Reviews

Is there any like it?

No there isn't! Such a sweet and heartfelt drama that has me in tears each time I rewatch. Out of all the romance I've read or watched, this is probably my favorite of all time. It shows how you don't need much to love someone, and how affection doesn't always need to be shown with hugs, kisses or just skin-ship in general, even so, you can still tell how much Taiyu cared for Zhenxin. Seeing feelings develop here and there through a comfortable relationship where two share the same braincell is just so cute and refreshing, it has its own uniqueness in a way, not needing many words or contact exchanged to absolutely melt our hearts and have us absolutely sweating from our eyes. (Crying)

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Junji Ito's manga Uzumaki was a masterpiece... the movie not so much.

I have and read multiple times the original Uzumaki manga by Junji ito. I love Junji Ito's works and Uzumaki is a good story. The movie was a hard watch.

I started watching it with high expectations, and that's probably where I went wrong. They left out alot of the story, but thankfully kept some of my favorites parts. I personally dont think Shuichi's actor fits the character but that's not to much of a problem.

By no means is this a perfect adaptation. I encourage you to watch it yourself and see what you think. I hope you find it much more enjoyable than I did.

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"A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children"

Love and Duty featured another Ruan Ling Yu tragic character who suffered for making a wrong choice. Old films are not forgiving of women who stray so you know going into this story to buckle up and be prepared for a boat load of pain and at two-and-a-half hours, Ruan's character was on a sinking ship of misery.

The film covered over two decades in the life of Yang Nei Fan (Ruan Ling Yu) starting when she was a school girl. She and a boy named Li Zu Yi (Jin Yan) begin to have feelings for each other, but before anything can get started her father declares she is to be married to a rich young man in a month. With no say in her own life, she is ignored when she begs her father to not force her to marry at such a young age. The marriage ends up being filled with awkward silences, though intimate enough they have two children. When her son falls into a pond and is rescued by Li the two are excitedly reunited. She invites him to meet her husband which he agrees to. While her husband, Huang Ta Jen, is out with his mistress the two begin to connect emotionally, all being witnessed by the troublesome servant Fox. They begin to spend more and more time together until Li gives her an ultimatum. Either she runs away with him or he kills himself. Because she doesn't have grounds for divorce, she would be abandoning her family illegally. When the time comes for her to leave, Li tells her she can't bring the children which she finds to be devastating.

The affair is covered in all the papers and though the lovers take on new identities it's not long before they are discovered and Li has trouble holding down a job. Meanwhile, Nei Fan becomes pregnant. Tragedy strikes leaving her in an even more precarious position. As time passes the younger generation fatefully becomes entwined leading Nei Fan to make a drastic decision.

Love and Duty was a film thought lost for many decades. A copy of it was discovered in Uruguay in the 1990's and was given to Taiwan and is currently stored at the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. The copy I watched had one, sometimes two running clocks on the screen as well as the TFAI stamp on the screen. The film is being shared not only for entertainment purposes but also for research and teaching purposes. There was no music accompanying the version I watched.

The performances were for the most part strong, but the acting style felt dated. There was more overacting than I've seen with quality silent films from this era. Ruan Ling Yu was a special actress who sadly took her life at the age of 24. She was quite young here but still conveyed a wide range of emotions first as an effervescent student and then a tired older woman. She also played her grown daughter with Huang.

With some older silent films, the tragic life of a female lead serves as an indictment on society's treatment of women. This story came across as a cautionary tale of what happens when a woman does not do her duty. The audience is repeatedly told that Nei Fan is unforgivable and a sinner with no path to redemption. She is only worthy of heartache, poverty, shame, and pain. "A mother who has no right to share the glory of her children." The film felt longer than 2 ½ hours and could have been trimmed without losing anything important. It was difficult to watch this woman being ostracized throughout much of the film for making a bad life choice. Her husband who spent much of his time with his mistress suffered no ill effects.

