Julie Dreyfus Movies
Though Japanese audiences are undoubtedly familiar with French actress Julie Dreyfus thanks to her status as a gaijin tarento (foreign talent) in Nippon, it wasn't until her breakthrough role Quentin Tarantino's 2003 revenge epic Kill Bill that the talented, multilingual actress would become a familiar face to stateside audiences. A native of Paris, the future actress was initially drawn to work in interior design and architecture while still a student, though her striking beauty, ability to speak French, Japanese, and English and formidable talent in front of the camera soon found her following a notably different and unexpected career path. With early work as a photographer and television reporter in Japan providing her with exposure on the small screen, it wasn't long before Dreyfus was edging ever closer to drama. After roles in such television series as Strange Discoveries, Ryu's Bar, and Sense and Nonsense provided audiences with a taste of her dramatic capabilities, numerous television dramas such as Don't Steal My Heart and Interactive Suspense were quick to follow. Two years after making her feature debut in the 1992 Japanese film Faraway Sunset, Dreyfus received her first taste of international exposure with a supporting role in Rintaro Mayuzumi's acclaimed biographical drama Rampo. Her English-language debut came with the same year's family comedy A Feast at Midnight, and it wasn't long after that she set her sights on stateside productions in hopes of expanding her talents beyond Japan. A role in the short-lived television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven did indeed provide her with more international recognition in 1998, and following a role in the 2000 feature Bathory, Dreyfus essayed a supporting role in the French movie Jean Moulin (2002). It was the following year, however, that proved to be Dreyfus' international breakthrough, and her impressive performance as feared assassin O-Ren Ishii's (Lucy Liu) dedicated right-hand woman, Sofie Fatale, in Kill Bill forever insured that she would no longer be confused with a certain Seinfeld starlet with whom she shares a nearly identical namesake. In addition to her career in front of the camera, Julie Dreyfus is also a published author. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, (more)
Parents looking for a missing child are led into a strange and dangerous netherworld in this thriller. Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) and Paul (Rufus Sewell) are a wealthy couple who were in Thailand helping to establish an orphanage when the 2005 tsunami leveled the island. Jeanne and Paul had a young son who disappeared in the storm, and since his body has never been found, Jeanne holds out hope that he might still be alive, a hope that becomes a desperate concern when she sees a video of children being held by kidnappers in Burma which shows a child who looks like her boy. Eager to find out the truth, Paul pays a hefty fee to local outlaw Mr. Gao (Petch Osathanugrah) to escort him and Jeanne into a forbidden zone known only to Thailand's criminal underclass near the Burmese border. Jeanne and Paul soon find themselves out of their depth in a strange land they do not understand where dangerous men commune with the spirits of the dead. The first English language project from writer and director Fabrice du Welz, Vinyan was an official selection at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Rufus Sewell, (more)
Perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2003, Kill Bill Vol. 1 marked the return of renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after a six-year hiatus. Re-teaming the director with Uma Thurman for the first time since 1994's Pulp Fiction, the film was originally the first half of what was to be a three-hour-plus movie before being split into two films. Thurman stars as The Bride, one-fifth of a team of assassins called DiVAS. When The Bride opts to leave the outfit for a life of marital bliss, it doesn't sit well with her boss, Bill (David Carradine), so he has her former cohorts, played by Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Madsen, show up at the nuptials, leaving behind a blood bath. Miraculously, The Bride survives a bullet to the head and, four years later, she sets out for revenge against her four assassins and their employer. The story is concluded in Kill Bill Vol. 2, released six months later. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, (more)
Edogawa Rampo -- a pen name that is also a homonym in Japanese for Edgar Allen Poe -- amassed a major cult following after writing a series of short stories that masterly meld the erotic and the grotesque. Unlike previous films about of his work -- such as Noboru Tanaka's masterful Stroller in the Attic -- this piece is not so much an adaptation of his work than a dreamlike vision of his inner workings. Set during the 1930s, Rampo (Naoto Takenaka), after learning that his piece Osei Tojo was censored by the government, reads a newspaper article about an incident that bears freakish similarity to his suppressed story. The article details a murder investigation surrounding Sonoko (Michiko Hada), the wife of an antique dealer who was found suffocated in an large oblong chest. At the funeral, Rampo is immediately drawn to Sonoko, who exudes a certain femme fatal magnetism. She fires his creativity and soon he is banging out a sequel to his censored work. In his story, Osei becomes the lover of a debauched aristocrat (Mikijiro Hira) who likes to sexually humiliate the recent widow. Meanwhile, a straight-arrow detective, Kogoro Akechi (Masahiro Motoki), ventures to the count's estate to further investigate the murder. While writing this tale, he passionately pursues Osei in real life -- or at least what he thinks is real life. This film was famous in Japan for its turbulent production history. Producer Kazuyoshi Okuyama was displeased with original director Rintaro Mayuzumi's faithful, delicate version of the film and reshot 80 percent of the film, fashioning it into a flashier, bawdier affair. Both versions were released in Japan. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Masahiro Motoki, Naoto Takenaka, (more)
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