Close Your Eyes

Description

While treating a policewoman for smoking, hypnotherapist Michael Strother has a telepathic vision of a young girl floating beneath the surface of a stream. The escaped victim of a ritualistic serial killer, the girl has become mute, and Michael is called upon by Scotland Yard to unlock the secrets she holds in order to catch a man who believes he has discovered the key to immortality.

Customer Reviews:

Scarey, Creepy, Great Ending........2007-03-28

English horror film abuot a hypnotist up against a sort of demonic spirit who learns scientifically and spiritually how to be reborn in other bodies to essentially live forever. This movie will scare the crap out of you. It is smart, well acted and fun.

THE END IS WORTH IT!!.......2007-01-19

slow, but real creepy and very thought-provoking. turn up the volume and light up the bong. the end is near.

Highly satisfying supernatural shocker........2006-10-10

'Close Your Eyes' is a stylish, suspenseful thriller which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final riveting scene. What may be most effective about the film is the gradual build-up of suspense, transforming a standard serial murder mystery and smoothly propelling it into a highly original supernatural shocker.

Goran Visnjic is Dr. Michael Strother, a hypnotist specializing in helping smokers kick the habit. When detective Janet Losey, played by Shirely Henderson visits for a session, she discovers the doctor's gifts go well beyond putting people in a trance. As the mystery deepens, Losey enlists Dr. Strother in her investigation of a serial killer plaguing London. Strother resists at first, then realizes he might be the only one to solve a crime which may free him of trauma which has tortured him for years.

Some nice extras are included on the disc, including interviews with cast and crew and a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie. Horror and mystery fans alike have much to savor in this handsomely produced spooky outing.

An Entertaining Psychological Chess Match.......2006-10-08

"Close Your Eyes" is a film with no grand ambitions, other than to creep you out. The story is fairly basic: a reporter and a psychologist chase a serial killer around London hoping to catch him before he strikes again. A cat and mouse game ensues, the psychoanalyst becomes psycho, and the body count begins to pile up. Shirley Henderson nails the role in which she comes off as both depressed and filed with a hungry urgency. Her determination is never really explained, but we believe in it because Henderson is just that good. Her counterpart, Michael, becomes more paranoid as the plot advances. He, of course, has secrets to hide and investments to protect. His wife fills her role, cinematically speaking, to annoy and obstruct. The climax does deliver the creepy good, and you have to respect this film for laying it all on the line. Even if it does become too weird for its own good.

The film ultimately comes up a tiny bit short for me. Despite the bold characters and strong sense of atmosphere I had this nagging sense that I was watching a low budget made-for-TV movie. Or an episode of a crime solving TV show. For instance, something arbitrary leads directly to a groundbreaking, case breaking, revelation. . .just like in "Murder She Wrote" (in this case a spilled cup of coffee). However, much of the fun of these shows is that the viewer gets to play along at home. Here we are given no clues and no list of suspects. Instead we are asked to take the cat and mouse game as the whole source of entertainment. This has worked in other films ("Along Came a Spider"), and this one does go down pretty smooth, there just wasn't enough there. Maybe there should have been more dark corners of the subconscious and less newsroom politics. I also was not a fan of how Paddy Considine was saddled with a nothing role where he was stranded to play with his toys.

At the heart of "Close Your Eyes" is a very pure message. The villain of the film is somebody who is trying to live forever. They way that fact ties into him being a murderer is shaky, but that is beside the point. To die is natural. To have delusions of immortality makes you the sick one. Not that humanity will ever stop searching for the Fountain of Youth, just that it's better to spend your short life doing something actually enjoyable. In the end this film is still a lot of fun. It implements some cool special effects and the scares exist of a psychological level as opposed to a physical one. Contrivances are everywhere (Really, he knocks on the killers door?), but I didn't care. Even though I can't recommend this film I would never discourage anybody from seeing it. ***

"I'm Sorry I Just Do Cigarettes" ~ The Quest For Immortality.......2006-07-20

`Close your Eyes' released in '01 is an expertly crafted occult tale dealing with the possibility of transferring individual consciousness from one body to another, from the old to the young, from generation to generation thus achieving a form of personal immortality.

While conducting a hypnosis session aimed at curing police officer Janet Losey (Shirley Henderson) of her smoking habit, Dr. Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic) experiences a brief but vivid vision of a young blonde girl floating just below the surface of a body of water. He inadvertently mentions the girl to his patient after the session only to discover that she had been thinking of the girl. Her name is Grace (Claire Rushbrook) who just happens to be involved in an ongoing investigation dealing with a series of kidnappings and ritualistic killings of children in the London area.

