THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA boasts some of the most spectacular scenery in cinema history, from unbelievable mountain ranges to raging rivers whose thundering power is palpable. Led by Shen (Mako), young Japanese businessman Wada and yakuza Ujiie venture into the Chinese countryside of Yu Nan in search of jade, which leads them in a roundabout way to the mysterious "Bird people." At times an oddball odyssey (at one point, the three indulge in some toadstools that cause hallucinations, which results in Shen losing his memory), at others THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA recalls Werner Herzog's epic, AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD. That's NOT an exaggeration. Ujiie falls for the village of the "Bird people," while Wada contemplates "the birth of the Earth." They watch local children being given "flying lessons" that consist of flapping homemade wings. "This place," Wada wonders: "Where could this be...?" "This planet is finished," Ujiie states, matter-of-factly. The two travelers decide to give the act of flight an attempt, to prove that there's magic of a sort still left in the world. "If we fly," Wada says, "they'll be convinced." Wada and Ujiie, makeshift wings attached to their shoulders, then proceed to run at breakneck speed toward the edge of a cliff, screaming as they go. It's a beautiful scene, and the climax is bittersweet. Highly recommended.

Looking at the box, I got the impression that this was going to be some wonderful, fascinating movie with great wonders and visions. I checked it out of the library, expecting fascinating viewing. After a half hour of disappointment, I gave up and turned it off.The movie starts off showing a Japanese salaryman having to take the place of a colleague who had fallen sick to go to China to check out a precious stone mining operation. Never having been to that country, he first rides a train, then is taken in a decrepit van, which stops when a yakuza joins. The yakuza roughs up and threatens the salaryman over money that his employer failed to pay him, but upon realizing the salaryman's mission, opts to join him on the journey.Unfortunately the movie fails to make us interested or excited. We don't care about any of the characters, and the ugly scenery got too boring. Maybe everything would have redeemed itself later, but by then it was too late.

Bird People in China is a unique Miike film and possibly one of his best and most accessible for mainstream audiences. This film captures the imagination, makes you laugh and remember a part of humanity many of us have forgotten. It also serves as a meditation on progress and utopia. As well as the good and evil that comes with them. Of course all this is done in the pitch perfect Takashi Miike fashion. The film work is beautiful and much of the story is told visually.For me this is a film that touched me greatly and made me contemplate life in modern society. Of the many Takashi Miike films I like, this one stands somewhere at the top.If you liked this one and want more Miike in a similar vein, I suggest: 'Big Bang Love, Juvenile A' and 'Sabu'. For family film: 'The Great Yokai War', 'The Happiness of the Katakuris' and 'Zebraman'.Takashi Miike doesn't cease to amaze. 10/10 Stars

A yakuza and a businessman travel from Japan to a remote village in the Yun Nan area of China. A vein of jade has been discovered there for which both the businessman's company and the yakuza whom the company owes to have taken interest to. However what starts out as a business trip motivated by petty means, soon evolves in a mystifying elegy atop the Chinese mountains.There is a sense of mystery and contemplation in Bird People that combined with so many lovable quirks reminded me of the great Tom Robbins and his work. It turns out the first of the Bird People fell from the sky. But who are they? The first half of the movie that involves the trip to the village is episodic in nature and more funny and laid-back; a road trip in essence but the images of poor, rural China and its beautiful nature carry the same affection that Emir Kusturicha films Yugoslavia with. The second part takes on a more contemplative tone as both the yakuza and the businessman become infatuated with the serene beauty of the remote village.Bird People is in turns funny, poignant, touching, sentimental, melancholic, mysterious but above all it's a beautiful, poetic movie. There are sudden busts of violence that remind us this is still a Takashi Miike film we're watching, but it is a far cry from the ultraviolence of his other work. I daresay it's even better (in a different way). The way the images, pacing, score and story mesh together, you realize you're in the hands of a master cinematician. If it turns melancholic and nostalgic during the end, it's because Bird People is ultimately a movie about people that want to be free of the things that bind them; the luxury of letting go. Some of them succeed, others don't. But in this case, it's the journey that matters.