Customer Reviews

Parasite Eve

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Toshiaki Nagashima's opening lecture on mitochondria sets the premise of the movie. Basically, within a cell, mitochondria has its own DNA, and is critical in creating energy. Nagashima further states that mitochondria entered man as a parasite but became vital to humans and lived symbiotically. Nagashima's studies involve growing healthy mitochondria, insert them in cells diseased by cirrhosis or diabetes, and curing said cells. He is assisted in this by Sawako Asakura, a lab assistant working on her dissertation, on lab rats, and both are encouraged upon discovering that the livers of some rats have improved.

However, the question arises, do mitochondria have an agenda of their own, despite the fact that they don't have enough DNA to be independent? And as a grade-schooler asks Asakura after she tells his class there are many helpful organisms inside the body, "Won't they try to control us when we get big?"

The day of Nagashima's lecture also happens to be his first-year anniversary. However, he never gets to celebrate it. His timid and loving wife Kiyomi becomes involved in an accident that renders her brain-dead. He is totally shattered, insisting that she is still alive.

Enter Dr. Yoshizawa, a surgeon who is desperately seeking a kidney donor to help a 12-year old girl, Mariko. Her body rejected the previous donor's kidney, but this time, Kiyomi's data is assessed, with positive compatibility results.

Toshiaki finally agrees, on the condition that Yoshizawa gives him Kiyomi's liver. Yoshizawa is perplexed by this agreement, but eager to succeed with Mariko, agrees.

The mystery begins when Mariko's new kidney begins acting strangely and she becomes alarmed by ominous liquid-like sounds burbling. And at first, Toshiaki's culturing his dead wife's cells seem like the act of someone who has snapped, but the further the film progresses, we see how much Kiyomi meant to Toshiaki. Unfortunately, things take a weird turn when Toshiaki examines one of Kiyomi's cell cultures.

Hiroshi Mikami does great as a typical research scientist, forgetful and absent-minded at times, and the haunted look on his face in reaction to his wife's death, and his obsession in keeping her alive, is some pretty good acting. Riona Hazuki projects a fragile and gentle beauty as Kiyomi, especially in the scenes before her death and in the flashbacks we see when Toshiaki first meets her and is smitten.

The title Parasite Eve has to due with Nagashima's lecture that we all get mitochondria from our mothers, and one can see "the mother of us all, the 'Eve' of mythology." Biology majors and students interested in biology may be interested in this not bad medical/sci-fi drama, which is leisurely-paced during the first half, but becomes more uptempo during the more suspenseful second half.

I highly recommend this movie. This movie is not anime, but with real Japanese actors/actresses. The movie is subtitled. (If you don't like subtitles this might not be a movie for you.) This movie is great for the fans of the video game even though it doesn't follow the storyline of the game at all! The story is mostly independant from the game. The only negative I see with this DVD is that there is no English voice track, but it still great!

For one, those who are expecting a movie based on the game, stop now. Unless you payed close attention to the game, you will hate this movie. The movie is based off the novel, not the game.
I'm not going to spoil the movie for anyone, however the story is very good, and you will not be left wanting. My only gripe with the story is the ending, which is a tad bit perplexing. The CGI is well done, and not over-used. And the story is one of the saddest, most tear-grabbing, heart-filled movie I have ever seen. You fall in love with the main character and his wife, you feel their pain, and come to understand their actions.
This movie is a defiante buy for anyone who really loved the game, novel, or is a lover of sci-fi/horror movies, especially with a love sub-plot.
And that's that.

First let me tell you what this movie is not: It is not based on the games. It is not an action movie. It is not a horror movie. It is not a big budget special effects extravaganza. It is not anime. It isn't really a sci-fi movie either.

Now what it is: It is an excellent adaptation of a Japanese suspense/psychological thriller novel with subtitles. It has decent cinematography, excellent soundtrack and fairly good acting (for the most part). The story, while sometimes hard to follow for people unaccustomed to watching subtitled movies might be a little hard to follow at first, but there are only a handful of main characters that you have to keep track of so it isn't impossible.

If you aren't a foreign film buff, you might want to rent it, but if you enjoy foreign films (and don't mind subtitles), and Japanese drama/suspense in particular, then this is one you might want to add to your collection. If you are expecting an action packed, special effects laden, guns-a-blazing, people-dying-every-few-seconds movie based on the videogames ... look elsewhere. This isn't for you. This is a movie you have to watch and pay attention to to enjoy, and is probably better suited to adults for a number of reasons, most notably that younger people used to big budget Hollywood productions might find it slow moving and boring. I didn't.