Against his better judgement Dr. Strother agrees to assist in the case and hypnotizes the little girl who has been mute since her escape from her kidnapper. During the session the Doctor envisions a sinister, bald Crowleyesque individual surrounded by occultic signs and symbols. It appears black magick maybe involved.

Is there an evil sorcerer or black magician loose kidnapping children for some dark, unknown purpose? Does this evil person really exist and if he does will the psychic abilities of Dr. Strother be able to help find him before any more children turn up missing?

`Close Your Eyes' is one of those undiscovered gems that film fans love to stumble upon. The storyline is well thought out, the sets excellent and the film exudes an eerie, unsettling atmosphere absolutely perfect for the subject matter. As for the acting, Goran Visnjic is excellent. He is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. Another personal favorite is Paddy Considine who has a small but important role as Elliot, an occult expert who helps decipher some of the markings and sigils discovered during the investigation.

If you're in the mood for a good scare and a sleepless night give it a try.

Average customer rating:

*akward*
Don't close your eyes when you hold Me
WOW.........
about the movie close your eyes and hold me.....
Unusual erotic love story on gender roles and loneliness

Close Your Eyes and Hold Me
Starring: Kumiko Takeda , Kazuya Takahashi , Natsue Yoshimura , Kunihiko Ida , and Shinobu Satô
Director: Itsumichi Isomura
Manufacturer: Asian Pulp Cinema
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00014K5T6
Release Date: 2004-01-13

Description

A businessman becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman who vanishes after being hit by his car. Tormented, he tracks her to an underworld transvestite club where he enteres a seduction that threatens to destroy him!

Customer Reviews:

*akward*.......2006-12-22

I knew that this movie was going to be awkward. I really liked it. Noone will watch it with me so i watched it alone. I'm really into these kind of movies. Homosexuality and stuff. Its my thing. I think this movie would of been better if the acting was more realistic.

Don't close your eyes when you hold Me.......2006-07-10

I am quite a fan of lovely Kumiko Takeda. I bought some of her movies without subtitles (I studied Japanese) in San Francisco's Japantown: "Double Cast", "Gurenbana"(has two Kumikos, Akiyoshi and Takeda), "Jingi 2", Mangia Mai", "Zero Woman 3" and of course "Close Your Eyes And Hold Me" which is my least favorite Kumiko movie...but nothing with her can be very bad to me. This is the only one that has her totally nude, rather than just topless. She is well-endowed for a Japanese girl with 34"/22.7"/32.4" figure at 5'2". I just received from Tokyo a DVD profile titled "Diva, Kumiko Takeda in Los Angels" (Angeles really). In "Close Your Eyes...", she is a man who dresses as a woman. I can hardly believe that the most beautiful living woman is a man. She wears a blonde wig and sings at a hermaphrodite nightclub. (She has success as model- actress-singer, so no one must sing for her.) She seduces both the hero and his fiancee. This film won some international awards, but I think Kumiko's other movies deserve that more. I do like to see Kumiko in anything, but I wouldn't own this movie if a lesser lady was the star.

WOW................2005-05-01

.......I felt kinda dirty or something after watching this. I do give this film 2 stars simply for what could have been. The plot was decent enough(see previous reviews) and the movie explored very basic human emotions and fears such as love, betrayal and lonliness. Unfortunately, all this goes by the wayside in favor of lots of pretty explicit sex scenes....Amane and Hanabusa, Juri and Hanabusa, Juri and Amane, Hanabusa, Juri and friend, etc. If you like lots of homosexual sex scenes then this is probably right up your.....alley. Definitely not for the traditional minded.

about the movie close your eyes and hold me............2004-04-05

This story is basically about Amane after having sexual relationship with Hanabusa(whom was hit by car which Amane drive on the highway) where he later lost interest of his girlfriend, Juri. She later find Hanabusa and was lured into having sexual relationship with her and later with Amane's friend either. I am not going to tell the full story as this made the movie less interesting to find out. There are a few sex scenes which includes woman to woman, woman having sex with man and two counts of sex between man and woman in this movie. Recommended purchase to those whom like this genre of movie....

*these erotic movies are usually done by hooker and pimps but they did a paste of these people with actress. This information is also for Singaporeans whom are deciding whether to embark on the buying and watching spree of these erotic movies.

