Bunraku (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Luke B

  
  Films like this really need to manage their style and substance. Josh Hartnett plays a lone stranger in a world where guns have become outlawed. He is joined by lone swordsman, and the two form a friendship with a bartender. They each have their own gripes with the mysterious leader… More
  Films like this really need to manage their style and substance. Josh Hartnett plays a lone stranger in a world where guns have become outlawed. He is joined by lone swordsman, and the two form a friendship with a bartender. They each have their own gripes with the mysterious leader of the town, who is protected by a group of assassins. Bunraku starts off really cool, and the visuals continue to impress throughout. It takes on forms of puppetry at times, and also uses the aesthetics of a pop-up book for its transitions. The wonderfully constructed sets hide the limited budget and the action scenes are competently choreographed. All this said though, it is certainly reminiscent of every western ever made. By paying too much homage, the twists and turns become apparent early on. An exciting and fun film, but when something looks this good, you wish it try a little harder.

• Emily A

  
  What a very strange movie. It looks like it was shot on the same soundstage (and with the same crew) as Repo! The Genetic Opera, with its lush and surreal colour scheme and odd use of animation in the narrative. In this world, there are no backgrounds, only trompe d'oeil… More
  What a very strange movie. It looks like it was shot on the same soundstage (and with the same crew) as Repo! The Genetic Opera, with its lush and surreal colour scheme and odd use of animation in the narrative. In this world, there are no backgrounds, only trompe d'oeil paintings, and people often hang chandeliers outdoors while cultivating rock gardens in their homes. I get the feeling that more interesting things could have been done in a movie world where the mob is in full force but guns don't exist. I think one of the biggest troubles of this movie is the fact that all the characters are so terribly, otherworldly cool that the writers and actors forgot to make them real. I couldn't connect with anyone. Everyone was as invincible, or sullen, or artificially flawed as the heroes of Livejournal poetry. They are simply instruments upon which to hang all the novel ideas of this film, but I really didn't care about what happened to anyone. Actually, I'd like to see another story, written by someone else that takes place in this diegetic world. Hmm. Off to read fanfic!

• Steve K

  
  Style to spare but nothing else to offer. Unoriginal, thin, overlong, and often silly.

• Justin Y

  
  Guy Moshe's <i>Bunraku</i> goes heavy on the visuals, but is that enough?<p>The pacing of the story is consistently moderate; however, it is the film's style and storytelling that really drags this 2 hour picture down. Very film noir in nature, the… More
  Guy Moshe's <i>Bunraku</i> goes heavy on the visuals, but is that enough?<p>The pacing of the story is consistently moderate; however, it is the film's style and storytelling that really drags this 2 hour picture down. Very film noir in nature, the constant narration and background music becomes tiresome. Combining that with the visual look, which is a mix between a comic book and the Bunraku Japanese puppet theater style where this film gets its title from, turns things into a monotonous piece of work.</p><p>The action contains some promise with the choreography and the bloody violence, for the most part, is held in check; although there is enough to warrant an R rating.</p><p>Similarly with the film's tone, the performances by the likes of Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, Gackt, and Ron Perlman are all colorless and dry. Kevin McKidd tends to standout from the rest with some spark in his character.</p><p><i>Bunraku</i> does have its artistic elements, but in the end things turn out less entertaining than expected.</p>

• Chris B

  
  The only reason I gave "Bunraku" a pretty average score instead of something a little lower was that it was entertaining enough and of course had some great actors in it, Gackt as a Samurai too! The film tries to go for a visually unique look and even though I understand… More
  The only reason I gave "Bunraku" a pretty average score instead of something a little lower was that it was entertaining enough and of course had some great actors in it, Gackt as a Samurai too! The film tries to go for a visually unique look and even though I understand what it's going for, it comes off just cheap more than an intentional stylistic choice. The film doesn't take itself too seriously and Woody Harrelson and his ride help balance the more serious tone of the film but there are moments that the serious tone is just cheesy. I can see now why some of these elements hindered the film's chance at big box office success and a timely release. In the end though, if you are looking for an action film with very little in the way of plot or story but focuses primarily on visual style it's still a fun little flick.

• Christopher H

  
  Along the lines of "Sin City" and "Watchmen", "Bunraku" creates an artistic and graphically induced world while steering clear of the laughable and pretentious world of a film like "The Warrior's Way". The characters are interesting with… More
  Along the lines of "Sin City" and "Watchmen", "Bunraku" creates an artistic and graphically induced world while steering clear of the laughable and pretentious world of a film like "The Warrior's Way". The characters are interesting with the actors fitting their parts surprisingly well. The visuals are up to par with high budget films, with many of the stories being told through paper cutouts. The fight scenes grow slightly extended, but with the "Kill Bill"-like set up to the villains, the viewer is constantly engaged in the story.

• Marion R

  
  The Michael Bay of writers, except substitute explosions for fights. Ugh This movie was mind-blowingly stupid. I'm am amazed that his film even got made.

• Remi L

  
  The word is style. This movie is western, Asian, video game, comedy, drama, action, and play. If anything, this movie should win the award for Best Set Design. I absolutely loved the fact that the background was made out of paper with gorgeous soft lighting behind it. Ron Perlman was… More
  The word is style. This movie is western, Asian, video game, comedy, drama, action, and play. If anything, this movie should win the award for Best Set Design. I absolutely loved the fact that the background was made out of paper with gorgeous soft lighting behind it. Ron Perlman was cool as always and I love that Demi Moore played his woman and not some faceless actress half his age. Kevin McKidd was awesome as the slick-suited Killer #2, Woody Harrelson was probably playing himself for all I know, but he was fun as always, and Josh Hartnett and Gackt made for entertaining but flawed heroes (flawed in a good way, made them more human). Bunraku is the story of a gunless cowboy (Hartnett) and a swordless samurai (Gackt) both out seeking revenge on the crime boss of a small town named Niccola (Perlman). Again, Perlman was just too smooth. This film could've been more exciting, which is my only critique. Interesting premise that just came off as tame in the long run. But the cinematography. So excellent.

• Jay R

  
  Interesting idea... cool visuals... weak execution. Too bad, cause it has a really cool cast and a lot of style.

• John M

  
  It has stars BUT the execution is bad, the narrator voice is annoying, the fight scenes are too long that turn boring, well... the complete movie has dragged pacing, and the artistic look fail. The movie running time is 118 minutes and I just watched an 50 minutes or so of boredom… More
  It has stars BUT the execution is bad, the narrator voice is annoying, the fight scenes are too long that turn boring, well... the complete movie has dragged pacing, and the artistic look fail. The movie running time is 118 minutes and I just watched an 50 minutes or so of boredom because I couldn't stand to watch a minute more.\ Boring+poor executed+uninteresting="Bunraku"

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