous 48 waterfalls at Akame, expecting to commit double suicide there. The last several reels get bogged down in entirely predictable illusions, delusions and paradoxes, so it's hard to believe that the film has any special insight into anything; you wonder why Arato (better known as Seijun Suzuki's latter-day producer) found the material compelling enough to warrant a 159-minute movie. But thanks to fine design and 'Scope framing, it looks great.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Genjiro Arato

Producer: Shinichiro Muraoka

Cast: Takijiro Onishi, Shinobu Terajima, Michiyo Okusu, Yuya Uchida, Hirofumi Arai, Nao Omori, Akaji Maro full cast

Duration: 159 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.