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Chen Kaige's LIFE ON A STRING, based on a story by Tiesheng Shi, tells the tale of an old blind musician who, when he was a young boy, was told that he would be cured of his affliction after he broke 1000 strings on his instrument. The old master (Liu Zhongyuan) has become a grizzled, saintly figure in pursuit of his goal of sight. His student, Shitou (Huang Lei)--also blind--wants a different sort of life from his ascetic master, desiring romance, and when he meets and falls in love with a young villager (Xu Qing), he goes against his master's wishes to be with her. As the elderly musician approaches the time when he will break the fateful string--as well as his own death--he is forced to question his faith and his many philosophical differences with his youthful apprentice. As in Kaige's earlier film YELLOW EARTH, LIFE ON A STRING is saturated with wondrous folk music from Chinese composer Xiao-Song Qu. Thoughtful and lyrical in its portrayal of inner vision and spiritual faith, Kaige's deceptively simple fable is a mysterious and beautifully shot meditation on the thin, fraying strings separating vision from blindness, music from silence, and life from whatever comes next.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseLetterboxed - 1.85:1Audio: Stereo - Mandarin Subtitles - English - OptionalInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
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In his second feature film, director Ziad Doueiri (WEST BEIRUT) takes on themes of race, religion, youth, and sexual bravado. Based on a controversial novel purported to be a 19-year-old Arab`s actual diary, this hormonally charged coming-of-age story is set in a dingy, ethnically mixed slum of post-9/11 Marseilles. When we meet Chimo (Mohammed Khouas), he is a self-described loser intent on hanging around with his slacker friends instead of pursuing his talent as a writer. But when Lila (Vahina Giocante)--a 16-year-old Catholic seductress--moves into the ghetto with her crazy, perverted aunt (Edmonde Franchi), she stirs something in Chimo and his depressing community with her angelic face, blonde hair, and impressively lewd language. While Lila will do no more than taunt the rest of the local men with her assets, she singles out Chimo and initiates him into a world filled with sexual desire. In fact, it is on their very first meeting that Lila offers Chimo a peak up her skirt, an invitation made even more appealing by her proclivity for not wearing underwear.By turning a thing as simple and seemingly innocent as a bike ride into a sexual escapade, Lila helps Chimo to see the world in a new way. As Chimo narrates his way through Lila`s relentless advances and elaborate sexual fantasies, tension between him and his friends builds to a chilling, inevitable climax that reveals everyone`s true colors. From one of its strangely breathtaking opening shots (the camera pans upward as the gloomy alley between two soiled apartment buildings is interrupted by a clothesline`s bright hues) to its last, LILA SAYS draws the viewer in with camerawork as seductive and beautiful as its title character.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Godzilla. - The Series - Mutant Madness (DVD)
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

This installment of the PRISON ON FIRE saga centers around Fung, a former gang leader sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time behind bars, Fung begins a relationship with the prison chaplain and gradually turns from the thug life to the life of the cloth. Unfortunately, not all of his former associates have taken kindly to Fung's conversion. In fact, his most virulent critic is his own son, recently sent to the same prison where he aspires to the same criminal status his father used to hold.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseLetterboxedAudio: Dolby Digital Stereo - Cantonese Dolby Digital Stereo - MandarinAdditional Release Material: TrailersInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Set in 16th Century Japan, Akira Kurosawa's epic SEVEN SAMURAI follows the plight of a defenseless farming village that lives in constant fear of marauding bandits. The farmers know that when their crops are harvested, the thugs will attack, so four men go to town in hopes of employing samurai to fight for them. However, the poor villagers can merely offer payment in the form of shelter and a daily bowl of rice, and initially only Kambei (Takashi Shimura), a brave elder samurai, and his eager young apprentice, Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), take up their cause. Encountering various nomadic warriors on the streets, they slowly put together his team of swordsmen, recruiting Shichiroji (Daisuke Kato), Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), and Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi). Finally, Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), a scruffy wanderer who has been trailing them, completes the small band of ronin. However, upon reaching the village, the samurai learn that the farmers fear them as much the enemy. Despite the tensions, Kambei and his men slowly train the peasants to defend their village. Eventually the warriors launch a preemptive strike against the bandits, and begin a series of intense conflicts that culminates in a rain-soaked final battle--without a doubt, one of the most stunning sequences in cinema history.Widely considered to be the greatest Japanese film ever made, Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI is also credited with pioneering the modern action movie. This notion is especially evident in thrilling scenes such as Kambei's rescue of a kidnapped child, Kyuzo's duel, and Kikuchiyo's intensive theft of an enemy gun. Although the film clocks in at more than three hours, the story remains consistently engaging and slowly heightens the tension while providing action, drama, comic relief, and character development. Gleefully running amuck, Mifune gives one of his most renowned performances, imbuing the often comical Kikuchiyo with a surprising streak of melancholy and introsp
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