Reviews

Wow what a mind boggle

To what I initially thought would be a boring crime story, ended up being quite a thrilling and well tied together story.

This would not be considered a comedy, as it focuses more on the dramatical aspect of the crime scene. It does have its few little comedic moments which relieves tension from the mystery unravelling at hand.

As you watch, more elements are added, and perspectives shown. The reveal in the end was quite the shocker. The actor Lao Li does a brilliant job acting, especially considering his character who's will to live is motivated by his son.

It's hard to not say much, definitely at the beginning it was kind of slow and you wonder what was the point of it all, but at the end all characters are explored and made sense as to why their fate's met in this one room.

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An exciting and sexy story that portrays sexual awakening in adolescence

Yang Yong Ning enjoys the last days of summer alone before returning to classes for the upcoming new school year. Suddenly, he best friend Ji Yijie, who has not seen him for a long time, calls him and invites him to have fun and walk through the streets of Taipei at midnight, the only witness of the love and sexual awakening of the two teenagers.
From the dramatic and youth genre with LGBTIQ+ themes, 'Beats Per Minute' (午夜節拍 / Wu Ye Jie Pai, Wu Yeh Chieh Pai) asks us a question: can romantic love arise from friendship?
In his second short film, screenwriter, director and editor Lin Guan Chen portrays the queer perspective, the main trait that identifies today's youth.
As he did in 'Shift Gear' (2022), the Taiwanese filmmaker focuses on the LGBTQ+ community and how Generation Z can face their confusion in this chaotic world, in the effort to contribute to overcoming the heteronormative paradigm, leaving a priori behind binary according to which one is by default a boy or a girl, homosexual or heterosexual; in short, to understand sexuality as a broad spectrum.
'Beats Per Minute' tries to capture these new ways of conceiving identities and transmitting the processes that the protagonists experience when assuming, expressing and experiencing them.
In its almost 20 minutes, the short film exposes the obvious physical attraction between the two young men, while they talk about girls and making love with them, perhaps in an attempt to deny their true feelings.
Yang Yong Ning makes it very clear right away: he is in love with Ma Ji Yijie. That's why he secretly steals photos of him while he pretends to take snapshots of the stars, dances for him, plays constant pranks on him and suffers in silence when he discovers that they could separate when his friend has to leave to live in Canada, as is his mother's wish.
On the other hand, for the young man who, from his words, appears to be heterosexual, this feeling towards his friend is a new and unexpected experience. However, he does not hesitate to be the first to kiss him.
And yes, the attraction between the two protagonists will end up crystallizing when Yang Yong Ming also kisses his friend.
Tung Wang's cinematography helps to successfully portray the charming sparks between the two young actors and the beauty of the Taiwanese capital.
Although at the beginning of the century, queer fiction was defined by transgression and reaffirmation, as a form of resistance in a very hostile environment, this short film reclaims adolescence as the period of doubts and fears. Instead of associating it with transgression, the queer attitude is associated with vulnerability, tenderness and the willingness to get closer to the other.
Without ignoring fears, insecurities and vulnerabilities, the short film builds from fiction a warm, optimistic and luminous universe to embrace the queer experience of the two protagonists.
Produced by Yi Juyng Lin, 'Beats Per Minute' is a film that manages to portray what it is like to live in the closet during adolescence and that reminds us that LGBT+ people also deserve to live a love story. It is, in short, an exciting and sexy story that portrays the sexual awakening in that period of a person's life that lies between childhood and adulthood.

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The scenery is pretty to look at, but the story and emotions are lacking

First of all, let me praise the movie a little. This movie has a beautiful opening shot, in Bolivia, and all of the travel shots are absolutely breathtaking to look at. The travelogue part of the story was quite enjoyable. Bolivia, Czechia, and Iceland were unique and special locations to visit. If you paired this beautiful scenery with a good story it would be a hit for sure.

Unfortunately, the story was not good. The story is supposed to be romantic... but what kind of romance is this? The story is about the FL running away from the ML so they are apart from each other for almost the whole movie. Most of the flashbacks make their relationship look mediocre. So what kind of romance is this? They don't seem like they share real love together. There are very few romantic scenes. The movie is mostly just the ML moping in bars and complaining he can't find her.

