For the 10th anniversary of the Udine Far East Film Festival, Italy which ended on April 26th there was a special screening of the two part live action movie based on the popular manga by Obata Takeshi Death Note:Death Note (which covers episodes1-9) and Death Note The Last name (following episodes 9 through 25), both made in 2006 and directed by KANEKO Shusuke now on DVD. The manga and the live action movie is the story of a mysterious notebook that the brilliant student Yagami Light (Tatsuya Fujiwara) finds called Death Note. It is full of rules about killing people whose names are written in the notebook. The manner of death is chosen where the person will die within 40 seconds or if no death is visualized then the person will die of a heart attack. Light decides to rid the world of the bad guys and become the lord against evil. The real owner of the notebook is a CGI character named Ryuk, a Shinagami death god who soon becomes Light's friend. Light meets up again with L (played by Ken-ichi Matsuyama) in . Death Note The Last Name. in the final duel in the Death Note movies. The opening scenes of the film set the stage with a chess game in which Light quickly puts L in checkmate in just a few moves. Light is allegedly the killer of criminals referred to as Kira who has taken justice into his own hands and is being investigated by the police. In this film Misa, a young woman who was rescued by a Reaper spirit, becomes a second Kira. The owner of her notebook, Rem, is very different from Ryuk, a softer, loyal and serious Shinagami death god. These death gods garnish a lot more screen space in Death Note The Last Name. . In this film L pays the price of settling the score for bringing Light to justice. Light's father, a policeman, disagrees with his son that criminals should be executed. Law is the best way that mankind can create justice, he argues. The moral message is really clear, and so on to the prequel . L Change the WorLd. to find out what happens to L, released early this year.
For Movie Magazine this is Moira Sullivan Udine Italy

© 2008 - Moira Sullivan - Air Date: 5/14/08