Reviews

Asako is a lonely woman, who tries to forget that feeling by sleeping with various men. At some point in live, she realizes that she won't get the warmth she is looking for by doing that, so she wants to find a man who will make her pregnant. The one she decides on is the gay Katsuhiro, who just found a boyfriend, Naoya. Naoya doesn't know why the woman would want to have child by a gay guy. He also doesn't understand why Katsuhiro would want a child, since he is gay and will never have one. During the film, the three of them have to overcome some test and the opinion of society.

The story is basically about the social structure of Japan, about three people seeking warmth in that society and about intimacy. While it is a serious theme, there are many comedic elements in it. Not in the usual Japanese comedy style, but just situations that turn out funny or strange and that will make you laugh because it's genuinely funny, not because it's overacted or crazy. The whole story idea is actually cute, only the ending a bit too serious for the rest of the movie.

The characters are lovable and I really like how they portrayed the relationship to the family members or how the relationship between the gay couple and Asako develops. It was all nicely paced and I enjoyed watching the movie. They have some bed scenes in it, so the movie is not for the younger audience, but it's discretely done, so it should be fine to watch it, if you know that they are in there somewhere.

I gave this movie 4* because I wasn't too fond of the ending. But if you want to see a serious film, like gays and want to learn about Japanese society, this will be your movie!

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A mother of four children moves in to a new apartment in a very unique way. One of the children is walking with her, the other three are hidden in luggage. Only the oldest son is allowed to go out, the other three are locked up inside. And then the mother disappears. How will three children aged from 6 to 12 survive with a bit of money their mother left them?

This movie is based on a real case form Japan, where the mother abandoned her children. I wouldn't call it a bad movie, but since I am the type to watch movies to enjoy myself rather than being reminded of the cruel world, I couldn't really rate it better. It is not a bad movie, but it is saddening and depressing to watch and think how this really happened. This movie shows many of the social problems Japan had back in 2004 and still has. For example nobody seems to think they have to do something about the children who live alone. And then there is regular bullying. There is the issue of a good friend of the oldest son trying to prostitute herself to get some money for the kids and so on. There is a lot of serious stuff and even though the movie is not bad, it's not what I want to watch. So it get's 2* from, but a warm recommendation to everyone who likes realistic films that tell you the problems of a society. If you are interested in Japan, you should try and think outside of the frames while watching the movie, since it can teach you a lot about the Japanese society.

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When Shioris parents get killed in front of her eyes, she is saved by a devil and he starts to stay by her side as her butler. To take revenge, she goes back to her house as a boy, to inherit the Funtom corporation and searches for the killer. The devil beside her is always there to take her orders and does, whatever she tells him to. Until they can finally find the organization who killed her parents.

If you want to watch this movie, I suggest you bring two things with you. First of all, you should NOT think about the manga while doing so. And secondly, you should like Hiro Mizushima. I did both things and to be honest, I was able to enjoy the movie pretty well! What people will be most interested in is probably, how much the movie differs from the manga... Well, it starts with the originally tiny boy being a girl. And then there are many characters missing. Of course they couldn't fit in a long storyline, so for the most part there are no other devils (Grell) and some other side characters are missing (the cook).

If you look at it as just a movie, that by chance has similar characters like the manga, the result is actually decent! Most of the time, it's there to show how awesome Sebastian is and to be honest, I love that because Sebastian is the reason I watched it. The rest of the movie is a tiny, obvious detective story. There are only two or three things I couldn't see directly, but most of the time I got the hint immediately and with that, I wondered what the movie wants to show us, beside Sebastian.

So, in the end, I can say I enjoyed the movie. Though there were some scenes that I thought were ridiculous, I still can give this movie 4* because it showed me exactly what I wanted. A warning to those who watch it for the sake of the manga: don't. And a clear recommendation to watch it, if you love Mizushima Hiro.

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Trying to send a Great Message, but not really delivering on it

Don't bother watching it.

~~ STORY ~~

The synopsis was great, but the script fails spectacularly. The dancer is seen taking care of the swimmer, but at no point does he convince swimmer to swim again. The film ends just as the swimmer starts to feel like he can smile again. The ending where they fall into the pool and swim was quite rushed. The ending was a "What did I just watch?" type of ending because it was so rushed.