The acting was also surprisingly bad. I thought the ML Satoh Takeru did an okay job but both FLs were quite bad. Mori Nana was trying too hard to act cute and Nagasawa Masami (the main FL) seemed very fake in all of her emotional scenes. For example, when she was pretending to cry I thought it was very unbelievable and bad acting.

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Deeply sad and tear-jerking movie! everything is awesome!!

LAHN MAH : How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies was deeply sad and tear-jerking movie. with its powerful storytelling and emotional depth, this movie left me in a puddle of tears. i started cryin in the first 30 minutes, the pray paper part. then it became layers upon layers of unending sadness that kept making me cry.

mixed feelings, mainly because of the 40% relatable plot + Amah as a grandma figure who feels so real + the touching moment of finally seeing Billkin and Tu Tontawan loml, on the big screen of my country + proud because many witnessed the debut movie of my idols. Amah's acting, considering this is her debut film, is truly incredible. Billkin and his consistently powerful crying scenes. Tu with her first movie debut. not biased more, but this is really worth to watch and i feel i'm a proud fan because my idol's debut movie as MAIN LEAD was so awesome!🥹

if u feel u can't relate bcs your relationship with your grandma, hear me out, it doesn't have to be related because of the closeness of grandchild and grandma, it can also be related to thinking about "whether one day i will be like Amah's child?". then i love small conversations such as Amah asking "have you eaten yet?" "the lights are turned off?" those are really close with real life. small details like M's sandals which came off in a hurry, waering same clothes etc. we all know GDH never disappoints. and now Lahn Mah is getting 300,000+ viewers in 5 days of screening in Indonesia! it's more than amazing!!! i cried a lotttt😭🥹💓💖💌💞🫶🏻

this movie will leave you sobbing uncontrollably!! ((my experience))

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Horror movie in Erotica Clothing

Anyone walking in might be surprised to find that that this is more than just a gay erotic movie. This is so much more than that. This is a genuinely good horror movie disguised as an Erotic film and I think that fact will turn many people away. Which I think is a massive shame.

It's a psychosexual thriller with solid acting, and an interesting storyline that I think is explored well. Even during the short runtime I was constantly glued to the screen, figuring out what's happening. Yes there are sex scenes but they're visceral and violent, obviously not meant to be gratifying but to add to the horrors the main characters are going through.

I recommend this for anyone willing to look past it's label of Pinku Film and see it for what it really is. A competent horror movie.

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Deserves a FAR Better Rating. Flips the cliches.

This movie is a perfect example why I can't trust the ratings on MDL. I've been extremely disappointed by numerous highly rated shows. But here's a super low rated movie that was better than all of them put together, if you like occasional dark stories. (TW: there is some very dark material, but probably not what you're expecting.)

I can see people getting put off by the awkward gratuitous sex scene at the beginning. But it isn't graphic and doesn't last that long. Honestly, if you took all the sex scenes out I would give this a 9.5. Normally I like a few but these kind of felt out of place and threw off the film's pacing.

This isn't your cliche vampire story. I've never seen a setup and portrayal like this. The aspects of this vampire feel grounded in reality, unfolding how you might without anything outlandishly supernatural. The vampire is very much innocent and almost childlike. He's easily the most moral character. Meanwhile the humans are rife with immorality. I wouldn't call this a Romance, it's way more Psychological. There's definitely some yandere tones in here, and I'm here for it because it's fascinating. (another reminder, it gets dark)

It's rare for me to like media where I can't empathize with the main character. But I understand his motivations, and I just don't see stories like this with a flipped script, especially in the vampire genre, and it's LGBTQ to boot.

The production value is high, the acting is convincing, the story is captivating, the characters are compelling but dark. There's not that many sex scenes and they're less than 30 seconds. The movie is worth it.

you can watch it on myreadingmanga.info. slightly higher quality than youtube.

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A good adaption

Condensing a large body of work into a short runtime is never easy, but Golden Kamuy does a good job adapting the first five episodes of the anime into a cohesive story. This success is largely due to the strength of the original writing. As I mentioned in my review of "Teasing Master Takagi-San," a well-crafted story can work in any medium, and that's evident with Golden Kamuy. The characters and situations are well-written, and even during slower moments, the characters keep you engaged.

While the film presents a cohesive narrative, it sacrifices some emotional depth and character development. There is less time for characters to build rapport through casual interactions, as the story quickly moves from one set piece to the next. As a result, the relationships between characters may not resonate as strongly with first-time viewers compared to those familiar with the anime, which provides more background.

