I just found out about this very interesting sounding, *very* pretty new movie by Enki Bilal called "Immortel." If you're in an asian country it's entirely possible it's called 'God-Diva', as that's the working title in Japan. It's a French film, although it appears to be entirely in English.
Immortel Site
For those of you who can't speak French or puzzle out the site, the center-bottom link is to a clip from the movie - not a trailer, mind you, but an actual thing. It's like a bastard freaky Shadowrun city, I swear to god. The bottom-right link is to the trailer.
Take a look. SO VERY PRETTY.
Full Version: 5th Element, Stargate, and Shadowrun
Saw that.
Drooled.
I'm so totally not going to see it in the theatre because it'll never come to the states, even if it is in English.
The premise is wonderful tho, set in New York, with the ancient Egyptian Gods being aliens (here's the stargate bit); trying to further his race, which can only mate with certain beings (the lead character is capable of such matings). The only problem that Ra (the particular 'god' in question) has is that he needs a vessel to convey himself to the lead-character (Jane). Enter the male lead, and the hilarity ensues.
It looks great, lemme tell you, just from the trailer, the cinemetography looks excellent, and the plot is surprisingly there, despite the obvious climax (pun intended). It'll just never make a mainstream theatre, sadly, at least not in the States.
Am I repeating myself?
Drooled.
I'm so totally not going to see it in the theatre because it'll never come to the states, even if it is in English.
The premise is wonderful tho, set in New York, with the ancient Egyptian Gods being aliens (here's the stargate bit); trying to further his race, which can only mate with certain beings (the lead character is capable of such matings). The only problem that Ra (the particular 'god' in question) has is that he needs a vessel to convey himself to the lead-character (Jane). Enter the male lead, and the hilarity ensues.
It looks great, lemme tell you, just from the trailer, the cinemetography looks excellent, and the plot is surprisingly there, despite the obvious climax (pun intended). It'll just never make a mainstream theatre, sadly, at least not in the States.
Am I repeating myself?
The Trailer
A direct link for anyone who doesn't want to bother navigating the site... Probably broadband only, since it's around 35 meg.
A direct link for anyone who doesn't want to bother navigating the site... Probably broadband only, since it's around 35 meg.
Yes, looks like a good time. I've been waiting for this film to come out for a while now. Doesn't look like the CG budget was exactly where it needed to be, but that can be overlooked if the story is rock solid. Oh, and if you're interested in finding a good foreign region-free copy of it when it comes out, check out...
Scarecrow Video
This is an amazing DVD/Video store up in the sprawl actually. Quentin Tarantino himself calls this one of the best places in the US for films. When he's up in the area, he makes a religious trip to this place. It's staggering the number of films that they carry. And they always have an amazing amount of films that you can order from them... domestic and foreign alike.
Scarecrow Video
This is an amazing DVD/Video store up in the sprawl actually. Quentin Tarantino himself calls this one of the best places in the US for films. When he's up in the area, he makes a religious trip to this place. It's staggering the number of films that they carry. And they always have an amazing amount of films that you can order from them... domestic and foreign alike.
| QUOTE |
| It looks great, lemme tell you, just from the trailer, the cinemetography looks excellent, and the plot is surprisingly there, despite the obvious climax (pun intended). It'll just never make a mainstream theatre, sadly, at least not in the States. |
It might. Brotherhood of the Wolf made it....I thought that movie would only appeal to a...*ahem*...select crowd.
As a side note, this "bastard child" is based upon the 'Trilogie Nikipol' comics by the same Enki Bilal, three tomes published in 1980, 1986 and 1992. Luc Besson actually took a lot of inspiration from people like Bilal and Moebius for his 'Fifth Element' . Bilal is probably the most proeminent Sci-Fi author in France. He already did a movie or two, but I guess he only found the money to make 'Immortel' satisfying enough after the release and succes of the two first tomes of a new trilogy, 'Le Sommeil du Monstre' and '32 Décembre'. Long time since I read Nikipol's, but I'd say those new ones have a story even greater.
Say, did Shaolin Soccer ever make it to the states? I think I saw one ad in a theater...and then nothing.
Monks playing soccer? I can't say that I have seen anything on that one. Then again I am not a big movie going person, maybe it has. I do like the movie this topic was started for. At least the trailer so far, looks awsome.
Enki Bilal rocks my socks off. His Bandes dessinées are just so damn great... unfortunatly there is like a 5 year wait between each one! I recommend them to anyone that speaks french and likes shadowrun. The latest trilogy is very good.