~~ ACTING ~~

The acting was great, but was wasted on a lackluster script.

This film has very little spoken words, so that should speak for how good their acting is.

~~ OVERALL ~~

Don't bother watching this. It's a waste of time.

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Old Grandpa Suzuki is lonely and wants to be needed. But his family isn't very understanding of the old man, so he goes out to find a part time job. Sadly, he is too old to take on a normal job. Until he suddenly finds the flyer of people, who look for someone to play a robot in a costume for a tiny stage play. When he gets the role on a very short notice, he becomes involved in a tiny fraud, that three workers of a household goods company planned to not get fired. Grandpa Suzuki finally is the star of the newspapers as the sensational robot "New Shiokaze", who can do stuff no other robot could to so far and who even is capable of saving lifes!

The trailer of the movie is really funny and cute, and to be honest, it represents the movie very well! Grandpa Suzuki is a very heartwarming and nice character. At some point you would just feel bad for him.

The three workers are funny and very basic, but that's what makes the movie so enjoyable. It's not really about the people who build the robot, but about the guy in the robot costume.

There is also a robot-fan who keeps getting involved with the trio and the robot, which made the movie a bit exciting. The trio always has to take care to not get found out and is always stressed. And while they do everything to keep the robot away from people, grandpa Suzuki is doing the exact opposite. It's so much fun to watch, how he just wants to feel needed and enjoys the attention and so on! To be honest, the best part was the ending. It made the movie even better and I could give the movie 5 stars without thinking a second time. I just enjoyed every minute of this comedy.

I suggest you to watch it, if you want a lighthearted comedy, that also shows a bit of the hardship that an old grandpa has to go through in Japan.

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I would recommend it!

This is not a typical romantic comedy movie, but it's something we all have seen again. I would say that it was interesting to watch and I liked it. It is a movie about two people whose exes get married together and they meet at their wedding. They get drunk and sleep together and this way they start a deal. The thing is that they get to know each other before the deal so their sleeping together deal seemed more like starting a relationship. Their chemistry was obvious and they had feelings too. After the end of their deal, they have to face the reality, which is not an easy thing to do when you fight with your self esteem. In the end, I was happy that I gave this movie a chance. So, I totally recommend this movie!

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Just a story of a college girl

Watch this movie because of the news of the remake movie "Similar". I think this movie is not that bad as some said. Yes the ending is not good or not normal like other lovey dovey living in dreamland kind of love story. And the story is a bit flat, no really excitement / mystery / action / love, it just a flat daily life story of a college girl (except of the strange connection to the future time). But don't most of of us also most of the days living this monotonous flat daily life?
This is the time when Kim Ha Neul and Ha Ji Won still very young and quite new in the industry.

Acting
Acting wise both can deliver the emotion and expression well. The male lead in the other hand, the acting is a bit off to me, he looks like an autism or a bit of dumb? The expression is a bit strange too.

Story
The story is quite refreshing to connect with the past and future (but in real life this likely to happen though). The main focus is not the love story, but the daily life of a normal college student who have a crush to her senior. She's shy in nature and not the type will pursue a guy even how she like him. It just it's not so clear how actually the guy feelings toward her, does he like her? If yes he should have pursue her and not go out with the best friend.
Fate bring connect her with the future son, even without any words they recognize each other: people leave their scent and some pass down to other people. So the father pass down his scent to his son and so she can recognize him even she never met him.
But the thing is why must them connect with each other? Usually this kind of genre will have some unresolved things that need to be resolve, but for this story there's no really anything to resolve or change, it just a story telling and nothing more to it.

Overall the story is not the best out there, but also not that bad. Still watchable but don't expect a love story or action or thriller or mystery. It just a normal daily life story with some unrealistic present / past / future connection. Don't expect too much.

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A weird and interesting movie

This is one of those movies, where you go "Huh?" for a number of reasons.
For one, the storytelling structure is unusual, if you go in uninformed it is a bit of a trip, making you wonder where it is going and what it is trying to say.
As a European with no introduction to Chinese legends, it is so whimsical and random. If you Wikipedia it and then watch it again, it makes more sense, but not much? And yet I was fully charmed by the story and the acting. I am sure, if I spend more time doing research, there are many easter eggs for mythology fans.
Maybe it is a bit like watching a theatre show without having read the source material. You get emotional, and you don't know why either.

