Reviews by jacq

I give it five stars and recommend it to anyone interested in a moving tale of love crossing the boundries.. but it is a ghost story, so you better be ready for disturbing images! Its based on a Thai legend, and is full of thai life and mythos... so cimatically beautiful.. Mak leaves for war, leaving behind his pregnant wife Nak. He gets injured in the war, and she goes through the labours of childbirth. when he returns he takes up house again, however, both Nak and their baby died in childbirth, and he is totally unaware that he is living with ghosts. his village tries to intervene, but he wont listen, and ghosts get bitchy when they dont get their way.. a monk tries to speak with Mak, and Mak eventually takes his advice. this is such a sad, moving, culturally beautiful movie... I really recommend it to you all!! A warning tho, it contains strong supernatural themes, so if you are delicate, you might perfer to stick with the chick flicks!

I was going to give this movie a mere 4 out of 5 rating until the last ten minutes of the film.. it was so beautful a conclusion that it made me cry LOL the tales is one of hate - and greed. And all that is wrong in our world.. the cinematoraphy was amazing - obvilously a lot of work put into this movie after it was filmed - filters and brushwork - bloody amazing.. you can tell it was originally based on the anime :) the whole movie just blew me away.. music is terrific too.. i recommend it to everyone!!

This is one of the best films I have ever seen! and as I have watched uncountable films, that is saying something LOL Its a terrific Japanese film set in a not so distant distopia.. A story with a sad ending, and a touching message. She (Yumiko Shaku) is the last princess of the assassins tribe, and finds out her mother was killed by the man now leading the tribe. She must run to save her life and to re-evaluate her thoughts. He (Hideaki Ito) is a young man trying to cope with the present, while being dragged into the past. His family was brutally murdered, all except his sister, who was so traumatised she no longer speaks. He was influenced by a man speaking compassionately about a new world - and ends up part of a terrorist organisation. He is now dealing with his actions, and waking up to the fact that the man he idolised had ulterior motives.. The two come together and start to heal.. but you cant escape the past.... Its a beautiful movie, melancholic and understated - and silence says more than words... A must see!....

Hayao Miyazaki is my favourite director - and responsible for some of my favourite Anime.. this movie is amazing!! And competes with Princess Mononoke as my favourite of his movies. Visually it is gorgeous, surreal, entrancing. Terrific plot that keeps you thinking. Magic and love to keep your romantic involvement and mystery to keep you engaged. I have to say, firstly, I am a snob, and I watch it in Japanese - I hate dubbed versions of anything, and i think the japanese is more beautiful and poetic. but for the peons out there, Howl is voiced by Christian Bale, and Sophie is voiced by Jean Simmons and Emily Mortimer, Calcifer the fire spirit is voiced by Billy Crystal etc. The basic plot is Sophie is a quiet studious girl, running the hat shop while her mother is off galavanting. Howl is an "evil magician" with a rep for running off with girls hearts. One day Sophie is walking home and is accosted by soldiers and saved by a mysterious (hot) guy. Next thing you know, she is cursed by the evil witch, and is stuck in the body of an old crone.. she realises she wont fit in her world, and walks into the waste. Picks up a stray (in a sense) and he helps her find somewhere to stay - which happens to be Howl's moving castle, which is powered by Calcifer, the fire spirit. She starts keeping house, in the all bachelor household, and works her own magic - that is her personaility.. anyway, definately worth watching~ for all ages...

This movie was amazing! so beautiful, so sad.. and everything i love about Australian cinema! I really recommend this one.. Tommy is chasing his dream - chasing music and its place in society and nature - its effects, its unseen possibilies... back home Alysse is waiting for him, as are his sister Em, and his mother.. tradgey strikes, and he comes home, but everything gets screwed up.. god this movie is so beautiful and so tradgic.. Set in the Melbourne rave seen, drugs, sex and, above all, music... Tommy is chasing music, it is how he ends up on the other side of the world, but when he comes back, he takes a step away from opera and starts experimenting with electronica and dance music.,, this movie is gorgeous, moving, full of beauitful sounds, heartbreak and seriously, the best aussie movie i have seen in a while..

Music has been forbidden to Orial - she misses out on musice lessons at school, and no instrument or song is heard in her home. But her mother was a renowned songstress praised across international borders - why is her fathers so adamant that she remains silent? The secret of her mother's early death hold the key to this mystery and when Orial becomes the amanuensis for a crippled composer, she finds that music is a tool for rebellion and the notes she transcribes are the battle hymn of a people. But more than this, she is changing.. her vision is becoming blurred, her eyes changing hues, and she is hearing music - music that is not heard by others, but their thoughts.. She helps Khassian the composer who has lost the use of his hands, to record his opera - the one he was crippled because of its existence..

this was a wonderfully refreshing book - completely original, and extremely interesting!