Movie #1: Trainspotting
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Kelly Macdonald, Robert Carlyle
Trailer
Ah, the dangers and terrible lives of heroin addicts. Trainspotting is a dead-on depiction of drug addiction, or at least what I've heard about it: both the pleasures and the horrors that the lifestyle brings.
Some of the best dialogue ever written can be found in this spectacular 1996 outing from Danny Boyle, which also served as the break out role for star Ewan McGregor, who would go on to unfortunately be in those damn Star Wars prequels... yeah. The film is also well known for it's soundtrack, in particular its memorable usages of songs by Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and Underworld.
There's a few gross-out moments in the film's first half-hour, but once you get past that, what you'll find is a truly memorable film, deftly balancing dark humor with drama.
Movie#2: Love Exposure
Directed by Sion Sono
Starring Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Sakura Ando, Makiko Watanabe, Atsuro Watanabe
I'm going to give this film my highest possible recommendation. Not because it's my "favorite" movie, per se, though it does rank among the top. It receives a high recommendation because I feel that it's a spectacularly entertaining film that almost anyone can enjoy and that it really deserves more, well, exposure. With the right level of promotion, this will without a doubt gain quite the cult following (which it has already begun developing).
I'm not going to reveal any of the plot. Simply put, it has one of the most brilliant premises of any film in recent memory. I will say that the themes include family, love, lust, religion, cults, and.... upskirt photography. A Japanese film dealing with upskirt photography might sound kind of iffy, but I can assure you that it's dealt with tastefully and benefits the plot greatly.
Curious minds, please track down the trailer. Since there are a few very brief upskirt shots, I'm not going to post a link to it, though nothing especially explicit or offensive is revealed in those shots. Whatever you do, watch the original Japanese trailer (YouTube title is "Love Exposure Trailer Japan") and not the English-subtitled trailer. The latter gives away an essential part of the plot in the dialogue that is most entertaining if it's revealed as a surprise in the film. Even without the subtitles, I can guarantee most anyone who watches the trailer will want to see the film after at least 20 seconds.
