1. All About Lily Chou-Chou
2. Swallowtail Butterfly
3. Hana and Alice
4. Love Letter
5. April Story
6. Picnic
7. The Kon Ichikawa Story
8. The Murder Case of Hana & Alice
9. Undo
10. A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
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Top 50 Favourite films:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006514680/
Whoa, Rip van Winkle didn't work for you.
I haven't seen ten Iwai films but I'll rank what I've seen later
I thought it was good, rated it 7/10.
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Top 50 Favourite films:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006514680/
My take on Iwai is that he delivers the big picture but frustrates on details. I think that's why I've enjoyed his shorter films more...fewer details.
1998 - April Story
1994 - Undo
2001 - All About Lily Chou-Chou
2004 - Hana and Alice
2016 - A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
1995 - Love Letter
2011 - Vampire
Watchlisted:
1996 - Swallowtail Butterfly (I started this on Z-mans rec but didn't get far. I'll give it another go given your placement)
1996 - Picnic
2015 - The Murder Case of Hana & Alice
Good topic -- I've enjoyed all the Iwai films I've seen. I haven't managed to see Picnic or Undo yet.
I can't rank them but Lily Chou Chou was a major intro to asian film for me and kind of mind-blowing at the time. Hana and Alice, Love Letter and Rip Van Winkle were all super enjoyable. Swallowtail Butterfly I'm tempted to put in first place as a film. April Story and Murder Case, somewhat lower.
Hearing others comments on Rip Van Winkle I have reflected on it and I think he is a tremendously talented filmmaker.. and yet all his films fall a little bit short in some way, I think in the 'storytelling' dimension. I'm not a stickler for story, but his films are meant to be oriented that way. Some of them just kind of peter out or don't live up to their complicated set-ups.
But he's an auteur and I think he has written all his films. It's one thing to pump out a lot of film productions -- a director is basically just a boss, he's not physically controlling anything -- but writing... even Nabokov or Gabriel Garcia Marquez had his hits and misses. Most auteurs do worse than Iwai. He's one of these guys who, even his most recent films remind me of the 80s, in a good way.
I will do a Top 5.
Hana and Alice
Love Letter
April Story
All About Lily Chou Chou
Swallowtail Butterfly
YouTube Asian Movie Review Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/anticlimacus100