Sabu (2002)

What makes it different from others?

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

You know, not only have I never seen a Takashi Miike movie quite like this, in some ways this movie is different than any other Japanese movie I've ever seen as well. It shares conceits closer to Mexican cinema and melodrama than Japanese drama styles and Miike's themes. And of course, still, it is a very Miike movie.Because of the fast and continual production of his oeuvre, Takashi Miike films can sometimes look like the cheaply produced videos they are and have a very thrown-together editing, but that has never been a problem for him because his style and sensibilities have vastly outweighed his production values, like any good independent and maverick filmmaker. Later movies of his look better and are better crafted, but this earlier work is noteworthy because he slows it down a bit and fills the story with gorgeous, every-frame's-a-still-picture-for-a-gallery imagery. From the opening shot of a hanging woman to the burning building to the closing, this movie is very visually pleasant to watch.It's also a somewhat strange story. Sabu is a young man tortured with guilt and grief for his friend Eiji, who was sent to a worker's jail after being framed for stealing gold cloth. Eiji is much more patient and in control, planning his vengeance as he fights off the low-lifes in the jail and protects the weaker inmates. What's interesting about that is that the title character is actually incredibly melodramatic and inactive, which is not typical in most narratives. Eiji, the more dynamic and interesting character, would be a much more appropriate name for the movie; Sabu is more a supporter.Still, Miike isn't one to get caught up on narrative theory, preferring instead to take it where he may. This is actually a much more sober and patient Miike than many of his fans may be used to, but still contains his trademark violence and style--only now the "excesses" are put into the cinematography and background instead of the action. Another good film by another continually amazing auteur.--PolarisDiB

I find myself comparing this to the French miniseries, "Compte de Monte Cristo", and to "Manon des Sources - Jean de la Florette". Sabu, too was apparently produced for TV, and I admire the audience and director/producer/art director that permitted such a work to come to light. This is not a work produced for the lowest common denominator.The photography - the palette - the attention to small historical details, to nature, to emotions is fine.But I think of structure - ideas like exposition, rising action, peripetie, moment of final tension, denouement - and of Compte and Manon - and the French works seem more selective in their focus, as though examining a small group (the key parties to the action) under a microscope. Each fully. The good and the bad have their reasons, their views of life. Rising moments of tension are interspersed or silhouetted against pastoral moments or even comic or rustic relief.Here, in Sabu, I sometimes felt the scenery stole the show - i.e., that the action or development stalled. I sometimes felt the focus was confused - that more attention should have been given to Osue, Sabu, Onobu - and certainly more to Roku and to the old fellow prisoner who is so supportive.But I don't suggest Sabu fails to expose and delicately develop a host of characters - it does, but leaves us wanting more. And I sense a certain ideal "ratio" between the length of the film and the height and depth of its emotional swings has been violated. In Sabu, I find the rise and development of such moments too lengthy, or too understated to support the film's overall length in full dramatic fashion.Still, there are wonderfully moving and touching moments, people we wish we could know better, even a growing understanding of a society and a time in history. Characters who appear cruel become sensitive and supportive, characters who appear innocent have their failings, and there's nature and fate and a possibility of achieving true happiness through resignation. Its world may be more accommodating than that of Manon.I highly recommend this film. Despite weaknesses it's thought provoking. It's beautiful. It's humanist. I'll rate it a 9.

Sabu is a simple, straight-forward friendship/love story with few surprises, very unlike Miike's more popular movies (which have been recognized as some of the most disturbingly shocking and violent films of all time). But what makes this movie better than just an average movie of the week is the direction. The opening 10 minutes are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. And throughout, Miike shows everyone that he can handle a story without sex or ultra-violence with one of the greatest styles the cinema has known. The movie itself is worth seeing at least once, but the directing gives it replay value several times over.

Coming from the prolifically warped Takashi Miike, this is a surprisingly straightforward psychological period drama. As witnessed and protected by his self-effacing best friend Sabu (Satoshi Tsumabuki), pretty boy Eiji (Tatsuya Fujiwara) receives proper comeuppance for his arrogance through being wrongfully accused and punished for a crime inspired by his allure. The bootleg U.S. DVD by Ctenosaur is a work of love. Highly recommended.