The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (2020)

BORING

I dont care about infidelity or screwed up storylines but this was SO boring to watch. They arent bad actors but theyre stiff because theyre supposed to be. The worst thing was how abrupt the cuts were. I do not know if it was a stylistic choice taken on purpose but its so aprupt that its hard to enjoy. They omit entire happenings of context and summarize that in maybe one line of dialogue told to some character. Like youre supposed to pick it on contrxtually. But it sucked a bit

The sexual scenes were very out there. That was good lol but everything else is an absolute meh.

Iw ill say, not a completely unrealistic story though. But doesnt make it less boring.

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Beautiful Movie

Honestly I really loved this movie it brings out a lot of real life concerns and insecurities. I love how in this movie "Kyoichi" is truly trying to figure himself ouut and it shows that he feels the pain when he hurts Imagase and doesnt want to feel that way doesnt want to hurt him. I also love how for Imagase it shows how he loved Kyoichi in the past and has for a very long time. I love how that shows there is a deeper connection through his love then what was presented before knowing his background story. The Sex scenes between Kyoichi and Imagase were hot but very sensual and beautiful at the same time. They showed a lot of love and despair between the two. The background music was very calming and sensual I loved how it made the scenes more realistic and more relaxing. The acting for both characters was phenominal it was very beautiful and they got the job done. I would love to see the actors film another movie together. For rewatching this movie I would highly recomend rewatching this movie it helps you understand the real purpose of the movie it also helps you realise parts of the movie or those subtle meanings in the movie watching it the second time. I have overall watched this movie 5-6 times and every time I watch it I learn something new.

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painful love tangle

very good but painful film〜 appears to me a classic story of a man unable to love himself and therefore unable to be loved by others、protecting himself from vulnerability by pushing them away and leaving emotional havoc behind： I think especially with the women he so easily attracts trying to sustain the outer image of a conventional straight relationship which is false to his (maybe unconscious) real self which Imagase begins to pull to the surface。yet it seems Imasage ultimately fails too。 I detect irony comparing Otomo's relationship to Imagase at the start and the end of this film as it seems at the end Otomo needs Imagase as well as the other way round where before Imagase alone pursues Otomo： finally we are left with images where Imagase experiences the pain of real love but Otomo is left literally with an empty room reduced to fantasy ーusing an ashtray of Imagase to evoke Imagase but without the cigarette ends that would show Imagase is actually there himself

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I enjoyed it despite the heartbreak

"There's a billion things in life more important than suffering for love" and I couldn't have agreed more with Otomo .It seems masochism is a recurring theme throughout many Japanese BL's and this film is no exception. It's time for the gays to break free from the shackles of pain and embrace love in the right places lol. Overall the acting was great and the story was solid. The only small issue I had was with the length. There are portions of this that seemed to drag and could've been condensed, despite that and all the pain and heartbreak I still really enjoyed this film.

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Very interesting and well-made, but not perfect

I just finished watching the movie and I have a few thoughts about it. What is most interesting to me about this movie is the main character Kyoichi. He is VERY unpredictable and it is a puzzle to piece together what he is thinking. There were multiple times in the movie that i was thinking to myself "What in the world does he want?".

Small SPOILER as examples: Kyoichi said he could never choose Wataru as he is a man, then later that same night he had sxx with him. Later on, Kyoichi got together with a girl, but went to a gay bar. Another time was when Kyoichi told Wataru he did not need him anymore, then had sxx with him again... such a rollercoaster of a movie.

The other main character Wataru is interesting, seemingly laid-back yet extremely obsessive. But his thoughts and feelings are more simple than Kyoichi. I highly enjoyed the acting of all actors, all of the characters, including the women, were believable and real.

The story itself is interesting, but very vague and many things are implied, not stated. This can be seen as simply an artistic choice, and the movie is very interesting because of it, but the story is lacking. It can be summed up as: confused bisexual likes to sleep around until he rediscovers his high school friend with whom he has rather poor communication with. The movie is just filled with toxic behavior and relationships, something that happens in reality but not enjoyable to see in a movie.

I am somewhat stumped with this movie because I do not idolize it. The relationships in this movie are very toxic, so rewatching it would feel disrespectful to my own happiness. While we all know some relationships in movies and dramas are idolized and fiction, these are not realistic necessarily; just toxic.