From Nath:
| QUOTE |
| As a side note, this "bastard child" is based upon the 'Trilogie Nikipol' comics by the same Enki Bilal, three tomes published in 1980, 1986 and 1992. Luc Besson actually took a lot of inspiration from people like Bilal and Moebius for his 'Fifth Element'. |
Quite right. Later the day I posted that, a friend of mine told me about the Nikopol Trilogy, and how good it was. Always trust spooky little Russian girls to be literate, I suppose.
Checking on the 5th Element thing, I actually believe Bilal was credited at the end of the film as Immortel was the direct inspiration for 5th Element. Don't quote me on that being exact, because I'm relying on the words of friends who own the movie.
To Ancient History:
Yes, stuff is still happening with Shaolin Soccer. It should be coming out on the this month or next , apparently. The problem with pinning down an exact date is that Miramax wanted to cut a full half hour from the film for the US release, and the Chinese company that made it basically said, "Give us all blowjobs and we'll THINK about letting you do that." Miramax has, generally, made a practice of butchering Chinese films released in the US. I don't know if it's part of a market strategy or just because as a corporation they don't think Chinese films 'matter.'
You can find VCD copies imported from China here and there... It's a brilliant movie, and I hope they don't cut that half hour.
To Backgammon:
Amazingly enough, people have started translating Bilal into other languages, as well. I just found a site doing US, english-translation distribution of the Nikopol Trilogy, at least.
It would be a crime to cut anything from that movie. It was absolutely amazing.
This looks really really nifty. But, as many have mentioned, it's only now that even multi-show-multi-award winning japanese anime movies have begun to trickle into the US...and only by the grace of such *cough* breakout media companies (known for their daring, innovative animated movie releases
) such as Disney. If it's not english. us Americans have almost no chance of ever seeing it. 
This looks really really nifty. But, as many have mentioned, it's only now that even multi-show-multi-award winning japanese anime movies have begun to trickle into the US...and only by the grace of such *cough* breakout media companies (known for their daring, innovative animated movie releases
) such as Disney. If it's not english. us Americans have almost no chance of ever seeing it.
| QUOTE (Ancient History @ Mar 23 2004, 08:50 AM) |
| Say, did Shaolin Soccer ever make it to the states? I think I saw one ad in a theater...and then nothing. |
Shaolin soccer is being released in the US on April 2, but only in LA, New York, and San Francisco. Miramax has not, to my knowledge, mentioned any specific plans concerning releasing it elsewhere... whether it gets a wide release will probably depend on how well it does in those three cities.
As a note, they have decided to release a version with subtitles and fewer cuts (enough of a change to warrant a switch from PG to PG-13) rather than the mangled english-dubbed version they originally intended to release.
[Edit] Having watched the trailer, I find that my initial impressions of the movie were a bit... diminished by the fact that it is a french film featuring a flying pyramid --I couldnt get thoughts of the movie "Kung Pow: Enter the First" out of my head. [/Edit]
Shaolin Soccer is sitting in the video store three blocks away from me as I type this.
God Bless Canada.
Even if the movie sounds stupid.
The Returner is a good movie to watch.
I got it not too long ago and was very impressed with the cinematography.
Versus on the other hand.....
I got it not too long ago and was very impressed with the cinematography.
Versus on the other hand.....
| QUOTE (Nath @ Mar 23 2004, 06:34 AM) |
| Luc Besson actually took a lot of inspiration from people like Bilal and Moebius for his 'Fifth Element'. |
Moebius did all the production design on The Fifth Element and Bilal counts Moebius in his influences.
So I'd say this is really the "bastard child" after all.
Oh, and speaking of Moebius: The Blueberry film looks pretty good
You guys might also like some of the imagery in this film. It's not slated to even have an English dub on it, but there are some really cool background shots in it. I read that it was made on a budget of $6 million and finished in under 7 months. From looking at it though, you wouldn't know it.
It's called CASSHERN
It's called CASSHERN
Woah.
whoa is right.
-=slots in jap language skillsoft=-
@_@
-=slots in jap language skillsoft=-
@_@
So... is anyone going to dub or subtitle that movie or am i going to have to start taking classes?
Ya know, it was looking cool. Untill the robots showed up. But robots are great cannon fodder...
What's wrong with robots?
Half the time they're annoying ("Danger will, danger!"). The other half they're trying to kill all of humanity.
Have you been paying attention?
Have you been paying attention?
There's a pretty strong buzz on this film on the movie forum boards online, so its possible that with enough interest it'll be dubbed. That director is pretty kick ass. He makes about 10 movies a year and most of them are of similar scope and vision.
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