This show and particularly the movie, are so much more than just your average drama. I have already reviewed the Jdrama Nodame Cantabile and I would only add one really important thing you should know. Nodame and Chiaki live in Paris and their journey is set in a much more adult world past college into apprenticeship and learning to become Pro. They have a new group of friends, harder challenges and also a deeper, more mature place in their relationship.
But trust me, it hasn’t lost all of its comic book slapstick and silliness. I think the way the writers made both Chiaki and Nodame grow up is very smart of them and cool for us viewers. This movie is a fun. Because Nodame is still sloppy and she still has all of her core craziness intact. Chiaki is still a stuffy, cranky commitment phobic but he is also still tender and kind of a sucker for Nodame. They have become in my mind eccentric because they are genius and geeky, not because they are comic manga characters with no depth. Again, the writers of this show/manga are smart.
Of course the cinematography is great. They are in Paris! Everything looks great, all the time. (Accept Nodame’s apartment.)
The music is a 10. It’s Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Revel and on and on.
If you haven’t watched the Nodame Series, you should give it a try but
I suggest definitely watching before you watch this movie. And when you do, you’ll think this movie is the best part of the series.
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I found myself skipping the long minutes of orchestra playing. It was just too much for me. I understand the show is about music, but I would of enjoyed it more if they put more into the characters and the story. I felt like I was just watching an orchestra play throughout over half of the movie.
If you really enjoy classical music, you will probably love this to death, but for me, it just wasn't really my thing. The comedy was great as always and I love the characters, but that's the only redeeming factors for me.
Onto Part II.....
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The acting is still amazing, the music is still superb and the story is still entretaining, yet I felt not much happened plot-wise in this one compared to the specials. I felt the flashbacks dragged for too long and the performances were a bit too many; or maybe it was that, in the specials, they were more clearly used to move the plot along and here I felt they did it only in some instances. This movie is much more through Chiaki's perspective than it is in Nodame's, so I'm hoping that'll arrive in the next one.
That being said, it's still a fantastic movie and extremely entretaining and recommendable. And the music is still and will always be incredible.
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Listening to the sound of orchestra and classical music was refreshing to the ear. As if I cleaned my ears after a long time of listening to the same type of music again and again. Ok, that was a side track comment... now back to the story.
Part one of the movie left me this feeling of wanting to watch the second part instantly but I had to squirm at home and wait for it to be subbed.
There was this hanging feeling when the movie ended, which by the way is what everyone is supposed to feel since the producers intend the viewers to watch the sequel. As much as I enjoyed this first part, it is still a cliff hanger. We all know what cliff hangers do to our brain. Adding more, the movie was also redundant. Unlike Nodame’s arc, Chiaki’s story always... always starts with a problematic orchestra, fails on the first try then ends up with a fantastic cantabile on the later part thus making the story line so predictable when it comes to Chiaki's arc. Whereas Nodame’s arc is the distorted one since her main goal in life is only about Chiaki but not herself thus leaving the character UNSURE of herself with no exact future laid out for her. Yet this type of character leaves a great impression and a big blank for the writers to fill in for the next movie sequel.
Nodame’s character is simple yet complex at the same time. Not to forget the wacky part on how she clings on Chiaki as much as she could and yet kills herself with insecurity every time Chiaki does something marvelous and out of her league but that’s the part that makes Nodame Cantabile fun... the Nodame/Chiaki saga that could never be understood in terms of simplicity.
Watching this film was an introduction for the next one or a teaser as most would say because it didn’t contain what most of the watchers were probably waiting for and that is Nodame’s success.
For the story plot, it was really tiring to watch the flashbacks but at the same time enjoyable because I could once again enjoy Mozzart and Bach through Chiaki’s point of view. As I have previously mentioned, it gave me a sense of nostalgia and for that I am thankful.
Character wise, there weren’t any major characters involved unlike in the special maybe they are going to add someone in the sequel. I still enjoyed the main cast’s acting and it gave me so much joy that Ueno Juri still haven’t changed after all those years when she first started as Nodame!
Cinematography, the setting is in Paris! What more can I ask for? No matter what angle they use for the video, they just capture that feeling of being in the city where art and music lived for centuries. I have nothing more to comment on it because it is simply loved.
Soundtrack, need I say more about this? IT IS CLASSICAL! And the background music for certain scenes brought more hilarity into it than intended to. So yes... the soundtrack added more for the enjoyment of the viewer.
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