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Reviews
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
A group of stock characters in search of excitement.
This film has almost no connection with the original BWP, it is better made and scarier, but lacks the subtelty of the original, the constant sense of creepiness and tension. There is a bit more personality development, some interesting scenes and a few genuine frights, nothing very original, and the viewer will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what is going on. The film is confusing, and relies to a great extent on questioning whether events have actually occurred, or have been imagined; one is never sure. There is also a great deal of shaking of cameras, screaming, and barely glimpsed horrific images. If you like that kind of thing, you might enjoy this movie.
Rikyû (1989)
exquisite meditation on Japanese tea ceremony and it's importance to social and political status in medieval Japan.
This is a very Japanese and Zen Buddhist film. The observations are almost painfully clear and intense, there is great attention to detail, it is highly ritualized and formal, and moves very slowly. To be appreciated, it must be viewed as a totality, rather than as a linear story with a beginning and an end. It is a snapshot stretched over 2 hours, and very much "there". It's a lot like a Zen garden, and most Americans will probably find it boring, but if you're into the peculiar Japanese view of time, it's such a beautiful film, it almost hurts.