tedg Miike has a pretty solid pattern. He makes films for a distinctly Japanese audience, teasing out some issue or two that seems culturally rooted. This is his context. He shifts it into a magical, cinematic world and imagines scenes as episodes within this containing structure.So we get impressed by the big idea — moreso if Japanese — and also impressed by some of the episodes, those that work. Oddly, the general audience thinks that Miike prefers violence but I think he will simply do anything that has cinematic power that fits his large-small vision.Japanese have a strange relationship with the mainland. They know they (the main "race" on the islands) originated in Korea. The urge is to project back beyond that and posit a people who came as a group from some magical location deeper in the mainland. This story in the large hangs on the myth that the race came from a remote mountainous region in China, Yunnan. It isn't quite China, with the people and traditions being a melange of China, Tibet and Indochina. A dear Japanese wise man explained to me that the indigenous people on the islands came from Polynesia and had a "horizontal" cosmology, while the later migration from the mainland — being mountain people — had a vertical cosmology. This subtle insight advises all sorts of things: architecture for one, cinematic composition for another. In this case, it includes the myth that the proto-Japanese could fly.Here we have two stereotypical characters (plus one who appears briefly) on a quest to find this magical source. The film is clearly in two halves. The first half is reality-based and full of jokes. Then in the midst of a flood after crossing mountains, the thing takes a shift into magic. They are transported the final leg by harnessed turtles, itself referencing an ancient story.Into this they carry all sorts of things associated with Japan (by modern Japanese), and little of it makes sense in this new place. A simple view will see a simple ecological message, but that is not the case here. It is about what is pure; its attractions and curse. The final scene is very nice, but what matters is the narration of our "reporter" right before that. The longing is pure.Li Li Wang, plays the woman at the center of this place. She is amazing.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

MartinHafer Despite my thinking one of Miike's other films, HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, is a great film, my feelings about his subsequent films I have viewed just aren't as positive. While this movie is much better than the extremely disgusting AUDITION, CITY OF LOST SOULS or ICHI THE KILLER, I only mildly liked this film. Is it weird?! Yes,...but not so funny or endearing as KATAKURIS. It just didn't gel for me. I think a lot of it was that the first 1/3 of the film seemed pretty disjoint and uninteresting. Once they made it to the distant land they were seeking, the film improved considerably but not enough to make me especially like it. It's funny, but a friend told me I MUST see this movie because he knew I'd like it, but I just was left pretty flat. Mostly because the main character and the nutty Yakuza guy he accompanied on the trip just weren't particularly people I could care anything about or care what happened to them.By the way, the film in many ways is reminiscent of LOST HORIZON--not an exact re-make but certainly inspired by it nonetheless.

groucho_de_sade Takashi Miike is the living definition of the word "indefatigable". In a career that began in the early 1990s, he has directed a staggering number of films in a mind-boggling array of different genres, from horror to family films, even a musical (!); but Miike is probably best known for his Yakuza (Japanese gangster) films. The likes of FUDOH, ICHI, and DEAD OR ALIVE, with their over-the-top violence and surreal (often disgusting) setpieces, are Miike's chief claim to fame. In one respect that's a pity, because every once in a while, Miike will produce a wild card, and BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA is a film that fits into that latter category. The man character is a young Japanese executive named Mr. Wada (Masahiro Motoki), who is sent by his boss to a remote region in the wilds of China to survey a supposedly rich jade mine. He is joined on his trip by a Yakuza named Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), who plans on taking the jade as payment for some outstanding debts on the part of Wada's boss. After they are taken as far as the train will go, Wada and Ujiie are met by their guide, the absent-minded Mr. Shen (scene-stealer Mako), who takes them through the rugged, unsettled terrain of rural China, first on foot, and then on a raft pulled by several huge sea turtles. When the three men finally reach their destination, a village left untouched by the ravages of industrialization, Wada and Ujiie have a few epiphanies that will prove to make leaving rather difficult. It sounds like a simple story, and it is, but there's something about this film that makes it great, but that I find hard to articulate. No doubt the startlingly beautiful cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto has a lot to do with the film's hypnotic quality. And then there's the genuinely touching story of two men who discover a whole other side to themselves that they were never previously aware existed. And finally, the film's deft blend of genres is seamless: it shifts gears from a screwball/buddy comedy to a jungle-bound adventure to an existential rumination on identity and civilization, finally ending on a dream-like note of perfect serenity. There is one scene of Yakuza violence that seems inserted to remind us that we're watching a Miike film, but it's fleeting and, compared to some of what can be found elsewhere in his films, it's utterly tame and inoffensive. There's also an ecological message packed into the mix. So, final verdict: for fans of Miike who wonder what else the man is capable of, I highly recommend BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA, surely the gentlest and most poignant of all the man's movies (at least that I've seen). For the truly open-minded aficionado, there is much to be enjoyed here.

m-vanthof This is my second comment on a movie on this board. But after finishing this movie yesterday, I just had to write something about this fantastic movie. I have seen about 6 movies from Miike but this one was hard to find. I couldn't rent it anywhere but I really was interested in this piece of cinema because I liked the story and that it was something completely different from other Miike movies (although none of his movies are alike). So I ordered the DVD (artsmagicdvd version).From the beginning I was really into the movie. And after finishing it, I enjoyed every second of it! It has humor, adventure, a little action and emotion! The scenery in this movie is fantastic and I want to visit these places in the movie If I know where they are! Miike takes you into his dreamworld and you don't want to leave. It is fantasy but believable and not over the top. The story is surrounded by mystery and I wanted to know all about it. I won't tell about the story because you can read that on this site. I just want to recommend this movie to every fan of Miike, well....to everyone who can enjoy a piece of rare cinema with a great story and beautiful scenery. Sometimes a movie is great but the ending is a let down. I think this movie is really completed, from beginning to end. Ohh....and the music is great as well. It is one of those movies you want to see again the moment you finish it. I hope Miike makes a movie like this again in the future; slow, beautiful, mysterious.....I think it is very strange that a lot of crap is put on DVD but a fantastic movie like this is hard to find. I had to import the DVD and I can imagine not everybody likes to do that. So in Holland this gem isn't released. So I hope people just order a copy, just get one anyway you can, you won't regret it! On the DVD there is an interview with Miike, an audio commentary and some extra stuff. There is a trailer of this movie on the disk as well. But I STRONGLY suggest not to watch that before watching the movie. Why? Because the ending is in the trailer!!! I think that is very strange and I am happy I didn't watch it before the movie otherwise it would have spoiled the ending for me.So you get the idea, I am very enthusiastic and I think you will to after seeing this beautiful film. What are you still doing behind your desk? Go get a copy!