Yo, I just watched this film, Hotel Venus, and while I'm not writing a review here, I do want to mention that it is pretty interesting in several ways. It's a joint Korean-Japanese production with lots of talent from both countries. In a leading role is SMAP dude and Korea-phile Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as a tap-dancing dude who can't advance his life past a traumatic experience in which-- well, no spoilers (Not because I care, but because I'm lazy.). Anyway, a bunch of troubled, crazy folks with mundanely appropriate nicknames ('Doctor' for the drunk physician, 'Boy' for the young man trying to prove he's tough, etc.) live in this hotel owned by an androgynous old person called 'Venus' (which when pronounced in Korean sounds like 'penis'; my observation was not appreciated by fellow viewers) and generally operated by Kusanagi's character.
Anyway, the monochromatic film is pretty slow at the start, but it does eventually become rather interesting in a hopeless way. Basically, shit pans out for some of the characters, but not all of them (i.e. being unable to change things that are out of their control), and isolation between people is the dominant theme. I don't speak Korean, so I had to awkwardly follow the Japanese subtitles, but my attention was sufficiently captured by the performances of the entire cast. And there was
Miki Nakatani.
Also, in other news: We're planning a little live musical performance of sorts for next month, so I have been learning a few new tunes. I mention this now because we encountered a real gem of a song while watching Hotel Venus. It's called "
These Days," and it is performed by Love Psychedelico.
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