Small sidenote, the movie did not have any music that I remembered, it fit the movie a lot but I do enjoy music in films. Since it fit the movie I gave it a high score. Overall, I'm unsure if I am glad that I watched it. It's definitely interesting, but if you have other more highly rated things to watch first, watch this later.

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Stirring, Sad, Emotional

This movie is very well done - adapted from a manga.

The characters really made me feel emotional, although most of that emotion is kind of sad. The ending leaves it up to the one watching to decide what happens at the end. The one thing I didn't like bout the movie was the darkness in most of the scenes. I understand that was part of the setting to make the scenes more emotional, but I think the movie could have been made in better lighting.

I feel like both characters had issues, but they took an emotional and physical journey together. One character had a lot of difficulty in all of his relationships, because he didn't know what love really was, but in the end, he finds himself.

This movie is raw, stirring, sad, emotional and yet somehow not sad at the same time.
Both actors did a fantastic job portraying their characters.

The sex scenes between the two characters are explicit. This movie may not be everyone's cup of tea.

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I don’t even know what to say

I really don’t know what to say about this movie. it’s one of those movies you don’t really expect to come out that way. I really hated his character. He would hurt him over and over again but Imagase kept coming back. it just goes to show that he really was in love with him. 8 years and he worked his way to have him love him one way or another. The ending is kind of heart wrenching to me because he did break up with his girlfriend because he couldn’t deny his feelings for Imagase but, he let him go in the end. I don’t really understand. I like to think of it as Otomo does love Imagase but he had to deny it because of fear. I just know they both still love each other and I like to think of it as if when they both have their stuff figured out (especially Otomo) they’ll find each other again. The ending scene kind of shows, Imagase is having sex with that guy but he breaks down because he’s devastated about it, whilst Otomo is seen cleaning the cigarette platter. I just sense that they both don’t want to let go and will find each other. For example even until the end, Otomo holds on to the platter even if he doesn’t smoke and Imagase doesn’t live with him anymore. In my mind, they will love happily ever after together.

I loved the movie.

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a different kind of love story

Just like what other says, it is a toxic kind of relationship. althought it is a toxic love i personally love this movie. I love the flow of the movie, and how it makes the character change. this is not a typical gay movie that we all watch, this is something new that everyone should watch. There are many lessons that we can learn to the characters and to the their actions. Just like "If you love someone too much, youll lose yourself and shatter". So in the movie, you will be questioning the actions of the characters because those actions were painful that you hope that he or she will do the opposite thing. But i really like how otomos character improved throughout the movie, imagase's character can be seen in some relationship where they tried to do everything for there love even if they hurt themselves.

I really commend the actors in this movie and the directors, producers and other staffs for producing such an excellent movie.

