Rating: 
Summary: a real chick flick...
Review: Perceptive, beautiful ... huh, this serious tone wont work for this movie. No fighting, witty humor or lightsaber's :( its Ewan naked! On the real side its visually stunning with great emotion.
Greatly directed, with moving scenes. If you actually sit down and pay attention... you'll enjoy its great purpose, and magnificent acting.
Rating: 
Summary: gave me dreams so bad i threw my pillow away
Review: i wanted to like this movie, but i felt myself straining to hold back my urge to jump across the room, rip the tape from the vcr and toss it out the window into the passing traffic. eventually that strain turned into a masochistic challenge to see if i could make it through the entire film.
honestly, this could have possibly been a decent movie if only its creators hadn't tried so hard.
Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes art inspires ...
Review: ...sometimes it merely aspires to inspire. THe Pillow Book is very much like PG's Prospero Books. But I was annoyed by his first work. It tried too hard; very rich and ponderous, I couldn't watch it. The Pillow Book is still an intense visual experience, but it works. The Patti Guesche piece during the love scene is incredible. In fact I ordered all of her catalogue in the hope there she had produced more music just as sublime -- alas! not yet.But here is point: this is art, not entertainment. Beyond the intellectualizing, this piece struck a chord so deep that it changed my life. At one point in my life someone asked my why I wanted to be an entertainer. I was offended by that question -- but wasn't sure why. Perhaps it had something to do with my grandfather and uncle both being ministers. Were they entertainers? I equate entertainment with TV, of a very comfortable slide into oblivian. Most movies are like that. They target specific entertainment buttons. There's the action button. The relationship button. The laughter button. Each neatly wrapped up into a neat little package. The Pillow book doesn't fit any of those packages. That's what's so annoying. One doesn't expect to see a work of art in the theater. It is erotic but doesn't try to turn you on. It is both dense in space yet sparse in time. Moreover it is quite satisfying. As it ends, you get to *feel* the process of reaching a new point of maturity. Yes, the characters are shallow. So are most twenty year olds. With experience comes depth. Many of those experiences require reflection. This is one of those movies that can overwhelm, if you let it. Or just let it seep in. Then dream. Feel what it's like to treat people's bodies as the pages of a book. To overlay your story on top of another.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful film, butchered
Review: This film amazed me in the theater, for all the reasons that many of the other reviewers have given. It is simply a stunning visual experience. However, it seems almost criminal to me that the DVD has been butchered into a full-screen ratio, thus losing much of the visual impact. I suppose seeing 55% of the movie is better than nothing, but I sincerely hope that someday, somebody releases the entire film on DVD, so we can experience as it was meant to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for first 80 minutes, then just tedious
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with the review below that once the relationship with Jerome ends, the movie ends... and yet it keeps going, and going, and going. I love the cinematography, and the way the human form is presented and used is, for most of the film, masterful. But by the end, I was thinking more about why a movie needs this much genitalia displayed than I was about the story.
Rating:
Summary: beatiful
Review: The Pillow Book was a very strange, beautiful movie. I rented it because I have a little obsession with Ewan McGregor, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I can tell you one thing, I've never seen so many penises in one movie!
Rating: 
Summary: The Pillow Book
Review: Whatever were they thinking? The cinematography was wonderful. The techniques were unique and innovative. Ewan McGregor, as always, was superb - and as an added plus we get to see ALL of him. That alone made it worth watching. Vivian Wu is stunning and compelling. But even these fine actors could not salvage this story which was highly convoluted, incredibly difficult to follow and totally lacking substance. Once the very brief interlude between Wu and McGregor is over, there is little to hold your attention. I never tire of watching McGregor, however this is a film that I would gladly have missed.
Rating:
Summary: An outsiders view.....
Review: Ok, I am not sophisticated, worldly or cultured enough to appreciate all the "Art" involved in this movie. I have seen enough and appreciated enough movies to at least give my thoughts...Vivian Wu's part could have been played by a parrot. I have never seen such a wooden and uninspiring portrayal. There is a story line, but it is not entirely interesting, at least not enough to keep 2 1/2 hours of a movie flowing. Forgive me for not understanding AT ALL the part of Nagiko's 'housegirl'. (Sorry, I don't know what to call her) I would have given the movie only 1 star, if not for the spectacular performance of Mr. McGregor. He was captivating. He makes me believe his performance. I watch movies to get lost in them-to make me ignore the world for a while. I was 'lost' in Mr. McGregor. We need to see more of him (I guess it would be hard to see any more of him-let's say more roles for him!) Bored with the cinematography. Soundtrack confusing. Had trouble staying with it to the end. I recommend fast forwarding the first 40 minutes (don't worry, you can catch up with the story line in about 20 seconds) and skipping the last half hour. The middle hour is really all that is worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Late night with the Pillow Book
Review: When I watched The Pillow Book I happened to stumble onto it at about 3 am on television. I had never heard of it, but was immediately lured in by the promise of Ewan McGregor. Two hours later, I sat staring in a sort of shocked stupor at the darkened screen. Never before have I seen a film that picks you up so completely and holds you in its thrall. My mind was whirling and spinning and trying to absorb everything I had just seen. Thus, I gave the film four stars. It was brilliant, it was witty, it was wild, it was a sensual trip into a world whose existance I had never contemplated. Having gushed about how much I loved the movie I feel compelled to warn the movie- goer that this is not a casual film to watched lightheartedly. You really have to be alert and willing to direct your full attention to the film or you will be lost from start to finish. When The Pillow Book moves, it moves, but when it doesn't don't dwell on it. Just use the time to catch your breath, trust me you'll need the breather to avoid a total system overload...
Rating:
Summary: AHHH...
Review: I liked watching the naked men parade around exposing their privates. Peter Greenway definetly knows art when he exposes it. The Pillow Book may have no story or anything going for it, but the naked men definitely give it FIVE stars!
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