july-18 First of all, the movie's setting is a multi-ethnic New York City. Our hero,Kenji, is part of a great mix of foreign-born/U.S. racial minorities/gay & straight people. His Japanese accent and his best friend's Italian accent are just part of the fun. Ethnic stereotypes are jokes.Kenji really, really wants to fall in love, but seems to be living just on handouts from his parents. His Italian friend fancies himself a filmmaker, but has a job selling movie tickets. They're living on dreams and illusions, but I wouldn't call that aimless, would you? (!)Second point -- The story is told in a very interesting way. Part of it is dreams, part of it is real life, and in parts, the dreams sort of push into real life. It's not that hard to keep track of, tho. The story is told chronologically and only takes 2 days.Third -- the actors are uniformly wonderful. The supporting roles, especially Ben Gazzara, are so memorable it almost seems crazy not to veer off on each one. Then there is a whole string of cameo bits that stick in your mind -- the "Balzac man," a pseudo-intellectual guy in the café, will make you laugh -- the transvestite hooker -- the fortune teller -- there must be 20 of these gems! Fans of Mira Sorvino and Takeshi Kaneshiro will not be disappointed. As a very sexy Death, Sorvino shares with us her viewpoint, one that's not so hard to understand after all. We can see that it's natural that Death would have her favorites (not that it would be any great consolation). Her interactions with her 2 assistants are pretty hilarious.Kaneshiro's trademark blend of funny and intense makes him so rewarding to watch. No one can say he's weak or uncertain as an actor, and that was really important to this movie. He communicates a lot through his expressive attention to the other actors, but when it comes to the pivotal scene where he speaks out, his words are extremely powerful.Last -- the ending of the story takes us by surprise, even though we have known how it would end through much of the movie. It happens in a way we wouldn't have expected.Best of all are the interesting things that occur to us as we watch, like what does knowing you're going to die really change? There are lots of foreshadowings that prepare us for the main action (for example, everybody reminds the love interest, Pola, of someone else who turns out to be kind of relevant). It's hard for anyone to see this movie without suspecting there was more in there than they were able to catch.(Remind me to look up Pola Negri) I think there are plenty of people who would love this movie, and hope this helps you know if you're one of them. It's a serious story but very enjoyable.

Pedro Martin I did not like the movie. It was a very promising one but I think it got out of the hands of writer/director. It could well be that writer director wanted to do exactly that, in that case I would say that writer director was not very well seasoned at that time.Maybe the next one come out better than this one. Acting was very good, script very poor. Alas, it could have been a minor classic...

polgas i just finished watching "too tired to die" on cinemax. i had seen the commercial for it earlier today, and it looked like it was a good watch. basically, a japanese slacker, played by takeshi kenshiro (from 'chungking express' - another excellent movie), is approached by death, played by mira sorvino, and told that he has 12 hours to live. from that premise, i figured it would be your basic lark of a movie, seeing how a slacker deals with the fact that he has half a day left to live.it wasn't quite the hour and a half of hijinx and hilarity that i'd expected.not to say that it wasn't good. it was. i just --- it was one of those movies that ends and i'm not quite sure just what i'm feeling. one of those movies without an actual crescendo or climax or resolution, or anything. not your typical movie vehicle. and so, now that it's over, i have no idea what to feel. i mean, it basically followed his 12 hours, and the surreal, bizarre events that take place. i can't even discuss it or how i feel about it or talk about what happened, because i don't want to spoil it for whomever might be reading this. it was just one of those movies that leaves you hanging and yet, at the same time, doesn't. it was a little confusing, and a little ... i don't even know.i can't help but feel that i missed out on something in the movie. like it was some art piece that somehow escapes me. that i can't quite understand. which is funny, because that exact premise came up in the movie, where kenji (the main character) is looking at a piece of abstract art and asks the artist if it's possible to like something without understanding it. i guess that's how i feel about the movie. i liked it, and i know it was a good movie, but i can't understand it. and i can't help but wonder if i'm missing out on something bigger because i can't understand it. for maybe it wasn't even meant to be understood. after all, isn't the purpose of art to create different meanings in different people? each person who views it, who experiences it, creates their own interpretation of it. maybe it wasn't intended to be understood. just watched, enjoyed (and i don't even know if i enjoyed it. if that makes any sense. i know i liked it, but did i enjoy it?), and appreciated.maybe this is what the director had in mind. maybe this is what he wanted? for the audience, after watching it, to just sit and not know what they feel. whether or not they enjoyed it, or understood it, or even knew what the hell just happened.i know i want a copy of it, though. i know that i want to be able to share it with people, and --i just called a friend on his cell phone. told him to remember the name of the movie, and try to catch it on cinemax, or watch it. i need someone to share it with. discuss it with. someone to help me understand it, maybe, i don't even know. it's just too --- god. it's a mind f*ck, and emotion f*ck, a head f*ck. i couldn't even form coherent sentences on the phone, while trying to explain the movie to phil. i feel like i'm some sort of messed up, bizarre drug, that's how messed this movie has me. i don't get it. it was such a ... non-movie movie ... and yet it's got me so affected. it just WHAM hit me. maybe it's just me. just some weird emotional state i'm in that was triggered or enhanced by the movie, but i can't remember being this -- shaken, moved, affected, bewildered -- by a movie. i keep rambling on, spewing words onto the computer, hoping one of them will help describe what i feel, but so far none of them are even close to it.

parlo A film with a really interesting premise and obviously some provocative ideas behind it. Unfortunately it goes nowhere from there and particularly towards the end becomes tiresome and violent.The best part of the film is by far the character of Death played by Mira Sorvino.