Despite it's unforgiving tone, Love and Duty was an interesting historical piece of entertainment and a peek into the troubling moral code of the day regarding women. Ruan Ling Yu didn't star in many films during her short life and many of those have been lost to time. Though not as strong as other films of hers I have seen it was a gift to be able to watch this talented actress in this rescued film.


5/24/23

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Always looking on the bright side of life

UNPOPULAR OPINION

As far as I can understand, I am supposed to love this movie because it was made by deaf cast and crew. And, while I do admire them for the effort, I do not like the movie: it is as full of righteous feelings as it is boring and uninteresting. Though maybe, I should not say that since it is a true story.

The movie is apparently based on the director's life. It tells the story about two girls in love. When the first one comes out to her parents, she is rejected so her girlfriend takes he to LGBTQetc. deaf support group where they all take turns in sharing their life stories in the second half of the movie. They all seem to be in a world devoid of hearing people.

The whole concept of this movie is rather original since is almost entirely silent: only one character speaks while all the others sign. But everything else did not rise up to the occasion. the cinematography is bland and pale and sad. The acting is bad though it is obvious everyone tried their best but it is still not good enough. The music is awful: a sort of hypnotic, sad, repetitive, monotonal piano piece: there were like 5 notes played repeatedly, non stop. I actually fell asleep a couple of times and had to rewind it in order not to miss out on the plot.

You have to admire though, the bravery of these people who do not let their handicap be impediment to their happiness. Ultimately it is a very optimistic movie.

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Not really what I expected

It was supposedly a cute movie about love and marriage but I can't stand the message.

So the male lead's almost-an-affair is nothing to be revealed? And it's considered as a normal behavior? I thought it would cause a scene between the main couple.

This man is such a jerk to me, for being over-jealous towards for no clear reason, just him being so childish and possessive, and for taking her as a bad inspiration to write poems, for ignoring her, and worst, for letting his jerks aka so-called friends embarass her and not protecting her.

I really don't think the ending is a happy ending for the female lead. She deserves so much better.

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Really pull you in...

I'm going to be brief. Most of "time travel" related dramas are mess but this was pretty ok. Ok. Not perfect. It had few holes and the end was meh(=the last 2 minutes)

The acting was brilliant. I was sometimes scared how good it was. It felt too real watching jong-seo, thumbs up for both FL<3

Start was slower but it was bearable and i was nervously bitting my nails through the last 50 minutes,not gonna lie. The thrill was real. Definitely worth watch for people who like thrillers and psychology etc. but sometimes it's better to switch your brain off and just watch.

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For people who watched the prequel

So basically it tells us James' story, a boy that came from a wealthy family and were pressured by his mom to study harder and harder, as he pretend to be exactly what she wanted he was, in reality, sinking and drugs and starting to engage in prostitution.
In this one, we can see how James turns out, probably in a couple of years of difference. As someone who watched Bittersweet Chocolate, I knew not to expect a clear movie.
The actors are not bad, not bad at all. BTW cheers to the little boy in chains he made an amazing job performing torture and fear is not easy.
The only thing I didn't like tho was how explicit was the sex scenes, that weird-looking childish ladyboy, whose only scream time was to be fingered, really shocked me off. But clearly, the whole intention of this movie is to be shocking.
So no, I don't think this movie is that bad for people used to cult cinema but do have A LOT of flaws.

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A picture is worth a thousand words, or is it?

If you are not old enough to remember rolls of film, one of the commonly used rolls had 36 shots on it. This film was told in 36 segments based largely on camera shots or the memories from those shots as if labeling a picture or a memory. The film leisurely and gently explored the relevancy between photos and memories and the malleability and impermanence of both.

