By Chance (2011)

Definitely deserves a review and perhaps some more audience.

Although this movie doesn't really have a plot, it's really beautifully arranged narrative story. Aoi Yu who travels to a far off Ireland tells the story of her adventure, that definitely can be named a bizarre one.

There's not much to say about the acting since it feels like it doesn't really exist - everything seems surreal. This should encourage some and discourage others but that's the intent.

The music fits the whole atmosphere of the movie: positive yet innocent, awkward yet intriguing. It's the best if you haven't listen to Sigur Ros, but always wanted to.

The whole thing being quite short, (nearly) one actor and quite mystique movie leaves a feeling of an untold fairytale, that' been an amazing adventure one would want and hate to experience.

Cons? Too short, left some things undeveloped, no plot, NO SUBS (but if you know some Japanese it may do.)

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Completely Implausible

Oh my goodness, where do I begin? The concept of this sounded like it might be good, but it went wrong in so many ways. Town that she visited was beautiful, but the film quality was lacking.

So, the male lead loses his fiance and finds her doppelganger and convinces her to come and have some pictures taken as the dead fiance. He doesn't have any pictures of her? If you were so in love with her, wouldn't you have photos of things that you've done together?

The dissertation she wrote was rejected and so, being depressed, she agrees to go to another country, meet strange people and have pictures taken wearing the dead woman's clothes. Creepy much? The whole dissertation thing could have been left out completely, it added nothing to the story.

The dead fiance cheated with an employee of the fiance. This was never discovered by the fiance and handled. So, the co-worker is creepy, too and likes the doppelganger.

The main couple only had a couple of encounters - he saved her from a lizard (that was WAY over the top!), they spent the afternoon sightseeing. They speak different languages and can't understand one another. So, how in the world could they determine that they were in love with one another?!?! For his part, he liked her because she looked like the fiance. For her part, who knows?

If a story is told well, all can be explained in a two-hour movie. This movie MIGHT have been better had it been episodic and there would have been more time to actually develop a relationship.

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