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Otomo Kyoichi (Okura Tadayoshi- '100 Times of Crying',) works at an advertising company. He has an indecisive personality. Despite being married, he repeatedly has affairs. After seven years, he meets his college freshman classmate, Imagase Wataru (Narita Ryo- 'Katsuben!'), who reveals that he was hired by Otomo Chikako (Sakihi Miyu- 'The Man Who Can') , his wife, to investigate his infidelity, but also confesses that he is gay and has been in love with Kyouichi since the first day he met him.
Given the confusion created in Kyoichi, Imagase promises not to reveal his infidelities in exchange for a kiss. Kyouichi accepts the proposal, hoping it will save his marriage, but their secret relationship begins to escalate and eventually becomes sexual.
Isao Yukisada's 2020 live-action film 'Kyuso wa Cheese no Yume wo Miru' (窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る) is based on a Japanese manga series 'The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese', written and illustrated by Setona Mizushiro, serialized in the josei manga magazine Judy from 2005 to 2006. The book was followed by a one-volume sequel titled 'The Carp on the Chopping Block Jumps Twice' (俎上の鯉は二度跳ねる, Sōjo no Koi wa Nido Haneru).
This is a fascinating and heartbreaking film that deserves much more than being classified as BL, as well as better attention from the public.
The two protagonists are joined by Yoshida Shiori ('Chihuahua-chan') as Okamura Tamaki, Sato Honami ('Lupin's Daughter') as Natsuo, and Ohara Noriko ('Disturbed by Gymnopedie') as Ide Ruriko, whose characters they vividly embody. and compelling the idea that no matter who you are, once you fall in love with someone, your world will be turned upside down and there is nothing you can do about it.
The acting of the actresses allows human relationships to be more interesting than in a typical romantic film.
Tadayoshi Okura as Kyoicho shows talent and instincts, while Ryo Narita brilliantly plays the role he has been waiting for for a long time. The looks, gestures, words and silences of the two actors, sometimes playful and sometimes passionate, make this work even more realistic. The performances of the protagonists are especially good and indisputably express the heartbreaking but endearing love story.
The character played by Ryo Narita portrays with grace, naturalness and a certain sexual appeal the subtle changes in his emotions, which oscillate between arrogance, vulnerability and impatience on the screen.
Imagase transmits power and shows beautiful gestures that I have never seen before, but also despair and suffering. It's painful to be with him, just as painful to be away from him. His raw emotions make the viewer feel suffocated. He achieves the audience's empathy, and at times they forget the other characters present. He is the person who leaves the audience spellbound. His charm could perfectly work in the world of Wong Kar-wai or Lou Ye.
For his part, Tadayoshi Okura, with his passivity, boredom and rootlessness, also contributes to the creation of the atmosphere that the film tries to convey. Although natural, it exudes a certain air with elegance and seductive charm.
In particular, the scene in which while Kyoichi claims to be planning to marry a woman, Imagase begs him to allow her to continue seeing him, whether once a month or every six months, just to see his face, is very heartbreaking. At that moment I thought of the main characters of the American movie "Brokeback Mountain."
In this triumph of compatibility between director Yukisada and the actors, phrases said by Imagase will resonate over time, such as "When you fall in love with someone from the bottom of your heart, that person is the only one in everything", or "You have a weakness for the people who love you, but in the end, you don't trust that love and you keep sniffing out the feelings of the people who get close to you. Because of their power, these words impact and move.
Although Isao Yukisada set the standard within the Japanese and world seventh art with films such as 'Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World' (2004) and 'Year One In The North' (2005), creating an aura of mysticism, there came a period of stagnation from which only minor works emerged. But for the good of his followers, it also meant a time of meditation and intellectual growth.
We see the result in 'Kyuso wa Cheese no Yume wo Miru', a film with which Isao Yukisada returns to the path of success and expectations surrounding his productions, bringing us solid visual expression and human representation, making his narrative heroes play ruthlessly and skillfully.
The above is demonstrated when it seemed that the film was running out of breath after the first 40 minutes of its more than two hours of duration, Yukisada's virtuosity and professionalism refloated to achieve a convincing work.
While the two main characters cannot be happy, neither can the women around them. The four women who have been interfering in Wataru and Hyoishi's romance end up acting in a resigned or useful way for the development of the plot, which is probably why the director and screenwriter criticizes their characters from a feminist perspective.
In this kind of unrequited love, the film has the fascination of surpassing the original work. When one finishes watching it, one is impressed by its beauty and the helplessness it leaves in the viewer.
I leave for last my impression of the final scene of the film. When filming began, the two characters are on the shore of a calm, serene sea, but suddenly the wind blew and became intense. Someone asked to stop filming, but Okura Tadayoshi, Narita Ryo and Isao Yukisada, some in front of the cameras and the other behind it, stood firm, giving us a pulsating scene that leaves us with a lasting impression for life.

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Perfect Title

Yet again, Japan doesn't let me down with the detailed BL romance. lol If you're looking for something cute and fluffy you couldn't be in more of the WRONG place. This is nothing more or less than exactly what the title represents and it'll make more sense as the movie goes on. I found it very powerful, heart breaking and tragically realistic. Honestly, at no point did I feel bad for one of the MCs but all my emotions ran wild with the other. I'm not sure what I was looking for with this movie and although I wouldn't recommend to just anyone (basically hardcore BL fans ONLY!) it's worth the watch. Not for the faint heart though as it gets pretty rough at the end. Speaking of ending...I can't decide if I was satisfied or not. Leaning more toward dissatisfied, hence why my rating is what it is. I think maybe the ending is what YOU want to make it. (Did can be such a powerful word)
Enjoy...

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