Sai is a film location scout and Oom is the art director. They meet scouting out an abandoned love hotel from the Vietnam War era that Sai has memories of being in her old neighborhood. Sai uses a digital camera, taking many pictures that she will later store and keep. Oom still uses a film camera and often takes pictures of people when they aren't looking even though he refuses to have his picture taken. Though he says he will send them a copy, he rarely does. The two spend a lot of time discovering the nooks and crannies of the possible set and also negotiate with the landlady over room prices for the cast and crew. Oom takes a picture of Gita, the landlady's 12-year-old daughter that later may prove important. Afterwards, Sai and Oom enjoy an evening breeze from the roof and take their picture with her camera in front of the beautiful sky. Soon the "end credits" appear after the 11th shot.

The film jumps into the future 2 years. Sai and Oom have gone their separate ways. When the director she is currently working for discovers the building he built his new script around has been leveled, Sai mentions the other building. She attempts to recover the photos but even after a friend works to restore them, only a few survived and not the one of her and Oom on the rooftop. She returns to the building and talks to the landlady. It turns out Gita died and the landlady would love to have the picture Oom took of her. During the process of trying to find Oom and restore the pictures, she realizes her feelings for him were stronger than she had known. As the film closes in on the 36th segment, Oom looks at the picture of them on the roof faraway on his computer (unknown to her he had copied her images from the shoot long ago), Sai smiles as she remembers the special moment they shared.

36 was shot in an artful way that could also distance the viewer from the characters. Oom is never seen face on, and often shots of other characters were in profile or from behind or even half hidden by architecture. I liked the labeled 36 bits of the story, like looking at a picture album where the photo had been annotated and saved. The OST was also lovely, I especially enjoyed the piano music.

Just as film cameras have mostly transitioned over to digital cameras so are most movies now shot with digital film. The danger of digital film was also addressed in that backups are necessary, because once a disk or other device has been damaged the pictures are likely lost for good. Her friend Kai mentioned how many people brought hard drives to be fixed saying they needed them immediately, but instead never returned for them. A drawerful of memories lay untouched. For one reluctant woman who came to pick hers up, he offered to erase those memories.

Which is more important? To see a bird or to take a picture of it? To experience the person you are with, or only the relative engagement of photos? The argument is made for both the value of the human experience and memory as well as the memories that are brought back by glancing at a photo. For the director whose childhood building was destroyed a picture is all that is left of it and his memories. Ironically, at the end of the movie, Oom who always valued the human experience more is found looking at Sai's picture and reminiscing. Conversely, Sai goes back to the place they shared and the memory floods her mind as she gazes fondly to where they had been together. Memory is a fragile, fading construct of the mind, subject to change. While memories are important, photos help to shore up the time and events. Buildings crumble, people die, digital photos can be erased, photos fade and relationships shatter, 36 touched on the concept of impermanence as well. There comes a time when no one remembers the people or places in the pictures.

While I enjoyed this film, it also failed to emotionally capture me with the relationships involved. The ending was meaningful to the arguments of photo or memory, but it left a hole in the picture I had hoped to find. I was hoping for a 37th epilogue image or a new roll of film to begin. This is a very slow, artful movie, more philosophical than touching. Yet for its shortcomings I did find it engaging. If this genre is of interest to you, it would be well worth trying.

5/23/23

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Beautiful in its simplicity

This mini-movie I know appears to be more like an ‘after-school’ project and perhaps held together with chewing gum and glue. This is never going to win any awards nor be on any top 10 list. However, it did do something for me that so many BLs, especially Thai, do not do for me anymore. And that is, it made me smile. Made my eyes tear up. It also made me reflect. Further, it made me see how so, so many everyday ordinary gay relationships begin. This gem captured the heart and soul of a humanity that is not often portrayed. A humanity of individuals whose beauty lies within, not without, whose goodness is inherent, not extrinsic, and whose fortitude is who they are, not guess at. It is a story of genuineness and strength of character. It is a story of life. And most importantly, it is a simple basic story of love. This is just plain fun and gives us the bright side of humanity and shows us the limitless purity of unconditional love.