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Ouch - in the best and worst ways.

After hearing that this film was soon to be taken off of GagaOOlala, I immediately put this at the top of my watchlist. And ultimately, I'm rather disappointed with it.

It definitely spoke to a common asexual experience - with the main character starting to feel trapped in her relationship because of his frequent desire for intimacy. She'd even come up with reasons to get out of it (eating kimchi to get kimchi-breath, saying her sister is in town, etc.) and worried that her denial would upset her boyfriend. Asking her friend if she is supposed to like sex. Trying porn. Wondering if she might be homosexual and that's the reason for her lack of interest. The feeling of being numb and broken because she can't figure it out. These are experiences that many sex-repulsed and sex-indifferent asexuals can identify with. Perhaps even some sex-favorable aces.

And I loved the use of the S.O.S. Morse code whenever she's in a situation where she has to be "normal."

The film also used symbolism with the asexual flag colors (black, grey, white, and purple), but this felt a bit heavy-handed at times (it was everywhere, I'm not even kidding). But it did lead to a scene where someone commented on her always dressing like that and saying "it suits you" - which I found really cute. So I give it a tentative pass on that.

But at the same time, I don't think they used the colors with their meanings in mind - because we have a scene where she identifies everyone as being "black" - but yet black represents asexuality, so they probably should've used white instead.

Furthermore, at the end we get a scene where she seems to finally accept who she is. But then immediately afterwards we see her enter a crowd and cover her asexual-flag-colored dress with the quote saying "Everyone is black. And I am also black." The Morse code even stopped going off. I'm not gonna lie. This hurt. She had never once covered up her colors before, even when questioning. But now that she knows what she is, she's going to hide/ignore it. I've seen it in numerous other asexual short films, and it gets me every time. I hope we get to the point where this is another cliche ending we avoid.

And then there's the fact that asexuality is never once mentioned within the actual film.

I will say though that I appreciated the New York Times quote on asexuality at the end, as well as the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) resource. I think these are important for the topic being discussed.

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Yet another masterpiece from Hirokazu Koreeda

For those who are already familiar with Hirokazu Koreeda will know what they are getting themselves into before watching this film.

If you go in to the cinemas expecting this to be fast pace action or suspense blockbuster film, than you will be disappointed. This is an art house film that is very much driven by the characters.

Each of the casts deliver outstanding performances. Song Kang-ho rightly deserve winning the Best Actor award for his starring turn in Broker at 75th Cannes Film Festival 2022. Lee Ji-eun (aka IU) is the heart and soul of this film as we watch her character change as she journey with the brokers.

Just go to the cinemas with the right expectation and this film will not disappoint while enjoy the empathetic road trip odyssey reflecting on the family we choose.

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The mystery and action is why the Tomb raider series is so popular

This is an older movie, but it is one that is worth a watch for the day you don't need to think too much. Mystery combined with action and a bit of comedy is always a winning formula in my eyes.
The story follows 2 teams of tomb raiders as they complete to find the tomb and treasure.
The acting in this movie is good, I like it. It is nice to see Jiang Meng Xuan in a non-costume, fantasy show, but I think she is great, to be honest after seeing her in several movies now. Hopefully, she will continue to grow in the future.
There isn't much of an OST to this production but the story is light and quick to catch on.

Definitely a movie for one of those light, relaxing evening and popcorn.

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Blood Brothers went where many Shanghai gangster films have gone before, but they did it with style and a stellar cast.

The three blood brothers started out dirt poor in rural China. Two were actual biological brothers, one the ruthlessly ambitious brawn (Kang) and the other, the follower lacking in confidence (Hu). The third blood brother (Fung) would be considered a more thoughtful character who wanted to earn enough money to take care of his mother and marry the girl he cared about. The three traveled to Shanghai and ended up working at the Paradise Club, a front for gangland activity. Kang took to it like a fish to water. Merciless and determined to rise in the ranks, he enjoyed the killing. Hu and Fung struggled with the violence and death.