Unusual erotic love story on gender roles and loneliness.......2003-08-29

A Tokyo executive named Amane has his ordered life turned upside
down when he accidentally hits a woman with his car. She is a very exotic beauty, and in the process of accepting responsibility for his actions, promising to pay her hospital bills, and to do anything at all for her, she shocks him by asking him to run her over again. She says, "I wish you had finished me off."

The mystery woman discharges herself after a day, and Amane follows her to what turns out to be a hermaphrodite bar, which means... He finds out "her" name is Hanabusa and discovers many things about "her". Actually, many things about him, which is hard for me to use considering how lovely Hanabusa is.

Amane doesn't care--he loves Hanabusa, and breaks up with Juri, his long-time fiancee. Demanding an answer, she confronts Hanabusa, only to spend the night with him. Hanabusa may be a man but still has some emotional qualities of a woman. "Men are so arrogant. They give you no alternative" he tells Juri.

One concept explored here is the differences between men and women. Hanabusa embodies both, having the breasts of a woman but the genitalia of a man, yet when the right button is pushed, she can feel either masculine or feminine. "Love changes its form with different partners" he says. Amane and Juri are bound by their own distinctive sexuality, but a disadvantage is that Hanabusa is caught in the middle. He bitterly describes himself as a "plaything god created out of a whim." Later, he revises that statement that "we are all god's playthings."

Loneliness is another. The three principals are trying to fight that disease. Juri herself turns frantic when she is dumped, as she has no-one else to turn to. Amane tells Hanabusa he missed him.

Some great camera shots include a long shot of Amane running down an escalator, coming closer. Then there's an extreme closeup of a stocking foot with high heel about to step onto the road. It then cuts to an aerial shot of Amane's car, Hanabusa sprawled out in front of it. However, the winner is that of Hanabusa, dressed in his long black coat, walking down the highway bridge in slow motion as the snow falls. That shot alone embodies the loneliness embodied in this movie, and when I saw it in a preview, I knew I had to find out about this movie.

Another is the colour contrast. There's the antiseptic cold white of the passionless corporate building where Amane and Juri work. The bed scenes between Amane and Hanabusa are closeups on their skin, which is warmer and more full of life.

Both Kazuya Takahashi and Natsue Yoshimura (Amane and Juri, respectively) are passable. However, Kumiko Takeda (Hanabusa) is by far the most interesting and appealing character here, and she single-handedly carries this unique erotic love story. Definitely a different role from the title role in Zero Woman-Assassin Lovers. Her voice ranges from low and silky to something more feminine. She plays someone who is cut off from a normal existence and makes do with what she has. She even sings one of the telling morals of this story, "Ever so earnestly with a singular purpose, we go on with our lives." If I met a hermaphrodite as exotically beautiful as her, I wouldn't care--I'd marry her all the same.

Average customer rating:

Excellent vocals and instuments

A beautiful gift

You Can Close Your Eyes Lullabyes
Susan Anders
Manufacturer: Zanna Discs
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0006OA7WG
Release Date: 2005-01-01

Tracks:

Be My Baby
I'll Be There
Too Busy Thinking 'Bout My Baby
When You Wish Upon a Star
You Can Close Your Eyes
Betcha By Golly Wow
All You Need is Love
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing
Sweet Baby James
The Circle Game
Come Saturday Morning
You've Got A Friend

Album Description

When Susan's Room lead singer/vocal coach Susan Anders' friend Sukie had her baby Emma, Susan wanted to give her something more than some cool clothes from Baby Gap. So she went into the studio and recorded a CD of songs they had loved when they were growing up in the sixties and seventies: songs from the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and James Taylor, among others. She did them all in lullaby style so Sukie could play it when Emma was going down for a nap: everything is either guitar/vocal or piano/vocal, and vocals and instruments were sung and played very softly so there were no sudden loud sounds that might wake Emma up.

Sukie loved the CD, Emma seemed to like it too, so Susan started giving copies to her other friends with babies. Everyone loved it and wanted more copies for their friends, and eventually she decided to offer it to the world of newborns and their parents.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent vocals and instuments.......2006-12-15

Long time fan of James Taylor, but was not familiar with "You can close your eyes". This rendition is superb. The vocals are in your room.
Sounds great in my car and home audiophile system.

A beautiful gift.......2006-01-10

I have been giving this CD to every new parent I know-they all report back that they love it because it has songs they really like, plus they say it really seems to help their baby fall asleep. I love Susan's voice, too.

DVD:

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