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No thoughts, just vibes

The moment I saw my girl Esom on the cast list, I knew I was in for some freaky shit I didn't know I wanted or needed, but suddenly its 2 AM and I'm clutching my pillow close to my face, giggling like a farting baby

Look, whoever is taking this movie so (sooooo) seriously needs to chill out. Writing wise, it's half-baked at best. Plot lines unresolved, random incest that has zero explanation, purpose or need, murky motivations and a narrative style that I personally enjoyed, but ultimately understand did nothing for the plot. And yet, I thoroughly, massively, obsessively enjoyed it. You know why?

It has got some KILLER vibes, you guys. Like, hahaha, I guess that's a pun, but no seriously. The dialogue delivery is A1, the direction and cinematography was incredible, and my KRYPTONITE trope: yearning. Pining. Longing. All that good stuff, all rolled into one dynamic that had me salivating.

Kill/Gil Bok Soon as a character was perfect too, and I guess her daughter was okay, too. I like the way the mother-daughter tension was handled, and while I got frustrated at the way Bok Soon sometimes handled her child, I also understood that it comes from a place of trauma, where you want to understand and support your child but you have no clue how. I really enjoyed how Bok Soon battled personal demons not when spilling blood, but at the thought of exposing her daughter to the brutality that plagues her daily life. I found that a really striking reflection of how generational trauma manifests in a parent-child relationship, where you have so much to hide from your child because you want to protect them but ultimately make decisions that end up pushing them away. I'm glad that the movie spent time on that because I could not give less of a crap about her "event planning"- I knew what I signed up for.

Of course, be warned that the movie will unecessarily raise questions that they do not even, for a fly's blink of a nanosecond, begin to address. The first two times you will be confused but will reassure yourself that over 60% of the movie is left. Over time, when you throw hands at the tenth question the movie will tease you into wondering (that you never even thought in the first place! But now it's in your head and it's a plot hole!) you will realise the movie is over and you're done :/

Gratifying, it is not.

Overall: Watch it for the vibes, which is what I did, and you will love this movie to bits!

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A love so beautiful, you have to rewatch to truly understand

(I feel this is more of my feelings on the ending than a full on review so...)
I think I'll have to watch this beauty a few more times to truly understand how deeply they love and care for each other. Maybe 2 rewatches because until now its a mess in my head...I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm satisfied and yet disappointed with the ending. My feelings are conflicted because this is the first time I've seen such complex and unfamiliar emotions being so well portrayed.
I'm left confused and amazed.
I understand them to some extent but somehow i could never even begin to truly understand lest i actually experience their love, pain, agony, happiness and so much more.

Holy hell, this movie make me want to write freaking essays that i hate sm. And ofc its always Zhou Dong You and her impeccable acting that do this to me ?? (damn her good taste)

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Zombie Survival Done Right

For something that I expected to fall off short, I'm still in awe of what I saw. Sure, I've heard a lot of praise about this movie, but at the end of the day, it's just another zombie survival, how good can it get?

I take it back. How good can it NOT get?!

When even Hollywood can't sell off a plot with its seemingly unending budget, you'd think nobody else can. Well, I guess I'm stepping into a territory where nothing of that matters.

This movie had everything, cast, plot, budget, and most importantly, it was enjoyable. The acting was superb, I really connected with all characters. The gore as unforgiving, and the stakes were racing the high skies. This is a really special experience as a first-time watch, and ever more so as rewatch material.

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Adorable film!

I absolutely loved this movie. It was so much fun and so cute. Na Moon Hee is such a great actress. Seeing her in the role of grandmother and feeling like a burden to her family, yet so in love with all of them wanting nothing but the best for them, was nearly heartbreaking to me. But this movie is a comedy and it is really packed wit laughs. You'll get a couple hours of fun for sure.
I have to type 500 characters and I have no idea how many I have so far so I'm just going to type more but not related to the movie since I said all that needs to be said in that first paragraph.

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