Shu Qi played the enchanting singer and dancer, Lulu, caught between the deadly gang boss and the man she loved, Chang Chen's assassin, Mark. She toyed a little with Fung, but he was never in serious contention. Mark wanted to free Lulu from the boss by killing the big man but had been unable to do so. Lulu's desire to become an actress overrode her survival instincts causing her to refuse to leave Paradise.

The story started out slow, building steam until the stories converged, ultimately exploding into death and mayhem. Most of the story was predictable which is not always a drawback with this genre. The biggest problem it had was with pacing and editing. Some of the transitions were not seamless and felt like footage connecting the scenes had ended up on the cutting room floor.

Another drawback was that the audience was supposed to shortcut to understanding the depth of the bond between the brothers because we've seen it in so many movies. This created problems as the movie went along and I was left wondering if I should really care about these men.

What Blood Brothers lacked in story, it made up for in sets and costumes. Gorgeous and lush, lovingly shot, Blood Brothers was a very stylish film. Shu Qi and Chang Chen's performances carried much of this film. The brothers could be vaguely interesting, but again, they never reeled me in.

Five Venoms Phillip Kwok was the action director and kept the movie interesting with the action scenes when the story had trouble moving forward. People were killed in a variety of gruesome manners. Because most of them were bad guys, their deaths carried little weight.

Despite the pacing issues and bland performances by the brothers, I never lost interest in the movie and enjoyed it for the most part. Other than dressing itself in beautiful clothes and sets, Blood Brothers did little to set itself apart, but sometimes a familiar story in a pretty package is enough to spend some time with.

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Director Naruse Mikio's first talkie was a comic take on a "modern" marriage. The financial roles were reversed in this 1935 film.

Chieko was an actress and the breadwinner of the family while her spouse, Geppu, was a househusband who wore an apron and occasionally submitted poetry without much luck financially. The couple went along day in and day out as if all was normal. A nosy neighbor and the women in the neighborhood didn't understand it. While they liked Geppu, they didn't understand exactly what he did for a living. The men didn't understand why he did the laundry and cooking while his wife slept in late after rehearsals.

The nosy neighbor and her husband had a traditional marriage, yet it didn't insure happiness. She brow beat her husband into selling life insurance one night to their new neighbors. An act that would have consequences later on. The new neighbors were dressed in Western clothes and looked fabulously in love wanting only to be alone. Throw in a wannabe writer who owed everyone he could swindle and that was the main cast. Nose, the writer, was both catalyst and annoyance. I never did find his selfish antics amusing.

The turning point came when Chieko asked Geppu to run lines with her. The characters were a husband and wife fighting over the husband allowing a deadbeat friend to stay with him. As in real life the wife was the owner of the home and in charge financially. The two had never fought in real life and Chieko didn't know how to portray this part. Soon enough life imitated art and a real fight took place shaking up the status quo.

Spoilery comments below...



The acting was adequate, nothing very memorable. Overall, the film was well made. The story made nice arcs with the husband and wife. Geppu gently asserted himself and Chieko learned to treat her husband as more than an errand boy. The Nosy neighbors were brought in for contrast and comic relief. Nose was the irritating stone in their and my shoe. The real fight became physical which seemed out of place and unnecessary. The new neighbors' story took a dark turn which stood only to create conflict in the nosy neighbors' marriage.

For much of this film the couple's relationship seemed more modern than many recent marriages I've seen portrayed in Jdramas and movies. The wife was not berated by the husband and told repeatedly that her main job was to serve him and take care of the household. Their unique paradigm came across as fresh and I wonder how this was received early in the 20th century. The moments when he balked against their dynamic seemed natural when he felt underappreciated.

The ending felt like a step backwards in this progressive relationship, for a moment I had a flashback to the Stepford Wives movies, but I choose to believe Chieko stayed an independent woman, only one who paid more affectionate care of her husband instead of being shoved into a household role for which she wasn't made. And Geppu continued to be a loving househusband who learned it was okay to disagree with Chieko. Perhaps the marriage needed a shake-up to let each other know what was missing in their relationship. On a different day I might have rated this a 7, the ending, some dangling plot holes, and Nose's tiresome presence graded it down for me.

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