The film flies by even at a runtime of over two hours, and you're engaged the whole time. Overall, while this is a good film and adaptation, I would recommend experiencing the story through the manga or anime for a richer experience.

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I have a recommendation for you

This was a small budget film, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do think that if you're looking for an adapted manga J Drama you'll be better served by seeing Cherry Magic, which came out the same year:https://mydramalist.com/69463-30sai-made-doteida-to-mahotsukai-ni-narerurashi

It handles the struggle to understand someones feelings and the evolution into closeness with them with a great deal of elegance and humour.

I'm not saying "Don't watch this" because if you like Japanese comedies this fits into that. But it feels dated already in 2024. Cherry Magic doesn't.

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If John Wick start a gory grindhouse (not for Dog but Gold) with Mononoke-hime

So we got a war veteran turned gold prospector with a vengeful tribe-hime partner. This literally calls for violence, gore, and comedy as a side dish - of course I'll dive in.


Story:

First for some important context, the manga this is based off of have some non-fiction aspect to it. Basically, ML is based on 2 real-life figures:
(1) The first is a man also named Saichi Sugimoto, the great-grandfather of the manga creator, Satoru Noda. He was a great soldier and was celebrated as a war hero.
(2)The other was soldier Hiroshi Funasaka, who had also received the title of "Immortal" after having survived many life threathening injuries.

Now Kento literally slays in any kind of suicidal but still dangerous character lol. ML is a one-man death squad who will swim through any kind of danger just to get what he want (while magically not dying in the process. A plot hole or not I honestly don't know).

'Immortal' Sugimoto is made more deadly with the company of no ordinary MC, Asirpa (Ainu). She is similar to Mononoke-Hime(Emishi tribe) in many ways. Both are fiesty girl bosses who can skin their enemies without even blinking, and is protected by an intelligent creature. Also 'cause Emishi is somewhat related to the Ainu population.

With their combined crazy, you know I aint lying when I said our MCs would start a gory grindhouse. Just know there is some xpoop cooking and head cracking on the side. ^•^


Acting:

I agree with Opickles' review about Kento. He indeed bagged a lot of ML roles in a span of 5 yrs. But IMHO, he did well in all of them. Maybe others could have done this role but he was amazing in this one. Playing a young war veteran just wishing for some solice after experiencing hell is no easy feat. That one scene where he was contemplating about leaving for the sake of others made me emotional. Atleast Kento deserve praises for that scene alone. I bet he was shooting AIB 3 while in this. I don't know about Japan but I hope they give him proper recognition for all his roles.

Next, the other actors was not bad in their overall acting, whether during comedic or action scenes. I honestly think the actress for Asiripa was great here. She was so cool with her bow and arrow. I also had a big smile when I saw her hilarious xpoop eating credit scene. Shiraishi was also a very funny character to me, especially when he's with Sugimoto hilarious scenes just comes naturally on screen. Although I cant help but compare some of them all to other actors who could have also slayed the roles, I had fun watching as an action aficionado.

I also agree how the comedic scenes can be off-putting. I do see how the director struggled in them. Still some of them were very fun to me actually. Now the deliriously gory ones like the rampage seen through the point of view of a man in a bear hideout? Definitely not RK-level action but these bloody action scenes still deserves a thumbs up.

P. S. I didn't read the manga to know if this was loyal as an adaptation. I'm also not some action expert so this review are purely out of subjective opinion. Still, I can't wait for the sequel!

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Failed Potential

Let me start by saying that I am sucker for ghost stories, even though I am really scared of the paranormal entity. I went into this movie hoping for a good dose of fear and ghosts, but was left severely disappointed by the storytelling and pacing.

First and foremost, the movie is divided into three parts that take place at one university, but they have nothing in common.
The pacing for all stories was very slow, and overall it didn’t have any horror feels, but instead, for some reason, the movie had melancholic feels. They tried to play the feeling card so many times that I got bored in the middle of it. The ghosts were... well, there, but there was no further information about them.

The acting was very good, and I feel that it wasted potential for the actors, as the script failed them very badly.

Overall, it was pure chaos, and I do not recommend it. The below-average subtitles also didn’t do any good for the quality, so if you can, please avoid this movie, as it doesn’t bring anything new to the table or anything exciting.

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