Having seen this a few years ago in raw Japanese, I must say that I'm very pleased a company in the US finally picked it up for a domestic release. While certain scenes are a bit odd or silly, the whole atmosphere established by them combined with the ones that are chilling is one of suspense and breath-holding. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi/horror and the Parasite Eve games, but don't expect it to be like said games or even the novel it's based on. The plot is markedly different in several ways from the novel, including a character that doesn't even appear in said novel, and the link to the games is mostly the fact that this is the 'incident' that occured in Japan three years before the New York incident in the game. Still, it's a good watch. Now if only someone would translate the novel too ;)

This movie was a great movie! I loved the game series so I figured I'd buy this movie. I must say I WAS disappointed to find that almost NOTHING from the game was in it, but the interesting storyline kept me watching. Yes, it is in Japanese BUT, there are subtitles. I recommend this to all parasite eve and movie fans!

I want to make it clear that this movie is so great because it's terrible.The plot makes absolutley no sense whatsoever,so don't bother trying to make connections.The ideas behind it are so contrived it could only come out of a B-movie.But if you want a fun movie night with your friends,this is good to keep around and have some laughs at.

Basically,the idea behind the premise is that human mitochondria(remember from high school science class,"the powerhouse of the cell"?),is really a foreign body in the cell that has evolved alongside humankind.What we don't know is that our mitochondria are really parasites,lying low in our bodies for millions of years until we evolved to the point where they could use us to take over...the world,I guess?I'm not really sure.And they do this by spontaneously combusting the people whose cells they make up?Like I say,it makes no sense,even explaining it.

The beginning starts off kinda good but slow;the first 45 minutes or so is more of a drama of relationships,where we meet our young doctor protagonist(I forget his name,but the actor who plays him is really cute,so we'll call him Cute Doctor),and his young wife,either Yume or Yuke(I'm going with Yume...sorry,I only saw this once).It's their first wedding anniversary and he's FORGOTTEN the occassion!Then Yume gets into a car accident and is put on life-support later that day,and he's forever filled with regret.We're treated to lots of long shots of Cute Doctor sitting mournfully by rain-streaked windows,hating himself and the world.

Enter another doctor who we'll call Desperate Doctor.He's been treating a little girl across the city with some kind of disease that he hasn't been able to cure,and feels a need to prove to her that he can make her better.When he discovers that Yume's kidneys are a perfect match for Little Sick Girl,he begs Cute Doctor to let him have one.Apparently,in this reality,people can't survive after losing a single kidney as they can in the real world,but can survive with their livers removed.Cute Doctor,in a frenzy of loss and mania to bring Yume back,decides that the experiments he's been doing on rat liver cells would go better with Little Sick Girl's liver cells.

This is the part of the movie where any meaningful storyline goes away and things start to get seriously weird.They make the trade and Cute Doctor mixes Yume's cells with Little Sick Girl's liver cells in petrie dishes,maniacally cooing to them,"You're still with me through these cells,Yume!"He doesn't know that Yume's mitochondria are seriously psycho and have maneuvered both of them to the position they're in now.Without revealing too much,everything goes COMPLETELY nuts and the horror element of the story sets in,not taking any care to make any sense in the meantime.

Like I say,it's a bizarre movie that has no logic to it,but it can be really fun if you grab a bunch of friends and some popcorn and just have a good time with it.Get it for Teh Lulzs.

Well I can say this is not the video game at all but if you have read the book like I have first you would love this movie.. Is it bad? NO, but not as great as the games was,but I can say I am happy I was able to see it..

Now some people may say this movie is confusing...but thats why you have to pay attention to the movie. This is a movie you should really pay attention to and should probably know a little game knowledge...but not much is needed. All i have to say is that this movie has really touched me... Its a genius romantic piece. The main theme of the movie is love, and i say, if you are a fan of parasite eve, a fan of romantic/drama/sad storylines, a sci-fi fan, a fan of asian cinema, or jus at least interested in the movie, i reccommend you buy it. It's a touching movie. This has to be a favorite of mine and has even got me to buy the games, just to continue the storyline of the "little girl" Mariko Brea's daughter, Aya Brea, and her story many years after what has happened in the movie. So all in all this is a great movie that id reccommend seeing for anyone who is interested.

i really enjoyed this except it really did have some scenes that were just stupid. i bought this on vcd and i think it was worth it. i still reccomend it. contains: nudity, graphic violence, and suggeestive themes.